Post-contact society examined in new sci-fi series
April 2013 will see the debut of Defiance, an ambitious TV series and immersive MMO from Syfy and Trion Worlds. Defiance (series and game) will chronicle the world-changing events on Earth as seven alien races begin to settle on our planet, and the war that ensues when negotiations go pear-shaped.
Defiance promises to be a uniquely interactive experience, allowing viewers to go inside the fictional universe, making their own choices and blending videogame action with dramatic television.
Check out these videos for more info and some impressive, large-scale sets...
‘Area 52’ movie gets a writer
Summit Entertainment has hired rookie writer Johnny Rosenthal to draft the movie adaptation of Area 52. Published in 2001, the four-issue comic book miniseries told the story of a secret storage facility in Antarctica (as opposed to Nevada, where the real Area 52 is located) that houses the alien technology no longer being studied at Area 51. The original story followed an army nurse who is forced to save the day after a mercenary attack unleashes an alien beast.
Spiders from space!
Behold!
The trailer for the low-budget, Bulgaria-shot creature feature, Spiders
3D, the synopsis for which reads as follows:
“Following a crash of an old Soviet space
station in New York City's subway tunnel, a new species of poisonous spiders is
discovered. Inadvertently the spiders mutate to gigantic proportions and wreak
havoc on the entire city.”
Spiders
3D crawls into cinemas next year.
Prometheus honest trailer
Hot
on the heels of the honest trailer for The Avengers, here’s one for Prometheus...
ouch!
Wanna help James Cameron mine asteroids?
Earlier this year, James Cameron chatted to the press about mining asteroids. The sci-fi director was not discussing the plot for one of his forthcoming Avatar sequels, however (bearing in mind that his original mega-blockbuster examined the devastating impact of commercial mining operations on an exoplanet). No, in fact – and more than a little ironically – Cameron was announcing his investment in a real-life extra-planetary mining company called Planetary Resources...
Anyway, further to this announcement, Planetary Resources is now actively recruiting space miners... well, paid interns, at least.
This from company President Chris Lewicki:
“Do you want to be an Asteroid Miner?
Well, here's your chance!
We're looking for passionate college
students for
paid coop positions to help us mine asteroids
this spring and summer...
paid coop positions to help us mine asteroids
this spring and summer...
If you love space and want to contribute
directly to
the development of the next generation of space
exploration technologies, we want to hear from you
(or from anyone you know that you think would be
interested).”
the development of the next generation of space
exploration technologies, we want to hear from you
(or from anyone you know that you think would be
interested).”
I
wonder if Planetary Resources and James Cameron have stopped to consider what else
besides minerals could be lurking inside those asteroids? How strange (and
slightly worrying) that ET life might eventually be discovered through a
commercial endeavour... “Extraterrestrial life – brought to you by Planetary
Resources! In association with Apple! Sponsored by MacDonald’s!”
X-Files creator back with new sci-fi series (plus another X-Files movie possible?)
Deadline reports that Chris Carter (right) is
developing a new “big idea” sci-fi TV series in the vein of The
X-Files called The After.
Question is “After” what? After ET contact? After Disclosure, perhaps? Maybe not quite, but time will tell...
Deadline describes the
series as:
"[A]
thriller which revolves around a mysterious, unexplained event. In the vein of
The X Files, The After incorporates elements of science fiction, suspense, and
real-world fear and paranoia."
According
to Georgeville CEO Marc Rosen:“Chris has woven his mythology magic within a
very human, grounded story about the moment when we realize all of our worst
fears about the world and its future."
On
the subject of The X-Files, David Duchovny was asked recently by Collider if
he thinks a third film could ever happen. Duchovny said:
"I
would love to do another film, or more. I think we're all game for it. I know
I'm kind of perplexed that Fox isn't more [enthusiastic]. Here's a homegrown
property that you don't have to go buy, like #$@!-in' Green Lantern or
something, to make it. Here you've got an actual action franchise that's your
own. It's weird to me, but I'm not an executive. I don't know if they made the
Green Lantern either, but I'm just using that as an example of, "Why make
that film? Why not make a homegrown franchise that is excellent, and that has
proven to be excellent and interesting?" I don't get it, but that's not my
business.”
If a third film does happen, Chris and David (and
Gillian), more aliens, please, and fewer Scottish paedophiles. Thanks.
>"I wonder if Planetary Resources and James Cameron might have considered what else besides minerals might be lurking inside those asteroids? How strange (and slightly worrying) that ET life might eventually be discovered through a commercial endeavour... “Extraterrestrial life – brought to you by Planetary Resources! In association with Apple! Sponsored by MacDonald’s!”"
ReplyDeleteWell, that's pretty much the original Alien's plot in a nutshell, ain't it? ;)
Defiance sounds slightly interesting, but I really don't have much faith in SyFy, seeing how they've never really managed to create truly exciting property. They just seem incapable of past beyond the 'B-movie' type label.
Right, exactly! It has so many echoes of major sci-fi movies, including the first two 'Alien' movies AND 'Avatar'. This surely can't be lost on Cameron. And the possible presence of life in certain asteroids must surely be at the back of his mind (or maybe at the front of it)!
DeleteI agree about 'Defiance' -- it looks ten years out of date even before its premiere. I'd be more interested to see a post-contact society as explored on TV by Bryce Zabel with 'A.D.' as source material -- which hopefully will happen at some point!
You know, it's funny (and a bit synchronistic) how we're talking about Cameron's space mining prospects, because this past weekend I wrote @ the Mysterious Universe's Red Pills of the Week a new geo-engineering plan proposed by a group of Scottish scientists, who want to counter the effects of global warming by blasting an asteroid and using its debris particles and dust as the planetary version of a Coppertone filter.
DeleteSo I commented on that news how firstly we should make damn sure the remedy doesn't turn out far worse than the ailment, and secondly who's gonna pay for it? So there's where I jokingly suggested James Cameron should step up and save us... again.
http://youtu.be/yVbll3mM9I4
But, ironically enough, if James Cameron and co. actually manage to develop space mining technology, perhaps they might actually suggest to carry on with the Scottish plan and save us all. I just hope they don't ask us to hear that stupid song ;)
Since there's currently no way to reliably get those mining interns (intern means unpaid or very poorly paid, BTW) there and back, this asteroid mining enterprise is putting the cart before the horse. The idea of mining asteroids is currently floating around the zeitgeist, but nobody's gone outside of Earth's orbit since 1972 (40 years ago come this December), and our manned spaceflight technology worldwide remains stuck in that era.
ReplyDeleteThis is just more shameless self-promotion from Cameron, who doesn't need a dime more of anyone's money or attention.