By Daniel Dern. Reminder, the Syfy Channel is taking a (partial) break from wrestling, ghosthunting, etc., and showing some new science fiction (and, arguably, fantasy) mini-series this month:
The Expanse (based on J.A.Corey’s 5-and-counting book series) (I think the first episode has already been released online; the on-air premiere is December 14.)
Childhood’s End (for you youngun’s, the classic Arthur C. Clarke novel). Also coming December 14.
The Magicians (per Lev Grossman’s trilogy) (I think I saw a listing for a previewish “about” item on Syfy channel December 16. If so, I’m “taping” it but I don’t want to spoil the, ahem, magic of the show proper.)
Set DVRs to “Stun me!”
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Wrestling leaves Syfy for USA Network in January.
The first episode of The Expanse was a free iTunes download when I got it. Very faithful to the books where it mattered. The casting, acting, cinematography, script pacing and plot were all solid.
Truly shocking. I don’t think I’ve really watched anything on that channel since Stargate Universe was canceled. All three of those are exciting, except I haven’t read the Expanse books yet, dammit.
It’s a Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice/Festivus miracle!
Now if only MTV would start playing music videos again. 😉
Amazing, SyFy is going to showcase, you know, SCY ENSE FIK CHUN. Who’da thunk it?
I haven’t read the Expanse books yet, but saw the first episode. It looks really good, very interesting world building and characters. People have said it’s sticking to the original material pretty well, so those books rise in the pile.
I may have to try that two devices trick here soon…one for each eye so I can read faster! :-]
Also looking forward to Childhood’s End (read and loved decades ago) and The Magicians (haven’t read).
Argh! ::TICK::
The Expanse books are good. The two authors publish under James S.A.Corey. I finished #5 a bit ago – *great* space opera! Friggen *insane* alien [lifeform]. Good SF military action. Believable characters.
The authors were involved in the script and shooting.
Really glad they are hitting the big time! (Beats working for a living :^)
Syfy announced a change in direction a couple of years ago, which was received somewhat skeptically if it was noticed at all, but it seems to be bearing fruit now. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/syfys-plan-more-space-operas-687454
JJ: Other MTV networks show videos! Palladia shows 3 hours of new videos in the wee small hours of every night, and always to fill in at the end of the timeslot for concerts and movies. They had a block of Taylor Swift videos the other day. I didn’t watch it, but there they were. Being An Old, I much preferred the Carole King/James Taylor concert the next day. These Kids Today are still making videos, so you’d think MTV could fit in an hour or two a day.
But I do miss the days when it was Sci-Fi, MTV showed videos, and you could actually learn something on TLC.
I read book 1 of “The Expanse” but the husband didn’t (and I understand they’re incorporating some of book 2 into it), so it looks promising. Not sure about “Childhood’s End” — so much of that book was beings sitting around plain rooms and talking, so many liberties will have to be taken to make it suitable for TV.
Not sure about “The Magicians”. I hated so many of the characters. Yuppie/hipster scum who needed a smack upside the head. Didn’t read the sequels.
We watched the first episode of The Expanse and went “oh HECK yes.” I promptly bought the ebook and we rewatched episode 1 a few days later so we could pay attention to details instead of plot and character establishment. Aside from the onscreen text at the beginning, it felt like there were minimal infodumps, and there were plenty of moments that made me want to grab the cameraperson and say “no, wait, go back to that character. What’s going on there, because it’s obvious there’s background and nuance?”
We haven’t had cable or TV for 15 years. It feels a little odd to be in the mode of “Come ON, release the next episode!!”
@Josh Jasper: Thanks for mentioning that; the first ep is still a free iTunes download. 🙂 I haven’t gotten around to watching it online, but streaming is occasionally flakey, so I’m downloading it now.
MTV is for fantasy now: The Shannara Chronicles.