Sci-Fi Storm

Having managed to successfully spin off The Flash from its DC Comics-sibling series Arrow, CW wants to strike gold again…but rather than do it with another DC property, they are going to pull again from Arrow – with some Flash thrown in as well.

No title has been given to the project, but the plan is to pull together some of the secondary characters from both shows into a new series, starting with Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Routh) from Arrow and Dr. Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) from The Flash. Also planned to be part of the show is actor Caity Lotz, who played Sara Lance/Black Canary on The Arrow but was killed off, it is uncertain what role she may play.

Syfy will honor the extraordinary legacy of Leonard Nimoy with a special five hour programming salute this Sunday, March 1 from 9AM-2PM (ET/PT), kicking off with his role in an episode of the original Twilight Zone series; his guest star arc on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the final Star Trek original cast movie, Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country.

9:00AM The Twilight Zone/”A Quality of Mercy”
9:30AM Star Trek: The Next Generation/”Unification: Part I”
10:30AM Star Trek: The Next Generation/”Unification: Part 2”
11:30AM Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country

The science fiction community has lost one of its icons today…Leonard Nimoy, who (and I know I don’t need to say this) gained fame as the “pointy-eared, green-blooded, inhuman” Vulcan first officer Spock on the original Star Trek, passed away early this morning at home from end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to his wife Susan. Nimoy had announced he suffered from the disease last year, likely caused by smoking, even though he gave up the habit 30 years ago.

Nimoy also had some success as a writer and director, doing both on several of the movie installments of Star Trek, and he also directed the successful Three Men and a Baby.

Most recently he starred in the rebooted Star Trek film as well as a cameo in the sequel, plus had a recurring role in Fringe.

All we can say right now is, Live Long and Prosper.

I’ll leave the description off on this one since it is a spoiler if you haven’t watched last week’s episode yet, but check out the preview for Friday’s new Helix, “Cross-Pollination”, airing at 10/9c on Syfy!
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Following up on last week’s story, during an interview with Sky Movies about the upcoming Chappie, both director Neil Blomkamp and actress Sigourney Weaver of course had to talk about Blomkamp’s planned Alien sequel – and it appears that he wants it to be a direct sequel of Aliens – basically inserting it as third in chronological order. See an excerpt of the entire interview below:

Of course, there is a slight problem…there was already a direct sequel in Alien 3, which might have to be explained away, and the followup Alien Resurrection, set a couple hundred years later. Perhaps we will learn that you can, in fact, dream in hypersleep, and Alien 3 was just a nightmware…and anything that can erase Alien Resurrection from reality is fine with me as well. 🙂

On the next 12 Monkeys, Cole, Cassandra and Aaron go to Chechnya to stop the virus from being released as a bio-weapon, and it leads Cole to another member of the 12 Monkeys. Tune in for “The Keys”, Friday night at 9/8c on Syfy! And check out the recap for “The Red Forest” as well!
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Chappie director Neill Blomkamp tweeted out the other day a picture of a classic Giger Alien with the text: “Um… So I think it’s officially my next film. #alien”

[We tried embedding the pic, but it failed – see it here]

It has since been confirmed that he will indeed direct a fifth film in the Aliens series, which will be follow up the prequel-sequel Prometheus 2. Blomkamp had been teasing an Aliens film for a while but it appeared to have died out. Star Sigourney Weaver was also expected to return as Ripley but it is not known if she is still attached. Blomkamp is no stranger to directing strange CGI aliens…he directed and received an Oscar nomination for the screenplay of the surprise hit District 9, his feature directorial debut.

Where it will fit in the franchise is unknown but it will definitely take place years after the time of Prometheus 2.

There has been a lot of buzz about MacGyver creator Lee Zlotoff and the “next MacGyver” that seem to be intimating that the show is coming back with a woman in the title role…that isn’t actually the plan – but it does bring to light an exciting idea.

What is actually happening is that Zlotoff is partnering with The National Academy of Engineering, The USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and The MacGyver Foundation for The Next MacGyver, a crowdsourced project/competition to help develop a new series in which a female engineer in the spirit of MacGyver would be the lead character.

The competition is for non-professionals (you could not have sold a screenplay for more than $50,000) to come up with an entertaining concept which features with one or more protagonists who are engineers or engineering must be central to the show, in any genre you choose. It is also aimed at middle/high school students to help foster an interest in engineering.

12 finalists will be chosen to attend the “pitch competition”, and from them 5 finalists will receive $5,000 and be paired with an experienced Hollywood producer and a distinguished engineer to mentor the finalist as they develop their story into a full draft.

Do you have what it takes? Follow the link above and enter!

On the next Helix, another outbreak puts the entire Abbey in danger. Watch “M. Domestica” this Friday at 10/9c on Syfy!
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The time machine brings Cole back to 2043, but the world is VERY different from what he knows. Don’t miss a new episode of 12 Monkeys on Friday at 9/8c.
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