Syfy in NY

You never know what’s going to happen as you’re strolling in the city.  I happened to be cutting through Rockefeller Center when I happened upon not Tina Fey but an “oasis of imagination.”  Well, at least that’s what the Syfy peeps were calling it in their press handouts. That’s the new name of the Sci Fi Channel if you’re not up on the latest in “rebranding” news (I had no idea).   I’ll comment on the whole channel/name change later, but I have to admit this whole setup was rather cool looking.  It was a pretty funky and well-designed layout.  This probably sounds weird but I thought it was awesome that the whole thing was on grass.  Walking on grass in that part of the city just felt bizarre and somehow rejuvenating.  Here are some pics:

The new brand in full force.  I guess Imagine Greater is their tag-line.  That’s a nice TV in the background.  I was going to watch it for a bit but they had the Sci Fi Channel on. Zing!

In addition to this computer station, there was free wi-fi in the area.  It took you to the Syfy website on launch but that’s still pretty cool.

Remember these things?  They were pretty sweet but I guess they’re pretty much gone now.  My mind’s blanking - viewfinders, right? I remember you could buy different “episodes” to put in them.

The giant lollipop actually had free lollipops in it…but the beverages cost money.

There are rocks in the future!

Two things: That’s not my litter on the other seat - it was there when I sat down.  And everything else was spotless…I just got the crappy table.

All of those flags are Syfy flags that say “Syfy - Imagine Greater” on them.

That’s not all they have planned for NY.  They were handing out little info pamphlets with ads for Eureka on one side and Warehouse 13 on the other.  Inside were the plans for the Summer of Syfy.  They claim they’re actually providing free wi-fi to Rockefeller Center for an entire year.  That’s pretty insane…and handy for any tourist who needs a wi-fi connection.  And it’s not just Rock Center, they’re doing Union Square too, which is really awesome.  They even say they’re hooking up Times Square soon…because it’s not only the most congested, awful part of the entire city, but we need people trying to get wi-fi signals on the impassable sidewalks.  But damn, they’re going all out with this thing.  I was impressed - until I saw they called it wyfy from Syfy and then I almost threw up a little in my mouth.

But that’s not all you get from Syfy’s marketing blitz.  Order now and receive a bonus - Syfy will sponsor a Tim Burton retrospective at MOMA (which sounds freaking awesome).  But if you call in the next ten minutes, Syfy will also give you…a series of free movies in Brooklyn Bridge Park!   You can check it out here…how cool is it to watch a flick with that view?

I’m pretty wowed by the whole thing and I can’t really be cynical about it because it’s all great stuff.  So I thank them on behalf on NYC (as the city’s appointed ambassador to science fiction related entities).

Man, they really, really want to get the word out about this whole name change thing.

I checked and the name change has been completely blasted from fans all over the internet in angry posts, tweets, comments and other internet stuff people do.  I do understand one aspect of the need for a name change.  They absolutely had to have a brand they could trademark and there’s nothing wrong with that.  But did they have to pick such a ridiculous, moronic name?  I don’t know…it sure hasn’t gone over well with fans.  But Syfy is very interested in broadening their appeal beyond the whole “geek market” (they didn’t use those words but you know what I mean).  I don’t see how that’s going to really work.  Because it’s called Syfy, is everyone in the world going to suddenly tune in to whatever Stargate series they’re doing now?  Are people suddenly going to be fooled: Oh, this isn’t the Sci Fi Channel - it’s called Syfy!  That must be something totally different and a channel that would be of general interest to myself and everyone in my family!

Anyway, I don’t really care about their name change because I never watch the channel.  Early on, I associated the channel with really bad sci-fi movies…kinda like Mystery Theater 3000 except without any of the entertainment value.  And I was just never a fan of Farscape or Stargate - though those may very well have been awesome.  Of course, then they blew up big with their Battlestar Galactica home run.  Of course, I did watch that, but I was still never really drawn to the channel in general because they had no secondary offerings to back it up.  And every time I’ve flipped by it since, it’s always some people hunting paranormal creatures in a dark room with green lights and electrometers or whatever they are.  Then one day I saw they had wrestling on.  Wrestling?  Okay…

So without the programming to back it up, I’m not sure what the name change will do.  I don’t know why they didn’t do it in conjunction with the release of a major new series.  They’re doing that Alien Nation thing with a dude from Firefly writing…it doesn’t really appeal to me (the Quantum Leap one might) but it sounds like it’s an attempt at a big-time series.  So why not launch it with that?  Oh, and by the way…a fun drinking game is to listen to an interview with anyone from Syfy talking about a new show and then drink anytime they say “Battlestar Galactica” in an attempt to somehow link the two.  You won’t last long.

Anyway, what they’re pimping now is Eureka and Warehouse 13.  I really tried to get into Eureka in the beginning but I just couldn’t.  Warehouse 13 looks completely uninteresting to me.  Even if it’s good, it’s not going to be a major hit.

So it will be interesting to see what they do in the new “Syfy Era.”  Will they do some big time epic sci-fi series?  More wrestling?  Reality shows about people fighting robots in a pit of doom?

They seriously seem fired up about the name change (even the people working at the park thing were all amped up).  I just hope they have a plan beyond: Step 1 – Change Name, Step 2 - Profit!.

Even though it’s all a big marketing exercise…they did a kickass job in NYC so props to them.