Sci-Fi Storm

Just hearing now that Comedy Central has renewed the resurrected Futurama for an additional 26 episodes to air in 2012 and 2013. The remaining 13 episodes from the first order are due to air this summer.

Futurama originally aired on Fox from 1999-2003, when it was canceled. 6 years later Comedy Central brought it back, with great success – Season 6 so far has average 2.5 million viewers.

The Cartoon Network announced at its upfront presentations today that they have renewed Star Wars: The Clone Wars for a fourth season, along with forming a new partnership with DC Comics and Warner Brothers to create a programming block to be titled DC Nation. In addition Jeffrey Katzenberg, Co-founder and CEO of DreamWorks Animation, appeared to announce that CN and DreamWorks will develop a half-hour cartoon based on the hugely successful How To Train Your Dragon feature.

DC Nation will begin in 2012 as a multi-platform franchise, and the exclusive home for DC properties. Although no specific programming is mentioned, it will include an on-air and online programming block populated with event programming, interstitials, exclusive behind-the-scenes of theatrical production and an insider look into the world of all things DC. “DC Nation on Cartoon Network will be the first-ever dedicated broadcast destination to showcase the depth and breadth of the DC Universe,” said Diane Nelson, President of DC Entertainment. “We and our partners at WBTV are thrilled that fans will be able to immerse themselves in DC’s phenomenal stories, experience a wide spectrum of amazing characters and stay up-to-date on the latest happenings of the world’s greatest superheroes and their creators, both on-air and online.”

“DreamWorks Animation recognizes the importance of building brands around great franchises, so you can imagine how thrilled we are to be joining forces with Cartoon Network to bring our newest franchise – How to Train Your Dragon – to television audiences around the world,” said Katzenberg. Dragon has grossed over $500 million worldwide so far.

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Finally! The extended editions of all three Lord Of The Rings movies will be released on [sfs=1121]Blu-ray on June 28th[/sfs]. A whopping 15 discs are included – 6 Blu-ray discs containing the features plus some of the extras (alas, each movie is divided in half – apparently too big for a standard Blu-ray), plus 9 discs for all the other extras (26 hours worth!). As far as I can tell it is pretty much the same extras as on previous releases, but it is hard to tell with so much stuff…

Per TV|Line, the premiere date for Torchwood: Miracle Day in the U.S. has been set for July 8th on Starz. No word if the BBC will match it yet, or will still use the originally rumored July 1st date.

Torchwood: Miracle Day is jointly produced by Starz and the BBC, with the Torchwood team dividing time between Britain and the U.S. Captain Jack (John Barrowman) and Gwen (Eve Myles) return, and this time are being joined by Mekhi Phfifer (ER) and Alexa Havins (All My Children), and the cast also includes Bill Pullman (Independence Day) and Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under).

In the next sneak peek clip of the all-new episode of Being Human, Josh approaches Nora while at work in the hospital. He quickly realizes she is annoyed and mad and that she should be because he basically vanished and hasn’t seen her in two days. All he can do is continue to say he’s sorry, but she’s been rehearsing a conversation in her head that she need to have with him, and it tends to not go well. Watch the clip to find out what she’s been wanting to say and tune in on Monday at 9/8c on Syfy to see how if Josh is able to turn things around or if they continue to head south.
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In the next sneak peek clip of the all-new episode of Stargate Universe, Rush and Eli try to distract themselves from the chaos of whether or not a bomb was diffused by playing some chess. Meanwhile, others are discussing favorite songs until they dispatch Colonel Young because they think they’ve finally made contact with Ginn. Watch the clip and tune in on Monday at 10/9c on Syfy to see if they are able to make some headway on allowing her to know exactly where she is and why.

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With tonight’s debut of Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen. on Syfy (10pm ET), Syfy and CHOW.com are offering a sweepstakes to win a trip for two to LA and meet and dine with Marcel Vigneron himself. If you aren’t familiar with the show yet, see the video clip below:
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As rumored last November, the long developing remake of Dune is dead. Paramount failed to come to an agreement to extend the rights, and now the option has lapsed. Producer Richard P. Rubinstein says, “I’m going to look at my options, and whether I wind up taking the script we developed in turnaround, or start over, I’m not sure yet.”

Along with the big programming announcement, Syfy also said that with the success of their “Countdown to Christmas Week” last December which featured special holiday episodes of Eureka and Warehouse 13, this year those shows plus Ghost Hunters and Haven will feature holiday-themed episodes, and the week’s centerpiece this year will be Neverland, featuring the voice of Keira Knightley as Tinker Bell, which we’ve reported on earlier.

Syfy will also have a Twilight Zone New Years marathon for the 17th straight year.

Syfy just announced it’s new slate of shows…and it is big. Yes, it includes a lot of reality shows (they pay the bills), but there are some interesting twists…below you can read the full press release for all the details, but here are some highlights…FYI, exact dates are to be determined later…

First off, the scripted programming…Alphas, which will debut in July along with new episodes of Warehouse 13, Eureka and Haven, is about a team of seemingly ordinary people who have brain anomalies that give them extraordinary mental and physical powers. They form a team led by Dr. Leigh Rosen (Emmy Award-winner and Oscar nominee David Strathairn) to investigate cases of other possible Alpha activity.

Battlestar: Blood & Chrome (see previous news) is still in development and is awaiting a debut date.

On the reality side, three series are ready for this summer:

Haunted Collector (June, working title) follows John Zaffis and his family of renowned paranormal investigators as they investigate possible paranormal objects (Ghost Hunters meets Hollywood Treasure?)

Legend Quest (July) follows Ashley Crowe, a renowned real-life symbologist, in what is described as “Indiana Jones-type adventure and Da Vinci Code-style connections”

Paranormal Witness (September) – a combination documentary and drama recreation about people who have had paranormal experiences that defy explanation.

In the development bin there are three series described as “Single-camera half hours”. I believe this is what Mark Stern referred to as comedies in dinner last October, but done single-camera style, more typically associated with dramas:

Three Inches, about daydreamer and underachiever Walter Spackman who gets struck by lightning and develops the power to transport objects with his mind – but only three inches. And he discovers others with these “super” powers…

In The Dark, which follows a team of inept paranormal investigators.

Me and Lee, where Lee Majors comes to the rescue of a down-on-his-luck 20 something who has back surgery that goes bad, and brings him to his high-tech lab and makes him bionic.

And in development in reality series is a very long slate, with shows that feature Motley Crüe’s Tommy Lee investigating secret societies and rituals, Cleve Hall and his family run monster factory; Deepak Chopra having dinner and discussions with interesting guests; and a Scrapheap/Junkyard Wars type show for making “chain reaction” machines.

On the movie front, there is a lot as well, going well into 2012. Red Faction: Origins, based on the video game series, is probably the most anticipated and features Robert Patrick (Terminator 2), Brian Jacob Smith (Stargate Universe), and Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood). A few other titles that stood out (titles subject to change – you can get more details below): Zombie Apocalypse, Snowmageddon (they stole the title from my tweet in February – they WERE filming at my house! :)), and Dungeons and Dragons 4 – although I’m not aware of a third movie having been produced…oh, and let’s not forget Bigfoot, The Asylum’s next stunt-cast monster movie, featuring Danny Bonaduce (The Partridge Family) vs. Barry Williams (The Brady Bunch). Time to start thinking of some of my own celebrity deathmatch movies…how about Billy Mumy vs. Wil Wheaton? 🙂

LOTS of interesting stuff. Of course, more scripted dramas would be nice…
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