Sci-Fi Storm

TrekUnited, which has been organizing a campaign to raise money to fund a fifth season of Enterprise, organized rallies in Los Angeles, New York, and Tel Aviv on Friday to protest the show’s cancellation, and they are calling them a “success”. UPN/Viacom have had no comment, but they have apparently gotten a pledge of $3 million from anonymous donors who supposedly helped fund a commercial space venture. Members of the cast and crew, including Manny Coto, Jolene Blalock and others joined in the rally in LA.

Just the periodic SF TV Store update: Andromedia Season 4, Collection 5 (March 8th); Doctor Who: “The Leisure Hive” and “Ghost Light” (June 7th); Farscape Season 1 Collection 3 (Starbust Edition) (March 15th); Highlander: The Complete Series (out); Lost in Space Season 3 Volume 1 (March 1st); Quantum Leap Season 3 (May 10th); and Xena: Warrior Princess – The Complete Series (March 18th).

JMS just posted in rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated that a deal could not be reached in the end to produce his script for Babylon 5: The Memory of Shadows. Since the article is not on jmsnews.com yet, I’ll reprint here. Read More for the full article.

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SCI FI Wire is running an article from an interview with Robbie Stamp, the producer of the upcoming Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In it he mentions how they tried not to do everything with CGI, as is the trend with most features these days, but rather use “practical” effects. Personally I think it wouldn’t fit the theme if everything was pefectly rendered CGI.

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced that Anne McCaffrey, best known as author of the Dragonriders of Pern series, will be named a Grand Master at the Nebula Awards in Chicago this year.

The SCI FI Channel has announced that Season 2 of their hit Battlestar Galactica will air this summer (start date to be determined), with the whole cast returning, and will have a full 20 episodes. The current (short) season will conclude on April 1st.

Joel Silver, in an discussion with SCI FI Wire, mentions that the Logan’s Run remake is still on track, but was waiting for Bryan Singer to get Superman out of the way, and is now aimed at a 2007 release. Chris McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) is currently working on the script, and Silver expects the movie to be as “smart” as the book, as opposed to the previous movie version. Also in the article is talk on V for Vendetta and The Reaping.

The sidebar on SCI FI Wire says that the current TV Guide reports that Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis may appear in the finale of Enterprise – are they just reporting on the previous rumor – or is this new data?

The first full trailer for The Hitchhhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is available exclusively at Amazon.com. Get your first look at the characters and such.

With the recent announcements about Enterprise and resting Trek for a while, and a recent SCI FI Wire poll where 48% said J. Michael Straczynski should helm the next Trek series, JMS spoke up – and mentioned that he and Bryce Zabel (creator of Dark Skies) gave a treatment last year to Paramount for a new Trek series, and suggested fans contact Paramount to get them to reconsider. However, he later recanted, given the desire of Paramount to rest the franchise for a couple of years regardless, and his own busy schedule…