Tube Surfing: Eternal Warrior, Enid Blyton and Kit Williams

• It's about time we re-plugged the Eternal Warrior, Paul Grist's pastiche on British comics hero Adam Eterno, who first appeared in Thunder back in the early 1970s. Over on the Bleeding Cool forum, some Americans have started screaming that he's grabbed the name from an old US Valiant Comics title: whatever the case, you can enjoy the Eternal Warrior for yourself at Paul Grist's Big Cosmic Comic...

• There's a short interview with 2000AD co-creator Pat Mills about his zombie-filled 2000AD project, Defoe, drawn by Leigh Gallagher, over on 2000AD Review. Over on his blog, Leigh says he's heard back from a couple of retailers that the collection of Defoe 1666 is selling well, with one on their third re-order.

• The Zocalo reports that while fans and critics debate whether the SciFi Channel's name change helped Syfy's new series Warehouse 13 achieve record ratings, SciFiWire uncovered a video that includes Harlan Ellison, J. Michael Straczynski and others discussing the difference between "sci-fi" and "science fiction" on Sci-Fi Vortex 12 years ago. Click here to watch the exchange on YouTube. (The UK SciFi Channel has yet to be re-branded by the way - when we last asked them about a possible name change they didn't have an answer).

• The BBC has announced a lot of new programming for its autumn season, including a BBC4 drama documentary to watch out for starring Helena Bonham Carter as Enid Blyton, asking what drove this iconic woman at the peak of her artistic power. The drama looks behind Blyton's public persona and explores the relationship between her art and private life.

• Also in BBC4's line-up is a documentary reuniting artist Kit Williams with the Golden Hare, the treasure featured in Masquerade, an exquisitely illustrated children's story which contained clues to where the author had buried the priceless bejewelled charm. 30 years ago, his idea took the public by storm and catapulted him to fame but it also destroyed his artistic credibility, dashing his promising career as a painter, and forcing him to live as a virtual recluse. He has not set eyes on the hare since, but BBC4 reunited him with the charm at their press launch for their new season this week. Read the full story over on SciFiPulse

Stranded gets TV pilot

Mike Carey (X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Voodoo Child) and creator of Virgin Comics series The Stranded will be developing the story into a television series for SCI FI Channel.

“One of the purposes of our SCI FI partnership is to create television and film writing opportunities for the best talents in the comic industry. Having Mike write the television pilot for The Stranded, a comic book he created, is exactly what we had hoped for,” commented Virgin CEO Sharad Devarajan.

Mike Carey’s stunning work has earned him fans worldwide. With The Stranded, Mike challenges ordinary people to face the extraordinary – their lives are lies. Every memory is false. Startling events cause them to confront the truth, that they are, in fact, “stranded” on Earth after a horrific genocide in another galaxy.

“From day one,” Carey says, “working on The Stranded has felt like being at a nexus point of creativity. Virgin and SCI FI created the perfect platform, and then supported the book and the creative team through all the stages of development. This feels like something we all own, and we all love. I can't wait to take it forward into its next incarnation.”

"It’s all very cool," he says on his blog. "I love the core premise of The Stranded, and the cast we’ve built up. I really want to carry on telling their story, in as many different formats as I can - including semaphor where appropriate."

• The Stranded Issue # 1 was released in January 2008 and #3 goes on sale at comic shops and via available at www.virgincomicsstore.com is on sale from 26th March 26th, 2008. The first volume of collected stories will be released in July.

Tin Man breaks viewing records in the US

Three nights of The Wizard of Oz-inspired SciFi Channel US' Tin Man, produced by RHI Entertainment, has earned the miniseries "most watched miniseries in Sci Fi history" status with 5.3 million viewers over the three nights, 2.7 million A18-49 and 2.9 million A25-54, according to Nielsen's live and same day data.

The SFTV blog points out that considering SciFi's regular shows have been struggling to get much above a 1.0 rating, drawing a 4.2 Household rating is pretty significant. "It looks like if SciFi puts together something that catches peoples interest, they can still find the channel."

The series is an epic re-imagining of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that gives the story a heavy science fiction fantasy emphasis and gives only allusionary references to most of the original story.

In total viewers, Tin Man surpassed both Dune (4.6 million viewers) and Taken (5.0 million viewers).

There's no word yet on whether SciFi UK or any other UK channel has accquired the rights to the mini series, but I'm sure it won't be long before there's an announcement. Both Hallmark and Sky One have screened RHI series in the past.