So... What Sci Fi is left on TV?

[Adrian McNair]

Well, it's animated, but Genedy Tartakovski (Yeah, spelled that horribly wrong) made Symbionic Titan, which is about human-like aliens trying to live on earth... oh, and they have a giant robot they use to fight giant monsters.

My friends and I like it.

Actually, your spelling of his name isn't that far off. It's Genndy Tartakovsky. You could have mangled that far worse than you did.

Yeah, I also followed and enjoyed, Sym-Bionic Titan. It had an engaging plot, likable characters and really well-staged action. Naturally, Cartoon Network had to cancel it. According to this source it wasn't the ratings that were a factor (they were in fact high) but because there weren't enough toys connected to it, apparently. How you could have difficulty establishing a toy line based on a series revolving around mecha and various monstrosities is beyond me.

On a somewhat related note, I've come to the conclusion that Tartakovsky's The Clone Wars is superior to the current CGI series. This has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I only just recently saw it or that it has a foreshadowing of Anakin Skywalker's turn to the Dark Side that's far more effective than what was really shown in Revenge of the Sith.

[JME2]

Anything Tartakovsky does is usually pretty good. He's one of my favorite influences in American animation.

[Enigma]

You can scratch out V. ABC has officially canceled the series.

[Lord Pounder]

V deserved to go to be honest. Every time they seemed to be taking a step in the right direction they took straight run at the absurd. Poor character development, plot holes you could pilot a Death Star through and too many story threads being juggled. I cheered when the kid got his head bit off by not-Lisa.

I loved the original V and wanted this to be a success but I've seen far better shows canceled sooner.

[Adrian McNair]

V deserved to go to be honest. Every time they seemed to be taking a step in the right direction they took straight run at the absurd. Poor character development, plot holes you could pilot a Death Star through and too many story threads being juggled. I cheered when the kid got his head bit off by not-Lisa.

I won't be missing that one either. It didn't manage to surpass the status of "guilty pleasure" in my mind. One of the primary stumbling blocks that the show was never able to overcome was the fact that the Visitors were unbeatable. The resistance just couldn't achieve any major victories against them. And how could they when they were written as total idiots who had refined their ineptitude into an artform? These bumbling fools couldn't defeat Terl and the Psychlos let alone Anna and the Visitors. For example, we have Ryan blowing a golden opportunity to assassinate Anna in the vain hope of saving his hybrid daughter. Or Erica not having a contingency plan for dealing with Anna after Lisa lost all common sense (yes, despite knowing full well that her mother is a manipulative monster, Lisa just couldn't pull the trigger after Anna displayed some painfully transparent crocodile tears).

For all of Anna's whining about how "powerful" the Fifth Column was she really didn't have to worry at all. By the end of the series she basically had the Vatican on her side and had successfully placed the majority of humanity in a devoted, trance-like state!

Hobbes and Lisa were the only characters of interest to me. Hobbes because he was morally ambiguous and had a sense of humour. Lisa because, when she wasn't being an idiot, was sympathetic and a source of fanservice. Let's face it, Laura Vandervoort is gorgeous.

[Celador]

Is there any SG-style space adventure or space opera, though? BSG: B&C is the closest that I can think of, but I'm not hopeful about that. Caprica was unexpectedly good (though often annoyingly inconsistent with previous canon and universe-building), but I can't imagine there being many stories left to tell in that universe. And another series with Adama as the main character doesn't appeal to me, particularly since it's hard to imagine this one not being the real Adama as in Caprica.

[jollyreaper]

I will never understand how they spend all this money and never bother to make this shit any good.

[Broomstick]

Too much CGI, not enough story.

[Sithking Zero]

Well, it's animated, but Genedy Tartakovski (Yeah, spelled that horribly wrong) made Symbionic Titan, which is about human-like aliens trying to live on earth... oh, and they have a giant robot they use to fight giant monsters.

My friends and I like it.

Actually, your spelling of his name isn't that far off. It's Genndy Tartakovsky. You could have mangled that far worse than you did.

Yeah, I also followed and enjoyed, Sym-Bionic Titan. It had an engaging plot, likable characters and really well-staged action. Naturally, Cartoon Network had to cancel it. According to this source it wasn't the ratings that were a factor (they were in fact high) but because there weren't enough toys connected to it, apparently. How you could have difficulty establishing a toy line based on a series revolving around mecha and various monstrosities is beyond me.

On a somewhat related note, I've come to the conclusion that Tartakovsky's The Clone Wars is superior to the current CGI series. This has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I only just recently saw it or that it has a foreshadowing of Anakin Skywalker's turn to the Dark Side that's far more effective than what was really shown in Revenge of the Sith.

Sir, you are doing nothing but preaching to the choir. Particularly, the Bass section, and in particular, me. Seriously, CN? You can't make toys out of TRANSFORMING ROBOTS.

They've only been doing EXACTLY THAT for the last, oh, let's say THIRTY YEARS OR SO.

CN doesn't really seem to like a lot of great shows. Seriously, CN? More "Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy?" You know what I wanted? More Megas XLR. Now THERE was a great mecha show!

A lot of CN's stuff seems super-sterilized for the tweenage audience, IMHO. Yes, the new CGI one is on, but it seems... very blah in comparison to a lot of other, really good stuff. Tartakovsky's was incredibly great, with great characters, sweet battles, and all sorts of other-

Ahem, I appear to be going off topic.

But while on the subject of children's cartoons, there is a new Transformers show out called "Transformers Prime." It's not that good at all.

[Srelex]

For better or worse, the current CW series does have a closer feel to the movies. While it was cool at times, the Tartakovsky one felt like he was forgetting he wasn't doing Samurai Jack at times, and most of it was pretty much 'droids get smashed, boom!'

[Bright]

I did not see this drought of science fiction coming. In hindsight, I can't say it was that sudden, but I just didn't notice all the great sci-fi just disappearing.

[Stofsk]

Guys just watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Problem = solved.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Falling Skies looks like it'll be good. I'm gonna enjoy that one.

[Enigma]

I'm also surprised that no-one else (AFAIK) has mentioned Warehouse 13.


Oh and either later this month or next, SCYFY will air Red Faction: Origins. That is correct. *THAT* Red Faction. Apparently it takes place between Guerrilla and Armageddon.

[Batman]

Offhand, I'd say a lot of people don't consider Warehouse 13 a proper SciFi series due to the lack (at least as far as I've seen so far) of spaceships and aliens. For a lot of people it likely falls into the ominous 'Mystery' category (I know it does for a lot of german TV guides).
Doesn't make it any less worth watching, mind you, I rather like the series so far, but I can see why it wouldn't show up on people's radar as SciFi.