‘Stargate: Origins’ Gets Feb. 15, 2018 Premiere Date!

Stargate: Origins, the new web-only series that reveals the untold story of Catherine Langford’s early adventures with the alien artifact, will premiere on the Stargate Command streaming service on Feb. 15, 2018.

The first two episodes (running about 10 minutes each) will be free to stream. while the remaining eight live-action installments will be exclusive to Stargate Command members.

A new teaser for the digital series, which we now know will be set in the World War II era, will drop tomorrow, Dec. 20.

The series, which recently wrapped production, has previously released two behind-the-scenes video clips (see the first one here), but nothing storyline related.

Stargate: Origins stars  Ellie Gall as Catherine Langford, Connor Trinneer as Professor Langford, Philp Alexander as Beal and Shvan Aladdin as Wasif.

First Trailer for ‘Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom’ Drops

One of the most surprising hits of 2015, Jurassic World, gets its inevitable sequel with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, featuring the return of cinema’s most beloved man-child, Chris Pratt, and his counterweight, the more mature Bryce Dallas Howard.

And, almost equally inevitably, the sequel’s first trailer stinks worse than a giant mound of dinosaur poop. As Samuel L. Jackson said in the original Jurassic Park (1993): “Hold on to yer butts!”

I am very, very disappointed in this trailer, which tells me Fallen Kingdom is going to be just more of the same. More goofy Owen (Pratt), more uptight Claire (Howard) — well, maybe she’s loosened up a bit — more bubble cars, more annoying kids and yet another heavy-armed “rescue mission,” but this time to save the dinos, not people, trapped on the island. And, on top of all that, we get Jeff Goldblum as the pompous Dr. Ian Malcolm one more time, as well as B.D. Wong as the conniving geneticist, Dr. Henry Wu.

What’s a Jaeger? The Heroes of ‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’

An extended version of the Pacific Rim: Uprising trailer has been released that includes a featurette on the Jaegers, the giant robots that battle the giant monsters known as Kaiju.

Designed as a sort of recruiting film for prospective Jaeger pilots, this primer is part instructional, part propaganda. It’s the sort of expanded universe trope that reminds me of Kaiju Emergency Alert System. If you haven’t seen the first movie, this video will tell you just about all you need to know about these cool robots.

So, what exactly is a Jaeger?

First Trailer for ‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’ Boasts New Giant Robots

Pacific Rim: Uprising is the somewhat unexpected sequel to the 2013 giant robots vs. giants monsters movie Pacific Rim, created and directed by legendary Mexican horror auteur Guillermo del Toro.

I hesitate to call the first film a hit, because did only middling box office ($101.8 million), but it was a critical darling and the fandom (which includes me) has been strong and vocal, and a sequel was green-lighted, but del Toro stepped back to producing and Steven S. DeKnight (Marvel’s DAREDEVIL, Starz’s SPARTACUS) took the director’s chair.

The star of the new movie is John Boyega (Finn, Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi), who plays the son of Stacker Pentecost (Ildris Elba), who commanded the Jaeger forces in the first movie and does not return for the sequel. Also missing is original hero Raleigh Becket, because Charlie Hunnam decided to make King Arthur: Legend of the Sword instead (bad choice). Enter Boyega as Jake Pentecost.

Let’s take a look at the action-packed trailer:

STARGATE ORIGINS to Carry on the Adventure — in the Past!

One of my very favorite science-fiction franchises, Stargate, has been sidelined for about seven years or so,  but it’s coming back! STARGATE ORIGINS, a new live-action digital-only series, as announced at San Diego Comic-Con!

Based on the 1994 movie Stargate (1994), which starred Kurt Russell and James Spader, ORIGINS will follow Catherine Langford, the daughter of Professor Paul Langford, the scientist who uncovered the stargate in Giza in 1928, when she was just a little girl.

Produced by and for Stargatecommand.co, SO will consist of ten 10-minute episodes written by Mark Ilvedson and Justin Michael Terry and directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan. Production will begin in August for a fall debut exclusively on stargatecommand.co, a joint effort by MGM’s Digital Group and the studio New Form.

Take a look at the mini teaser (consisting solely of footage from the movie) that accompanied the announcement:

SO will be not unlike STAR TREK: DISCOVERY  — a digital continuation of a beloved sci-fi series that anchors a new streaming service.

This ‘Blade Runner 2049’ Trailer Lives Up to the Legacy

We all know that original Blade Runner director Ridley Scott has gotten the band back together to finally make a sequel to the 1982 classic. Now we’re starting to get a real feel for what the much-anticipated followup is going to look like.

Executive Producer Scott convinced Harrison Ford to reprise one of his signature roles, grizzled cop Rick Deckard, alongside Ryan Gosling as new replicant hunter Officer K, in a story from original co-scripter Hampton Fancher.

So far we’ve seen some promising stills and footage, but anyone can string together a few eye-popping images. Can director Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) deliver an entire movie worthy of following in the footsteps of Scott’s visually stunning masterpiece? The early evidence suggests that he can! Check it:

Meet the Crew of ‘Alien: Covenant’

In Alien: Covenant, the colony ship Covenant is loaded with colonists on a mission to establish human colony on another planet. The crew of the ship is made up of couples, and to introduce fans to the main cast, Luke Scott, the son of director Ridley Scott, has made a short film dubbed Prologue: Last Supper.

This is not footage from the movie itself, but rather an original piece designed to show how the crew relate to each other — and a rare chance to see characters in an Alien film happy!

X-23 Tears It Up in NSFW ‘Logan’ Trailer

The final Hugh Jackman Wolverine movie, Logan, opens today, and from all accounts, this is going to be the Wolverine movie we’ve all been waiting for: one packed with action, bloodshed and Professor X dropping F-bombs.

Who cares if the movie’s 2024 setting makes the already mishmashed X-Men movie timeline look like ground hamburger? Just accept that it’s two years after X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Professor X is suddenly 90, Logan is.. really old and there’s a little girl named Laura (aka X-23) with adamantium claws causing havoc while on the run from Hellfire Club exile Donald Pierce, who has grafted cybernetic parts to himself and runs a group of rogues called the Ravagers.

Based on the story “Old Man Logan” from Wolvie’s comic book series, Logan is directed by James Mangold, who also did 2013’s The Wolverine, but it is not set in the same timeline as that previous film. Got that? Actually, it doesn’t matter to the casual movie fan.

‘Alien Covenant’ Trailer: Meet the Monsters

 The release of the latest movie in the Alien franchise is creeping up on us fast, so we should be hearing/seeing a lot more about Alien: Covenant in the coming weeks. In that spirit, 20th Century Fox has released a second trailer for the flick — and this one is packed with action and Xenomorphs!

Yes, this is technically a sequel to the uneven Prometheus, but the trailer makes it feel more like another part of the “real” alien series, with an emphasis on eggs, facehuggers and the xenomorphs rather than the mysterious Engineers.

In fact, the trailer makes only vague references to Prometheus, in the form of that horseshoe spacecraft and Walter, the synthetic person who looks exactly like David (both played, of course, by Michael Fassbender).

‘Guardians of the Galaxy 2’ Trailer Introduces Star-Lord’s Father!

After focusing on Star-Lord’s relationship with his late mother in the first film, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 tackles Peter Quill’s missing father — who turns out to be Ego, played by screen legend Kurt Russell!

There’s a lot more to the story of Peter’s long-lost Dad than just who he is; readers of Marvel Comics know that when it comes to Ego the Living Planet, what he is poses a much… uh, bigger question.

Director James Gunn decided to change the identity of Star-Lord’s father from the comics, and hopefully we’ll see just why when the movie opens, but it’s worth noting that Russell‘s costume makes him look just like J’son, the emperor of Spartax, who was Peter’s dad in the comics. Hmmmm…

Anyway, check out the trailer, which is packed with action, bright colors and quick quips, which is just what we want from this sequel: