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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

New Sci Fi stuff

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13:01 / 04.04.02

Quotes from here

Hammer said the impending takeover of Sci Fi Channel by Vivendi Universal has already paid dividends with "Battlestar Galactica," which, Hammer said, is "one of Universal's library assets that we'll be able to re-imagine in miniseries form."

Other miniseries in the works are "Myst," based on the CD-ROM adventure game (from Columbia TriStar TV); "The Forever War," based on Joe Haldeman's futuristic novel (from Alliance Atlantis); "The Chronicles of Amber," derived from the 10-volume epic written by Roger Zelazny (from Tom Patricia's Patriarch Pictures); and "On the Seventh Day," about a corrupt world government in 2850 A.D. (from USA Cable Entertainment).

and

"Tripping the Rift" will be Sci Fi's first animated series. Produced by Cine Groupe and Film Roman, the show is about a misfit group of cabinmates aboard a spaceship. Created by Chuck Austen and Chris Moeller, the series "will have the kind of edgy feel that makes 'South Park' a hit on Comedy Central," said Hammer.

Sci Fi Channel is expecting a strong fourth quarter, said Hammer, because, in addition to all of its originals, the network will start running two high-visibility reruns series: "The X Files," from 20th TV, and "Stargate: SG-1," from MGM TV

Hmm, might just have to remember what channel sci fi is again.

Thoughts?

13:50 / 04.04.02

Farscape, Season Four - often cheesy, but somehow it keeps me going back. I think it's the guy who's the cross between Mr. Toad of Toad Hall and Niccolo Machiavelli. And my morbid fascination with the fact that most of the extras are Maoris. Maoris!!!
Lexx - This show is soooo bad, but in a kind of fun way. Great to smoke pot to.

I thought SF's version of Dune was a bit crap. Very pretty, but the actors might as well have been basswood cutouts. I don't want them to do Chronicles in Amber; I bloody well liked that book - or at least the first five bits.

15:41 / 04.04.02

Can we get something clear?

Battlestar Galactica == Shitty Star Wars.

Now I _know_ there's the whole future/a long time ago, endless questing/single-minded quest thing, but that's the point. Galactica is a crap TV rendition of Star Wars.

And 99 times out of 100, you can't make crap old things better.

15:42 / 04.04.02

A mini-series based on Amber? That sounds cool, but it'll probably end up being a hokey swords and sorcery fantasy thing with lots of mighty-thewed warriors and women with large heaving bosoms. If/when it comes out, I'll probably watch it in the same way I'd watch a train wreck; out of morbid curiosity.

Myst? What genius thought a show could be made out of that steaming pile of monkey shit? The "game", and I use the word game loosely here, was nothing more than an interactive slideshow, there was no plot. You can't make a show about a game with no plot. Gah! The unfortunate thing is the fans of the game will watch the show, it'll get ratings, and they'll make one based on Riven.

Don't know anything about the Forever War though.

Reruns? What about Blake's 7? Sci-fi has the rights. THe X-files is crap and if you want X-files reruns, you can go watch F/X.

Ooooh....South Park in space. I will once again watch it out of morbid curiosity.

16:19 / 04.04.02

Um, the Myst thing is based on the entire game series. And most figure the books will probably figure in somehow to. I also remember being kind of intrigued by the story for Myst. May be you just missed the point.

16:56 / 04.04.02

Did you know that the underlying narrative of Battlestar Glaxtica is based on the Mormon text? Strange huh. Can't remenber where I picked that up from, but its to do with the tribes of man, the hero events and obstacles that they face, heading to the Holy Land, Earth.

17:33 / 04.04.02

Hey - let's not say anything about monkey shit that can't be taken back.

Battlestar Gallatica? I can't see it getting better. The laws of plot thermodynamics agree with me on this one. I can already see the revoltingly fake-attractive people who'll be the cast...ick...and the special effects that are supposed that resucitate the whole shebang. Must admit a certain degree of interest in the Book of Mormon connection.

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

18:01 / 04.04.02

-----Quote: swords and sorcery fantasy thing with lots of mighty-thewed warriors and women with large heaving bosoms-----

i kinda read amber that way, not saying it was bad, but had a bit of the old heaving bosom/sword and sorcery appeal

21:08 / 04.04.02

Yeah, Amber did have that whole heaving bosom/swords and sorcery thing going, but it wasn't as bad as the Gor books.

As for Myst, I'm sure I did miss the point. I never bothered playing the game after seeing that it was all style and no substance.

Battlestar Galactica was great, at least the episodes I saw. Why do people insist on messing with classics?

Our Lady of The Two Towers

08:25 / 05.04.02

I just want to clarify, is the first message about the rights to show the existing episodes of BG or about making new ones, because that was in a mess already. And I was surprised when I watched it a year ago how there are arc-y elements in there, and yes, a lot of it is shit (especially when Apollo and Starbuck smuggle themselves into the supposedly impreganble Cyclon Death Ship thing and blow it up with ridiculous ease) but then there are some good bits, like Patrick Macnee.

But Galactica 1980 or whatever it's called is an abomination.

In defense of Dune, at least it sticks to the book, unlike a certain Lynch adaptation I could mention.

13:54 / 05.04.02

I loved the Amber books. The idea that this plane of reality is just a shadow of the *real* world was way cool (and you could get there just by following the *pattern* - I loved that). And the guy importing harmless chemicals from one shadow to make explosives in another, that was cool too.

Lexx - I saw that in a hotel room in London. Never thought I'd see that over here. Totally bizarre.

gentleman loser

23:25 / 09.04.02

grant said:

Lexx - I saw that in a hotel room in London. Never thought I'd see that over here. Totally bizarre.

I'm really starting to dig Lexx because it's just completely bizarre and I can't figure out the show to save my life. It's not quite scifi, fantasy, horror or parody. It's cheesy weirdness, almost Dadaist. The chess game ep. from a few weeks ago was probably the most interesting live action thing I've seen on TV in years.

As for a Forever War adaptation, I'm veeeery nervous for the following reasons:

The strong antiwar theme is sure to be watered down post 9/11.

It has lots of sex and graphic violence which will no doubt be toned down for U.S. TV consumption.

There is a plot device involving homosexuality that will no doubt be erased completely.

*SPOILER*

In the novel, spaceships travel at relativistic speeds, hence the protagonist lives through a few campaigns while Earth ages centuries (hence the title). In Haldeman's future, everyone's gay (eventually)! The U.N. initially encourages it for birth control reasons, which over time leads to a cultural standard. This causes some problems for our straight protagonist. He's considered a maladjusted freak by his subordinates, who were raised in his far future, relatively speaking. It's an interesting plot twist that will no doubt be removed for cable network TV.

gentleman loser

23:41 / 09.04.02

Shit, I used the phrase "no doubt" three times in that post. There's nothing like a good gin buzz to make one look like a complete moron!

Forgive me! I hate to look stupid. . .

13:51 / 10.04.02

One can always hope SciFi will grow a pair and air the thing with the spirit intact. One of the jobs of science fiction is to examine this sort of stuff, maaaan.

17:32 / 12.04.02

Desperate need of geek info....

Having been confined to my apartment, I've gotten hooked on DLed copies of Farscape - best cheese out there, and the muppets rock. Am currently perched on the end of the season 3 cliff-hanger...when does season 4 begin for the US? and what day/time of the week? Anyone?

17:58 / 12.04.02

The beginning of June. Not sure 'bout the exact date.

20:03 / 12.04.02

I LOVED Amber (the 1st 5, that is. I try not to count the rest). It was like a big puzzle, as everything in it was a reference to something mythological or occulty. And it was a pulp adventure on top of it.

I'd watch the mini, I'd tape it religiously even. And then I'd whine and complain like a bitch about how they didn't get any of it right, and how the cheezy digital effects ruin the feel. Aah well.

And I liked Lynch's Dune, even if it wasn't Herbert's.

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

12:18 / 13.04.02

after FX grew the biggest brass balls ever with The Shield there is a chance people will start to remember--"oh yeah, were CABLE, people need to pay to watch us so they cant complain if we offend them, because they could always stop paying for it"
so there is a hope for a gay future...or something...

02:08 / 14.04.02

Anyone know if they're going to be turning the Bab5:Legend of The Rangers into a show or not?

02:16 / 14.04.02

I can't find any information. Frankly, I'd rather they continued with Crusade since it was shaping up to be realy interesting. It would also give people some extra information about "The Hand" since it was supposed to be revealed that the Technomages were a part of the Hand or something like that.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

02:31 / 14.04.02

Sadly, since they don't have new episodes of MST3K, I find I just couldn't care less about the Sci Fi channel. Besides, didn't they spend an obscene amount of money of X-Files re-runs that have been beaten into the ground by FX?

11:42 / 14.04.02

Maybe I'm getting old and tired but SF (on TV) feels pretty stale to me at the mo.

I was reading an interview the other day where Farscape was described as the best current SF. Now its really grown on me since the start, but I'm not proud to like it. The worst thing is that it really is top of the heap. For shame.

I used to love Lexx, but that was when I saw a really curious soft porn/ biological horror mix with plots that could be made sufficiently believable after a long drag on my jay. Not to mention the top luvvies in series one. The last series I watched (fire and ice) was poor and though I was in denial for ages, I have to admit I found it dull.

As for old faves, I never really liked the X files and star trek leaves me pretty cold due to endless repetition (I only watch it for the borg queen or a good 7of9 episode now). Its sad that there is so much out there that I want to like, but can't. - Actually, I'm a pretty solid Red Dwarf, Blakes's 7 type of bloke. This was a bit of a clincher in my first date with my g/f.

But I'm stuck here in a backwater called the UK. Since you guys in the US get everything 20000000000000000000 years before us, tell me what there is to look forward to, that you can actually vouch for. Please?

11:49 / 14.04.02

There's absolutely nothing to look forward to. Nothing on TV has really made me sit up and go "wow, this is a great show". Well, nothing sci-fi anyway. Alias is really quite interesting though. Its got everything a good spy show needs; a hot chick, intrigue, the cia, nifty gadgets, and cliffhanger endings.

02:51 / 15.04.02

Yeah it seems sci-fi is real stale on tv..the guys who did the Dune miniseries are working on the sequel last I heard and Josh Wheadon (Buffy, Angel) is working on a sci-fi series called Firefly...besides that..nothing.

06:54 / 15.04.02

I want to make something very clear. Starbuck was hot - therefore Battlestar Gallactica was not a complete waste of time.

06:55 / 15.04.02

Sigh.

16:58 / 15.04.02

I don't really watch it. But, the episodes (2 or 3 in the last year or two) of Stargate SG1 that I caught seemed kinda fun. Can't remember any specifics, but I do remember seeing some PKD influence in the last few episodes.

Is the whole series good, or am I just really lucky with reruns of this show?

Nothing ground breaking, but since I always seem to find it on lazy Sunday afternoons, it fits it's purpose well.

17:04 / 15.04.02

I haven't seen too many episodes of SG1, but I thought the ones I saw were pretty good. The show has MacGyver. You can't go wrong with MacGyver.

20:54 / 15.04.02

SG1 isnt bad...its not the greatest. It just doestn have the intensity it should..everything just seems so hohum another day at the office.

21:29 / 15.04.02

Television science fiction is really kind of disappointing...no one's really doing anything that perks the eyebrows.

Since I associate decent scifi with the British - the Prisoner, the show with Emma Peal that I am suddenly unable to remember the name of [twacks skull to no avail], Red Dwarf - so basically I'm looking your way accusitively....

SG-1 is spotty in its overall performance. Some episodes are quite good, others go limp very quickly. I haven't seen enough, or paid enough attention, to cite particular episodes or seasons.

In fact, just about the only thing I'd endorse as enjoyable, if only in a fluffy-cheese fashion, would be Farscape. Not a work of genius, with some obvious plotline loans from earlier scifi series in various episodes, but a healthy sense of humor, some moments of cleverness of the kind that makes one grin, and just enough soap melodrama to keep one interested in a chagrinned fashion. If anything, the design of some of the more complicated aliens - all puppetry done by Henson's Creature Factory - is worth a look for the sheer mechanical wonder, independent of any other interest in the show.

21:30 / 15.04.02

Emma Peel? Isn't she from the Avengers?

21:33 / 15.04.02

Tom - okay, Starbuck was hot...but the haircut...the haircut....

Lurid - From my point 2x10^6 years in TV future, I can tell you there's nuttin to jump up and down about.

21:35 / 15.04.02

THANK YOU, Trijhaos!

00:26 / 16.04.02

I love old british sf, but there isn't very much of it. I think that the "usual" rate is to commission an sf series about once a decade, but I think that there's been a bit of a lull recently.....unless you count the remake of randall and hopkirk (deceased), which you shouldn't.

17:19 / 16.04.02

Yes, but last I heard the BBC is working on the Ripper series.

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