Sci-Fi Bulletin

David Eick, executive producer on Battlestar Galactica and co-creator and exec producer of spin-off Caprica, has signed up as showrunner on TNT’s Falling Skies for its projected fourth season, according to a report at Deadline. He will replace his Caprica co-creator Remi Aubuchon, who has run the show for the past two seasons, which is currently … Continue reading »

According to a report at Digital Spy, Doctor Who head writer Steven Moffat has confirmed categorically that series eight of the revived Doctor Who is happening. “This is a thing that just seems to have slipped by… so can I say it very firmly – series eight is absolutely, definitely confirmed,” Moffat said at the … Continue reading »

Fantasy series Game of Thrones was the only genre winner at the BAFTA TV Awards held on May 12th at the Royal Festival Hall. The series, based on George R.R. Martin’s book saga, won the Audience Award, although it failed to win in its other nominated category, International. Although Doctor Who was not nominated for … Continue reading »

The proposed spin-off series from Marvel’s The Avengers (Avengers Assemble in the UK) has been given a series order by ABC, with The Avengers director Joss Whedon as the series’ Executive Producer. The series will be Whedon’s return to TV after the failure of Dollhouse on Fox in 2010. Clark Gregg will lead the series, … Continue reading »

Disney and Lucasfilm have confirmed that Star Wars: Episode VII is to be shot in the UK, taking advantage of new tax relief arrangements recently put in place by the UK Government. Four out of the previous six Star Wars films were filmed largely in the UK, with two of the prequel films shooting in … Continue reading »

The CW have confirmed that they have given a series order for the latest reboot of The Tomorrow People, the ITV series created by Roger Price, alongside two other SF shows, The 100 and Oxygen. The Tomorrow People is described as “the story of several young people from around the world who represent the next … Continue reading »

Almost Human, the cop show from J.H. Wyman and J.J. Abrams, and Sleepy Hollow, the reworking of the classic story by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, have both been picked up by Fox television for the 2013/14 season. Almost Human stars Karl Urban, Michael Ealy and Lili Taylor in what is described as “an action-packed … Continue reading »

At long last, a major Hollywood studio has turned their attention to the original Dungeons & Dragons game. According to a report at Deadline, Warner Bros. has decided to rework the script for Chainmail, by Wrath Of The Titans and Red Riding Hood‘s David Leslie Johnson into a full-blown version of the game. Warners want … Continue reading »

Stop motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen died in London today, May 7th. Harryhausen was born in June 1920, and developed an interest in stop motion animation after seeing the 1933 version of King Kong. According to the obituary released by the Harryhausen Foundation: “He made his first foray into filmmaking in 1935 with home-movies that featured … Continue reading »

Although the appointment of Brian Minchin as executive producer would seem to indicate that new episodes to form series 8 are definitely on the cards, fans may be a little surprised by a story in the new Doctor Who Magazine, out in the UK for subscribers today, and on general sale tomorrow. “Doctor Who is … Continue reading »

The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood: Miracle Day producer Brian Minchin has been confirmed as the new executive producer on Doctor Who alongside head writer Steven Moffat. Minchin, who also worked on Being Human, Wizards vs Aliens and Dirk Gently, noted in a press release: “I’m thrilled and excited to be joining Steven Moffat on … Continue reading »

The Twelve, Justin Cronin’s sequel to The Passage, is out now in paperback, and to mark the occasion, thanks to those lovely people at Orion, we have a copy of the hardback, signed by Justin Cronin himself, to give away. All you have to do is answer the following simple question: In which period of history … Continue reading »

Although both Zero Hour and Do No Harm were pulled from the schedules by their respective networks after only a few weeks, the shows’ fans will get a chance to see if an injustice has been done, as the remaining episodes of both series will be aired across the summer. ABC’s Zero Hour managed to … Continue reading »

As shows approach the final weeks of the 2012/13 season, news of further genre renewals are being announced. NBC has confirmed that both Grimm and Revolution will be returning later in the year, while the CW has given the green light for a second year of adventures for Vincent and Catherine in Beauty & The … Continue reading »

AMC has moved into the science fiction genre, with the announcement of a pilot order to new series Line of Sight. Line of Sight is described as the story of Lewis Bernt, a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator “who survives a mysterious plane crash, bringing him on an emotionally disorienting quest to discover the accident’s … Continue reading »

MTV are working on a TV version of the highly successful Scream franchise with some of the team behind their Teen Wolf adaptation. The TV pilot will be created with the films’ producer, the Weinsteins’ Dimension Films and former top MTV executives Tony DiSanto and Liz Gateley’s DiGa Vision, the people who reworked the Teen … Continue reading »

The BBC has confirmed the internet rumour that has been spreading for the last few days that the final episode of series 7b will be The Name of the Doctor by Steven Moffat, directed by Saul Metzstein. This may come as a relief to some fans who have been concerned that the ongoing story about … Continue reading »

The Doctor Who Appreciation Society is arranging the sale of the collection of a Doctor Who fan who recently died from leukaemia. Philip Jessett was a keen fan throughout his life and for a number of years helped to run the Cardiff DWAS local group. His family has bequeathed his Who collection to the Doctor … Continue reading »

Disney have not only recommitted to the 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII (which was in some doubt when director J.J. Abrams refused to be held to it…), but the company has also announced that the ‘Episode’ films will alternate annually with the ‘stand-alone’ Star Wars movies. The means Episode VII in 2015 … Continue reading »

HBO SHOP® is offering a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Game of Thrones Exhibition and a chance to tour the filming locations in Ireland. The grand prize is a trip to Belfast for two to visit the set, attend the exhibition and visit sites feature in the show with three night’s accommodation in a four star … Continue reading »

Multiple award-winning authors Cory Doctorow and Charles Stross have teamed up for a fast-paced look at the future in The Rapture of the Nerds, out now from Titan Books. We’ve had the chance to catch up with Doctorow, who provides his own take on the role of artists and science fiction in the 21st century, … Continue reading »

After all the intense speculation over the last few months regarding the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch’s villain, John Harrison, in the new Star Trek film Into Darkness, a load more questions have been posed by scenes in the latest trailer which seem to show him in charge of a considerably more advanced Starfleet vessel than … Continue reading »

The title for William Boyd’s new addition to the James Bond saga has finally been revealed: the story, out in September, will be entitled Solo. According to the author,  ”Sometimes less is more. For me as a novelist the simple beauty of Solo as the title of the next James Bond novel is that this short … Continue reading »

Former Walking Dead showrunner Glen Mazzara has been tapped to prepare The Overlook Hotel, a prequel to Stanley Kubrick’s version of Stephen King’s classic horror novel The Shining. Although the Kubrick movie is also regarded as a classic of the genre, the changes made by the director did not find favour with King, who later … Continue reading »

Dear Discerning Reader, Do you recall the thrill of the cliffhanger, which left a story’s protagonist in deadly peril and the reader/viewer waiting anxiously for the next instalment to discover how our intrepid hero can possibly survive? Do you lament the passing of the days when magazines such as Asimov’s, Fantasy & SF and even … Continue reading »

Casino Royale director Martin Campbell is heading up the team on Syfy’s reinvention of the classic British SF series Blake’s 7. According to a press release, the series will be very different in its US incarnation: “The year is 2136, Blake wakes up on one side of the bed.  He reaches for the other side. … Continue reading »

In a personal statement released today, Scottish science fiction author Iain Banks has announced he is suffering from terminal cancer. Banks’ statement notes: ‘…As a late stage gall bladder cancer patient, I’m expected to live for “several months” and it’s extremely unlikely I’ll live beyond a year. So it looks like my latest novel, The Quarry, … Continue reading »

The Zygons—who have appeared in only one story, opposite Fourth Doctor Tom Baker in Terror of the Zygons—have been officially announced as making a return in Doctor Who‘s 50th anniversary special episode, set to be broadcast on BBC1 this November. Although they have appeared in spin-off comic strips and novels, and were mentioned in passing … Continue reading »

David Tennant and Billie Piper are returning to Doctor Who for this November’s 50th anniversary special episode, the BBC have confirmed. They’ll star alongside current Doctor Matt Smith and his new companion actress Jenna-Louise Coleman. Also guest-starring in the episode is Alien actor and Merlin voice-over star John Hurt. In the new issue of Doctor … Continue reading »

Netflix Instant will air ten episodes of the new sci-fi TV series Sense8 starting in late 2014, created by The Matrix‘s Andy and Lana Wachowski and Babylon 5‘s J. Michael Straczynski. Sense8 is described as “a gripping global tale of minds linked and souls hunted” that incorporates Wachowskis’ storytelling style. “Andy and Lana Wachowski and … Continue reading »

The BBC has announced the cast for its new version of the Atlantis myth, coming from the creators of the recent highly successful reinvention of Merlin. Mark Addy, Juliet Stevenson and Sarah Parish are joined by Jemima Rooper, Robert Emms, Aiysha Hart and Jack Donnelly for the show which begins filming next month in Wales and … Continue reading »

We’ve been catching up with some of the great and good from the worlds of SF and fantasy over the past few weeks, so if you’ve not yet read them, don’t miss: Michael Marshall Smith – author of We Are Here and The Straw Men – talking about his new book, TV adaptations, what makes … Continue reading »

In an interview in the new Radio Times, Doctor Who star Matt Smith has confirmed categorically that he is committed to Doctor Who for the next year – taking him through the recording of series eight – and that he is taking the show on a year by year basis. There have been rumours that … Continue reading »

Following the overwhelming success of their Doctor Who at 50 season, the BFI has decided to make future events, beginning with next month’s 5th Doctor story The Caves of Androzani, subject to a ballot. Champions will get two chances at tickets (either one or two), while Members will get one. This is to ensure that … Continue reading »

In a tweet earlier today, John Barrowman – alias Captain Jack Harkness – confirmed the situation regarding his often-repeated plea to be involved with the special 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who, which is currently being filmed for broadcast, hopefully on November 23rd this year. There has been considerable debate regarding who will actually be … Continue reading »

With only a week to go until the start of the second half of series 7, the publicity machine is gearing up, with former Doctor Who cast members appearing on an edition of Pointless Celebrities, and the release of a new prequel by Steven Moffat as well as a new trailer. The prequel, set some … Continue reading »

New England horror writer Rick Hautala has died, aged 64. The winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Horror Writers Association in 2011 died from a heart attack on March 21. With over thirty books published – some co-written with Christopher Golden – and more than sixty short stories, Hautala was … Continue reading »

Doctor Sleep, Stephen King’s sequel to his seminal horror tale The Shining, is heading our way in September, and Hodder & Stoughton are launching the cover in style. The full interactive version can be seen at the book’s Facebook page According to the press release from Hodder: King says he wanted to know what happened … Continue reading »

The latest trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness has been released, and seems to revel in the amount of devastation and destruction within the movie. Various pieces of footage that have appeared in the earlier trailers are interspersed with new material suggesting that Kirk believes that Starfleet should be about vendettas, and indicating that the … Continue reading »

James Herbert, author of a series of popular horror novels, died today, March 20th, aged 69. Herbert, who lived in the Sussex village of Ditchling, shot to fame in 1974 with his novel The Rats, to which he later added two sequels. According to Pan Macmillan, he wrote 23 novels and was published in 34 languages, … Continue reading »

The BBC has confirmed that the new series of Doctor Who (or series 7b as it’s officially known) will begin on BBC One on Saturday 30th March at 6.15 p.m. with The Bells of St John by Steven Moffat.

With only a few days until the third series of Game of Thrones begins either side of the Atlantic, HBO has released a second trailer for the upcoming spectacle. This season’s new cast members include Clive Russell (Brynden Tully), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Mackenzie Crook (Orell), Kerry Ingram (Shireen Baratheon) Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Jojen Reed), Ellie Kendrick … Continue reading »

We were recently given fifteen minutes to chat with Tom Baker about all things Big Finish (particularly his starring role as Long John Silver in their epic adaptation) and Doctor-y… and during considerably longer than that, we covered his time on Doctor Who, his thoughts on Jon Pertwee fans, Peter Davison, David Tennant, and why he … Continue reading »

According to Deadline, Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to Ramez Naam’s debut novel for Angry Robot, Nexus, which was published late last year. It will be produced by Mary Parent and Cale Boyter through their Disruption label, and Darren Aronofsky and Scott Franklin through their Protozoa banner. Nexus deals with new nanotechnology which has … Continue reading »

Executive producer Caroline Skinner has moved on from Doctor Who to join BBC Drama Production in London, the BBC has announced. Skinner told the Doctor Who blog: “It has been an honour to have been a part of Doctor Who, and a privilege to have worked with Steven Moffat and Matt Smith on this extraordinary … Continue reading »

Laura Vandervoort, who starred as Kara in the young Superman series Smallville, has been cast as werewolf Elena Michaels in the TV adaptation of the first of Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series, Bitten. “Laura has complexity and strength, and is also very relatable, making her  the perfect fit for a character struggling to maintain … Continue reading »

It’s official: after a short fan campaign to save the series, Lucasfilm today announced there will be no sixth season for the Cartoon Network show Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This follows the abandonment of plans to release Episode II and Episode III in 3D. The move appears to be part of the Disney plan … Continue reading »

Spoilers for episode 6! According to creator Toby Whithouse, an extra scene on the DVD – which they were contractually obliged to provide – will give a clearer explanation of the ambiguous ending to the series. The final episode of series 5 concluded with a panning shot which could suggest that our heroes weren’t as triumphant … Continue reading »

Battlestar Galactica‘s Ronald D. Moore is returning to Syfy for his new project, Helix, which has been given a 13-episode straight to series order. Helix, written by Cameron Porsandeh, is “an intense thriller about a team of scientists from the Centers for Disease Control who travel to a high-tech research facility in the Arctic to … Continue reading »

Carrie Fisher has been the first cast-member to unequivocally confirm she’s returning to Star Wars for Episode VII. Asked directly by Palm Beach Illustrated in the context of Star Wars: Episode VII “Can you confirm whether you’ll reprise the role of Princess Leia?”, Fisher simply answered “Yes”. Fisher, the 56-year-old daughter of Eddie Fisher and … Continue reading »