Sci-Fi Storm

Adding to its growing roster of major productions featuring science fiction’s most acclaimed franchises, Syfy is reuniting with Emmy® Award-winning Amblin Television to develop a scripted series based on Aldous Huxley’s classic novel Brave New World.

Syfy and Amblin previously collaborated on Steven Spielberg Presents: Taken, which won a 2003 Emmy® for Best Miniseries, as well as nominations in six other categories.

Brave New World is set in a world without poverty, war or disease. In this world, humans are given mind-altering drugs, free sex and rampant consumerism are the order of the day, and people no longer reproduce but are genetically engineered in “hatcheries.” Those who won’t conform are forced onto “reservations” – until one of these “savages” challenges the system, threatening the entire social order. First published in 1932, Brave New World was ranked fifth among the 100 best English language novels of the 20th Century by Modern Library.

Said Dave Howe, President, Syfy & Chiller: “Brave New World is one of the most influential genre classics of all time. Its provocative vision of a future gone awry remains as powerful and as timeless as ever. Promising to be a monumental television event, Brave New World is precisely the groundbreaking programming that is becoming the hallmark of Syfy.”

Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey of Amblin Television (The Americans, Falling Skies, Under the Dome) will be executive producers. Les Bohem (Steven Spielberg Presents: Taken) will write the screenplay and also executive produce.

Universal Cable Productions will serve as the studio.

“We’ve been looking for an opportunity to reunite with Les, Bonnie Hammer and Dave Howe, ever since our collaboration on Taken over a decade ago, and Brave New World is just the project we’ve been waiting for, to bring the band back together,” said Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, Co-Presidents, Amblin Television. “We’re thrilled to be working with Dawn Olmstead, with whom we produced The Whispers for ABC, and under the leadership of Jeff Wachtel and Universal Cable Productions, we know the project is in just the right hands.”

“Brave New World is science fiction at its best – a brilliant, poignant story that continues to fascinate and illuminate,” said Jeff Wachtel, President and Chief Content Officer, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “And there is simply no better team than Amblin to bring this exquisite project to life.”

Brave New World is the latest high profile scripted project to be developed and produced by Syfy; others include the recently-announced series pickup of The Magicians, based on Lev Grossman’s best-selling books; the 10-part series The Expanse, airing December 2015 and starring Thomas Jane; Arthur C. Clarke’s epic mini-series Childhood’s End, also set to premiere this December; Gale Anne Hurd’s 13-episode thriller Hunters; David Goyer’s Superman prequel, Krypton; and Incorporated, a pilot from Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

Syfy’s sibling network Chiller is going to take another adaptation of Colin Wilson’s novel [asin=0982324618]The Space Vampires[/asin], which will be called Lifeforce (as was the 1985 adaptation starring Steve Railsback and Mathilda May) to TV screens in the form of a TV movie.

Steve B. Harris (Friday the 13th, Amityville: The Awakening) will produce for Diversion3 (www.diversion3.com) along with Mark Altman (Castle, Necessary Roughness) Mark Gottwald (DOA: Dead or Alive) and David E. Williams (Femme Fatales) from a story by Harris, Altman and Steve Kriozere (NCIS, Castle).

We mentioned the project in 2013, where it was planned as a TV/multimedia series, although right now it is listed as just a TV movie, but this could be a backdoor pilot for a future series.

NEW YORK – May 4, 2015 – Continuing its commitment to developing bold, high profile scripted dramas, Syfy today announced it has greenlit The Magicians to series.

Based upon Lev Grossman’s best-selling books, The Magicians stars Jason Ralph (A Most Violent Year, Aquarius) as Quentin Coldwater, a brilliant grad student who enrolls in Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy, a secret upstate New York university specializing in magic. He and his 20-something friends soon discover that the magical fantasy world they read about as children is all too real – and poses grave danger to humanity. Stella Maeve (Chicago P.D.), Hale Appleman (Teeth), Arjun Gupta (Nurse Jackie) and Summer Bishil (Towelhead, Lucky 7) also star in this one hour drama.

Groundswell Productions’ Michael London and Janice Williams (Milk) will executive produce. John McNamara (Aquarius) and Sera Gamble (Supernatural), writers of the pilot, will serve as executive producers. Mike Cahill (I Origins) directed the pilot. Universal Cable Productions will serve as the studio.

“The Magicians pilot beautifully delivers a world filled with wonder, fantasy and intrigue,” said Dave Howe, President, Syfy. “We can’t wait to delve deeper into the lives of Quentin and his college friends, as they struggle with the enormity of their burgeoning powers – and unleash them upon the world.”

“Ever since ‘[asin=0525427341]The Magicians[/asin]’ was published I’ve wanted to see this story on screen,” said Lev Grossman. “The people, the school, the other worlds, the magic. I’m so thrilled that it’s finally happening, and I’m beyond thrilled that we found the right people to do it. Get ready; you’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Lev is a visionary world-creator. It’s an awesome responsibility to honor the novels’ core audience and also to translate that vision to the screen,” said Jeff Wachtel, President and Chief Content Officer, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “We are lucky to have Sera Gamble, Michael London, John McNamara and Janice Williams as the team bringing this series to life.”

Lev Grossman’s “Magicians” trilogy is an international sensation, published and widely praised in more than twenty countries. The epic conclusion to the series, “[asin=0670015679]The Magician’s Land[/asin],” opened at #1 last summer on the New York Times Hardcover Best Seller’s list, and was widely acclaimed as one of the best books of the year.

The twelve episode season will begin shooting in Vancouver in July.

Grace Lee Whitney, who for a short but memorable time played Yeoman Janice Rand on the original Star Trek, passed away on Friday at home at the age of 85, confirmed by her son. She was the oldest surviving original cast member.

Whitney started as a singer, appearing with Billie Holiday and Buddy Rich, but then turned to acting and appeared in guest roles in a number of TV shows including Gunsmoke, The Rifleman and 77 Sunset Strip, but then landed a role as what was supposed to be a regular “love interest” character for Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek when it went into production.

Her and her infamous blond beehive wig (“I swear they had to nail that thing to my head!”) would only last 8 episodes, however. Numerous reasons for her departure were rumored, including her alcoholism, but according to her the primary reason was that they didn’t want to tie Kirk down and leave him free to mingle with others. Gene Roddenberry claimed it was to cut the budget. But in her [asin=1884956033]1998 autobiography[/asin], she also said she was sexually assaulted by a Desilu (the production company) executive, and was cut from the show a few days later.

Her career after that, along with her addictions, would spiral out of control, but she credited the Star Trek fans who never forgot her for helping her beat her additions and became an advocate for beating substance abuse. She would return to Star Trek and her character with small parts in Star Trek: The Motion Picture as the transporter chief, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home working in Starfleet Command, and Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country and an episode of Star Trek: Voyager as the communications officer on the U.S.S. Excelsior, which they believed might spin off into a series.

Ad astra per aspera, Grace…

Alas for Helix fans, Syfy has canceled the show after the conclusion of its second season, which aired on April 10th. The show’s first season did incredibly well for the network, with the premiere debuting with 1.82 million Live+Same Day viewers, and broke records with a 53% total viewer gain and 64% in the key 18-49 demo on Live+3.

However, with the change of scenery that went with the new season, it appeared that the time-hopping, nature-commune plot lost people, as ratings on average dropped significantly, losing more than half of the total viewers from the first season.

Syfy announced today their Summer 2015 programming lineup, which includes two returning series, 2 new scripted series, a game show…oh, and more sharks…

In June, Syfy’s new 8-11PM scripted programming block kicks off Friday, June 12 at 8PM with the two-hour premiere of Defiance, followed by the debut of Dark Matter at 10PM. On Friday, June 19, Killjoys joins the schedule, premiering at 9PM.

Defiance is the story of a ravaged planet Earth thirty-five years in the future, the lives of its citizens permanently altered following the sudden arrival of seven alien races. In this unknown and unpredictable landscape, the diverse, newly-formed civilization of humans and aliens must learn to co-exist peacefully. Following the events of last season’s cliffhanger finale, the series’ two-hour Season 3 premiere opens on the eve of an impending military siege – and the surprise arrival of the mysterious and nearly extinct Omec, an alien race of warriors.

The new season features cast additions Lee Tergesen (The Americans) as military leader General Rahm Tak, Nichole Galicia (Django Unchained) as Kindzi and Conrad Coates (The Strain) as her father, T’evgin. Returning cast includes Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran, Jaime Murray, Graham Greene and Jesse Rath. Kevin Murphy (Desperate Housewives, Caprica) resumes his role as executive producer and showrunner.

In the new original series Dark Matter, the crew of a derelict spaceship awakens with no memories of who they are or how they got there. Facing threats at every turn, they have to work together to survive a voyage fueled by vengeance, betrayal and hidden secrets.
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It seems Netflix’s entry into the superhero universe was successful – it has renewed Marvel’s Daredevil, about Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox), a blind lawyer by day whose heightened senses make him a formidable masked vigilante at night.

The second season will debut on Netflix in 2016. Other upcoming Marvel titles on Netflix include January Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

Paramount has been digging deep in the archives looking for properties that it might be able to turn into TV shows (can’t we get some original ideas guys?), and it appears they may have found a nugget in the form of Galaxy Quest, the 1999 DreamWorks spoof about the stars of a long-canceled SF TV show being taken by aliens to help them against a malevolent enemy.

Nellie Andreeva at Deadline reports that Paramount is developing Galaxy Quest for the small screen, with original feature writer Robert Gordon, director Dean Parisot and producer Mark Johnson all on board to executive produce, with Gordon also expected to write the pilot.

At Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim this weekend (no, I’m not there…really wish I was…) they released a trailer for the upcoming Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels – and in it we can see some familiar faces returning…of course Ahsoka is back from Star Wars: The Clone Wars after her appearance at the end of Season 1 (and still voiced by our Jedi friend Ashley Eckstein), but we also see the return of Rex, Anakin’s clone trooper captain, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker (who also has done a few voices in Rebels).

We do also see the arrival of Darth Vader in the storyline after his cameo appearance in the special first episode, and it appears he will be voiced by James Earl Jones.

And one other thing I recently learned – Sam Witwer (Being Human), who voiced Darth Maul in The Clone Wars, will return as well – but this time as Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious.

Star Wars Rebels Season Two Trailer on Disney Video

Disney XD is taking aim at SF fandom, and Doctor Who is the ammo of choice…the channel announced yesterday that it has picked up Series 2-4 of the rebooted BBC show featuring one of the most popular Doctors, David Tennant.

The show will start with a special airing of “New Earth” on May 9th, and then run in a daily strip from June 13th through the 20th. No word when more episodes will air yet. It also isn’t clear yet if the Christmas specials (includng Tennant’s debut in “The Christmas Invasion”, which is obviously being skipped over to start with) or the series of specials that followed the 4th series that led to Tennant’s departure, are part of the deal. Time, as always, will tell.