Sci-Fi Storm

Thanks to The Wrap, here is the Season 5 teaser for Haven, where Audrey – or not – gets really evil…

FYI, I will have an article closer to the start of Season 5 with an interview with Lucas Bryant and Adam “Edge” Copeland…I was fortunate to be able to visit the set yesterday during filming, although for production reasons I wasn’t able to take any photos of the set…

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For those of you like me who have been eagerly waiting for years for a remake of the classic British SF series Blake’s 7, but where Georgiaville’s attempt would wither away after Syfy passed on it last year, and then with it rumored to be looked at by Microsoft for its fledgling XBox Live Network but Microsoft deciding last month to close Xbox Entertainment Studios, there is still hope that our band of rebels will return to take down the Federation.

The Nerdist released today some exclusive concept art for the production, and I confirmed with Leon Clarance, the executive producer for Blake’s 7 (and the upcoming Sense8) that they are from his production.

I agree with the Giger-esque look. Especially with the interior of the Liberator, I immediately through of the Nostromo from Alien, with the dark industrial look leading to the ultra-white corridor to Mother. The ship itself retains the “tristar” design, but looks far more industrial and as if it was build up over time and for many different purposes.

I might miss the beauty of the original though. In the original story, a derelict spaceship is encountered by a prison transport ship after an apparent battle in space. Blake, a political prisoner sentenced to life on a prison planet, along with a group of other prisoners, is sent over to secure the ship after several crewmembers were killed. Instead, Blake and the rest steal the ship and wage a guerrilla war against the oppressive Federation. The Liberator itself was highly advanced…faster than any Federation ship, with an intelligent computer system named Zen that was annoyingly stingy on information, saying, “Knowledge must be earned.” It had automatic repair systems so that an experienced crew was not needed. And it had a matter transport system the Federation didn’t have, with some interesting limitations. The beauty of the ship fit in with the mystery of its origin (which I thought was given too early in the show), and I was quite sad when it eventually met its fate.

The word is out…Haven returns with its super-sized fifth season on Thursday, September 11th, at 10/9c on Syfy! And I will incidentally be in the area where Haven is filmed this weekend, so who knows who – or what – I will run in to… 😉

I have no idea how this flew underneath my radar…but apparently at SDCC, JMS mentioned his plans for Babylon 5.

He’s said many times that Warner Bros owns all the TV rights to Babylon 5, and that he’ll never see more money from TV. However, when he negotiated the deal with WB, he managed to retain feature film rights for himself. It seems that WB would still get a cut, making it highly unlikely any other studio would touch the project – but JMS doesn’t have just any other studio in mind…he has Studio JMS, which now has had enough success that it is feasible for it to fund a feature film. So now he plans to have a script done by 2015, and WB will have one year to decide to move forward with it – otherwise in 2016 Studio JMS will do it.

It isn’t certain what form the movie would take, but whispers across the Interweb seem to indicate that it will be a reboot of some form.

On the season finale of Dominion, Alex and Gabriel finally meet face-to-face, while Michael recalls his darker days with Alex. Check out the sneak peek below along with “Inside Dominion” – and as an added bonus, check out the SDCC panel as welll! Then tune in for “Beware Those Closest To You” Thursday night at 9/8c!
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On the next Defiance, Amanda intervenes when Nolan tries to interrogate a suspected terrorist. Check out the sneak peek for “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, plus “Inside Defiance“, and tune in Thursday night at 8/7c.
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Check out the extended trailer for Star Wars Rebels, the new animated series that will air on Disney XD starting in October.

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Syfy debuts an exciting new six-episode competition series, Wizard Wars, on Tuesday, August 19 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, introducing bright and innovative young magicians who must impress judges Penn & Teller with mind-blowing, original magic using only a random assortment of everyday objects.

Innovation takes center stage as the magicians transform objects such as dog treats, leaf blowers, a pirate’s costume and garden gnomes into engaging magic performances before a live audience. Each episode begins with two teams of magicians going head-to-head with a limited amount of time to create an original routine. The winning team will then enter “The Wizard War” and compete against the expert “home team” of world-renowned “Wizards” to battle it out for bragging rights, and a $10,000 prize.

Two-time World Championship of Magic winner Gregory Wilson, Wynn Resort resident magician Shimshi, YouTube sensation and contemporary street illusionist Justin Flom, and internationally renowned mentalist Angela Funovits will compete as the home team. These masterful performers and magic creators cover every discipline in magic from sleight of hand to large-scale stage illusion.

Joining the legendary Penn & Teller on the judging panel is the 2012 winner of BBC’s The Magicians, Jason Latimer, and popular web host Christen Gerhart .

The series premiere features two edgy young American magic creators, Kyle Marlett of Las Vegas, NV and Dalton Wayne of Columbus, OH, against a team of Canada’s best illusionists, Chris Funk and Ekaterina. Their challenge is to take Spam and Super Soakers and incorporate them into a fresh magic performance.

With each episode the magicians will be challenged to continue to push magic to new and greater heights, and the world will be one step closer to discovering the next great contemporary magician. The series is hosted by Ellen Fox.

Wizard Wars is produced by A. Smith & Co. (Hell’s Kitchen). Executive producers are Arthur Smith, Kent Weed, Frank Sinton, Tim Eagan, Penn Jillette and Teller.

The Nerdist host Chris Hardwick will be doing two live specials on BBC America on August 23rd for the premiere of Doctor Who Series 8…the first will be Doctor Who: Live Pre-Show, starting at 7:30pm ET, right before the premiere which airs at 8:00pm ET, and then Doctor Who: After Who Live will start at 11:00pm ET, after the BBC America premiere of the new show Intruders. No details on guests except writer/director/actor Mark Gatiss is expected to attend.

Check out Syfy’s new zombie apocalypse series, Z Nation…

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