Prediction for this comment thread . . .
. . . endless whingeing about GoT, little positivity or actual discussion of Nightflyers.
Game of Thrones author's space horror Nightflyers hitting telly
HBO's epic Game of Thrones cycle may be coming to a close, but fans of the books the show is based on can take heart that author George R R Martin (GRRM) is sending another of his works to the tellybox. Variety reports that Nightflyers, GRRM's 1985 short story, has been picked up by the cable channel Syfy, which, in the UK at …
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Friday 5th January 2018 19:23 GMT Stevie
Re: Prediction for this comment thread . . .
Wasn't Nightflyers already a movie?
I could swear I saw it once ...
To be honest I'd rather someone made a movie from the GRRM short about the human crew who go chasing about creation using an alien star drive called a "Jump Gun". Can't remember the title but it has a great plot with terrifying implications. I believe the story is in the Sandkings collection.
About the only Vampire story I'd get out of bed for today would be GRRM's Fevre Dream. That would be a nice costume spectacle too.
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Friday 5th January 2018 22:47 GMT DropBear
Re: Prediction for this comment thread . . .
At first I thought this was about that _other_ "Night Flyer" horror, by Stephen King...
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Friday 5th January 2018 20:32 GMT John Gamble
Re: Prediction for this comment thread . . .
Yes. In my town it came out the same week as Princess Bride. Princess Bride ran for a while, Nightflyers was one week and gone.
I wonder if the channel is adapting that story only. GRRM has a lot of stories in that setting (called Thousand Worlds -- hmm, "Sandkings" is part of it, that would make an interesting episode), and I'd like to see a wider adaption.
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Friday 5th January 2018 17:28 GMT Daedalus
Meh
The only reason GOT got so much notoriety is that HBO is in a position to repeat episodes ad nauseam, just as they used to repeat Z-list movies back when that was their major output, and indeed as other "premium" channels continue to do. Looked at without context, episodes (like the books themselves) are major snoozes. On any other kind of TV outlet the series would have been one and done. The novels seem to appeal to those who confuse weight with worth. Roger Zelazny could get more in one page of narrative than GRRM puts into a chapter.
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Friday 5th January 2018 19:26 GMT Daedalus
Re: Meh
> "Looked at without context" - what does that even mean?
Well, there's this bunch of people going here, talking there, and occasionally seeing/doing something exciting. I suppose if you've followed the story lines you actually care what's going on, although the need to see the minutiae of riding north escapes me. It's a bit like soap opera: occasionally you come across one that is just so well done that you want to invest in it no matter where you come into the plot, but the average one relies on you knowing and caring about some of the characters, or (more typically) on presenting you with one so outrageous you can't look away.
Kudos to HBO and Liam Cunningham for putting a Geordie character in (assuming anyone at HBO even knows what a Geordie is). Even if Mr. C is Irish.
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Saturday 6th January 2018 07:35 GMT User McUser
Re: Meh
Well, there's this bunch of people going here, talking there, and occasionally seeing/doing something exciting. I suppose if you've followed the story lines you actually care what's going on, although the need to see the minutiae of riding north escapes me.
I'm sorry but that's just silly - you can't start reading a book at the 6th chapter and then stop at the 7th chapter and then not like the book because you didn't know who any of the characters were and didn't understand what they were talking about. The same goes for a TV serial drama.
You can say it's boring or not a genre you typically like or that the characters are uninspired or you can just not like it for non-specific reasons but this "without context" critique is just the weirdest thing I've ever heard.
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Friday 5th January 2018 18:24 GMT Not also known as SC
Re: Meh
The novels seem to appeal to those who confuse weight with worth.
Have to partially disagree. The original three books were excellent. I saw the first episode of GoT on TV, enjoyed it, bought the book and found it far more satisfying the TV adaptation which, IMO, made unforgivable changes to some of the characters. Over the coming weeks I caught up with the series and felt the quality had dropped significantly by the fourth book followed by the release of the fifth book. GRRM had split the story into two parallel time lines in the fourth and fifth books based on geographical location and although I didn't personally have to wait six years to find out what was happening to my favourite characters other readers had to wait almost eleven years. It's now been another seven since the last instalment which ended on a cliff hanger.
So yes, the later books are appalling snooze fests but to give GRRM his due the first three were excellent and I think GoT was commissioned based upon these three. Because Nightfliers was written when GRRM was at his peak it stands every chance of being a good story and most definitely worth giving the first episode (at least) a viewing.
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Friday 5th January 2018 22:10 GMT Blank Reg
Re: Meh
@Not also known as SC
I read the books before the show and agree the first books were better.
I think part of the problem was that GRRM painted himself into a corner. He had so many characters and plotlines going that after the first few books he figured the only way out was to kill off a character every other chapter. Otherwise, it would have ballooned out to an even bigger mess that it is.
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Friday 5th January 2018 19:30 GMT Daedalus
Re: Meh
"Lord of Light" has been optioned for films and TV several times, but I don't see anything happening in these PC times. Look what happened to "Gods of Egypt". "Nine Princes in Amber" is supposed to be on the brink of production, mainly due to the success of GoT and the "need" for a new major fantasy series. I'll believe it when I see it.
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Monday 8th January 2018 03:33 GMT johndrake7
Re: Meh
Technically the mix of upvotes and downvotes here is confusing but accurate. GRR himself would likely acknowledge more briliance and talent in 1965/66 Dilvish through 1978 Amber (Corwin series) works of Zelazny than the rest of the top 5, hell, top 10 in the genres he covered put together, not excluding GRR himself in his prime. Sadly, post-Amber/Corwin, his output paled in comparison, not just to himself but to any number of others.
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Friday 5th January 2018 18:50 GMT 2Nick3
"It would be more heartwarming if he'd just finish the GoT books, which are now lagging well behind the TV shows."
At this point I'm hoping he has some kind of contingency plan in place, a la Robert Jordan with The Wheel of Time, should the common fate of his GoT characters befall him before he finishes the books.
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Friday 5th January 2018 18:09 GMT Not also known as SC
The Orville
Quite a statement – it has to be better than Seth MacFarlane's The Orville and Black Mirror's dorky Star-Trek-in-a-computer homage, right?
Never seen Black Mirror but The Orville is just dreadful. I've given up on it after just three episodes (in the UK). Can someone in the USA who has seen more episodes tell me if I should make the effort to watch more or have I made the right decision?
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Friday 5th January 2018 18:39 GMT Not also known as SC
Re: The Orville
@AC
I'll give it another few episodes then. I can see the sci-fi side (which works well) but the 'comedy' aspect - divorced couple arguing loudly while the crew listens, or some reality TV programme to represent 'human' culture in an alien zoo - just falls flat for me. Maybe I'm expecting more traditional Seth?
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Friday 5th January 2018 21:05 GMT Phil W
Re: The Orville
"She's wasted as Seth's sidekick"
Having watched all the episodes so far I'm not seeing her as a sidekick anymore, just because he's the captain doesn't mean he's the key to the show. It's even been clearly introduced that he wouldn't be captain if it wasn't for her.
I'm genuinely surprised by how good the plot and character development is, it's not a patch on Discovery of course but it's not trying to be the same kind of show.
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Saturday 6th January 2018 16:53 GMT HereIAmJH
Re: The Orville
The problem with The Orville is they can't decide what direction they want to go. Sci-Fi takes a little immersion in the story, and just as they get a good story going they drop into campy sitcom. Like a practical joke of cutting off someone's leg. I suspect that is how it was pitched, to grab the sci-fi audience along with Seth's following. But it seems to fail both genres. Pick a direction and dial the other one back a little. If it wasn't available through streaming I'd have already given up on it.
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Saturday 6th January 2018 18:57 GMT Dan 55
Re: The Orville
It depends on who's directing, if it's Jonathan Frakes or Brannon Braga you get something which might not be too dissimilar to a TNG episode, otherwise you could end up with something more like a sitcom.
But the jokes seem to have been toned down as the series progressed. Stick with it.
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Friday 5th January 2018 18:27 GMT Ugotta B. Kiddingme
Sounds interesting
although if only available through Netflix I might not be able to see it. Will definitely give it a view if I can.
As for SyFy, not everything on there is "assorted trash." 'The Expanse' is incredible, as was their first big space epic 'Farscape.' It's the other 99% of content that give SyFy a bad name...
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Friday 5th January 2018 18:32 GMT Excellentsword
Re: Sounds interesting
Writer here (badge doesn't work). The Expanse is amazing, granted, but I watched it on Netflix. Farscape was good too, but I watched it on BBC 2 as a young'un. I associate Syfy with Xena: Warrior Princess-tier stuff, but know that I write these things with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
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Friday 5th January 2018 19:25 GMT VinceH
Re: Dark Matter cancelled
Yes - on a usenet group I inhabit*, we made that observation a long time ago - and whenever something good appeared, we'd therefore anticipate early cancellation.
There are, of course, exceptions that somehow last the distance, but science fiction TV history is littered with good stuff (or stuff that showed a lot of potential) that didn't last.
I hereby raise a glass to some of that stuff.
* I nearly said "used to inhabit" - but I am still subscribed. It's just there are almost never any posts these days.
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Monday 8th January 2018 10:05 GMT 's water music
Re: early cancellation - selection bias
Yes - on a usenet group I inhabit*, we made that observation a long time ago - and whenever something good appeared, we'd therefore anticipate early cancellation.
They say only the good die young but perhaps what they really mean is if you don't die young you risk growing up into, say, Bono or somesuch horror
What I grew up into-->
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Monday 8th January 2018 13:38 GMT DF118
Re: Dark Matter cancelled
science fiction TV history is littered with good stuff (or stuff that showed a lot of potential) that didn't last
Amen to that. 'The 4400' and 'Being Human' are the two that spring immediately to mind whose cancellation saddened me. It's almost not worth mentioning Firefly which is practically a byword for the whole phenomenon.
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Friday 5th January 2018 20:40 GMT John Gamble
Re: Dark Matter cancelled
Exactly four episodes were shown (on an irregular schedule, of course), then the series was cancelled. I used to show the four episodes to my friends via that modern device called the VCR player.
When the boxed set of Wonderfalls came out I was amazed, and bought it immediately.
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Friday 5th January 2018 20:55 GMT Anonymous Coward
Syfy's moves are what gives it the bad rep
The weekly Syfy produced movie like Sharknado are what do. And as far as Sharknado, at least it and none of the actors in it take it seriously, making it far better than most of their movies with plots like "a comet knocked the earth's core out of alignment which will cause all life to end in a week, but this group of four intrepid people who include the one person on earth who foresaw it have a plan to re-align it and save everyone".
Sharknado is camp, or at least an attempt at camp, while most of those movies are attempts at actual movies which is frightening. MST3K wouldn't have to look at the back catalog of 50s B movies to return, they could just do an episode every Sunday making fun of whatever Syfy showed the previous night.
The series Syfy develops usually aren't that bad. I only watch a handful of them of course, some fit my taste and some don't, and some are produced on a shoestring budget, but none of them are remotely as terrible as the average made-for-Syfy movie.
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Biting the hand that feeds IT
