Our first glimpse of Spielberg’s “Jericho meets Independence Day” series

By Charlie Jane Anders at io9

In Falling Skies, Steven Spielberg’s TV series coming summer 2011, it’s six months since aliens wiped out most of humanity. How can Noah Wyle and Moon Bloodgood prevail? Our first glimpse of a trailer gave us some hints. Spoilers ahead…

The panel, moderated by io9′s own Marc Bernardin, started with our first trailer for the series, which only gave a few gruesome glimpses of the alien attackers. I saw one clear shot of metal feet stomping past as someone cowered in hiding, and there were quick cuts of a scene where Noah Wyle and a friend take on a monster in a storage facility or supermarket storeroom, and I thought I could see a ridged head. (In the roundtables for Falling Skies, Noah Wyle hinted that the aliens had more than two legs, and you had to get up close and personal to kill one.)

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Is A Game of Thrones the most eagerly anticipated TV show ever?

by Mathilda Gregory at The Guardian

A Game of Thrones, HBO’s adaptation of the first book in a series of fantasy novels by George RR Martin, isn’t due to hit our screens until spring next year. But it doesn’t take long gazing into the enchanted fireplace of the internet to discover that anticipation for this show is all the way up to eleventy. There’s a series of blogs and forums devoted to a show that doesn’t even start filming until Monday.

So A Song of Ice and Fire was already a hot internet property, but with the first sniff of the TV show being commissioned back in 2007, the anticipation machine went into overdrive – revved up even further by news that every fan’s first choice, Peter Dinklage, had been cast as the machiavellian dwarf Tyrion Lannister. There are blogs cataloguing every casting rumour and location possibility. Martin keeps his own “Not A Blog”, where he gives cryptic clues about the development of the show, always solved by dedicated fans within hours. A tiny trailer broadcast in the US a few months ago caused massive excitement as fans heard the show’s star Sean Bean whisper “Winter is coming”, the most famous line of his character, Eddard Stark.

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Comic Con 1: Abusing the Sci of SciFi panel

via Bad Astronomy at Discover magazine

At Comic Con, I moderated a wonderful panel about how science sometimes gets screwed up by science fiction. Sponsored by Discover Magazine and The NAS Science and Entertainment Exchange, it’s the third time we’ve done this panel, and it’s been really fun every year. I already talked a bit about this — we had Jaime Paglia from Eureka, Kevin Grazier from BSG and “Eureka”, Zack Stentz from “Thor” and “Fringe”, and Sean Carroll who is a cosmologist and blogs for Discover as well.

We showed our picks for representative good and bad science in shows and movies, and I have to commend Sean for his pick of “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” for good science (the consistency of the time travel in that movie is wonderful) and “Big Bang Theory” for the philosophy of science — they discuss the physics of Superman, making the assumption that a man actually can fly.

A new show on The Discovery Channel will be called “Bad Science”, about the abuse of Science in Sci FI movies and TV.

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Details on the show here

Scoop on Being Human’s Second Season

via Seattle Pi TV Guide

A beguiling British mash-up of Friends and The Vampire Diaries, the charming Being Human (Saturday, 10/9c, BBC America) returns for its second season with the increasingly darker and more harrowing adventures of a trio of roomies who just want to fit in despite being a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost.

The action kicks off as the vampire coven seeks revenge for its leader’s death and targets renegade fangster Mitchell (Aidan Turner) and wolfman George (Russell Tovey). More danger lurks as a religious zealot and a mysterious professor set out to cure werewolves—and kill vampires. On the home front, Nina (Sinead Keenan) is furious at boyfriend George for infecting her with the werewolf “curse,” and Mitchell is attracted to human doctor Lucy (Lyndsey Marshal).

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The Walking Dead Will Save Sci-Fi TV!

By Hilary Rothing at ugo

The Walking Dead will be the best new show of the fall…

The trailer took snippets of scenes from the opening of Kirkman’s graphic novel, where Kentucky cop Rick Grimes goes down in a shootout and awakens in a hospital, to find himself completely alone. In between shots, we sees flashes of the Dead, as Rick comes to terms with his new reality. We see Grimes on horseback in downtown Atlanta, as zombies surround him and well, demonstrate their taste for horsemeat (this scene in particular was not shown. Gale Ann Hurd explained that SDCC organizers asked for a toned down version of the footage, in general.)

Here’s a breakdown of what Darabont, Kirkman and company had to say about the most anticipated new television show in recent history:

On working with zombies

Darabont said he loved the idea of “doing something a little bold for television that reaches back into the genre but is very character based, and that’s what Robert did so right away I started concocting this thing in my head.”

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A sneak peek at The Cape (and a conversation with Vinnie Jones)

By Cyriaque Lamar at io9

Yesterday we got a sneak peek of the pilot to NBC’s upcoming superhero drama The Cape, starring David Lyons, Summer Glau, and Vinnie Jones, who filled us in on his villainous turn as the reptilian crime boss Scales.

The audience saw approximately 40-or-so minutes of the pilot at the panel. The footage wasn’t entirely complete, but had some neat action sequences, moustache-twirling villainy, and some cool visual effects using the eponymous cape. All in all, an old-school superhero yarn with a similar tenor to the first Spider-Man film. Here’s what happened:

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Comic-Con: Barenaked Ladies make surprise appearance at “Big Bang” panel

By: Variety

Wil Wheaton’s introduction to “The Big Bang Theory” panel, which kicked off with a rousing round of the theme song, as performed by surprise guests, Barenaked Ladies (who were commissioned by producers Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady to write the show’s jaunty theme song).

The group singalong set the tone for the event, which please fans of the show who were waiting outside Hall H for hours.

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There are so many shows that look good this fall! I hadn’t heard of Falling Skies before, and I hoping that Terra Nova is still on, but I’m looking forward to The Walking Dead and The Cape. I’m really excited for the Bad Science in Sci Fi show too. I love Bad Astronomy anyway, so this is very cool. And I can’t wait for Game of Thrones.

What shows are you looking forward to the most?

Open Book Society wants to congratulate the actor Sean Bean to his birthday!

Shaun Mark Bean was born April 17, 1959 in the Handsworth district of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. His first successful role was his portrayal of Richard Sharpe in the British television series ‘Sharpe’. Since then he has become well known internationally for his roles as Boromir in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, as Alec Trevelyan, a villain in James Bond’s ‘Golden Eye’ and as Captain Rich in ‘Flightplan’ with Jodie Foster. And he was Odysseus in ‘Troy’ and Chris DeSilva in ‘Silent Hill’. Sean Bean has also been involved in video game voice acting like ‘The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’.

From morning till night
May your birthday be bright
And nicer than ever before!
And as years come and go
May your happiness grow
And your dreams be fulfilled
Even more
HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Sean Bean!

You also want to send birthday wishes to wonderful Sean Bean? Feel free and left comments!

REAL LIFE WOLVES USED IN ‘TRUE BLOOD’ SEASON 3

Source: aceshowbiz.com

Alan Ball works on “True Blood” so seriously that real-life wolves are brought into the set so that the animal state of werewolves can be depicted close to the real ones. Stephen Moyer who plays vampire Bill said the third season’s story is full of the furry creature. “Yeah!” he told MTV News. “I’ve had to work with wolves. I like werewolves. I love that aspect of the show. It’s going to be amazing this year.”

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HBO TO FILM ‘GAME OF THRONES’ IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Source: Irishcentral.com

Sean Bean as Faramir in Lord of the Rings starring in ‘Game of thrones’

Source : irishcentral.com

HBO has officially ordered “Game of Thrones,” a new series based on George Martin’s  “Song of Ice and Fire” fantasy novels. The series will be shot at the Paint Hall in Belfast, starting in June.

The best-selling book franchise, which began in 1996 with “A Game of Thrones,” features the conflicts among several families on the mythical continent of Westeros as they battle for supremacy . The HBO series will run 10 episodes and will star Sean Bean and Tamazin Merchant as well as many other leading names.

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ARE GENRE SHOWS THE FUTURE OF THE CW?

Source: Airlock Alpha

Even before The WB and UPN “merged” (so to speak) to become The CW, the idea was to stray away from mainstream audiences, and gear more toward the underserved.

In the beginning, it was more toward a racially diverse audience. Later, it was a stronger focus toward women. But every time, genre shows win out.

First it was “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel,” and later it was “Smallville.” Now The CW has a crop of popular shows that refuse to die at the stake, including the tried and true “Supernatural” and the new “Vampire Diaries.”

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What do you think of CW becoming genre specific? Do you think it’s going that way? as for the ‘true blood’ news and the ‘Game of Thrones’ news – I love it when everyone involved in tv shows try to make the experience more real, either through choosing locations that have a certain feel to them, or using props, or, you know REAL WOLVES. Makes the show more fun.

What do youthink of today’s movie news?

Join us in the forum to discuss!

Below are a couple of sci-fi articles:

(scifiwire.com)

Here’s how you can appear in HBO’s A Game of Thrones

Lena Headey. Sean Bean. Peter Dinklage. They’ve all been cast in HBO’s A Game of Thrones pilot, an adaptation of the fantasy novel by George R.R. Martin.

Now add to that list … you.

If you’re male (Check!), between the ages of 16 and 60 (Ditto!), can be in Northern Ireland in the last week of October and first two weeks of November (I could do that!) and can ride a horse (Oh, well … ), hurry over to read the casting agency’s urgent call.

Source

Literary classic Little Women being remixed with werewolves

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was a monster hit, and we can understand why. Zombies are always cool, and mashing them up with Jane Austen—whose continued popularity almost two centuries after her death makes her seem a bit zombie-like herself anyway—was a brilliant idea.

Then came Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, which once more remixed Austen and monsters, this time two-headed sea serpents, giant lobsters and rampaging octopi.

Meanwhile, Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith has abandoned classic novels (at least temporarily) and instead set his sights on historical figures with his upcoming Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

And this remix trend is far from over, because according to GalleyCat, Del Rey Books has signed on for a mashup of yet another classic novel with a different iconic monster. Editor-in-chief Betsy Mitchell has just purchased Little Women and Werewolves from writer Porter Grand.

More here

Wow, it seems like everything is getting a supernatural make-over. It’s getting pretty ridiculous. What do you think? Do you feel your favorite classics are being ruined?

By Borys Kit and Nellie Andreeva at the Hollywood reporter

Sean Bean has nabbed the lead in “Game of Thrones,” HBO’s adaptation of the George R.R. Martin fantasy-book series. Tom McCarthy is directing; David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who wrote the screenplay, are executive producing.

The books revolves around a battle among seven kingdoms and between two ruling families for control of the Iron Throne, the possession that ensures survival through a 40-year winter to come.
Bean will play Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark, known for his sense of honor and justice, who becomes closest adviser to King Robert (Addy).

The Whole Article is here

and more here

I just started reading the books, so I don’t know the whole story line, but I think Sean Bean is perfect for this. And HBO always does a good job, so it should do the books justice.

Have you read any of George R.R. Martin’s books? What do you think of all the books being made into TV series lately?