Sci-Fi & Fantasy Archives - Page 7 of 30

River Song returns for 2015 Doctor Who Christmas special

December 24, 2015 Ryan Berenz

In the 11th Doctor Who Christmas special “The Husbands of River Song” (Friday, Dec. 25, at 9pm ET/PT on BBC America), time traveler River Song (recurring guest star Alex Kingston) meets her husband’s new incarnation, in the form of Peter Capaldi, for the first time. “The last time the Doctor saw her, she was a ghost. The first time he met her, she died. So how can he be seeing her again?” asks executive producer and writer Steven Moffat. “As ever, with the most complicated relationship in the universe, it’s a matter of time.” Episode description from BBC America: It’s […]

Bob Newhart returns for TBBT’s Star Wars-themed “The Opening Night Excitation”

December 17, 2015 Ryan Berenz

The Big Bang Theory episode “The Opening Night Excitation” expresses the feelings of a lot of Star Wars fans on the eve of the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. After more than five years of dating, Sheldon (Jim Parsons) and Amy (Mayim Bialik) spend their first night together. Also, the group must decide who will take their extra Star Wars movie ticket. Bob Newhart returns in his guest role as Sheldon’s Obi-Wan Kenobi. “The Opening Night Excitation” premieres on CBS Thursday, Nov. 17, at 8pm ET/PT. Preview: Photo: Credit: Michael Yarish/CBS ©2015 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Childhood’s End screenwriter talks about the Syfy adaptation

December 8, 2015 Jeff Pfeiffer

Along with debuting its new series The Expanse on Dec. 14, Syfy also premieres its stunning new miniseries Childhood’s End. In adapting Arthur C. Clarke’s (2001: A Space Odyssey) seminal science-fiction novel, Syfy perhaps fulfills the calling of the original Sci-Fi Channel, and is in line with the channel’s goal of becoming “the destination for the smartest, most provocative [genre dramas],” as Syfy president Dave Howe told Entertainment Weekly last year. Based on what we’ve seen, Childhood’s End should indeed be provocative. The story follows the peaceful invasion of Earth by alien “Overlords,” who promise to eliminate poverty, war and […]

Syfy’s “The Expanse” combines old-school space opera and sleek, modern sci fi

December 8, 2015 Jeff Pfeiffer

Syfy is billing The Expanse as the most ambitious series in its history, and from what we’ve seen, that shows. It has a look and feel that combines good old space opera with sleek science fiction, reminding us of Guardians of the Galaxy at times in its fun yet thrilling depiction of a future that — despite being set 200 years away from our time, when humanity has colonized the solar system — still has a lived-in look. There’s nothing tidy about this future, or its characters, especially rogue ship’s captain Jim Holden (Steven Strait, pictured). “We have the technology […]

AMC’s genre-bending “Into the Badlands” lives by the sword

November 12, 2015 Ryan Berenz

It’s hard to pin a label on AMC’s new six-part action drama series Into the Badlands, premiering Sunday, Nov. 15, at 10pm ET/PT. It has the dystopian future politics of The Hunger Games. It has the antiheroes of Westerns like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. It has the warrior’s spiritual journey of Kung Fu. It has themes of family bloodlines and ambition like in Game of Thrones or Shakespeare’s history plays. It has the moral codes of classic samurai films, and fight sequences reminiscent of The Matrix and Hong Kong martial arts movies. Into the Badlands fuses together […]

A new “Star Trek” TV series is coming in 2017

November 2, 2015 Jeff Pfeiffer

CBS Television Studios announced today that it will launch a “totally new” Star Trek TV series in January 2017. The show will kick off with a special preview broadcast on CBS. The premiere episode, and all subsequent first-run episodes, will then be available exclusively in the United States on CBS All Access, the network’s digital SVOD and live-streaming service. The program will also be distributed concurrently for television and multiple platforms around the world by CBS Studios International. Alex Kurtzman, who co-wrote and produced the 2009 reboot of Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, will executive produce the new series. “There is no […]

“A big jolly splatterfest” — Talking “Ash vs Evil Dead” with Bruce Campbell and Lucy Lawless

October 30, 2015 Jeff Pfeiffer

It was just past the first day of winter in New Zealand when I arrived at a location called Riverhead, just outside of Auckland, to begin watching the filming of the new Starz series Ash vs Evil Dead, which airs Saturdays beginning Oct. 31. Coming from the northern U.S., I didn’t find the weather to be quite what I was used to as “winter.” It was very pleasant: sunny, temps in the high 50s, low 60s Fahrenheit. The nice climate added to the loveliness of the filming location, a scenic pine forest. As a fan of the original Evil Dead […]

New Star Wars trailer debuts on Monday Night Football because … Disney!

October 19, 2015 Ryan Berenz

There was never any doubt that Disney’s ownership of the Star Wars galaxy would lead to opportunities for corporate SYNERGY!, and today brings forth the coupling of Disney-owned ESPN’s Monday Night Football with the new trailer for Disney-owned Star Wars: The Force Awakens opening in U.S. theaters Dec. 18. The new trailer debuts at halftime of the Oct. 19 MNF game between the New York Giants at the Philadelphia Eagles on ESPN. ESPN Deportes debuts the Spanish-language version simultaneously. For many sci-fi enthusiasts, this may be the first football game they ever watch part of. Here are two teasers for the new […]

Sneak peek at Maisie Williams in Doctor Who “The Girl Who Died”

October 17, 2015 Ryan Berenz

ALSO SEE: BBC America’s Doctor Who Season Preview Maisie Williams of Game of Thrones guest-stars in a highly anticipated episode of BBC America’s Doctor Who on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 9pm ET. In “The Girl Who Died,” the first of a two-part story, the Doctor (Peter Capaldi) and Clara (Jenna Coleman) are captured by Vikings and must help protect their village from the Mire, an army of deadly space warriors from the future. The ragtag band of Vikings is outnumbered and overmatched, but the Doctor thinks Viking girl Ashildre (Williams) may hold the secret to victory. Part 2 of the story airs Saturday, Oct. […]

Doctor Who “The Magician’s Apprentice” season premiere Saturday on BBC America

September 19, 2015 Ryan Berenz

In Peter Capaldi’s second season as the Doctor, the series sees the Doctor and Clara Oswald (Jenna Coleman) going on a journey that takes them to deadly alien planets, creepy underwater bases, Viking villages, a global Zygon uprising, and through hidden alien dens, to the very end of time itself. Doctor Who returns to BBC America with a two-part season premiere, “The Magician’s Apprentice” (Sept. 19 at 9pm ET/PT) and “The Witch’s Familiar” (Sept. 26 at 9pm ET/PT), written by showrunner Steven Moffat. In “The Magician’s Apprentice,” Clara needs her friend when the skies of Earth are frozen by a […]