Posts Tagged ‘sci-fi’

Wait….this sounds familiar

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 by Crap

‘Chuck’ producer lands Western at Fox

via THR.com

Described as an epic Western with a sci-fi twist, the show will revolve around “a gunslinger caught between worlds” and will feature a nod to “Planet of the Apes,” said Rosenbaum, who is executive producing with Wonderland’s McG and Peter Johnson. “What I’m really interested in is the revamping of the Western genre where you still have all of the iconic Western themes and iconic Western tropes but the idea is that it will feel incredibly contemporary and will introduce the Western to a whole new generation,” Rosenbaum said.

Not to criticize a potential series before it even goes into production, I find this announcement somewhat ridiculous. Off the bat, it bears striking resemblance to another recent Fox series Firefly, which was a sci-fi with Western flavorings. Its also probably worth mentioning “another” older Fox production, The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. which was conversely a Western with sci-fi flavorings. Both of which were canned prematurely.

I’m not saying its an unsuccessful formula since both works were rather incredible and sadly cut short, but how Fox could even think of doing it again and pass it off as some sort of unique “twist”.

Off to Comic-con

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 by Crap

superjail

Off to Comic-con ‘09 for the weekend, shall return shortly.

Warehouse 13 Premieres on the newly dubbed SyFy

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 by Crap

SyFy Warehouse 13

Yesterday saw the official transition of the Sci-Fi Channel to its newly dubbed moniker SyFy, which to some seemed like a strange move. This late in the game, a whole network name change seems to open questionable motives. People have already talked about it extensively months ago so I won’t get into the typography and what not, only that it does seemingly fit the already shifting emphasis away from “sci-fi” to a more holistic set of programming. Could be a bad or good thing really, the bad being those horrendous Sci-Fi original slasher flicks, and the good being new shows that really stretch the confines of science fiction but have no place on a more regular primetime network.

“Surrogates” Trailer

Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 by Crap

Surrogates film postervia Twitch. Surrogates is an upcoming sci-fi film based upon the graphic novel of the same name. The premise revolves around a society that has fallen into the common practice of using “surrogate” bodies in place of their own. This allows individuals to live out their lives without ever leaving the safety of their own homes. Ultimately it leads to more hedonistic attitudes on life where the fear of death or repercussion of personal choices is somewhat dampened. For example, the chance of death is lessened since the surrogate body is the one out in the real world prone to accidents. And in the case death occurs, you simply get a new surrogate.

Its an interesting concept and draws a close parallel to the way in which people today seemingly can lead a “Second Life” on the internet through both the large networks/services available, as well as the veil of anonymity the net allows. Robert Venditti the writer of the original graphic novel had this to say:

It dawned on me that if you were somehow able to create a persona and send it out into the real world—where it could go to work for you, and run your errands, and so on—then you would never have to go back to being yourself. (via Graphic Novel Reporter)”

Overall its quite intriguing. The way in which the surrogates seemingly give people a sense of security is similar to how an avatar works in any online community or even an MMO like World of Warcraft. In the case of a game, death simply means a restart. And in the case of a forum for example, one can easily throw away one identity and replace it with a new distinct one.

The film stars Bruce Willis and is being directed by Jonathan Mostow who helmed U-571 and Breakdown. The trailer in HD can be viewed after the break:

First look at the V Remake: Two Clips

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 by Crap

ABC Visitor

via the Visitorsite.net. ABC’s upcoming TV remake of V is definitely one of the more anticipated series coming next season and for good reason. Among many notables, it stars two Firefly alumni, Morena Baccarin as the leader of the aliens and Alan Tudyk as an FBI investigator. The remake is being produced by Scott Peters, the creator of the now cancelled The 4400. For those unfamiliar with this or the original work, the plot summary is as follows:

The world awakens to find spaceships hovering over all major cities. Though the aliens claim to come in peace, some do not believe them. Homeland Security agent Erica Evans discovers that the aliens have plans to infiltrate our governments and businesses in a plot to take over the planet. Erica joins the resistance movement, which includes Ryan, an alien who wants to save humanity. However, the aliens have recruited earth’s youth, including Erica’s son, to serve unknowingly as spies.

The full cast was announced today and can be viewed on the wiki entry and subsequently, the cast image above. The clips can be viewed after the break.

The 25 Greatest Sci-fi Shows Ever, according to Wizard

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 by Crap

The 25 Greatest Sci-fi Shows Ever (on Wizard Universe)

Over the decades, fantastic exploits on television have only gotten better–and better-looking. Done well, sci-fi removes us from the mundane and into the realm of the fantastic. A writer’s medium, it’s acted as a metaphorical cloak for topical social issues; serialized, it allows us to spend years–sometimes decades–following characters, often with the same emotional investment we put into real life.

sci-fi wizardI usually hate lists, and this one is no exception. Regardless, its always worth a look just to see what certain organizations or individuals decide to include or more importantly, leave out.

Overall, find it troubling that The Incredible Hulk and Smallville are included since neither are really sci-fi nor are they remotely good shows. Joss Whedon appears three times in the form of Buffy, Angel, and Firefly. While I love the man’s work, I find it hard to fathom that if a singular genre were to be placed upon Buffy and Angel, it would be sci-fi. Firefly is a different story and its nice to see it make the cut.

What bugs me the most though, is what didn’t make it rather then what was unrightfully included. The first that comes to mind is Farscape. Surely not the greatest show out there, but far superior to some of the other choices listed here. Its doubly shocking not to see Stargate SG-1 make it either simply based upon the franchises overwhelming presence and run.

Its not all bad though, Battlestar Galactica both obviously and deservedly sits at a top spot. And the honors of the two best shows goes to Doctor Who and the Twilight Zone. On that end, couldn’t agree more.

Neil Blomkamp’s “District 9″ Trailer

Friday, May 1st, 2009 by Crap

district 9 posterFor those unfamiliar with the name Blomkamp, he is the man who was attached to the live action Halo film project which was canned due to financial reasons. Regardless, he did indeed do some nifty short promo work for Halo which exhibited some remarkable talent.

More importantly, a few years ago he did a short film called Alive in Joburg which employed a cinéma vérité style shrouded in the mask of a news broadcast that looked at alien populations becoming migrant workers in South Africa. District 9 is actually a feature length adaptation of this very same short. I’m really not sure how well it can work as a feature, but the premise and trailer both look promising.

Both are embedded after the break.

Cult author JG Ballard dies at 78

Sunday, April 19th, 2009 by Crap

Cult author JG Ballard dies at 78 (on BBC)

The author JG Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died aged 78 after a long illness. His agent Margaret Hanbury said the author had been ill “for several years” and had died on Sunday morning. Despite being referred to as a science fiction writer, Jim Ballard said his books were instead “picturing the psychology of the future”. His most acclaimed novel was Empire of the Sun, based on his childhood in a Japanese prison camp in China.