Sci-Fi Storm

Meesha writes “On December 4th at 7 PM three sci-fi authors will be signing at Borders in the Howard Hughes Center in Los Angeles California. Being a follower of these authors I thought that others may be interested in attending or ordering signed books.

L.E. Modesitt Jr., David Farland, and Brandon Sanderson will sign on Monday, Dec 4th from 7-8 PM at Borders Books and Music, 6081 Center Drive, LA, CA 90045. Telephone number 310.215.3720.

Feel free to call the store directly or email me with any questions.”

Relatively new video site Ziddio is running a video contest for Star Wars fans to join the “Jedi Order”, and potentially win a trip for two to Kennedy Space Center and other prizes. Entries are in the form of a short video (less than 60 seconds) giving you answers to six questions (Which is your favorite movie, etc.). Got a camera and want to show you are a fan? Try and become a Jedi…

The first two new Babylon 5 stories in the new The Lost Tales series, collectively titled “Voices of the Dark”, has begun production. Confirmed actors are Bruce Boxleitner (President John Sheridan), Tracy Scoggins (Captain Elizabeth Lochley) and Peter Woodward (Galen). I was looking all over for the actual WB press release, but I wasn’t able to find it…in the meantime, everyone else started reporting it…

There is a nice interview running over at Twitch Guru where Harlan Ellison conducts an interview with Ronald D. Moore, after presenting him with the Screenwriting Expo’s award for Television Writer of the Year. Ellsion said it’s for “the astonishing job of making one of the worst television series ever made into one of the best television series ever made.”

Dexter writes “‘Re-inventing The Tomorrow People’ New DVD available from www.cultconversations.co.uk

LEE PRESSMAN & GRANT CATHRO have written some of the most memorable and highest rated programmes for Children’s ITV. Their work includes ‘T-Bag’, ‘Spatz’, ‘Mike & Angelo’ and ‘The Tomorrow People’. This 70 minute interview explores their career and inspirations for their work as well as delving further into their part in the 1992 revival of Roger Price’s ‘The Tomorrow People’.

BONUS INTERVIEW WITH TESSA & DEBORAH VALE – Tessa and Deborah Vale played alongside Jean Marsh in Lee and Grants’ first ‘Tomorrow People’ adventure ‘The Culex Experiment’. We talk to them about their time working on the show and how being a twin affected their acting careers.

Aspect Ratio – 16:9 / Soundtrack – English Stereo / Disc Format – DVDR / Total Length – 85 minutes / Region 0 / Exempt from Classification.”

Jeff Buckner sends us the following press release: “Headline: CAPTAIN KURN (Tony Todd) stars in new cult thriller ?

Subhead: ?Bryan Loves You? also stars George Wendt (Cheers), Tiffany Shepis (?Abominable?), Daniel Roebuck (?The Devil?s Rejects?) and featuring Lloyd Kaufman (?The Toxic Avenger?) and Brinke Stevens (?Slumber Party Massacre?); about the true 1993 story of a cult that takes over an Arizona town”

Read More for the rest. Tony has appeared in many genre productions, including Stargate SG-1, Babylon 5 and more.

(continue reading…)

In what appears to be an appalling move on Universal’s part, after having encouraged fans to help market the movie Serenity, it is now taking aim at those same fans, shutting down various CafePress stores and threatening with more than just cease and desist – demanding retroactive licensing fees, and throwing in the usual litigation threats. Some fans are hitting back, billing Universal for their time. Gee…they sent me some DVDs to review – should I expect a bill for them, plus demands of $1k per use of the words Serenity and Firefly? Whoops, I shouldn’t have printed that…

In a posting to the rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated newsgroup, JMS gave an update to the upcoming Babylon 5: The Lost Tales project. The EFX house has been signed, which was one of the last major hurdles. Also, because of the scope of what is being done, the first release at least will consist of two, not three stories, but they will be longer than originally planned. They will focus on the characters of Sheridan, Lochley, and Galen. A story focusing on Garibaldi will be postponed for the next set.

In what is likely to shape into a battle between the studios and the unions, NBC Universal (which owns the SCI FI Channel) is at odds with Battlestar Galactica producer Ron Moore over the compensation (or lack thereof) for the “webisodes” that have been produced for the web site. Moore believes residuals and/or compensation should be provided; the studio disagrees, saying they are “promotional material”. Moore has stopped producing the webisodes and refused to hand over the 10 already completed, but NBC seized them and filed unfair labor charges against the Writer’s Guild of America, which advised Moore to stop.

Natalia writes “FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

“RECON 2020” unleashed in the United States!

Montreal, Canada – October 20, 2006

Movie Seals Productions is proud to announce that Maverick Entertainment Group has acquired the United States distribution rights to its sci-fi / action movie “Recon 2020: The Caprini Massacre” by director Christian Viel (“Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain”, “Deaden”). Since its premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival, this epic movie started on a winning path that includes a Best Sci-Fi / Action movie award at the Sci-Fi London Film Festival in 2005 and a Best Sci-Fi movie award at the Wreck – Beach International Film festival in August 2006.

The film follows a group of soldiers on a recon mission on a desolate planet in a remote system:

In the year 2020, the Earth has become a barren rock from radioactive devastation. Protected by the Galactic Marine Infantry, (GMI), the remaining human race, struggling for survival on a distant star, is terrorized by the evil Ma’har alien race. While on a reconnaissance mission in the Caprini system, Sergeant Sharp and his GMI soldiers discover the Ma’hars hidden laboratory where they’ve been creating a horrific breed of terrorists. The aliens’ new bio-weapons are reproductions of mankind’s mythical creatures – zombies, werewolves, vampires!

The street date for the USA release of ‘Recon 2020: The Caprini Massacre’? is December 5 , 2006.

The film is part of the Maverick Platinum collection.

A sequel, “Recon 2022: The Mezzo Incident” is currently in post-production.

For more information:
http://www.maverickentertainment.cc/filmdetail.php ?ProductID=367
http://www.recon2020-movie.com
http://www.recon2022-movie.com“