It's always been true that series come and go, but I'd honestly never even heard of Lifetime's 2014 entry into the SciFi field: The Lottery.  The premise sounds vaguely reminiscent of the motion picture Children of Men, wherein mankind has suddenly lost the ability to procreate, and perhaps that's why The Lottery failed to ignite any media fires.  Still, let's hope that the show will eventually find the light of day on home video (I've done a quick search, and I've not found it anywhere) as it sounds interesting enough for a single view.

Today's citation updates:

Added The Lottery's Pilot episode (July 20th)
Added The Lottery's "Rules of the Game" (July 27th)
Added The Lottery's "The Greater Good" (August 3rd)
Added The Lottery's "Genie" (August 10th)
Added The Lottery's "Crystal City" (August 17th)
Added The Lottery's "Sleep Deprived" (August 24th)
Added The Lottery's "St. Michael" (September 7th)
Added The Lottery's "Truth Be Told" (September 14th)
Added The Lottery's "Mr. Torino" (September 21st)
Added The Lottery's "In Extremis" (September 28th)

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Happy Wednesday all of you SciFi smilers, and -- as I'm prone to do -- let me remind you that Wednesdays are formally known as 'New Comic Book Day' in parts unknown (and known).  So I expect everyone to head on down to your local comic book store -- assuming you can find it -- and purchase an issue or two if for no other reason than to keep one of the best storytelling industries alive and kicking in these hard times.  Plus, you get the added benefit of enjoying a few great tales from some of the most creative minds alive today.

Otherwise, it's all brass tacks around here.  I've been busy making some minor modifications behind-the-scenes (that's largely why I've been slow on updates the past few days), but I have managed to squeak out a few additions for your viewing pleasure.

Today's citation updates:

Added Alien Nation's "The Takeover" (October 16th)
Added Andromeda's "To Loose The Fateful Lightning" (October 16th)
Added Batman Beyond's "Hidden Agenda" (October 16th)
Added The Twilight Zone's "Mr. Denton On Doomsday" (October 16th)
Added Ascension's "Part 1" (December 15th)
Added Automan pilot episode (December 15th)
Added The Princess Blade (December 15th)
Added Ascension's "Part 2" (December 16th)
Added Ascension's "Part 3" (December 17th)

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Happy Thursday, all of you SciFi smilers!  Why not take a break from the world of dire news and circumstance and lose yourself in SciFiHistory.Net's pages today?  It might do your mind good.

Today's citation updates:

Added Dark Skies' "The Enemy Within" (January 11th)
Added Time Trax's "A Close Encounter" (January 14th)
Added Time Trax's "Return of the Yakuza" (January 28th)
Added Dark Skies' "White Rabbit" (February 1st)
Added Time Trax's "Missing" (February 7th) 
Added Dark Skies' "Shades of Gray" (February 9th)
Added Time Trax's "To Live And Die In Docker Flats" (February 14th)
Added Time Trax's "The Gravity of It All" (February 21st)
Added Dark Skies' "Burn, Baby, Burn" (March 1st)
Added Time Trax's "Happy Valley" (March 4th)
Added Dark Skies' "Both Sides Now" (March 8th)
Added Time Trax's "Lethal Weapons" (March 11th)
Added Dark Skies' "To Prey In Darkness" (March 15th)
Added Time Trax's "The Cure" (March 18th)
Added Time Trax's "Perfect Pair" (April 18th)
Added Time Trax's "Catch Me If You Can" (April 25th)
Added Time Trax's "Dream Team" (May 2nd)
Added Time Trax's "Almost Human" (May 9th)
Added Time Trax's "Mother" (May 16th)
Added Time Trax's "The Last M.I.A." (May 23rd)
Added Dark Skies' "Stranger In The Night" (May 24th)
Added Dark Skies' "Bloodlines" (May 31st)
Added Time Trax's "Split Image' (October 14th)
Added Time Trax's "Cool Hand Darien" (October 21st)
Added Time Trax's "The Lottery" (October 28th)
Added Time Trax's "Out for Blood" (October 31st)
Added Time Trax's "The Scarlet Koala" (November 11th)
Added Time Trax's "Optic Nerve" (November 18th)
Added Time Trax's "The Crash" (November 25th)
Added Time Trax's "Forgotten Tomorrows" (December 5th)

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Happiest of Wednesday 'hump day' wishes to all of you SciFi smilers!

As I'm wont to do on Wednesdays, here's your friendly reminder that it's new comic book day. Woohoo for such a thing as graphic goodness in all of the known universe!  I read my first comic book back in 1970, and I've loved them ever since.  So it's in that spirit that I encourage each and every one of you to go out to your local comic book store today and purchase something.  Purchase anything.  Good or bad, it'll do your soul some good.

Otherwise, here's what I've been up to in the last twenty-four hours so far as SciFiHistory.Net is concerned.  Feel free to check it out as time permits.

Today's citation updates:

Added Dark Skies' The Last Waves (January 4th)
Added The Greatest American Hero's pilot episode (March 18th)
Added The Greatest American Hero's "The Hit Car" (March 25th)
Added Dark Skies' "The Awakening" (September 21st)
Added Dark Skies' "Moving Targets" (September 28th)
Added Dark Skies' "Mercury Rising" (October 19th)
Added Jason of Star Command's "Marooned In Time" (October 21st)
Added Dark Skies' "Dark Days Night" (October 26th)
Added Jason of Star Command's "Attack of the Dragons" (October 28th)
Added Doctor Who's "Planet of Giants" (October 31st)
Added Dark Skies' "Dreamland" (November 2nd)
Added Doctor Who's "Dangerous Journey" (November 7th)
Added Dark Skies' "Inhuman Nature" (November 9th)
Added Dark Skies' "Ancient Future" (November 16th)
Added Dark Skies' "Hostile Convergence" (December 7th)
Added Dark Skies' "We Shall Overcome" (December 14th)

As always, many thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Happy Tuesday for all of you SciFi smilers ... or anyone else keeping score, for that matter.  This morning, I found a few June 16th birthdays that had somehow passed me by, but rest assured that they're now boldly listed for all to see.

And would you believe that today marks the 25th anniversary for the first airing of Star Trek: The Next Generation's "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1"?  Why it only seems like it was yesterday ...

Today's citation updates:

Added Carole Ann Ford (June 16th)
Added Arnold Vosloo (June 16th)
Added Enid-Raye Adams (June 16th)
Added Missy Peregrym (June 16th)

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

For those who don't know it, I grew up in the sticks (so to speak) in a little town in the middle of nowhere.  This was back in the days when you were lucky to have maybe ten or twelve channels (on a good day with good weather).  These local stations would import programming from all over the world -- meaning that you didn't see as many syndicated shows as the big cities got while instead you suffered through Japanese cartoons or European fare that didn't get picked up elsewhere -- and, as a kid, you made do watching this instead of US shows targeted at children.

When I went to college and -- as college folks do -- you'd talk to one another about what you watched growing up, I couldn't find anyone who'd seen much less heard of Gerry Anderson's epic Thunderbirds.  Seriously.  People thought I was always making it up.  A TV show?  An action-based TV show?  With super-charged vehicles?  Starring puppets?  No, not puppets.  You mean: muppets? No, not muppets.  You mean ... marionettes?

As far fetched as the idea seemed, Thunderbirds was a real thing, and it became a legitimate phenomenon for those wayward souls who managed to find the program on their TV dial.  Most who did fell in love with it right away.  Those who didn't?  Well, maybe they were aware of the adventures and tried to block out their memories of it.

In any event, ITV has resurrected the adventures of the Tracy family, bringing Scott, Virgil, Alan, John, and Gordon back to the small screen where they belong and with absolutely no recollection of that awful big screen attempt from a few years back.  Thank goodness for small favors.  So far, it isn't available in any U.S. markets, but I've read some conflicting reports about Cartoon Network acquiring the broadcast rights, and I for one will be there when Thunderbirds catch their second wind.

Today's citation updates:

Added Thunderbirds Are Go's "Ring of Fire" (April 4)
Added Thunderbirds Are Go's "Space Race" (April 11)
Added Thunderbirds Are Go's "Crosscut (April 18)
Added Thunderbirds Are Go's "Fireflash" (April 25)
Added Thunderbirds Are Go's "Unplugged" (May 2)

The entertainment industry lost an icon today as various media outlets have already reported the passing of Christopher Lee.  While younger audience members probably know the actor best from his work in Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth films as well as George Lucas’s Star Wars Prequels, those of us who’ve been around a few years know just how deeply Lee’s legacy is.

If you have a minute, just take a gander at his IMDB.com profile.  Even a casual glance might have you doing a double take.  Born in 1922, Lee boasts his first professional gig at age 24 (two episodes in a program titled Kaleidoscope) … and then continued building his portfolio for the next seven decades!  That in and of itself is amazing; couple with that reality how many thousands upon thousands upon thousands of other actors and viewers the man inspired, and methinks you’d be suitably gobsmacked.

Like the majority of us, I never met the man, but I’ve always had cause to know his work.

Back in my youth – during that formative period known as junior high school of the late 1970’s – I can remember the entire student body being called to the gymnasium for a Halloween event.  We had no idea of what we were getting into, but the principal opened the whole affair by saying that we would be treated to one of the scariest films ever made.  Of course, some of us immediately started speculating about what we’d see when the lights dimmed, and shades of every fright imaginable brought titters of delight to the minds of so many twelve- and thirteen-year-olds.

Though I can’t be absolutely certain, my research leads me to believe that we were shown Hammer’s Dracula: Prince of Darkness.  It’s hard to tell because – as I said – it’s been more than a few years, and the mind’s a fickle thing.  I remember some delirious flashes of blood on the screen, but what I remember best is Lee’s menacing, brooding silence in the moments leading up to his next cinematic attack.

Lo and behold, just last night I was working my way through my first season Blu ray DVDs of Space:1999.  It wasn’t twenty-four hours ago that I enjoyed the master thespian playing the staunchly reserved Captain Zandor in an hour titled “Earthbound.”  Lee brought great poise and patience to the delivery of even what others would’ve found a throwaway line, and I think that’s probably something that will be appreciated when those who tally just what his measure of a man has been.

The lights have finally dimmed for Saruman, and perhaps the least-understood Sith better known as Darth Tyranus has found a semblance of peace or whatever functions as such in an evil tyrant’s afterlife.  That fabled Transylvanian count who fed on the blood of the living has closed his eyes one last time.  Few have ever approached Christopher Lee’s theatrical greatness, but now perhaps even more will be drawn to its deserved study.

The Burning Zone was a medical SciFi program that aired on the UPN Network during the 1996/97 television season.  I didn't watch this one (my family was in the process of moving across the country at the time), but from what I recall the reviews were quite good.  Methinks the idea of tuning in from week-to-week to watch mankind suffering near-extinction (or some other similar malady) may've been too much for casual viewers as the show never really caught fire (pun intended) the way it could've / should've / would've; as thus, it only lasted a single truncated season.

Still -- for posterity's sake -- I spent some time incorporating a makeshift banner into SciFiHistory's daily listings, and I wanted to let you know that you'd be seeing them as you make the rounds in the future.

As always: thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

If you could go back in time only seven days to stop the unthinkable from happening, then would you?  That was the premise behind UPN's pretty interesting Seven Days when it premiered on the fledgling network.  The program earned a full three seasons -- none of which have ever been available on legitimate home video yet -- and here's one fan seriously hoping that it sees the light of day again.  It had a great cast and a winning formula, largely exploring terrorist acts that chrononaut Frank Parker raced against time to prevent when given the chance.

I bring up Seven Days largely because today is the birthday of veteran character actor Alan Scarfe, the fictional program head for the secret time travel facility located in what I think was the Nevada desert ... plus it's a cool logo.

In any event, I did some updating to the site last night and this morning, so I thought I'd give all of you SciFi smilers the straight skinny on what to check out.  Otherwise, I might get some time to get a few more citations updated later today once I'm done with errands.

Today's citation updates:

Added Joe Flanigan (January 5)
Added Rachel Luttrell (January 19)
Added David Nykl (February 7)
Added David Hewlett (April 18)
Added Robert F. Young (June 8)
Added Kate Wilhelm (June 8)
Added Peter Grimwade (June 8)
Added Chuck Campbell (August 5)

As always, thanks for reading ... and live long and prosper!

Happy Friday, all of you SciFi smilers!  Another week is done -- well, except for that usually grueling weekend of lawn work, laundry, and committed relaxation -- so definitely try to enjoy yourselves when you get the chance.  I've done a bit of research this morning, mostly checking up on the bios of the cast for ABC TV's short-lived Defying Gravity, a program I admittedly avoided precisely because all of the reviews I read about it were very underwhelming.  Still, I'll do my part to call out kudos to anyone who gives Science Fiction another program to enjoy as part of our respective Bucket Lists, so there's always that.

Today's citation updates:

Added Maxim Roy (March 7)
Added Paula Garcés (March 20)
Added Dylan Taylor (July 9)
Added Florentine Lahme (July 21)
Added Christina Cox (July 31)
Added Malik Yoba (September 17)
Added Andrew Airlie (September 18)
Added Eyal Podell (November 11)
Added Laura Harris (November 20)
Added Zahf Paroo (December 30)

As always, many thanks for reading and sharing ... and live long and prosper!