via io9

After the last episode’s disappointing monster no-show, Sanctuary gives us a bona fide battle of the abnormals, pitting the normally docile vampire squid against the vicious sea scorpion. Which critter will come out on top?

Admittedly, I was prepared to dislike this episode on principle. “Next Tuesday” (without the words “See You” in front of it) has always been teased as Magnus and Will getting stranded somewhere and having a potentially fatal encounter with an abnormal. Sound familiar? It should if you’ve seen the first season episodes “Kush” (in which Magnus and Will crash in the Himalayas and have to survive a killer abnormal) and “Requiem” (wherein Magnus and Will are stuck in a submarine while Magnus suffers a deadly parasitic infection). Does Sanctuary not pay their other actors enough?

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Godzilla vs. Mothra anyone? This monster battle surely bring this to mind.

Sci-fi series finds Sanctuary on TV

www.canada.com: Riese, the heroine of the online sci-fi thriller series that bears her name, kicks ass and take names.

The evil occupiers of her nation of Elysia, have cast her out as prey. She’s intense and, if her producers get their way, she’s eager to jump from the Internet to the TV screens of hordes of sci-fi steampunk fantasy fans around the world.

Riese’s cliffhanging series debut hit the web Nov. 2, and has since been seen by more than 40,000 visitors at Riesetheseries.com. The second episode aired Monday (Nov. 16).

In a tight broadcast economy, and without an established brand or comic-book hero to lure longtime fans, sci-fi producers are eyeing the Internet to launch their shows, with an eventual landing to TV screens.

But the path can be brutal. It’s fraught with challenges and some regret for the people behind Sanctuary, the most successful made-in-Vancouver web to TV crossover so far.

“I would definitely recommend going online with a series, but not the way we did it,” says Amanda Tapping, the lead actor and executive producer of the multiple-Gemini-nominated Sanctuary, which debuted its second season in September.

More here

What’s Your Favorite Moment from ‘Supernatural’ Season 5?

www.buddytv.com: With eight weeks of no new Supernatural on the horizon, we’re taking a look back at the first half of season 5.  This year has seen plenty of big moments on Supernatural, including the rise of Lucifer, the return of hunters and demons from the past, Paris Hilton, the Trickster, a search for God, the Anti-Christ and an angel in a whorehouse.

But what were your favorite moments, scenes and quotes from season 5 so far?  Leave a comment below with your favorite moment and tell us why you loved it.  It can be a scene, a quote, a weird facial expression, a great piece of music or whatever else you’d like.  Then we’ll pick the best of your suggestions and compile our list of the best moments of Supernatural season 5.

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Alexander Skarsgard Denies Romancing Kate Bosworth; Says Expect More Nudity & Sex On True Blood

www.radaronline.com: Relax ladies, Alexander Skarsgard is still on the market. At Wednesday night’s GQ Men of the Year party at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood, the True Blood star told RadarOnline.com exclusively that he and Kate Bosworth are just friends.

“I’m not dating anyone, those are just rumors,” he laughed. When asked if there were any special women in his life, the hunky actor replied “my mom and my sister.”

Skarsgard was one of the night’s special guests; he was honored as one of the “Men Who Saved HBO”.

For the record, Kate also attended Wednesday night’s party but avoided the red carpet, sneaking quietly into the hotel instead.

Skarsgard, 33, who plays brooding vampire Eric Northman on the HBO hit series True Blood, will begin shooting season three along with the rest of the cast later this month. The actor told RadarOnline.com that fans can expect a lot more from Eric this time around.

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Episode Preview: The Vampire Diaries: 1.10: “The Turning Point”

news.popstar.com: The Vampire Diaries is heating up the small screen.  Vicki (Kayla Ewell) is no longer with us and Jeremy Gilbert (Steven R. McQueen) knows that she is gone and will miss her but knows that it is for the best.  Jeremy miraculously turned into the young man he was on his way to being before the death of his parents.  He is not doing drugs and staying out all night and best of all he is trying to complete his school work and catch up.  There is a new history teacher who gives Jeremy an assignment of writing a local history paper to boost his grade.

Jeremy took his aunt’s advice and went through some old family boxes.  He found a diary in the box and began reading through it.  The hot new history teacher is also full of mystery and left many clues that he is a vampire himself.  He talked long into the evening with Jenna, Jeremy’s aunt, and took her home.  He waited on the threshold to be invited in and when Jenna (Sara Canning) chose not to he left without making a fuss.  He also had a ring such as the ring the Salvatore brothers wear.  Damon (Ian Somerhalder) revealed his true purpose for being in Mystic Falls.

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The Vampire Diaries‘ Jasmine Guy and Katerina Graham Discuss Spoilers, Dance and Prince Proteges

www.movieline.com:Vampires may hog the zeitgeist at the moment thanks to the fanaticism for Twilight and True Blood, but two cast members of the immensely popular CW hit drama The Vampire Diaries bring allure to the age-old TV favorite of witchcraft. Jasmine Guy, who thrilled us for six seasons as fussy southerner Whitley Gilbert-Wayne on A Different World and two seasons on Showtime’s underrated Dead Like Me, and newcomer Katerina Graham play a grandmother and granddaughter connected by their eerie abilities. Movieline caught up with the duo to discuss Vampire Diaries’s Atlanta HQ, how viewers can survive during the show’s hiatus, and the parts in the upcoming Soul Train movie that they’re willing to take.

The fans for this show are zealous! How does relating to the fans this time feel different than on your previous work? Let’s begin with Jasmine.
JG: I would think Vampire Diaries had a slightly younger demographic than the last thing I did, which was Dead Like Me, and that was more a sci-fi audience of mixed ages. And this is a little bit more an age of romance, the early 20s — when you still believe in [lowers voice] love and blood.

KG: The demographic is different than Dead Like Me, but I think it translates to an older audience as well. I’ve gotten fan letters from 50-year-old women with 9-year-old girls, to older women and older men.

JG: That’s ‘cuz y’all are so hot.

KG: [Laughs.]

JG: If anything, this is the most beautiful cast I’ve ever worked with.

KG: Aww!

JG: I saw y’all had a picture in the office. I said, “What’s that for? A photo shoot?” And they said, “No, that’s the cast.”

KG: [Laughs] That is funny.

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What do you think of todays TV news?

Learn Sign Language from Sanctuary’s Creature from the Black Lagoon

Bigfoot, a werewolf, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon walk into an episode of Sanctuary, and what do they do? Mostly, they trade sign language, perform mundane medical procedures, and wait for the episode’s true villain to emerge.

I’m not sure what I could have hoped for from this classic monster match-up — certainly not a cage match, but maybe abnormals playing poker? Alas, Sanctuary has not time for such frivolities. Our rubber-suited movie monster is Jack, a creature called a Plesky who has been living in captivity with werewolf Henry’s pal Rachel. Rachel has been socializing Jack and teaching him sign language; he’s basically like Koko the gorilla if Koko occasionally shot out deadly spores. Yes, Jack has shot his deadly, deadly spores into Rachel, who will die if Magnus and her team can’t find a cure.

More here

We review the 2009 sci-fi pilots you’ll never see

Just before every fall TV season begins, the excitement of new possibilities swirls through the air as we anticipate what new shows are in our future. That excitement fades once we realize that only a couple of shows are actually worthy and is dashed once we see promising shows like Eastwick and Dollhouse killed off.

So now that the cancellations have begun, let’s take a look at the season that might have been. Here are four pilots the networks passed on, with our take on whether they missed an opportunity to unleash something great (or even just mildly entertaining) on viewers:

Back, CBS
Boldy Going Nowhere, Fox
Captain Cook’s Extraordinary Atlas, ABC
No Heroics, ABC

More here

12 Sci-Fi Shows That Were Canceled Too Soon

Joss Whedon has become something of a tortured artist since ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ ended its highly successful seven-season run in 2003. Since Sunnydale was destroyed and ‘Angel’ got pulled right when it was finding its own identity post-’Buffy,’ Whedon has yet to find another long-running hit. It’s still hard to believe that a show as great as ‘Firefly’ only lasted one season!

Whedon’s bad luck continues with the recent announcement that Fox is pulling the plug on ‘Dollhouse,’ a series that had enough of a following — and potential — to warrant another season. Would ‘Dollhouse’ have really hit its stride further down the road? We’ll never know. Here are some other sci-fi television series that met their makers too soon.

‘Angel’
‘Bionic Woman’
‘Birds of Prey’
‘Brimstone’
‘Firefly’
‘Invasion’
‘Jericho’
‘The Lone Gunmen’
‘Millennium’
‘Star Trek: TOS’
‘Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles’
‘Tru Calling’

MORE HERE

Some of the Sci-Fi Pilots – it’s a shame we won’t ever see them. A few of them don’t sound that bad.

As for the shows that were canceled too soon, I at least agree with Angel, Firefly, Bionic Woman and Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Which pilots do you think would have been good shows?

And which of the canceled shows were your faves?

via Sci Fi Wire

How much do we love Sanctuary’s Amanda Tapping? A lot more since we’ve heard about her new charitable foundation, “Sanctuary for Kids,” designed to support charities that provide aid to children in crisis.

To kick-start the foundation, Tapping will auction off a set visit, props and other items from the Syfy series Sanctuary this month.

New Not-for-Profit Foundation, SANCTUARY FOR KIDS, launched by TV Actor / Executive Producer Amanda Tapping

Foundation will raise funds for children in crisis by auctioning rare props, set visits and ‘priceless’ items from sci-fi TV series Sanctuary.

Sanctuary for Kids was inspired by the sci-fi TV series Sanctuary, for which Amanda Tapping is Executive Producer and the series lead actor. The foundation will harness the tremendous and supportive sci-fi community and provide access to rare and experience-based online auction items from Sanctuary to raise funds for children’s charities. The first auction will take place November 12 – 22, 2009.

Read More here

I would love to meet Amanda Tapping! And it’s so great to see organizations like this and celebrities doing charity work for the sake of charity rather than attention.

What do you think of the auction? Which item would you love to have?

thanks to scifiwire.com

Good news for Chuck fans! It’s coming back SOON

Thought you were going to have to wait until March to catch up with Chuck Bartowski? Not any more! According to a report from Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello, the premiere of Chuck’s third season might take place as soon as late October.

There’s no firm date to report yet, or even an announcement as to whether the series will return to its Monday timeslot or have to find itself a new night, as Ausiello’s exclusive info comes from one of “my moles,” but he also reports that “NBC insiders who’ve seen the first four episodes are calling this season the best yet.”

And, per Ausellio, the news gets even better:

“If Chuck does come back sooner rather than later, the chances of NBC ordering additional episodes beyond the 13 it initially commissioned increases dramatically.”

Looks like October just got a lot more interesting!

source

You heard it Chuck fans! So stay tuned and give OBS your reviews on Chuck Are you a Chuck fan? Will you be seeing this new season?

Juicy details on Sanctuary Season 2

Executive producers Amanda Tapping (also the star, of course), Damian Kindler and Martin Wood answered a bunch of questions during a press visit, and we learned quite a bit about where the show is going. Warning, some of this is spoiler-ish:

How season two starts and where it goes: “The idea was to definitely wrap up the amazing corner we painted ourselves into in the first season,” Kindler said. “Beyond that, the mission was to deepen things and really let the show find its feet.”

Meet Kate Freelander: Kate is a new character who joins the Sanctuary team this year. She’s played by Agam Darshi and Tapping described her as “this con artist, rough-around-the-edges, swindler, grifter. She knows enough about the abnormal network, knows enough about the Cabal, knows enough about the Sanctuary, to be dangerous.”

More here

Are you excited about the new season? Are you a Sactuary fan?

Via Sci Fi Wire

“Riese, a seemingly random wanderer, is being hunted by a terrifying religious cult, The Sect. Traveling from nation to nation for years, she is accompanied only by a wolf, Fenrir. Together they must evade the assassins sent by the Sect—who’ll stop at nothing to complete the task they failed to achieve many years ago.

“Her past is shrouded in mystery, as even Riese can’t recall the events of the tragic night when her entire family was slaughtered and she was forced to flee into the wilderness. On her journey, she’ll piece together her past, and her destiny, in a conflict that will hold the fate of the world in the balance—and the once peaceful kingdom of Eleysia will be the battlefield.”

More Details here

There isn’t a lot of information, but when was the last time there was a show feature Steampunk? I’ll give this a try.

What do you think of shows online? Will you check this one out?