Sci-Fi Storm

The Hollywood Reporter (via Test Pattern) reports that Tribune and Fireworks Entertainment have given the green light to seasons 3 and 4 of Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda after resigning stations in 78% of domestic markets.

Hmmm…SG-1 news is coming out of the woodwork now. Seems that Corin Nemec, star of Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, will be joining the regular cast of Stargate SG-1 for its sixth season, and will actually appear in the Season 5 finale. He will play Jonas Quinn, a human from another planet. Production begins in February.

Just caught this on CNN – The X-Files will end its 9-year run in May, as Chris Carter has pulled the plug. Competition and sagging ratings after the departure of David Duchovny (Agent Fox Mulder) are cited.

Just a reminder that Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers movie/pilot, To Live and Die in Starlight, premieres at 9:00PM this Saturday (1/19), with an encore at 11:00PM as well as Sunday at 5:00PM (following The Gathering). You wouldn’t believe how much SCI FI is promoting this – even Bonnie Hammer, President of the SCI FI Channel, has turned her BMW into a billboard.

I haven’t posted about Stargate SG-1 in a while – because I haven’t seen any news. Well, Amanda Tapping (Major Samamtha Carter) did an interview for SCI FI Wire where she talks a bit about season 6 (which moves to the SCI FI Channel in June), keeping her character fresh, and the fate of Dr. Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks is departing the show at the end of the fifth season). Alas, you might be spoiled a bit…

Update 1/16: And this interview discusses the direct-to-video movie she did with Adrian Paul (The Highlander), called The Void.

According to the officia Andromeda website, Robert Engels will take over the writing team for Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, replacing the departed Robert Hewitt Wolfe. They credit him with helping develop Twin Peaks, and co-exec producing seaQuest DSV, but iMDB doesn’t confirm the latter. For the sake of the show I hope nor… :^)

Seems NBC is cleaning out the closet again. Word on the street (at least according to Variety) is that NBC has commissioned a script from FOX Television for a two-hour TV movie as a pilot for a new series. It will be extensively updated, with references to the 60s show. No word on whether it will have anything to do with the 1998 feature movie, which didn’t do well enough at the box office to revive the franchise.

JMS’s new series for Showtime, Jeremiah will debut in March or June of 2002, according to JMS, starting with a two-hour movie. Jeremiah will star Luke Perry (Berverly Hills, 90210) and Malcolm-Jamal Warner (the Cosby Show), and is about life 15 years after a virus wipes out anyone over the age of puberty, and the survivors are at the point where they need to start rebuilding.

Seems Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has a plan for an “anti-Trek” series that Fox is finalizing a deal on. Tentatively titled “Firefly”, it’s about the crew of a very small, fast spaceship “whose aft end lights up,” Whedon said. No regular aliens or anything, but he promises “There’ll be scary-ass humans…I can make people that are scarier than anything you can put in latex.”

First co-exec producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe left – now it’s Brent Stait, who plays the Magog Rev Bem on Andromeda. Brent’s departure, however, doesn’t seem to be political, but rather personal – seems he’s been having trouble with all the prosthetic makeup – he was allergic. As far as how they well handle the loss on-air, rather than bring a new actor on board, his “traits” would be distributed among the others. “…keep your eye on Trance,” said Seth Howard, an executive with Tribune Entertaiment, in a chat at the official web site.