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HotShot Trailer: Star Wars: The Force Awakens third trailer!
by Doc on Oct.19, 2015, under Movies
Hot off the presses!
Walt Disney World plans Opening Night event for Star Wars: The Force Awakens at Disney Springs and Hollywood Studios
by Doc on Oct.19, 2015, under Fun Stuff, Movies
From our sister site, WDW Untangled…
On the opening night of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on December 17th, Walt Disney World Resort will host a special ticketed event at Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) and Disney’s Hollywood Studios park for fans who want to be among the first viewers of the movie and celebrate with other fans.
Guests will have a confirmed seat at the AMC Disney Springs 24 theater for a showing between 7pm-8pm, and then celebrate over at Hollywood Studios at a private party afterwards until 2am. The party will include special access to the new Star Wars: Launch Bay exhibit, the Star Tours: The Adventures Continue attraction, a DJ dance party, and a preview of the all new fireworks display set to Star Wars music. Costumes are encouraged! But follow standard Disney guest costume guidelines – if you dress like a Disney character, for instance, you may not pose for pictures with other guests or sign autographs, etc.
Characters will also appear at Launch Bay – it is sounding like a private mini-Star Wars Weekends!
Tickets will go on sale immediately after the latest trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens airs tonight during Monday Night Football. And in fact, tickets for showings at theaters around the country will go on sale at the same time!
Ticket prices will depend on which format you see the movie in: 2D ($94.99), 3D ($98.99) and 3D ETX ($99.99).
Note: Direct transportation between Disney Springs and Hollywood Studios will NOT be provided. Parking is free at Disney Springs, and parking at Hollywood Studios is included in the price of the ticket. Guests staying at a WDW Resort will be able to take transportation from Disney Springs to their resort, and then on to Hollywood Studios.
More FAQs can be found here.
Defiance canceled after three seasons
by Doc on Oct.16, 2015, under Television
Syfy’s drama Defiance has been canceled, not long after the network canceled Dominion.
The show was part of a major experiment by the network, teaming up with videogame maker Trion Worlds to make Defiance a “transmedia” show, existing both as a TV show and a massively-multiplayer game online, with events of one showing as having an effect on the other. Trion Worlds has stated the game will continue.
“I got to collaborate with a group of stunning artists operating at the top of their game, and together we built a world,” said Executive Producer Kevin Murphy. “Because of that, there is no room for anything other than joy in my heart.”
Syfy said in a statement, “Defiance was a truly groundbreaking series, delivering an immersive, cross-platform experience that transcended the television screen in a way that viewers had never seen before. We are incredibly proud of the work of the extraordinary cast, writers, artists and designers — and especially showrunner Kevin Murphy — who together brought the rich world of Defiance to life over its three season arc.”
Ratings fell each season, with shifts in what day it aired, with the finale netting 1.925 million viewers and a 0.51 18-49 rating in Live+3.
The show recently concluded it’s third season in August, and the season finale did have a bit of finality to it, so ending the series where it did is satisfying at least.
Marvel and Fox join to develop a pair of X-Men based series
by Doc on Oct.14, 2015, under Television
Marvel and Fox (who holds the movie and TV rights to Marvel’s X-Men franchise) are working together on a pair of TV projects based on X-Men characters for two of Fox’s networks.
Legion, based on the character of the same name, has a pilot order from FX. Fargo creator Noah Hawley will write and exec produce. Legion is David Haller, who is in fact the son of Professor Xavier, and has suffered from multiple personality disorder for all his life. But his splintered personalities eventually manifest different mutant abilities.
Hellfire (the working title) is still in development at Fox, and follows a Special Agent that discovers that a woman with uncanny powers is working with a secret society of rich people called the “Hellfire Club” in a plot to take over the world – the same group led by Sebastian Shaw in X-Men: First Class. The show was created by Evan Katz (the 24 franchise), Manny Coto (the 24 franchise), Patrick McKay (Star Trek 3) and JD Payne (Star Trek 3).
The X-Men movie heads Bryan Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg will executive produce both series along with Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory from Marvel TV.
Interestingly, neither series will bear the X-Men label, but will be set within the same universe as the movie franchise.
Could scientists have found a real Dyson Sphere?
by Doc on Oct.14, 2015, under Science
I personally think there is a less alien explanation, but there is a report making the rounds today that scientists have detected a star, KIC 8462852, that experiences very unusual and erratic dips in brightness. The brightness change is around 22%, which is far more than typically observed from planetary transits, which is more like 1%, and are generally more consistent.
While there are probably a number of more rational explanations, astronomer Jason Wright, who specializes in signs of advanced civilizations, put forth the ideal that massive solar panels arranged in orbit, could be an explanation, although even he says we should “approach it skeptically.”
A Dyson Sphere, popularized and named after mathematician and theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson, is one of a number of theoretical megastructures in which a partial or complete shell is constructed around a star, allowing for near-complete use of the energy output of the star.
Another similar structure, the Ringworld as conceived by science fiction author Larry Niven, is a ring structure around a star where the inner surface would have millions of times the area of Earth as livable space. But in order to provide something approximating a day/night cycle on such a structure, a second, inner structure exists – the “shadow squares”, enormous panels in orbit that block the sunlight from the star from a section of the Ringworld.
Sound familiar? Perhaps we should be searching for Protectors or Puppeteers in the area…
Upcoming fourth season will be last for Beauty And The Beast
by Doc on Oct.13, 2015, under Television
Season four of The CW’s Beauty And The Beast, which is nearing the end of production, will be its last, after the network decided that it should wrap up.
The remake of the 1987 TV series, it was always considered a long-shot at getting renewed each season, it eked out another year at a time by holding relatively steady ratings (0.2 Live+Same Day in the 18-49 group) and being pretty good on the international market as well as online.
The CW hasn’t announced when the fourth season will air yet.
Syfy cancels Dominion
by Doc on Oct.13, 2015, under Television
Syfy has decided not to renew the show Dominion, based on the movie Legion, after the conclusion of its second season. In a statement Syfy said, “Led by Vaun Wilmott, the talented cast, producers, writers and crew of Dominion have done a tremendous job bringing this ambitious, cinematic series to the screen over the past two seasons. We thank them, as well as our producing partners Universal Cable Productions, Bold Films and Film Afrika.”
Dominion had a dismal second season, losing nearly half of it’s viewers from Season 1 and averaging only 0.9 million viewers.
From my point of view, the diverging subplots seemed irrelevant compared to the main plot of Alex, the writings and what it meant to the humans and angels, which seemed to take all season only to move slightly. However, the addition of Lucifer was actually peaking my interest level at the end.
Latest trailer for MTV’s The Shannara Chronicles
by Doc on Oct.11, 2015, under Television
MTV has set January 5th as the debut date for the The Shannara Chronicles with a two-hour premiere starting at 10/9c.
Thousands of years after the destruction of civilization as we know it, magic begins to return. Amberle Elessedil (Poppy Drayton, When Calls The Heart), an Elven princess; Wil Ohmsford (Austin Butler, The Carrie Diaries), a half-elf; and human Eretria (Ivana Baquero, Pan’s Labyrinth) embark on a quest to stop a demon army from destroying the Four Lands.
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Check out NYCC sizzle reals for Arrow and The Flash!
by Doc on Oct.11, 2015, under Television
We can’t be there in person, but we can check out some of what was shown…the CW unveiled the sizzle reels for the upcoming seasons of Arrow and The Flash!
HotShot trailer: New The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 official trailer
by Doc on Oct.08, 2015, under Movies
“Welcome To The 76th Hunger Games.”
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 opens in theaters November 20th.