Save Dark Matter.

[rogueslayer452]

Dark Matter just got cancelled by Syfy.

When I read this, my heart sunk. I am utterly devastated and heartbroken.

Dark Matter is honestly one of the best science fiction shows I have had the pleasure of watching in years. It not only features some of my favorite tropes, but has such wonderful representation with a diverse cast, all the characters are three-dimensional and complex, and the storytelling and plot are just amazing. It was a mixture of so many things I enjoy about this genre and it filled this void in my soul that had been missing since BSG ended. This little found family found their way into my heart and it's always been a joy watching as their story continued forward. To suddenly have it be cancelled after three strong seasons (it was not only one of the best shows on the network but also one of their highest performing ones too, and the ratings were continually going up) is a damn travesty and I just cannot fathom what caused such a decision, especially since it was among an amazing lineup of other amazing shows. Then again, this isn't new for Syfy to be completely unfair when it comes to their own shows, so it's not surprising that they're failing to comment on why they suddenly decided to cancel one of their best shows.

I want to believe that the show can be saved, somehow. If only for one more season. I know that this seems impossible and a huge longshot, but this is how I react whenever something I love gets unjustly cancelled. I want to have hope that with enough fan support something can be done, even if it's just a small thing like half a season to wrap things up proper.

Sign this petition to help save the show. Again, like always with these things, there is no guarantee but we can at least try. If there are other petitions or fan campaigns available I'll make sure to update with those. But for the time being this is the only one that was just created. So please go sign that, and if you have Twitter go and share it along with hashtagging with the proper tags with the rest of the fandom to show support in hopes of a possible renewal.

Comments

[omgpeyton.livejournal.com]

Wow this is shocking and I didn't even watch this. I just hear about it here and there because I still follow Zoie on a lot of social media. I know the beginning of it wasn't performing so well but it seemed like the fanbase grew dramatically over the past season. :( I hope it gets the chance to be picked up elsewhere! It wouldn't be the first show that it happened to.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Seriously, last I heard it was doing exceptionally well and growing more fans (the fandom was indeed growing more and more, which I was happy about since I've been raving about the show since the first season) and getting better ratings the more the show went on. So I don't understand why this decision was made when you take all that into account.

I hope it gets to be picked up too. It deserves it, especially since apparently the third season ended on a massive cliffhanger.

[carlyinrome.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. :(

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Thank you, babe. It's never a good feeling when a show you love ends up getting cancelled so abruptly like this. :(

[erychan86.livejournal.com]

Noooooooooo! It also ended in such a cliffhanger... nooooooooooo

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

What's sad is that they were planning for two more seasons. Killjoys got renewed for two more seasons, but Dark Matter was left in the dust. And this was after Syfy tried doing this "It's A Fan Thing" hashtag campaign for these shows to get renewed through fan support. Apparently it was all a farce on their end. I guess they had to choose one or the other and they chose Killjoys for two seasons and then cancelled Dark Matter for...whatever inane reason. Now the series has been left on a massive cliffhanger, which is by far the worst thing to happen.

We deserved better than this. They deserved better than this. I want to have hope that a fan campaign can help the show out, just like it did with Sense8. I know that miracles don't always happen, but we can at least try.

[hamarakissa.livejournal.com]

Aww I know a lot of friends who watch this show but alas I haven't been able to watch it yet. One day, soon I hope.

I'll sign for support though and I hope it does get saved!<3

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

IT IS SO GOOD! Definitely watch it whenever you get the chance.

Thank you. I hope so too. I mean, I know there is no guarantees but at least them being aware that there is fan support and campaigning for it to be renewed should mean something, right?

[cookiegirl]

Noooooooooooooo!!!!

I have signed! I hope they pay attention. I'm behind with it, haven't seen season 3 yet, but I love it :'(

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I still have to catch up in the third season (story of my life, being behind on some of my shows) but the show has been the light of my life since it first premiered and to have it suddenly taken away, for no reason I'm finding, is absolutely devastating.

I want to believe that somehow this might help. The petition has almost three thousand signatures since yesterday (!!) and I hope that it continues to grow and that they take notice that this decision was a mistake, and that there is an audience and the fans are unhappy. Not that I'm expecting miracles like with Sense8, but we can at least try, right?

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Aww, I'm really sorry :( It does seem odd that they would cancel it when the viewership was still growing, possibly it was a case of the budget being too costly, I know that's frequently the excuse given when sci fi shows are cut down in their prime

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I even read that both Killjoys and Dark Matter had pretty much the same ratings/viewership, but they decided to cancel one and then renew the other for two more seasons. How exactly is that fair? What sense does that make? IDEK anymore.

Even if the show was rather expensive to produce, there could've been a negotiation and compromise instead of outright cancelling it. This is why I don't often like those excuses because, unless a show is obscenely over budget, there can be ways around it.

[haebin.livejournal.com]

It is always heartbreaking when a good series is cancelled. :/
Especially when it has good ratings. I don't watch the series but I signed it for you. Good luck, I cross my fingers. ♥

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Yeah, too many of my shows get cancelled way before their time. And while Dark Matter had three seasons, they ended on a massive cliffhanger and it was planned to have two more seasons before it finished telling the story.

But thank you for signing! You're awesome. :)

[haebin.livejournal.com]

..., they ended on a massive cliffhanger...

Damn, this is super frustrating. But I hope they will give the series another chance. Crossing my fingers for you! :)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I've always had the opinion that television shouldn't do huge cliffhangers because of that ultimate fear that a show could be cancelled at any time, regardless whether it has good ratings or not. Showrunners need to structure seasons that have a beginning, middle and end which wraps of the seasonal arc but does leave something that entices the audience to stick around for more (instead of having everything be so ~dramatic and leaves strings hanging that, if cancelled, it will never be explained and thus frustrate the audience even more). At the same time though, network executives shouldn't cancel shows that leaves a story unfinished, especially at such a critical part of their current arc. Even if a show is to be cancelled, they need to warn the showrunner ahead of time so they can wrap things up, perhaps not perfectly but at least gives some kind of closure.

I know, I know, the nature of the business doesn't work like that and it's all complicated, etc. But ideally that would be the most acceptable way of handling things that doesn't leave everyone unsatisfied or bitter, imho.

[haebin.livejournal.com]

I agree with you 100%! But like you wrote, the business unfortunately doesn't work like that. :|
I hope the whole business would change but all it counts is money, money, money. :|

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

I'm so annoyed because, for me, Dark Matter and Killjoys are a package deal. And while there was a time where I preferred Killjoys, I was back to preferring Dark Matter this year.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

It's so strange since both shows started at the same time and have always been kind of part of that scifi package deal and what many looked forward to during the summer. And to cancel one while renewing the other for two final seasons seems not only unfair but reeks of favoritism. Why not just renew both shows for one final season then if they were going to choose? IDGI. Then again, Syfy has always been flaky and stingy about things kinds of things. I'm still bitter of them canceling some of my other shows in the past for inane reasons. :/

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

Yeah, there was the whole thing about W13 that couldn't be longer than 5 seasons, and since both the Dark Matter writers and the Killjoys writers were aiming for 5 seasons, I suppose this is still a thing. The DM cancellation comes out of nowhere as far as I'm concerned. :/

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there was the whole thing about W13 that couldn't be longer than 5 seasons

And it barely was even a fifth season, it was like, what, only six episodes or something? Not that any of them were any good, thanks to executive meddling, and most fans of the show don't acknowledge or talk about those last episodes because of it.

The DM cancellation comes out of nowhere as far as I'm concerned. :/

It truly was. The show wasn't even "on the bubble" that I'm aware of, in fact it was doing rather well for itself alongside Killjoys. So this announcement was totally out of left field entirely, for reasons we still don't know or understand. And it makes me so aggravated because this decision makes absolutely no sense. Why have one show reach that five season deal and not the other? Why cancel something that still had an engaging, ongoing arc? Canceling something before its time is bad enough, but canceling something on a massive cliffhanger is downright criminal, imho.

[malicat.livejournal.com]

Huh,I actually read that the ratings kind of tanked this season?

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I've read the opposite, that it was steadily growing this season. Though I'm not entirely certain of the reliability of particular sources, but from what I've gathered that the fanbase was growing and the ratings were holding strong.

[xfirefly9x.livejournal.com]

Same.

[sarren.livejournal.com]

I am really grumpy about this. I've been saving this season to watch when it finished airing, so I havn't seen it yet, but I haven't heard that it got bad or anything, so wtf? An awesome SF show with original ideas and a great, diverse cast - WHY ISN'T THAT GOOD ENOUGH.

GRRR.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Seriously. Dark Matter is pretty much everything that makes not just a fantastic science fiction show, but just a wonderful show altogether. From a lovely diverse cast to the plots and focusing on the characters, each and every one of the characters gets to shine that is often not always seen in ensemble shows. It was doing well for itself, and there was no indication that it was in any danger of cancellation. So this decision, honestly, came out of nowhere.

[xfirefly9x.livejournal.com]

That's sad. I never really got around to watching DM, but yeah. I'll sign the petition.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

You really should at some point. It's a wonderful, beautiful show. If you liked Firefly I'm sure you'll really enjoy Dark Matter. :)

And thank you! Again, not sure what good it'll do, but every little bit helps.

[giallarhorn.livejournal.com]

I think the weird problem SyFy has right now (and also scifi as a genre, ha) is that it's kinda the golden age of scifi? Instead of being regulated to one or two monolithic shows a la Star Trek or BSG, we have a new Star Trek on the horizon, SyFy got a package deal with Killjoys+Dark Matter, and The Expanse came on a short bit after. It's a weird problem of market saturation I think, which isn't a bad thing per se. Up till the part where audiences are bombarded with too much, and ratings slip jussstt a little bit.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know what Syfy's deal is, to be perfectly honest. While this has happened time and again with them, I feel like this always happens whenever they "rebrand" themselves, because plenty of shows I watched there ended up getting screwed over one way or another, and strangely a lot of that ends up due to the channel rebranding itself for whatever reason.

[batmarg.livejournal.com]

I'm super behind on this show like all of them, but I'm so stunned by this one. It seemed fairly well liked and was extremely well-written. :(

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Based on everything I've read, the show was doing incredibly well, many people were loving it, and it was considered one of the best shows on the channel. And it was among such a great lineup, too. So the sudden cancellation makes absolutely no sense. And with one show getting renewed for two seasons and this basically just gone, it reeks of executive favoritism, tbh. (Not that this is new for Syfy, they've screwed over plenty of their other shows in the past before, some which I'm still bitter about.)

I want to believe that, with how vocal the fanbase has been with the petition and campaigning for it to be renewed, that someone somewhere will hear and help pick it up for the show to at least get some closure. The creator behind the show is fighting alongside with us hoping for this, too.