News Bytes:
- The United States Postal Service is issuing Star Wars 30th Anniversary Commemorative Stamp, which will be available for sale within a few short months. In addition, 320 post office boxes across the US will be redesigned to look like a replica of R2D2, and placed in high traffic areas to ensure the greatest public visability. We at Slice of SciFi and the US Post Office want to remind people that theft of mailboxes and their contents is a violation of federal law.
- Castle Dracula is one of Romania’s most popular tourist destinations and, if you are into investing in real estate, you can become the proud owner of Count Vlad’s former estate for a mere $100 million.
- Former Paramount and Disney big shot Michael Eisner has announced the formation of a new Web-based studio he has dubbed Vuguru, which will be in the business of creating, producing and distribuing original content aimed at the Internet and other emerging digital platforms.
Movie Talk:
- Dream Works Animation has jumped on the James Cameron 3-D bandwagon and has promised that all their films will be released in 3-D beginning in 2009. Dream Works is joining a growing list of studios, production companies and filmmakers that have grasped onto this expanding technology.
- David Arquette’s “Tripper”, a horror film with political overtones and lots of debauchery, is set for limited release on April 20. The film is set at an outdoor rock music festival similar to Woodstock. This one is being held in the Redwood Forrest and centers around a group of juiced-up hippies who go wandering in the woods around the concert and become the target for a crazed madman that is obsessed with Ronald Reagan.
Slice of Trivia: Doug is back with some new trivia clips for us!
TV Talk: There may be 4 reasons why NBC/Universal moved BSG from Friday nights to Sunday nights on SciFi Channel, and all of the speculation has to do the potential for BSG’s viewers to opt for watching “Raines” instead, which is now airing on NBC.
Interview: Bryan Temmer joins Michael, Evo and Tim to talk about his dream project, Alien Apex Resort and Theme Park in Roswell NM. That’s right, he wants to build the very first alien theme park in Roswell. This year, they will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Roswell UFO incident, so expanding the options for tourists and aliens alike sounds like a can’t-miss venture.
Bryan wants to bring scientific researchers from SETI related projects, UFO believers, and die-hard skeptics together, and have areas in the park for people from all walks to enjoy. The ideas he has for roller coasters and other displays sound promising and fun!
Future Talk: Scottish actor James MacAvoy is starring in Wanted, the adaptation of Mark Millar’s Top Cow graphic novel. Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch) is directing and Morgan Freeman is co-starring in the Universal Pictures thriller that’s due in theaters in March 2008.
Listener comments: If you have any suggestions or comments, please let us know. We’ve got plenty of voicemail from fans to listen and respond to, but you’ll hear that in a fresh, separate show.
While I can understand the Medium comparison on Raines from the ads I thought it was a mix of Medium and Monk that didn’t sound too inspired. I can hear the Hollywood pitch now “It’s like Monk, but he sees dead people! Kinda like Medium.”
I doubt it will last a year.
By the GODS! I miss my sci-fi friday! BSG and Drwho along side Stargate-that is how the world was supposed to be…BSG on sunday nights… This is evil! 😉
I think they forgot to say what the Vampire series on Lifetime was called. Can someone tell me what it is called?
Benjamin – It’s called “Blood Ties”
Oh, well if it’s canadian, it must get an A. 🙂 (Sorry, bad joke)
The R2D2 mailboxes don’t look steal-able at all. All they are are mailboxes wrapped in R2D2. Here is a link with the pictures http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/R2D2_Mailboxes_Confirm_Rumors_104142.asp
Re: Blood Ties
Evo and Mike’s “He Man Woman Haters Club” aside, the description of the Blood Ties series on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanya_Huff) sounds interesting and actually kind of funny.
Note that it’s Canadian which hopefully means that it’s not the standard American mass-market horror/sf/fantasy show.
Here’s part of the description of the Vicki Nelson series on Wikipedia: “This series pairs a detective with a vampire. The first book introduces Vicki Nelson, a former police officer with failing eyesight due to Retinitis Pigmentosa and Henry Fitzroy, a vampire and writer of historical romances… which is natural for him as he was an illegitimate son of Henry VIII before he was seduced by a vampire. … Vicki’s failing eyesight disqualified her from street work and she resigned rather than take a desk job, and, at the start of the first book, is working as a private detective. Together Vicki and Henry stand against a number of supernatural threats.”
Smoke and Shadows sounds satirically humorous: “Tony (Henry’s protege) is the main character with his work in the wonderful world of syndicated television, ironically on a show about a vampire detective.”
Maybe Summer will comment on if the show has maintained what sounds (from the books) to be grim yet fun sensibility.
I think there is one more factor, when it comes to the move of BSG as well as the release of Dresden on SciFi Sundays, which at least contributed to the Network’s decision. If you look at NBC Universal’s other channels, USA network has Monk and Psych two very successful shows for their network both being detective series. I could easily believe that with two successful detective series already airing Friday nights and foreseeing Raines’s release in the near future NBC-Univ. was probably concerned that Dresden would be drowned out by so much similar programming on Fridays. BSG was likely taken to Sunday with the intention of bringing already dedicated viewers over to the new night helping to prop up Dresden’s first season.
the world of Sci-fi is goin down the toilet, and I blame Evo. Sure you can say how on Earth is he to plame for it but I just need a scapegoat.