Sci-Fi Storm

The Sci-Fi Storm time tunnel brought me back something from the near future – next Monday’s episode of Alphas, “Catch and Release”, with special guest star Summer Glau…no, I can’t let you watch it – blah, blah, causality violations, blah, blah, temporal police…but I can tell you a bit about it, hopefully at least major spoiler-free.

Summer Glau guest stars in Alphas: "Catch and Release"

Here’s a fun video where Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Allison Scagliotti and Saul Rubinek discuss some of the things you didn’t know about them – and some things you didn’t need to know…

Earlier today reports abound that Blade Runner is being looked at again for some sort of production – and the person looking is Ridley Scott, who created it. It is unclear what form this would take – prequel, sequel, reboot – or something else. But while I was typing this and got distracted, Deadline just followed up with the news that Scott will direct a followup to the classic 1982 SF movie.

I feel like I’m being teased (I wrote the Babylon 5 Encyclopedia in the 90s as one of my first personal web projects), but Walter Koenig, who played the Psi-Cop Bester on the show (and is better know for his role of Pavel Chekov on the original Star Trek) was at the big Las Vegas Star Trek convention earlier this week, and he told TrekMovie.com that JMS is negotiating the rights back for Babylon 5.

Now, recently JMS posted on Facebook that there were some plans for Babylon 5 with Warner Bros (who own the rights), but that it didn’t seem to be moving. But, “At this point, I’ve told the studio that if this isn’t going to move ahead, there’s something else they need to consider and there’s a very informal negotiation going on now in that regard. We’ll see where it goes from there.” That seems like he might be asking for them to sell the rights to him so that he might be able to take it in a new direction. Seems like an unusual move, but we’re certainly not against more B5 in any form…

Well, JMS tweeted in the wee hours (well, probably late hours for him), and it’s not happening: “Walter misspoke: I am not in negotiations with WB to develop more Babylon 5.” So perhaps the “something else” fell through.

Joel Silver seems to have two labors of love – big screen adaptations of Wonder Woman and Logan’s Run. We know the latest history of Wonder Woman, but that doesn’t mean someone doesn’t think they can do it right. In steps Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn – who thinks he might get the chance – “if I get Logan’s Run right.”

Refn was named director of the long-stuck project back in February, with Drive star Ryan Gosling attached as the lead.

Cool projects never die, they just never get made…seems that director Ron Howard still has not given up hope on his The Dark Tower project, which Universal scrapped last month. According what producer Brian Grazer (Howard’s business partner in Imagine Entertainment) told the New York Post, Howard is shopping around for external financing, and they may plan to separate the TV series as separate deals, possibly distributing through alternative media such as Netflix. However, any production won’t begin until next year now, as Howard already has another project, the Formula One themed Rush, on his plate.

It’s another “Powerful Mondays” lineup next Monday, with all new episodes of Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Alphas. And don’t forget – Summer Glau guest stars on Alphas!

This week in Eureka, Holly and Fargo appear to be on the surface of another planet. They try to keep things humorous while getting the job done, but their mission backfires and they become engulfed in smoke. Holly’s suit rapidly loses pressure and Fargo tells her she simply needs to recalculate. Be sure to watch the clip and tune in at 8/7c to see if Holly can find a way to save herself, or if someone else can step in.
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Doctor Who returns for the second half of Season 6 (at least in the U.S. on BBC America – haven’t confirmed the UK return yet) on August 27th with the episode “Let’s Kill Hitler” – but to give you just a taste, here is an awesome prequel video for the episode, just released:

I managed to catch Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes today – and I was pleasantly surprised. Overall I think it was a great movie, with little to criticize. Note that following does contain some level of spoilers – I don’t consider them serious though.

For those unfamiliar with the movie, is is essentially a remake of Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes, as a prequel and genesis to the entire Planet Of The Apes mythos, although this story does not involve the time travel loop the original series of films presented. It is the present day, and research into drugs that can help the brain repair itself is tested on chimpanzees. When an apparently super-aggressive test ape escapes and causes havoc, the project is shut down. But there is an unexpected side effect…
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This week in Eureka, Allison and Carter are discussing why Allison’s brain may be a little fuzzy as she claims days are starting to merge together. Carter is trying to reassure her that it’s ok to regroup and ease back into things, while also letting him take care of her. Be sure to watch the clip and tune in at 8/7c to see if Allison will allow Carter to cater to her, or if she’ll end up taking care of him.
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