Sci-Fi Storm

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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Missing your favorite stars from SF shows? Want to catch other shows they may be in? Well, you should check out the holiday movies that are on for the next month (and have been on for a while)! You might notice a lot of familiar faces…here is a quick-and-by-no-means-complete guide to some of the holiday movies which feature stars you should be familiar with.
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49 years ago today, in just a couple hours (17:16 GMT, or 12:16pm EST), Doctor Who debuted on the BBC with the very first episode, “An Unearthly Child”, and set off what would become a worldwide phenomenon. Originally conceived as a family show with educational aspects, using time travel to teach about history, etc. the show would be produced continuously for 26 series.

In 1989, with declining viewership and increasing budgetary constraints (anyone remember how they avoided showing the inside of the TARDIS in the final season? They had junked the set before that season, and for a final scene they built a cheap one), despite assurances from the BBC that it would return, Doctor Who ceased production until 1996, when the BBC and Fox jointly produced a TV movie starring Paul McGann as a backdoor pilot in an attempt to relaunch the show in both hemispheres. The movie was poorly received (and canonically questionable), and the Doctor was once more relegated to the vortex.

Finally, in 2005, Doctor Who returned to television after some success with animated webcasts and a big audio adventure business. Russel T. Davies took the producing reins, production took place in Cardiff at BBC Wales, and Christopher Eccleston became the 9th Doctor when he told Rose Tyler, “Run!”

Since then we’ve had 7 new series, two more Doctors in David Tennant and Matt Smith, several new companions, and a show that doesn’t look like it will stop any time soon.

Happy Birthday, Doctor – and may we celebrate many more!

Halfway through! What do you think so far?
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As previously mentioned, ABC has decided not to order back-end episodes for freshman series 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort, effectively canceling them. However, the network did so with enough lead time that both shows will be able to properly wrap up their series with their respective final episodes.

“We have time to tweak,” according to Shawn Ryan, who created Last Resort, while 666 Park Avenue producers say they are “building to a powerful and surprising series finale.”

Here is the latest Making Of video for Syfy’ upcoming series Defiance, focusing on the cultures, makeup and languages in the show.

And yes, Tony Curran really does have the language down. Frightening, really 🙂

Side note – you get a glance of Doc Ywell, the Indogene doctor – if you’d like to see what the lovely Trenna Keating looks like under that makeup, check out the movie A Dog Named Christmas on the Hallmark Channel. She plays Faye, one of the daughters who visits the family for Christmas. And it’s a great movie which also stars Bruce Greenwood. Trenna also had a recurring role on last year’s short lived Combat Hospital.
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ABC has officially not picked up a back-end order for two of it’s freshman shows, 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort, effectively canceling them – although they do still plan to air all remaining episodes as scheduled.

Both shows underperformed, although both received an order for an extra two episodes early on. The decision on Last Resort came after the show set a new low yesterday, netting 5.8 million viewers and only 1.3 18-49 demo.

Check out the Children In Need minisode of Doctor Who, called “The Great Detective”, followed by the trailer for the upcoming Christmas special, titled “The Snowmen”, which will air Christmas Day.
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Here are episodes 3 and 4 of Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (as a double feature – one video) – Enjoy!
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This Friday is the Fall Finale of Grimm, and Adalind returns to Portland to finish what she started…catch a preview below along with a number of interview clips from the cast, and tune in Friday at 9/8c on NBC!
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