Sci-Fi Storm

Next Tuesday, July 28th, sees the release on DVD of a whole lot of things people I’m sure are waiting for – so please use our links and buy!!! Surprisingly, Torchwood: Children Of Earth, hot off of airing in the U.S., is out on Blu-ray and DVD (review coming soon). Also, Torchwood: Season 2 on Blu-ray;
Doctor Who: Planet Of The Dead (Blu-ray/DVD);
Battlestar Galactica: Season 4.5 (Blu-ray/DVD) and the complete series (Blu-ray/DVD); and Dollhouse: Season 1 (Blu-ray/DVD). In addition, pre-orders are now open for the reboot of Star Trek to be release on November 17th on both Blu-ray and DVD.

A director has been assigned for the upcoming feature film version of UFO. Visual effects supervisor Matthew Gratzner, who’s work includes Hancock and Iron Man, will get his first look in the director’s chair for the remake of the Gerry Anderson classic. No casting news has been mentioned, but there is already a script and some pre-production activity is already under way.

Comic-Con is under way, and as usual I’m not there. But I am hearing some tidbits of information that is coming out, so here are a few items I’ve heard so far: The Tron sequel finally has a more distinctive name in Tron Legacy and Johnny Depp surprised attendees when he appeared at the Alice In Wonderland panel. More as I hear something worth repeating.

As an update for our Stargate SG-1: Children Of The Gods review, some segments from the special features are now available. Read More to see them.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince conjured $79.5 million in its first weekend, and bringing its total up to $159.7m since its Wednesday opening, making it the biggest opening in the franchise to date. I don’t have a full review ready, but I thought the movie was good, but lacking in something. It just didn’t feel as intense as I was expecting. Of course large portions of the book needed to be left out, but they also added at least one scene that wasn’t in the book, and modified an important scene slightly but in a way that seemed to really change the possible actions of a character…

“Television’s most thrilling science fiction adventure makes a stunning turnabout when Battlestar Galactica: The Plan debuts on Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD on October 27, 2009 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. For the first time ever, fans can experience the uncut and uncensored story of humanity’s futuristic fight for survival through the eyes of their deadly adversaries, the Cylons. This never-before-seen perspective of the Cylon plan reunites the series’ original television cast, including Emmy® Award winner Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver), Dean Stockwell (JAG), Tricia Helfer (Burn Notice), Grace Park (The Cleaner) and Callum Keith Rennie (Californication). Ronald D. Moore and David Eick return as executive producers.” The SRP is $39.98 for the Blu-ray and $26.98 for DVD. Read More for the complete details. Update: Amazon is now taking pre-orders for the Blu-ray and DVD versions, currently at 30% and 35% off SRP respectively (and Amazon will automatically adjust the price you pay if it goes lower than that before it ships.) And don’t forget about Season 4.5 on Blu-ray and DVD next week!

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Just found out about this site: Top 75 Spaceships in movies and TV. Of course, with any such list, there will be debates about order and omissions – but there are ships on here that you may not have though of and belong. I don’t know about the number 1 position, but I always thought there was something very elegant about the Eagle from Space: 1999 deserving of #2.

The nominees for the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards are out, but it doesn’t look like there is much from the SF&F areas among the main awards (not really surprising). A quick glance shows Lost with a Best Drama nod, and Jim Parsons of Big Bang Theory getting a Best Actor In A Comedy nomination for his role as Sheldon, and Battlestar Galactica did get a Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series nod for the episode “Daybreak (Part 2)”

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince broke the midnight opening record by a significant margin, taking in $22.2 million overnight. This beat the previous record of $18 million set by The Dark Knight last year. It is expected to make $100 million just this weekend and has a good chance to break the 5-day marks of Knight and Transformers 2.

I’ve seen a pre-release copy of the upcoming Stargate SG-1 – Children Of The Gods (released July 21st), which is a re-release of the original Stargate SG-1 pilot, re-edited to fix some nagging issues and make for a tighter story. Read More to find out more about it.

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