Sci-Fi Storm

What would you be willing to give up for world peace? No hunger? No disease? Would it be your humanity?

Those the kinds of questions addressed in Syfy’s upcoming event series, Childhood’s End, based on one of the best SF novels by Arthur C. Clarke.

Long thought to be impossible to adapt to a video medium, the adaptation for Syfy under the pen of Matthew Graham (Life on Mars) does an admirable job. Fans of the book will of course miss items left out – a novel that spans decades and delves into the the lives of many characters needs to be trimmed in some way – the story keeps to the core theme, and the characters needed to advance the story.

They story opens in the present day, when the sudden arrival of massive alien ships – along with the requisite “cloud front” (I wish they’d get away from this visual effects meme, but it was still done well), but rather than being the front of a hostile invasion the aliens – called the “Overlords” led by the unseen Karellen, the Supervisor of Earth – announce that they will help Humanity by eliminating war, violence, sickness, etc., bringing about a golden age of Humanity. But it isn’t until much later, after Karellen reveals himself, that the price of this golden age might be more than what Humanity would have been willing to pay.

Although taking place mostly on Earth, the visuals were spectacular, and I might not have even seen the final version of them. The Overload ships weren’t the prototypical massive saucer shapes, but rather showed actual design. Overall one of the best efforts I’ve seen from Syfy programming.

Story-wise, the show can be plodding in parts, especially in the middle of the three episodes where it needs to set up for the final night where the story really pays off, while the first night has to juggle a lot of things with so many things to explain, which results in some abbreviated interaction when the Overlords arrive almost to a “We are here, everything will be cool” brevity.

The choice of the Overlords to speak through Ricky Stormgren, who in this adaptation is a farmer rather than the United Nations Secretary General, was an interesting change which for some reason reminded me of the 1977 movie Oh God! where God (George Burns) decides that a grocery store manager (John Denver) will speak for him. But I think Mike Vogel does well with the role…and for whom the definition of “saved” may be disputed…

I think in general fans of the book will be pleased with the adaptation. Purists might still whine about the omissions, but putting too much in can actually have a detrimental effect. And those who haven’t read the book might find plenty of surprises along the way. It’s been so long since I’ve read the book, I was pleasantly reminded of the twists.

Childhood’s End airs over three nights starting on December 14th on Syfy.

Paramount won the rights earlier this year to what is considered one of the best science fiction novels, [asin=1876963468]The Stars My Destination[/asin] by Alfred Bester, and now has gotten development under way by giving the pen to David DiGilio (Warrior).

DiGilio had also been tied to Disney’s Tron: Legacy sequel at one point, until that project got shelved earlier this year.

The novel (better known in the UK as “Tiger! Tiger!”) deals with a lot of science fiction elements as it tells the story of Gulliver “Gully” Foyle, a man who is marooned is space for six months as the sole survivor of a merchant spaceship and becomes consumed with rage when a passing ship ignores his signals. He manages to repair the ship but is then captured and tatooed with a tiger mask on his face. He later escapes and has the tatoos removed – but it is only partially successful, with the scars appearing when he becomes enraged. He then embarks on a quest for revenge for those who left him to die.

Yay! Warehouse 13 will finally get a Blu-ray release! Right now it is only being offered as a [asin=1512]Complete Series box set[/asin] of 15 discs, but individual seasons may be released at a later time.

MSRP for the set is $199.98, and [asin=1512]Amazon[/asin] is currently offering it at that price but you can be sure that price will come down closer to its release. Pre-orders will automatically reduce to the lowest price before being shipped.

The title of this year’s Christmas Special will be “The Husbands of River Song”…yes, plural…not sure what that’s going to mean, unless it is a reference to the Doctor’s various incarnations…

And if you look at the official image released today, there are two things I’ve noticed – one, the Doctor is holding a sonic screwdriver again! And two – it looks like he’s going to be battling Baymax from Big Hero 6… 🙂

As for the plot, at first I thought this was a joke – but this IS the Christmas episode, after all:

It’s Christmas Day on a remote human colony and the Doctor is hiding from carols and comedy antlers. But when the Time Lord’s help is requested he finds himself recruited into River Song’s squad and hurled into a fast and frantic chase across the galaxy! King Hydroflax (Greg Davies, Man Down) is furious and his giant robot bodyguard is out-of-control and coming for them all! Will Nardole (Matt Lucas, Shooting Stars) survive? And when will River work out who the Doctor is?

All will be revealed on a starliner full of galactic super-villains and at a destination the Doctor has been avoiding for a very long time…

CBS has found the hero they needed – Supergirl, which has been going strong since it’s debut (it has averaged over 11 million viewers each week), received an additional order for seven episodes to a full 20-episode season.

There is some speculation that it didn’t get a “Back 9” order to bring it up to a “standard” 22-episode season, but Supergirl also got a late start compared to most series this season, so it is likely just in line with co-terminating with other series before the summer hiatus.

At least he has a contract in hand, at least…but it seems neither the Doctor or the Daleks can interrupt him long enough to sign it, especially if The Walking Dead is on…

…but did you notice the book on the table, with the Post-It tabs marking pages? Hmmm…

Tremors is getting a reboot for TV – and this time, Kevin Bacon will return to the franchise! Bacon played Valentine McKee in the original 1990 movie, but he stayed away from the franchise despite 4 direct-to-video sequels and a one-season TV series on the Sci Fi Channel in 2003. Bacon will also be an executive producer, and Andrew Miller (The Secret Circle) will write. Universal Cable Productions and Blumhouse Productions are developing it.

No outlet deal has been announced, but UCP reports that several are interested.

This is looking GOOD…the Avengers fracture into two teams – one led by Captain America, and the other by Iron Man, while the government seeks to control them all…

In theaters May 6th!

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Syfy’s The Expanse may not debut on the network until December 14th, but in an interesting move Syfy has made the first episode available starting today across many streaming platforms – and you can watch it right here (via YouTube)!

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The CW has released the first trailer for DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, which features characters spun off from Arrow/The Flash, including the Atom (Brandon Routh), White Canary (Caity Lotz), Firestorm (Victor Garber and Franz Drameh), Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell), Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller), plus newcomers Hawkman (Falk Hentschel, Knight and Day) and Hawkgirl (Ciara Renée), and Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill, Doctor Who), united to fight Vandal Savage (Casper Crump, Almost Perfect)…the show itself will debut on January 21st at 8/7c, where it will be followed by the third season premiere of The 100 at 9/8c.

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will actually get a kickoff next week during the two night crossover episodes of Arrow and The Flash, titled “Legends of Yesterday” and “Legends of Today”, appropriately enough…

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