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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
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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
> WTF is "jumping the shark"?
Originally it meant a show doing something outrageous and irrelevant in order to boost sagging ratings, e.g. Fonzie jumping over sharks on waterskis.
Now the term seems to be generalized to a couple of broader meanings by a lot of people, such as (a) making changes that take it away from its original conception, or even (b) simply going down the tubes.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
How do people whatch that dren?
Simple, the majority of people are idiots, and TV networks look to attract as many viewers as possible. If its a well written show with many plot twists and great dialogue, its bound to confuse a significant portion of TV viewers, who find it uncomfortable. The key is to find an acceptable level of mediocrity. If people weren't getting dumber and less literate, there would be no motivation to reduce the reading level of news magazines.
There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM and AT&T and DuPont, Dow, General Electric, and Exxon
> uncomfortable. The key is to find an acceptable level of mediocrity. If people weren't getting dumber and less literate, there would be no motivation to reduce the reading level of news magazines.
Would you mind explaining that again, without using so many big words?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
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
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."