Sci-Fi Storm

Reports are out that the BBC will begin airing Series 2 of the new Doctor Who in April. Although I haven’t been able to confirm it from the BBC officially, multiple unconfirmed sources say Saturday, April 15th was mentioned at a press conference in Cardiff. No word on how long us Yanks need to wait though. In the meantime there is a brief press clip from the actors discussing the upcoming season…minor spoilers though.

oMaT writes “According to a post by the man himself on the TOR books site, Robert Jordan has been diagnosed with primary amyloidosis with cardiomyapathy. Apparently it’s pretty serious as his own medical professionals have indicated they believe he has a median life expectancy of four years – though he states his intention to live another thirty. I wish Mr. Jordan all the best and convey my deepest gratitude for the sheer pleasure he’s brought forth thus far.” Jordan is the author of The Wheel of Time series of novels.

Richard Dean Anderson, who played (now) General Jack O’Neill on Stargate SG-1 for 8 seasons, will reprise his role in the upcoming 10th season of SG-1, as well as Stargate Atlantis, notably in the former’s landmark 200th episode. Also appearing in the episode, titled “200”, will be Willie Garson, who played the alien “Martin” in a couple episodes. The episode plot seems to be related to the last episode Willie appeared in, regarding a television show that closely resembles the Stargate team. The upcoming tenth season makes Stargate SG-1 the longest running American SF TV show, passing The X-Files at 9 seasons.

A day after it was announced that The Invincible by Polish SF writer Stanislaw Lem was in development, we learn that Lem himself has passed away. Lem’s most famous work was Solaris, which was made into movies twice – once in 1972, and again with an American remake in 2002 by Steven Soderbergh starring George Clooney.

Wish you could talk for just 15 minutes with the producer/director of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong? Now here’s your chance. To promote the release of the DVD this Tuesday, you can enter to win a 15 minute phone conversation with Peter Jackson on the MSN Movies site. In the meantime, an online Flash game is also available: “The Battle for Skull Island”.

The nominees for the 2006 Hugo Awards have been announced, and will be awarded at L.A. Con IV in Los Angeles August 23-27, 2006. Among the movie entries are Narnia, Harry Potter, and Serenity, and for TV there are three episodes of Doctor Who and “Pegasus” from Battlestar Galactica.

I don’t exactly consider this confirmed yet, but it appears that Gary Oldman’s manager has notified a couple of web sites that a deal has finally been struck with Warner Brothers for Oldman to reprise the role of Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, finally ending all the speculation (and very real possibility) of him not returning.

A new character, yet to be cast, will appear in the upcoming 10th season of Stargate SG-1, to begin airing in July. The new character, Adria, will be the leader of the Ori in our galaxy, and may appear at different ages, which has something to do with the storyline.

I’ve finally added the US release of the new Who series to the Sci-Fi TV Store (which won’t be out until July 4th to give the SCI FI Channel a chance to air the show), as well as two new releases: “Genesis of the Daleks” and “Revelation of the Daleks”, both due out June 6th.

Looks like we are starting to see some details about one of the proposed Star Wars series – according to producer Rick McCallum they are expecting a 100+-episode run (that’s about 5 seasons in the US, which are typically 22 one-hour episodes). It will also follow the 20 years between Episodes III and IV in the life of Luke Skywalker.