http://www.scifi.com/sfw/column/sfw17406.html
(Please follow the link for the complete column. Photo from Sanctuary at the site.)
November 19, 2007
The Cassutt Files
The Sound of Silence
By Michael Cassutt
Imagine there's no Heroes
It's easy if you try
No Battlestar to steer by
Above us only sky
Well, this is what happens when you give a writer too much free time. He starts penning pathetic parody lyrics to classic songs. But this, alas, is where I find myself as the Writers Guild strike reaches its third week. Between commitments to picketing, teaching and obsessing about the future, I compose silly ditties.
It's a reaction to looming silence. And silence—especially silence in the form of no new television—has always been a personal phobia. I live where airplanes start taking off at 7 a.m. If I am home alone, the television is on. I won't be watching, and I don't require this background noise to be loud, mind you. But I need it to be present. ...
**snippage**
The dispute between the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has already resulted in the shutdown of producing on Bionic Woman and Heroes. Soon, all too soon, viewers and phobic writers will be faced with either "reality" programming or blank screens.
The sound of silence.
**snippage**
But there are so many hours in the day to fill. If there's no sci-fi on television, where do I find it?
Where there's a Web, there's a way
Since the main area of contention between the WGA and the AMPTP is the future of Internet-based programming and digital delivery, and since I've been awaiting the arrival of this new form of sci-fi for about 15 years, let's look at what's available on the interwebs.
**snippage**
First to loom into view is Sanctuary (http://www.sanctuaryforall.com), a Web-based series about the potential horrors of stem cells, gene therapy, transplants, cloning ... leading, in some combination, to the creation of monsters that are unleashed on our world. Sanctuary was created by Damian Kindler (Stargates SG-1 and Atlantis) and is produced by N. John Smith (Outer Limits), Marc Aubanel (Marvel Nemesis and other games) and Amanda Tapping (from the cast of Stargate SG-1). Tapping stars as Dr. Helen Magnus, who gathers a small team to search out and deal with these creatures.
This is an ambitious project, produced in high-definition video and offering eight webisodes. (A subscription is required.) It is reportedly the highest-budgeted web series produced so far—and from the clips, it shows. So I'm bookmarking this one.
**snippage**
