Giant Freakin Robot

Starfleet has faced down nearly every imaginable enemy over the years. Klingons. Space-whale probes. Giant doomsday machines that look like ice cream cones. No matter the challenge, no matter how insurmountable the odds, the brave men and women of Starfleet have kept calm and carried on. Now, however, one of their more loyal Earthbound members is facing his very own Kobayashi Maru: his ex wants to sell his awesome Trek-modded flat.

The apartment in question is the work of Tony Alleyne, a British nightclub DJ and die-hard Trek fan. Alleyne spent years converting his flat in the town of Hinckley into something straight out of the U.S.S. Enterprise. His sci-fi digs have been reported on over the years by everyone from MSNBC to NPR to the documentary Trekkies 2, and Alleyne even set up an interior decorating business catering to the discriminating Trek fan who isn’t satisfied with merely watching their favorite show. Unfortunately, Alleyne’s Trek dream apartment is actually owned by his ex, from whom he’s been separated since 1994. Now they’re finally divorcing, and his ex-wife wants to sell the place as a “conventional property.”

The latest season of the Doctor Who spinoff Torchwood was not the show’s best outing.  Despite a promising premise, talented cast, and an international co-production that upped the show’s budget, Torchwood: Miracle Day descended into absurdity before finishing on a veritable cliffhanger.  There’s been no official word on when (or if) Torchwood will return, but one of its stars is opening up about what it might look like when it does.

In a recent interview with CultBox, Eve Myles – known to Torchwood fans as the ass kicking ex-policewoman Gwen – revealed that she is also in the dark about when the show might return.  Despite the fact that the showrunners “can just pick the phone up and [John Barrowman and I] will be there before they’ve even put the phone down”, everything regarding Torchwood is in a kind of limbo.  Myles cites nebulous “things” happening in Russell T. Davies’s personal life as a primary reason for the delay, but it’s likely that the new television show he’s been working on figures into it, as well.  The Welsh actress does say that Torchwood definitely won’t be back in 2012, though.

And now for something completely different: the surviving members of Monty Python’s Flying Circus are reuniting for a “sci-fi farce” called Absolutely Anything. Terry Jones will direct the Pythons, based on a script he and Gavin Scott have been working on for two decades. After that long, it had better be good; it’s obviously good enough to get the band back together. Terry Gilliam, John Cleese, and Michael Palin are already on board, and Eric Idle is in talks. This will be the first official reunion of the Pythons since an appearance at the 1998 Aspen Comedy Festival.

Absolutely Anything focuses a hapless fellow who suddenly finds himself with the ability to do, well, absolutely anything. Little does he know that his new “gift” is courtesy of a group of mischievous aliens who want to see just how badly he’ll screw the world up. The aliens will be voiced by the Pythons. Also along for the ride: a talking dog voiced by Robin Williams.