Sci-Fi Storm

Sam Raimi, recently having directed Spider-Man 3, is returning to syndicated TV with a new live-action weekly fantasy show – not seen since he gave us Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. The new show, Wizard’s First Rule, is based on Terry Goodkind’s “The Sword of Truth” book series, and is about a woodsman who becomes a magical leader against a bloodthirsty tyrant. Although the show will be produced at ABC Studios and distributed by Disney-ABC Domestic Television, the show will be syndicated – which is becoming more and more rare.

AS soon as the writer’s strike is resolved, expect a script for the two planned Hobbit films to get fasttracked – with Guillermo del Toro set to direct and supervise the script along with executive producer Peter Jackson. Filming should begin in 2009, with the releases hopefully in 2010 and 2011.

Welcome to the new digs. You won’t notice anything visibly different (the software hasn’t changed – ONE of these days I’ll come up with something new), but its on a new, MUCH faster server, so it at least should be snappier. Feel free to drop any notes regarding problems you may find – I’m still working out the kinks. One known issue – RSS file generation isn’t working. RDF and XML is fine though. Update 1/28: Fixed the Search function. There may be other broken items though.

The Thunder Child writes “The Thunder Child is proud to announce a new reviewer – or more appropriately, critiquer, Russell A. Potter, who has provided us with an in-depth look at 2050: Gods of Little Earth, by Joseph Zornado. The book is a bleak look at the future of a frozen world…and Potter analyzes its many facets. Plus, our “fresh blood” continues to pool under The Thunder Child’s aegis (okay, that’s a horror reference but I’ll admit…The Thunder Child doesn’t do horror..I just couldn’t pass up it up…), providing more and more reviews on a regular basis, so please check out our What’s New page at http://thethunderchild.com., and bookmark it, and return on a regular basis!”

An Anonymous Coward writes in to let us know about the new Torchwood magazine, with a YouTube commercial sneak peek. Interestingly, the URL at the end of the video doesn’t seem to work. No word if it will be available in the U.S.

The second series/season of Torchwood begins airing tomorrow night (January 26th) at 9PM ET on BBC America, only a week after it airs in the U.K. HDNet, which has been showing it in HD on some cable systems, does not list the second series episodes in the near future, although the “coming soon” page lists them returning on February 11th (probably after an exclusive “grace period” for BBCA). In the meantime, SCI FI Wire has an article about John Barrowman playing Captain Jack Harkness for years to come, and Burn Gorman (Owen Harper) is glad that the U.S. is getting the show, and how its got a life apart from its parent show (Doctor Who).

The Thunder Child writes “The sixth annual Rondo Awards, sponsored by the Classic Horror Film Board, are now in the voting process, and The Thunder Child is proud to announce that we’ve been nominated in two categories: Best webmagazine, and for our contributor Steve Vertlieb, best article, for his A Magical Tribute to Bernard Herrmann. There are 27 categories in the awards – but you don’t have to vote for everyone – that’s what the term N/A is for! But check out the ballot to see what you may have missed during 2007, from best fan event to best DVD restoration (and what was restored) to best article. Lots of fun info to be found. Check out: http://thethunderchild.com/NewsFeeds/Publicity/Ron dos2007.html“

A “viral” web site has gone online that allows you to see the construction of the Enterprise – sort of. There are 4 “camera” views, one of which is offline. The other three appear to have interference, but you can adjust the signal by the slider below the frame or the numerical adjustments next to it to get a “100.0%” signal which gives clearer images. Getting all at 100% doesn’t appear to unlock anything though. The views simply cycle, and show some welding going on. Nothing very specific yet. Update: More info: each time you load the page, a different camera is offline, so be sure to reload to see all 4 images.

Actor Heath Ledger, who will next appear as the Joker in the upcoming The Dark Knight, was found dead this afternoon in a Manhattan apartment. The Dark Knight is scheduled to open in July.

N.E. Lilly writes “http://www.spacewesterns.com/articles/44/

Behind the Scenes of Star Trek: Of Gods and Men

In July of 2006 I was lucky enough to have been invited by Sky Conway to the set of Star Trek: Of Gods and Men during shooting at the New Voyages studio in New York state. The result of my visit is this brief photo essay.”