The Sci Fi Channel has released their premiere dates for their returning and new shows in a press release. Some of the shows expected back in the cable net’s Summer line-up includes the last Stargate show standing, Atlantis, which returns for its fifth season, and original hit Eureka, which returns for its third year; also returning are Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters International, and prank show Scare Tactics, which had been canceled for a while there, but is now back. I still have no idea what pulling pranks has to do with sci-fi (and hosted by Tracy Morgan, of all people), but I love the show anyways.
At last, we have the DVD cover art and specs for the second (and final?) Stargate made-for-DVD movie, “Continuum”. Amazon.com has the title listed as being available July 29, 2008, but you can pre-order your copy now. Ben Browder, Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, and Claudia Black returns for a second go-around in a Stargate movie, this time they must stop Ba’al from changing history by traveling into the past. And if you saw the bootleg trailer that was posted a while ago, you also know that Richard Dean Anderson makes a guest appearance.
Well it’s not the best quality, and to be sure the sounds of the audience hooting and hollering doesn’t exactly make it the best viewing environment, but, um, well, it’s your first look at the teaser trailer for the upcoming Stargate: SG1 DVD movie, “Stargate: Continuum”. One word: Richard Dean Anderson is back, baby! Check it out below. I don’t know how long it’s going to stay up on YouTube, but I’ll try to find other versions just in case.
I had heard rumblings about a new Stargate TV series to replace the departed Stargate: SG1 and the aging Stargate: Atlantis, but that was a while ago. Now, Gateworld has new details about the upcoming series, to be called “Stargate: Universe”, and as the name may already hint at, the series will be set onboard a ship built by the Ancients. According to Stargate producer Brad Wright, who conceived of the third series with co-producer Robert C. Cooper, the ship was an experiment by the Ancients many years ago, but was abandoned after they ascended. Now it’s up to the Stargate team to finish the job.
According to Gateworld, the second (and final?) “Stargate: SG1″ made-for-DVD movie, “Continuum”, is scheduled to arrive on DVD July 29, 2008, and according to one producer, the film “stands head and shoulders above even the biggest episodes of the television series”. That’s a mighty big pitch. I liked the first movie, “Ark of Truth”, but didn’t find it to be particularly “head and shoulders” above the series, but maybe they were saving up the production values for the second one. We can only hope. More about the movie below.
While “Stargate: The Ark of Truth” was intended to wrap up the Ori storyline that had taken up the final two seasons of Stargate: SG1 the TV series, “Stargate: Continuum”, the second of two direct-to-DVD Stargate movies, will be a standalone movie that, says star Ben Browder, will be more accessible to the casual fan. Meaning that you won’t have to be a Stargate nut to “get” the second movie, which is probably for the best, as “Truth” was waaaaaaaay inside baseball, and non-fans would be lost from the first scene in.
Well this kinda sucks. While American Stargate fans had to go out and buy their own DVD copy of the Stargate DVD movie, “The Ark of Truth”, UK viewers will be getting the movie for free. Yup, it’s true. The UK’s Sky One will premiere the movie on Wednesday, March 26 at 8 p.m., a mere two weeks after the movie’s U.S. DVD release. And if they liked it, they can then buy the DVD in the UK on April 14.
When you’ve starred in one science fiction show, it’s almost a given that you can waltz into another science fiction show without any background check. Once you’ve been on one show, you can go to another without a problem, because even though something like Firefly was lowly rated and barely seen, you’ve still got sci-fi cache. Which explains why Jewel Staite easily jumped from the cancelled Firefly to the running Stargate: Atlantis, where she’s just nabbed a regular starring role. Jewel Staite is our Sci-Fi Babe Spotlight of the day.
The Sci Fi Channel announced today that Season 5 of Stargate: Atlantis will begin later this month with a 20-episode order. There are also news of returning and leaving castmembers. Of note is Amanda Tapping, who will be doing “guest star” work while Sci Fi revs up production on her new series, Sanctuary. Paul McGillion, meanwhile, will return for a multi-episode arc, and Robert Picardo’s Woosley character has been given an upgrade in status — he’ll be joining the cast as a regular, and his character will assume command of the Atlantis expedition. And oh yeah, Michael Shanks will also be making appearances.
Amanda Tapping’s web series “Sanctuary” is being adapted into a regular TV series by the Sci Fi Channel, says The Hollywood Reporter. “Sanctuary”, which starred Amanda Tapping, started life as an original web-based series created and produced by Tapping and her SG-1 colleagues, Damian Kindler and Martin Wood.