Sleepydog’s forthcoming television series, Slingers has been featured in the latest issue of SFX magazine.

Talking about how we developed the Slingers concept, writer Mike Atherton said:

“Our approach was always that Slingers would be a ’60s-style heist show that just happened to be set in space. I’m not trying to dismiss the SF element because I live and breathe this stuff myself, but our initial take was to try and focus on something different from just the tech and the ships.”

The coverage also includes some fantastic concept art by the Brownlee Brothers, so grab a copy of this month’s SFX magazine to read the full article.

Become a fan of Slingers and keep up-to-date with all the latest news by joining our Facebook group!

On the set of the Slingers sizzle, Sean Pertwee talks to writer, Mike Atherton about his thoughts on our TV project and their shared love of 2000AD.

Slingers writer, Mike Atherton, was lucky enough to attend the world premiere of James Cameron’s AVATAR last week. He published one of the very first reviews of the movie for TWITCH, which we thought we’d share here. Tickets are on sale already… go, go go!

I just got back home from the world premiere of Avatar here in London. It’s safe to keep reading. You are entering a spoiler-free zone.

I wasn’t expecting much. I attended the 15 minute IMAX preview a few months back and out of context what I saw was pretty. Very pretty. The immersive technology was an obvious step up, but the scenes with the marines came across as just weird on the eye and the sequences with all the alien fauna gave me flashbacks to James Mason clambering through mushrooms forests in Journey to the Centre of the Earth. But what really had me worried was the story.

There’s a lot of that same worry online. Avatar is often mentioned in the same breath as Ferngully: The Last Rainforest and Dances with Wolves, and then there was *that* South Park episode. I arrived this evening to a blue carpet event (I see what they did there) surrounded by press and the stars of the film, actually surprised at the invite to be honest. Because I’ve been very cynical online. I’m not sure if it was oversight on the part of SKY MOVIES HD who invited me or just simple faith in the movie, but it was stressed to me that I should be as honest as possible in the review. So here goes.

All those worries are completely justified. There’s hardly a single moment of truly original story telling up on the screen. The characters are developed exactly as you think they will be and key moments at the climax of the movie are sign posted clearly early on. If you think you’ve already seen James Cameron’s Avatar then there’s a good chance you’re right. And none of that matters.

It’s the combination of story and technology that reeled me in. The visual depth of the 3D technology is not completely immersive on its own, but Cameron understands that. The opening sequence seems timed to let your brain get around the eye candy while the introduction to Sam Worthington’s Jake Sully slowly begins to draw you in. By the time I met Sigourney Weaver the 3D element had settled down and simply felt comfortable. By the time I met the Na’vi I was immersed. And somehow the story had me too.

I’m a story guy so usually I like to be surprised. If I can work out where a movie is going then I get annoyed. But because Avatar’s plot, to me at least, was so familiar I actually began to concentrate on how well Cameron had constructed it. By the time the first simple arrow-head bounced off a gun ship I was enthralled. Because I knew what was coming and that Cameron was going to execute it with a steady eye and confidence not only in the technology, but also in the cast.

I’m a hard guy to please and being a fan of Twitch for years I know its readers have a rabid love for cinema. But I’m the guy who thinks the Jedi should be edited out of Star Wars at the same time the elves and hobbits get scraped away from Lord of the Rings. I found Dr Manhattan’s blue penis hard to swallow and the last cat person I fell in love with was Natassja Kinski. Avatar was never going to work for me. Yet for 150 minutes this evening James Cameron had me in the palm of his hand.

Snigger away. But this is the important part: Next week a kid who hasn’t seen Dances with Wolves is going to sit down wearing a silly pair of spectacles and be blown away. By the time he or she gets to my miserable jaded age, the effects here will look as old fashioned and as dated as anything I choose to rewatch for the umpteenth time in my DVD collection. But I collect those movies for a reason. So right now I’m jealous of that kid and what he or she is going to experience many years from now in the same way I’m jealous of the first kids who got to see King Kong back in 1933.

But if none of that sways you, just buy the ticket for Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Lang. They steal the show.

It’s been an exciting time for the Slingers team, as interest in the TV project was ignited across the web after award-winning comic book author, Warren Ellis posted a link to our sizzle reel over on director Steve Barron’s website.

Referring to it as “your new favourite TV show”, Warren’s post sparked a flurry of comments, blog posts and tweets around the world.

John Rogers, creator and writer of hit US TV show, Leverage tweeted:

We’d already noticed that some Leverage fans had taken a shine to Slingers by interacting with Mike on Twitter. It’s been great to see what these very early supporters of the show had to say once they’d seen the characters come to life – if only for a few minutes.

We’re still compiling all the feedback almost a full week later, but we did a get a massive kick out of Duncan Jones, director of the critically acclaimed movie, Moon describing the show as: “Where you need to be”.

So far Slingers has been mentioned on:

• Paste Magazine
• Sci Fi Wire
• Twitch Film
• io9
• Topless Robot
• Slash Film
• The Huffington Post

The conversation around the show has continued on countless blogs and forums and Slingers has had some very interesting people in Los Angeles reaching for the phone. With well over 50,000 views of the sizzle reel on Vimeo and counting, the positive reaction to Slingers has been overwhelming to say the least!

We’ve also been lucky enough to have been mentioned in the same breath as shows that we’re huge fans of here in the Sleepydog office.

A massive thank you to everyone for their fantastic encouragement and support.

We’ll be posting more news on Slingers in the coming months, and have also setup a Facebook page to share updates on the project. Watch this space!

Sleepydog’s television series, Slingers and Weird & Wonderful Hotels are set to feature at MIPCOM, the world’s biggest trade event in the entertainment industry.

MIPCOM is being held in Cannes and runs from October 5-9 2009. It’s here that broadcasters, distributors and production companies from all over the world, converge to buy and sell many of the shows we see on TV.

Our distributor, The Fremantle Corporation will be at booth R 35.14 in the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. So if you’re attending, be sure to drop by to find out more about our shows.

For more information about MIPCOM and details of how you can attend, visit www.mipcom.com.

Sleepydog’s forthcoming television series, Slingers and Weird & Wonderful Hotels have been featured in the latest issue of Broadcast Magazine.

Aimed at UK TV industry insiders, the article looks at the various online and social networking techniques we use to generate interest in our TV projects.

To read the full article, please visit the Broadcast website.

Haruka Abe as Marti

After two days of intense shooting and many weeks of preparation, filming of the Slingers sizzle reel is now complete! A massive thank you to all the cast and crew who worked tirelessly to produce some fantastic work.

The footage is now in the hands of the digital effects wizards who are adding the extra bells and whistles that will really give Slingers some punch. We can’t wait to see the finished result!

In the meantime, work continues on the Slingers pilot episode, so keep an eye on these pages for more info in the coming weeks.

Click thumbnail to launch gallery

Don’t they scrub up well? Toby Moores, Mark Hilton and Mike Atherton getting into character on the set of Slingers. Having been lucky enough to blag roles as extras, we’re hoping their performance was good enough to avoid the cutting room floor!

There’s a busy few days ahead as our production team make final preparations to shoot the sizzle reel for our sci-fi drama series, entitled Slingers.

The sizzle will act as a teaser for TV industry insiders, and we’ve been lucky enough to get some fantastic talent on-board, both in front of the camera and behind it.

Our scriptwriter, Mike Atherton (aka Sizemore) will be posting updates from the set, so head over to his blog to find out more.

I’ve still not got around to seeing Transformers 2 – although I’ve been told by several people not to bother! But after seeing this video my appetite is well and truly wetted!

Thanks to @philcampbell for tweeting this.