Sci-Fi Storm

The Thunder Child writes “The Williamsburg, Virginia Film Festival is usually jam-packed full of people in Western costume, enjoying western movies and western stars, but their guests have been in the acting business so long that they all have substantial science fiction credits, and that’s why I go! http://thethunderchild.com/Conventions/Virginia/Williamsburg2008/Thursday.html Is the URL for my report of the three day convention, which featured guests Lee Meriwether (Catwoman in the Batman movie, Losira in Star Trek: That Which Survives, Dr. Ann MacGregor on Time Tunnel), her daughter Lesley Aletter, who is a stunt woman and doubled Sigourney Weaver in Aliens Resurrected, Richard Herd (Captain Future/Moe Stein in “Future Boy” episode of Quantum Leap, and Admiral Owen Paris on Star Trek Voyager) among many others.
Also, for those who want to see Meriwether tell how she got the role of Catwoman, check out this page: http://thethund.ipower.com//Conventions/Virginia/Catwoman2008.html . And soon I’ll be uploading a page with a video where she shows her acting chops while working on Time Tunnel.”

It’s been rumored for the past several movies, but it looks like its happening this time. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the conclusion to the 7-part story, will be a two-part movie, with the parts released in November 2010 and May 2011. David Yates will return as director, as will writer Steve Kloves (who has done all the screenplays except for Order Of The Phoenix). The cast has already been confirmed.

Hulu.com, which is a joint venture between NBC Universal and NewsCorp, will launch on Wednesday – and will include full-length episodes of Babylon 5 among its catalog thanks to a deal with the WB Television Group.

Update 3/13: I don’t see Babylon 5 listed yet – it may be coming later, but there are a lot of classic and recent genre shows in the meantime.

OK, this isn’t really SF, but I thought there would be interest…after its spectacular debut and just-as-fast disappearance from television over 5 years ago, Battlebots, the remote-controlled gladiatorial competition, will return to TV this summer, with a deal on ESPNU and ESPN2. The focus will be a “middleweight” collegiate competition, but the also hope to have a heavyweight “Pro” competition as well that will be taped at the same time. They don’t want old, beat-up robots either – they seem to have an eye at marketing toys. And “wedges” need not apply – they want visually – and physically – striking robots, since excitement == ratings…

Anonymous Coward writes “SpaceWesterns.com is dedicating Women’s History Month to “The Women of Space Westerns.” The sidebar on the home page has a list of Women writers appearing on SpaceWesterns.com, and check out the feature article ‘The Women of Space Westerns’ that details some early pioneers of Science Fiction, and their Space Western exploits.

Some of the stories they’re highlighting include:
“A World is Born” by Leigh Brackett
“A Llama’s Tale” by Shauna Roberts
“Mars Ain’t No Place for Ladies” by Filamena Young
“A Few Sunsets Too Many” by Amanda Spikol
“The Clone-Wrangler’s Bride” by Camille Alexa
“Hidden Answers” by Cheryl McCreary
“For the Good of the Settlement” by Vonnie Winslow Crist

http://www.spacewesterns.com/“

The sequel to 2004’s Appleseed, Appleseed Ex Machina continues the story of the the city-state of Olympus, born out of the ruins of a devastating world war, along with ESWAT officer Deunan and her partner Briareos, a “hecatonchires” cyborg. Read More for a review. It comes out this Tuesday on single-disc DVD, two-disc Special Edition DVD, combo HD-DVD/DVD and Blu-Ray Disc.

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Next up this weekend for the “remastered” episodes of the original Star Trek is “By Any Other Name”, where the Enterprise is hijacked by the Kelvans, and wish to take the ship to their home in the Andromeda Galaxy. We’ve got a couple of nice images from the updates, plus a synopsis.

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As a followup to the Top 10 SF movies, SCI FI Wire released their readers’ picks for Most Neglected SF movies, defined as having been left off the AFI’s list of Top 50 SF movies. Topping the readers list is Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, followed by Aliens, Serenity, Terminator, Gattaca, The Fifth Element, The Road Warrior, Metropolis, Stargate and Armageddon.

Gary Gygax, one of the co-founders (along with Dave Arneson) of the best known role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, passed away this morning at the age of 69. I first read about it in a forum post, and hoped it was a gag, but he was in declining health. D&D is about to release the 4th Edition ruleset. I may have to dig up my 1st Edition books and dice and have a game in his honor…

SCI FI Wire conducted a poll on the Top 10 SF movies of all time, and Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope topped the list, followed closely by Blade Runner. The rest of the list: The Matrix, Alien, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Forbidden Planet and Planet of the Apes (original version).