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Teek
Aug 7, 2006

I can't wait to entertain you.
There are currently several series airing on SyFy which aren't being covered in their own threads. Some of which Goons probably watch or are at least worth a look. I figured we needed a thread to help cover these series. These include original honest to god science fiction serials and some of their barely sci-fi related reality fare. Syfy has been Syfy now for several years, and they've actually been turning it around!? Yes, for real, Syfy seems to be making an effort to try out some fun sci-fi/fantasy shows, as well as some harder sci-fi shows. They've dumped a lot of their reality fare and left behind the WWE. A new dawn? Seems like it!

Here are some highlights with show bios:

Originals:

Channel Zero - An American horror anthology television series created by Nick Antosca. The series was greenlit for two 6-episode, self-contained seasons. Storylines for the series are based on popular creepypastas, including Candle Cove, No End House, Butchers Block and The Dream Door. Has a thread here.

Happy! - HAPPY! is based on Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson’s graphic novel of the same name. The series follows Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: SVU) – an intoxicated, corrupt ex-cop turned hit man, who is adrift in a world of casual murder, soulless sex and betrayal. After a hit gone wrong, his inebriated life is forever changed by a tiny, relentlessly positive, imaginary blue winged horse named Happy (Patton Oswalt). Has a thread here.

Killjoys - From the producers of Orphan Black and the creator of Lost Girl, Killjoys follows a fun-loving, hard living trio of interplanetary bounty hunters sworn to remain impartial as they chase deadly warrants throughout the Quad, a distant system on the brink of a bloody, multi-planetary class war. Has a thread here.

Krypton - Set two generations before the destruction of the legendary Man of Steel’s home planet, Krypton follows Superman’s grandfather, whose House of El was ostracized and shamed, as he fights to redeem his family’s honor and save his beloved world from Brainiac. Has a thread here.

The Magicians - Quentin Coldwater enrolls at Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy to be trained as a magician, where he discovers that the magical world from his favorite childhood books is real and poses a danger to humanity. Meanwhile, the life of his childhood friend Julia is derailed when she is denied entry, and she searches for magic elsewhere. Has a thread here.

Van Helsing - Vanessa "Van" Helsing (the descendant of Abraham Van Helsing) is resurrected in a post-apocalyptic world, three years after her death, to lead a resistance against the vampires that plague it.

Wynona Earp - Wynonna Earp follows Wyatt Earp's great granddaughter as she battles demons and other creatures. With her unique abilities, and a posse of dysfunctional allies, she's the only thing that can bring the paranormal to justice.

Z Nation - Z Nation starts three years after the ZN1 zombie virus has gutted the country, a team of everyday heroes must transport the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California, where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood. Although the antibodies he carries are the world’s last, best hope for a vaccine, he hides a dark secret that threatens them all. With humankind’s survival at stake, the ragtag band embarks on a journey of survival across three thousand miles of rusted-out post-apocalyptic America. Has a thread here.

Other Series with SA Discussion Threads -
The Expanse [Completed on Syfy, Renewed on Amazon]
Mystery Science Theater 3000 [Completed on Syfy, Renewed on Netflix]
Stargate Atlantis, SG-1, Universe [All canceled but complete more or less]
Twelve Monkeys [Completed on Syfy]

Old School Original Series and Mini-Series - The channel also has been known for making some other series which have completed:
Ascension (6 Episodes) - U.S. generational ship launched in the 1960's faces its first murder after 50 years in space.
Battlestar Galactica (79 Episodes), Caprica (20 Episodes), Blood and Chrome (2 Episodes) - Humanity made robots, they rebelled and nuked everyone. The human survivors flee in search of a legendary planet called "Earth".
Dark Matter (39 Episodes) - Space ship passengers wake up with no memories of who they are, eventually learning they're evil mercenaries. Can they turn their lives around?
Defiance (38 Episodes) - Following the arrival of aliens fleeing the destruction of their home system, Earth gets re-shaped in a terrorist attack. The remains of humanity and the alien colonists must now pick back up the pieces and try to live together.
Dominion (21 Episodes) - Angels versus demons in Las Vegas. Based on the movie of the same name.
The Dresden Files (12 Episodes) - Based on the book series about a wizard in the modern day who works with the police.
Eureka (77 Episodes) - Comedic super-science drama about a sheriff looking after a small town full of scientists.
Farscape (88 Episodes + 4 Episode Mini-series) - Astronaut gets transported far off into space where he joins the crew of a living ship full of former prisoners.
First Wave (66 Episodes) - Nostradamus quatrains predict the destruction of the planet.
Haven (78 Episodes) - An FBI agent comes to a small town in Maine for an investigation and finds its citizens wield strange powers and that her own past may be tied up with theirs.
Helix (26 Episodes) - CDC scientists versus Evil Corp and their weird viral plagues.
Invisible Man (46 Episodes) - Guy can turn invisible thanks to "Quicksilver gland".
The Lost Room (3 Episodes) - Everyday objects which were in a motel room during some unknown incident in the 60s grant strange powers to the holders.
Sanctuary (59 Episodes) - Green-screen show starring Amanda Tapping, about an organization that seeks out extraordinarily-powered creatures and people.
Warehouse 13 (64 Episodes) - Objects of historical note which obtain magical powers are tracked by government agents before they fall into the wrong hands.

Original series of dubious quality: Andromeda, Flash Gordon, Painkiller Jane, Tremors, Tripping the Rift, Who Wants to be a Superhero?.

Other "Originals" aka Canadian Imports - Syfy also picks up to air several shows which originally aired in Canada, these included Bitten, Continuum and Lost Girl.

Syfy Original Movies - Everyone is familiar with these. The low-budget ($1 M dollar range) movies which SyFy either makes or buys the rights to and airs on weekends. These tend to be some of the best performers for them and gives the channel pretty good bang for their buck money to ratings wise. Typically the movies will feature some cryptozoological horror or recent real-life incident hyped to schlocky B-movie levels. ex. If there's an outbreak of some new flu virus in goats, expect "Goat-Flu Zombie Apocalypse" to hit later that year. Syfy's biggest hits in this genre have been Sharknado 1, 2, 3 and the upcoming Sharknado 4.

Reality/Competition:

There is none other than Face Off? Somehow, I don't think there's any currently being produced by the network. Doesn't mean they won't try again I guess.

Face Off - Special Effects make-up reality show. It has nothing to do with Nicholas Cage or John Travolta. Here's Syfy's write up: "The contestants are tasked with elaborate feature challenges including executing full body paint make up on models and creating their own horror villain. Not only will the show incorporate effects make-up, it will include a wide range of skill sets including prosthetics, 3-D design, sculpting, eye enhancers, casting and molding. Each episode involves incredible reveals of the competitors' finished work, and the drama of one contestant being sent home by the panel of expert and celebrity judges. It all culminates in one winner and one grand prize that will launch a career." Has a thread here. Next season starts January 2017.

Current SyFy Schedule:

http://www.syfy.com/schedule/index.php?__source=Syfy_Global_Nav

SyFY on Hulu:

http://www.hulu.com/network/syfy?sort=popularity

Upcoming shows to keep an eye out for:

---

Non-Original programming Syfy picks up the rights to many complete/incomplete shows which aired on other networks. Some of these are classics or shows which were canceled early.

The Twilight Zone (Rod Serling's classic anthology series featuring fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror stories. Many recognizable actors can be seen in very classic stories)

SyFy also has the rights to a couple of other shows which aren't on normal rotation, but which may air as marathons: Invasion, Jericho, Level 9, Moonlight, Special Unit 2. You'll also get the occasional classic series back for a marathon or two like Green Hornet or Tales From The Darkside.

Big Event Movies

Every year Syfy tries to attract the normals by making a big event mini-series with cross-over appeal which will feature a few name actors. This sometimes involves their take on well known public domain fable or fantasy stories. In the past they've done mini-series like Alice (a take on Alice in Wonderland) and Tin Man (a take on Wizard of Oz) and Neverland (which is their take on a Peter Pan prequel)

Teek fucked around with this message at 22:35 on Sep 21, 2018

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GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

Haven was pretty boring up until the last couple episodes. The finale made me excited for the next season. Sanctuary is decent enough if you can get past the horrible green screening (it's on par with V).

Teek
Aug 7, 2006

I can't wait to entertain you.
Sanctuary needs to know its limits. This past episode had some horrid CG for the werewolves. Their background or location CG is passable to good (the hologram city looks fantastic), creature CG seems to always be spotty.

thelaughingman
Mar 14, 2005
oooh I like madness!

One of the best sagments on Fact or Fake had to be the Jonathan Reed "alien" video. It was pretty easy for them to debunk.

thelaughingman fucked around with this message at 19:04 on Nov 22, 2010

Metajo Cum Dumpster
Mar 20, 2005
I get that the original series are meant to be low-budget cheese fests and have a decent following. But have they ever given a shot to some undiscovered talent who could work with that budget and make a good original scifi movie?

I mean, not all scifi movies exactly break the bank with effects. Moon had a budget of only around ~5mil and was pretty drat good.

Teek
Aug 7, 2006

I can't wait to entertain you.
I'm not sure how active a hand Syfy takes in the cheap movie development, or if they just spend $$$ to air them. It always seems to be the same production companies making them.

On that note, Syfy just sent out a press release with their upcoming slate for the next year:

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/20...m-kitchen/73000

Good lord. "Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen"? Who at the network thought that was a good idea? Face Off sounds bad too, but it at least has some barely strained tie in to Science Fiction.

Why they didn't renew CHA$E or the fun Estate of Panic is beyond me.

the-jam
May 20, 2003

Kick Out the MC5

Teek posted:

Good lord. "Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen"? Who at the network thought that was a good idea?
When I saw the name I thought maybe it was about trying bizarre cutting edge tech to prepare food or using high end chemistry in the kitchen but no it's pretty much just a Dinner Impossible clone.

Manos del Sino
Apr 12, 2004

Original Pony
Soiled Meat

the-jam posted:

When I saw the name I thought maybe it was about trying bizarre cutting edge tech to prepare food or using high end chemistry in the kitchen but no it's pretty much just a Dinner Impossible clone.

My first guess was that Marcel's Quantum Kitchen would be a SyFy original movie about a silent, murderous, time-altering chef.

Mr.Smiley4
Jul 4, 2007
Send him to Detroit!
Is Sanctuary any good? I've been thinking about watching it, but I heard at least the first season isn't that great.

Tighclops
Jan 23, 2008

Unable to deal with it


Grimey Drawer
There are no programs worth watching on that awful, awful network.

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

Tighclops posted:

There are no programs worth watching on that awful, awful network.

Thanks for your in-depth insight.

spe
Aug 28, 2007

All Stocked Up

Teek posted:

Syfy Original Movies - Everyone is familiar with these. The low-budget ($1 M dollar range) movies which SyFy either makes or buys the rights to and airs on weekends. These tend to be some of the best performers for them and gives the channel pretty good bang for their buck money to ratings wise. Typically the movies will feature some cryptozoological horror or recent real-life incident hyped to schlocky B-movie levels. ex. If there's an outbreak of some new flu virus in goats, expect "Goat-Flu Zombie Apocalypse" to hit later that year.

Are there any particular standouts in this category that are so bad they are good?

BlackJosh
Sep 25, 2007

spe posted:

Are there any particular standouts in this category that are so bad they are good?

all of them

Teek
Aug 7, 2006

I can't wait to entertain you.
They're all pretty crappy. Seems like the ones with the more clever names tend to be the better of the bunch, so a little more effort was put into Mansquito and Sharktopus than something like Dinoshark. And by a "little more effort" I mean they got a hundred more dollars to spend on effects.

Looks like Wikipedia was nice enough to list all of them:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Syfy_original_films

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

The one where the shark jumped up and took out an airplane was pretty rad.

BlackJosh
Sep 25, 2007
They are all fun to turn on and laugh at when you are drinking beers with your buddies. I remember there was one with Coolio fighting Pterodactyls and horrible horrible cgi and it was amazing.

spe
Aug 28, 2007

All Stocked Up

BlackJosh posted:

They are all fun to turn on and laugh at when you are drinking beers with your buddies. I remember there was one with Coolio fighting Pterodactyls and horrible horrible cgi and it was amazing.

I was nodding at this post agreeing in theory until I looked at that list and realised I'd already done it and my friend owns this on DVD.

IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

GreenNight posted:

The one where the shark jumped up and took out an airplane was pretty rad.

Someone post the gif of that scene, it's pretty much all you need to see. And yeah it's pretty loving rad.

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

IRQ posted:

Someone post the gif of that scene, it's pretty much all you need to see. And yeah it's pretty loving rad.

I've been trying to find it for the past hour and no luck.

Mu Zeta
Oct 17, 2002

Me crush ass to dust

Just search for "Shark biting plane" in youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBizgLZX7W0

GreenNight
Feb 19, 2006
Turning the light on the darkest places, you and I know we got to face this now. We got to face this now.

Aha!

spe
Aug 28, 2007

All Stocked Up
They are not kidding around when they say that the shark is mega.

Horse Pepsi
Aug 26, 2010

by T. Finn

Teek posted:

Wrestling - Smackdown gets it's own ongoing threads over in Wrestlehut. I can see the barely valid reason it's on SyFy, "fantasy-soap-opera-fighting" drama or something. So any episode discussion about it should go over there.
Smackdown has Kane and the Undertaker - with supernatural and legendarily cheesy storylines that's more than welcome on Syfy.

angerbot
Mar 23, 2004

plob
Being Human didn't need remaking! George will never be the same without Russel Tovey's adorable girlish screaming.

I quite liked Haven, it wasn't the best show ever but it makes a nice trio with Eureka and Warehouse 13. If you liked those shows, chances are you will like Haven.

Teek
Aug 7, 2006

I can't wait to entertain you.
I wonder who decides which shows to remake, rather than just bring over? I guess they'll do it with shows which are easy to transition over which they think would be a bigger hit than the limited run British one(?) They're showing Merlin and Primeval but remaking Being Human. Merlin I can see why they'd stick with the British version, Primeval seems like an easy series to remake though.

Lycus
Aug 5, 2008

Half the posters in this forum have been made up. This website is a goddamn ghost town.
There's always the "number of episodes" factor. American networks don't like those 6-8 episode seasons.

angerbot
Mar 23, 2004

plob

Teek posted:

I wonder who decides which shows to remake, rather than just bring over? I guess they'll do it with shows which are easy to transition over which they think would be a bigger hit than the limited run British one(?) They're showing Merlin and Primeval but remaking Being Human. Merlin I can see why they'd stick with the British version, Primeval seems like an easy series to remake though.

They might be able to remake Merlin into a good show, though. Being Human was already good, though I guess they'll want to draw it out for a huge number of episodes.

To quote someone from elsewhere Merlin is half Arthurian mythos and half "OH NO THE FART MONSTER IS IN TOWN"

bobkatt013
Oct 8, 2006

You’re telling me Peter Parker is ...... Spider-man!?
Speaking of Mega Shark take a look at this http://www.theasylum.cc/product.php?id=180
Make sure you look at the cast.

IRQ
Sep 9, 2001

SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS!

bobkatt013 posted:

Speaking of Mega Shark take a look at this http://www.theasylum.cc/product.php?id=180
Make sure you look at the cast.

I knew Urkel would go on to do great things.

Teek
Aug 7, 2006

I can't wait to entertain you.
Just a reminder, Eureka and Warehouse 13 will be airing their Christmas themed episodes tomorrow evening.

Also has anyone watched the web series Riese: Kingdom Falling on Syfy.com? Apparently it was a solo web series like Sanctuary which SyFy picked up for additional web series episodes. It features a lot of known Vancouver actors from different sci-fi series like Allison Mack and Alessandro Juliani.

Teek
Aug 7, 2006

I can't wait to entertain you.
Syfy has picked up Alphas to series, it's another "powers" based show. This time they're people with some form of mental skills:

http://www.deadline.com/2010/12/syfy-picks-up-alphas-pilot-to-series/

Three Inches is also alive, another powers series, with the "wacky" premise that the title character can move objects with his mind... but only for three inches.

Chairman Capone
Dec 17, 2008

Teek posted:

Also has anyone watched the web series Riese: Kingdom Falling on Syfy.com? Apparently it was a solo web series like Sanctuary which SyFy picked up for additional web series episodes. It features a lot of known Vancouver actors from different sci-fi series like Allison Mack and Alessandro Juliani.

I'm also interested to know if anyone has seen it and, if so, if it's worth watching.

IShallRiseAgain
Sep 12, 2008

Well ain't that precious?

Teek posted:

Three Inches is also alive, another powers series, with the "wacky" premise that the title character can move objects with his mind... but only for three inches.
That actually sounds cool. I like shows that have people with weird powers and them trying to use their power to their maximum potential. The lost room was a good example of this.

MadScientistWorking
Jun 23, 2010

"I was going through a time period where I was looking up weird stories involving necrophilia..."
You know this has been bothering me recently. If Ghost Hunters is so scientific and skeptical then why does the TAPS website do a 180 from that and end up claiming that ouiji boards might cause demonic possesion.

spe posted:

Are there any particular standouts in this category that are so bad they are good?
I'm fond of the one that was a LHC scare movie that stared the person who played Deanna Troi from Star Trek.

Teek
Aug 7, 2006

I can't wait to entertain you.
Ghost Hunters seems to have two sides, the show side where they go more mainstream and play down the wacky paranormal stuff and their website and magazine which caters more towards the fringe stuff.

UncleMonkey
Jan 11, 2005

We watched our friends grow up together
And we saw them as they fell
Some of them fell into Heaven
Some of them fell into Hell

angerbot posted:

Being Human didn't need remaking! George will never be the same without Russel Tovey's adorable girlish screaming.
The fact that they couldn't even keep the character's names the same just adds insult to injury. Aidan? Really? Mitchell doesn't work but Aidan does?

MadScientistWorking
Jun 23, 2010

"I was going through a time period where I was looking up weird stories involving necrophilia..."

Teek posted:

Ghost Hunters seems to have two sides, the show side where they go more mainstream and play down the wacky paranormal stuff and their website and magazine which caters more towards the fringe stuff.
That kind of irritates me though considering the fact that the openly proclaim that they try and base their investigations on using science.

Teek
Aug 7, 2006

I can't wait to entertain you.
Positive light spoiler review of the first three episodes of Syfy's remake of Being Human:

http://io9.com/5720075/how-does-syfys-being-human-stack-up-to-the-uk-version-our-spoiler+free-review

If you don't know anything about the show, it goes into things just a tiny bit.

Johnny Longtorso
Nov 24, 2007
The Man Who Comes In Pieces!
"Star Runners" is by far the best Sci-Fi Original Movie that I've seen. It actually had a couple decent actors (Connor Trineer from Enterprise and James Kyson Lee from Heroes), and it was a constant stream of ripoffs of sci-fi franchises, but at least they had the presence of mind to steal from good things like Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica.

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frgildan
Apr 6, 2005

I went some place mum and everyday I woke up in that place and told myself I'm alive and I was.

Mu Zeta posted:

Just search for "Shark biting plane" in youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBizgLZX7W0

Almost as good is this scene from Mega Piranha.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mMEDRdcMeo

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