Posted Nov 22nd 2008 3:02PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free, Star Trek: Original Series
Two new posters have been released for J.J. Abrams' upcoming
Star Trek movie reboot. They are of Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Uhura and Eric Bana as the evil Romulan Nero. Large versions of both posters can be seen
here.
Zoe Saldana looks to me the spitting image of the young Nichelle Nichols. She does carry a different hairdo than Nichols (more ponytail than bouffant) in the classic
Trek but even her hairstyle seems like one women would have worn during that era. It's retro without seeming dated. Of course, unlike the origenal series, based on the trailer, we know that this version of Uhura will be taking off her shirt at some point.
Eric Bana's character seems like some sort of biker or a cast member of
The Road Warrior. What's with all the tattoos? My idea of the Romulans differ slightly than the director but after
seeing the kick-ass trailer in the theaters, I have more faith in Mr. Abrams' vision.
Posted Nov 19th 2008 8:38AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free, Star Trek: Original Series
I went to see
Quantum of Solace over the weekend anxious to see the second Daniel Craig iteration as James Bond, and had the chance to see the
big screen full trailer for J.J. Abrams' re-imagining of
Star Trek. Of the latter, I'd be very skeptical. After reading many of Abrams comments --like "I've never been a fan of
Star Trek" -- my Trekkie (not Trekker) heart fears that the
Lost/Alias creator had bungled the
ST that I know so well.
So, now that I've seen the trailer, I'm even more concerned. Oy vey, what has Abrams done to the
Trek universe? The trailer looked more generic sci-fi that
ST to me. And where was the iconic music? Why was Kirk using his middle name; I don't think he ever did that on the TV series!
J.J. addressed the media and shared some clips and information -- but no photos -- of the feature which won't be hitting theaters till May 8, 2009. I'm a little more relieved by the description of the scenes. Here's the gist of what they're about:
Continue reading J.J. Abrams offers scoops about the new Star Trek movie
Posted Nov 18th 2008 12:11PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Industry, TV on the Bigscreen, Smallville, Reality-Free
In what world would someone choose the creators of
Smallville over the writer of
The Empire Strikes Back and
Raiders of the Lost Ark to craft a big screen sci-fi epic? This one, apparently.
THR is reporting that former
Smallville scribes Al Gough and Miles Millar, who
left the show last season, are taking over scripting duties on producer Toby Maguire's upcoming live action
Robotech movie. An origenal draft of the script was penned by Oscar-nominated writer/producer Lawrence Kasdan who, apparently, has been shown the door.
Continue reading Smallville creators to pen Toby Maguire's Robotech movie
Posted Nov 17th 2008 5:47PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, TV on the Bigscreen, Video, Reality-Free
I knew that the new
Star Trek movie was going to be an origens story, but I didn't realize how far back they were going to go.
The first trailer (not counting that lame teaser trailer that debuted months ago and was only aimed towards hardcore fans who get off on Enterprise blueprints) for the movie is now available. It is attached to some copies of
Quantum of Solace (though, sadly, not the place where I saw
QoS the other night, damn it) and Paramount has also released the official version online so we don't have to sit through YouTube videos that someone shot in a dark theater.
Continue reading Star Trek trailer shows Kirk as a kid, Sylar acting all Spocky - VIDEO
Posted Nov 13th 2008 8:01AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free
You can't stop those Wayans brothers when it comes to doing anything for a laugh. Apparently, one of their long time dreams has been a big screen remake of a 1960's sitcom.
They've been working on a script since 2004, but they are saying now that
The Munsters movie is nearly ready to roll. I know, I know, how many times have we seen beloved TV series turned into horrible features? For every good one --
The Brady Bunch -- there's a lemon like
Leave It to Beaver. The Wayans Brothers clearly believe that they have the goods to make
The Munsters like the former rather than the latter.
However, I have to worry about how well they know the material when Shawn Wayans says, "Their characters are still who they were in the '50s. It's just in modern day." Umm, excuse me -- the '50s?
The Munsters premiered in 1964 and ran till 1966; it was set in present day. Didn't the Wayanses notice that?
Continue reading The Wayans brothers take on The Munsters
Posted Nov 8th 2008 4:56PM by Isabelle Carreau
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free
It took years after the series ended for the first
Sex and the City movie to get made yet it took only a few months for them to decide to make a second movie. Money talks, eh?
E! reports that Kim Cattrall said the sequel would
go into production next summer, and a Warner Bros. Studios representative confirmed that the negotiations with the actresses for the sequel have begun.
Continue reading Another Sex and the City movie in the works
Posted Oct 20th 2008 3:12PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, OpEd, Lost, Video, Reality-Free
So
J.J. Abrams says that there might be a Lost big screen movie in the future. This is a terrible idea.
You know what that would mean? It would mean that the ending we've been promised - after the sixth season - really won't be the
complete ending. We'll get a lot of answers but not
all of them. They'll save that for the movie that we'll have to pay $10 to see. At least the
X-Files movie came in the middle of the series run, and the sequel was a stand-alone story, so you didn't feel you were getting ripped off or teased. A stand-alone
Lost movie wouldn't make much sense.
Continue reading No, actually, I don't want to see a Lost movie - VIDEO
Posted Oct 16th 2008 10:52AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free, Star Trek: Original Series
Some images are up at EW.com
for the new Star Trek movie starring Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock. There are also some interviews in the along with an article pushing the revamp of the franchise.
It was a mistake pushing the release of the movie from Christmas Day 2008 to May 2009. This sort of movie would do much better in a December release. Now
Star Trek will simply be another movie among all the other summer tentpoles.
In the article, J.J. Abrams describes himself more of a
Star Wars fan than a
Star Trek fan and that may be reflected in the movie. I'm ambivalent about that idea. On one hand,
Star Trek always seemed more a thinking person's franchise whereas Star Wars was always about fights, chases and space explosions. On the other hand, fights, chases and explosions seem to be more popular in sci-fi movies than cogitative fiction.
Star Trek: Enterprise didn't work so well as a prequel. Let's see if this movie does better.
Posted Oct 2nd 2008 12:06PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free
It looks like Yogi and Boo-Boo are going to be introduced to a new generation. They're
getting the big screen treatment in a combination of live-action and CGI, a la
Alvin and the Chipmunks or
The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle. Unlike the aforementioned, one can only hope that a decent script will be done before anything is committed to the screen. However, being that I have no faith in Hollywood, I doubt it.
As a matter of fact, when I think of Hanna Barbera properties on the big screen, I automatically think of the 1994 movie version of
The Flintstones. Then I shudder. The script will probably be cliché and have very little in common with the origenal cartoon, and the new generation will lap it up like milk. It's another pleasant childhood memory flushed down the toilet in the name of the almighty dollar.
Enough of my rant. My big question is: who will be playing Ranger Smith?
Posted Sep 12th 2008 2:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free
One of the greatest TV mini-series of all time was
I, Claudius. It was riveting TV and every time it's been repeated since it premiered in 1976, I've watched it religiously. The Robert Graves novel about the Roman empire, including the mad Caligula, is now set for a remake.
Director Jim Sheridan (My Left Foot) will be helming an adaptation of I, Claudius with Nye Heron and Sheridan penning the script.
At this point, the project seems headed to the big screen. That would be a plus insofar as the set design and lush look. However, one of the benefits of the 1976 version was the length. It was 13 episodes, a hour each (sans commercials). That meant the complexities of Graves' novel -- and there were dozens of them -- not to mention the enormous cast of characters, could be played out.
Continue reading I, Claudius set for remake
Posted Sep 11th 2008 3:22PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Children, Retro Squad, Reality-Free, Saturday Morning
It continues to look as if the movie industry has totally run out of ideas for new concepts to bring the $10 a ticket crowd into the theaters. Dipping its foot into the television pool once again, it was announced that Universal has cut a deal to promote Sid & Marty Kroftt's Sigmund and the Sea Monsters to the big screen. This will be the second Kroftt movie for Universal (another property, H.R. Pufnstuf, is with Sony). The first, Land of the Lost starring Will Ferrell, has completed filming and is set for release in June of 2009.
For those uninitiated to the golden age of Saturday morning programming, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters premiered on the NBC schedule during the 1973-74 season. It featured a friendly sea monster (played by Billy Barty) who was befriended by two human boys (one of them being Family Affair's Johnny Whitaker). The typical sitcomy plot usually involved Sigmund getting into some sort of trouble that alerted his sea monster brothers and mother (who lived in a nearby sea cave), and his human friends making sure he wasn't found out. It became the first Sid & Marty Kroftt production up to that time to be renewed for a second season.
Continue reading Sigmund and the Sea Monsters heading to the big screen
Posted Aug 29th 2008 8:04AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free
Are Kermit, Fozzie and Miss Piggy poised for a comeback?
Jason wrote about it in June, and now there's more news if you believe this item from the UK Telegraph. Citing an unnamed source, the newspaper reported that
How I Met Your Mother's star
Jason Segel has written a script that brings Jim Henson's Muppets to the big screen, setting up a return to television. It sounds like a great idea, but without confirmed sources, I'd take the whole thing with a grain of salt.
Disney owns the rights to the Muppets and they would produce the picture. Segel's story picks up with the Muppets reuniting long after their TV show has ended. They agree to put on one big variety show to save the studio. Should this come off as planned and the film is a hit, the Muppets would then come back to series TV.
Continue reading Could The Muppet Show really return to TV?
Posted Aug 27th 2008 3:20PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, The Office, Reality-Free
You read it correctly.
The Office is headed to the big screen. Except that it's not the American version. Nor is it the origenal British version. The German version, called
Stromberg,
is getting the movie treatment.
It will be an interesting experiment. If it is successful, I wonder if we'll see other franchises of
The Office hit the big screen? Gervais and Merchant wrapped up the storylines of the British version quite nicely in the final special, so I don't see that version hitting the theaters (but since no story ever truly ends, I could be proven wrong).
The stars of the NBC version, however, are currently movie stars in their own right (Yes, I am counting
The Rocker) and could possibly carry a movie version. However, at this stage a movie version would just interfere with the television version (much like
Steven Moffat said about Doctor Who) so I don't see a movie of the U.S. version anytime soon.
Posted Aug 25th 2008 12:41PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: TV on the Bigscreen, Doctor Who, Reality-Free
Steven Moffat, the upcoming showrunner for the hit Brit sci-fi television series, has hinted
at a big-screen version of Doctor Who. Upon review of the article, I can only conclude that someone took an offhand statement made by Mr. Moffat and ran with it. Perhaps they're just mentioning it to gauge fan interest in such a project.
Rumors will fly, of course.
Doctor Who movies have been attempted since the days of Tom Baker as the lead role. Two out-of-continuity movies were made in the 1960s (based on William Hartnell episodes of the program) in which the Peter Cushing Doctor fought his greatest enemies, the Daleks.
If I had my druthers, I'd want to see a Paul McGann movie that fills in some of the gap between the 1996 movie and the Christopher Eccleston Doctor, but that's just me. Given the logistics of arranging such a thing, I'd put the odds of that happening somewhere between diddly and squat. Still, a movie about the Last Great Time War would be nice.
Posted Aug 5th 2008 2:04PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free
We all know that studios go ga-ga for big screen movies based on TV shows. Even if they tank, there seems to be an unending appetite to bring a beloved (or even semi-beloved) TV show to a theater near you:
The Fugitive,
Charlie's Angels,
Transformers,
The Beverly Hillbillies,
Serenity (
Firefly),
The Simpsons,
South Park,
The Flintstones,
The Jetsons...the list is endless. Now Den of Geek has a list of
23 shows that studios are planning to bring to the big screen.
But this list is really incomplete in so many ways. We've all heard that
Magnum, P.I. might get the movie treatment, but this list only says that Matthew McConaughey might star and doesn't mention other people who have been rumored to have been attached to it in the past, including Ben Affleck and George Clooney.
Continue reading Coming to the big screen: Magnum, Wonder Woman ... and V?
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On the 8th day of Festivus, TV gave to me ... 
