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    SciFi Original Movies: Good, Bad...Ugly

    After performing a SEARCH or two I didn't find a thread that was as general as the one I wanted to open: This one will hopefully give as a place to visit and air out the feelings about some of the past ones; can you say Minotaur? or to critique the ones to come in the future, because, believe me they will keep coming.

    I've tried to watch many of these "SciFi Original" movies that TPTB have been force feeding us for quite awhile now. After many that I would deem as failures, they finally hit on one that I could stand to watch the whole way through: Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King. I know it was a so-called mini series, but that's what made it all the better, IMHO. It gave us the background of the character and managed to keep a pace that didn't have me channel surfing half way through it. The faces were fresh, even if our hero did remind me of "Arnold" in Conan with his grunting and perhaps even faint resemblance. I liked this one even better than EarthSea. It's not very often anymore that we get to see our heroes as people with failings and open to manipulation by others without coming out on top in the end. In this regard, Dark Kingdom was a pleasant surprise.
    Anyway, the point of the thread is to chime in on these SciFi Originals with your critiques and/or praise. Informed opinions are what I am hoping to read. If you're just going to say that this or that one sucked without any reason, then don't waste my time in here.

    "We'll keep the light on for you."

    #2
    The only Sci-Fi Original 'movie' I've seen is the first Dune miniseries, which was absolutely fantastic.
    "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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      #3
      I love how they're apparently the only place that Corin Nemec can get work.
      I am both Pro-Keller and Pro-Beckett. No amount of Hail Mary's will save my soul from hell.

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        #4
        Dark Kingdom was pretty good...The Triangle was a good mini series too. The average movie does usually suck bad. SG1 and Atlantis is the only reason why I watch the channel.

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          #5
          Originally posted by Insipid
          I love how they're apparently the only place that Corin Nemec can get work.
          That remark was worthy of your name. Hmm...which movie was that;something about bugs or wasps? (Stingers)?

          And then there was the one with a recycled Chakotay from Voyager. I think that one was called Manticore. Some of the action wasn't too bad or even the premise, but the CGI was a big failure.

          Then another bomb, IMO naturally, was the one with Bruce Campbell and Renee O'conner; (recycled from Xena & Herc), about insectoids taking over the earth because they needed the trees for food. That was one that never should have been made. While just maybe it might have been a good read as a book, it lost much as a manuscript that was created into such a pile of celluloid cheese. Only the names mentioned above got me to take a look. I would have rather watched Army of Darkness....again.

          "We'll keep the light on for you."

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            #6
            Most Sci-Fi channel Original Movies suck, and that's being nice about it. I can't believe they even air some of the stuff that they do. But Sci-Fi mini-series's, on the other hand, are usually very good. I always look forward to them. But Saturday nights, usually not.
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              #7
              Originally posted by Ancient 1
              I would have rather watched Army of Darkness....again.
              That sounds almost like you don't like a part of the Evil Dead trilogy. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt
              "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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                #8
                Originally posted by the fifth man
                Most Sci-Fi channel Original Movies suck, and that's being nice about it. I can't believe they even air some of the stuff that they do. But Sci-Fi mini-series's, on the other hand, are usually very good. I always look forward to them. But Saturday nights, usually not.
                Yup they generally suck. But I'm going to try to find some good ones for a change.

                Dune was great
                The Triangle was pretty good.
                Taken was great
                Farscape Peacekeeper Wars was great

                Epoch was merely watchable
                The creature features are just reprehensible
                Alien Siege - total yawn
                Anything starring Emmanuelle Vaugier is a yawn
                Post Impact was also boring
                Dragon Fighter - underwhelming, pedestrian, predictable... oh and boring to boot.


                I sense a trend. Miniseries good. Scifi channel original movie very bad. Except the Legend of Earthsea, which was actually pretty bad.

                "You know what would make a good story? Something about a clown who makes people happy, but inside he's real sad. Also, he has severe diarrhea." - Jack Handy

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                  #9
                  The funny thing is, when Sci-Fi does a miniseries, they tend to do pretty good. A friend of mine pointed out that when they have more than two hours to do something, the results are of good quality. But when they try to do a feature-length film they stumble. Someone in programming needs to understand that.

                  One thing I do like are the films they release in collaboration with UFO Pictures. Things like Interceptor Force, or any of those movies involving CGI dragons, or Epoch, which I consider to be 2001For Dummies. UFO's films are characterized by interesting concepts hampered by poor execution. In other words, they're cheap disposable crap, but they're INTERESTING cheap disposable crap. And that's not a bad thing at all. It's like they are the American International Pictures for the modern age.
                  Through Life's dull road, so dim and dirty
                  I have dragged to three-and-thirty.
                  What have these years left to me?
                  Nothing, except thirty-three.

                  - Lord Byron

                  Dispatches From the Suburbs of Hell

                  The Pit

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by DigiFluid
                    That sounds almost like you don't like a part of the Evil Dead trilogy. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt
                    At first the Evil Dead(s) were actually scary then by the time Army cam around they were just down-right "campy." I think I have that somewhere on tape; along with Demon Knight. If I didn't appreciate a good laugh with my blood & horror, I'd have recorded over it long ago.

                    "We'll keep the light on for you."

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                      #11
                      Any forethoughts on this Saturday? I think it's called Doom Trooper or something to that effect; or is that in 2 weeks? Oh, well....opinions on what they've showed us so far? It reminded me of the CGI for Hulk & both Mr. Hydes: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen & Van Helsing (at a glimpse, that is), just a different format for the same CGI creation.

                      "We'll keep the light on for you."

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                        #12
                        I really liked Triangle and have DK on my netflix list...

                        but one word trumps all the good things about those two.

                        MANSQUITO!!!!!!
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                          #13
                          Mansquito was actually not that bad. I had a "riff party" with a few of my friends on the night it premiered and we had a great time. The Parker Lewis jokes flew fast and furiously that night, I can tell you....
                          Through Life's dull road, so dim and dirty
                          I have dragged to three-and-thirty.
                          What have these years left to me?
                          Nothing, except thirty-three.

                          - Lord Byron

                          Dispatches From the Suburbs of Hell

                          The Pit

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                            #14
                            the sicfi origals usally are Ok, but most have horrid cgi
                            Tis No Fool to lose what He can not keep, To gain what he will never Lose

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Thermonuclearboy
                              Mansquito was actually not that bad. I had a "riff party" with a few of my friends on the night it premiered and we had a great time. The Parker Lewis jokes flew fast and furiously that night, I can tell you....
                              While I admit I haven't seen it, I'm having a hell of a time believing that anything called "Mansquito" can be anything but atrocious--unless you're drunk or high out of your mind.
                              "A society grows great when old men plant trees, the shade of which they know they will never sit in. Good people do things for other people. That's it, the end." -- Penelope Wilton in Ricky Gervais's After Life

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