Sci-Fi Storm

Acton John Barrowman spoke with SyFy Portal about his character, Captain Jack Harkness, currently appearing in the spin-off Torchwood, will return for a multi-episode arc of Doctor Who in the upcoming third season. He also mentions that Who won’t cross over into Torchwood – the target audience is too different (children vs. adults). I haven’t watched Torchwood yet, but I’ve heard from people that weren’t too kind…what do you think of it?

Word has been out that George Takei is going to play Hiro’s father on Heroes, but I hadn’t heard about this until it was pointed out to me by my sister: Christopher Eccleston will be joining as a series regular starting in January, according to this Ask Ausiello post on TVGuide.com. Word is they wanted him sooner, but was unavailable.

Not sure why, but the SCI FI Channel is moving Battlestar Galactica from the Sci Friday lineup, opting for Sundays at 10pm ET after the new series The Dresden Files, effective January 21st.

Think you an produce a commercial that would help keep Stargate SG-1 on TV? Now’s your chance. Check out the “Keep the Gate Open” Video Contest, where you can utilize the provided materials and/or use your own to create a video. Grand prize is $1000 and a signed script of the episode “200”.

A new animated holiday special, Shrek The Halls, is being developed by ABC for airing this December, and expected to become a perennial special. Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, and Antonio Banderas are all named as appearing as their characters. Shrek 2 will air on ABC at 8pm ET on November 24th.

OK, this isn’t really SF, but it does involve one of our most revered (and picked-on) icons. William Shatner will have a new quiz show on ABC called Show Me The Money. The premise: a contestant answers questions and picks one of 13 dancers on stage to find out how much they win (or lose for an incorrect answer). In the process, the dancers will break out into spontaneous dance, along with the host (Shatner). Let me borrow a phrase from a fellow Star Trek alum: Oh my. I’m having flashbacks of Iron Chef USA (not the one on the Food Network, but the one Fox tried with Shatner as the Chairman).

Nathan Fillion (Firefly) will guest star on the Nov. 8th episode of Lost, just before the hiatus. He will play a character named Kevin, but there is no other information on him.

“Hiatus” is often a bad word in Hollywood. Most shows don’t return from hiatus. But as a sign of “doing things differently”, ABC’s hit Lost will go on hiatus after the November 8th episode, and return on February 7th and air new episodes without a break until the end of the season. In its stead will be the new SF serial Day Break.

CBS has announced a full season order for hit show Jericho, about a small Colorado town that appears to be alone after a nuclear strike. The show has managed a 3.4 rating among the key 18-49 demographics, and averages 11.3 million viewers.

Much like Babylon 5‘s little revival (which we should see next year), it appears that Stargate SG-1 will get the DVD treatment. MGM has reportedly agreed to pony up some money and given the green light two two films, likely to be direct-to-DVD.