Sci-Fi Storm

Dexter writes “‘Re-inventing The Tomorrow People’ New DVD available from www.cultconversations.co.uk

LEE PRESSMAN & GRANT CATHRO have written some of the most memorable and highest rated programmes for Children’s ITV. Their work includes ‘T-Bag’, ‘Spatz’, ‘Mike & Angelo’ and ‘The Tomorrow People’. This 70 minute interview explores their career and inspirations for their work as well as delving further into their part in the 1992 revival of Roger Price’s ‘The Tomorrow People’.

BONUS INTERVIEW WITH TESSA & DEBORAH VALE – Tessa and Deborah Vale played alongside Jean Marsh in Lee and Grants’ first ‘Tomorrow People’ adventure ‘The Culex Experiment’. We talk to them about their time working on the show and how being a twin affected their acting careers.

Aspect Ratio – 16:9 / Soundtrack – English Stereo / Disc Format – DVDR / Total Length – 85 minutes / Region 0 / Exempt from Classification.”

According to a press release, production on the Halo movie has halted. Halo was being produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh in conjunction with Microsoft, and they had previously stated that they were continuing production despite Fox and Universal backing out earlier. Note that the linked article mentions “Jackson and Microsoft’s WingNut Films”, but I believe WingNut is strictly Jackson’s studio. WingNut Interactive is a joint effort for producing a new Halo game.

Jeff Buckner sends us the following press release: “Headline: CAPTAIN KURN (Tony Todd) stars in new cult thriller ?

Subhead: ?Bryan Loves You? also stars George Wendt (Cheers), Tiffany Shepis (?Abominable?), Daniel Roebuck (?The Devil?s Rejects?) and featuring Lloyd Kaufman (?The Toxic Avenger?) and Brinke Stevens (?Slumber Party Massacre?); about the true 1993 story of a cult that takes over an Arizona town”

Read More for the rest. Tony has appeared in many genre productions, including Stargate SG-1, Babylon 5 and more.

(continue reading…)

In what appears to be an appalling move on Universal’s part, after having encouraged fans to help market the movie Serenity, it is now taking aim at those same fans, shutting down various CafePress stores and threatening with more than just cease and desist – demanding retroactive licensing fees, and throwing in the usual litigation threats. Some fans are hitting back, billing Universal for their time. Gee…they sent me some DVDs to review – should I expect a bill for them, plus demands of $1k per use of the words Serenity and Firefly? Whoops, I shouldn’t have printed that…

OK, this isn’t really SF, but it does involve one of our most revered (and picked-on) icons. William Shatner will have a new quiz show on ABC called Show Me The Money. The premise: a contestant answers questions and picks one of 13 dancers on stage to find out how much they win (or lose for an incorrect answer). In the process, the dancers will break out into spontaneous dance, along with the host (Shatner). Let me borrow a phrase from a fellow Star Trek alum: Oh my. I’m having flashbacks of Iron Chef USA (not the one on the Food Network, but the one Fox tried with Shatner as the Chairman).

In a posting to the rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated newsgroup, JMS gave an update to the upcoming Babylon 5: The Lost Tales project. The EFX house has been signed, which was one of the last major hurdles. Also, because of the scope of what is being done, the first release at least will consist of two, not three stories, but they will be longer than originally planned. They will focus on the characters of Sheridan, Lochley, and Galen. A story focusing on Garibaldi will be postponed for the next set.

Nathan Fillion (Firefly) will guest star on the Nov. 8th episode of Lost, just before the hiatus. He will play a character named Kevin, but there is no other information on him.

“Hiatus” is often a bad word in Hollywood. Most shows don’t return from hiatus. But as a sign of “doing things differently”, ABC’s hit Lost will go on hiatus after the November 8th episode, and return on February 7th and air new episodes without a break until the end of the season. In its stead will be the new SF serial Day Break.

In what is likely to shape into a battle between the studios and the unions, NBC Universal (which owns the SCI FI Channel) is at odds with Battlestar Galactica producer Ron Moore over the compensation (or lack thereof) for the “webisodes” that have been produced for the web site. Moore believes residuals and/or compensation should be provided; the studio disagrees, saying they are “promotional material”. Moore has stopped producing the webisodes and refused to hand over the 10 already completed, but NBC seized them and filed unfair labor charges against the Writer’s Guild of America, which advised Moore to stop.

Natalia writes “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

“RECON 2020” unleashed in the United States!

Montreal, Canada – October 20, 2006

Movie Seals Productions is proud to announce that Maverick Entertainment Group has acquired the United States distribution rights to its sci-fi / action movie “Recon 2020: The Caprini Massacre” by director Christian Viel (“Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain”, “Deaden”). Since its premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, this epic movie started on a winning path that includes a Best Sci-Fi / Action movie award at the Sci-Fi London Film Festival in 2005 and a Best Sci-Fi movie award at the Wreck – Beach International Film festival in August 2006.

The film follows a group of soldiers on a recon mission on a desolate planet in a remote system:

In the year 2020, the Earth has become a barren rock from radioactive devastation. Protected by the Galactic Marine Infantry, (GMI), the remaining human race, struggling for survival on a distant star, is terrorized by the evil Ma’har alien race. While on a reconnaissance mission in the Caprini system, Sergeant Sharp and his GMI soldiers discover the Ma’hars hidden laboratory where they’ve been creating a horrific breed of terrorists. The aliens’ new bio-weapons are reproductions of mankind’s mythical creatures – zombies, werewolves, vampires!

The street date for the USA release of ‘Recon 2020: The Caprini Massacre’? is December 5 , 2006.

The film is part of the Maverick Platinum collection.

A sequel, “Recon 2022: The Mezzo Incident” is currently in post-production.

For more information:
http://www.maverickentertainment.cc/filmdetail.php ?ProductID=367
http://www.recon2020-movie.com
http://www.recon2022-movie.com“