ROC in Monster Ark (prev. Genesis Code) Sat. 3/27 @ 11 PM on Syfy

[august]

Renee is set to begin filming a new made-for-Sci-Fi original tv movie in Sofia, Bulgaria next week, called "The Genesis Code."

This film was first mentioned as having been greenlit in a press release from Sci-Fi dated April 26, 2006, discussing how the continuing success of "SCI FI's booming Saturday night original movie franchise, promises more action, thrills, creatures, cataclysmic disasters and mythologically-based subject matter in 2007 with 28 new film projects slated for premiere."

These included the recent "Stan Lee's Harpies" directed by Josh Becker, this coming Saturday night's "Supergator" produced by Roger Corman, and what was at that point titled "MONSTER ARK."

This was the description in the press release:

A satellite image reveals an ancient ship buried in the ice at the top of Turkey's Mount Ararat. Believed to be the biblical Noah's Ark, an expedition is formed to find the lost vessel. When the group discovers two arks, they must contend with the deadly creature Noah had hoped to drown at sea thousands of years ago—a creature that still lives inside the ancient wreckage.

This is the more recent, more detailed and revised description from AfterEllen.com :

Buried under the sands of Iraq world famous archaeologist David Solomon has found a clue to the one of the ancient mysteries of the Old Testament. Solomon’s discovery leads to a remote desert which contains the remnants of an ark. The team must fight off insurgents as they uncover the mystery. Things turn deadly as they discover this ark didn’t carry animals, it carried something evil.

Tim Dekay plays David, who actually is now named "Nicholas," per an update from Renee; Renee plays his ex-wife, described like this:

Eva is stunning and sophisticated. She's an accomplished scientist that specializes in carbon dating and translating ancient documents. She's confident, cocky and at the top of her game. She also can't stand David Solomon, even though they were married for five years. Now that they're divorced she likes him even less.

Mary D now has a page at http://genesiscode.reneeoconnor.info/ .

Sharon Delaney added this at the Creation site, from a conversation with Renee:

Eva is spiritual and intellectual, but not emotional. She has love and hope for the world. Gabrielle was spiritual and emotional. Renee wanted to explore adding heart to intellect.

DeKay's character is described (presumably by Renee) as a "smart," "funny" and "brilliant" archaeologist who is "a cross between Indiana Jones and John McClane from Die Hard."


So.... let me make sure I understand this...... after 100% of internet fan feedback and "opinions" on Renee's involvment with Ted Raimi and Josh Becker, her first two feature-length movies after XWP were directed by Ted Raimi (Diamonds and Guns) and Josh Becker (Alien Apocalypse) ........

...and then after after 100% of internet fan feedback and "opinions" on Renee's involvment in low-budget, filmed-in-Bulgaria made-for-Sci-Fi creature movies and low-budget Rob Tapert-produced horror movies... Renee's next two projects are a low budget Rob Tapert-produced horror movie (Boogeyman 2) and a low-budget, filmed-in-Bulgaria made-for-Sci-Fi creature movie (The Genesis Code, aka Monster Ark.)

GO RENEE!

[august]

Renee has been posting brief video updates from location at her site: http://www.reneeoconnorfanclub.com/news.html

In the most recent one, we see our first glimpse of the film's director, Declan O'Brian, screenwriter of "Snake King," "Savage Planet," and the recent Josh Becker-directed "Harpies," making his feature-directing debut!

[august]

Correction to the above: this is Declan's 2nd film - he shot "Rock Monster" immediately prior to this one -both are now in post-production.

Producers for this are listed as Phillip Roth (the Unified Film Organization founder, not the Portnoy/Human Stain novelist, for you literary types ) and long-time producing partner Jeff Beach. They're the ones that brought us classics like Python, Python 2, Boa, Boa vs Python, Adrienne Wilkinson's Interceptor Force 2, Shiri Appleby's Darklight, Yancey Butler's Basilisk: The Serpent King, Locusts: The 8th Plague (the one with Dan Cortese and Julie Benz, not the bigger budget one with Lucy ) the Ben Cross-Marina Sirtis version of Grendel, Reign of the Gargoyles, and of course Lake Placid 2, Dragon Dynasty, S.S. Doomtrooper, Manticore, and Path of Destruction, all of which feature Jonas Talkington getting... well, you know. Currently filming is Copperhead, followed by Bats: Human Harvest.

Life just keeps getting better. The only thing that could possibly be any funnier would be if Lucy Lawless were getting acting gigs through friends of her husband like Burn Notice star Bruce Campbell or BSG producer David Eick, or if to support Renee's movie you had to buy Ted Raimi's feature-directing debut.

Wait a sec....

[august]

Some cast/crew updates:

The 1st asst. director on this is one Ivan Mitov, who was Declan's production assistant on Rock Monster" Josh Becker's 2nd asst. director for"Harpies" plus he's had similar gigs on the crews of"Lake Placid 2, Reign of the Gargoyles, Grendel, Basilisk: The Serpent King, Dragon Dynasty, S.S. Doomtrooper, and Behind Enemy Lines: Axis of Evil.

On the camera crew is Nikolai Kerezov, who previously worked on the aforementioned Rock Monster, the Jonas Talkington/Adrian Paul feature Wraiths of Roanoke, Mega Snake (aka "the Feedback movie") David Worth's Shark Attack 3: Megalodon, and Josh Becker's Harpies.

Asya Chakarova, a local Sofia girl, is 2nd assistant director. She's filling that same role currently on Copperhead (one guess what that's about ) and previously did the same thing on Infestation, Return to House on Haunted Hill, Basilisk:The Serpent King, Planet Raptor: Raptor Island 2 (directed by XWP's Gary Jones, and starring Ted Raimi, Musetta Vander and Vanessa Angel) plus just about every movie Jonas Talkington has ever been chomped in: S.S. Doomtrooper, Magma: Volcanic Disaster, Behind Enemy Lines: Axis of Evil, Manticore, Raptor Island, Path of Destruction, Crimson Force, Alien Blood (aka Alien Siege) Boa vs. Python, Dragon Dynasty..... plus she was Josh Becker's production assistant on Harpies.

Makeup is being handled by Mariana Love and Maria Stankovich, who have worked in similar capacities on most of the films above. The production coordinator is the wonderfully named Cherise Honey, and Sarkis Sarkisyan worked as a production assistant on this - both have worked in those capacities on just about all the films above.

In the cast are:


- Bashar Rahal, an Arabic/Bulgarian actor who was in Basilisk: The Serpent King, and Shark Attack 3: Megalodon (which was directed and shot by Alien Apocalypse cinematographer David Worth and featured AA's cavegirl babe Rosi Chernogorova.) Probably plays an Iraqi. Here's a pic from an old movie of his:



- Carlos Leon (the father of Madonna's baby, who's had a decent little career playing Latin drug dealers on cop shows recently) as "Belus."



- Bill Parks, one of the Joes from Average Joe 2, as "Russell;" he will no doubt play a chubby, slacker techie guy who goes down early on.



- Mike Straub, as "Hutch." He will also be in the upcoming Bats: Human Harvest, and if you take a peek at the photos in his bio page at the IMDB, you'll get an idea of the types of movies he does. Chances are strong that he and the guys above are the team members who get killed off one by one.

- former pro wrestler Tommy Lister, as "Gentry." He's remembered to Sci-Fi audiences as "Humvee" from "Dracula 3000," which was without a doubt one of the two best vampires-in-outer-space movies ever filmed. Ok, ok - there are only 2 of them! Guessing he's the gigantic muscular team member who attempts to fight the creature, before meeting his inevitable fate. Lister's bio has this wonderful description: "If you ever want a 6' 5", muscle bound, broad shouldered, shaven-headed actor to play a terrifying bodyguard, a soldier of fortune or a fearsome gangster, then Tom "Tiny" Lister Jr. is the man you want." That's what I'm talkin' about!

In addition to the nickname "Tiny," as a wrestler he was known as "Zeus," "The Human Wrecking Machine," and my favorite, "Z-Gangsta." And... he was in the "Enterprise" pilot "Broken Bow" as Klaang, the very first Klingon that Earth ever encountered.



- Amanda Crew (as "Joanna") a 21-year-old Canadian babe who has played sorority girls and cheerleaders in Smallville, She's The Man, Final Destination 3, John Tucker Must Die, and the recent Casper van Dien opus "Meltdown." My guess is that she gets chomped by the monster while undressing.



- George Zlatarev as "Iraqui Captain Backhar." He's Bulgarian, but very dark, and has played Arabic roles in films like Manticore and Air Marshall, and has been in many of the same films as the folks above, such as Wraiths of Roanoke, Bats: Human Harvest, Copperhead, S.S. Doomtrooper, Magma: Volcanic Disaster, Antibody, and a fairly signifcant role as the main alien in Alien Siege.

In small roles are Tommy Nohilly as "Coles" (my guess is that he is the good ol' boy on the team, as the actor has a sort of rough, menacing look in his IMDB bio pic) and Richard Gnolfo as "Wilson" - the actor has a sort of intense Italian look, and has appeared in Manticore, Crimson Force, Darklight, Deep Shock, and Interceptor Force 2 on Sci-Fi (all filmed in Bulgaria) and one ep of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" as "Officer Vargas."

[august]

Renee mentions this in passing in a new SliceofSciFi.com interview:

SoSF: You were in an old church built in 1542. That’s incredible.

RO: I know, it was amazing, the walls were still intact and I just wound up just sitting there to feel the vibes of history in that room. I couldn’t get over it.....you’re surrounded by these incredible artists who replicate those things in a very, very detailed manner so that really inspired my all because of how good they were but to be in an actual environment that is real is just so humbling, you know.

SoSF: Fascinating behind the scenes stuff. Tell us about the theme of the movie ‘Genesis Code.’

RO: Well, for my character, it’s about finding your faith in a greater being, spiritual being. She’s on a journey with Rick, her husband and the clash between them about having faith in something greater than your self so that’s what we’re doing, Trying to find another ark of the covenant and that’s the general theme along the way..... I was so impressed with the SCI FI Channel, not only did they pull together a script that just to me meant so much more than the monsters that are, of course in most of their sci-fi movies that they put together this amazing cast of actors that immediately responded to the script and the director and I was so proud to be a part of it.

[august]

From a recent interview ROC did at the Hobo trashcan site:

Q: You are set to star in the SciFi Original movie, Genisis Code. What is the film about and what can fans expect to see?

A: It's fun for me to revisit the SciFi Channel because the last time I worked for them was Alien Apocalypse with Bruce Campbell. It rated very well and I haven't been with that company, the SciFi Channel, because I was trying to branch out and do things other than monster flicks. This one really appealed to me because it has more to do with a sense of spirituality and the monsters together, so it reached me deeper than the actual action that you would come to expect from the SciFi Channel.

Q: And what is your role in the film?

A: I play a character named Ava and she is not too dissimilar to Gabrielle in some ways, where she is interested in archeological facts and scrolls. She's an expert on all things to do with the area around the Dead Sea. They discover that there's another ark out there and they go to try to retrieve it to be the first archeologists who get this great find. But then, there has to be a monster involved. (Laughs.)

[lasermn]

Interesting stuff, August! I was wondering what Renee, was up to

[august]

See related threads on her films Ghost Town, Boogeyman 2, and Diamonds and Guns.

(but first get over to the Jack forum for updates on Azn Dragoon, Bummer2323 and Erica!)

[august]

AHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have a date!

Billed now under the original title "Monster Ark," it's scheduled to premiere on Saturday August 9th at 9 PM EDT, rerunning at 1 AM. (The August schedule isn't posted yet, but if you play around with the URL's, you can find the tentative one here. )

It doesn't have its own page yet, but if they keep that title, then it will surely be http://www.scifi.com/monsterark/ .

It caps off a daylong marathon of similarly-themes giant and/or mythological beastie movies, including:

9 AM - Minotaur - w/ Tony Todd as a flamboyant villain, and Rutger Hauer in a cameo as a wise man
11 AM - Kraken:Tentacles of the Deep -Vicky Pratt vs/ a giant squid, w/ only her bikini to protect her!
1 PM - Cerberus - Greg Evigan (My Two Dads, Tekwar, B.J. and the Bear) takes on the 3-headed hound of hell in Romania, with assistance from Emmanuelle Vaugier (House of the Dead 2, Painkiller Jane) and AA's Michael Cory Davis (he plays a muscular, handsome, heroic, braided commando - one guess what his fate is! )
3 PM - John Carpenter's The Thing - the 80's Kurt Russell remake
5 PM - Rock Monster yet again!
7 PM - The Scorpion King - getting the audience ready for another Mid-East excavation movie
9 PM - ROC in a film directed and written by the writer of Josh Becker's Harpies, as a special gift to the fans
11 PM - Manticore - Chakotay, Leeta the Dabo Girl, and the chick from Blair Witch take on an ancient weapon of mass destruction in modern war-torn Iraq, with assistance from Jonas Talkington and Michael Cory Davis (as a muscular, handsome, heroic, braided Army ranger) - one guess what their fate is!
1 AM - more of Renee's incredible chemistry with Tim DeKay
3 AM - In the Spider's Web - Lance Henricksen and killer spiders in Thailand

Annnnnnnnnnd... guess what? Boogeyman 2 premieres on Sci-Fi just a week later, at 9 PM EDT, Sat. Aug. 16th, and repeats the very next day, at 7 PM on Sun. 8/17.

Rock Monster is also on tonight (Sun. 8/8) at 7 PM - a rerun this recent, and in primetime, means that it continues to perform well in reruns after its debut. Director Declan O'Brian BTW is now in post-production for his followup film, "Cyclops," produced by genre vet Roger Corman, written by Corman's frequent collaborator Frances Doel (they did "DinoCroc" and "Supergator" together recently, but go all the way back to the 70's and "Big Bad Mama.") It stars Eric Roberts, with the nation of Bulgaria playing the character role of ancient Rome. The film is about the Emperor Tiberius and a captive Cyclops gladiator... and I ain't kiddin'. Raicho Vasilev and Velizar Binev from AA and Screaming Brain have supporting roles, just to draw in all the message board fans.

[august]

The first glimpse of any Sci-Fi PR for this can be found at their site, under "movies" - go to http://www.scifi.com/onair/index.php?pageid=movies , and you'll probably see a promo for Saturday night's premiere of "Ghouls," directed by XWP and Alien Apocalypse 2nd unit director Gary Jones. But click on "4" (2 and 3 are for other Saturday night premieres) and you'll see an image of ROC and Tim DeKay.

....

ed. to add:

This is the image:

[august]

The site - just a larger image of the one above really, with some background decoration - is up and running, and spotted the first commercial last night.

[august]

Some candid photos taken of/by Renee dyring filming can be found at http://www.reneeoconnorfanclub.com/news.html and http://www.creationent.com/outback/fanclubs/index.htm

[august]

Mary D now has the preview commercial online at http://genesiscode.reneeoconnor.info/.

[august]

Declan sent this to Renee's fan club:

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to send a note to encourage all of Renee's fans to tune into Monster Ark on Saturday, August 9th. at 9:00pm on the Sci Fi Channel. Despite the title, (which I didn't choose!) the movie is really fun and exciting and filled with action. I just wanted to tell everyone that I was thrilled with the level of acting that Renee and Tim DeKay brought to the roles. It was such a pleasure to work with two actors who are on top of their craft. Spread the word! Tell everyone to watch!

Take care,

Declan O'Brien
Writer/Director

And then there is a mini-interview with ROC at Sci-Fi Wire; excerpts:

"... Tim DeKay (and I) ... play ex-husband and wife, so
there's a bit of friction between us," O'Connor said.... "We have some
unresolved matters, and we try to resolve them during the course of,
yes, saving humanity."

.....

In the film, Nicholas discovers Noah's first ark, which contains the
last of the primeval monsters that reigned on Earth before man. When
the ark is opened the creature begins to attack again.

"She's sort of branched off, and now what she's really trying to do is
create artifacts that support her spirituality and her faith,"
O'Connor said..... "She believes that there is a God and that there are all these biblical
characters who reveal and support that there's a higher existence and
a significance to us all."

O'Connor added: "And that's basically her battle with Nicholas,
because he believes the opposite. He thinks that he has to have the
proof to have any faith, and they constantly go back and forth about
this within the film. And they each have their moments where their
point of view changes....."

[august]

There's an interview with ROC at AfterEllen.com; excerpts:

"I like stories with strong women characters," Renee told us. "Women who change the world."

......

Ava is a deeply spiritual person, and her quest for the ark is part of her own journey of faith. Her ex-husband, Nicholas (Tim DeKay), on the other hand, is a hard-headed scientist, whose agenda is very different. "We have some friction between us, some unresolved matters," Renee said, and then laughed. "And we try to resolve them while — yes — saving humanity."

.....

"Xena the warrior was always pragmatic; it was about getting the job done," Renee said. "Gabrielle was more about the open heart, and trying to save everyone ... Gabrielle wants to save Xena, and Ava wants to save Nicholas."

[august]

This will air again at 7 PM on Sci-Fi, Sat. 9/27, preceded by Josh Becker's "Harpies."

SPOILERS FOLLOW.....
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So how was it? Well, with all genre movies intended for a genre audience, basically, if you don't like this sort of movie, then you won't like this one either. But, I maintain again that with an sfx budget of $100 million, Michael Bay or Stephen Sommers directing, and, say, Brad and Angelina as the warring ex-spouses, Amanda Bynes and Seth Rogen as the young grad students, and Samuel L. Jackson as the tough sergeant, but the exact same script, people would say this is a new masterpiece.

It does IMO mark a major step forward in Declan O'Brien's development as a director. I didn't catch who the cinematographer on this was, and it's not listed on the IMDB, but it was surely either Lorenzo Senatore or Anton Bakarski, who have done almost all of these films recently. Either way, the visual "look" was really quite professional. Credit must also go to film editor Matt Michael, who has worked on previous Roth-Beach films like Rock Monster, Reign of the Gargoyles, Grendel, S.S. Doomtrooper and Manticore.

That said, the film plunders liberally from other genre film, big and small:

- the sunbeam passing over a staff at a certain moment of the day to illuminate a particular structure in a miniature model of a building complex, and the titular phenomenon being crated up and stored in a vast bureaucratic storage facility are both from "Raiders."

- the centuries-old secret brotherhood of Middle-Eastern men, sworn to protect an ancient religious secret the location of which is unknown even to them, with a leader who's a gaunt, bearded, scraggly guy with an olive-skinnned complexion, all of that is from "Last Crusade."

- the babe scholar who turns out to be a descendant of the secret society is from "DaVinci Code."

- Army guys and a female civilian who knows local legends going to retrieve a holy spear from the tomb of a great hero to stop the titular menace is from "Reign of the Gargoyles."

- the unbelieving male lead becoming not only a believer but the chosen one to stop the monster, the post-modern-banter among college students, and the several anti-climaxes, are from O'Brien's previous Bulgarian film, "Rock Monster."

- the opening scene with a boxed dangerous creature being loaded onto a ship is from "Jurassic Park."

- the cgi-waves and ship are from "Grendel" and "Dragon Dynasty."

- the not-quite-military sergeant (with some confusion as to actual rank) who keeps devolving into urban-ness is from rapper Sticky Fingaz in "House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim."

- the rock quarry filling in for a desert wasteland is literally from "Alien Apocalypse."

- the general Bulgaria-as-Iraq setting, along with the weaponry, uniforms and gypsies-as-Arabs, is from "Manticore."

- the scenes of the creature appearing from out of nowhere, jumping about wreaking havoc and then springing away is from Jim Wynorski's "Bone Eater."

- the ominous warning from an Arab that "Death awaits below!!!!" had me expecting him to add "...with big, nasty ...pointed...teeth..." - straight from "Holy Grail!"

But all of that said, for what it was, it was quite enjoyable. O'Brien is clearly a rising star, since they evidently allowed him to go with his vision for the film, and violate two (and a half) cardinal rules:

- normally, there has to be a splashy appearance of the monster before the first commercial, and one gory death just before each successive commercial break. By waiting until the 4th act to have any of that, he definitely gambled with the patience of a sensation-seeking, prone-to-channel-surf audience, especially with the Olympics on oppsite.

- normally, most of the main characters are killed off one-by-one, and here they all survive.

- the two battling exes don't fall back in love at the end, although it's certainly implied that they will.

Highlights: - sexy Amanda Crew, channeling Marla Sokoloff and revealing much midriff, cleavage, and attitude at every opportunity.

- ROC and Tim DeKay deciding to take a little ex-spouses' spat scene and give it their all for a knock-down, drag-out shouting match. It's the same Jack/Locke faith-vs-science argument we see every few weeks on "Lost," with the added conflict of two ex-spouses.

- Gentry, played by hulking menace Tiny Lister, had plenty of scenes and dialogue for a change. Unfortunately, his delivery was way too much from tha 'hood, and not convincing (to me) as a military man. The military is notorious for knocking all regionalisms and colloquialisms out of your speech during basic, and so the humblest of non-coms nonetheless rattle off dispassionate, polysyllabic lines about targeted objectives reached, perimeter breeched by hostile combatants, etc. This sergeant never wore his helmet, never wore a kevlar vest (I doubt wardrobe had any that would fit! ) and never seemed as professional as a 30-year military vet would have to be at his age. They did give him plenty of stereotypical "combat" lines to say at random moments: fire it up, lock and load, stand down, I'm on point, at ease, good hunting, etc. but they often made no sense. Plus, like with Sticky Fingaz, there was confusion as to his rank. he was clearly a Sergeant-Major, i.e. a non-com w/ stripes, but they kept calling him "Major." It's unlikely that a sensitive mission like this would have been entrusted to a sergeant and four soldiers: just like "PVT Ryan," you'd normally have an officer in charge of a full squad. Plus a sergeant-major would be back at base reporting to the comnpany commander, not leading any troops himself.

- classic foreshadowing: a soldier announces: "Major - I got him!" which means he's going down in flames, much like the ill-fated Trudis from "Helicon," announcing "I'll go!"

- ostensible hero Tim DeKay has a less than heroic moment, hitting a captive while Lister has an automatic rifle aimed at him. Yeah, real brave there Tim.

- our boy Jonas Talkington has worked on casting for a dozen or more of these movies, but gets a genu-wine screen creidt as casting director, right in the middle of the main credits!

- Latino Carlos Leon does fine as an Arab, since in the minds of Hollywood, one swarthy ethnic is presumably the same as any other. He's a decent actor, although a really sort of scraggly-looking guy. One recalls back in the 90's when guys thoight "Wow - wouldn't it be incredible to hook up with Madonna!" In retrospect... after Dennis Rodman... Carlos... Sean Penn... probably not that hard for anyone.

- the music by one Claude Foisy is excellent, if derivative of both BSG's intense percussion and Joe LoDuca's middle-eastern horn scores (although it's appropriate for the setting.)

- two classic unintentionally funny bits:

- after repeatedly seeing that the creature is impervious to bullets and explosives, one soldier tells the other "You hold him off - I'll warn the major!" Ummm...yeah.

- DeKay sends the hottie student off to safety with the wounded geek student, saying "Make sure he gets the best medical attention!"

OK, I'm picturing a scene like this:

1st Fallujah E/R nurse: "We've got an incoming patient in shock, with major trauma, multiple stab wounds and excessive bleeding..."

2nd Fallujah E/R nurse: "Oh, let's just send him over to the free clinic that the nuns run, and let him heal on his own."

Joanna: "Wait! I'm here to make sure he gets the best medical attention!"

1st Fallujah E/R doctor: "Well, in that case, prep the O.R. and alert our best surgeons!"

Most importantly, ROC did just fine as we all knew she would anyway, although her best moments are in the first hour; once the creature is unleashed, she sort of takes a back seat to the action.

[august]

Originally Posted by august

- Bashar Rahal...probably plays an Iraqi. *ding*

- Bill Parks.....he will no doubt play a chubby, slacker techie guy who goes down early on *ding*

- Mike Straub ..... Chances are strong that he and the guys above are the team members who get killed off one by one semi-*ding* - Straub, Nohilly and Gnolfo did, but Crews, Rahal, Parks and Lister survive!

- Tommy Lister .... Guessing he's the gigantic muscular team member who attempts to fight the creature, before meeting his inevitable fate. *buzzzz*

- Amanda Crew ..... My guess is that she gets chomped by the monster while undressing. *buzz*

These were posted at Sci-Fi Wire this morning, and represent the top ten shows (out of 150+ hrs.) on Sci-Fi for the week of 8/4 - 8/10 (i.e. Monday to Sunday.)

Eureka - 1.9
Monster Park - 1.7 (that's how they had it listed! )
Ghost Hunters International - 1.6
ECW - 1.4
Scare Tactics - 1.2
The Shaft - 1.1
Saw II - 1.0
Ritual - 1.0
Manticore - 1.0
The Scorpion King - 1.0

Source: Nielsen Galaxy Report, 8/4/08 to 8/10/08

So it came in second for the week with approx. 2 million viewers, which is very good.

[august]

Just a reminder about the Monster Ark rerun next weekend (there will be another one in October.) It's part of a mythological beastie marathon next Sat. 9/27:

9 AM - Something Beneath (Kevin Sorbo vs. psychotropic, sentient black goo. In Manitoba.)

11 AM - The Fallen Ones (Casper Van Dien and Robert Wagner vs. a 42 ft. tall mummy, and I ain't kiddin'. )

1 PM - Legion of the Dead - if you have ever complained about the low budget of anything ROC was in, you need to see this to see what a *real* low-budget film looks like. Known in many circles as the "naked Egyptian sorceress-queen movie." (Although it does feature a few minutes of Bruce Boxleitner, plus the stunning Persian supermodel Claudia Lynx as the awakened naked mummy queen.)

3 PM - Manticore - AA's mission commander Burkes and Scumbag Bounty Hunter # 3 join forces with DS9's Leeta the Dabo girl, Voyager's Chakotay, and Blair Witch's "I'm so scared" girl to fight the titular beastie in an Iraq that looks suspiciously like Bulgaria.

5 PM - Harpies - Monster Ark writer Declan O'Brien and AA director Josh Becker collaborate, starring the lovely Kristin Richardson, Mallory's boyfriend from Family Ties, a Baldwin brother, and many of the AA cast incl. Jonas Talkington in his biggest role to date as a big shaven-headed goon. Had potential, but the producers refused to spend any money on FX, fight choreography or any other non-Bulgarian actors, thinking "Hey AA worked out OK." Still did well in the ratings, but suffers from complete lack of FX and choppy editing in post-production without the writer or director's input.

7 PM - Monster (P)Ark

9 PM - premiere of Riddles of the Sphinx featuring Dina Meyer and assorted familiar British Columbian faces vs. .... well, you know.

[august]

Sci-Fi is rerunning this Sun. 10/19 at 7 PM.

[august]

This is on Sci-Fi Sat. 11/22 at 5 PM EST, then again at 11 PM on Sat. 12/6 in between airings of Cyclops, and then again at 5 PM on Sat. Jan. 3rd.