Syfy

/wiki/Syfycreator
A channel where new sci-fi shows are created based on old sci-fi shows, retreaded and reassembled like crusty multi-colored play doh that is drying out. Also includes new movies where giant CGI animals are sent on a rampage after actors with no will to live (or act).
—Cracked

Syfy is a channel owned by NBC Universal. It airs in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and a dozen or so other countries.

Founded in 1992 under the name "Sci Fi Channel", the network's initial remit was to air various kinds of Speculative Fiction, from science/fantasy and paranormal to their own produced movies and shows.

Since then the network has expanded to show Japanese animation and Professional Wrestling (which caused a heavy fan backlash due to the non-science-fiction nature of the WWE/ECW show.)

Syfy's original series tend to be Cult Classics, and the network has a history of salvaging Too Good to Last shows from other networks and renewing them. Unfortunately, they also have a history of canceling their own cult classic shows prematurely.

They were the American broadcaster of Doctor Who and had gotten a lot of flack for cutting out 4 or 5 minutes from every episode to jam more commercials in. BBC America, which became current home of the series in May 2009 (after being a repeat broadcaster of the SyFy episodes), does not, or does so to a lesser extent. They now get the same flack from anime fans for doing this to the anime series they air. This was particularly bad with Mobile Suit Gundam 00, as every single episode's post-credits scene was cut, despite several of them being essential for the story to make any sense at all.

Syfy-produced original films vary greatly in quality, from fan favourites like the Firestarter films and adaptations of lesser known comic books like Painkiller Jane to the more C grade disaster movies and Attack of the Killer Whatever movies. The label funds many film developments - directors and producers go to Syfy for funding for Speculative Fiction works where they would have trouble gaining network attention. Syfy movies are made with a budget of only 1 or 2 million dollars making their development surprisingly profitable. Unsurprisingly, these movies are very divisive.

See SyFy Channel Original Movie for more.

The channel was renamed SyFy in 2009 in the US, the UK and France (see Bite the Wax Tadpole below). As said executive Tim Brooks: “The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular." Sci Fi Channel president David Howe added, "It gives us a unique word[1] and it gives us the opportunities to imbue it with the values and the perception that we want it to have." Unsurprisingly, the renaming was almost universally ridiculed, especially since "Syfy" is pronounced exactly the same as "Sci Fi", the term the executives think has such negative connotations. Some mockingly suggested that they should've renamed it "Skiffy"...which was what critics already called the channel. Fans continue to state that the real reason they changed it was so they could simply keep the trademark; a descriptive word like "sci-fi" generally can't be trademarked. They've also taken to calling it "Syphilis" (see Bite the Wax Tadpole below).

Along with the new name, the Network Decay which has been slowly developing for a decade is becoming more prevalent in The New Tens, with more and more Syfy programs being phased out for more reality shows.

List of Sci Fi Channel/SyFy Series:
Syfy provides examples of the following tropes:
  • Armies Are Evil: All "Syfy Original Movies" set in anything even close to the modern era will feature the American military in an antagonistic role, no matter how much shoehorning is necessary to do so.
  • Bite the Wax Tadpole: The reason why the Polish channel will not be renamed -- nobody wants to watch a channel called "syphilis."
    • Specifically, "syf" approximately translates to "filth/dirt", and is used as slang for syphilis. The additional 'y' at the end is the correct construction to make the "syf" word plural. Reasonable translations from Polish to English for "syfy" would include "filthy things" and "syphilitics". The plural word, "syfy", is most commonly used as a slang for "pimples."
  • Network Decay: Considered to be in "Total Abandonment" status.
    • They used to air animes on Monday nights, coining the pun Ani-Mondays. Then it was shifted to Tuesdays, then Thursdays, without changing the name. Eventually the block went on a "hiatus" in Summer 2011, which was later confirmed to be an outright cancellation.
  • Sci Fi Ghetto: Partly the reason for the Network Decay.
  • Xtreme Kool Letterz
  1. ↑ Which is trademarkable and does improve Google searches
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