Sci-Fi Storm

The Japanese live-action version of the anime series Space Battleship Yamato (known as Star Blazers in the US) has torn up the box office in Japan – but there has been no word of a US release, dubbed or otherwise. But Deadline is reporting that an American live-action version is in the works. David Ellison, through his Skydance Productions (which financed True Grit), is negotiating the rights, and plans to hire Christopher McQuarrie to write the script. What is interesting is the article says that Star Blazers was “based on” the original Space Battleship Yamato – it was really an edited/dubbed version, with mostly only minor changes for the American audience (like rather than glorify a Japanese WWII battleship, they re-christened the ship the Argo from Greek mythology, and to tone down some of the more adult themes and Japanese patriotism), but the article makes it seem more like two independent but similar productions.

I wouldn’t mind seeing a dubbed version of the Japanese version though…I’m not sure I could sit through a feature-length visual eye-fest while having to keep reading subtitles…

We are deeply saddened to learn that actor Nicholas Courtney, who for years was best known for his role first as Colonel and then as Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, known simply as “The Brigadier”, passed away yesterday at the age of 81.

Courtney was the only actor to work with all seven of the Doctor’s original incarnations, including William Hartnell (as another character), and Hartnell’s lookalike replacement for “The Five Doctors”, Richard Hurndall, as The Brigadier (his appearance with Colin Baker was for the charity special “Dimensions In Time”), and worked with the later incarnations (except Christopher Eccleston) through many Big Finish audio adventures. A fan favorite, he was often at the top of polls of classic characters that people would like to see appear in the revived series, and he did make an appearance as the Brigadier in an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures in 2008.

He is survived by his wife and two children. He was 81.

In the next all-new episode of Merlin, Cenred has Gwen cornered and lays out an ultimatum. He threatens her and makes her very aware that she could lose her kidnapped brother that Cenred is holding if she doesn’t deliver Arthur to him. She claims she has no association to the Prince, but obviously both know better. With tears in her eyes, Gwen contemplates what is most important and how she will ever decide while Morgause sits out of sight with a sinister smirk adorning her face. Watch the clip and be sure to tune in on Friday at 10/9c to see what Gwen will decide. Will her love for Arthur win out, or will she decide family ties run deeper?

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Ghostbusters saw some renewed interest in the past couple of years, and a script has been done – so why isn’t it getting made? It’s been long said that Bill Murray has been squeamish on doing another sequel – but Ivan Reitman reportedly said in Germany this past weekend Murray had read the script. Apparently that’s not true. Murray says he has NOT read the script, and although he admits he really should read it, Ghostbusters 2 really turned him off from doing sequels in general – despite the fun had with the cast and crew.

All I know is that if there is another Ghostbusters movie – whoever the cast is – my kids want to see it. It may not be the same for me, but I think there is an audience…

Syfy has announced the following return dates. All times are in Eastern:

Stargate Universe returns March 7th at 10pm for its 10 episode final run.

Destination Truth comes back Thursday, March 17th with a live Banshee hunt in Ireland at 7pm, and then moves to Tuesday nights starting March 22nd at 9pm.

Also on March 22nd, the new high-tech cooking reality show Marcel’s Quantum Kitchen, starring chef Marcel Vigneron, at 10pm.

Fact or Faked then returns the next night, Wednesday March 23rd, at 10pm.

And finally, Sanctuary concludes Season 3 starting April 15th at 10pm.

Updated: Syfy has also acquired rights to all 31 episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and will begin airing them on April 7th.

Despite being moved into the Friday night “death slot”, Fringe seems to refuse to lay for its fate. Seems that despite two consecutive drops, the J.J. Abrams-led sci-fi series on Fox saw a 7% gain this past Friday, getting a 1.4/5 rating. So perhaps the “death slot” is highly overrated, or perhaps antiquated?

Doing my periodic update of our Sci-Fi TV Store (if you think anything should be included, let me know!)…the next two classic Doctor Who releases will be [sfs=1107]”Frontios”[/sfs] and [sfs=1108]”Time And The Rani”[/sfs], released on June 14th; the classic Krofft show H.R. Pufnstuf gets a new [sfs=1109]Collector’s Edition[/sfs] which includes the only episode of “Horror Hotel”, a combo-spinoff featuring characters from Pufnstuff and Lidsville (along with a new [sfs=1110]standard release[/sfs]), out on April 12th; the MacGyver [sfs=1111]TV movies[/sfs], (released last June but I missed it); the CGI series ReBoot finally get’s its [sfs=1113]first two seasons[/sfs] released on DVD on March 1st; and The Twilight Zone get its Blu-Ray releases, with [sfs=1116]Season 3[/sfs] just out and [sfs=1117]Season 4[/sfs] due in May.

On the movie side, The Chronicles of Nania: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be released on April 8th on [sfs=1118]Blu-ray[/sfs] and [sfs=1119]DVD[/sfs].

Peter Mayhew, the 7+ foot talk actor to provide life to Chewbacca in 4 Star Wars films, will reprise the role in a different way for the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars. While Mr. Mayhew played the physical role in the movies, the “voice” was a mixed recording of animal sounds. For the animated show, no physical actor is necessary – but Mayhew has learned to recreated the “Wookiee growls” and will do so for the upcoming two part season finale. In the episodes “Padawan Lost” and “Wookiee Hunt”, Chewbacca will cross paths with Anakin’s apprentice Ahsoka Tano. The finale is scheduled for April 1st.

Aaron Ashmore, who played photographer Jimmy Olsen in Smallville, has been recruited as Pete’s new partner on Warehouse 13. He plays Steve Jinks, a young ATF agent with an innate ability to detect when someone’s lying, who is recruited by Mrs. Frederic (CCH Pounder) to become Pete Lattimer’s (Eddie McClintock) new partner.

If you forget, at the end of last season Myka (Joanne Kelly) quit the Warehouse – so what happens to her? We’ll have to see.

FYI, the recent holiday episode officially took place outside the timeline where Myka quit…it can be inserted anywhere prior to the season ender…

Firefly will make another return – in reruns, alas – but this time on the Science Channel. It will start Sunday night, March 6th, at 8PM ET with the original two hour pilot, followed by the first episode at 10PM. Then each Sunday will have an encore of the previous episode at 9PM, and the next one at 10PM.

As a special treat for “Firefly” fans, star of Science Channel’s “Sci-Fi Science,” and the cofounder of string field theory, Dr. Michio Kaku, will be commentating on the science behind “Firefly” for each episode. From terraforming, to anti-matter, Kaku will be explaining why the science fiction featured in the show really isn’t that far from science fact.

When “Firefly” first aired in 2002, Whedon’s sci-fi western quickly became a cult favorite. Set 500 years in the future, in the aftermath of a universal civil war, the story centers on the renegade crew of a small transport spaceship led by “Castle’s” Nathan Fillion, who directs the ragtag team through adventures into unknown parts of the galaxy, as they try to evade warring factions as well as authority agents out to get them.