Actor Ian Ambercrombie, 1934-2012
by Doc on Jan.28, 2012, under Obituaries
I am hearing the sad news from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars cast: Actor Ian Ambercrombie, who was the voice of Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious, passed away yesterday at the age of 77.
Abercrombie was also most recently a recurring character in Disney Channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place as Professor Crumbs, and appeared in the final episode aired a couple of weeks ago. An accomplished stage actor, SF fans may also remember him for his role of Alfred in the short-lived Birds of Prey series, guesting as Correlilmurzon in some memorable comedy moments in the Babylon 5 episode “Acts of Sacrifice”, and the role of Wiseman in Army of Darkness, among other guest spots and smaller roles.
Lockout trailer
by Doc on Jan.27, 2012, under Movies
Lockout, in theaters on April 20th, 2012, follows a falsely convicted ex- government agent (Guy Pearce, Memento, The Hurt Locker), whose one chance at obtaining freedom lies in the dangerous mission of rescuing the President’s daughter (Maggie Grace, Taken, Lost) from rioting convicts at an outer space maximum security prison.
Lockout also stars Peter Stormare (Armageddon, How I Spent My Summer Vacation), and is directed by James Mather and Stephen St. Leger.
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Bring out your aliens! New SF comedy could be Monty Python reunion
by Doc on Jan.26, 2012, under Movies, Television
There are some things that seem to go together, one one seems to be that SF fans are also fans of Monty Python, and can recite any scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail spot on…I’ve even been explaining to my kids how if a woman weighs as much as a duck, she’s made of wood, and therefore a witch…ahem. So no wonder I got giddy when I heard about Absolutely Anything, a SF farce comedy being directed by former Python Terry Jones, who also directed Life of Brian and co-directed Grail, and already has John Cleese, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin signed up – Eric Idle is in negotiations – potentially bringing the five surviving members of Monty Python together again (the sixth member, Graham Chapman, passed away in 1989 from cancer). Add in the voice of Robin Williams and just sit back and laugh…
The story, being developed by Jones and Gavin Scott (The Musts of Avalon, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) and combining CG and live action, is about a group of aliens (voiced by the Pythons) who grant the power to do anything to a human – and watch how he screws up everything. Williams will add his voice as a talking dog named Dennis, and they are hoping to use him in a live role as well.
Could Fringe continue even if canceled?
by Doc on Jan.26, 2012, under Television
Fox still hasn’t announced its intentions regarding Fringe, although a lot of people are expecting the network to cancel the show after entertainment president Kevin Reilly’s statement that ““We lose a lot of money on the show.” But Joshua Jackson, who plays Peter Bishop on the show, thinks it could live on after cancellation. “They’ve talked about maybe going off network with it, too,” he said of the possibilities. “The TV landscape is a different place than it used to be, so it might not be death.”
The TV landscape is VERY different. Gone are the days where a big budget show might survive in first-run syndication, and cable networks don’t seem to be quite up to the same level for production costs, although they are closing in. But if your loyal fan base is strong enough, there still seems to be alternative media outlets, including the Buffy route: tell the rest of the story in comics.
Tribute video for Elisabeth Sladen
by Doc on Jan.25, 2012, under Television
This video aired on the CBBC last year, but I hadn’t seen it until now…it’s a moving tribute to Elisabeth Sladen called “My Sarah Jane”, featuring bits from the stars of Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Adventures, along with clips of Sarah Jane Smith.
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Oscar nominations roundup
by Doc on Jan.25, 2012, under Awards, Movies
Well, it wasn’t the greatest news for genre features this year, despite a lot of hopes…if you followed the nominations (or my tweets), you know that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 got the snub for Best Picture despite the 10-film field (the closest to a genre film was Hugo), while the Academy again shows they don’t know how to deal with motion-capture performances and ignored Andy Serkis yet again for his work in Rise of the Planet of the Apes. But what did garner nominations?
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Being Human preview: “All Out of Blood”
by Doc on Jan.25, 2012, under Television
In this preview for next Monday’s Being Human, we see Josh, Nora and Sally in a vacant storage unit where they discuss their location for their next werewolf transformation. Josh’s plan for them to be video taped during the process has Nora skeptical but assures Nora that he’s only trying his best to find out how they both can be treated and be cured from this werwolf disease. Watch and all-new sneak peek of Being Human and see as the couple confronts their first werewolf change together. Tune in at 9/8c Monday, January 30th on Syfy.
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Trailer for Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock game
by Doc on Jan.24, 2012, under Games
The first trailer for the upcoming game Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock, based on the TV series, is out and you can watch it below. From the trailer you can see you’ll face not only the Daleks and Cybermen, but the modern Silurians and even The Silence! Plus River Song tags along as the Doctor’s companion…the game appears to be something like a platform game, from the gameplay I could see.
Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock is expected to be released in March 2012 (and I’m hearing it will be available in the U.S. as well, but don’t have a specific date yet). It will be available only on the PS3, Playstation Vita and PC platforms.
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Merlin preview: “Aithusa”
by Doc on Jan.24, 2012, under Television
In this preview for the upcoming episode, “Aithusa”, Merlin, Arthur and the Knights of Camelot are under the attack by an unknown enemy. One of his men gets hit in the leg and the army struggles to find a plan of attack, when suddenly Merlin spots the attacker over the ledge above. He signals Arthur and quickly makes a move while Merlin uses magic to throw the enemy’s weapon out from his hands. Tune-in to an all-new episode of Merlin this Friday at 10/9c on Syfy as an enigmatic stranger appears with a magical secret that could change Camelot forever.
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Review of Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno
by Doc on Jan.24, 2012, under Books
Our friends over at TheThunderChild have posted a new review by Damon Blalack on the latest Star Wars novel, Star Wars: Darth Plagueis by James Luceno: Damon Blalack, author of the Clone Wars Examiner column, has written an exhaustive study of the new novel by James Lucarno, Darth Plagueis. All fans of the book series will enjoy reading this insightful account. Read it here.
Coming Soon- Doctor Who (Classic): The Sensorites - DVD (Feb 14th)
- Doctor Who (Classic): The Caves of Androzani (Special Edition) - DVD (Feb 14th)
- Doctor Who (Classic): The Three Doctors (Special Edition) - DVD (Mar 13th)
- Doctor Who (Classic): Tomb of the Cybermen (Special Edition) - DVD (Mar 13th)
- Hercules and Xena: Xena: Warrior Princess - Season Three - DVD (Mar 13th)
- Doctor Who (Classic): The Face of Evil - DVD (Mar 13th)
- Hercules and Xena: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Season Three - DVD (Mar 13th)
- Doctor Who (Classic): Robots of Death (Special Edition) - DVD (Mar 13th)
- Miscellaneous: Logan's Run - The Complete Series - DVD (Apr 10th)
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