Sci-Fi Storm

SCI FI finally got off their duffs and have given a 13-episode run of Battlestar Galactica the green light. All the principles are expected to return.

Well, SCI FI has picked up the options on contracts for Battlestar Galactica, but apparently still hasn’t given a green light to production. It would seem foolish to have to pay everyone and not produce it, but this is television – and this is the SCI FI Channel after all.

Cinescape is running a rumor about the mood on the set of Star Trek: Enterprise (not good), but also that Paramount prez Garry Hart might consider concessions to UPN to keep its franchise alive – and that could include ousting production staff, including long-time show runner Rick Berman. I think I hear cheering…

This is late – it was announced yesterday but my day was screwed up…Not sure if this is the first step towards UPN killing it, but starting March 10th Star Trek: Enterprise is shifting to the 9pm ET slot formerly occupied by Jake 2.0, and in its place at 8pm will air the new computer animated half-hour show Game Over, with the voices of Patrick Warburton (The Tick), Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels), E.G. Daily (Powerpuff Girls) and Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live) who live in a video game universe. At 8:30pm UPN will air sitcom The Mullets.

Chris Gardner writes “It looks like Galactica is a go. The suits are worried about the per episode cost but strong ratings last month seems to have convinced them for a six episode try.

Scoop reported by Cinescape.” This is an unconfirmed report at this stage.

Enterprise‘s lead out show, Jake 2.0, has been cancelled by UPN, and given previous changes and uncertainty about Enterprise, this doesn’t bode well for Captain Archer and crew. I think regardless it will make it through the season to get the target goal of 3 season of shows for syndication, but it may be the shortest Trek show since the original. Shorter, in fact. The original went 79 episodes – Enterprise is only scheduled for 76.

They’re still out there. Part two of the Doctor Who episode “The Dalek Master Plan”, subtitled “Day of Armageddon”, has been found and said to be in “very good quality,” probably as a 16mm B/W print. The original episode was 12 parts (the longest, and described as “an all-round masterpiece” in the book A Voyage Through 25 Years of Doctor Who), and this is only the third to be found. A BBC engineer at the time they were throwing out the prints from their vault (policy back in the early 70s for old prints not expected to see light again, to make room) “borrowed” it from the trash. There are still 108 missing episodes, so check your attic…

The SCI FI Channel continues to purchase established shows. They announced that they are picking up Andromeda for a fifth season, along with rerun rights to all of them, from Tribune Entertainment. Also mentioned in the deal is all 66 episodes of Beastmaster, but it doesn’t say anything about new production (I believe the show was cancelled in 2002). Both shows were in the syndicated market.

I’m not sure where they get off calling it “SCI FI” Thursday, but Bonnie Hammer announced the new two-hour block of original programming aimed at a younger set. Scare Tactics returns in a 10pm slot, preceded by the new hour-long reality show Mad Mad House, a 10-episode run in which 5 “alternative lifestylists” (let’s see – a Wiccan, a vampire, a voodoo priestess, and naturist, and a “primitive” – how about “weirdos”?) run a house in which 10 “normal” people live. Following up at 10:30pm will be the animated Tripping the Rift, mentioned here before.

tchansen writes “SciFiWire reports that Ursula K. Le Guin‘s Earthsea is approved to become a mini-series for the SciFi Channel and production begins this spring in New Zealand. The mini-series consists of the first two books in the trilogy, A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan.” For those who don’t know the story, it deals with a reckless boy who is destined to become a great sorcerer. Perhaps capitalizing a little on Harry Potter? (SCI FI, not Le Guin…)