I don’t really know why Chris Carter and FOX have yet to announce the title of their belated sequel to “The X-Files”. Seriously, what is the hold up? In any case, Chris Carter once again reaffirmed some already known details about the upcoming movie, mainly that it will not involve the show’s extensive alien mythology, and will in fact be a standalone movie that focuses on Mulder and Scully’s relationship and, oh yeah, Scully’s freaky son William will be mentioned, though he probably won’t show up.
Archive for March 27, 2008
Chris Carter Talks X-Files 2, No Title
Michael Dougherty to Direct Animated Calling All Robots
Walt Disney Pictures and Robert Zemeckis’ ImageMovers have a great project coming your way — “Calling All Robots”, a sci-fi adventure romp that will use the same performance capture technolog that Zemeckis used for his “The Polar Express” and more recently, “Beowulf”. The project will be directed by Michael Dougherty (pictured, left), who wrote “Superman Returns” and before that, “X2″. For those who didn’t think the characters in “Express” was very lifelike, they had to be express by the improvements shown in “Beowulf”. And now, it stands to reason that the animation for “Calling All Robots” should be nearly flawless, right? Or at least, greatly improved once again.
BSG’s Tahmoh Penikett, 3 Others Join Whedon’s Dollhouse
Joss Whedon’s new FOX sci-fi show Dollhouse just got a lot more crowded, with four new castmembers joining the show. The biggest name (at least in the sci-fi niche) is Tahmoh Penikett (pictured, left), who comes straight from the Sci Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica, which will end after this year, and will be joining Dollhouse as an FBI agent and potential love interest/antagonist for the main character played by Eliza Dushku. The other three actors joining the show are Fran Kranz, Australian Dichen Lachman and Enver Gjokaj.
Tobey Maguire to Produce Post-Apocalyptic Afterburn
I love me a good old-fashion post-apocalyptic movie. Just ask anyone who knows me. Heck, I’m even one of the few people that liked Kevin Costner’s “Waterworld” and “The Postman”. Yes, I liked both movies. So what of it? The latest post-apocalyptic movie headed to the big screen is “Afterburn”, based on a comic book (pictured, below) by Paul Ens and Scott Chitwood from new comics company Red 5 Comics. And none other than Tobey Maguire (pictured, left), Spider-Man himself, is planning on ushering the comics into a movie, and will be producing with partner Neal Moritz.
First Look at Star Trek 11′s Shuttle, Set
With J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek 11 reboot now shooting, you just knew that spy pictures were going to start flying out fast and furious, and so they have. The latest back of spy pics from the shoot arrived at AICN, and shows what Trek 11′s shuttles were going to look like, as well as some interior shots. Man, they sure look bulky, huh? But then again, I guess that’s the point — remember, this is the early days of Trek we’re talking about here, so it won’t be the sleek look of “Next Generation” or “Voyager”.
More on Amanda Tapping’s Sanctuary
I was a very happy little clam when The Sci Fi Channel announced that they would transplant Amanda Tapping’s web series Sanctuary over to their network, and would start by ordering a 13-episode run, including a brand spanking new pilot. According to Tapping herself, the TV version of Sanctuary will be a little different from the web episodes that have aired so far, but much of the premise remains intact, including Tapping as the main character, an immortal name Helen Magnus.
Joss Whedon Reuniting the Buffy Team for Dollhouse?
This should make a lot of Buffy fans happy: according to TV Guide, Joss Whedon, the creator of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show and Angel, has confirmed that Yes, he is looking at a couple of faces from Buffy to take over supporting casts in his new FOX sci-fi show Dollhouse. And this isn’t the only Buffy-Dollhouse connection, either, because the show’s star has already been cast. Eliza Dushku (pictured, below), who played the vampire slayer Faith on the show and then on Angel, is already scheduled to star in Dollhouse.
Hugh Jackman Gets into Comics with Nowhere Man
You know, to be perfectly honest with you, I’m not sure how I feel about the whole premise of Virgin Comics — it’s a comic imprint started with the singular purpose of turning their comic book properties into movies or TV shows. The only series they’ve done that I thought was any good was John Woo’s “Seven Brothers”. For the most part, I find their tunnel-like vision of making comics simply to turn them into movies to be a little insulting to comic book readers. Anyhoo, maybe I’m just projecting. The latest news from the world of comics is that Hugh Jackman will be creating a new series called “Nowhere Man” with the express notion of making a movie out of it in the future.
Twilight Zone Episode Countdown Becomes a Movie
In one of its more classic episodes, the Twilight Zone featured an episode called “Death Ship”, written by legendary sci-fi man Richard Matheson (“I am Legend”), that had a group of astronauts in the future (1997!) searching for new planets to colonize; they land on a strange planet only to discover that there is another ship already on the planet, which looks to have crashed — and it looks just like theirs, including the dead astronauts inside! It was a great episode, and someone at Summit thought so, too, because they’ve greenlit a movie based on the episode, and set first-time director Michael Brandt to write and direct it.
Sci-Fi Babe Spotlight: Morena Baccarin
It’s not that Morena Baccarin has only done sci-fi works, it’s just that’s where we discovered her. And let’s face it, Morena Baccarin will always be known to geeks everywhere as Inara on Joss Whedon’s Firefly (made into a movie version called “Serenity”), the uber courtesan with a heart of gold and enough fancy dresses to open her own store. She reprised the role in “Serenity”, and later stuck with the sci-fi niche when she did a baddie turn on Stargate: SG-1. And if the voice of Black Canary on the Justice League cartoon sounds familiar, that’s Morena, too.
It’s Official: Jericho is Cancelled for the Second Time
It came from the ashes of network cancellation (an almost impossible feat in TV land nowadays), thanks to a small band of loyal fans, but the post-apocalyptic/conspiracy show Jericho has finally met its match: small but loyal viewers, but too small, as it turns out. As a result, CBS has officially announced the show’s second cancellation, which means this upcoming Tuesday’s episode will be the show’s last on CBS. Where does it go from here?
The Day the Earth Stood Still Remake is About Global Warming
You knew it had to happen, and in the back of you mind, you even suspected. Yes, it’s true, the upcoming remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” will throw away the “end violence” message of the 1951 original, and instead exchange it with a “get green” message of today. I guess in a way I sort of knew this was going to happen. It’s Hollywood, after all, and “going green” is the cause du jour of the last few years. They’ll keep pumping the same message until something more sexy comes along.
More Details About the BSG Prequel Caprica
Wanna know more about what the Battlestar Galactica prequel TV series, Caprica? Well all you had to do was ask producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore, who helmed BSG to the small screen and through its four-year run, and who will be concentrating on Caprica after BSG goes off the air after its fourth season. According to Eick, Caprica is like the movie “American Beauty”, while Moore went for the more soap opera-ish “Dallas”, which is no surprise since, well, isn’t pretty much everything about BSG incredibly soap opera-ish?
NOW it’s Official: Bionic Woman is Cancelled
Well this kinda sucks. While I wasn’t instantly enamored with the new Bionic Woman when I first saw it, and indeed, I missed the next couple of episodes, I thought it had potential. Well nevermind that now, because even though we reported that the show was cancelled a while back, the show’s producer David Eick has now officially confirmed to Sci Fi Wire that Bionic Woman is, indeed, done. Although, curiously, NBC still hasn’t said a word about it. Kinda cruel of them, don’t you think, dangling the fans along like this?
BSG Cast Does Letterman’s Top 10
A reader sent me the link to this video clip of the cast of Battlestar Galactica doing the Top 10 on David Letterman’s TV show on Wednesday, last night. It’s, uh, it’s pretty painful to watch. First of all, I don’t think Letterman has even heard of Battlestar Galactica, and why in the world they made the cast show up in character — well, okay, I can sort of understand that. But wow, there were some clunkers on the list. Okay, the Number Six one (“There’s a chance you’ll see me naked”) followed by Tigh (“There’s a chance you’ll see me naked”) was pretty funny, but the rest — wow, try not to cringe.
