My one little irritation about science fiction...

...is that Hollywood thinks that science fiction equals horror, which it's not. I find it really irritating when they make a movie (like Event Horizon) or a show (like Threshold, which debuts tonight on NBC), sell it to us as science fiction, and it ends up being more of a horror flick than anything else. I don't know why it irritates me so much, but it does. I will concede that an SF/horror movie like Alien works, but that's because we know it's a horror movie based in an SF world. The X-Files worked as a tv show because it was a mystery show based in an SF world. But I am always let down when I see something SF that piques my interest only to be disgusted by the horror plotline.

Why am I annoyed by this? Well, partly because there are so few SF movies and shows out there, compared to insane number of sitcoms and dramedies and reality shows and biopics and mystery movies out there. Not that I don't like those genres, but when I see the trailer for an SF movie or tv show, I'm excited. Finally, something I'd be interested in watching! Not that I don't like the horror genre, but it just burns me when they call it SF. Let's say it all together now: SCIENCE FICTION IS NOT HORROR! HORROR IS NOT SCIENCE FICTION! THEY'RE TWO SEPARATE GENRES!

(I know some of you will contest this, maybe call horror a subgenre of SF, and perhaps it is, but please--they're most decidedly NOT the same thing. Asimov is not horror, and King, though some of his stuff may be fantasy like the Dark Tower series, is not science fiction!!)

Maybe I'm jumping the gun and not giving Threshold a chance (a review of it was what made me post this). It does sound interesting, to say the least. If I remember to watch it tonight, I will. But I'm just hoping that I'm not let down. I'm expecting a good SF thriller, not an X-Files-meets-horror thing.

But please, for the love of Pete, I beg of you, Hollywood--stop shilling us horror movies and shows masked as SF!!!

[/end rant]