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SYFY acquires animated Futurama
by Doc on Oct.03, 2017, under Television
While it isn’t an order for new episodes, Futurama fans can still rejoice! And just maybe down the road…SYFY today announced that it has acquired the hit animated series Futurama from Twentieth Television in a multi-year, non-exclusive deal that includes all 140 HD episodes of the series. Futurama will make its SYFY debut in a special weekend stunt beginning Saturday, November 11, with the series airing regularly in primetime on Mondays and Tuesdays from 8PM-2AM ET/PT and on Saturday mornings from 8-11AM ET/PT.
The Futurama acquisition comes as SYFY continues to aggressively expand its genre programming following its summer 2017 brand reboot. Futurama – the first fully animated series in SYFY’s rebooted lineup – will join a growing roster of ambitious scripted and unscripted originals and high profile acquired series and movies that reflect the rich depth of the genre.
“We’re continuing to invest heavily to give our passionate fans the very best in genre programming, and I can think of no better addition to SYFY’s lineup than one of my personal favorites, Futurama,” said Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks (USA and SYFY) for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment.
First airing on FOX from 1999-2003, Futurama was brought back in 2007 with four direct-to-DVD movies that subsequently aired as 30-minute episodes on Comedy Central. Based on their success, Comedy Central ordered new seasons of the series which debuted in June 2010. Over the course of its storied run, Futurama has earned six Emmy Awards®–including two for Outstanding Animated Program, seven Annie Awards, two Environmental Media Awards and two Writers Guild of America Awards.
Futurama, created by Matt Groening, developed by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, is produced by The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Television.
In addition to current acclaimed series like The Expanse, The Magicians and Channel Zero, upcoming SYFY originals include the December 6 premiere of Happy!, an out-there graphic novel adaptation starring Christopher Meloni and featuring the voice of Patton Oswalt as the animated title character – and the highly anticipated Superman prequel Krypton (2018). SYFY is also currently developing several notable properties, including pilot orders for an adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s space opera novella Nightflyers and a reboot of the 1990 cult classic Tremors.
Amazon looking for big Sci-Fi in Ringworld, Snow Crash, Lazarus
by Doc on Sep.28, 2017, under Television
Amazon has seen what big name genre programming can do for other outlets, so it is looking for its own, putting three big projects on the development slate: Larry Niven’s Ringworld, Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash, and Greg Rucka’s Lazarus.
Ringworld, which would be co-produced with MGM, has previously done a couple of development stints as a mini-series at Syfy, most recently in 2013. Word is that the series will potentially draw from all the novels. The first novel follows some explorers from several races who investigate – and crash land on – a gigantic artificial structure orbiting a star that has the surface area of millions of Earths.
Snow Crash, which would be co-produced with Paramount Television, follows Hiro Protagonist, a pizza delivery driver and hacker in future America, where a computer virus is attacking hackers and Hiro hunts down the virtual villain. Joe Cornish will executive produce along with Frank Marshall.
Lazarus, based on the comic book by Rucka, is set in an alternate near future where the world is ruled by 16 families in a feudal style, and each family has a Lazarus – a personal killing machine who acts as champion for the family.
TidBits: Avatar sequels finally start production; Scanners TV adaption
by Doc on Sep.28, 2017, under Movies, Television
It’s finally happened…the ambitious Avatar mega-sequel has finally started production!
Simultaneous production on the four Avatar sequels began this past week. This is the most ambitious production ever, tacking four movies at once for release in December 2020, 2021, 2024 and 2025. Previously, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy was filmed as a unit by Peter Jackson, as was The Hobbit trilogy.
The 1981 sci-fi thriller Scanners from David Cronenberg, which starred Michael Ironside and Jennifer O’Neill, is now being adapted as a possible TV series by Media Res and Bron Studios. According to Deadline, they came out as the victors in a competitive bidding war, beating out Lionsgate, Paramount and Skydance.
The movie dealt with people with telepathic and telekinetic powers who are forced to work secretly for a corporation that deals in security and weapons systems – or hunted down if they don’t.
Rights were previously held by Dimension Films where they attempted to develop a new movie and a TV series, but it never resulted in anything.
Star Trek: Discovery gets 9.6 million viewers in premiere
by Doc on Sep.25, 2017, under Television
Star Trek: Discovery, which premiered last night on the CBS broadcast network (slightly delayed due to football) before it goes exclusively to the CBS All Access streaming service, pulled in 9.6 million viewers and a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demo.
It is expected for those numbers to increase in the Live+7 as people watch it on a delay.
Our impression of the show from a single viewing is that it does seem like an acceptable member of the franchise so far, although there are some issues. Most notably for us there were three things: First, although it supposedly takes place in the original series timeline (not the “Kelvin” timeline of the movies), it takes liberties with the established canon, like Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) being an apparent ward or adopted daughter of Sarek and raised as if Vulcan, yet a seemingly important familial relationship has never been mentioned and stretches the canon thin. The Klingons are yet again changed, and the fact that the U.S.S. Shenzhou is apparently a more advanced starship than the original Enterprise of our childhoods.
And we never even get to see the title ship in the premiere!
I’d like to see more, but I’m firmly in the camp of not paying for yet another streaming service – even for Star Trek.
[Edit: A previous version of this article accidentally transposed the number of viewers]
Watchmen series from Damon Lindelof gets pilot, scripts order from HBO
by Doc on Sep.21, 2017, under Television
HBO has given a green light for a pilot and backup scripts based on the limited comic series Watchmen from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. The project comes from Damon Lindelof, who teased the project on Instagram (see below) before the announcement, and Warner Bros TV.
Zack Snyder previously adapted Watchmen into a feature film in 2009.
Watchmen is set in an alternate history world in 1985 at the height of the cold war. Superheroes exist and have had a hand in changing the outcomes of major events for about 50 years, but they are now mostly retired, with a few working as government agents.
Syfy Tidbits: Happy! premiere, Tremors pilot cast
by Doc on Sep.19, 2017, under Television
A couple of tidbits from Syfy today…first, Syfy has pushed back the premiere date of Happy! for a week, and it will now premiere on Wednesday, December 6th at 10/9c.
Universal Cable Productions’ Happy! is based on New York Times best-selling author Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson’s graphic novel of the same name. The series follows Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: SVU) – an intoxicated, corrupt ex-cop turned hit man – who is adrift in a world of casual murder, soulless sex and betrayal. After a hit gone wrong, his inebriated life is forever changed by a tiny, relentlessly positive, imaginary blue winged horse named “Happy” (Bobby Moynihan, Saturday Night Live).
Also announced are some cast additions to the Tremors reboot pilot.
Emily Tremaine (Vinyl) will play Emily McKee, the recently graduated “whip smart” daughter of Valentine McKee (Kevin Bacon, reprising his role from the original movie.)
Megan Ketch (American Gothic) will play Mindy Sterngood, a young doctor who is fixated on the older Val, but appears to be hiding something…
Shiloh Fernandez (Evil Dead) will play Nico Garza, who has been just hanging out in Perfection waiting for the opportunity to split, working at Earl’s Graboid Waste Gobbling company.
There is still time to back Warehouse 13: The Board Game on Kickstarter!
by Doc on Sep.17, 2017, under Games, Television
Calling all Warehouse agents!!! We know you like Warehouse 13…do you like semi-cooperative board games? Did you know there is a fully licensed board game in development? We need you to help get it made!
Work as one of the familiar agents, while trying to stop MacPherson from gaining power from the artifacts. But beware – one of you is actually a spy for MacPherson!
There is still a week to pledge money to help get this project to completion. Head on over to the Kickstarter page and pledge any amount. $50 will get you a copy of the game along with an exclusive Leena character!
Check out this gameplay video with Pete Lattimer himself, Eddie McClintock!
Wonder Woman dazzles on Blu-ray
by Doc on Sep.17, 2017, under Movies, Video/DVD
Put simply, Wonder Woman is a spectacular movie. It is likely the best superhero movie DC and Warner Bros has yet put out. And now it heads to [asin=B0714QRG4Z]Blu-ray[/asin], [asin=B072M856GW]Blu-ray 3D[/asin], [asin=B0714QRG51]Ultra 4K Blu-ray[/asin] and [asin=B074JS9QJB]DVD[/asin] this Tuesday, September 19th! And the Blu-ray releases include a special bonus scene not seen in theaters!
Like any superhero action movie, Wonder Woman is laden with action scenes and visual effects, but they are done so well and don’t detract from the character story, which delves into the origin of Diana, Princess of Themyscira, who we all know as Wonder Woman, although it starts off where Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had left with Bruce Wayne wondering about where she came from in a photo taken 100 years earlier.
The visual effects were simply amazing. To me, extensive use of “bullet time” effects can get annoying, but their use here was not only not distracting but incredible. Combine that with some of the spectacular location shots, and it makes for a beautiful movie. There were only a couple of visual issues I picked up on, and only on viewing the Blu-ray…the early wide shot of the Amazon training felt composited where it seems like some of the fighters were overlaid on the scene. And the glowing of the lasso rope felt too cartoonish…a light glow only to enhance the color would have been better.
The cast was excellent as well.
Gal Gadot was awesome. Aside from her appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (which as a movie I didn’t care for), this was the first movie I actually saw her in. I think she was perfect in the part as a fish-out-of-water superhero, both fierce and beautiful simultaneously.
Chris Pine as Steve Trevor…Pine for some reason always makes me feel like he’s somehow going to charm his way out of every situation with his smile…and I still like him. His charm I think works for the spy character.
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Freeform cancels Stitchers
by Doc on Sep.15, 2017, under Television
Freeform has canceled sci-fi procedural Stitchers, no long after it concluded its third season.
Creator and executive producer Jeffrey A. Schechter tweeted not long ago, “Sadly, it’s true. #Stitchers is done. But the energy, love, and support of our fans is something that I am grateful for & will never forget. Our amazing cast and crew are the real heroes of this adventure. And thanks @FreeformTV for giving me the chance to tell 3 yrs of stories.”
Star Emma Ishta posted on Instagram:
This is especially sad for my family, as myself, my wife and two daughters would all watch this show together. We wish the cast and crew good luck in their next endeavors!
Syfy shuts down The Machine
by Doc on Sep.12, 2017, under Television
Syfy will not proceed with a series order for pilot The Machine.
Based on a 2013 British cult film, the series will explores humanity through artificial intelligence when a sentient AI is created, but the military wants to use it for war. Most recently, Battlestar Galactica‘s Katee Sackhoff and Aliens‘ Lance Henriksen were announced to join Jaeden Bettencourt (Hotel Transylvania 2) as the voice of three supercomputers.
Word is that Syfy brass wanted the pilot reworked, and liked the improvement, but not sufficiently to pick it up as a series.