Video: Dune – Creating The Audiobooks

This is a great behind the scenes take on the Dune audiobooks. The actors talk about how they approached creating the voices. There’s also some great information on the technical aspect of creating an atmosphere in audio….neat stuff.

Columbia Pictures Wins Rights To Develop Asimov’s ‘Foundation’ Epic

GetTheBigPicture.net announces here that Columbia Pictures is developing Isaac Asimov’s Foundation as a film project.  The series has been ingrained in my head for years, as I’m sure anyone who has read it, so it will be interesting to see how the filmmakers’ vision of this classic turns out…

Roland Emmerich will direct the Isaac Asimov science fiction trilogy Foundation as a feature film for Columbia, Variety reports today. Columbia won the screen rights Thursday through an old fashioned thumb wrestling war.

OK, so it was an auction…

The influential series dates back almost 70 years, when the trilogy was first presented as eight short stories in Astounding Magazine in 1942, and introduced readers to humans living on various planets throughout the galaxy, living under the thumb of the Galactic Empire. One man who can look into the future sees the whole galaxy collapsing, “and sets to work preparing to save the knowledge of mankind.” Always have a backup disc, people.

But that story may be less interesting than how this deal got made. Apparently, Fox would’ve been compensated for its development costs had it been turned into a film before its option lapsed. However, Warner Bros. apparently saw this deal as troublesome in light of its own negotiations over Watchmen.

Source: GetTheBigPicture.net

Geek Syndicate Talks to Amanda Tapping

Our good friends at Geek Syndicate kick off 2009 with a great interview with “Stargate SG1″ and “Sanctuary” star, Amanda Tapping. Amanda was our guest on Slice of SciFi last March.

Tapping discusses the creation of the series and the journey it took from being a web-based series to its first season that just wrapped up on SciFi.  Tapping offers behind the scenes insights on “Sanctuary”’s cast and the development of this exciting, hit series.  She also offers some tidbits about what fans can look forward to in the upcoming second season.

If you’re a fan of Tapping’s this is definitely an episode you don’t want to miss.  You can catch the episode here.

Source: SliceOfScifi.com

R.I.P. Bob Wilkins of ‘Creature Features’

I grew up watching Bob Wilkins every weekend and have many fond memories of spending time with friends sitting around the TV not knowing just what kind of weirdness would show up next. Jett Loe over at thefilmtalk.com has an epitaph for one of the original geeks…

As a little kid growing up in Oakland – somehow managed to stay up late on Saturday nights and watch Bob Wilkins hosting Creature Features. He passed away yesterday and I find myself melancholy at the thought of Bob not being around anymore.

To my 7-year-old-eyes Creature Features was forbidden cinema. Bob himself would often warn you against watching the often terrible films he would screen. The joy that can come from bad cinema, trash art, obviously rubbed off on me – as, often on TFT, I seem to be more exercised by poor films than good ones.

As far as I can see the late night horror movie host format is dead and gone now – and with it the low-production values, (I mean look at that set! though as a kid it was dark, inviting, a window into an unknowable realm), and charm that comes from someone inviting you to watch a movie with them just for fun. These local TV shows often had charm, a low key wit and weren’t burdened by the graceless ambition of modern day programming.

I’m going to stay up late tonight and watch Matango, (aka Attack of the Mushroom People, aka Curse of the Mushroom People, aka Fungus of Terror, aka Matango the Fungus of Terror, aka Matango: Fungus of Terror, a film I remembered scared the ever-loving bejeesus out of me when I saw it on Bob’s show.

(Additional notes: as JHarris says in this thread – the fact that Bob had to hock DVDs of his show to pay for his medical treatment shows that the Health Care system in this country is far scarier than anything we saw in Creature Features.

Also so I don’t leave you on a somber note – please watch the opening credit sequence of Creature Features at the beginning of the clip below – note how practically the only lyrics of the title song are the words ‘Creature’ and ‘Features’ !) Read more

Joss Whedon speaks about Dollhouse and has a message for haters.

Joss Whedon, creator of Fox’s upcoming sci-fi drama Dollhouse, has a message for the haters out there: Give the show a frakkin’ chance!

Responding to my questions for the first time about the swirl of buzz surrounding the much-anticipated show, Whedon said in an exclusive interview on Tuesday, Dec. 6, that the show’s found its groove, that he’s very happy with the way it’s going and that he’s confident viewers will like it.

But with characteristic candor, Whedon also admits that the negative buzz—based in part on reports of reshoots, a scrapped pilot, production halts and a Friday night “death slot”—weighs on him and that he also struggled to find the show’s voice during a lengthy development process.

“You do [think about it],” Whedon said in Los Angeles during a Fox press day. “I mean, you notice things. The fact is, it’s not a seamless birthing process. But … it seldom is. For me, never. And the only difference is now everybody in the world knows everything about everything. But that doesn’t really change what’s going on. And it’s been hard, and I’ve had despair, and I’ve had joy and excitement, and, … ultimately, it has nothing to do with whether or not you will respond to the TV show.” And he has more to say. Read more

Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Available On DVD 01/06/2009

The epic phenomenon returns with over 5 hours of explosive bonus features, including deleted scenes, featurettes, podcasts and more! Plus, see the unrated, extended version of “Battlestar Galactica: RAZOR” that didn’t air on TV!

On Tuesday, January 6th, Universal Studios Home Entertainment releases a 4-Disc DVD Special Edition set of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Season 4.0, featuring the first ten episodes of the popular 4th season. The set arrives just in time for fans excited to watch the season’s remaining ten episodes (known as Season 4.5) that will be broadcast beginning January 16, 2009 on The SCI-FI Network.

The Season 4.0 four-disc DVD Set (SRP $49.98) features a total running time of 526 minutes, which includes over 5 hours of bonus features. Unique to this set is the “Battlestar Galactica: RAZOR” movie presented in both the original 88-minute version, and 101-minute extended, unrated version never aird on TV. Executive producer Ronald D. Moore and writer Michael Taylor provide complete commentary for the “Razor” movie on the extended version.

Source: DVDTown.com

Introducing the Eleventh Doctor…Matt Smith Named New Dr.Who

The BBC today announced that Matt Smith has been cast in the role of the Doctor in the iconic BBC series Doctor Who.

Smith will be the 11th Time Lord and will take over from David Tennant who leaves the show at the end of 2009. He will be seen in the forthcoming fifth series that will be broadcast in 2010.

The fifth series will also have a new lead writer and Executive Producer in the form of the BAFTA award-winning writer Steven Moffat, who is taking over from Russell T Davies.

Moffat will be joined by Piers Wenger, who will be the new Executive Producer for BBC Wales making the show.

Following David Tennant’s decision to step down at the end of 2009, the team behind the new series set about casting the new Doctor so that new adventures could be created and scripts written with Matt in mind.

The identity of the new Doctor was revealed on a special edition of Doctor Who Confidential that was broadcast on BBC One today (3 January) at 5.35pm (17.35 GMT).

In it Smith revealed his initial reaction at taking on such a legendary role and his thoughts on what direction the Doctor might now be going with him playing the part.

Matt Smith said of his new role: “I’m just so excited about the journey that is in front of me. It’s a wonderful privilege and challenge that I hope I will thrive on.

“I feel proud and honoured to have been given this opportunity to join a team of people that has worked so tirelessly to make the show so thrilling.

“David Tennant has made the role his own, brilliantly, with grace, talent and persistent dedication. I hope to learn from the standards set by him.

“The challenge for me is to do justice to the show’s illustrious past, my predecessors, and most importantly, to those who watch it. I really cannot wait.” Read more

Video – New ‘Dollhouse’ Clip

Entertainment Weekly has a new video clip from the February 13th premiere of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.

In the clip, we see “the first time we see Echo (Eliza Dushku) wake up after having her memories wiped in the special memory-flushing chair” which “leads into a discussion between lab tech Topher (Fran Kranz) and Echo’s handler Boyd (Harry Lennix) about her last “date,” delving into just what being a doll/active means.”

I’m still not excited for this show, as much as I would like to be. What do you guys think? Read more

Details Revealed About ‘Battlestar: The Plan’ Coming in 2009

Jane Espenson, who wrote the upcoming movie Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, said that the telefilm will retell the initial story of the SCI FI Channel series, but from the perspective of the Cylons, and that it will take advantage of revelations that will come in the upcoming new episodes of the show’s fourth and final season.

“The events of The Plan are the events that you’ve seen … in the show, from the miniseries to almost the end of season two,” Espenson said in an exclusive interview. “So it’s that chunk of time, but sort of seen with the Cylon perspective. So you’re going to see a lot of stuff that was going on that you weren’t aware of at the time: on Caprica, in the fleet. … This was the time when the Cylons, as depicted in the original show, … were very mysterious, enemies that would come out of the darkness and retreat. And this is … what were they really doing all that time: What was the internal stuff. … A lot of loose ends are tied up, a lot of questions are asked that you don’t even know you have.”

The movie–the second stand-alone telefilm based on the Peabody-Award-winning show–deals with all the mythology’s secrets. “If you had a copy now, you might feel that you could go ahead and watch it, because it’s about stuff that already happened,” Espenson said. “But don’t do it. Of course, you don’t have a copy now, because there isn’t even a cut yet. … But it’s very much designed to be watched after the run of the series, because it definitely relies on stuff you don’t learn until much later.”

The Plan stars Edward James Olmos, who also directed; Dean Stockwell as Brother Cavil; Michael Hogan as Col. Tigh; and Michael Trucco as Anders, among others.

Espenson said that Olmos was very collaborative. “He and I had a lot of very long sessions of going through the script line by line, Eddie Olmos reading the whole thing out loud, just amazing as, you know, a one-man show every night,” she said. “And just like going, ‘Listen to this line, wouldn’t this be better like this? Wouldn’t this be better like this? Are you sure that we need this in this scene?’ Just incredibly insightful, just working through it with Eddie, and [we] made a ton of changes in the preproduction phase and ended up with a really tight script that we filmed sort of as they were demolishing the sets out from under us. And [we] ended up with something that I think is so much better than our highest hopes had been for what this movie could be. It really sort of caps off the show.”

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan is slated to air in June 2009. Battlestar Galactica returns to SCI FI at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Jan. 16, 2009, with the remaining episodes of its fourth and final season.

Source: Scifi Wire

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry’s Voice In New Star Trek Movie

Leonard Nimoy is not the only original Star Trek cast member to appear in J.J. Abrams’ upcoming reboot movie: Majel Barrett-Roddenberry will reprise her role as the voice of the Enterprise computer, Variety reported.

Barrett-Roddenberry–the widow of Trek creator Gene Roddenberry–started in the franchise as Number One in the pilot and as Nurse Christine Chapel in the original series. Since then, she has appeared in or provided the computer voice for all six Trek TV series–the only actor to be in all of them–and also voiced the computer in most of the movies. Star Trek opens in May 2009.

Source: Scifi Wire

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