Sci-Fi Storm

Check out this sneak peek at tonight’s Revolution, where alliances realign…tune in to NBC tonight after The Voice!

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I haven’t seen a press release on this yet (Syfy’s press releases have been more sporadic than normal lately), but Deadline reports that Syfy has purchased a spec script from Alfonso H. Moreno (NCIS) that follows two survivors of a plane crash caused by a meteorite who have no memory of what happened, and are being pursued by the government. Moreno and Ross Fineman (Drop Dead Divas) will executive produce for Fox TV Studios and Fineman Entertainment.

On Monday’s new Lost Girl, The Morrigan ignites tensions between Light and Dark… Catching Kenzi and Hale in the crossfire. Tune in at 10/9c to Syfy!
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Tonight is another new episode of Grimm – check out the preview below, called “Swaying the Jury”, where Monroe suspects that a Ziegevolk lawyer is using his powers to manipulate the jury. Then tune in at 10/9c tonight on NBC!

Also, Grimm is now on Instagram – check out the “InstaGRIMMS”

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Next monday marks the season finale for Being Human – While Aidan deals with Kenny, Liam pops up on Josh & Nora. A blast from the past surprises everyone. And, Sally faces off with Donna again. Tune in Monday at 9/8c on Syfy!

Plus check out Sam Witwer’s and Kristen Hager’s thoughts on the wedding between Josh and Nora from last week…

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LucasArts, the LucasFilm division and computer game studio that brought us some classic games including many of the Star Wars titles, has been closed. New corporate parent Disney, who has shuttered some of it’s own game studios, announced the move today, canceling in-progress games like Star Wars 1313 and Star Wars: First Assault and laying off all the staff.

It appears that Disney will instead concentrate on licensing properties to other game studios, which LucasArts had also done – BioWare/EA produced the current MMO game Star Wars: The Old Republic.

LucasArts produced some of my favorite games of yesteryear: I remember their very first game, Ballblazer (and programming a clone on my C-64 at the time). Star Wars: Jedi Knight – Dark Forces II was the game for which I got my first 3D video card, and the difference was amazing (and I still have the mini-lightsaber that came with it, and it still works, with the original batteries.) Secrets of Monkey Island was one of the more interesting early graphical adventures. and I loved combat flight simulators, so I was thrilled to pilot an X-Wing against the Empire…

More recently LucasArts was hit-or-miss. While scoring decent hits with some Star Wars titles like Knights of the Old Republic, Battlefront and The Force Unleashed (starring our friend Sam Witwer, currently starring in Being Human), it seemed to have issues when producing sequels to some games, in some cases forcing their releases too soon. And the release of Kinect Star Wars for the XBox 360, what seemed like it would be a slam-dunk for the Kinect motion platform to have players swinging their lightsabers in combat, turned sour as critics and players panned it…I mean, did they really need to include a “Just Dance” clone? Did Han Solo ever look less studly as when he dances to his own song??

While this doesn’t mean the end of Star Wars games, it will be interesting to see where it heads. Disney still has one game studio working – Disney Interactive – which is concentrating everything on the upcoming Disney Infinity, an expandable/collectible game that will compete directly with Skylanders. Whether 1313 or First Assault will ever be released is unknown.

With just a few episodes aired, HBO wasted no time in renewing Game of Thrones for a fourth season. The third season premiere bested the series high to date by 4% (the second season finale), and beat the second season premiere by 13%.

To make the fourth season more interesting, creator George R.R. Martin plans to make a cameo appearance…

Now that production has started on the 50th Anniversary special special episode of Doctor Who, we are getting more and more details…and the latest is that the Big Bad for the episode marks the return of the classic monsters the Zygons. And unlike some of the previous returnees, the Zygons look to have remained relatively untouched from their original appearance.

Another thing…Gavin & Stacey‘s Joanna Page was at the table reading…no idea who she is playing. But I wonder if her co-star James Corden, who played Craig in “The Lodger” and “Closing Time” and is one of my favorite guest stars, might also make an appearance…

Here is the latest “Making of Defiance” video – get to learn about the two rival families that control the town of Defiance: The Tarrs and the McCawleys. And then find out about Defiance’s young deputy lawmaker, Tommy.
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Did you notice the book featured in the recent Doctor Who episode, “The Bells of St. John”, called “Summer Falls”? The one that Clara asked Artie about?

Clara: What chapter you on?

Artie: Ten.

Clara: Eleven’s the best. You’ll cry your eyes out… The good kind of crying…

“When summer falls, the Lord of Winter will arise…”

Sharp-eyed viewers will have noted the author’s name: Amelia Williams. We didn’t hear that name much, but it was in fact Amy Pond’s proper married name. And I’m sure the references to Ten and Eleven were wry references to current (and eleventh) Doctor Matt Smith and his predecessor. But what’s more interesting is that this book exists – or rather, will exist, starting tomorrow when BBC Books releases “Summer Falls” worldwide as an e-book.

Here is a description of the story: “In the seaside village of Watchcombe, young Kate is determined to make the most of her last week of summer holiday. But when she discovers a mysterious painting entitled ‘The Lord of Winter’ in a charity shop, it leads her on an adventure she never could have planned. Kate soon realises the old seacape, painted long ago by an eccentric local artist, is actually a puzzle. And with the help of some bizarre new acquaintances – including a museum curator’s magical cat, a miserable neighbour, and a lonely boy – she plans on solving it.

“And then, one morning Kate wakes up to a world changed forever. For the Lord of Winter is coming – and Kate has a very important decision to make.”

This isn’t the first time a fictional fiction book jumped from Doctor Who episode to reality. “[asin=B009KJ6DTO]The Angel’s Kiss: A Melody Malone Mystery[/asin]” was released after “The Angels Take Manhattan”, in which it was an important plot device.

Update 4/2: The e-book is [asin=B00BGC6GG8]available for pre-order on Amazon[/asin] now, but due to some confusion it won’t release until Thursday.