Tin Man is Classic SciFi

If only DVR’s could schedule upcoming events more than two months in advance I would have scheduled the recording of the latest Tin Man mini series the day it came across my RSS reader for the first time. The marketing group over at SciFi did an excellent job promoting the series, so well you could say they have it down to a science *grin* At least they got me hyped up for a new series that I knew relatively little about.

Part one of the series reintroduces our well known Wizard of Oz characters in creative fashion. Alan Cumming plays an absolutely brilliant recreation of the scarecrow as Glitch, the inventor that knew so much that part of his brain was removed by the wicked witch - now known as Azkadellia the sorceress. The lion (Raw) though quiet has the ability to heal injuries and see the future and the former long arm of the law, Wyatt “Tin Man” Cain is itching for all out revenge after his family was tortured and killed right before his eyes, over and over again.

These great actors make you forget you are watching SciFi and not a blockbuster Hollywood hit, then DG (aka Dorothy) brings you crashing back to earth with her vacant stare and clueless bumbling. Please tell me she is not “the One”, even with the blank Keenu Reeves facial expression she doesn’t manage to pull off the Neo persona and she surely isn’t giddy enough to remind me of the original character. The director goes to great lengths in the early stages to freeze frame her with pigtails and checkered dress as she starts her day at work at the local diner, but after that momentary image burn the likeness fades quickly and the horrible acting drags down the rest of the cast.

Even with DG’s less than perfect stage presence I was not dissuaded, nor were the other 6.3 million viewers on Sunday night, from thoroughly enjoying the experience. Apparently Tin Man brought in record viewership with a show that wasn’t as geek specific as Galactica or Dune. The special effects were hit and miss, but overall the Tin Man had a really nice, polished feel to it. I am not sure it was as deep or quality as the aforementioned Dune or Galactica, but it was enjoyable all the same. Apparently Digg users didn’t necessarily share my affection. With over 1000 related Digg submissions I didn’t see any go hot. Alexa and Compete didn’t show much of a traffic spike for scifi.com over that last month so I guess there weren’t 6.3 million additional viewers tuning in to watch the full episodes online. Maybe Revision3 is ahead of its time, or maybe Adobe’s recent Flash upgrade with support for H.264 HD encryption will be the tipping point for online media.

The loyalists on the SciFi forum graded it an overwhelming “A” and agreed they would love to see the prefix “mini” removed from the title in favor of a full blown television series. Obviously television advertising and off-net viewing still reign at SciFi. If only my wife hadn’t “accidentally” deleted my scheduled DVR event AND recordings I could have watched it commercial free, in HD, on my big screen television. Alas I was subjected to somewhat grainy 8-12 minute segments with obnoxious introductory commercials that were far louder than the show. Still, kudos to SciFi for putting up the full content in record time each night and for not splattering commercials through 3 full length sections.