We recently completed all 12 seasons of the big bang theory (BBT). I loved the piece so much that I miss having them over during our dinner time. And my 4 years old son (yeah, he definitely shouldn’t be watching this one), dresses up like Sheldon on most days. Now that its over, I am kinda rewatching Friends. My go-to sitcom is Seinfeld, but Netflix seems to have run out of that one.
I enjoy watching comedies a lot. The only other genres that I can sit through are crime and science fiction. Typically, science fiction crime. And there were extremely brilliant works in this space. Take Fringe, for instance. Its easily the best science fiction I have seen thus far. I liked Lost as well, but after a point, Lost wanders into somewhat pseudo-science. Once you accept certain beliefs, then Lost is very very good stuff. This was the same reason I was not too fond of the otherwise brilliant crime movie from Aamir Khan – Talaash. I briefly watched Mr Robot. I hope to catch it if it ever comes up on Netflix. The only other series that I loved watching is the CSI. It was a tad gimmicky, but it is one of the reasons I started taking biology seriously!
Last week, out of sheer curiosity, we stumbled upon Flash. Flash is a comic that keeps coming up in BBT. So I thought, hey, why not? Turns out Flash is a Fringe reboot. It has a remarkably similar premise. A brilliant scientist messes with reality as we all know it. What comes out is a rather unique set of events that make for engaging storytelling. There is the lingering question mark as to whether the scientist means well. There is the chosen protagonist. And based on what we last saw, there is a time travel aspect. Fringe had time travel and multi-dimensional reality. Boy, I even forgot the terms, perhaps I need to rewatch it soon.
But the bottom line is this: I think my interest in science fiction currently, stems from the fact that I want my son to take a keen interest in science. I frankly have no rational reason why I want him to do that. I think this is more interesting and can help explain the more fundamental aspects of life. Philosophy tries to do the same, except its a formulation without answers. Science is the one offering answers.
The more important question that I need to answer is this: Do we really need all the answers? The line in Hitch hiker’s guide to the galaxy goes like this:
– Douglas Adams, The hitch hiker’s guide to the galaxy
Again, my goto reference is never a scientist. Its always the humorist.