As previously reported, today’s the day that the Sci Fi Channel changes its name to Syfy.  And science fiction fans feel like their girlfriend is dumping them because she got a makeover and wants to hang out with cooler kids now.  Ha ha, just kidding — science fiction fans don’t have girlfriends.  But they ARE pissed about the name change, so Syfy digital exec (or “head Syfylist”) Craig Engler has taken to answering questions on Syfy’s Twitter feed.  Via The Live Feed:

Q) Does SyFy’s new branding mean less science fiction/fantasy programming?
A) No, we are not changing our programming mix

Q) How do you pronounce SyFy? When I see it I want to pronounce it so it rhymes with ‘jiffy’
A) Just like “sci-fi”

Q) Help me understand. Name one new project you can do as Syfy that wouldn’t have felt right as Sci Fi.
A) Syfy is about catching up to where our programming mix is, not about changing it.

Q) Your programming mix has poor spelling and grammar? That isn’t catching up Craig, that’s dumbing down.
A) Syfy is a made-up name, not a word, so it’s spelled correctly as is. Like Wii. Or Twitter ;)

Nice point, Craig.  Except “twitter” is an ACTUAL WORD.  And the Wii has always been the Wii — it didn’t start as “We” and then change the spelling when it wanted to get away from the lonely fat lady demographic.  But I digress.  I’m actually fine with the name change; it’s four characters instead of six, which cuts my time typing the channel’s name by 33%.  Why, over the course of a week, that might save me a full two or three seconds of work.  I can pick my nose with that free time!

Here’s the new trailer for the TV movie “Battlestar Galactica: The Plan,” which chronicles the same story as the TV show from the viewpoint of the Cylons.  Before watching the clip, I was pretty skeptical; I don’t see how you can cram the other side of a story that lasted five seasons into a two-hour episode.  But I have to admit: this looks good.  Of course, I say that every time someone says, “Let’s get this genocide started!”  That line would have really improved Hotel Rwanda.

Coming to DVD in September is Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, which will cover the same story as the TV series — only it will show it from the Cylons’ perspective.  Edward James Olmos, star of the Sci Fi hit, directed the movie and shared some of its details with fans last week in Los Angeles.

“You see the complete opposite of the first 281 days of what we went through, … seen through the eyes of the Cylons, and it is breathtaking. It’s fantastic. It’s not fun, but I will say that you will sit there [gasping].” [...]

Olmos gave credit to writer Jane Espenson, who wrote the entire script, and his lead actor. “I have to tell you right now, Dean Stockwell is a brilliant artist,” Olmos said. “He does a magnificent job of leading The Plan. The Plan is exactly that. It was how they planned to do what they did and what happened. It was monumental. All I can tell you is it’s an extraordinary look at the Cylons, how they masterminded what they did.”

It’s pretty hard for me to pretend like I care about this stuff, but I’m inclined to think that the most extraordinary look at the Cylons is one in which Tricia Helfer is naked.  I don’t want to sound like I’m too down on humanity, but if alien robots that looked like Tricia Helfer wanted to sleep with me, I would sell out the entire human race in a heartbeat.  Hey, what have you done for me lately?

Ah, nothing cheers me up on a Monday like a good corporate re-branding story.  That’s what the Sci Fi channel is doing, as the NBC Universal property will announce today that it’s changing its name to “Syfy.”  You see, the term “sci fi” is associated with geeks and losers and assorted people who masturbate to Deanna Troi fan fiction, whereas a made-up homonym is totally going to change people’s impression of the network.

“The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular,” said TV historian Tim Brooks, who helped launch Sci Fi Channel when he worked at USA Network…

[Sci Fi president Dave] Howe said going to Syfy will make a difference. “It gives us a unique word and it gives us the opportunities to imbue it with the values and the perception that we want it to have,” he said…

“When we tested this new name, the thing that we got back from our 18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd, which is quite a lot of our audience, is actually this is how you’d text it,” Mr. Howe said. “It made us feel much cooler, much more cutting-edge, much more hip, which was kind of bang-on what we wanted to achieve communication-wise.”

The sad thing is that this is totally going to work.  The Web and text messaging have made it okay to make up new words (Uproxx?  WTF is that?) and misspell things for the sake of brevity, so the greater populace is going to love this.  And if there’s one thing that TV executives are good at, it’s thinking that most people are idiots.  Dave Howe just earned himself a six-figure Christmas bonus.