Top Newsmakers of 2006!

[Michael Hinman]

OK, everyone! Here's your chance!

Tell us who you think should be considered as top newsmakers of 2006 in the realms of science-fiction, fantasy, comic movies, etc.

They can be a newsmaker for either good or bad reasons (it's not a celebration of the good news, but a year-in-review retrospect of the top five people and groups that made plenty of fodder for fans in 2006).

So, feel free to share and discuss here! Then look to SyFy Portal on Dec. 15 as we release SyFy Portal's Top Newsmakers of 2006.

[Michael Hinman]

Some ideas that are out there include J.J. Abrams for all the talk surrounding Star Trek, and Ronald D. Moore, for Battlestar Galactica

[Nebula1400]

People:

Ron Moore (BSG)
Joss Whedon (Wonder Woman/Astonishing X-Men)
Tim Kring (Heroes)


I'm not sure JJ Abrams merits anything unless the Star Trek talk actually proves to be more than talk.  Also, I really think JJ Abrams is overrated.


To consider in terms of TV (among my favorites, anyway):

BSG
Heroes
Eureka
The 4400
Doctor Who

Movies:

Superman Returns
X-Men: the Last Stand

OK... so not a stellar year for movies.

[Tricorder]

If anything J.J Abrams should get the Ballet award for being the one most often mentioned to be the Director, only to have someone come along and say it's not true. So, why the Ballet? Cause he steps in, he steps out, he steps in, he steps out... and all the time, he's probably on his tippie toes because of the whole thing lol.

[Nebula1400]

Oh, wait!

V for Vendetta  was awesome!!! 

[charliex]

I think Russel T. Davies deserves a nod for his continued success with Doctor Who and his successful Torchwood spin-off.  Two hit series, plus rumors of both a K-9 animated series and a live action Sarah Jane spin-off would make for an unprecedented four concurrent series!

[Michael Hinman]

I think Russel T. Davies deserves a nod for his continued success with Doctor Who and his successful Torchwood spin-off.  Two hit series, plus rumors of both a K-9 animated series and a live action Sarah Jane spin-off would make for an unprecedented four concurrent series!

The Sarah Jane spinoff isn't a rumor.

[roadnick]

I think Russel T. Davies deserves a nod for his continued success with Doctor Who and his successful Torchwood spin-off.  Two hit series, plus rumors of both a K-9 animated series and a live action Sarah Jane spin-off would make for an unprecedented four concurrent series!

I second that.

Also, Tom Cruise.  Between trying to censor South Park in the name of L. Ron Hubbard and just plain ... looniness, I think he deserves a nod.

-----  Nick

[Nebula1400]

Also, Tom Cruise.  Between trying to censor South Park in the name of L. Ron Hubbard and just plain ... looniness, I think he deserves a nod.

-----  Nick

Tom Cruise as a work of science fiction?

[Tricorder]

Oh, I definitely agree with Russell T. Davies. Actually maybe he and Ronald Moore are what I would describe as the saviors of Sci-fi

And Tom Cruise is, well, Tom Cruise. Is it really any surprise? 

My vote for best Sci-fi-ish movie of 2006 goes to The Prestige.

[Marsia]

The people you speak of get paid for what they do.  How about the Browncoat Backup Bash (B3) Backup that was held by the California Browncoats at no cost to the attendees on less than 1 day's notice.?  The story has been going around the Net, and written up in Wikipedia.

The Browncoat Backup Bash Documentary - Watch The Video
http://blog.quantummechanix.com/?p=16

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browncoats%27_Backup_Bash

http://z8.invisionfree.com/BrowncoatsBackupBash

Imagine you prepared for a group trip to Europe.  You paid for your air, hotel and entertainment.  Depending on what your itinerary, you pre-paid anywhere from $1000 to $5,000 up front.  The trip is sold out, which means the organizer (who has a good reputation and has put together this type of event many times before) has been paid for everything.  You get on the plane and when you land, you find out that other than the air and hotel that you are paying for directly, nothing on the itinerary has been paid for.  You and a group of 500 people are milling around the hotel lobby not knowing what to do.  There is no one there to help you and from what you understand, the company that booked the itinerary does not have the money to refund you.
 
There was a fan convention where 500 people from around the world paid for a weekend of socializing with actors, directors, writers, musicians and other Industry folk connected with the series Firefly/Serenity at the Burbank Hilton.  People spent anywhere from $1000 to $5,000 including air, hotel and the convention itself.  At the last minute, actually in the afternoon prior to Day One, while most people who were coming from outside of Southern California were in the air or in their cars driving down, the convention was canceled, with no refunds in sight.  Seems even the studio people and the Hilton were left in the lurch, w/o being paid thousands of dollars.
 
The California Browncoats put together a Booster Backup Bash (the company's name was Booster Events) and entertained the attendees from Friday through Sunday on a shoestring.  Most of the Industry folk came to hang out with the fans for free, Clare Kramer (Glory in season 5 of Buffy) and her husband opened their new Hollywood Blvd restaurant (La Cantina) 2 weeks early so we could have a party (again where the Industry people joined us), people and companies helped us with getting locations to have the daytime events (the Hilton would not/could not release their convention rooms to us) and paid for tour buses so we could move over 350 people (some people didn't come at all, others arrived and left -boy were they pissed they left). Cash donations totaling $6500 came in from Browncoats around the world to help pay for the non-convention. In other words, we made lemons out of lemonade.
 
So now imagine that same group trip I wrote about at the beginning.  While the tourists are in the lobby crying about their ruined trip and how they saved for this special event, strangers start to show up in the lobby.  They help you with contacting friends and family.  They tell you they will, out of the goodness of their heart, make a substitute itinerary for you for the weekend, keep your group busy seeing the sites, meeting people, playing games, transporting you around, even hosting a major party in a fancy restaurant at no cost to you since you're already out thousands of dollars.  And other strangers donate money to a site to help towards paying for the new itinerary and transportation.  Strangers.  And after you have a weekend that although wasn't what you paid for ended up being more fun during, those strangers wait around until the last person is on their way back home.
 
Do you think strangers would do that for strangers?  As a cohesive group?  Of course not.  The Browncoats did.

I nominate B3

[Nebula1400]

I nominate B3

I second that nomination!  I had thought of mentioning this event here, but since I wasn't part of it, I couldn't do it justice.

Thanks for posting this, Marsia!