Sci-Fi Storm

A new Administration is taking office before January 2017! Syfy and The Asylum today announced that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban (Shark Tank) will play the President of the United States with political commentator/author Ann Coulter joining him as Vice President in the eagerly anticipated original movie Sharknado 3.

Previously announced cameos in the latest installment of the global pop culture sensation will include Bo Derek as May, the mother of April (Tara Reid); Jerry Springer, appearing as Mr. White, a manic tourist; *NSYNC singer Chris Kirkpatrick as a pool lifeguard, and Chris Jericho, who will portray Bruce the roller coaster ride operator.

Also joining the cast of Sharknado 3 will be Ryan Newman, who will play April and Fin’s (Ian Ziering) daughter Claudia Sheperd, with Jack Griffo portraying Claudia’s friend, Billy.

Featuring stars Ian Ziering, Tara Reid and Cassie Scerbo (Nova), Sharknado 3 will premiere on Syfy in July, causing mass destruction in Washington, D.C., before roaring down the Eastern Seaboard and into Florida.

Anthony C. Ferrante will once again direct, based on an original screenplay by Thunder Levin.

Sharknado 3 is a production of The Asylum.

When it aired last July 30, Sharknado 2: The Second One became Syfy’s most-watched original movie ever.

Having managed to successfully spin off The Flash from its DC Comics-sibling series Arrow, CW wants to strike gold again…but rather than do it with another DC property, they are going to pull again from Arrow – with some Flash thrown in as well.

No title has been given to the project, but the plan is to pull together some of the secondary characters from both shows into a new series, starting with Ray Palmer/The Atom (Brandon Routh) from Arrow and Dr. Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and Leonard Snart/Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) from The Flash. Also planned to be part of the show is actor Caity Lotz, who played Sara Lance/Black Canary on The Arrow but was killed off, it is uncertain what role she may play.

Syfy will honor the extraordinary legacy of Leonard Nimoy with a special five hour programming salute this Sunday, March 1 from 9AM-2PM (ET/PT), kicking off with his role in an episode of the original Twilight Zone series; his guest star arc on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the final Star Trek original cast movie, Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country.

9:00AM The Twilight Zone/”A Quality of Mercy”
9:30AM Star Trek: The Next Generation/”Unification: Part I”
10:30AM Star Trek: The Next Generation/”Unification: Part 2”
11:30AM Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country

The science fiction community has lost one of its icons today…Leonard Nimoy, who (and I know I don’t need to say this) gained fame as the “pointy-eared, green-blooded, inhuman” Vulcan first officer Spock on the original Star Trek, passed away early this morning at home from end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to his wife Susan. Nimoy had announced he suffered from the disease last year, likely caused by smoking, even though he gave up the habit 30 years ago.

Nimoy also had some success as a writer and director, doing both on several of the movie installments of Star Trek, and he also directed the successful Three Men and a Baby.

Most recently he starred in the rebooted Star Trek film as well as a cameo in the sequel, plus had a recurring role in Fringe.

All we can say right now is, Live Long and Prosper.

I’ll leave the description off on this one since it is a spoiler if you haven’t watched last week’s episode yet, but check out the preview for Friday’s new Helix, “Cross-Pollination”, airing at 10/9c on Syfy!
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On the next 12 Monkeys, Cole, Cassandra and Aaron go to Chechnya to stop the virus from being released as a bio-weapon, and it leads Cole to another member of the 12 Monkeys. Tune in for “The Keys”, Friday night at 9/8c on Syfy! And check out the recap for “The Red Forest” as well!
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There has been a lot of buzz about MacGyver creator Lee Zlotoff and the “next MacGyver” that seem to be intimating that the show is coming back with a woman in the title role…that isn’t actually the plan – but it does bring to light an exciting idea.

What is actually happening is that Zlotoff is partnering with The National Academy of Engineering, The USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and The MacGyver Foundation for The Next MacGyver, a crowdsourced project/competition to help develop a new series in which a female engineer in the spirit of MacGyver would be the lead character.

The competition is for non-professionals (you could not have sold a screenplay for more than $50,000) to come up with an entertaining concept which features with one or more protagonists who are engineers or engineering must be central to the show, in any genre you choose. It is also aimed at middle/high school students to help foster an interest in engineering.

12 finalists will be chosen to attend the “pitch competition”, and from them 5 finalists will receive $5,000 and be paired with an experienced Hollywood producer and a distinguished engineer to mentor the finalist as they develop their story into a full draft.

Do you have what it takes? Follow the link above and enter!

On the next Helix, another outbreak puts the entire Abbey in danger. Watch “M. Domestica” this Friday at 10/9c on Syfy!
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The time machine brings Cole back to 2043, but the world is VERY different from what he knows. Don’t miss a new episode of 12 Monkeys on Friday at 9/8c.
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This could be good, or a another serious blow to my childhood memories, given past Land of the Lost attempts – but Amazon Studios has entered into an agreement with Sid and Marty Krofft to develop a pilot to bring back the 70s kids show Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.

The [asin=B0055CP9R2]original[/asin] was pure Krofft camp – an unusually nice sea monster is kicked out of his mean family and is kept hidden from his family and other humans by two kids. The costumes were obvious but still fascinating, and the plots probably limited to 8 year old levels, but it is still remembered fondly by children of the 70s, when it ran originally from 1973-1975 and then kept alive in syndication for another decade.

“Sid and Marty are geniuses, and we are honored to be working with them to bring to the world a return of what we believe is TV’s most fabulous and funniest sea creature ever,” according to Amazon Studios Vice President Roy Price.