Pesky Atlantean Mimic technology...

Yet more Aliens are on their way...

Are the media executives trying to tell us something? We have "V" on its way, the rather awesome looking "District 9" movie, and now the announcement that they're going to resurrect the classic British TV series "UFO".

Robert Evans is teaming with ITV Global on a feature film based on the 1970s British TV series UFO, Variety reported.

Evans is producing with Avi Haas and Henri M. Kessler. Ryan Gaudet and Joseph Kanarek are penning a script.

The series debuted in 1970, with characters created by Gerry Anderson. It was set in 1980 and revolves around Shado (Supreme Headquarters Alien Defense Organization), a covert military organization that thwarts an alien race that has been kidnapping and killing humans for decades, then using the body parts.

Shado headquarters is hidden beneath a film studio, and the studio mogul is actually the Shado commander. The movie will be set in the year 2020.

I kinda liked UFO, but couldn't get on with the string vests. Used to have (may still have somewhere) a SHADO MOBILE (SHADO 2), and they HAVE to keep the original music!!

V Trailer

Awesome!

The Saurian Invasion is coming...

By Saurians, I mean lizards, disguising themselves as humans. Of course, the first press reviews of "V" have been positive, and I can't wait - loved the original - but I have to wonder... will the lizards be wearing masks again? Only problem I had with the original was the whole "rip the face off and the lizard face underneath is more... "snouty"... for lack of a better word, than the human face lead us to believe.

Of course, when it comes to the Saurians this isn't a problem - body morphing chambers, or Te-Mulys Doppleganger masks.

Anyway, V's looking good. Good cast with a healthy genre background including Elizabeth Mitchell from Lost (hello nurse!), Joel Gretsch from The 4400, Morena Baccarrin (hello nurse! no, wait, she's not a nurse) and Alan Tudyk from Firefly.

Initially disappointed at the lack of Marc Singer or Faye Grant, maybe (like the new Battlestar Galactica) the original actors can join in later...

Would love to see the new pilot to see how it looks!

Added!! The first couple of clips of the new "V"...

Welcome back to Reality

Has it been so long? Well, I guess it has. This is the beginning of a new regime! More blogging, more information and more reviews of stuff.

First of all, what's been happening?

The secret project I was working on is progressing nicely, but is highly classified - so secret, that my other blog was erased from time itself! I've started publishing my fiction on yet another blog which you can read here. Though some of it may not be safe for work. It's nothing too saucy, but can get a little weird and violent. It's about a suitcase that is a quantum event - and the many people trying to get hold of it. Think "Kiss Me Deadly" meets "Fight Club".

Then, suddenly and without warning, the Extraterrestrials Sourcebook goes off to print! It's a thing of beauty having read the PDF proof of the layout to check for last minute tweaks. Fab stuff, and the Paranormal Sourcebook is going through final edits as I type.

And on top of that, I'm going to be reviewing stuff more on here. It's usually a little behind everyone else, so there shouldn't be any spoilers, but I'm going to try catching up with the rest of the world watching "Fringe" and other genre stuff, and will air my thoughts.

End of another year

It's been a while since I've posted here, I'm sorry. It's been a bit of a crap year, losing a family member and then a good friend who was way too young... kinda sad that nothing's happened with Conspiracy X this year, but there's always hope for next year.

Anyway, on a better note, seems Eden's "Ghosts of Albion" is getting great reviews... sure it's only available as PDF at the moment, and I'm eagerly awaiting the Hardcover. I did a bit of work on it, "Englishing" it up a bit (to make sure it was not only in proper English rather than American but also to check the facts, especially as the adventure is set in my home city), and I've seen parts of the PDF, and it's excellent. It was kinda expected really with Tim behind it, and being based on a great subject matter. Should keep you going until the next Conspiracy X release



All it leaves for me to say is have a good festive season, and let's hope 2009 is better than this year...

Dave

The Saurian Invasion begins...

ABC is developing a new adaptation of V, the 1980s miniseries about alien lizards visiting Earth, Variety reported.

The miniseries spawned a second mini and a TV spinoff, written by The 4400 co-creator and executive producer Scott Peters.

Warner Brothers TV, which was behind the original miniseries, is once again producing the project, which was sold as a spec script to ABC.

Peters is set to executive-produce, along with HDFilms principal Jace Hall.

Hall, the former head of Warner Brothers' video-game division, who has worked on titles including F.E.A.R., will help expand V into other platforms, including gaming.

The original V was an allegory of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany. Peters said he won't duplicate that concept, except that the new V will still focus on what happens when the masses have blind faith in their leaders.

The new V will center on Erica Evans, a Homeland Security agent with an aimless son who's got problems. When the aliens arrive, her son gloms on to them, causing tension within the family. As in the original V, several storylines will unfold simultaneously.

As in the '80s version, the show will open with an enormous army of spaceships hovering over the world's major cities.

Original V writer-producer-director Kenneth Johnson recently attempted to revive V as V: The Second Generation but is not involved in the Peters version.

I just hope Faye Grant is in it somewhere...

Pendulum video

As there's no news, I've just seen this awesome video! It has UFOs in it, and the music's great too!

I still believe

Well, no news on the Conspiracy X 2.0 front...

However, I have finally seen "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" and it was no where near as bad as I thought it would be. A friend of mine is a dedicated film critic and seriously panned it, but for an X-Phile like me it was great to see X-Files again after all this time. Sure, there were a couple of cheesy moments (looking at the photo of "W" and having the X-Files music start up... what, are they implying Bush is an Alien?), and they obviously wanted to go the X-Files does "Saw" route, but on the whole I really enjoyed it.

I'd give it 7/10... unlike another Fox attempt at putting a TV series on the big screen... the Simpsons movie... what a waste of time that was...

I want to believe the film's okay...

No news (though George has mentioned that the ETs book should be November)...

I can't believe I still haven't seen the new X-Files movie. Maybe it was the comments about it on the internet, the bad reviews, and the "breaking the 4th wall" moment in the end credits that has me worried that it'll ruin 9 years of enjoyment.

That said, I've just watched the pilot of Fringe, and it was great. Messy, but cool... and very X-Files, meets Regenesis, meets Lost.

More soon...

I want to believe trailer

Thanks to IGN for this trailer... man, it looks great. I can't wait!

Sorry, no news with ConX though!

I Want to Believe

I want to believe. I can't wait for the movie either...

(No news to report on Conspiracy X I'm afraid...)

Do you still believe?

Enough said about that! I've seen the trailer, and I can't wait!

Conspiracy Theories?

A mysterious message to or from an alien intelligence? I spotted this news article over someone's shoulder while on the London Underground yesterday. These squiggles appeared at RAF Feltwell in Norfolk, UK, and the conspiracy theorists went nuts... shame that it's actually the layout for a motorcycle or BMX park. Shame.

After all, if you want to communicate with an alien intelligence, why not use something mathematical, or just use our language, rather than something neither side can understand (except the scientists who put these "messages to the stars" there)? It'd be a shame if life from outer space turned up and thought they knew how we spoke and started communicating in squiggles... "What? I thought this was how you spoke?"

I've taken aboard everyone's comments from the last post, and I'll be posting more frequently to keep you updated with the game. That said, there's no news yet... the Extraterrestrials Sourcebook is almost finished in layout, so hopefully soon!

Gary Gygax

Very sad news for the gaming industry, as it was announced yesterday that Gary Gygax has died. Full news story from the NYTimes can be found here.

It is doubtful that I'd be writing this... writing Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space, or have written for Conspiracy X, Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG or any of the other games I've worked on... or possibly even writing at all, without Mr. Gygax helping to create the legendary game Dungeons and Dragons.

The more I thought of it, without Gary Gygax creating D&D, I'd have not gathered such a great group of friends at school all those many years ago ("The Eight" as we called ourselves, even though in the last few years of school there were more than eight of us), friends I still talk to now over 20 years later. We've been there for each other in bad times, and been at each other's weddings and stuff like that.

Without D&D and roleplaying, not only would I have probably not entered the crazy world of writing RPGs, but I wouldn't have been employed in my first "normal" job (as I pipped the other candidates to the post by saying I gamed, which they recognised as evidence of my problem solving and team working).

So next time you roll a die, make a saving throw, or an attack to hit, think of the great Gary Gygax - one of the forefathers of roleplaying games. I certainly will.

Thanks Gary.