Sci-Fi Storm

You may not recognize his name, but if you watched TV in the 1970s and 1980s, you’d probably remember the face. Richard Lynch, who often played the bad guy in episodes of a large variety of TV shows as well as movies like The Sword and Sorcerer, passed away this week at the age of 72.

I can still see his face in a variety of things. The first one I thought of was Wolfe from the original Battlestar Galactica two-parter “Gun on Ice Planet Zero”, and then later as Xavier in the three-part Galactica 1980 episode “Galactica Discovers Earth”. And he also appeared in Buck Rogers, The A Team, , and many many more. He also had a starring role opposite Judson Scott in The Phoenix. His distinctive face continued the guest appearances and movies throughout the decades until his death.

Fancy the idea of taking up arms against some of your favorite heroes from SF film and television? Or fancy a blaster fight with a squad of Stormtroopers led by General Motti? (Hey, at least that last one should be easy…we know how well Stormtroopers shoot!)

Well, you might have your chance at Comicpalooza, in Houston May 25-27!

“The next best thing to being a sci-fi or action hero has to be shooting a sci-fi or action hero with a gun. Or maybe being shot by one,” says John Simons, founder and Chairman of Comicpalooza, the Texas International Comic Con. At least that’s the premise that led to the Badass Celebrity Smackdown, in which fans attending Comicpalooza May 25-27 will get their chance to pit themselves against stars of some of the biggest sci-fi and action franchises in Hollywood while helping US veterans at the same time.
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On the heels of a an apparent trailer (which as it turns out was really a demo reel) for the long-developing Battlestar Galactica prequel series Blood & Chrome (followed by NBCU getting it pulled from YouTube), Syfy finally announced a decision on the series, after a long silence – and it’s not good for those hoping to see it on TV.

Deadline is reporting that the network has decided not to go forward with a full TV series. It took over a year from getting the green light to start production on the 90-minute pilot to being delivered to the network in at least a rough cut, due to all the digital effects and post-production work required, and Syfy said little afterwards, except for President of Original Programming Mark Stern saying they were “trying to figure out the economics right now,” back in January. With such a long and expensive production cycle it looked more and more like it wouldn’t be doable as a series.

All is not lost, however. First, the pilot will be aired at some time in the future. And as the series was originally envisioned as a web series, it looks like they will return to that idea, with Stern saying, “We are actively pursuing it as was originally intended: a groundbreaking digital series that will launch to audiences beyond the scope of a television screen.”

It’s been a full year since production started on Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, Syfy’s announced prequel to Battlestar Galactica. But over the last several months, Syfy has been very, very quiet about it’s status, which moved from an originally planned web series to full pilot. Questions about why it was taking so long, would it ever be seen, etc. abound. What little Syfy did say wasn’t encouraging either, with how long it would take to do the visual effects for a full series – and they hadn’t even decided to pick it up yet.

Well, our friends over at Airlock Alpha report that Composer Bear McCreary, who did the music for Battlestar Galactica, told a panel at the EMP Science Fiction Hall of Fame’s Galactibash celebration on February 17th that he completed the score for the pilot…and that’s a very good sign that it will at least see the light of day in some form, at least.

Blood & Chrome is a “near-prequel” to the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, taking place at the beginning of the first Cylon War (later than the previous prequel effort, Caprica). As the battle between humans and their creation, the sentient robotic Cylons, rages across the 12 colonial worlds, a young, talented fighter pilot, William Adama (Luke Pasqualino), finds himself assigned to one of the most powerful Battlestars in the Colonial fleet: the Galactica. David Eick is executive producing.

Deadline just reported that John Orloff (Anonymous, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole) has signed on to write the screenplay for Bryan Singer’s big screen Battlestar Galactica reboot – and Orloff is excited. “I have wanted to write this movie since I was 12 years old, and built a Galactica model from scratch out of balsa wood, cardboard, old model parts and LEDs,” Orloff told Deadline. “I love BSG, and I would pass on the job rather than frak it up.” So it looks like Singer was serious about moving this up in the absence of his King Arthur flick.

It was a couple of years ago that Universal confirmed that Bryan Singer planned to reboot Battlestar Galactica as a movie – independently of the more recent re-imagining done by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, and by reports more directly related to the original created by Glen Larson. Well, it was put in the back burner as there were other things to do – like his remake of Excalibur.

Well, now Blastr is reporting that Excalibur is dead (Warner Bros went with a competing King Arthur story), and that Singer is now moving forward with developing Battlestar Galactica.

I’m not sure if I’m ready for another Galactica so soon. But the way the remake hit parade seems to be going, could we eventually see multiple competing remakes of the same property in development at the same time? Like, let’s say, Paramount brings Star Trek back to TV, while also the J.J. Abrams “alternate timeline” movies keep moving forward? Or say Devlin and Emmerich finally realize their original vision for sequels to Stargate while MGM fires up a new Stargate SG-1 spinoff? What would that do to fans?

Jewel Staite (Firefly) and A.J. Buckley (Supernatural) confront a devastating global catastrophe, while Battlestar Galactica alums Aaron Douglas and Paul Campbell take on a savage and legendary monster in the August Syfy Saturday Original Movies.

In Doomsday Prophecy, premiering Saturday, August 13, at 9PM (ET/PT), a book editor (Buckley) and an archeologist (Staite) hunt down a mysterious author of prophetic novels. When the writer is found dead, the editor obtains a device enabling him to see the future – an impending geological nightmare that will tear apart the planet. Doomsday Prophecy is a production of Cinetel Films.

In Killer Mountain – inspired by an ancient Himalayan legend – premiering Saturday, August 27, at 9PM (ET/PT), a team of climbers (Douglas, Campbell) is sent to a forbidden mountain to rescue a missing expedition. There, they discover that the mountain is the secret location of Shangri La — protected by a bloodthirsty alien creature, the Druk. Killer Mountain is a production of ARO Entertainment.

Entertainment Weekly had an interview with Star Wars: The Clone Wars supervising director Dave Filoni, and he gave look forward to what might be expected in the 4th season – and also said that Battlestar Galactica‘s Katee Sackhoff will be voicing a “memorable” character! “Everybody here loved Battlestar Galactica. It was such a great, inspirational series, and I think fans will be very pleased with the character she portrays,” Filoni said. “Let me say this, it will be a memorable character, that is for sure.” BSG fans may have noticed some classic BSG references in the show already.

Some of the other things he mentioned: More three-episode story arcs, multiple Oscar winning sound editor Walter Murch will work on an episode, and bigger epic battles. And we may not have seen the last of Chewbacca either…

Pilot season is getting crazy, and thanks to Twitter we get to learn all about the programs we aren’t likely to ever see. But Longmire, a mystery series based on the [asin=0143036424]novel series[/asin] by Chris Johnson about a sheriff in a county in Wyoming, seemed to be a sought-after script. Now through Twitter I’ve learned that both Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) and Lou Diamond Phillips (Stargate Universe) have landed roles opposite Robert Taylor (The Matrix).

Seems a number of Battlestar Galactica actors are reappearing in the pilot landscape, and several are now attached to Ron Moore’s pilot of NBC, 17th Precinct, a drama that follows cops at the 17th Precinct in Excelsior, a fictional town where magic trumps science. Tricia Helfer is the latest to be cast, playing a necromancer named Morgana (modern twist of Merlin perhaps?). Jamie Bamber and James Callis have already been cast, along with Stockard Channing (The West Wing) as a former homicide detective and Eamonn Walker (Kings) as Detective Chief Inspector Wilder Blanks).