The Crystal Ball (Fantasy Listings for the Week Ahead)

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The Crystal Ball (Fantasy Listings for the Week Ahead)

Posted on 14 June 2000 by Brent Hartinger, Editor

In this regular TheTorchOnline.com feature, we gaze deep into a mystical crystal ball to predict the future! Or at least we run down the fantasy-themed entertainment offerings for the week ahead:

TELEVISION

On Tuesday, in the half-hour sketch show Wrong Door, Lucy and Edmund find themselves in the “magical, but low-budget world of Njarnia” (IFC, 11:30 PM).

On Thursday, The Listener is back with an episode in which Toby is implicated in the murder of a young woman, and must use his psychic ability to prove his own innocence — but be forewarned that the debut ratings for this show were horrible, so it may not be around much longer. (NBC, 10 PM)

On Friday, Ghost Adventures looks at La Purisma Mission in California (Travel Channel, 9 PM).

On Saturday, the terrific fantasy-esque show Eli Stone returns to air the remaining episodes before it’s gone forever (ABC, 10 PM).

And on Sunday, NBC brings high fantasy back to prime time with the first two episodes of Merlin, starring Buffy’s Anthony Stewart Head (see our interview with Anthony and check back on Thursday for our full review of the show). (NBC, 8 PM and 9 PM).

Finally, the soon-to-be “SyFy” Channel is offering an original movie, Rise of the Gargoyles, about an author who discovers the stone gargoyles he’s studying are … real (Sci Fi Channel, 9 PM).

AT THE MOVIES

Two fantasy-esque movies hit theaters this week, including Year One, the Jack Black/Michael Cera comedy about two cave men-types who go on a “road trip” through the prehistoric world.

Also out is $9.99, a highly acclaimed Australian/Israeli stop-motion movie about a man who buys a book about the meaning of life for less than ten dollars — but has trouble sharing it with the people he knows.

Trailer for $9.99

OUT ON DVD

This week brings a new DVD edition of The The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman’s classic film about the knight who plays chess with Death (there’s also a new Blu-ray Edition).

Also out is a new DVD edition of The Hidden Fortress, Akira Kurosawa’s classic movie about a knight and a princess returning home with their fortune (the movie was one of the main inspirations for Star Wars).

Trailer for The Hidden Fortress