Sci-Fi Storm

OK, I missed this announcement…while watching tonight’s episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, in which they are parodying the whole Star Trek fan culture with a fictional 60s tacky SF show called “Astro Quest” (a bit of a self-parody – CSI is produced by CBS/Paramount, who owns the rights to Star Trek), there is a producer who plans to remake the show as “Astro Quest: Redux” – with a more gritty, bloody, violent version where the captain even cries (something of a parody of J.J. Abrams upcoming film). After airing a scene to the stunned silence of the convention guests, a man stands up and points to the producer yelling, “You suck!” I recognized him instantly as Ronald D. Moore – who essentially did the same thing to Battlestar Galactica!

Richard Dean Anderson (General Jack O’Neill), Amanda Tapping (Colonel Samantha Carter), Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson) and Gary Jones (Chief Master Sergeant Walter Harriman) will reprise their roles in a guest appearances (it is unclear if they are in the same episode or not) in the upcoming Stargate Universe. Also mentioned as a Stargate alum is actor Christopher McDonald, but I am not aware of him making an appearance on either of the previous shows…

I’ve managed to watch the new episodes of Doctor Who, “Planet Of The Dead” and Red Dwarf, “Back To Earth”, so I thought I’d throw together a review. Read More for some insights…

(continue reading…)

Finally…the BBC has finally nailed down the broadcast day and time of the next Doctor Who special episode – now dubbed the Easter Special, but titled “Planet Of The Dead” – on BBC One and BBC HD on Saturday, April 11th at 6:45pm BST. No idea on a U.S. broadcast at this time.

Joss Whedon’s fans were probably already a little leery about doing another show with Fox…and there may be reason. With the ratings seemingly on the increase, Fox will apparently not air the 13th episode, already shot and titled “Omega”, instead ending the season on May 8th with the 12th episode, “Epitaph One”. Various theories are in play, and everyone seems to be insisting that the show has not been canceled – but networks don’t seem to like saying that word even when its true…Update 4/10: Consulting producer Tim Minear clarifies a bit – Fox’s TV order ended with the 12th episode, because the original pilot was scrapped. However, a 13th episode was required for DVD contract fulfillment, so “Epitaph One” was filmed as a standalone episode for the DVD. Don’t know why Fox wouldn’t air that at some point as well – but I can also see holding it until AFTER the DVD release…

Leonard Nimoy, who has been making the rounds for the upcoming Star Trek remake, will appear in another Orci/Kurtzman collab effort – Fringe. Nimoy will guest star on the season ender as the mysterious William Bell, the former lab partner of Walter Bishop at Harvard and the founder of Massive Dynamic.

Just a heads up that if you want to catch a glimpse of the upcoming Stargate Universe, a new trailer will debut tonight during the airing of Stargate: Continuum on the SCI FI Channel at 9PM ET. Some time later the trailer will be available on SCI FI Wire.

The SCI FI Channel is airing a string of movies with “Storm” in the title tonight: Earthstorm, Polar Storm, and Dark Storm. Now, of course I wouldn’t normally call out the typical SFC Saturday movie night fare (for good reason), and its certainly not because two of the three feature Stephen Baldwin, or the middle one has Jack Coleman (Noah Bennet, Heroes). But I learned from someone on a mailing list (thanks Fred!) about what has to be the best movie summary ever on Earthstorm…and watch out for the Rice Krispie space debris…I am so taping this to laugh later…

It appears the previous Caprica clips are no longer available, but here are eight new ones!

[Alas, these videos are no longer available either]

Ronald D. Moore, among a series of posts on the SciFi BSG Forums, spoke about various aspects of the finale being discussed. One of the interesting ones (third post) puts forward an idea they had for an alternate fate for the Galactica itself – managing to crash land relatively intact on ancient Earth, and millennia later being found under some unexplained mounds (which really exist)…