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Archive for November, 2007
Saturn Never Sounded So Good! Space’s Natural Music.
Nov 29th
I know this may not be categorized as fiction, but it is science. I am a huge fan of astronomy. I took some astronomy / physics classes in College and found the topic to be very interesting. I love checking out NASA’s multimedia library and downloading images, backgrounds and movies from space probes, satellites and more. I suspect that most science fiction fans are probably big fans of astronomy and the NASA program as well.
NASA has recently taken radio emissions from Saturn, radar echoes from Titan and other strange phenomena picked up by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft and have converted this data to sound. NASA goes into great detail on their Web site as to the origins of each sound. It is really quite interesting and makes for great reading.
I have taken these sounds and have put them on my own site for your listening pleasure. I have also included links to each sound file where you can read more about how the sound was generated. My favorite is the last one. Here you go!
Sounds of Enceladus (.mov)
Read about this sound here.
Radar Echoes from Titan’s Surface (.mp3)
Read about this sound here.
Speeding Through Titan’s Haze (.mp3)
Read about this sound here.
Bizarre Sounds of Saturn’s Radio Emissions (.wav)
Read about this sound here.
Eerie Sounds of Saturn’s Radio Emissions (.wav)
Read about this sound here.
Burn this to a CD and crank it up in your car! Some of the sounds are eerie enough that they could even make good sound effects for a sci-fi movie or thriller. 
Billie Piper’s Back As Rose Tyler In Doctor Who!
Nov 27th
Dr. Who has to be one of the most innovative Sci-Fi TV series on TV. For you Dr. Who fans you there, there is some great news! Billie Piper, who plays Rose Tyler, will be back for the fourth season of Doctor Who! This was just announced today on the BBC.
Following a series of unconfirmed reports across the media this morning, we’re delighted to officially confirm that Billie Piper will return as Rose Tyler in Series Four of Doctor Who.
Anything you may read elsewhere about when, how or for how long Rose returns to Doctor Who should be treated as pure speculation at this point.
According to the Sci-Fi channel’s Web site, the BBC decided to make the announcement today after a fan managed to take pictures of Billie Piper in costume and on set in Cardiff, Wales.
I was sad to see Billie go in season two, and although I don’t think Freema Agyeman did a bad job as Martha Jones, the chemistry was much better between Rose Tyler and the Doctor.
You Know You’ve Been Watching Too Much Battlestar Galactica When:
Nov 25th
I just finished watching Battlestar Galactica: Razor and came up with a fun list of things that let you know when you have been watching too much Battlestar Galactica. Here’s my list. Enjoy!
You know you’ve been watching too much Battlestar Galactica when:
- You find yourself yelling “frak” at every idiot while driving to work.
- You say “so say we all” after your boss asks you to do something.
- You suspect your friends of being Cylons.
- You wonder why you can’t get your car to “jump” to the grocery store.
- You call your computer a “toaster.”
- You ask your friends if they want to go play a mean game of “Pyramid” after work.
- You ask how many “centars” there are until lunch.
- You call the competing sports team a bunch of “chrome jobs.”
Just for laughs I thought I would also show you this picture of a PUR Cylon water filter. This is another good example of watching too much Battlestar Galactica. Things start turning into Cylons. I found this picture on the Web.
Have a great day! So say we all!
Logan’s Run – A Great Sci-Fi Movie – Remake Coming?
Nov 23rd
It is funny what PG movies were able to get a way with back then. I had no idea about the nudity when watching it on TV (being that it was edited) and was a little surprised watching it with my wife for the first time on DVD, especially being PG.
I have never read the book itself, and probably should. I have read online and elsewhere that the movie only loosely follows the book. Roger M. Wilcox has created a great side-by-side comparison between the book and the movie which you can find here.
I had no idea that there was a TV series about the book/movie until I was talking about it with some friends and one of them asked me what I thought about the TV series. I’ll have to see if I can get a hold of it. I suspect the TV series was pretty low budget, especially since they supposedly recycled clips from the movie for the TV show.
You’ll notice that the 1976
Joseph Kosinski is now signed up as the current director of the remake. I have no idea what credentials this guy has and there appears to be nothing on him in the IMDB. The movie now appears to be scheduled for release in 2010. Who knows if it will ever really happen. I sure hope it does, but with the juggling act that has gone on so far I really don’t know for sure.
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – Coming Soon!
Nov 19th
I heard about Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles several months ago and completely forgot about it. Yesterday, while watching TV, I saw a trailer for the new TV series slated for January 14, 2008. Upon seeing the TV trailer I just about starting giggling like a little girl. I have loved the Terminator Movies since T2 came out while I was in high school. What’s not to love? A story that mixes the future with present times. Classic!
I am also VERY excited to see Summer Glau in the new TV series. You may know her from her short-lived TV series FireFly, of which I am a huge fan. I am certain she will do a great job playing Cameron Phillips. Could that name be a small tribute to James Cameron who directed the first two films?
The TV series has some serious potential, but could seriously be bad. Perhaps it is because I am so used to seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the terminator (although T3 had Kristanna Loken as the T-X), but seeing that new guy as a male terminator just seemed out of place. There is also the HUGE possibility of the new TV series going completely outside the “canon” series of events set by the three movies. All that aside, it looks pretty fun and could be the biggest sci-fi TV series since Battlestar Galactica. Fox TV, the people bringing this to us, have this plotline posted on their site:
At the end of “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” Sarah vanquished the liquid metal Terminator sent from the future to kill her teenage son, John. Sarah and John now find themselves alone in a very dangerous, complicated world. Fugitives from the law, they are confronted with the reality that still more enemies from the future, and the present, could attack at any moment.
THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES reveals what happens when SARAH (Lena Headey, “The Brothers Grimm,” “300”) stops running and goes on the offensive against an ever-evolving technological enemy bent on destroying her life, and perhaps the world. Her son, 15-year-old JOHN CONNOR (Thomas Dekker, “Heroes”), knows that he may be the future savior of mankind, but is not yet ready to take on the mantle of leadership that he’s told is his destiny. John finds himself inextricably drawn to CAMERON (Summer Glau, “Serenity,” “The Unit”), an enigmatic and otherworldly student at his high school, who soon proves to be much more than his confidante – she assumes the role of Sarah and John’s fearless protector. On their trail are not only threats from the future, but an intelligent and tough FBI agent, JAMES ELLISON (Richard T. Jones, “Judging Amy”), who soon becomes a powerful ally.
You can watch the trailer for The Sarah Connor Chronicles right here!
Only time will tell if this will pan out to be a good series. I am certainly willing to give it a chance. Can I program my DVR two months in advance?
Riddick Revisited: The Chronicles of Riddick – Possible Sequel?
Nov 18th
There are few movies that get my sci-fi blood pumping more than The Chronicles of Riddick and Pitch Black. Both of these movies have great plots, lots of great action and hold true to the way sci-fi should be. The entire universe of Riddick is rich and not only includes the two movies, but also a hit video game (The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay) and an animated short film called The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury.
Sadly (chuckling) I own three copies of The Chronicles of Riddick on DVD including the The Original Release, the The Unrated Director’s Cut and the Riddick Trilogy. I even purchased the animated film The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury before I discovered it was bundled with the Riddick Trilogy. Surely I’ve spent enough money to fund a third Riddick movie!
A sequel would be nice. Unfortunately the movie The Chronicles of Riddick bombed in the theaters, temporarily holding back the reigns on a possible sequel. The movie also got mixed reviews, which I still don’t understand. The movie cost $105 million to make and only made $115 globally. Luckily it appears that DVD sales, video game sales and merchandise have helped make the movie profitable.
There hasn’t been much information for a possible sequel, but I feel pretty good that it will happen. I’ll explain why. Back in 2006 ComingSoon.net featured an interview from Vin Diesel where he briefly talked about the possibility of a sequel. This is an excerpt from ComingSoon.net:
The ever so accommodating and entertaining Diesel was rather amusing and answered all of our questions without hesitation until I asked about “Riddick.” Oops, guess I unknowingly touched a nerve. Sorry about that Vin. But, he was very gracious and finally talked about it but only after he put his head in hands and sighed for a couple of minutes.
“My God. You know, now that you said that… I haven’t… Right before I did ‘Riddick,’ I would look in the mirror and I’d see two blue eyes staring back at me. So I haven’t seen that for a while. [laughs] But it’s coming. It took me five years to make ‘The Chronicles of Riddick,’ and [I'm] very precious about it. It went through many, many, many writers. Hopefully it won’t take five years for the next one. But when I was in the process of creating this mythology for ‘Chronicles of Riddick,’ the idea was to create a story, a trilogy, that would start at the end of ‘Pitch Black’ in the same way that ‘Lord of the Rings’ is a trilogy that starts at the end, essentially, of ‘The Hobbit.’ So I wanted ‘The Hobbit’… I wanted ‘Pitch Black’ to be ‘The Hobbit’ to ‘The Chronicles of Riddick.’ I wrote a storyline, essentially, that covered three pictures, so where Riddick goes in the next two pictures is already mapped out. It’s not in script form, but it is being all developed, and it is going to surface when you least expect it.”
It is rumored that The Chronicles of Riddick sequel will cover the Underverse and that the third Chronicles movie will feature a return to Furya.
Those comments aren’t the only reasons I suspect their will be a Riddick sequel. In Hollywood it all boils down to money. Will a sequel be profitable? I mentioned earlier in in this post the video game The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay. This game was reviewed well and became an Xbox platinum hit. I enjoyed playing the game apart from the language being too strong for my taste.
There appears to be enough interest in the Riddick world/games that a second game is being released for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. This new Riddick game is called The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. The new game even has it’s own site up from Sierra Games (www.riddickgame.com). This game is also to include a cleaned up version of Butcher Bay.
Gamespot.com says about the game:
“This isn’t a case when we took the old-gen game and up-rezed it,” said Wanat. “All the textures are being redone so it truly looks like a next-gen game.” The producer also confirmed that developer Starbreeze, Universal Pictures, and Tigon Studios–Vin Diesel’s game company–are all collaborating on the new game. Diesel himself is also doing new voice work for the expanded storyline.
Wanat also confirmed that the PS3 version of the game will take advantage of the console’s motion-sensing Sixaxis controller. He called the controller “totally perfect” for the game’s shiv-based prison combat, but did not elaborate. Wanat also dodged questions about whether or not Assault on Dark Athena would have a multiplayer component, saying only “it would be beneficial if it did in the era of Xbox Live.”
[UPDATE 2] Early Wednesday, Sierra formally announced Assault on Dark Athena–and answered some of the questions Wanat left hanging. The game will indeed “for the first time in the Riddick universe, take action in intense multi-player combat.” Sierra clarified that said MP mode would be online-enabled. Both the 360 and PS3 editions of Dark Athena will be released later this year.
Sierra also revealed some plot details about the game. “The game introduces the ominous Merc-ship Dark Athena, which sits silent like a marauding spider, awaiting helpless prey in the dark reaches of the galaxy,” the publisher said in a statement. “Players must face a large, bloodthirsty operation led by the dreaded Captain Revas and her slaves-turned-controllable combat drones, storm though death-defying events and fight fierce enemies in a battle of malice and gore.”
In conclusion, I think the stars may be aligning themselves in favor of the Riddick universe. Here’s to hoping there’s a sequel in the very near future!
Best Sci-Fi Video Game to Movie Adaptations
Nov 17th
It’s seems like it is hard to do, and it rarely turns out well. The video games we love to play, for some reason, don’t seem to adapt well to movies. Movies, however, have been turned into some good video games.
There are many examples of sci-fi video games that did not turn out well on the silver screen. My favorite example of the absolute failure to adapt a sci-fi video game to movie is the flop Wing Commander. What a great video game and what a complete waste of my time to watch in the theater.
The other day Wing Commander was on TV and I thought I would try stomaching another try at it. I lasted about 15 minutes and had to change the channel. This is coming from someone who loves to watch cheesy sci-fi movies like Enemy Mine, Soylent Green
There have been some decent sci-fi movies that have been turned into games. There aren’t many sci-fi video game to movie adaptations however. Keep in mind that there are some good video game adaptations, but I am specifically talking about sci-fi video games.
My top two favorite sci-fi video game adaptations have to be Resident Evil, which is a sci-fi/horror and Doom, which is also a sci-fi/horror. Both of these movies were exciting, enjoyable and kept me on the edge of my seat. It also helps that these movies used great actors and actresses such as The Rock, Carl Urban and Milla Jovovich. By the way Milla, congrats on the new baby (born November 3, 2007).
I need to give an honorable mention to Final Fantasy – The Spirits Within. That was a good adaptation and a fun movie to watch as well.
What sci-fi games should be made into a movie? There are a lot out there. A movie based on StarCraft would be very fun. How about Contra? Even a Metroid movie would be fun to watch.
And what about Halo? That movie has great potential. First it was official, then canceled and now it seems it may still yet become a reality. Gears of War is another video game that is slated to become a movie in the near future (2009).
No matter what you think about sci-fi video games, they have a large fan base. Something Halo 3 has proved to Hollywood is that as video games make a lot of money. There is plenty of money to be made in making those games into movies. There is already a guaranteed fan base, and as long as the movie is well made, it will be very profitable.
Here Comes Battlestar Galactica: Razor
Nov 15th
The new version of Battlestar Galactica has to be one of the most innovative and exciting sci-fi shows I have seen on TV in years. I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed a sci-fi TV series like this since Star Trek The Next Generation.
The stories are good, although they can be a bit soap opera-ish at times. I loved how Star Trek TNG would begin an episode and typically end. Battlestar Galactica can drag on for several episodes. With that little bit of criticism put aside, it is visually stunning and exciting to watch.
The new season is about to start and should begin airing on the 24th of November. A total of 22 episodes have been scheduled for season four. The first two episodes of the fourth season will be Battlestar Galactica: Razor, which is a two-part episode that will be released to DVD on the 4th of December. Fans were allowed to vote on the cover, which is a nice tribute to the fans. You can pick up your copy here: Battlestar Galactica – Razor (Unrated Extended Edition)
Battlestar Galactica: Razor will cover the adventures of the Pegasus, which was seen in past episodes of Battlestar Galactica. This should be very exciting. It is supposed to cover the survival of the Pegasus against the Cylons during the beginning of the war. So why is it called RAZOR?
Lee Adama’s new XO, Major Kendra Shaw, is plagued by memories of her service and sacrifices under Admiral Helena Cain, who was able to save her ship during the Cylon attack — but only by making Shaw and her fellow officers rationalize suicidal battle tactics and brutal war crimes against their own people.
In the crucible of war, Shaw must let her hesitation and doubts burn away, until all that remains of her is the honed edge of a living human weapon — what Colonial veterans call “a razor.” But an edge so fine cuts in more than one direction. It can cleave an enemy to pieces … or it can carve away a person’s soul.
I especially love seeing Michelle Forbes play Admiral Helena Cain. You may remember her as Ensign Ro Laren from Star Trek TNG. She sure call play a total witch!
I can’t wait. The premier is just nine days away!
Zachary Quinto as Spock – Pictures Leaked – Star Trek XI
Nov 13th
That’s right. Pictures are all over the net now showing Zachary Quinto as Spock in the new Star Trek XI movie. I have been posting as much information as possible regarding the new movie and I think this some great stuff.
Oh…and by the way…if you didn’t know…Zachary Quinto will be playing Spock. You may be familiar with him as Sylar from Heroes.
He looks pretty good in his new robes. It will be interesting to see how well he can act the part.
There are a lot more images available from JFX Online.
JFX Online says about the photos:
The scene taking place appears to be a Vulcan Council meeting in which Spock seems to be on trial. You can see JJ Abrams in a few shots conferring with Quinto. Check out all the images below.
This is of course only their guess about what’s really happening. You’ll all have to stop by and take a look when you get a chance. Let me know what you think is going on in these scenes. Enjoy!
Still Not On DVD!? Earth Star Voyager.
Nov 12th
It is possible, although unlikely, that you have heard of or seen the movie Earth Star Voyager. It is a movie released back in 1988 by Disney. It was a Disney Sunday Movie. Remember those? At that same time we also got the Disney classic Flight of the Navigator. I was only 12 at the time, so I really enjoyed the movie.
Now keep in mind that Earth Star Voyager and Flight of the Navigator are both movies you probably won’t enjoy unless you have some kind of nostalgic attachment to the movie or you’re a kid. I still enjoy watching Earth Star Voyager, so I’m certain that some of you will still enjoy watching this movie.
Earth Star Voyager, in a nutshell, is about a group of teenagers/kids that are sent to another solar system for colonization during the year 2088. These teenagers are highly skilled, educated and trained individuals. This is in an effort to help preserve the human race as humans have brought the future Earth to the brink of destruction. The movie is about this journey, adversaries they face and their adventures. I don’t want to give away too much more in case you decide to rent it.
There are two different versions of the movie floating around. There is the original version is about 240 minutes long. This is the version that originally aired on TV. There is also a condensed version of the movie that was used for the VHS/Betamax release.
Unfortunately renting it is the only way you’ll see this movie. That is because today the movie is STILL unavailable to purchase! I have made several requests to Disney on their site, but don’t see any sign that they will release the movie anytime soon. Chances are you may not even be able to rent this movie as it is very hard to come by.
So you may ask yourself, “how do you get this movie?” I have seen a few VHS to DVD transfers available on E-bay, but this is rare as it is considered a bootleg. I have gotten myself a decent copy of this movie, thanks to many torrents floating around out there, but would love to purchase a copy of it. I don’t condone using torrents for movies, but when you can’t even find it at the local movie rental store, what can you do?
I found this interesting little tidbit while reading about this movie on Wikipedia:
Earth Star Voyager fans seem to find available copies of the show either by torrent programs or private sellers. However, many agree they do not wish to have a pirated copy of the show.
While significant numbers of notes from fans since 2002 (and many more showing up as early as 1996) show up constantly asking why this show has not been released, Disney does not seem to offer any desire or effort to make this available as a release at any point in the future.
There have even been cases (while Disney denies such conversations) where Disney Movie Sales Associates have said the only place fans should even consider hope in obtaining the show, is on bootlegged media.
Of the bootleg versions available, the lesser quality media has seemed to disappear over the years, while they do occasionally pop up from time to time. Of the higher quality versions, there still seems to be two different versions available. While both contain the entire broadcast movie, one version boasts a complete movie minus the commercials and introductions -starring the former Disney CEO, Michael Eisner.
So in conclusion, I recommend watching this movie if you ever get the chance. And to Disney, please release this movie on DVD or even VHS for that matter!! I WILL buy it!
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