Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

In their presentation at the American History Museum on April 24, Syfy revealed major new drama plans – including a new series based on True Blood author Charlaine Harris “Grave” sequence of stories.

According to president Dave Howe, “Syfy’s Upfront celebrates the power of Igniters, our influential audience who has the highly coveted ability to move brands forward faster. This audience Imagines Greater and, as a result, we will be bringing them the most groundbreaking entertainment phenomenon in 2013. Nearly four years in the making, Defiance is the first ever, weekly scripted television and Massively Multiplayer Online game, converging to create a singular, interactive and epic story. Along with this unprecedented experience, we will be unveiling our most ambitious development slate ever of relevant and contemporary original programming.”

Grave Sight, and its sequels, feature Harper Connelly, who can sense the location and last memories of dead people after being struck by lightning as a teenager. According to Syfy, she teams up with her protective stepbrother, Tolliver Lang, to help find a missing teenage girl – only to uncover a network of lies and murders throughout a small town in the Ozarks. The pilot is being written by Law and Order: SVU‘s Kam Miller.

Other series coming this year include:

Rockne S. O’Bannon’s Defiance: “Set in the near future, Defiance introduces a completely transformed planet Earth, inhabited by the survivors of a universal war. Forced to co-habitate, the disparate group struggles to build a new society among the devastation.”

The Adjustment Bureau, based on the Philip K. Dick short story The Adjustment Team and the recent movie (which has just become the subject of further litigation). Smallville’s Todd Slavkin & Darren Swimmer are writing this.

High Moon, based on the novel The Lotus Caves by The Tripods creator John Christopher. This imaginative, out-of-this-world series explores a world where the countries of Earth have established colonies to mine the Moon’s resources. When a new life form is discovered, chaos erupts as various factions race to uncover its powerful secrets. Bryan Fuller and Jim Danger are penning the pilot.

Booster Gold and Seeing Things – these two previously-announced comic book adaptations are moving forward with Fringe’s Andrew Kreisberg on Booster Gold, and David Slack and Gabrielle Stanton on Seeing Things.

Robert Hewitt Wolfe’s Defender is also upcoming, which seems rather like a reboot of earlier series such as Andromeda. “In the aftermath of an intergalactic war between humans and transhumans, the starship Defender, populated by a combustible mix of former enemies, is sent on a seemingly simple goodwill mission, which turns into a fight for their lives and for the safety of the Universe at large.”

The final scripted series is The Family, from Superman Returns’ Dan Harris. “For generations, an alien family has hid amongst humans in plain sight using their advanced intellect to carve out a life for themselves as their family grew. But when the family patriarch that kept peace amongst the factions dies, a war begins to brew with some members believing the time has come to reveal themselves, and their superior power, to the inferior human race.”