WB is bringing it back. Again. They killed Angel to make room for it.
And last I heard, they didn’t even pick up the series after all.
No. That’s NOT it. That’s one of those remakes. I want the original, with Jonathan Frid, David Selby, and Kate Jackson.
The original, with his goofy cheesiness, it’s cheap sets and flies landing on actor’s faces!
I think Sci-Fi went totally crazy after Bonnie Hammer took over. They cancelled Farscape and First Wave and have taken the low road of “sci-fi for the masses”.
I liked Children of Dune, but that was the last thing I watched.
Miller writes:
> How do they define people who read a lot of science fiction, but don’t hang out
> at science fiction conventions?
They call them “science fiction readers.”
I suddenly feel obligated to link to this heirarchy chart.
I don’t understand. You mean to say that if I read a lot of science fiction - let’s say every day - that if I can quote verbatim from the greats, that if I have every issue of Analog neatly filed in boxes in my basement, that if I have a poster of Bob Heinlein on the ceiling above my bed, then I can’t call myself a fan unless I hang out at at science fiction conventions?
(None of the above applies to me, by the way.)
Sure, you’re a fan if yuou do it. The ones who just do TV and movies are media fans, an unimportant subgenre of fandom generally.
That depends. If the rest of his career involves him doing nothing more than stripping naked and posing, with no dialogue, I’m there!
Cheese Monster writes:
> You mean to say that if I read a lot of science fiction - let’s say every day - that
> if I can quote verbatim from the greats, that if I have every issue of Analog
> neatly filed in boxes in my basement, that if I have a poster of Bob Heinlein on
> the ceiling above my bed, then I can’t call myself a fan unless I hang out at at
> science fiction conventions?
I’m not sure. I’ve never heard of anyone who was that much into science fiction (and, please note, older science fiction, since you’re talking about Analog and Heinlein) without getting into socializing with fans. I suppose it’s possible to get into fandom these days just by spending a lot of time posting to the right mailing lists and message boards, just as it was possible to get into fandom in the old days by spending a lot of time writing letters to the right apas and fanzines. I think the distinction is that you have to spend a lot of time socializing with fans, regardless of whether that time is spent IRL or virtually.
That was my point. I have this fantasy where I get to introduce Harlan at a banquet or a panel discussion or something. I introduce him as “Harlan Ellison, the world-famous sci-fi writer . . .” – Harlan turns and glares at me – “best known as the creative genius behind the hit TV series Starlost!” Harlan lurches out of his chair and I run for my life.
At this point in the fantasy I usually come to orgasm.
Made it up. Actually, I think the preferred spelling is “ePha’annes.” More or less. My keyboard can’t handle the tildes, umlauts and accents graves.
Can someone fill me in on this story? I don’t read Starlog or whatever venue would have covered a changing of the guard at the Sci-Fi Channel. Who is this Bonnie Hammer? What is her background? Who preceded her?
Barry Diller was the head of programming when he picked MST3K up. He was shortly replaced by Bonnie “That F’ing B*tch” Hammer, who was a complete jerk about the show (jacking the timeslot around, etc.)
What really killed it? Restricting them to “sci-fi/fantasy” movies only. It was season 10 before they changed that, and it was too little too late. Well, that and losing Trace (although Bill Corbett did a yeoman’s job replacing him).
Sci-Fi Channel, as a concept, should be fantastic. There’s so much material that could be done, both in terms of new productions and reruns. However, it’s so far gone that when my cable company added it to basic cable the other day, I barely noticed.
Does anybody have any idea how the channel could be saved? For instance, if enough fans wrote in demanding Bonnie Hammer’s resignation and suicide, would that make a difference?
BrainGlutton writes:
> Does anybody have any idea how the channel could be saved?
We could buy the channel ourselves and fix it. And that’s about the only way it could be changed. We’re nothing to them. All the SDMB posters are a drop in the bucket to their audiences. All the “science fiction fans” (in the sense I’ve been using the term) are a drop in the bucket to their audiences.
Whenever a niche cable channel comes along, people love it because it caters to whatever niche they are in.
I remember when Dish Network added The Game Show Network. Lots of old B&W games shows. Cheesy, but good fun. One of my favorites was old 70’s eps of the Price Is Right. It was fun to watch people get excited about winning a 1977 Chevrolet Vega station wagon.
Then the channel started gaining in popularity and noe they’re GSN. The old games shows are gone for the most part and they are concentrating on new shows. The channel is just a shadow of its former self.
Hell, I bought the satellite dish just to get the Sci-Fi Channel because I didn’t want to miss Mystery Science Theater 3000! In the seven years since then, the channel has gone to hell. Crossing Over with John Edwards IS fiction, but not very “scientific”. It certainly doesn’t belong on the channel (is it still on?).
Ulitimately, it’s a business and if it doesn’t make money, out it goes.
Does your definition of “fan” require the person to actually consume any science fiction in any form?
Well, it has often been said that if SF were to vanish entirely, fandom could get along quite happily without it.
Obviously this is not true, but it exaggerates a real point: that the culture of SF fandom has long since reached a point where it is a self-sustaining social phenomenon quite apart from, although not independent of, the phenomenon of SF as a literary and entertainment genre.