In an odd change, Sci-Fi will soon be known as the SyFy channel.
“SyFy” sounds exactly like “Sci Fi” when you say it, but, as Richard noted in the Trade Roundup, NBC Universal will own it now. For years, NBC executives had longed to trademark the channel’s own name, but legal kept telling them you can’t trademark a genre of entertainment for lonely obsessives. So they spent years, and paid a branding company gobs of money, to come up with SyFy.
Corporate blindness leads to silly name changing. They might own the new ‘SyFy’ brand, but it sucks ass and isn’t worth owning. Their new slogan, “Imagine Greater”, is just awkward and useless as well. No worries, by the time they switch over in July, Battlestar Galactica will be long over and there won’t be any need to tune into the SyFy channel.
Via Gerry Canavan.
Battlestar Galactica at the United Nations
Battlestar Galactica was recently invited to the United Nations for a panel discussion on parallels between the motifs of their science fiction television show and real world issues we face today. It featured a guest of 100 New York high schoolers as well. The Chicago Tribune recounts the discussions that took place at the United Nations.
It’s a bit creepy, but also very telling, how this seemingly dream mash-up of BSG and the U.N. makes perfect sense. A convergence of the awesomeness that is Battlestar and real life?
Please watch the two hour panel discussion here (realplayer required). Edward James Olmos even yells out ‘So say we all!’ to the audience. Bizarro.