SFSurplus-2008-08-26 #067 [49:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Topics: Dragon-Con, Superman, DC Comics, Red Dwarf, Stargate Universe, Kevin Smith, Star Trek, Watchmen, Mur Lafferty, Playing for Keeps.

Thank you for listening to our audiocast. This is show number 067 on the feed August 26th, 2008.

In the Council of Great Relevance we’re going to do our lead-up to Dragon*Con this coming weekend in Atlanta. In the news is a re-think of Superman, Red Dwarf may make a re-turn, and The Stargate Universe will be re-visited. We’re also going to talk about Kevin Smith’s take on Abrams Star Trek and get some information about the new Highlander.

Also coming up later in the show, we’re going to talk about Mur Lafferty’s “push” for her superhero novel “Playing for Keeps.” There’s a button on scifisurplus.com that takes you straight to the page to purchase your copy. She has been all over the place working to get as much attention as she can for a fantastic book.

SciFi Surplus is presented by GoToMeeting. For a free trial, visit “GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts.”

I’m Casey and joining me on the show today is:

• Producer - Randy
• The X.O. - Vince
• Productress - Girl Friday
• Science Officer - Jeromy

Now that the introductions are out of the way, Let’s get our geek on!

Anti-witness News

Superman is going to be re-booted on the big screen. Warner Brothers says they’ve made up their mind about what to do with their stable of superheroes and things are going to change. The plan will be to release 4 big movies over the next 3 years. They will be a Dark Knight sequel, the Superman re-start, and two other that could feature, the Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow or Wonder Woman. They also say that in a few years they could combine the heroes into a project that incorporates them all.

The British comedy, Red Dwarf, may be coming back. Robert Llewellyn, the actor who plays the quirky robot, Kryten, has been documented as saying that BBC Worldwide had commissioned a new 1-hour episode of the show. According to the people that claim this, Llewellyn says filming will begin this coming November and will include all of the original cast of Red Dwarf.

An official green-light has been given for Stargate Universe. Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, co-creators of both the television Stargate shows, will executive produce and write the new series. There will be a two-hour TV movie and the show will begin airing regular episodes in the summer of 2009. The premise is that the people find a starship created by the Ancients and begin traveling to the farthest reaches of the universe to complete it’s auto-pilot mission. There seems to be no way to return to Earth.

The hard-core cars in prison movie, Death Race debuted at the number 3 position at the box office getting topped by Tropic Thunder and House Bunny. The Dark Knight slipped to 4th place but is saying consistent by bringing in another 10 million dollars over the weekend. The Clone Wars came in 5th. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor dropped off to 10th position making 4 million.

20th Century Fox says there will be no screenings for critics and press for the films “Babylon AD” and “Bangkok Dangerous.” The films star Vin Diesel and Nicolas Cage respectively and are being scheduled for the weakest time of the movie-going year. This is a good indication that they aren’t very good.

The Council of Great Relevance: Dragon-Con Pre-show

This coming weekend the 22nd Annual Dragon*Con will be held in Atlanta, Georgia. Dragon*Con is one of the largest multi-media, popular culture conventions focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and films. Both of our producers, Girl Friday and Randy will be in attendance for this 4 day long geek fest.

What are the big highlights of Dragon*Con this year?

• The Annual Parade with Adam West (in the Batmobile) with George Lowe (Space Ghost) and author Laurel K. Hamilton
• Autograph sessions: too many stars to name
• Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant
• Robot Battles.. one I’m sure Vince would be fond of
• The Programming tracks: Trek Track, Matters of the Force, Podcasting Track, Whedon Universe, British Sci-Fi Media Track are the ones I’ll be hitting. Other big ones are the Anime/Manga track, Costuming Track, the Space and Science Tracks, StarGate Offworld Fandon, Tolkien’s Middle Earth

Dragon*Con is known for having numerous media guests each year, and this year they’re trying to outdo themselves. Randy, what are some of the media panels you plan on attending?

• Friday Night Main Track: Babylon 5 Guests: Jerry Doyle, Walter Koenig
• Stars of Star Wars: David Prowse, Jeremy Bulloch, Peter Mayhew, Ray Park, Matthew Wood, Jake Lloyd
• BSG Panels: James Callis, Richard Hatch, Aaron Douglas, Tahmoh Penikett, Edward James Olmos, Michael Hogan
• Inside the Actor’s Gaffe: Torchwood: James Marsters, Gareth David-Lloyd, Anthony Lewis
• DS9 Reunion: Avery Brooks, Michael Dorn, Cirroc Lofton
• An Hour in the Firefly verse: Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite
• The Right Hands of Good and Evil: Sean Astin, Brad Dourif
• Also, Tahmoh Penikett will be talking about Dollhouse for an hour so I’m going to do my best to hit that panel
• and the ever-present George Taikei will be signing autographs, I think.

There is going to be a large presence of podcasters this year, including several podcsat novelists. What will be the biggest topics of discussion?

• Success of various podcast novelists
• Several Podcasts recording live during D*C including Mur’s ISBW #100
• Parsec awards (run down the nominees, maybe?)
• Track topics: Podcasting for Promotion, Creative Commons and Legal Issues, What NOT to do in podcasting, and Podcasting into the Future
• Podcasters in attendance: Mur Lafferty, J.C. Hutchins, Tee Morris, Christianna Ellis, Seth Harwood, Scott Sigler, and Phillipa Ballantine

What are some other events you’re looking forward to?

• Admiring the intricacies of the costumes and playing photog
• Author signings: John Scalzi, Kevin J. Anderson, and Mur Lafferty
• Saturday night parties: Colonial Fleet Party, Mos Eisley Cantina Ball and the Mighty Fine Shindig!
• After hours parties
• Meeting and mingling with SFS listeners

Dean from Virginia sent in an email letting us know that he’s willing to help out.

If you want to help out go to scifisurplus.com and click “talk to us”

Sloppy Third Part

Let’s track Mur Lafferty’s “push” on Amazon for her book, “Playing for Keeps.”

Kevin Smith has seen a rough cut of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek and the word he used to describe it was “phenomenal.” He is also helping to calm our fears by saying that the project is in good hands. There were also kind words for Chris Pine, the actor that is playing Kirk.

In Highlander News, Journeyman and Rome actor, Kevin McKidd, says he’s been approached to star in the upcoming Highlander movie remake.

Thanks go out to our Chief Writer Bob, our News Director John and xxx. Great job everyone! On our next show we’re going to run down the fall TV schedules and get you ready and find any DVR conflicts. For everyone here, I’m Casey and we’ll talk to you next time!