Science Fiction, cinema and television are three of the twentieth century's most popular inventions. I'd be surprised if there are many people alive today who didn't grow up with some sort of sci-fi input from the small and large screens: "The Twilight Zone" and "Forbidden Planet" for baby-boomers; "Dr Who" and "Star Wars" for Gen-Xers; "Charmed" and "The Matrix" for the current crop.

I'm no different. I was a "Dr Who" addict back in the days of Tom Baker, he of the floppy hat and multi-coloured scarf. Now, there was a show that had everything: adventure, a sense of humour, and the occasional spark of real science. I have very fond memories of running home in time to catch "The Goodies" and "Dr Who" on the ABC--one of television's great double acts. My earliest writing was directly influenced by the show and its novel spin-offs.

Another childhood favourite was "Blake's 7", a dark space adventure from the UK that directly inspired the Evergence series I co-wrote with Shane Dix. Its nearest analogue would be the similarly titled "Babylon 5" from the 1990s. Gripping and intelligent, with state of the art special effects, it was one of the first shows to employ a multi-season story arc to great effect, directly influencing shows like "24" and "Buffy".

Alas, the high-kicking vampire slayer will be soon be off the air, concluding with its seventh season, but I remain addicted to re-runs, DVDs and its spin-off series, "Angel".

The future looks grim, as it often does in these shows. "Farscape" is off our screens forever; "Firefly" didn't even make a full season; "Star Trek" has dwindled from a groundbreaking series in the 1960s to the point where its own licensees are suing Viacom for making such poor product. The prospects of outstanding science fiction appearing on our screen any time soon seems particularly unlikely.

But there are still series in production, such as "Stargate" and "Alias" for adults and "Invader Zim" and Australia's own "Pirate Islands" for the kids. It's a multi-million dollar industry, one supported by a loyal and not insubstantial viewing audience, that will sit up to all hours to watch their favourite shows. Try moving "Water Rats" to an 11.30 time-slot and see how it performs in comparison.

It's always struck me as strange (and self-defeating) that networks reward such dedication by cancelling or moving time-slots without warning, rearranging the order of episodes, and delaying starts of new seasons by many months, if showing them at all. There's nothing more frustrating than sitting down to watch the latest episode of your favourite TV show, only to find out at the last minute that the cricket's on instead, or it's a repeat, or it started an hour ago and you've missed it.

It's no wonder that many viewers are abandoning free-to-air broadcast in favour of obtaining tapes from friends overseas, cable, or downloading them illegally off the Internet.

But while they keep making the shows and putting them to air, I remain hopeful for the genre. It wasn't so long ago that "The X-Files" was the hottest thing around. It's only a matter of time before something as smart and classy as that manages to defy the odds and inspire a whole new generation.