Surface: Another great scifi drama that NBC/Disney dropped the ball on.

[Overmind One]

I just finished watching the entire 15 episode run of Surface, and what a show! Of course, the sightless drones at NBC/Disney are passionless, so they didn't continue the show. Its really quite worth watching. VERY well done:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452718/



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2bEvbCK6vQ

Available on Netflix

 

[Mr. A]

Isn't this the show where a kid finds a "baby creature" and takes it home as a pet?

 

[Overmind One]

Isn't this the show where a kid finds a "baby creature" and takes it home as a pet?

Yes, that is one of the storylines. But the bigger picture is about the adult version of these creatures as an invasive species threatening the entire human race. They are up to 200 feet long when grown!

 

[Overmind One]

Wow...this show staywed great the ENTIRE TIME and was canceled by NBC/Disney? STUPID MOVE!

Im convinced that MBC is totally clueless about what makes good science fiction. Sure, they want the popborn heads who live to watch DWTS and reality shows and vapid, pointless drama shows (not the good ones). They are feeding chickens, not raising condor eggs. They dont CARE about the intellectual viewer anymore. Now, if the creatures talked and Miles was really a teenage warlock, and it was REALITY TV (they would find a way), then they would have a hit on their hands. :icon_e_wink:

This show was extremely well written. One of the main authors was also a major author of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

 

[YoshiKart64]

Im convinced that MBC is totally clueless about what makes good science fiction. Sure, they want the popborn heads who live to watch DWTS and reality shows and vapid, pointless drama shows (not the good ones). They are feeding chickens, not raising condor eggs. They dont CARE about the intellectual viewer anymore. Now, if the creatures talked and Miles was really a teenage warlock, and it was REALITY TV (they would find a way), then they would have a hit on their hands. :icon_e_wink:

This show was extremely well written. One of the main authors was also a major author of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

That's pretty much the same argument people were levying at Syfy over SGU. What one person finds intelligent and engaging seems silly and uninteresting to another.

For example while you might like this show the metacritic score is way down and the ratings didn't justify a season 2. http://www.metacritic.com/tv/surface/season-1/critic-reviews

 

[mzzz]

lol, I really like this show, haven't fully watched all of it though. I hated the kid side-story but it kinda got less teeny bopper-ish to more story driven later on which made it ok. I liked what they seemed to be setting up as they went along. Some of it was kinda hard to believe though, the level of adaptability of the creatures skins and whatnot. But then again, they didn't reveal too much about it though.

@Yoshi, the thing is sure one can make an argument that the sci-fi stuff was getting less and less intelligent over at syfy, but SGU was part of that. It was one of the shows specifically dumbed down to attract the masses. Even the writers said as much, and some of the actors. A show that was trying to appeal to everyone, 'the jocks' etc.

 

[YoshiKart64]

lol, I really like this show, haven't fully watched all of it though. I hated the kid side-story but it kinda got less teeny bopper-ish to more story driven later on which made it ok. I liked what they seemed to be setting up as they went along. Some of it was kinda hard to believe though, the level of adaptability of the creatures skins and whatnot. But then again, they didn't reveal too much about it though.

@Yoshi, the thing is sure one can make an argument that the sci-fi stuff was getting less and less intelligent over at syfy, but SGU was part of that. It was one of the shows specifically dumbed down to attract the masses. Even the writers said as much, and some of the actors. A show that was trying to appeal to everyone, 'the jocks' etc.

My point was that everyone has their own opinion about what should be on TV. It's all very well to say that SGU was stupid/had no fanbase and should have been taken off the air; but then to u-turn and take the complete opposite position on a different show because its something you like? Syfy is great for making a pragmatic decision while NBC is silly for doing the same thing? Just because the show your into ends it means the networks don't care about intellectual viewers? (I mean we saw exactly the same responses from SGU fans)

It can't work both ways is all I'm saying.

[The 'you' here isn't referring to anyone in particular, it's just there for the purposes of avoiding a long-worded argument]

 

[mzzz]

My point was that everyone has their own opinion about what should be on TV. It's all very well to say that SGU was stupid/had no fanbase and should have been taken off the air; but then to u-turn and take the complete opposite position on a different show because its something you like? Syfy is great for making a pragmatic decision while NBC is silly for doing the same thing? Just because the show your into ends it means the networks don't care about intellectual viewers? (I mean we saw exactly the same responses from SGU fans)

It can't work both ways is all I'm saying.

[The 'you' here isn't referring to anyone in particular, it's just there for the purposes of avoiding a long-worded argument]

I never said anything about the intelligence levels of any shows I liked. I was strictly talking about SGU and general downtrend of Syfy. You're putting words in my mouth.

Logically it's kind of like me saying:

If it is Tuesday, then it will rain.

and you making the conclusion:

If it is not Tuesday, then it will not rain.

I never said anything about non-Tuesdays. Shows I like may or may not be intelligent.

 

[YoshiKart64]

I never said anything about the intelligence levels of any shows I liked. I was strictly talking about SGU and general downtrend of Syfy. You're putting words in my mouth.

Logically it's kind of like me saying:

If it is Tuesday, then it will rain.

and you making the conclusion:

If it is not Tuesday, then it will not rain.

I never said anything about non-Tuesdays. Shows I like may or may not be intelligent.

My original point was about what Overmind said, particularly the bolded part. I wasn't even disagreeing with him really (I mean what is up with these reality drama's like Jersey Shore which are half scripted - theres even worse ones in the UK) but I felt it was worth commenting on.

Also it is Tuesday and it's not raining. So your argument has me confused even more .

 

[Backstep]

I just finished watching the entire 15 episode run of Surface, and what a show! Of course, the sightless drones at NBC/Disney are passionless, so they didn't continue the show. Its really quite worth watching. VERY well done:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452718/

View attachment 4532

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2bEvbCK6vQ

Available on Netflix

I watched this on TV when it was broadcast and loved it, when i heard it was canceled my first thought went back to Firefly, another good scifi show dead before its time. Historically scifi has always had a hard time on broadcast channels especially since the rise of cable and satellite

 

[Bluce Ree]

lol, I really like this show, haven't fully watched all of it though. I hated the kid side-story but it kinda got less teeny bopper-ish to more story driven later on which made it ok. I liked what they seemed to be setting up as they went along. Some of it was kinda hard to believe though, the level of adaptability of the creatures skins and whatnot. But then again, they didn't reveal too much about it though.

@Yoshi, the thing is sure one can make an argument that the sci-fi stuff was getting less and less intelligent over at syfy, but SGU was part of that. It was one of the shows specifically dumbed down to attract the masses. Even the writers said as much, and some of the actors. A show that was trying to appeal to everyone, 'the jocks' etc.

I still find that statement stupid and laughable. Few of my friends are remotely interested in stuff like SGU and none of my buddies at the gym even like anything Stargate. In fact, I think I'm the only geek in that group.

 

[Overmind One]

I still find that statement stupid and laughable. Few of my friends are remotely interested in stuff like SGU and none of my buddies at the gym even like anything Stargate. In fact, I think I'm the only geek in that group.

Im like that too. Im the only real geek amongst very "jocky" type guys I hang out with. The women in my life usually are drama fans, but if I find a female geek who is marry-worthy, I will go for it! Until then, Im content with being single (but looking).

 

[Mr. A]

I still find that statement stupid and laughable. Few of my friends are remotely interested in stuff like SGU and none of my buddies at the gym even like anything Stargate. In fact, I think I'm the only geek in that group.

I'm shocked!

 

[heisenberg]

While this show was airing I actually watched it and actually wondered what will happen after 15 episodes. However,I discovered a few a years later they cancelled it. Reflecting back, I wouldn't call it exactly my favourite.

 

[Red Mage]

I just finished watching the entire 15 episode run of Surface, and what a show! Of course, the sightless drones at NBC/Disney are passionless, so they didn't continue the show. Its really quite worth watching. VERY well done:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452718/

View attachment 4532

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2bEvbCK6vQ

Available on Netflix

Never even heard of this series. Looks like Seaquest wasn't the only ocean based scifi series NBC dropped the ball on. Oh man, Seaquest remember that show? Season 2 of Seaquest is some of the most ridiculous scifi I've ever seen. NBC changed the show from semi-realistic scifi series about what future ocean exploration might actually be like and turned it into pure straight up (and very poorly written) scifi and then changed the show's direction again in Season 3 making the show dark. This series along with Earth 2 ( ) are examples from NBC how not to make a successful scifi series.

 

[Overmind One]

Never even heard of this series. Looks like Seaquest wasn't the only ocean based scifi series NBC dropped the ball on. Oh man, Seaquest remember that show? Season 2 of Seaquest is some of the most ridiculous scifi I've ever seen. NBC changed the show from semi-realistic scifi series about what future ocean exploration might actually be like and turned it into pure straight up (and very poorly written) scifi and then changed the show's direction again in Season 3 making the show dark. This series along with Earth 2 ( ) are examples from NBC how not to make a successful scifi series.

Nothing like Seaquest (liked that too sorta). Its dark, at times it got annoying with the kid story and Nimrod, but overall it was a win. They left it at a cruel cliffhanger.

 

[Joelist]

Nothing like Seaquest (liked that too sorta). Its dark, at times it got annoying with the kid story and Nimrod, but overall it was a win. They left it at a cruel cliffhanger.

Seaquest was kind of like three different shows. Season One was more like speculative fiction, and pretty well done at that. Season Two was mostly hideously bad SciFi, while Season Three was again pretty good - kind of a geopolitical scifi (also Michael Ironside was good as Captain Hudson). It was really handled poorly by NBC especially in Season 3 and then prematurely cancelled just when it was starting to build a viewer base. Some of the stories to come had they not cut it are out on the web and sounded good.