Creation of the Dr. Who Theme

Today in the world of A/V production, you want sounds added to a track or even mixing in a completely new track is child's play and a single computer.

But in the middle parts of the previous century it was a feat only accomplished by the truly dedicated and a room-full of dedicated equipment.

Here is a fascinating look under the hood of the creation of one of sf television's most iconic themes.

John Anealio releases a new album

 John Anealio just sent in a note to tell us about his newest album.    Here in part is what he wrote:

• I put together four of my Halloween/October themed songs into one E.P.
• You can click here to listen and download it for free (or pay what you want):
• The Halloween E.P.
• The E.P. includes A Stormtrooper For Halloween, Undead Love Song, Angels & Vampires, and Lonesome October Night.

Click HERE or the Halloween E.P. link in the article  for more information or to listen to a few of the tunes!

LUNAR a Short Film from Tyson Wade Johnston

Wow the short films are coming fast and furious this week! Here is Luna and it is a hard hitter for such a short film. Written & Directed by Tyson Wade Johnston, this is how the short is described:

• Set in Los Angeles City, 2057, an outlaw is captured and sentenced to a lifetime of imprisonment on the LUNAR penitentiaries. To reunite with his family, he must become the first convict to escape the corrupt system and return to Earth. 

The film is dark, grainy and exudes depression and hopelessness.    It is so worth the watch!



LUNAR, Short Film from Tyson Wade Johnston on Vimeo.

Beyond: an excellent short SF film

Wow, you have got to check out this short video, it really pushes the envelope when putting on the SF mantle. Some of the ideas are wildly original!

In a somewhat "Bladerunner" type of start,  A woman with who it seems has been modified  genetically and imbued with an ability that allows her to survive teleportation to other worlds is tasked with just that type of mission.  However when she arrives, strange things begin to occur when she receives  a mission that takes her impossibly to a world beyond the universe.

From the brilliant mind of  Raphael Rogers we are treated to the short video "Beyond"

BEYOND, sci fi short film from Raphael Rogers on Vimeo.

Warehouse 13 Gets a Half-Heated Renewal

Fans of Warehouse 13 that have been holding their collective breaths wondering if the show would garner enough support for a renewal can rest, well, easier.  I have good news and bad news.  The good is this quirky sci-fi offering has netted a renews, but in the most back handed way possible....only six episodes.  Yep you read that correctly.  The fifth season of Warehouse only garnered six new episodes, and that is the bad.  

This is what Mark Wilson of About wrote after finding this choice piece of crap.

• Syfy honcho Mark Stern nonetheless had the chutzpah to praise the show and its special place in Syfy's heart.

No Mr Stern, I think you mean another orifice presently blocked by another part of your anatomy.....

Here by the way is a link to Mark's article HERE

Ghosts With Shit Jobs

Here is a five minute block of a biting satire from Jim Munroe which debuted at the Sci - fi London film festival called Ghosts With Shit Jobs. The premise of the mockumentary is the western economy has collapsed. A Chinese film crew is touring Toronto documenting the living and working conditions of the new poor. It seems (according to the film's premise) that after the collapse a whole new group of "workers" has evolved that will do anything that the average Chinese worker would never condescend to. The Chinese call these workers "Ghosts"

The complete film was made for about five thousand dollars by a group of film makers in Toronto, with the writing going to Munroe.

Check this preview short or you can get more info at the official site here

Here is the IO9 article

Pioneer One tv Series still alive and well.

Back in August of 2010 I reported on this odd little series, a bit more than webisodes but not quite network tv called Pioneer One It had one episode out and, curiously was asking those that liked the show, to help fund it.

The first episode centered around a strange "satellite" that crashes into Edmundton CA. Instead of a satellite however is is a Soviet era space craft containing the lone survivor of a lost Soviet mission to Mars.

The first episode was dark, mysterious and full of political tension. Good stuff, but I didn't hear any more about it.

Well it would seem that Pioneer One is going strong with five episodes ready for viewing and the sixth in production!

So if you like your sci fi dark with lots of tension....check out the Pioneer One website here
Plus if you caught the first one but lost track as I did, you will like how the show is progressing!

Nerd Sex Tape (So totally NSFW!)

So totally inappropriate nerdy pillow talk that uses so many of the Sci-fi cliches, catch phrases and just plain in jokes and takes them to a place that is so wrong it's hysterical.

Be Warned, it is right on the edge of just about everything wrong.....


Thanks to the folks at Topless Robot for digging this one up for us...

Hard to find sci-fi series? Now there's Scifinal

Hey, do you like your sci fi in small easy to consume mini bytes? One thing that places like Youtube have familiarized us to, is the Internet series. In the truest sense the "mini" series. Short episodic story lines that you don't have to spend your whole lunch hour catching up on. Shows like "The Guild" or "Woke up Dead" are 5 or 10 minute shorts that bring the story along in little manageable episodes.

The one thing that is often difficult though is just finding new series. especially the low budget independent series that are not well publicized. So along comes a clearing house of sorts for sci-fi called Scifinal. Here is what they have to say about themselves.

• SciFinal is a web directory focused on providing information and links about independently produced science fiction web series. SciFinal is a way to learn about exciting sci-fi shows you may not be familiar with.

Here is a promo short from Youtube

Short Film: When It Will Be Silent

When It Will Be Silent is the sophomore project for Israeli film student Dan Sachar.
That's right sophomore....Sachar shot the film in the demilitarized zone between Israel and Jordan, as a project for Sapir Academic College, Israel.

When it Will Be Silent (כשיהיה דומם) from Dan Sachar on Vimeo.

Film Website

Deathstar pwns Enterprise!

Fanboy Mike Horn has proven that he has a gift not only for CGI, but also for sci-fi satire.
Here he has fun at the Enterprise's expense. Major pwnage!

Sci-Fi becomes Syfy

The SCI-Fi channel has changed its' name to SyFy which sounds the same as the old name but now allows the network to have a copyrightable trademark. Part of the reasoning for the change being as the network put it, give them a wider and more diverse range of imagination-based entertainment including fantasy, paranormal, reality, mystery, action and adventure, as well as science fiction to choose from. (uhuh....wraslin is in what catogory? oh and mark my word....this translates to Now we can have more wraslin!)

Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch article

Battlestar Galactia webisodes available on Hulu

For those of you that are following the Battlestar Galactia reboot on Sci-Fi - you should know by now that there are webisodes now being released to keep our interest peeked for the return of the final season of BSG which if I recall is due to return in January of 09.

The webisodes are hosted on Sci-Fi and on Hulu (for some reason I could not get the Sci-fi's vids to play but had no trouble with hulu) I have listed the first two episodes below which are listed on site as The Face of the Enemy.

Webisode 1

Webisode 2

Sci-Fi renews Sanctuary

According to Tv Guide via IO9: Sanctuary, has been renewed for another season on the Sci Fi Channel.

Sanctuary is noted for its ground breaking sets or lack there of. The program, which began as an experimental series on the internet, is the first to have green screen as the backgrounds and sets which are added in by computers.

Starring Amanda Tapping as a 150 year old doctor who collects and protects unusual lifeforms. Though of late it has taken an odd turn of monster fighting, it still manages to have some compelling twists and turns. Though the fake accents are a bit hard to take.

SciFi Channel Picks Up 'Stargate SG-1' Movies

According to MICHAEL HINMAN at the SyFyPortal blog: The two direct-to-DVD movies MGM made over the past couple years based on the "Stargate SG-1" universe are coming to the SciFi Channel beginning this spring. "Stargate: Ark of Truth" as well as "Stargate Continuum" will air on SciFi Channel as Sunday night movie events, and could complement the release of the new series "Stargate: Universe," which may come out in July.

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SciFi Channel Orders First Season Of 'Warehouse 13'

Have you heard anything about Warehouse 13? Me neither, but it seems Michael Hinman over at SyFy Portal has the low down. First news is that the Sci-Fi Channel has indeed ordered a full season of 13 episodes of the series. And what praytell IS Warehouse 13? I remember watching a curious program on cable several years ago about this strange little show who's original ower dies. Upon his death the stock is liquidated. The original owner's neice learns that there was more to the shop than originally suspected. The shop had a vault with items of "unusual powers" stored in it. Now that vault is empty and the stars of the program spend each episode reaquiring the lost items. Can't remember the name but its the feel of the show that is important because it would seem that Warehouse 13 has some facets very much like the older program. Warehouse 13 focuses on two Secret Service agents working in a top-secret storage facility in South Dakota after saving the life of the president. These agents are tasked to chase down more artifacts to include in the warehouse. That's basiclly all I have at this point...sounds interesting though.

Steve Austin is The 26 Million Dollar Man

Nope, not a misprint! Today in the TVSquad blog, even the venerable Steve Austin has been bit by the inflation bug. Now, tongue firmly in cheek, they examine what inflationary costs would do to our present SMDM. This is according to CNNMoney.com, using tools from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they were able to put estimates not only the inflation adjusted costs but the actual cost in today's world. The six million dollars that it cost to make the former astronaut stronger and faster in 1974 would actually be an inflation-adjusted $26 million dollars today. Factor in the actual cost of the bionic parts, more than $100 million, and Steve would probably be stronger, not faster. I can see at these prices, Steve would be phased out for some Predator drones...

Seven Things Sci-Fi Fans Should Stop Doing

Ok, yes, I am a fan. And like any fan I know what I like and have an opinion of the stuff I like and the stuff I don't. Simple human nature. That being said, I was reading an article written by Eoghann on Solar Flare. (click here for the complete article) Seven things sci-fi fans should stop doing. hummm. First off I guess I am a bit of an elitiest - I like Science Fiction, thank you very much. Speculative fiction if you must. So you can guess I see myself in many of the "don't and some I take issue with. The List goes:

Dont' Assume You Know All The Facts
People With Different Taste To You Are Not Inferior
Not Everything Is Made For Your Consumption
Being a Fan Doesn't Mean They Owe You
Just Because It's Good Doesn't Mean People Will Watch
Continuity Is Not More Important Than Story
Don't Make It Personal

Certainly is a good list, and I would have you trot over there and read it at length. I would like to comment on some though. First, I don't know all the fact, that's why I spend a good part of the day reading, trying to get the facts. Second, I enjoy different tastes, that's why I often use speculative fiction, because many ideas don't match my definition of science fiction, but are damn entertaining anyway. Not Everything is made for your consumption. Hummmm oooooooook but if the station is called Sci-fi then them fellas in tights better be from another world....cause wrastlin aint sci-fi! Being a Fan Doesn't mean they owe you. two words BS! If you go to a movie that stops half way through do you walk or ask for your money back? Why? Right You have made my case. Just because it's good.... hell fact of life...but the flip is true as well. Continuity, I have mixed feelings on this. Why go through the effort of creating a universe if you throw it away when it becomes inconvenient? But some of the best things I have read or seen have often been prefaced with "WTF just happened?" and last Don't make it personal. Its easy enough to do if you only pick up the odd book and finding it not to your liking, walk away. But if your a long time fan, some things are harder to swallow. Someone you admire in the field, suddenly says science fiction sucks and they want no part of it... Hard not to feel a bit deflated. Oh I could go on.

The article does make some good points, work a read and a thought...

Star Wars in 60 seconds! SWEDED

If you aren’t familiar with the Sweded Video movement, here’s your intro: A group of hilariously low-tech fans reenact all the salient moments from The Empire Strikes Back…in 60 seconds. There are no words to describe this, just watch it.

Wolfgang Peterson Off Ender's Game

Well it seems, not all is going smoothly in the pre-production universe of the live action movie based on the award winning novel by author Orson Scott Card, "Ender's Game". Director Wolfgang Peterson, previously attached to the project, has moved on, producers told io9 blog personnel. Chartoff Productions is busy meeting with potential directors with the hope that they will be able to start filming by early 2009. Producer Lynn Hendee has reveiled though that author Card has finished a draft of the script and is well into rewrites already.

Ender's Game is set in Earth's future where mankind has barely survived two invasions by the "buggers", an insectoid alien race, and the International Fleet is preparing for war. In order to find and train the eventual commander for the anticipated third invasion, the world's most talented children, including the extraordinary Ender Wiggin, are taken into Battle School at a very young age.