scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/the-imaginarium-of-doctor.php

Join us for an exclusive interview with the creators of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus as they explain how Terry Gilliam's magical movie was made.

Go behind the scenes as Terry Gilliam explains how he decided that the late Heath Ledger's role could only be filled by three other actors, Verne Troyer describes what it was like to work with Ledger and Lily Cole explores the gray area between good and evil.

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/transformers-2-voted-both.php

What was the worst movie of the year? What was the year's best action movie? Based on Moviefone's poll, which received 238,000 votes, the answer to both of those questions was the same—Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/go-behind-the-scenes-for.php

James Cameron's not the only visionary changing the way we watch movies. In a hilarious behind-the-scenes video from the comics over at Free Love Forum, one of the bootlegging industry's true geniuses explains the new technologies he had to invent to realize his vision.

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/time-traveling-back-to-th.php

Got $89,000 and an urge to channel Marty McFly? Then head over to eBay and check out the most screen-accurate Back to the Future DeLorean time-machine replica you're ever likely to see, brought to our attention by our friends over at collider.

According to the seller, this super-accurate replica is even better than the real thing, because "sadly, the 'actual' film cars have been rotting away on the Universal backlot for the last 25 years, being picked apart and neglected. You wouldn't want it. This car is what you want, a car that looks exactly like what you saw in the film, with all the cool lights, sounds and buttons you thought the car in the film had (but never really did). People are often really disappointed when they see a prop up close. Movie props are designed to be filmed from a distance, but this car truly looks and feels 'real' even up close. It is in many ways 'better' than the 'real' car, as many replica props often are, because the people who build them spend so much more time and effort tending to every last detail."

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/district-9-blu-ray-reveal.php

It's interesting to think about the abilities of first-time filmmakers and the opportunities they are—but mostly aren't—given. Neill Blomkamp, for example, essentially built District 9 out of the rubble of his producer Peter Jackson's aborted Halo video game adaptation, and ended up making one of the best films of the year. It begs the question—where are all the other future visionaries? Toiling behind the scenes bringing someone else's vision to life? Struggling to find the money to make their would-be masterpiece?

District 9 debuts on Blu-ray as the year wraps up, and it serves as a reminder that great things can happen when folks with money give folks with ideas a chance to explore them. Packed with loads of extras and the candid participation of Blomkamp himself, the disc is one of the year's best, because it seems to have the opportunity as much to entertain as to inspire other fledgling filmmakers to follow their dreams.

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/actress-ming-na-talks-sgu.php

Actress Ming-Na's character, Camile Wray, seemed destined to be little more than an underused troublemaker on Stargate Universe. Then, in a pivotal episode, "Life," we discovered that she is a lesbian who has an awful lot to lose by being stuck on the Destiny with no way back to Earth. Ming-Na's character suddenly had depth and was far more than a recurring IOA bitch.

That episode was followed up by "Justice," which left Camile in charge of the ship when Col. Young was accused of murder. "It seemed in the beginning they had her a little bit ambiguous, not certain what her intentions are ... Is she one of the good guys? Bad guys? I think it was a lovely way to slowly reveal a character. For me it was a joy to discover all those elements about her. It's almost just like reading a good novel," said Ming-Na (Mulan, ER).

(Spoilers ahead!)

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/everything-in-sci-fi-tv-f.php

Coming up as we approach the New Year—a new fiendish series (Demons), a worthy original or two (Better Off Ted), some finales (Doctor Who, Eastwick) and a couple killer marathons (True Blood, Twilight Zone).

Here's what we have to look forward to on sci-fi and paranormal TV this week.

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/the-sci-fi-passwords-twit.php

What does Twitter have against Star Wars? We're not quite sure. But a list maintained by the social networking site of passwords you're not allowed to use features that movie title plus many other familiar sci-fi words and phrases.

The taboo terms include:

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/star-trek-the-original-se-2.php

When I reviewed the original Star Trek: The Original Series DVD sets five or six years ago, I was a lot more lukewarm about the show than I am now. It's been a weird kind of revelation to discover just how much I love Trek, at least in its original incarnation: shows from the first two seasons surpassed my previously low expectations by a wide margin. In fact, in the last 12 months I've developed such a passionate appreciation for the show that I feel no longer capable of differentiating great episodes from terrible ones.

Unfortunately, the recently released Blu-ray set for Star Trek: The Original Series—Season 3 offers little in the way of clarification or guidance via commentaries or new interviews, although its other bonus content—including an unaired alternate cut of "Where No Man Has Gone Before"—certainly fulfills all of the requirements for folks with blind fan love like mine.

Interestingly, even the cast and crew of Season three acknowledge that much of the material was inferior to the previous two. In "To Boldly Go," a featurette that includes interview footage with Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner and others, they admit that a combination of low production budgets, network constraints and a terrible timeslot (Fridays at 10 p.m.) resulted in a collectively lackluster season, at least in comparison to seasons one and two. That said, many of the stories in season three remain not only memorable but classic.

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/why-the-bloody-sexy-spartacus-was-renewed-before-it-premiered.php

The upcoming 300-meets-Gladiator-esque Spartacus: Blood and Sand promises plenty of graphic violence, nudity, sex and now something else ... a second season. Spartacus, which is due to premiere on Friday, Jan. 22, at 10 p.m. ET/PT, has already been renewed for a second season, which will be titled Spartacus: Vengeance.

"We couldn't be happier with the first season. Spartacus delivers on all levels—action, characters, intrigue, romance and excitement," said Starz Entertainment EVP, Programming, Stephan Shelanski. "Spartacus is the most ambitious original project we've ever undertaken and speaks to the commitment to our subscribers to provide truly original programming along with our unmatched lineup of theatrical features."

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/beautiful-footage-of-unde.php

Space: the final frontier. Oh, really? No so fast! After watching this awesome video of the Enterprise swooping and spiraling through the water, we've got to believe that the true final frontier is a swimming pool somewhere in Japan.

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/found-the-anti-smoking-co.php

Hey, kids! If you won't listen to Mom and Dad when they tell you not to smoke, then how about two robotic Star Wars stars?

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/denzel-washington-sees-go.php

Though The Book of Eli has elements of the classic western in a sci-fi future, don't call Denzel Washington's upcoming post-apocalyptic action movie a western.

"[It's] the thing that the studio has been scared of and Warner Brothers, even, like, 'It's not a western, it's not a western, it's not a western,'" co-director Albert Hughes told a group of reporters who visited the film's Albuquerque, N.M., set last April 1. "And it's not a western, because ... it is set in the West, but it's not from ... that time period."

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/avatar-is-no-1-for-second.php

[Updated: Final box-office figures on Monday show that Avatar was underestimated, coming in at $75.6 million, enough to top The Dark Knight's $75.2 million as the highest-grossing second weekend ever, BoxOfficeMojo.com reported. Overseas, the movie pulled in $152 million, raising its worldwide total to $623.6 million in less than two weeks.]

James Cameron's Avatar topped the box office for the second weekend in a row, overtaking Sherlock Holmes, which threatened to knock the sci-fi epic off its perch when it premiered on Christmas Day.

postsecret

http://postsecret.blogspot.com/2009/12/sunday-secrets_26.html

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/how-heath-ledgers-last-fi.php

Director Terry Gilliam nearly threw in the towel on his fantasy film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus when its star, Heath Ledger, died unexpectedly in January 2008. But friends and family convinced Gilliam to complete the movie —which he did with the help of three A-list actors and Ledger pals, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. And the miracle of the Christmas Day release, Gilliam says, is that the story barely changed.

The complex tale follows a traveling theater troupe led by Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), an immortal, magical figure who struck a deal with the devil, Mr. Nick (Tom Waits), to save his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole). Meanwhile, even as Dr. Parnassus tries to cut a new deal with Mr. Nick, Valentina falls for a mysterious stranger named Tony (Ledger). And Tony ends up going through a mystical mirror, part of the troupe's show, that sends people into a crazy-quilt world of unlimited imagination.

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/does-dr-parnassus-honor-the-late-heath-ledger.php

I got to the screening of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus early and had time to grab a drink at a nearby bar. Three, actually. Scotches. I think that was the best possible way to watch Terry Gilliam's trippy movie. Regardless of alcohol, I have no idea what it was about, but it was fascinating and wonderful.

A traveling street show performs for the locals on a set that evokes Gilliam's animation style. It's already a weird contraption, this full-scale sort of pop-up book of a stage, only it's even weirder to see it out on the city streets. This stage sucks viewers into the mirror, where they go into a CGI world of imagination. Whether CG or real, it's all magical and all Gilliam.

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/diy-battlestar-tree-toppe.php

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/as-doctor-whos-david-tenn.php

You can't keep Doctor Who's villainous Master down, apparently. As we head into the final two Doctor Who specials featuring David Tennant as the Doctor—"The End of Time, Parts One and Two"—the Doctor will run up against his old enemy, even though the Master (John Simm) died when we saw him last and the Doctor burned his body on a pyre. (Spoilers ahead!)

And at the end, Tennant regenerates into the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith. Just how remains to be seen, but it's hard to imagine the Master isn't responsible for his demise in some way.

scifiwire

http://scifiwire.com/2009/12/watch-stan-lee-read-the-n.php

Think John Malkovich's bizarre Saturday Night Live reading of "The Night Before Christmas" was entertaining? Then you ain't seen nothing yet!