Sci-Fi Storm

We had already heard that ITV series Primeval was being rescued by added income from some international channels, although initially they said there would be two more series. Now it appears that they are at least for now planning one series of 13 episodes, but they still have some problems to solve – like getting some of the characters back from the past, and how to deal with cast departures as well (which isn’t unusual here). 3rd series star Jason Flemyng is committed elsewhere, but will return for a few episodes. Update: Correction that Primeval is an ITV not BBC series…

TNT has picked up several series for 9 episodes plus the pilot, including an as-yet-unnamed alien invasion series produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Noah Wyle (er, The Librarian). The series, from a script by Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan), deals with the aftermath of an alien invasion when most of the population has been wiped out, and those that remain struggle against the occupiers.

People who need to take the SATs, ACTs and GRE tests in order to get into a good college, use study guides to help them. As far as the verbal component of the test is concerned, the current craze to teach needed vocabulary is to write the study guide as a murder mystery, so that readers can see the vocabulary in action, rather than just studying dry lists.

The blog Wordsworth and the Visitor From Planet X is designed to build people’s vocabury, using a science fiction serial as its launch pad.

http://wordsworthandthevisitorfromplanetx.blogspot.com/

If you wish to build your vocabulary, or if you know of students who want help, send them to Wordsworth and the Visitor from Planet X.

This is interesting – Fox is apparently developing a U.S. version of Torchwood – but with the existing production team, and possibly with some of the cast including John Barrowman (Capt. Jack Harkness). It doesn’t sound like a remake though, but could be an extension of the existing story that relocates the surviving members of Torchwood 3 to the U.S. but with a global scope…and another interesting note at the end of the article: Jane Tranter (executive VP of programming and production at BBC Worldwide, who is producing) may also try to reboot Doctor Who over hear as well somehow, related to David Tennant being in the U.S. for his U.S. pilot. Not sure what that means though…

Could Joss Whedon be moving to cable for a new series? It looks that way. The president of cable network FX John Landgraf says he hs a lunch scheduled in the coming weeks with the creator of Buffy, Firefly and Dollhouse – the latter two of which had short runs on FOX. Word to the wise – FX is owned by FOX…but hopefully the management there has a different style…

Avatar is breaking all sorts of records, about to win for the fifth consecutive week, surpassing $1 billion worldwide in just 21 days, and surpassing Star Wars in unadjusted domestic sales. Now Avatar technology may make old actors young again (or dead ones alive), but it has also been blamed for depression and even suicide. Can the blue juggernaut be stopped? Update: And now it has won the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director…

If you’ve been craving news from Caprica (not news about Caprica…), you’re in luck – The Caprican has gone online! Check the latest Pyramid scores, check the stocks, and see what’s up in politics.

After Spider-Man 4 slipped in its release schedule due to an apparent impasse over the script and characters, Sony/Columbia have decided to jettison plans, along with Raimi and the cast, and instead go with a reboot of the franchise based on a script by James Vanderbilt, and getting back to the superpowers vs. teen angst angle. But if they already have the script, how long has the studio been planning this?

Exclusive: Update on ‘Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea’ Movie

Producer Kevin Burns on the status of the Irwin Allen franchise

By Robert Falconer http://www.cinemaspy.com/article.php?id=3832

Three or four years ago, you may recall, there was some chatter online about a new Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea feature film, based upon the classic ’60s motion picture and television series created & produced by the late Irwin Allen. While there was apparently some movement towards fashioning a big screen epic, the whole thing seemed to fizzle shortly after it was announced. The runaway success of last summer’s rebooted Star Trek — and the recent news about director Matthew Gratzner’s forthcoming re-imagination of Gerry Anderson’s UFO, not to mention the whole Hollywood trend towards remakes — got us thinking once again about those other classic mid-to-late-’60s science fiction properties—which led us back to wondering what’s happening with Voyage, if anything. Might there be renewed interest in it?
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We had a poll up for a long time about what show should get the reboot treatment next, with Blake’s 7 getting the nod (from the limited choices). Now Wired has gotten in on the act, with their list of 10 TV shows that should get the reboot. First on the list is Buck Rogers, which I’d go with. But then they followed up with the shows that readers wanted, with a larger list which includes some I think might be prime candidates: Blake’s 7, UFO, The Starlost, Space: 1999, and even Star Cops. And those best left forgotten: Salvage 1, and Earth 2 are best left to the fond memories, lest we are reminded of what they really were 🙂 Can I make any money as a consultant to the network on these things?