THE
SCREED
or
Why Redefining Science Fiction as 'What If?' is the most idiotic,
moronic, lame-brained, ill-considered, ignorant, wrong-headed,
'congratulations, you've just won a Darwin Award, why are you
still alive?', stupidest idea ever conceived of by man
or
How To Destroy Your Audience by Insulting Them To Their Faces
When
you want something done right, do it yourself. Right?
I've
been very disappointed by the so-called SciFi Channel since its
inception. Like many others, I believed that I'd be able to tune
in and regularly catch repeats of classic shows, great classic
movies, some SF oriented 'made-for' content (coverage of conventions,
literature, authors, etc) and maybe some original movies or series,
carefully chosen to insure the preservation of the genre and treat
it in a positive, perhaps even marginally experimental, way.
You
can probably guess that's not what I got.
Until
recently I was able to ignore the abortion that called itself
'The SciFi Channel'. At least they were using the less respectable
'Skiffy' abbreviation to identify themselves (no insult intended
at all towards Mr. Ackerman who coined the phrase: maybe they
ought to put him in charge...). But no longer. A few short weeks
ago the Suits-In-Charge (SIC) decided that their channel needed
to reach an audience wider than the 'geeky young guys' that science
fiction appeals to (their definition of the market, not mine)
and so they've unilaterally decided to expand the definition.
Now, according to these self-proclaimed scions of the genre, the
defintion of SF has been reduced to the all encompassing "What
If?"
And
somehow, 'What If?' includes professional wrestling and paranormal
reality shows. (Paranormal reality!? Shoot me now, please!) (What
if idiots from another galaxy traveled through a wormhole and
seized control of all of our television programming?)
Not
that I haven't given SFC a shot. I've dutifully tuned in for almost
every new series and have at least started to watch their 'made-for-television'
in-house fare. To tell the truth, sometimes the stories themselves
haven't been all that bad, but SFC seems to be plagued by the
curse of the B-Actors. (I'd rather they went the original Doctor
Who route - good actors, minimal budget for effects. See, science
fiction fans are used to making pictures inside their
heads. They don't need to be shown everything. A hint, a mere
suggestion, is often more than enough.)
Oh
yes, I know Battlestar Galactica has been a huge success, a phenomena.
One that's now starting to confuse and disappoint even its biggest
fans. Why? I think its easy to explain: once you replace 'good
guys and bad guys' with tens of characters, all of whom have conflicted
emotions, there can never be any really satisfactory resolution.
Instead of telling a story, you end up mired in detailed characterizations.
Too much detail for a late-arriving viewer to be able to pick
up on mid-stream. Too much interpersonal BS for anyone to care
about any of it over the long haul. Great concept, reduced to
little more than office gossip around the water cooler.
But
enough of my personal biases. Suffice it to say that I've not
been happy with the fare that's offered on SFC. I believe that
there's room for yet another cable channel, one devoted to Classic
Science Fiction. One that adheres closely to the traditional definitions
of science fiction (and ok, fantasy as well), not some bloated,
meaningless catch-all.
Of
course, I don't have the wherewithall to actually produce a cable
channel, so I'm doing the next best thing. Numerous outlets have
begun to provide streaming videos or downloads of videos and we're
fortunate that many of the properties that are available just
so happen to be Classic Science Fiction. Unfortunately, they're
not all gathered in one easily accessible location - until now.
So, welcome to the CLASSIC SCIENCE FICTION Channel, and enjoy!
