Sci-Fi Storm

To finish off our coverage of the Syfy Digital Press Tour panels, we’ve got a bit more of Syfy’s reality programming.

First up was Destination Truth, with paranormal investigator Josh Gates, which has become a staple in the Syfy lineup and is currently finishing it’s 4th season and production beginning on 6 all new episodes. So, where are they headed in the new episodes?
(continue reading…)

Disney’s first major benefit of acquiring Marvel may be in the distribution rights to the upcoming Marvel films The Avengers and Iron Man 3, with Paramount assigning the rights to Disney for a guaranteed minimum up front of $115 million against the distribution fees. Paramount will retain the rights on Thor and Captain America.

So, what’s all of this reality programming doing on Syfy? Well, to be frank, reality programming is popular – extremely so – on all the networks. And Syfy is not immune to the programming. But they ARE handling it with an eye to the fans that helped them get to where they are – focusing on things related to the genres. Well, maybe with a little divergence…
(continue reading…)

Syfy Ventures, a relatively new division created during the rebranding of Syfy as part of breaking out of the cable channel constraints and become a true transmedia, tech savvy destination, announced jointly with actress Ashley Eckstein (Ahsoka Tano on Star Wars: The Clone Wars) during the Digital Press Tour on Monday that Syfy Ventures would join forces with Eckstein’s Her Universe brand of female genre merchandise, to produce Syfy branded merchandise under the Syfy Gear label.
(continue reading…)

[WARNING – some of what is below could be considered spoilers if you are planning on attending…]

As part of the Syfy Digital Press Tour, on the first night we were taken over to Universal Studios for a special “RIP Tour” of Halloween Horror Nights XX, the 20th year of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Florida. I’ve never attended a horror-oriented event before, so had no idea what to expect and wasn’t originally planning to attend but as I heard more about it it sounded interesting.
(continue reading…)

I have had a full preview of the upcoming 10/19 episode of Caprica, “Things We Lock Away”, so I thought I’d throw out some things we’ll be seeing this week, hopefully without spoilers…gladitorial combat in New Caprica; Lacy’s torn emotions; corporate and mob blackmail, backstabbing, and the repercussions; Zoe finds what she is looking for, and they aren’t pleased with her; and the genesis of Avatar Zoe.

And don’t forget this sneak peek clip:

[hana-flv-player video=/extras/Caprica112_preview.flv width=540 height=364 /]

The last of the original scripted series panels (and last panel overall), was for Caprica, with producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, along with the ever-present Mark Stern, Executive VP of Original Programming at Syfy. Caprica had just started the second half of its first season.
(continue reading…)

Another panel we had at the Syfy Digital Press Tour was on the upcoming U.S. version of Being Human, a currently popular British television program about a a ghost, a vampire, and a werewolf living together. The U.S. version is set in Boston (albeit filmed in Montreal, where the “old town” feel is similar), and features vampire “Aidan” (Sam Witwer), werewolf “Josh” (Sam Huntington) and ghost “Sally” (Meaghan Rath) – as they struggle to hide their dark secrets from the world, while helping each other navigate the complexities of living double lives and trying to be human. Mark Pellegrino plays Aidan’s charismatic but menacing vampire mentor “Bishop” (Pelligrino). Adam Kane (The Mentalist, Heroes) is Director and Co-Executive Producer with Executive Producer Michael Prupas (The Kennedys, Pillars of the Earth) and husband and wife Executive Producers/Writers Jeremy Carver (Supernatural) and Anna Fricke (Men in Trees, Everwood). Muse Entertainment is producing 13 1-hour episodes for Syfy.
(continue reading…)

Reports are hitting the streets that The Hobbit has finally gotten the go ahead for formal production – TheWrap reports that the production has been given the green light, with Peter Jackson agreeing to direct in addition to his producing and writing duties, although The Hollywood Reporter says that the acting union issue is still a key hurdle to be overcome to make the hoped for February filming date, and that the MGM debt/funding issue is not necessarily settled, but shouldn’t be a stopper.

Update: – It’s official now, as New Line president Toby Emmerich, Warner Bros. President Alan Horn, and MGM co-CEO Steve Cooper jointly announced it, with principle photography to begin in February.

Our second panel of the day was for Sanctuary (Season 3 starts tomorrow night, October 15th, at 10pm ET). Amanda Tapping was scheduled to appear but had a family illness, so actor Robin Dunne (Dr. Will Zimmerman) was joined on stage by Erika Kennair, Vice President for Original Programming and Development for Syfy. Syfy’s Mark Stern mentioned that there will be more abnormals along with Caprica‘s Polly Walker guest starring, and asked Robin, “What would you say is kind of the most exciting thing for you this year?”

“A lot…Sanctuary is continuing on the path of being very innovative, the writing is amazing as always…I think the change from 13 episodes to 20 episodes is really amazing because…beautiful story arcs that go in and out of the series and you are going to see things that happen to the characters that sort of have impact throughout the entire series. 20 episodes is kind of like, it feels more of a puzzle this year, a jigsaw puzzle.
(continue reading…)