Sci-Fi Storm

Several new Doctor Who DVDs have been scheduled for US release – including the entire Key to Time series, both in individual and gift pack form, scheduled for October 1st. Also coming out are Tomb of the Cybermen and Ark in Space, due August 6th. Head on over to the Sci Fi TV Store and order yours today.

Just a friendly reminder – previews for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions will air on Entertainment Tonight tomorrow evening. Check local listings for channel and time.

ABC has announced their fall schedule, and Regis will be making room for Dinos. Dinotopia, the four-hour miniseries aired earlier this week, will become an hourly series in the fall. Also in the genre, both ABC and the WB will have series about a 30-something going back in time to high school – ABC’s That Was THen and the WB’s Do Over.

At last! The expanded edition of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is coming out on DVD! When shown in its network premiere and not since, additional footage explained things like who Engineer’s Mate Peter Preston really was (and why Scotty was so upset), along with other additional scenes. This new DVD includes additional footage (I assume the same ones shown on ABC) and lots of goodies including all new interviews and commentary. It is due on August 6th.

According to Variety (via an article at SCI FI Wire), Paramount and Cruise/Wagner Productions, the partnership between Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner (producer of the Mission Impossible films), are working on a remake of the H.G. Wells classic The War of the Worlds. Production is scheduled for 2003, and the hope is that Cruise will star – but I just can’t see him playing part of the professor. The original 1953 George Pal film was a must see whenever it was on…

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association announced on their web site that comic book artist Tom Sutton, who’s work included the Star Trek and Conan the Barbarian books, was found dead in his apartment on May 1st. Also comic book writer and editor Robert Kanigher, who worked on Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and more, passed away on May 6th. The two of them had even worked together in the early 70s on The Heap. Also, british SF writer John Middleton Murry, better known under the penname of Richard Cowper, best known for The Twilight of Briareus, passed away on May 2nd.

SyFy Portal had posted a rumor that James Doohan (Scotty, Star Trek) had slipped into a coma from his relapse of pneumonia, but his agent refuted it, instead saying that he is currently going through extensive rehabilitation after 13 weeks in bed.

Gee, do you think that Spider-Man is a hit? I’ve heard nothing but good reviews for it, and the first-weekend 3-day take comes in at US $114M, squashing the previous record holder, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone at $90.3M, like a, well, bug…

It’s been rumored for a while – now Dean Devlin, one of the producers of several SF movie hits with partner Roland Emmerich, has confirmed the two are in the early stages of a sequel to hit Independence Day. He says they’ve found a story, but mum’s the word on the plot. Also, the two are working on another SF movie, called The Hunt. No details on that yet either.

Seems someone had made off with the captain’s chair – again. Seems that thieves wandered off with the center chair of the Enterprise-E – which costs $15,000 – during a production break for Star Trek: Nemesis. Apparently, it’s happened twice before since 1994…