I was talking to my friend the other day. He told me his brother-in-law has a third cousin that knows a cleaning lady that is pen-pals with the caterer for the “Battlestar Galactica” set. Apparently, executive producer and showrunner Ronald D. Moore has quit the show after NBC Universal decided it was time to revamp the show by bringing in original series creator Glen Larson and resurrecting Lorne Greene from the dead.Sound outlandish? I sure as hell hope so. But believe it or not, if this commentary were taken out of context, or I actually posted that on Airlock Alpha or some other site that normally would hold actual news, it would be picked up around the Internet as wildfire and treated as if it were the truth. How do I know that? Just look at the current “Star Trek XI” reports that have …

The long wait is over, and the verdict is in: Peter Jackson’s much-anticipated follow up to his epic “Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, “King Kong,” can be summed up in one word … awesome!Jackson has not only managed, to stay faithful to the 1933 monster/love story created by maverick filmmaker Merian C. Cooper (with a few changes), but also topped himself in terms of masterful storytelling, mixed with awesome special effects action sequences and believable human characters.This new “Kong” also erased memories of Dino DeLauurentiis’ ponderous 1976 remake, which introduced future two-time Academy Award winner Jessica Lange to movie audiences, and a man-in-a-monkey suit (AA Winner, Rick Baker).The new three-hour-and-seven-minute epic begins (and ends) in New York City, 1933, where wild-card …

You probably have to go all the way back to 1969 to find a year that’s been this bad for Star Trek.That was the year, after all, that NBC canceled the original series, throwing the franchise into a Dark Ages that lasted a decade. (Heck, back then, it hardly even qualified as a “franchise;” it was just another dead TV show.)But 2005 might be even worse, if that were possible.In ‘69, Trek died just once; this year, it may die twice.With the end of “Enterprise,” Trek has once more been stricken from the television airwaves. But now it may be taken off the Internet, as well–at least in an official sense.The corporate chieftains who run Paramount Pictures are considering closing the doors on Trek’s home along the Information Superhighway, the official website at www.startrek.com.In one more media …

Television without Joss Whedon is like popcorn without butter. There’s no point.For avid fans who followed “Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s” seven-year-run, “Angel’s” five-year trek and “Firefly’s” less-than-a-season damnation by the television Powers That Be, there’s just a lot of dead air out there.Sure, there’s plenty on. But for those of us with little time to spare, the appeal isn’t there. “Lost” seemed like a good option at first, but, well, I got lost and will have to catch it on DVD at some point. “Supernatural” was worth giving a go, but the predictability turned me off fast. “Masters of Horror” looked worthy of an hour a week, carved out of my busy schedule. In fact, I even bought a subscription to Showtime just to see it. Beyond a few exceptional episodes though, the flavor’s gone flat …

“Villains, like blondes, have more fun.”
– Actor John ColicosClose your eyes and try to imagine James Callis of the new “Battlestar Galactica” declaring, “At long last I’ve overtaken Adama with sufficient strength to blow him out of the sky!”Or announcing, “I’ve decided that the city of Gamoray will be my seat of power. From it, I will decide how and where I will extend my dominion throughout the star system.”Hmmm…it just doesn’t quite right, does it?It’s no knock on Callis, but his Baltar bears no resemblance to John Colicos’ original.But, then, no one ever did villains quite as well as Colicos. The late Canadian actor took a great Shakespearean tradition and flair and took it to the dark side.”Leading men are so cliched,” he told an interviewer in 1989. “They’re so boring, so predictable. …

A technology revolution is happening on television. Network executives aren’t likely to be too happy about it, since, according to a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, it will ultimately give science fiction fans more power over the television shows they watch.Fans have been using the Internet for years, and increasingly they have been going online to organize and mount often savvy campaigns to save favorite scifi series that come under the network axe.Using the Internet to raise large sums of money to advertise and advocate on behalf of series, fans have developed means and methods that rival political campaigns in their sophistication.Sadly, these efforts have often brought only heartbreak as the network suits ignore them and go ahead and cancel such series as “Angel,” …