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From the Palantir! (A Fantasy News Round-Up)

Posted on 30 September 2009 by Brent Hartinger, Editor

  • So how are the ratings for all the returning and premiering fantasy/sci-fi shows? Well, Flash Forward did great, The Vampire Diaries is still strong and Supernatural is better-than-okay, Heroes is just okay, and Fringe and Dollhouse are tanking. Can I just say? I thought it was really weird the way Dollhouse just picked up right where the last season left off — no explanation of what the show is about or what had come before, no “welcome” at all to anyone who didn’t watch season 1, but who might have been willing to give the show a shot. I’m all for Joss Whedon sticking to his vision, but it just seems stupid to be that willfully indifferent to your audience (and the fate of your own show!).
  • As if there was any doubt as to how radically right-wing the Bush administration really was, Bush’s speechwriter, in a new book, says “people in the White House … actually object [ed] to giving the author J.K. Rowling a presidential medal because the Harry Potter books encouraged witchcraft.”
  • Hey, I missed the fact that Joseph LoDuca won the Emmy for his music for Legend of the Seeker:
  • Speaking of Legend of the Seeker, Buffy/Angel’s Charisma Carpenter appears in season 2 (coming November 7th) as one of the leather-clad Mord-Sith women. A photo here.
  • There’s good news and bad news in this Variety article: “A spate of recent major deals in the industry has sharpened the focus on the pre-adolescent set, moves that will lead to a flood of superhero projects, sci-fi and fantasy epics and toy spinoffs. The idea is to draw boys early, and they will follow franchises into their adult years.” The good news? Well, lots more fantasy. The bad news? Most of it will be directed at 12 year-old boys and will, therefore, suck.
  • So someone’s re-writing Little Women to include werewolves. Apparently, there’s also a book, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Wow, did the trend of adding monsters to classic stories get old fast.
  • Yes, it’s another adaptation of Moby Dick (staring Donald Sutherland and Ethan Hawke — and Gillian Anderson? I guess they added a female role!). But $25 million? For TV? Wow.
  • Halloween 3-D abruptly canceled. Because of the failure of Halloween 2? Naaaaah, that’s not it at all, producers say.
  • Ian McKellen prefers Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White. Hey, don’t we all?
  • Speaking of LotRs, MGM is going under, and this means The Hobbit films are in jeopardy (again!). I don’t believe for a minute they won’t get made, but can we please leave all this drama for the movie itself?
  • Here’s the first trailer for the Riverworld miniseries, coming in 2010:

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6 Responses to “From the Palantir! (A Fantasy News Round-Up)”

  1. Angela says:

    O.k., so didn’t Syfy (or SciFi as it was called then) already do a Riverworld miniseries a few years back? I’ve not read the book, but this storyline looks very familiar to something I watched before.

    Not saying I won’t watch this version, of course. It does look good and I like a lot of the actors in it. Plus the production value looks to be much better than the other movie/miniseries I’m thinking of.

    • Vincent Austin says:

      Yeah, that was in 2003. Not sure why they are doing it again so soon. Hopefully this one will be better to make it worth the remake.

  2. Jay Henderson says:

    I watched that one, too, and figured it was meant to be the pilot of a series but never got picked up. Now they’re doing it again?

  3. Vincent Austin says:

    The “anti-witchcraft” crowd isn’t limited to the right wing. I know radical left-wingers that are just as fanatical about not wanting kids to see anything with witches in it. It does seem to be a more common fear on the right though.

  4. Agent 86 says:

    Legend of the Seeker news - YAY! All good things. The latest spoilers all point to a very interesting season (and hopefully plenty of Mord Sith appearances).

    I really enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I’m looking forward to Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters and I’ll now also be looking forward to Little Woman and Werewolves. With PP&Z, I really enjoyed reading the classic with a “new spin”.

    I haven’t seen the new episode of “Dollhouse”, but I expect Joss Whedon is making season 2 for the “fans” since no-one expected to get a season 2 (and I’m sure they’re even more doubtful of a season 3). I’m fine with them jumping straight into the action instead of giving us a “filler” episode to re-explain the concept of the Dollhouse (besides, everyone knows it’s basically a brothel for billionaires).

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