SciFiAndTvTalk

Reign of the Supermen Out Today on HD Blu-ray

(Back to front) - Cress Williams, Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O'Connell among the star-studded appearances at last night's New York City premiere of "Reign of the Supermen." Photo courtesy/copyright of Gary Miereanu.

Reign of the Supermen arrives today, January 29, on Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack and Blu-ray Combo Pack from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. DC Universe subscribers can also watch the film on the streaming service starting today. Check out the photos above and below from  from last night's wildly successful New York City premiere at the Directors Guild of America. The event included appearances and a post-panel discussion between actors Jerry O’Connell (Superman), Rebecca Romijn (Lois Lane), Cress Williams (Steel/John Henry Irons), Patrick Fabian (Cyborg Superman & Hank Henshaw), Tony Todd (Darkseid), Charles Halford (Bibbo Bibbowski & The Eradicator), Nyambi Nyambi (Martian Manhunter), and filmmakers Executive Producer James Tucker, Producer/Director Sam Liu, Screenwriters Jim Krieg & Tim Sheridan and Character Designer Phil Bourassa.

Cress Williams autographing poster. Photo courtesy/copyright of Gary Miereanu.

Nyambi Nyambi holding film poster. Photo courtesy/copyright of Gary Miereanu.

Assorted members from last night's group panel. Photo courtesy/copyright of Gary Miereanu.

The Umbrella Academy - Official Trailer Released (Netflix)

Netflix has released its official trailer for the upcoming The Umbrella Academy! Check it out!

On the same day in 1989, forty-three infants are inexplicably born to random, unconnected women who showed no signs of pregnancy the day before. Seven are adopted by a billionaire who creates The Umbrella Academy and prepares his "children" to save the world. Now, the six surviving members reunite upon the news of their father's passing and must work together to solve a mystery surrounding his death. But the estranged family begins to come apart due to their divergent personalities and abilities, not to mention the imminent threat of a global apocalypse. The Umbrella Academy is based on the comic book series created and written by Gerard Way, illustrated by Gabriel Bá, and published by Dark Horse Comics. The show is produced by Universal Cable Productions for Netflix, with Steve Blackman serving as executive producer and showrunner, and additional EPs Jeff F. King, Mike Richardson, Keith Goldberg, Gerard Way, and Gabriel Bá.

Launch Date:  February 15, 2019

Created for Television by: Steve Blackman

Executive Producers: Steve Blackman (Showrunner/EP), Jeff King (EP), Keith Goldberg (EP), Mike Richardson (EP), Gerard Way (Co-EP), Gabriel Bá (Co-EP), Produced by: Universal Cable Productions for Netflix

Series Stars: Ellen Page, Mary J. Blige, Cameron Britton, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Colm Feore, Adam Godley, John Magaro, Ashley Madekwe and Kate Walsh.                          

For more information about The Umbrella Academy please visit the show's official Netflix site -   netflix.com/umbrellaacademy - along with its social media pages: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/UmbrellaAcad

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/umbrellaacad

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NetflixUmbrellaAcademy

Sci Fi Magazine - April 2019

If you happen to be passing a newsstand, check out the new issue of Sci Fi Magazine (April 2019 issue) which contains my "TV in Focus" section interviews with Luke Tennie & Liam James (Deadly Class), Owen Teale (A Discovery of Witches), Sergio Osuna (The Magicians), Ajay Parikh-Friese (ReBoot: The Guardian Code), Laura Mennell (Project Blue Book), Sam Strike (Nightflyers), Charlotte Best (Tidelands), Fola Evans-Akingbola (Siren), Louise Bond (Knightfall) and Kimberley Sustad (Travelers) as well as my feature interviews with Caroline Chikezie & Henry Ian Cusick (The Passage), Mark Jackson (The Orville) and Donal Logue (Gotham). If you live in the U.S. and cannot find a copy of the magazine at your local newsstand you can order it directly - SCI FI Circulation, P.O. Box 1654, Williamsport, PA 17703. Single copies are $5.00 plus $2.00 for postage. Yearly subscriptions can also be purchased - U.S.A. $16.95; Canada and overseas $30.95 US$. Thanks as always for your continued support!

Steve Eramo

Tom Baker's Final Doctor Who Episode Making Its U.S. Movie Theater Debut

(L-R): Tegan (Janet Fielding), Nyssa (Sarah Sutton), Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) and The Doctor (Tom Baker) in Logopolis. Photo copyright of the BBC.

Audiences now have the chance to see the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker’s 100-minute final adventure, Logopolis, on big screens nationwide. The Doctor Who episode features the first appearance of companion Tegan, played by Janet Fielding, Anthony Ainley as the Doctor’s archenemy, The Master, and the regeneration of the Fourth Doctor, Tom Baker into the Fifth Doctor, Peter Davison.

 

In addition to the feature content, fans will also get an exclusive look at a brand new interview with Tom Baker and companions Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton (Nyssa).

Following the cinema event, Tom Baker’s complete final season on Doctor Who comes to Blu-ray on March 19.

WHO: Fathom Events and BBC Studios

WHEN: Wednesday, March 13, 2019; 7:00 p.m. local time.  

WHERE: Tickets for “Doctor Who: Logopolis” can be purchased at www.FathomEvents.com or participating theater box offices. Fans throughout the U.S. will be able to enjoy the event in nearly 500 select movie theaters through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (DBN). For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).

The Magicians Renewed For Fifth Season (SYFY)

Jade Tailor as Kady Orloff-Diaz and Jason Ralph as Quentin Coldwater. Photo by Eric Milner and copyright of SYFY

SYFY today announced a Season 5 pickup of the critically acclaimed UCP drama, The Magicians, just one day before the series' 13-episode fourth season premiere. Based on the bestselling novels by Lev Grossman, The Magicians centers on a group of 20-something friends from Brakebills University as they discover their magical abilities and ward off evil creatures who threaten to destroy the magical world they’ve come to know. Season 4 premieres on SYFY tomorrow, Wednesday, January 23 at 9/8c.

 

“The Magicians raised the bar at SYFY and has gained momentum season after season, attracting a new audience to the channel. We are proud of this series as it continues to break the boundaries of storytelling,” said Bill McGoldrick, President, Scripted Content, NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment.

 

“We couldn’t be happier or more excited to conjure another year of magic and all it entails — love, hate, loyalty, betrayal, sex, foul language, drugs, battling gods, monsters and the most dangerous enemies of all: other human beings. We have the best writers, producers, directors, cast and crew in the charted multiverse. Here’s how strongly we believe this: anyone who tries to poach a single one of them will be cursed. And we have the voodoo dolls to do it,” said executive producers and co-showrunners, John McNamara and Sera Gamble.

 

Henry Alonso Myers joins McNamara and Gamble as co-showrunner for the upcoming fifth season.

 

Said McNamara and Gamble: “Henry has been with the show since minute one of Season 1. His talent, professionalism and love of all things magical has been instrumental to our success. We couldn’t be happier to see him become co-showrunner. Also, he bakes the greatest bread this side of the Hudson River.”

 

Said Myers: “Having been a fan of Lev’s books since before meeting with John and Sera, the opportunity to bring his world to life has been like a dream come true. It’s rare in this business to find a combination of great material, great creative partners, and a phenomenal production team like ours. I’m not sure which particular dark magic landed me here, but I’ll be sure to keep doing all of it in secret, just in case.”

McNamara and Gamble add, “We want to hit pause on our usual snark and sincerely thank UCP and SYFY for their unparalleled support and guidance. This show wouldn’t exist without them and if it did, wouldn’t be nearly as good — or fun to do.”

 

THE MAGICIANS Season 4 will pick up with our newly mind-wiped magicians at the mercy of The Monster, who is seeking them out for unknown reasons. Hailing from UCP, THE MAGICIANS stars Jason Ralph, Stella Maeve, Olivia Taylor Dudley, Hale Appleman, Arjun Gupta, Summer Bishil, Rick Worthy, Jade Tailor, Brittany Curran and Trevor Einhorn. The series is executive produced by John McNamara, Sera Gamble, Chris Fisher, Henry Alonso Myers, Laurie Lieser, David Reed and Groundswell Productions' Michael London and Janice Williams. Seasons 1, 2 and 3 are available on Netflix, and available to purchase on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Prime, Microsoft Store and YouTube. 

 

Follow along on social at:

Facebook: facebook.com/MagiciansSYFY

Twitter: @MagiciansSYFY

Hashtag: #TheMagicians

Ridley Scott's Raised by Wolves TV Series Cast (TNT)

Turner's TNT has announced the principal cast of Raised by Wolves, the highly anticipated serialized sci-fi series from master storyteller and filmmaker Ridley Scott (The Martian, Blade Runner, Alien: Covenant), marking his television directorial debut. Acclaimed writer Aaron Guzikowski, the visionary behind the highly lauded film Prisoners, will serve as writer and showrunner. Production begins in Cape Town, South Africa this month.
 
Raised by Wolves centers on two androids tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.
 
The talented roster of actors includes:

• Amanda Collin (A Conspiracy of Faith, A Horrible Woman) will play Mother, an android with a secret past who has been programmed to raise a brood of human children on a faraway planet. In addition to teaching her children to survive, Mother must also keep them from believing in the unreal; to ensure this virgin planet isn’t torn apart by the same religious differences that lead the Earth to its ultimate destruction. Mother hopes her family will serve as the nucleus for a peaceful, technocratic colony -- a new beginning for humanity. But as she struggles to mold these growing humans, she also begins uncovering secrets hidden within her own programming, secrets that could help her protect her family, but could just as easily destroy them. 

• Abubakar Salim (Fortitude, Jamestown) will play Father, an android whose devotion to his human children is matched only by his devotion to Mother. Father is a considerably less complex model than Mother, but thanks to his wisdom and patience, he is no less important to the family’s survival. Like many human fathers, Father wants to be funny -- especially in the eyes of Mother -- but it’s a skill he often struggles with. What he is good at is always being there when you need him. 

• Winta McGrath (Aloft, Red Dog: True Blue) will play Campion, a scrappy and soulful 12-year-old boy who was raised by Mother and Father since birth. When a ship of humans arrives from Earth, Campion is exposed to followers of religion for the first time in his life, and starts to question whether his android parents really know what’s best for him. 

• Travis Fimmel (Vikings) will play Marcus, a roguish, charismatic soldier, who was the ultimate survivor back on Earth. To escape the doomed planet, Marcus and his wife Sue made a dangerous decision that they must keep secret at all costs. But now that they’ve arrived in the new world, Marcus is struggling to reconcile the sins of his past, even as he continues to embrace the killer instincts that always kept him alive in the first place.

• Niamh Algar (The Virtues, Calm With Horses) will play Sue, a strong, resourceful combat medic who put aside her reservations about coming to this new planet at the urging of her husband Marcus. But as the planet’s mysteries and dangers threaten to upend the promise of a new life, Sue questions whether they have compromised too much in the name of survival.

• Felix Jamieson (Game of Thrones, The Ghost) will play Paul, Sue and Marcus’ 12-year old son, a boy of unshakable faith in both his religion and his father. Having always felt like an outsider back on Earth, Paul strikes up a complicated friendship -- and rivalry -- with Campion. Though the two young men begin to learn from one another, they also begin to challenge one another.

• Ethan Hazzard (The Long Song, Damned) will play the highly intelligent Hunter, age 17. His father was a high-ranking member of a powerful religious order back on Earth. But now that the hierarchy he once sat atop no longer exists, Hunter must learn what it’s like to be just like everybody else. 

• Jordan Loughran (The Infiltrator, Emerald City) will play Tempest, 17. Raised with a religion she never really believed in, she sees Mother and Father as superior to the human guardians who so often let her down. Soon after arriving in the new world, Tempest discovers she is pregnant; the result of a rape she suffered at the hands of a high-ranking member of her church.

• Aasiya Shah (Call the Midwife, Unforgotten) will play Holly, 15, a burgeoning warrior who is trying to find her place in this strange new world. 

• Ivy Wong (Star Wars: Rogue One, Maleficent 2) will play Vita, 9, the youngest member of the family, but also the most fearless. 

Raised by Wolves is produced by Scott's Scott Free Productions in association with Turner's Studio T, with Scott, Guzikowski, David W. Zucker (The Man in the High Castle) and Jordan Sheehan (The Terror) serving as executive producers, alongside Adam Kolbrenner (Prisoners) and Robyn Meisinger (Prisoners). The international rights to the series will be distributed through Turner International.

Happy! - Season Two Coming In March (SYFY)

The dynamic duo of Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni) and his blue feathered friend Happy (Patton Oswalt) are back! Today SYFY dropped the official HAPPY! Season 2 trailer revealing all of the fun and chaos of its Easter theme, and announced the sophomore run will begin Wednesday, March 27 at 10/9c. If you thought destroying Christmas was a good time, the second season is sure to bring the pandemonium to a whole other level as HAPPY! aims to “Make Easter Great Again.”

Based on the irreverent graphic novel of the same name, HAPPY! hails from Universal Cable Productions (UCP) and stars Meloni, Oswalt, Patrick Fischler, Ritchie Coster, Lili Mirojnick, Medina Senghore, Christopher Fitzgerald and Bryce Lorenzo. The series is written and executive produced by Brian Taylor and comic book writer Grant Morrison.  Neal Moritz, Pavun Shetty and Toby Jaffe of Original Film, Meloni and showrunner Patrick Macmanus will also executive produce.

Follow along on social:

• Facebook: Facebook.com/HappySYFY
• Twitter: @HappySYFY
• Instagram: @HappySYFY
• Hashtag: #SeeHappy

Humans - Season Three (Uncut UK Version) DVD & Blu-ray Coming To U.S. This Month (Acorn)

AMC’s science fiction thriller and BAFTA Award nominee for Best Drama Series, HUMANS 3.0, the uncut UK edition, makes its DVD and Blu-ray debut on January 29, 2019 from Acorn, an RLJE Entertainment, Inc. brand. In the near future, humanoid servants called Synthetics have been created to help busy families simplify their lives. Thought-provoking and thrilling, this “ultimate A.I. experiment” (The Atlantic) explores the intersection of man and machine. Broadcast on AMC in June 2018, the DVD 3-Disc and Blu-ray 2-Disc Sets each feature 8 episodes, plus bonus behind-the-scenes featurettes ($39.99 each, Amazon.com). The series is based on the award-winning Swedish science fiction drama Real Humans.

One year after synths around the globe gained consciousness, human distrust of synths is at an all-time high, and both populations struggle to cope with the fallout. Human lawyer Laura (Katherine Parkinson, Doc Martin, The IT Crowd) fights for synth rights at a high-profile government commission, while Mia (Gemma Chan, Crazy Rich Asians) and Max (Ivanno Jeremiah, Black Mirror) run a settlement for sentient synths. But Max is torn between his new role as leader and helping his friend, human-synth hybrid Leo (Colin Morgan, The Fall). When a bomb blast at a synth-friendly bar inflames already high tensions, Niska (Emily Berrington, 24: Live Another Day) searches for the perpetrator, and what she finds will have monumental consequences for humans and synths alike.

Called “Involving, well written, and well played” (The New York Times), Humans blends cinematic action with piercing social commentary. The series also stars Mark Bonnar (Shetland, Catastrophe), Tom Goodman-Hill (The Secret Agent, Mr. Selfridge), Ukweli Roach (Blindspot), and Sam Palladio (Nashville).

Speaking last year with Steve Eramo of Sci Fi Magazine, Tom Goodman-Hill talked about the challenges of playing Joe Hawkins in Humans:

“We’re going back a few years, but when I was originally sent the scripts for the first two Humans episodes, I thoroughly enjoyed them,” recalls the actor. “Although it was a Sci-Fi story, it was told from an angle I had never seen before, which was a very human and a very domestic angle. I thought that was original as well as fresh, and I loved Joe, in particular, because he is so completely human. He’s an average guy who ends up in an extraordinary situation. Joe makes not one but two pretty crazy decisions that have quite an impact on his family. So I met for a chat with the show’s producers and writers, and from there they offered me the part, which was lovely.

“The main [acting[ challenge for me with playing Joe is that he’s not a million miles away from me, which sounds like it ought to be really easy,” jokes Goodman-Hill,” but I’m used to playing characters who are very unlike me. Joe is pretty similar, though, which is actually rather hard because I don’t have a lot to hide behind, but I’ve enjoyed myself, too. After three seasons I’ve settled into the role and I feel like it comes very naturally to me now. It’s like putting on a suit that’s not too different from the one I normally wear.”

Street Date: January 29, 2019: SRP: $39.99 each

DVD 3-Disc Set: 8 episodes – Approx. 391 min., plus bonus – SDH Subtitles – UPC 054961267699; Blu-ray 2-Disc Set: 8 episodes – Approx. 391 min., plus bonus – SDH Subtitles – UPC 054961267798. Bonus: Behind-the-scenes featurettes (24 min.)

Game of Thrones - Official Season Eight Teaser Trailer (HBO)

HBO aired a new tease for Game of Thrones tonight, which announced Sunday, April 14th as the debut date for the show’s six-episode, eighth and final season. As in previous seasons, the series will air at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

The tease was directed by David Nutter, who won an Emmy in 2015 for the season five finale (Mother’s Mercy), and includes an original score by Ramin Djawadi, who won an Emmy in 2018 for the season seven finale (The Dragon and the Wolf).

Shadowhunters Returns Next Month! (Freeform)

Fan favorite series Shadowhunters returns with all new episodes on MONDAY, FEB. 25, at 8:00-9:01 p.m. EST/PST. In the emotional mid-season premiere, everyone is dealing with the loss of Clary and are trying to move on best they can. Unbeknownst to them, the Shadowhunters face a new level of evil that they can’t even imagine with the arrival of Jonathan Morgenstern (Luke Baines), the true form of Clary’s brother.

With the loss of Clary after Lilith’s apartment exploded, Alec, Isabelle and Jace try to come to terms with what has happened. Glad to have their brother back, Alec and Isabelle are still worried about Jace, who is taking the actions of The Owl very hard. Magnus is also mourning the loss of his magic and finds himself in a new position—having to rely on others for help. Meanwhile, Maia tries to help a devastated Simon who has lost his family and his best friend. But unknown to everyone, Clary is alive and finds herself in a new and dangerous predicament.

Shadowhunters is produced by Constantin Film and executive produced by Todd Slavkin, Darren Swimmer, McG, Matt Hastings, Mary Viola, Martin Moszkowicz and Robert Kulzer. The series stars Katherine McNamara as Clary Fray, Dominic Sherwood as Jace Wayland, Alberto Rosende as Simon Lewis, Emeraude Toubia as Isabelle Lightwood, Matthew Daddario as Alec Lightwood, Isaiah Mustafa as Luke Garroway, Alisha Wainwright as Maia Roberts, and Harry Shum Jr. as Magnus Bane.

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