Sci-Fi Storm

The SCI FI Channel will debut its next miniseries with the four hour Legend of Earthsea, adapted from Ursula K. Le Guin’s series of Earthsea novels about a headstrong youth with wizardly powers possibly greater than any wizard. It stars Shawn Ashmore (X-Men 2) as Ged the mage-in-training, Kristin Kreuk (Smallville) as Princess Tena, Isabella Rossellini (Merlin) as High Priestess Thar, and Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon) as the master wizard Ogion. IT airs Monday (12/13) at 9PM ET with several repeats, and the conclusion the following night at 9PM. Update 12/15: Seems Le Guin wasn’t involved much, and does NOT like the result…

Trailers for both Tim Burton’s version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Johnny Depp, and the Cruise/Spielberg contemporary remake of War of the Worlds (teaser) are now online. Does anyone else think Depp looks scarily like the late Freddy Mercury here?

ComingSoon.net is reporting that Babylon 5: The Memory of Shadows, the long-expected feature film followup to Babylon 5, will start filming in April in the UK. This explains JMS’ office in the UK. The story is to center around an EarthForce intellegence officer seeking to find out who is using Shadow technology after her brother is killed. Galen (I assume played by Peter Woodard), the techno-mage from the Crusade series (DVD on sale now) and the A Call to Arms movie, will also be a part.

Also out on the 21st is the British spoof of the zombie genre, Shaun of the Dead. An electronics salesman and his slacker roommate fight through Zombie hordes to reach the girlfriend who just broke up with him, but they just keep getting in the way! Stephen King says “it’s a 10 on the fun meter and destined to be a cult classic.” Again, check out the trailers – WMV 128k, 300k, 700k.

The live action movie of the classic ’60s Supermarionation series Thunderbirds will hit the shelves on December 21st – just in time for the last minute SF fan. It features Director’s commentary with Jonathan Frakes, behind the scenes, rehersal and design footage, the development of the Fab1 car and more. I missed this in the theater (as I did most recent movies) so I hope to review the DVD soon. Watch the trailer by selecting the appropriate speed for your connection – WMV only – 128k, 300k, 700k.

Dan Harris, who is writing the script for both of Bryan Singe’s upcoming projects, Superman and Logan’s Run, reasserts that Logan’s Run will get made as soon as Singer is done with Superman. The new movie will revisit the original book wher the residents die at age 21 – in the original movie it was 30. However, I don’t agree with Harris’s assesement that the original movie “…has not aged well itself.”

The BBC has put up a teaser trailer for the upcoming Doctor Who series – and boy is it a “teaser”.

I finally got the time to finish going through THX 1138 – The George Lucas Director’s Cut – a newborn has been taking a lot of our time and is a constant distraction – I’d like to view it again before writing this, but I promised a review a while ago. Anyways…in a nutshell, it may have been made in 1971, but it is still a relevant film and wears its age fairly well. And for the first feature film of the man who later gave us Star Wars and Indiana Jones, an amazing film.

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