Sci-Fi Storm

With Battlstar Galactica: The Exposition opening today, Syfy announced that they have ordered a new pilot, called Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, which follows Bill Adama during the Cylon War.

No word on a second season for Caprica yet, but a decision should be made by November 15th.

Update: Lots more info here.

Steven Spielberg has confirmed he will direct Robopocalypse as his next film. [asin=0385533853]Robopocalypse[/asin] is a novel by Daniel H. Wilson that will be published next year about humans attempting to survive a robot uprising. Drew Goddard (Lost, Cloverfield) adapted the screenplay.

Warner Bros. has given a press release regarding the cast of The Hobbit. As recently rumored, Martin Freeman (The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) will play Bilbo Baggins, and Richard Armitage (the Robin Hood BBC series, MI-5) will play Thorin Oakenshield, leader of the dwarves. Alsoseven of the twelve dwarves that accompany Thorin and Bilbo were named: Aidan Turner (Being Human) as Kili; Rob Kazinsky (EastEnders) as Fili; Graham McTavish (Secretariat) as Dwalin; John Callen (Power Rangers Jungle Fury) as Oin; Stephen Hunter (All Saints) as Bombur; Mark Hadlow (King Kong) as Dori; and Peter Hambleton (The Strip) as Gloin. No confirmation on Ian McKellan as Gandalf yet.

No less than THREE sneak peek clips at next week’s Caprica episode, “False Labor”: A gloomy theme heats up as Graystone Industries provides an opportunity to never lose a loved one thanks to breakthrough technology. Others are staring down the same path as the deceased when held at gunpoint, and even still others are doing the gun-holding against another life-force. What the frak will they do? Be sure to tune in on Tuesday at 10/9c on Syfy to see how it all plays out.
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Lieutenant Matthew Scott awakens to be pleasantly arriving home sweet home in Cloverdale, only to awaken once again in a manner unexpected and realize he’s been infected by an alien organism and the rest of the team is frantically trying to figure out how to save him. Take a look at the sneak peek clip to truly envision Scott’s rude awakening.

Airs Tuesday, October 26th, at 9/8c on Syfy
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Never mind Bilbo’s adventure out of the Shire…it looks like Warner Bros. is picking up the Shire and going home…or at least somewhere else. Due to the unsettled union issues surrounding production in New Zealand, Warner Bros. is planning to move the production to possibly the studio used for Harry Potter in the U.K., and is getting offers from other countries for breaks to move the production to their locations. “Next week Warners are coming down to New Zealand to make arrangements to move the production offshore. It appears we cannot make films in our own country even when substantial financing is available,” according to Sir Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh. Although the matter could still be settled, it is not an uphill battle for New Zealand to keep the production.

Update: It appears that the acting union has now dropped their plans for a boycott…which should allow other unions’ actors to join the cast, but the bridge may have been burned already…

After having met the cast of the upcoming U.S. version of Being Human on Syfy, I had the opportunity to check of part of the original British series – specifically, the Blu-ray release of [sfs=1064]Being Human Season 2[/sfs] (also on [sfs=1065]DVD[/sfs], released September 21st). I have not seen season 1 yet other than bits and pieces, so I don’t have a full sense of the show, but I can see why there is a desire to bring this to the U.S. This will, however, be a brief review mostly of the Blu-ray release itself.
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Today is pick up day, with ABC announcing announcing a full season order (9 additional episodes) of The Event, and NBC following through as well with steady Chuck (11 additional episodes, for a total of 24).

But ABC also is apparently cutting back on V, which has already had a delayed return until January 4th, dropping the original 13-episode order down to 10. It could be just to fit within the programming window available, but we’ll see what happens when we get closer to airing.

Always looking to see what David Tennant is up to, I’m now hearing from multiple sources that he may be up for an unnamed role in The Hobbit, and that Jekyll‘s James Nesbitt may have already been offered another role, and Michael Fassbender (Magneto in X-Men: First Class) is also up for a role. Martin Freeman (Sherlock) is still the expected frontrunner for Bilbo, so none of these others are likely up for that part. No casting announcements have been made (although Ian McKellan and Andy Serkis are fully expected), so these could just be random rumors, but here’s hoping…

To wrap up the Syfy Digital Press Tour, we got access to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter area at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure theme park. I’ve been following this place eagerly since opening, with a family trip planned in a couple months – but a “preview” without having to deal with the huge crowds? That would be just amazing…
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