What Happened to the Sci-Fi Channel?

It's not often that someone on a message board performs a public service, but over on the official Sci-Fi Channel boards, a poster known only as "SavageMind" does that very thing with a post called "What has happened to the Sci-Fi Channel?"

I was raised on Sci-Fi and am a die hard fan of the channel. However I have seen so much ***** on the channel it makes me not want to watch it. B movie marathons eating up the weekends. Giant Crocs, Spiders, Mosquitos and Killer Yeti are not doing it for me anymore. I remember when you could see a Star Trek title on Sci-Fi.

Hey, I may not really dig Enterprise either, but at least I admit that it's a Star Trek show (It's also on Sci-Fi these days, for those of you who feel the need to watch a franchise in its death throes). Otherwise, very well said, Savage. Oh, what's that? You're not done yet?

Our friendly Savage continues:

Did the channel get in a tiff with paramount? How about Space 1999, Babylon 5, the original Battlestar Galactica, and some classic movies like Laserblast, The Day the Earth stood still, and Battle beyond the stars. C'mon let's bring it back to the way it started.

Well, now you're getting ridiculous. Battle Beyond The Stars? No-one needs to see John Boy Walton save the universe again, even if it does mean we deny ourselves the pleasure of watching Sybil Danning talk about the wonders of Amazons going down. Nonetheless, Savage isn't the only one feeling this way. Quoth responders:

I miss the old days when I could tune into Space 1999 on a young SciFi Channel. Those were fun times.

[Y]eah The sci-fi channel is setting it's self up for a buy out. That's what I see here.

And they're not the only ones complaining about current Sci-Fi Channel output. While we all wait for next month's return of Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who (Well, and premiere of Sarah Jane Adventures), it's clearly time to reflect: Where should the Sci-Fi Channel go next, in order to become something that lives up to its name again?

What happened to the Sci-Fi Channel? [Scifi.com]

Send an email to Graeme McMillan, the author of this post, at graeme@io9.com.