Sci-Fi Storm

Star Trek: New Voyages, a completely fan-produced video series which continues the original’s 5-year mission, announced that the episode that will begin filming next month, “To Serve All My Days”, will feature Walter Koenig reprising his role as Pavel Chekov – at least sort of, as there is supposed to be some sort of twist. The story is even written by original Trek writer D.C. Fontana, and they have a Teaser poster available.

It looks like any other personal blog. Well, one about UFOs and such at least. It’s got links to various other sites, pictures of strange phenomenon, and articles by the author. But this is no ordinary blog – isawthelights.com is a companion site for ABC’s upcoming series Invasion, part of the “viral marketing” methods that are becoming more popular. Invasion starts Wednesday, September 21st, at 10pm ET. A trailer is available online (WMV only). Incidentally, the “Oceanic Air” advertisement links to another such site for another ABC show…

Anthology series can be tough to produce, given that the lack of a steady cast tends to prevent the mainstream audience from latching on, but it can be done – The Outer Limits was pretty good. Well, the creators of the upcoming Masters of Horror series on Showtime are now planning for a Masters of Sci-Fi series as well for Fall 2006 – although no network has picked it up yet. The plan is to adapt some of the best short stories in SF – and authors such as Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison will adapt their own stories. And if Ellison is signing on, he must think highly of the producers…

The BBC has confirmed that Sarah Jane Smith and K9 will appear in an episodes of the upcoming season of Doctor Who which deals with an evil race called the Krillitanes. Elisabeth Sladen, who played the doctor’s companion through two doctors and several years (and a single-episode spinoff) and John Leeson, who was the original voice of K9, will reprise their roles. Elisabeth last played Sarah Jane for the 20th anniversary episode “The Five Doctors” in 1983, except for a cameo in the short “Doctor Who: Dimensions in Time”. Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s Anthony Stewart Head also appears in the episode.

TV Guide Insider has a brief interview with James Callis, who plays Gaius Baltar in Battlestar Galactica. In it he discusses his character, his wife’s thoughts about Number Six, and where he calls home nowadays.

In what appears to be a standard event for any successful Hollywood franchise, ABC is being sued by Los Angeles writer Anthony Spinner because they misappropriated his concept for the show Lost. Spinner alleges that the original concept – and name – were developed by him in 1977 under contract to Sid and Marty Krofft (producers of many psychedelic TV shows in the 70s), and a contract with ABC promised him credits and compensation.

On the science fact side of things, recent research using the Spitzer Space Telescope peered into the Milky Way with an infrared eye, and discovered that our galaxy isn’t a pure spiral after all as long believed (and written in many text books), but rather it is a “barred” spiral, where a “bar” of stars passes through the core, and the arms of the spiral swirl off the bar instead of the traditional “whirlpool” with the core at the center. This isn’t unexpected news – its been suspected for several years.

In 2000, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert (of Evil Dead fame) produced two short-lived, campy, half-hour syndicated TV series – Jack of all Trades, starring Bruce Campbell, and Cleopatra 2525, an unusual amalgamation of various themes into an extremely fast-paced show.

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In Dreamworks’ upcoming animated adaptation of the comic strip Over The Hedge, William Shatner will voice the character of Ozzie the Possum – and will parody his own character of James T. Kirk and his own style of dramatic delivery, the staple of stand-up comics for years. Other celebs already giving life to characters include Garry Shandling (Verne the turtle), Bruce Willis (R.J. the raccoon), Steve Carell (Sammy the squirrel), Allison Janney (Gladys the human), Wanda Sykes (Stella the Skunk), Nick Nolte (Vincent the Bear), along with Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy.

The 2005 Hugo Awards were given out this weekend at this year’s World Science Fiction Convention at Interaction in Glasgow, Scotland. The Incredibles won for Best Dramatic Presentation Long Form, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Suzanna Clarke won Best Novel, and the Battlestar Galactica episode “33” won Best Dramatic Presentation Short Form. Read More for the full list.

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