Sci-Fi Storm

This is late – it was announced yesterday but my day was screwed up…Not sure if this is the first step towards UPN killing it, but starting March 10th Star Trek: Enterprise is shifting to the 9pm ET slot formerly occupied by Jake 2.0, and in its place at 8pm will air the new computer animated half-hour show Game Over, with the voices of Patrick Warburton (The Tick), Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels), E.G. Daily (Powerpuff Girls) and Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live) who live in a video game universe. At 8:30pm UPN will air sitcom The Mullets.

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King swepts its categories at the Golden Globes, winning Best Film Drama, Best Directory (Peter Jackson), Best Original Score and Best Song (“Into the West” performed by Annie Lennox). Those bodes well for the Oscars, for which nominations come out tomorrow. However, it will have to fight some Oscar traditions, which generally don’t favor sequels. Update 1/27: RotK took the lead with 11 nominations, but not for Cinematography, which the first one won in 2002, or any acting categories.

tchansen writes “According to SciFiWire (DVD Recuts Daredevil), the director’s cut of Daredevil will be quite different from the theatrical release, including a rating change from PG-13 to R. Personally, I thought that it was a bit too much for a PG-13 movie so I think this could be a good thing.”

Chris Gardner writes “It looks like Galactica is a go. The suits are worried about the per episode cost but strong ratings last month seems to have convinced them for a six episode try.

Scoop reported by Cinescape.” This is an unconfirmed report at this stage.

Enterprise‘s lead out show, Jake 2.0, has been cancelled by UPN, and given previous changes and uncertainty about Enterprise, this doesn’t bode well for Captain Archer and crew. I think regardless it will make it through the season to get the target goal of 3 season of shows for syndication, but it may be the shortest Trek show since the original. Shorter, in fact. The original went 79 episodes – Enterprise is only scheduled for 76.

Haven’t pre-ordered your copy of Jeremiah Season 1 yet? The kind folks helping promote the Stargate SG-1 and Jeremiah have forwarded this printable coupon (660k jpeg) for $5 from most any brick-and-mortar retailer.

Artist R. Dennis Antorini has produced a couple of Flash animations – one for Larry Niven’s Ringworld and one for his Known Space universe in general. Very cool stuff – and not just because they mention my Enyclopedia of Known Space…

They’re still out there. Part two of the Doctor Who episode “The Dalek Master Plan”, subtitled “Day of Armageddon”, has been found and said to be in “very good quality,” probably as a 16mm B/W print. The original episode was 12 parts (the longest, and described as “an all-round masterpiece” in the book A Voyage Through 25 Years of Doctor Who), and this is only the third to be found. A BBC engineer at the time they were throwing out the prints from their vault (policy back in the early 70s for old prints not expected to see light again, to make room) “borrowed” it from the trash. There are still 108 missing episodes, so check your attic…

The SCI FI Channel continues to purchase established shows. They announced that they are picking up Andromeda for a fifth season, along with rerun rights to all of them, from Tribune Entertainment. Also mentioned in the deal is all 66 episodes of Beastmaster, but it doesn’t say anything about new production (I believe the show was cancelled in 2002). Both shows were in the syndicated market.

According to SCI FI Wire (I couldn’t find the original), in an interview with BBCi Films Bill Nighy, previously rumored to be a front runner for the Doctor Who position, spilled the beans that he has been cast as Slartibartfast in the new Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy feature film, with fellow Love, Actually actor Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent.