SciFi Channel Rants

Filing this one under Praise for a change, not because the episode was great, but simply because it's finally over. Don't get me started on Caprica or whatever that other spinoff is going to be.

True to form, the episode sucked. Adama leads a huge rescue mission to find Hara, the little girl who is somehow the key to human and Cylon survival. Many lives are lost, Galactica is now totally busted, but they managed to save the cheerleader, err, little girl.

They manage to find a NEW Earth with a primitive human culture already in place. Abandoning their technology, they decide to settle down to a nice primitive lifestyle, living in log cabins (did anyone see them bring hatchets along in their packs?) and hiking across the continents living off berries and what they can kill with pointy sticks.

Is it just me, or did none of these folks seem like the outdoors type? Yeah, sitting on a beach or on a scenic overlook sounds pretty nice, but after a few days when you realize the ration bars have run out and there's no food in sight, things are going to start sucking pretty quickly.

What happened with the primitives that were found? Did they breed with the new inhabitants, or did they coexist? The final scene implies that everyone alive now came from Hara, not the primitives, not the new arrival humans. Or was it Hara, the words only said Cylon mother and human father, maybe other offspring from this pairing were born, that led to the 'new' humans?

The first few seasons, we were told at the beginning of each episode, the Cylons have a plan. Funny how they seemed pretty clueless through most of the series, as far as I can tell their only plan was kill a bunch of humans and screw as many survivors as they could.

Towards the end of the series, it seemed that God was the one with the plan, not the Cylons, all the various signs from holy texts, prophesies, angels(?) guiding the way, etc. Seriously, what was the point of all that then? If God wanted Hara to get to the new earth, all he had to do was arrange for an FTL drive malfunction that stranded her there, and then just supernova everyone left. Problem solved.

Too many questions unanswered, the only satisfying thing is that I actually got my wish that I posted earlier. Ultimately, none of them survived. A happy ending, I suppose.

Posted by Jim at 1:29 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

The human train wreck continues. After last fall's 'final episodes' seemed to wrap up with the rag tag fleet finally reaching a burnt out Earth, we now have MORE final episodes as the human drama continues to deteriorate.

Seriously, there isn't a single character that I'd like to see survive, human or cylon. After seeing character flaws exposed and exploited week after week, I can't help but wonder if the universe would be better off without this whole bunch. Actually, I don't need to wonder. It would be.

Posted by Jim at 8:51 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Chalk another one up to the morons running the SciFi network. Apparently this was announced back in August, news first got to me just a few days ago. This was the last new show that I've been watching on SciFi, next to the Degree show, formerly known as Eureka.

Just when the show was starting to get interesting, with an offshoot of the Asgard race showing up, the Wraith on the ropes, it looked like things were being set up for another season or two of regular conflict and exploration in this new galaxy that we'd barely begun to explore.

Bummer.

Posted by Jim at 11:08 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Not a rant, not a rave, just something that I've been digging for and finally tracked down. Stargate SG1 has, in several episodes and the Ark of Truth movie used a tabletop microphone during interrogations, a small unit with two wire stands that look sort of like antennas. Always struck me as cool, and I've been trying (not terribly hard) to figure out who makes it.

Turns out the unit is a Sony M-100MC, a microcassette model first introduced in 1998. Kind of a let down, not even offering digital recording or other high tech features.

Posted by Jim at 3:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I'm totally fed up with this season of Eureka and the overly placed Degree products in each episode. I have no problems with the commercials that run, but the Degree logo and product placement within the show is totally overdone, the way the camera lingers on the product, conspicuous placement of products (who keeps deodorant sitting on their desk at work?), the corporate logo on shipping containers, etc. And now show characters are doing ads as well during the commercial breaks.

I've never cared for their brand myself, but other family members use them from time to time, but not anymore, I'm refusing to buy their brand any longer, all their over-advertising has done is burn me out on the brand. Kind of ironic that a product to keep someone cool has me so hot under the collar...

Posted by Jim at 9:05 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I was so happy a while back when this show stopped running on SciFi, but now we have another lame season to look forward to, of yet another show that has absolutely nothing to do with science fiction.

I could probably rant further if I'd bothered to watch an episode or two, but I have no interest in watching lame programming.

Posted by Jim at 6:38 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

This is one of my favorite shows, and I'm very happy that a new season is finally here. I'm a bit disturbed at the blatant plugs for Degree deodorant, and don't care for the 'Made in Eureka' promos for the show that run throughout the day that don't really have anything to do with the series, but the show itself I consider to be some of the better programming available on TV currently. I find SciFi's marketing of the show to be childish and degrading, so what might have been a word of praise, is instead a rant against the network again underestimating the intelligence of their audience.

Posted by Jim at 10:03 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

I'd say 'What the frak', but that phrase was old back in the '70's...

SciFi had this big thing that this was going to be Galactica's final season, and I was rather looking forward to the show being over. The snails pace at which the plot moved was agonizing, but that's probably mainly because I cared so little for the human drama that unfolded each week, and even more for most of the characters in the show. Sure, I wanted humanity to survive, but frankly most of the humans on the show were pretty pathetic, you secretly ended up rooting for the Cylons.

Anyway, big press about 2008 being the final season, nothing exciting about the commercials for coming episodes, nothing at all about a countdown to the final epidodes, then suddenly, they've found earth, they have an alliance with the Cylons, and everyone's pissed because the planet they found is a wasteland. Laughed my ass off.

As finale's go, this one was, I'm sure, a huge letdown for fans. Maybe they'll go do a DVD or something now, who knows. At least now they've got a prime spot for some new show, or maybe just run old Farscape episodes. But that would be too much to hope for...

Posted by Jim at 10:41 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Hmmm, the TV Guide listing classifies this flick as Drama/Action/Other. Yup, no SciFi to be found there.

I found the original version of this flick to be quite entertaining, and laughed my ass off through most of the last half of the movie, but this 'sequel' just plain sucks.

Posted by Jim at 10:54 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

My sister in law enjoys this show, which doesn't surprise me, as she believes that her house is actually haunted. Anyway, SciFi Channel continues to have this idea that shows dealing with the paranormal are in some way related to Science Fiction.

This still just drives me totally nuts... I really wish their parent company would stop pushing all this other crap onto SciFi, and just start up another network to deal with this fluff.

Posted by Jim at 9:33 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Just finished watching the final episode... Not my personal favorite, but right now it's definitely in the top 10, and is one of those that I think will grow on me over time.

I especially loved the musical interlude in the middle, something the show hadn't done before, it worked well, and I'd have liked to have seen something along those lines more often. It really helped stitch the clips together and give a real sense of time passing, the bonds between the team members, etc. The lack of dialog, just watching through the windows, worked quite well.

Posted by Jim at 10:23 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

ECW, Extreme Championship Wrestling, is one of the more ill suited bits of programming on SciFi lately. It ranks right up there with John Edwards' lame show where he tried to convince folks that he could speak with the dead, and is probably only slightly worse than Ghosthunters.

I've always considered science fiction to be generally targeted at a more intelligent audience than other fare, though this tends to be more the case in printed works rather than what makes it into theaters or onto television. Wrestling, to me, has always seemed to be targeted at the opposite extreme, and how it has managed to find a home on the SciFi network continues to elude me.

Continue reading "ECW = lame programming" »

Posted by Jim at 8:25 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Yawn. More lame programming, mutant animals, and dry story lines. The 'SciFi Original' label is turning into more of a warning label, it seems...

Posted by Jim at 6:30 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Apparently the term 'SciFi' doesn't have the same meaning to the network folks as those of us elsewhere, or we wouldn't be treated, and by treated I of course mean quite the opposite, to Horror and Fantasy programming, two entirely separate genres which do not necessarily have an overlapping demographic of fans.

At least they aren't showing ECW as much lately...

Posted by Jim at 9:15 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

SciFi's Battlestar Galactica sucks. This fact may come as a surprise to some, considering the rave reviews that the show seems to be receiving. Of course, these rave reviews are coming from the same lowbrow reviewers that enjoy American Idol and are amazed at the plot twists on the latest Survivor episode.

I could write a lengthy diatribe for each epidode, but that would be giving the show more attention that it deserves. Instead, I'll pick several of my top nits, in no particular order.

Continue reading "Battlestar Galactica sucks" »

Posted by Jim at 11:41 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Great. After 10 years of being on the air, the brain trust at the SciFi Channel has cancelled Stargate SG1. For the last few years, they've used this show to leverage so much other crap to get viewers, I can't help but feel that they may have shot themselves in the foot one last time...

Posted by Jim at 5:17 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)