Sci Fi Channel has its extensive slate of new series and specials for the next season. New series include a live-action WITCHHUNTER ROBIN series and the new CG series AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD from HELLBOY creator Mike Mignola. In addition, the slate of specials sees several productions based on popular book series and a three picture series created by Stan Lee.
The live-action adaptation of the popular Japanese anime series, WITCHHUNTER ROBIN follows a small, specialized team of cops set out to capture rogue "witches" who are abusing their powers. Joe Menosky (ANONYMOUS REX) is on board as writer as well as exec producer with Roy Lee (THE RING) and Doug Davison.
Adapted from the critically acclaimed, Eisner Award-winning comic book by Mignola AMAZING SCREW-ON HEAD is a half-hour animated comedy based on the exploits of one of history's unsung heroes -- a secret agent robot that screws his head onto a wide variety of bodies. Bryan Fuller (DEAD LIKE ME, WONDERFALLS, NBC's CARRIE) and Jason Netter (Kickstart Prods.) will exec produce. Fuller will be writing and Netter will oversee animation.
From exec producer Joel Schumacher (FLATLINERS) and three-time Emmy nominee April Smith (CHICAGO HOPE) comes a series described as "SEX AND THE CITY meets V." The plot will follow an elite team of soldier/scientists from another planet studying humans and preparing for an eventual invasion. Each must experience a different aspect of the human experience - and many are seduced by the unfamiliar tastes and feelings of this new world. When a sexy alien female falls in love with a human male, a deadly tale of love, lust and world domination unfolds. Schumacher will direct with Smith will writing.
EUREKA will follow newly hired sheriff who works in the small, bucolic Pacific North-west town of Eureka. He soon discovers that for years the government has been relocating the world's geniuses (and their families) to Eureka, creating the ultimate think tank community. Produced by USACE, Andy Cosby and Jamie Paglia will write.
MOTEL MAN will follow Joe Miller, a police detective who discovers a collection of seemingly mundane objects that have strange powers like a comb that can stop time, a pencil that creates 1961 pennies when tapped, and a bus ticket that can transport people to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. The series was created by Christopher Leone, Laura Harkcom, and Paul Workman. Leone and Harkcom will also write.
The new series MONSTER SMASH will use state-of-the-art prosthetics and special effects to transform actors into grotesque fiends, and then throws them into a no-holds-barred showdown. Sci Fi is in the process of developing the series with Academy award winning creature maker Stan Winston, with Phil Gurin of The Gurin Co. exec producing.
In addition to DreamWorks' follow-up to its smash hit mini-series TAKEN NINE LIVES, Sci Fi's other specials include STAN LEE MOVIES, which will feature three all new action movies from comic legend Stan Lee. The films will be produced through Lee's POW! Ent.
In addition, EARTHSEA, starring Shawn Ashmore (X-MEN, X2), Danny Glover, Kristin Kreuk (SMALLVILLE) and Isabella Rossellini. Premiering this December, this epic fantasy, based on Ursula K. Le Guin's award-winning novels, follows the adventures of a Ged (Ashmore), a reckless youth destined to become the greatest sorcerer that the mystical land of Earthsea has ever known. Produced by Hallmark Ent., in association with Bender-Brown Prods., the special is written by Gavin Scott (THE MISTS OF AVALON) and exec produced by Robert Halmi, Sr. (DREAMKEEPER, MERLIN), Lawrence Bender (KILL BILL, PULP FICTION) and Kevin Brown (ROSWELL). Rob Lieberman (THE DEAD ZONE, STRONG MEDICINE) will direct.
Based on the best-selling DRESDEN FILES novels by Jim Butcher, this two-hour backdoor pilot film will be exec produced by Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage and Norm Golightly of Saturn Films. The story follows Erik Dresden, a detective with extraordinary powers belonging long line of wizards. The project is produced by Lions Gate Television and Cage's Saturn Films (THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE, SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE), with Morgan Gendel (LAW & ORDER, STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE AND NEXT GENERATION) writing; Gendel and Anthony Peckham (DON'T SAY A WORD, 5 DAYS TO MIDNIGHT) are exec producers.
Due to fan demand, Sci Fi will present the FARSCAPE miniseries, FARSCAPE: PEACEKEEPER WAR, in fourth quarter 2004. The four-hour miniseries picks up where the series' finale left off and will bring resolution to questions left unanswered. Produced by The Jim Henson Co., in association with Hallmark Ent., the project is exec produced by Robert Halmi, Jr., and written by series creator Rockne O'Bannon and exec producer David Kemper. Brian Henson will direct.
From exec producer Clive Barker and his Seraphim Films, this six-hour limited series HISTORY OF THE DEVIL deals with the Devil, who's trying to litigate his way back into Heaven. The project will also exec produced by Jeff Hayes and Greg Coote of Coote-Hayes Prods., and Joe Daley and Anthony DiBlasi. Produced by Lions Gate Television, exec producer Peter Filardi (THE CRAFT, SALEM'S LOT) will write the adaptation, which is based on Barker's play, THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL OR SCENES FROM A PRETENDED LIFE.
Based on Michael McDowell's (BEETLEJUICE, NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS) popular BLACKWATER novels, this four-hour miniseries is a Southern gothic tale of the rise to power of a Water Witch, who secretly marrys into a wealthy and influential Southern family so she can use her powers to destroy her family's enemies. The multi-generational supernatural thriller will be produced by Mandalay Ent. (SLEEPY HOLLOW) and The Orphanage, in association with Sony Pictures Television.
WINNEY, a satiric thriller from the creator of BEETLEJUICE, will be a four-hour miniseries. Based on the popular short film WINNEY: A CUTE CANDIDATE by Florence Deygas and Olivier Kuntzel, the story follows the story of American cartoon icon Winney who comes to life through a pact with the Devil. Larry Wilson (BEETLEJUICE), Deygas and Kuntzel will exec produce, with Wilson writing the script.
RINGWORLD, based on the classic Larry Niven books, is a 4-hour miniseries which follows four explorers who crashland on "Ringworld" - an artificial world, mammoth in scope and built in the shape of a ring that rotates around a gravitational sun force. It will be exec produced by Bob Mandel and Micky Hyman.
TV movie SLIPSTREAM stars Sean Astin, Ivana Milicevic and Vinnie Jones. Rogue scientist Stuart Conway (Astin) works for a secret government program and has secretly invented a time-travel device that allows a person to leap back 10 minutes. While testing the device in a bank, Stuart and the secret agents on his tail get caught in an attempted bank robbery, which sets off a chain of events no one anticipated. The film was produced by Brad Krevoy Prods.
TV movie SPECIES III stars Robert Knepper, Sunny Mabrey and Natasha Henstridge. A vastly improved, sexier, deadlier alien (Mabrey) is loose in a small college town, and hunting for a way to continue its genetically superior species. Now, a professor (Knepper) must become the reluctant hero and destroy it to decode its DNA before it can mate and populate the world with a frightening alien race. The film was produced by MGM.
THE MAN WITH THE SCREAMING BRAIN was written, directed and stars Bruce Campbell. The film centers on an uptown banker (Campbell) who suffers an injury to part of his brain, which is replaced with part of the brain of a street hustler. Production begins in spring 2004 with Franklin Waterman.
ALIEN APOCALYPSE, also starring Bruce Campbell, follows a team of deep space explorers who return to Earth after decades of travel, only to find that Earth has been conquered and all of mankind have been enslaved. Production begins in spring 2004 with Franklin Waterman.
WASTELAND follows Jute, an average guy, fed up by the androids that are taking all the best jobs in town, who gets sent off to a penal colony after a bar fight. Production begins in spring 2004 with Brainstorm.
MANTICORE follows Lieutenant Tommy Baxter as he chases down looters in post-war Iraq, keeping an eye out for souvenirs of his own. When reports of unspeakable carnage in local villages reach his ears, he finds himself hunting down a relentless, millennium-old monster instead. Production begins in summer 2004 with UFO Films.
CERBERUS follows art historian Samantha Gaines who gets wrapped up in an international plot to steal the sword of Attila the Hun and finds herself face to face with the Hounds of Hell. Production begins in summer 2004, with Cinetel.
CAVED IN follows an extreme adventure tour group that descends into an abandoned mine, but they are not prepared of a silent, swift killer long hidden in the cavernous earth. Production begins in summer '04 with Cinetel.
Sci Fi Channel is a television network with original series and events, blockbuster movies and classic science fiction and fantasy programming, as well as a Website (www.scifi.com) and magazine. Launched in 1992, and currently in 83 million homes, Sci Fi Channel is a program service of Universal Television Networks, part of the Universal Television Group (www.universalstudios.com), a division of Vivendi Universal Entertainment (VUE), the U.S.-based film, television and recreation entity of Vivendi Universal, a global media and communications company.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
