Sci-Fi Storm

Merlin will return on Friday, January 4th at 10/9c on Syfy to begin the U.S. airing of its fifth and final season. Syfy also announced the launch of Merlin: The Game in the U.S.

From the press release:

Syfy will say good-bye to Camelot when the fifth and final season of Merlin returns Friday, January 4 at 10PM (ET/PT) with 13 all-new episodes.
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I haven’t done one of these in a few years, but I thought I’d put together a small holiday buying guide for SF lovers – at least some of the items I think readers of this site would like…

To start, I cannot say enough about Ashley Eckstein’s Her Universe – except that I am jealous as the merchandise is for females of the species. My loss appears to be my wife and daughters gain – they love their shirts, and they might just be finding a few more delivered by Santa this year…just this week there are two new Doctor Who shirts – “Whovian” and “The Girl Who Waited”, while on the Star Wars side there are new “Cute Vader” pajamas and a Japanese-style V-neck. And the Ahsoka Tano hoodie, representing Ashley’s alter ego, is now available in adult sizes due to demand.
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Disney’s Bob Iger confirmed during a conference call that Disney, with it’s acquisition of Lucasfilm today, have already for treatments for three new Star Wars films, with the first planned for a 2015 release (a little aggressive I think) and the next two at two- to three-year intervals – and possibly more beyond that. But Iger also says they plan to make use of the franchise in other areas, including their theme parks (Disney/SW fans have been wanting a Star Wars “land” expansion for years), games, and other initiatives. Speculation is that some television will be involved as well, although it still seems unlikely that that live action series that everyone was all a-Twitter about thinking they had already filmed it will be made, unless Disney has figured out something…

He didn’t elaborate on the treatments for the movies, but everyone seems to think this is the fabled “sequel trilogy”. A bit of history – back after the original Star Wars became a blockbuster hit, and the second run was modified to include “Episode IV” in the opening crawl, Lucas explained that he had plans for nine (to as many as twelve!) stories, and since the original was actually the fourth story he titled it as such. He then said that after making episodes V and VI, then visit the first three, and after that he would see.

Over time, however, Lucas began to disavow that he ever had plans beyond Episode VI, and that anything after that would be “made up”. However, his desire to not revisit the idea seemed like him being tired of the process of planning and filming a whole trilogy, which he said takes about 9 years of his life, as well as the poor feedback he got from doing the prequels. And he insisted no one else would make them either. It could be that since he won’t be directly involved now (he’d be credited at least as a “creative consultant”, but that could be an honorary credit) he handed over his treatments for them to develop more.

Now the BIG question – who will take the reins? The first word that came to my mind? Whedon. Joss is already at Disney playing in the Marvel universe…

Popular horror game and movie series Silent Hill will get a little more real this fall, when both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Florida adds a maze themed on the property to their Halloween Horror Nights events for 2012 – just before the latest movie installment, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, is released nationwide on October 26th.

From the press release:
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G4 gave the upcoming TV series/MMO game Defiance a lot of coverage at E3 2012…check out some of the clips below, and if you want an idea about what it is about, check out our previous coverage.
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Syfy and Trion Worlds today released an all-new trailer detailing the production of the highly-anticipated transmedia event, Defiance™. Featuring cast from the series (Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, Jaime Murray and Tony Curran) as well as members of the visionary creative teams from both the game and show, this making-of video is a first look behind the scenes in developing the most immersive entertainment experience ever produced.

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The series has begun production on the pilot in Toronto, with an eye towards an April 2013 premiere.

Check out this teaser video for the upcoming multimedia production from Syfy and Trion Worlds, Defiance. Not only will this be an MMO shooter, but a TV series in which events will cross over.

Set in the near future, Defiance introduces players and viewers to a completely transformed planet Earth, inhabited by the disparate survivors of a universal war who endeavor to build a new society among the devastation. The game combines the intense action of a “AAA” console shooter, with the persistence, scale, and customization of an MMO, while its TV counterpart weaves the rich tapestry of the world into a series with the scope, characters, and drama of a classic sci-fi epic. Because they exist in a single universe, the show and the game will influence each other and evolve together over time, with actions in both mediums driving the overall story of Defiance.
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An interesting 24 hours in the “games to screen” craze…it seems that Universal has been second-guessing its idea to bring a lot of Hasbro games to the big screen. Although Battleship is starting to generate heat, the studio has dropped plans for several others by placing them in turnaround (where other studios can pick them up), like Monopoly and Magic: The Gathering.

Stretch Armstrong has apparently landed on that list. It originally had Taylor Lautner (Twlight saga) attached to star, but Universal put it in to turnaround where it was picked up by Relativity Media – but now Lautner is out. Lautner’s people say it was their decision, but it also seems that the studio may not see Lautner as having enough draw.

Another former Universal/Hasbro project, Candy Land, was also placed in turnaround, and currently Columbia Pictures/Sony is in talks to develop the movie, with Ben Stiller (Bedtime Stories) set to star and possibly co-write the screenplay with Robert Smigel (Saturday Night Live) and directed by Kevin Lima (Enchanted).

The first trailer for the upcoming game Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock, based on the TV series, is out and you can watch it below. From the trailer you can see you’ll face not only the Daleks and Cybermen, but the modern Silurians and even The Silence! Plus River Song tags along as the Doctor’s companion…the game appears to be something like a platform game, from the gameplay I could see.

Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock is expected to be released in March 2012 (and I’m hearing it will be available in the U.S. as well, but don’t have a specific date yet). It will be available only on the PS3, Playstation Vita and PC platforms.
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Syfy’s upcoming Defiance, a combination TV show and massive-multiplayer open world game being developed between Universal Cable Productions and Trion Worlds, has its first TV star with Grant Bowler, the New Zealander who previously appeared on True Blood, Lost, and Ugly Betty. Syfy’s president of original content Mark Stern said, “Grant’s charismatic charm and his depth as an actor make him the perfect anchor as we build the ensemble for this sweeping adventure series.”

Bowler will play Jeb Nolan, a “boomtown lawkeeper” on an Earth ravaged by war where now humans and aliens coexist, in a sort of western/sci-fi mix.

The TV pilot is being written by SF TV veteran Rockne S. O’Bannon. The game will be available on multiple platforms. No release dates have been set, but a trailer for the game is available at the official web site.

Update: From the press release:
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