Great ideas don't always translate so well...
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00:00Having a strong and original central premise for the audience to invest in is the key to any show's
00:06success, especially in the world of sci-fi. But unfortunately for the interesting entries on this
00:13very list, due to a variety of reasons, each and every one of them were unable to make the most of
00:19their cracking premise. So I'm Gareth from WhatCulture.com and here are 9 Sci-Fi TV Shows
00:25that wasted incredible premises. 9. Torchwood
00:29The idea of a Doctor Who spin-off that explored how humans interacted with aliens when the Time
00:35Lord wasn't on Earth was an extremely exciting one. The premise for the show was actually set up in
00:41the first two seasons of the rebooted Doctor Who, with charismatic companion Captain Jack Harkness
00:47permanently brought back to life at the climax of Christopher Eccleston's one season as the Time
00:52Lord. The seedy origins of the Torchwood organisation, which Captain Jack rebuilt,
00:58was then explored in great detail through David Tennant's first season, including its creation
01:03by Queen Victoria. Unfortunately, Torchwood eventually got off on the wrong foot with the
01:08pilot episode though, and never really recovered from there. Rather than concentrate on the world
01:14of possibilities of how mankind deals with their alien visitors, the show tried way too hard to
01:20distance itself from the successful series it had spun off from. The characters were all so
01:25mean-spirited, and the feel of the show was so downbeat that it was hard to invest in any of the
01:31so-so alien threats put forward. And while on the subject of Doctor Who's stuff, who's your favourite
01:37doctor? I want to know in the comments section right down below.
01:408. Hard Son
01:42In Hard Son, Jim Sturgis and Agnes Dean played British police officers Charlie Hicks and Elaine Renko,
01:49who in the midst of their investigations find out a horrifying secret. The world will be destroyed
01:54in five years' time. A story that followed a pre-apocalyptic rather than post-apocalyptic
02:00world was as strong a premise for a new show as one could hope for. The idea was not only original,
02:07but could easily have been used to explore how Earth's citizens dealt with their imminent demise,
02:12and how governments would react to the ensuing panic. Unfortunately, rather than explore these broader
02:17issues, the show proved to be nothing more than a convoluted B-grade chase story, with various
02:23dark forces attempting to kill off the officers so that the apocalyptic events could remain secret.
02:28The show plays out like the boring opening sections of the film 2012, while leaving out any of the
02:34exciting bits and adding a truckload of exposition.
02:377. Ghosted
02:39This supernatural sci-fi sitcom from Fox looked like the perfect show to sit back and have a few good
02:45laughs at in the style of the Men in Black franchise, and hopes were elevated significantly
02:50when first-rate comedians Adam Scott and Craig Robinson were cast as the two leads.
02:56The story explores the characters of Max Jennifer and Leroy Wright, a professor and police officer
03:01played by Scott and Robinson respectively. The pair are kidnapped by an MIB-style organisation,
03:08the Bureau Underground, who set them on a task of crucial importance.
03:12The task for these two mismatched partners is to investigate supernatural activities that threaten
03:18to wipe out human existence. Unfortunately, the comedy pairing of Scott and Robinson fails to fire,
03:25with lame jokes and a distinct lack of chemistry holding the show back.
03:29On top of this is a lame romantic subplot between Scott's character Max and co-worker Annie,
03:34that is explored in an unengaging and unhumorous manner. It also takes up a stack of screen time at the
03:41expense of the more interesting supernatural events occurring around them.
03:45Number 6, Seven Days
03:46This premise saw an experimental teleport being made operational that transported our protagonist,
03:52Frank, seven days into the past to stop catastrophic events before they occurred.
03:57Frank was actually a rather intriguing lead man due to his contrasting moods,
04:02his uber-confident persona hiding his issues with depression,
04:05and the pilot episode is spectacular, with Frank heading back a week in time in an attempt to stop
04:11the murders of the US and Russian presidents. The next episode then managed to raise the stakes
04:17once more, as Frank used the teleport to stop a virus being spread that would kill 98% of the
04:23world's population. Of all the shows on this list, this is one that wasted its great premise by going
04:29too hard too early though. Having saved the presidents of the world's two superpowers,
04:34and then saving mankind from an extinction-level event, the show simply gave itself nowhere to go.
04:40Each episode following this felt insignificant in comparison, and the ratings suffered accordingly.
04:46Number 5, The 4400
04:47The 4400 saw the return of, you guessed it, 4400 missing persons, all who were abducted from
04:54different periods across time, but return with no memory of what has occurred to them and without
05:00aging a day. Adding even more interest to this premise was the fact that some of the returning
05:05humans had returned with special powers. The idea of different members of the 4400 using their powers
05:11for negative reasons, with the increased fears and reactions of modern society towards the comeback
05:17kids, was extremely exciting and explored well in the shortened first season. Unfortunately,
05:23like our previous entry, the show moved too quickly and dug itself a hole it could not get out of.
05:28The final reveal of the first season unveiled that the humans had not been abducted by aliens as
05:34expected, but were instead taken by mankind of the future. Revealing the mystery so early in the
05:39show's run proved a dud move, the audience having little reason to stick around as the narrative
05:44possibilities dried up.
05:464. Manimal
05:47As the title unsubtly suggests, this show explores the life of a man who has the ability to turn
05:53himself into an animal. Depending on the requirements of the episode, Dr. Jonathan Chase would transform
05:59into a bird or panther, while occasionally popping into other forms such as a shark. Delightful.
06:06The show was appropriately cheesy in style, but without the humour that was required to make such a fun
06:11but silly premise work. Each transformation from man to animal was drawn out in excruciating detail,
06:18with actor Simon McCorkendale looking like he was extremely constipated while changing from human
06:24to animal. The stories were all lightweight police detective tales of the week, when the concept was
06:29really crying out for a more comic book feel, and the Manimal really needed some more otherworldly
06:35type villains to take on, rather than the goon of the week served up here, as there was never any real
06:40sense of threat.
06:413. Flash Forward
06:43If there was ever a TV pilot that got fans excited about a new show, it was most definitely Flash
06:49Forward. The show followed the moment when nearly every citizen on Earth blacks out for a period of
06:55137 seconds, with each person envisioning how their life would look in six months' time.
07:01Be it a return to alcoholism, the instigation of an affair, or no vision at all. The shocking
07:07prospect of actually seeing what lies ahead in life proved a truly exciting and innovative premise.
07:13The opening episodes of the series were actually quite decent too, with our protagonist detectives
07:18chasing down those responsible while trying to avoid the fate that awaited them. But the biggest
07:23issue that the showrunners just couldn't overcome was that the audience literally knew what was coming,
07:28meaning it was tough to build up suspense to an exciting end point because we had already,
07:33you know, seen it.
07:342. Manifest
07:36This 2019 drama sees a passenger flight take off from Jamaica, and after encountering a storm,
07:42seemingly land a few short hours later at their destination point in New York.
07:47Then comes the ripping twist, with the reveal that the plane has actually landed five years in the
07:53future, with the flight presumed crashed and the passengers dead. The exploration of the passengers
07:59reintegrating into society, alongside the investigation of what actually happened,
08:03seemed a setup for spectacular results. Sadly, the show proved to be extremely pedestrian,
08:09with acting that wouldn't be accepted on the cheesiest of soaps, and the most cliched scripts
08:14known to man. Melissa Roxburgh plays lead detective Michaela Stone, a passenger from the flight who
08:20hears mysterious messages in her head that proved to be important information. The scenes in which Stone
08:26hears said voices are unintentionally hilarious, though. Every big moment in the script is signposted
08:32a mile off, and we care less and less about the fate of the surviving passengers the more time we
08:37unfortunately have to be in their company.
08:391. Man from Atlantis
08:41The winner, or should I say loser, of top spot on this list goes to this truly awful 1977 sci-fi bomb
08:49starring a pre-Dallas Patrick Duffy. Duffy's character, who is given the name Mark Harris,
08:55is an amnesiac who is believed to be the last survivor of the civilization of Atlantis.
09:00Harris has a ton of unique abilities, including superhuman strength, the ability to breathe
09:05underwater, and physical traits that allow him to dive to the extreme depths of the ocean.
09:11After being nursed back to health after arriving on land, Harris assists the US Navy on a number of
09:16missions, taking on various villains with uniquely aquatic plans. While the premise set the show up for
09:22some great B-grade action and fun, the program took itself way, way too seriously, and ultimately
09:28became laughably bad for all the wrong reasons. Attempts at a love story between Harris and
09:33Belinda Montgomery's Dr. Elizabeth Merrill are excruciating, always matched by an equally painful
09:40score. And the costume designs for the various villainous creatures are bad for even 1977 standards,
09:46looking like rejected costumes from the Doctor Who classic era. This one very much sank when it could
09:52have swam, baby. And that's our list. Know of any other sci-fi TV shows that wasted incredible
09:57premises? Well, throw them in the comments down below, and don't forget to like, share, and click
10:02on the subscribe button while you're down there. I've been Gareth from WhatCulture.com, thank you for
10:06spending some time with us today. Now try and keep from getting beamed up into space, and hopefully we'll see
10:12you soon. Bye-bye!