SciFiAndTvTalk

Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Bill Daily (I Dream Of Jeannie)

 
The cast of I Dream of Jeannie. (Front row - L-R:) Larry Hagman (as Major Tony Nelson) and Barbara Eden (as Jeannie). (Back row - L-R): Bill Daily as Major Roger Healey and Hayden Rorke (as Dr. Alfred Bellows). Photo copyright of NBC.

In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, veteran actor Bill Daily talks about how he was cast as Roger Healey in I Dream of Jeannie.

In the 1965 American sitcom I Dream of Jeannie astronaut Major Tony Nelson becomes the reluctant master of a two-thousand-year-old beautiful, sexy, genie who lives, where else, in a bottle. Appropriately named Jeannie, this kind, considerate young woman wants only to please the major, but more often than not her good intentions land him in hot water, sometimes literally! Nelson’s best friend and fellow astronaut Major Roger Healey is the only other person besides himself who knows of Jeannie’s existence and her magical powers.

Actor, musician, director, writer and comedian Bill Daily, also famous for playing next door neighbour and straightman Howard Borden to comedian Bob Newhart on The Bob Newhart Show, was the ideal match as sidekick to Larry Hagman’s Major Nelson.

“I had a ball playing Roger Healey,” he says. “[Comedian] Steve Allen is the one who originally discovered me and brought me out to California. I remember being at one of his house parties and Bob Hope came up to me and said, ‘I really like I Dream of Jeannie.’  I told him, ‘Well, I’m doing you.’ When Larry and I were in front of the camera I was Bob Hope to his Bing Crosby and that’s exactly how we played the relationship for five seasons. Roger was busy trying to score with the chicks and cooking up all these money-making schemes, while at the same time covering for Tony to make sure no one found out about Jeannie. Who wouldn’t love to portray a character like that?”

I Dream of Jeannie creator Sidney Sheldon spotted Daily’s performance as a father who adopts a child in the first-season Bewitched episode A Vision of Sugar Plums and asked him to come in to audition for a role on the show. “I was concerned about reading for Sidney because I’m slightly dyslectic, but somehow I got through it,” says Daily. “There were seven guys besides myself auditioning for the part, which was called Man in Uniform, and I was lucky enough to be hired.

“Originally, the series was going to be about Jeannie [Barbara Eden] and Major Nelson, who was engaged to Melissa Stone [Karen Sharpe], the daughter of his superior officer General Stone, who was played by the eminently talented actor Philip Ober. My character, Man in Uniform, and the other military officers were to stay pretty much in the background.

“We shot the pilot for I Dream of Jeannie [The Lady in the Bottle] and at that time I was appearing at The Little Club in Hollywood doing a comedy act with some brilliant and talented people including Jack Riley,” continues the actor. “It really was a sensational act and everyone including all the big name stars would come see us. One night Ron Amateau, the producer of another television comedy My Mother the Car, visited the club. He had wanted me to do his show but I decided to go with I Dream of Jeannie instead.

“Ron came up to me and said, ‘Hey, I heard they changed the whole concept for I Dream of Jeannie and it’s going to be about you, Larry Hagman and this genie. I asked, ‘How did this happen?’ To this day I don’t know what could have transpired to make Sidney revamp the show like that. I just couldn’t believe how a character that had only two lines in the pilot ended up playing the third lead on the series, but I think Larry had something to do with that because he liked me. So Philip Ober and Karen Sharpe were eventually phased out and the story came to revolve around Tony Nelson, Jeannie and Roger Healey, alias the Man in Uniform.  It really turned out to be a tremendous break for me.”

Steve Eramo

As noted above, photo copyright of NBC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Keith Hamilton Cobb (Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda)

 
A Sci-Fi hunk with attitude - Tyr Anasazi, as portrayed by Keith Hamilton Cobb in Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda. Photo copyright of Tribune Entertainment.

In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, Keith Hamilton Cobb talks about his genetically engineered superhuman character of Tyr Anasazi in Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.

“Tyr belongs to a race of humanoids called Nietzscheans [pronounced Nee-chee-ans],” says the actor. “He and his people have been bred to be superior survivors. They are stronger and faster than ordinary humans and have heightened senses that allow them to do, among other things, eat a variety of unusual foods and breathe chlorine gas. The most important thing to them is personal survival. If you can survive you can procreate and if you procreate you need to do so with a mate that is your equal or stronger so that you can produce better babies. It’s rabid social Darwinism, which means they don’t tend to get along with each other most of the time.

“However, what I’ve come to learn is that the operative word in genetically engineered superhuman is ‘human.’ At the base of it, Nietzscheans are human beings with a few changes that make them extremely fierce, single-minded, blunt and quite dangerous because they are constantly watching out for their own self-interests. They don’t have a great sense of morality or code of ethics. For them it’s, ‘ Whatever it takes to get me to tomorrow.’ Having said that, there are human emotions lying just beneath the surface of Tyr’s personality. Human needs, wants, desires, all of which everyone around him is able to express much more freely than he is. In later episodes, though, we begin to explore Tyr’s inner self and you see glimpses of his ‘human side.’

“I think this plays an important part in Tyr’s relationship with Dylan Hunt [portrayed by former Hercules: The Legendary Journeys star Kevin Sorbo],” continues Cobb. “Dylan has an age-old distrust of Nietzscheans but he’s made the bold choice to keep Tyr around because he’s the ship’s secret weapon. No one else onboard can do the things he can.  What’s interesting is that over time Dylan tries to key into the similarities between him and Tyr. Many of the qualities he sees in Tyr are also in him, so he’s constantly working to make the Nietzschean aware of his humanity.

“Not to give too much away, but there’s an episode we recently filmed in which Dylan is talking about taking care of a group of people.  Tyr basically asks, ‘What makes you think I care about any one?’  Dylan tells him, ‘Well, I know you do.  Look, it’s only you and me here and I’ve been around too long for you to fool me.  We’re too much alike.  You’re more human than you’d like to admit.’  I think this little tug-of-war between the characters will be ongoing.  In the process, both men are going to learn a great many things about each other.  This kind of discovery process makes Tyr all the more fascinating to play.”

Steve Eramo

As noted above, photo copyright of Tribune Entertainment, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Richard Dean Anderson (Stargate SG-1)

 
Stargate SG-1's Colonel Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson). Photo copyright of MGM.

In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, Richard Dean Anderson talks about taking the plunge into the world of Stargate SG-1 and being cast as Colonel Jack O'Neill in the TV series.

Although he has played everything from a sexy soap opera surgeon to a crazed abusive husband, Stargate SG-1 marks Richard Dean Anderson’s entrée into the world of science fiction. “My credo is, ‘I’ll try anything once,’ well, virtually, so I would have been a hypocrite if I had said, ‘Nah, just forget about it,” says Anderson. “It was high time that I gave sci-fi a shot and this show provided me with the perfect opportunity.

“I’m having a lot of fun with the dialogue and the whole [science fiction] concept and especially with my portrayal of O’Neill. I’ve been given a wide range to run with as far as polishing my character and bringing my sensibilities, sense of humour and relative intelligence to the part. An actor couldn’t ask for any more freedom than I have on this show,” he notes. “Also, as one of the executive producers I’m obligated to the franchise, so that kind of keeps me in cheque. In fact, and I’ve said this before, if you want to keep an actor in line make him a producer and he won’t rush off to race cars and jump out of airplanes on the weekends. It’s called responsibility! Everything is going great, and even though we’re filming our third year right now we’re still, I’d say, in the earliest stages of developing story lines and characters.”

Stargate SG-1 is based on a 1994 feature film of the same name that starred Kurt Russell as Jack O’Neill. John Symes, President of MGM Worldwide Television Group, acquired all rights to the movie and sold it as a series deal to Showtime, initially for a two-year run which eventually became four years. It was Symes who approached Anderson about playing the lead.

“John and I had worked together on MacGyver when he was over at Paramount Studios. He hired Jonathan Glassner and Brad Wright [the show’s executive producers and writers] to develop the program and called me and said, ‘I want you to do this [Stargate].  Do your homework, as I know you will, and overanalyze it, as I’m sure you will,’ which I did,” laughs the actor. “I watched the movie a few times and saw it had the phenomenal potential to be a great series as it contained all the elements necessary to sustain interest over a long period of time. We were going to be limited only by our imaginations but, thankfully, we have very creative and prolific writers on our staff.

“However, before I accepted the part I had to make it clear to everyone that there was no way that I could portray Jack O’Neill as Kurt Russell had. Kurt did an outstanding job and he should have all the credit for the character’s birth, but for me to take over the reins I had to turn the part into something that would be more fun than I think it was for Kurt. There was a certain wryness to O’Neill that I knew would be interesting to explore and a sarcastic edge as well as an irreverence for authority and, especially, for the bad guys.

“At first, my performance may have come across a little too flip for some people, so I fine-tuned things and now everyone seems OK with what I’m doing,” continues Anderson. “O’Neill’s sense of humour is often subtle while other times it is over-the-top, and essentially that’s what you get when you deal with me. It’s either a quiet throwaway or an overt, almost poke-in-the-ribs moment, and I felt it was important that I inject some levity into O’Neill’s personality. Hopefully, even during the subtlest of times, the audience will notice the slight twinkle in my eye that I’m trying to let come through.”

Steve Eramo

As noted above, photo copyright of MGM Television, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Stargate Atlantis' Rachel Luttrell Makes Her Album Debut in 2011

 
Rachel Luttrell as Teyla Emmagan on Stargate Atlantis. Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel.

Stargate Atlantis actress Rachel Luttrell (Teyla Emmagan) has given her fans an early holiday surprise. Click on the link below for a behind-the-scenes look at Rachel hard at work on her first album, I Wish You Love, which is scheduled for release in February 2011. Keep checking back with SciFiAndTvTalk for further updates, but for now, enjoy the clip courtesy of Rachel.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0KX82Cj4iM

As noted above, photo copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Ghost Hunters International's Barry FitzGerald And Kris Williams

 
The Ghost Hunters International team - (back row: l-r) Paul Bradford, Britt Griffith, Joe Chin and Barry FitzGerald; (front row: l-r) Susan Slaughter and Kris Williams. Missing from photo - Scott Tepperman. Photo by Ailk Keplicz and copyright of The Syfy Channel.

ON Wednesday January 5^th, 2011 @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST, Ghost Hunters International returns to The Syfy Channel with seven all new episodes. The show kicks off the New Year with Hamlet’s Castle (episode 220) in which the GHI team visits Denmark and Kronborg Castle, the Danish castle that inspired the setting for William Shakespeare's classic tragedy.

Built in 1420, Kronborg Castle was the inspiration for Elsinore – the legendary castle in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The Danish Paranormal Society explains to the investigators that figures are seen at the windows, screams and horses can be heard in the courtyard, a ghostly soldier can be seen walking the battlement and shadows move across the walls. Batteries drain, people feel like they are being watched and knocks can be heard in response to questions. This brand new episode will spook even the bravest of souls!

In addition to Hamlet's Castle in Denmark, new investigations also include Pidhirtsi Castle in Ukraine, the Huissen House of Horror in the Netherlands, the Trenches of Death in Belgium and the Petrovaradin Fortress in Serbia. Barry FitzGerald leads the GHI team of investigators, which includes newest member, Ghost Hunters' Kris Williams from TAPS and returning members Joe Chin, Paul Bradford, Susan Slaughter, Scott Tepperman and Britt Griffith. Last week, Barry FitzGerald and Kris Williams spoke with myself as well as other journalists about the upcoming season. The following is an edited version of that conversation. Enjoy!

Barry, could tell us a little bit about what it's been like to take over as lead investigator this season on GHI? And perhaps a little bit about the case you guys investigated in Denmark.

BARRY FITZGERALD - It's a big responsibility, of course, stepping up to the front. We have a fantastic team and we all work very, very well together. There's great communication as well as great camaraderie, and from what I understand, all that has come right through to the filming and the show itself. We're continuing to always think outside the box, and as a complete unit we're making fantastic shows and are having wonderful investigations

As for the episode that's coming up on the 5th of January at Hamlet's Castle, well, we stepped into that castle and it really is remarkable just in its sheer size. To really give it justice we'd need to be there for an entire month. However, what we did discover there was the first time that we've ever filmed this type of phenomenon for TV. So it was a thrilling experience for us to be able to do this and understand what truly was going on, which really does make for interesting viewing. I can't wait to see the episode myself, never mind everyone else. I arrive in the US on the 9th and I will make a point of watching the show along with the rest of the team.

Kris, how did your move to Ghost Hunters International sort of come about, and what are some of the differences working on GHI as opposed to the original Ghost Hunters?

KRIS WILLIAMS - Honestly, it was just an opportunity that was offered to me. I was asked if I wanted to make the move over, and I was completely excited about it. I've always loved history along with genealogy. I have over three years of traveling the States with Ghost Hunters, and now I'm going to see the world with GHI.

And it's just, it's been "insane." I've said this to Barry a few times, but there are places in the States where they say, "Oh, you know, we're going to investigate a castle." It's not a castle, though. It's a big house. Overseas when they say a castle, they're not kidding. The place in Denmark was massive, and when they said a dungeon, they weren't kidding. It was creepy. There was no light. It was just dark and stone and dirt. It's just a completely different world, and in a lot of ways, the history in the States just can't touch the history overseas.

Barry, you and Dustin Pari (Ghost Hunters/Ghost Hunters International) worked on a book that came out last year. Did you guys do a follow-up or is there a second book coming out at all?

BF - Funny you should ask. Yes there is another book just released about a week ago. It's called The Influence and it gives a more darker insight into the world of the paranormal.

Do you think that the Ouija board is a portal that spirits could use to try to come into this world?

BF - I see the board itself as simply being just a board. However, it's the way that it's used. Like a sword is just a sword, but it's the way that it's thrown that it can then become dangerous.

In a way, yes the board itself can open a portal, but certain protocols have to be met as well before that can happen. I do know of horror stories that have taken place because of the misuse of the Ouija board. But if you want to experience spirits, jump on a plane and come with us and we can show you.

Barry, you're from Ireland and I'm assuming that you were raised Catholic. I was raised Catholic. Given [the feature film] The Exorcist as well as spirits, saints and everything else, do you think the Catholics are just more receptive to the idea of the paranormal?

BF - Christianity as a whole identifies with spirits, and it seems to be that Catholicism is certainly more open to the idea, whereas, for example, within Protestantism and other religions there seems to be an element of fear with regard to spirits. I'm not quite sure that you want to deal with them [spirits], so it's best you don’t deal with them at all and leave them alone. However, both sides have got people that can deal with those types of things if anything should go wrong.

I think Ireland as a whole is a great island for storytelling and we love to pass along stories as well as be entertained and experience different types of things. But I think across the board we're all open to it. It's just how we perceive what it is that's going on around us. We live in surroundings where things are getting faster and faster and faster. We don't take the time now to walk in the countryside and see what's around us. That happens in Ireland, too, of course. The stories of fairies, ghosts and other things of that nature have begun to disappear, especially when the world around us started to move much faster. However, they haven't disappeared completely because even in the cities here in Ireland, both within the Catholic and Protestant community, there are stories still happening. Again, though, it comes down to how we perceive such things.

Do you think a malevolent or a paranormal spirit could actually get into your technology, like a phone or laptop?

BF - What we have seen is that there is a manipulation of the low-end DC EMF. So devices that are run by batteries and things like that can definitely be interfered with. They [spirits]can't drain batteries, though. We're now understanding that this is a different phenomenon all together. Equipment which is stimulated by the low-end EMF and the DC ranges are being affected, and from a biological aspect the human body also produces a weak DC EMF. So we should be looking for occurences there as well, but we have already begun to see manipulation of equipment within the DC ranges.

Are there any dream places out there that you haven't been to yet and that you'd like to visit and investigate?

BF - I have been pushing for a long time to see if we could get to the Titanic. I've often thought to myself, "What a perfect investigation," and, of course, it being built in Belfast, Northern Ireland, that makes it close to my heart. I mean, 1,500 people went to the bottom of the ocean in that liner. We just have to go there. GHI has to do this.

Are you ready for a deep sea expedition, Kris?

KW - I'm up for whatever. I've always been game for whatever they throw at me. But as far as I'm concerned, I've always wanted to check out the Catacombs in France. They just seem creepy as hell. I can't even imagine investigating down there. Barry, did you guys do sections of it?

BF - Yes, we did some sub-sections of it. There are over seven million corpses down there, and the place is absolutely huge, with the tunnels running underneath Paris.

Barry, can you talk about the reason you wanted to investigate Hamlet's Castle, and what were you feeling before the investigation began?

BF - Well, of course, Hamlet's Castle itself was the inspiration for Shakespeare's whole ghost scenario and things like that. I'm looking at it from the ocean side where he would obviously have seen it. It truly is a haunting looking castle, and a fascinating place, too. There are many layers of history within its walls, and those layers start in the basement and make their way up to the upper floors. I would have liked to have spent more time at the castle, but, unfortunately, we're in a schedule, so we have to do the best that we can.

But it truly was an inspirational castle, and right up until the end of the Cold War it was being used to monitor Soviet movement back and forth in the Baltic. So, again, it really has a remarkable history.

What was the scariest part of Kronborg?

BF - I would have to say the basement itself. Those labyrinths of underground chambers just seemed to keep going on and on and on.

Kris, what's it been like to transfer from the TAPS [The Atlantic Paranormal Society] team in the US to GHI with Barry?

KW - You know, honestly, I was a little worried about going over just because I wasn’t sure how people would take to me jumping over there from Ghost Hunters. I'd worked with Barry several times and considered him a good friend, so that wasn't scary at all, and I do know a lot of the other team members over there, including Joe Chin, who I'd also worked with before. Again, though, I wasn't sure what peoples' reaction would be, but honestly we all just clicked. I was really surprised by it. We all get along quite well together and we all work really well together. It's funny, too, because we've all noticed that each group is kind of like each other's opposites. We all balance each other out really well, which has been kind of interesting to watch.

The other thing that I liked about going over to GHI with Barry was that he's just been at this for so long that I just felt like it would give me an opportunity to learn something new. I was just looking forward to that, and, of course, to the history. I was looking forward to experiencing different cultures and seeing if the haunts overseas were any different than those in the States. The history is just so wild over there, and every time I start work on a new case I'm learning something different, which I really enjoy.

As noted above, photo by Ailk Keplicz and copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Ed Bishop (U.F.O)

 
Ed Bishop as U.F.O.'s Commander Ed Straker. Photo copyright of ITC Entertainment.

In today's Sci-Fl Blast From The Past, the late Ed Bishop (Commander Ed Straker) reminices about his fellow castmates on the 70's British Sci-Fi series U.F.O.

While appearing on U.F.O., Bishop had the opportunity to work with a number of talented actors and actresses, some seasoned professionals and others just starting out in their careers. He recalls each with clarity and great respect.

"I was very fond of Mike Billington [Colonel Paul Foster]. Along with being very ambitious, he was very successful with women, but, much to his credit, he was not a braggart about it and I liked that. He was a single young man in the Swinging Sixties and Seventies, whatever they were, and he came off as a very relaxed, laid-back guy who was very conscientious.

"Gabrielle Drake [Lieutenant Gay Ellis] was one-hundred percent professional and devastatingly beautiful. She woke the crew up every morning as she walked onto the set wearing her skintight latex costume. It just made you feel good to be alive to see Gabrielle," smiles Bishop.

"Ditto with Wanda Ventham [Colonel Virginia Lake]. I was glad that she became Straker's sidekick in many of the episodes. There was no tension of any kind between us because she was happily married as was I, so we had a lot of laughs. Both of us worked hard and enjoyed it.

"Dolores Mantez [Lieutenant Nina Barry] was a very, very exotic young lady who, again, was a joy to see walk onto the set every morning. She had a wonderful zest for life as well as a great sense of humour. She's more or less retired from the business and is happily married with a grown up son. She turns up from time-to-time at conventions and it's always wonderful to see her.

"I have very warm memories of Norma Ronald [Miss Ealand]. When she finished U.F.O. she went on to have a wonderful career with her husband, Eddie Judd, doing voice-over work, and I used to see her around quite a bit on the voice-over circuit as I also got busy in that arm of the business after the series.

"One of Grant Taylor's [General Henderson] last jobs was U.F.O., as he died of cancer some years back," recalls the actor. "He was a great, ebullient personality, a wonderful extroverted man from Australia who was great fun to be around.

"George Sewell [Colonel Alec Freeman] was a great jokester. Whenever we had a laugh on the set it was undoubtedly George who would be the leader of the pack. He had a great mind and could think of things very quickly. I could think of things later, when I was at home or in the pub, and would always say to myself, 'Gee, I wish I had said that.'

"The late Vladek Sheybal, Doctor Doug Jackson, was absolutely wonderful. It was such a pleasure to work with him, and, fortunately, I had the chance to do so on other projects after U.F.O. He was a raconteur who brought with him a wonderful wealth of experience both from his native Poland and here in the United Kingdom."

Steve Eramo

As noted above, photo copyright of ITC Entertainment, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Syfy Unleashes Mega Python Vs. Gatoroid

 
(L-R) - Debbie Gibson plays Nikki and Tiffany plays Terry in Syfy's Mega Python Vs. Gatoroid. Photo copyright of The Syfy Channel.

IN what promises to be the television movie event of 2011, 1980s singing sensations Debbie Gibson and Tiffany get down and dirty in their long-awaited pop princess smackdown when they co-star in the ripped-from-the-headlines Syfy Channel Saturday Original Movie, Mega Python Vs Gatoroid, which will premiere Saturday, January 29th @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST.

A production of The Asylum, Mega Python Vs Gatoroid takes an up-close-and-personal look at the crisis in the Florida Everglades where invasive Burmese pythons are threatening the indigenous alligator population. Gibson portrays a fanatical animal rights advocate who spends her evenings “liberating” illegally imported exotic snakes from pet stores and setting them free in the Everglades, where the pythons grow and thrive.

Tiffany plays an over-zealous park ranger worried about the growing ecological damage. To save her beloved alligators, she’s willing to employ dubious methods, overdosing them with steroids so they grow mega, setting off a war between the species – and putting her on a collision course with Gibson.

Mary Lambert (Pet Sematary) is director of Mega Python Vs Gatoroid – the first time a woman has directed aSyfy Saturday Original Movie. The writer is Naomi Selfman (Evil Eyes).

In their most recent Syfy roles, Tiffany starred in Mega Piranha, while Gibson starred in Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus.

Tiffany at age 15 was the youngest female artist to have a #1 debut album. Her global smash hits include I Think We’re Alone Now, Could’ve Been, I Saw Him Standing There, and All this Time…selling more than 15 million records worldwide. To this day, her groundbreaking “mall tour” sets the precedent to launch young musical careers. Venturing into acting, Tiffany starred as the voice of “Judy Jetson” in Jetsons: The Movie and has appeared in many award winning indie festival films. In 2002 Tiffany graced the cover of Playboy; her pictorial became one of the best selling issues of all time. Her album The Color of Silence was named “one of the finest pop albums of 2000” by Billboard. 2007 marked her return to the Billboard charts with three Dance Hits. Tiffany makes her home in Nashville with her husband and son, and is currently writing and recording her country music debut.

Debbie Gibson began her career at 16 with the hit Only in My Dreams. She has sold 16 million albums and still holds the world's record for being the youngest writer/producer/performer of a #1 hit. She went on to star in critically acclaimed Broadway shows such as Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, and Cabaret, among others. She originated Sandy in the West End revival of Grease, breaking box office records. Gibson received rave reviews for her sold-out, one-woman show, Pop Goes Broadway,with critics calling it "the best show of the year at Harrah's." She also guest starred in Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy at MGM/Foxwoods. Currently, Gibson runs her "Electric Youth" summer camp and music programs throughout the year to mentor young aspiring songwriters and performers, as well as awards scholarships through her “Gibson Girl Foundation.” She’s also a spokesperson for Murad, Inc. As the new spokesperson for Children International, she recently spent time in impoverished villages in Manila. Her new album for Sony Japan, Ms. Vocalist, is presently Top 10 in the Billboard Charts with the first single I Love You at #1. She will be doing a concert tour overseas in February 2011.

As noted above, photo copyright of The Syfy Channel, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks! 

Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Will Yun Lee (Witchblade)

 
Actor Will Yun Lee. Photo copyright of Regency Entertainment and Marvel Films.

In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, Will Yun Lee talks about getting into the "spirit" of playing Danny Woo, a police officer who, after being gunned down in the line of duty, returns from the dead as a ghost to help his former partner Sara Pezzini (Yancy Butler) in the TNT series Witchblade.

“I had to explore the limbo realm of the dead and figure out the rules,” says Yun Lee. “This included discussing with the directors what Danny could and could not do. As an actor, you have different ways of getting a point across in a scene. Sometimes you need to use a physical object. Being a ghost, Danny can’t touch anything. Because of this, all his scenes with Sara are about him focusing on what she is thinking and feeling in her current situation. I hope that makes sense. So there’s not a lot of throwaway dialogue or just being there to be there when it comes to my character.”

One thing the actor made sure to guard against was playing Danny as a stereotypical spirit. “We wanted to keep Danny’s and Sara’s relationship much as if he were still alive,” notes Lee. “A lot of ‘typical’ ghosts that you see on TV suddenly become these holier than thou guys who tend to spew out philosophy. It was important that viewers saw these two characters having the same type of banter as they had in the movie. At the same time, Sara knows that Danny is her foundation of sanity and the one friend she can totally trust. She’s coming to him now a bit more for information than she did when they were partners. I think we’ve been able to achieve a nice balance.”

Steve Eramo

As noted above, photo copyright of Regency Entertainment and Marvel Films, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Nick Wechsler (Roswell)

 
Nick Wechsler as Kyle Valenti in Roswell. Photo copyright of The WB Network.

In today's Sci-Fi Blast From The Past, Nick Wechsler talks about playing Kyle Valenti in the Sci-Fi TV teen drama Roswell.

Remember when you were a teenager and your biggest worries were acne, getting your driver’s license and finding a boyfriend or girlfriend? When Roswell first premiered, its resident high school jock Kyle Valenti seemed to be doing just fine when it came to these top teen concerns. The handsome young man’s face was pimple-free, he could drive a car and he had a pretty girlfriend, Liz Parker. As is often the case in life, though, things change. In a twist of fate, a fellow teenager, and an alien, Max Evans, saves Liz’s life. The two then end up falling in love, which leaves Kyle feeling hurt and angry notes Nick Wechsler, who plays the disgruntled youth.

 “My character wasn’t a happy camper in the first season,” notes the actor. “The pilot episode is the first and last time you get to see Liz [Shiri Appleby] and Kyle as a couple. Things change after Liz is accidentally shot at the Crashdown Café and Max [Jason Behr] uses his healing powers to save her life. This helps bring Liz and Max together, while causing her and Kyle to drift apart. Kyle becomes obsessed with getting Liz back and, naturally, he goes about it in totally the wrong way. He behaves like a jerk towards both her and Max. However, I don’t feel it was so much that Kyle was mad at Liz but that he really hated Max. He saw Max as a threat to her.

“The situation gets further complicated when Kyle tells his father, Jim, [William Sadler], who also happens to be Roswell’s sheriff, that he saw Max’s  [glowing] handprint on Liz’s stomach. This piques the sheriff’s curiosity not only about Max but also Max’s sister Isabel [Katherine Heigl] and their friend Michael [Brendan Fehr]. Kyle has always resented his father because of his job and for never being there for him while he was growing up.  Now, the sheriff’s time is taken up chasing after Max. So Kyle’s lost his girlfriend as well as his dad to this guy. The poor kid can’t get a break,” laughs Wechsler. “Happily, this past [second] season Kyle came to terms with his anger. He’s eventually become less of a troublemaker and, to his surprise, even an ally, albeit an uneasy one, to Max and his fellow aliens.”

Steve Eramo

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Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol - A Photo Preview

 
Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (L-R): Michael Gambon (as Kazran Sardick), Matt Smith (as The Doctor) and Katherine Jenkins (as Abigail). This holiday-themed Doctor Who adventure airs Christmas Day in the States @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on BBC America. Photo copyright of the BBC.

 
Matt Smith (as The Doctor). Photo copyright of the BBC.

 
Katherine Jenkins (as Abigail). Photo copyright of the BBC.

 
Katherine Jenkins (Abigail) and Michael Gambon (Kazran). Photo copyright of the BBC.

 
Matt Smith (The Doctor). Photo copyright of the BBC.

 
Katherine Jenkins (Abigail), Kazran (Michael Gambon) and Matt Smith (The Doctor). Photo copyright of the BBC.

As noted above, all photos copyright of the BBC, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!