Lea is best known for his role as Krycek in The X-Files. He’ll be playing Erica’s ex-husband.

Lexa Doig played Dr. Lam on Stargate SG-1 and she’ll be a doctor on V. She has also guested on The 4400 and Eureka and she was Risa in Supernatural “The End.”

Also joining the cast is Charles Mesure who played the Archangel Michael on Xena, and has had a recurring role on Crossing Jordan. He also appeared in Boogeyman, which was written by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke.

Photo: David Gray/The CW
©2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Post from: SF Universe

Stargate star Michael Shanks

Watch for sparks to fly between Hawkman and resident costumed hero Green Arrow – and no, ladies, I don’t mean those kind of sparks. Though Justin Hartley was quoted in TVGuide as saying “Hawkman kind of has his way with him and Oliver is not going to let that go too easily.”

If you haven’t been watching, now’s the time to catch up with Smallville. It begins at 8:00 tonight, Friday, February 5 on The CW.

Michael Shanks as Hawkman in SMALLVILLE on The CW. Photo: Jack Rowand/The CW ©2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Post from: SF Universe

Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods

Re-cut and re-imagined version of the pilot film of the Stargate series that started it all.
Release: July 21, 2009
Extras:

• New Edit with Never-Viewed Scenes
• New and Enhanced Visual Effects
• Revoiced Performance by Christopher Judge
• Original Score by Joel Goldsmith
• Special Features includes: Commentary by Co-Creator Brad Wright and Actor Richard Dean Anderson and Back to the Beginning Featurette

Red Dwarf: Back to Earth
Release: October 6, 2009
Extras: commentary, documentary, outtakes, deleted scenes

The boys are back, and while they may be older, they’re still none the wiser. The crew discover a dimension-hopping leviathan, but Rimmer is threatened with replacement by the new, improved holograph Katrina. She is determined to guide Lister to his home planet, but no one is prepared for Earth 2009, where the hapless crew face death unless they can track down their creators.

Knight Rider: Season One
Release: July 28, 2009
Extras: I’m not seeing any. . .

This is the much slammed remake of the old series with Justin Bruening as the reinvented Michael Knight. I liked this show but apparently I’m alone in that.

Box Art: Amazon

Post from: SF Universe

* Michael Shanks’ signed, personal “SG-1″ scripts (with hand-written notations), plus scripts and call sheets from his appearances on the USA Network series “Burn Notice” and the Fox Network series “24″

* Stargate DVDs signed by the original movie’s stars, Kurt Russell, Mili Avatal, Erick Avari and Alexis Cruz.

* Photos, posters, DVDs and action figures signed by – among others – Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins (“Supernatural”), Jeffrey Donovan (“Burn Notice”),  Jamie Bamber and Katee Sackhoff (“Battlestar Galactica”), Joe Flanigan, David Hewlett and Paul McGillion (“Stargate: Atlantis”), Sean Astin (“The Lord Of The Rings”) and Gareth David Lloyd (“Torchwood”).

* “SG-1″ team and individual photos, DVDs, and more, signed by Michael Shanks, Claudia Black, Amanda Tapping, Beau Bridges, Ben Browder and Christopher Judge, among others.

The profits from this auction will be donated to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. The auction starts today and new items will be added daily for the next two to three weeks. You can go straight to the auction on ebay or visit Michael’s website for more detailed information.

The Cap

On offer here is a Stargate SG-1 tan cap, produced to celebrate the milestone of 200th episode. The cap is embroidered on the front with the Stargate SG-1 moniker, and on the back with the words “200th Episode”.

The cap has been signed by:

* Michael Shanks  – Daniel Jackson
* Erick Avari  – Kasuf
* Carmen Argenziano  – Sel’mak
* Steve Bacic – Camulus
* JR Bourne – Martouf
* Ben Browder – Cameron Mitchell
* Claudia Black – Vala Mal Doran
* Alexis Cruz – Skaara
* Colin Cunningham – Paul Davis
* Peter Deluise – Director extraordinaire!
* Bill Dow – Dr. Bill Lee
* Torri Higginson – Elizabeth Weir
* Tom McBeath – Harry Maybourne
* Corin Nemec – Jonas Quinn
* Davd Palffy – Anubis
* Cliff Simon – Ba’al
* Amanda Tapping – Samantha Carter
* Kavan Smith – Evan Lorne
* Alex Zahara – Michael

Post from: SF Universe

– Richard Dean Anderson (Stargate SG1, Stargate Continuum, Stargate Atlantis) Anderson reprises his role as General O’Neil. O’Neil is the former leader of the elite military team SG-1.

– Amanda Tapping (Sanctuary, Stargate SG1, Stargate Continuum, Stargate Atlantis) Reprises her role as Samantha Carter, an astrophysicist and United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel.

– Michael Shanks (Stargate SG1, Stargate Continuum, Stargate Atlantis) Reprises his role as Dr. Daniel Jackson, Stargate’s archeologist and linguist.

– Gary Jones (Stargate SG1, Stargate Continuum, Stargate Atlantis) Reprises his role as Chief Mst Sgt. Walter Harriman, commander technician of the team.

– Christopher McDonald (Superhero Movie, Rumor Has It) Stars as Senator Alan Armstrong. The U.S. Senator and head of the International Oversight Committee that governs the Stargate program. He is the father to Chloe Armstrong.

– Janelle Monáe (Bad Boy/Atlantic Records) The Grammy® nominated artist plays herself in an upcoming episode. Janelle and her band will perform “Many Moons” and “Sincerely,” two songs featured from her latest album titled “Metropolis.”

– Carlo Rota (24, Saw V) Stars as Carl Strom, head of the International Oversight Advisory (IOA), the civilian oversight committee that heads up the Atlantis Expedition and all funding.

Now all we need is an appearance by John Shepard (Joe Flanigan) along with his faithful companion Major Lorne (Kavan Smith) and I’m good to go.

Richard Dean Anderson as Maj. Gen. Jonathan “Jack” O’Neill — SCI FI Channel Photo: Eike Schroter..

Post from: SF Universe

The six million viewers that Jericho bowed out with March 25 wasn’t much to a network like CBS, but would be a huge boost to CW or Sci Fi. Sci-Fi has the most experience in this line of work, as they saved Sliders and Stargate when Fox and Showtime respectively gave up on them. Sliders never quite connected with its initial audience the same way. Stargate, however, went on to become the longest running sci-fi show in American history. It even yielded a successful spinoff in Stargate:Atlantis. (I can see my co-blogger Cynthia somewhere pumping her fists on that reference.)

The announcement that Michael Rosenbaum and Kristin Kreuk are leaving Smallville likely puts that show on borrowed time. Jericho would fill the tremendous void Smallville will leave pretty nicely. I have a feeling things are about to get good, and you know SFUniverse is going to keep you posted.

Post from: SF Universe

You can guarantee you’ve seen at least 20 of the same films and three times as many of the same TV shows, many of which were axed prematurely. Maybe you’ve been to some of the same conventions, bid on the same eBay items or gotten to meet some of the same actors. You’ve each got movies you know are really cheesy with horrible special effects that you love anyway.

As my wife and so many that aren’t lovers of sci-fi don’t understand, it’s not about the shows, movies or toys. It is so much about the people you meet and the bonds you forge. I mean, I love Law and Order but can you really have a four-hour argument about who your favorite detective is? Now your favorite Starfleet captain? Biggest Star Wars plothole? Favorite Stargate show? (Don’t start this one with Cynthia, there’s only one right answer and it rhymes with Atlantis.)

That’s why I love this interaction with our readers. You’re not shy about telling us what you think your favorite shows should have more or less of. Here at the keyboard, I can have the debates I just mentioned and a hundred more with the thousands of fans out there. We don’t have any flying cars, a United Federation of Planets or the like, but we’ve all got each other’s back.

A few years ago ESPN had the tagline “A Little Football Among Friends” to describe its pre-game show. Rush Limbaugh kind of ruined that campaign before it got started, but the basic idea captures some of what we’re going for here. We want these debates to have all the fire and the passion they would if you were having them at your local comic shop, convention or at your house. That’s polls, that’s commenting on our stories and that’s dropping us a line if you think there’s something we missed. As always, we can’t wait to hear from you.  

Post from: SF Universe

With a bigger budget behind them (rumored to be around 7 million) and more time to dedicate to one storyline, the Stargate movies are poised to be grander than ever.  But turning any TV series into a film comes with one inherent problem — how do you keep fans engaged without alienating potential viewers who have never seen the TV show.

Me?  I fall somewhere in between and I probably represent the majority of the audience for this movie.  I’ve seen Stargate SG-1 now and again.  I’m familiar with the basic characters and premise but I haven’t seen a single episode in the past five years.  I do watch Stargate Atlantis on a regular basis, so I’ve got a leg up there.  Keep this in mind as I review the movie.

The overall premise revolves around an Ancient artifact which is reported to contain a relic which will cause anyone who views it to know the truth about the Ori.  That is, they’ll realize that the Ori are false gods and thus they will cease to fight in their name.  This is particularly relevant at the moment because Stargate Command has received word that the Ori followers are about to launch a mass attack on the Earth.  Eventually, the SG-1 team is split into two factions; Daniel Jackson (Michael Shanks), Vala (Claudia Black), and Teal’c (Christopher Judge) go after the ark with the aide of Vala’s husband, Tomin (Tim Guinee) a follower of the Ori.  Sam (Amanda Tapping) and Cam (Ben Browder) take to the skies aboard the newly outfitted battlecruiser Odyssey with James Merek (Currie Graham) of the IOA along to make things difficult for them.

Confused?  Don’t worry, the DVD comes with a “prequel” that you can turn on or off, which is designed to give you all the backstory you need in order to understand what you’re about to see in the movie.  If you didn’t watch the last two seasons of Stargate SG-1, I suggest you run the prequel twice before embarking on the feature.  Your brain will thank you an hour into the flick.

Though there is a lot of mythology here to be processed, The Ark of the Truth also comes with its share of great action, from space battles, to hand-to-hand combat, to a full on alien attack.  As I watched, I couldn’t help but feel that I was being showered with homages to some of the best Scifi/Fantasy films ever made.  You’ll see shades of “lord of the Rings”, “Aliens,” “Star Wars,” and even a “Terminator” nod that is terribly blatant but awfully cool.

Even without a feature film budget, the folks at Stargate have always done an amazing job with their special effects and here they’ve managed to step it up a notch.  The effects are so natural you forget that they’re effects!  Frankly, it’s a shame this had to go straight to DVD without a theatrical release because the helicopter shots of Teal’c treking through the snow-covered mountains would be breathtaking on the big screen.  (Though I did have the urge to start singing, ‘the hills are alive, with the sound of music. . . ‘)

Stunt coordinator, James Bam-Bam Bamford was along to create a few of his signature fight-scenes and you won’t fully appreciate the fire stunt in the film until you watch the making-of featurette.  Wow.  And again I say, wow.

To really ratchet things up a notch, composer Joel Goldsmith (son of famed composer Jerry Goldsmith) was given a full orchestra and choir for the movie’s soundtrack.  (For the TV show it’s all synthesized music.)  There is nothing like a soundtrack played by a real orchestra and Goldsmith has outdone himself with these epic tracks.  He manages to capture both the futuristic sounds of a space battle and the fairy tale charm of Merlin the Magician.  And I was particularly struck by an almost comic piece of music played during a firefight between the SG-1 crew and the Ori followers — it set the tone quite nicely.  And the use of the use of chanting choirs, eerily brilliant. 

The movie clocks in at just over an hour and half but its loaded with enough plot and action for a half dozen TV episodes.  The special features include audio commentary with writer, director and producer Robert C. Cooper, actor Christopher Judge and director of photography, Peter Woeste, “Stargate SG-1: The Road Taken: Prelude to The Ark of Truth,” The Ark of Truth: Stargate at Comic-Con” (Hey, I was there!) and the behind the scenes featurette “Uncovering The Ark of Truth.”  It also comes with an annoying front load of trailers and advertisements that couldn’t be skipped on my preview copy of the DVD.  I was also surprised by the lack of razzamataz in the navigation screens but I can’t say for sure that these are the screens being used in the finished DVD so I’ll give them the benefit of doubt on that one.

Overall, I really enjoyed “Stargate: The Ark of Truth.” Even though I haven’t seen the show in years, I was quickly pulled into the characters and plots and though I was a bit confused at times, it didn’t effect my enjoyment of the film in the end.  If anything, I’d say it made me want to go back and watch the last few seasons of Stargate SG-1.  I had no idea what I was missing.

If you’re a fan, “Stargate: The Ark of Truth.”  is a must buy.  If you’ve never seen the show but are a scifi fan in general, rent it and give it a shot.  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how big a small show can look when it becomes a full-length feature on DVD.

“Stargate: The Ark of Truth” will be available anywhere DVDs are sold on Tuesday, March 11.  You can also enter to win one of three copies of the DVD right here on SFUniverse.  All you have to do is leave a comment on our contest post.

Post from: SF Universe