Sci-Fi Storm

Filming just wrapped on the upcoming season of Doctor Who which debuts this coming Saturday on BBC and BBC America, and it seems a secret was leaked…that John Simm will return to the role of the Master, the actor confirmed.

When we last saw John Simm as the Master (In “The End Of Time” in 2010), he had sacrificed himself in an act of redemption/revenge to close the time lock that held the last days of the Time War including Gallifrey. The character later returned in the form of Missy, played by Michelle Gomez. Apparently, we will have BOTH incarnations on screen.

Showrunner Steven Moffat said, “Nothing stays secret for long on Doctor Who, but you’ll have to wait a little bit longer to see exactly what The Master is up to and how he makes his return to face the Doctor. It’s been a huge pleasure to have fan favorites John Simm and Michelle Gomez face to face in the same role! It’s not often you get to see a solo personality clash.”

He did not specify which episode, but I have a feeling this will be perhaps the finale, as both Moffat and current Doctor Peter Capaldi are set to depart the show.

Syfy announced its spring/summer schedule today, which includes the new unapologetic orgy-of-action grindhouse series, BLOOD DRIVE, from Universal Cable Productions. Additionally, the summer staple SHARKNADO will return for its 5th installment, and Syfy will once again feature live coverage from the summer’s biggest genre event, San Diego Comic-Con.

In addition, 12 MONKEYS, KILLJOYS, DARK MATTER, WYNONNA EARP and FACE OFF return.

SERIES PREMIERE

BLOOD DRIVE – Series premieres Wednesday, June 14 at 10/9c
Get uncomfortable…! In the tradition of classic grindhouse movies, BLOOD DRIVE is a new series soaked in high-octane chaos and just barely approved for television. After Los Angeles’ last good cop (Alan Ritchson) is forced to join a twisted cross-country death race, his only hope of survival is a dangerous femme fatale who has the need for speed (Christina Ochoa). Oh, and forget gasoline… these cars run on human blood! The series is from Universal Cable Productions and executive producers John Hlavin (“Underworld Awakening”), David Straiton (“Bates Motel”) and Frederik Malmberg (“Let Me In”), along with producer Mark Wheeler (“Becoming”). James Roland (“Weeds”) created the project and is a co-executive producer on the series.

MOVIES AND LIVE EVENTS (in order of air date)

LIVE FROM COMIC-CON – Coverage runs Thursday, July 20 – Saturday, July 22 at 11/10c
For the second year in a row, Syfy telecasts live from the heart of San Diego Comic-Con. Bringing the hottest party of the summer to the fans, with direct access to the biggest stars, breaking news, insider party coverage, exclusive content and sneak peeks of the most anticipated films and TV series, each night will bring you the news you need to know from the ‘Con.

SHARKNADO 5 (Working Title) – Premieres Sunday, August 6 at 8/7c
The pop culture phenomenon SHARKNADO blows into town this summer… and this time, the shark-infested storms pick up wind as the world braces for the inevitable – a global shark takeover. Will our chainsaw-wielding hero Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) and partner in crime April Wexler (Tara Reid) save the world from this jaw snapping-nado…again?

RETURNING SERIES (in order of air date)

12 MONKEYS – Season 3 premieres over 3 consecutive nights Friday, May 19 to Sunday, May 21 from 8-11/7-10c (Previously Announced)
Critically-acclaimed series 12 MONKEYS follows the journey of James Cole (Aaron Stanford), a man from 2043 sent back in time to eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will all but annihilate the human race, and his partner, brilliant virologist Dr. Cassandra Railly (Amanda Schull). In Season 3, the duo embarks on a desperate search across time to find the man responsible for the apocalypse – a time traveler who calls himself the Witness. Killing the Witness will save the world, but the journey will come at tremendous personal stakes for the pair.

DARK MATTER – Season 3 premieres two episodes back-to-back Friday, June 9 at 8/7c (then single episodes air weekly on Fridays at 9/8c)
Based on the graphic novel created by Joseph Mallozzi and Paul Mullie, DARK MATTER centers on an intergalactic crew who awaken on a derelict spaceship with no memories of who they are or how they got there. After the EOS 7 space station is destroyed, the survivors fight to stay alive and find the rest of their crew.

WYNONNA EARP – Season 2 premieres Friday, June 9 at 10/9c
Based on the IDW Publishing comic book created by Beau Smith, WYNONNA EARP follows the life of famous lawman Wyatt Earp’s demon-fighting great-great-granddaughter Wynonna (Melanie Scrofano), who inherited Wyatt’s mythic abilities. In Season 2, Wynonna and the gang must face a whole new level of evil when more paranormal beings enter the Ghost Triangle.

FACE OFF – Season 12 premieres Tuesday, June 13 at 9/8c
The award-winning competition series FACE OFF features innovative artists competing for a grand prize and top honor of being Hollywood’s next great special effects make-up artist. McKenzie Westmore, a member of a multigenerational family dynasty whose name is synonymous with the make-up effects field, returns to host.

KILLJOYS – Season 3 premieres June 30 at 8/7c
After sustaining serious personal losses, our trio of interplanetary bounty hunters must come together and prepare themselves for what lies ahead. Tension and tragedy loom over the J Star System as they struggle to assemble an army and prepare for battle.

Like Supergirl did for it’s second season, USA’s Colony will move to Vancouver for its third season.

USA has renewed the show for another 13 episode season, but without receiving a tax credit from the California Film Commission, producers elected to relocate production to Vancouver. It seems that the Commission is trying to drum up publicity by luring a few productions to Los Angeles – such as Lucifer and Legion, but it isn’t doing the same to keep current productions from skipping town. And top line actors don’t necessarily move with the show – they can have clauses that state they can opt-out of the contract if the production relocates. Supergirl lost Calista Flockhart as part of their move, although she did transition off in the first few episodes.

ABC’s Mistresses went through a similar situation, moving to Vancouver for their third season, and lost star Alyssa Milano. The show returned to LA for the fourth season once they received the tax credit, although Milano did not return.

Battlestar Galactica‘s Katee Sackhoff and Aliens‘ Lance Henriksen will join Jaeden Bettencourt (Hotel Transylvania 2) as the voice of three supercomputers in the artificial intelligence-driven drama pilot The Machine for Syfy.

Based on a 2013 British cult film, the series will explores humanity through artificial intelligence when a sentient AI is created, but the military wants to use it for war. Caradog James, who directed the film, is an executive producer with Red & Black Films and John Giwa-Amu, the film’s producer, and Andrew Miller (The Secret Circle).

Over at BBC America’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, the series has upped actor Osric Chau, who played Vogel of the Rowdy 3, to a series regular for Season 2. Chau previously appeared on Supernatural.

Verizon’s go90 service has added several Warner Bros. shows that had a strong fanbase, hoping to draw them to their service.

The new shows include Veronica Mars, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Babylon 5, Fringe, Almost Human, Believe, and Stalker. All will start streaming tomorrow, April 4th, except for Veronica Mars which will start sometime in May.

According to Chip Canter, the general manager for Verizon Digital Entertainment, “To be able to bring these seven titles to our users is a great opportunity to continue to double down on a genre that’s performed well for go90 and attract users who have been demanding these series or may be discovering them for the first time. This order represents our commitment to a data-driven programming strategy that marries popular traditional series with our originals and organizes them into 4-5 key audience-specific networks as a way to super serve our audiences; these series are a great fit for our go90 Saga network.”

Verizon’s go90 streaming service provides free streaming service built around a mobile-oriented social platform, marrying traditional series and original programming. Verizon Wireless customers can stream the shows data-free.

Harcourt Fenton “Harry” Mudd will finally return to Star Trek…one of the franchises most memorable guest characters will appear in the upcoming Star Trek: Discovery for CBS All Access, played by Emmy-nominated Rainn Wilson, who starred in The Office for nine years.

The bombastic criminal/”entrepreneur” Harry Mudd was originally played by the late Roger C. Carmel in the original series episodes “Mudd’s Women” and “I, Mudd”, and he reprised the role in the animated series episode “Mudd’s Passion”.

Times Up.

ABC has pulled freshman series Time After Time after only five of seven completed episodes aired, after the show pulled dismal ratings, averaging only 2.2 million viewers.

The show was based on the novel by Karl Alexander and the 1979 movie adaptation, and featured Freddie Stroma as H.G. Wells and Josh Bowman as Jack the Ripper, brought to the present day via Wells’ time machine.

The show may have had a hard time finding viewers in a prime time landscape awash with time-bendy shows, but at the same time we didn’t see a lot of heat generating for the show in general. Although as fans of the original movie we had high hopes for the show, but due to a very busy second-half schedule it was being queued up for binge-watching on our TiVo.

There are currently no plans to air the remaining two episodes.

Death knows no bounds in the DC Multiverse – Katie Cassidy will once again return to Arrow – and it will be as a series regular again! She will return for the final two episodes of this season as Black Siren – the evil Earth-2 version of her original Black Canary, then will be a regular through Season 6. No word on if or how it will affect her regular status on Legends of Tomorrow.

Louis Herthum, who plays Peter Abernathy, father of Dolores (Evan Rachel Wood), will become a series regular on HBO’s Westworld after appearing in six episodes of the show’s debut season.

YouTube and go90 star Anna Akana (Miss 2059) will join the Stitchers team as a recurring character. Akana will play a medical examiner who hits it off with Camille (Allison Scagliotti). Stitchers Season 3 starts June 5th of Freeform.

Got some new casting moves announced this week…first, Syfy’s live-action/animated blend Happy!, based on the graphic novel from Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson, will get Saturday Night Live‘s Bobby Moynihan to voice the animated title character.

The show follows Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: SVU), an intoxicated, corrupt ex-cop turned hit man, who is adrift in a world of casual murder, soulless sex and betrayal. After a hit gone wrong, his inebriated life is forever changed by a tiny, relentlessly positive, imaginary blue winged unicorn named Happy, making for a strange buddy act.

Meanwhile Katie McGrath, currently playing Lena Luthor – the little sister to Lex Luthor – on Supergirl has been upped to a series regular on the show. McGrath previously starred in BBC’s Merlin and has been a recurring character on Frontier for Netflix. She also had a co-starring role in Jurassic World.

It’s been three years since we’ve heard of any movement on an English-language live action Star Blazers movie. Good news is that it’s still with Skydance, and Christopher McQuarrie is still set to direct. However, since McQuarrie has been busy with Mission: Impossible 6, Skydance has hired Zach Dean to write a new draft of the script. Dean wrote 2012’s Deadfall starring Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde, and also has Voyagers (about Carl Sagan and his wife, Anne Druyan) and World War II drama Atlantic Wall in pre-production. Skydance hopes to have it ready for McQuarrie to direct as soon as he’s done with M:I6.

The original late-70s Star Blazers (original Japanese Space Battleship Yamato) follows the crew of the Yamato (redubbed Argo in the English version, after the ship of Greek mythology and similar story), a rebuilt relic equipped for space flight to travel from Earth, slowly dying after an alien bombardment, across the galaxy following a message from a mysterious source promising a cure for the Earth. 2010 saw a live-action Japanese version that was true to the styles of the original.