Sci-Fi Storm

Here are some of the big and our favorite stories we covered in 2012…

In January, rapidly rising British actor Benedict Cumberbatch joined Star Trek: Into Darkness, while CW’s Arrow dropped “Green” from the name and named Stephen Amell the lead actor.

We lost actor Ian Abercrombie and the voice of the Robot from Lost In Space Dick Tufeld.
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The third season of Being Human is just over two weeks away (it debuts on Monday, January 14th, at 9/8c), and we’ve got some more interviews with the cast and writer/producer Anna Fricke…and our thoughts on the first couple episodes of the new season! First, the interviews…then if you don’t mind potentially minor spoilers (I will try not to give any real spoilers – probably stuff you’d guess), read on to the end.
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Executive Producer Bryan Fuller tweeted yesterday evening:

I tweet with a heavy heart. NBC not moving forward with #MockingbirdLane. From producers and cast, thank you all for enthusiasm and support.

So this seems to be the end of Mockingbird Lane‘s long journey. It didn’t look good when NBC decided to turn the pilot into a Halloween special, but it still had a chance like a backdoor pilot, depending on audience reaction. Apparently the reaction wasn’t good enough for the network, with moderate ratings and some attempts to rework the concept.

Although I tend not to dwell on science errors in my SF programs/movies, even the most egregious ones, I do notice them and may comment on them. I try not to let it affect my enjoyment (hopefully) of the feature. But I do like lists like POPSCI’s Sloppiest Sci-Fi Movie Science Violations Of 2012, pointing out some of those really, really bad errors.

Not sure I agree on calling out the “travel back in time” thing as being impossible. After all, the Doctor does it just fine… 🙂

The British Royal Mail will issue a special Doctor Who stamp set which will feature all 11 Doctors, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the show. And contrary to some speculation, the Sixth Doctor, Colin Baker, IS represented (a BBC article only showed 10 of the 11 stamps, sans Colin.) The stamps will be available in Spring 2013.

There will also be a set of 4 second class stamps featuring four “foes” – the Daleks, the Ood, the Weeping Angels and the Cybermen, on a sheet with a first class TARDIS stamp.

Gerry Anderson, the British television writer/producer who loved to imagine the near future, died today at the age of 83, after suffering from multiple dementia for the past couple years. His death was announced by his son on his blog.

Anderson is perhaps best known for both his Supermarionation projects such as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, as well as his live action series UFO and perhaps his most well known series in the U.S., Space: 1999.

Fanderson, the Gerry Anderson fan group, has a nice obituary.

I remember seeing Thunderbirds as a kid…my mother was familiar with it and some of his previous efforts, having come from Ireland by way of England, and she always insisted one of the “rag tag” fleet ships in Battlestar Galactica came from Thunderbirds – I never quite saw that.

But Space: 1999 was one of the first SF series to garner my attention. The details of the base and the Eagles really drew me. It seemed that there was at least some attempt at realism in certain areas – the Eagles appeared relatively functional if not depicted in realistic flight – provided a level of detail that I love.
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Not to anyone’s surprise, AMC has renewed The Walking Dead for a fourth season. However, it appears that creative differences between AMC and producer and showrunner Glen Mazzara over the direction of that fourth season have resulted in the mutual decision to part ways.

According to TVLine, AMC said in a statement, “Glen guided the series creatively for Seasons 2 and 3. [We’re] grateful for his hard work. We are both proud of our shared success. Both parties acknowledge that there is a difference of opinion about where the show should go moving forward, and conclude that it is best to part ways. This decision is amicable and Glen will remain on for post-production on Season 3B as showrunner and executive producer.”

This echoes changes at the start of Season 2, when Frank Darabont was fired as showrunner for creative differences.

Here is a little sneak peek of the upcoming season of Syfy’s Being Human, followed by a couple of videos about stars Meaghan Rath and Sam Huntington and wrtiter/producer Anna Fricke.

Being Human returns January 14th! And don’t forget our recent interview with Sam Witwer!
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The BBC released a new picture from the upcoming Doctor Who Christmas special, “The Snowmen”, and it gives us a look at an all new console room on the TARDIS! Click the image to embiggen…but I see this as taking a step back to the clean lines and functionality of the original TARDIS console, just without the whitewash of the room. There was always something that bothered me about the hodgepodge of random levers, pumps, etc. of the recent console that just didn’t make sense, other than to give the Doctor a reason to act like a complete madman when flying it…

Following up to announcement we posted previously, Syfy will air the U.K. series K9 in its entirety on Christmas Day, Tuesday, December 25th, 2012 from 10am-11pm ET/PT.

K9 follows the adventures of the robotic canine created by British writers Bob Baker and Dave Martin and first seen in the original 1978 BBC TV series Doctor Who series. The show mixes live action with stunning CG and special effects and pits the robot dog K9 and his teenage friends against a number of human and alien adversaries. The new dog is voiced by the legendary John Leeson, who voiced the original K9 from the 1978 Doctor Who series.

Bob Baker has won a number of BAFTAs for his co-writing of the hugely successful Wallace and Gromit shorts and feature, and together with his business partner Paul Tams, was closely involved in the creation of the new K9 series.

For more information on K9 please visit the show’s website www.k9official.com.