Dark Skies Finally Coming to DVD by cljohnston108

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

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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Tuesday, August 10, 2010 6:28 AM

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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Tuesday, August 10, 2010 1:27 PM

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

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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Tuesday, August 10, 2010 2:21 PM

Quote:
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.

Can one watch just the 13 eps so as not to be confusticated?

The laughing Chrisisall

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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 1:07 AM

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
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.

Can one watch just the 13 eps so as not to be confusticated?

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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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 2:42 AM

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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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 11:06 AM

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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Wednesday, August 11, 2010 2:01 PM

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

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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Thursday, August 12, 2010 1:50 AM

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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Thursday, August 12, 2010 3:33 PM

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I totally agree with you that most US shows have too many episodes per season, but that is the model. The intent is to get as many eps produced as quickly as possible to make a profit in the syndication market. I was surprised NBC nixed a short fifth season for Heroes in order to get close to 100 eps (not that it deserved it).

I was not aware of the situation you seem to have read about concerning Dark Skies. Perhaps the problem was that Zabel assumed that thirteen episodes might be all he would get, considering the track record for genre shows. He should not have been so short-sighted. He should have plotted the show out for a couple of seasons at least.

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Friday, August 13, 2010 10:57 AM

IMNOTHERE

Quote:
Originally posted by lwaves:

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).

*Cough* Babylon 5 *cough*. That was at its best when they crammed the last two planned seasons into season 4 (unfortunately, they went on to make season 5 anyway).

Seriously, I agree - it wasn't so bad with old-style shows where they pushed the plot reset button at the end of each stand-alone episode, but now pretty much everything worth watching has a continuing plot (and big end-of-season climaxes) and 22 eps is just too long to pad out a season-long story.

BSG was particularly bad that way - cracking episodes at the start and end of the longer seasons acting as bookends for a lot of padding.

The other nice thing about the UK system of 6-13 episode series is that the whole series is usually in the can (if not through post-production) before it airs, so there's no opportunity for mid-season meddling, and the renewal decision doesn't have to be made until the full series has been shown. Shows have to be quite offensively bad to be canned mid-run.

Then, quite frankly, for some shows one 6-13 episode run is enough: great show, story told, the end: Dollhouse & Sarah Connor spring to mind. I enjoyed Pushing Daises but couldn't have taken 100 episodes of it (you'd have got toothache in your eyeballs).

It always amuses me that the UK and US versions of "Life on Mars" ran for about the same number of episodes, but one was hailed as a triumph and the other was a canceled flop.

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Saturday, August 14, 2010 12:42 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by ImNotHere:

The other nice thing about the UK system of 6-13 episode series is that the whole series is usually in the can (if not through post-production) before it airs, so there's no opportunity for mid-season meddling, and the renewal decision doesn't have to be made until the full series has been shown. Shows have to be quite offensively bad to be canned mid-run.

Then, quite frankly, for some shows one 6-13 episode run is enough: great show, story told, the end: Dollhouse & Sarah Connor spring to mind. I enjoyed Pushing Daises but couldn't have taken 100 episodes of it (you'd have got toothache in your eyeballs).

It always amuses me that the UK and US versions of "Life on Mars" ran for about the same number of episodes, but one was hailed as a triumph and the other was a canceled flop.

That's very true. Once a series is made we usually do get to see it all even if it's bad (Demons ??). I have heard of shows not finishing their run over here but it's very rare.

Life On Mars UK is a great example of what I'd call a concise show. 8 episodes a season and only two seasons. But what a great series and a fine example of how not to let a show drag on but just tell the story and keep it 'must watch TV'.
Other shows could learn a lot from this.

"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

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Saturday, August 14, 2010 3:28 AM

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

The US problem is one of money, not creative integrity. The networks are the ones that make the most money during a show's regular run, but the production company benefits if the show runs long enough to syndicate later. That's why we have so many shows that run forever even if the quality is not sustained (or even there to begin with).

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Thursday, October 7, 2010 11:18 AM

Oooooh, baby! I can hardly wait!

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Dark-Skies-The-Declassified-Complete-
Series/14519

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Thursday, October 7, 2010 11:28 AM

If you like it CL, that's enough for me. I'm in.

The laughing Chrisisall

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Thursday, October 7, 2010 11:43 AM

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I love Dark Skies!

Just placed my pre-order with amazon.com. Hurry up, Jan. 18th!!!

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Thursday, October 7, 2010 11:46 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
If you like it CL, that's enough for me. I'm in.

Always nice to hear, my brother!

All you need to care about is one name: J.T. Walsh.
This was his best role!

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Thursday, October 7, 2010 11:49 AM

Where are Straker & SHADO when you need them?

The laughing Chrisisall

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Thursday, October 7, 2010 11:55 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Where are Straker & SHADOW when you need them?

Got an extra 'W' there, pal!

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Thursday, October 7, 2010 11:57 AM

Prove it.

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010 11:43 AM

Dark Skies - 'Secret Government Memo' Leaked about Shout!'s Declassified Complete Series DVDs!
Looks like a viral marketing campaign has started up for this January release
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Dark-Skies-The-Declassified-Complete-
Series/14540

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Tuesday, November 2, 2010 11:48 AM

Dark Skies - Shout! Offers Early Shipping, Lithograph for 'The Declassified Complete Series' DVDs
Available everywhere in mid-January, you can take advantage of the studio's special offer only at their online store

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Dark-Skies-The-Declassified-Complete-
Series/14640#ixzz14AEIeYzR

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011 3:50 PM

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I know what I'm doing tonight. Watching at least the pilot episode of Dark Skies. It arrived from amazon today, just one day after the official release, and they didn't charge me for shipping even though the price had dropped below $25. It was higher than that when I pre-ordered it, so I guess that applied for shipping calculations.

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Wednesday, January 19, 2011 9:58 PM