science fiction

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Made rather bittersweet in the knowledge that this is the last time they do this as the Sci-Fi Channel. But anyhoo…

They just ran the classic episode “A Game of Pool”, which originally aired on October 13, 1961. It’s one of my all-time favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone, for a lot of reasons but especially ‘cuz I thought the interaction between Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters was brilliant!

So I’m wondering if I’m at all crazy for thinking this…

…that wouldn’t it be more awesomely cool than we possibly deserve, if somehow there could be a sequel to this episode made, again starring Klugman and Winters as Jesse Cardiff and Fats Brown?

It could be called “Another Game of Pool”!

Okay, that will probably never happen outside of the wonderful delirium of my dreams. But still, one can practically see it happening.

What an amazing show this was. ...

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With Star Trek still going warp speed at the box office, it’s hard to grasp a time not long ago when the entire Star Trek brand had been written off by many people as a thing that had completely run its course. The previous few movies in the series had been severely lackluster and Star Trek: Enterprise failed to garner appreciable ratings on television.

Such was the state of Trek five years ago in 2004. And at the time J. Michael Straczynski (the creator of Babylon 5 and writer of the recent film The Changeling on top of many other terrific endeavors) and television producer/writer Bryce Zabel (The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, Dark Skies), recognizing the franchise’s foundering, conceived of an ambitious plan to “reboot” the entire shebang. A few years later Paramount handed Trek over to J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot. We already know how much ...

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Courtesy of James Hibberd’s The Live Feed. Watch Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet from Lost) gazing up at the sky along with the rest of humanity…

And then there’s this clip, which I find to be much more promising/menacing…

The first clip seemed kinda… bland. Maybe it’s just ‘cuz I’m still a fan of old-school V (the original 1983 miniseries anyway). But the second one has sold me on this re-imagining’s potential. That is a drop of distilled essence of what made the first miniseries so powerful and unbelievably scary: creeping fascism on a global scale.

ABC has already committed V to series based on its pilot. It should start running later on in the 2009-2010 season....

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I don’t know how this very sad news has stayed off my radar screen for the past few weeks. Earlier tonight I had read that the Sci-Fi Channel (or Syfy, whatever it’s supposed to be now) is making another attempt to adapt the Riverworld saga for television. Well, as these things happen, one thing led to another and…

Philip José Farmer was the very first “hard science fiction” writer that I ever read. It was a 1990 interview he did with Starlog that piqued my curiosity about him. Wasn’t long afterward that I went out looking for a copy of To Your Scattered Bodies Go, the first Riverworld novel. It remains one of the most original books that I’ve ever read. Let’s face it: you gotta respect a man who writes a novel starring every single person who ever lived. Then my already-demented young brain came across his Venus ...

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It’s been awhile since this blog had anything Doctor Who-ish to report. So it’s due for some…

Billie Piper, Catherine Tate and Freema Agyeman will appear in the final Doctor Who episode starring David Tennant as the Doctor. They will reprise their roles as Rose, Donna and Martha, respectively (though how they are gonna bring back Rose and Donna is beyond me). The episode, scheduled for later this year, will also mark the end of Russell T Davis’ tenure as head showrunner (what, you mean “The Stolen Earth”/”Journey’s End” wasn’t a big enough send-off?!). Tennant’s Doctor will face off once again against arch-nemesis the Master before regenerating into the Eleventh Doctor, played by Matt Smith.

And this coming April 12th – Easter Sunday – will be the next Doctor Who special. “Planet of the Dead”, incidentally, will be the 200th Doctor Who story since the show began in ...

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Awright, I’ve been sitting on this for the past week or so, eagerly looking forward to when that e-mail would arrive with the official announcement and now… it’s here!

Alexandre Philippe is a filmmaker who is currently working on an ambitious project called The People vs. George Lucas (here’s the official website: PeopleVsGeorge.com). Tonight, Alexandre and his crew released the first trailer for their film.

Behold!

Want to see it drastically embiggened and high-deffed? Mash down here!

And at 1:29 into the trailer, there’s a black and white clip showing “George Lucas” furiously typing. No, your eyes ain’t deceiving you: that is Chad Austin from my first film Forcery (click here to watch THAT movie)! Alexandre contacted me about using Forcery awhile back, and all of us at KWerky Productions are thrilled to have been invited to take part in this project.

The People vs. George ...

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Dang… now there is a headline that I never thought I would ever be writing!

It will have been ten years since they were last seen, but Lister, Rimmer, Kryten and the Cat will be returning at last to television this spring. Red Dwarf: Back to Earth will be a two-part special broadcasting in Great Britain during the upcoming Easter weekend (and will no doubt soon afterward find its way to The Pirate Bay, Demonoid and many other torrent-trackin’ sites). As the title indicates, the story involves Lister and his fellow crew members finally returning to Earth (and I smell a lot of fun to be had with Battlestar Galactica when they get there).

Slam this smeggin’ link for more info on what many have raved is the best sci-fi comedy series ever....

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The long, long, long-attempted effort to relaunch V – yeah, the 1980s sci-fi franchise about the humanoid lizards come to steal our water, rape our wimmunfolk and eat us for lunch (literally) – is finally getting off the ground at ABC. The network has commissioned a pilot episode, presumably that will premiere this coming fall.

If handled right, this could be a terrific show that might pick up the same fans who are currently hooked on Lost (which will see its final season next year). Unfortunately, V creator Kenneth Johnson is not aboard for this go-round… and I’ve long thought that if he had been given complete control over his original concept, that NBC could have had one of the greatest television series of the Eighties. Alas! Too many suits ruined that…

And speaking of NBC television shows from two decades ago, June 11, 2010 is the ...

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Awright, who else is seeing this, and thought that we must be getting a Star Wars/Hellraiser crossover…?

StarWars.com revealed the image earlier today. Deathtroopers by Joe Schreiber is the first ever true horror story set in the galaxy far, far away (no, I’m not counting the “Galaxy of Fear” books either). The novel is scheduled for release later this year, fittingly enough just before Halloween....

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