Sci-Fi Storm

The Doctor Who episode “Shada” is legendary…unlike other incomplete episodes, which were due to the BBC purging the film archives of some of the original masters, Shada was never completed. The final episode of the 17th season, starring Tom Baker and written by Douglas Adams, had production canceled part way through due to a strike at the BBC. When the strike ended, the schedule had slipped too far into the holiday programming production time and ultimately it was never resumed. Douglas Adams was reportedly fine with the episode remaining in the annals of legend, unhappy with the script in the end.

Since then, the episode was released in its incomplete form with some narration to fill in the missing parts, and also retooled as an audio drama for the Eighth Doctor.

Now the original is getting the BBC’s latest method of filling in lost episodes – by animating them! Last year, they restored Patrick Troughton’s debut episode, [sfs=1582]”The Power Of The Daleks”[/sfs], by reconstructing the missing parts with animation. As an added bonus, not only does Tom Baker lend his voice to the animated segments, but also filmed a new segment with an appearance by K-9!

The episode follows the Doctor and Romana as they are called to Cambridge by Dr. Chronotis, a “retired” Time Lord who holds the key to the location of Shada, the prison planet of the Time Lords. A alien genius, Skagra, wants the location to be able to harness the collective intellect of the most notorious criminals in the universe so that he may take over, well, everything.

The new release is available today on iTunes (at least in the UK – I don’t see it in the iTunes store in the US), and a DVD release in the UK on December 4th and the [sfs=1622]US on January 8th[/sfs].

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Find out if the magic is coming back when the students of Brakebills return for Season 3 of The Magicians on January 10th, 2018 at 9/8c on SYFY!

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As we reported last week, Amazon was on the hunt for a mega-franchise, and it appears they’ve got one – and paid a handsome price for it.

Reports are in that Amazon has purchased the TV rights to The Lord Of The Rings – or at least some portion of stories from Middle-earth – for what may be close to $250 million just for the rights, and they’ve made a multi-season commitment already. It is expected a worth production could cost $100-150 million per season. The deal also includes a potential spin-off series.

The twist to the story is that it will not simply be a remake of the movies, but instead cover some period before the time of The Lord Of The Rings. It is not certain if this means it will be set in the time between The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, or delve further back into the expansive mythology laid out by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Everyone wants a streaming service – and they need content to drive it…Disney is no different on that bandwagon, and head mouse Bob Iger announced today that one of the original series planned for their service is a live-action Star Wars series.

No real details were given – it was mentioned along with content based on other franchises such as Marvel, Monsters, Inc., and High School Musical – but speculation is growing that they might revive the long dormant live-action series that Lucas touted and we last heard might get life at ABC.

We’re probably some distance away from such a show, so there is plenty of time to speculate and dream…

SYFY has commissioned a pilot for a TV adaptation of the graphic novel Deadly Class, and has set the cast of series regulars and already locked in some guest stars as well.

Deadly Class follows a disillusioned teen recruited into a storied high school for assassins. Maintaining his moral code while surviving a ruthless curriculum, vicious social cliques, and his own adolescent uncertainties may prove fatal. Set against the backdrop of late 80s counter culture, Deadly Class is a coming of age journey unlike anything you’ve ever seen.

Benedict Wong is set for the role of Master Lin, the headmaster of the School for the Deadly Arts. Deadly and feared. He’s an ever-changing chameleon who keeps his students desperate for his approval. British actor Wong is best known for his roles in Dr. Strange, The Martian, and recently starred in Marco Polo. Recent television credits include Black Mirror: Hated In The Nation, Electric Dreams and Blade Runner: Nexus Dawn. Next year Wong will star in Avengers: Infinity War and Alex Garland’s Annihilation. Wong is repped by himself and Attorney Robert Wallerstein.

Benjamin Wadsworth will play Marcus. At one point we were all Marcus, an awkward outcast full of social anxiety struggling to find his place in the cold and brutal world of high school. Marcus is bottled rage, if his life had been normal this kid might have been an artist, even a poet. Instead he’s had to survive life on the streets of San Francisco. His eyes show it. He’s morally centered in an unethical world. Wadsworth was last seen in the hit series finale episode of Teen Wolf. Just last year he played the leading role of Henry in the TV pilot adaptation of the feature film, Let The Right One In. Wadsworth is from Houston, Texas and is repped by UTA, Principato-Young and Myman, Greenspan, Fineman, Fox, & Light LLP.

Lana Condor will play the role of “Saya,” mysterious and guarded with a deadly reputation. Saya was banished from one of the top Yakuza clans in Japan, sent to the School for the Deadly Arts to redeem herself. Driven to be the valedictorian, nothing will stand in her way. In 2016, Condor made her feature film debut in X-Men: Apocalypse. In 2017, Condor appeared in Patriot’s Day alongside Mark Wahlberg and as Allison in James Franco’s High School Lover. She can next be seen as Koyomi in James Cameron’s highly anticipated film, Alita: Battle Angel out in 2018. Condor is represented by ICM and attorney Matt Rosen.
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We always love it when our friends are announced to appear on new shows!

Nerdist today announced in an exclusive that Felicia Day (The Guild, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, etc.) will join the cast of The Magicians in the major role of Poppy. I won’t elaborate so as to avoid spoilers, but we’re excited about this.

Eddie McClintock posted a selfie with MacGyver actor George Eads, who plays Jack Dalton:

When one is lucky enough to work on @MacGyverCBS, one gets to hang out with #GeorgeEads. #JackDalton #MacGyver @CBS

Stay tuned! pic.twitter.com/SpHJxzIZCQ

— Eddie McClintock (@EddieMcClintock) November 7, 2017

He didn’t elaborate on the role, but I’m sure we’ll hear soon.

Last but not least, Defiance alum Jesse Rath is joining Supergirl in the recurring role of Braniac 5, and will appear in episode 10 of the current season (we just watched episode 5), which is titled “Legion of Super-Heroes”, of which Brainiac 5 is a member – if that gives you any clue as to where the story is heading…

This is interesting…we hear that the Tolkien estate, which manages all the rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s works, is shopping around the rights to a TV series based on Lord Of The Rings to various outlets. Even more interesting is the huge price tag they are placing on it, which is said to be $200-250 million – just for the rights.

Such a project would be hugely ambitious and likely expensive to produce properly, which limits the outlets that could potentially take it on. HBO seems like a natural choice, having already done Game Of Thrones, and with it concluding in its upcoming eighth season that may be looking to fill the void it will leave behind (spinoffs notwithstanding.) Another possibility is Amazon, which is looking for its own GoT franchise and has some ambitious projects already in the works. I’d expect any such production to have to run for quite a few years just in order to break even for the rights purchase, which could make it very hard to pull the trigger.

In addition, they would probably have to lengthen to story significantly in order to stretch it long enough, perhaps by integrating a number of other stories of Middle-earth (as flashback storytelling or something like that), but I understand the rights are very limited as well.

At any rate, I think it would be tough to score big with a production that has to live up to and even surpass three great films in order to be deemed a success.

The Orville, which harkens back to mid-80s Star Trek with more humor, has scored well with viewers and also with the network brass – Fox has ordered a second season of the Seth MacFarlane show while just halfway through its freshman 13-episode season. After a post-NFL premiere of 8.6 million viewers in the Live+Same Day ratings, it moved into a regular Thursday and although there was an expected drop, it’s still holding on to more than 4 million viewers a week, and when including Live+7 it jumps another 67%.

With Star Trek: Discovery pulling in good numbers for CBS All Access, the parent network is looking to bolster original programming, it’s once again digging into the vault for a beloved classic – and this time pulling out The Twilight Zone.

During the earnings report investor call, CBS boss Les Moonves said today that they will reboot the iconic series for the streaming network, but also said that the new series would need to “stand out” to draw audiences. The audience for CBS All Access skews much younger than the broadcast network – an average of 20 years younger.

CBS has rebooted The Twilight Zone twice already – first in 1985 for three seasons (one of which was in syndication), and once more in 2002 for sister network UPN for a single season. Neither were considered successful – the third syndicated season was largely to meet obligations as they had pre-sold syndication rights before the show aired – but with the increasing interest in anthology-style shows (such as the long-format American Horror Story and Channel Zero), perhaps the time approaches for short-form anthologies again?

Beware…I’m sensing…The Love Boat…

In an interesting development, Disney’s Freeform channel has elected not to move forward with Marvel’s New Warriors – a series that the channel had picked up in a straight-to-series order back in July. The series would have been Marvel’s first live action comedy series, which follows six young people with powers living and working together. Not quite super, not yet heroes and with powers and abilities on the opposite end of the spectrum of The Avengers, the New Warriors want to make a difference in the world, even if the world isn’t ready. The series is about the entry into adulthood when you feel like you can do everything and nothing at once – except in this world, bad guys can be as terrifying as bad dates.

Marvel and ABC Studios plan to shop the show elsewhere.