# SciFi... er... Syfy is out of ideas
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 23, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523 "2009-03-23T23:09:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/1 "2009-03-23T23:09:37Z")
[Syfy has ordered three new miniseries](http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/03/sci-fi-phantom-riverworld-alice.html) and things do not look good.
A darker and edgier Alice in Wonderland. Yeah, that would have been fresh and exciting… in 1940. Even if Tim Burton wasn’t doing the exact same thing there have been so many darker and edgier versions of Alice at this point that I can’t begin to count them all (I know of more than a dozen and I’m positive I’m not aware of them all). Honestly a straight adaptation at this point would be edgier.
Then there’s their big hope: Riverworld. You know, the exact same Riverworld that they’ve already adapted as a horrible miniseries. I guess doing that once wasn’t enough.
And then there’s the Phantom and when the most creative thing being offered is a nearly forgotten comic strip character that is completely out of touch with modern sensibilities it’s a bad sign. It’s not impossible to adapt the Phantom well but it’ll be an uphill struggle to make him work for a mass audience. Pulp jungle adventures haven’t been popular since the sixties and there’s even greater obstacles to it now.
So to recap: doing the exact same thing as everyone else, remaking something they’ve already failed at once, and a comic strip hero rooted in European imperialism in Africa.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/2 "2009-03-23T23:34:26Z")
Wow, I’m excited. They’re going to adapt a fairytale to make it darker and edgier for adults, and if **Tin Man** is any blueprint of what they probably do in the attempt, make it so boring you’ll cry. And then they’re going to adapt a comic whose previous adaptation is the only movie I’ve fallen asleep during. Good times.
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### Author:  [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)
#### Post date: [March 23, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/3 "2009-03-23T23:50:50Z")
I saw the name “Halmi” and didn’t have to read any further. I’d rather watch Mansquito.
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### Author:  [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/4 "2009-03-24T00:06:29Z")
I figured that when they changed their name.
Granted, I’m also still pissed over their Douchey move of forcing people who miss a show to wait 8 days to watch it on the internet(you know, 1 day after the next episode has aired).
But it’s okay. Now that BSG is over, I have no reason to ever watch SciFi Again.
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/5 "2009-03-24T00:24:39Z")
> [@HPL](#):
>
> …But it’s okay. Now that BSG is over, I have no reason to ever watch SciFi Again…
Well there’s still the **Battlestar Galactica: the Plan** which is the events leading up to the miniseries from the Cylon perspective.
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### Author:  [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/6 "2009-03-24T00:29:20Z")
And Eureka comes back in July.
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### Author:  [@The\_Batman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Batman)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/7 "2009-03-24T00:32:23Z")
I don’t have much hope for The Plan and Caprica. The first one is just blatant milking of a dead horse and the second sounds boring as hell. I mean, Battlestar Galactica with no cylons or battlestars? Pass.
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### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/8 "2009-03-24T00:58:50Z")
I was hoping the Alice mini-series would be American McGee’s Alice finally on the screen. But it doesn’t seem like that is the case. Looks like it’s never going to happen. Bah.
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### Author:  [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/9 "2009-03-24T01:03:29Z")
Didn’t they already do a _Riverworld_ movie/pilot?
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### Author:  [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/10 "2009-03-24T01:05:39Z")
> [@Amp](#):
>
> Didn’t they already do a _Riverworld_ movie/pilot?
Psst…from the OP:
Then there’s their big hope: Riverworld. You know, the exact same Riverworld that they’ve already adapted as a horrible miniseries. I guess doing that once wasn’t enough.
-Joe
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### Author:  [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/11 "2009-03-24T01:12:09Z")
:smack:
Totally missed that.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/12 "2009-03-24T01:23:08Z")
You didn’t miss much. The plot from the original 1st book in the series was almost entirely dispensed with, the setting was completely FUBARed (horses!??), and they dropped Sir Richard Francis Burton, one of the most compelling historical figures of all time, in favor of some white-bread American astronaut. But reading between the lines it appears the telemovie from several years back will be dispensed with, and they’ll start from square one again, tho the “photojournalist” mentioned in the blurb didn’t exist in the novel (unless he’ll be PJF’s Marty Sue, Peter Jarius Frigate, which won’t work anyway because…oh the hell with it).
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### Author:  [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/13 "2009-03-24T05:54:08Z")
And isn’t Dr Who coming back this summer as well as Eureka?
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### Author:  [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/14 "2009-03-24T10:08:05Z")
> [@BaneSidhe](#):
>
> And isn’t Dr Who coming back this summer as well as Eureka?
It’s probably coming back to SciFi, but I couldn’t find the date. However, Primeval [http://www.scifi.com/primeval/](http://www.scifi.com/primeval/)will appear. Thus reversing _Who_’s pattern of premiering (in the USA) on SciFi, then going to BBCamerica.
I saw it on BBCamerica & was not impressed. But it might look better in the midst of SciFi’s creature features…
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### Author:  [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/15 "2009-03-24T14:37:17Z")
_Phantom_ _could_ be cool. The current comic book series is pretty cool and Phantom 2040 was awesome.
That said…
> [@](#):
>
> Sci Fi appreciates that the crusader doesn’t have superpowers and is more in the grounded vein of Iron Man and Batman. “It’s not a guy in purple tights,” Stern said.
That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence. I have no interest in some kind of grim 'n gritty, costume-less Phantom.
But if they get it right, it could be cool - guns blazing, lots of swashbuckling and derring-do. Hopefully they’ll set it in the present rather than making it a period piece.
And remember, the Phantom spends a lot of time in the city, too; he’s not confined to the jungle.
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [March 24, 2009, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scifi-er-syfy-is-out-of-ideas/490523/16 "2009-03-24T14:48:24Z")
Be patient. A remake of “Battlestar Galactica” sounded like a lame idea at first, too, didn’t it?