This Saturday at 9pm:
Frost Giant
What is ScyFy doing to us? Are they trying to achieve an Ed Wood status, or do they really think their viewers like this stuff? What’s next, wrestling?
Do you know how many 3-star movies I rented from Netflix actually turned out to be ScyFy crapfests? It’s annoying.
Oh, to have a real Science Fiction network…
Thank you all for listening.
And what’s with the recycled actors from other Scyfy series (defunct and not)?
There are a few gems, most notably Eureka . . . but overall, sometimes I think 24-hour Lost in Space reruns would be an improvement.
I don’t think I could stand that movie for 24 hours.
(I know you meant the series)
Sometimes these movies have slight highbrow pretensions-like the one I caught a few scenes of the other night-involved a cursed Christian artifact and a demon which was connected to it…somehow. Ended up being terribly boring vs. terribly cheesy (well the demon’s CGI was total crap at least).
I’ve never understood sci fi channel. There are so many great films from the 40’s, 50’s etc. that never seem to air. I much rather see a 1950’s B film than the garbage I see sci fi running. The new stuff is all gore and violence. They forgot the best sci fi uses suspense.
I’d prefer a station which aspired to Ed Wood status. What Ed lacked in professionalism, he made up for in SOUL!
I agree that Syfy (and what an abomination that name is) is a bit hit or miss. The hits are fairly solid, and the misses are … misses.
I’ve only started watching *Eureka *this season, and I like it a lot. I also like *Haven *and Warehouse 13. Those count as hits for me.
I’m not talking about the series there. With the exception of the aforementioned wrestling and that idiotic Ghost Hunters. Those are just pandering to the zombies.
I’m talking about the crappy CGI/acting/directing/editing/producing Saturday night movies they run. Like mentioned above, some seem like a good premise that might be worth a shot, but always end up two hours wasted.
What, does some one at SF have an old, beat up copy of the Monster Manual and picks one at random for this week’s offering?
Before SyFy got big and was a fledgling SciFi, they used to show all kinds of old TV series, sometimes every day for a week or so until the episodes were all shown. UFO, Buck (Wilma!), the original Outer Limits, etc. And they used to show crappy movies, but they were crappy movies that made it to the Theater! Hammer films, Full Moon Entertainment, the early Lions Gate.
…and the Wrestling. I hate pro wrestling so much, I watch it religiously on a Science Fiction channel once per week just to prove to myself how stupid it is.
Well, I have UFO and Lost In Space and Space: 1999, and Thunderbirds and Stingray on DVD, so I don’t need SyPhie. (That can be treated with penicillin, right?)
I’ve got an Aaton super-16, plenty of lights, DAT deck, and grip equipment. I say we get together, get one of the LawDopers to find a few hundred thou of funding, and make our own movie. It’s bound to be better than anything that channel can produce.
The biggest problem is that TPTB don’t care. Not one little bit. They send out mouthpieces to try to spin things, but lately they have stopped doing even that. They figure that as long as they have hits like Eureka and Warehouse 13, they can fill the rest of the week with dreck and they’ll still make a profit. The change seems to have come at the same time the network became part of NBC Universal.
There are so freaking many GOOD SF books that have never been made into a movie, that would be fantastically easy [especially with the current ability with CGI]
I would be willing to bet that if one had around 100 mil as a budget, you could crank out 10 good movies for the SF channel from books - keeping close to the book that would be great. I always wanted to make Who’s Afraid of Beowolf … [Wasp](Wasp by Eric Frank Russell) would also be interesting, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress would make a great miniseries.
Never heard of 'em.
See, the absolute crap they’ve been showing for the past several years have made me stop watching the channel. I don’t even check the listings for the possibility that there might be something good on.
Kill TV - read books. This solution has worked for me. 
Check out Season 1 of both series on DVD. They are quite funny, and quite good.
SyFy has figured out that there are people out there who will watch anything labeled as “sci-fi”… no matter how bad it is.
These are probably the same people who will automatically go to really crappy sci-fi and comic book movies, like Man-Thing, thereby guaranteeing enough box office on opening that further movies like that will be made.
While these people continue to watch SyFy, then crappy stuff like “Mansquito” or whatever will continue to get made. With the state of the CGI they’re using, and the Q-List actors, these movies are essentially free. But still draw in that guaranteed demographic for the ads. Why wouldn’t SyFy keep making them? – it’s a perfect setup!
Note: if you find yourself watching these SyFy movies, then you’re That Guy.
Yeah the movie are bad
but here is the catch…they are played weekend daytime and saturday evenings…
Oddly enough these get respectable ratings for a cable network for those time slots.
A network is there to make money…if it makes them money , why stop
Yeah, the sci-fi channel is crap now. So is the history channel and even Animal Planet sucks big time now.
I think Turner Classic Movies is the only cable channel beside the sports ones to keep true to the original ideal.
Yeah, TV mostly blows these days. Better to read.
Night of the Flumph
Demon, Type IV
Land of the Lamia
Rust Monsters vs. Detroit
Travel channel shows mostly shows about food but I guess most Americans are too fat to travel so that makes sense.