Sci-Fi Storm

Overbrook Entertainment, the entertainment company set up by Will Smith and James Lassiter, and Georgiaville Television, which just made news with their Blake’s remake landing at Syfy, are teaming with Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski on a “pandemic” drama for ABC.

The project doesn’t currently have a title, but is described as a thriller that combines closed-ended procedural and serialized elements.

Lassiter and Jada Pinkett Smith will executive produce for Overbrook, with JMS writing the pilot and executive producing. Georgiaville is financing, and like the Blake’s 7 project, ABC has given this one a script-to-series commitment, which means if ABC likes the script it will be given a 13 episode order immediately.

[As usual, instead of attending a big SF event, I get to stay home and do the work of three people, on-call 24×7. I hope to resolve that soon…]

Today at Celebration VI in Orlando, the creators of Robot Chicken, Seth Green and Matt Senreich, showed footage of their upcoming animated show Star Wars: Detours, which is a CGI-animated comedy series that takes place between Episodes III and IV in the Star Wars continuity.

The style shown is deliberate caricatures of the characters themselves – small bodies with big heads, Princess Leia’s hair buns are larger than her head, etc. The Han Solo in this reminds me a bit of the very odd version of him shown in the original animation done for the Star Wars Holiday Special. And the scenes revolve around what goes on when they aren’t trying to blow up planets, smuggle goods or stage a rebellion – when the galaxy is kinda quiet and peaceful.

And a lot of big names are associated with the production – Jane Espenson in addition to the many writers who have contributed to Robot Chicken over the years, Jane Espenson, who has written for many shows our readers should be familiar with including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Tru Calling, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Torchwood: Miracle Day, etc. etc. is also contributing. And the voices heard include Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy), Joel McHale (Community), and even Billy Dee Williams reprising the role of Lando Calrissian.

Among the other voices to be heard include Anthony Daniels and Ahmed Best reprising their roles as C-3PO and Jar-Jar Binks, respectively, along with Zachary Levi Chuck, Felicia Day (The Guild), Weird Al Yankovic, Abraham Benrubi (ER), and Star Wars: The Clone Wars alums Dee Bradley Baker, Jennifer Hale, and Catherine Taber.

No release date or network was revealed but expect to see it some time next year.

Read on and watch the trailer and clips!
(continue reading…)

Fans of Red Dwarf have been waiting eagerly for another installment in the comedy SF series, since the most recent effort in 2009 of the Back to Earth mini-series which was a rather odd version that left a lot unanswered from the end of Series 8 (BtE pretended that Series 9 and X took place already). And they are finally going to get it, and get some of those loose ends tied.

It’s already known that the production is going back to how the show was originally done, sitcom style with a live audience. Now Doug Naylor has teased that the show will tie up some of what was left from Series 8 – but not until the very last episode, which is expected to give the series an ultimate conclusion – and is suitably titled, “The Beginning” (fans will remember the first first episode was titled “The End”.)

Also, the final episode of the six episode series draws on the abandoned movie plot.

“Most of the ideas are fresh but for the last episode I borrow things from the very early drafts of the film and explain what happened after the conclusion of series eight,” Naylor said. That final episode also features a spectacular dogfight. Well, spectacular for Red Dwarf.”

Am I sensing Starbug is going to do battle?

Red Dwarf X will air on Dave in the UK in October. No news yet on a US outlet.