Our capacity for reality is becoming severely tested (how much more news of earthquakes, tsunami warnings, bomb attacks and global pandemics can a couch potato handle?), so it is perhaps no coincidence that demand for fantasy and escapism on the small screen is growing.
Since their launches in 2008 (AXN Beyond in January, Sci Fi in July), our region's two dedicated science-fiction channels have shuffle-danced around each other to find their footing in the growing Asian market, propelled by recent box-office trends towards super-powered, blood-sucking wizardry. A year and a half on, the programming suggests collaboration rather than rivalry - as if the channels are working in tandem to bring us the complete curriculum of Science-Fiction 101.
Let's take a look at what's out there.
Revivals: AXN Beyond has a series called Invasion, based on the 1956 classic film Invasion of the Body Snatchers; Sci Fi has The Outer Limits, a 1995 remake of the 1960s series.
Comic-book adaptations: Sci Fi has Blade: The Series and AXN Beyond carries Painkiller Jane.
Sister series: AXN Beyond airs re-runs of Buffy the Vampire Slayer while Sci Fi opts for its spin-off, about Buffy's vampire paramour, Angel.
