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TidBits: Tarantino wants the captain’s chair for Star Trek; Disney hits $5B; Stranger Things readies round 3; American Gods duo leaves
by Doc on Dec.04, 2017, under Movies, Television
Time to get caught up after a very busy weekend capping off a few busy weeks around here with school productions…so some tidbits from the past several days…
Director Quentin Tarantino has an idea for the next Star Trek movie…we don’t know what it is, but according to Deadline J.J. Abrams thinks enough of the idea to pull together a writers room to discuss and develop a script. Tarantino typically operates with free reign over his original movies, where a franchise like this might present challenges, so we’ll see how this shapes up.
Disney has blasted the $5 billion worldwide barrier for a record third time this year, following Thor’s Hammer smashing through box offices all over. Thor: Ragnarok has crossed $800 million alone.
The kids from Stranger Things will be back as Netflix picked up a third season of the hit thriller series. No word on what 80s iconic properties might show up this time around.
Michael Green and Bryan Fuller have abruptly left the production of the second season of Starz’ American Gods series. The two brought Neil Gaiman’s novel to the small screen and acted as executive producers/showrunners. No reason so far as been given for the departure, but rumors are that budget cuts were being imposed by FremantleMedia North America’s new head of scripted programming, Dante di Loreto.
Casting news: Kendrick Sampson joins The Flash; Maggie Grace to Fear The Walking Dead
by Doc on Nov.29, 2017, under Television
A couple of casting updates…How To Get Away With Murder‘s Kendrick Sampson is joining the cast of The Flash for a multi-episode arc as Brainstorm, a TSA Agent who gains the meta-human power to read people’s thoughts – whether he wants to or not. He will first appear in the last episode before the Winter break.
Maggie Grace (Taken, Lost) will join Fear The Walking Dead as a series regular for the show’s fourth season. No details on the role are yet available.
HotShot Trailer: Avengers: Infinity War trailer
by Doc on Nov.29, 2017, under Movies
You’ve seen this already, haven’t you? No? Well, now you can…Avengers: Infinity War is in theaters May 4th
Syfy picks up George R.R. Martin’s Nightflyers straight to series
by Doc on Nov.28, 2017, under Television
George R.R. Martin’s SF-horror novella Nightflyers has been picked up for a 10-episode series by Syfy, according to the writer himself.
Syfy ordered up a pilot earlier this year, but apparently made the decision to go straight to series after seeing the script by Jeff Buhler (Jacob’s Ladder). Netflix will handle international viewers, and possibly also as a second-run domestic source.
Also according to Martin, the show is in pre-production/casting stages, but there is apparently already a cast selection made that “has pleased me more than I can possibly say,”, according to the Game Of Thrones scribe. But we will have to wait a little longer to find out who that is…
The supernatural thriller is set in the future on the eve of Earth’s destruction, a crew of explorers journey on the most advanced ship in the galaxy, The Nightflyer, to intercept a mysterious alien spacecraft that might hold the key to their survival. As the crew nears their destination, they discover that the ship’s artificial intelligence and never-seen captain may be steering them into deadly and unspeakable horrors deep in the dark reaches of space.
The lost Doctor Who episode “Shada” is getting a complete release!
by Doc on Nov.27, 2017, under Television
The Doctor Who episode “Shada” is legendary…unlike other incomplete episodes, which were due to the BBC purging the film archives of some of the original masters, Shada was never completed. The final episode of the 17th season, starring Tom Baker and written by Douglas Adams, had production canceled part way through due to a strike at the BBC. When the strike ended, the schedule had slipped too far into the holiday programming production time and ultimately it was never resumed. Douglas Adams was reportedly fine with the episode remaining in the annals of legend, unhappy with the script in the end.
Since then, the episode was released in its incomplete form with some narration to fill in the missing parts, and also retooled as an audio drama for the Eighth Doctor.
Now the original is getting the BBC’s latest method of filling in lost episodes – by animating them! Last year, they restored Patrick Troughton’s debut episode, [sfs=1582]”The Power Of The Daleks”[/sfs], by reconstructing the missing parts with animation. As an added bonus, not only does Tom Baker lend his voice to the animated segments, but also filmed a new segment with an appearance by K-9!
The episode follows the Doctor and Romana as they are called to Cambridge by Dr. Chronotis, a “retired” Time Lord who holds the key to the location of Shada, the prison planet of the Time Lords. A alien genius, Skagra, wants the location to be able to harness the collective intellect of the most notorious criminals in the universe so that he may take over, well, everything.
The new release is available today on iTunes (at least in the UK – I don’t see it in the iTunes store in the US), and a DVD release in the UK on December 4th and the [sfs=1622]US on January 8th[/sfs].
TidBits: Star Wars: The Last Jedi tracks for huge opening; Denis Villeneuve wants to revisit Dune; Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom tease
by Doc on Nov.25, 2017, under Movies
Some holiday weekend TidBits…
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is hitting all the tracking target with hyperspace speeds, and word on the street is that a $200 million opening weekend is possible…and check out this 30 second spot, “Tempt”…
On the other side of the SF franchise universe, one which has been spoken of for decades, Dune is making rumblings again, this time from Oscar-nominated director Denis Villeneuve himself. In a Deadline Hollywood interview mostly about Blade Runner 2049, at the end he mentions how much he loved the book and wants to bring a new adaptation to the big screen. He mentions the 1984 David Lynch movie, but says it didn’t match his own vision of one of his favorite books, and he’d like to bring that vision to the big screen.
And lastly, this past week director Colin Trevorrow gave us a tease of the upcoming Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – a six second video showing Owen Brady (Chris Pratt) getting chummy with a baby Velociraptor…apparently he’s gotten over what happened with them last time…
From our Jurassic family to yours. @FilmBayona @PrattPrattPratt @BryceDHoward @LeDoctor #FALLENKINGDOM pic.twitter.com/KiR3et9Vx1
— Colin Trevorrow (@colintrevorrow) November 22, 2017
A Wrinkle In Time trailer
by Doc on Nov.20, 2017, under Movies
Check out the U.S. trailer for A Wrinkle In Time, Disney’s new adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 novel about a 13 year old girl, her 5 year old prodigy brother, and her classmate as they are transported through time and space…
In theaters March 9th, 2018
Doctor Who: “Twice Upon A Christmas” special sneak peek!
by Doc on Nov.20, 2017, under General News
What’s better than seeing the Doctor in the annual Christmas special? Seeing TWO of them!
SYFY’s The Magicians gets premiere date, trailer
by Doc on Nov.20, 2017, under Television
Find out if the magic is coming back when the students of Brakebills return for Season 3 of The Magicians on January 10th, 2018 at 9/8c on SYFY!
Amazon takes on The Lord Of The Rings for multi-season TV series
by Doc on Nov.13, 2017, under Books, Television
As we reported last week, Amazon was on the hunt for a mega-franchise, and it appears they’ve got one – and paid a handsome price for it.
Reports are in that Amazon has purchased the TV rights to The Lord Of The Rings – or at least some portion of stories from Middle-earth – for what may be close to $250 million just for the rights, and they’ve made a multi-season commitment already. It is expected a worth production could cost $100-150 million per season. The deal also includes a potential spin-off series.
The twist to the story is that it will not simply be a remake of the movies, but instead cover some period before the time of The Lord Of The Rings. It is not certain if this means it will be set in the time between The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings, or delve further back into the expansive mythology laid out by J.R.R. Tolkien.