SCI FI PI

Whedonites ahoy! This isn't for you! You know all about this already! Don't you? Of course you do. This little snippet is for those who have watched a bit of Buffy and Angel, enjoyed Firefly, and know just enough about the wonderful world of Sci Fi to get excited when we mention 'Joss Whedon' and 'new project'.

And no, uber-geeks, this isn't about Dolhouse - more about that later.

It's about, and the title of this post may have been a bit of a giveaway - Dr Horrible's Singalong Blog. What, pray tell, is that? you may ask. And quite rightly so. Sounds ridiculous. But it's not. It's entirely rubbish-free - it's the product of the recent writer's strike which saw poor old Joss "writing is like breathing" Whedon, unable to write for TV or the silver screen. So he wrote for the web. With his family. Really. Josh Whedon, Zack Whedon (who wrote on Deadwood), Jed Whedon and Jed's fiancee all chipped in!

Good news everyone!

It may seem like an eternity away, but at least they are still coming. Jamie Bamber and James Callis will be coming to Australia next February as the guest of The Hub Productions. Those BSG fans who had their hearts ripped out and stomped on by the last minute production rescheduling that saw the cancellation of their immanent trip can pick them up, dust them off and replace them in their chest cavity, where they can now resume thumping loudly for messrs Apollo and Baltar.

The man first introduced to Australian audiences as a crafty Salmon fisherman ("I don't know how he can live with himself!") in an iconic John West commercial and then went on to provide the military-man-with-a-heart in such iconic shows as Twin Peaks, The X-Files and Stargate: SG-1 died Sunday the 29th of a heart attack at his home at Gibsons, in British Columbia. He was 65.

Born in 1942, in Aurora, Missouri, Davis earned a Bachelor of Science from Southwest Missouri State College, majoring in Art and Theatre. After three years in the army, reaching the rank of second lieutenant, he received a Masters Degree in Theatre from Southern Illinois University in 1970. He taught at British Columbia University for a decade, and then returned to SIU in 1982 - for a PhD in theatre- and hence took the literally dramatic turn to act and not teach.

The Hollywood Reporter has just announced the latest project from Hollywood's latest 'dynamic duo' Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, the writers of this month's upcoming bulletfest, Wanted, as well as 3:10 to Yuma. They're riding their success into the Sci Fi realm with a new project entitled, 'All Creatures Great and Small' - and, whilst you're probably thinking, James Herriot, finally on the big screen! We'll have to put your hopes for big screen adventures of kindly veterinarians to rest. It's not what you think at all.

The Saturn awards has just finished off it's 34th annual shindig and announced the winners of all things Sci Fi, Fantasy & Genre for 2007.

Enchanted won three Saturn Awards including Best Picture (fantasy), and Best Actress (Amy Adams). Television honors were dominated by Lost, which walked away with 4 awards, including Best Network Television Series and Best Actor (Matthew Fox). Sweeney Todd, Ratatouille, and 300 each received two Saturn Awards.

The full name for the people behind the Saturn Awards is "The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films" - and they're suitably impresseive-sounding enough to coax Guillermo del Toro to fly in from London to accept the prestigious George Pal Memorial Award for his visionary genius. Highly respected producers Robert Halmi, Sr. and Robert Halmi, Jr. received the Life Career Award for their successful body of work. Director Matt Reeves was also given the Filmmakers Showcase Award for his work in directing the Cloverfield.

Just a heads up for all those livin' it large on the wesssieede!

Perth's first ever Supanova will be comin' atcha loud and large this weekend at The Claremont Showground, from Saturday the 28 to Sunday the 29th.

Guests include the lovely Jewel Staite (Firefly & Stargate: Atlantis), Kandyse McClure (Battlestar Galactica), the Stars of TV's Gladiators and the one and only Nichelle Nichols (“Uhura” from Star Trek - The Original Series).

Tickets are available from www.ticketek.com.au or at the door.

In a cruel twist of fate, Jamie Bamber and James Callis look like they won't be able to make it to Oz for the upcoming GenConOz in Brisbane or the special 'Boys of Battlestar' night in Sydney, due to extended production commitments shooting Battlestar Galactica.

Whilst GenConOz looks set to still go ahead with a host of other guests, the Sydney event looks like it's in real trouble.

This bad news is fresh, so there's no confirmation as yet on The Hub Productions website. We'll keep you posted if there's a sudden shift in fortune and we see a last-minute resurgence in Jamies - although at this stage, it doesn't look good.

Director of Watchmen, Zack Snyder, is offering you the opportunity to create "Veidt Enterprises" TV commercials that could end up in the feature film scheduled to be released in cinemas early 2009.

If you've not heard of the Watchmen, then you are no longer permitted to call yourself a comic boob geek. Watchmen is the ultimate post modern superhero graphic novel, and will be made into a ginormous film for release early next year.

To get started, download the standard definition and/or high definition assets from the competition site, and then shoot your own original TV commercial that advertises one of the products! Remember, the movie is set in 1985, so TV commercials should be in 4:3 aspect ratio (so it looks like standard TV, not widescreen) and they should be either 15, 30 or 60 seconds in length. The products are all made by "Veidt Enterprises," and you can download the product logos for your use as well.

Supanova Pop Culture Expo (www.supanova.com.au) is coming to Sydney this weekend (June 21-22) but in a first, it'll be followed by Supanova's first ever Perth event the weekend after, on June 28-29.

If you're in Sydney or Perth (especially Perth) this may be your chance to check out a bona fide Sci Fi Convention.

Guests include Jared Padalecki and Sam Winchester from Supernatural (unfortunately Sydney only), Jewel Staite (Firefly & Stargate: Atlantis), Kandyse McClure (Battlestar Galactica), the Stars of TV's Gladiators and the one and only Nichelle Nichols (“Uhura” from Star Trek - The Original Series) who has now joined the cast of Heroes.

Stan Winston, Hollywood's reigning master of visual effects and makeup, has died at the age of 62.

In a long career that began in TV, Winston won four Oscars - one for Aliens, two for Terminator 2 and one for Jurassic Park.

His stellar list of credits in the makeup department also include Terminator 3, Artificial Intelligence, Eward Scissorhands, The Thing, and he often doubled up in the visual effects department as well, working on (among many others) Iron Man, Big Fish, Galaxy Quest and Predator. He saw both departments as extensions of the other, and was interested primarily in creating creatures that were characters, not merely visual effects.