Sci-Fi Storm

Here is an interesting and humorous article about all the old sci-fi cliches – and why they should – or can’t – stop. I don’t know about some of the accuracy – I don’t remember Event Horizon in quite the same way – but it is a good article.

Joss Whedon has announced that he is no longer working on Wonder Woman. In what appears to be an amicable split, Joss says that he and Silver Pictures and Warner Brothers did not envision the same movie, and that “I had a take on the film that, well, nobody liked.” Joss’s version was to be set in the present day, as opposed to the WWII setting of the original comic. Reports previously surfaced that Warner Brothers had bought another script set in WWII, supposedly to head off any legal complications over storylines, etc. but it appears there was more to it…

TheThunderChild writes “In 1963, Carl Sagan was “an astronomer at Harvard,” who sent his paper speculating about life on Jupiter to Isaac Asimov to see what he thought about the idea. Asimov in turn wrote about this theory in one of his essays for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. That’s one of the joys of reading Asimov’s essay collections – they’re full of anecdotes about people we know, history we may have forgotten, and principles of various sciences that remain true to this day. The Thunder Child has just launced a project to analyze all of Asimov’s essay collections in chronological order, starting with Fact and Fancy in 1962. (All these books, while out-of-print, are available via interlibrary loan or through specialty used book stores.) By reading the essays chronologically we see the evolution of Asimov’s essay writing style, what was going on in the world while he was writing, and his attempts to speculate on what the world might be like in the future. A Is For Asimov is the link to the front page of the project that explains it all in more detail, and Fact and Fancy is the link to the first book we cover. You’ll also find links to the Asimov Quotebook and the ongoing index to Asimov’s essays.”

Everything must come to an end. And so passes the final installment of the Harry Potter series (and if rumors are true, the character), with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the UK and US (at least, maybe others) on July 21st, 2007. Amazon is already taking pre-orders with a price guarantee, so if the price drops between now and then, you’ll get the lower price. Click on the link and help us out, and be one of the first to get the book. Read it quickly, too…spoilers will likely be unavoidable…P.S. there is a deluxe edition as well.

We received the following via e-mail from a well-known person associated with the franchise: “”Journey to Babel” airs weekend of February 3, 2007. The Starship Enterprise hosts an explosive gathering of interstellar diplomats in “Journey to Babel,” an episode of Star Trek Remastered, premiering nationwide during the weekend of February 3, 2007. “Journey to Babel” is regarded by many fans as a pivotal episode of the series, introducing Mark Lenard as Ambassador Sarek, Spock’s father, and Jane Wyatt as Amanda, Spock’s human mother. In the episode, an alien spy nearly kills Captain Kirk (William Shatner), putting Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in temporary command of the Starship Enterprise while the ship comes under deadly attack. The situation pits Spock’s logical duty to his ship against his all-too-human desire to reconnect with his dying father.” Read More for some details and production CGI shots. The various external shots in this episode help the remastered CGI really stand out. Search your listings for when it airs in your area – its in syndication, and can be at odd hours – my TiVo is my friend here…

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