Sci-Fi Storm

This week Christopher Eccleston joined as one of the Heroes. Now, Eric Roberts, who played The Master in the 1996 Doctor Who movie, joins the cast on the other side – as an associate of Claire’s father (commonly known as “Horn-Rimmed Glasses”).

Monday marks the return of Heroes. It also marks the return of Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) to U.S. TV, as he makes his first of several appearances on Heroes as an invisible man named Claude (after the star of The Invisible Man, Claude Rains) who becomes a mentor to Peter.

The SCI FI Channel has made a lot of announcements for upcoming productions, so let me summarize – full text available at SCI FI Wire: Alan Cumming (X2) joins the cast of Tin Man, a twist on the Oz tale; Flash Gordon series gets green light; and the following are in development: Diamond Age, based on Neal Stephenson’s best seller, is a six-hour miniseries from George Clooney; Avery House, from Mark Burnett, a bed-and-breakfast where thoughts become real; Revolution, about colonists under siege from Earth; Middletown, a small town that becomes a battleground with aliens; Johnny Midnight, about a slacker with powers to save the world; Witch School, about a school for aspiring conjurors (sound familiar?); and Starcrossed, a half-hour comedy behind the scenes of a space opera program. That last one sounds suspiciously like a book by Ben Bova with the same name, which satirizes the experience with the short-lived Canadian SF series The Starlost.

The San Francisco Chronicle ran an article about the Star Wars tribute in Monday’s Tournament of Roses Parade, and also discussed what George Lucas will be up to next – referring to the previously announced animated and live-action TV shows. The animated show is aimed for 2008, and the live-action for 2009. No detail on plots yet though, other than unlike previous reports the Skywalkers will not be involved.

David Eick, one half of the team that re-imagined Battlestar Galactica to great success, has been looking through the Universal catalog for the next great re-do – and set his sights on The Bionic Woman. NBC has given a green light for a pilot (contingent on cast, apparently). The original was a spin-off of The Six Million Dollar Man, and starred Lindsay Wagner.

If you think you’re the ultimate Smallville fan, Warner Brothers would like you feature you in a featurette on the upcoming Season 6 DVD set! “Create a 15 second video proving you?re the Ultimate SMALLVILLE FAN for your chance to be a part of the Ultimate Fan featurette on the SMALLVILLE Season 6 DVD! We?re looking for the most creative, most exciting and most fascinating fans in the country.”. Just don’t try to beat a speeding bullet, or anything foolish like that. Enter online at http://www.ultimatesmallvillefan.com/.

AMC may need to change their name, if they haven’t already. The cable channel (“American Movie Classics”, although I guess it depends on what they mean by “Classics”) is getting more into the original scripted programming business, and their recent pick? A remake of the British classic The Prisoner. There are few details, other than a target air date of January 2008, and a minimum of six to eight episodes. They also have the rights to the original show starting Patrick McGoohan and will air it around the same time.

Variety is reporting that ABC has pulled the plug on Day Break and the Shatner-hosted Show Me The Money. Day Break‘s numbers have been disappointing, but the “Shat-tastic” Money was a bit of a surprise – it was doing OK, but when Nielsens Week hit, it did horribly. Technically, Money is on “hiatus”, but we know what that usually means. The remaining two episodes of Day Break are supposed to be released on ABC.com.

The BBC has announced a second season for the hit Who-spinoff, Torchwood, and the show will move its first showings to BBC Two from BBC Three (it’s been a while since I’ve seen or understood British TV, but it sounds like an upgrade, with BBC One being the most “prestigious” channel). Looks like plenty of aliens and monsters will be sneaking around Cardiff next year…

The mysterious The Lost Room, a limited series from the SCI FI Channel, premieres Monday, December 11th, at 9pm ET. For a limited time, you can download an overview video (8MB), or see short viral videos on a Clock vs. Truck (1.6MB), or the effects of a bus ticket (1MB) (Quicktime format). Update: Time’s up – links removed.