Thursday, May 15, 2008
REMEMBERING THE SERIES
March 28, 2003 was a banner day for Tremors fans. It was the premiere of the TV Series, with the further adventures of Burt Gummer, El Blanco and the townsfolk of Perfection, on the Scifi Channel.
Originally intended as a companion for Scifi's highly successful Farscape series, Tremors instead found itself replacing the far more expensive series, much to the seethign anger of loyal Farscape fans- who failed to recognize that production had begun on Tremors the Series long before Scifi axed Farscape.
In total, 13 episodes were produced, with the network holding off on any further episodes until a determination was made as to what the ratings were going to be. And, while Tremors broke a new record for scifi series premieres, the demographic was under what Scifi had wanted.
Worse, the Scifi Channel decided to air the series out of order, choosing Episode 6/"Ghost Dance" to air the same night as the pilot episode, and playing the second episode, "Shriek and Destroy" as the final episode. This disrupted a storyline in which episodes built upon one another, e.g. Tyler being allowed to have a moonlight tour after the events of Episode 2.
The Scifi Channel further confused the issue by numbering the episodes on their website according to their production number;
http://www.scifi.com/tremors/episodes/season1/02_shriekdestroy.html
During a planned hiatus, the cast and crew left production in Rosarito, Mexico, near Fox's Baja Peninsula studios (where Titanic had been filmed) without any idea as to whether or not the show would be renewed.
Unfortunately, word soon came that show was not being renewed. August 8, 2003 was the air date for the final episode. The series was shown in reruns throughout 2004, then vanished from view until 2007.
In 2007, the show briefly was part of NBC's iTunes downloadable lineup. The show then appeared on Hulu.com and as part of Amazon's Unbox series of downloadable programs.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000WUAZZI/qid=1002567376/sr=1-4/figuresoffort-20/103-5864497-3816610
February 18, 2008, it was announced the show is rumored to be scheduled for a release on DVD, July 22, 2008 (www.tvshowsondvd.com). However, an inquiry to series producer (and owner) S.S. Wilson proved less than hopeful: Stampede Productions was unable to confirm any such release schedule.
So, is Tremors really done? And why did the show fail?
In 2004, Tremors 4 was released as a direct to video film. This western prequel was sold at retailers such as Walmart and Circuit City. Unfortunately, the release came around the same time that both retailers decided future direct-to-video releases were not for them.
Another Universal blunder the same year was Van Helsing the Stephen Sommers homage to classic Universal monster films. Despite being successful as a rental and DVD purchase, the film fell far short of the box office figures Universal was hoping for.
So, despite a script being written for Tremors 5, as confirmed by Stampede Productions, Universal apparently decided monsters were not for them.
Over the next few weeks, this site will offer a comprehensive review of each episode of the series. Because that's all we may ever get.
Originally intended as a companion for Scifi's highly successful Farscape series, Tremors instead found itself replacing the far more expensive series, much to the seethign anger of loyal Farscape fans- who failed to recognize that production had begun on Tremors the Series long before Scifi axed Farscape.
In total, 13 episodes were produced, with the network holding off on any further episodes until a determination was made as to what the ratings were going to be. And, while Tremors broke a new record for scifi series premieres, the demographic was under what Scifi had wanted.
Worse, the Scifi Channel decided to air the series out of order, choosing Episode 6/"Ghost Dance" to air the same night as the pilot episode, and playing the second episode, "Shriek and Destroy" as the final episode. This disrupted a storyline in which episodes built upon one another, e.g. Tyler being allowed to have a moonlight tour after the events of Episode 2.
The Scifi Channel further confused the issue by numbering the episodes on their website according to their production number;
http://www.scifi.com/tremors/episodes/season1/02_shriekdestroy.html
During a planned hiatus, the cast and crew left production in Rosarito, Mexico, near Fox's Baja Peninsula studios (where Titanic had been filmed) without any idea as to whether or not the show would be renewed.
Unfortunately, word soon came that show was not being renewed. August 8, 2003 was the air date for the final episode. The series was shown in reruns throughout 2004, then vanished from view until 2007.
In 2007, the show briefly was part of NBC's iTunes downloadable lineup. The show then appeared on Hulu.com and as part of Amazon's Unbox series of downloadable programs.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000WUAZZI/qid=1002567376/sr=1-4/figuresoffort-20/103-5864497-3816610
February 18, 2008, it was announced the show is rumored to be scheduled for a release on DVD, July 22, 2008 (www.tvshowsondvd.com). However, an inquiry to series producer (and owner) S.S. Wilson proved less than hopeful: Stampede Productions was unable to confirm any such release schedule.
So, is Tremors really done? And why did the show fail?
In 2004, Tremors 4 was released as a direct to video film. This western prequel was sold at retailers such as Walmart and Circuit City. Unfortunately, the release came around the same time that both retailers decided future direct-to-video releases were not for them.
Another Universal blunder the same year was Van Helsing the Stephen Sommers homage to classic Universal monster films. Despite being successful as a rental and DVD purchase, the film fell far short of the box office figures Universal was hoping for.
So, despite a script being written for Tremors 5, as confirmed by Stampede Productions, Universal apparently decided monsters were not for them.
Over the next few weeks, this site will offer a comprehensive review of each episode of the series. Because that's all we may ever get.
