If it was possible for an actor to be typecast as a vampire, then Christopher Heyerdahl has pretty much bought the t-shirt. Not that we mind though! After all he is extraordinarily good at playing long-lived psychos with a blood-lust.

 As reported by Deadline and Gateworld.net, Chris has landed a part in HBO’s popular vampire series True Blood.

He will portray Dieter Braun, an ancient, powerful vampire who plays a large part in the intelligence of the Authority and especially enjoys enhanced interrogation. – Deadline

Yeah, that sounds about right, doesn’t it? Chris has proven again and again that he has a knack for this kind of role, first a Wraith on Stargate Atlantis, then Marcus in the Twilight films. True Blood is expected to be a recurring role for Chris, and while Sanctuary fans were puzzled by his long absence in the fourth season, this would seem to indicate that if – or rather when – Sanctuary is given a fifth season, John Druitt will still be missing in action.

The fifth season of True Blood will arrive this summer on HBO.

You can catch Chris right now in Hell on Wheels on AMC.

Hello fellow travelers!

This is a very special week for the SpaceGypsies. We recently discovered Operation Speak Out with your Geek Out and it was something that really spoke to us. We’re proud to be geeks and we’re proud to be fans. And we’re not afraid to show it!

Geeks have spent far too long being teased and stereotyped. But instead of combating negativity with harsh words, Operation Speak Out with your Geek Out proposes that we invite those that pick on us to “sit at our table and share our interests.”

“Let us combat being used as pawns for internet gaffes with the reasons why we’re awesome, why we love what we love, and why it’s good to be a geek.” -Operation Speak Out with your Geek Out

SpaceGypsies is proud to join Operation Speak Out with your Geek Out this week, September 12th- 16th by posting about the things we geek out for and why we’re proud to be geeks.

Do you want to join the revolution and geek out too? Post your geeky story in our comments section this week and let us know what you geek out for!

Never be afraid to let your geek flag fly!

SpaceGypsies

Has anyone else noticed the abundance of sci-fi and sci-fi-like programming that has been appearing on network television lately? It seems like the major networks are jumping on the bandwagon as sci-fi becomes more mainstream and popular.

Perhaps this is because of the geek revolution that seems to be taking place, or maybe it’s because they finally caught on to how awesome and loyal sci-fi fans are. Or could it be that the networks are trying to pick up where SyFy has left off? Whatever the reason, the major networks are starting to lean the way of sci-fi and it’s awesome.

NBC has announced its new schedule with a renewal Chuck (which I still don’t particularly consider sci-fi), and the premiere of Grimm and Awake. Chuck will air on Fridays at 8 p.m. followed by Grimm at 9 p.m.  Here are the official descriptions of Grimm and Awake released from NBC:

“Grimm is a new drama series inspired by the classic Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Remember the fairy tales your parents used to tell you before bedtime? Those weren’t stories—they were warnings. Nick Burkhardt (David Guintoli Turn The Beat Around) thought he prepared himself for the realities of working as a homicide detective until he started seeing things he couldn’t quite explain. When his ailing Aunt Marie (guest star Kate Burton, Grey’s Anatomy) arrives, Nick’s life turns upside down when she reveals they are descendants of an elite group of hunters, also known as Grimms, who fight to keep the balance of humanity safe from the supernatural creatures of the world. As Nick digs deeper into her past, he realizes that he will have to shoulder the responsibility of his ancestors—and contend with a larger-than-life mythology of the Brothers Grimm that is now all too real.”

“Awake is an intriguing drama about a detective (Jason Issacs, Harry Potter, Brotherhood) who finds he is leading an arduous double life that defies reality. When Detective Michael Britten (Issacs) regains consciousness following his family’s car accident, he is told that his wife Hannah (Laura Allen, Terriers) perished but that his teen son, Rex (Dylan Minnette, Saving Grace), has survived. As he tries to put the pieces of his life back together, he awakens again in a parallel reality in which his wife is very much alive—but his son Rex died in the accident. In order to keep both of his loved ones alive at one time, he begins living two dueling realities in parallel worlds, which churns up confusion—in one moment, Michael and his wife debate about having another child to replace their son, while in the other reality, he is attracted to his son’s tennis coach, Tara (Michaela McManus, The Vampire Diaries), to fill the void from the loss of his wife. Trying to regain some normalcy, Michael returns to police work and solves crimes in both worlds with the help of two different partners—Detective Isaiah Bird Freeman (Steve Harris, The Practice) and Detective Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama, That ’70s Show).” (Courtesy of Blastr.com).

Am I the only one finding an incredible similarity between Grimm’s plot and Jasper Fforde’s Nursery Crime books The Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear? Maybe? Just a little? Personally, since I loved the concept of Fforde’s books, I’m interested to see how Grimm plays out, even if they technically have nothing to do with each other.

ABC isn’t one to be left behind. After canceling V, and No Ordinary Family, not to mention last summer’s The Gates, they’re running a little low on sci-fi shows. Never fear, they’ve picked up two new sci-fi-ish shows Once Upon a Time and The River. Once Upon a Time sounds surprisingly similar to Grimm in that it’s a modern take on a fairy tale:

House’s Jennifer Morrison stars as Emma, a woman with a troubled past who is drawn to a small Maine town called Storybrooke by the son she gave up years before. Her son, Henry, is 10 years old and believes in fairy tales. In fact, he believes that his mother is the missing daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White, and that she was sent away to an alternate world to protect her from the Evil Queen. As Emma begins to investigate Storybrook, she discovers that the world of fairy tales and modern day are about to collide. Lost’s Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis created the series, which also stars Stargate Universe‘s Robert Carlyle as Rumpelstiltskin. (Courtesy of Blastr.com)

While The River is being billed as a horror story. No seriously, horror. Didn’t they try something similar with Happy Town or am I remembering that wrong?

When a TV explorer (Star Trek‘s Bruce Greenwood) goes missing in the Amazon with his crew, his wife and son set off down the enormous river in a vessel called the Magus to find out what happened to him. However, in their search for answers they discover a place where powerful magic is as real as science. 24‘s Leslie Hope and The Dresden Files‘ Paul Blackthorne also star in this series, from the creators of Paranormal Activity, DreamWorks and Michael Green (Kings). (Courtesy of Blastr.com)

The River has two things I like, horror and Paul Blackthorne. I’ll definitely be tuning in to check that one out.

Other sci-fi shows for the season include CW’s Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries, HBO’s popular True Blood and Fox’s Fringe and Alcatraz.

Check your local listings for air dates and times. It’s sure to be a summer of sci-fi!

The 2011 convention season is upon us and we’re getting excited! 2011 means something very special for our favorite convention…it’s Dragon*Con’s 25th Anniversary!

Dragon*Con always gives us an amazing line-up of guests so it’s no wonder that they’ll be pulling out all the stops for their 25th Anniversary. Already on their roster… William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Kate Mulgrew and Amanda Tapping!

The Dragon*Con Live Journal is lighting up with guest wishlists from fans and we wanted to add our list to the mix.  Who do you want to see at Dragon*Con 2011? Who’s that one person you’ve been dying to meet?

The SpaceGypsy Wish List

DRAGON*CON NEWBIES

Richard Dean Anderson (Stargate…all of them!)

Gina Torres (Firefly, Serenity)

Rhona Mitra (Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, The Gates, & the original Lara Croft!)

Andrea Powell (Twilight: Breaking Dawn, The Gates)

Bruce Campbell (Do you need to ask what he’s been in?)

James Spader (Stargate the original movie, Boston Legal)

Vin Diesel (We can dream! He’s a huge geek too!)

Janina Gavankar (The Gates, True Blood)

Anyone from The Big Bang Theory

Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess, Sparticus Blood & Sand)

Brian Henson (Farscape and um, hello. Jim Henson’s son!)

Allison Scagliotti (Warehouse 13)

Josh Gates (Destination Truth)

Peter Deluise  (Writer,  Director, Actor, Producer for SG-1 and others)

David Hewlett (Stargate: Atlantis)

Jackie Earle Haley (Watchman)

Rebecca Riggs (Farscape)

Anthony Simcoe (Farscape)

PLEASE COME BACK!

Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Serenity)

Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity)

Abney Park (steampunk band)

Claudia Black (Farscape, Stargate: SG-1)

Ben Browder (Farscape, Stargate: SG-1)

Eddie McClintock (Warehouse 13) – He’s been added to the Guest List!!

Neil Grayston (Eureka)

Erica Cerra (Eureka)

The Ghost Hunters

Michael Shanks (Stargate:  SG-1)

Adam Baldwin (Stargate, Chuck)

THE WHOLE SHABANG:

What would be better for a celebration of a 25 year anniversary than bringing in an entire cast?

Futurama (It’s never been done before!)
Billy West
John DiMaggio
Phil LaMarr
Maurice LaMarche
Katey Sagal
Tress MacNeille
Lauren Tom

The X-Files
Gillian Anderson
David Duchovney
Mitch Pileggi
Robert Patrick
Dean Haglund
Tom Braidwood
Bruce Harwood

Dead Like Me
Ellen Muth
Cullum Blue
Jasmine Guy
Mandy Patinkin

Sanctuary
Amanda Tapping (She’s coming!)
Robin Dunne
Ryan Robbins
Agam Darshi
Christopher Heyerdahl
Jonathon Young
Emilie Ullerup

“Why don’t you sparkle?”
“Because we’re in the real world where vampires burn in the sun.”

When I saw the posters for the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, I was entirely convinced it would be a complete Twilight knockoff. Or worse: Twilight meets  True Blood: The High School Years. Even in the posters the big-haired lead looked like Not-Edward-Cullen… it seemed bad. Really bad. But thanks to Netflix, I decided to give the pilot a go. What’s an hour of my time, right?

The show follows the Salvatore brothers, Stefan and Damon, who have just returned, for very different reasons, to their birthplace of Mystic Falls. Stefan becomes smitten with a tragic high school girl named Elena (sounding familiar… give it a second) who, while she has good reason to be tragic, is actually astoundingly strong as we find out as the series develops. And that’s the thing — this show develops. As it should be on a serial drama, every episode asks more questions than it answers, but it answers a lot. I don’t want to give anything away because the reveals are SO satisfying. Seriously.

What makes this show so good? A couple of things that the aforementioned major vampire franchises are missing:

• Outstanding writing. Okay, True Blood’s got this as well, but the writing on The Vampire Diaries is simply phenomenal. The relationships make sense. The explanations and the folklore are convincing and not at all cheesy. The pacing is intense, and, *gasp* they’re not afraid to let sympathetic characters die in this dangerous world. It’s amazing.
• Chemistry. The major irony of True Blood is that I don’t feel there’s any real chemistry between Sookie and Bill, played by the real-life husband and wife duo Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer. And while I do think the Twilight saga kind of gets the chemistry between Bella and Edward right, they’re just such unsympathetic characters (and I’m speaking as someone who actually really loves the Twilight saga films) that it just doesn’t work, again because the acting and writing is SO bad.
• Lead characters who are more interesting than the supporting cast. In both True Blood and the Twilight saga, I couldn’t care less about the lead couple. I want to know more about everyone along the sidelines. (Team Jacob!) But here, the supporting cast are truly supporting. There are some who are lovable, some who are simply despicable, and that’s how it should be. The focus remains on the leads and because the characters are so three-dimensional it’s easy to love them. You get the feeling that even with her deep feelings, Elena would get along just fine without Stefan, and that’s something pretty freaking fantastic for this genre.
• Acting. The acting on the Twilight series is terrible. And while True Blood has some major talent, the acting on the Vampire Diaries. The performances are to be admired and they’ll never get the credit they deserve because they’re on a show about vampires. That’s just sad.
• Damon. The “evil?” brother… yeah. I kind of want to eat his face. YUM.

The Vampire Diaries has far exceeded my expectations for a series, and while I’m only a few episodes in to the first season, it’s satisfying my True Blood withdrawal like I didn’t think anything could. It’s possible *gasp* that I’m actually enjoying it more…