Doctor Who: The Five Companions

Doctor WhoBig Finish Productions releases a bonus Doctor Who audio drama starring Peter Davison. (This title was initially exclusive to Big Finish’s subscription program, as an incentive for those whose subscriptions included Army Of Death.) Read more

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (expanded soundtrack)

Star Trek IVSoundtrack specialty label Intrada Records releases a CD featuring Leonard Rosenman’s soundtrack from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The set includes the complete soundtrack (presented for the first time) as well as an alternate main title theme, never before released, that was not used in the movie itself. Read more

Doctor Who: The Doctor, The Widow And The Wardrobe

Doctor WhoThe Doctor, The Widow, And The Wardrobe, the 786th episode of Doctor Who (the 88th since the series’ revival) airs on BBC1. This Christmas special guest stars Claire Skinner, Alexander Armstrong (The Sarah Jane Adventures), Bill Bailey, and Arabella Weir. Read more

Doctor Who: The Lost Stories: The Foe From The Future

Doctor Who: The Lost StoriesBig Finish Productions releases the Doctor Who: The Lost Stories audio drama The Foe From The Future, audio versions of scripts that were intended for, but never produced by, Doctor Who on television. Tom Baker and Louise Jameson star in a story originally intended for the 1970s. Read more

Doctor Who: The Lost Stories: Valley Of Death

Doctor Who: The Lost StoriesBig Finish Productions releases the Doctor Who: The Lost Stories audio drama Valley Of Death, audio versions of scripts that were intended for, but never produced by, Doctor Who on television. Tom Baker and Louise Jameson star in a story originally intended for the 1970s. Read more

Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles: The Turing Test

Blake's 7Big Finish Productions, under license from B7 Media, releases the first box set of Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles audiobooks, featuring the story The Turing Test, performed by Paul Darrow and Michael Keating. Unlike the B7 Media releases before them, the Big Finish Blake’s 7 audio material is meant to happen within the continuity of the original television series. Read more

Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles: Solitary

Blake's 7Big Finish Productions, under license from B7 Media, releases the first box set of Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles audiobooks, featuring the story Solitary, performed by Michael Keating and Anthony Howell. Unlike the B7 Media releases before them, the Big Finish Blake’s 7 audio material is meant to happen within the continuity of the original television series. Read more

Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles: Counterfeit

Blake's 7Big Finish Productions, under license from B7 Media, releases the first box set of Blake’s 7: The Liberator Chronicles audiobooks, featuring the story Counterfeit, performed by original series stars Gareth Thomas and Paul Darrwo. Unlike the B7 Media releases before them, the Big Finish Blake’s 7 audio material is meant to happen within the continuity of the original television series. Read more

Ralph McQuarrie, Star Wars illustrator, dies

Star Wars, as envisioned by Ralph McQuarrieRalph McQuarrie, the artist who envisioned key scenes and settings of the Star Wars universe, before sets or models were built and before filming began, dies at the age of 82. As the production artist for Star Wars, McQuarrie got his licks in early on how the “universe” should look, from costumes to spacecraft to weaponry. George Lucas credited McQuarrie’s artwork with keeping the movies’ “look” on track, as well as selling 20th Century Fox on the idea of financing the first movie in the absence of any kind of test footage. McQuarrie also provided concepts for a redesigned U.S.S. Enterprise for an early ‘70s Star Trek movie project, Star Trek: Planet Of The Titans, that ultimately went unfilmed. He also contributed early concept art to Battlestar Galactica, E.T., Cocoon, Batteries Not Included, and many others, and had also worked on the animated artists’ conceptions of the Apollo moon missions played during CBS’ coverage of those flights.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (expanded soundtrack)

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered CountryIntrada Records releases an expanded limited edition of Cliff Eidelman’s soundtrack from the 1991 film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, including previously unreleased material and the original single-disc soundtrack album in remastered form. Read more

Project Yellow Sphere

The enigmatically titled internet short film Project Yellow Sphere debuts, revealed to be a semi-serious, six-minute live-action-plus-CGI proof-of-concept trailer for a potential Pac-Man movie. Shot and produced entirely at commercial production house Steelehouse Productions in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it’s the closest anyone has gotten to mounting a long-talked about Pac-Man film. Read more Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast

Star Trek Phase II: The Child

Star Trek Phase IIThe internet-based fan film Star Trek: Phase II releases its eighth full-length episode, The Child, based on the original version of a Star Trek: Phase II story written in the 1970s (which was eventually hurriedly recycled into TNG’s second season finale after the 1988 Writers’ Guild strike). Jon Povill, the original co-writer of the 1970s script, directs. Read more

Tron Uprising: Beck’s Beginning

Tron UprisingThe prelude to the animated spinoff series Tron Uprising airs on Disney XD. Originally devised as ten mini-episode teasers, Beck’s Beginning is recognized as a strong enough story in its own right to serve as a full episode-length pilot. Elijah Wood and Bruce Boxleitner star as the voices of Beck and Tron. Read more Hear about it on the Sci-Fi 5 podcast