When The Invaders premiered as a mid-season replacement on January 10, 1967, science fiction on television was a pretty grim genre. The heyday of Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits was past and – other than Star Trek – the best the genre had to offer was campy series that played fast and loose with the science because it was “science fiction and you could do what you wanted” [generic quote from producers of every bad television science fiction series ever made]. Like Star Trek’s Gene Roddenberry, the creator of The Invaders wanted to avoid that kind of silliness – as did the show’s producer, the legendary Quinn Martin [The Fugitive]. It was their straightforward, no-nonsense, dramatic approach that convinced Roy Thinnes to take on the role of David Vincent, the architect who saw an alien ship land way too early one morning. Mr. Vincent was kind enough to chat with me about the series and its effect on his life.

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“It’s always emotional to say goodbye to people.”

Most of the time, Eve Myles, Torchwood’s no-nonsense Gwen Cooper, bounds around like an over-excited puppy. On stage at the Rift Convention, she overcomes her apprehension at facing her first convention appearance by regaling fans with tales from the set of Torchwood that quickly have the audience in the palm of her hand. But, as she tells Carole Gordon in a quiet moment later in the day, filming Torchwood was not all fun and games. Losing two of the characters from the show at the end of the second series, people who had over the course of filming become and remain her good friends, was a deeply emotional experience - and one that will continue to affect both her and Gwen.

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I love stories like Shane Felux’s. He’s a regular guy who got together with some friends to shoot a little fan film called “Star Wars: Revelations.” The film became a cult hit on the web and attracted more than 3 million downloads in less than 2 months. It was featured in major media outlets like CNN, Entertainment Weekly, MSNBC and others. His follow-up “Pitching Lucas” won the George Lucas Selects and Audience Choice award in 2006. The first film to win both top awards. Now he has teamed up with the new ABC-Disney Stage 9 Project to bring his latest film, a sci-fi thriller – Trenches to a YouTube video near you.

Trenches is a 10 episode original series produced for Stage 9. Each 2-4 minute episode will be available in both SD and HD formats.

An interplanetary war between the Rossdale Alliance and the Kuzaa Federation has been raging for generations. Lieutenant Nathan Andrews is a soldier with a relatively simple mission: retrieve his fellow soldiers from a losing battle before being overrun by enemy forces. After a ravenous crash landing, he is stranded with a misfit squad of surviving soldiers while something evil and alien lurks in the shadow of the planet’s trenches. The squad of soldiers find themselves in a race against time where they will put aside an age-old conflict and band together in a last attempt at survival.

Trenches stars Mercy Malick as Captain Racine; Aaron Mathias as Lt. Andrews; Micci Sampery as Lt. Greig; Lev Gorn as Captain Traina; Hong Chau as Specialty Wing; Daz Crawford as Sergeant Verro; Kelley Slagle as Specialty Boyens; Scott Nankivel as Pfc. Janeski; Tom Reuel as Specialty Resnikoff; Orlando Williams as Msg. Drayce; Chaney Tullos as Private Del Amico; Paul Stober as Captain Samson. I caught up with Shane at the recent New York Comic-Con and had a quick Q and A with him. He’s a really cool and interesting guy.  Read the interview after the break.

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For better or worse, Eric Kripke, the creator, Executive Producer and writer of CW’s popular series Supernatural has made the fans an important part of his show, and not just as ratings numbers.  He has often stated that he has a roadmap for the series, a core story that he wants to tell, which he has never wavered from.  “It’s the saga of the Winchester clan — who the brothers really are, who their parents really are, why Demons are so closely intertwined with them, and what their destiny really is. It’s an epic, emotional, family story at its heart.”  Outside of that core story there are elements that come and go and his writing team is flexible enough to make those adjustments.  He states that a decision to keep or discard a storyline combines elements of writers’ opinion, the realities of actors’ schedules, and even opinions of the fans on occasion.  Fan response is valued such that when they overwhelmingly reject something across multiple online forums, it is given proper attention.  “There’s always room to make the show better, and that means trying new things, keeping the things that work, losing the things that don’t.”

This humble admission truly elevates Eric Kripke to a unique position among showrunners.  If the excellent writing, acting and directing were not enough to entice the viewer, then feeling like an integral part of the creative process certainly is.  That and the fact that Eric appears to be a fan’s best friend — someone to sit down with, share a cup of coffee, and have an open exchange of ideas for story elements that are past, present and future.

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Eric Kripke, the creator, Executive Producer, writer, and even one-time director of CW’s popular series Supernatural made an appearance at the Salute to Supernatural Convention sponsored by Creation Entertainment and held in Los Angeles a few weeks ago.

In Part 1 we heard about the classic rock music used on the show, his inspiration, difficulties created by budget problems, a possible future visit to the big screen, what we can expect in the DVDs, and what he thinks about the manner in which this show resonates with so many people.  (more…)

“The most challenging aspect for me in filming Ghostfacers was trying to keep a straight face!”

This coming Thursday, April 24^th at 9PM EST the hit Warner Bros/CW Network series Supernatural kicks their third season back into post writer’s strike first run action with an episode titled Ghostfacers, written by series creator Eric Kripke.

Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as Sam and Dean Winchester: two sexy hot brothers who drive a kick-ass ‘67 Chevy Impala loaded with weapons for hunting down all manner of supernatural related creatures, ghosties and demons. (more…)

This coming Thursday, April 24th at 9PM EST the hit Warner Bros/CW Network series Supernatural kicks their third season back into post writer’s strike first run action with an episode titled Ghostfacers, written by series creator Eric Kripke. Supernatural stars Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as Sam and Dean Winchester: two sexy hot brothers who drive a kick-ass ‘67 Chevy Impala loaded with weapons for hunting down all manner of supernatural related creatures, ghosties and demons. Continuing on with my quest to help get Supernatural fans and viewers into the swing of things again, I caught up with Brittany Ishibashi one of the guest stars of Ghostfacers to chat about her role as Maggie Zeddmore, the Ghostfacers ‘go to girl’.  (more…)

In honor of this week’s return of new episodes of Supernatural following the extended hiatus caused by the writer’s strike, we hear from the showrunner himself answering fan questions.

Few people would remember the name of Oscar Levant from the 1930’s and 40’s but there is no doubt that many are familiar with one of his most famous quotes:  there is a fine line between genius and insanity. And these are the most widely used adjectives that fans have applied when referring to Eric Kripke, the creator, Executive Producer, writer, and even one-time director of CW’s popular series Supernatural. The show revolves around the adventures of the Winchester brothers as they strive to carry out their motto of Saving People, Hunting Things — the Family Business.  It features unique paranormal hunts based on widely accepted urban legends, playing alongside unexpected plot twists that fans have often labeled as <genius>.  Equally, some of those plot twists bringing changes to the successful formula of the show have been seriously questioned to the point of being labeled as <insanity>.  It appears Oscar may have been right… a fine line indeed!  (more…)

On Friday, I had the opportunity to take part in a teleconference with Starbuck, herself - Katee Sackhoff, of the Peabody Award-winning Battlestar Galactica. She talked about her reaction to the mind-bending prophecy that Starbuck was a harbinger of doom; which is tougher - love scenes, or fight scenes; who she thinks Starbuck should wind up with [if indeed she wainds up with anyone...]; how she’d like the series to end for Starbuck, and much more.

Battlestar Galactica returns to the Sci Fi Channel Friday at 10/9C.

Note: There were some reception problems, so there will be an occasional word or phrase missing [replaced with the word unintelligible].

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Fans of the CW’s hit series SUPERNATURAL must have thought they were the latest victims of The Twilight Zone since good news concerning this gem isn’t usually easy to come by. After all, the little-show-that-could seems to have worse luck than its own Winchester brothers when it comes to competition and media exposure. The CW unleashed some of that infamous bad luck when it decided to juggle its shows during the writer’s strike. It unveiled a schedule that would be entirely void of the series from the time it aired its last pre-strike episode on February 28 until its post-strike return on April 24. Fans reacted with a barrage of postcards, e-mails, and letters asking “Where’s Supernatural?” making one wonder exactly how much this affected the decision to return the show to the schedule a month earlier than expected.

And if that wasn’t enough to give fans hope, The CW did the unthinkable when it announced renewal for Season 4, a full two months ahead of the May Upfronts, where all networks outline their Fall plans. Adding further icing to this cake of exhilaration, Amazon posted a planned release date for the third Supernatural tie-in novel, “Bone Key”. In light of all the good news, fans were indeed busy pinching themselves to verify they weren’t dreaming.

We recently caught up with author Keith R.A. DeCandido, who has already made his mark in media universes such as Star Trek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, World of Warcraft, Spider-man and Resident Evil, to name a few. The first Supernatural novel, ”Nevermore”, crafted a two-in-one adventure for demon-hunting brothers Sam and Dean Winchester. In the story, the brothers visit a friend in the Bronx to rid him of a house ghost, while also investigating a killer basing his gruesome crimes on the writings of Edgar Allen Poe. Following the success of “Nevermore”, Keith has been working on the new Supernatural novel, “Bone Key.” The announcement of a fourth season has certainly given Keith a reason to celebrate as it will assist the novel in sales — after all, it is much easier to promote a tie-in novel for an existing series than a canceled one.

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