THIS WEEK IN SCI-FI: 1-7 AUGUST 2004

CAST NEWS

According to the Hollywood Reporter and Variety, former Charmed star Julian McMahon, has been offered the role of Doctor Doom in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie.

The role would be the frist feature film for the 36-year-old Australian, whose television roles include FX's Nip/Tuck and NBC's Profiler.

McMahon would join a cast that includes Michael Chiklis as Benjamin Grimm/the Thing, Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic, Jessica Alba as Storm/the Invisible Girl (as previously revealed on Girls Kick Ass) and Chris Evans as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch.

Production on Fantastic Four is expected to begin within two weeks for a 1 July 2005 cinema release.

NEW SEASON NEWS

Alias

According to TV Guide, Alias has tapped Oscar-nominated Angela Bassett to play the show's new CIA director.

Doctor Who

The Daleks are returning to Doctor Who after the dispute between the BBC and Terry Nation's estate was finally settled.

"I am absolutely delighted that the Terry Nation estate and the BBC have been able to reach agreement on terms for the use of the Daleks in the new Doctor Who series," said Tim Hancock, agent for the Terry Nation estate. "We look foward to working closely with the production team in the forthcoming months."

There have been protracted negotiations between the BBC and the Nation estate since it was announced Doctor Who was coming back 14 years after it was axed.

These talks eventually broke down, with the BBC saying taht no agreement could be reached over editorial control and that producers had already create another villain.

Terry Nation's estate accused the BBC of trying to "ruin the brand of the Daleks" by trying to wrestle control of the image. (This actually ignores the fact that any approval given to previous Dalek appearances would have been by a writer, i.e. Terry Nation himself, rather than just his estate.)

"We are absolutely delighted that the Daleks will be back," said Antony Wainer, spokesman for the Doctor Who Appreciation Society.

"Doctor Who without Daleks would be like Morecambe without Wise or Wimbledon without strawberries."

Although the society is enthusiastic about the Daleks, it is also looking forward to the series moving on.

"As much as we like the Cybermen and other characters, we want them to create new baddies and new stories.

"As long as the premise is the same, with Doctor Who as a Time Lord who can regenerate, it can change. Beyond that central character it has been completely different over the years," added Mr Wainer.

Unsurprisingly, the Sun, which had been campaigning for the Daleks to return, has already claimed "victory", something that Media Guardian predicted on 4 August, the day that the news first broke!

The tabloid celebrated being the paper "wot won it" in typical Sun fashion, as Page 3 girls Lauren and Charlotte followed in the footsteps of former companion Katy Manning by posing topless with a Dalek. (Click here and here for more pics.)

Sapphire and Steel

According to SFX, the forthcoming Big Finish audios will feature Susanna Harker as Sapphire and David Warner as Steel. Both actors had previously appeared in Big Finish's Doctor Who audios- Harker was Clare Keightley in Shada and Warner as one of the Doctors in the Unbound series.

There is also speculation that Silver might be involved with the series, as David Collings was also one of the Unbound Doctors. The actor playing new element Gold in the final story has yet to be announced.

The five stories that make up the season are:

Assignment One by David Bishop. A man is haunted by a girl singing a nursery rhyme on Barbican Underground station. Nearby, Sapphire and Steel's investigation of an old journal from Bethlehem Royal Hospital proves to have potentially lethal results...

Assignment Two by Joseph Lidster. In an ordinary suburban house, electrical items are acting erratically. A daisy-chain of events is allowing Time to break through...

Assignment Three by Nigel Fair. Sapphire and Steel are trapped in a lighthouse during a storm. Its inhabitants harbour terrible secrets...

Assignment Four by John Ainsworth. In a modern day prison, Time is breaking down and history appears to be contradicting itself...

Assignment Five by Steve Lyons. Sapphire, Steel and Gold find themselves on a steam train filled with an unlikely group of passengers who have a macabre connection... back to the top