Sci-Fi Storm

With BBC America debuting the 4th series of Primeval on the same day as in the UK, 5 “prequel videos” to the 4th series (yes, it is technically the 4th…the first two were short and combined in to one DVD release, with the 3rd series billed as Volume 2 – confused me as well). Find out what happened in the present after Connor, Abby and Danny get stuck in the past…see below for all 5. Primeval Series 4 premieres on BBC America January 1st at 9PM ET.
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We at the Thunder Child are pleased to report that all of the science fiction (and horror and fantasy) conventions are GO for the year 2011, despite this lousy economy, and we’ve updated our Convention pages accordingly.

We list conventions by day and by location, so it’ll be easy for you to see if there’s a convention in your state, or to plan a weekend whe you can take a vacation and head for other shores.

http://thethunderchild.com/Conventions/USCalendarByDate.html
http://thethunderchild.com/Conventions/USCalendarByLocation.html

Finally had a chance to check out the third installment of The Chronicles Of Narnia, and the first without Disney’s involvement, Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. It’s been a while since I’ve read the book so I’m not sure of the total differences (and I’m sure there are many due to it being made into a film). The real question is, did Fox and a much smaller budget have a good or bad influence?
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The National Film Preservation Board, part of the Library Of Congress Archives, has released its list of 25 films to be added to the National Film Registry, where the films are to be specially preserved against degradation and damage (now if only that could include bans against horrible remakes). This year’s list includes The Empire Strikes Back and Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (George Lucas’ original short that led to the full THX 1138). With Star Wars: A New Hope already in the registry (added in 1989), I expect we’ll eventually see Return Of The Jedi as well – but perhaps not the pre-trilogy.

/Film has the first trailer for Falling Skies, the alien invasion TV series from Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks Television, which will air on TNT beginning in June 2011. Here is the press release:

FALLING SKIES is an exciting new series from DreamWorks Television and executive producer Steven Spielberg. Noah Wyle (ER, TNT’s The Librarian movies) stars as a former college professor who becomes the leader of a group of soldiers and civilians struggling against an occupying alien force. Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation) co-stars as Anne Glass, a therapist who works with the surviving children to help them cope with the traumatic situation. The series also stars Drew Roy (Lincoln Heights) as Hal and Maxim Knight (Brothers & Sisters) as Matt, Tom’s two sons; and Seychelle Gabriel (Weeds) as Lourdes, an orphaned teenager who helps run the group’s commissary. Will Patton (Armageddon, TNT’s Into the West) will play a recurring role as a fierce resistance fighter.

Nothing new here in terms of plot, but at least from the trailer the production quality looks interesting. I wonder if TNT gives Steven notes on how he should change things… 🙂

I’m hearing from various sources that the unofficial overnight figures show 10.3 million viewers in the UK tuned in for the Doctor Who 2010 Christmas episodes, “A Christmas Carol”, finishing second for the night behind EastEnders and getting a 39.8% share of the total audience. Last year’s special, which was also David Tennant’s last, hit 10.4 million. It will be interesting to see the US numbers with BBC America showing it the same day.

The episode was both fun and far-fetched, but also a good compelling story – not exactly a retelling of the Dickens story, but borrowing partly from it and other stories. Not without some plot holes, but it is Doctor Who after all…

Missed it? It is available for pre-order now on [sfs=1092]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1093]DVD[/sfs], with a release date of February 15th.

It looks like the news outlets have already started their holiday, so unless something major comes up you probably won’t hear much from me either – so Happy Holidays everyone! And don’t forget – BBC America has the Christmas special Doctor Who episode, “A Christmas Carol” (don’t worry, there is more than just a retelling of the same old Dickens story) at 9PM ET on Christmas Day, and Matt Smith will appear on The Graham Norton Show immediately afterwards.

Hoping Torchwood lasts more than the current series being co-produced in the US jointly by the BBC and Starz? Apparently so are the networks, according to Captain Jack himself. John Barrowman, in an interview with the Scottish Sun newspaper, talked about turning down plenty of roles (including Grey’s Anatomy, which would have made him an untouchable heartthrob to women on two continents), to do Torchwood: The New World, where he said, “”They’re planning to make it for the next seven years. So I’ll be spending six months a year in Hollywood and six back in the UK.” Networks usually seem to have more grounded expectations – but this is a good sign.

Starz will air its new take on the King Arthur tale starting April 1st, 2011 at 10PM ET. Camelot, which stars Joseph Fiennes (Flash Forward) as Merlin and Jamie Campbell Bower (The Twilight saga, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows) as King Arthur, is a 10-episode drama show on location in Ireland and will provide a new version of the classic tale. Read on for the press release.

Interestingly, this places it’s debut on the same day that Merlin‘s Series 3 finale should take place on Syfy.

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If you’ve watched both shows, you’ve seen the similarities – not just because of Steven Moffat being in charge of both, but also that you could picture Benedict Cumberbatch as the Doctor playing Sherlock Holmes for fun. So there was the natural question of the possibility of a crossover. But Moffat isn’t amenable to that. In a NY Times interview mostly about the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special, “A Christmas Carol”, he answers about being asked about the two characters meeting: “I think everyone who’s passing me in the streets is suggesting that at the moment. I think there are problems of doing that, because then you would say that Sherlock Holmes lives in the same world as the Doctor, and there are Daleks and all sorts of things. If a Sherlock Holmes story depends on time travel being impossible, it’s quite hard if he’s a personal friend of the Doctor’s, isn’t it?” All true, but it could work – if the Doctor puts aside the advanced technology and plays along for the adventure. But then, it would be like identical twin Sherlocks solving a mystery…maybe that’s not so good.