Stargate Universe - Los Angeles Times: Robert Carlyle Video Interview

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Interview with Robert Carlyle of Stargate Universe

MacGyver - Los Angeles Times: 'MacGyver's' pop cultural hold on us

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'MacGyver's' pop cultural hold on us

There's a universal appeal in being able to bust out of jail with nothing but chewing gum and wire.



Richard Dean Anderson from the made-for-TV movie, MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis

May 16, 2010

When Josh and Ada Cottrell were expecting their first child four years ago, they wanted to give their son a name that embodied their beliefs and stood for something attainable. They wanted their little guy to be known not so much as a dreamer but a doer.

So the Sherman Oaks couple named their son … Macgyver.

"We got a lot of flak for it," Ada says. "People would tell us, 'You're setting him up to fail.' But my husband is a 'MacGyver.' And if he's going to be anything like his daddy, which I'm sure he is, he's going to be the kind of guy who can put together a sink with a paper clip and some chewing gum and 'MacGyver' it, so it'll work."

With the "MacGyver" spoof "MacGruber" arriving in theaters Friday — and with movies, TV shows and advertisements continuing to namedrop the '80s adventure series — "MacGyver" is enjoying something of a pop culture renaissance. But that would imply that the show, which ended its seven-year network run in 1992, went away in the first place. And it never did.

"MacGyver" followed the exploits of mullet-sporting secret agent Angus MacGyver, a troubleshooter dedicated to using scientific principles (along with a lot of duct tape and his trusty Swiss Army knife) in weekly campaigns against drug lords, dictators and communists. The ABC show established its template with its pilot episode in which MacGyver, among other feats, disarmed a missile with a paper clip, stopped a sulfuric acid leak with a chocolate bar and fashioned an explosive using sodium metal and a cold capsule.

"We verified the viability of the science, but we often stretched the principles," chuckles "MacGyver" star Richard Dean Anderson who has been playing another hero in Syfy's "Stargate" franchise for much of the past decade. "That chocolate would have sealed the leak in the sulfuric acid vat. We just would have needed a half-ton of chocolate to make it work..."

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At Amazon:



MacGyver: The TV Movies

Series: MacGyver Rating: NR (Not Rated) | Format: DVD

List Price: $19.99
Price: $14.49 & eligible for free shipping with Amazon Prime
You Save: $5.50 (28%)

This title will be released on June 15, 2010. Pre-order now!

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Included on this DVD are:

MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis - made for TV May 1994

MacGyver returns as the wily adventurer, this time teamed with an eccentric archaeologist and a young female scholar in a quest for legendary loot from the lost city of Atlantis.

Starring: Richard Dean Anderson, Brian Blessed, Sophie Ward, Christian Burgess, Oliver Ford Davies and Tim Woodward.

Directed by Michael Vejar and written by John Sheppard.

AND

MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday - made for TV November 1994 (Note: during the broadcast of this movie on November 24, 1994, a movie trailer for the feature film Stargate was aired. Richard Dean Anderson went on to play Col. Jack O'Neill in Stargate SG1 on TV.)

In MacGyver's next adventure, he travels to England to celebrate his friend's birthday, only to witness instead his friend's death. An investigation reveals that the murder is linked to mysterious interests seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Starring: Richard Dean Anderson, Beatie Edney, Peter Egan, Alun Armstrong, Bob Sherman and Lena Headey.

Directed by Charles Correll and written by John Considine.

Many thanks to the Richard Dean Anderson Official Web site for the movie synopses and the photo from MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis.

Battlestar Galactica - Los Angeles Times: Katee Sackhoff Interview

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Katee Sackhoff bids farewell to Starbuck and 'Battlestar,' but her lips are sealed

As the tough-talking maverick pilot, she's a fan favorite. But please don't ask her how the series ends.

By Michelle Castillo
March 13, 2009

When the directors of Sci-Fi Channel's re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica" held an open casting call for the role of Lt. Kara "Starbuck" Thrace, they were looking for a mid-30s actress with a tough military demeanor. But it was Katee Sackhoff, then in her early 20s, who won the part with her high heels and persistence.

"Everyone scoffed at the idea of Starbuck in high heels," Sackhoff said, looking back on the role, originally for a 2003 miniseries that became a series in January 2005. "That's who she was in my mind. That's me: No one is going to tell me to take my high heels off, and I carried that throughout her attitude. Maybe not the high heels, per se, but Starbuck's attitude was there from the very beginning with me."

... Though fans might find it difficult to say goodbye to Starbuck, Sackhoff said that leaving the relationships she's formed with the cast and crew on the show would be the hardest part for her.

"We didn't have one bad apple in the show, from the crew to the cast," Sackhoff said. "If we did, they disappeared quietly into the night, and nobody remembers them. They really, really paid attention to people's personalities, not when they were casting, but when we were working. I think that it shows."

Dollhouse - Los Angeles Times Backlot: Behind the Scenes Photos

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HOLLYWOOD BACKLOT

Twenty-two behind the scenes photos from the set of Dollhouse.

Battlestar Galactica - Los Angeles Times: Visual effects with Gary Hutzel

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'Battlestar Galactica' countdown: Visual effects with Gary Hutzel

Jan 15 2009

by Jevon Phillips

The review has already been written for "Battlestar Galactica," and we have only a day left until we find out the answers to many questions, and are probably presented with many more. Over at Hero Complex, an exclusive photo of Katee Sackoff and some fans was posted today, and the site is gearing up for a major scoop tomorrow night.

It's been said that the show is a multi-layered drama -- like "The Sopranos" or "Mad Men" -- that just happens to be a science-fiction program. Well, that "happens to be" is probably a huge draw to many who swear by the genre. And usually, like music scores and sound, a major part of sci-fi shows is the tone that the visual effects help set. That's where visual effects supervisor Gary Hutzel comes in.

We were able to have a chat with him about the show, and how it stacked up against his former employers in the "Star Trek" family. Effects guys sometimes have some long answers!

A brief excerpt:

So, you're pretty seemlessly going from "Battlestar" to "Caprica." Was it just as easy to go from "Next Generation" to "Deep Space Nine?"

Leaving ["Star Trek: The Next Generation"] to go to ["Star Trek: Deep Space Nine"] was basically trading up! It was an opportunity to work with new elements. Honestly, by the end of "Deep Space Nine," I was finished with "Star Trek." I wasn't interested in "Voyager" or any of the other spinoffs because it was such a formulaic show. It was clear that it was not going to get better. They wanted it cheaper, they just didn't want a lot to change.

On "Galactica," I could go nuts! I can work with the directors, editors, writers ... "Star Trek," that was not allowed. You couldn't really do anything independent of what the producers ordered. But here, it's wide open.

Star Trek - Los Angeles Times: Ricardo Montalban Passes Away

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'Fantasy Island' actor Ricardo Montalban dies at 88

He was often cast -- and stereotyped -- as a Latin lover and later was best known as Mr. Roarke of 'Fantasy Island.' He was respected for his work to improve the roles and image of other Latino actors.

By Lorenza Muñoz

2:20 PM PST, January 14, 2009

Ricardo Montalban, the suave leading man who was one of the first Mexican-born actors to make it big in Hollywood and who was best known for his role as Mr. Roarke on ABC's "Fantasy Island," has died. He was 88.

Montalban died Wednesday morning at his Los Angeles home of complications related to old age, said his son-in-law, Gilbert Smith ...

While making "Fantasy Island," Montalban also gave one of his best movie performances -- as Khan Noonian Singh in the "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982), a follow-up to a beloved 1967 "Star Trek" television episode, "Space Seed," that also featured Montalban.

As Khan, Montalban was deliciously over the top, vowing to wreak revenge on Star Trek Admiral James T. Kirk: "I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nivea, and 'round the Antares maelstrom, and 'round perdition's flames before I give him up."

New York Times movie critic Janet Maslin wrote that Montalban, "with his fierce profile, long white hair, manful decolletage and space-age jewelry looks like either the world's oldest rock star or its hippest Indian chief." And New Yorker magazine critic Pauline Kael said Montalban's performance as Khan "was the only validation he has ever had of his power to command the big screen."

Battlestar Galactica - Los Angeles Times: Exclusive Photos Countdown

At the Los Angeles Times Show Tracker (Los Angeles, CA):

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'Battlestar Galactica' countdown: Exclusive photos

Jan 13 2009

Over at our Hero Complex blog, Times staff writer Geoff Boucher was able to score some exclusive images from the set of "Battlestar Galactica," complete with photos of the CIC and many actors ...

... Tomorrow in the countdown: Alessandro Juliani (Lt. Felix Gaeta)

Battlestar Galactica / Dollhouse - Los Angeles Times: Faces to watch: Tahmoh Penikett

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Faces to watch: Tahmoh Penikett

The chiseled Canadian debarks from the 'Battleship' and is into the 'Dollhouse.'

By Denise Martin
December 28, 2008

For the last five years, Tahmoh Penikett has been fighting off Cylons, a robotic race threatening human existence, on Sci Fi Channel's “Battlestar Galactica.”

Starring in Joss Whedon's upcoming and already-beleaguered drama “ Dollhouse,” however, could be a more daunting task.

The show, which premieres Feb. 13 on Fox, revolves around an underground team of programmable people -- or dolls -- with various skills and abilities rented out for assignments by high-paying clients. Early on, one doll, Echo (played by Eliza Dushku), begins to become self-aware. Penikett plays Paul Ballard, a renegade FBI agent bent on taking down the morally suspect operation...

Sanctuary - Los Angeles Times: Sci Fi charts its course for the future

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TELEVISION

Sci Fi charts its course for the future

'Battlestar Galactica' helped lift the cable channel; 'Sanctuary' reflects its openness to new models.

By Geoff Boucher

December 7, 2008

... "We're at No. 5 for the year," Howe said, "and within spitting distance of A&E at No. 4, which I think has shocked some people who have assumed that we're so niche and narrow that we don't even register on the Richter scale."

The question is how the channel will make the earth move again. Howe pointed to the new series "Sanctuary," which premiered Oct. 3 and saw its pilot finish as the night's No. 1 prime-time cable entertainment program among adults 25 to 54, as part of the answer.

The fantasy show -- about the mysterious 157-year-old researcher Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping), who tends to a refuge for magical beasties -- is also a symbol of Sci Fi's eagerness to embrace new models.

"Sanctuary" began as an Internet series of webisodes and is filmed on a "virtual set" of green-screen technology and CGI effects. The show also uses "RED camera," which records straight to a computer hard drive for a nimbler post-production process ...