Flagrantly Random

I found a clip from AccessHollywood.com where they visit the new Hollywood set for McNamara/Troy. In it, Julian McMahon (Dr. Christian Troy in Nip/Tuck) dishes out some very juicy spoiler-esque info about the upcoming season:

I seriously cannot wait for this show to return. Only 56 more days!

The season (and series) finale of this short lived show airs this weekend with the aptly named episode “The Discarded”, starring John Hurt (V for Vendetta, Hellboy), Brian Dennehy (Assault on Precinct 13, Cocoon), and James Denton (Desperate Housewives) and directed by Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: First Contact) from an adapted screenplay by Harlan Ellison and 2005 Academy Award nominee Josh Olson (A History of Violence).

“The Discarded” is based on the 1959 short story “The Abnormals” by seven-time Hugo Award winner, three-time Nebula Award winner and Science Fiction Grand Master Laureate Harlan Ellison. It is the story of a band of despised minorities forever adrift in the darkness of outer space. As a last resort – born out of their loneliness and despair – they are forced to make an ominous pact with those responsible for their plight, in the hope that they will finally be offered refuge at home on Earth.

The SF Site says that “‘The Discarded’ is clearly the strongest of the quartet of episodes aired during the show’s run”. While this is definitely the series finale for Masters of Science Fiction, there are two more episodes that ABC have chosen not to air. Hopefully they make it to DVD someday, to quench the completist in me.

As always, watch the promo ad here, and a couple of preview clips after the jump:

Continue reading ‘Masters of Science Fiction #4: “The Discarded” preview’

Following the expletive-ridden diatribe heralding the Extras Christmas Special, a new video has gone up on RickyGervais.com in which Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant report on the first day of filming. Check it out here:

Okay, so not too much was actually said about the filming, but it’s better than nothing, right?

This week’s short story to get the Masters of Science Fiction treatment is “Jerry Was a Man”, written in 1947 by seven-time Hugo Award winner & Science Fiction Grand Master Laureate Robert A. Heinlein. It stars Emmy Award winner Anne Heche (Psycho, Men in Trees) and Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Mr. Linderman in Heroes), and is directed and written by Academy Award Nominee Michael Tolkin (The Player, The Rapture).

In the future, Mr. and Mrs. Bronson Van Vogel are the seventh-richest couple in the world. Pleasure is their only work; mundane or dangerous chores are done by anthropoids. All the anthropoids - a few strands of human DNA, grown into a baby and fused with plastics - are named “Joe.” Somehow, Mrs. Van Vogel’s dormant compassion is awakened by a Joe named Jerry. What traits would prove that Jerry is, indeed, a man?

Watch the promo for it here, as well as the following preview clips. I particularly enjoyed the courtroom scene in clip 2, where the testimonial oath has amusingly been adjusted to accommodate for all religious deities. Although, to my disdain, I heard no mention of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Masters of Science Fiction: “Jerry Was a Man” - preview clip 1

Masters of Science Fiction: “Jerry Was a Man” - preview clip 2

The first (proper) promo for the third season of Prison Break was recently aired in the States. Check it out here:

As we all know from the end of season 2, Scofield, Mahone, Bellick and T-Bag are back in prison - one that makes Fox River look like a 5 star hotel - and it’s going to be up to Scofield again to break them out. It’s a pity he didn’t get a map tattooed this time.

At this stage, it’s hard to say whether the show is going back to its roots, or if the writers are just running out of ideas (the show was originally conceived as having only two seasons - but hey, money talks).

I’ll just say this: Season 2 paled in comparison to the premiere season. Perhaps Sona is a chance to recreate that experience, only darker and more intense. The show is called “Prison Break”, after all.

Greg Grunberg (Officer Matt Parkman in Heroes) hosts this year’s NBC Primetime Preview show, which includes a sneak peak at the new season of Heroes.

NBC Primetime Preview: Heroes - Season 2

Heroes season 2 beings 24th September 2007 (US).

I’d never seen or heard about this before, so I’m going to assume I’m not alone.

The year is 1999. It is the 12th episode of the first US series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. 32-year-old John Carpenter, an IRS officer by trade, has become the second ever contestant to reach the final million dollar question, and the first to do with all three lifelines still available. This alone is an amazing feat, but what happens next is simply unbelievable…

You can read more about him and his historic win in this Wikipedia entry.

The second episode of ABC’s short anthology series Masters of Science Fiction is called “The Awakening” and is based on the 1970 short story “The General Zapped an Angel” by Hollywood blacklist author Howard Fast. It stars Terry O’Quinn (Lost) and Elisabeth Röhm (Law & Order), and is directed and written by Australian Michael Petroni (Till Human Voices Wake Us).

Masters of Science Fiction: “The Awakening” ABC promo

The episode opens outside Baghdad, where a strange encounter occurs between an American soldier and an Iraq insurgent. They discover they are able to understand each other despite neither one being able to speak the other’s language. The story then jumps to a military lab where the two men are now being examined, along with another mysterious casualty - one they can’t even identify as human. The central question becomes not what the humanoid is, or how it has affected the men in the manner it has, but rather what the humanoid wants and how the governments of the world should respond.

The two main characters are a young female Lieutenant and a retired Military man of two years (played by Röhm and O’Quinn respectively), and their role in the film is to examine the humanoid and question humanity’s place in the cosmos. William B. Davis (The X-Files) guest stars as the President of the United States, who is ready to take an unpopular course of action without support from the rest of the world (another jab at the Bush administration?).

Stephen H Silver of The SF Site says ““The Awakening” isn’t as strong an episode as the debut episode, but it will appeal more to those who think science fiction needs special effects.”

Check out some preview clips after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Masters of Science Fiction #2: “The Awakening” preview’

If you’re looking for something to tide you over until the next season of Heroes starts (24 September, US ), I suggest you check out Heroes Unmasked. With 10 minute episodes airing every week exclusively on BBC (UK), Heroes Unmasked is a look behind the scenes of Heroes, with insightful interviews and exclusive backstage access.

In case you can’t find it on your favourite BT channel, here’s the complete first episode, “A New Dawn”:

Heroes Unmasked - s01e01 - “A New Dawn”

The song playing at the end of the episode is “Feeling a Moment” by Feeder. There’s an MP3 of it here.

If you remember in the last season of Weeds, each week the theme song - “Little Boxes” - was covered by a different band. There’s now a Showtime competition running at the moment where you must create your own music video for “Little Boxes” for a chance to win $10,000 or a dream vacation to California.

As part of the promotion for this competition, a few of the cast from Weeds have performed their own versions of the Weeds theme song. My favourite would have to be Romany Malco (Conrad) doing a rap version, and adding a few more lyrics of his own. Apparently, according to his wikipedia page, he’s been rapping since age 7, and the rap group he formed in his teens was picked up by Virgin Records. Check it out, with the rest of the cast’s performances after the jump:

Romany Malco (Conrad) raps Weeds theme

Continue reading ‘Weeds cast sing Weeds theme song’