Sci-Fi Storm

Another case of the IMAX announcement that got out a little ahead of the studios, although it shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone: A third Batman feature from Christopher Nolan has been confirmed by Warner Bros. with a release date of July 20, 2012 – although there aren’t any further details than that, including a production start date.

Here is a cool, narrated video showing the launch of Apollo 11 up close using a 500 frames per second camera. If you’ve ever wondered how they protected some of the structures from the intense heat, fire and steam at launch, you’ll learn something here.

We may get all our current questions answered on Lost with the finale, but apparently we’re going to be left with at least one more question – “What did they mean by this?” Sounds like we may get one of these philosophical discussion endings…

Warner Bros. has announced that the release dates for parts 1 and 2 of The Hobbit will be set in December 2012 and 2013, respectively (despite an IMAX release that gave 2013 as the release date of just The Hobbit, which was an error). Both scripts are details are being worked out, but it looks like full production could begin on time by this summer.

Seeing some of the early reviews of Iron Man 2, there is a lot of variance. Although Rotten Tomatoes currently is giving it a 75%, The Hollywood Reporter was quite down on it: “Everything fun and terrific…has vanished…” And from across the pond, where the movie opens this week, The Mirror calls it “a travesty – a mind-numbingly dull, chaotic and often unwatchable muddle.”

Things don’t seem to be going well for the sophomore adventure series Legend Of The Seeker…a number of Tribune stations have dropped the show from their syndicated lineups due to low ratings, and according to EW’s Mike Ausiello, has already gotten the axe. The team of Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, who managed to keep similar series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess in syndication for six seasons a piece, tried to shop it around some more but apparently haven’t found buyers. Alas, I enjoyed it more than most network shows lately, but is there just no real market for syndicated drama now? I didn’t even watch it on the local market station here (WCVB) but on WGN, because it was often not shown according to schedule in the late hours whereas WGN was consistent with late afternoon showings.

[sfs=1016][/sfs]The next batch of classic Doctor Who episodes has been set for release on July 6th: [sfs=1016]The Space Museum/The Chase[/sfs] (Hartnell), [sfs=1015]The Time Monster[/sfs] (Pertwee), [sfs=1014]Underworld[/sfs] and [sfs=1013]The Horns Of Nimon[/sfs] (both Tom Baker). And speaking of who, the animated Tennant episode [sfs=1004]Dreamland[/sfs] appears to have been delayed until October.

Also, on August 24th, the final season of Lost comes out on [sfs=1018]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1017]DVD[/sfs] – and for those that were waiting to just spend money once, the entire series will also be available on [sfs=1019]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1020]DVD[/sfs] as well on the same date.

Lastly, the second half of Eureka‘s 3rd season, dubbed [sfs=1011]Season 3.5[/sfs], will be released June 29th.

Updated: A couple more releases – [sfs=1021]Warehouse 13: Season One[/sfs] is out June 29th as well, along with Sanctuary [sfs=1022]Season One[/sfs] (already out) and [sfs=1023]Season Two[/sfs] (June 15th).

Apparently I wasn’t the only one that got Avatar – so did 5.5 million others, with 1.5 million of that being Blu-ray copies, beating The Dark Knight‘s 1st-day sales record – despite the promise of the 3D Blu-ray (and expanded) version later this year. I’m watching right now, so read on for an live in-progress review (check for updates) from someone who hasn’t seen the movie yet (yes, shame on me…)
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Bruce Boxleitner (Captain Sheridan, Babylon 5) will return to Sci-Fi (and SyFy) in the upcoming TV movie 51 (can’t have two many movies with that in the title I guess), about reporters trapped in a top-secret Air Force Base (I wonder which one that would be?) with malevolent aliens.

Bad (or not?) news for Torchwood fans…the plans for Fox to work with the BBC on a U.S. version of Torchwood have been shut down. BBC Worldwide is still pursuing other options though – and a U.S. version is still a possibility, and that there are other interested networks.