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HotShot Trailer: War for the Planet of the Apes
by Doc on Dec.09, 2016, under Movies
In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.
Starring Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Karin Konoval, Amiah Miller, and Terry Notary
In Theaters – July 14, 2017
Syfy gives 13-episode direct-to-series order for Superstition from XLrator Media and MVPTV
by Doc on Dec.06, 2016, under Television
Syfy has given a 13-episode direct-to-series order to Superstition, a supernatural genre series produced by XLrator Media and Mario Van Peebles’ newly launched TV production company MVPTV, which is set to begin production in early 2017 and air on Syfy later in the year.
XLrator Media’s Barry Gordon and MVPTV’s Mario Van Peebles will produce, and Van Peebles (Roots, Bloodline, Hand of God, Empire, Lost) will also write, direct and star in some of the episodes. Joel Anderson Thompson (Battlestar Galactica, Boomtown, House M.D.) has been tapped as showrunner and Laurence Andries (Alias, Six Feet Under, Supernatural, The Pacific) will executive produce. The dynamic writing team of Brusta Brown and John Mitchell Todd (Defiance, Mech-X4) have also boarded the series. XLrator Media holds international distribution and sales rights.
The series centers around the Mosley family, owners of the only funeral home in a fictitious town on the outskirts of New Orleans and keepers of the town’s dark secrets and history. Known for its haunted houses, elevated graveyards, odd townsfolk, and rich history of unusual phenomena, the town is also a “landing patch” for the world’s darkest manifestations of fear, guided into the world by an ancient, mysterious malefactor named The Dredge.
“Superstition is an intelligent, boundary-pushing genre series rich in supernatural lore and myths, featuring an eccentric family who have an unusual connection to an otherworldly plane, and the dark force that unleashes the demons, creatures and monsters that haunt our nightmares. There is a voracious global audience always seeking the next well-crafted genre series as evidenced by the success of American Horror Story, Stranger Things, Supernatural, True Blood, Six Feet Under and others. Superstition is being produced and created by people who love and appreciate genre content. XLrator is proud to partner with Syfy and Mario Van Peebles on our first network television series,” said XLrator Media CEO Barry Gordon.
“The incredible things we used to do in independent film, we can now do in television. This is truly a golden era for exciting, provocative television.” said Mario Van Peebles.
“A town where all superstitions, myths and legends are true offers a rich cultural, atmospheric and macabre playground for Mario Van Peebles, Barry Gordon, Joel Anderson Thompson and Laurence Andries to explore. We are excited to work with this terrific team and look forward to bringing this unique story to Syfy,” said Chris Regina, Senior Vice President, Syfy Programming.
Andries is repped by UTA, and Thompson, Brown and Todd are repped by The Cartel.
Netflix announces Sense8 Christmas special, second season date
by Doc on Dec.06, 2016, under Television
It seems Doctor Who isn’t the only SF program in a festive mood this holiday season…Netflix has announced that a two-hour Christmas Special of Sense8 will debut globally on the streaming service Friday, December 23rd at 12:01am Pacific Time.
In addition, the second season will debut on Friday, May 5th, at 12:01am PT. Season 2 will pick up where Season 1 left off, with the Sensates on the run from the Whispers while learning how to come together mentally and physically to live with and protect each other.
HotShot Trailer: Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 new teaser
by Doc on Dec.06, 2016, under Movies
Just watch this in all its Baby Grootiness…
HotShot Trailer: Transformers: The Last Knight teaser
by Doc on Dec.06, 2016, under Movies
The teaser for the fifth movie in the franchise, and a direct sequel to 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction, dropped during Monday Night Football last night, and like any Michael Bay feature it has lots of booms – but a very haunting soundtrack and an air of despair…
Syfy’s Incorporated – another dystopian drama, but with corporate intrigue
by Doc on Nov.30, 2016, under Television
Tonight is the premiere of Syfy’s Incorporated (10/9c), an ambitious drama from creators David and Alex Pastor (Carriers) and produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, and starring Sean Teale, Julia Ormand, Dennis Haysbert, Allison Miller and Eddie Ramos.
The setting is cut from the same cloth as it seems all futuristic shows and movies these days – a near-future dystopian world. In this case global warming has caused the oceans to rise significantly, with both coasts of the US now under water, and governments were unprepared. Corporations now control the world as they now control the food. And the remaining land is divided into “Green Zones” and “Red Zones”.
Green Zones are where the corporations are, and the people who work for them. Lush, clean, green, almost utopian but in a 1984-ish way. Corporate employees live in the Green Zone, and regularly line up in long security lines to get into work. They do their work and they leave, while trying to edge up the corporate ladder. Everyone else lives in the Red Zone – the slums – where they scratch out an existence while just out of sight of those in the Green Zone – well hidden by walls and holograms, so the Green Zone inhabitants can be blissfully unaware of what lurks outside.
Ben Larson (Teale) came from the Red Zone, but he has managed to work his way up at Spiga Corporation. He’s married the Laura, the daughter of Spiga’s head of US operations (Elziabeth Krauss, played by Julia Ormond) who has grown up with privilege, and they are looking to have a child naturally, which is very unusual when you can pick the genetic makeup of a child like choosing the options of a car. He has another purpose though – he’s looking for his former girl from the Red Zone who may be part of the corporate machine now. In the meantime head of Spiga security and former military officer Julian Morse (Dennis Haysbert) is trying to track down a mole at Spiga.
Nothing so far seems very original, and has been done a number of times before. But they do have a decent framework that should allow the characters, story and intrigue to develop. The potential is all there. Visually it is there. It will take some time to develop, but hopefully they get there quickly enough. Stick it out and see if this escapes the dystopian hole.
MGM sues Buckaroo Banzai creators over rights; Kevin Smith exits project
by Doc on Nov.29, 2016, under Television
Let me see if I can sum this up, as it seems a lot has happened very rapidly…MGM and Amazon struck a deal to develop a series based on the 1984 film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, and signed on Kevin Smith, the creator of Clerks and all the other Jay and Silent Bob movies and the guy I’d most like to just hang out and have a beer with, as the showrunner. But original writer Earl Mac Rauch and director Walter D. Richter claim they have the rights to a TV series. So MGM preemptively filed a lawsuit to have a court to seek declaration of the rights.
Telling fans in a Facebook video (shown below) that the lawsuit was “news to me,” Smith announced that he has dropped out of the project.
“I’m no longer involved. I don’t wish anybody harm; I wish all parties well. I hope these dudes come to an agreement, and if they do and they still want me involved down the road, I’ll be here. But why would they?”
He also said that no money has been spent so far on the show or anything like that, so no one is being displaced at this point.
Hopefully this can be settled soon, and really hopefully, amicably, although it seems the latter is a long shot.
Tidbits: Z Nation renewed for 4th season; Star Trek: Discovery gets more cast
by Doc on Nov.29, 2016, under Television
Hit Syfy series Z Nation has been renewed for a fourth season! Planned for 13 episodes to air later in 2017, the series follows a group avoid zombies (called “Zs”) while they try to transport the only survivor of a zombie bite, Murphy (Keith Allan) to a research facility to hopefully find a vaccine. Season 3 involved Murphy going independent and forming a community of Blends (humans he infected with his own bite that allowed him to control them but also be immune to the Zs. The series also stars Kellita Smith, DJ Qualls, Anastasia Baranova, Nat Zang and Emilio Rivera.
Star Trek: Discovery casting appears to have shifted into high gear. In addition to the casting of Michelle Yeoh previously announced (although we are now hearing her name is Captain Georgiou), Doug Jones (The Strain, Falling Skies) and Anthony Rapp (Rent, A Beautiful Mind) have joined the cast.
Jones will play Lt. Saru, from a new alien species, who is a science officer for Starfleet, while Rapp will play Lt. Stamets, an astromycologist (a space fungus expert…) on the Discovery.
The lead role, a lieutenant commander on the Discovery simply known as Number One (and speculated to later be the first officer of the Enterprise under Captain Pike), has yet to be cast.
Actor Ron Glass, 1945-2016
by Doc on Nov.28, 2016, under Obituaries, Television
This past weekend we were saddened to learn that actor Ron Glass, most well known for his role as Detective Ron Harris on the 70s ABC sitcom Barney Miller, but also as Shepherd Book on Firefly, passed away at the age of 71. His last appearances were in 2014 in episodes of CSI and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
To me, in his roles he always emanated a relaxed, laid back, calming persona. His friends and colleagues remembered him on social media. Firefly creator Joss Whedon said, “He was, among so many other things, my Shepherd. Raise, appropriately, a glass. Rest, Ron.”
“He was the kind of person that remembered the details, that asked about your family’s well-being,” remembered fellow Firefly castmate Jewel Staite. “He hugged hard and often. He would laugh till he cried at a sick joke and top it with a worse one. He loved a Grey Goose crantini and spilled one on my white jeans in the heat of telling a story, and then just said, “Girl, those were ugly pants anyway.” I adored him. Everybody did. I love you, Ron.”
We raise our glasses as well to you, Ron.
Yes, Michelle Yeoh WILL play a captain in Star Trek: Discovery…
by Doc on Nov.26, 2016, under Television
…but not what you were thinking. Deadline reports that as rumored Michelle Yeoh, the martial arts action star from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Tomorrow Never Dies, has been cast as a captain in the upcoming CBS All Access series, Star Trek: Discovery, but NOT as the captain of the Discovery itself. It appears that Yeoh will play Captain Han Bo of the Shenzhou, but will still figure prominently in the first season.
This is the first casting announcement, which is puzzling since the series is set to debut in May, and was already pushed back from January.