We got a slight covering of snow today, maybe an inch or a little more. And the temperatures plummeted a good bit from the mid-50s we had the other day. Right now it is about 18 degrees Fahrenheit, and the temperature tonight will probably drop down to around 9 or 10 degrees.
So while I was doing laundry and crafting cover letters, I popped in a movie that is just about as far away from winter, cold, and reality* as I could get…
Sharknado.
I needed a film that would allow me to shut my brain off. What I got was a “Syfy” original film that clubbed my brain into mangled submission. My brain fought the whole way. Maybe my 8 year old self that was terrified by old ’50s monster movies would have been fooled, but somehow I doubt the intended audience is a bunch of elementary school kids. Sharknado is one of those films that prove without a shadow of a doubt that heavy drug use is a real problem in the world of entertainment. I am guessing a lot of drugs and alcohol went into the making of that film. Certainly it would explain the intended audience. At least Snakes on a Plane tried to make the snakes look realistic even if the premise was completely absurd, and it had Samuel Jackson. With Sharknado, we got Tara Reid and a bunch of CGI sharks that barely evolved from an 8 bit Pac-Man. Still, the film was so over-the-top that it just may survive in years to come, perhaps by evolving into various drinking games.
Now, for any of you who may be wondering what I am talking about because you have been in a coma for the past twenty years, “Syfy” used to be the Sci Fi channel, and the Sci Fi channel used to be awesome. This was the channel that re-imagined Battlestar Galactica and made its mark as a serious home of science fiction awesomeness. Then something happened, and all of a sudden they were making reality shows and one godawful monster movie after another. Epic corporate TV fail. Much of their core audience drifted away, and the channel decided some changes were necessary. Good for them. If they get back into the science fiction and fantasy world for real, more power to them. I would love to see more good shows of that genre on TV. Kelly and I both loved Battlestar Galactica and we are huge fans of Game of Thrones. There is a huge market for well-made science fiction and fantasy shows on television. So if “Syfy” ditches the dumb and goes back to their roots, we will be cheering. Hell, Sci Fi, bring Firefly back to TV and nerds everywhere will spontaneously combust with joy.
So yeah, science fiction television. When it’s really good, it’s groundbreaking and daring and awesome, and when it’s really bad you can’t even keep the mouth-breathers and the rest of the cretins watching, much less those of us who can keep more than a handful of neurons firing at a time. So do the right thing, Hollywoodland.
-Geoff
*I could also add things like “cinematic good taste”, “believable special effects” and “scripts written at or above an 8th grade level”, but I digress.
The Books are Taking Over... 