Looking back at 2007 : part four

SF Universe – As we round into fall, it’s the last of our look back at the SciFi stories that made us go hmmmm.OCTOBER

Fox shuts down Buffy “Once More With Feeling” fan sing along events

Chris Pine wins Kirk role in new Star Trek flick
Kristin Bell joins Heroes

Stargate Atlantis is picked up for a fifth season

Nichelle Nichols joins Star Trek co-star Takei on Heroes

Production wraps on Indy 4

Fox announces production of new X-Files movie

NOVEMBER

NBC puts together Knight Rider remake as back door pilot even as Bionic Woman remakes flounders in the ratings

Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku team up for Dollhouse

Hollywood writers go on strike and TV production is brought to a virtual standstill

Heroes Origins is shelved due to writers strike and series prepares for an early finale

DECEMBER

Christian Bale confirmed to star in Terminator 4

Peter Jackson signs on to produce The Hobbit, Sam Raimi may direct

CBS Interactive cans entire staff of StarTrek.com

Arthur C. Clarke turns 90 and releases YouTube greetings

USA cancels 4400 and The Dead Zone

Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem opens Christmas Day

There! It’s finally over. Lot of things happened last year when you stop and look back. Hopefully, 2008 will be just as full…

Alien Vs Predator: Requiem – trailer

Some things you may not know about…

amctv.com – Some things you may not know about Alien: Resurrection :

• It was written by Joss Whedon, after the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer but before the series (and of course before “Firefly,” “Angel” and Serenity.)

• It is the only American film so far by the French cult director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie, The City of Lost Children, Delicatessen), He spoke almost no English and directed with the aid of interpreters. The studio’s first choices to direct were David Cronenberg and Danny Boyle (28 Days Later)

• Sigourney Weaver was paid $11 million to come back as Ripley. That was approximately the entire budget for the first Alien in 1979.

• Whedon wrote the parts of Christie and Dr. Wren for, respectively, Chow Yun-Fat and Bill Murray.

• A fan of the first Alien, Winona Ryder agreed to appear before she even read the script, saying that she “didn’t care if she died in the first scene.”

• One of the aliens is played by David Prior, the great-grandson of silent film stars John Gilbert and Leatrice Joy. Not that they’d recognize him in that rubber suit …

• Cinematographer Darius Khondji used the same techniques he employed in filming Se7en to heighten contrasts and make the dark colors richer.

• The underwater segment was shot on a specially constructed sound stage on the Fox lot, which was converted into a permanent water-tank. It took nearly a week to fill it with water (and milk, which was added to make the water less transparent). The underwater scenes took three weeks to film, during which both Ron Perlman and Winona Ryder nearly drowned.

• Sigourney Weaver really did sink that basketball by herself. She’s damn proud of it, too. 🙂