The Terminator franchise has always been a bit scattered, to say the least. Each new installment tends to take what it wants from what came before, and ignore the rest, something that it was uniquely capable of due to the mechanics of time travel it used. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles was one of these, drawing from the first two films while ignoring all but a few select points (like Sarah’s cancer) from the third. It also ended up in the particularly strange situation of having a film come out during its run that subsequently ignored its continuity AND most of Terminator 3‘s. The show actually got off to a great start, with high ratings and critical praise, until it had the bad luck of getting caught up in the 2008 Writer’s Strike. The first season was abbreviated, but fans were reassured that it would return for season 2. And it did, but without Fox’s confidence this time. Finding itself in the Friday Night Death Slot after the mid-season hiatus, it languished there until cancellation. While the showrunner, Josh Friedman, has absolutely refused to give any clues as to how the show would’ve ended or where it would have gone after that agonizing cliffhanger it signed off with, other people involved in the show have been willing to share what they knew. From these threads, let’s piece together The Sarah Connor Chronicles season 3 that could have been.

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After discussing the natural connection between sci-fi and animation on Monday, it seemed only appropriate to give you all a head start on finding some good animated sci-fi. Sure, some of them might be kids movies, but a lot of them have a level of awareness of their periphery demographic among older sci-fi fans that might just leave you surprised.

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One of the things that I, for whatever reason, rarely get around to talking about here is animation. When I recently highlighted the fact that some of those alien costumes and makeup application processes used in live action series can be brutal, I made sure to point out that one of the few exceptions to the “TV aliens must be human-like” is if CGI is used to create the alien from scratch. Which does, of course, bring up the question: why don’t we see more science fiction told exclusively through animation? Read more

This week in tv and film sci-fi, we’ve got weird crossovers, the usual amount of Marvel material, new trailers and a fan push to bring back old favorites. Let’s not waste any time; on to the news roundup!

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It’s not uncommon, especially in sci-fi shows, to see the same actors cropping up from program to program. Many of the shows are shot in the same area, often at the same time in different parts of the city (usually Vancouver), so it’s not terribly uncommon to see actors from one show with small roles on another. This goes double for actors from shows that have ended, and that tends to lead to some odd trends emerging. Here are four strange casting situations that arose from all these shows and movies drawing from the same actor pool.

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This month, the Subjectively Obscure Sci-Fi Primer returns to the cyberpunk side of things with Total Recall 2070. Don’t be fooled by the title, as it has practically nothing to do with the similarly-named Schwarzenegger film; it’s more of a separate (if not particularly accurate) adaptation of the same Phillip K. Dick story, “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” although it’s so different that the author isn’t mentioned in the credits at all. Produced in Canada, it originally aired in the US on Showtime alongside Stargate SG-1, before that show jumped networks. Showtime really had a thing for turning movies into series that had very little in common with the original film, apparently. As is typical for these obscure shows, it managed only one season, but what’s there is worth a look. It’s like Almost Human, if Almost Human didn’t hate itself for being sci-fi. Read more

It’s a new year, and it’s time for a new experiment here at RetroPhaseShift. Rather than trying to cover the news and compete with huge sites that can get exclusive interviews and all kinds of things I won’t be able to provide, I’d like to gather up some of these important news stories that you might have missed for a weekly post. This will include things like casting notices, location filming announcements, the releases of plot synopses for various episodes or films, trailers or teasers, and even smaller things like episode titles or rumors floating around. If I think it can give some insight into an upcoming or ongoing series or movie, it’s valid. On the other hand, I’ll try to keep spoiler-y things either to their own section or left out entirely; I’m not looking to help spread leaks unless they’re so controversial that I feel the need to comment on them directly. After all, there’s plenty of discussion-worthy information to be gleaned from little things without needing a leak to spur it on. Ideally, I’ll leave you with a little window into the production-side of your favorite shows and spark a little excitement for their upcoming seasons or releases.

With that said, on to the news roundup! Read more

He knows his luck.

One of the more unique aspects of sci-fi television series is that it often presents us with non-human characters, which are used in a variety of fashions to help bring the world of the show to life. The only problem is that the majority of these non-human characters are played by human actors (the rest being CGI or puppetry), and that means heavy makeup and prosthetics. Some, like Christopher Judge’s makeup for Teal’c, is quite simple and unobtrusive. Others, like Michael Dorn, not so much; his forehead now has permanent discoloration from wearing the Worf prosthetic for nearly fifteen years. And yet, there are still people in shorter roles that suffered far greater for their art. Here are 4 of the longest, most difficult, or most painful costumes seen on television.

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So, after the abysmal premiere of a certain recent miniseries, people’s reactions to the various twists seemed to suggest a question was forming in the minds of sci-fi fans everywhere: why, exactly, are psychic or telekinetic powers considered to be an acceptable plot device in sci-fi? It’s certainly a divergence from most of the other tropes of sci-fi. After all, one of the ground rules that separates sci-fi from fantasy is “technical possibility.” We believe aliens could exist; we believe Artificial Intelligences are possible; traveling through the stars in massive spaceships? Well, we’re already halfway there. Sure, the execution isn’t always terribly realistic, but those are generally concessions to storytelling than deliberate breaks from reality. Star Trek‘s aliens mostly look like humans because Star Trek is a TV show and the characters have to be played by human actors (at least, until very recently with CGI). Psychic powers are the one exception that’s still often considered to be part of the sci-fi writers’ workbag–so why?

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We’ve just finished up that time of year when selling the most toys is paramount. There are a lot of shows and films, especially ones aimed at kids, that seem to exist solely to push toys on their impressionable young viewers (looking at you, Transformers. There’s definitely more to some of those price tags than meets the eye). Other shows will indulge in this on occasion as well, often at the behest of some executive, although we the audience can’t always know for sure. So, here are 4 moments in otherwise fine TV shows and films that seem to have given in to that desire to sell the merch.
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