Time is running out for the Sci-Fi Channel which, in a matter of weeks changes its name to SyFy so they can, presumably, run less science fiction and sell out to the infinitely more profitable world of ultimate fighting. Maybe it’s for the best. Sci-Fi has never been as sci-fi focused as its name suggests and when they try, it always turns into a bad horror movie. Case in point: Their latest made for TV movie Star Runners.
It starts out in the right direction, with old school pulp lettering in the credits and an outer space chase sequence. That seems sci-fi enough, doesn’t it? Former Trek helmsman Connor Trinneer stars as Tycho and Heroes best-buddy James Kyson Lee is Lei Chen, a pair of transport pilots or “star runners” with an illegal shipment to slip past the feds. It seems at first that they’re going for a Han Solo/Chewbacca dynamic here between the two of them, smugglers shaking patrols cracking wise at one another. It never quite works, mostly because Trinneer and Lee play their characters as if they’ve just taken a heavy dose of sleeping pills, but at least the script seems to be trying, even if it’s not succeeding. read this entry »
