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Actor Gareth Thomas, 1945-2016
by Doc on Apr.14, 2016, under Obituaries, Television
Welsh actor Gareth Thomas, best known among genre fans as rebel leader Roj Blake in the BBC series Blake’s 7, passed away yesterday at the age of 71.
Thomas trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, after which he became an associate member. He made many television appearances, receiving two BAFTA nominations. He also appeared on stage in several Royal Shakespeare Company productions, including Twelfth Night and Othello, and many other productions, including 2010’s Desire Under the Elms.
On his Blake’s 7 role, he’s often said that he never watched an episode, and even left the show after the second season, apart from a couple of guest appearances. However, he would later turn back to the role in several Big Finish audio productions.
However, I remember him most from a role just prior to Blake – from a series called Star Maidens. While staying a few weeks with family in England I caught this series, and the memory of it stayed with me for a long time…you can read my Retro Review of the show from 2008.
Syfy to broadcast live from San Diego Comic-Con 2016
by Doc on Apr.13, 2016, under Conventions
Is this another step back to its roots when it covered more of the world of sci-fi fans? Syfy will invade the world’s largest pop culture convention this summer with Syfy Presents Live From Comic-Con, a three-night telecast directly from the heart of San Diego Comic-Con. The special – Syfy’s first-ever live broadcast from Comic-Con – will air on the network Thursday, July 21 through Saturday, July 23 at 8/7c.
Each night, Syfy Presents Live From Comic-Con will bring the Con’s non-stop action directly to viewers across the country, featuring celebrity interviews, breaking news and behind-the-scenes reports. The hosted live broadcast will highlight the biggest stars, top franchise reveals, panel news, exclusive sneak peeks of the hottest films, as well as audience interaction, games, party coverage and much more.
“For nearly two decades, Syfy has been a mainstay at Comic-Con,” said Chris McCumber, President, Entertainment Networks, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. “Each and every year, we can’t wait to get to San Diego to share our mutual fandom and passion for all things pop culture with our viewers. And this year, we’re thrilled to extend that immediate, first-hand access to those at home as well.”
“Our goal with Syfy Presents Live From Comic-Con is to give everyone the experience of being on the convention floor, at the events, or just walking through the frenzied streets of the Gaslamp District … with hundreds of thousands of their closest friends,” said Heather Olander, Senior Vice President, Alternative Series, Development and Production, Syfy.
In addition, starting Sunday, July 17, Syfy will kick off a Comic-Con celebration on-air, online and across its social media platforms, offering fans customized, exclusive content to fuel their excitement throughout the entire week. Syfy’S 7 Days Of Comic-Con will start Sunday, July 17 and continue through the 23rd.
Syfy Presents Live From Comic-Con is produced by Wilshire Studios, with Corin Nelson serving as executive producer/showrunner.
Standalone movie for Affleck’s Batman to move forward
by Doc on Apr.12, 2016, under Movies
DC’s cinematic universe may have gotten off with a limp, given the critical response to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, but with it still pulling in plenty of money Warner Bros. isn’t shying away from their superhero slate or their flagship characters.
BvS star Ben Affleck had a pitch for a standalone Batman movie he talked about last year, and Kevin Tsujihara, Warner Bros. chairman and CEO, confirmed today at CinemaCon that the movie will move ahead with Affleck’s movie, in which he will star and direct. “I’m also excited to know that we will be working with Ben Affleck on a stand-alone Batman movie,” Tsujihara said.
Affleck will also appear as the caped crusader in at least two other films already on the docket – Justice League Parts One and Two.
The current list of DC universe movies, in order of release, are:
Suicide Squad – Aug. 5, 2016
The Justice League Part One – Nov. 17, 2017
The Flash – March 16, 2018
Wonder Woman – June 2, 2017
Aquaman – July 27, 2018
Shazam! – April 5, 2019
Justice League Part Two – June 14, 2019
Cyborg – April 3, 2020
Green Lantern Corps – June 19, 2020
HotShot Trailer: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
by Doc on Apr.11, 2016, under Movies
The trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was revealed by star Eddie Redmayne last night at the MTV Movie awards…
Opens November 18th!!
Edge Of Tomorrow sequel in the works
by Doc on Apr.09, 2016, under Movies
It appears there is something beyond the Edge Of Tomorrow…Deadline broke the news yesterday that Frankie and Alice writing duo Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse have been named for a sequel to the Tom Cruise sleeper hit, and that director Doug Liman would return to direct. Original writer Christopher McQuarrie would be involved in some capacity.
No details on any sort of plot were given, but it is expected for Cruise to reprise his role.
Edge Of Tomorrow is set during a time when aliens called Mimics have invaded and control continental Europe, while NATO’s forces struggle just to hold the line. It follows a relations officer Major William Cage (Cruise), who has no combat training, and after defying orders to cover a major assault against the Mimics, wakes up on a base demoted to private and assigned to a combat squad. During the assault, he is killed covered in alien blood – and then wakes up back at the base, reliving the same day. From then on, any time he is killed, he returns to that very moment.
He teams up with Sergeant Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), a famous soldier who recognizes his abilities as she had the same ability, until she was injured and received a blood transfusion which removed it. The two through trial and error work on ways to defeat the Mimics, with any failure resulting in Cage’s death in order to reset time.
HotShot Trailer: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story official teaser trailer
by Doc on Apr.07, 2016, under Movies
“I rebel.”
It’s here…the first official teaser for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – and now we see when it takes place…and some familiar characters, and not-so-familiar characters but familiar faces…
In theaters December 16th, 2016.
And also check out below the new Force for Change campaign announcement from Kathleen Kennedy and a staring-intensely Mark Hamill…
BBC announces the Class of Class
by Doc on Apr.04, 2016, under Television
BBC has finally announced the cast of the Doctor Who spinoff Class, which was announced last October, which was only surprising because they just started filming the 8 episode series today…
The show will star Katherine Kelly as a teacher at the Coal Hill School, where Clara Oswald was most recently employed but is also where Doctor Who got it’s start back in 1963. And apparently all that time traveling around it has caused the very walls of space and time to become thin. There’s something pressing in on the other side, something waiting for its chance to kill everyone and everything, to bring us all into Shadow.
Kelly most recently starred in Happy Valley, as well as Mr. Selfridge and Coronation Street.
Joining Kelly as students at the school are Greg Austin (Mr. Selfridge), Fady Elsayed (My Brother the Devil), Sophie Hopkins (The Meeting Place) and newcomer Vivian Oparah.
With the focus on the young adult audience, each of the students is described as having “hidden secrets and desires. They are facing their own worst fears, navigating a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow — and possibly the end of existence.”
Jessica Henwick joins Netflix series Iron Fist
by Doc on Apr.02, 2016, under Television
Jessica Henwick, who was Nymeria Sand in the last season of Game of Thrones and Jess Testor in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, will play Colleen Wing, the female lead in the upcoming Marvel series Iron Fist for Netflix.
Colleen Wing is the daughter of a professor of Asian history in New York, but after the death of her mother at a young age is brought up by her maternal grandfather in the mountains of Honshu, Japan, and trained in the ways of the samurai. Her father learns that Iron Fist (Finn Jones, who was also in Game of Thrones as Loras Tyrell) would return from another dimension to exact revenge on his father’s killer, and sends Colleen to meet him. The two them became allies.
Noah Wyle re-ups for more episodes of The Librarians
by Doc on Apr.02, 2016, under Television
Actor/producer Noah Wyle, who has been working year-to-year as a recurring character on The Librarians (which he also produces) while he works on broadening his experience behind the scenes, will return to his role of Head Librarian Flynn Carson on the show for 7 episodes out of the 10 scheduled. He will also direct two episodes and write one.
After playing Carson in the lead role in three TV movies (two of which he produced), he joined Dean Devlin to produce the series, which focused more on three new Librarians and a new Guardian. Wyle took a supporting role while he also worked on Falling Skies, in which he starred and also produced. He started directing with an episode of each series under his belt now, and has taken up writing as well, also penning a spec script called Art Of War about the world of art forgery.
Robin Wright to join Blade Runner sequel
by Doc on Apr.01, 2016, under Movies
Robin Wright (House of Cards, The Princess Bride) is set to join the cast of the thusfar untitled Blade Runner sequel being directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling. No further details on her role are known, but we do know the movie will take place several decades after the original 1982 movie. Filming is expected to start this summer for a January 12th, 2018 release.