Sci-Fi Storm

The BBC have dug into their archives and pulled up some typewritten documents with some written notes on them regarding the creation of a Science Fiction serial which eventually became Doctor Who, and given them the title “The Genesis of Doctor Who”. See the original character descriptions, why he is male, and what his secret was meant to be…

It’s hack and slash season, and NBC has announced among other things that Christian Slater vehicle My Own Worst Enemy has been gunned down due to low ratings, not helped by the weakening lead in from Heroes. No word on how remaining episodes will be handled, especially since the last of the original order of 9 episodes is still filming. In the meantime the SCI FI series Sanctuary will enjoy a second season. The statement of “the first TV series to use live-action actors against virtual sets” is a bit troubling though. I think they may use ALL virtual sets, but I distinctly recall Babylon 5 using some virtual sets…

Everyone is afraid of getting downsized these days (including me), but in Hollywood it is usually all or nothing. Bucking that trend in a desperate bid to survive is Knight Rider, which will jettison three of the “home base” regulars – Sydney Tamiia Poitier (Carrie), Yancey Arias (Alex) and Bruce Davison (Charles Graiman) – and change the direction of the show. “We’re moving away from the terrorist-of-the-week formula and closer to the original, making it a show about a man and his car going out and helping more regular people, everymen,” according to executive producer Gary Scott Thompson. The sharks are circling though…can rescue come in time?

Lost will finally return to television, with the two-hour 5th season premiere being broadcast on Wednesday, January 21st at 9pm ET, returning to its original time slot. It will be preceded with the obligatory “Here’s everything you’ve forgotten” clip show.

In a surprise announcement, Fox has announced their midseason schedule, and it has Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is being moved to Fridays, and will lead in to Dollhouse, instead of the latter being paired with 24 on Mondays as originally planned. As if Joss Whedon’s new show didn’t have enough problems…Fridays are a notoriously low-rated night…

Defying Gravity, a 13 episode series, is set to go into production in Vancouver January 19th by Fox TV Studios – but isn’t sold to a U.S. outlet yet. Gravity is more of an international production, and won’t be shopped to networks in the U.S. until it is completed. The series stars Ron Livingston (Office Space)and German actress Florentine Lahme (Impact), and is about eight astronauts from five countries who take on a mysterious six-year mission through the solar system. Executive producer Michael Edelstein says the inspiration came from the BBC docudrama Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets.

Depending on who’s report you read, Heroes producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb were either fired or left over creative differences. Either way, ratings of the show have continued to slide, probably not helped by the complex storyline this season.

Shortly after Doctor Who won Best Drama and David Tennant won Outstanding Drama Performance at the National Television Awards, David announced that he is departing the show after the 4 specials are completed, which will air through 2009 to early 2010. “”I’d always thought the time to leave would be in conjunction with Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner who have been such a huge part of it all for me,” he said. “Steven Moffat is the most brilliant and exciting writer, the only possible successor to Russell and it was sorely tempting to be part of his amazing new plans for the show. I will be there, glued to my TV when his stories begin in 2010.” More rumors about his successor should be showing up any moment…

Joss Whedon is finally recent production hiatus on his upcoming Fox series Dollhouse. He gives a bit of insight into his production ideas, a bit about dealing with the studio, and even admitting when they studio isn’t necessarily wrong…

SCI FI Wire has some exclusive concept art for the planned Stargate Universe spinoff, showing some set ideas for the Ancient ship called the Destiny.