Sci-Fi Storm

Stephen Sansweet, head of fan relations at Lucasfilm, vehemently denied the rumors that two live action TV movies were in the works. He did mention that the two planned TV series, and that Star Wars: Clone Wars was well underway, will be CGI animated, and will be geared towards adults. The live action series is just starting up. More details are to be released at Star Wars Celebration IV, which opens tomorrow in Los Angeles.

I had the opportunity to see a rough cut preview of the upcoming Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed special on the History Channel. The special will run two hours, with commercials. In it academics, politicians, celebrities and journalists discuss the influence of Star Wars as defining a new myth, as well as the myths that inspired it. Some of the luminaries include Peter Jackson, Newt Gingrich, Stephen Colbert, J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon, Dan Rather, and Nancy Pelosi. Read More for more details.

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CBS has definitely canceled Jericho, but in a statement on the official forum serveral days ago from Nina Tassler, President of CBS Entertainment, stated that they “hope to develop a way to provide closure to the compelling drama that was the Jericho story.”

Looks like we won’t find out what happens in the town of Jericho after the cliffhanger. In CBS’s announcement of who lives and who dies next season, series wise, Jericho was left off the list of survivors. Like other similar complex SF-tinged shows with a running plot line (Lost and Heroes), Jericho suffered from a long winter break and never quite recovered. Unlike the other two, it isn’t sharing in their good fortune. CBS would rather risk money on unproven new shows than relaunch Jericho.

ABC has released their fall schedule, including a few more SF shows. Lost gets another season, although it will be held until the midseason break to avoid the drop in viewership it experienced this year with the long break. New fare includes the previously announced Geico commercial-inspired Cavemen; Pushing Daisies from Bryan Fuller and Barry Sonnenfeld, about a young man who can bring the dead to life with only a touch, and does so for his childhood friend – but if he touches her again, she will die for good; and Eli Stone, about a lawyer who begins to have odd hallucinations which inspire him to seek greater meaning to life.

After NBC’s dismal season, with Heroes providing the only freshman hit, the fall schedule was announced and it provides an extra dose of Heroes and a few new SF shows. Heroes: Origins will be used to increase the Heroes season to 30 episodes, and provide insight into new characters that viewers can vote on to have them appear in the following season. This should offset some of the rerun doldrums, which did some harm to the ratings of the show (and quite a few others). Also in the schedule are the previously announced Bionic Woman remake by Galactica exec David Eick and Journeyman and newcomer Chuck, bout a young computer whiz who becomes a government agent after espionage secrets are downloaded into his brain.

At the Saturn Awards in Universal City yesterday, Edward James Olmos and Katie Sackhoff said that the upcoming fourth season of Battlestar Galactica would be the last. However, exec producer David Eick countered, saying that no end has been announced, and that the upcoming fourth season would be a full 22 episodes instead of the announced 13.

As part of a larger article on Fox News, George Lucas spoke of Star Wars, and that he’s currently working on another installment of Clone Wars, which has already had two series (see Volume 1 and Volume 2). He also gives a few extra details on Indy 4, and of course is still working on new animated and live action Star Wars TV series – but the new news is about the possibility of two new made-for-TV “movies” – they will only be about an hour long, which I think makes them more specials than movies, though.

The producers of Lost have an agreement with ABC which allows them to end the series in 3 years, during the 2009-2010 television season. Of note is that each of the remaining three seasons will consist of only 16 episodes instead of the typical 22 – but they were be aired uninterrupted. The interruptions this season were criticized as confusing viewers, who were having trouble keeping track of the plot.

This weekend the “remastered” Star Trek episodes continue with “Tommorow is Yesterday”: “The remastered version of “Tomorrow is Yesterday,” Star Trek’s first real time-travel episode, premieres in nationwide syndication during the weekend of May 5, 2007. The episode, written by D.C. Fontana, features Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the Starship Enterprise accidentally thrown back to Earth in the 1960s, where the ship is spotted as a UFO.”. Read More for pictures and more details.

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