Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

By John J. Joex

The 2009-10 season is all but over now (Stargate: Universe has its finale this Friday) and now we head into the slow Summer season which typically delivers much less in the way of Science Fiction and Fantasy television programming.  In the past Summers, several of the broadcast networks have had a few entries of interest to genre fans, but this year delivers very slim pickens’ on those stations.  Syfy and BBC America typically have some offerings in the hot months, though, and a few other cable channels have some shows worth check out as well.

As far as series continuing from the Spring, there are three of those that have episodes that will run in the Summer months.  Season 2 of Merlin on Syfy (Fridays at 10 PM EST) will continue through July 2nd.  And on BBC America, Ashes to Ashes (Tuesdays 10 PM) will run through the end of June, and Season 5 of Doctor Who (Saturdays 9 PM) will continue through July 24th.  For those interested, FOX is burning off the remaining episodes of their paranormal procedural series Past Life on Fridays at 8 PM through June 18th.  Apart from those, following are some other shows to look for in the coming months (all times are EST, links are to each show’s page at TV.com):

True Blood (HBO, Sundays 9 PM) – The story of Sookie Stackhouse and all of the vampiric and supernatural characters in her life (though Bill is MIA) continues with the third season of this HBO series which debuts June 13th.  Expect plenty of blood and sex and adults themes, and some decent stories as well.  I’m still trying to get caught up with Season 2, but I’m looking forward to the third season as well.

The Gates (ABC, Sundays 9 PM) – This supernatural series, the only one from the broadcast networks with solid genre interest, kicks off on June 20th.  Basically take some vampires, werewolves, witches, and other supernatural critters and throw them into Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives and you have a good idea what this one is about.  It didn’t work so well for ABC last Fall with Eastwick, but this show should be worth a look.

Futurama (Comedy Central, Thursdays 10 PM) – This sci fi spoof returns from limbo on June 24th.  The original cast and creative team is back onboard and promises to deliver plenty of laughs and raunchy moments!

Warehouse 13 (Syfy, Tuesdays 9 PM) – The second season of Syfy’s hit series from last Summer begins on July 6th.  This one follows a group tasked with protecting a secret warehouse that contains a vast inventory of powerful artifacts and will pick up the story from the Season 1 cliffhanger that left Artie’s fate in question (he’s still on the payroll, so I’m guessing he made it).

Eureka (Syfy Fridays 9 PM) – The strangest town on the planet returns for its fourth season on July 9th.  Expect more crazy experiments gone awry as this series returns with new episodes and as James Callis (Battlestar Galactica) joins the cast and Matt Frewer returns as Taggert after being MIA most of last season.  We will also see guest appearances from Jamie Kennedy and Wil Wheaton, and we can only hope that Eureka will recover from the slump it experienced during its third season.

Haven (Syfy Fridays 10 PM) – This one gives us another adaptation of a Stephen King story (The Colorado Kid) and will debut on July 9th.  Emily Rose (Jericho) plays an FBI agent who comes to the town of Haven to investigate a murder and finds that it is a refuge for people with supernatural abilities.  So basically this gives us a supernatural twist on its lead-in series Eureka.

Being Human (BBC America, Saturdays 10 PM) – Season 2 of the BBC series about a vampire, werewolf, and ghost all sharing an apartment kicks off on July 24th.  This one received a lot of attention during its initial run last Summer and promises to pick up where it left off.

Some other series and events of interest to Science Fiction and Fantasy fans may include NBC’s mystery series Persons Unknown which debuts tonight at 10 PM, AMC’s conspiracy series Rubicon which bows on August 1st at 8 PM, and Syfy’s mini-series adaptation of The Phantom which will air in a four-hour block on June 20th.  Sci Fi Wire has the scoop on some more Summer entries which include several reality shows and a number of Syfy’s Saturday cheese-flicks.  You can read about that at this link.

The upfronts are now in back and we know the plans for the broadcast networks for the coming season.  Following is a first look at the Science Fiction and Fantasy shows currently on the schedule along with some shows having only marginal genre elements but which may still interest fans.  The schedule is actually pretty light compared to the last few seasons and it loads up the end of the week just like the 2009-10 season.  Check back in the coming weeks for our further analysis on the coming season (and wrap up of this past season), and in the meantime see which shows below spark your interest (all times given are EST):

Monday:

8 PM – Chuck (NBC)
9 PM – The Event* (NBC)

Tuesday:

8 PM – No Ordinary Family (ABC)

Wednesday:

8 PM – Undercovers* (NBC)

Thursday:

8 PM – Vampire Diaries (CW)
8:30 PM – $#*! My Dad Says** (CBS)
9 PM – Nikita* (CW)
9 PM – Fringe (FOX)

Friday:

8 PM – Medium (CBS)
8 PM – Smallville (CW)
8 PM – Human Target (FOX)
9 PM – Supernatural (CW)

Scheduled for late Fall or Mid-Season: V (ABC), Terra Nova (FOX), The Cape (NBC)

2009-10 Season Cancelled Shows: Eastwick (ABC), FlashForward (ABC), Ghost Whisperer (CBS), Dollhouse (FOX), Past Life (FOX), Heroes (NBC)

* These shows may only have limited interest to genre fans
** Not a genre show, but may interest fans because it stars William Shatner

The part time network announced their schedule today which contained no major surprises as we already knew that Supernatural, Smallville, and Vampire Diaries were coming back and the announcement of their pickup for Nikita came earlier this week.  Perhaps the only surprise came with their decision to move Supernatural to 9 PM CST Fridays, pairing it once again with Smallville (Nikita will take over Supernatural‘s current Thursday 9 PM EST timeslot).   The superhero show has actually done pretty good on Fridays this season, by CW standards at least, and I assume they expect similar performance from Supernatural next season.  There was also word that next season will officially be Smallville‘s last, but then we have heard that before.  With the addition of Nikita, 40% of the CW’s programming now has a genre angle, though with a fairly young target audience.  That network had also eyed to other properties with genre elements, Nomads and Betwixt, but they did not make it to the Fall schedule.  No word at this point on whether they are waiting in the wings as potential mid-season replacements.

NBC announced their Fall schedule on Sunday, followed by FOX on Monday, ABC on Tuesday, and CBS yesterday.  Stay tuned as we will compile together the full schedule of Science Fiction and Fantasy shows for next season and give our initial thoughts on what to expect.

CBS is not set to announce their Fall schedule until tomorrow (Wednesday) but word has already leaked on the fate of several of their shows.  Among those are two genre shows, as Ghost Whisperer received its walking papers but Medium (which CBS saved from cancellation over at NBC last season) will live one more year.  Both shows aired on Friday nights this past season, and even though they typically won their timeslots, their numbers declined throughout the year.  Apparently CBS decided to keep one of the two, though, and Medium received the winning card.  No word yet on whether it will remain on Friday nights or get a new timeslot next year.  Over at the fifth place network, the CW announced that they would pick up the spy series Nikita for next season.  The series is based on the French film La Femme Nikita and will be the second time that it has been adapted for television.  The previous, Canadian made, version had a successful run on the USA cable channel from 1997 to 2001.  That network is also looking at two other genre shows, Nomads and Betwixt, but has not made an announcement on either them yet.  The CW had previously announced that they would renew all three of their current genre shows: Supernatural, Smallville, and Vampire Diaries. They will reveal their Fall schedule on Thursday.

Update 5/19: CBS revealed their schedule for Fall 2010 which has Medium still on Fridays but now an hour earlier in the 8 PM EST timeslot.  As expected, the network has no other genre shows on their schedule, though they will air Shit My Dad Says (aka $#*! My Dad Says) which may interest genre fans since it stars William Shatner.

ABC announced its schedule today, preceded by FOX yesterday and NBC on Sunday.

Updated 11:25 CST

ABC has announced its schedule for the upcoming Fall season and this time around it has far fewer shows in the Science Fiction and Fantasy vein than prior years.  The alphabet network has continued to try and replicate the success it had with Lost for the past several years and has had multiple entries in the genre each season since 2004 including shows like Invasion, Pushing Daisies, Life on Mars, and this past season’s FlashForward and V.  But none of these has managed to pull numbers anywhere close to what Lost has enjoyed over its six-year run, apparently prompting ABC to back away from the genre going into next season.  With no Lost on the schedule, it currently only has the one genre series No Ordinary Family, a superhero drama starring Michael Chicklis (Fantastic Four, The Shield), slated for Fall.  V is not currently on the Fall schedule, which means it may wait until a January start but there’s also a possibility it could return as early as November.  That series could take over the slot currently held by the Dancing with the Stars results show which would give it No Ordinary Family as its lead-in.  ABC wants to give the returning series some extra time before scheduling it because it relies heavily on its special effects and this increases production time.

Tomorrow, CBS will announce its schedule for next season followed by the CW on Thursday.  NBC revealed their schedule on Sunday and FOX announced their plans yesterday.

FOX announced their schedule for the upcoming season today at the upfronts which had no surprises as we already new that Fringe and Human Target were coming back and that they had Steven Spielberg’s time travel/dinosaur series Terra Nova on the radar.  Fringe will remain in the Thursday night timeslot that has pummeled it all season long, though it did manage to at least post some gains for FOX on that night and should continue to hold on to its audience next season.  Human Target got the bad news that it will get relegated to Friday nights at 8 PM EST, the low-viewership evening that killed off Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles last season and Dollhouse this season.  This suggests that FOX does not have a whole lot of confidence in that series (though Robert Seidman at TV by the Numbers sees it differently) and that it will likely not live past the thirteen episode order for its second season, though they do still show it in that slot through mid-season.  The Spielberg series has been in the works for a while and it will get a place on the schedule (timeslot currently undetermined) at mid-season.  Following is the official description of the show:

From executive producers Steven Spielberg, Peter Chernin, Brannon Braga (24, “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and David Fury (“Lost,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) comes an epic family adventure 85 million years in the making. TERRA NOVA follows an ordinary family embarking on an incredible journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a small part of a massive experiment to save the human race. In the year 2149 the world is dying. The planet is overdeveloped, overcrowded and overpolluted. With the majority of plant and animal life extinct, devotion to science has brought mankind to the brink of destruction, but has also provided its only hope for salvation. Knowing there is no way to reverse the damage to the planet, a coalition of scientists has managed to open up a fracture in the space-time continuum, creating a portal to prehistoric Earth. This doorway leads to an amazing world, one that allows for a last-ditch effort to save the human race…possibly changing the future by correcting the mistakes of the past. The series centers on the Shannon family as they join the tenth pilgrimage of settlers to TERRA NOVA, the first colony of humans in this second chance for civilization. JIM SHANNON, a devoted father with a checkered past, guides his family through this new land of limitless beauty, mystery and terror. Jim’s wife, ELISABETH SHANNON, is a trauma surgeon chosen through a global lottery as a new addition to Terra Nova’s medical team. JOSH SHANNON is their son, mourning the girl he left behind, as he’s torn between two role models – his father and the charismatic COMMANDER FRANK TAYLOR, the leader of the settlement, and the heroic first pioneer through the time portal. MADDY SHANNON, Jim and Elizabeth’s teen daughter, is as independent and adventurous as her parents, but her distrust of authority soon leads her on a dangerous path. In addition to blue skies, rolling rivers and lush vegetation, TERRA NOVA offers new opportunities and fresh beginnings to its recent arrivals, but the Shannons have brought with them a familial secret that may threaten their citizenship in this utopia. Additionally these adventurers soon discover that this healthy, vibrant world is not as idyllic as it initially appears. The areas surrounding Terra Nova are filled with dangerous dinosaurs, and other prehistoric threats, as well as external forces that may be intent on destroying this new world before it begins. But perhaps even more threatening than what lies outside the protective walls is the Shannons’ realization that something sinister may be happening inside TERRA NOVA as not everyone on this mission has the same intentions of how best to save mankind.

NBC announced its schedule yesterday and tomorrow ABC will announce their schedule, followed by CBS on Wednesday and the CW on Thursday.

NBC announced their upcoming Fall schedule early as planned and seeing as most of the major announcements preceded this, their were no surprises.  Chuck will return to its usual Monday 8 PM EST timeslot to lead off an action-adventure night.  It will be followed by the conspiracy-laden series The Event which may hold some interest for Science Fiction and Fantasy fans.  Then on Wednesday nights, J.J. Abrams’ new spy drama Undercovers will air which may have some genre elements as well.  At Mid-Season, the peacock network will roll out the quasi-superhero series The Cape which will co-star genre favorite Summer Glau.  With Heroes getting the axe, as announced on Friday, their are no other sci fi/fantasy shows on NBC’s Fall or Mid-Season schedule.   There was also no confirmation on the rumors that Heroes will get some sort of wrap-up movie, though Hollywood Reporter indicated that NBC would talk with series creator Tim Kring after the upfronts about some sort of finale for the show.  Stay tuned as we bring more updates from the upfronts over the coming days.

Summer 2010 Science Fiction and Fantasy Movie Preview

It’s that time of year again! The Summer Blockbuster season is almost upon us. It kicks off on May 7th with the release of Iron Man 2 and looks ready to keep us on sensory overload through at least July. Since the 70’s when the successes of Jaws and Star Wars changed the way that studios looked what type of movies they would produce and when they would release them, the Summer season has become the time for the big mega-multi-million dollar movies and audiences continue flock to the theaters during these months to escape the heat and devour some mindless entertainment. And there will be plenty of that this year along with explosions and faced-paced action sequences and CGI-overload. And it looks like there might be a movie or two in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre that might  invigorate our brains as well. But why let that stop us from enjoying the Summer movie season, right?

We have compiled together a list of the Science Fiction and Fantasy movies that we currently know to be scheduled for release from May through August (the four months that comprise the Blockbuster season). As usual, this includes plenty of familiar titles as sequels abound just like every year. Among the movies continue on existing franchises, we have films heading our way like Iron Man 2, Shrek Forever After, and Toy Story 3. There are also several franchises leaping from other mediums such as games, comics, and television to the big screen like Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (video game), Jonah Hex (comics), and The Last Airbender (television). Then, this summer will bring us the debut of some high-dollar movies looking to jump start new franchises on the big screen like Knight and Day, Inception, and Salt. Plus, we have included in our list some marginal genre entries that should still interest Science Fiction and Fantasy fans like Robin Hood, The A-Team, and The Expendables.

You can click over to our Summer 2010 Movie Preview page to scroll through all of the entries that we have compiled so far (and we will continue to make additions and updates to this page as we receive new information). Where available, we have included links to the official sites for the movies so that you can click over and see the latest trailers and get the most current updates on the films. Next week, Johnny Jay will chime in with his assessment of what films are worth shelling out your hard-earned money to go see, but in the mean time, browse through our preview of 24 movies and get ready for the Big Bang that is the Summer movie season!

The 2009-10 television season is winding down and we will shortly be facing the Summer months which usually have a dearth of offerings on the tube for Science Fiction and Fantasy fans. Syfy, though, will at least have a few choices to sift through which includes their Summer staple Eureka. That show will return with new episodes for its fourth season starting on 9 PM EST Friday, July 9th when James Callis (Baltar from Battlestar Galactica) will jump on board as former town resident Dr. Grant who stirs up some bad feelings among the other townspeople. Warehouse 13, a huge success for Syfy last year, returns for its second season at 9 PM Tuesday, July 6th and continues the paranormal investigations of Myka, Pere, and Artie. New series Haven will pair up with Eureka and debut at 10 PM Friday, July 9th. This one is based on the Stephen King novella The Colorado Kid and gives us a supernatural spin on its lead-in. Syfy also has its slate of “reality” shows returning in Summer which includes Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International and with two new entries Mary Knows Best and Paranormal Investigators. Click on the link above for more info on those shows. Also, the cable network has a slate of original movies set for the Summer which includes titles like Lake Placid 3, Stonehenge Apocalypse, Jack Hunter and the Lost Treasure of Ugarit, and Goblin. Well . . . at least we can look forward to the return of Eureka and hope that this year will improve on that show’s tepid third season. And Haven looks mildly interesting as well. -JJJ

Buy Eureka and Warehouse 13 on DVD from Amazon.com: