The Crystal Ball (Fantasy Listings for the Week Ahead)

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The Crystal Ball (Fantasy Listings for the Week Ahead)

Posted on 08 June 2009 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, the soon-to-be “SyFy” Channel is rerunning their three-part miniseries The Lost Room, about a bizarre phenomenon that takes place in a hotel room. It’s a fascinating premise and the show is terrific … until the conclusion, which is disappointing to say the least — especially after six damn hours of viewing time (The Sci Fi Channel, 10 AM to 4 PM). For the record, the full mini-series is also available on DVD. Here’s a preview:

In Thursday’s episode of The Listener, the new show about a man who can hear people’s thoughts, Toby pursues the case of a missing girl that seems to involve a homeless man who may or may not share Toby’s psychic ability (NBC, 10 PM).

Also on Thursday (on a new night and time), Science of the Movies looks at “Horror Movies: Effects That Scare” (the Science Network, 10 PM).

On Friday, Ghost Adventures looks at the ghosts of Castillo San Marcos in Florida (Travel Channel, 9 PM).

The terrific modern-day retelling of the King David story, Kings, finally returns on Saturday. I loved this show, but at this point, NBC is just burning off the un-aired episodes before it’s gone forever (10 PM).

Incidentally, regarding the Reaper situation (in which the show was canceled by the CW, but there were rumors that it might have another life, in syndication or on the SyFy Channel), it seems that that’s very unlikely now.

AT THE MOVIES

Who knew? Land of the Lost was pretty much a wipe-out (relatively speaking), grossing a mere $19 million and coming in a distant third for the weekend, after The Hangover (at $43 million) and Up (at $44 million, despite being in its second week). Drag Me to Hell, which I highly recommend, has now grossed $29.5 after two weeks, meaning it’s slightly under-performing for its genre.

The only new fantasy movie in theaters this week is the Eddie Murphy movie Imagine That (opening on Friday), about a man who finds help solving his own problems by entering his daughter’s imaginary world.

OUT ON DVD

Out on DVD this week is Were the World Mine, a charming, extremely ambitious (if still somewhat flawed) indie musical about a young man who finds the secret recipe to A Midsummer Night Dream’s love potion hidden in the text of the play itself and uses it to cast a spell on his male co-star in the play. Here’s the trailer: