Sci-Fi Storm

The Thunder Child writes “The Thunder Child has added two new reviewers to its roster. Book reviewer Sarah Benson begins her career with the dark fantasy, The Stolen Child, by Keith Donohoe. A young baby is kidnapped, and replaced by a changeling. This book tells the story of the intertwined lives of the two boys as they grow to manhood, in each other’s worlds… http://thethunderchild.com/Reviews/Books/Benson/StolenChild.html
Movie reviewer Adam Durrant begins his career with a commentary on Will Smith’s I Am Legend. This review first appeared at his blog, Copyright AD, but future science fiction movie reviews will be exclusive to The Thunder Child. http://thethunderchild.com/Reviews/Movies/AdamDurrant/IAmLegend.html“

The new CG monster film Dark Swarm, produced by Hogofilm, LLC, is about what’s left of life on Earth after a swarm of aliens consumes most everything. A small band of humans fight to survive, and fight back. Signed on for the cast are Christopher Judge (Teal?c, Stargate SG-1), Erica Cerra (Deputy Jo, Eureka and Maya, Battlestar Galactica), and Ed Wasser (Morden, Babylon 5). Read More for the full press release.

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Moviefone has an exclusive image of the Enterprise under construction for J.J. Abrams upcoming Star Trek movie. It’s interesting that the name is already painted on it, yet it doesn’t have the “ship hull grey” color – it looks like it is being left as the raw metallic color, ala the refitted Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

What would happen if every humon on Earth suddenly disappeared? After our cities crumble to the ground? Wildlife encroaches one once concrete meccas? How would the world be different? That’s what the History Channel’s 2-hour original event, Life After People, speculates about. It will air on Monday, January 21st, at 9pm ET. In the mean time, you can catch a sneak peek (Ed: video not currently available). For a more humorous take, I wrote some time back what would happen if aliens visited a certain Central Florida location after thousands of years…although Fans of the Mouse may find it more humorous than most…

The Lensman series of books from E.E. “Doc” Smith, one of if not the earliest “space opera” and influential to many others, including George Lucas and J. Michael Straczynski, may see the big screen. Imagine Entertainment, headed by Ron Howard, along with Universal pictures, is negotiating an option for the series of stories that span a million years and deals with the struggles between struggles between the Arisians and the Eddorians, with humanity caught between. They mostly focuses on a Lensman, a person who bears the Lens, which gives the owner telepathic powers. Ironically, one of the screenwriters currently working (well, aside from the strike) with Imagine? J. Michael Straczynski (The Changeling).

Now the effects of the writers strike are being felt. The upcoming Superman Returns has been pushed back to 2010, and the superhero-combine Justice League of America has yet to start, with a deadline of today if they want to greenlight production this Spring, and is likely to slip its schedule as they want a rewrite of the script.

TheThunderChild writes “The Thunder Child science fiction webzine introduces a new department, The News Stalker, in which we list the latest news releases that we receive from producers of TV, books, games, music producers, et al. Today, you can check out the Newstalker Index page for information on two new original Science Fiction webvision series, The House Between II (created by science fiction media author John Kenneth Muir), starting broadcast in late January, and a new series of Damon Dark, Australia’s answer to The X-Files. Check it all out at: http://thethunderchild.com/NewsFeeds/“

Want to walk on the bridge of the original Enterprise? Enterprise-D? Stand in the Transporter? All sorts of things will be available on the Star Trek Tour, which starts on January 18th at the Queen Mary Dome in Long Beach, California, and will end February 17th. 40 other cities are tentatively listed for the tour, but exact dates are not yet available.

NBC has said that it will air the two remaining produced episodes of Chuck on January 24th, at 8 and 10pm (surrounding Celebrity Apprentice). Although Chuck received a full order, the writers strike has halted production, which means these could be the last two episodes of this “season”.

James Middleton, who serves as a consulting producer on the upcoming Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles series on Fox as well as associate producer for the Terminator 4 movie, says that the two will diverge in separate timelines. The series will continue after the events of the second movie, and ignore what happened in the third movie. In the meantime, the fourth movie, which will not star Arnold Schwarzenegger – nor will he appear in any sequels (it is expected to form a new trilogy). It will pick up where Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines left off – after a nuclear exchange, dealing with the post-apocalyptic world.