Stefanyshyn-Piper and fellow astronaut Stephen Bowen were cleaning and lubing a joint on the wing of the space station’s solar panels yesterday when the untethered toolbag floated away. The mission was one of four planned space walks for the Endeavor’s journey to the orbiting space station. The bag is one of the largest pieces of debris ever lost during a space mission.

‘”What it boils down to is all it takes is one small mistake for a tether not to be hooked up quite correctly or to slip off, and that’s what happened here,” said lead spacewalk officer John Ray.

Stefanyshyn-Piper and Bowen finished the spacewalk in almost seven hours by sharing tools from Bowen’s bag. Ray noted that Stefanyshyn-Piper showed “real character and great discipline” by continuing on. She was the first woman to be assigned as lead spacewalker for a shuttle flight.

Despite my little hiccup, or major hiccup, I think we did a good job out there,” Stefanyshyn-Piper said after returning to the space station.

Flight controllers are considering having the two spacewalkers share Bowen’s pair of grease guns for the three remaining spacewalks on Thursday, Saturday and Monday. They could also use caulking guns meant for repairing the space shuttle. Another option is to have one spacewalker clean the joint while the other uses the grease gun to lubricate it.

For more than a year, the joint has been unable to automatically point the right-side solar wings toward the sun for maximum energy production.

Officials weren’t worried the bag would hit the space station or the docked space shuttle because by late Tuesday it already was 2 1/2 miles (4 kilometers) in front of the orbiting complex, said flight director Ginger Kerrick.

“It is definitely moving away with every orbit,” Kerrick said.

And thanks to the wonders of YouTube, you can check out the footage of the bag floating off and Stefanyshyn-Piper’s reaction.

Disney announced that it will render the 2-D “Beast” into a 3-D movie for release in theaters.  No release date has yet been determined according to Variety.

“Beast” is one of several movies Disney will release in 3-D over the next several years. A 3-D version of the animated “Bolt” will hit theaters this weekend.  Next year will see “Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert Movie,” Pixar’s “Up,” Jerry Bruckheimer’s “G-Force,” and Robert Zemeckis’ “Disney’s A Christmas Carol.”

In 2010, Disney will release Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland,” “Toy Story 3,” “Rapunzel,” and “Step Up 3″ in 3-D.

Disney is also working on creating 3-D versions of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2″ that would debut in 2009 and 2010.

The 3-D transformation of “Beast” is expected to take nine months.

Our winners are: Martin L Collins of Terre Haute, IN, Sean D. Evans of Hamilton, ON and Paul Keyser of Tallahassee, FL.

Be on the lookout for your new Blu Rays to arrive in your mailbox soon.  

Cartoon Network has released the episode on-line for you to check out.

Let the hilarity begin.

Schwartz is the creative mind behind “The O.C.,” “Gossip Girl” and “Chuck.”

The new installment of the X-Men series is rumored to be a prequel, focusing on some familiar X-Men as teens or a story focused on several new recruits to Xavier’s School for Mutants.  No word yet on the focus that 20th Century Fox wants to take with the film.

This project hinges on the success of the upcoming “Wolverine” spin-off.  Should that be a hit, “First Class” could be jumped onto the fast track.

Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely are reported to be in final negotations to write the screenplay for the upcoming “The First Avenger: Captain America.”   Joe Johnston has previously been announced as the director.

Markus and McFeely adapted the first two Narnia novels for the big-screen.

Mark Protosevich is negotiating to write the live action version of “Oldboy.”  If finalized, the movie would be a reunion of sorts for Petrosevich and actor Will Smith.  Petrosevich wrote the screenplay for Smith’s “I Am Legend.”

But beyond that, we haven’t learned a lot about the mysterious man.  But actor Jimmy Jean-Louis, who plays the Haitian on NBC’s “Heroes,” recently told our partner site, TV Guide On-Line that plans are in the works for audiences to find out more about the character he plays.

“We will get to know him in Haiti, get to know his brother, get to know him,” Jean-Louis said. However, the actor did say that we won’t find out some of the details he’s most interested in learning about his alter-ego.

“Does he have a girl? Does he have a few girls? Kids?” Jean-Louis asked. “Down the line, it would be nice to have a storyline that makes him a little bit more human. Because he’s very intriguing, but we don’t know what he’s up to when he’s finished erasing people’s minds. It’s like, where does he go? Does he go to a club? Does he party all night long?” the actor chuckled. “It would be nice to answer all those questions.”

Jean-Louis even took a few minutes to offer some advice to those taking over in the void left after the termination of Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb.

“I’d definitely say, less action, and let’s concentrate more on the characters,” he said. “In the first season, we had a lot of storylines. And then, from time to time you had an action, and that’s what got people hooked. But now it seems to be a little too much action, like you expect it. Every minute, there’s some hero exercising his power. We have to reduce that a little bit, so when it comes, it surprises people.”

“It will take, obviously, excellent writers to write the storylines in such a way that it’s not boring,” he said. “Because the character is so well written so far that it’s going to take genius to keep writing The Haitian in a very good way.”

“Heroes” airs Monday nights at 9 p.m. EST on NBC.

If you don’t want to know, please stop reading now…

In the webisodes, which are schedule to premiere on-line in mid-December and could air on SciFi on January 15 (that’s the day before the series returns), it will be revealed that two recurring male characters from the series are gay.

Gay characters are nothing new to “Galactica.”  In last year’s “Razor” it was revealed that the Pegasus’ Admiral Cain was gay. 

Fan website, Galactica Sitrep says it has confirmed details on who the two characters are.  Again, if you’ve read these SPOILERS but don’t want to know who it is yet, please turn back now.

According to Sitrep, the two characters are Gaeta and Lt. Hoshi, the former Pegasus communications officer.

As of now, nothing has been confirmed by SciFi or anyone associated with “Galactica”

Actors: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 3
Rating: G
Studio: Walt Disney
DVD Release Date: November 18, 2008
Run Time: 98 minutes

Buy the DVD
Buy the Blu-Ray

Russo’s Rating: 10/10

One of the most stellar home video releases of a 2008 theatrical effort yet this year

Pixar films need a disclaimer: Not for kids under the age of seven. While WALL E is a brilliantly executed film, the computer animation titan’s latest picture just can’t hold the attention span of youngsters and even some fidgety adults. While the film is a beautiful homage to the silent era of motion pictures, the limited use of dialogue will likely render the pic unwatchable for rug rats.

WALL E is the last surviving robot on a desolate planet Earth overrun by garbage. While working to achieve his directive of cleaning the planet, something unexpected happens to WALL E, he develops a human personality. Through collecting relicts of our lost civilization, WALL E has become attracted to the human disposition and begins using umbrellas, enjoying the company of a pet, watching bad musicals amongst partaking in many of our other quirky habits. When a scout robot comes down to Earth searching for signs of life, WALL E falls head over heels for the technologically sleek EVE. Afraid of losing the “girl” of his dreams, WALL E follows EVE to the far corners of the universe, leading him on a wild adventure that will not only help him win over his female companion, but save the human race from the excesses of consumerism and laziness.

Andrew Stanton, the director of Pixar’s super successful, underwater adventure Finding Nemo, has again created a flawlessly executed animated project. However unlike Nemo, which could be called a traditional computer animated flick (Now that’s a oxymoron…), WALL E experiments with an extremely different kind of storyline. With very little dialogue throughout the duration of this science/fiction, romance epic, WALL E is going to be a tough challenge for some audiences. Luckily this Buster Keaton meets Johnny 5 meets HAL 3000 experiment works exceptionally well making WALL E one of, if not the most memorable character Pixar has created yet.

Accompanying the genre specific computer animated film is a bevy of nods and winks. While the physical comedy is obviously a throwback to silent legends like the aforementioned Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, Stanton cutely pays homage to science fiction giants like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Wars in quite memorable ways.

Speaking of Star Wars, sound designer Ben Burtt has again done an outstanding job helping to create a world of sounds for WALL E. The man responsible for making R2D2 the lovable trashcan that he is not only voices Pixar’s titular ‘bot, he constructed every clink and clang in the picture. WALL E is an even richer film thanks to Burtt’s incredible talent.

However what is most remarkable about WALL E is the jaw dropping animation throughout the film. With each passing picture Pixar continues to evolve their craft. WALL E is by far their most cinematic looking movie yet. With gorgeous camera moves, slick snap zooms and rack focuses, Stanton has made a film that looks every bit as good as the story that plays out. From their terrifying vision of a Post Apocalyptic Earth to the wonders of the final frontier, Pixar has created a true visual feast.

Now on DVD and BluRay disc, WALL E comes home in a masterful presentation worthy of displaying Pixar’s greatest animated achievement. While the DVD should suffice for casual viewers, the BluRay disc is a high-def junkies dream. The video and audio presentation alone for WALL E will move more then a few BluRay players this holiday season, as the disc is a great way to show off the technology.

The three disc special edition and BluRay are jam packed with bonus content as well. Offering something for youngsters, movie geeks and everyone in between, WALL E is by far one of the most stellar home video releases of a 2008 theatrical effort yet this year. Viewers everywhere will enjoy the new animated short, BURN-E, about another loveable, fixit robot whose seemingly simple task of fixing a space station sensor is constantly foiled by the paralleling adventures of WALL-E and EVE.

Also included with the discs is the theatrical short that accompanied WALL-E, Presto, as well as a bevy of behind the scenes features. Not surprisingly there is a documentary concerning Ben Burt’s amazing sound design, as well as the evolution of the process, behind the scenes featurettes and a BluRay exclusive picture-in-picture with director Andew Stanton!

While WALL-E may have been difficult viewing for younger viewers at the cinema, proving to be an aggravating movie experience for adults, at home with the ability to stop and start the film at your discretion, Andrew Stanton’s masterpiece should delight children of all ages.

The Hugo-winning novelist also discusses his big screen dreams for the first book in the series.

Check out this exciting text interview HERE.

The big-screen adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling novel is selling out midnight showings across the country.   Ticket sellers Fandango and Movie Tickets reported yesterday they’ve sold out 700 shows for the vampire movie.  Many of the showings are midnight openings and other popular times during opening day for the movie.

“In the age of big, studio tentpole pictures, it’s a surprise to find such encouragingly strong advance ticket sales for an independent film with no established boxoffice stars,” Fandango COO Rick Butler said. “That’s a tribute to power of the blockbuster novel, solid word-of-mouth on the movie’s early screenings and savvy Internet marketing.”

“Twilight” will open in theaters this weekend on 3400 screens.

You can get a glimpse of what to expect next from the Parsec Award Winning producers of “Star Trek: Disunity.”

“We took inspiration for the creation of this trailer from Abrams’ teaser trailer in large part because of the phrase at the end “Under Construction”,” said director Tanveer Naseer. ” At this point in our series storyline, our ship, the USS Unity, is in fact currently under construction and I thought this line was rather appropriate.  This line also carries the second meaning of referring to our animated series which is also under construction as we continue to design and build our characters and sets.”

Keep your eyes on Slice of SciFi for the release of this exciting new fan project.

Title (Dist.)….Reported Weekend Box Office….# of Engagements….Cumulative Since Premiere

1. Quantum Of Solace (Sony)….$67,528,882….3,451….$67,528,882

2. Madagascar Escape 2 Africa (Paramount)….$35,017,301….4,065….$116,905,195

3. Role Models (Universal)….$11,150,030….2,798….$37,577,245

4. High School Musical 3: Senior Year (Disney)….$5,656,162….3,202….$84,169,216

5. Changeling (Universal)….$4,254,080….1,896….$27,631,772

6. Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Weinstein Co.)….$3,146,312….2,210….$26,465,482

7. Soul Men (MGM)….$2,350,141….2,048….$9,370,925

8. The Secret Life Of Bees (Fox Searchlight)….$2,338,279….1,449….$33,627,359

9. Saw V (Lionsgate)….$1,767,405….2,002….$55,380,488

10. Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Disney)….$1,579,080….1,617….$90,878,127

Data provided by Rentrak

The first visible-light snapshot of Fomalhaut b was released last week in Science. The planet orbits a southern star, called Fomalhaut that is about 25 light-years away. The planet is estimated to be less than three times Jupiter’s mass, and the star is part of the constellation Piscis Australis, or the “Southern Fish.”

Scientists believe that the planet may have a Saturn-like ring of ice and dust that reflects starlight, since it’s brighter than expected for its size.

“Our Hubble observations were incredibly demanding,” Kalas said. “Fomalhaut b is 1 billion times fainter than the star. We began this program in 2001, and our persistence finally paid off.”

NASA hopes that its James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2013, will capture infrared images while searching for other planets and asteroid belts. NASA also will seek signs of water vapor clouds and give a glimpse of how the 100 million-year-old planet evolved.

“Fomalhaut is the gift that keeps on giving,” team member Mark Clampin of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a statement. “Following the unexpected discovery of its dust ring, we have now found an exoplanet at a location suggested by analysis of the dust ring’s shape. The lesson for exoplanet hunters is ‘follow the dust.’”

(Image: C-Net)

An HD version of the trailer is expected to go on-line tomorrow.

The writing team are no strangers to big-screen adapations of popular franchises with writing credits for “Spider-Man 2,” “Lethal Weapon 4,” Shanghai Noon,” “Shanghai Nights,” “Showtime,” “Herbie: Fully Loaded,” and “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor.”

A previous draft of the script came from writer Lawrence Kasden. Warner Brothers has the screen rights to the movie and are reportedly bringing in Gough and Millar to keep the project on the development track.

“RoboTech” is a popular anime series from the 80’s, taking place at a time when Earth has developed giant robots from the technology on an alien spacecraft that crashed on a South Pacific isle. Mankind is forced to use the technology to fend off an alien invasion, with the fate of the human race ending up in the hands of two young pilots.

Akiva Goldsman and Chuck Roven are producing with Tobey Maguire and Drew Crevello for Warner Brothers.

No word yet on who will star in or direct the movie.

To enter, just send an email to contest [at] dragonpage [dot] com and put “Discworld” in the subject line.

DO NOT SEND ENTRIES TO SLICE OF SCIFI. THIS IS A DRAGON PAGE CONTEST.

Be sure to include your name and shipping address in the body of the email. Any entries submitted without name and mailing address information will be disqualified and discarded.

One entry per email per day. This contest is open to residents of the US and Canada.

Contest begins today, November 17, 2008 and will run until midnight Pacific time December 5, 2008.

Good luck!

Gamble talked about the development of the supernatural drama and teased fans about the two-part story that began last Thursday.  Part of the story was to provide fans with some answers to some lingering questions.

Apparently, a lot of people were interested in finding out what happened.   “Supernatural” garnered the highest ratings the series has had in two years Thursday evening.

The CW drama earned a 2.5 rating/4 share in Fast National ratings from Nielsen Media Research, up nearly 9 percent from its already large audience last week, and up nearly 14 percent of its season average after nine episodes.

Last season, “Supernatural” reached a high of just 2.2/3 following “Smallville,” but either topped or matched that high over the first four episodes of this season. After a couple weak outings in mid-October, “Supernatural” returned to form by Halloween, and has been steadily building ratings each week.

This is good news for fans of the show and the CW. “Supernatural” is more than holding its own in an extremely competitive Thursday time slot. Hopefully, these solid and growing numbers will encourage CW to allow the show to continue until its natural (or should we say unnatural) conclusion.

While Fuller is looking to the future, he hasn’t lost faith that “Daisies” will be picked up for a full second season.  As of now, the ball is in ABC’s court.

“Every day we’re hearing that we’re canceled and then we hear that we’re not,” Fuller told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s all rumors. Nothing official at all. We’re in radio-silence land.”

Despite the rumors spirits have remained strong on the set, Fuller said.

“It’s infectious, and we’re hoping ABC gets infected by that dedication,” he said.

As soon as we hear something about the fate of this quirky drama, we’ll bring it to you right here on Slice of SciFi.

Chuck: Work Ethic

My Own Worst Enemy: Surveillance

The opening easily eclipsed the previous Bond box-office high held by “Die Another Day.”   “Day” took in $47.7 million.

“Solace” has been a world-wide hit, debuting in the number one slot in various markets across the globe the last three weekends.   In the U.S., the latest Bond movie with Daniel Craig at 007 opened largely unopposed at the box-office.  Next weekend, Bond faces vampires in “Twilight” and the family-friendly “Bolt” at the box-office.

In second was the “Madagascar” sequel, ringing up $36.1 million in ticket sales.

Final box-office figures will be released Tuesday.   We’ll bring them to you right here on Slice of SciFi.

Paramount Pictures announced that the new “Trek” trailer would be attached to the latest Bond installment, “Qauntum of Solace.”  However, according to SyFy Portal, only about three-quarters of the “Solace” prints delivered to theaters had the trailer attached.

“Many theater owners are mixing and matching which trailers they shove in front of ‘Quantum,’” said Josh Tyler of Cinema Blend. “This is particularly important since Paramount has refused to release the trailer online. They’re holding it gripped tight in their fists until Monday, which means plenty of people are out there heading to see the latest Bond movie in part of in full because they can’t wait to see the trailer.”

Fans may want to check with the box office to make sure their showing of “Quantum” will have the trailer they want to see.  Or they can wait for Monday when the trailer is released on-lin

In the News:

• SciFi to SciFact: Honda has begun testing on a wearable assisted-walking device.  Is this the precursor of bionic legs?
• YouTube and MGM have signed an agreement to offer movies and shows from MGM’s library on the popular video web site.
• “Knight Rider” is headed back to the drawing board for a third time in a year.  Several cast members have been dropped and NBC may air the first episode of the revamped series after the Super Bowl.

Krazy Joe’s Punch in the Junk: Krypton’s origins being shown again as Mark Milar’s proposed Superman trilogy earns Krazy Joe’s disdain this week.

Movie Talk:

• Sam Mendes hasn’t signed on to direct “The Preacher” yet.  He wants to direct the film but is waiting for the right script.
• Is Wonder Woman finally getting off the ground?  Beyonce has said she’d like to star and McG has said he’d like to direct.  Is this a good thing?

Slice of Trivia: This week Kurt in St. George tests the studio crew and you with three new clips.  Email your clips to Kurt at Slice of Trivia. Your entries could get picked and played on the show.

TV Talk: “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” had a huge episode this week, featuring the death of a major character.  What’s next for the series as the second season continues and moves to Fridays in February?  Producer Josh Friedman offers a few hints.

Interview: “Supernatural” producer and writer Sera Gamble speaks to the studio crew about the hit CW series.  Sera looks at the way the writers research the various mythologies of demons, ghosts and other things for Dean and Sam to battle with week and week out.  She also gets into the way the writers and producers come up with the story arcs for Dean and Sam, including the fact that each character seems to die on a regular basis on the series.

In The Future:

• Director John Boorman has signed on to direct the new animated version of “The Wizard of Oz.”
• “Chuck” will benefit from NBC’s Super Bowl promotion with a 3-D episode in February

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Link: Reality TV Podcast with Rob and Trevor
Link: Second Life
Link: Flip Up 3-D Glasses and Another Pair

Promo: Dragonpage With Class
Promo: Dragon Page Cover to Cover
Promo: How To Grow Your Geek

CONTESTS:

“The Moon Dust Commemorative Pen” Contest. Ends midnight Pacific time December 13, 2008.

But the biggest and best may have been saved for last–a new trailer has debuted on-line.

If you want to check it out, you can over at Yahoo! Movies.

The novel  tells of a future where humanity is controlled by a ruling class called Eternity. Those who are in that class can manipulate time in order to alter history and prevent disasters or “wipe out undesirables.” One of the Eternity members breaks the cardinal rule and falls in love with a woman from another time period.

Regency is looking to find a director for the project first and will then get to work on a screen play.

At one time, director Ridley Scott and actor Tom Cruise were tied to the project. Those two are not currently involved with the production.