Sci-Fi Storm

Here are some of the big and our favorite stories we covered in 2012…

In January, rapidly rising British actor Benedict Cumberbatch joined Star Trek: Into Darkness, while CW’s Arrow dropped “Green” from the name and named Stephen Amell the lead actor.

We lost actor Ian Abercrombie and the voice of the Robot from Lost In Space Dick Tufeld.
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I’m in Toronto for the Syfy Digital Press Tour, and will be visiting the sets of Defiance and Warehouse 13. I’ll be tweeting and taking pictures via Instagram (user scifistorm) as much as possible. And you can also see tweets from myself and other press members below.

Got questions for the cast and crew? Tweet me (@scifistorm) and include the hashtag #syfytour and I will try and ask it during the panel!

Dinner shortly with the Syfy execs and the casts of Haven and Being Human!
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Rumors are swirling that Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes director Rupert Wyatt may be exiting from the sequel, titled Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, amid concerns of being able to make the already scheduled release date of May 23rd, 2014.

Given similar circumstances surrounding the exit of Gary Ross from The Hunger Games franchise (although I think it was more than the schedule there), are studios getting to aggressive with their slates in order to schedule their profits?

From our friends at The Thunder Child: Richard Groh is an aviation and space artist who has been producing his almost-photographic work for over forty years. His illustrations have appeared in several books and magazines. The Thunder Child interviewed him, and you can read about it here. He talks about his childhood, how he developed his craft, and shares his illustrations of Tom Corbett’s Polaris, the Luna rocketship from Rocketship X-M, and much more.

In case you were wondering what happened to the planned extended teaser preview of NBC’s Revolution that was supposed to air Saturday night, NBC silently canceled it when they shuffled around their tape-delayed airing of the sporting events that day. Instead, they are going to air a shorter preview (about 2:40 in length) tonight during a commercial pod taking place prior to the airing of the Women’s Gymnastics Uneven Bars competition, sometime between 10:45pm and 11:15pm EDT.

The drama comes from producers J.J. Abrams and Eric Kripke and director Jon Favreau – read on for the official description.
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Yes, I’m back! I’m still getting caught up on a lot of things, and despite having been on “vacation” I’m suffering from near-exhaustion and stress due to work issues, and the server is still a bit fritzy…but hopefully the news flow will pick up again.

Due to hosting issues, Sci-Fi Storm may be down for a while…I will need to seek out new hosting rapidly…

Remember the 2011 Super Bowl ad from Volkswagen featuring the kid dressed up as Darth Vader attempting to use his force powers on everything from a doll to a car? (If you don’t, scroll down to the bottom of the article to see it). Well, the boy who performed in the ad, Max PAge, now 7 years old, is facing the Dark Side of a different kind. He was born with a congenital heart defect, and now it’s time for an operation. He’s scared…but he’s facing it like a Jedi.
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Looks like ol’ George has a sense of humor about some things…after trying to build a state of the art movie studio on land he owns in Marin County, CA near San Francisco, for the last 25 years but being blocked by his rich neighbors that don’t want a studio near them, George Lucas put up his hands as if to give up and say, “Have it your way.” But since the local homeowners association seem to have no problem with residential subdivisions, Lucas has a new plan – to create lots of affordable housing for either low-income families or seniors living on small, fixed incomes. And he’s accelerating the process by providing all the survey information done for the studio plan.

It remains to be seen if the homeowners association tries to come up with an objection to the new plan that doesn’t make them look bad.

The EMP Museum in Seattle has announced the list of the 2012 inductees into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

Those being honored this year are filmmaker James Cameron; artist Virgil Finlay; author Joe Haldeman; and author James Tiptree, Jr. The new Science Fiction Hall of Fame display will be unveiled at EMP’s Icons of Science Fiction exhibition opening celebration on Friday, June 8, 2012. To purchase tickets, visit empmuseum.org.

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame honors the lives, work, and ongoing legacies of science fiction’s greatest creators. Founded in 1996, the Hall of Fame was relocated from the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at the University of Kansas to its permanent home at EMP in 2004. Hall of Fame nominations are submitted by EMP members. The final inductees are chosen by a panel of award-winning science fiction authors, artists, editors, publishers, and film professionals.

2012 SCIENCE FICTION HALL OF FAME BIOS

James Cameron, American filmmaker (1954 – ). Cameron continually redefines the cutting edge of science fiction filmmaking. In particular, The Terminator (1984), which captured the collision of our fears of nuclear terror and computer technology; Aliens (1986), a sequel that magnified and amplified the classic original; The Abyss (1989), which looked downward to the oceans as a realm of the alien; and Avatar (2009) which employed a variety of innovative filmmaking techniques to further enhance the movie-viewing experience.

Virgil Finlay, American artist (1914 – 1971). Finlay produced thousands of illustrations, flourishing in the pulp magazine era from the ’30s through the ’50s. He is especially known for his exacting and detailed scratchboard and pen-and-ink work. The stark and shadowy effects he created were well-suited to the horror and fantasy magazines, where his works frequently appeared. He also contributed more than 800 illustrations to the Sunday newspaper supplement The American Weekly, and created 19 covers for Weird Tales.

Joe Haldeman, American author (1943 – ). Haldeman burst onto the science fiction scene in 1974 with The Forever War, a novel that blended imaginative hard science fiction with a heartfelt examination of the impact of war and homecoming on the combatants. The novel won the Hugo and Nebula Awards. In the following four decades, he has built a library of quality work, notably the Worlds series, The Hemingway Hoax (1990), and Forever Peace (1997). He teaches writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 2010 he received the Grand Master award from the Science Fiction Writers of America.

James Tiptree, Jr., American author (1915 – 1987). Tiptree was the pen name of Alice Sheldon, who kept her identity a secret for the majority of her career. She is best known for stories that explore sex, gender identity, male/female relations, and death. “The Last Flight of Doctor Ain” and “The Women Men Don’t See” are two notable works among many. In 1991 the James Tiptree, Jr. Award for science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender was created in her honor.