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Sci-Fi on the Cheap
lowbudgetfun writes "NYTimes.com is reporting on the Sci-Fi channel's huge investment (28 films for $21 million) for original B movies. Includes quotes from B Movie hero, Bruce Campbell." I especially liked this line from the article: "Shot on budgets ranging from $1 million to $2 million, Sci Fi's movies are made in money-saving locales like Bulgaria, Romania and Missouri."
I nominate Snakehead Terror as the first one for Tom Servo & friends to review.
Chip H.
First of all, some Brucelore... In Albuquerque, "The Man With the Screaming Brain" showed this weekend, and then is showing again in a couple days, with Bruce being present but those tickets all sold out long ago, so... if you snoozed, you losed. Also, Bruce will be at Page 1 Bookstore autographing his book. Of course, I'm sure he's on a whirlwind tour and visiting other cities, so wherever you are: pay attention and you'll get to meet the man, the myth, the legend.
Second: about B movies. In the last few years I've become aware of some local low-budget filmmakers, and I even got to be a zombie extra a little while back. (Maybe calling these "B" movies is a stretch, as they would go ape at the thought of a budget anywhere near the magnitude of a million dollars.) Of these people's work, one thing I've noticed is this: you can't show this stuff on TV. People, you are not seeing the "cream of the crop" on SciFi channel, because the best cheap movies have sex in them. No, they're not porn, but they're not prude either. (Oh, and they tend to be gorier than what even American TV tolerates.) Now, don't get me wrong: these movies aren't great. But they're better than the SciFi channel stuff, and they'll get some sincere laughs out of you if nothing else. Find your local cult video store if you have one, and start talking to people. Find your local filmmakers, and check out the crazy shit they're doing. SciFi channel's movies will bore you to tears after you do that.
Third, about micro-marketing. I amazes me that TV execs are actually asking questions like, "Who's at home on Saturday night?" That is so twentieth century. I have had my Tivo for nearly five years now! Is routine time-shifting (by "routine," I mean even more effortless than VCRs which have been around for decades) still not commonplace? If not, it's making me wonder if I can make money selling fully configured MythTV boxes or something, because people who watch TV need this technology whether they know it yet, or not. ;-) Timeslots, what an obsolete concept.
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They lost the rights to Star Trek to Spike TV. They cannot afford to pick up Doctor Who reruns, or any other BBC SciFi (Red Dwarf, Blake's Seven, Star Cops, etc). They canceled FarScape and Lexx, WTF? Those where good shows and they flushed them down the toliet!
They remade BattleStar Galactica into a Space Opera, more emphesis on Opera than Space. Cyclons look and act human now, they stole^H^H^H^H^H^Hborrowed that from "The Terminator". A few characters got their gender changed.
SciFi had a chance to pick up "Space: Above and Beyond" one of the best SciFi shows made on network TV, and they refused.
Stargate SG1 wasn't lame enough, so they made a Stargate Atlantis, and now they recognize the lameness and are trying to change the actors with some who were on FarScape in an effort to jumpstart the show. Yet it jumped the shark long ago.
Now SciFi is buying movies that I can rent for $1 at the local video stores because they are B-Movies that hardly anyone wants to see, so they got marked down. Some are two for $1. At least the video rentals of those movies won't be edited for TV with all the good parts taken out.
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Well, I haven't really made the effort to watch Battlestar Galactica ... just don't really have that many hours in the week. Besides, I'm a pretty diehard fan of the Stargate universe, when you get right down to it. The whole secondary story arc going on with the Ancients is remarkable for a TV series. I'm hoping to see more of the Ancient that built the timeship.
... I fell in love with it immediately but couldn't figure why the continuity was so screwed up. Then I read that they were showing them in all the wrong order, with no particular justification for it. Weird, if you ask me. All I can say is that Joss Whedon must have pissed off the wrong person, I don't know. It is impressive that the show still managed to qualify as a "hit" even when the first season was aired in apparently random order.
... it took a while for the series to mature. Deanna Troi doing this William Shatner-style overacted empath routine, and Worf shooting everything in sight and growling all the time. And Wesley Crusher ... but don't let's go down that road. But Firefly came out of the gate as topflight sci-fi and I was totally involved from the get-go.
But yeah, Firefly was an exceptional, if short-lived series. I remember how confused I was when I first tuned into it
What I also found impressive is that the actors really seemd to be into their roles from day one. Remember the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation? I really couldn't stand it
I did loosen my wallet last year and bought the boxed DVD set of all the episodes, including a couple of unaired ones. Did my own marathon: took a couple of days off from work and watched them front to back, in the proper order. Such a cool show. Can't wait to see the movie.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.