Since Ron Moore’s Battlestar Galactica went off the air a few years ago, there have been plenty of fans with a critical response as to the way the storylines got wrapped up and had a less-than impressive ending.

Now, through the genius of College Humor, they have managed to sum up all 4 seasons of the epic sci-fi series into a simple RPG circa the mid 1990s. With all of the wonderful text-based options to boot.

So if you were a fan of the series, or not so much, you will thoroughly enjoy this video game satire. If only it were real…Take a look after the jump.

Continue Reading →

When Battlestar Galactica ended its run a few years ago fans were pretty disappointed. It was a great show that was enjoyed by a lot of people. One of the reasons for that enjoyment was the great cast.

Ron Moore, Exec. Producer and Co-Creator of the re-imagined series, tried to give fans something they’ve been wising for with the pilot for his series for NBC called 17th Precinct. Reuniting for the pilot were BSG alumni Jamie Bamber, James Callis and Tricia Helfer along with Caprica‘s Esai Morales. Sadly, no Edward James Olmos was in sight.

However, what we did get is a pretty interesting and inventive pilot which gives a new twist on the well-worn police procedural. It’s so fresh, in fact, that’s that’s probably the reason NBC decided not to pick it up. They would rather have a block of Whitney Cummings and Chelsey Handler shows and put Community on “hiatus” than have original programming.

But, I digress. Check out the pilot after the break while you still can. It might go away just as fast as it appeared.

Continue Reading →

Drunk History is back on the web, but this time they’re showing the holiday spirit with guest stars Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, and Jim Carrey.

The mother of all video game fan films has arrived as the Left 4 Dead flick hits the web. Be sure to stick around till the end for some awesome gaming cameos.

Speaking of fan films, we stumbled across the best real life gaming adaptation in the history of the web. Say hello to Battlefield 3 In Real Life.

It’s Christmas time everywhere in the world (well, almost everywhere), even in Arkham City. But instead of visits from a man in red, they get a famous caped crusader.

Continue Reading →

Welcome to another edition of On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage during the week. Let is know if we missed something interesting.

• It looks like Bryan Singer’s upcoming Battlestar Galactica movie is becoming more of a reality as Universal is seconds away from inking a deal with a writer.

• In more “things that need to be made” news, Sony has green lit an Assassin’s Creed film. Let’s hope 90% of it is just building-jumping

• Speaking of games-soon-to-be-movies, here is 6 minutes of Harrison Ford playing Uncharted 3. Why? Because why not.

• For a simple $50, you too can own an exclusive Chewbacca statue made purely of chewing tobacco (Chewbacco?). The only question left is: why would you?

• What happens when the Sin City trailer is set to a cast of characters from the Disney universe? Pure amazement.

• Love The Walking Dead? Then you’ll love The Walken Dead about a billion times more. Trust us.

• Speaking of things we love, what would happen if Joss Whedon’s The Avengers trailer only had a budget of $16? This is the product of that question.

• Nerdy, cuddly things are kind of the best. At least, that’s how we’re able to justify a plush version of Portal’s turret gun.

Continue Reading →

Last week we looked at a new arrangement for a classic score, this week we are again taking a look at another new take on some familiar tunes. Unlike The Lord of the Rings Symphony, which was basically an awesome mix-tape of Shore’s scores, The Music of Battlestar Galactica for Solo Piano is a complete re-imagining of the music from the series.

The tracks on this 2-disc set are all arranged by McCreary and performed by talented Korean pianist Joohyun Park, who brings a new perspective to the music. The songs were all originally written for large orchestras, but the these arrangements and  Joohyun Park’s expert performance take these tracks to a new and interesting place.

Conceptually I love the concept of taking popular orchestral scores and arranging them for solo piano. Not only is it often very pleasant to listen too, but it also encourages people to show interesting in playing and eventually making music themselves. If one person, with practice and time, can play film and TV music all by themselves, you drastically increase the likelihood new talent will choose the life of a multimedia composer.

Continue Reading →

The term “geek girl” gets thrown around a lot these days. Some of it referrs to those girls who eat, sleep, and breathe all-things geeky, and also to those who’ve developed the geek credibility to earn such a title.

Katee Sackhoff pretty much qualifies for both of those, having played Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica, which is more than enough to put her on the top of any male fan’s “goddess” list at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.

Well it looks like things are getting even better for Sackhoff, as she’s also voicing Detective Sarah Essen, the tough cop who works with Commissioner Gordon back when he was a young punk. Sure Sackhoff carries her tough demeanor over to this role, but she also shows a bit of a softer side, as well.

Not only has Sackhoff worked in both the DC Universe as well as the BSG universe, but it seems that she’ll also be working in the world of Riddick in the upcoming new sequel to the franchise.

She was a bit tightlipped about the role, but we managed to get some words out of her regarding her new projects. Take a look at the interview below and be sure to grab Batman: Year One on DVD and Blu-ray on October 18th.

Continue Reading →

Just the other day I was complaining that the cool and accomplished actor Callum Keith Rennie has seemingly been relegated to guest starring roles on many series including Battlestar Galactica, The Killing and most recently, Syfy’s Alphas. Fortunately, it now seems he’s moving away from guest status into leading territory.

Rennie will join Juliette Lewis in a new Legal Drama for NBC called The Firm. The new show is based on the feature film and bestseller by John Grisham. These two actors will join Josh Lucas who has already been cast in the show as Mitchell McDeere, the role originally played by Tom Cruise in the film.

On the show Lewis will play Tammy, Mitch’s “feisty, sexy receptionist, whose work life is made all the more tumultuous by her on-again, off-again relationship with Mitch’s brother, Ray.” Rennie is will play Ray McDeere, Mitch’s “charming yet volatile older brother whose work as an investigator in Mitch’s office is uniquely informed by his past stretch in prison for manslaughter.”

So, he’s playing kinda a bad guy but with a heart . . .in the right place. I see no reason why he can’t pull that off with no problem whatsoever.

Production on The Firm starts soon in Toronto for a mid-season debut on NBC.

Bear McCreary, best known for his Emmy -nominated TV composing work, has been commissioned by NASA to write an original fanfare commemorating the final Space Shuttle launch. A recent press release unveiled the plans:

“After composing four seasons of music for a television show set in space, creating music inspired by a historic NASA mission was a natural fit. The composition will be played first on Friday morning at the NASA launch TweetUp. People viewing the launch from some of the other locations at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida will also be able to hear the composition.”

Bear is best known for his work on the hit Sci-Fi show Battlestar Galactica, but has written for multiple shows over the last few years. One of his recent highlights include the show Human Target, which earned him his most recent Emmy nomination.

McCreary is an interesting choice for NASA, being a TV composer he is not all that well known and their is a history of people of John Williams-caliber writing music specific for events. That said, being familiar with his work I can assure you all that McCreary is an inspired choice, and I for one can’t wait to hear it.

For those of you who missed it, Machinima launched the first episode of Warner Premiere’s brand new web series dedicated to the world of Mortal Kombat last week, titled Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

With just over 5 million views in under a week, the show was a massive success. Director Kevin Tanchoroen’s new view of the classic video game universe has come at the perfect time, as the game has gotten new life this week with a brand new release on both XBox 360 and PlayStation 3.

In the first episode, we were introduced to Jax (Michael Jai White), Sonya Blade (Jeri Ryan) and Stryker (Battlestar Galactica’s Tahmoh Penikett) as they attempt a take-down of terrorist Kano (Darren Shahlavi).

Take a look at episode 2 after the jump, and keep your eye out every week as the web series progresses.

Continue Reading →

Writer, Producer Mark Verheiden is one of the nicest, most talented guys in the world. That’s why when we hear news concerning his accomplishments, we are happy to help spread the word.

This week it’s the announcement that Verheiden will co-write with Akiva Goldsman the NBC TV series The Dark Tower. The project, based on the best-selling series of novels by Stephen King, is being turned into a motion picture trilogy and TV series directed by Ron Howard.

Verheiden will also executive produce the The Dark Tower series, along with Goldsman, for Universal Media Studios. The series will serve as a bridge between the first and second movie in the trilogy. Also, actor Javier Bardem is reportedly negotiating to fill the main role of gunslinger Roland Deschain in both the films and the TV series.

Verheiden, of course, is no stranger to TV having worked on such series as Smallville, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and the upcoming Falling Skies. He’s also written over 125 comic books including The American, Aliens, Predator, The Phantom and Superman as well as upcoming feature films Quatermain and Ark.

We wish him the best of luck with this new project and look forward to seeing the series once it arrives. With this kind of talent involved, we expect great things.

Where do you go when most good science fiction stories have already been told on TV? In the last decade or so, we’ve had successful reboots and remakes of already wildly popular sci-fi dramas such as Battlestar Galactica and V. Is there still room on TV for original science fiction programming?

That’s exactly what TNT is hoping to find out with their new summer drama, Falling Skies, starring Noah Wyle and Moon Bloodgood. Here’s a brief synopsis.

FALLING SKIES opens in the chaotic aftermath of an alien attack that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. In the six months since the initial invasion, the few survivors have banded together outside major cities to begin the difficult task of fighting back. Each day is a test of survival as citizen soldiers work to protect the people in their care while also engaging in an insurgency campaign against the occupying alien force.

So it’s got some elements of our favorite series such as Battlestar and V. Maybe it can actually hold up, especially since most original dramas on TNT seem to have legs from birth.

Be sure to check out a new in-depth look at the series after the jump, catch up on the story with TNT’s original web comic, and get ready for the series premiere on Sunday, June 19th at 9/8C.

Continue Reading →

Welcome to this week’s On the Radar where we delve into all corners of the entertainment, tech and geek Internets for news, views and whatnot that may have escaped our regular coverage this week. Let is know if we missed something interesting. Let’s get started!

• You know the world of technology is getting out of hand when we see the first ever bluetooth enabled Smart Wallets.

• Can you remember how many films have used a character saying “blah, blah, blah”? You don’t have to, this sneaky editor combined all of them into one video.

• Bye Bye, Olivia. G4′s Attack of the Show has a brand new cohost, and she’s….somebody.

• Feel like your childhood was missing too many Cylons and Daleks? That problem is fixed by the fictional “Five Sci-Fi Children’s Books”

• Comedy Central has a brand new logo, but we can’t help shake the feeling it’s infringing a copyright somewhere.

• We can’t get enough of Daft Punk’s score for Tron: Legacy. To that point, here’s the official video for their title song, Derezzed.

• Some douche felt it was necessary to get the cast of Avatar tattooed on his back. We wonder if Cameron gets royalties every time this guy hits the beach.

• Some potentially spoilery set photos from Matthew Vaughn’s X-Men: First Class have surfaced. This is what happens when you let teens drive a stealth jet.

• Adidas has really kicked it this time. Take a look at the official C-3PO/R2D2 mash up sneakers.

• Because you love links and we love popular topics: Five Reasons Why It’s Ok to like Wikileaks.

• That does it for this week. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook!