Sci-Fi Storm

In next Monday’s Alphas the team investigates a string of Alphas-related crimes before realizing the Alpha they’re looking for is one of their own. Tune in to Syfy Monday night at 10/9c.
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Could an artifact be behind a sudden rash of geniuses at an east coast prep school? Find out next Monday at 9/8c on Syfy!
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Disney CEO Bob Iger announced during the company’s regular earnings call that Joss Whedon is on board to direct a sequel to the blockbuster movie The Avengers – big news enough – but then also said that Whedon is also developing a live action series using Marvel characters! More when we get it…

Update: Marvel Studios confirms the deal, along with a targeted 2015 release for the sequel. Whedon also has an exclusive deal for film and television development with Marvel Studios until the end of June 2015.

A film based on William Gibson’s 1984 novel Neuromancer, long considered to be the book that defined the “cyberpunk” genre, has been a long time coming, with talk of a film dating back to the late 80s, but nothing ever really getting very far. Now it seems it is on the verge of production.

Back in 2010, Vincenzo Natali (Cube) was attached to direct the film and would rewrite an earlier script, and then in 2011 GFM Films, then merging with Seven Arts, acquired the rights and retained Natali, with the film enter pre-production with an eye towards a 2012 production start.

Well, we’re more than half-way through 2012, and there has been some increasing heat – but in the meantime, GFM Films kinda silently noted on its web site back in June that Liam Neeson and Mark Wahlberg have been offered play-or-pay contracts for the roles of Armitage and Case, respectively. “Play-or-pay” contracts basically mean that the actors will get paid according to the terms of the contract even if the film doesn’t get made or they are otherwise separated from the production (unless they leave of their own accord.)

Does this mean we will finally get to see a vision of Gibson’s Cyberspace on the big screen?

Neuromancer follows Henry Dorsett Case, a drug addict and former computer hacker who ends up in the employ of the mysterious ex-military Armitage, who repairs his neural computer interface so he can perform a task for Armitage.

In two separate suits, both Marvel and NBCU/Syfy are being sued for alleged trademark and copyright infringements.

Marvel (along with Disney corporate sibling Buena Vista Home Entertainment) is being sued by the German luggage manufacturer who made a special luxury briefcase used in the movie. Not because if its use in the movie, however – they had permission – but because Marvel/BVHE planned to distribute a [sfs=1253]special box set of Avengers movies[/sfs] in a replica attache case, and they haven’t received permission for that – yet.

In the other case, Preston Asevedo, a Louisiana artist, filed suit against NBC Universal/Syfy and the creators of the show Dream Machines over the use of a piece of art that can be seen on the outside sign of the Parker Brothers’ shop in each episode of the recently aired first season of the show, where the brothers and their team build custom futuristic vehicles for celebrities and charities. Check out the images below of the original work and the one seen in the show:

It isn’t just similar – it looks like someone took the original, inverted it and dressed it up. It also appears that Asevedo had contacted the Parkers, who acknowledged that they used a variation of the art for their own logo but were unable to determine who the original artist was, and wanted to work with Asevedo to give him credit and remuneration. But apparently they weren’t able to reach and agreement, and Asevedo filed suit.

Lesson learned – unless the art is provably in the public domain, make sure you get permission or don’t use it…

In case you were wondering what happened to the planned extended teaser preview of NBC’s Revolution that was supposed to air Saturday night, NBC silently canceled it when they shuffled around their tape-delayed airing of the sporting events that day. Instead, they are going to air a shorter preview (about 2:40 in length) tonight during a commercial pod taking place prior to the airing of the Women’s Gymnastics Uneven Bars competition, sometime between 10:45pm and 11:15pm EDT.

The drama comes from producers J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke and director Jon Favreau – read on for the official description.
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The first season of NBC’s hit series Grimm hits the shelves tomorrow on [sfs=1251]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1252]DVD[/sfs] tomorrow, not far in advance of the return of the series next Monday, August 13th, at 10/9c! A perfect time to order it and review before the new season starts!

In the meantime, check the clips below and full description of the set!
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The official Twitter of Doctor Who tweeted earlier this evening that British actor Richard E. Grant, perhaps best known in the U.S. as Dr. Jack Seward in 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Bob Cratchit in Patrick Stewart’s A Christmas Carol but is well known in the U.K, will guest star in this year’s Christmas Special of Doctor Who.

Grant is no stranger to the actual role of the Doctor, however…he’s unofficially filled the role twice. He first appeared, albeit briefly in the 1999 Comic Relief special skit, “Doctor Who and the Curse of the Fatal Death”, written by none other than current showrunner Steven Moffat and which starred Rowan Atkinson as the Doctor and Absolutely Fabulous‘s Julia Sawalha as his companion Emma, whom he intends to marry. But after a confrontation with the Daleks and the Master (Jonathan Pryce), he regenerates several times, first into the “handsome” Doctor (Grant), then the “shy” Doctor (Jim Broadbent), then the “smooth” Doctor (Hugh Grant), but in the end regenerates one more time, into a woman (Joanna Lumley).

He then also starred as the Ninth Doctor in the 2003 animated online adventure, “Scream of the Shalka”, before the revival of the series. When the series was to come back, he was reportedly offered the role, and regrets turning it down. It later went to Christopher Eccleston – and thus is appearance as the Ninth Doctor was relegated to unofficial status.

I missed the original announcement in my email during my 36 hour work day, but the CW announced that Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, the 2008 musical created for the World Wide Web by Joss Whedon with the help of his brothers Zack and Jed and Jed’s wife, Maurissa Tancharoen, will finally see a television broadcast on October 9th at 9/8c.

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog was created during the writer’s strike that prevented any television writers from working on programs for the networks, so Joss Whedon enlisted his family to pull together something completely different to be shown online. It starred Neil Patrick Harris as the title character, an aspiring supervillain who is looking for love from Penny (Felicia Day), but is is constantly thwarted in both his villain and love activities by Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion).

It was originally reported at Comic-Con that the CW would be airing Dr. Horrible, but weren’t ready to announce a date.

Here is the final movie poster for Judge Dredd. I think Karl Urban has the trademark scowl down, no?

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