Sci-Fi Storm

The SCI FI Channel has picked up all 13 episodes of the short-lived ABC show Strange World, a spokesperson told SCI FI Wire. The show aired in March 1999, but was cancelled after just three episodes aired, leaving 10 episodes unaired. SCI FI will air them next February.

The SCI FI Channel has put up some new information on their Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers Website. It includes interviews with Doug Netter (Executive Producer), Jennie Hogan (Na’Feel), and Andreas Katsulas (G’Kar), a chan transcript with Dean Marshall (Malcolm Bridges), and an upcoming chat on Thursday, Dec 13th, with Warren T. Takeuchi (Kitaro Sasaki
).

JMS’ new series for Showtime, Jeremiah, has been in limbo since the September 11th attacks because of its post-apocalyptic storyline. Read More for the message from JMS on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated…

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The Sci Fi Channel has given the green light to begin production on the sequel to last December’s Dune miniseries, entitled Children of Dune. It actually encompasses both the second (Dune Messiah) and third (Children of Dune) books in the Dune series by Frank Herbert. It is set to air in 2003.

SCI FI Wire has a blurb from JMS about the upcoming Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers. “I wanted to explore their history, their tradition, their philosophy,” he said. Follow the link for the full thing. Airdate still scheduled for Jan. 19, 2002.

I heard a rumor somwhere (probably on UseNet) that Andromeda was being reworked in a story sense to get rid of arc-like plot lines, because of the difficulty of a viewer joining in in the middle of a series (where have I heard that before?). Now it seems it’s true: Co-creator Robert Hewitt Wolfe announced on SlipStreamNews that he is no longer an Executive Producer, due to pressures from Tribune entertainment and Fireworks (and even star and fellow EP Kevin Sorbo) to make it more episodic. Less internal conflict, more Sorbo. Another win for the Neilsen family…

If you make it to the openings of Lord of the Rings, you may be lucky enough to see a trailer for the other LotR – Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers. According to JMS (attached to another posting): “…for those going to the Lord
of the Rings when it opens up, there will be a Legend of the Rangers trailer
shown in most of the theaters carrying that film, plus some will get B5:LoTR
trading cards.”

Update 11/28: They will not be giving out trading cards…Read More for JMS’ update…

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Bureau42 had it first, but because of our previous coverage it’s worth repeating – Yahoo has an article stating that Fox has put a hold on the new Galactica series because Bryan Singer is unavailable to direct the pilot, committed instead to X-Men 2. Apparently some internal squabbling between the TV and film divisions of Fox prevented him from doing both. Perhaps they should check on how many things JMS is up to nowadays… :^)

Just got e-mail from Will Crawford at Mindshadow Entertainment. They have a new web site up for their pilot TV movie, Area 23. The premise is that Area 23 is a Psu Ops division of the Pentagon, dealing with paranormal and terrorist threats, “by any means necessary”. Sounds X-Men-ish, and we’ve already go Mutant X, but I’ve seen clones outdo the original before. They’ve got some genre-related names already – Virginia Hey (Zhaan, Farscape), Carrie Dobro (Dureena Nafeel, Crusade), Brandon Scott (Alien Quest), Maggie Egan (ISN Reporter in Babylon 5), Anson Dekker (remember the bald biker from Wierd Science?) and Christine Steel (Jenny Andrews, Team Knight Rider)

According to the sidebar at SCI FI Wire, Zentertainment is reporting (I couldn’t find it) that there will be a special Star Trek episode of The Weakest Link airing Nov. 26th. It will feature William Shatner, Denise Crosby, John De Lancie, Wil Wheaton, LeVar Burton, Robert Picardo, Roxann Dawson and Armin Shimerman.