Sci-Fi Storm

Oh, my…I think this will be far and above better than X-Men: Apocalypse…in theaters June 7, 2019.

Star Trek: Short Treks is a series of four stand-alone short episodes of Star Trek: Discovery that start next week on October 4th on CBS All Access as a lead-in to the return of the show early next year, and each will focus on a particular character. The first of these is “Runaway”, starring Mary Wiseman as Tilly.

In theaters November 16th

Wait, Nagini is a WHAT?!?

In theaters this Christmas.

Hot off the presses! Premieres Sunday, October 7th…

Despite Disney focusing a lot on its upcoming streaming service, they aren’t leaving their broadcast network out in the Marvel cold – Deadline reports ABC has given a production commitment for a series about female superheroes written by Allan Heinberg, the scribe behind Wonder Woman. No title or description has been given so far, but it is expected to focus on some lesser superheroes within the Marvel universe.

Heinberg has worked on various Shondaland series for ABC, starting with Grey’s Anatomy in 2006. And for Marvel Comics, he co-created and wrote Young Avengers and Avengers: The Children’s Crusade with co-creator/artist Jim Cheung. For DC Comics he re-launched Wonder Woman in 2006 and co-wrote JLA: Crisis Of Conscience.

Variety is reporting that Disney may be stacking the deck for its upcoming streaming video service by starting early development on some limited series based around characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and Loki and the Scarlet Witch are likely the be first.

The plan is for a number of limited series – generally 6 to 8 episodes each, and are expected to feature the same actors as have appeared in the MCU as well. Marvel Studios will produce and MCU shepherd Kevin Feige is expected to be fully hands on for the development. This differs than the previous network and Netflix efforts, which have focused on other characters or secondary characters from the MCU.

They would join a Star Wars series from Jon Favreau and a High School Musical series, along with original movies and recent releases.

Coming March 8th, 2019

We are sad to learn of the passing yesterday of actress Zienia Merton, most known for her role as Analyst Sandra Benes in Space: 1999, per her publicist and friend Barry Langford. Merton also appeared in an early episode of Doctor Who, “Marco Polo”, which is unfortunately one of the remaining “lost” episodes.

Anyone who follows me knows I was a big fan of Space: 1999, and there was something about Merton’s character that despite the relatively minor role was memorable, and was one of the few carried into the severely retooled second season of the show. And she even took part in the fan-produced “conclusion” of the series, “Message From Moonbase Alpha”, which featured her alone in a recorded message to Earth telling that the crew of Moonbase Alpha were finally forced to abandon the moonbase and make a new life on a planet.

And the irony of the date of Merton’s passing was not lost on me…September 13th, 2018 – 19 years after the moon was blasted out of orbit…

With apparently no appearances of Superman planned in the DC film universe, especially after the very underwhelming response for Justice League, the news has been flying that Henry Cavill will be hanging up the cape. However, there doesn’t seem to be a lot in the way of official statements from Cavill’s camp, and Warner Bros released a statement earlier today stating that “We have a great relationship and great respect for Henry Cavill that continues to remain unchanged. Additionally we have made no current decisions regarding any upcoming Superman films.”

Warner Bros has been thinking about their DC focus a lot lately as they have yet to find a formula to compete with the hugely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe. Wonder Woman was the most successful in the franchise so far, which was led by a female actress and director, unlike the other films, which were directed by Zack Snyder. Currently they are still moving forward with Wonder Woman 1984 and Aquaman, and Shazam! opens next April, but a sequel to Justice League seems to be dead and Ben Affleck appears to be on the outside looking in while the look at a Batman reboot. It appears that WB/DC may next focus on a Supergirl film, perhaps leading to a female-lead franchise. So as far as Cavill is concerned, he may just not be reprising the role simply because there is no film in which for him to do it.

I don’t know exactly what is wrong with the DC films, so I don’t know exactly how to fix it, but I think one of the main reasons at least to me is the failure to make the characters interesting. The the MCU we were introduced to likeable characters (who weren’t the “top tier” necessarily) in several films who were later assembled (yes, I said it) to form the megamovie. DC appeared to be running on the assumption we’d like the characters because we always have by taking their flagship character, give him a film, then immediately start folding in other characters and conflicts, without really letting us get to liking them. Nothing about it felt interesting with the exception of Wonder Woman. Parts of Justice League just seemed nonsensical. So maybe a refocus is warranted…