Sci Fi TV Week in Review: Johnny Jay’s irreverent, snarky, and caffeine-fueled look back at the past week in sci fi TV in five minutes or less.
There was not a lot in the way of sci fi TV news this past week, but there was one curio that arrived as Gazelle Automations decided to take Star Trek: The Next Generation back to the ’70s and give it the animated treatment in the same style as Star Trek: The Animated Series (which was super cheesy, but a ton of fun, and you can read more about it at this link). Using the same minimalist animation and the same musical score, they animated one scene from “The Best of Both Worlds” (and you can watch that at this link). I don’t know if more is on the way, but I’m certainly up for new adventures from Star Trek TNG: The Animated Series!
There was some pretty big news this past week for a pretty big streaming service that has a pretty big catalog of sci fi shows, both old and new. Netflix lost subscribers in the first quarter and that news sent the stock tumbling. They lost 200K subscribers out of 222 million which comes up to . . . nine one-hundredths of a percent? And the financial world is melting down over this? Now I’m no math expert and can’t do none of that fancy cyphering, but I don’t reckon that’s a big number. (Even the two million they project to lose in Q2 won’t make that much of a dent.)
And what did Netflix do? Blame its subscribers. They said the issue is too many people borrowing passwords. It couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that they keep cancelling their originals, even when those very shows are pulling in millions of hours of viewing. Also couldn’t have anything to do with the fact that they keep churning through originals and quickly dispensing with past shows in a spaghetti-against-the-wall attempt to find the next Stranger Things or The Witcher. Which they are cranking out tons of money for and trying to milk with multiple spin-offs. Yeah, Netflix. It’s certainly the fault of the subscribers . . .
One of the apparent casualties of this is the Netflix Animation group as the streamer went on a slash and burn and fired most of the key people involved with the kids and family programming. And plans for an animated TV series based on Jeff Smith’s delightful comic Bone have been scrapped amidst all of this. Wow! That makes me want to re-up my Netflix subscription!
In a blast from the past, the 1978 failed pilot for a Dr. Strange series is getting a Blu-ray release from Shout! Factory. That version of the character is very different from the current MCU incarnation because he used Dr. instead of Doctor as the honorific. Also, the budget was like a gazillion times smaller (probably wouldn’t even cover the catering for one day on the set of the Multiverse of Madness). And it also took all sorts of liberties with the source material. But it still delivered some good, cheesy fun and you can read about it over at CancelledSciFi.com.
In ratings results, noboby is watching Fear the Walking Dead. Still. That show returned for the second half of its seventh season this past Sunday and remained at a low point as far as the (very outdated) Nielsens are concerned. Despite that, it is still coming back for an eighth season. Also, nobody is watching Starz’s new supernatural dramedy Shining Vale. That one wrapped up its first season and only averaged two one-hundredths of a ratings point. (Well, Netflix would consider that a big number). You can read more about the recent ratings at this link.
In schedule announcements this week, HBO Max has given a May 15th premiere date to its upcoming series The Time Traveller’s Wife (see trailer below). That one is not to be confused with Outlander which is about the wife of a man from the present who travels in time. She gets involved with another man through her travels, but that doesn’t count as cheating because it happened before her husband existed, right? Has Divorce Court ever covered that? I seem to have gotten off topic . . .
Netflix released a trailer for the third season of Love Death + Robots which is an animated anthology that delivers short tails involving . . . well . . . love, death, and robots (and maybe a few other sci fi type things). We also got a glimpse of the upcoming final appearance of Jodie Whittaker as the thirteenth Doctor which will arrive in Fall of 2022. See both trailers below.
On the schedule, this coming Sunday brings the premiere of Showtime’s The Man Who Fell to Earth which bows at 9 PM EST. And next week we get the return of a bit of a sleeper sci fi series when Amazon’s animated Undone has its Season 2 premiere on Friday (more on that one at this link). You can see the rundown of all the upcoming sci fi and fantasy shows here.
If I have missed anything important from the week, it’s because there’s just not enough hours in the day with Peak TV still in full force and I was trying to cram in one more episode of Superman & Lois. Feel free to add anything I missed in the comments below.
Trailers
Love Death + Robots: Terrifying creatures, wicked surprises and dark comedy converge in this NSFW anthology of animated stories presented by Tim Miller and David Fincher. Season 3 premieres May 20th on Netflix.
The Time Travelers’ Wife: This series follows the intricate and magical love story between Clare (Rose Leslie of HBO’s Game of Thrones), and Henry (Theo James of Divergent), and a marriage with a problem…time travel. Premieres May 15th on HBO Max.
Doctor Who: The Thirteenth Doctor faces the forces that mass against her in her final adventure which arrives in Fall 2022
SciFiTVSite.com: Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and keep up with what is airing/streaming each week with our Weekly Listings.
CancelledSciFi.com: Keep up with the status updates of all the currently airing sci fi and fantasy shows with our Sci Fi TV Update posts. And be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates.
