Sci-Fi Storm

MTV has released the official trailer for the upcoming and newly-dubbed The Shannara Chronicles, based on the best-selling books of Terry Brooks.

Thousands of years after the destruction of civilization as we know it, magic begins to return. Amberle Elessedil (Poppy Drayton, When Calls The Heart), an Elven princess, Wil Ohmsford (Austin Butler, The Carrie Diaries), a half-elf, and human Eretria (Ivana Baquero, Pan’s Labyrinth) embark on a quest to stop a demon army from destroying the Four Lands.

The Shannara Chronicles will debut in January 2016.

CBS just announced that it will not order a fourth season of summer series Under The Dome.

The show, which is generally credited with making the summer TV season a potential ratings boom (and with it, advertising dollars), debuted in June of 2013 with nearly 18 million viewers (Live+7), outdoing all but one of the fall debuts in 2012. But with various plot twists over three seasons it shed viewers pretty quickly. It proved a strong performer for streaming services via Amazon, and will continue to be available there.

It is almost certain that CBS will renew Zoo, and it is believed that with Under The Dome out of the way, Extant has a stronger chance at renewal as well.

Sam Worthington and Ruth Wilson are set to star in The Titan, an elevated sci-fi feature produced by: Brian Kavanaugh-Jones’ Automatik, Ben Pugh and Rory Aitken’s 42, and Arash Amel. The film is set to start production January 18 in Europe with Lennart Ruff directing. Voltage Pictures will launch international sales on the film during the upcoming Toronto Film Festival with CAA handling domestic sales; Leon Clarance and Motion Picture Capital will be producing and fully financing. Sofia Boutella will also star.

Based on an original story by Arash Amel (Grace of Monaco), and written by Max Hurwitz (Hell on Wheels), The Titan is a fresh take on the genre – set in a not too distant future, the story tracks the riveting journey of a military family who are relocated in order to take part in a ground-breaking experiment of man’s genetic evolution into space.

Worthington just wrapped Lionsgate’s The Shack and can be seen next in Working Title’s Everest, which is opening the Venice Film Festival. He is set to shoot Hacksaw Ridge with Mel Gibson directing this fall before going on to do The Titan, followed by James Cameron’s Avatar sequels.

Ruth Wilson is a Golden Globe winner for best actress in a TV drama for her role in The Affair, which will return to screens in the fall. She was recently nominated for a Tony Award for her role in Constellations. She is a two-time Olivier Award winner for her performances in A Streetcar Named Desire, and Anna Christie. Wilson received a BAFTA nomination and Golden Globe nomination for her role in the BBC miniseries, Jane Eyre.

“The Titan is, at its core, a love story that is set in the pioneering edge of space exploration, a world of fear and wonder, says Arash. “In Brian and Ben, I’ve been lucky enough to find smart, dedicated producing partners to embark on this adventure with, and we now find ourselves surrounded by a highly talented group of artists led by Ruth Wilson and Sam Worthington, under the direction of the incredible Lennart Ruff. I’m very excited that this team will be bringing this passion project to the screen, and to continue the relationship with Automatik, 42, and Motion Picture Capital.”

Kavanaugh-Jones adds, “When Arash shared his vision of The Titan with me, I was blown away. To pair that vision with the directing talent of Lennart Ruff and the incredible acting talent of Sam and Ruth is a dream come true. And I’m absolutely thrilled to be collaborating with old friends in Leon Clarance, Voltage and 42.”

“I look forward to working with Brian again and to collaborating with Voltage, 42 and Arash on this brilliantly atmospheric, character-driven sci-fi thriller. Sam Worthington, Ruth Wilson, and Sofia Boutella form a hugely talented ensemble cast, and their performances will bring to life Max Hurwitz’s innovative and original script,” said Clarance.

“The production team has delivered an amazing cast to compliment a highly inventive and unique script and after seeing Lennart’s award winning short film, we believe this is exactly the type of material that our buyers will respond to,” stated the Voltage team.

Motion Picture Capital is also working with Automatik on the recently announced Zach Whedon film, Come and Find Me.

The Titan will start shooting in January 2016.

We knew Paramount was looking for a movie-to-series adaptation of Galaxy Quest a few months ago and was shopping it around…now EW reports that the project has landed at Amazon Studios, where it will undergo further development.

Beyond that, little is known, other than the production crew will look the same. Co-writer Robert Gordon, director Dean Parisot and executive producers Mark Johnson and Melissa Bernstein are all back and will do the same for the pilot, with the Gordon and Parisot also exec producing.

It’s still a long ways off…but never give up…never surrender…

There has been an awakening…

A video posted by Star Wars (@starwars) on Aug 27, 2015 at 10:00am PDT

It looks like we are getting teased what may be a big part of this movie…but Finn looks rather unprepared…

In Episode 12, a retrieval op at a remote research facility becomes a dangerous and surprising homecoming for one member of the crew. Guest Starring Wil Wheaton!

And in Episode 13, personalities clash, long-held secrets are revealed, and the crew is rocked by a shocking betrayal.

It all starts at 9/8c Friday night on Syfy!
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The 2015 Hugo Awards, given at this weekend’s World Science Fiction Convention in Seattle at Sasquan, saw controversy even before the nominations were out, with the group “Sad Puppies” attempting to influence the nomination and voting process to correct what they perceived as the infiltration of the genre by women and minorities, where it was formerly “ruled” by white males. Sounds like the same mentality that led to Gamergate…but in the end, the Sad Puppies lost out, and may have resulted in perhaps deserving winners winding up as collateral damage due to the Puppies support. 5 categories – Best Novella, Best Short Story, Best Related Work, Best Editor, Short Form, and Best Editor, Long Form all resulted in “No Award” winning, with four others having No Award in second place, as well as the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer also coming in second. In fact, in the cases where “No Award” won, it did so by a far margin on the first pass of ballot. This seems to be a resounding defeat of the Sad Puppies movement.

The winners that did come away with a rocketship:

Best Novel: [asin=0765377063]The Three Body Problem[/asin], Cixin Liu, Ken Liu translator

Best Novelette: The Day the World Turned Upside Down, Thomas Olde Heuvelt, Lia Belt translator

Best Graphic Story: [asin=0785198288]Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal[/asin], written by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Adrian Alphona and Jake Wyatt

Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Guardians of the Galaxy, written by James Gunn and Nicole Perlman, directed by James Gunn

Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: Orphan Black: “By Means Which Have Never Yet Been Tried”, ” written by Graham Manson, directed by John Fawcett

Best Professional Artist: Julie Dillon

Best Semiprozine: Lightspeed Magazine, edited by John Joseph Adams, Stefan Rudnicki, Rich Horton, Wendy N. Wagner, and Christie Yant

Best Fanzine: Journey Planet, edited by James Bacon, Christopher J Garcia, Colin Harris, Alissa McKersie, and Helen J. Montgomery

Best Fancast: Galactic Suburbia Podcast, Alisa Krasnostein, Alexandra Pierce, Tansy Rayner Roberts (Presenters) and Andrew Finch (Producer)

Best Fan Writer: Laura J. Mixon

Best Fan Artist: Elizabeth Leggett

The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Wesley Chu

Syfy today announced that Golden Globe nominee Dennis Haysbert (24), David Hewlett (Stargate Atlantis) and Ian Tracey (Wayward Pines) have joined the cast of the channel’s new futuristic espionage thriller pilot Incorporated from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s Pearl Street Films, CBS Television Studios and Universal Cable Productions.

Set in a world where companies have unlimited power, executive Ben Larson (Sean Teale, Reign) is forced to change his identity in order to infiltrate a cut-throat corporate world at SPIGA and save the woman he loves. In the process, he will take on the entire system — with deadly consequences.

Dennis Haysbert plays series regular Julian, Head of Security and probably the most feared person at SPIGA headquarters. Part detective and part grand inquisitor, Julian is a tenacious investigator with an uncanny ability to sniff out moles and traitors in the company. Haysbert’s numerous credits include Major League, The Unit, Absolute Power, Jarhead and Ted 2.

David Hewlett has joined the cast of the pilot as Chad, a high-level executive at SPIGA, the all-powerful company in Incorporated, who has reached his position by appeasing his superiors and taking credit for the achievements of his subordinates. Hewlett has appeared in SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe, Dark Matter and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Ian Tracey has joined the cast of the pilot as Terrence, a corrupt businessman who quickly becomes a benefactor to Theo (Eddie Ramos, Parenthood), but could also become a threat to Ben’s plans for SPIGA. Tracey has starred in Intelligence, Rogue and Bates Motel.

The pilot will also star Georgina Haig (Once Upon a Time), Eddie Ramos (Teen Wolf) and Julia Ormond (Mad Men).

Incorporated is created by David and Alex Pastor (Selfless, The Last Days), who wrote and will direct the pilot. Ted Humphrey (The Good Wife) will serve as executive producer/showrunner, with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Todd also executive producing. Pearl Street Film’s Margaret Chernin will serve as associate producer.

Actress Yvonne Craig, best known for her pioneering role of Batgirl in the original Batman TV series, died on Monday in her home at the age of 78 after a two year long battle with breast cancer.

Craig’s foray into acting came quite accidentally. While working as a dancer, she had dinner with a producer who wanted to get her into films, but she was uninterested. But another man passed by her table and asked if she was an actress. The producer said, “Yes she is, and I’m her manager…” The man was Patrick Ford, the son of director John Ford, and was looking for a new leading lady to star opposite Patrick Wayne (John Wayne’s son) in The Young Land. And thus the dancer became the actress.

But it was when ABC wanted them to add the Batgirl character to Batman‘s third season that she was forever enshrined in genre fan’s memories. The purple-suited, motorcycle-riding female superhero (one of the first such live action roles), who’s real identity was a mystery even to Batman himself but was in reality Commissioner Gordon’s daughter Barbara, the librarian, helped ABC’s decision to pick up the show for a third (and final) season.

Star Trek fans will also remember Craig as the beautiful (but insane) green-skinned Orion slave girl Marta in the episode “Whom Gods Destroy”.

Private services are planned but not set. Her family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the cancer research and treatment center, the Angeles Clinic Foundation.

On the next episode of Dark Matter, the crew plots to retake the ship from a group of ruthless mercenaries hell-bent on delivering them to the Galactic Authority. Tune in Friday at 10/9c on Syfy!
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