It's amazing you could still spell!
I'm ashamed to admit that, since lockdown started, I've frequently bought a fifteen pack of Guinness and woken in the morning to find only four left. Eleven seems to be my limit. I'm now endeavouring to modify this behaviour before work begins once more.
If nothing else, this thread coupled with lockdown has prompted me to catch up on
The Expanse, of which I'd previously seen only the first two seasons, and the entire of
Farscape, of which I'd only ever seen snippets. The two series are miles away from one another in terms of their visual styles and approaches to science, yet also have many similarities. I recommend them both.
Okay, last one.
Parallel Universes I'm talking here specifically about those parallel universes in which all the main characters of a TV show are present, but in different capacities than in the main universe of the show. It strikes me as highly unlikely that such a universe would be discovered by our heroes. Worse, in
Deep Space 9 they have dealings with a parallel universe that we know separated from the main one at least as far back as the original series, yet somehow all the same people found themselves on this same space station in both universes. It strikes me everytime that they couldn't afford a separate cast for an alternative universe. It always seems unlikely to me, and yet any science fiction show that runs for a couple of seasons seems destined to throw in parallel versions of the characters at some point.
Also, I have another issue with including parallel universes in my fiction, because I think far too much, and I don't see why only my viewing should be ruined by that...
Most of the time, parallel universes are explained by the 'every chance event or decision plays out in alternate universes' reasoning. So, our heroes go to another world that split from their own at some point in the past. Once this has been introduced into the narrative, it ruins everything else we watch them achieve from that point on. Every time they think of a risky solution and it's barely carried out in the nick of time, all we're doing is following the myriad branching pathways that happen to lead to their success, and ignoring the, probably, vast majority in which all our beloved characters die. Remember that Lieutenant Whatsername that we all like so much who barely survived that thing? She died of it in most realities, and we just watched one of the few versions in which she survived. How do our heroes get in so many scrapes and survive? What are the odds? Pretty high if you're only following through the branching paths that lead to them succeeding. Ah, people might think, but the universe we're watching is the prime universe. But that's not how the explanation for parallel universes works in these things. Every moment throughout an episode, the universe is split into infinite possibilities, all as valid as the one we're watching. So, what are the stakes in a TV show that has flirted with this idea? Bit of a rant tonight.