About a month ago, it was announced that Sci Fi Channel (owned by NBC Universal) would be rebranded as “Syfy.” I’ve been letting this sink in. I understand from a marketing perspective why NBC would make such a change: Sci Fi has some negative connotations with it. They want to distance themselves from the basement geek and encapsulate a wider audience. They’ve already been achieving this by taking on some obviously-not Sci Fi programming such as wrestling. Sci Fi obviously competes with Spike TV who shares a nearly identical demographic. They also have new programming of genre that is only partially sci fi, such as LOST. But I’ve been trying to figure out that if this what this change represents is positive or negative to the concept of science fiction. As a long time viewer of the channel, should I be offended? Do I think more good or bad will come of it?

In Part 2, I take an in-depth look at the new Star Trek (2009) movie. It obviously represents an important part of the evolution of science fiction. It’s an exciting time for the prospects of both new show concepts and the relaunching of old, familiar ones. But, as always, I have my doubts.

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