Sci-Fi Storm

Lena Headey, who is starring as the title character in the upcoming The Sarah Connor Chronicles, gave out some details of the show, which includes two new Terminators – one played by Summer Glau (Serenity) and the other by Owain Yeoman (The Nine). Also appearing is Thomas Dekker (Heroes) as John Connor.

Is she not afraid of typecasting, or figures its too late and is getting all she can out of the role? 🙂 Amanda Tapping has just signed to transfer her role of Col. Samantha Carter to Stargate Atlantis, beginning with its 4th season which would start this fall. Also appearing in the 4th season will be Jewel Staite (Kaylee of Firefly) will return to the series for 8 episodes as Dr. Keller. She previously appeared as the Wraith child Ellia.

Perhaps the networks are going to rethink the mid-season break plan. ABC’s hit show Lost turned in dismal ratings this week – the lowest ever for the show. IT still drew 12.8 million viewers in its later time slot, and it was on Valentine’s Day, but sponsors don’t see it that way – and perhaps all the plot twists are starting to leave viewers – well, Lost.

Next up on the remastered Star Trek episodes: “Amok Time”, where we get our first glimpses of the surface of the planet Vulcan. Unfortunately, I managed to lose the e-mail with the images from this episode, but there were two shots where they redid some matte images. Once shows Kirk, Spock and McCoy (well, tiny specks) cross a massive stone bridge high in the air to the arena. The second is a shot of the arena, which can be seen to be on top of a tower plateau with two stone bridges leading to it, with the city of Shi’Kahr, where Spock was born and grew up, in the background. If you told me it was a satellite shot of a Stonehenge on Mars, I’d believe it. I don’t remember any shots from the original episode that gave any sense of scale or location before.

This came out late on SCI FI Wire (I don’t believe the times on the article page): Battlestar Galactica will be back for a 4th season – albeit only 13 episodes this time around, like Season 1. “Taking a Break From All Your Worries” did exceptionally well in the ratings/demos, the strongest since the premiere of Season 2.

Our inside man has sent us more images of this weekend’s remastered episode of Star Trek – “The Doomsday Machine”. “The remastered version of the fan-favorite Star Trek episode, “The Doomsday Machine” premieres in syndication nationwide during the weekend of February 10, 2007. The remastered “The Doomsday Machine” features over 100 all-new digital visual effects shots, the most of any episode of the original Star Trek series. William Windom guest stars as Commodore Matt Decker, commander of the wrecked Starship Constellation. Decker tried desperately to save his crew from the doomsday machine, only to be forced to watch in horror as they were all killed by the alien robot.” Offhand, I can’t think of another episode that could be cooler – and the images we’ve got bear that out. I can’t wait for this one. Read More for more info and the images, and check your local listings for air times.

(continue reading…)

We received the following via e-mail from a well-known person associated with the franchise: “”Journey to Babel” airs weekend of February 3, 2007. The Starship Enterprise hosts an explosive gathering of interstellar diplomats in “Journey to Babel,” an episode of Star Trek Remastered, premiering nationwide during the weekend of February 3, 2007. “Journey to Babel” is regarded by many fans as a pivotal episode of the series, introducing Mark Lenard as Ambassador Sarek, Spock’s father, and Jane Wyatt as Amanda, Spock’s human mother. In the episode, an alien spy nearly kills Captain Kirk (William Shatner), putting Spock (Leonard Nimoy) in temporary command of the Starship Enterprise while the ship comes under deadly attack. The situation pits Spock’s logical duty to his ship against his all-too-human desire to reconnect with his dying father.” Read More for some details and production CGI shots. The various external shots in this episode help the remastered CGI really stand out. Search your listings for when it airs in your area – its in syndication, and can be at odd hours – my TiVo is my friend here…

(continue reading…)

The networks have announced some more SF show pickups – SCI FI Wire has a good summary. Some I’ve mentioned previously (Bionic Woman, Sarah Connor Chronicles and the two CBS shows mentioned Monday), some I swear I’ve posted on before but can’t find (Life on Mars, Journeyman), and the rest are news to me…speaking of Sarah Connor, what happened to the Red Mars miniseries for the SCI FI Channel that Terminator producer Gale Anne Hurd was supposed to produce? That news came out back in 2003. Must be right next to the Ringworld project and half the other projects we’ve mentioned in 2004.

CBS has picked up two SF pilots: Babylon Fields, an hour-long zombie “comedy-drama” (isn’t that called a “dramedy” now?) from 20th Century Fox with Michael Cuesta (Dexter) producing, and Twilight, a drama about a “vampire/private eye who’s dealing with the fallout from being immortal, his foes in the vampire world and a budding love for a mortal,” coming from Joel Silver and Warner Brothers TV.

Leonard Nimoy will host a new special to air on The History Channel on Feb. 19th called “Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier”, looking at 40 years of the franchise. Interviews with all the captains, except William Shatner, are expected. No idea if Shatner will appear at all.