MGM has launched a new Stargate branded website with an emphasis on Stargate Universe.

There’s a heap of new content there and a very cool virtual 3-D tour of the Stargate Universe ship Destiny.

Click here to check it out.

Amanda Tapping to guest star as Samantha Carter in 'Stargate Universe'

The Sci Fi Channel have now confirmed Amanda Tapping (aka Samantha Carter) will guest star in Stargate Universe.  With the previous announcements that Richard Dean Anderson (Jack O’Neill) and Michael Shanks (Daniel Jackson) will also be guest starring, the only remaining SG-1 cast members not yet named for a guest appearance are Christopher Judge (Teal’c) and Ben Browder (Cameron Mitchell).

One question that comes to mind: where are the guest appearances from the major Stargate Atlantis cast members?  Will there be any?

Whilst we ponder that question, there have also been a couple of other cast announcements.  Most notably, Gary Jones (aka Water Harriman in SG-1, Atlantis and both SG-1 movies) has also been confirmed for a guest appearance.

Actor Christopher MacDonald has been tapped to play Senator Alan Armstrong, the father of main character Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque).

Carlo Rota (Total Recall 2070 / Earth: Final Conflict / Saw V) has been cast in the role of Dale Strom, the head of the I.O.A (International Oversight Advisory).

Grammy-nominated recording artist Janelle Monáe will also appear as herself in an upcoming episode and will perform the songs ‘Many Moons’ and ‘Sincerely’ from her album Metropolis.

Stargate Universe will premiere in October.

Source:  Gateworld

MGM have officially turned on the green-light for a third Stargate SG-1 movie, and Executive Producer Brad Wright has confirmed an Atlantis film is still in the works.  In fact, both the third SG1 movie and the first Atlantis movie might find themselves shot back to back.

“When we start shooting the Stargate SG-1 movie depends on whether we do the two movies back-to-back,” Wright said. “The Stargate SG-1 movie will probably start shooting in the fall. I say ‘probably’ because there are a lot of deals that have to be finished being put in place before that can actually happen. That would leave the summer [of 2010] as the release time.”

Wright also added that although deals are still yet to be worked out, he still intends for the third SG-1 film to be Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) centric as has previously been reported.

“I had a story idea that really worked with O’Neill,” Wright said. “And it’s not just his character, by any means. It’s a Stargate story that brings O’Neill back in a big way.”

Producer Joseph Mallozzi and writing partner Paul Mullie are writing the script for the Atlantis movie.  Mallozzi has confirmed they hope to have the first draft done by the end of this month (April 2009)l.

“No firm production dates for either movies,” Mallozzi said, “but if I was a betting man, I’d be looking at this fall.”

Source: Gateworld

Michael Shanks, aka Daniel Jackson in Stargate SG-1, will be making a cameo appearance in the premiere of Stargate Universe.

Consulting Producer Joseph Mallozzi confirmed Shanks’ cameo on his blog:

“Michael will have a cameo in the premiere,” he said.

Shanks will join former SG-1 co-star Richard Dean Anderson (aka Jack O’Neill) and SG-1’s Gary Jones (aka Walter Harriman) who will also appear.

Stargate Universe premieres this fall on the Sci Fi Channel in the U.S., and Sky One in the U.K.

Source: Gateworld

A second Stargate Universe trailer has become available.  It was aired during the premiere of Stargate Continuum and is titled ‘Philosophical’ (the first clip was titled ‘Frantic’).

A higher quality clip is available at SCIFI.com.

Richard Dean Anderson, who appeared as Colonel Jack O’Neill in Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, is set to reprise his role for the third Stargate franchise, Stargate Universe.

Series co-creator Brad Wright has said Anderson is likely to appear in multiple episodes.

“Rick is doing episodes of Universe,” series co-creator Brad Wright told GateWorld. “He was just here yesterday shooting an episode of Universe with us.  So that relationship is always on-going, and it’s good to have him back.”

Stargate Universe is currently filming and is scheduled to air in the US on the Sci Fi Channel late 2009.

Source:  Gateworld

Kent Gibbons from Multichannel News managed to catch up with actor Robert Carlyle aka Dr. Nicholas Rush in the upcoming Stargate Universe. 

Robert Carlyle told him that the producers of the new series hope to keep the core audiences of Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis whilst introducing them to something different than the usual Stargate - something more character centered.  

“The producers, particularly Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, these guys are the main reason why I’m here,” Carlyle said.  ”They explained it extremely well when they got in contact with me at first.  The first thing I said was: ‘Why do you want me in it?’  The way they put it was very interesting: They said they wanted someone who can ‘make unattractive things seem quite attractive.’  I said: ‘I’m your man.’” 

SPOILERS AHOY 

From Multichannel News: 

“I play a guy called Dr. Nicholas Rush,” Carlyle said with his familiar, crisp Scottish accent.  ”A scientist. A driven kind of man. You’re never sure what motives this guy has. Never.” 

“At the beginning of the show, Rush has transported a team through a stargate to what they believe is another world. In fact, when they get there, they realize they’re actually on another ship, a space ship, a massive spaceship. Which has been floating through the universe for hundreds of thousands of years, launched by the Ancients long ago,” he said, using Stargate terminology adeptly. “Unmanned, picking up information, gathering data.” 

“So once they get there – and they’re relieved to get there because they have a very tricky situation to get there – Rush then tells them: ‘You can’t go back. You can never go home.’” 

“Then things start to get really, really tense. A battle for leadership takes place on the ship. We have three deaths in the first three hours. A suicide in episode five, I think.” 

“This is a hearty band,” he continued. “They’re literally billions of light years away, on the very far side of the universe. And the thought of that is quite terrifying. So it has to be character driven. This piece will stand and fall on the characters, for sure.” 

Carlyle goes on to say that the first three hours are almost finished, and that once you’ve seen the first hour, you’ll be hooked. 

Read the full interview here.

The Fallen

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – Two of the villains from Michael Bay’s new movie are coming out as toys, and a couple of early pics have surfaced.  I have to say, the character ‘The Fallen’ that the title of the film is based looks absolutely sick and I’d go as far as to say one of the coolest robots I’ve ever seen.  (He’s the robot toy in the image to the left).

Watchmen & Star Trek XI – Watchmen hits screens on March 6, and it will do so together with a brand new as yet unreleased trailer for Star Trek XI.  If you like Star Trek, you now have to go see Watchmen

Speaking of Watchmen related news, Total Film have posted an article in which Alan Moore (who wrote the original graphic novel) voices his disdain for the comic book to movie industry – actually, the movie industry itself really.  I can’t help but agree with Alan Moore on everything he said, particularly his statement that, “The main reason why comics can’t work as films is largely because everybody who is ultimately in control of the film industry is an accountant.”  Yet, whilst this is the main reason why comic movies haven’t worked well traditionally it is not a valid reason to support an argument that all comic book movie adaptations can’t work.  Read the rest of this entry »

Caprica - In what I think is a brilliant move, Caprica is coming to DVD before it will air on the Sci Fi Channel.  I’d be hazarding a guess that it will be a huge success and no doubt lead to future premieres being slated for DVD before airing.  It’s a good move for the fans, and a good move to test the viability of a potential new series.  Not that that really matters for Caprica which has already had its first season green-lit.  It will be available in April.

Dollhouse – Joss Whedon has stated he intends his new Sci Fi series Dollhouse to make viewers uncomfortable.  Whedon has said, “Part of the mandate of the show is to make people nervous, to make them identify with people they don’t like and get into situations they don’t approve of and also look at some of the heroic side of things and wonder if maybe they were wrong about what motivated those as well.”  I like the sound of that.  Dollhouse premieres on Feb 13.

Green Lantern – Casino Royale director Martin Campbell is in negotiations with Warner Bros to direct the Green Lantern live-action feature film.  Although many people thought this movie was on hold and would possibly never be made, it seems Warner Bros are intent on moving it forward.  The script has been remodeled something like three times, and according to Michael Green (the third screenwriter) Warner Bros is now happy with the script. Green told IGN, “Warner Bros. doesn’t do green-lights the way a lot of places do. They sort of always inch towards it, so there’s never a day where they’re like, ‘Boom! Magic bomb! We’re green-lit!’  But we’ve had very good conversations with them. From what I’m told, they really like the last script we gave them and are hoping to find a way to make it, which would be thrilling.”  If Campbell can make a super hero movie with action like the opening ten minutes of Casino Royale, then I’m all for it.  However the rest of Casino Royale makes me worry… Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of days ago I wrote a single post covering all the sci fi related news of the day.  That seemed to work well from both a writing and reading perspective.  What I might try from hereon is writing one post to cover the bulk of the news of the day and individual posts for specific, mind blowing news.  That way you’ll know if it’s a post on Sci Fi Scoop it’s of value because it will either contain a decent summary of the day’s sci fi news or something big and worthy of its own post.

Hugo Awards – Nominations for the 2009 Hugo Awards of 2009 are now open.  The Hugo Awards are the Academy Awards of science fiction.  If you don’t know what a Hugo is, take a look at this page where you can see the official definitions of what the Hugo Awards are, including the types of ‘best of’ categories available for nomination.  Anyone can vote, but it’ll cost you US $50 for a membership to get the rights.  Want to have your say?  Go here. Read the rest of this entry »