Season Two looks to knock out the “gamer” stereotype … as well as zombies and ninjas.

By Emily Mitchell

N00b.
If that word is familiar to you, then you either:
a) are a gamer
b) have an extremely close relative or friend who is a gamer
c) have been called this before (most likely by a gamer)
d) never want it to be spoken again. (as does the author of this piece.)

Yes, video gaming (and its lingo), has become a massive pop culture and economic phenomenon, and SyFy Channel’s WCG Ultimate Gamer chronicles it all.

The show is a combination of the Real World/ Road Rules Challenge and videogames. Twelve contestants (6 men and 6 women) live in a house together while competing against one another in both physical and video gaming challenges to become ‘The WCG Ultimate Gamer’, a title that includes $100,000 in cash, an “ultimate” Samsung electronics package, Alienware High-Performance gaming desktop called “The Aurora’, and the chance to represent at the World Cyber Games (aka the WCG).

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Categories: Action, Fall Preview 2010, Reality TV, Sci-Fi & Fantasy by ejmitchell
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Tags: Dwight Smith, Hannah Simone, Joel Gourdin, Michael Agbabian, Syfy, Ultimate Gamer, WCG Ultimate Gamer, WCG Ultimate Gamer Season Two

Network’s Original Movies Are Cult And Ratings Hits

By Jeff Pfeiffer

“I’m gonna watch these movies till my eyes pop right out of my head
Saturday night, Saturday night, Saturday night on Syfy …”
–    “Saturday Night on Syfy” by Sci-Fried

“To have a song written about these movies truly shows that [they] are now part of pop culture,” says Thomas Vitale, proudly, referring to the song quoted above. Vitale is executive vice president of programming and original movies at Syfy, and he’s right – his network’s Saturday original movies, long a target of mockery for their low budgets, sensational titles, cheesy CGI effects and B-grade scripts and acting, have pulled off that hard-to-obtain double feat of cult status and ratings success.

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Categories: Interview, Movies, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: Barry Williams, Colin Ferguson, Dinocroc vs. Supergator, Goblin, Hill Harper, Jack Hunter and the Lost Treasure of Ugarit, Jeff Pfeiffer, Joanne Kelly, Lake Placid 3, Mega Piranha, Roger Corman, Sci-Fried, Sharktopus, Stonehenge Apocalypse, Syfy, Syfy movies song, Syfy Original Movies, Thomas Vitale, Witchville

Eureka's Colin Ferguson

By Jeff Pfeiffer

Two of Syfy’s biggest series, Warehouse 13 and Eureka, are currently filming a pair of crossover episodes that will air this August.

In the Warehouse 13 episode called “13.1,” airing August 3, Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston) of Eureka’s Global Dynamics is sent to Warehouse 13 to help update its aging computer system. This triggers a seemingly sentient computer virus that sends the Warehouse into lockdown and traps the team inside. Rene Auberjonois guest-stars in this episode as former Warehouse agent Hugo Miller.

Warehouse 13's Allison Scagliotti

The Eureka episode is called “Crossing Over” and airs August 6. Warehouse 13‘s Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti) pays a visit to Eureka, hoping to see some amazing technological wonders. She gets more than she bargained for when seemingly random objects begin appearing around town. Working with Sheriff Carter (Colin Ferguson) and Fargo, Claudia has to help solve the mystery before the anomalies have deadly consequences, particularly for newcomer Dr. Grant (James Callis).

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Eureka: © Syfy Credit: Marcel Williams

Warehouse 13: © Syfy Credit: Philippe Bosse

Categories: Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: Allison Scagliotti, Claudia Donovan, Colin Ferguson, crossover, Douglas Fargo, Eureka, Eureka Warehouse 13 crossover, Jack Carter, Jeff Pfeiffer, Neil Grayston, Rene Auberjonois, Syfy, Warehouse 13

By Jeff Pfeiffer

Scene from Columbia Pictures' "2012"

Here we go again. Just as with all the Y2K worries in 1999 and several “end-of-the-world” scenarios and dates speculated about throughout history, people have again found something “apocalyptic” to fret about. [Read more →]

Categories: TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: 2012, 2012 Apocalypse, 2012 movie, 2012 prophecy, 2012: Countdown to Armageddon, 2012: Startling New Secrets, apocalypse, armageddon, codex, Dec. 21 2012, Discovery Channel, doomsday, History, Jeff Pfeiffer, Lester Holt, Maya calendar, Maya prophecy, National Geographic Channel, NGC, Nostradamus Effect: 2012 Extinction, Roland Emmerich, Syfy

The kids aren't all right in Syfy's "Children of the Corn"

By Jeff Pfeiffer

A few months back, we warned informed you that SCI FI Channel’s changeover to Syfy would not impact the “quality” of the network’s original movie franchise. That is to say, you could expect more of the same formula that has made the channel’s Saturday night lineup into what it calls “the most dangerous night of television.” That held true with a few summer films that debuted under the new Syfy branding, and it continues with this fall’s original movie lineup — except perhaps for tonight’s premiere, Children of the Corn.

I can’t speak to the film’s execution, not having seen it, but it is a little different for Syfy at least in regards to the source material. Often these films are based on public domain stories whose authors are either unknown, or are long dead and have no relatives left to sue over wild changes in the plotline. But Children of the Corn is a Stephen King story, so one would imagine the rights weren’t all that cheap. And who knows — maybe it will hold a little truer to the source than usual, and be all the better for it. It certainly cannot be worse than the many failed theatrical and straight-to-DVD attempts at telling this story that have been made. [Read more →]

Categories: Fall Preview 2009, Movies by RabbitEars
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Tags: Beyond Sherwood, Billy Drago, Brittany Murphy, Camille Sullivan, Children of the Corn, David Anders, Erica Durance, Eriq LaSalle, Ghost Town, Gil Gerard, Ice Twisters, Jeff Pfeiffer, Jessica Rose, Julian Sands, Kaj Eriksen, Kandyse McClure, Lonelygirl 15, Mark Moses, Megafault, Most Dangerous Night of Television, original movies, Randy Wayne, Robin Dunne, Syfy

"Boa vs. Python" remains a SCI FI original movie "classic"

By Jeff Pfeiffer

Those of you who were worried that SCI FI Channel’s quality of programming would change too much when its name and branding becomes Syfy on July 7 don’t have to be concerned. The network has announced that, along with a very promising new series called Warehouse 13 debuting that day, July will also see the return of favorites like Eureka, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters International and the annual Twilight Zone Independence Day Marathon. So rest easy.

But not too easy. The network also indicated that its infamous slate of original films will likewise continue to “entertain” us, churning out cheap quickie horror and sci-fi flicks based off the freest public domain and news stories money doesn’t need to buy, and filled with just enough of the barest-bones CGI effects needed to make it at least look as if something is onscreen chasing Michael Shanks.

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Categories: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: Boa, Boa vs. Python, colossal squid, Eureka, Frankenfish, Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters International, goblin shark, Hellhounds, High Plains Invaders, Jason Gedrick, Jeff Pfeiffer, Malibu Shark Attack, Mansquito, Megasnake, original movies, Peta Wilson, Pythons 2, RabbitEars, Rick Schroeder, S.S. Doomtrooper, Sand Serpents, SCI FI Channel, scifi channel syfy, Snake King, Snakehead Terror, Supergator, Syfy, Titanoboa, Warehouse 13

By RabbitEars

Before ...

SCI FI Channel (or “Syfy,” as the network will be known by the time these projects air, but that’s another story) has announced the production of three new adventure movie events. Each “event” will air over four hours and two nights. The projects announced are:

Alice — 4th Quarter 2009. A modern-day reinterpretation of Lewis Carroll’s classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written and directed by Nick Willing, who also directed Tin Man, SCI FI’s successful retelling of another helpfully public domain novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

... after

The Phantom – 2010. The classic comic book character is reimagined and transported to the present day in this live action film.

Riverworld — 2010. The award-winning series of novels by Philip Jose Farmer come to life in this movie. It’s the adventure of Matt, a combat photojournalist killed along with his fiancée by a suicide bomber, who awakens in a world where everyone who has ever previously lived on Earth has been reborn along the banks of a seemingly endless river. Determined to find his lost love, Matt joins forces with a 13th-century female samurai warrior and novelist Mark Twain, and they sail upriver in search of its source.

By the way, speaking of SCI FI’s upcoming new branding starting July 7, which do you prefer? SCI FI, or Syfy? Or don’t you care too much, as long as the programming isn’t drastically overhauled? Inquiring minds want to know!

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© NBC Universal, Inc.

Categories: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: Alice, Nick Willing, RabbitEars, Riverworld, SCI FI Channel, Syfy, The Phantom