Sci-Fi Storm

USA Today has a preview of the new Sleestak for the upcoming Land of the Lost film. They look pretty much like the original rubber-suit Sleestak, and that’s intentional – but they are still a far cry superior to the early 90s version. Maybe they can get Bill Laimbeer in a cameo and reprise his role as a Sleestak. The article does confirm that this is to be a comedy, which is a bit disappointing.

Ian McKellen, who played the wizard Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and had expressed interest in playing the role again in a Hobbit production, will indeed return to the role. He also talks of his other alter-ego, Magneto, where he believes it unlikely that he would play the role in a possible Magneto-oriented spin-off.

Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann, who played the original Tia and Tony, kids with special powers in the original Disney Witch Mountain films, will appear in the upcoming remake, Race To Witch Mountain. The new film stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (The Game Plan), Carla Gugino (American Gangster), AnnaSophia Robb (Bridge to Terabithia) and Alexander Ludwig (The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising). Ike will play a sheriff, and Kim will play a waitress.

I don’t generally review or carry reviews for tie-in books to feature films, but in this case I made an exception for a couple of reasons. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion is not some cheap “here’s some photos of us making a movie” book, but it also involves the second installment movie installment of a beloved fantasy series, and I have an in-house Narnia expert. So Read More for her take on this quite extensive tie-in…The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian comes out in theaters on May 16th. Update: An excerpt and an image from the book are now included.

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Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro has finally been confirmed to direct The Hobbit and a sequel for New Line/MGM. He will spend the next four years in New Zealand working with Peter Jackson and Wingnut Films, filming the two movies back-to-back.

In my recent Retro Review on the final series of Blake’s 7, I wondered if the time was right for them to remake the show like has been done with other shows. Apparently I’m not the only one, as Sky One has greenlit development of a pair of scripts with an eye towards a revival. The article isn’t specific about whether it is a remake or a follow-on – Paul Darrow (Kerr Avon) had promoted for a time the idea of a sequel set 25 years after the end of the series, but is no longer involved in the project.

TV Guide Online is reporting from anonymous sources that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been renewed. It was generally expected that it would be – they just seemed to have taken their time. Update: This looks like it’s more official, with an order for 13 episodes.

Well, it took over a month, but one of the supposed launch titles, Babylon 5, is finally available on Hulu.com. Included right now are all of the first season episodes, plus if I remember correctly (I’m too lazy to drag out the DVD) is the original version of “The Gathering”, not the Special Edition version.

Unlike most TV pilots that never resulted in a full series production, this Gerry Anderson production did at least wind up on TV – and at least in the U.S. it did so several times, and for some reason memory of this show stuck in my mind. I even had to ask you what it was, with the memory having been corrupted over 30 years. I recently had the opportunity to watch this again – Read More about it, and you can get even more details about this and other Gerry Anderson productions (and DVDs) at the Fanderson web site.

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Stargate: Continuum, the second direct-to-DVD Stargate SG-1 movie, will be released on July 29th on DVD. A Blu-Ray release is also planned, but I do not know at this time if its the same day. Three weeks before that, Stargate Atlantis sees its Fourth Season released on July 8th.