Expedition to Alien Planet

This weekend, Discovery Channel premiered Evergreen Films' ambitious two-hour adaptation of [Blade II, Hellboy and The Prisoner of Azkaban creature designer / concept artist] Wayne Barlowe's acclaimed (and sadly out-of-print) 1990 book Expedition. Retitled Alien Planet, it chronicles a speculative robotic expedition to Darwin IV, a fictional planet 6.5 light years away with two suns, 3/5 Earth gravity - and a menagerie of bizarre life. Director Pierre de Lespinois and producer John Copeland (who previously produced Babylon 5) bring Barlowe's designs vividly to life (via CG from Meteor Studios), interspersed with commentary from leading scientists (including Stephen Hawking and Michio Kaku). It's fascinating and engaging stuff, and airs again this Thursday night on Discovery. (You can watch a preview here.)

But wait, there's more! I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Evergreen is pulling impressive double-duty on Discovery this week with tonight's premiere of their three-part Science of Star Wars series (hosted by C-3PO and R2-D2). The first installment, "Man and Machines", airs tonight, followed by "Space Cowboys" and "War, Weapons and The Force" tomorrow and Wednesday, respectively - and then all three re-air back-to-back on Sunday night.

(And if you really want to know what I thought of Star Wars: Rots, I recommend Peter Travers' spot-on review for Rolling Stone, and Anthony Lane's in The New Yorker.)