Spike TV’s original series Blade, based on the comic and movies of the same name, won’t be renewed for a second season. Its heavily-promoted first season of 13 episodes didn’t meet the network’s expectations for ratings, though a DVD set is already said to be in the works. There’s no word of any attempt to find a new network home for the show, or – perhaps even more telling – a campaign to encourage any other networks to pick it up.
Source: Sci-Fi Wire

The Guinness Book of World Records, which recently declared Stargate SG-1 the longest consecutively running science fiction series in TV history, has acknowledged that there might just be another contender for that title – sort of. Earlier this week, the BBC challenged Guinness’ findings, noting that Doctor Who ran for 26 consecutive years during its original run, clearly beating SG-1′s ten years on the air. According to a BBC statement, Guinness editor Craig Glenday responded: “Doctor Who is without question the longest running science fiction show in terms of years. Stargate SG-1 has run without a break since it first hit our screens in 1997, however, so is the longest show with consecutive back to back episodes.” (What exactly the distinction is, it’s hard to say – in the B&W days of Doctor Who, there were new episodes produced for nearly every weekend of the year, with allowances for short breaks for the cast and crew, which seems a tad more “consecutive” than 20 to 22 episodes a year. On the other hand, during Doctor Who’s original run, the show didn’t occupy the same slot year-round through endless reruns, which may be the sticking point.) SG-1 has clearly beaten out The X-Files as the longest running American SF series, and in any case, both shows are availing themselves of bragging rights, with advertising for SG-1′s season 9 DVD set touting it as television’s longest-running SF series.
Source: BBC

Senegalese-born actor Johnny Sekka, who played the role of Dr. Kyle in the 1993 Babylon 5 pilot movie, died September 14th from lung cancer. His acting career began on the British stage in the 1950s, and he moved on to television, making appearances in Z Cars, Dixon Of Dock Green and The Avengers before he began a string of roles in the U.S. in the 1970s. On this side of the Atlantic, he appeared in such shows as Good Times, Roots: The Next Generation and Tales Of The Gold Monkey. Though he appeared in the Babylon 5 pilot movie The Gathering, his character (among others) was dropped before the show went to series, though Dr. Kyle was mentioned in several episodes without ever making another appearance. Mr. Sekka was 72.
Sources: IMDb, Daily Variety

Rob O’Hara, theLogBook.com staff writer and author of the increasingly popular classic computing memoir “Commodork: Sordid Tales From A BBS Junkie”, will be making a live appearance this Saturday (September 30th) at the Emergency Chicagoland Commodore Convention, held at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Lombard, Illinois. The Commodore-focused (but not Commodore-exclusive) event will also feature modern Commodore hardware designers Robin Harbron, Adrian Gonzalez and Jeri Ellsworth, along with vendors specializing in classic Commodore computer hardware and software. Rob will be selling (and, if you like, signing) copies of “Commodork” as well as performing a reading from the book. As the event’s web site cheerfully notes, “Come to the show, bring your stuff, walk in. Dealer tables are free. User tables are free. Admission is free.” You can visit that site here for more info, and even if you can’t make it, be on the lookout for theLogBook.com’s review of “Commodork” next week. (And no, we didn’t make him write it himself!)

Digital radio channel BBC7 has announced that it’s commissioning a special series of eight 50-minute Doctor Who audio stories from Big Finish Productions. The “season” of eight stories will begin on New Year’s Eve and run through February 2007, and will star Paul McGann as the Doctor with Sheridan Smith as a new companion for the eighth Doctor named Lucie Miller. (Big Finish had previously said that it was working on a range of eighth Doctor stories set later in that incarnation’s life, and this is likely that same project.) Blood Of The Daleks, a two-parter written by Steve Lyons, kicks off the new series; other writers include Paul Magrs, Eddie Robson, Paul Sutton and Jonathan Clements, and guest stars will include Bernard Cribbins, Elspet Gray, Nigel Havers, Tom Chadbon, and Jake McGann (Paul’s son). The “season” will end with another two-parter featuring the Cybermen; Nicholas Briggs, who has voiced both Daleks and Cybermen for the current TV series, will return to speak for both of the Doctor’s old foes. Each of the stories will be released on CD by Big Finish later in 2007, likely with extended scenes.
Source: Doctor Who Magazine

To offer a correction to our mention last week that the Doctor Who audio play The Gathering, featuring actress Janet Fielding’s first return to the role of Tegan Jovanka in over 20 years, was likely pushed back to October: Big Finish Productions has actually released that play just this week, only a week or so after releasing the closely-linked sixth Doctor story The Reaping (both stories are connected by a plotline involving the Cybermen). You can find ordering information in this prior article; the webmaster offers sincere apologies to Big Finish Productions for second-guessing their release schedule.

Doctor Who DVDs aplenty are on the schedule for both sides of the Atlantic. October 9th will see the UK release of the Tom Baker two-parter The Sontaran Experiment (infamous for barely starring Baker at all after the actor broke his collarbone on location and all subsequent action scenes had to be shot by his stunt double), the first in a new line of Doctor Who discs which are a bit lighter on features. (It’s not unreasonable to expect that other two-part stories from the Hartnell and Davison eras, and three-parters from Sylvester McCoy’s reign, will fall into that category as well.) For North American fans, though, the bit news is the January 2007 release of the second season of the new series, which premieres next Friday on the Sci-Fi Channel in the U.S., and in October on Canada’s CBC network. The set will be identical to its UK counterpart, which will be released on November 20th. At around the same time in 2007, though, UK fans can look forward to The Return Of The Master box set, another 3-disc compilation encompassing Tom Baker’s last two stories, The Keeper Of Traken and Logopolis, and Peter Davison’s first story, Castrovalva. These definitely won’t be “feature-light” DVDs, with each focusing on the monumental developments that took place within that closely-linked trilogy of four-parters. Keeper Of Traken‘s commentary track includes the late Anthony Ainley, and was recorded just prior to his death. You can find all sorts of Doctor Who DVD goodness in theLogBook.com Store.
Sources: BBC, Outpost Gallifrey

Spaceballs is back, and the Schwartz is with it. Mel Brooks is launching an animated series based on his 1987 Star Wars parody, and it’s already been picked up by G4. Brooks himself will reprise the voices of his movie characters, Yogurt and President Skroob. The show is expected to premiere in fall 2007, with the pilot written by (and every other script overseen by) original Spaceballs movie co-writer Thomas Meehan. According to the press release from MGM, the Spaceballs series will spoof everything from SF (beginning with the pilot’s retelling of the movie) to reality TV to politics. The animation will be done by Berliner Film Companie GmbH, but no one’s letting out of the bag yet whether the show’s style will lean toward traditional cel animation or CGI.
Source: MGM

The space shuttle Atlantis departed from the International Space Station today, as a Soyuz capsule carrying a small crew (which includes Anousheh Ansari, a trustee of the X Prize Foundation and the first female space tourist) continues toward its own rendezvous with the station. The shuttle’s return to Earth has been delayed while astronauts investigate a piece of debris that has been spotted near the shuttle, possibly after drifting out of the cargo bay.
Source: Associated Press

This past weekend, we saw the first airings of a project that Paramount quite astonishingly kept under wraps until the last possible minute: the remastered episodes of the original Star Trek, brought up to modern-day HD spec by going back to the original camera negatives for all non-effects footage, and replacing many of the space scenes with new CGI versions of the same scenes. But how does it all hold up? theLogBook.com’s webmaster takes a look. (more…)

Old friend and old enemies come together to make not just one, but two Doctors’ lives a little more interesting in a pair of upcoming Doctor Who audio dramas from Big Finish Productions. The Reaping, due soon, sees the sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) taking TARDIS traveler Peri (Nicola Bryant) home for a visit with her family, including her mother (played by Babylon 5′s Claudia Christian). But other events are taking place, and the Doctor realizes that the Cybermen are once again trying to gain a foothold on Earth. The story comes to a conclusion in The Gathering (originally scheduled for later this month, but now possibly pushed back to October), which sees the fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) fighting to resolve the Cyberman threat to present-day Earth, and also sees an uneasy reunion with former TARDIS traveler Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding), in her first (and probably only) appearance in the Doctor Who audio plays. The two linked stories are written by Joseph Lidster. You can preorder The Reaping and other sixth Doctor audio plays here, and The Gathering and other fifth Doctor stories here.

The cat’s out of the bag: Nintendo’s eagerly awaited new Wii video game console will launch on November 19th in North America, December 2nd in Japan, and December 8th in the UK. The console, whose motion-sensing wireless controller has been the source of endless speculation since it was unveiled earlier this year, will also feature wireless connectivity to Nintendo’s online game service (which includes the Virtual Console system that will allow Wii owners to download and play versions of NES, SNES and N64 classics, as well as other downloadable titles and content). North American gamers will find Wii Sports packed in with their machines (and even if you’re not a sports fan, c’mon, doesn’t virtual baseball or virtual golf where you really get to take a swing sound kinda cool?). 30 Virtual Console games will be downloadable on launch day, including classics from the Donkey Kong/Mario and Zelda series; one of the earliest Wii games available will also be a Zelda sequel, The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess. 15 to 20 other titles will be available in stores and online on launch day in each of the various territories, and Virtual Console fans can look forward to 10+ new downloadable classic games per month, including not just past Nintendo hits but games from the Sega Master System, Sega Genesis and TurboGrafx libraries. The Wii will be backward compatible with Gamecube discs and some accessories including the Wavebird wireless controller, but will not feature DVD player functions. Though pre-orders aren’t available in every region, watch this part of theLogBook.com Store to pre-order your own Wii console. (For those interested, we also have ordering links for the Playstation 3.)

Sylvester McCoy and Bonnie Langford are back as the seventh Doctor and Melanie in Big Finish Productions’ latest Doctor Who audio drama, Red. The Doctor and Mel find themselves trapped by a totalitarian regime that just hasn’t made allowances for visitors from another world, let alone another time. Complete with a cover that almost makes the Doctor look like Kolchak, Red is now available in theLogBook.com Store.

He’s known throughout the Doctor Who universe as the maniacal creator of the despicable Daleks, but who was Davros before the Daleks – and before the event that left him disfigured and trapped in a Dalek-like casing? The first in a new four-CD series of audio dramas from Big Finish traces Davros’ early life, his rise to prominence, and his descent into madness. Terry Molloy portrays Davros in the three latter installments, while this first installment, chronicling the Dalek creator’s early years, stars Rory Jennings (who guest starred in the recent Doctor Who TV episode The Idiot’s Lantern). You can pre-order the first I, Davros audio drama, Innocence, now from theLogBook.com Store.

So you want to relive the adventures of Luke Skywalker as he, Han, Princess Leia and the droids fight to topple the Empire, all while being inch-high plastic building block characters? We have a game that fills that need. The sequel to the best-selling Lego Star Wars game jumps ahead to the events of the original trilogy – portrayed as plastic building blocks! Lego Star Wars II: Original Trilogy arrives next week at the same time as the limited edition original trilogy DVDs, but you can pre-order it now from theLogbook.com Store. And may the Block be with you.

SF author (and, for the classic Star Trek, City On The Edge Of Forever scribe) Harlan Ellison is threatening – via the forums at harlanellison.com – to sue Pocket Books to cease distribution of the first book in a series of three which apparently spin an alternate history spawned by events in City. Ellison’s post notes that to use elements from City in a new story, Pocket Books and Paramount would need to negotiate rights with him under WGA rules. Since the book’s author allegedly doesn’t even acknowledge Ellison as the originator of those story elements, Ellison says the matter can now be resolved if Pocket Books will “acknowledge where the material came from and pay me a trailer-truck full of cash,” and he may also demand cover credit. At the moment, Ellison’s postings seem to indicate that he has yet to engage a lawyer in the dispute, but has rather attempted to contact Pocket Books Star Trek editor Marco Palmiero personally. However, a discussion on a PsiPhi.org message board, which includes some Star Trek novelists (but has yet to include comments from Palmieri himself, though he frequents the board), indicates that the books are based on the final story as aired (and written as a work-for-hire whose rights are held by Paramount), not the original teleplay to which Ellison still owns the rights (and in whose reprint he acknowledges that D.C. Fontana performed the final rewrite which was eventually filmed). (Of an earlier Star Trek novel using elements of City, “Imzadi” author Peter David says on his web site that he contacted Ellison for permission to use those elements.)
Sources: HarlanEllison.com, PsiPhi.org, PeterDavid.net