Is sci-fi dead?

During the promotional tour for the long awaited Blade Runner: Final Cut DVD release, Director Ridley Scott said something that has been stewing in this brain of mine for a few months now. I merely lacked the time to really think about the implications of it. Scott said that sci-fi has gone the way of the western; a niche genre with as many duds as classics, but ultimately a relic of the past at this point. The latter being my own commentary on the statement.

Mr. Scott, I respectfully disagree.

When it comes to sci-fi filmmaking, Ridley Scott has only a handful of rivals. Spielberg (when he dabbles in the genre, anyways), Lucas (before he made the prequels. Imagination, not vision, is his strong suit), and James Cameron. It's no coincidence that James Cameron was the one who tackled the sequel to Scott's 1979 Aliens. The Alien series, at first anyways, set the bar higher on cinematic sci-fi.

But where has it gone in the last 25 years? Obviously, you have a handful of masterful sci-fi pieces released since Blade Runner, including Aliens. But there's also been no shortage of sci-fi mistakes. But is the same not true for every other genre? Take romantic comedies. How many unremarkable and downright forgettable romantic comedies have there been in the last 25 years? There's only been a handful of them that have been worth remembering, and only one I would dare call a good movie (Love, Actually).

Dead also implies that it's, well, no longer functioning. Sci-fi has always been something of a fringe genre, but take a look at what TV shows are big these days: Lost isn't pure sci-fi, but it definitely has enough supernatural elements to be considered sci-fi. Heroes is a huge hit and it's fanbase has been growing steadily. The reinvisioned Battlestar Galactica has a devoted following. There's a new Star Trek in the works. The Firefly series has an incredibly devout flock, and there's even talk of a sequel to Serenity in the works.

I suppose one could argue that sci-fi movies are no longer a box office draw. There's some validity to that. Except for the massive box-office draw of Transformers. Hardly a shining example of sci-fi brilliance, but it's sci-fi, and it made a huge amount of money. But again, sci-fi is mostly underground and only rarely a cultural juggernaut. Star Wars and Star Trek are the exception, not the rule. As one of the most influential sci-fi filmmakers, you would think he would pay more attention to the genre he helped cultivate. It's probably healthier than it ever has been, both in terms of quality and quantity.