# Sci Fi TV; What else can we recycle?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 22, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457 "2007-08-22T03:31:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/1 "2007-08-22T03:31:55Z")
The Sci Fi Channel did this brillantly with _Battlestar Gallactica_. Take the known property and boil it down. Remove the cheese. And what do you get? An exceptional drama about humanity hanging by it’s fingertips.
Now boil _Flash Gordon_ down. Remove the cheese. And what do you get? A dull tale about a moma’s boy’s struggle against Ming the Mildly Distempered.
_Flash_ just isn’t fertile enough ground to make a show around. But what can be reinvinted? What should be the next _Battlestar Gallactica_?
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### Author:  [@Santos\_L\_Halper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santos_L_Halper)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/2 "2007-08-22T03:40:03Z")
[It’s About Time](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059997/)?
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### Author:  [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/3 "2007-08-22T03:53:49Z")
[QUOTE=A Monkey With a Gun]
The Sci Fi Channel did this brillantly with _Battlestar Gallactica_. Take the known property and boil it down. Remove the cheese. And what do you get? An exceptional drama about humanity hanging by it’s fingertips.
Now boil _Flash Gordon_ down. Remove the cheese. And what do you get? A dull tale about a moma’s boy’s struggle against Ming the Mildly Distempered.
_Flash_ just isn’t fertile enough ground to make a show around. But what can be reinvinted? What should be the next _Battlestar Gallactica_?
[/QUOTE]
I disagree with your premise. They did not “boil flash down.” They clearly did not understand the appeal of the original series which is thrilling wonder science stories. It is a genre that was reinvented brilliantly in the 1970s by a certain George Lucas. There’s a reason for that type scrolling into the distance at the beginning of each movie …
That said, they pretty much have rurnt Flash Gordon for the time being, barring unforeseen developments.
Another property that could be recycled would be “John Carter of Mars.” The nice thing about it is, no “boiling it down” necessary. Just by staying true to the original story, you could seem very original. I doubt if a whole lot of people have actually read the original novels, and I don’t think it’s ever been made into a movie or a TV series. So it would all seem new to most. Best of all, the early novels are more than 75 years old. Public domain. Very cheap. Very SciFi in short.
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/4 "2007-08-22T03:54:41Z")
_Plan 10 From Outer Space: The Series_
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### Author:  [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/5 "2007-08-22T04:04:33Z")
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip]
_Plan 10 From Outer Space: The Series_
[/QUOTE]
No, that’s gonna need a prequel. “Plan 7 From Outer Space: The Begining”
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### Author:  [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/6 "2007-08-22T04:14:17Z")
Said it before, and I’ll say it again. The world needs a new _ **Greatest American Hero** _.
I also wouldn’t mind seeing a reimagined _ **Buck Rogers** _. The premise of the 70’s series was awesome…until the third episode. At the end of the first episode, Buck was recruited because he was an unknown element in the 25th century, a century in which everything was quantified and his unique status would make him an ideal spy. Second episode kinda used it, and then he went off on adventures with Gary Coleman and Isaac Asimov’s great great great great grandson. Man, what a waste.
Although nothing wrong with Erin Grey…
And \*\*\*Flash Gordon \* \*\* can be made almost watchable if they’d only add the Queen music. I mean, come on, they already bought the rights to play it for the commercials…would it kill them to get some hardcore “Flash! Ah-ah!” to get the blood pumping at the start?
But speaking of reimaginings, I’m getting truly excited about _ **Tin Man** _.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/7 "2007-08-22T04:22:53Z")
A dark, edgy [Small Wonder](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088610/). Jamie, after years of guilt over his family’s explotiation of Vicky, has fallen victim to a bad drug habit and is terrified of real girls - but this doesn’t keep him from using Vicky himself. Harriet, now a lawyer, tries to keep him out of jail in a misguided attempt to get the boy next door; the best she can hope for is to seduce him when he’s high, but he never remembers their encounters which make them empty for her. Vicky, of course, is working cons to support Jamie’s crack habit, because no one suspects a child of stealing from them.
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/8 "2007-08-22T04:42:52Z")
The original premise of **Knight Rider** was largely wasted: a dying billionaire with access to DARPA-level technology saves a man from death at the hands of the Powers That Be and recruits him to be a sort of vigilante James Bond, bringing to justice those whose power and connections put them beyond the reach of the law. Halfway through the first season though, Michael Knight had sunk to targeting smugglers and toxic waste dumpers. :rolleyes:
If I were writing the remake, I’d be truer to the original premise, possibly having Knight fighting a war against a SPECTRE-type cabal. Instead of KITT being comic relief, I’d have him be a quasi-sentient AI program just beginning to form it’s own personality and sense of self. The car itself wouldn’t be magically invulnerable but would be like Bond’s gimmick-filled cars.
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/9 "2007-08-22T05:04:20Z")
The SciFi channel should remake **V**. Human looking aliens who are skilled in middle management could come to Earth to steal our water. :dubious:
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### Author:  [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/10 "2007-08-22T05:09:30Z")
David Eick, one of the producers of the new _Battlestar Galactica,_ is bringing back _Bionic Woman_ this fall for NBC. I expected the OP to mention it, but since it didn’t I figured I’d throw it out.
Not science fiction, but I’d bring back _Hogan’s Heroes,_ retitled _Hassan’s Heroes_ and set in Guantanamo.
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### Author:  [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/11 "2007-08-22T05:11:02Z")
The _original_ premise of Knight Rider was a joke about a show called “The Man of Six Words”, about a man who talked and acted very little, with the car doing all the rest. Luckily they at least added quite a bit to that, though your concept sounds pretty interesting.
I’d love to see the cast of Heroes get into some far-fetched adventures à la **The Misfits of Science**.
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### Author:  [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/12 "2007-08-22T05:48:25Z")
**ArizonaTeach** , amen. Amen to everything. But just for shits and giggles, imagine Freddy Mercury singing “A Wing and a Prayer”.
That’d kick ass wouldn’t it?
And I can’t wait for _ **Tin Man** _. Oz is some very fertile ground to make a show around.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/13 "2007-08-22T08:24:12Z")
> [@](#):
>
> The SciFi channel should remake V. Human looking aliens who are skilled in middle management could come to Earth to steal our water.
I was going to make this same suggestion. Make it a realistic “life on occupied Earth” drama - alien rulers, human underground, resistance vs collaboration, terrorism vs reprisals, etc.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/14 "2007-08-22T08:59:33Z")
**Blakes 7**
Some may argue that _Firefly_ was already an attempt to do a remake of this classic 70s British show, however.
**Mr Merlin**
I’m not sure if anyone even remembers this show, but the idea of a wizard in modern times training an apprentice could be handled a lot better than it was originally.
**The Invisible Man**
I’m not sure how to best improve it, but it’s worth a try.
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### Author:  [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/15 "2007-08-22T13:45:50Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo]
I was going to make this same suggestion. Make it a realistic “life on occupied Earth” drama - alien rulers, human underground, resistance vs collaboration, terrorism vs reprisals, etc.
[/QUOTE]
They did this with the “ **War of the Worlds** ” series that was on in the mid-late 90’s - at the beginning, it was about the attempts to thwart the invasion, then I missed a few and came back to an occupied version of it (with Adrian Paul) - our local stations really screwed up the airtimes - but what I saw of it it was an excellent show.
I agree that **Tin Man** looks real good - which means its likely doomed.
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### Author:  [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/16 "2007-08-22T14:09:54Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad **The Invisible Man**
I’m not sure how to best improve it, but it’s worth a try.[/QUOTE]
It’s funny that you would mention that, because they already did it. [The Invisible Man (2000-2002)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0220238/). The show was actually pretty good, too. They killed it before its time, though.
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### Author:  [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/17 "2007-08-22T14:10:03Z")
How about [Space: 1999](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072564/) (Changing the year, of course)?
or
[UFO](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063962/)?
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/18 "2007-08-22T14:14:23Z")
[QUOTE=GuanoLad]
**The Invisible Man**
I’m not sure how to best improve it, but it’s worth a try.
[/QUOTE]
I just can’t see that.
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/19 "2007-08-22T14:27:24Z")
[QUOTE=simster]
I agree that **Tin Man** looks real good - which means its likely doomed.
[/QUOTE]
“Tin Man” is a mini-series, so unless they yank it after the first ep they’d be hard-pressed to doom it.
I’ve thought for a long while that a new Bionic series would be a good thing. I liked the originals but they suffer from 70s pacing and effects. There is a new Bionic Woman series coming this fall, and Logo is putting together something called, I shit you not, “The Gayonic Man” which is going to be _wretched_. I had envisioned, though, more of a team series with a small group of bionic agents.
Now I’m trying to decide whether a remake of “Voyagers!” would be a good thing.
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### Author:  [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)
#### Post date: [August 22, 2007, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-tv-what-else-can-we-recycle/416457/20 "2007-08-22T14:33:40Z")
[QUOTE=Fiver]
David Eick, one of the producers of the new _Battlestar Galactica,_ is bringing back _Bionic Woman_ this fall for NBC. I expected the OP to mention it, but since it didn’t I figured I’d throw it out.
[/QUOTE]
A friend of mine is a television critic, and has seen the pilot. He says that _The Bionic Woman_ is _Batttlestar Galatica_-good.
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