Sci-Fi Storm

James Cameron isn’t sitting around waiting to see if Avatar floats or not…he’s planning, if not decided on, his next moves. On his list is a “very different” version of the classic Fantastic Voyage, although he would not direct that one. And then it is a decision possibly between a sequel to Avatar (which has always been planned, but still depends on success) or with his other long-dwelling franchise project, Battle Angel.

Missed this earlier this week: Both V and Flash Forward have had their series orders reduced by an hour each: 12 and 24 total hours, respectively, one less than originally reported.

They won’t be out in time for the holidays, but next up for classic Doctor Who DVDs are [sfs=985]”The Keys Of Marinus”[/sfs] (William Hartnell) and [sfs=984]”The Twin Dilemma”[/sfs] (Colin Baker’s debut) on January 5th, and [sfs=986]”Frontier In Space/Planet Of The Daleks”[/sfs] double feature (Jon Pertwee) and a new release of [sfs=138]”Rememberance Of The Daleks”[/sfs] (Sylvester McCoy) on March 2nd. On the new Doctor side, “The Waters Of Mars” ([sfs=987]Blu-ray[/sfs]/[sfs=988]DVD[/sfs]), “The End Of Time Parts 1 and 2” ([sfs=989]Blu-ray[/sfs]/[sfs=990]DVD[/sfs]) and sets of all 4 special episodes ([sfs=991]Blu-ray[/sfs]/[sfs=992]DVD[/sfs]) are available February 2nd, all available for pre-order. And if you are still looking for presents for you Whovian, the following were recently released: [sfs=983]The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Second Season[/sfs], [sfs=982]”The War Games”[/sfs] (Patrick Troughton’s last episode), and [sfs=981]The Black Guardian Trilogy[/sfs] (Mawdryn Undead/Terminus/Enlightenment) (Peter Davison), which are all available now.

“Billionaire Richard Branson’s spaceship was unveiled today. Imagine the delight of Star Trek fans to see that it was named the VSS Enterprise.

Please check out my blog entry on the subject at: http://dailyspace.blogspot.com/2009/12/star-trek-legacy-continues-this.html“ — Yes, this one at least is likely to actually reach space…

Peter Jackson cleared up a question on how The Hobbit will be represented as two films – that both movies are completely based on the book and split at a middle point that he and his writing team of Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens along with director Guillermo del Toro figured would work. This should ens speculation that the second movie might be an all-new filler story between The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings.

It seems to be PBS Pledge Week around here, and one of the items I haven’t seen before that proved to be very interesting is [asin=B000J10LC2]Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds[/asin] (currently discontinued but available – also available as a [asin=B0009MAPUO]Hybrid SACD[/asin]). This originally started as a concept album in 1978 and featured the talents of Justin Hayward (Moody Blues), Phil Lynott (Thin Lizzy), David Essex and Julie Covington, and Richard Burton narrating the story. On stage, it isn’t a play so much as an orchestra plus video and a light show, but with a few actor/singers playing parts – plus a giant disembodied head using Burton’s original narration, and still features Justin Hayward singing. If you like the 1970s psychedelic rock style and the story, this may be of interest to you. But beware…the two lines Hayward sings at the beginning in “The Eve of the War” tend to stick in your head…

At least they are coming back, for now…ABC has announced that Flash Forward will return on March 4th, and V will return on March 30th. Flash Forward will avoid the Winter Olympics completely, and then it is planned to run it straight without repeats.

Chicago Tribune columnist Maureen Ryan interviewed Joss Whedon on what went wrong with Dollhouse, and what’s next. What happened? Well, basically Fox got shy in dealing with some of the subject matter, notably the pay-for-sex type clients. Note that there are two parts to the article – the main article and then the raw interview, the latter of which contains what might be spoilers for the final episode.

I wish I had this sort of excess money…a Louisville, KY man built out a home theater with a Stargate Atlantis theme…complete with a 10-foot diagonal Stargate which acts as a video projection screen, working pocket doors with a hand-wave sensor, and a star dome, and is controlled through a Control4 automation system. A slideshow shows the setup, and an equipment list is available.

Author Harlan Ellison – well known partly for his prolific writing, partly for his litigiousness, and partly for his vocality – and writer of one of the best known Star Trek episodes “City On The Edge Of Forever”, has said on his web site (you have to go back to a post on November 21st, but word is only getting out now) that he’d be open to working with “the inordinately-talented J.J. Abrams” on more Star Trek. It probably would never happen, but it could be interesting. Whether Paramount would let him anywhere near the project is another matter, since he sued Paramount earlier this year over revenues from derivative works from his original script.