Sci-Fi Storm

I finally got to see The Hunger Games, and I have to say…it’s worthy of the hype. And I have not read the book – yet. I will be, but I prefer in these cases to see the movie first, so as to not be disappointed at what was left out, or the imagery being “wrong”.

From the start of the movie, although it can be considered a slow start, there is an intensity that builds without requiring the combat which comes later. The setting of they story is told sufficiently, if not completely – some things do get kind of glossed over. At one point, I thought the “country” was called “Pan-Am”, but it is really “Panem”, from the Latin panem et circenses, or “Bread and Circuses” – a fitting name.
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In the following video clip, the actors of Eureka talk about their experiences over the last seven years of filming the show. The final season of Eureka begins April 16th at 9/8c on Syfy.
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Even though many of Marvel’s characters live over at nearby Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure, Disney will be showing off some of them at Walt Disney World. To celebrate the upcoming movie The Avengers, WDW will be “wrapping” (covering with a durable but removable skin) one of their Monorail trainsets with an advertisement for the movie, similar to how they created the “Tron-o-rail” for the release of Tron: Legacy.

Monorail decorated for The Avengers - click to embiggen

It appears there are still some restrictions, though…word is this particular monorail will be restricted to the Magic Kingdom routes, and will not travel to Epcot – possibly because the beam track to Epcot actually runs within the park itself, which may violate the contract or agreement in place that restricts what can be done within the parks.

You may have heard about an unproduced script for the original Star Trek from writer Norman Spinrad, who also wrote “The Doomsday Machine”. It had been rediscovered, and Spinrad began selling digital copies and was going to direct the episode for Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II, the fan-led continuation of the original series. That was, until CBS decided they couldn’t.

CBS owns all the TV rights, including any scripts produced and paid for of the original series, whether they were filmed or not. They haven’t really interfered with STNV, and in fact have a good relationship, especially since STNV hasn’t really profited on it’s production. And they didn’t seem to care when an unproduced script from Star Trek: The Next Generation by David Gerrold got the STNV treatment. But apparently CBS thought this was different, serving a cease-and-desist notice to STNV to stop production and to Spinrad to stop selling.

Both appear to have happily complied, although Spinrad’s own response on the matter (the date on it is confusing – he updated the original post, and it retains the original date) is a bit more lawyer-ish, and as part of the settlement, he apparently cannot comment further on it.

So it appears that the project is dead, at least for now, until CBS changes their mind.

In next Monday’s Lost Girl, Saskia unexpectedly drops by to see Bo and tries to convince her to a night on the town but Bo declines. Watch the sneak peek as tensions heat up when Saskia doesn’t quite know when to quit. Check it out at 10/9c Monday, April 2nd, on Syfy.
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Actor Warren Stevens, who made many, many guest appearances on television in the 60s and 70s, and can best be remembered by SF fans as Doc in Forbidden Planet as well as Rojan, the Kelvan Empire commander who tries to take the Enterprise to the Andromeda galaxy in the original Star Trek episode “By Any Other Name”, passed away at the age of 92.

Well, it looks like the last chance at rescue for 20th Century Fox TV’s Terra Nova has come and gone. Netflix, the internet video subscription service, had been in talks to take over the series if they could reduce the per-episodes costs. But apparently the numbers still didn’t work for the expensive show, and Netflix passed on it.

It’s uncertain if Fox still has hopes – they have not formally released the actors yet, but star Jason O’Mara is filming a western pilot for CBS and Allison Miller is filming the Matthew Perry-starred NBC comedy pilot Go On, so they aren’t at least sitting waiting for the phone to ring.

In Monday’s all new Being Human, Josh asks Sally what he should do about the secret he’s holding from Julia. Could Josh’s wolf horrifically destroy the thing he loves most? Catch the sneak peek and tune in to the all new episode this Monday at 9/8c on Syfy to find out if Josh can make things right.
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So apparently we have world premieres for the trailers for remakes now… 🙂

Check out the teaser which announces that the trailer will premiere on Sunday:

In the season finale of Merlin, we see Arthur and his men in the forest, escaping defeat my Morgana’s army. Merlin advises the men to continue on without him as he uses magic to cover his tracks but summons the Great Dragon instead. Tune in to season finale this Friday at 10/9c!
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