Netflix Bolsters Its Anime Offerings
Netflix continues to expand its anime offering as it has placed an order for an anime Ultraman series as well as another new series to be titled Kengan Ashura. Deadline Hollywood gives the following description for these two shows:
Ultraman, which will launch in the spring, is an action drama centered on a man possessing the spirit and DNA of the legendary hero Ultraman as he wears a metallic ultra suit and fights against evil.
Kengan Ashura, from Larx Entertainment, follows Kazuo Yamashita is an ordinary 56-year-old man who one day is summoned by the chairman of his company and hired as a gladiator. He learns that these hired gladiators engage in battles called Kengan Matches to protect the corporate rights of the businesses they represent. Kazuo is assigned to battle a mysterious Kengan fighter named Ohma Tokita. Both men join the Kengan Zetsumei Tournament with the hope of winning the spot as chairman of the Kengan Organization.
Both of these are targeted for 2019 debuts. The streaming service also announced the debut dates of several anime projects already in the works. Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle, which is a sequel to Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters will bow this month on July 18th. Castlevania will return for its second season on October 26th. Dragon Pilot will debut on September 1st and Cannon Busters will have its bow next year on April 1st. You can read more about those at this link.
Firefly Returns to Comics
The story of Firefly continues in an upcoming Boom! Studios series that will cover the Unification War days that preceded the events of the television series. It will focus on Malcolm Reynolds and Zoe Washburne as we learn more about their involvement in the war. This will be the first Firefly comic from Boom! since they acquired the rights from Dark Horse. Greg Pak will write the series and Dan McDaid will provide the artwork and it is scheduled to hit the stores this Fall.
Sci Fi TV Status Report: Time May Have Run Out for Timeless, Salvation Remains Low in the Ratings
NBC announced a couple of weeks back that its time travel series Timeless would not be continuing for a third season on the network, but the show’s studio has been looking for a network that would pick it up, similar to what we saw just recently with Amazon saving The Expanse and Netflix picking up Lucifer. But the window was short to shop the series around because actor’s contracts expired at the end of June and no deal was made during that time. Series co-creator Shawn Ryan addressed the show’s status in a series of tweets and said that that there is still a chance that a two-hour final movie could be produced, though they have to get past several hurdles. Stay tuned for updates on that.
In ratings new, the CBS series Salvation remained low for a second week, managing only a 0.4 rating based on same day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 3.1 million total viewers. Its numbers were lower than the 0.6 score for the repeats that aired in the lead-in hour. That one has a streaming deal with Amazon, though, so perhaps that will keep it going. Be sure to follow CancelledSciFi.com and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site to keep track of the renewal / cancellation prospects of your favorite shows.
Sci Fi TV Schedule: The Outpost Debuts on The CW
Next week brings another show to the Summer schedule as the fantasy series The Outpost has its debut on The CW on Tuesday and 8 PM EST. You can see the trailer for that series above. Also next week, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale wraps up its second season on Wednesday. You can see the full Summer schedule of sci fi and fantasy shows at this link and you can keep up with the weekly listings at this link.
