31 March, 2008

R.I.P. - Arthur C. Clarke (etc.)



I'm sure you've heard by now that Arthur C. Clarke has passed away. A godless heathen, he asked for a non-religious funeral.

Absolutely no religious rites of any kind, relating to any religious faith, should be associated with my funeral."

Amen, brother.

2001: A Space Odyssey is one of my favorite films and I loved Rendevous With Rama. It's a shame that Clarke's activity as a populizer/promoter of science wound down in the late 1980s when he was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome. His TV programs were mandatory viewing during my youth.

As long as I'm on the topic of sci-fi, I want to note that I recently found out that the remake of The Prisoner is back on track. Originally commissioned a couple years ago by Sky Television, it was dropped because the English producer apparently decided he'd had enough of the American co-producer and didn't want to drop the "quintessentially British" elements of the show. This was probably a good thing and now the show has been rescued by ITV.

LOST is on hiatus until 24 April. :( I predict that Widmore's boat is going to sink and there's just enough power left to teleport the Oceanic 6 back home from Orchid station.

Torchwood finishes the season this week and I am really behind. I've only seen the first six episodes. The return of Martha Jones was great and "Meat" got me fantasizing about doing that to a pig. (Ahem.) However, I have finished watching Ashes to Ashes. I just couldn't help myself. Best quote of the second half of the season by the Gene Genie: "I want this place cleaner than a virgin's pudendum!" Keeley Hawes is a real looker and the show makes me desperate for the 80s to NOT come back in any way, shape, or form. Second series next year.

At least series four of the new Doctor Who starts on the 5th. Here's the trailer:



Other noteworthy tidbits:

Guillermo del Toro is not quite attached to The Hobbit films and his script for an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" is still being kicked around.

I was going to write that Terry Gilliam is returning to the fantasy genre with his latest but he's never really left it. Shooting on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus has resumed in the wake of Heath Ledger's death.

Lastly, the latest money maker for George Lucas comes this year. It's a CGI cartoon series called Clone Wars which begins with a feature film in theatres starting 15 August. The trailer:

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