Science fiction/fantasy

Well here's an interesting tidbit of news: Former Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston will star as Number Six in a television remake of the cult favorite series, "The Prisoner". "The 1967 series, starring Patrick McGoohan as a former secret agent who was kidnapped and imprisoned in a mystery village, baffled millions of viewers around the world," says the Times. "The new version, made by Granada for Sky One, will incorporate the paranoia, conspiracy theories and hi-tech action sequences of modern-day spy dramas 24 and Spooks. ... Hollywood stars have also pitched for the role but…
He's actually finally going to release the original, unaltered, un-"improved" trilogy on DVD: Fans can look forward to a September filled with classic Star Wars nostalgia, led by the premiere of LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy video game and the long-awaited DVD release of the original theatrical incarnations of the classic Star Wars trilogy. In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the…
According to Trek Today: Paramount Pictures announced today that Lost creator J.J. Abrams will co-write, produce and direct the eleventh Star Trek film, set for release in 2008. According to an article in the Daily Variety, the new film will be a prequel to the original Star Trek series, featuring younger versions of characters like James T. Kirk and Spock. The movie will chronicle events such as their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and their first mission into outer space. The as-yet untitled new film will be written by Abrams together with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. Abrams is the…
With the weather in Washington, DC, threatening to be full of thunderstorms and plunging temperatures this afternoon and tonight, I like to think back to where I was less than two weeks ago. As I mentioned before, last week, I was in southern California for a surgical meeting. While I was there, I happened to have an afternoon free, during which time I wandered over to Amoeba Music (my all time favorite new and used CD store), where I indulged one of my few vices and bought up a bunch of music. I also had enough time to take a side trip over to another of my haunts when I find myself in the L…
This just in: Doctor Who has been nominated for three prestigious Hugo Awards this year, according to an announcement made yesterday by the award's administrators and the 64th World Science Fiction Convention, L.A. Con IV. Taking three of seven slots in the "Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form" category are the Doctor Who episodes Dalek written by Robert Shearman, Father's Day written by Paul Cornell, and The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, written by Steven Moffat. The three are running against an episode of the new "Battlestar Galactica" series, the Pixar animated short "Jack Jack Attack…
Trek Passions, anyone? The sad thing is, if I had discovered such a site before I met my wife, I might have been seriously tempted to join, even though I suspect that the male-to-female ratio is very unfavorable--to males.
Based on some comments on my previous post complaining that the first episode of the new Doctor Who was a bit uneven and the stories not so great, I thought I'd mention my overview of the season. I have one thing to say: Patience. I agree that the first couple of episodes were uneven and realize that I have the benefit of hindsight. I also understand that it's also a bit hard at first for longtime Who fans to get used to the new format of one hour episodes with self-contained stories (although there are some two-part stories scattered throughout the season). Remember that it always takes at…
Woo-hoo! The new Doctor Who is appearing on the SciFi Channel tonight, with a two-hour, two episode premiere. I've already seen all the episodes, thanks to my mother's proximity to the Canadian border and her willingness to send me videotapes from Canadian TV, but those of you who are (or were) Doctor Who fans and haven't seen the new Doctor yet, are in for a real treat. It'll also give me a chance to check the best episodes out again.
After yesterday's all-out frontal assault on a dubious scientific journal (which, by the way, you should still read if you haven't already), how about some lighter fare for today? A couple of months ago, when the fury of fundamentalist Muslims was directed at Denmark for the publication by one of its newspapers of cartoons portraying the Prophet Mohammed, I wrote articles arguing that freedom of speech demands that religion not be exempt from criticism or satire. Indeed, religion is such a powerful and pervasive influence on so many people and societies that freedom of speech almost demands…
I have mixed feelings about the season finale of Battlestar Galactica, which aired Friday night. Overall, the second season has been a lot less consistent than the first. Some episodes (Downloaded, for example) were as good or better than anything in the first season, while a couple (Black Market, for example) bordered on being downright stinkers. Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II contained elements of both the best and the worst of the second season. At the very least, this episode confirms that Battlestar Galactica is surely one of the most exhiliratingly and infuriatingly adventurous shows on…
Personally, I was hoping for either the Babylon 5 or Battlestar Galactica crew. Besides, the second Matrix movie was a big letdown after the first one, and the third Matrix movie totally sucked. You scored as Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix). You can change the world around you. You have a strong will and a high technical aptitude. Is it possible you are the one? Now if only Agent Smith would quit beating up your friends. Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 75% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 69% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 63% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 63% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5…
This will be my last post on this subject, but I thought it might be of interest to show that Andreas faced his impending death due to lung cancer with dignity and class. Indeed, one could say that he faced it much the same way G'Kar would have, if he existed. A couple of days ago, J. Michael Straczynski, the creator of Babylon 5, posted this message to his mailing list: Just over a year ago, Andreas Katsulas--who loved smoking with a passion that cannot be described--was diagnosed with lung cancer, which by then had already spread to other areas. He quit smoking at once and went on a…
Since the death of Andreas Katsulas, I've been thinking just how many great lines he had as G'Kar in the series and how well he delivered them. Here, culled from the web, is but a sampling of some of them. Some are very serious; some are humorous, but all are quintessential G'Kar. I can't think of a better tribute: G'Quon wrote, "There is a greater darkness than the one we fight. It is the darkness of the soul that has lost its way. The war we fight is not against powers and principalities; it is against chaos and despair. Greater than the death of flesh is the death of hope, the death of…
Sad news on the Babylon 5 front. Andreas Katsulas died on February 13 of lung cancer at the age of 59. Besides playing the One-Armed Man in the movie The Fugitive and making frequent appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Katsulas was best known for playing the Narn Ambassador G'Kar on what was, in my opinion, one of the best SF television shows of all time, Babylon 5. G'Kar was my second favorite character on the show after his nemesis, Londo Mollari. Whereas Londo's character arc saw him starting out as a decadent and buffoonish oaf and then becoming a very dark and cunning…