Great news for Battlestar Galactica fans who continue to suffer serious withdrawals symptoms of which Caprica is incapable of easing. Execs at SyFy are actively exploring the possibilities of a new Battlestar Galactica spin-off series that would return the franchise to space.

The network also is looking to order another “Battlestar”-related project. Details were slim, but Stern said the title would mark a return to the franchise’s space-opera roots.

“We’re looking for other ways to spin off ‘Battlestar’ beyond ‘Caprica,’” he said. “That world is so rich. We’re sitting down with (executive producer) Ron Moore and his team. It would not necessarily be a traditional series.”

Source

Being a bit of a Sci-Fi nerd (or is it Sy-Fy now?) , the few friends I have managed to accumulate over the years tend to have similar interests, and whenever a few of us get together one area of disagreement tends to rear it’s ugly head more often then others — Which is better, Star Trek or Star Wars?

While I haven’t discovered anything that gives a definitive answer to which is better, I have come across the answer to which is bigger.  Someone named Dan Carlson went to the trouble of compiling an image that features ships from both universes to scale with 1 pixel = 10 meters. Apparently with little else to do in his life, he also added ships from almost every other Science Fiction property that made its way into television and film including things as obscure Lexx and Space: Above and Beyond.

So if size matters (and all Carlson’s distances are accurate), it looks like the Star Wars fans have something to brag about due to the incredible length of the Executor class Destroyer. (Star Trek fans can salvage some pride however, if they point to the Earth Spacedock and try to make an arguement for girth.) Unfortunately this area of comparison may only start up another bitter debate, especially if one subscribes to the theory that guys with big trucks (or space ships) are only trying to compensate for a deficiency somewhere else.

So what are you trying to draw attention away from, Star Wars fans? Perhaps you’re suffering from a little Light Saber performance anxiety?

What is with all these cable channels deviating from their initial mission statement? Why is the History Channel boring the hell out of me with Ice Road Truckers and bogus UFO stories? Why is the Cartoon Network showing more live-action shows than cartoons? Exactly what am I learning from TLC (The Learning Channel) about Jon & Kate Plus 8?

SyFy, once name SciFi, has long been suffering an identity crisis of their own creation and it appears things are about to get much worse. How much worse? How about a cooking show?

So says Mark Stern, Executive Vice President for Original Content:

In regards to reality, we’re developing all sorts of ideas, and there is an opportunity to push the envelope a bit with the new brand; to see where “Imagine Greater” might take us. That said, as with our scripted programming, anything we do needs to fit within a speculative genre, and the idea that we’re celebrating the imagination. So, if we were to do a “cooking show”, it definitely wouldn’t be a normal, conventional cooking show.

So a cooking show while wearing Spock ears, I suppose. Brilliant.

I have a better idea. How about you fire Mark Stern and hire a few top-notch science-fiction writers to overhaul your channel with actual episodic shows, movies, genre interviews, coverage of the Hugo/Nebula awards, E3, etc.

Say goodbye to the Sci-Fi Channel, home of Battlestar Galactica and endless B-movies about giant, killer insects.  Starting in July, Sci-Fi Channel will abandon their 16-year-old name and replace it with the underwhelming and seemingly pointless “Syfy”. Syfy will also have a new tagline: “Imagine Greater”. Yes, people are paid good money to come up with this stuff.

From Hollywood Reporter:

Sci Fi’s logo is also getting a makeover. The current purple Saturn image will be retired. In its place is the name SyFy raised against a light-taupe wall. While the tagline “Imagine Greater” prods the reader to reconsider the boundaries of the channel and pushes inspirational liftoff.

Yet for all the talk of audience messaging, there’s a very pragmatic side to this whole endeavor too. From a business affairs standpoint, the network’s genre-as-title has long been cumbersome.

“We’re going to have upwards of 50 Sci Fi Channels in various territories and yet you cannot trademark ‘Sci Fi’ anywhere in the world,” Howe said. “A new logo design would not solve that particular challenge. We needed a brand name that was own-able, portable and extendable.”