I just saw a commercial on Scifi for this Friday’s “premier” of Odyssey 5. A quick google later and I discovered that not only is this show not original to Scifi, it was first released 5 years ago! To top it off, the entire series has also been released on DVD for more than a year! WTF! Come on, Scifi, stop wasting your money on other networks’ failed series and your own craaaap (Painkiller Jane, anyone?) and give us more Galactica or other shows of the same quality!
On one of the Firefly podcasts, they did a review of the show and said it had few special effects but the show was really good. Now I don’t know how much weight you want to put into a third hand review :), but I’m glad the SciFi channel is looking outside it’s own network for new shows, because their own track record, except for a very few shows, doesn’t inspire confidence.
To be fair, the wikipedia article on the show made it sound intriguing but even so, it only lasted one season. Less, actually, as only 14 of the 20 episodes produced were originally aired. No matter how great it is, those 20 episodes are all we’re going to get.
This isn’t the first time that SciFi has taken a show from another network… Anyone remember the first season of Stargate SG1. It also had its beginnings on Showtime, like Odyssey 5, and after they re-ran the first season, they started writing their own episodes and turned it into a pretty good show…
Maybe that is the plan here too.
Someone will have to double check this, but didn’t Showtime produce five or six seasons of Stargate SG1 before SFC took it? I remember that it was in regular syndication on several stations, then when Showtime decided to drop it, SFC took it.
You are correct… Showtime did the first 5 seasons of SG1…
SciFi did 6 - 11.
If you haven’t seen it you should still watch Odyssey 5; it was an excellent series.
Yes, it ends on a cliffhanger. Manny Coto has repeatedly said though that he keeps hoping he can bring the show back someday and so has never said what his planned resolution to the show would have been. He has given a few tidbits as to what the second season would have been and it sounds like it would have been going in some very interesting directions.
I suspect Sci-Fi could pull off starting the series up again if the reaction to the first season is good enough. There really weren’t that many expensive special effects after the first episode and the few that were used a lot of stock footage from the shuttle. The show really focused on its characters, which is something most BSG fans should appreciate.
It’s a very different show from BSG, but give it a chance.
I picked this up on DVD because i like the premise and Peter Weller carries it well. The cast is good. It’s too bad this will never finish…
Rumor has it that it was the highest rated show on Showtime when it aired but the program director or top chief did not like sci-fi so the show got canned. I wonder if that was true…
Sounds interesting, I’ll give it a try. Thanks for the heads up.
What, not a fan of SciFi’s version of Flash Gordon?
SciFi has a very loose interpretation of ‘New Series’ and ‘First Run.’ If it hasn’t yet before been aired on SciFi, then it is a new series to them and therefore ‘first run’ on that network. They would consider ‘All In The Family’ or ‘MAS*H’ a first run, new series since neither has ever aired on that channel.
I miss Flash Gordon. I liked that show. It was written for the kids of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers who grew up.
Odyssey 5 was a decent show, I think it could have turned out great if given more time to grow. They had a really good cast/characters, but some of the more stand-alone episodes I found incredibly boring.