News Bytes:
- Sci-Fi to Sci-Fact: Mind-reading Robots
- Death Race 2000 remake still in development
- FBI cracks down on DVD piracy
MovieTalk:
Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson team up for Rob Reiner’s The Bucket List
Slice of Trivia
TV Talk:
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume 9 is available, and the 4-disc set contains 4 original series episodes that have not been available on previous DVDs: Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Wild Rebels, The Sinister Urge, and the musical The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies.
Interview: Sean Patrick Flanery can currently be seen in the fifth season of USA Network’s hit series, The Dead Zone, but he may be better known for his roles in “Young Indiana Jones”, “Suicide Kings”, and “The Boondock Saints”. Sean takes some time out of his busy schedule to talk with Michael and Summer about his character’s growth on The Dead Zone, and a little about SciFi Channel’s Savage Planet and his love for Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Future Talk: What’s Coming Up?
New Line Cinema has officially given the greenlight to The Golden Compass, first installment of Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy.
Podcasting News: We’re running the podcasting track at DragonCon, as well as running the Parsec Awards for Excellence in Podcasting. Check out DragonCon in 2006, and we hope you can make it!
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Loved the discussion guys and gal. It would be awesome if you did it more often.
If you want a good movie that shows what reality tv could be in the future, is “Series 7: The Contenders”.
It’s bascially Survivor with guns.
Very cool, but low budget.
Never fear Jason. We have purposefully redesigned the segments to allow for a lot more discussion between Mike, Evo, Summer, Joe and whoever else might be visiting in the studio. We have also, by cutting each story segment down a bit, allowed for more interview time with our Guests each week.
We are always striving to make Slice of SciFi better programming for our fans and we appreciate every piece of input we can get because it only helps what we do to be a better product for you, the fans.
FYI: you guys are bastards!! Not only have you guys gotten me hooked on BSG, now I’m hooked on “The Dead Zone”, too. I picked up Season 1 at Best Buy, but later noticed that my local Sam’s club had all 4 released seasons for $20 and some change each!! Now I’ve got even more stuff to watch.
Thanks, guys!
There’s been several short stories/novellas to film over the years, with various degrees of how goo they were.
The first few that come to mind are:
Blade Runner
Total Recal
Minority Report
Paycheck
A Scanner Darkly
😉
Sigh, Typos.
So, I take it you have not picked up the first season of 4400 yet?
Yeah, you’ll be hating Summer and I even more then. 😉
Bill, I caught “Series 7: The Contenders” back when it caused a small stir as a Sundance submission.
The first time I saw it, I thought it was a current day version of “The Running Man”. Now when I think about the movie, I only wonder how long it’ll be before something like that is on the air.
Seriously, I could see someone doing a TV series on a group of people playing TAG on a campus somewhere.
Actually, I’ve been watching the 4400 since the beginning. I don’t have to be told about everything that’s good.
Pardon my ignorance, but is “The 4400” a continuation of the mini-series “Taken”? I don’t currently watch the show but want to give it a try after hearing all of the coverage on Slice. Naturally, I want to start at the beginning.
Thanks,
Colin
Colin- No I do believe they are different shows, not related to each other.
Summer, what “time thing” with regards to Superman? I don’t understand what the complaint is.
Also, what canon did they ruin?
Short Story->Movie
Johnny Mnemonic.
I think part of the reason that novels might be preferred is because there are elements in writing that do not translate well to the screen. A novel-length work gives enough meat to pick and choose that which does work well. Within the bounds of a novel, you are likely to find all of the elements which fit the Hollywood formula- more difficult to do while sifting through the bulk of short stories.
Yeah, I don’t understand the time thing problem with Superman either. When Kalel left Krypton he was just a baby, and when he arrived on Earth and the Kent’s found him crashed on the side of the road, he was about 5 or 6 Earth years old. So it took him 5 or 6 standard Earth years to make the one way trip. Assuming, that by the time he was an adult and returned to visit the area of his home planet he had learned a thing or two from his old man from those nifty little crystals, he could have found new ways to adapt his father’s original propulsion system on his newly designed ship to get him to Krypton and back to Earth in just 5 years – basically cutting his travel time by half. Hey, its SF, anything is possible. If every little jot and tittle had to be explained it would just be science and not science fiction. 😉
Actually, Joe mentioned it. I think the “thousand years will have passed” comment from Jor-El could be explained away by relatvity, but he should have been gone for 10 years, not 5, if the trip there takes 5-6 years.
There was nothing left of his home planet, and inferring that he alone enhanced the propulsion system of his civilization is asking much. I am willing to give some benefit of the doubt… all I need is a grain of sand to hold onto 🙂
Colin,
“The 4400” is not a continuation of “Taken”… both just happen to feature the same actor, Joel Gretsch, as a main character.
Seasons 1 and 2 are currently available on DVD, and Season 3 is in progress on USA Network.
A nice story on human beings versus Rock ‘Em/Sock ‘Em robots is Keith Laumer’s “The Body Builders.” It is available as part of a nice collection of Laumer’s work called “The Lighter Side of Keith Laumer.” It is a Baen Free Library book:
http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/0743435370/0743435370___3.htm
It can also be found in a really nice collection of short stories about sports called The Infinite Arena, edited by Terry Carr.
In regards to the time issue with Superman:
Yes, Clark was around 5 years old when he was found by the Kents. However going by Jor-El’s comment that “thousands of years had passed”, this means Clark was traveling pretty close to the speed of light for “thousands of (our) years”, but only 5 years would have passed for Clark. In other words, when Clark left Krypton, for us it was thousands of years, B.C. (or BCE, if you prefer). (I know, too deep in to the theory of relativity: sorry, I’m a geek.) (If I’m still not making sense, read the “Ender’s Game” series.)
On the theory that Clark modified existing Kryptonian technology: unless he learned how to travel faster than the speed of light, I don’t buy that one, either. Now, if he had come across Boom-tube technology (think Darkseid), then I’d buy it.
re Phillip Pullman
He is a committed Atheist and wrote scathing reviews of the Narnia film because it referenced Christian themes. He is particularly opposed to the form of Christianity that is widely practised in the US. Therefore I think that the studio will need to be careful with how the film is played out as a Boycott of the film is not out of the question.