Dark Skies Finally Coming to DVD
POSTED BY: cljohnston108
UPDATED: Thursday, January 20, 2011 07:58
VIEWED: 7584
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Bryce Zabel was just on Coast to Coast AM, and he confirmed that the series is going to be released in January!
Music rights issues held up the previous planned release.
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Dark-Skies-complete-series-rumor/1414
5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Skies
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115151/
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"Spry for a dead fella!"NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I've been waiting for this for a long time. Great show, even though like our beloved Firefly it ended too soon.
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It had a great premise that mixed fact and fiction. I liked the show too and it definitely should have gone on longer, but they made the first season too long. They should have kept it at the original 13 episodes instead of padding it out later with filler.
Nice to see that I'll finally get to see it again.
"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall
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Quote:
Originally posted by lwaves:
It had a great premise that mixed fact and fiction. I liked the show too and it definitely should have gone on longer, but they made the first season too long. They should have kept it at the original 13 episodes instead of padding it out later with filler.
It was actually shorter than the traditional US season, just twenty episodes rather than twenty-two (or nineteen if you count the two-hour pilot as one). It was NBC that authorized the episodes beyond the original order of thirteen, which is also the typical initial order for most American series. It is mainly on cable netlets (and in UK and other foreign markets) that full seasons are thirteen eps or less.
I wouldn't consider the last half of the season to be filler, but rather a buildup of momentum towards the (unfortunately) unresolved season-ending cliffhanger.
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Quote:Can one watch just the 13 eps so as not to be confusticated?
Originally posted by ecgordon:
I wouldn't consider the last half of the season to be filler, but rather a buildup of momentum towards the (unfortunately) unresolved season-ending cliffhanger.
The laughing Chrisisall
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Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:Quote:Can one watch just the 13 eps so as not to be confusticated?
Originally posted by ecgordon:
I wouldn't consider the last half of the season to be filler, but rather a buildup of momentum towards the (unfortunately) unresolved season-ending cliffhanger.
I'm not sure why you would want to do that. It would be like if you stopped watching Firefly at "Out of Gas" or "Ariel."
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Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:Quote:
Originally posted by lwaves:
It had a great premise that mixed fact and fiction. I liked the show too and it definitely should have gone on longer, but they made the first season too long. They should have kept it at the original 13 episodes instead of padding it out later with filler.
It was actually shorter than the traditional US season, just twenty episodes rather than twenty-two (or nineteen if you count the two-hour pilot as one). It was NBC that authorized the episodes beyond the original order of thirteen, which is also the typical initial order for most American series. It is mainly on cable netlets (and in UK and other foreign markets) that full seasons are thirteen eps or less.
I wouldn't consider the last half of the season to be filler, but rather a buildup of momentum towards the (unfortunately) unresolved season-ending cliffhanger.
That's not what I was getting at, based on what I'd heard. And I certainly don't consider the second half of the season as filler. Let me explain.
I'd heard that 13 episodes had been commisioned (and maybe even made or at least were being made). This covered the story that the creators had set out for the first season arc. The network then liked it enough that they ordered more to make it the 19/20 episodes that we now have. My understanding was that these 'newer' episodes were placed in amongst the original 13 episodes, not after them, thereby filling out the show. I didn't mean it as the word used to describe episodes that bear no real revelance to an ongoing plot. I can understand how you may have thought that.
I also think that some series could benefit from being 13 episodes rather than 20 something because they end up with too many filler episodes.
I think Dark Skies was one of them. If they'd had a tighter first season that was mainly driven by the over-arcing plot then it may have gotten a second season. Plus 13 episodes is cheaper to make than 20. I think The 4400 suffered from this problem towards it's end. I don't agree but some folks said this was a problem with the later seasons of new Battlestar Galactica. I'm sure there are others as well.
One of the points I'll make about the extra episodes is that Megan Wards character effectively leaves the show in later episodes and is sort of replaced by Jeri Ryan. One of the things I liked about it was that it was a couple at the centre of it all, not the standard partners through work scenario. They changed it and for me it changed the show. Not necessarily in a bad way as I still liked it but I prefered the original setup.
As I say that's the way I understood it. Whether I heard right or not is another thing.
"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall
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When I heard Bryce Zabel (creator of Dark Skies) on Coast to Coast AM the other night, I assumed the January DVD release had already been officially announced, and his comments were simply a reminder from "the horse's mouth".
Apparently, this is the official announcement, which just got emailed to me...
Dark Skies - Twitter Posts Reveal that Shout! Factory has Acquired DVD Rights for The Complete Series
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Dark-Skies-The-Complete-Series/14231
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Lwaves, correct me if I'm wrong, but you are in the UK, right?
In the US, the standard procedure for a network green lighting a series is to order 13 episodes. If they like the show and the ratings justify it, they give the order for the "Back 9." That produces the typical 22 episode season that almost all network series get, and that has been the case for around 20 years. Before that, it was common for popular series to have between 24-30 eps per year. It is the writer/producer's job to do well enough that they get that "Back 9."
With the advent of original series on cable, those shows can range from 10-13 eps on average, up to 20 as was the case with BSG. IMO, there needs to be some middle ground for the networks, and the past few years has seen a few shows premiering in the spring or summer that have abbreviated runs like that too. But for most shows that start in the fall, it is almost universally accepted that if they are successful they will get 22 ep seasons.
Why Dark Skies only got 20 I'm not sure, and I'm also not sure why Megan Ward's character was marginalized in the back half of the season. Perhaps she requested a lighter work load, maybe the producers weren't happy with her work, who knows? All I do know is that I will be buying the series whenever it is released to DVD.
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Quote:
Originally posted by ecgordon:
Lwaves, correct me if I'm wrong, but you are in the UK, right?
In the US, the standard procedure for a network green lighting a series is to order 13 episodes. If they like the show and the ratings justify it, they give the order for the "Back 9." That produces the typical 22 episode season that almost all network series get, and that has been the case for around 20 years. Before that, it was common for popular series to have between 24-30 eps per year. It is the writer/producer's job to do well enough that they get that "Back 9."
With the advent of original series on cable, those shows can range from 10-13 eps on average, up to 20 as was the case with BSG. IMO, there needs to be some middle ground for the networks, and the past few years has seen a few shows premiering in the spring or summer that have abbreviated runs like that too. But for most shows that start in the fall, it is almost universally accepted that if they are successful they will get 22 ep seasons.
Why Dark Skies only got 20 I'm not sure, and I'm also not sure why Megan Ward's character was marginalized in the back half of the season. Perhaps she requested a lighter work load, maybe the producers weren't happy with her work, who knows? All I do know is that I will be buying the series whenever it is released to DVD.
Yes I am in the UK.
I understand the difference between the US having full seasons at approx 22 episodes and half seasons at 13 episodes with the possibility of a back 9. And that in the UK our full seasons are 13 episodes and half seasons are 6 episodes. I generally watch my fave shows from US TV as I don't want to wait for it to be shown over here at some strange hour on some lesser channel.
I don't think I'm making my point very well.
One of the magazines I got at the time Dark Skies was showing were also big fans of the show. They regularly had features on it and interviews etc. One of the interviews with someone behind the scenes (not sure if it was Zabel) stated that they had a first season plot worked out for those initial 13 episodes and had ideas to effectively use a decade per season until it was up to the present day. When the 13 got increased they had to quickly plot out the other episodes in time to make them for airing. This, to me, says that they may have been rushed and may not have fitted in with the overall plot arc for that season. Hence I used the term 'filler' but didn't mean it in a bad way. I don't think that the newer episodes are bad, I just think the show may have faired better by sticking with 13 episodes for it's first season. Of course it's fate may still have been the same but we'll never know.
It's my opinion that some shows of 22 episodes may have been better if they had been made as 13 episodes (much like the HBO style shows). You still get the plot, characters etc but you get less of the episodes that don't move anything forward. They're not necessarily bad episodes, they could be great, but aren't required for an arc.
It was a complaint I heard on several ocassions regarding BSG, X-Files, Lost and other shows. Even Buffy and Angel had their share. I'm not saying these shows should have had less episodes but other shows might have faired better in the ratings (and in their networks eyes) if these other shows had less episodes. I could state Dark Angels second season as an example. Way too many filler episodes in that one. I could see the new V really suffer if they expand it to a full season.
For the record I will be buying Dark Skies as well, probaly on it's day of release. I loved the show and was very disappointed when I heard it wasn't coming back.
Look forward to seeing it again.
"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall
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