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Enjoy holiday movies with your favorite SF stars
by Doc on Nov.23, 2012, under Television
Missing your favorite stars from SF shows? Want to catch other shows they may be in? Well, you should check out the holiday movies that are on for the next month (and have been on for a while)! You might notice a lot of familiar faces…here is a quick-and-by-no-means-complete guide to some of the holiday movies which feature stars you should be familiar with.
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Happy Birthday, Doctor Who!
by Doc on Nov.23, 2012, under Television
49 years ago today, in just a couple hours (17:16 GMT, or 12:16pm EST), Doctor Who debuted on the BBC with the very first episode, “An Unearthly Child”, and set off what would become a worldwide phenomenon. Originally conceived as a family show with educational aspects, using time travel to teach about history, etc. the show would be produced continuously for 26 series.
In 1989, with declining viewership and increasing budgetary constraints (anyone remember how they avoided showing the inside of the TARDIS in the final season? They had junked the set before that season, and for a final scene they built a cheap one), despite assurances from the BBC that it would return, Doctor Who ceased production until 1996, when the BBC and Fox jointly produced a TV movie starring Paul McGann as a backdoor pilot in an attempt to relaunch the show in both hemispheres. The movie was poorly received (and canonically questionable), and the Doctor was once more relegated to the vortex.
Finally, in 2005, Doctor Who returned to television after some success with animated webcasts and a big audio adventure business. Russel T. Davies took the producing reins, production took place in Cardiff at BBC Wales, and Christopher Eccleston became the 9th Doctor when he told Rose Tyler, “Run!”
Since then we’ve had 7 new series, two more Doctors in David Tennant and Matt Smith, several new companions, and a show that doesn’t look like it will stop any time soon.
Happy Birthday, Doctor – and may we celebrate many more!
Blood & Chrome Episodes 5 and 6 are here!
by Doc on Nov.23, 2012, under Television
Halfway through! What do you think so far?
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666 Park Avenue and Last Resort will get to wrap up properly
by Doc on Nov.23, 2012, under Television
As previously mentioned, ABC has decided not to order back-end episodes for freshman series 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort, effectively canceling them. However, the network did so with enough lead time that both shows will be able to properly wrap up their series with their respective final episodes.
“We have time to tweak,” according to Shawn Ryan, who created Last Resort, while 666 Park Avenue producers say they are “building to a powerful and surprising series finale.”
Kasdan reportedly approached to write Star Wars script
by Doc on Nov.21, 2012, under Movies
We already know Michael Arndt is penning the first of three planned Star Wars sequels – now it appears that Disney is reaching back to the past and asking Lawrence Kasdan to write on of the others, according to Deadline.
Kadsan wrote the scripts for both The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi along with Raiders Of The Lost Ark, so this could harken back to the “glory days” of the franchise.
Disney is eager to get moving on the franchise, so they appear to be approaching the writers early to get the ball rolling.
Deadline also says that Simon Kinberg, who wrote X-Men: The Last Stand and Sherlock Holmes and is currently working on X-Men: Days Of Future Past has been approached for the other script.
Tolkien estate sues Warner Bros. et al over online gambling game
by Doc on Nov.20, 2012, under Movies
When it rains…it seems the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien is upset over an online slot machine game using the Lord Of The Rings property – so much so that they’ve sued Warner Bros, New Line, and Saul Zentz Co. (the long-time movie rights holder Lord Of The Rings) for $80 million.
Apparently the estate’s lawyers received a spam email about the game, and looked into the rights. In the lawsuit they claim, “The original contracting parties thus contemplated a limited grant of the right to sell consumer products of the type regularly merchandised at the time such as figurines, tableware, stationery items, clothing and the like. They did not include any grant of exploitations such as electronic or digital rights, rights in media yet to be devised or other intangibles such as rights in services.” The estate also learned that a physical slot machine game was also planned.
There are video games, etc. based on the movies, so it seems odd that this particular claim is made, as it seems to imply that those rights were not granted to the defendants.
PETA claims animal abuse on The Hobbit; Jackson says hold your horses
by Doc on Nov.20, 2012, under Movies
Surprise, surprise – less than a month before the opening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, PETA decided to level charges of animal abuse on the production, claiming that 27 animals died during the making of the films, saying that “death traps” where they were stabled caused the deaths, and a horse was “hobbled”. But apparently, the allegations come from two particular wranglers who were dismissed by the production for their care of animals not being up to the production’s standards. Other agencies have already stated that no evidence of any of the claims has been found, and even the owner of the horse in question says he is fine.
Here is a full statement from Peter Jackson himself from Facebook:
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Check out the motion poster for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
by Doc on Nov.20, 2012, under Movies
See the motion poster below…
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More Making Of Defiance – Cultures, Makeup and Languages
by Doc on Nov.18, 2012, under Television
Here is the latest Making Of video for Syfy’ upcoming series Defiance, focusing on the cultures, makeup and languages in the show.
And yes, Tony Curran really does have the language down. Frightening, really 🙂
Side note – you get a glance of Doc Ywell, the Indogene doctor – if you’d like to see what the lovely Trenna Keating looks like under that makeup, check out the movie A Dog Named Christmas on the Hallmark Channel. She plays Faye, one of the daughters who visits the family for Christmas. And it’s a great movie which also stars Bruce Greenwood. Trenna also had a recurring role on last year’s short lived Combat Hospital.
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ABC cancels 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort
by Doc on Nov.16, 2012, under Television
ABC has officially not picked up a back-end order for two of it’s freshman shows, 666 Park Avenue and Last Resort, effectively canceling them – although they do still plan to air all remaining episodes as scheduled.
Both shows underperformed, although both received an order for an extra two episodes early on. The decision on Last Resort came after the show set a new low yesterday, netting 5.8 million viewers and only 1.3 18-49 demo.