igp-scifi

Tomorrow, Battlestar Galactica fans will be able to bid on their favourite props at Auction Network. My personal favourite? Adama’s model ship. It looks like it comes in broken pieces- unfortunately, I don’t think webmonkey Rob would be too impressed if I spent the estimated $1500-$2000 that this item will sell for. Of course, the Mark II Viper could go as low as $1000. This just makes me glad I’m not a big BSG fan. I’m still sore that I didn’t try to get any of the Buffy props that were sold on eBay when they went off the air. Anyway, you’ll also find Galactica prop furniture, costumes, patches, and concept art!

Also, if you missed the BSG mid-season premiere (shame on you!) and be sure to check out IGP’s Battlestar Galactica episode guide.

Fans of Amazing Spider-Man may be surprised and disappointed to hear that the latest issue #583, featuring future president Barack Obama has already sold out! Luckily, second and third printings are on the way. The issue features Spidey saving Obama on Inauguration Day and sharing a fist bump with the president elect. Barack Obama has stated in the past that he collected both Spider Man and Conan the Barbarian comics as a child and his website features a photo of him posed by a Superman statue.

More News: The Watchmen dispute appears to have been resolved. Check out IGP for details.

In the last two days, the genre has lost two iconic actors. On Tuesday January 13, The Prisoner actor Patrick McGoohan passed away at the age of 80, after battling a short illness. The actor is of course most well known in the sci-fi world in the role of Number Six in the mind-bendy series, The Prisoner. On Wednesday January 14 actor Ricardo Montalban also passed away, aged 88. The actor is most recognizable in the role of Khan in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and in television’s Fantasy Island. Both of these actors will be greatly missed.

For more information on Patrick McGoohan, please check out my article on IGP Patrick McGoohan: Be Seeing You.

Sorry for not posting in a while. However, for those anxiously awaiting the return of Battlestar Galactica check out IGP’s rundown of the series’ highs and lows, of which there have been many. Those who know me know that i’m not the biggest Galactica fan (stories have dragged on too long, inbetween fairly pointless filler episodes). But the writers have made some seriously gutsy moves both with character development and with the jump forward in time they did at the end of Season Two. And the fact that they’re ending the series while it’s still on top, instead of dragging it out earns them much kudos.  If you haven’t done it yet, don’t forget to get caught up on Battlestar Galactica - Season 4.0 in time for the premiere on Friday.

As already reported this morning on IGP’s news page Matt Smith is the new Doctor. Amidst rumours that actors such as Chiwetel Ejiofor and Stephen Fry were being considered for the role Smith seems to have come out of nowhere. At just 26 years old Smith is the youngest actor to ever portray the role of the Doctor (three years younger than Peter Davison who was the previous youngest actor). Smith previous roles include parts in The Ruby and the Smoke, the 2008 film In Bruges and a leading role in Party Animals.  For more information on the newest actor to play the Doctor, check out IGP’s piece Who is Matt Smith?

In less than ten hours the BBC will announce the name of the actor that will play the Eleventh Doctor. The announcement will be made on a special Doctor Who Confidential broadcast. IGP will of course have all the juicy details once they become available.

This announcement comes after months of speculation after current Doctor, David Tenant, announced that he would be leaving the show. Tenant will be stepping down following the final of four TV specials to be aired throughout 2009, the first of which is the Christmas special which I reviewed here. Who do I think the new Doctor is going to be? Honestly, I have no idea, although Survivors star Paterson Joseph has been considered the favourite for this coveted role.

Scifi.com reports that Fox is indeed trying to delay the release of the upcoming Watchmen movie. The case regarding who owns the rights to Watchmen is set to go to trial on January 20th. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. states that the case has “no merit” and that they plan to either appeal the case or take it to trial. Fox claims that they never relinquished the rights to the movie which they obtained in the 1980s while Warners refuses to give up distribution rights. Either way, this fan will be greatly surprised if the release date for Watchmen isn’t pushed back again.

While the Obama family wind down their vacation in
Kailua, the news have picked up on the latest hot item regarding president-elect Obama: Is he a geek? According to an Associated Press article he may not only be a geek but also a Trekker.  Being a Brit, this matters little to me. After all, when Tony Blair was elected Prime Minister the newspapers touted reports that he was a Trekker, and, well, he didn’t exactly do such a bang up job with New Labour as we had all hoped. So I’m not exactly rejoicing at the fact that he’s a geek as much as other fan-boy and girls are doing. But still, it’s a funny article, particularly regarding the very clear differences between geeks, nerds and dorks.

Watchmen fans eagerly awaiting the new Zack Snyder movie should expect more set backs. Twentieth Century Fox has been in the middle of a law suit, claiming copyright for Watchmen, although the new movie was made by Warner Bros. According to SciFi Wire a judge ruled on Christmas Eve that Fox Studios does indeed own the rights to Watchmen, a movie that’s set to open in March. I imagine Warner Bros. next step will be to either appeal the ruling or end up paying Fox Studios a big fat cheque. Either way, it’s likely we’ll see more delays in the release of this highly anticipated movie.

For those tired of the same old Christmas specials on television right now (not to mention 24 hours of A Christmas Story. Do we really need 24 hours of it?), I have two recommendations for you. You can watch the Star Wars Holiday Special online, or, spare yourself those two hours and read Team Portal’s rundown of the train wreck that was the Holiday Special. Or, zip on over to MSN video to watch The Guild’s Christmas special featuring a very interesting reinterpretation of Twas the Night before Christmas. It’s very fun! While you’re there, be sure to check out the latest episode of The Guild season 2, plus a gag reel.