Science Fiction (and Fantasy) on Television

Wednesday 23rd July 2003

The trailer for Underworld is up at Apple. Also check out the official site. This certainly looks like it is shaping up to get a cult following. Vampires and Lycans at war, lots of action, SFX and cool black clothes...

Thursday 24th July 2003

Rick Berman has been trying to get people interested in the next season of Enterprise. He says that the new storyline is partly inspired by ST movies IV and VIII which dealt with Earth in danger of destruction. Ummm, Rick, ... isn't part of the reason for the decline in viewing figures due to you rehashing old storylines? And just how exactly do you justify the new Xindi species anyway? I will still watch (not least to see an even sexier Jolene Blalock - yeah, I know, I'm shallow), but like other ST fans, I so want to see some original stories.

Friday 18th July 2003

Stargate SG-1 7th season may only just be under way, but they've already announced that there will be an 8th season.

Monday 21st July 2003

The new official Blake's 7 site is finally up and running. This is of course for the Blake's 7 thirty years later - a miniseries that may lead to a proper series if they can just get it made. As I've reported before, Paul Darrow is the only one set to reprise his original role (as the enigmatic Avon). The site is looking good and is one more promising step to finally getting a great show back on air! (Oh, and if you have a spare $5 million, I'm sure they would like to hear from you...)

Friday 18th July 2003

So we know that after the most excellent La Femme Nikita, Peta Wilson has got into major motion pictures and stars as Mina Harker, the half-vampire in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Her comments to scifiwire indicate that all the characters have moved on from their literary incarnations and she was even inspired by her infant son (Marlowe) who was with her. So as she played the bloodsucker who just desperately wanted a drink but couldn't, the child wanted milk but she would say something like, 'Darling, I know you want a drink, but you just had a feed 10 minutes ago. You just have to wait another hour. I'll just do this scene and I'll be back.' Well, who wouldn't want to....

Friday 18th July 2003

I guess this isn't really a spoiler whether you've seen all of John Doe or not, as it was cancelled before John's secret could be revealed in the show. If you don't want to know, by all means look away. Okay. scifiwire mentions the story on zap2it where Gail Berman, president of Fox Entertainment, reveals that she had discussed Doe's underlying premise with creators Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson. The secret: Doe was just a regular guy. "[According to the show], when you're very close to death, when you're seeing the white light, God or a higher being gives you all the information of life to carry on to the next life. Doe was about to die, but for whatever reason, he lived after being imparted with that knowledge. The shadowy people who were after Doe knew what happened to him and were trying to keep him from discovering it himself." So there you go. Do you care? I don't.

Thursday 17th July 2003

Now here is a strange thing. Fox Searchlight is going to attach the proper dark ending for 28 Days Later to all 1400 US prints currently being shown. This is simply unheard of! Of course it is on the British version (already on DVD), but to do it in the middle of US theatrical release? Very odd. But at least it is good that they have (eventually) given some credit to the intelligence of the US audience that they might appreciate the darker European-style ending. Just like Blade Runner. Just like Brazil.

Thursday 17th July 2003

There is a rumour on the Coming Attractions site (now part of Cinescape) which suggests Catwoman is not going to happen. Over the years, CA has been a pretty good source of info and they rate this particular source, but in this case I need to tell you their correspondent is way off the mark. Halle Berry has just finished filming on Gothika and in September, as planned, is absolutely, definitely going to start filming on Catwoman. (As I mentioned back in March.)

Thursday 17th July 2003

Fans of Charmed may already know that Drew Fuller is taking a regular spot in Season 6 after appearing in the finale of Season 5. The character is Chris Perry, a whitelighter who now joins the three superwitch sisters as the series continues to innovate and remain strong. But here is a picture of Drew anyway. His introduction will bring new mysteries to the series.

Wednesday 16th July 2003

It is official. Quentin Tarantino's long awaited 4th film, Kill Bill is to be split into two films. QT has been in the process of getting the film made for 10 years and it seems to have been filming forever. With the amount of footage he has, he was looking at 300 minutes plus. So Miramax head Harvey Weinstein suggested the split. QT didn't conceive of beforehand specifically as two films, but did make it flexible as to how it might be presented. He has pondered the split for the last few weeks and apparently is now happy to make it two, but he is very keen to ensure the two are released very close together (2-6 months apart). Quentin wrote this one and insisted up front that he should be allowed to film his whole screenplay. It stars Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, Vivica A. Fox, Vernita Green, Lucy Liu and Michael Jai White. (If you're confused by some reports claiming it is his 5th film, it sort of is, except his first was unfinished, so shouldn't count. It was Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs that really made Tarantino and Miramax.) Visit the official site and you have seen the trailer haven't you? Trivia - the jumpsuit you can see on Uma in the pic is exactly like the one worn by Bruce Lee in Game of Death.

Monday 14th July 2003

"If you go down to The Woods today, you're sure of a big surprise." Well there is a mythical race of creatures living there! (And I don't think they are teddy bears.) Sigourney Weaver and William Hurt are the latest stars to sign up to make this film set in 1897. Others already on for filming next year are Bryce Howard, Joaquin Phoenix and Ashton Kutcher. The film is being written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan who brought you The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable and Signs.

Friday 11th July 2003

Richard E. Grant is to be the new Doctor Who ... voice. So don't get too excited. Despite this year heralding the 40th anniversary of the Doctor and its continued world wide popularity as one of the most successful SF series ever made in the history of television, the BBC can only get around to making another animated Doctor to go on the website...so far.

Thursday 10th July 2003

Another big name signs up to do a series for US SciFi Channel. Martin Scorsese will be Exec Producer for a miniseries called The Twelve which focuses on an FBI agent investigating some bizarre events happening in the twelve days of Christmas which he suspects are leading to some sort of apocalypse on the twelfth day. With other SciFi Channel news of more award nominations, higher ratings and aims at widening their audience from the core science fiction, not to mention potential corporate buyout... well, I'm concerned that this is popularising a very watered down SF and Real SF is getting marginalised. Farscape didn't have any big name film people attached and despite being one of the best SF series ever made, it was ditched prematurely (though may yet get a follow-up miniseries). Taken on the other hand had Spielberg's name on it, got 5 million viewers in the USA and was mostly soap opera.

Saturday 12th July 2003

Bit surprised at this news. Comics Continuum reports that Lauren Lee Smith's site says she will not be in Season 3 of Mutant X. And that Karen Cliche (fresh from Adventures, Inc.) will join the team as Lexa. Now I certainly don't mind the prospect of seeing Karen (pictured right) in the show, but as yet I have no info on why the changes are being made. I get the impression it is not Lauren's idea. We should learn more of the changes by the end of this month.

Thursday 10th July 2003

Lois Lowry's SF novel The Giver looks like its going on the big screen. Walden Media has hired Ed Neumeier to adapt it (he is known for Robocop and Starship Troopers). Jeff Bridges is going to produce and quite likely star in the film as well. It is set in a pseudo-utopian future where there is no crime, poverty or sickness. Everyone is happy. But 12 year old Jonas discovers the truth and spreads the word, causing the usual rebellion.

Wednesday 9th July 2003

Have you ever wondered how The Hulk keeps his pants on? In the TV series, it is just about conceivable for his hips not to have expanded too much, but the comic book Hulk and that of the film are huge! And as if to prove just how huge, The Sun reports on a 6 year old who won a Hulk doll at a fair and discovered just how gigantic his package really is! Oh yes, he has a hulking willy to match the rest of his giant frame!

Wednesday 7th July 2003

I am very worried. There is a suggestion from the set of King Arthur that Arthur may well have been Roman general Arturius Rex. Well I happen to know quite a bit about the Arthur legend and this theory is completely and totally not true. Absolutely no way! I welcome a more historical approach to Arthur drawing from Malory's distillation of earlier legends and stories, but any suggestion of him being Roman is ridiculous. With other comments arising from the set, I wonder if any of them have any idea what they are doing. In De Excidio Britanniae the Roman mentioned is Ambrosius Aurelianus, but even that is a tentative link to Arthur. He is implied as the Celtic Briton in The Annales Cambriae and though Nennius is not to be completely trusted, his Historia Brittonum was written with access to 5th century info which is not available to us now. Arthur was most assuredly not Roman.

Wednesday 2nd July 2003

I prefer to put actual news here rather than all the rumours, (hence why I haven't said anything about the interminable Batman and Superman casting nonsense - not that either film deserves to be made anyway), but I do try to squash the major false rumours when I can. For instance this one that comes direct from Sean Connery - speaking on Entertainment Tonight. The interview is mainly about LXG of course, but then there is the snippet about Indiana Jones 4. Sean confirms he would be interested in principle in reprising his role, but also says he had heard Steven Spielberg would not be directing. You can watch this clip at the ETONLINE site. I didn't like the vagueness of his comment that starts "All I know is that somebody called the office and said..." on something so significant so I looked for a contradiction. TheRaider.net came up with the goods with confirmation direct from Lucasfilm that everything is going ahead as planned, including Steven Spielberg as director.

Archive Index

Archive Index

Odyssey 5, Firefly, Star Trek, X-Files, Babylon 5, Crusade, Dr Who, Andromeda, Lexx, Dark Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Invisible Man, Stargate SG-1, Blake's 7, Farscape, The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, The Lone Gunmen, The Avengers, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Red Dwarf, Roswell, Total Recall 2070, Hercules, Xena: Warrior Princess, Earth: Final Conflict, Charmed, Alien Nation, Futurama, Outer Limits and so many more. Essential information, background, links, etc. on all Science Fiction and Fantasy shows are here!