Sci-Fi Storm

Two more classic Doctor Who episodes, bot h featuring Third Doctor Jon Pertwee, will be released on DVD this fall (and now available for pre-order, hint, hint 🙂 ): [sfs=1257]”Ambassadors of Death”[/sfs], recently restored to full color using a color recovery process, will be released on October 9th, and the Special Edition of [sfs=1258]”The Claws of Axos”[/sfs] will be released November 13th.

These join the upcoming September 11th release of [sfs=1239]”Planet of Giants”[/sfs] and the Special Edition release of [sfs=1238]”Vengeance on Varos”[/sfs].

For those of you who have been waiting for the Extended Editions of the Lord Of The Rings trilogy to be released individually on Blu-ray, your wait is over this Tuesday, August 28th. Now you can get [sfs=1254]The Fellowship of the Rings[/sfs], [sfs=1255]The Two Towers[/sfs] and [sfs=1256]The Return of the King[/sfs] each individually.

Each movie comes with 5 discs – 2 Blu-ray discs for the movie and related special features like audio commentaries, etc. and 3 DVDs full of all the extra content.

Pre-order now (or purchase later) via the links above and help us out!

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!
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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.

Emmy-winning actress Brittany Allen (All My Children) has been cast in a recurring role in Syfy’s upcoming series Defiance. Allen will play Tirra, a troubled employee of the town madam, Kenya (Mia Kirshner). When she and Kenya are abducted as a result of Tirra’s dangerous inclinations, the two build an unlikely bond as they are launched into a terrifying fight for survival in alien badlands.

A Toronto native, Allen made her feature film debut in a principle role alongside Rainn Wilson and Emma Stone in 20th Century Fox’s The Rocker. Brittany recently shot the feature Dead Before Dawn-3D opposite Devon Bostick, and recently wrapped the indie film Backgammon, a psychological relationship thriller. On the small screen, Brittany is well known for her portrayal as Marissa Chandler on ABC’s All My Children, a role for which she received an Emmy for Outstanding Younger Actress in A Drama Series in 2011. Brittany can soon be seen as a supporting lead in the Canadian Miniseries Bomb Girls, which will premiere in the U.S. on Reelz on September 11th. She also recently filmed a guest-starring role on Syfy’s Lost Girl.

Defiance stars Grant Bowler (Nolan), Julie Benz (Amanda Rosewater), Stephanie Leonidas (Irisa), Tony Curran (Datak Tarr), Jaime Murray (Stahma Tarr), Graham Greene (Rafe McCawley), Mia Kirshner (Kenya) and Fionnula Flanagan (Nicky). The series is currently in production in Toronto, ON.

An unprecedented partnership between Syfy and Trion Worlds, Defiance is the first-ever convergence of television and Massive Multiplayer Online gaming, featuring an interconnected world and storylines that will co-exist throughout a scripted drama series and a multiplatform MMO shooter. Both the series and the game will debut simultaneously in April 2013.
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In next Monday’s episode of Warehouse 13 hen a thrift shop worker discovers a dressing mirror in the back room that happens to be an artifact, she accidentally releases the psychopath that the Warehouse agents had trapped inside…tune in Monday at 9/8c to see what happens! Lindsay Wagner returns to guest star again as Dr. Calder too!
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The biggest question mark regarding casting for the upcoming sequel to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, was who was going to play the role of Finnick Odair, the former Games winner from District 4 who is a big part of the last two books in the trilogy. Sam Clafin (Snow White and the Hunstman, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) was reportedly the choice for the role last month but had a conflict. Now Lionsgate confirms that Clafin is signed for the role.

From the press release:

Santa Monica, CA, August 22, 2012- Lionsgate® and the filmmakers of THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE are pleased to announce that Sam Claflin has been cast in the role of Finnick in the much anticipated film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ worldwide smash hit novel Catching Fire. Charasmatic and clever, Finnick was a District 4 Hunger Games victor when he was fourteen.

After breaking out in his role as the romantic lead in last year’s PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES, Claflin starred in the box office smash SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN playing Prince William alongside Kristen Stewart, Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth. He recently finished filming THE QUIET ONES opposite Jarred Harris, and MARY & MARTHA, in which he co-stars with Hilary Swank.

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE will be directed by Francis Lawrence, and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. The novel on which the film is based is the second in a trilogy that has sold more than 50 million books in print and digital in the U.S. alone.

Lionsgate will release THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE on November 22, 2013.

Just as it was looking like the debut of the seventh series of Doctor Who wouldn’t be seen until at least the weekend of September 8th, the BBC has finally confirmed that “Asylum of the Daleks” will debut on Saturday, September 1st on BBC One. And as an added bonus, a series of 5 mini-webisodes will start online on August 27th called “Pond Life”, and as the name implies it will get u caught up with the Ponds since the end of the last series. Look for it on the official site.

Still no word, however, from BBC America as to when it will air. The hope is that they will keep in sync with same-day broadcast, but currently they show a Series 6 marathon followed by the two-hour “The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe” at 8pm ET. No reason that couldn’t change, however… 🙂

UPDATE: BBC America DID confirm a short time ago that they will indeed air it the same day, at 9:00 ET! And SPACE just tweeted the same day and time in Canada…

If you’ve followed me these 12 years, there are two series I’ve really wanted to see remade – Space: 1999, which is in the works with Jace Hall (and my main requirement there is they keep the production design of the base, Eagles, etc.), and Blake’s 7, which was recently being shopped to U.S. networks by Georgiaville Television.

Now Syfy has stepped up and will develop the remake with a script-to-series commitment (if they like the script, it will get a 13-episode green light). Joe Pokaski (CSI, Heroes) is writing the script, and Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Green Lantern) will direct.

I can’t wait to grill the Syfy executives on this one…