Fans, Fans, Save Us From Fans
 There are no stranger fans than Sci-Fi fans. The Sci FI Channel has announced an ambitious plan to produce a large number of mini-series and possible pilots for new series. The list is impressive, with miniseries from Spielberg, Myst, The Amber Chronicles, and Battlestar Galactica. It is the last that has set off a stream of action. The release says that it will be re-imagined, so fans have started a petition to ask that it be a continuation of the original series.
No matter which is done, we could end up hating it and many of us will. In the end I am only concerned with the story, the look, the feel. We know that the basic story was pretty damn good, the look was the best they could do at the time and that is what killed the series...too expensive. As for the feel, well let's let that sleeping dog sleep. It was a cheesy late 70's series that truly de-evolved when BG1980 came along.
I just read the prequel series for Dune. I loved it. I loved the tidbits that it took and extended into a complete history. I loved finding out how the 'floating fatman' became the big levitating creep. That said, a friend of mine read them and hated them. He thought it was terrible. He hated what Herberts' son did with the story. My point...well you may like what becomes of this re-imaging, you may not.
Sci-Fi Fans have a really tough time with the idea that their original show in many ways sucked by modern standards (other genres have this problem, I am just more familiar with Sci-Fi fans). I accept that and I am willing to see a series move on. An example would be Space:1999. The stories were interesting, but built around the dumbest premise I can ever remember (and that is stretching given the history of TV). Tim Burton re-imagined Batman to fit our times, compare this to the TV version done back in the 60's. Can you imagine two more different views of a character? Burton tried to do that with Planet of The Apes, and in most ways failed not due to the images, but due to a horrible story that simply sucked, sucked, sucked.
As I looked through the list of shows that the SciFi Channel is working on, I saw "The Amber Chronicles" by Roger Zelazney. This is one of my favorite series of all time. The first set, beginning with "Nine Princes In Amber" and ending with "The Courts of Chaos", is a wonderful peice of imagination. I have read it and the second series several times -- first in college in the late 70's, and again only a couple years ago. On one hand I am thrilled that it is going to get done, on the other hand I am horrified at what they could do to it. It is no different than looking at the TV DUNE, vs. the Movie DUNE. The TV version made changes to the story and was limited at times by its budget. The Movie version is pretty, but so flawed in so many ways. In the end the TV version is so much better, that it makes me feel sad when I see the Movie version.
We should all be thrilled that the SciFi Channel is going so far out on a limb with these efforts and glad that DUNE was a success, because I think that made SFC more willing to risk the money for these series. Till they air, I for one will wait in anticipation of the results, to my joy, sorrow, or indifference...mj
12:48:45 PM 
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