I thought it would be good to have a place for general Sci-Fi Channel (U.S., but U.K. welcome too) rants & thoughts instead of keeping them buried inside show threads.

And to kick things off:

The Queen of Sci Fi Gets Ready to Rumble. New York Times. About Bonnie Hammer, it starts out talking about her background and highlights of her Sci-Fi channel experience, points out that:
And I wonder whose perceptions those were - the network's or the advertiser's. The 2nd half is about the other half of her job - U.S.A. Network. She's done a decent job, but I wish her vision were a bit wider then killer Fridays and big event series. 6 years ago, didn't Sci-Fi used to have shows featuring fan films?

I remember Sci-Fi channel's fan film show -- Kevin Smith hosted !

I'm kind of burned out on " Sci-Fi Originals " and that seems to be what the network is focusing on nowadays. I'm not getting into their series -- I know lots of folks are and what's good for the genre is good for the genre, but they're not my cup of speed. Their made-for-TV movies ( any made-for-cable, really ) are meh -- you know they can only go so far with gore, language and skin.

More marathons of culty-series and one-season wonders !

Holy shit. Sci-Fi has lost its mind (and its mandate):
There....are no words...

Wow. I've never known what Passions was about, and now I don't care to. I guess Buffy was all tied up, and they convieniently ignored the high female audience for some of their shows (*cough*Farscape*cough*).

Crap. That's pretty crazy. And Passions, sir, I knew Dark Shadows and you? Are no Dark Shadows.

Dang. Remember when they used to show marathons of Land of the Giants and Lost in Space? Good times.

I don't know about Passions now because I finally broke free of the hold daytime tv had over me a few years ago, but it wasn't so bad. In the begining it was kind of spoof of soap operas. Every day was like the crazy desperate stunts that other soaps only use once every two years. Soaps are known for randomly bringing people back from the dead...Passions brings back 3 people in one episode. The Hispanic people are poor and blue collar. The white people are rich and drink all the time. Such ridiculously broad stereotypes! There was also a lot of supernatural stuff. I can see where the channel is coming from in acquiring the show.

All that being said, I agree that a lot of women were watching Farscape before they killed it! A lot of women are currently watching Battlestar Galactica! I thought some study revealed that a lot of women already watch sci-fi. Why does everyone think that 12 year old boys and 43 year old male virgins (not that there is anything wrong with that) are the only people watching sci-fi?

I think perhaps this is still rooted in the Trekkies and Star Wars fans from years ago that may have been much more male-dominated. I do think that Sci-Fi's shows have a very heavy female population. And I think that's great. Not trying to stereotype either gender since I'm sure there's much overlap, but I think that's also why there's more complex shippy elements to shows like Stargate.

OMG....I LOVE PASSIONS!! hehehe.....that show is ridiculous!!! Interesting choice of acquirement......what's next?

Indeed (said with deep voice). I forgot where I read it, but someone wrote an article about how much money the channel was making showing the Sci Fi originals. Although I don't like them (they all seem to feature Dean Caine) it appears they are here to stay.

I guess I'm an old school SF TV (male).

About a couple of years ago I read a list of projects the SF channel wants to do including take some classic SF novels and turn them into mini series which is an astounding idea. However, if they continue with their current trends then I'm gonna punch myself. One of my favorite all time novels is The Forever War by Joe Haldeman and when I heard it was supposed to be optioned into a SF miniseries/ movie, I was happy. However, when I read that the this anti-war war novel was focusing more on the romance between the two main characters, I nearly vomited up my Bachelor Chow.

I don't have a problem with them appealing to female viewers with softer programs than the harder (stupider?) stuff us old school geeks liked. I accept that SF isn't just the realm of male geeks anymore. However, what bothers me to NO END is when they morph source material into something it AIN'T to try and appeal to female viewers.

Not to sound like a trog male, I felt the same way when Hollywood butchered Starship Troopers by lobotomizing the story to a meanlingless/stupid "plot" to appeal to 15 year old WWF, er WWE fanboys. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't think that standing in a circle and shooting automatic weapons INTO said circle is EVER a GOOD idea.

I know it's impossible for Hollywood, but STICK to the damn source material! End of stupid rant...

I don't know if it is going to be made as I'm going on info 2+ year old, is there anyone who can anyone shed light on this?

Given the scarcity of good producers, and the difficulty of adapting any written work, I fear for any novel that Sci-Fi will do. I'm still wondering if they're gonna try Red Mars. But sometimes they get lucky. The thing with original works done by big name directors seems to go better for them.

Aw, don't punch yourself bitterman. I'm sure there are more culpable subjects.

I like the old school geeky stuff and I'm not a geeky 12 year old boy either. Generally I'm against all adaptions of books because they invariably screw them up, the only saving grace is that at least one viewer goes to the source. I hope.

They chose Passions? That's just ridiculous. They need late 70's early 80's General Hospital when the Cassadines controlled the Weather Machine. Now there is schlocky sci fi combined with good old fashioned story telling.

I actually don't think Passions is that inappropriate for the Sci-Fi channel. I remember turning on the TV a couple of afternoons and seeing a crazy witch and a midget boy on a soap opera set and thought I was going crazy. Incidently, I think that midget actor died suddenly as well. It does seem to have a supernatural bent, and depending on when they show it, would be perhaps more appropriate than yet another showing of Tremors.

They should show Passions and then follow it up with the episodes of Days of Our Lives where Marlena turned into a devil.

You mean possessed by Satan? What's next, Port Charles?

I am a women. I would love to have Farscape back. Maybe a new B5 series. Heck, what about Firefly. But Passions? That is actually worse then when they were playing Braveheart on the Sci Fi Channel.

On a different matter concerning the SciFi Channel, I love those short promotional skits that the channel shows during commercial breaks. I think it's the only network that does such a thing. Those skits are amusing and very creative.

I like the one where a cute infant suddenly lets out a breathe of flames. Another good one is where a monster pops up from a jack-in-box device and scares away a bunch of kids and then giggles about it to the one little girl who knows it's just a joke. One of my favorites is the one where a guy's tattoes comes to life, peels off his body and then joins him for dinner.

It's a shame that the network hasn't produce much SciFi-original movies and miniseries as entertaining and creative as those skits.

Heh. They're handy little timers, too. Tells me my Show starts again in a minute (aka after the penis enhancer commercial).

I still have nightmares from the dog-balloon teaser.

I think they're cute too. Except for the one where the guy starts pulling on a hair and gradually unravels his whole body. For some reason I just can't watch that one.

I have problems with them assuming female viewers want softer stuff.

Or that we'd bother to tune in to their crappy channel to watch a crappy (non-science fiction) soap opera we could've watched when it aired, if we'd wanted to, because we had VCRs then and knew how to use them, thank you very much.

Or that anyone would be interested in their endless lousy movies about giant rats, germs, ants and, I dunno, cell phones gone wrong and terrorizing modern-day society.

Hi, Sci Fi? I'm a female viewer and I think Battlestar Galactica pulls too many punches. Put that in your sexist pipe and smoke it.

I don't want soft. I don't want soaps. I want strong genre TV with complicated plots and cracking characters.

That's what I want so no arguments there (any genre...)



Errr, I guess I was just a little too broad with my assumption (making an ass out me) brush strokes.

You know what I hate? When they come up with one of their mini-series, and they run it 24 hours a day for a couple of weeks. I just plain didn't watch while it was the Steven Spielberg's Taken Channel, and I'm getting sick of this Triangle thing even though I've never watched it.

They have to get the funds to overpay Bryan Singer and Company somehow. No one is watching it, so the only way to make money from it is to pack a hundred commercials in to each break and air the miniseries until Sam Neill's face is burned in to every tv screen. The Triangle would have been interesting if it hadn't been a rehashed episode of O'Bannon's SeaQuest DSV.

Sci Fi has a terrible track record with their movies and miniseries. I'm (irrationally) hoping they don't trash The Dresden Files they way they've trashed every other book-to-movie effort.

Actually, Sci Fi got excellent ratings for Triangle. According to The Futon Critic, 3.9 million people watched the finale, which is the most viewers they've had for anything since Taken.

But I agree, most of their made for TV movies are just awful. However, I've enjoyed most of their Dec. mini series, including Triangle. That includes Taken and the Battlestar Galactica mini-series, but definetly does NOT include the awful Earthsea thing they did last year.

I miss the "Theme Days" that SciFi used to have during the daytime. Superhero Day, Fantasy Day, Gross Things Day, etc. It was nice knowing that Alien Nation would be on Fridays, or Wonder Woman could show up on Tuesday, or whatever. Now the marathons are so random, who knows if Wednesday it'll be Stargate or The Incredible Hulk.

Also: Bring Mystery Science Theater 3000 back. There are about 10 seasons' worth of shows. Bribe Comedy Central to release the others and air those puppies once more!

I thought it was interesting that the NYT love song to Bonnie Hammer didn't mention the Farscape cancellation brouhaha. Or maybe it was just a brouhaha for this Farscape fan!

I went off the Sci-Fi channel in a big way after that, which was why it took me a season and a half to warm up to Battlestar Galactica. I'm still expectig them to eff it up or cancel it mid-cliffhanger.

Divaah46, I'm with you! Those were fun. Now everytime I flip to Sci-Fi it's either Stargate or Twilight Zone. Yes, TZ is a classic but give it a rest already.

Same here. Because I don't have much confidence in Skiffy managing to deal with the books' balance of some really funny bits with the really dark stuff Harry has to deal with.

On the other hand, Eureka seems to have potential- a good premise with a lot of opportunities to play around with different concepts.

A bit of net digging turned up a press release saying they've got films/miniseries in development based on Kim Stanley Robinson and Greg Bear books. I'm not sure if I should be impressed that they seem somewhat willing to give hard SF projects a try or worried about what they'll turn Red Mars into.

Unfortunately, I think the issue with MST3K is more the film rights than the show rights, so I doubt we'll be seeing it on Sci-Fi anytime soon.

2005 Was SCI FI's Best Yet, Sci Fi Wire. Not bad, although it's scary to think of what they did it with.

Anyone see Magma last night? It was amazing!

What was amazing? Well, in the first 5 mintes of the show it was clear it was going to be painfully bad. And when I say painful, i mean PAINFUL.

God, what a trainwreck. Horrible CGI, horrible acting, and the story was just absurd. I have no idea why I watched the show. You'd think after 20 times of cringing at the dialouge, I would have turned if off.

I loved the beginning where that jerk scientist was running to the helicopter and didn't see the big pool of HOT GLOWING MAGMA in his path. Oops! Yah, he stepped in it.

Bad bad bad..

That was all I could take too, after sitting through the tepid Post Impact, and falling asleep through Dante's Peak.

Aw, the Sci-Fi channel's not that bad. I make up stories about how all the bad films weren't released, they escaped form a basement in Hollywood where they bribed, Gunther, the security guard into going on a date with Michelle, the waitress he's secretly in love with. They sneaked past while he was serenading her with Cole Porter songs

hakirby that's actually a decent premise. You should sell that idea to them so they can make it into a movie. All you need a giant locusts or something else happening at the same time to bring the tone down.

And this is where brining back MST3K would be a really good idea.

Re: Passions. Aw, I kinda like it. It's rather appealing in an "Oh my god, this is so bad" sort of way (visit the Passions thread under Soap Operas, and you'll see what I mean -- nobody thinks this show is actually good). My only problem here is that I don't understand why the old episodes are being reran on Sci-Fi instead of SoapNet (where Passions belongs). See, I like Passions because I can bitch about it and snark on it endlessly because it's so ridiculous and campy, but I'm annoyed at how often Sci-Fi embraces campiness. I want more serious science fiction already.

Actually, it doesn't even have to be serious (well, at least, not in the BSG sense), but it'd be nice if it were actually interesting. There were so many cool things they could've done with a cartoon using 3-D animation, but they gave us Tripping The Rift. Ugh.

Yes, Magma brought all the cliches.

Maverick scientists who's spent his career formulating a theory no one else believes? Check.

Mysterious phenomena occurring around the world? Check.

Bigwig politician who blocks said scientist, even when it's overwhelmingly clear that scientist is right? Check.

Desperate appeal to the president? Check.

Scientist diverted from approaching catastrophe by the urge to get estranged spouse out of danger? Yep.

Estranged spouse somehow working just where catastrophe will strike? Absolutely.

Catastrophic problems--but mainly in the US, since it doesn't matter what happens to the rest of the world? That, too.

Last minute allience with the world, with countries suddenly putting all hatred of America aside to unquestioningly follow our advice? Obligatory shots of Russian and Chinese crews carrying out our orders? Heroics from doomed sub? It's all there.

I really should be a screenwriter.

Count me in as a fan of SciFi Originals. It's a great feeling to know that on a slow TV weekend, when you don't want to do anything but sit on the couch, you can be assured of hilarity by a SciFi Original picture. But, I've got a soft place in my heart for B actors, B scripts and B effects.

Plus, think of it this way - where would all of my favorite genre actors get work? SciFi employs a lot of genre/character actors that are always a pleasure to watch. Especially when they appear as the best actor in some of these dog films. Ron Perlman, anyone? Lance Henriksen? Who doesn't want to see those guys ham it up now and again?

Yes! But I don't know if they would rerun all 10 seasons cause the only reason Sci-Fi agreed to have it on after Comedy Central dumped it was if the writers only used Sci-Fi movies on the show (they said they managed to sneak a non sci-fi in once in a while though).

But hell they should show all 10 seasons anyway, cause they all include robots and a spaceship, and it's not like they're showing anything better at 9 on a Saturday morning.

MST3K has always had tons of rights issues, and I'm guessing that part of that is tied up with the networks. That said, I'd like to see them take on Star Wars. Not PE, ANH.

They'd never do Star Wars unfortunately. I would've liked for them to have done more well-known movies though. It's probably harder to get permission to do those.

Sci-Fi Channel probably wouldn't pick up Mystery Science Theatre 3000 since they dropped it once before. I've been thinking lately that G4 ( the network for gamers, home of Attack Of The Show ) would be an ideal home for MST3K. G4 wears its geek-love on its sleeve -- there's no better place for Joel, Mike and The 'bots [Tom and Crow voice] Hey -- Dat's me ![/Tom and Crow voice]

OMG- if ONLY I could watch Joel on the satellite of love again. The best MST3K ever were the Gamera shows.

Too bad Sci-Fi channel doesn't do a series that, like MST3K, is a kitschy send up of the insanely bad - though still entertaining - sci-fi at its disposal. One reason I didn't enjoy Mike's satellite was that the movies they selected, while admittedly the worst of the worst, just weren't entertaining at all in and of themselves. When it's that bad, there really isn't much to say. :(

And I'm glad that sci-fi's basement saturday nights have had movies with some production value- when I was a corporate hack for the BBV, I ran across some rentals that looked as though they'd been made in a U-Store-It unit w/ the resident manager and a couple of regular customers. Why the BBV put those on the shelves is beyond me. Maybe somebody's brother knew somebody who knew somebody...

There was a Canadian movie Sci-Fi played 6 weeks or so ago... Grrrr, can't think of the title. Interesting premise but poorly executed... Dead spirits all get together and visit the living to extract revenge while a serial killer's on the loose... Could have been a decent flick.

The Sci-Fi Channel showed the British werewolf flick 'Dog Soldiers' (NOT based on the Robert Stone novel!) tonight. It is a kickass movie, a precursor to 28 Days Later, and really maybe the better movie, though with a noticeably lower budget. I am glad that Sci-Fi is showing this cool flick to US audiences--but they bleeped out the largely profane dialogue, which (on top of the British lingo and accents) made it all but unintelligible! I don't know that I have ever seen a movie where so little of the dialogue was audible or comprehensible.

Passion of the Christ? Where you miss the subtitles because you're so busy turning away from the gore.

'Dog Soldiers' [a British theatrical release that has apprently gotten its only US distribution on SciFi] was really pretty great. Sort of a cross between Predator and Night of the Living Dead and Evil Dead. And not much budget (though probably more than the latter two). But British. And with werewolves.

And some great performances, and dialogue, on the relatively rare occasions when Sci-Fi left it intact:

[following the first werewolf attack]
Sergeant: My guts are out, mate!
Cooper: We'll just put 'em back in then!
Sergeant: They're not gonna fucking fit!
Cooper: Of course they'll fit, man!
[this sequence was really jaw-dropping]

or this, after the werewolves have trapped the soldiers in an abandoned farmhouse:
Cooper: We need a decoy. Something fast and loud.
[all turn to Private Spoon, who wasn't listening]
Spoon: What? You what?

or, possibly my favorite bit:
Joe: This is bone. This is so fucking bone.
Cooper: Anything else?
[not to be trusted] Megan: Yeah. What does 'bone' mean?
Spoon: Bone: Bollocks, naff.
Joe: Not. Very. Good.

It's been out on DVD for a couple of years now.

Someone (cutecouple maybe?) once told me that these Sci Fi Pictures "Originals" are largely failed pilots from other countries. But Dog Soldiers was an actual theatrical release? Anyone have any more info on where all this dren comes from?

I know that some are actually commissioned by the Sci-Fi channel. There was an article a while back that I read talking about how Sci-Fi makes about 20 films a year on el cheapo budgets, basically around a million dollars (some more, some less) a picture.

It was a New York Times article - I posted on it a couple of times. I might have said that to belsum. Though truth be told only a few are failed pilots of any kind; many of the others are B-movie material from the beginning.

Edit: NYT article, from July 10 2005, reprint, no reg. required. I think I misread it before - the total production cost for each seems to be $1-2 million, the broadcast cost to Sci-Fi seems to be something like $750,000 per, and the remaining production costs are made up in international and DVD sales.

That they have schlock is fine by me if it makes them money.