Sci-Fi Storm

Harry over at Ain’t It Cool News managed to score some time watching J.J. Abrams edit some footage for the upcoming Star Trek movie – and spills the beans on some of the footage he saw regarding various cadets getting their starship assignments, as well as the bridge of the Enterprise. How does the bridge look? “Then for the first time in the history of Star Trek, it looked amazingly functional. It echoes that classic Trek look ? but imagine if you handed that design to the folks at APPLE and said? Make it really work.”

Tomoko Kawamoto writes “Eleven fans of the epic science-fiction television series Babylon 5 (1994-98)–all previously unknown to one another, and living in places from Washington State to England–have bought a pristine prosthetic mask used on the show and donated it to Museum of the Moving Image (New York). Worn by actor Andreas Katsulas in his role as the exiled alien ambassador G’Kar, the mask had been put up for auction on eBay. The donors pooled their resources to purchase it and then gave it as a gift to the Museum, so that the mask would be accessible to fans and to the general public.

To view the mask on the Museum’s Collection Catalog, go to:
http://collection.movingimage.us/index.php?g=detai l&object_id=99056

Full press release can be read at:
http://movingimage.us/press/pdf/2008/babylon5_mask _062008.pdf“

The long-coming John Carter of Mars project, based on the series of books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which has passed through many hands to its current resting place at Disney, may not be live action, but animated. Writer/Director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall*E) says they haven’t made a decision on the format yet, and won’t “for about a year.” So it looks like John Carter will continue to wait.

I’ve made some fresh updates to the Sci-Fi TV Store – here are some highlights: Jericho Season 1, Season 2, and The Complete Series were released this past week; Season 2 of Heroes will be release on DVD and Blu-Ray, along with Season 1 on Blu-Ray on August 26th; Eureka Season 2 will come out on July 15th; and for X-Philes who may need to prepare for the upcoming movie, X-Files Revelations, released on July 8th, contains 8 episodes deemed “essential” to “fully experience” the movie. Update: Almost forgot – for those already looking for holiday gifts, Season 4 of Lost is released on December 9th on DVD and Blu-Ray.

J. Michael Straczynski has probably scored A-list status for his work on The Changeling, which was directed by Clint Eastwood (and is being held until later in the year as a possible Oscar contender), and now he’s getting A-list praise, and a formidable list of projects. New on the list: Lensman, being developed for Ron Howard and based on the novels of E. E. Smith.

Just wanted to update on upcoming U.S. DVD releases for Doctor Who. Newly announced for September 2nd are two Season 15 Tom Baker episodes – “The Invisible Enemy” and “The Invasion of Time”. As a special bonus, since “The Invisible Enemy” introduced K9 for the first time, it also includes the spinoff K9 and Company: A Girl’s Best Friend. Perhaps more exiting is that September 16th gets us Torchwood Season 2 (I will shortly split Torchwood into its own section on the Sci-Fi TV Store). Near term, on August 5th, we get “The Time Meddler” (Season 2 – William Hartnell), “Black Orchid” (Peter Davison), and a 25th Anniversary Edition of “The Five Doctors”.

Some new casting announcements were made today. Paul Campbell (President Roslin’s late assistant Billy Keikeya on Battlestar Galactica) will join Knight Rider as the head of Knight Industries research (do I smell a geeky character?); and Leven Rambin (All My Children) will join Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles as Becky, who may provide a love interest (and tension?) for John.

Oscar winner Stan Winston passed away Sunday at the age of 62 after a long fight with multiple myeloma. Winston won Oscars for VFX and makeup for Terminator 2: Judgement Day, as well as for VFX in Titanic and Aliens, along with numerous nominations.

The live action Robotech feature has gained a writer in the form of Lawrence Kasdan. Kasdan is currently working on the remake of Clash of the Titans, and also did the screenplays for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

An article at the Chicago Tribune (unconfirmed by SFC) says that the series finale for Battlestar Galactica could reach three hours long. Also mentioned are a possible TV movie (or movies – up to three), and that the second part of the final season will be 11 hours (not sure how that figures in to the length of the finale). Still no word on when the rest of the season will air.