1.Topless Robot examined 10 Star Wars toys and the present-day celebrities they resemble. An excerpt: "The sculptor tried to give Harrison Ford a little more schnozz but overshot, landing squarely in Zach Braff territory."

2. Arrested Development star Will Arnett was caught cheating on KITT with a GM, and was promptly dumped from the upcoming Knight Rider series by the broken-hearted Ford.

3. He was our favorite redshirt in Galaxy Quest and our not-so-favorite George Bush impersonator in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. MTV News reports Sam Rockwell will star as a spacey Robinson Crusoe in the upcoming film Moon.

4. SciFi stalwart Barry Morse has hung up his spacesuit. The 89 year-old star of the British series Space: 1999 passed away this week.

5. Couldn't get enough of Topher Grace as the whiny Eddie Brock-cum-Venom in the latest Spider-Man sequel? Well then good news, because The Scanner learned this week of a planned Venom spinoff.

SciFi Dept Video: Kevin Maher discovers he's not the biggest geek in the room when he discusses upcoming Hollywood superhero adaptations with two comic book connoisseurs.

SciFi Talk Forum: Anticipating the upcoming remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, SciFi fans are discussing what makes a remake work. Is it that, as sweepster49 suggests, a remake must "follow the story line and essence of the original," or is zthea right in asserting that a redone classic is "a bunch of melarkey." Let us know, and enter for a chance to win a DVD of the original The Day the Earth Stood Still. You're also discussing the differences between Star Wars and Star Trek, and pondering your favorite superpower. Log on to the Talk forum and join in one of these conversations, or start one of your own!

Here at The Scanner we're big fans of Kaiju Big Battel, the live wrestling show that combines Japanese Monster Mayhem with American sportsmanship. In case you missed it, watch our video visit to the November show.

Their new event, themed "New York Blackout," takes place this Saturday night at New York City's Webster Hall. I'm curious to see how the Kaiju team hosts a post-Cloverfield show. The gimmick this time around is that each of the wrestling matches will introduce a mystery black box that contains a surprise, which could be anything from a mystery weapon to a prize for the audience.

At the last show, long-time-loser Call-Me-Kevin was the underdog in the main event. He shocked audiences (and himself) by becoming the Kaiju Champion. This time he'll defend his title against The Grudyin -- a mutant, feral gorilla-monster (see photo.) Good luck, Call-Me-Kevin!

For tickets and further info, visit the official Kaiju website.

Bloody Disgusting is reporting that pungent, dreadlocked scholockmeister and musician Rob Zombie is currently in talks to direct the next Conan film.

It should be noted that I am a huge fan of Robert E. Howard's original Conan mythos, before L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter got their hands on the estate. But I have to say, this news might be cause for concern. On the one hand, If Rob Zombie is talking about doing a Conan movie, dollars to doughnuts he's seriously thinking of approaching Conan from Howard's supernatural, Lovecraftian bent, which is a good thing if you like Conan fighting monsters from beyond space and time.

But Zombie's track record is pretty hit or miss. I have a soft spot for his Devil's Rejects series, though they are objectively (and purposely) trash. But his remake of Halloween was simply an embarrassment--we certainly wouldn't want Conan reimagined as a psychotic serial murderer with an abusive childhood.

Crom, just give me the Milius-directed King Conan starring an aged Arnold Schwarzenegger that I've been waiting a decade for. Zombie's not worth the chance.

Rob Zombie To Conquer An Empire? [Bloody Disgusting]

With only 14 episodes, three comic books and a movie to make up the official canon, Firefly Browncoats don't have a lot of source material for their favorite 'Verse. Turning to fan fiction on the Internet for fresh infusions can be a dangerous enterprise--for every scrap of compelling fiction and plausible prose, one has to sift through piles of vitriol like Mal and Simon slash encounters.

If you're one of those Browncoats tired of web-trolling, take heart: you've just been given the closest you'll ever find to a canon Firefly fan fiction by way of Steven Brust's free novel My Own Kind of Freedom. Though fan fiction, the book is actually an adaptation of a failed proposal for an episode, and by all accounts it excels as both literature and Firefly canon. Pick it up, print it out, and wile away a lazy weekend reading in the sun and imagining the rumble of Serenity's engines beneath your feet.

My Own Kind Of Freedom [Dreamcafe]

The trailer for Neil Marshall's next film, Doomsday, was undeniably awesome. But the plot was clearly a mash-up of 28 Days Later and The Road Warrior: scarcely a single element failed to be a groan-worthy cliche of the post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi genre. And yet somehow, blended together it was hard not to get excited.

But lest we forget that the script to Doomsday may very well have been randomly generated by a SQL database, Michael Moran has written up a complete list of all the overused tropes that Doomsday is working from:

A virus has decimated the population, a virus that makes people insanely strong, which can only be resolved by a sassy female Special Forces operative, who's helped by a slumming British thesp who explains the Pop Science which has made the whole world go a bit Mad Max except for the chief villain who will take the sassy lead's gun away... and don't forget the product placement.

Boy, Michael! When you put it that way, it sounds like Doomsday is going to suck!

The Top 10 Modern Sci-Fi Movie Cliches [Times Online]

If you are looking for a novelist brave enough to question the humanity of artificial intelligence, whether or not man is truly sentient and what it feels like to live time backwards, Philip K. Dick is your man. But he's hardly the type of writer you'd recommend to a teenager just off a Harry Potter kick... or is he?

Dave Itzkoff of the New York Times has just published an article about a Dick's long lost young adult novel called Nick and the Glimmung, a sequel of sorts to his 1969 work Galactic Pot Healer. The plot feels like Dick on laudanum: The titular Nick, his family and cat Horace leave Earth in 1992 because pet ownership has been criminalized. Arriving at their new home -- "the Plowman's Planet" -- the family encounters a series of mishaps at the hands of the varied indigenous inhabitants: namely a wub, a werjes, and the hideous alien Glimmung.

The novel was never released in America, being weird enough only for British children, but there's good news: Subterranean Press has announced a US edition, coming this year. Hoorah!

Philip K. Dick's YA Novel [Paper Cuts] (via SF Signal)

• A teaser trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will debut with the premiere of The Spiderwick Chronicles on February 14, which will make for a can't-lose Valentine's Day combo.

• Stargate: Atlantis is picking up SciFi refugees faster than FEMA, adding Firefly star Jewel Staite as a full-time cast member for the fifth season.

• McG titillates Terminator junkies with hints that No Country for Old Men star Josh Brolin could be up for a role as the new mechanic menace in his upcoming Terminator sequel.

• Geeksperts Wil Wheaton and Rod Roddenberry weigh in on J.J. Abrams' upcoming Star Trek prequel.

• A teaser poster surfaces for the next James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. Apparently this sequel will be a bit more cerebral...

• More images from Iron Man surface, including a now-confirmed cameo from director Jon Favreau. Really, any excuse to post about Iron Man is enough.

Continue reading "Daily Scan: 02.08.08" »