Sci-Fi Storm

The entire first season of Heroes will be released on DVD on August 28th, and you can pre-order it already. The 7 disc set will include an un-aired 73 minute version of the pilot, 50 deleted and extended scenes, and more, including:

Looks like we won’t find out what happens in the town of Jericho after the cliffhanger. In CBS’s announcement of who lives and who dies next season, series wise, Jericho was left off the list of survivors. Like other similar complex SF-tinged shows with a running plot line (Lost and Heroes), Jericho suffered from a long winter break and never quite recovered. Unlike the other two, it isn’t sharing in their good fortune. CBS would rather risk money on unproven new shows than relaunch Jericho.

ABC has released their fall schedule, including a few more SF shows. Lost gets another season, although it will be held until the midseason break to avoid the drop in viewership it experienced this year with the long break. New fare includes the previously announced Geico commercial-inspired Cavemen; Pushing Daisies from Bryan Fuller and Barry Sonnenfeld, about a young man who can bring the dead to life with only a touch, and does so for his childhood friend – but if he touches her again, she will die for good; and Eli Stone, about a lawyer who begins to have odd hallucinations which inspire him to seek greater meaning to life.

After NBC’s dismal season, with Heroes providing the only freshman hit, the fall schedule was announced and it provides an extra dose of Heroes and a few new SF shows. Heroes: Origins will be used to increase the Heroes season to 30 episodes, and provide insight into new characters that viewers can vote on to have them appear in the following season. This should offset some of the rerun doldrums, which did some harm to the ratings of the show (and quite a few others). Also in the schedule are the previously announced Bionic Woman remake by Galactica exec David Eick and Journeyman and newcomer Chuck, bout a young computer whiz who becomes a government agent after espionage secrets are downloaded into his brain.

Darren Aranofsky’s The Fountain, starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, comes out on Tuesday, but I was able to see it today and here is a mini-review for your digestion. In brief: it will make you think…and wonder…and think…

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At the Saturn Awards in Universal City yesterday, Edward James Olmos and Katie Sackhoff said that the upcoming fourth season of Battlestar Galactica would be the last. However, exec producer David Eick countered, saying that no end has been announced, and that the upcoming fourth season would be a full 22 episodes instead of the announced 13.

Rights may have changed hands a few times, but plans for Terminator 4 as part of a whole new trilogy are to proceed after the rights were purchased by the Halcyon Co. The deal included the script for the 4th installment, and the new company hopes to have it out by the first half of 2009 – although no talent and no distributor have signed on.

As part of a larger article on Fox News, George Lucas spoke of Star Wars, and that he’s currently working on another installment of Clone Wars, which has already had two series (see Volume 1 and Volume 2). He also gives a few extra details on Indy 4, and of course is still working on new animated and live action Star Wars TV series – but the new news is about the possibility of two new made-for-TV “movies” – they will only be about an hour long, which I think makes them more specials than movies, though.