Should Syfy Stop Making Movies?

By Jennifer Hudock on March 15th, 2010

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When the Syfy channel was born, many a science fiction loving fanatic felt their heart swell with pride and joy. At long last, we would have our very own television channel chock full of old Star Trek and Twilight Zone episodes and unlimited possibility for a host of new series to come.

There was also great promise for an oncoming blitz of Syfy original movies, but from the beginning of the network’s conception there haven’t really be a lot of original films to write home about. In fact, the majority of Syfy’s original movie productions just plain suck.

The thing many people probably don’t take into consideration is that it is typical for science fiction movies to be cheesy and over the top. Science fiction is meant to take unbelievable and futuristic improbabilities and make them seem both realistic and possible. Many of the earliest science fiction films were out of this world, involving mankind against a host of aliens or mystical creatures. Under threat of destruction, man must unite against that threat and wipe it out in order to guarantee survival.

The basis for science fiction films hasn’t changed to this day, yet the majority of Syfy’s original films are just plain bad.

With titles like Yeti: Curse of the Snow Demon, Mansquito and Anonymous Rex, you can rest assure that the actual films themselves are often equally silly. The low-budget designated for the majority of Syfy’s made-for-tv movies, combined with minimal advertising don’t do much for the network’s reputation for making quality film.

They have put together a few relatively decent pictures in correspondence with original series like Battlestar Galactica and Babylon 5, as well as a few mini-series like Tin Man, that were worth watching. Overall however, they have little success with their over-the-top science fiction film endeavors. I for one avoid the Syfy channel on Saturday nights, when the majority of original films premiere.

With Hollywood and the independent circuit putting out hundreds of films a year, why bother trying to compete? Many of the Syfy original films tend to rehash popular film scenarios explored by higher budgeted films, making them second-rate knockoffs.

The question is, should Syfy stop making original films, when they could focus their budget and efforts on sustaining their current roster of original series and creating more quality shows? Highly rated Syfy series like Ghost Hunters, Caprica and Warehouse 13 are an indication of the type of programming science fiction fans want to see, so why not steer the budget in that direction?