Two Strips Of Latinum: Syfy, Sci-Fi Do Well In Awards

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Two Strips Of Latinum: Syfy, Sci-Fi Do Well In Awards
June 6, 2010
By Dennis Rayburn
Airlock Alpha

In the past week, two organizations either presented awards, or announced nominations for their upcoming ones and both Syfy and science-fiction in general getting some much-needed attention.

The Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British Columbia announced the winners of its annual Leo Awards, and the Television Critics Association announced the nominees for its annual awards, which will be presented July 31.

At the Leo Awards given out this weekend, science-fiction led the pack with shows produced for Syfy leading the charge in a very big way. Syfy's mini-series “Alice,” its re-imaging of the legendary story of Alice in Wonderland, won eight awards, including awards for cinematography, picture editing, overall sound, sound editing, musical score, production design, visual effects and stunt coordination.

“Sanctuary” won awards in direction, production design, costume design, and makeup. Along with those awards, Christopher Gauthier won for Best Guest Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series for his appearance, and Christopher Heyerdahl won Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series for his dual roles of John Druitt and Bigfoot. Robin Dunne won Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series.

“Stargate: Universe” placed third in Syfy's awards streak at the Leo Awards, but walked away with one of the big ones. The show won awards for screenwriting, cinematography, picture editing and visual effects. Julia Benson won Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series, and the show itself won the Best Dramatic Series award.

Meanwhile, the TCA announced its nominees for its upcoming annual awards with science-fiction being represented there as well. “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programing. In the category Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Mini-series, and Specials, “Torchwood: Children of Earth" was one of the five nominees. “Big Bang Theory” was nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy.

Another nomination of interest to science-fiction fans was William Shatner, who was nominated for the Career Achievement Award, along with such notables as James Gardner, Bill Moyers, Sherwood Schwartz and “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf. Someone is going to need the wisdom of Solomon to decide that one!

“Lost” scored a triple in the nominations with nods for Outstanding Achievement in Drama, Program of the Year, and the Heritage Award. Congratulations to the winners and good luck to the nominees.

In closing, I want to call to your remembrance a scene from the movie, “Starship Troopers.” It was the classroom scene where the main characters were in their biology class, each of them dissecting a bug.

Many folks leaving the theater after the film thought the biology teacher looked familiar, but could not remember who she was. That character was performed by “Golden Girl” Rue McClanahan, one of the hundreds of roles she played in her career, which sadly came to an end when she left us at the age of 76.

Her appearances in science-fiction were not many, but they were always interesting as that was the type of character she was cast as: One that would stick in your memory.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to her friends and family at this sad time.