One of the most interesting happenings of late has been the sale of the rights to the TERMINATOR franchise. After the poor response that TERMINATOR SALVATION got, it was deemed to be time to let someone else have a go at continuing the story of John Connor and his freedom fighters in their struggle against SkyNet and the Terminators.

The rights were auctioned off, and a rather vicious bidding war was staged in which the ultimate victor was Pacifor, to whom Halcyon productions (the previous home of the franchise) owed a stack of cash. Now, Pacifor is looking to sell off the rights to one or two of the other bidders (Sony and Lionsgate).

An interesting piece of news is that William Wisher, who worked on the screenplays of the first two Terminator films (i.e. the good ones), is currently working on the scripts for Terminator 5 and Terminator 6. The interesting thing is, these scripts are said to be bringing back Kyle Reece and Sarah Connor, as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character briefly in one of the two films, and are set to end the franchise completely.

To me, that is exactly what the franchise needs to regain some ground and some respect from moviegoers and die-hard Terminator movie fans. If a definite end was in sight, then there would be interest in seeing just how the characters get there, and how the war with Skynet finally ends.

Wisher’s scripts apparently mention ‘shape shifting cyborgs’, and while initial reactions to the mention of shape shifters has made many people think of the Transformers movies, I think that the approach may be closer to the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day rather than the massive robots we saw in Terminator Salvation.

One way or another, there are strange things afoot with the terminator franchise, and it watching how events unfold surrounding the making of these new films may well be just as interesting as the flicks themselves. After all, they did say they’d be back…

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan – When Will The UK Get it?

Okay, so right now there are countless sites carrying reviews of the new Battlestar Galactica TV movie, The Plan, but no news of a UK air date or DVD/Blu ray release. How come? I would have thought, with Christmas on the way, that the film would get a full release round about now? It came out on October 27th in the US, but what about all of the loyal legions of Battlestar Galactica fans in the UK? For that matter, what about everyone else that loves the series and the characters? We need our fix! Now that the series has ended, these ‘filling in the blanks’ TV movies are the only thing left for diehard BSG fans to look forward to, so when do the UK fans get thrown a bone?

Doctor Who: waters Of Mars Air Date Confirmed

The next Doctor Who special episode, The Waters of Mars, is to be shown on BBC1 on the 15th of November. This was stated by David Tennant and later confirmed. This is to be the last Doctor Who story David Tennant’s tenth Doctor will feature in before the first part of his two-episode exit from the show, namely The End Of Time. While initial footage from The Waters Of Mars wasn’t too enticing, the more we have seen and read about the episode, the better it looks and sounds. This should be fun!

Terminator movie rights up for sale

Feel like having a go at making a better film than the mixed bag that was Terminator Salvation? Feeling rich? Then you may be in look, as the rights to the Terminator movie franchise are about to be auctioned off. It seems that the franchise is in dire straits after the reception of Terminator Salvation, and while the film was better than T3, it didn’t do the same sort of business as the legendary Terminator 2: Judgement Day (then again, could anything replicate the genius of that masterpiece?). The rights to the terminator franchise are up for auction later this month.

Blair Witch 3 on the way?

After the success of Paranormal Activity and similar low budget fare doing so well recently, apparently Eduardo Sanchez is looking to resurrect the Blair Witch Project franchise with a third film that is said to follow on from the first, effectively ignoring the sequel, Blair Witch 2: Book Of Shadows. While doing away with that second film is a great idea, does anyone really care enough to see a third film? Hello?

There’s a nifty rumour that the fifth Terminator movie will be set in the present day and also shift the focus of the action from America to London. After Terminator Salvation, it looks as though the rumours of a time travel story may be true, and this seems to be backed up by statements from McG, who wants to see John Connor come back to the present day to warn us of an impending invasion from Skynet, and fighting back with conventional technology.
This could be kind of cool, really. The time travel aspect was one of the core points of the original Terminator movies, and if it could be done well and in a suitably different manner to the three previous stabs at time travel plots, then it could be fantastic. Granted, bringing a shouty Christian Bale back to wage war in London does sound a bit like revisiting Reign of Fire, but that might not be a bad thing. I’d like to think that the script for Terminator 5 will also give John Connor more to do than shout, as well.

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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Remember how Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars wrapped everything up after the series was cancelled? That sort of thing would be great to bookend the Terminator Sarah Connor Chronicles series.

It is also bad news for genre television as a whole, as this series was pretty much the only pure Science Fiction show currently being shown. A weird thought that genre TV has never been more influential, and yet there isn’t a single pure SF show on the air. Correct me if I’m wrong.

As a side note of interest, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles stars Lena Headey and Thomas Dekker both appear in the new indie horror movie Laid to Rest, which is actually really cool.

This is bad news for fans of the show, which, after a lukewarm response to the first chunk of the second season, had started to pick up steam again and regain lost ground. The show, which starred Summer Glau and Lena Headey, had been a point of much conversation and debate since its acclaimed 2008 debut. I kinda liked it. I felt it kept hold of the feel of the first couple of Terminator flicks quite well, while still moving its alternate universe story along nicely. I for one will miss it.

So then. The new Terminator flick has been revealed to have got a PG-13 rating for US screens. This has caused a rather shocked reaction from some people, which I can kind of understand, but wait, it is still going to kick your backsides. The PG-13 rating is now rather more flexible than it has been in the past for a start, plus with the action of Terminator Salvation already being known to feature more robot action than bloody cyborgs, I think it is pretty safe to say that we’re still in for one hell of a Terminator flick.

Look, no matter what it turns out lie, it can’t be worse than Rise of The Machines. The trailers and clips look fantastic, exactly what the Terminator franchise needs to keep itself going and find a new audience without the presence of Schwarzenegger (beyond the rumoured CG mapping of his face onto another actor’s body in a brief scene). Don’t think that this is going to be a kids film.

It is clearly a valid new Terminator story and a very valid entry in the franchise. It may lack the bad language and some gore, but those aren’t really bad losses. WB made the right choice here. It looks like with Terminator Salvation, there will be a lot of humble pie being eaten when McG finally gets to prove himself in such a way. I can’t wait!

This is cool. Look at that likeness! I know Sideshow are generally on top of their game when it comes to sculpts, but this one is something else. The Terminator Salvation merchandise is getting off to a great start! Hit the image and check out Sideshow’s gallery of the figure and its full specs!

That new TERMINATOR SALVATION trailer in full:

That aside, we’re really looking bforward to seeing what McG has been able to do with the remains of the Terminator big screen franchise. While its TV incarnation, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, has been showing some great ideas and has executed them well, the movies seemed to have died a death. Thankfully from the trailers and images we have seen so far, the new Terminator movie is going to reclaim some ground lost by that rubbish third film. Here’s hoping!