There are a ton of science-fiction shows, but none of them are about giant robots. There are a ton of anime about giant robots, but why aren't there any live-action shows that involve combat with giant robots.
The "problem" is in order to do a true mecha show, you need to eliminate human elements like emotion, romance, conflict, etc. And ever since SF film began, the focus has always been on these elements, with the SF part being a maguffin to move the plot along in the background. That was Roddenberry's philosophy, and it's also followed by Doctor Who, both versions of BSG, Firefly, etc. Even going further back to A For Andromeda, Forbidden Planet, and Metropolis.
Where attempts have been made to do a film or TV series where the tech takes priority over character, in most of the cases, they fail because critics and audiences are conditioned that they want human stories, and could really care less about the science. One reason why 2001 and Blade Runner failed at the box office (they both bombed at first) was because people felt the balance tipped too far to the science (when Ridley Scott reinserted character moments into B Runner like the unicorn, it got a better reception). Star Trek TMP, likewise, got the balance too far in one direction (as evidenced by it use of "spaceship porn" for lack of a better term to describe the shots of the new Enterprise and the interior of V'Ger).
So while it would be cool to have a fully mecha-type live action show made for western audiences, I just don't think the mainstream wants those types of stories. Transformers came close, but let's face it most of its audience went to see Megan Fox, not the robots.
Advances in CGI really don't mean a change, either. For example, when they made Avatar, they still had to spend a good chunk of the film featuring regular flesh-and-blood people having discussions and conflict. They couldn't just start the film with a full-CG lead character and spend the whole film that way. And I mean "couldn't" in the sense of the film wouldn't have worked with the mainstream without the human element. If Transformers had been nothing but CG of a bunch of robots doing their thing, it would have bombed.
Alex
