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Canceled =/
Topic Started: May 17 2011, 01:48 AM (1,264 Views)
vs_savant2
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The only one I am super sad about is Stargate.

If anyone at SYFY is reading this, you should realize that goin the route of MTV and VH1 is stupid, they one were great channels devoted to music, but now are poor excuses for entertainment with shows that have no basis on music what so ever. You once had wonderful shows with great Sci-fi roots, and some from the fantasy genre, but now have started airing crappy "feaxality" shows that no one watches. Turn back now before your entire network is cancelled and replaced by one that viewers will watch.


end rant.
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Kritus
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I, of course, love super hero/comic book shows, so I was sad to see that all four of the ones currently on the air (The Cape, No Ordinary Family, Human Target, Smallville) are all leaving or getting cancelled at once (I don't consider Smallville as being cancelled since it voluntarily ended).

I did like Better with You. Thought it was a cute show.

Most of the shows I watch did get renewed though, so I'm not too terribly bummed.

And CW did pick up Sarah Michelle Gellar's new show "Ringer" so have that to look forward to.
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Vader
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BatHulk
May 17 2011, 06:35 PM
Was very sad to see "Stargate Universe" end on SyFy (which should rename itself to the WWE/GhostHunter Channel).

Most of the Stargate fans didn't like it because it wasn't like the previous SG shows but that made it better to me. It had great acting, stories, action and special effects.

At least the ending was better than Lost's and BSG's.
good acting odviously we were watching two different shows I thought it stunk. And while it was loosely based on the stargate series it was a constant drama fest, which I hate.

That was the same reason after season 5 begining of 6 I stopped watching smallville and only picked it up in this last season. Which the ending sucked
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Number6
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I watched No Ordinary Family, V, and The Cape and while they were decent enough, they never really lived up to the potential that they could be. I would've liked to see them continue in the hopes of improvement, but I'm not really shocked that they were cancelled. I gave Mr Sunshine, Perfect Couples, and Paul Reiser's show a shot and am glad to see they won't be back. I was a late comer to Smallville so while there were definitely some great episodes here and there, I thought most of it was good-to-mediocre and wasn't really invested in it as much as the other fans; on the plus side, I don't think they were "cancelled" as much as "decided to end" which at least gave them the opportunity to wrap things up at their own discretion. I never got around to watching The Event, as it clashed with the awesomeness of Being Human on SciFi (I'm not going to dirty its name with that awful all-Y spelling).

And speaking of that network, it's capable of doing some great shows with good characterization and acting: Being Human is a prime example, but I think Warehouse 13 and Eureka (in particular Eureka's recent "reset" season) are also pretty solid on those points. But such was not really the case with Stargate Universe (Rush was the only exception that comes to mind), whose awfulness had nothing to do with the change in tone or style from the previous SG series and I'm glad it's ended. Hopefully they'll put that money towards those other series, or maybe something new and good (in other words, not rasslin or reality).
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BatHulk
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Wow... I don't understand the SGU hate.

Did you guys like Star Trek Voyager?

I think most of it is that many only saw one or two eps and wrote SGU off... it's a slow burn but once you get to know the characters, you realize the nuances are what makes it better than your average space drama. Young was great as the conflicted captain who wants to do the right thing but it's usually the hardest one. Eli as the boy genius with confidence issues that are magnified by Rush's condescending nature, Greer as the tough marine, Chloe as... well yeah... I didn't like Chloe's character. And it was more than alien of the week or disaster problem to solve this week.

I did like Eureka's reset and WH13 is my other fave on SyFy... but SGU was "sci-fi"... keeping stupid shows like Ghost Hunter, Ghost Hunter Academy, Ghost Hunter Academy Elementary Cooking School etc just doesn't make sense to me. I realize those shows are cheaper... I just really don't know who watches them.

Hopefully they don't cancel Alphas as that looks promising. I'm sure they will after I watch it for a season... bleh.
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Number6
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I also don't know why they have all the Ghost Reality Shows on there (or rasslin) and wish they would drop them and devote more time and funding to actual sci-fi shows; there was a time when, if I wanted to kill some time, I could flip over to SciFi and enjoy myself with whatever program they were airing, but now it annoys me more often than not.

I actually don't have much of an opinion on Voyager, mainly because when it was airing I didn't have a TV package with a UPN syndicate and so I pretty much missed the whole series. Essentially the same story with DS9, though I've caught both series on occasion in reruns and pretty well enjoyed both. I will say that while I enjoy Robert Picardo's performance (both on the SG series, and) as the holoDoc of Voyager, so far the main highlight of that show has been Seven in a skintight pantsuit.

I'm actually not a HUGE fan (or hater) of most scifi, but I still want a show to entertain me (that's the main prerequisite for it making to air and being successful, after all), and I prefer that there's also a fairly consistent internal logic, applied to the fictiony science stuff, the overall story stuff, and the character stuff. As long as they do a pretty good job with those (or at least can distract me from noticing problems with any one of them) then I'm happy. So while SGU was slower-paced and more drama-oriented than its predecessors, that was never my issue. It does make it harder to cover-up major flaws, though that wouldn't be a problem if the quality of the show's writing was good. But it seemed more like the characters did stuff just to be dramatic rather than because they were actual people in a real (yet desperate/science-fictiony) situation. Like:

*Lt. Scott is a fine, upstanding guy with good moral fiber. Who, in practically the first scene of the series, is sexin' it up with Lt. James in a broom closet. Now, I certainly can't say as I blame him (have you seen her when she wears a tank top?), but then she gets tossed to the side without so much as a by-your-leave so he can take up with fragile-flower Chloe (who's also a tough ambitious political aide that whines about her uselessness?), who presumably needs a loyal friend, despite steadfast Eli standing right there. Oh, and Scott's got a little boy waiting for him back home, and when they try their final gate-from-inside-a-star gambit to get back to Earth, he's so excited to see his kid again. Until FIVE MINUTES LATER, when Rush asks if anyone wants to hang around on the off chance that they can figure out Destiny's grand purpose, because that's all the convincing Scott needed.
*Young had an affair with TJ and got her pregnant, then ended up on Destiny. Resigned to to the likelihood of never going home, he stones home to see his (ex)wife and break it off with her permanently. Then he ends up having sex with her anyway, but it's in the body of Telford. Who then decides to have an affair with Young's wife, and despite Young's declaration of moving on, this will not stand and he begins a rivalry with Telford over it so that OH MY GOD I CANNOT BEAR TO WATCH THESE PEOPLE.

Then I stopped watching until I saw Rhona Mitra was going to guest star, and I came back. After her character was done with, I only caught it sporadically until the end. So sure, I didn't get every single minute of the show but that's because even the parts I did get (and there was a fair continuous block there) were pretty much all about manufacturing "dark, gritty" drama where everyone butts heads or has secret alliances/conspiracies and gets angry or angsty without caring much about consistent character portrayal.

In the end, the show's highlights for me were getting Rhona Mitra in a leather outfit, and every time Lt. James wore a tank top.
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Vader
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i watched like 10 episodes od sgu and hated every one if it had not been for the stargate name it would never made it past the 3rd episode
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Vader
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Number6
May 21 2011, 04:07 AM
I also don't know why they have all the Ghost Reality Shows on there (or rasslin) and wish they would drop them and devote more time and funding to actual sci-fi shows; there was a time when, if I wanted to kill some time, I could flip over to SciFi and enjoy myself with whatever program they were airing, but now it annoys me more often than not.

I actually don't have much of an opinion on Voyager, mainly because when it was airing I didn't have a TV package with a UPN syndicate and so I pretty much missed the whole series. Essentially the same story with DS9, though I've caught both series on occasion in reruns and pretty well enjoyed both. I will say that while I enjoy Robert Picardo's performance (both on the SG series, and) as the holoDoc of Voyager, so far the main highlight of that show has been Seven in a skintight pantsuit.

I'm actually not a HUGE fan (or hater) of most scifi, but I still want a show to entertain me (that's the main prerequisite for it making to air and being successful, after all), and I prefer that there's also a fairly consistent internal logic, applied to the fictiony science stuff, the overall story stuff, and the character stuff. As long as they do a pretty good job with those (or at least can distract me from noticing problems with any one of them) then I'm happy. So while SGU was slower-paced and more drama-oriented than its predecessors, that was never my issue. It does make it harder to cover-up major flaws, though that wouldn't be a problem if the quality of the show's writing was good. But it seemed more like the characters did stuff just to be dramatic rather than because they were actual people in a real (yet desperate/science-fictiony) situation. Like:

*Lt. Scott is a fine, upstanding guy with good moral fiber. Who, in practically the first scene of the series, is sexin' it up with Lt. James in a broom closet. Now, I certainly can't say as I blame him (have you seen her when she wears a tank top?), but then she gets tossed to the side without so much as a by-your-leave so he can take up with fragile-flower Chloe (who's also a tough ambitious political aide that whines about her uselessness?), who presumably needs a loyal friend, despite steadfast Eli standing right there. Oh, and Scott's got a little boy waiting for him back home, and when they try their final gate-from-inside-a-star gambit to get back to Earth, he's so excited to see his kid again. Until FIVE MINUTES LATER, when Rush asks if anyone wants to hang around on the off chance that they can figure out Destiny's grand purpose, because that's all the convincing Scott needed.
*Young had an affair with TJ and got her pregnant, then ended up on Destiny. Resigned to to the likelihood of never going home, he stones home to see his (ex)wife and break it off with her permanently. Then he ends up having sex with her anyway, but it's in the body of Telford. Who then decides to have an affair with Young's wife, and despite Young's declaration of moving on, this will not stand and he begins a rivalry with Telford over it so that OH MY GOD I CANNOT BEAR TO WATCH THESE PEOPLE.

Then I stopped watching until I saw Rhona Mitra was going to guest star, and I came back. After her character was done with, I only caught it sporadically until the end. So sure, I didn't get every single minute of the show but that's because even the parts I did get (and there was a fair continuous block there) were pretty much all about manufacturing "dark, gritty" drama where everyone butts heads or has secret alliances/conspiracies and gets angry or angsty without caring much about consistent character portrayal.

In the end, the show's highlights for me were getting Rhona Mitra in a leather outfit, and every time Lt. James wore a tank top.
wow u wrote what i was thinking but was to lazy to write
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BatHulk
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I really don't think you can judge an entire series when you haven't seen all the episodes.

Unlike some sci-fi like previous SG ones, where you can drop in and drop out, the overall arc is important.

I understand the angst against those more "dramatic" episodes but they were done to establish later storylines. I actually hated the Telford character in Season 1 but it sets him up to be better in Season 2.

Again... it's an acquired taste I guess... we all have our opinions and while I could probably pick apart the shows you guys like, the loss here is good sci-fi shows need to stick around. We're already losing all the spandex shows (even though I don't watch Smallville like before... I don't want it to end... maybe they'll do "Metropolis"... heh).

During the latter part of Season 2... the main enemy almost seemed Borg-like and it was interesting to see how they solved that problem and also the side story lines. The alternate future of their parallel crew was also an interesting touch.

To give me a better frame for your opinions, what do you guys consider good sci-fi TV?

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Vader
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Honestly I don't think I like any si-fi shows right now and I love sifi. It is my main intrest in reading and I still hate everything out there. Lately my favorite shows have had more of a spy thing going. But I really wish a good sifi would come out.
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conel3
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lame I enjoyed watching Life Unexpected and No Ordinary Family.
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kariggi
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Did anyone like Voyager...talk about garbage in Space.

Though that does remind me of Science Fiction I liked -- Quark, now that was a classic.

More recently
Firefly may be one of the best of all time.
Dr. Who


B5

http://space1970.blogspot.com/2009_11_01_archive.html
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Vader
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Totally forgot about dr who I guess I do like a sifi show
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Number6
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I'm never any good at actual rankings, but up at the top (though I could never choose a favorite) are:

Babylon 5+Crusade
Firefly+Serenity
Battlestar Galactica (the 2000's one)+Caprica
Doctor Who+Torchwood+SJA (yes, I like SJA--though everyone should know that, since it's all in my Who fanset, available in my sig link)

The Star Trek and first two Stargate series are both solid in my book; while some episodes are blah/mediocre, at least as many are stellar and the rest are still reasonably good and certainly entertaining.

As mentioned above, I also really really like Being Human (both UK and US versions, though I lost BBC America before seeing S2 or S3 of the UK flavor), Warehouse 13, and Eureka. Though those might be a little more "niche"-y than the others. And W13 and Eureka are definitely more lighthearted, but drama-heavy stuff just drains me emotionally. BSG was awesome, but thankfully paired with Who (also more on the lighthearted end of the scale) for several seasons.

On more mainstream stuff, I've enjoyed Chuck (which hasn't really faltered as far as I'm concerned), Heroes (more at the beginning of its run than at the end), Smallville (ditto, though my "beginning" was when Brainiac showed up), No Ordinary Family and V (which I mentioned earlier, I believe). If you want to mix in some fantasy (other than the aforementioned Being Human), I very much liked Buffy+Angel and Dead Like Me, and absolutely LOVED Pushing Daisies (before you judge, it was made by the same guy behind DLM and S1 Heroes).

I like a whole bunch of stuff (as you can tell from the big lists above), from the lighthearted fare to more serious stuff. While I do have a preference for the lighter side of the scale, I don't really have a problem with the heavier material...but in both cases, the only real demands I have are that it hangs together in a reasonably consistent/logical fashion and manages to interest/entertain me on a regular basis. Here's my line of thinking, contrasting a dramatic show I did like (BSG) with one I didn't (SGU):

BSG--
There's a cast of characters, with a variety of personal viewpoints, histories, relationships, etc. Most of which are fairly well-realized from the show's beginning (and the ones which aren't get fleshed out over time). At the start of each episode, all that characterization and interpersonal stuff is in a particular configuration, and then "stuff happens!" Whatever "stuff" is--a big battle, a political struggle, etc.--it draws in these characters, who then clash or form friendships or whatever, showing us who these people are even as the events change them and their interactions over the course of an episode. By the time it's over, there's a new configuration of interpersonal/characterization stuff (though sometimes it's not much different than how it began), which will then hold over into the next episode, where the entire process begins again. If you want to understand how Tyrol goes from being with Boomer to being with Cally and further beyond that--and more importantly what it means for how the Colonials deal with the continuing Cylon threat--you have to watch the show without missing episodes.

SGU--
There's a cast of characters, with a variety of personal viewpoints, histories, relationships, etc. The interpersonal relationships are quickly solidified, though character details are sketched in more slowly. At the start of each episode, the relationships are making drama front-and-center, and THEN "stuff happens!" Whatever "stuff" is, it exacerbates whatever drama was already going on between the various combinations of characters as they try to deal with the situation. By the time it's over, the crew has just-barely survived their desperate, life-threatening problem...and is back to the exact same configuration of character relationships they started with. Eli and Scott are still in a triangle with Chloe's affections, Greer won't put up with anyone giving him attitude, Young and Rush are mutually distrustful with Wray caught in the middle, etc. Even with my sporadic viewing at the end of S2, this was still the "dramatic" situation on-ship, and hadn't changed in any meaningful way from my faithful viewing at the beginning of S1. While I apparently missed a whole plot-arc of aliens hunting Destiny in S1, I still found a plot-arc of robot drones hunting Destiny in S2. Same old, same old.

So in addition to my earlier complaint that the SGU characters didn't behave in a particularly sensible fashion in service of the interpersonal conflicts (which vastly undercuts any "it's dramatic!" claims the show might've been trying for), the main thing that made SGU awful is: it was BORING. It just wasn't entertaining, because nothing happened that made me say "I want to watch that episode again!" since whatever went on, it was pretty much just like what happened in the last episode, and the episode before that. Only when I had a fair idea that the next episodes were going to be more of the same, I stopped tuning in. Obviously, mileage may vary on this last part...and to be fair, there were some nifty concepts in there. I wish I had seen more of the catfish-aliens in their episodes and more of the introduction to the drones...but I'm not interested in sitting through another dozen of the exact same interpersonal conflicts I've already seen a dozen times previously just to see more of those good ideas in action. And in the end, that (to me) means the SGU series wasn't good overall.

Sorry for getting so long winded...and if you've got to this point by reading all of the above text, thanks for listening!
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BatHulk
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@Number6:

Considering I like most of the same shows you do... I'm surprised at your summation of SGU.

Especially being a Buffy/Angel fan myself... it's interesting to see that you didn't think the characters became more developed over time in SGU.

Other than Chloe, most of the characters in SGU were fleshed out well, I'm not even sure if you're aware of Greer's abusive father, Scott's fear of commitment, Wray's fear of loneliness (which ironically is how the AltWray ended up) and all the different nuances of each character (the Rush/Young/Telford dynamic was very interesting).

I do think it's a matter of not trying to frame it in what you expect of previous SG shows and to watch it as its own. I couldn't understand the appeal of Firefly but eventually forced myself to watch the movie and it made more sense to me.

Again... personal tastes and all.. I actually think SGU was levels better than the new BSG if only that it didn't have all that mysticism that BSG threw in.
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