Yes, a boatload of props from Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis are going up for auction over at The PropWorx and on ebay over the next few months, according to SciFi Wire. They also got the auction team to list the 20 coolest things up for grabs, which include a Thor puppet, a MALF, and Ronon’s blaster. I am thinking I probably need some Zat guns… I should also mention that tonight’s episode of Sci-Fi Science on Discoveries Science Channel is all about How to be a Superhero.
This week is a fantasy romantic comedy called When In Rome starring Kristen Bell as the skeptical woman who plucks coins tossed into a magical Fountain of Love with rather unexpected results. The cast looks solid and the trailer is funny, so this just might be worth a trip to the theater. For those who hadn’t heard, Avatar is the highest grossing movie EVER, with this weekend’s 36 million dollars putting it over the top.
There are a few new TV shows beginning in the US that I wanted to mention. Hopefully you already know about them, but if not this will be timely.
First, there are two programs from the UK. Demons started a few weeks ago on BBC America (if you missed the first few episodes, they are still available on Video On Demand). The politically incorrect chief detective from Life on Mars stars as the American trainer of the teenage heir of the Van Helsing dynasty. Terry Nation, inventor of the Daleks and Blakes 7, also created a series in the ’70s called Survivors, about the handful of people left in England after a biologic disaster. Just like Doctor Who, the series has been revived by the BBC, and rolls out on BBC America on February 13th.
In the US but Brit-related, it seems Fox Broadcasting is once again looking to create locally something Whoish; this time around it is a US pilot for Torchwood. Or almost US; Russel T. Davies would be writing the script (at least for the first one), Julie Gardner and the team from BBC Worldwide would be doing the production, even the surviving original actors could be involved. It sound more like tangential episodes to the series than a remake, which is again much like Fox’s one venture into the world of Doctor Who.
Finally, Caprica kicks off tonight on Syfy. This prequel to Battlestar Galactica has been anticipated for a while, and it is finally here. The VoD Caprica pilot they have been running for the last few weeks ends today; it will be interesting to see if it is the same as the one they broadcast, or different.
Of the new movies this week, Gamer is the one I find most interesting; a game in which real people are the game pieces with technology that makes the Running Man game show look friendly. I’m going to take a pass on Pandorum, since it is horror rather than Sci-Fi. Although I am partial to silly horror, like this weeks release of Bikini Frankenstein.
The live action TV series release for this week is Defying Gravity: The Complete First Season. Unless someone else picks it up it is also the complete series, since the network canceled it just as it was getting interesting.
Update: After I posted this, they rescheduled the release of Ponyo to March 2010, the third time the DVD release date was pushed back.
Topping the Anime and the Animation list for Tuesday’s DVD releases will be Ponyo, yet another world-class creation from Hayao Miyazaki and distributed by Disney in this hemisphere. This is from the same group who will be bringing you Alice in Wonderland later this year, another class act. Not, of course, to be confused with the Alice the Sci-Fi Channel just ran, which was also well done.
For Anime TV shows to add to the collection I can recommend Yokuwakaru Gendai Maho, a good new Magical Girl animation. However it turns out, it is off to a great start! Another one worth consideration is Rin: Daughter of Mnemosyne, a six part OVA about an immortal private detective under attack by supernatural enemies. And season one of Linebarrels of Iron is also out Tuesday, a somewhat confused Mecha/Harem/High School action/comedy.
Best choice for DVD’s this week has to be Duncan Jones’s Moon, filmed on a tiny budget but delivering a huge and powerful story. The creative use of miniatures at a time when everyone is making CGI effects is an entire tale unto itself.
A project that did focus on CGI and Animation to get its results was The Celestial Railroad. The classic Japanese story of riding a train through the Milky Way was used as a good jumping off point for creating a program to project onto a planetarium dome at IMAX resolution, and it is now available in Blue Ray.
For TV, tonight’s season 3 premier of Chuck kicked the series off in the right direction, even if a few details (like the whole Prague decision sequence) were beat on harder than they needed to be. And yes, if you missed it you can watch it online at that link. Later this week, the Discovery Channel Sci-Fi Science series gives you the info you need to build your own working light saber. If you haven’t already been following the series, then last week you missed how to build a Starship. Some of the top physicists in the world are involved with this one, so it is not just fictional speculation, but the real deal.
The Syfy Channel ran Alice last month, which won’t actually be available on DVD until March, but was a wonderful interpretation of the book from the same folks who did Tin Man last year. But there is a computer variation of the namesake I wanted to mention here. It comes in the form of the A. L. I. C. E. Artificial Intelligence Foundation which uses an artificial James T. Kirk to drive its point home, as well as the Alice Programming Initiative which allows students to learn basic 3D graphics object-oriented programming while creating their own home-made videos.