Upcoming Sci-fi/Fantasy Shows, Part 1

Last week, the major networks made their announcements of their next year’s lineup. There were some good shows, like No Ordinary Family, that unfortunately didn’t make the cut to come back for another season. But the good news is that for all the shows that were cancelled, there are some good new shows coming next television season. Here are a few of them.

Terra Nova

Terra Nova is the story of a family that flees a future where the Earth is overdeveloped and overcrowded to the prehistoric past. They’re part of a mission to save the human race…by starting over in the past. But of course, this isn’t going to be easy. Danger await them in many forms, including dinosaurs! Terra Nova is going to air on Fox. Also from the looks of the trailer, it seems like it could be a little like LOST at points. But here’s hoping that it turns out to be different. Here’s the longest trailer released to date:

Touch

The story behind Touch is a little hard to describe. It is a preternatural drama with the hopeful premise that we’re all interconnected. It follows the stories of several different and unrelated characters that seem to affect each other in ways seen and unseen. And in the center of it all is a single father named Martin Bohm and his severely autistic 10-year-old-son, Jake. Touch will follow as Martin attempts to communicate with his son, realizing some very important things along the way. There’s no trailer yet, but as soon as one is released, it will be added.

Once Upon A Time

Also hard to describe, I will take the following description directly from ABC.

Emma Swan knows how to take care of herself. She's a 28-year-old bail bonds collector who's been on her own ever since she was abandoned as a baby. But when the son she gave up years ago finds her, everything starts to change. Henry is now 10 years old and in desperate need of Emma's help. He believes that Emma actually comes from an alternate world and is Snow White and Prince Charming's missing daughter. According to his book of fairytales, they sent her away to protect her from the Evil Queen's curse, which trapped the fairytale world forever, frozen in time, and brought them into our modern world. Of course Emma doesn't believe a word, but when she brings Henry back to Storybrooke, she finds herself drawn to this unusual boy and his strange New England town. Concerned for Henry, she decides to stay for a while, but she soon suspects that Storybrooke is more than it seems. It's a place where magic has been forgotten, but is still powerfully close... where fairytale characters are alive, even though they don't remember who they once were. The epic battle for the future of all worlds is beginning, but for good to win, Emma will have to accept her destiny and fight like hell.

Seems like a pretty interesting idea. Oh, and did I mention that Robert Carlyle, who played Nicholas Rush from Stargate Universe will be staring as well. If the idea alone isn’t enough reason to watch, the amazing acting of Robert Carlyle should push it over the hump. Here’s the ABC released trailer and a scene from the show as well.

There are several more new Science Fiction and Fantasy shows that were picked up for next television season. Look for those in the next post later on today. Till next time, stay classy!

Series Overview–Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is an American-made science fiction TV series based on the Terminator movie series and is the direct sequel to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It premiered in January of 2008 and ran for two seasons, until April, 2009. It’s based on the Terminator movie series and follows the lives of Sarah and John Connor after the end of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Like Terminator 2, the main premise of the show is a reprogrammed Terminator who has been sent back to protect John Connor. But while that is the main idea, it is not the sole story arc of the show.

Warning – Between the “=====” markers, there is a brief backstory on the show. It contains slight spoilers about the pilot. Don't read if you haven't watched and prefer to go in to the show without any information.

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Following Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Skynet sends another Terminator, a T-888, back to 1999 in another attempt to eliminate John Connor. It's revealed that destroying the T-1000 and T-800 in T2 didn't stop Judgment Day, just delayed it. It is also revealed that Sarah also dies from cancer in the time before Judgment Day. The Resistance reprogram another Terminator, known as Cameron (Summer Glau), and send her back to protect him. To protect him and his mother, she jumps them forward to 2007, skipping the year when Sarah was supposed to die of cancer. However, the threat of attack from the future is a constant threat, meaning they have to be constantly vigilant.

As they are on the run, they are also trying to prevent Skynet from being built. During the course of the show, Sarah, John, and Cameron under take several missions to find the first starting point of Skynet and prevent it from being built and to stop Judgment Day.

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A little more background on the show: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles only ran for 2 seasons. The first season slated to be 13 episodes but was cut to 9 because of 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike. When it returned for season 2, it was also originally slated for 13 episodes, but Fox upped the order to a full season of 22 after the first few episodes ran. It was unfortunately cancelled after its second season.

If you looking for a pretty good science fiction show to start watching, give Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles a try. It will be worth your while.

New Stargate Fan Video: Blow Me Away

As I’m sure you’ve guessed, the writers here at Flights of Fantasy love Stargate just a little bit (hard to believe, right? :-D) Well, I log onto YouTube today, and see there on the homepage a brand-new Stargate fan music video. Made by JaapVSWDelta, who has made a few other videos as well (I’ll post a few of these as well), he’s taken scenes from all three Stargate series’ and combined them into one amazing video set to Blow Me Away by Breaking Benjamin. Here it is, for your viewing pleasure!

And as promised, a few addition videos from JaapVSWDelta!

Stargate Universe-Episode 220 “Gauntlet” (Quick Review)

Review

This is a bittersweet review. May 9th, at 9 PM EDT, Stargate Universe officially ended its television run with the showing of the series finale, “Gauntlet”. It definitely will bring up some mixed emotions, and I will explain why in a minute.

As shown in the trailer, the main premise of this episode is the fact that the drones have learned about Destiny and how it operates. So, knowing that they need the Stargates to survive, the drones have posted command ships at every Stargate in Destiny’s path, at least until the edge of her sensor range. The crew has only one option, and it’s a long shot. The question is, are they willing to take it?

For ending on an incomplete note, I have to say, the writers did a great job. I will give one tidbit of information that is not a spoiler in any way, shape or form. If you were worrying that the ending would be a cliffhanger of the magnitude of last season, you can stop. While it is a cliffhanger of sorts, it actually is a decent stopping point for the series, easily allowing possible continuation later. Overall, it was a great episode to end a great series.

A lot of the character development we’ve seen throughout the season is coming to a head in this episode. I won’t reveal too much, but there are a lot of minor character storylines that I wish could be resolved. It leaves kind of a sour taste in my mouth, knowing that the show now has so much potential and will never have the ability to play that potential out to its fullest. But, it’s like they say, “The good die young.” So it seems it is with SGU, because this was a good show. No, this was a great show that grew into the show it was always meant to be, just as it was given the axe.

So if you missed it, buy it and watch it. If you’re in the UK or Australia, watch it when it airs, you’re in for a treat. And if you can’t afford to buy the episode, watch it online in a legal fashion. Lastly, if you’re on Twitter, make sure to tweet your thanks to the cast and crew for this amazing show. Till next time, readers.

 

Stargate Universe-Episode 219 “Blockade” (Quick Review)

Review

In Blockade, the drones are continuing to present problems for the crew of Destiny, having discovered Destiny’s one huge weakness. This is another episode that will leave you on the edge of your seat the entire time, especially once stuff starts getting majorly intense. There are a few characters you’ll be worrying about during the episode, which keeps it interesting.

This episode begins with Destiny performing an aero-braking maneuver around a gas giant to reach the sun, similar to the episode “Darkness” from Season 1. She comes around the planet, and the bridge crew immediately detects drones and a command ship between them and the star. Destiny manages to jump away before any major damage is inflicted. They come to find out the drones are predicting Destiny’s course, and they must quickly find a way to recharge, before the ship’s batteries run dry.

There were several really good character development points in this episode. Eli is finally coming into his role as “Math Boy” in this episode, and there is also some interesting development with Volker’s confidence as well. He could possibly be realizing his critical flaw, and might eventually begin to change it.

If you happened to miss “Blockade”, you can watch it on SyFyDaedalus’s YouTube Channel. It’s in three parts, but is great quality. If you want to wait for Hulu or SyFy Rewind, the episode won’t be available until 5/10.

Stargate Universe-Episode 218 “Epilogue” (Quick Review)

Review

"Epilogue" was the second half of the last episode, "Common Descent". It's not a fast-passed episode, but it is an emotionally draining one. From happy to sad, it covers all the emotions. I will say this, if you cry easily, be prepared to cry for this one, because there are a few major kickers that no one has seen coming at all.

The basic story of the episode starts after the team disembarks from the shuttle. They head down into a bunker that was built by the people of Novis. Inside, they find a massive archive containing the entire history of the planet from the time that the alternate crew of Destiny had come through the gate inside the star. Throughout the episode, they are racing to download the database before extreme seismic activity brings the entire place down around them.

There were a few really good performances in this episode. First, Volker is really coming into his own at this point. There's one scene in particular where he stands up to Rush, a huge step for him. Also, there's Eli, who is continuing to get more and more confident in himself. The information that they find in the database gives him a huge confidence boost, making me think that he will play an even bigger role in a lot of scientific problem-solving later. Last, but definitely not least were TJ and Young. It seems that they have a shot at working everything out after all.

If you haven't watched "Epilogue" yet, find it on Hulu or SyFy Rewind, or download it ASAP. It was a great episode and if you are a Stargate Universe fan, you should definitely watch it.

[NOTE] Look for the full review of this episode coming in the next week, after the UK has had a chance to see the episode. Don't want to right my summary review and spoil it for all those fans. Peace out!