Directed by Mark Rydell
Original Air Date: August 4, 2007 (ABC)
Horror and science fiction have been inextricably linked since the beginning of literature, and the debate continues to this day over the exact definitions of each. Certainly films like Alien, Godzilla, and John Carpenter’s The Thing combine the best of both worlds; and when it comes right down to it, the granddaddy of them all, Frankenstein, with its “mad scientist” at the helm and his unending quest to create life, has more sci-fi elements than pure horror. We’ve pondered numerous times here on Dread Central whether horrific in and of itself equates to horror. It’s been pretty much unanimously agreed that no, it does not; nonetheless, when a project comes along that shows real promise of successfully bridging the gap between the two genres and at the same time providing entertainment value to its audience, well then, we have to take some time to explore it.
Which is why you are reading a review for Episode 1 of Masters of Science Fiction, a new four-installment series coming to ABC from the same people who brought us Masters of Horror. “A Clean Escape” is set several years in the future and unfolds much like a two-character play with viewers left totally in the dark as to the relationship between the protagonists. The woman, Dr. Deanna Evans (Davis), is a psychiatrist who has recently learned she has only a few months (at best) to live thanks to cancer. The man, Robert Havelmann (Waterston), is a mystery. Once a successful, wealthy businessman and politician, he now appears to suffer from short-term (if you can call 25 years “short”) amnesia. Dr. Evans is obsessed with curing him, or at least making sure he remembers what he did a quarter of a century before, an event that is hinted at as being horrifying but not made clear until the final moments of the film.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m no fan of Dubya and am usually first in line to watch anything with a message — be it political, social, apocalyptic, whatever. To me, mankind is the scariest monster on the planet, a scenario that’s provided some of the best horror and sci-fi stories ever written. The potential of seeing that portrayed in at least a few of the MOSF episodes is why we gave it the benefit of the doubt in the first place. But there’s a huge difference between satirical depictions and over-the-top re-creations. Give me metaphors and innuendo, not overstated, in-my-face impersonations of current day events.
So much of media nowadays is black and white — or, as some would have us believe, red and blue. The only way for us to resolve our differences is to throw in a little gray to mix things up a bit. Science fiction and horror have always been the go-to genres for exploring themes like fear, paranoia, survival, and death. That’s why, despite the shortcomings of “A Clean Escape,” I applaud the minds behind Masters of Science Fiction for tackling the task of interpreting some of the greatest sci-fi writers for contemporary audiences and bringing scary, thought-provoking ideas back to network television. Here’s hoping they’re up to the challenge.
2 1/2 out of 5
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