Sci-Fi Storm

Take this with a block of salt…SFX reports that during an interview with VH1, Matt Smith let slip that he only has a year left on Doctor Who. But it appears that it’s all in how you read it. When asked if he would think of staying in the U.S., his response was:

Well, hopefully soon, you know. I’ve got another year of Doctor Who, but then I’m certainly going to come and give it a shot – come and hang out in LA…

Now we know he’s committed to a seventh series. beyond that may not have even come up for discussion yet, the seventh series isn’t even in production yet and won’t apparently air for a year. So it doesn’t mean that he is definitely leaving – more like that when he does in fact leave, he’d consider moving to LA.

Vampires are so passé (well, we still love Being Human); Zombies are all the rage now. Even the CDC has a “Preparedness 101” comic on how to survive a zombie attack (seriously they do, although it is tongue-in-cheek). The Walking Dead is breaking records. Finally, zombies are coming to Syfy!

Zombie Apocalypse, starring Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible) and Taryn Manning (Hustle & Flow), debuts next Saturday, October 28th, at 9pm as a feature of the 31 Days of Halloween. Catch a sneak peek below, and never forget…just because it seems like you scared off a zombie, you probably didn’t…

The final panel of the Syfy Digital Press Tour was a complete surprise. All we knew was it was an unscripted show with a surprise host, and they wanted volunteers who had to sign a waiver that they were in good health, etc…I volunteered, although I was not selected. I did, however, get an early clue as to what was going on as I was out in the hallway briefly, and one of those electronic signs at convention centers that tell you what is happening where called it a “Total Blackout” panel. But I was told I had to forget everything I saw or I’d be mind wiped or something like that…

The new show is, of course, Total Blackout, based on the hit European game show. In it contestants enter a completely darkened room while filmed by infrared cameras and have to determine objects just by their other senses – objects that could be alive.
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Two of the unscripted panels we had were for the returning make-up competition show Face Off, and the new “follow around” docu-series Monster Man.

Face Off is the reality competition show involving makeup effects artists that just began shooting its second season which will begin airing January 11th at 10pm ET. Host McKenzie Westmore and judge Ve Neill were on hand to talk about the show and tell us about the upcoming season.
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Syfy announced today that they’ve ordered six episodes of the unscripted series School Spirits. From the press release:

SYFY ORDERS SIX EPISODES OF ‘SCHOOL SPIRITS’ FROM EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS MARK BURNETT AND SETH JARRETT

From the Producers of Survivor and Celebrity Ghost Stories Comes A Gripping One-Hour Docu-Series Recounting Tales of Infamous School Hauntings Nationwide

NEW YORK – October 18, 2011 — Syfy orders six, one-hour episodes of the new unscripted series School Spirits from executive producers Mark Burnett (Survivor, The Apprentice) and Seth Jarrett (Celebrity Ghost Stories). The project will tell true ghost stories of hauntings that have happened at schools across the country. The stories will be told in first person narratives through the testimonials of real students, teachers, parents and staff that have encountered the paranormal activity, blended with bone-chilling cinematic reenactments to further bring the haunting experiences to life.
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Our last panel on scripted programming was about Lost Girl, a Canadian show currently in its second season that Syfy has acquired and will join Being Human on Monday nights beginning January 16th at 10pm ET.

Lost Girl follows the story of Bo (Anna Silk), who discovers as a teen that she isn’t human, but instead she’s a succubus, one of the Fae who can drain life energy from others after she kills her love. She later learns of the Fae would, and is told she must choose between the light or the dark Fae – she rebels and considers herself neutral in their conflicts and she tries to protect the humans.
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The zombies are taking over! Remember all that drama about Frank Darabont leaving as showrunner for AMC’s The Walking Dead? Either it had no effect on the fans, or it seriously boosted interest in the show, as last night’s second season premiere broke records for a basic cable program for the key 18-49 and 25-54 demos (4.8 and 4.2 million respectively), and reached 7.3 million total viewers is the first showing alone (up 38% over the first season premiere), and 11 million for the extra showings that followed.

On this Friday’s all new Sanctuary, Helen and Will are strolling along together through a marketplace seeking information, but it will definitely come at a price. The man feeding them the details they’re paying for assures them that the man they’re seeking will show up soon, and that he comes every day to buy a particular fish. As they start to follow their man they realized there’s a group they believe might be black market traffickers and are posing as competition. Will and Magnus start to lose their target and have to find a way to keep up. Be sure to watch the clip and tune in this Friday at 10/9c to see if Magnus and Will are able to get their man.
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Like last year, we had a special combined panel for the upcoming holiday themed episodes of several shows. This year Haven, represented by Emily Rose (Audrey Parker), joined Eureka‘s Colin Ferguson (Sheriff Jack Carter) and Warehouse 13‘s Eddie McClintock (Agent Pete Lattimer) to talk about the shows and Holiday specials. [See special sneak peeks of the episodes here]

All three episodes will be shown on the same night, on Tuesday, December 6th starting at 8pm ET.
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How did Peter Pan and Captain Hook end up in Neverland? How did Peter learn to fly? Was Hook always a pirate? How is it they never grow up? In general, how did they become the characters we are familiar with?

That is the premise behind the upcoming Neverland – a prequel or origin story to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, and stars Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, The Replacements, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1), Anna Friel (Limitless, Land of the Lost), and Charlie Rowe (The Golden Compass), who joined us along with Syfy President of Original Content Mark Stern to discuss the mini-series which will air on Sunday, December 4th and Monday December 5th at 9pm ET.
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