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Andromeda And Mutant X Cancelled
dmehus writes "Science fiction fans may be dismayed to learn that "Mutant X" and "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" have been cancelled, despite the fact "Andromeda" had been cleared for a final season beginning in the fall. That prospect seems highly unlikely as the show's producer, Fireworks Entertainment, is shutting its doors for good and owner CanWest Global Communications (which also owns canada.com, the National Post, Global Television, and a bunch of other media assets) announced it will take a $159 million writedown on Fireworks. The news means "Mutant X" has a series total of three seasons and 66 episodes, while "Andromeda" will have a series total of 88 episodes in four seasons. Slashdot has previously covered 'Andromeda'."
In TV-land, 100 is a magic number for a weekly series. When you hit 100 episodes, you have enough episodes to go 5-a-week and last 20 weeks without a repeat. That's good enough to survive on cable or syndication with a nearly infinite life. Lesser series have done it, but you've gotta be really deep to not risk burn-out.
So, Andromida stopping at 88 is kinda an ugly number to get caught at. Sci-Fi might have an interest in funding a series-ending run of about 13 episodes to run as an exclusive event, and therefore give the show some life in daily reruns. 88 with an abrupt-stop ending just isn't that valuable for reruns in comparision.
Of course, that depends on Sci-Fi being able to see the value in rerun rights. If the library of Fireworks assets including the 88 existing episodes get sold to a party that's not interested in letting Sci-Fi have the show on a 5-a-week daytime basis at a reasonable price... then there's no point in doing the deal.
The Sci-Fi saves the show thread is a longshot, but it could happen so it can't be ignored. The show's not dead yet, but it's taken a usually-fatal blow.
-- They're dead, Jim.
Science fiction fans may be dismayed to learn that "Mutant X" and "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" have been cancelled
Though fans of quality television will rejoice. Mutant X? It has to be one of the worst TV shows I've seen more than 5 minutes of in the last 10 years.
AccountKiller
Science fiction fans may have be dismayed when they learnt that Firefly was being cancelled, but I buy the DVDs of Andromeda here in Australia and I'm far from dismayed. Not saying I know when it jumped the shark, but I almost stopped buying it at DVD 4.6.
Enterprise gets picked up for another season.
Isn't it obvious? GOOD SF doesn't sell. Cheap commercialized tripe does.
Is nothing sacred anymore?
What's next - Lucasfilm is cancelling Episode III!!?!?
*88* episodes? The fact that someone kept Andromeda going for 88 episodes is deeply disturbing. I always assumed there were only about 4, and they got repeated a lot.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
Heh, more likely they won't. Save your pity for Firefly.
I haven't seen much Andromeda, but I can't say I'm surprised to see Mutant X cancelled. All it was, really, was a very cheap ripoff of the X-Men (Scientist provides place for young and confused mutants and together they fight crime.), and it didn't even seem to want to hide that fact. Good riddance.
"I Just Want You To Hurt Like I Do" - Randy Newman
I'm sorry to say that I haven't been able to watch either show because they are just so bad. I've never been able to stomach Mutant X but I liked Andromeda at first, but now to watch episodes I originally liked I stand stand it. I believe the reason for this is fantastic shows like Farscape and Firefly which just make these shows look like steaming piles. Okay I've got to admit I little offense is actually intended. How do people whatch that dren?
vampirical
Blame Canada.com!
I mean...seriously...these shows are unwatchable. Completely. Why in God's name would anyone mourn these shows being cancelled?
There's no science. Please, someone find me the gene that lets a guy turn into some kind of Lava monster. That's a more amazing evolutionary feat than the bombadier beetle. It's like the worst parts of the worst episodes of X-Files all jammed into an solid 40 minutes, with an entire rip on the whole X-Men concept to boot.
And Andromeda...starts out with this gimmick of a holographic hot chick representing the ship (sort of a video version of Star Trek's talking female ship voice). Then they drop all pretense and somehow she becomes a walking talking hologram. And then later, I'm not sure, but did she end up turning into a real girl somehow? And those stupid names. God, who the hell green lights crap like "Rev Blem" or "Trance Gemini"...oooo! So alien! So spacey future sounding!
Forget it. Other shows, like Farscape or whatever, hey...I'm not a fan, but I can be appropriately sad to hear another Sci-Fi show bites the dust. But Mutant X? No. Andromeda? Quit beating the dead Roddenbery. These shows should die...every dollar not wasted on them is perhaps another dollar that can maybe somehow through a miracle end up going towards new Firefly episodes.
- JoeShmoe
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-- I wonder which will go down in history as the bigger failure: the War on Drugs or the War on Filesharing
Science fans may be excited to learn that "Mutant X" has been cancelled.
Yet another signature that refers to itself. The irony and humor is dead.
What's next - Lucasfilm is cancelling Episode III!!?!?
We can only hope...
When the name above the title was dead years before the show started... you're running a show based on an idea that wasn't good enough to go forward when he was alive. That's the first sign you're in trouble.
Andromeda's best point, imo, was that it didn't take itself seriously. It never pretended to be anything other than a cheesy science fiction show, and had a lot of fun with some of the sillier conventions of sci fi. To me, it was the perfect antidote to shows like DS9, which seemed to be so concerned with being "serious" sci fi they forgot about things like character, dialog or plot.
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
"We can only hope..."
Will that be the "Classic Hope", or "New Hope"?
I must be the only person on the face of the planet who actually liked both of these shows. I watched them, not to learn some profound truth, or for their rigid adherance to sound scientific principles, but because they entertained me. Don't get me wrong, neither were my favorite shows, I wouldn't go out of my way to watch them, but if they were on, and I wasn't watching something else, I would watch them.
Even if I hated both of these shows, I would still be sad to see them go. The main reason is... With the trend of sci-fi shows being cancelled, eventually all we will be left with are the vapid teeny-bopper soap operas (Smallville anyone?) that seem to be so prevalent lately.
IANAL... But I play one on
Here's a list of everything produced by Fireworks.
Stargate is pretty much guaranteed to run its whole plot out without getting cancelled (since there's only 1 season left, and production is already a good deal underway). Unfortunately, the later seasons' plotlines aren't as good as the earler ones... but at least it's another to add to the list.
... well, sorta. They finished off the story started in season 2 when they were picked up (nearly 5 years later) for season 3. Then a few years later they got the greenlight to do new episodes and started a new major plot ... just in time to get cancelled mid-plotline yet again!
Also, there is ReBoot
However, it is animated so it may not count in this list, anyway.
>And MutantX? Seriously, who even watched an entire episode?
that would be me. I was smoking drugs at the time...
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
Bad Panda! No Bamboo for you! In matters of importance ACs will not be responded to. Want to say something critical,OK
You know that momnet in time where you switch the TV on and it shows you something on the channel you left it, just before you decide to change channels?
Well, thats probably all the entertainment i got out of Andromida after the first episode. The quote "Did you see the size of him? He looks like some ancient Greek God or something!" did it for me...
Did any of you manage to see "John Doe"? Now that I was sad to see canseled. And canselation of Firefly should be considered an act of treason, any an all people involved in that decision should be procecuted to the full extent of the law in all countries Firefly was shown.
That's why lots of excellent true fictionary science books have never been touched for televised media. Average Joe does not really understand science, and he/she does not want to be bothered with operating their brain.
Throw a little soap opera in there, and you may have a winner.
Really, Mutant X was beyond horrid and Andromeda had some good moments, but both were shitty in just about every aspect. But, this brings up an interesting topic; what is left to watch that is "Sci-Fi?" Stargate? Enterprise? What else? I am so beyond glad that the best Sci-fi show EVER is coming back, Dr. Who of course!
"Jeremy, you need to get to an internet cafe and cut and paste some appropriate sentiments about me from the world wide
Consider the oldest stories, like the Indian epic the Mahabharata or the Greek's Iliad. It's not about the wars or conflicts. It's about the interplay between people. It's always been about the context of the people. We as people want to see other people experiencing things.
Now, look at the lastest successful sci-fi, IMHO Babylon 5. Sure, they made space fighting a lot more realistic. But it was the story of the Shadows vs. the Vorlons, Sheridan's heroic sacrifice on Z'ha'dum, and the betrayal of Garibaldi. Really, look at this summary about the conflict:
Little here talks about science, the reality of evolution, or the underlying science. It's about philosophy, life, and the questions we all encounter along our own life. That's the story, and that's what made it more interesting than any show about cool tools. It's never been about the tools. They just get us to start watching. It's always been about the relationships, whether we want to admit it or not....tizzyd
Lexx was cancelled a few years ago, the first two seasons were the best but the others were also worth watching (even the worst of Lexx was far better than Andromeda or Mutant X at their best).
:
Stargate has some dodgy moments these days (especially those involving a heavy 'Sam Carter' or 'Jonas Quinn' presence) but generally holds together due to the strength of the other characters - I'm hoping that the Stargate Atlantis spin-off will pick up the baton and start with an early sprint.
ST - Enterprise has some good times and bad times, some good characters and plotlines let down by a lousy captain and a 'soft porn' happy scriptwriter or two, and what is the 'god squad' theme song all about then ?
There are a couple of things I'm really looking forward to
The Firefly Movie - the series was by far the best sci-fi in recent years, if there is any justice then the movie should result in the commissioning of a new series.
Battlestar Galactica Series - Sci-Fi comissioned a full series of this after the pilot was successful, theres a lot of scope boh in the case and with the writers to do some great stuff with this, certainly theres an opportunity for something that grows on the 'dark' elements of the original without re-creating the 'ham & cheese' that accompanied it first time around.
Farscape mini-series - Announced earlier this month by sci-fi channel, a four hour mini-series that I believe is to be titled 'Peacekeeper War'
but so much good sci-fi has been canned in recent years, the aforementioned Firefly, Lexx and Farscape chief amongst the unjust victims, also gone but not forgotten are Now and Again, Dark Skies, G Vs E, Brimstone and a whole host of other shows that were far more deserving of funding than Andromedaft and Mutant Wrecks!
The SciFi channel is in a "Oh my God, you want us to SPEND MONEY on PRODUCTION!?" phase. They kinda forgot the spending money part of "You have to spend money to make money" proposition... Witness, Farscape, and only funding a measly 4 extra episodes after the biggest fan backlash in history against them, and every company that advertises with them.
1. Mutant X was not a cheesy ripoff of X-men, it was sanctioned by Marvel in a struggling time and helped keep Marvel going even in a small capacity. Besides it was filmed in Canada, most in Toronto, how much quality can you REALLY get? :P
2. Andromeda WAS good with good story arcs till Sorbo decided that his "fans" couldn't handle anything more than 1 story long and became "episode adventures" after he fired a true writing guru...
"Robert Hewitt Wolfe has parted company with the last bastion of scifi for people with half a brain - Andromeda. Wolfe said: "Basically, they want the show to be more action driven, more Dylan-centric, and more episodic. They also want more aliens, more space battles, and less internal conflict among the principal characters. Also, they want a lot less continuity so as not to confuse the casual or new viewer with too much backstory."
Well congrats Sorbo, your simple plan worked perfectly. Maybe they'll invite you back on a Young Hercules episode. Wait...that was cancelled too you say? HA!
Yo Grark
Canadian Bred with American Buttering
Andromeda could have been a great show. The Nietzscheans were a terrific race, I'd hazard to say a bizarre melding of the Vulcans, Klingons and Borg. I thought the acting was great and the whole show had a happy-go-lucky campiness about it.
I stopped watching it, though, because it pissed me off constantly. I never saw a show fall so far short of its potential.
Interesting note - some writer said the Nietzscheans were going to be called the Dawkinites (or something similar) initially, because they strongly echoed parts of Dawkins' thought, but that was abandoned because it didn't have enough of a ring to it. But I loved the Nietzschean attitudes, they seemed like one of the all-time best misreadings of Nietzsche...and once again, it makes me sad to think what the show could have been if the writing staff worked a little harder...
It was like a grown up 90210 with only pretty people allowed. But it is nice to see that a secret superhero crew can find the time to get the latest in high maintenace hairstyles. Not to mention it had 70s style special effects made with 21st century technology.
Mutant X was so bad it made my teeth hurt.
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
I wouldn't include B5 in that list, the original 5 year arc was truncated to 4 then at the last minute got it's fifth and final year, when JMS had so obviously run out of steam.
Even though there wasn't much of an overall arc I guess TNG went through it's natural lifespan, likewise DS9.
Buffy and to a degree Angel both got to live out their natural lives, but I agree, investing your time and commitment to an SF show these days seems to be doomed to failure these days. Even now I still have trouble getting my head around Farscape's cancellation, Firefly I could sort of understand from the studio's POV, though losing the Serenity crew was, surprisingly, a worse shock to the system.
Now perhaps we'll get to see Lexa Doig (Rommie) on Stargate SG1, she's married to Michael Shanks who plays Dr. Jackson on that show - (damn him) - he's done a guest show on Andromeda, so there was talk about her doing the opposite.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
First off, I refuse to call Mutant X "sci fi", b/c that's insulting to all of the great sci fi shows that exist(ed). Andromeda was more like VIP, if I didn't feel like thinking (at all) for an hour, I could handle it, but you were never going to see anything worth mentioning.
I've never seen Firefly, as watching 2 minutes of Dark Angel had me convinced that the big four networks were incapable of putting out any good sci fi. If it's as good as everyone says, I may have to check it out.
B5 was pretty good, and I'm already sad over the impending end of SG-1 (especially if they screw up Atlantis, which I have a feeling they will), but I was rather suprised to see the end of Jeremiah.
Granted, they covered in one season what I thought should have been at least a 3 season arc, and then kind of lost their way, but it was a far superior show to either Mutant X or Andromeda. It was a rather dark show w/ interesting characters. I thought that Perry and Warner were very good, especially considering the cheezy crap that they've worked on previously. And almost every episode has at least one cool moment (Perry laying on the gas filling the semi trailer w/ exhaust to try to kill some punks, Astin talking a guy into grenading himself and his thugs, etc.). The only entertaining moment from Mutant X was from an early episode when Vicky Pratt was fighting w/ someone. They zoomed in on a kick she threw, but only showed a close up of her ass. I laughed about that for quite some time.
I wish they'd bring back shows like Jeremiah, Family Guy, Futurama, Farscape (though I didn't get into it until nearly the end) for starters. Shows like Andromeda or Mutant X should go the way of Odyssey 5, dead and stay that way.
No, I'm calling it the high point of modern (post-1987, non-theatrical) Trek. Sure, like any show, it had trash and treasure - but it also had some well-made, thoughtful episodes, a reasonably good Dominion War arc, and the lovingly produced 30th anniversary special, "Trials and Tribbleations". Remember, even TOS had "Spock's Brain" - and weighing it up on my favourite episodes, it outshines TNG, Voyager and Enterprise. Of course, DS9 will never be as good as classic Trek...
It's not the best TV scifi ever made, but it beats the pants off Voyager!
(The best recent scifi are the three Fs - Farscape, Firefly and Futurama!)
"It is dark. You are likely to be eaten by a grue." -- Zork
For a while I tried to get into Earth: Final Conflict, but I couldn't stand the bad costumes or get the whole Plot. I gave up on it and then just recently as it's been on Sci-Fi channel in the mornings while I get dressed, I'm hooked now.
I still don't like the cheesy plots or bad costumes, but I like the underlying struggle and Sci-Fi technology. I love a mystery.
I say good riddance to Andromeda and Mutant X. Who needs to be addicted to more TV? Let's bring some live action ROBOTECH!!
Sounds like you're talking about Lexx. What a great show. Cheesy as hell CGI, but I love a show that can out-weird anything else on TV.
In fact, it was such a ripoff that they even had Marvel slap their name on it!
As I recall, the reasoning behind Mutant X was that Marvel has some agreement with Fox regarding any X-Men TV series, but they weren't getting anywhere, so they scrambled to get *some* mutant-related show on the air with any other network.
Mutant X is basically just X-Men tweaked to the point where isn't legally X-Men, and can therefore be aired on UPN. Of course it's crap, but I doubt it can be called a ripoff when it's done by the same people. Unoriginal, sure. Derivative, certainly. Ripoff? Not so much.
Raptor
"Procrastination is great. It gives me a lot more time to do things that I'm never going to do."
God No!
Can you imagine how horrible it would be if they tried? Imagine Starship Troopers on a TV budget! Cheap cockpit views made of poorly-constructed plywood, and cheap CGI animations of robots. They'd just spoil the whole damn series in the memory of the fans, or worse, make it into another power rangers clone.No matter what they did, though, they'd have to make it similar to what they recently did to the Transformers: Ruin it to appeal to the Short-Attention-Span, "reality-tv" watching Pokemon generation. I'm coming to the conclusion that's the only way to get something new onto television these days, and make it so that the TV Executives will buy off on it. Look at what happened to the live-action version of The Tick. That series was brilliant, and the acting superb, but it was too cerebral and off-beat for the TV execs to give it time to catch the attention of the consumer.
All for the love of Profit!
-113 grams, 10 milliliters... He's lead, Jim.
I agree on Robotech - too much action for network TV and probably even cable TV (outside companies willing to risk big $$ like HBO, but that doesn't really fit their core audience). The biggest obstacle to good sci-fi on network TV, though, is that the networks are moving almost completely to sitcoms and reality TV to cut expense. I wouldn't be surprised if that eventually backfires and they lose share to cable, but I haven't seen any slowdown in popularity yet. Even cable is jumping on that bandwagon... maybe in 10 years, the ONLY things to watch will be reality, sitcom, crime drama, or sports. I imagine I'd throw my TV out around then.
The other thing I hate about network TV is their consistent unbelievable science in sci-fi and characters that are basically untouchable. Dark Angel jumping through a pane of inch-thick glass, falling 4 stories and running away uninjured, for instance. Genetically engineered or not, she's gonna get sliced up and probably break her legs in that fall. Then there's dodging pretty much every bullet... *groan*
Execs should watch Alias to know how to create this kind of character right. She's not invincible, but is superhuman in some ways (and this is explained in a realistic way - a cold war CIA project designed to create superspies), has flaws, shows fear, and yet still succeeds in most (but not all) missions. Missions that fail? That's so refreshing to see in any show. I was also happy to see a Cold Case show that didn't produce enough evidence to pin the murderer as well. Maybe networks are waking up to reality - we don't always win every battle.
My biggest peeve with sci-fi, though is the 20th century medicine in shows like Star Trek and even the new Battlestar Galactica, though. If you can build a spaceship that big, you probably have the med-tech to cure cancer and revive the dead for several minutes - heck, they probably could convert entire body structures. Hmm... today, I think I'll be a Trellian...
To be honest, I actually didn't think the Tick worked well in either live action or cartoon form, probably because it didn't fit the genre. Both had funny moments, but not the laugh-until-you-wet-your-pants moments from the comic book. The live action shows biggest fault was that it was paced too slow. The cartoon had to make sacrifices for its audience and took away too much of the adult humor.
I thought TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) worked much better in both comic and live action, and I'm not really a fan of that series (aside from the first couple of gore-fest comic books). It's probably because it meets people's expectations (superhero=action heavy) and was already dumbed down in the comic book when the writers found they were getting more pre-teen fans/interest than adult spoof audience fans/interest.
I could have seen this coming a mile away. Not only is kevin sorbo quite possibly the worst actor known to human kind, andromeda is uninsightful, and not really up to the standard set by some of gene's other great works. I'm sure neither of these shows will be missed.