Sci-Fi Storm

[The following is a submitted article]

On the weekend of August 13 and 14, a new science-fiction event will be splashing down in London, and it will be presided over by Claudia Christian, who starred in “Babylon 5.”

The event will allow fans unrivaled access to all the genre stars that will be attending, many of whom are some of Claudia’s personal friends.

Proceeds from ClaudiaCon will go towards helping out BlESMA, that provides war veterans with prosthetic limbs and Guide Dogs, which provide seeing-eye dogs for the blind. Both of these are UK-based charities.
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After the odd short season order and speculation about cancellation afterwards for Eureka, from which Syfy backed off a bit, now comes news that Syfy’s canceled plans for that 6th season – which apparently leaves the show more or less canceled.

According to The Hollywood Reporter‘s James Hibberd, Syfy issued the following statement:

After painstaking consideration, we have had to make the difficult business decision to not order a season six of Eureka. But Eureka is not over yet. There is a new holiday episode this December and 12 stellar episodes set to debut next year, marking its fifth season and six memorable years on Syfy. The 2012 episodes are some of the best we’ve seen, and will bring this great series to a satisfying end. We are very grateful to Bruce Miller and Jaime Paglia, their team of incredible writers, and an amazing cast and crew who have consistently delivered a series we continue to be very proud of. We thank the fans for their support of this show and know they will enjoy its final season in 2012.

Syfy has not yet publicly released a statement. (Update: This is now Syfy’s official statement on the matter.)
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I’ve mentioned a bit about the finer details shown in the pilot episode of Falling Skies, especially for the location, in our First Look article. After all, when they are portraying the area you live in and you are generally a nitpicker (although I don’t let that spoil my enjoyment), you notice things.

The show is shot in the Toronto area, and has provided an architectural and landscape match for the areas of Acton, Concord and Littleton in Massachusetts. However I noticed that they appeared to avoid signage in the area. I wasn’t sure why, but different locations do tend to have uniqueness to their signs.
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The upcoming In Time looks very interesting. A touch of Logan’s Run, time – in the sense of how long you live – is a commodity which can be earned and traded.

When Will Salas is falsely accused of murder, he must figure out a way to bring down a system where time is money – literally – enabling the wealthy to live forever while the poor, like Will, have to beg, borrow, and steal enough minutes to make it through another day.

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The two-hour season finale of Falling Skies airs tonight on TNT, and tonight the stars will take to Twitter to chat and answer questions about the show live from 9PM-11PM ET/6PM-8PM PT.

Series star Noah Wyle, will be joined by cast members: Drew Roy, Sarah Sanguin Carter, Colin Cunningham, Connor Jessup and co-executive producer and writer Mark Verheiden. Wyle will tweet from the @fallingskiesTNT account with other cast members and Verheiden will use their personal Twitter accounts.

Falling Skies Twitter Handles:
Noah Wyle: @fallingskiesTNT
Drew Roy: @drew_roy
Sarah Sanguin Carter: @sanguin_carter
Colin Cunningham: @CunninghamColin
Conner Jessup: @ConnorJessup
Mark Verheiden: @MarkVerheiden

Fans can submit questions on Twitter via the #FSChat

So fans – and even cast – were caught by surprise by Deadline’s interpretation of the news that Syfy had commissioned a sixth series of Eureka – but for only 6 episodes, which Deadline took to mean that the series was wrapping up.

Well, the tweets were ablaze after that, with stars Colin Ferguson and Salli Richardson getting in on it, and Colin making phone calls. Since then, Syfy’s president of original programming, Mark Stern, released an official statement:

“Bruce Miller and Jaime Paglia have brought a creative vitality to Eureka that has kept it fresh and inventive. Although we do not have a commitment beyond six episodes for the sixth season, we are hopeful that this will not be the end of the franchise.”

So it seems that, like with any series, it could be the last episodes, there has been no definitive decision in that regard. For whatever reason the network and the producers could only agree on the 6 at this point, and it could be a way to tie up story lines in a way that it could be, but not necessarily be the end.

Even still, we have 19 more planned episodes (not including the rest of Season 4.5) including a holiday episode to look forward to!

At least we don’t think it’s a joke…Deadline is reporting that Fox has ordered a new version of the late Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, and the new series will be produced by – wait for it – Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane.

Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey will be a 13-part series produced by MacFarlane and Sagan’s original collaborators – his widow Ann Druyan and astrophysicist Steven Soter, and will be hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

According to the producers, the new series will tell “the story of how human beings began to comprehend the laws of nature and find our place in space and time. It will take viewers to other worlds and travel across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest scale. The most profound scientific concepts will be presented with stunning clarity, uniting skepticism and wonder, and weaving rigorous science with the emotional and spiritual into a transcendent experience.”

Fox will air the show in primetime, with encores shown on the National Geographic channel, which will co-produce.

The new “Powerful Mondays” lineup on Syfy featuring Eureka, Warehouse 13, and Alphas certainly seems to be doing the trick for the network – overall viewers were up 8% in July, plus double digit gains in 3 key Male demographics over July of last year – 18% in Men 18-34 (126,000), 16% in Men 18-49 (341,000), and 13% in Men 25-54 (392,000).

Syfy launched Summer Premiere Week on July 11, showcasing the “Most Powerful Night of the Week” with Eureka at 8PM, Warehouse 13 at 9PM and newcomer Alphas at 10PM. That night became Syfy’s highest Monday time period audience for scripted series in more than 10 years.
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Here are this week’s sneak peeks for next Monday’s “Powerful Mondays” lineup on Syfy, featuring Eureka, Warehouse 13 and Alphas.
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The Weinstein Company (TWC) and Rainmaker Entertainment (the production company responsible for several of the Barbie movies since 2008) announced today the all-star voice cast for the animated Escape from Planet Earth, due for release in the U.S. 2012.

Brendan Fraser (The Mummy movies), Sarah Jessica Parker (Sex and the City), Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four), Rob Corddry (Childrens Hospital, Hot Tub Time Machine)), James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) and Craig Robinson (The Office) will all lend their voices. The 3D animated family comedy is currently in full production.
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