Sci-Fi Storm

Yet again I won’t be at San Diego Comic-Con (big surprise, but I will be in the Orlando area instead helping to raise money for Give Kids The World, so I have a reasonable excuse), but Syfy will be there with cameras, offering three nights of live coverage, hosted by Will Arnett (The LEGO Movie, The Millers).

The special will broadcast live from the heart of San Diego Comic-Con on the network Thursday, July 21 through Saturday, July 23 at 8/7c. The live broadcast will bring the biggest party of the summer with the biggest stars, action and excitement of the San Diego experience directly into fans’ homes.

“We’re so excited to have Will host our first-ever Syfy Presents Live From Comic-Con,” said Heather Olander, Senior Vice President, Alternative Series Development and Production, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, Entertainment Networks. “There is nobody more perfect to host this event than Will, who has created iconic roles for every part he plays, appealing to so many unique audiences. This year we’re thrilled to be able to give viewers at home a live, real-time Comic-Con experience with Will at the helm.”

Arnett, who most recently starred in the Paramount hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, will also be in town promoting the eagerly anticipated Lego Batman movie. Besides the Turtles and Lego Movie franchises, Arnett is an accomplished TV actor with five Emmy nominations from iconic shows such as Arrested Development, and 30 Rock. He also, created, wrote and starred in the Netflix’s original series Flaked and is the lead voice in Netflix’s acclaimed animated show BoJack Horseman.

Each night, Arnett will invite hundreds of fans at Syfy Presents Live From Comic-Con’s outdoor stage to discuss and engage in the Con’s breaking news, insider party coverage, and exclusive content and sneak peeks of the most anticipated films and TV series. Arnett will also conduct interviews with the biggest stars from the hottest franchises during this unprecedented three-night broadcast, bringing non-stop action and fan surprises directly to viewers across the country.

In addition, starting Sunday, July 17, Syfy will kick off a celebration of all things Comic-Con, on-air, online and across its social media platforms, offering fans exclusive content, “digital shorts” and exclusive trailer premieres to fuel their excitement throughout the entire week. SYFY’S 7 DAYS OF COMIC-CON will continue through July 23.

Actor Anton Yelchin, who has been playing the role of PAvel Checkov in the three recent Star Trek movies, as well as roles in Terminator: Salvation and Alphas Dogs among others, passed away early this morning in a freak automobile accident at the age of 27.

It appears that Yelchin had exited his car while it was running, and it rolled, pinning him against a brick post next to a security gate, suffering traumatic injuries.

Yelchin was born in St. Petersburg, Russia (back then it was still called Leningrad as part of the Soviet Union), but emigrated with his parents (professional figure skaters ho qualified for the 1972 Olympics but because they were Jewish were not permitted to represent the USSR) to the United States when he was only 6 months old. His parents went on to become skating instructors, but at a young age he showed more interest in acting than skating. He made his acting debut at the age of 10 in a guest spot on ER in 2000. and just a year later earned acclaim opposite Anthony Hopkins in Heart of Atlantis, earning a Young Artist Award.

While it’s been a couple years and it doesn’t seem like much movement forward since we reported that Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich still planned to reboot the Stargate movie franchise, the fact that they are still talking about it is a good sign it might still happen, and it appears they are actively developing it at Warner Bros.

After MGM took the rights and decided to develop a TV series without the duo, also responsible for Independence Day and it’s upcoming sequel, Independence Day: Resurgence – the first sequel that Emmerich has actually worked on, apparently – spawning two additional TV series, the studio now considers the TV franchise as “played out”, sitting idle since 2011, opening the door for the reboot. The various regime changes at MGM likely has helped as well.

“It was taken away from us, and it’s tough to have your children raised by other parents, even if they do a very good job…for us, it’s not putting down what has been done. It’s to let us finish telling our story,” according to Devlin.

Devlin and Emmerich have always talked about how they planned Stargate as a trilogy, but now with over 20 years having passed since the original movie, instead of just moving on to a sequel the two feel an entire reboot would make the most sense. It will be interesting to see – it worked for the Battlestar Galactica reboot.