SCI FI PI

Spring has sprung! The final loathsome shackles of winter will drop with a clank this week and to celebrate, SCI FI is bringing you just what you wanted.

That is, if you wanted Jericho Season 2, and a Sci Fi marathon. You did want that, didn’t you?

Monday gets us started with a bit of midnight Lexx madness – the crew of the Lexx hit the ‘Luvliner’ and get themselves into real trouble. If you’ve never seen Lexx before, imagine what would happen if some true, no holds barred Sci Fi geeks got together and built a show just for Sci Fi geeks – sexy alien women, strange alien sexual encounters, bizarre freakish aliens and at the heart of it, a bit of a dork who travels the length and breadth of two galaxies with only one aim – to get laid.

For those who didn't try to download the crappy rip-off from the first fifteen minutes that was shown at Comic Con - we have a small hint of a taste - of the first full episode from within the belly of the Heroes Machine.

A super secret gathering at the Universal screening rooms showed the first full episode - and there's much to report. We'll try to keep the spoilers to an absolute minimum... but really, there's going to be a great difficulty in completely avoiding them, so if you can't stand it, look away - we'll start vague and then get more specific at each paragraph.

It seems these days that the future of the television is something is so amorphous, so dishearteningly 'liquid' that it hardly seems worth the trouble to go and buy that 16:9 LCD or Hi Def Plasma, or Oled, or projector. What with the future replacing the past so rapidly, it seems like once you actually settled down on one particular TV, by the time you've bought it, it's already obsolete.

But those days will soon be over. Advances in technology now mean that the latest LCD and Plasmas are almost as good to look at (in picture quality) as the trusty old CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) TV's that many of our older readers will remember from the 1990's. And TV makers are getting more and more innovative - making it not just about sight or sound, but sight and sound - and in the future, evne the actual physical sensation of being in or at or participating in the actual activity you're watching?

The world's first ever made-for-Imax full length action adventure (in 3D!) will soon be hitting our shores - and of course, it's Sci Fi!





Jules Verne's classic, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, is getting a reworking, with the emphasis on kid-friendly thrills and spills as they track down good old Icelander Arne Saknussem.

It stars Brendan Fraser from The Mummy series and releases September 25. If you've expecting hard-hatted gritty narrative - think again, with the film having more in common with the bright and bubbly 1959 classic.

Reuters has reported something a little bit creepy, a little bit amazing and a whole like the kind of thing that would send Mulls and Sculls heading for the nearest Ford Taurus rentacar.

A stillborn Israeli baby who was pronounced dead by doctors "came back to life" after spending hours in a hospital refrigerator.

The baby, weighing only 600 grams at birth, spent at least five hours inside one of the hospital's refrigerated storage units, before her parents, who had taken her to be buried, began noticing some movement.

We've been tracking Vin Diesel's latest Sci Fi extravaganza and the kind people at Fox have managed to slip us a sneak peek at Babylon AD, releasing in Oz on October 2.



Star and director take a break from blowing up the future.


For those who haven't cottoned on yet, the Matthieu Kassovitz directed film goes a little something like this:

"A mercenary is hired to deliver a “package” – an innocent young woman raised in a monastery – from the ravages of a post-apocalyptic landscape of Eastern Europe to a destination in the teeming megalopolis of New York City. But this is hardly a typical job for the hardened gun-for-hire. As he, the young woman, and her fearsome guardian make the 6,000-mile trek, they are threatened by a religious sect that has taken a special interest in the woman – who may hold the secret to mankind’s salvation."

It's often hard to find Sci Fi themed t-shirts that display your love of Sci Fi (and/or Fantasy (and/or horror (and/or mildly different from the mainstream))) that both proudly stamps your allegiance and also says, in subtle tones, 'this is way cool'.

Behold! This is way cool.

There's something so right about combining the classic theories of Charles Darwin with the classic entertainment of George Lucas. And all in the cool comfort of cotton. Just perfect for your upcoming Spring season of Sci Fi conventions, and goes so well with an imperious disdain for all things Clone-y.

Are you deeply upset at the idea of SCI FI US nixing Stargate Atlantis? Do you feel that you can't just sit there, fingering your Dr Rodney McKay doll (with Atlantis Stargate piece)? Well, there is something you can do - you can join one of those legendary 'fans write in' campaigns to save the show.

Best of luck! Here's how you go about it, as posted on the SCI FI US Forum:


"Hey SGA Fans,

It has come to that time of year to show your support for Stargate Atlantis. In the coming weeks SCI FI will be making a decision for a 6th season. Yes, ratings are up from last season, but it is not the only factor taken into consideration. So send your letter to the SCI FI network execs telling them you watch Stargate Atlantis "Live" every week when you can. Now it's the time for the fans to speak their minds and support their favorite show!

The final week in August 2008 really is one of pure Sci Fi joy, with brand-spanking new premieres, SCI FI originals and treasured classics, combining to finish off winter with a stylish flourish - all hail the SCI FI premiere of Stargate:Atlantis Season 3!

Sci Fi Original, Replicant, screens Tuesday, August 26 at 10.20pm and Wednesday, August 27 at 1pm
Jean-Claude Van Damme stars in this futuristic cop thriller, where the key to catching a killer is found in his DNA - all you have to do is make a replicant of your bad guy, and find out how he ticks! What could possibly go wrong? The killer could go after your mum, that's what! Awesome Belgian action, not to be missed.

Executive producer of Stargate:Atlantis, Joseph Mallozzi has a long running and popular blog - http://josephmallozzi.wordpress.com. He likes to keep fans up to dat and answer questions, even when the show is at its most ehectic, creating a loyal elgion og readers. It's no surprise then that his site was inundated on August the 21st when he announced that Stargate's Fifth Season will be its last.

Here's what he had to say:

"By now, I assume you’ve all heard the news. This will be Stargate Atlantis’s fifth and final season. I’m disappointed but not surprised. We came into this year knowing that renewal would be a longshot. With 100 episodes under our belts, rising production costs, and the US dollar’s steep decline, the odds were stacked against us. Still, we’d heard no definite word either way and if SG-1’s surprising 10-year run taught us one thing, it’s that anything is possible. The circumstances that contributed to SG-1’s longevity were very different but, back then, we hadn’t expected it to get a sixth season pick-up either. Furthermore, with our strong premiere numbers and the equally impressive showing of the ensuing episodes, some of us were, if not exactly upbeat, then cautiously optimistic. We watched. We waited. And, finally, received word the other day.