The Fox TV network has let slip that it is developing an American version of the UK’s hit series Torchwood. The US version of the Doctor Who spin-off is being developed in conjunction with BBC worldwide.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Russell T. Davies is on board for the scripts, and Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner (also from the UK crew) will be executive producers on the project.

The US incarnation of the Torchwood series will feature a wider storyline rather than the UK-centric tales of the original, and may well feature John Barrowman reprise his role as Jack Harkness.

Here’s hoping that this is going to be a new team and not a remake of what we’ve already seen. At least that way some scope could be added to the Torchwood series canon, rather than everything happening in Cardiff all the time.

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Find Torchwood: Children of Earth on Blu Ray

Sunday was more aimed at kids, with the Children’s Film festival, Nickelodeon, the premiere of the new Scooby Doo movie and more being the main attractions for youngsters. Aside from those shenanigans, there was still plenty going on for older fans to enjoy.

Doctor Who and Torchwood panel

Russell T Davies, David Tennant, John Barrowman and Julie Gardner were on hand to talk about the future of the two shows (This was wrongly reported as taking place on saturday-oops!). According to Tennant, the tenth Doctor’s final episodes are ‘very emotional indeed’. Russell T Davies said that new Doctor Who series boss Steven Moffatt probably wouldn’t be using the established Davies-era characters such as Martha, Mickey, etc in favour of building his own new characters. The Lucy Saxon character will be returning in the finale (makes sense when you think about who the villain is…). Torchwood series 4 will be made, but it is not clear as yet what form it will continue in. Intriguing…

Ghost Whisperer

The next season of the Ghost Whisperer, starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, was previewed to an appreciative audience. The cast and executive producers teased fans with clips that gave clues as to the new direction the series is taking. New characters are changing everything in the show, and it looks like fans are in for quite a ride.

There was also a very popular Harry Potter fan panel featuring prominent figures in the world of HP fandom and a showing of the latest installment of Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight. The event closed with a huge singalong screening of the famous Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode ‘Once More With Feeling’.

As ever, the San Diego Comic Con has left the fan world brimming with excitement for the delights to come, and people are already looking forward to the 2010 event. Who knows what SDCC 2010 will have in store? We’ll let you know as soon as we do…

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Check out the new items from Sideshow Collectibles unveiled at SDCC 2009!

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We’ll be covering as much of the San Diego Comic Con news as we can across our many blogs, so stick with the Starstore blogs for a unique British perspective on the latest developments from SDCC 2009!

We swear one day we’ll make it there and report to you live from the event itself, but until then, we’ll be scouring the net for the best news and announcements so that you don’t have to!

This year’s event runs from the 23rd to the 26th of July, with a preview night on the 22nd before the shenanigans commence for real. There are some suitably awesome panels, previews and product unveilings going on this year, and we’ll cover as many of the big ones as we can.

There are some fantastic workshops and signings right across the event, but the big ones for many fans will be the TV previews, movie previews and merchandise previews. We’re personally really looking forward to finding out what Sideshow Collectibles have on offer this year in the way of new products.

Other panels and stuff of note throughout the SDCC weekend? Summit’s Astro Boy preview, the reveal of details on the next Tetsuo movie, a preview of The Twilight Saga: New Moon, a look at the groundbreaking new James Cameron science fiction epic Avatar, the next developments in the Halo franchise, a presentation of material from Terry Gilliam’s Imaginarium of Dr Parnassuss, a Doctor Who panel with Russell T Davies and David Tennant, a panel on the Kick Ass movie, a talk with fantasy legend Terry Brooks, the premier of the animated Green Lantern movie, The Guild, Farscape’s 10th Anniversary, a look at the new version of The Prisoner, Star Wars Day, Sideshow Collectibles‘ panel, Dr. Horrible The Totally Rad Show Live, Ray Bradbury… gah, so much!!!

We’ll be covering as much as we can right here! It may not be as cool as actually being there, but we’ll be bringing you as much of the AWESOME as we can.

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Have a look and see some sneak previews of the greatest movie collectibles from Sideshow - Visit now!

The double DVD set of Torchwood – Children of Earth is out in the UK now! The five part miniseries, which was shown over five successive nights in one week, follows the Torchwood team (now down to just three members) as they try to stop the sinister 456 overthrowing humanity. The problem is, will the government destroy Torchwood first? This is the Torchwood story that has thrilled and horrified fans in equal measure, and is an absolute must-have for any fan’s collection. The two-disc Torchwood – Children of Earth DVD set features all five episodes of the miniseries, along with extra features including the Torchwood Declassified shorts and an audio clip from a Torchwood novel read by Eve Miles. This really is the British science fiction event of the summer, and an essential DVD set for any collection. Finally, Torchwood has become an entity in its own right, and much more than just a Doctor Who spin-off series.

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Movie collectibles in the US- Visit Entertainment Earth

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Something has really rather annoyed me. I’m an avid listener of a podcast called Slice of Sci-Fi, which is usually awesome. The most recent episode features a tirade against Russell T Davies following comments he made about Torchwood: Children of Earth being made for UK audiences, and the format was changed in order to keep the show fresh. Davies made a comment about the various US shows running for years on end with no changes, which the presenters (all American) then went on to rant about.

Right then. I have to side with Russell T Davies on this. Y’know, the man with decades of TV experience under his belt and the man who brought Doctor Who back and made it massive again, as well as creating Torchwood and indeed the new series, Torchwood: Children of Earth. I think he knows what he’s talking about, guys. American shows DO drag on. They DO draw things out endlessly, and a 13 episode series (Doctor Who or the first 2 seasons of Torchwood), or a five part miniseries event are much more interesting than a huge drawn-out series due to the simple fact that they are not padded to anywhere near the same extent.

Take Heroes, LOST, Battlestar Galactica, for example. These things run way too long, which is why there are weak episodes, filler material and such a reliance on making things as complicated as possible to meet the running time. Without the padding, you’re left with a story that doesn’t get lost in its own twists.

As for the show being made for a British audience, what’s wrong with him saying that? Your shows are clearly aimed squarely at a US audience, despite the inclusion of characters from other countries,. They still tend to be very US-centric. Torchwood, aside from John Barrowman, has a British cast, takes place in Britain and involves very British themes, situations and characters.

What’s wrong with saying it is made for a British audience? We have a ton of shows on import that we enjoy, but we feel very little connection to. What’s so bad about us having a science fiction show for ourselves? Torchwood appeals to people all over the globe, but it *is* made for a UK audience. On a brighter note, Torchwood: Children of Earth is a fantastic example of what can be done with science fiction TV.

I still love your podcast though guys
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Movie collectibles in the US- Visit Entertainment Earth

in the UK - Visit Starstore.com for Movie Collectibles and Forbidden Planet

Doctor Who Finale Screen Grab Reveals Guests

The big Doctor Who news right now is a leaked picture from the filming of the final 2009 specials, in which the tenth Doctor (David Tennant) will finally be beaten by a certain returning bad guy and regenerate into the eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith). The photo was taken during a break in filming when the main Doctor Who Finale cast were having a bit of a joke.

The story of the final 2009 Doctor Who specials apparently has the Doctor put on trial by the Time Lords for his past misdeeds. Erm, isn’t that a retread of The Trial of A Time Lord from Colin Baker’s era? Perhaps, but check out the guest stars in the leaked Doctor Who finale picture for something to get excited about. Plus, since when were the Time Lords still alive? Intriguing.

Once again featuring Catherine Tate and Bernard Cribbins in their DW roles as Donna Noble and Wilf, the final two part story for David Tennant will be preceded by the already announced special episode ‘The waters of Mars’, which is due to be shown in November (and this was teased on the end of Planet of the Dead). Series five, which is now shooting, will then follow in the spring of 2010 with Matt Smith established as the eleventh Doctor and Karen Gillan as the latest companion.

Torchwood Air date

The third series of Torchwood, the five-part Torchwood: Children of Earth story, is confirmed to be airing over five nights from the 4th of July on BBC1. New Torchwood merchandise is on the way to coincide with the showing, and rumours are rife about the future of the franchise as this appears to be the final story for the team…

Personally we feel that a series of two-hour TV movies (say, three a year) would be a great way to keep Torchwood going, as it seems to suit a shorter run more than it does full seasons (The multi-part stories have always been much stronger). Any way we can have more of Eve Miles on TV is a good thing.
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Here are the new pictures (Sadly not including one of the Cyberwoman);

Torchwood new action figures

SERIES FIVE RUMOURS
The rumours are flying thick and fast for Doctor Who series 5, which will be shown in 2010 after the 2009 specials. There will be 14 episodes in 2010, namely a 13 episode series and a Christmas special, which, word has it, will feature David Tennant’s regeneration into the 11th Doctor. I’m taking this with a pinch of salt as there are a dozen rumours of the 11th Doctor every day. The film rumours are growing in strength, and they are having further fuel poured onto the fire by execs seemingly trying to sweep the idea under the carpet for the time being. That said, we all know Tennant is wanting to do more film work and a movie would be a great sendoff. New boss Steven Moffatt has stated there will be no arc to series five. What is interesting is that RTD, in his new book, has stated that there will definitely be more classic series monsters coming back in series five, and not who we would expect. We’ll keep an eye out for more news!

TORCHWOOD: LOST SOULS REVIEW
I missed the original broadcast of the Torchwood audio adventure, Lost Souls, but the BBC kindly put it up on their website for download for a while and thus I snagged it to see what happens when Torchwood go and visit CERN. Well, quite a lot more than has happened in real life! The story, about the Torchwood team being called to the LHC facility in Switzerland by Martha Jones to help with a case involving missing staff, is a bit of fluff, truth be told. That said, it is a fun story that fills the 45 minutes of audio that it has at it’s disposal. Some things that couldn’t really be done on TV were handled nicely, but the drawbacks of audio were also underlined, with characters repeatedly having to narrate what was going on in front of them. The cast handle the transition to a different medium in fine style, with John Barrowman, Eve Miles and Gareth David-Lloyd offering excellent performances as their much loved characters.

The only drawback, sadly, is Freema Agyeman’s performance as Martha Jones. Something tells me Freema hasn’t done much in the way of voice acting before (aside from the Doctor Who ‘Infinite Quest’ project) as her lines come across as a bit wooden and very noticeably read from the page. This is a shame, as it takes you out of the story a little too much for my liking. Still, ‘Lost Souls’ is a great little story that sits nicely in with the Torchwood canon. The nods towards the lost characters, Tosh and Owen, are a bit syrupy and out of place, but they are a nice addition for hardcore fans of the series. A flawed gem.