by: Marc Bernardin
From: Entertainment Weekly’s Pop Watch Blog
Dearest SCI FI,
Why are you not way more awesome?
Don’t get me wrong, when you’re good—like with Battlestar Galactica or Eureka (and I’ll even give you credit for Doctor who, despite that being a BBC show you just imported)—you’re a phenomenal destination network. But let’s be honest here, there’s not a lot of “good” on your schedule. The Stargate franchise is stale, Flash Gordon (left) is a derisible, stillborn remake, and ECW Wrestling is…wrestling! (And I swore an oath never to speak of Who Wants to Be a Superhero again.)
The thing that infuriates me is that you have so much potential. We’re living in the Age of the Geek, where pop culture has finally come around to our way of thinking. Where the most-watched shows on TV are geek-nip like Heroes, Lost, and Bionic Woman; where we buzz about movies like Pan’s Labyrinth, Spider-Man, I Am Legend, and Iron Man. The audience could not be more primed for this material, so why are you offering them Ghost Hunters International and crappy “original movies” like Mansquito?
Again, why aren’t you more awesome? After the jump, some friendly advice.
Why aren’t you adapting more classic sci-fi texts—like you did with Dune—into miniseries events? (Ones that, hopefully, will fare better than Tin Man.) Where’s the Foundation saga, or Ender’s Game, or Footfall, or The Man in the High Castle, or The Forever War?
Why aren’t you engaging today’s premiere purveyors of genre material and giving them ten episodes to do whatever the hell they want? I’d watch contained, BBC-style series from folks like Neil Gaiman, William Gibson, John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow, Warren Ellis, Charlie Huston, Neal Stephenson, or China Mieville. The names alone would attract viewers by the truckload. And even if what they produced were failures, they’d be interesting failures—marked by reaching too far, instead of not far enough.
Why don’t you try a daily sci-fi soap opera? Airing late at night, so people could actually be home to watch it—or DVR it. Why can’t the same kind of serial storytelling that’s worked for 50 years on shows like General Hospital be marshaled to create compelling science fiction? (Actually, I’ve got to give Evan Narcisse a tip of the hat for this one. Because I’m just that kind of bloke.)
Mark Harris was right when he said that science fiction needed to ditch the nostalgia if it’s going to reclaim its integrity. Lucky for those of us who love sci-fi that there’s a whole network devoted to it. I just want them to fulfill their mandate.
Imagine that. (No, seriously. Get to work imagining.)
You have to love the integrity, honesy and intelligence of the average sci-fi geek. This was a great letter.
While I think that there may be a more tactful way to put it, I tend to agree with this letter (Except about Stargate. I love Stargate Atlantis). There are a lot of things that I keep hoping the Sci-Fi channel will do, but they don’t happen. Yeah, I know they probably can’t afford to bring back Firefly, but I have to wonder why they can’t get a hold of better stories than they do.
Sci-Fi Channel has been lousy for years. I wish that Illusion On-Demand was a regular channel instead. It seems like they are trying to be what Sci-Fi Channel should be but isn’t.
I will give SFC a lot of thanks for airing Doctor Who, though.
That guy get’s uber kudos
I agree with everything except the dig against Stargate. I love Stargate. Its a childhood thing.
Stargate is stale?
I can’t say this any simpler, I totally agree with him on every level, and thought it from the day they openned up shop. When I first heard of the creation of the Sci-Fi Channel, I was distressed to see that they didn’t even show “Star Trek” episodes at the time. They consistantly show the worst of Science Fiction, making themselves into the equivalant of the horrible 50s nuclear movies that was just as embarrasing to SF authors back then. I’ve wanted to start my own SF channel forever, just to show people how much potential the idea really has. I watch NOTHING on the Sci-Fi Channel. The channel needs to be re-booted in the same way that comics are, and start over with a fresh batch of ideas.
Here here! I must say that I agree. SCIFI’s most dangerous night of television is only dangerous if you drive or operate heavy machinery. But, there’s nothing wrong with nostalgia. How about James Blish, Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven, or Norman Spinrad? A Ringworld mini-series must be made.
I hartly disagree about the Stargate series both SG1 and Atlantis. I to do like BSG and Eurika. I do enjoy Flash Gordon! Now for the rest of the drival on SciFi channel, Star trek Enterprize is good Wrestling sucks (least on SciFi) I haven’t been a fan in 39 years. Ghost Her’s looks like it should be the SciFi show on the travel channel. The “reality shows” Who wants to be a Super Hero?????? sucks really big time, even worst then Tripping the Rift. Why can’t they make a series on some of the Ideas brought forth by some of the real talent in SciFi IE. larry Niven, Ringworld I believe. Robert A Heinlein (I would love to see a series based on the lives and loves of Woodrow Wilson Smith AKA lasuras Long AKA the Howard Foundation Senior. How about James Blish with the flying cities and the spin dizzies. Or A. Betrum Chandler and his Rim World Sagas Commadore John Grimes. Any of these Authors would be mch better fair than Ghost Hunters, Wrestlin, and Who wants to be a Super Hero.Robert A heinlein’s time enough for Love, which was really one book, and as I remember at lst two Novels could be made without being too costly as generaly speaking not too many special effects would be needed. It probably would cost about what an early stargate SG1 would.
Sorry about this, but just to make myslf clear I DO LOVE THE STARGATE SG1 AND ATLANYIS ABOVE>
Let’s start small, Sciffy. Just bring us the great stuff already out there…Charlie Jade, Jekyll, All of Dr. Who, Babylon 5..
For these shows you only need dollars, not development talent.
Then you work on developing new stuff. But stay away from Heinlein. You have a long way to go before I’ll trust you with a Heinlein story. We don’t need a repeat of the “Starship Troopers” debacle. And the rule is, “You must read the book BEFORE you develop from its story line”.
If you don’t believe that there are good stories and good ideas out there, just google “sci fi”. The community is dripping with exceptional talent and dedicated geeks. Have you seen “New Voyages”? Have you listened to the stories on “Escape Pod”? Come on, Sciffy, you’re just not trying…