DresdenCity.org has been updated this weekend. Every page has been given a fresh look and some minor reorganization has taken place. Minor tweaks will likely continue over the next week or so. If you find anything missing and/or broken, please let me know.

Thanks to all the fans who continue to visit and support this site.

Dresden City is being moved to a more stable hosting provider. If you’re seeing this message then the move is now complete.

Well boys and girls, it took them long enough but THE DRESDEN FILES is now listed on hulu.com with all episodes from Season 1 available for immediate viewing. Still wanting to convince friends how great the show is? Wanting to show the Sci-Fi Channel and Lionsgate that people still love Dresden?

Proceed to watching then! ..and join us in our forum for lively discussion of the episodes!


http://www.hulu.com/the-dresden-files

"It would seem Sci-Fi might've miscalculated when it cancelled The Dresden Files last year. The series averaged a 1.23 rating last winter. That's better than all of Sci-Fi's original series in the last year except Eureka (1.63) and Battlestar Galactica (1.36)." So says The Blog for Delphi's Star Trek & Media Science Fiction Forum.

Robert Hewitt Wolfe, writer and producer for The Dresden Files, recently appeared in the Zicree Simkins podcast episode 5 talk about about the show and several other topics.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Forum member Zarina has, also, transcribed the relevant Dresden portions of the podcast and you can find it in this thread.

We're sending Dresden Love to the Sci-Fi & NBC Execs for Valentine's Day!

Write the cards from yourself or be imaginative and make them 'from' a character from The Dresden Files TV series! Send more than one!
* Tell them you love TDF.
* Ask them to take advantage of Lionsgate's deal with the WGA (Writer's Guild Of America) and start production on Season 2 while nearly everything else is in repeats.
* Tell them you want Sci-Fi Channel to be successful.
* Ask for Season 2!

Start sending them NOW. The Execs are buying Internet series, 'reality' TV, and series from Canada and need to be reminded constantly about the fantastic, quality series they already own - the Dresden Files!

Mr. Dave Howe, President
NBC Universal/Sci-Fi Channel
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

Mr. Jeff Zucker, Chairman/CEO
NBC Universal
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

This is just a reminder;

After you've sent those letters and postcards (you have sent some, haven't you?), please take a moment and sign the our renewal petition. This will serve as yet another way to let Lionsgate Television know that fans continue to anxiously await and support a second season of The Dresden Files.

Sign here:
http://www.gopetition.com/online/13670.html

Then go and send just one more letter!

The Gallery has been updated with 14 promotional images from The Dresden Files Season 1 episodes "Soul Beneficiary" and "Walls".

"Dave Howe has been beamed up to prexy of Sci Fi Channel, with longtime Sci Fi chief Bonnie Hammer stepping back from day-to-day control of the channel she helped build into a basic cable powerhouse."

With this in mind, new letters concerning The Dresden Files renewal should now be sent to Dave Howe instead of Bonnie Hammer:

Dave Howe, President
NBC Universal/Sci-Fi Channel
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112

This is just a brief posting to remind all of our site visitors about our Dresden Files Renewal Forum. In this forum you will find some of the most die-hard members of the campaign effort, so please visit and contribute your time and ideas to keep this ongoing effort afloat.

The Gallery has been updated with around 50 new promotional images from Season 1 episodes of The Dresden Files. We're still missing images from episodes 6 and 7 but working on it.




(Thanks to Priscellie for many of the new images!)

I had a chance to view the 2 hour version of Storm Front that recently aired in Canada. Despite being billed by many as an 'unaired pilot', it was obvious to me that this particular version uses later footage than would have been available to them as a pilot. So, I sent Robert Hewitt Wolfe, a producer and writer for The Dresden Files, a private message inquiring how/when the 2 hour version of Storm Front was created. He just replied moments ago and confirmed my initial suspicions with this rather detailed account.

"Just to clear things up, the "unaired pilot" that finally aired on Space is a bit of a Frankenstein's monster. Here's a very rough chronology for clarity. Dates are approximate because I'm doing this from slightly foggy memory.

Dec 05: Original Pilot shot

Jan - Feb 06: Original Pilot edited

March 06: Original Pilot cut down by trailer house into @65 minute Presentation. Temp Bob voice added. Rough VFX added.

April 06: Some critics see Presentation. Presentation is also tested. Response is generally favorable, but there are concerns. SciFi wants additional changes.

August 06: Series greenlit. David Simkins brought in as Exec Producer. As the series gears up, SciFi gives notes on the Presentation, asks for a strategy to address their notes. David, working with Hans and I, comes up with an approach and pitches it to SciFi. Approach approved, but requires significant reshooting (to add Bob, etc). Hans and I write several additional scenes to fill out the pilot, mostly involving the backstory of Harry and his father. Some recutting of the pilot begins in Los Angeles.

Fall 06: Terrance is cast. Pre-production begins. Due to budget constraints, reshoots for the pilot are back-burnered. Also, to save money, Post Production is moved to Toronto. Versions of the Harry/Colm backstory are rewritten by David and incorporated into the script for "Birds of a Feather." Hans leaves the show to work on another pilot. I go to Toronto to supervise on the set and in post while David stays in Los Angeles to run the writing room. Production begins with "Rules of Engagement."

Late Fall/Early Winter 06: SciFi, given the choice between beginning the series with either Birds, Boone, Rules or the Pilot (which still has not been reshoot to fill out the entire two hours due to budget issues) chooses Birds. The decision is made to cut down the pilot to one-hour and air it later in the schedule.

Winter 06: A new editor is brought in to work with David and me to cut Pilot down to one-hour. Cuts are made both to fit the alloted time and to better incorporate the Pilot into a later slot series continuity. Some revoicing is done for continuity, including Jane McLean revoicing all of Ancient Mai's dialogue to given the shapeshifting character vocal continuity.

Jan 07: Series premiere. Contractually, Lionsgate is required to delivery a 2 hour version of the Pilot to many markets. Lionsgate asks for a 2 hour version to be cut. However, reshoots are ruled out due to budget. In order to accomplish a 2 hour version without reshooting, it is necessary to treat the 2 hour as "out of continuity." In other words, it is simply not possible to make the 2 hour "fit" into the series. The 2 hour will be treated as a stand alone movie. The new editor and I fill out the Presentation version of the pilot with additional material from the original shoot and from various episodes, reincorporating elements from the original Pilot and from the restructured version David proposed in August. The scenes originally intended for the restructured Pilot but later used for Birds and Bob are cut into the pilot along with various other elements from the series.

Feb 07: Terrance revoices Bob. All the actors, especially Paul, record additional voice material to help smooth out the story.

March 07: Two hour version finished. Additionally, the two hour version is cut so it can be aired as two 1 hr episodes. Lionsgate intends to include the 2 hr on the DVD release.

Summer 07: Series cancelled. DVD set comes out without 2 hr pilot. (Why? I still don't really know. Probably something contractual.)

Jan 08: 2 hour version of the pilot finally airs on Space in Canada as well as in other markets.

And there you go."

Space (TV channel) in Canada aired the previously unseen 2 hour pilot of The Dresden Files January 5th, 2008 at 8:00PM local time. It is scheduled for repeat at 3:30AM and again at 6PM on January 6th, 2008.

January 21, 2008 is the 1st Anniversary of The Dresden Files premiere!

In honor of this date, we want to send TPTB (The Powers That Be, execs at Sci-Fi/NBC, etc.) a reminder that they will be unable to ignore: Thousands of letters from all over the world delivered in several giant shipments!!

Here's what we do: Take a photo of ourselves, our friends, our family, or even our pets with our TDF DVD - include our location and name (optional) in the shot. If you've made a TDF t-shirt, wear it! Then, include it in the letters for the Anniversary Campaign.

Show them we're people, we're REAL, we're HERE, we buy DVD's, & we want The Dresden Files back!

We need every fan to write at least one letter and to send their letters to the volunteer Dresden Files fan that lives the closest to them:

Debbie Karimullah
DCK Virtual Office Services
PO Box 820082
Houston, TX 77282-0082

Teresa Blanchard
c/o Cruises Inc.
30 Lincoln Avenue
Danbury, CT 06810

(At least 1 more to be added soon)

And for those who want to e-mail their letters (Please put Anniversary Letter in the Subject line):

Patru:
htrunick@neo.rr.com

Zarina
justrenewit@gmail.com

These volunteer fans will gather all the submitted letters, pack them in boxes, and ship them all together to TPTB on January 21st.

The more letters received, the more impressive our 'voice' and the harder we will be to ignore!

Start now!
The letters will be held by the volunteers and compiled into several impressive shipments!!

Letters should be addressed to Ms. Bonnie Hammer, President Sci-Fi Channel; Mr. Jeffery Zucker, Chairman/CEO NBC.

While searching Google for unrelated news this evening, I came across a news article that looked very familiar on jimbutcher.net and the reason for this is - I wrote it here on Dresden City! After perusing the site, I find it is filled with news posts from DC stuffed in between Amazon banners, apparently in an effort to make money off my news and the name of Jim Butcher. For all I know, this very post may show up on that site as soon as I post it here.

To make it clear jimbutcher.net is taking material from http://dresdencity.org WITHOUT permission and stripping all credit notices on top of it.

To (mis)quote David Banner - "Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry..."

If the site owner of jimbutcher.net is reading this I would like to politely suggest that this cease at once and that all dresdencity.org posts be removed.

Edit To Add: Yes, indeed, this very post showed up on the fake jimbutcher.net fan site immediately after posting it.

Edit to Add #2: The owner of the fake site seems to have come to his senses, as the stolen postings have been removed.

Some say obsession is never healthy... I say having only ONE obessions is never healthy. So, while we continue struggle, hope and wait for new Dresden related material, I'd like to invite all of you to explore Dresden City's new sister-site "New Amsterdam : Forever". This is the first fan site devoted to the upcoming FOX TV series "New Amsterdam". Just as with Dresden City, it will provide info on the cast, each episode, sound score, photo/video galleries and more. A new forum is available, as well.

Starting on January 7th 2008, Season 1 of The Dresden Files will begin airing on "AXN Beyond" a a new Sci-Fi/Horror channel owned by "Sony Pictures Entertainment - Asia-Pacific". A new episode will air each Monday at 10:00PM local time.

It's not entirely clear by the site but it seems they may lead off with Episode 8 "Storm Front" as the premiere.

Visit the website here.

I've beat this drum before and I feel the need to beat it again...

I truly believe one of the things holding us back is a distinct lack of visibility. I find small groups of fans all over the place but we’ll never look like a sizable group of people as long as we’re all spread out… and I do know that cast/crew and those connected with them have frequented this forum in the past. It is less than ideal that the only full featured renewal site, let alone one of the the few sites devoted to the TV series itself, is often so sparsely populated.

Yes, it can be demoralizing when renewal campaigns don't have an immediate effect but some efforts take time. In the early 90's it was well over a year before fans of the first season of Forever Knight were treated to season two. Those who are still interested must continue forward, fighting the good fight in this up hill battle.

I've heard some say that Dresden as mainly appealed to a 'certain type' of person - those that are older, busy with life, kids, mortgages. etc and that they may not always have time to fight for a small TV show. This is certainly a fact of life and no one can ever be blamed for putting real life above simple entertainment but, for those still in the middle of this effort, we must realize that this typifies EXACTLY why SFC/NCU Universal is less enamored with the demographics that Dresden was pulling in. We need to fight that image.

So if you're a long time lurker reading this then please join and make yourselves active and known in the forums. Current members, please urge your fellow fans in pockets around the 'net to join in so that we can be more visibly united.

...and keep getting the word out. I'm *still* running into people that don't know the show is cancelled. Many casual fans are just now beginning to check the schedules, thinking Dresden will be back in January/February only to find it missing.

A listing of the main cast members has finally been added to the site.

A Gallery has been added to the site. For now it features a series of 9 Publicity stills. More will be added as time permits.

The Dresden Files, Season 1 DVD Set, is on sale for $14.99 USD (63% off the retail price) at Amazon.com from November 23rd through November 25th, 2007. Use this link to support the site.

The next scheduled repeat of The Dresden Files (Episode S01E03 "Hair Of The Dog") on SFC will be December 7th, 2007 at 7:00PM ET.

Check the SFC ScheduleBot for further showings in your area.

http://www.scifi.com/schedulebot/index.php3

This is the ONLY repeat i currently see on the schedule. It is extremely important for SFC to see measurable feedback if we have any hope of further episodes. It would be a positive and potentially beneficial effort if fans would mail letters to SFC following this (and any additional) airing, thanking them for showing the episodes and politely requesting more. There's, also, a lot more you can do - including email feedback and calling in - see the Renewal page for more info and stop in our discussion forum to discuss the situation with others.

During the November 16th airing of The Dresden Files episode "The Boone Identity", fans held a 'sit-in' over at the Sci-Fi Channel TDF forum to make their continued interest known. They amassed nearly 500 messages in just over 90 minutes.

Due to this success, additional sit-in's are currently scheduled at 6:35PM ET on November 23rd and 30th. Please join them!

After a false start last week where the Bionic Woman was shown at 7:00PM despite SFC's schedule promising otherwise, The Dresden Files episode "The Boone Identity" aired this evening. Check the SFC ScheduleBot for further showings in your area.

http://www.scifi.com/schedulebot/index.php3

It would be a positive and potentially beneficial effort if fans would mail letters to SFC following this (and any additional) airing, thanking them for showing the episodes and politely requesting more.