Sci-Fi Storm

The successor to Peter Capaldi as the Doctor in Doctor Who (officially the 13th, not counting the War Doctor or the semi-10th duplicate) will be announced by the BBC and BBC America after the conclusion of the men’s final at Wimbledon on Sunday. As the time it takes for the final is indeterminate, for U.S. viewers it starts at 9am Eastern, and is expected to run 2-3 hours.

How BBC America will handle the announcement is uncertain – they will certainly post on their Facebook page, but they might cut in to the live BBC feed when it happens as well. When we know, we’ll post as well.

Update 7/15: Regretfully we have to report that John Bernecker passed away yesterday.

Previous: We are hearing from multiple sources that the production of The Walking Dead has halted production after John Bernecker, a stuntman on the set, suffered a serious life-threatening injury. We understand he suffered a 30-foot fall and injured his head. He was immediately transported to an Atlanta hospital.

SAG-AFTRA, who represents the stunt performers, released a statement, “As always, the safety and security of our members and others on set is of crucial concern to us and we are focused on this in our investigation. Our thoughts and prayers are with the performer and his family.”

Freeform picked up a 10-episode straight to series order for Marvel’s New Warriors several months ago, but The Hollywood Reporter today announced that the cast has been set, including the coveted role of Squirrel Girl.

Milana Vayntrub (This Is Us) and Derek Theler (Baby Daddy) will take up the lead roles of Squirrel Girl and Mister Immortal, respectively. Also joining the cast are Jeremy Tardy (War Dogs) as Night Thrasher, Calum Worthy (Austin & Ally) as Speedball, Matthew Moy (2 Broke Girls) as Microbe and Kate Comer (Hello, My Name Is Doris) as Debrii.

The scripted comedy series, a first from Marvel Television, 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.

Kevin Biegel (Couger Town, Scrubs) is executive producer and showrunner, with Jeph Loeb (head of Marvel Television) and Jim Chory (Heroes, Daredevi) also executive producing.

It’s been a light holiday week (a working one for me…) unless you are in the political news arena, but I thought I’d just do a quick roundup of the most interesting stories…

Comic Con International is coming up, and I won’t be there again (yes, we know Doc, every year…hey, it’s pretty far away!) and so there ls lots of news swirling around about who will be there…but just recently announced is a reunion of the Syfy version of Battlestar Galactica. So far confirmed are Tricia Helfer, Katee Sackhoff, Mary McDonnell and Grace Park, with many more expected. It will take places at 2:30 PM on Thursday, July 20, in Ballroom 20. Word is that Peter Capaldi will appear one last time as well for Doctor Who on the final day (July 23rd) in the massive Hall H.

Comic Con International also re-upped with the city of San Diego to stay put for four more years.

Remember that lawsuit by the Tolkien estate against Warner Bros over the license for gambling devices and games? Well, it’s finally over. The parties agreed to a settlement in the case, and in a joint statement said, “The parties are pleased that they have amicably resolved this matter and look forward to working together in the future.” Hmm…could they be considering more productions?

Oh…Sony Pictures posted an interesting YouTube video:

A lot of people seem to think this may mean an sequel to Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, but we would put money on this just being viral hype for a 40th Anniversary release of the original.

Supergirl fans will see the return of a character this upcoming season, but with a slightly different face. Laura Benanti, who played Alura Zor-El and Astra in the first season (and an appearance in one episode in the second season), is apparently not available due to commitments in New York. Erica Durance, who played Lois Lane on Smallville and most recently was starring in Saving Hope which finishes it’s final season this summer, will take over the role of Alura.

And lastly, it is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Stan Lee’s wonderful wife Joan yesterday at the age of 93. She’s widely considered to have helped convince her husband to come up with a new kind of superhero – flawed and human – that propelled Stan Lee into comic royalty. They had been married for 69 years. Our thoughts are with Stan.

Rejoice Sensates! Sense8 will return, at least temporarily…

After getting canceled by Netflix earlier this month with some things unresolved, Lana Wachowski, via the official Sense8 Twitter account, explained why she hasn’t said much, but also why she is talking now!

Death doesn't let you say goodbye. 2 hour finale episode in the works. Tell your cluster. pic.twitter.com/GHZgGuHwS0

— Sense8 (@sense8) June 29, 2017

So it seems we will at least get some closure – and just maybe, a bit more…

We’ve been following attempts at producing some form of Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels into some form of video media – it has long been considered “unfilmable”, given the complex stories and long time span they cover. We’ve been waiting pretty much since we started this site 17 years ago. We’ve seen various writers, producers, directors and studios involved, most recently with Sony and Roland Emmerich involved starting in 2009, and adding Dante Harper (Alien: Covenant) in 2011 as a writer followed by Jonathan Nolan (Interstellar). And like every other attempt, it vaporized.

Now Skydance Television wants a shot at it, and they are putting up David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman as collateral.

According to Deadline, Skydance is aiming at a TV series, with Goyer (Man of Steel) and Friedman (Avatar 2) working on a script. The Foundation series of novels center around mathematician Hari Seldon, who develops a new system of mathematics called “psychohistory”, which can model at a grand scale what will happen in the future – and Seldon discovers that the Galactic Empire, which consists of humans populating millions of other worlds, is in danger of imminent collapse and could lead to a Dark Age that could last thousands of years.

Interestingly, the Deadline article mentions one of the difficulties of adapting Foundation is because of Star Wars – because the latter was influenced by Asimov’s themes and the similarities would make it appear like a ripoff – even though Foundation‘s origins were in short stories published starting in 1942. And with Star Wars finding a massive resurgence, that could even make it more difficult – or an easier sell.

It has a long, very steep trajectory out of the gravity well still, but here’s hoping.

SYFY announced today that Tremors, starring Kevin Bacon reprising his original role from the 1990 film of the same name, has been ordered to pilot. From Universal Cable Productions, the drama was written by Andrew Miller (The Secret Circle), who will also serve as showrunner and executive producer along with Bacon and David Schiff (Southpaw) in association with Blumhouse Television.

“This is the only character I’ve played that I’ve ever thought about revisiting. I just got to thinking, where would this guy end up after 25 years?” commented Bacon. “Andrew Miller has a fantastic take on it and we hope to create a show that will be fun and scary for fans of the movie and folks that have yet to discover it. Let’s kick some Graboid ass!”

The killer Graboid worms that nearly destroyed Perfection, Nevada 25 years ago are back, and the town’s only hope for survival is Valentine McKee (Bacon) who beat them once. But to do it again he’ll have to overcome age, alcohol and a delusional hero complex.

“We are so pleased to continue our partnership with SYFY and UCP in reviving this cult classic with none other than Kevin Bacon as Valentine McKee; we look forward to thrilling original fans and new audiences alike,” commented Blumhouse founder, Jason Blum.

Tremors, based on the 1990 movie, spawned 4 direct-to-video sequel movies (and a 5th currently filming) as well as a short-lived series on then-SCI FI Channel in 2003 which followed the further tales of one of the other stars of the movie, Burt Gummer (played by Michael Gross).

Nightflyers, a project based on the novella from George R.R. Martin and previously announced to be in development at Syfy, is moving forward with a pilot.

Martin himself is not involved in the project, as he is exclusive to HBO’s Game Of Thrones currently. The script was written by Jeff Buhler (Jacob’s Ladder). The supernatural thriller is set in the future on the eve of Earth’s destruction, a crew of explorers journey on the most advanced ship in the galaxy, The Nightflyer, to intercept a mysterious alien spacecraft that might hold the key to their survival. As the crew nears their destination, they discover that the ship’s artificial intelligence and never-seen captain may be steering them into deadly and unspeakable horrors deep in the dark reaches of space.

“We are looking forward to diving deeper into George R.R. Martin’s chilling world of Nightflyers,” said Bill McGoldrick, EVP Scripted Development for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “The script that Jeff delivered encapsulates this classic sci-fi horror story and adapts it to a platform where we can truly explore the depths of madness.”

Nightflyers is a production of Universal Cable Productions and Hypnotic.

CBS has set the premiere of Star Trek: Discovery for September 24th, 2017 – about 9 months after originally intended. And according to showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen J. Berg, the primary reason for the delays was building the world in which they explore.

In an interview with EW “There’s is so much artistry and custom craftsmanship that go into every prop, every costume, every set,” Harberts explained. “These things have to be designed and manufactured. We flew a costume designer to Switzerland to pick up the fabric for the Starfleet uniforms. Several items on our uniforms are 3D printed. Some of our sets can take over six weeks to make. CBS has given us the time and the money to make something the fans will find worthwhile.”

Added Berg: “You can’t cut corners or have 95 percent of what’s on screen be completely original and inspired and then have five percent something you bought at a store. It has to be cohesive — and it is. I’m so proud of what’s on screen, it’s so beautiful and it’s taking world-building to a whole new level.”

But this is not something unique to this show. Other shows have to build sets, make props, etc. and that should have been figured in to the production cycle from the start.

The show will premiere on CBS at 8:30pm-9:30pm ET/PT (a strange slot, but it follows a football doubleheader), followed by the first two episodes being available on the pay-streaming CBS All Access. 6 more episodes will premiere on succeeding Sundays through November 5th, after which it will have a short break and pick up again in January for 7 more episodes. The break will allow more post-production time on the later episodes.

The denizens of Babylon 5 have lost another member.

Actor Stephen Furst, who became known for the role of Flounder in the movie Animal House and then major TV roles of Dr. Elliot Axelrod on St. Elsewhere and Vir Cotto on Babylon 5 (where he also directed a few episodes), passed away yesterday morning at home surrounded by family and friends after battling diabetes for many years. He was 62.

Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski tweeted, “On behalf of everyone who worked on Babylon 5, Stephen Furst will be missed profoundly and everlastingly.”

Furst is the 6th major cast member of Babylon 5 to have “passed beyond the veil.” Richard Biggs, Andreas Katsulas, Jeff Conaway, Michael O’Hare, and most recently Jerry Doyle have all passed away.

Oh Vir, you will be missed.