space

That's a direct-to-DVD movie, not a TV movie or one for the theaters.

The movie was announced in 2005, and now Babylon 5 creator/writer J. Michael Straczynski confirms that not only is there a movie coming this year but it's just about done. The film has been shot and now they're just working on post-production stuff (title sequence, music, special effects, etc). He tells the Babylon 5 newsgroup that the DVD will be released around July 27.

I never watched Babylon 5, and I always thought I missed out on something good. Straczynski is a good writer, and I know that Harlan Ellison was involved in the show too, so I should really get the DVDs. The movie will star Bruce Boxleitner, Tracy Scoggins, and Peter Woodward.

If you like science fiction, and Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, Stargate, and other shows aren't enough, get ready for Beyond.

According to Aint It Cool News, FOX has ordered 13 episodes of the series. It's about a big meteor coming to Earth, carrying a deadly virus, and the efforts to stop it. Jeez, as if a meteor wasn't enough to worry about, the damn thing has to be carrying a virus too? The show will star Seth Gable, Rachel Perry, and Merrin Dungey from Alias.

The best part of the story is the various comments from Ain't It Cool readers. Some of the entertaining subject lines of the comments include "Why FOX Why" and "Armageddon meets Outbreak" and "For Christ's Spellcheck. Is it that hard?" Ha!

I recall Carl Sagan on the old Cosmos show explaining the gold plaque the was placed on the Pioneer 10 spacecraft to introduce us to any aliens that happened to pick it up, unlikely as that might be.

Now, in a week when we've got Neil Armstrong's words straight, news comes that European television channel Arte, which broadcasts in French and German, is producing a program to beam directly into space 45 light years away, to a point near the Big Dipper. The programs sort of a multimedia version of the plaque: it'll feature a nude man and woman as presenters, who will talk about daily human life. Examples of music and art, along with messages from scientists in many disciplines will also be included. The event is conceived by the French Centre National D'etudes Spatiales (CNES). The Irish Times has a really snarky article about it.

Because of the distance, if the broadcast is seen, any show that aliens might want to put on for us won't be available here for at least ninety years. Probably longer, allowing for production time.

[via Slashdot]

(S01E09) Real events inspired this episode. Chris Carter says he wrote Space after seeing the real 'face on Mars' photograph. According to the experts over at The X-Files wiki, this episode was meant to be a cheaply made one with lots of NASA footage but the construction of the command center pushed them over budget and made Space the most expensive episode of the season. Whoops.

It's no secret that some of us over here at the palatial TV Squad offices are a bit confused by the recent scheduling decisions that have been handed down by the Sci-Fi Channel's executives over the past few months. I mean, other than the shows that are part of the Sci-Fi Friday block, a good portion of the schedule is filled with cheesy made-for-tv movies, reruns of creepy Law & Order: SVU episodes and, for a reason only known to the executives of Sci-Fi and Universal, Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Oh, Trekkies Trekkers are going to have a lot to say about this, I'm sure.

J.J. Abrams says that's he wants to cast Damon as the captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise in the new Star Trek movie he is putting together. And he even has the blessing of the original Captain James. T. Kirk, William Shatner.

I think this is a good idea, actually. Damon looks the part, and as the Bourne movies showed, he can do action. But please, please, please don't cast Ben Affleck as Spock. Nothing against Affleck, I just think that would be too much to take, like it's Space Will Hunting or something.

Okay, this one is for the sci-fi geeks. There's a few "space" shows I've watched and enjoyed, but there's far more I haven't seen, so help me out and let me know what your favorite television spaceships are. Below are five television spacecrafts I wouldn't mind being beamed onto, as long as they gave me a laser gun to protect myself, and maybe a large bucket of deep-fried tribbles ( I hear they taste like shrimp). Let's cruise:

The USS Swinetrek: This was the pig-shaped spacecraft from one of my favorite Muppet Show segments, "Pigs in Space." I always found myself intrigued by the adventures of Link Hogthrob, Doctor Strangepork, and first mate Miss Piggy. The episode with Mark Hamill where he appears on the spaceship as Luke Skywalker and Miss Piggy won't let him leave until he "rescues" her is one of my all-time favorite Muppet episodes.

One of the great things about Monk is how its protagonist is able to solve crimes that seem to have airtight alibis. Granted, sometimes the solutions are a bit far-fetched, but that's part of the show's charm.

Last night's episode focused on a famous astronaut who Monk is convinced murdered a woman he had an affair with five years ago. The only problem is, the astronaut was in outer space when the murder (made to look like a suicide by hanging) took place. The astronaut is cool, confident, calm under pressure, everything Adrian Monk isn't. Monk's constituents in the police department are awestruck by the famous man, and can't believe Monk's theory that somehow he was able to commit a murder while floating around deep space.

A lot of times, Monk focuses hard on Monk's phobias, but once in a while an episode will peel back a few more layers. The "murder mystery" aspect of the episode was intriguing as always, but what was really interesting was how Monk was forced to deal with someone whom he felt inferior to, and by doing so had to summon up whatever small amount of courage he had within him. When he chases down a jet plane, stands in front of it, and refuses to move when several rifles are pointed at him, he proves to himself he's not the "muss" (a word he made up combining "man" and "wuss") he thought he was. Monk works best when it's able to combine the quirky with the serious. Last night's episode was the best I've seen in awhile.

The news service over at Sci Fi channel has an interview with Loni Peristere, visual-effects supervisor for Serenity, who reveals how to find the easter egg on the DVD. Here's how:

• In the main menu, highlight 'Play'
• Press left on your remote
• A marker on the right side of the menu will highlight
• Press enter

[Via Pop Candy]