Sci-Fi Storm

Just a friendly reminder that Star Wars: Clone Wars, a series of animated shorts that fill in between Episodes II and III, debuts tonight at 8pm ET on The Cartoon Network. Also, The Rumor Mill at The Digital Bits is reporting that after a Lucasfilm meeting their DVD release plans are set – with the original Trilogy being released September 2004.

I apologize for the lack of any postings. I’ve contracted this 5-day virus going around which involves very high fevers (102-103 degrees), horrible headaches, etc. which has also been preventing me from sleeping, so when I feel well enough to do something on the computer I’ve got other things to do, and no earth-shattering news has really come out. If there is something newsworthy, please submit it and I will post it, but please be sure to include a link to your source…

SF author, SFWA 1999 Grand Master and high school teacher Hal Clement died this morning while asleep at his home in Milton, Massachusetts. His most famous work was 1954’s Mission of Gravity, and earlier this year released Noise. Among the already mentioned, he was also a pilot in WWII and a scout leader with a variety of degrees. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter, and a grandson.

Now this could be interesting. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the cult British Gerry Anderson show UFO, a precursor of Space: 1999 (Space: 1999 was originally written as a second season of UFO but then developed separately) could be reborn in the US, produced by Trilogy Entertainment Group (The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone) and Carlton America. Given SCI FI Channel’s conspiracy bent of late, I’m suprised they haven’t ordered two full seasons already. But will the purple wigs return? You can get the original show on DVD: Set 1 Set 2

TerraFrost writes “Featured in TV Guide, TELE, and Sci Fi Weekly, Voltayre’s Encyclopedia Xenobiologica was considered to be one of the best Babylon 5 websites around. When it went offline in 1998, it left a huge void that in many ways was never filled. Today, it has been refilled, and in fact, improved. The new URL is here.” VEX is one of the best – it was featured in the same Summer Sci-Fi issue of TV Guide (July 5-11, 1997) as The Lurker’s Guide and my own more general encyclopedia. I just wish I had the graphical talent. Not sure why it was gone so long. The author also created Babylon Park.Update: Just got e-mail from Voltayre, and the site has been updated and is back at it’s old address. The other site is old.

OK, this has appeared everywhere already: The SCI FI Channel has joined the fray in trying to find the truth about a UFO sighting in Kecksburg, Pennsylvania in 1965, and is planning a lawsuit against NASA utilizing the Freedom of Information Act. Other agencies could be sued as well. And Friday the channel will air a special called “The New Roswell: Kecksburg Exposed”, hosted by Bryant Gumbel, apparently bringing viewers up-to-date with the investigation so far. Maybe with the sale of Vivendi Universal (SCI FI’s parent) to NBC, we can get back to some actual science fiction…

This coming Tuesday (10/21) marks the release of the Battlestar Galactica complete series box set, as well as the re-release of the the feature film. Also released on that day: Dark Angel: Season 2.

In case you didn’t notice, Sci-Fi Storm was unavailable for a time due to a network outage. Obviously it’s back up now, but that isn’t guaranteed yet, so expect other outages…and it seems I’m not the only one – SCI FI Wire seems to have its own problems. Must be aliens…

For years, American and Canadian fans of British TV Producer Gerry Anderson’s shows, such as Thunderbirds, Space: 1999, UFO, Captain Scarlet, Supercar, Stingray, and Fireball XL5 have been frustrated in their search for collectibles based on the ’60’s and ’70’s sci-fi programs. Forced to buy goods from sources outside of North America, many fans have been swindled by unscrupulous dealers, waited months to get orders that were incorrectly filled, or been charged high shipping prices for merchandise. And thus begat FABGEAR. Read More for the full story.

(continue reading…)

Pre-order your late Christmas presents! Babylon 5 – The Complete Fourth Season: No Surrender, No Retreat will be available January 6th. And reports on TV Shows on DVD is that the 5th season of Stargate SG-1 will be out January 20th, but no pre-orders yet.