Sci-Fi Storm

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Over at Dark Horizons there is mention that Lion’s Gate Films is working on a prequel to the interesting 1997 film Cube, where several people find themselves prisoners inside a maze of cubes, some of which move, and some of which are deadly. The prequel, named Cube Zero, looks to wipe away the “clean” look of it’s predecessor (and the sequel Hpercube, which I haven’t seen yet), and go for a dirtier, grittier look.

Not a lot newswise worth publishing over the weekend that we haven’t already covered. Even this isn’t really new news, but a confirmation – the 7 minute scene fearturing the defeated Saruman originally filmed for the The Two Towers but later tacked on to The Return of the Kins only to be cut, will appear on the extended edition DVD of The Return of the King. The original edit clocked in at 4 hours and 15 minutes. In the meantime, the limited release of the extended edition of The Two Towers in theaters brought in another $700k.

The new Battlestar Galactica miniseries premieres this coming Monday at 9PM ET on the SCI FI Channel. I recently finally watched The Lowdown on it, and there was more information about the changes that have been made. Aside from the known (Starbuck is female, and so is Boomer), the Cylons are now more humanlike (with some mechanicals) originally created by the humans (in the original the Cylon race was actually extinct, and what was referred to as Cylons were their creation). And the Galactica itself is not a flagship but an old clunker ready for mothballs. I have mixed feelings, but will at least watch it to let it stand on its own. Updated 12/10: Fast-forwarding to give people a chance to comment…

Got this in e-mail: “Profiles in History? Auction to Offer incredible selection of Film and Television Memorabilia artifacts. Including those from ?Star Wars,? ?Blade Runner,? ?Jaws? and ?The Godfather.? The auction is this Friday at noon PST, and is available online at eBay Live or in person at the Westin Hotel at LAX. Read More for the whole announcement.

(continue reading…)

Dark Horizons has a report on a rumor that Star Trek: Enterprise‘s third season may be cut short by two episodes, with implications that either this season or next could be the last for the show, which has had disappointing ratings despite being reworked with a better storyline. In the meantime, the Programming Insider at Mediaweek mentioned a rumored move of Enterprise to Fridays, but then said that UPN said they have no plans to move it.

tchansen writes “According to postings on Ray Bradbury’s Forums, Marguerite Bradbury, Ray’s wife and partner for 56 years died on November 24, 2003 and was buried on November 28, 2003 at Westwood Memorial Park. She was born Marguerite “Maggie” Susan McClure on January 16, 1922 in Los Angeles, CA.

There is a memorial by Sam Weller available on the official Ray Bradbury Website.”

tchansen writes “According to sources at http://theforce.net, the original Star Wars trilogy is set for a release date of November 4th, 2004. The rumor is that each of the three films would be released separately with no boxed set of the trilogy. I doubt it will stay that way and that a boxed set will end up available.

Also of note, the episode I and II DVDs will be discontinued on December 31st, 2003 according to another article at TheForce.Net. Speculation is that the Clone Wars cartoons featured on Cartoon Network may soon be released on DVD and that the episode I and II DVDs are discontinued in favor of that release. However, a search of the Zap2It site used as a source for the article didn’t turn up any references to a DVD release of the cartoons.”

Russell T. Davies, who is developing the the return of Doctor Who, dropped a few hints on the differences you’ll see in the new Who. First off, the female companions won’t be “screaming girly companions” (I’m still convinced the only acting Bonnie Langford, who played “Mel”, could really do was scream), citing Buffy, the Vampire Slayer as to why that won’t work. And don’t expect too many old monsters – he wants to make new ones. Even the Daleks may have a tough time getting a job.

Caught the following on a rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated posting: On the B5 front, there has been something of rather substantial proportion
that’s finally gone from talk to money, such that I’m now working frantically
to meet some deadlines, but there’s nothing I can say about this until after
January 15th, probably closer to the end of that month. He also said to consider this an “eep”, which long-time fans from GEnie and UseNet will understand…that’s how the green light for B5 was announced. Plus, next year will have a DVD boxed set of all the movies, as well one for Crusade…