Sci-Fi Storm

The long-awaited fourth installment in the Indiana Jones franchise, in the works for years, is finally going to be filmed. No plot details have been given, but George Lucas said “It’s going to be fantastic. It’s going to be the best one yet.” Harrison Ford will definitely reprise the title role. Of course, it has to compete with The DaVinci Code-style treasure hunting and knock-off reality shows.

The 2007 Tournament of Roses Parade, which kicks off New Year’s Day, will have a tribute to Star Wars, including George Lucas as the Grand Marshall, and members of the “501st Legion”, an unofficial group of hardcore fans that appear in authentic replica costumes. Lucasfilm is flying in 200 of them from around the world to participate. Also, the Grambling State University Marching Band will appear in Imperial officer uniforms. At each end of the tribute section of the parade will be floats – one scene from Endor, the other of Naboo.

Margaret Weis Productions, owned by the NYT best-selling author and publisher of the Serenity role-playing game, has reached an agreement to bring Battlestar Galactica to the role-playing universe.

Scholastic, J.K. Rowling’s U.S. publisher for her Harry Potter books, announced on their website that the title for the final installment will be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. They say it was announced on J.K.’s website, but I haven’t found it yet. [Sorry for the delay in posting this – I was rebuilding my home network]

The BBC has has announced a deal to offer hundreds of its TV programs for download via the Zudeo web service, and offshoot of Azureus, a popular BitTorrent client. Zudeo will offer HD-quality downloads, and a special BBC Channel. The Zudeo client (a.k.a. Azureus 3.0) will be required.

If anyone watched the premiere episode of the new NBC game show Identity last night, you may have noticed a strangely dressed person in the back, #12. He looked familiar to me, but I couldn’t quite place it. Well, he never got picked, but I was pegging him for the “UFOlogist”. Well, at the end they got to say what their identity was, and he said “May the power of the Cosmos be with you!” Suddenly it call came back – it was Dr. Franklin Ruehl, who had one of the original programs on the SCI FI Channel which I believe aired on Saturday mornings before Sci-Fi Buzz, called Mysteries From Beyond the Other Dominion. You can see more of Dr. Ruehl here.

AMC may need to change their name, if they haven’t already. The cable channel (“American Movie Classics”, although I guess it depends on what they mean by “Classics”) is getting more into the original scripted programming business, and their recent pick? A remake of the British classic The Prisoner. There are few details, other than a target air date of January 2008, and a minimum of six to eight episodes. They also have the rights to the original show starting Patrick McGoohan and will air it around the same time.

Variety is reporting that ABC has pulled the plug on Day Break and the Shatner-hosted Show Me The Money. Day Break‘s numbers have been disappointing, but the “Shat-tastic” Money was a bit of a surprise – it was doing OK, but when Nielsens Week hit, it did horribly. Technically, Money is on “hiatus”, but we know what that usually means. The remaining two episodes of Day Break are supposed to be released on ABC.com.

According to The TREK Movie Report, CBS has been pitched a new animated series to extend Star Trek into the 26th century, picking up 150 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, and 60 years after a terrible war with the Romulans, leaving the parts of the Federation cut off, the Klingon homeworld occupied, the Vulcans withdrawn from the Federation, and the Andorian homeworld destroyed. It follows Captain Alexander Chase and crew of the latest Enterprise as a border patrol ship, hoping to bring back the “the glory days of seeking out new life and new civilizations.” It would likely be done as a webcast, with mini-episodes similar to Clone Wars. No word yet from CBS.

Wiley Saichek writes “TOKYOPOP redesigned the website for their POP Fiction line of international teen novels. Visit http://www.tokyopop.com/popfiction for descriptions, excerpts and reviews of their Fall 2006 releases: MAGIC MOON, KINO NO TABI, SCRAPPED PRINCESS and WITCHES’ FOREST. Check back for more details on several upcoming 2007 novels, such as CHAIN MAIL: Addicted to You (January), THE TWELVE KINGDOMS: Sea of Shadow (March) and TRINITY BLOOD: Rage Against the Moons (April).”