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Daleks to be absent from new Who

DalekThe Daleks are out of the running for the ninth Doctor’s adventures, according to the BBC and Doctor Who‘s new producer, Russell T. Davies. Apparently it’s not just a matter of money either – the estate of Terry Nation (the late creator of the Daleks, Blake’s 7 and other classics of British SF TV) wants editorial input into the Daleks’ use in any new stories. But fear, not, Davies says: “We’re disappointed the Daleks won’t be included but we have a number of new and exciting monsters. And I can confirm we have created a new enemy for the Doctor which will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.”

Cassini arrives at Saturn

SaturnAfter a journey of seven years, gravity-assist slingshots past Earth, Venus and Jupiter, a plunge through Saturn’s ring-plane, and an engine burn of over an hour just to slow it down, the NASA/ESA space probe Cassini becomes the first man-made object to orbit Saturn. The trip has already paid off: Cassini has spotted never-before-seen features in Saturn’s immense rings, and succeeds in piercing Titan’s atmosphere with infrared imaging to provide one of the first-ever glimpses of the huge moon’s cloud-covered surface. Titan will also receive a visit from Cassini’s Huygens probe in 2005.

James Doohan diagnosed with Alzheimer’s

James DoohanBest known to Star Trek fans around the world as the original Enterprise’s tireless chief engineer, actor James Doohan and his family reveal that the actor is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease. In an interview given to British satellite channel Sky News, Doohan’s wife says that thus far, the problem has only manifested itself as a frustrating loss for words. Doohan, now 84 years old, is due to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and plans to make one final convention appearance in late August alongside a rare reunion of the entire original surviving cast of Star Trek at an event titled “Beam Me Up, Scotty…One Last Time”.

Stargate Atlantis: The Rising

Stargate AtlantisSci-Fi Channel airs the two-hour premiere episode of Stargate Atlantis, a new spinoff of Stargate SG-1. SG-1 stars Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks makes guest starring appearances in the episode, which sees the departure of an Earth expedition on a one-way journey through the Stargate to an alien base in the Pegasus Galaxy. The new series launch is well-received, with the existing Stargate fanbase eagerly awaiting the spinoff. Read more

V revival runs aground

VSources within NBC reveal to the media that a revival of the ’80s science fiction series V, being written by its creator, Kenneth Johnson, is languishing in a development hell from which neither the network nor its corporate cousin under the Vivendi-Universal umbrella, the Sci-Fi Channel, wants to rescue it. The project, titled V: The Second Generation, simply hasn’t excited anybody enough to greenlight it past the script stage. NBC has passed on V for now, and even Sci-Fi has turned back the lizard invasion. NBC’s executive in charge of miniseries and movies-of-the-week urges Johnson to continue rewrites rather than abandoning ship.

New Doctor Who filming begins

CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTONE IS THE DOCTORFilming begins on the new series of Doctor Who on location in Cardiff, Wales. Christopher Eccleston, the ninth Doctor, has yet to film his first scenes, however – the first week’s scenes focus on Billie Piper as the Doctor’s companion Rose Tyler, as well as an enemy that will be familiar to fans of the classic series in the Jon Pertwee era.Eccleston is expected to report to the set during the second week of shooting. The new series will debut in 2005 on the BBC.

Jerry Goldsmith, composer, dies

Jerry GoldsmithVeteran television and film composer Jerry Goldsmith dies at the age of 75, after a lengthy battle with cancer. Known to genre fans and soundtrack listeners for an almost countless number of classic scores, his works range from Planet Of The Apes to Logan’s Run to The Omen to Star Trek: The Motion Picture and beyond. His television work includes the themes for such TV series as The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Perry Mason, The Waltons, and of course Star Trek: Voyager. His work earned 17 Oscar nominations, including a win for 1976’s The Omen, and five Emmy Awards (including one for Voyager). He began his classical music studies at the age of six, and studied under legendary composer Miklos Rozsa, eventually getting into the business as a typist in CBS’ music department and then beginning his career by creating music for CBS Radio Workshop, the music for which was usually performed live during broadcast. He then moved on to episodic TV work, including The Twilight Zone, Gunsmoke, Playhouse 90, Thriller, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, Amazing Stories, and many others.

Private spaceflight test ends in explosion

Rubicon-1A team of Ansari X Prize hopefuls suffers a major setback when their vehicle, the Rubicon 1, explodes after liftoff in an unmanned test flight. According to Eric Meier, one of the designers of the Rubicon 1, the $20,000 vehicle cannot be recovered or repaired, but must be completely rebuilt. Meier and his team intend to build a new craft and continue vying for the X Prize, whose deadline is the end of 2004. Two other teams, one Canadian and one American, have already announced dates for their qualifying flights.

Cassini gets mooned at Saturn

s/2004 S!Mere weeks after entering orbit around the huge ringed planet, the Cassini is already making impressive discoveries at Saturn. NASA announces that Cassini images have uncovered two previously undiscovered moons in orbit of the ringed planet, and they’re among the smallest bodies that have yet been detected in space, each barely 2 miles in diameter. They’re given the provisional names s/2004 S1 and s/2004 S2, and await further verification of their size and orbits – and undoubtedly other members of Saturn’s family are waiting to be captured by Cassini’s cameras in the course of its planned four-year survey of the planet and its moons.

Elmer Bernstein, movie composer, dies

Airplane!Renowned composer Elmer Bernstein dies at the age of 82. Best known for his non-genre work on such classic films as The Ten Commandments, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Magnificent Seven (and its numerous sequels), Animal House, True Grit and Airplane!, he also racked up quite a few genre credits, ranging from Ghostbusters to Heavy Metal to Saturn 3 and beyond. He also scored numerous specials and documentaries for National Geographic, IBM, and even the United Nations. He was nominated for 11 Oscars with one win (for Thoroughly Modern Millie), and was instrumental in the formation of the Varese Sarabande label, which deals almost exclusively in soundtrack releases.