the rise to production of such shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its spin-off Angel and the stylistically similar Charmed. All of these were set in the real world of the present day, but involved fantastical and horrific threats to the central characters, and possessed a wit and self-awareness that had perhaps been lacking in some of their more po-faced science-fiction predecessors, not to mention much lower costs to produce. Other shows Nonetheless, the popularity of science fiction as a genre means that several notable programs enjoyed significant longevity. Stargate SG-1 began in 1997 and aired 10 seasons, and is somewhat unusual in being a successful spin-off series from the 1994 movie. The series became the longest-running North American science fiction television series, which warranted two spin-offs: Stargate Atlantis, which ran for five seasons; and Stargate Universe, which ran for only two seasons instead of the originally-planned five. Stargate SG-1 retained its record until Smallville completed its run with 218 episodes in 2011 and broke its record. The Sci-Fi Channel "original series" Farscape (which is in fact not American, but actually Australian, and premiered on the Nine Network), while never garnering a widespread audience, was heralded by critics and gained a dedicated fanbase, which helped the creators wrap up several story lines in the miniseries event Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars after the show's cancellation. The aforementioned Star Trek: Enterprise ran for four seasons, and the Sci Fi Channel aired a mini-series based on the original Battlestar Galactica, whose success paved the way for the acclaimed Battlestar Galactica, which lasted for four seasons and two movies, Battlestar Galactica: Razor and Battlestar Galactica: The Plan. Fringe, which featured a mad scientist character and explored alternate universes, aired for 100 episodes (2008-2013) on Fox. The nature of science fiction as a genre and the trends of American culture allows is to explore the whole range of all types of science fiction from comedy to drama, just entertainment to socially relevant, youth to adult, soft to hard, gross to tasteful, cheap to expensive productions, and lame to thoughtful. Despite trends in television, science fiction as a genre has firmly established its place in the make-up of American programming. The future of science fiction could be significantly helped by the advances in digital imagery, which allows for spectacular visual effects for a relatively economical price. Other science fiction television genres Two other subgenres were comic