^^ biasED 
New competition for SyFy? The Syzygy Network
- Thread starter Candlelight
- Start date
I'm underwhelmed by the original series descriptions. A medical show in space... but with martial arts?? 
Huh? And MedSci is an absolutely awful title. Who Am I? sounds like a rehash of Smallville or maybe The Powers of Matthew Star (I dunno about that one, I didn't really watch it, but that's what popped into my head on reading the description). Order of the Shadow reads like just another magic-realist conspiracy story, The X-Files meets Sanctuary. (With the usual offensive and ignorant portrayal of the scientific community as closed-minded dogmatists blind to the realities right in front of them. Just once I'd like to see a show that tells it like it is, with the believers in mysticism being the hidebound, dogmatic fools and the scientists being the ones who unswervingly pursue the truth.) And there's no way to predict how an anthology show will turn out.
Of course, any of these could turn out to be surprisingly good in the execution, but for the most part, the premises seem to hew to very familiar TV formulae. The medical show in space with martial arts is an exception to that, but it still just sounds weird.
Huh? And MedSci is an absolutely awful title. Who Am I? sounds like a rehash of Smallville or maybe The Powers of Matthew Star (I dunno about that one, I didn't really watch it, but that's what popped into my head on reading the description). Order of the Shadow reads like just another magic-realist conspiracy story, The X-Files meets Sanctuary. (With the usual offensive and ignorant portrayal of the scientific community as closed-minded dogmatists blind to the realities right in front of them. Just once I'd like to see a show that tells it like it is, with the believers in mysticism being the hidebound, dogmatic fools and the scientists being the ones who unswervingly pursue the truth.) And there's no way to predict how an anthology show will turn out.Of course, any of these could turn out to be surprisingly good in the execution, but for the most part, the premises seem to hew to very familiar TV formulae. The medical show in space with martial arts is an exception to that, but it still just sounds weird.
During the height of episodic sci-fi during the 90s, there was a 1 season show about a hospital in space. It failed miserably. I don't think the planet needs another.
In spite of what the name really means. It sounds like something you'd find on the menu
of a Polish restaurant.
Now...
What would be great to me is to create a premium channel that could run uncut scifi,horror,fantasy movies and anime, plus original programming. Even run the Canadian/European versions of series that generally have less censorship.
Add some serious science programming from places like NASA, the European Space Agency and Japan.
Cable companies aren't really looking for another free channel to add to their already bloated offerings. They would be more open to something that increased their revenue.
I'm willing to bet there are least 5 million people in the USA alone who would subscribe.
btw...Netflix streaming does't offer surround sound and their visual quality is barely better than SD.
Just MHO.
In my dream world, the channel is called "The Galaxy Network - scifi uncut". (Yeah, I've been dreaming of a channel to replace SighhhhhFy.)
In spite of what the name really means. It sounds like something you'd find on the menu
of a Polish restaurant.
Now...
What would be great to me is to create a premium channel that could run uncut scifi,horror,fantasy movies and anime, plus original programming. Even run the Canadian/European versions of series that generally have less censorship.
Add some serious science programming from places like NASA, the European Space Agency and Japan.
Cable companies aren't really looking for another free channel to add to their already bloated offerings. They would be more open to something that increased their revenue.
I'm willing to bet there are least 5 million people in the USA alone who would subscribe.
btw...Netflix streaming does't offer surround sound and their visual quality is barely better than SD.
Just MHO.
In my dream world, the channel is called "The Galaxy Network - scifi uncut". (Yeah, I've been dreaming of a channel to replace SighhhhhFy.)
I don't like medical dramas, and I'm not enthused about tacking 'in space' on the end. Could you make a pretty neat show about doctors delaing with xenobiological issues and extraterrestrial viruses? Sure. And The Andromeda Strain is a pretty good movie. But on the other hand, I didn't like Grey's Anatomy IN SPACE! when it was called Defying Gravity; and at least that show was allegedly about people actually do in space.
However, medical drama in space and martial arts? That's just insane enough to be either dreadful or genius. Maybe both.
But the entire premise of these shows is that the tinfoil hat crowd is right. If the sensible rational people are right, then there aren't aliens or monsters out there screwing up stuff... and is there a point to The X-Files without monsters or alien conspiracies?
However, medical drama in space and martial arts? That's just insane enough to be either dreadful or genius. Maybe both.
But the entire premise of these shows is that the tinfoil hat crowd is right. If the sensible rational people are right, then there aren't aliens or monsters out there screwing up stuff... and is there a point to The X-Files without monsters or alien conspiracies?
With all the non sci-fi crap on SyFy, would they really see it as direct competition? Now they're advertising some reality show about a psychic woman.
TV Land still shows heavily cut M*A*S*H reruns with a lot of scenes that were taken out over the years still missing.
And I know this because I have all the DVD's, but still watch a "good" episode on TV Land if it happens to be on.
And for a while anyway, TV Land was making the slot for an episode 35 minutes long, with the still edited down episode, so they could have more commercials.
They are actually having a logo competition to replace the current one.
http://www.syzygystudios.net/community/Index.php?showtopic=2134&pid=28803&st=0&#entry28803
http://www.syzygystudios.net/community/Index.php?showtopic=2134&pid=28803&st=0&#entry28803
Tom, is this just a grass roots thing or is there actually a "company" in the works? The address associated with Syzygy is just a residential home.
I was going to say it would make more sense if it were more than 56 years in the future. But then, it could be set in a universe where humanity was contacted by aliens in the near future and brought into the interstellar community. My recently published story "The Hub of the Matter" is in such a universe, though it's 2-3 decades later than MedSci's time frame. On the other hand, in "Hub," humanity is a minor civilization with little to no power in the galactic community. If the show is postulating a humanity that's more prominent in interstellar affairs, a later time frame would make more sense.
It might be a fresher idea to leave out the space-opera stuff and make a medical drama revolving around transhuman and posthuman innovation/evolution and the issues arising from it. Which reminds me of Century City, a near-future courtroom drama that dealt with the legal implications of nascent technologies including a lot of biotech, and which was on the air for maybe four weeks.
Yeah, and it would've starred a group of meddling kids and their talking dog...
My problem isn't with the idea that paranormal things exist within a fictional setting. My problem is with the idea that science is a pseudo-religious dogma whose practitioners refuse to entertain notions beyond their set body of beliefs. Nothing could be further from the truth. Science is all about seeking out new knowledge, testing established ideas against the evidence. If paranormal phenomena did exist, science would be able to detect, observe, codify, and explain them. A little over a century ago, quantum physics was totally outside the accepted body of scientific knowledge, and there were those who resisted it, but the scientific community found experimental evidence it couldn't ignore, and it pursued the question and revised its assumptions, and today quantum physics, which would've sounded supernatural to a scientist in the 1850s, has become the foundation of virtually all modern physics and a lot of modern technology. So the idea that science would be unwilling or unable to admit the existence of something provably real is just plain wrong. In a universe where both magic and the scientific method existed, there would be a science of magic.
I wouldn't mind seeing a show that depicts scientists proving and codifying the supernatural, gaining an understanding of it through the scientific method. After all, science isn't about a set body of ideas, it's about the process of discovery. So I'd be okay with a fantasy show depicting science coping with the existence of magic or psi powers. One good example of this is Ghostbusters. The title characters are scientists who develop practical technologies for dealing with the paranormal. True, they're implicitly on the fringe of the scientific community, but at least we aren't shown that community as a bunch of hidebound old men blinding themselves to the evidence. The people shown denying the evidence are laypeople, politicians, bureaucrats, whereas the scientists we see in the movie are open-minded and inquisitive.
I suppose Sanctuary also fits the mold, but I've rarely watched it.
"Syzygy" makes a great hangman word. If you're cruel.
But then the series would be set in an alternate universe where paranormal activity was already classified, or the alien/paranomal activity was recent; etc. etc. The problem with most conspiracy theories is they're about things that require scientists to be either unwilling to have believed the evidence or wilfully tampered with it (or been otherwise unable to interact with it).
Pretty much any way of starting the series assuming scientists get the whole concept shift the goalposts. Now, a series where ghosts are a common and explainable concept and have been since, say, the Renaissance; that's interesting TV maybe but it's not an X-Files clone. It's also possible to ignore the idea that scientists encountered this in the past and have the scientists come to grips with the concepts over the course of the series, naturally (frankly a necessity if they regular come into contact with obvious monsters).
And science isn't a pseudo-religious dogma, it's simply a dogma; but that's a whole other kettle of fish.
^Why is not being an X-Files clone a bad thing?
And science is not a dogma. It's the polar opposite of a dogma. (A catma?) It requires its practitioners to question their assumptions. True, there are scientists who resist new ideas, but the way the process is designed, if those ideas are consistent with reality, then experimentation will eventually compel the scientific community to accept them, even if they have to wait until the old guard retires or dies off.
And science is not a dogma. It's the polar opposite of a dogma. (A catma?) It requires its practitioners to question their assumptions. True, there are scientists who resist new ideas, but the way the process is designed, if those ideas are consistent with reality, then experimentation will eventually compel the scientific community to accept them, even if they have to wait until the old guard retires or dies off.
Yes and No, Kinda of a long story that got it's start about 5 years ago by some actors and writers who were dedicated to bringing Scifi to fans. Syzygy is run by Dave Andrews and Scott Brody, both involved with the entertainment industry. It is indeed a company. I have been a part of the group since the beginning and have pleased at the progress they have made so far.. Syzygy is based in Ohio. Dave and Scott have been working there but off with investers and lawyers. There are basically 2 parts, the studio part and the network part.
It would defeat the purpose of being an X-Files clone. I'm apathetic either way.
Of course it is. The rationalism you outlined there is the dogma. I don't agree much with, say, Feyerabend, but that science is dogmatic about its rationalism is pretty self-explanatory (and need not be seen as a bad thing, either.)
I tried to register at the site, but have not received conformation (since yesterday).
I've tried watching the Chiller channel another genre based network(available on Cox), but too many old reruns, and very edited ones at that. If that is what Syzygy is proposing, I won't be interested.
Sorry for being so cynical. Been hoping for something to replace syfy for a long time.
I've tried watching the Chiller channel another genre based network(available on Cox), but too many old reruns, and very edited ones at that. If that is what Syzygy is proposing, I won't be interested.
Sorry for being so cynical. Been hoping for something to replace syfy for a long time.
Since there's no mention anywhere of what cable companies will or even MIGHT be carrying them, I'll assume this is still in the "dream" category.
Agreed. When I see it mentioned at Variety, or The Hollywood Reporter or deadline.com, then I'll believe the reality of it all. Until then it's just vaporware.
I have google desktop running,"which kinda blows" and ever since i went to their webpage, I have several Syzygy pictures shuffling through my pictures. And I didnt download any of them and sure as fire cant find them to delete them. So I couldnt give a steamy pile for them.
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