Sci-Fi Storm

The Hollywood Reporter’s Barry Garron reviewed the upcoming second version of Riverworld on SyFy (their first attempt was in 2003), and the results were not pretty at all…”Bottom line: Disjointed and preposterous” are the first words, and “…it is hard to single out any character as being more one-dimensional than the rest,” later on. Not exactly ringing praise. However, there was one bright spot: Where the father and son production duo of Robert Halmi Sr. and Jr. typically aim for the international market, making it ” heavy on action, special effects and attractive stars and skimp on clever dialogue, skillful plotting and character development. In that sense, “Riverworld” does not disappoint.” Riverworld airs Sunday, April 18th, at 7pm ET.

Really? It appears that the reason we get movies like Mega Piranha is because someone is watching them. The made-for-SyFy movie took in 2.2 million viewers – outdoing Caprica‘s best ever as well as the typical Stargate Universe episode. I’m not one of the 2.2 million – I couldn’t get past how bad the trailer looked…was it meant to be a farce?

Speaking of regenerations, the BBC posted an article about the difficulties each Doctor faced with each regeneration – both on screen and in the media. When the idea came up of “regeneration” to replace the lead actor, a memo was released that likened the experience of regeneration to a Time Lord like a bad LSD trip – “The metaphysical change… is a horrifying experience – an experience in which he relives some of the most unendurable moments of his long life.” It also mentions how each of the Doctors during the original run (Peter Davison is not mentioned, ironically the youngest Doctor until Matt Smith) had trouble getting accepted. Patrick Troughton was a “half-witted clown,” reaction to Jon Pertwee was “hardly enthusiastic,” Tom Baker was “loony,” Colin Baker was “too stern” and “too aggressive,” and Sylvester McCoy reached an all time low approval rating – but his first companion, Mel (Bonnie Langford), was hated even more…

Here are a couple more videos as we anticipate the return of Doctor Who…and you may notice on occasion a countdown timer on the right…
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Here are a couple of videos from the most recent episode of South Park, poking fun at both Facebook and Tron…

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As the anticipation reaches a fever pitch for the BBC America premiere of the new Doctor at April 17th, I’ve got a couple new videos for you to see. The first as Steven Moffat talking about the sonic screwdriver of all things, and the second is Matt Smith talks regeneration…and if you’ve been apprehensive of the new Doctor and producer, my spy network across the pond, who saw the first episode this past Saturday, indicates that there are no worries – everyone is impressed. Also, Techland has an interview with Matt Smith.
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BBC America just announced that the new stars of Doctor Who, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, along with showrunner Steven Moffat, will appear in New York City to promote the new series with press interviews and a series of events. The launch kicks off on April 12, with a Paley Center for Media and BAFTA East Coast member screening and discussion moderated by Entertainment Weekly’s senior writer Clark Collis. On April 14, fans can join Matt, Karen and Steven at the Village East Cinema for the official premiere screening followed immediately by a Q&A moderated by USA Today’s pop culture columnist Whitney Matheson, author of the Pop Candy blog. The Village East screening will take place at 7pm, and is open to the public and seating is on a first-come, first served basis on the day of the event.

I haven’t watched it yet as I was out trying to prevent Lake New England from encroaching further into my house, but I’ve seen from friends on Facebook that many Lost fans were not happy that ABC kept putting up a big red “V” and a countdown clock during the show, blocking some key information. It also didn’t help that the Boston affiliate ran a crawler about the weather situation, blocking the English translations…but even producer Damon Lindelof wasn’t happy. Update: Stephen Colbert had a funny take on it…see below.
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Here are a couple more looks at the upcoming new series of Doctor Who, including the first few moments of the next episode….

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Doctor Who returns to the U.S. on BBC America on April 17th at 9pm ET, featuring new Doctor Matt Smith and his new companion, Amy Pond (Karen Gillan). To celebrate, BBC America is going to air an extended version of the episode with limited commercial interruption. Can’t wait? Well you can catch the trailer again below, and you can also follow news on the official BBC America Facebook and Twitter pages, or the official BBC America Doctor Who web page.

Updated: The new trailer is show below now…the link originally sent was for the old one.

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