The Sci Fi Channel was launched September 24, 1992, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal cable programming. The name of the network was officially changed to the SyFy Channel on July 7, 2009.

And diehard fans cried.

Programming originally included the 1960s television series Dark Shadows, the film serial Flash Gordon, and other science fiction movies and series that defined an age of TV for geeks.

The channel was also ideal for classic film and television series like the original Star Trek and Universal horror films such as Dracula and Frankenstein. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and author Isaac Asimov were among those on the advisory board.

The Sci Fi channel’s specific niche was also one of the reasons Mystery Science Theater 3000 was such a perfect fit while it aired on the network.

Like most cable networks, Sci Fi changed hands and altered programming many times since its beginning in the 1990s. They have even been one of the pioneers for airing anime programming.

Sci Fi began airing English dubbed anime early on, although much of the content was edited since anime like Akira, for example, is more adult than conventional cartoons. You can still find anime on the SyFy channel, but not as prevalently.

Other than anime, and original and syndicated series, Sci Fi has also always regularly produced Sci Fi Pictures original films, which are typically independently-made B-movies with production budgets of $1 to 2 million.

We are all fully aware that most of them suck.

But hey, there is always room for bad horror/sci fi movies. My husband and I go out of our way to find them, in fact. So kudos, SyFy, for maintaining that unique standard despite some of your lesser decisions of late, like…becoming the SyFy channel!

In truth, the beginning of the end for the good ol’ days of the Sci Fi Channel began in 2006 when Sci Fi started including several non-sci-fi programs, such as Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (though it is a very good show in its own right) and WCG Ultimate Gamer. Reality TV. Groan. That is not what the Sci Fi Channel is supposed to be about.

What I want to honor today is the time before that downfall, when a great geek network truly earned the name of the Sci Fi Channel.

The golden age I am referring to is pre BattleStar Galactica, not to diminish the greatness of one of the Sci Fi channel’s most popular shows of all time, but the 90s were a different era of greatness, and for good reason.

You remember those days, back when you could regularly watch Sliders, Babylon 5, Forever Knight, Highlander, MST3K, The Outer Limits, SeaQuest, old episodes of TV classics like Land of the Lost and Lost in Space, and even those awesome shows that didn’t really last on their own network, like Earth 2 (yes, I remember Earth 2 that first aired on NBC, and I loved it).

What was so great about those days was how Sci Fi combined original ideas that really were monumental in ingenuity and scope with existing television classics, new and time-honored films, and the unexpected, like anime series and OVAs.

It was balanced but still wholly what it claimed to be, a network for geeks, whether horror-oriented, directly sci-fi, paranormal, you name it.

I use Sliders as my main example because that spectacular series has been on the brain recently after I introduced it to my husband (praise be Hulu). He had seen some of the series in passing, but never really watched the show, and seeing those first few episodes again really made me mourn what the Sci Fi Channel used to be.

Namely, good.

Well, maybe that is too harsh. After all, SG-1 and BSG have only recently ended, two great series from the 2000s, and we have the new SGU airing now, but what else is there really that captivates quite the same way as those now completed or canceled shows? Ghost Hunters? I think not. See the South Park episode “Dead Celebrities” for further details.

Sliders, for those who may not know it, ran for five seasons starting in 1995 and was about the misadventures of (originally) a group of four unique individuals trapped in alternate universes seeking their way home. The graphics, at the time, were fantastic, the subject matter always fresh and fun, and the characters lovable and fully dimensional (haha), like the inventor of the technology that got them stuck in the first place, Quinn Mallory, played by Jerry O’Connell.

The show didn’t get to end with much of a bang, sadly, due to creative differences and the loss of most of the original cast before the end, but it was a great series, nonetheless. It was a bit like The Twilight Zone, only following the same characters each week being put in those strange and sometimes frightening situations. It was a classic example of what the Sci Fi channel should be.

I miss that.

I can remember sneaking downstairs at eleven at night when I was a kid to watch Forever Knight, watching Babylon 5 with my Dad the same way we always watched Star Trek together, and beaming whenever I stumbled upon reruns of Quantum Leap.

That is the Sci Fi Channel I feel the loss of when I check to see what is on only to find another reality show, paranormal-based or not, instead of an honestly good original sci fi series.

Those are the times we live in, I suppose, where only ideas with a standing fanbase get a second look, and reality TV owns the airwaves. I just never thought I would see the day when Sci Fi would become SyFy as an excuse to show things that are NOT sci fi, or horror, or anything like what it was founded as, just to grab a larger audience.

They have forgotten us, the geeks who loved the way things once were because it was something different, something scary and creative and fantastical for those of us wanting just one network specifically for us, something entirely outside the norm.

Oh, you can still catch The Outer Limits and reruns of X-Files, and SGU is proving very promising, but I expect more from the network that says “Imagine Greater”. I put them to a higher standard because they are the network for me. For geeks.

What happened to the good ol’ days? Are they gone forever now that BSG is over? Here’s hoping that fans speak out enough if things get too strayed from what the Sci Fi Channel truly is supposed to be that things change. For the better. I miss the joy that that great network once brought.

SyFy just doesn’t compare.

~G³

Next week begins a series of versus blogs, beginning with “Star Trek vs. Star Wars”. I know which side I’m on, but this isn’t about choosing sides so much as comparing the fandoms. Feel free to rant about which one you think is superior to your heart’s content.

Thanks for tuning in.

 

Images taken from:
http://www.realitywanted.com/news/category/wcgultimategamer
http://beamjack.com/category/books/
http://www.slashfilm.com/2008/02/20/two-live-action-akira-films-greenlit-leonardo-dicaprio-producing-possibly-will-star/
http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-US/videos/media/27a6d9f7-0752-4191-9d44-6d7afdb69510/
http://www.ioffer.com/i/100250417
http://www.ryanreynoldsonline.com/filmography.php?film=43
http://loyalkng.com/2009/05/22/favorite-movies-star-wars-star-trek-striking-coinceidental-similarities/

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