Dark Matter: No Season 4? (Updated)

[Tilarta]

Well, that's most of the problem right there.
They don't have any personal interest in fantasy as a genre, they're just making it because it's profitable/popular.

By logical deduction, if fantasy didn't exist, then by default sci-fi would be the favored choice because there is no other option.

In my personal opinion, population bases and corporations are trend followers, not trend setters.
So in the above theoretical scenario, they'd become sci-fi proponents because it was "the thing to do".


Mostly it's just pushing my berserk button because whatever they chose to replace Dark Matter with is fantasy and well, given my personal history with decisions like that, I get a fair bit annoyed whenever it happens!

I am wondering though, will SyFy use this experience as a precedent to avoid creator owned franchises?
That is, they only make "original content" not based on an existing franchise so they don't have to share the profits with another corporation who owns the rights.

[Annoyed]

Well, that's most of the problem right there.
They don't have any personal interest in fantasy as a genre, they're just making it because it's profitable/popular.

By logical deduction, if fantasy didn't exist, then by default sci-fi would be the favored choice because there is no other option.

They're a business. They have no interest in any specific genre. They have interest in what makes them the most money. That's what a business does.

As far as other options, they have them. Remember the years when they were carrying fake wrestling? Although fiction, it certainly wasn't sci fi.

[Gen. Chris]

Well they also got rid of Blood Drive so I'm not sure if that was owned by them or not.

[planet_tv]

Yes I would like to see it get picked up but I hope it's another TV network that picks it up. If it should happen to get picked up by streaming service then I will have to think about whether or not to get the series on DVD or just add it to my short list of shows I got into but never saw the ending.

[Tilarta]

I looked up the show referenced, if the data I am reading is accurate, it was not owned by SyFy.

Production Companies: Strong & Dobbs Productions, Universal Cable Productions

It's starting to look like we've discovered an unpleasant trend, if SyFy don't own it completely, they want it gone to allocate space in the schedule for something they do own.
But that cannot be realistically practical, I thought that was how television worked, someone else made it and a channel optioned the rights to broadcast it.
To produce everything inhouse directly would strain resources to unsustainable levels.

I am now wondering how many other sci-fi shows have been cancelled by SyFy that I wasn't aware of.
Or by other networks.

As far as other options, they have them. Remember the years when they were carrying fake wrestling? Although fiction, it certainly wasn't sci fi.

Well, this is an interesting tangent.
Why was there wrestling on a channel for fictional serialised shows?
I'd say that belonged on a sporting channel, not SyFy.

And honestly, I doubt a wrestling show is even in the same creative league.
Even a half-invested attempt at a seasonal plot based show would be more entertaining then watching a staged fight over and over.

[aretood2]

Well, this is how my logic train goes:
A company makes fantasy products, then consumers buy it, so the retail stockists dedicate more of their display space to the genre, which then is used as a justification to make even more fantasy products and it just keeps escalating from there.
The more fantasy they make, the less time/effort/resources are dedicated to sci-fi products.
And this just results in me having to go through an entire store of unimportant products to find the ones I want to purchase. In some cases, these stores are so dedicated to their fantasy franchises, there simply is no sci-fi stock.

And then it gets worse, because I keep encountering those who are "genre bland".
They assume because I like sci-fi, I must also like fantasy and genuinely don't understand that (from my perspective) they are separate genres.
Because fiction is fiction and it's the same thing (from their perspective). At least, that's what they keep saying to me.

Don't get me wrong, Fantasy doesn't attract my interest as much as sci-fi. But Fantasy is a perfectly legitimate form of scripted entertainment. And if it is more popular the fault is mine, not its fans or creators nor the producers.

It's not a zero sum game either. Companies would gladly fund both genres. It's up to the show's attractiveness and the channel's marketing capability's to make them worthwhile. If they aren't, they get axed. Stargate lasted a long time and Disney isn't slowing down Star Wars any time soon. They simply were/are very attractive and as a result they became lucrative (one a whole lot more than the other). Yet at the same time Fantasy franchises like Lord of the Ring have also done the same. And the Comic book area is sharing the limelight with the Sci Fi area too.

I don't hear drama fans complaining about how sci-fi and comic books are hugging up the big screen.

I looked up the show referenced, if the data I am reading is accurate, it was not owned by SyFy.


It's starting to look like we've discovered an unpleasant trend, if SyFy don't own it completely, they want it gone to allocate space in the schedule for something they do own.
But that cannot be realistically practical, I thought that was how television worked, someone else made it and a channel optioned the rights to broadcast it.
To produce everything inhouse directly would strain resources to unsustainable levels.

I am now wondering how many other sci-fi shows have been cancelled by SyFy that I wasn't aware of.
Or by other networks.



Well, this is an interesting tangent.
Why was there wrestling on a channel for fictional serialised shows?
I'd say that belonged on a sporting channel, not SyFy.

And honestly, I doubt a wrestling show is even in the same creative league.
Even a half-invested attempt at a seasonal plot based show would be more entertaining then watching a staged fight over and over.

That sounds very elitist.

[jelgate]

Can we get a ton foil hat for this guy?

[Annoyed]

I looked up the show referenced, if the data I am reading is accurate, it was not owned by SyFy.


It's starting to look like we've discovered an unpleasant trend, if SyFy don't own it completely, they want it gone to allocate space in the schedule for something they do own.
But that cannot be realistically practical, I thought that was how television worked, someone else made it and a channel optioned the rights to broadcast it.
To produce everything inhouse directly would strain resources to unsustainable levels.

I am now wondering how many other sci-fi shows have been cancelled by SyFy that I wasn't aware of.
Or by other networks.

Sometimes SyFy doesn't have a choice in the matter. For example, one of my favorites was "Continuum", which I believe was made by the Canadian network Space. Syfy simply bought the rights to air it in the U.S. When Space pulled the plug on it, that wasn't a decision by SyFy.

Well, this is an interesting tangent.
Why was there wrestling on a channel for fictional serialised shows?
I'd say that belonged on a sporting channel, not SyFy.

And honestly, I doubt a wrestling show is even in the same creative league.
Even a half-invested attempt at a seasonal plot based show would be more entertaining then watching a staged fight over and over.

I agree; in my opinion, fake wrestling is just trash and had no business being on the channel.

Except.

It drew larger audiences than Sci Fi fare did, and it was much cheaper. SyFy's managment often made the claim that the profit from the fake wrestling was used to prop up or in other words allow the channel to carry sci fi programming which did not draw an audience large enough to pay for itself.

[linux geek]

I'm shocked this is axed but killjoys lives on

[the fifth man]

I really hope this show gets picked up by someone. It had such potential in my opinion, and was a can't miss every week for my wife and I. Television really saddens me today with what gets renewed and what gets canceled.

[Gen. Chris]

Mallozzi posted on his blog that the third and final backer couldn't make it work, so the show is officially dead.

The fandom sure gave it their all though.

[VampyreWraith]

I was really disappointed that this got canceled, especially with how it ended. I really enjoyed the third season, I thought it was their best season overall. I'm going to miss the show.

[TOIVA]

[...] I really enjoyed the third season, I thought it was their best season overall.. [...]

Yup, that it definitely was. Well, like SGU's second season finally being good, before being axed.

[Annoyed]

Star Trek Enterprise did that, too.. After poor S2/3, S4 was very good. But it was too late by then.

[photoglyph]

I attempted to keep up with 'Dark Matter.' Joseph Mallozzi's involvement really sealed the deal for me, but...
I kept waiting for it to get more interesting and it did not seem to. I may be well premature in my assessment as I never even finished the 1st season, but I just kept thinking it should be more engaging than it was.

Did the characters end up more fleshed-out? I don't like the fact that it is gone with the dearth of science fiction shows at the moment. I am sorry to see it go, I never thought it was bad, just not up to my expected potential.

I am hoping to start 'The Expanse' soon after seeing some clips from it.

[planet_tv]

I attempted to keep up with 'Dark Matter.' Joseph Mallozzi's involvement really sealed the deal for me, but...
I kept waiting for it to get more interesting and it did not seem to. I may be well premature in my assessment as I never even finished the 1st season, but I just kept thinking it should be more engaging than it was.

Did the characters end up more fleshed-out? I don't like the fact that it is gone with the dearth of science fiction shows at the moment. I am sorry to see it go, I never thought it was bad, just not up to my expected potential.

I am hoping to start 'The Expanse' soon after seeing some clips from it.

We did learn a little bit more about the characters and I did find that it got more interesting as it went along. It's also a shame that it ended on a cliffhanger because there was a lot of stuff the show still had to deal with but then again that's the way it goes with 98% of the shows I have watched on SYFY.

[thedevilman]

Yeah, this was a real bite. So frustrating to get invested in yet another SyFy show that got scrapped. And I suppose there's no hope for it getting picked up anywhere else like The Expanse did at this point. I wish they would at least allow some sort of finale movie to wrap some of it up for fans. But that just almost never happens either. Boo.

[planet_tv]

Yeah, this was a real bite. So frustrating to get invested in yet another SyFy show that got scrapped. And I suppose there's no hope for it getting picked up anywhere else like The Expanse did at this point. I wish they would at least allow some sort of finale movie to wrap some of it up for fans. But that just almost never happens either. Boo.

It does stink that SYFY canceled the show last year. I want as far as adding the channel to my skipped channels and not just because of Dark Matter but also Sliders, which it saved from FOX, Stargate SG-1, SGA, Sanctuary, Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Farscape, even thou I got into that between the cancellation and the miniseries. It would be nice to actually see a show on SYFY end because it wants to end and not because of cancellation.

There is a petition for Dark Matter and link can be found in my post here. As of this post, it's up to 74,772.

[thedevilman]

There is a petition for Dark Matter and link can be found in my post here. As of this post, it's up to 74,772.

Signed and shared. Thank you! I skimmed pretty quickly when I first found this thread and missed it.

[planet_tv]

Signed and shared. Thank you! I skimmed pretty quickly when I first found this thread and missed it.

You're welcome.