The year is 2009. The global economy is in freefall. In America, the jobless rate is skyrocketing, and people are losing their homes while the cost of living is rising around them. At this time of crisis, we want to be able to turn to those in power to guide us through these troubled waters. So this week it was especially troubling to see one of those stewards of our hopes and dreams make a decidedly ill-informed decision. Is it any wonder that we, as common hard-working folk, seethe at such misuse of power, when many of us would be glad to be making their gobs of money, along with the knowledge that we would never be so supremely bone-headed?
I am speaking, of course, of the Sci-Fi channel’s recent decision to rename, no, wait, “rebrand” their network “Syfy”.
Really?
They claim it will still be pronounced the same. I claim otherwise and will henceforth and forever only pronounce it as it would seem to actually be written; like “jiffy” with an “s”.
Clearly the execs at NBC Universal, who own the channel, are panicking in their space boots. Their most, really their only popular series, “Battlestar Galactica”, is ending this week, and they must be desperate not to lose their viewership. So what do you do? Why, change your name, of course! The kids will love it! Because when I decide what shows to watch, the first thing I check? The name of the network. “Boy, I’d love to see a Seinfeld rerun, but, I don’t know- it’s on TBS. That’s not a word I know and/or respond to.”
But then, neither is “Syfy”. In fact, that’s the problem. The term “sci-fi”, as coined by beloved editor and writer of Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, Forrest J. Ackerman, is the proper, time-honored contraction of the science fiction genre. “Syfy” looks like someone had a brief seizure on their keyboard. So not only is it just plain not correct, it flies in the face of a geeky tradition we didn’t even realize was a tradition until someone f’ed with it.
But hey, the Nintendo Wii is the most popular console in the galaxy! And its name, in some circles, means PENIS. That may be true, but it also has Mario Kart, Zelda, Metroid, Wii Sports, and Smash Brothers on it.
“Siffie” has Stargate. Two of them.
Instead of concentrating on blatantly transparent boardroom “synergy” BS, why not instead make sure your remake of Flash Gordon wasn’t worse than the movie? You know, the one from the 80’s.
So, good job, network-who-shall-not-be-named! Have fun spending your extended unemployment benefits!
On the other hand, Mansquito was pretty epic.
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Of course now that Battlestar Galactica is over I won’t have many excuses to watch Siffie.
I learned recently in my Graphic Forms class that the original term for Science Fiction was “Scientifiction”. That’s what they should’ve changed the name to.
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That’d certainly be better.
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Well, I know people who have been pronouncing it “Sciffy” for years, so aside from the fact that I pesonally would consider “Syfy” to be “jiffy with an s at the beginning”, I suppose the change isn’t much of a stretch. However, if I saw “Syfy” on a schedule of channel listings, I’d most likely write it off as a typo.
I remember being thrilled that a television station was going to be dedicated to science fiction series and movies. And there have been some good shows on this channel, but they’ve been pretty inconsistent with their quality overall. The made-for-TV movies on Sci-Fi have mostly been cringeworthy, and some of their original series left me puzzled over who in the galaxy thought that particular concept was a good idea.
Perhaps the problem is that this channel is run by network executives, rather than by science fiction enthusiasts.
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