Farscape Feature Film Planned
arscape creator Rockne S. O'Bannon told fans of The SCI FI Channel series that he is planning a feature film based on the show, now ending its first season.
"Production on season two is well underway, there are discussions re: a Farscape movie, [and] a book series is forthcoming," O'Bannon said in a Jan. 13 chat at SCIFI.COM.
Plans for the movie are influencing the series' storyline, O'Bannon said. "I'm in meetings presently with [producers] Brian and Lisa Henson [regarding] ... a Farscape feature, so I'm having to nail down certain aspects of the mythology so that we don't have a movie out sometime in the future that conflicts with the series. ... There are aspects to a two-part episode just written by David Kemper that will definitely factor into the movie idea I have in mind."
Farscape airs Fridays at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and Saturdays at 2 p.m. ET.
Three New Trek Concepts Proposed?
aramount is rumored to be testing three new concepts for a new Star Trek television series to replace Star Trek: Voyager when that show ends its run after next season.
The concepts include one set in Starfleet Academy, one centering on an elite trouble-shooting Federation strike force, and one set in the time period before the original Trek series, according to the Ain't It Cool News Web site.
The site quoted an unnamed source who said he participated in a "focus group" for Paramount, in which the three concepts were discussed.
Officially, Paramount has denied that it is considering a series based in Starfleet Academy, though that rumor persists. Other rumors have circulated about a show based on Klingons. Earlier, Majel Barrett Roddenberry told SCI FI Wire that Paramount had rejected two series ideas from Voyager executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga: one with a young cast and one set in a non-Federation outpost.
Mulgrew Ready For Voyage's End
ate Mulgrew, who plays Capt. Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager, says she's ready for the show to end next season and for her starship to go home.
"I think so. It makes sense--seven years seems to be the lucky number for this franchise," Mulgrew told the Calgary Sun newspaper.
"They will not reveal [when the series will wrap] because I think they have not decided themselves," Mulgrew said. "But if I was in charge, I would get us home either at the end of this season or early on in the next. Can you imagine the stories that could evolve out of that premise? The Maquis are criminals; Tom Paris is supposed to be in jail; Seven of Nine is a Borg! The possibilities are absolutely endless."
For a while, Mulgrew was known to be dissatisfied with the show. "I wouldn't say I was tired of the show," she says now. "I was preoccupied with my private life--which I think is fair. I was very much in love." Mulgrew had been conducting a long-distance relationship with Tim Hagan, a politician in Cleveland. Mulgrew and Hagan married last year. When Voyager wraps as expected at the end of next year, Mulgrew will take her career to New York so she can be closer to her husband.
Vegas Trek Ride Won't Close
tand down the red alert: Paramount will not close its Star Trek: The Experience theme attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton, despite rumors to the contrary, a spokeswoman told SCI FI Wire.
"It is actually a very profitable business, and we're very happy with the way it's performing," said Susan Lomax, a spokeswoman with Paramount Parks.
The TrekWeb.com site and others have reported that The Experience would close as early as March because of lower-than-expected attendance levels. But Lomax disputed those rumors. "It's meeting if not exceeding our attendance and revenue projections," she said.
The Experience at the Hilton hotel includes Quark's Bar, a shopping Promenade modeled on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a museum of Trek props and memorabilia, and a flight simulator adventure ride.
Meanwhile, Lomax confirmed that Universal City Studios has filed a lawsuit against Paramount, claiming that the motion simulator used in The Experience violates Universal patents. Lomax had no response to the suit's claims, saying that Paramount has not had a chance to review the suit.
Trek Author Poe Dies
tephen Edward Poe, co-author of The Making of Star Trek, died Thursday, Jan. 6, of leukemia. He was 63.
Poe co-wrote the 1968 book under the pseudonym "Stephen E. Whitfield" with Trek creator Gene Roddenberry.
The Making of Star Trek was one of the first books in the now-popular "making of" genre of non-fiction. Poe's last book was Vision of the Future: The Making of Star Trek: Voyager, for which he interviewed virtually everyone involved in the production of the show.
Poe is survived by his wife, Fran. Memorial contributions can be made to The Leukemia Society, In Memory of Stephen Poe, 3105 Site Circle, Suite 101, Sacramento, CA 95825.
Scully On The Jedi Council?
he Dark Horizons Web site has resurrected the rumor that Gillian Anderson of The X-Files may have a part in Star Wars: Episode II, which creator George Lucas is still writing.
Anderson, who plays FBI Agent Dana Scully on the Fox TV series, is supposedly a key figure in the second film.
An unnamed source tells the site, "According to rumor, Gillian would be playing a Jedi Council member who is newly appointed to the council and was trained by Qui-Gon (and may have been more to him). As I asked her this, she just smiled and didn't say a word! She did say she thought she would be filming a movie outside the United States around the time Episode II will be shot."
Anderson Not Up For Hannibal
illian Anderson is not in the running to step into Jodie Foster's role as FBI Agent Clarice Starling in Hannibal, the controversial sequel to Foster's The Silence of the Lambs, Anderson's spokeswoman told SCI FI Wire.
"There's nothing to say, there's nothing official, and there are just lots of rumors," Anderson's manager, Connie Freiberg, said through Kim Fitzgerald, a spokesman for Anderson's day job, The X-Files.
That doesn't foreclose a future deal. But it appears to quash widespread rumors that Anderson is one of the front-runners for the coveted role, along with Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth).
Fans of Anderson, who plays FBI Agent Dana Scully on the long-running X-Files, have eagerly touted her for Hannibal. Indeed, the character of Scully was reportedly modeled on Foster's Oscar-winning performance in 1991's Lambs.
Foster bowed out of the sequel reportedly due to a scheduling conflict with her next directorial job, Flora Plum.
X-Files Spinoff Coming
he X-Files creator Chris Carter is developing a spinoff show that will center on the recurring characters of The Lone Gunmen.
Twentieth Century Fox Television, which produces The X-Files for the studio's Fox Broadcasting network, is working with Carter on the new series, Sandy Grushow, chairman of Fox Television Entertainment Group, said at the winter Television Critics Association press tour, according to the Hollywood trade papers.
Carter will develop the new show with X-Files producers Frank Spotnitz, Vince Gilligan and John Shiban. The Lone Gunmen are conspiracy geeks who help FBI Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, and are portrayed by Dean Haglund, Tom Braidwood and Bruce Harwood.
As for The X-Files itself, Fox executives said it was a "50-50" chance the popular show would return for an eighth season next fall. David Duchovny (Mulder) has sued the studio over his profit participation in the show and has said he won't return once his contract expires at the end of season seven. Co-star Gillian Anderson (Scully) is contractually bound for an eighth season, but has also said she won't come back.
D&D Won't Be Fantasy As Usual
orey Solomon, director of the feature film version of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, says he convinced producer Joel Silver to sign on to
the project by showing him a three-minute action sequence.
Silver (Die Hard, The Matrix) was apparently impressed enough with Solomon's "student film" that he agreed to produce the movie, the director told Cinescape magazine.
To avoid the cliches of the fantasy genre, Solomon also said he
forced his writers to sit through every bad 1980s sword-and-sorcery movie, then showed them Raiders of the Lost Ark, Ben Hur and Spartacus, and told them, "OK, lets get to this place."
Solomon said the fantasy genre died because many of the old movies failed to take the audience to "a place they have never been before, with characters they can really care about."
Whalin Talks D&D
ustin Whalin, who stars in the upcoming movie based on the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, talked recently about his character, a young rogue named Ridley.
"Ridley is a loyal friend, with his own sense of justice," Whalin told the DNDMOVIE.COM Web site.
"Ridley has a long-standing hatred of the mages, and delights in any scheme that allows him to take a measure of revenge against them," added the actor, who won an Emmy for his role as Jimmy Olsen in TV's Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Ridley is "also a young man who has to learn to come to terms with his past and the pain he holds onto."
D&D will be released later this year, and Whalin said he's already eager for a sequel. "A sequel is always an indication that people liked the first film. So you always hope for a sequel," he said. "With D&D it was interesting how early we found out that the story was intended as the first part of a trilogy. ... So if people enjoy the movie, and there is a sequel, then I will be there!"
Dick Told FBI About Fears
F writer Philip K. Dick once told the FBI that he feared he was being coerced by a secret world group to spread the word about a new syphilis epidemic.
The surprising claim is found in letters Dick wrote in 1972 to the FBI and that are contained in the bureau's files, according to the APBnews.com Web site.
Dick wrote that he was being asked by a secretive world health organization to spread the word about "paresis, an alleged new strain of syphilis sweeping the United States, which caused quick death."
Dick was prompted to write the letters because he said he feared for his life after a burglary to his Marin County, Calif., apartment. Dick feared that the burglar was Harold Kinchen, a Nazi sympathizer who had been under investigation by the Air Force, and who Dick believed had links to the secret health organization. Dick reportedly moved to Canada to get away from Kinchen. There is no sign the FBI investigated Dick's claims.
Anne Dick, one of Dick's five ex-wives, dismissed the conspiracy and questioned the reality of any break-in. "He was a little paranoid," said the woman who once wrote a biography of the author.
Philip K. Dick Nominees Named
F books from Kristine Smith, Constance Ash, Jamil Nasir, Toni Anzetti, Stephen Baxter and William Barton make up the nominees for the 1999 Philip K. Dick Award.
The award is presented annually for distinguished science fiction originally published in paperback in the United States.
The nominees are Code of Conduct (Avon Eos), by Smith; Not of Woman Born (Roc), edited by Ash; Tower of Dreams (Bantam Spectra), by Nasir; Typhon's Children (Del Rey), by Anzetti; Vacuum Diagrams (Harper Prism), by Baxter; and When We Were Real (Warner Aspect), by Barton.
The award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, and the award ceremony is sponsored by the NorthWest Science Fiction Society. Nominees were selected by judges Julie Czerneda, Catherine Asaro, Paul Di Filippo, Charles Oberndorf, and David Porush. First prize and any special citations will be announced on April 21 at Norwescon 23 at the Doubletree Seattle Airport Hotel in Seattle.
Shyamalan's New Film Stars Moore
ulianne Moore (The End of the Affair) will star in The Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan's next movie, Unbreakable, a supernatural suspense film.
The Disney production will also star Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson and starts filming April 17 in Philadelphia, according to Variety.
Unbreakable is a thriller with paranormal overtones about a man, played by Willis, who learns something shocking about himself after being the sole survivor of a large accident. Moore plays Willis' wife, a physical therapist.
Moore received Golden Globe nominations for her roles in An Ideal Husband and The End of the Affair. Her recent credits include Cookie's Fortune, Magnolia and A Map of the World.
Stan Lee Sells Movie Idea
pider-Man creator Stan Lee has sold The Guardians--Book One: The Unbound, an unpublished superhero novel, to Warner Bros. for possible development as a feature film franchise.
The Guardians concept--about young people who discover their supernatural abilities--was created by Lee and Larry Shultz.
The first novel in a series, The Unbound was written by Shultz and Dave Smeds and tells the story of John Porter, an American teen-ager who holds the key to fighting evil, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In the novel, Porter teams up with another prodigy, Risa Cohen. The story juxtaposes supernatural events with historical reality.
Lee and Shultz will produce the project through their Lee/Shultz Entertainment company. The company is also developing the feature film Tomorrow, a version of the movie Planet of the Apes that substitutes robots for monkeys.
Spawn Creator Goes Ape
pawn creator Todd McFarlane will develop a series about talking apes for the UPN broadcast network.
McFarlane's idea, tentatively titled Gorilla World, is set in a post-apocalyptic world where gorillas rule the Earth and humans are an endangered species, according to Variety.
McFarlane says the idea is not a return to the Planet of the Apes concept, which is owned by Fox. That studio is developing a remake of the original 1968 Apes feature film.
UPN is also developing a Japanese anime-style series based on the comic book Rat Bastard.
Disney Animator Davis Dies
arc Davis, the legendary Disney animator who helped created the screen characters Cinderella, Bambi, Tinker Bell, Sleeping Beauty and Cruella De Vil, has died after suffering a stroke. He was 86.
Davis was called "Disney's ladies' man" because of his facility with female heroes and villains, according to the Reuters news service.
Davis was one of the "nine old men," animators in Walt Disney's inner circle. He created both the titular heroine and Maleficent, the wicked queen, in the 1959 classic animated movie Sleeping Beauty.
One of his first creations was the fawn in 1942's Bambi. He also drew the main character in 1951's Alice in Wonderland and Tinker Bell in 1953's Peter Pan. Davis retired in 1978, but returned to Disney as a consultant on numerous projects.
King Renews Contract With Publisher
imon & Schuster said it has extended its 1997 co-publishing agreement with author Stephen King for three works of fiction to be distributed by the publisher's various imprints.
Those include hardcover publisher Scribner, paperback publisher Pocket Books, and audio book producer Simon & Schuster Audio.
Under the original contract, under which King and Simon & Schuster agreed to share
financial risks and rewards, eight titles have come out, including Hearts in Atlantis, the movie tie-in edition of The Green Mile and the audio-only original production of Blood and Smoke.
Upcoming releases under the agreement include the mass-market edition of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon from Pocket Books in February; On Writing, a nonfiction work from Scribner; and the mass-market edition of Hearts in Atlantis from Pocket Books.
Travolta May Time Travel
ohn Travolta may fulfill an obligation to Columbia Pictures by starring in the feature film Travel Agent, a time-travel thriller.
Travolta owes Columbia a movie after dropping out of The Double, directed by Roman Polanski, according to Variety.
Travel Agent, written by Gregory Hansen (Heart and Souls), deals with a man who travels six months into the past to thwart an assassination. Andrew Davis (The Fugitive) is in line to direct the movie.
Travolta is currently producing and starring in Battlefield Earth, based on the SF novel of the same name by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
SF Books Among 1999's Best
everal best-selling SF titles made the Library Journal's list of the best books of 1999.
They include Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Shadow, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Dune: House Atreides, Judith Merkle Riley's The Master of All Desires and Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, according to the Locus Online Web site.
Among the Journal's pick of the best nonfiction titles are several on scientific themes. They include Antonio R. Damasio's The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness; Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory; Sarah Blaffer Hardy's Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection; Dava Sobel's Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love; and Jonathan Weiner's Time, Love, Memory: A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior.
SF&F Films Contend For FX Oscar
s expected, SF&F films dominate the list of seven movies that will compete for three nominations for the best visual effects Oscar.
The films were selected by the visual effects committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The movies are: The Matrix, The Mummy, Star Wars: Episode I, Sleepy Hollow, Stuart Little, Wild Wild West and The World Is Not Enough, according to Variety.
George Lucas' special effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, was the lead house on Mummy, Star Wars, Sleepy Hollow and West. Sony Pictures Imageworks did Stuart Little. Manex did the groundbreaking effects on The Matrix, and Cinesite London worked on the James Bond film World.
The seven contenders will be showcased in audiovisual presentations made by the various effects teams on Feb. 9. The academy's entire visual effects branch will select the final three nominees, and the full academy will vote for the Oscar winner.
Witchblade TV Series A Go?
he on-again, off-again television version of Top Cow's Witchblade comic series may still be alive.
A Feb. 14 production start date has been set for a pilot for a potential TV series, according to the Cinescape Web site.
The site reports that the Ontario Film Development Corp. lists the film's shooting schedule through March 17, with producer Perry Husman, writer J.D. Zeik and director Ralph Hemecker attached.
Created by Marc Silvestri, David Wohl, Brian Haberlin and Michael Turner, the Witchblade comic series centers on an ancient, mystical gauntlet wielded by NYPD detective Sara Pezzini to fight crime in the urban jungle.
Silverberg Story Heads For Screen
avid Fincher (Alien 3) will direct a feature film based on the short story "Passengers" by prolific SF writer Robert Silverberg, about aliens who inhabit humans for short joy rides on Earth.
The story will be adapted for the screen by Greg Pruss and produced by USA Films, according to Variety.
Under the influence of the aliens, people abandon their normal lives and experiment with debauchery or indulge violent urges. The story centers on one man in New York who has been "ridden" through an intense physical encounter with a woman who was also under alien influence.
Bradbury Still Writing
eloved SF writer Ray Bradbury, who turns 80 this year while recovering from a stroke, continues to write novels, with two coming out from Avon this year.
Bradbury told Variety columnist Army Archerd that he's working on Let's All Kill Constance and From the Dust Returns, a book he started 50 years ago, with illustrations by famed New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams. He's also written A Chat Book for Burned-Out Priests, Rabbis and Ministers--For Weekends When They Are Bored Silly.
As for movies, Bradbury says a new big-screen version of his classic novel Fahrenheit 451, to star Mel Gibson, is in its "10th rewrite," as is a new feature film version of Bradbury's collection of stories The Martian Chronicles.
The Matrix Goes To College
all it Keanu 101: Reeves' blockbuster virtual reality movie, The Matrix, is the centerpiece of a philosophy class taught at the University of Washington in Seattle.
David Nixon, a UW instructor, is teaching an introductory philosophy class based on the philosophical themes and religious archetypes in the film, according to the Seattle Times.
After watching the film five times in theaters last year, Nixon said he realized it would make a great vehicle about perception, the mind, free will and other concepts. "The movie presents a lot of good, concrete scenarios that serve as thought experiments for getting students thinking about these traditional philosophical problems," Nixon said. "I must admit, the last half of the movie is not as philosophical and has a lot more butt-kicking," he added
Supernatural Law Heads To Film
upernatural Law, the Exhibit A Press comic series by Batton Lash, is being developed into a feature film by Universal Pictures.
Marti Noxon, a writer for the WB TV hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is working on characters in a draft of the script by Steve Wilson and Stephen Mazur, Exhibit A co-publisher and editor Jackie Estrada told the Comics Continuum Web site.
Noxon's work "is supposed to be finished sometime this month," Estrada said. Universal recently renewed its option on Supernatural Law, which tells stories about a law firm that specializes in demon clients. The comic changed its name from Wolff & Byrd, Counselors of the Macabre.
ABC And Disney To Air Stuart Little
BC and the Disney Channel paid $20 million for the first broadcast rights to Sony's hit movie Stuart Little.
The license fee covers a four-year term beginning in May 2002, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
It's unclear whether ABC or the Disney Channel, both owned by Walt Disney Co., will run the film first. Sony may turn the character into a studio franchise, including a possible TV spinoff.
Xander Up For Spider-Man?
new contender has emerged in rumors about who will play Peter Parker in Sony's upcoming feature film based on the Marvel Comics series Spider-Man: Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-star Nicholas Brendon (Xander).
Seventeen magazine is fueling the rumors, reporting that Brendon has been approached by filmmakers to consider putting on the web mask.
If true, Brendon would join actors including Brendan Fraser (The Mummy), Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers) and John C. Reilly ( Boogie Nights) as candidates to play Spidey, according to the Ain't It Cool News Web site.
Brendon is breaking into feature films after playing Buffy's sidekick for the last four seasons. He appears in the upcoming independent horror films Pinata and Psycho Beach Party.
Raimi In Lead To Helm Spider-Man
am Raimi (For Love of the Game) is emerging as the front-runner to direct the Columbia Pictures feature film based on Marvel Comics' Spider-Man.
Raimi is Columbia's choice, but the studio hasn't signed the director yet, according to Variety.
Raimi is an avowed Spider-Man fan and wants to direct the film. But the director may have a scheduling conflict. He's about to begin principal photography on Paramount's The Gift later this month. But Columbia wants to begin shooting Spider-Man in late spring or early summer for a summer 2001 release.
That would mean Raimi would have to postpone post-production on The Gift. Columbia is trying to cut a deal with Paramount to accommodate both films.
De Bont To Direct Dust
an de Bont (Twister) will direct and produce a feature film based on the ecological disaster novel Dust by Charles Pellegrino, the scientist behind the dinosaur-cloning theory that inspired Jurassic Park.
Dust tells the story of scientist Richard Sinclair, who must deal with a bizarre extinction cycle that threatens to destroy humanity.
De Bont and partner Lucas Foster will develop a Dust script from a first-draft adaptation by Ted Humphrey, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Writer Says Snipes On For Blade 2
avid Goyer, who wrote the scripts for the vampire movie Blade and its upcoming sequel, said the second film doesn't have a director yet.
"No new developments, though [star] Wesley [Snipes] has said he would be willing to film the movie this summer," Goyer told the Comics Continuum Web site.
The sequel, like the first movie, will come from New Line Cinema and is based on the Marvel Comics series Blade the Vampire Hunter. The story will team Blade up with vampires to fight a greater foe. Blade 2 is aiming at a spring 2001 release.
Donaldson Debunks Covenant Rumors
uthor Stephen R. Donaldson said there is no truth to a recent rumor that he is working on a new installment of his best-selling fantasy series The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.
Donaldson said that rumor has been kicking around for 15 years, but that "it's no more true now than it was in 1985--which is to say, not at all."
However, Donaldson didn't rule out the idea of writing more Covenant books at some point. "The possibility exists that I will someday write what I call The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant," he told SCI FI Wire. "But I've given the idea no serious consideration yet."
Actors Sought For Blair Witch 2
ord is out that filmmakers are seeking five unknown actors to fill lead roles in the top-secret sequel to The Blair Witch Project, set to start shooting Feb. 23 on the East Coast.
A one-page casting breakdown obtained by the The Hollywood Reporter reveals that filmmakers are seeking actors to play three women and two men, aged 19 through early 20s.
"Nick Leavitt" and "Anna Casio" are seniors living together at Boston College. "Heather Arendt" is a Chicago native whose major life philosophy is "when in doubt, indulge." "Cotter Kaller" is an immature blue-collar state college student, and "Domini Von Teer" favors a Gothic look. SCI FI Wire has called the Blair Witch 2 production office for information on how aspiring actors can try out for the parts, but hasn't received an answer.
There's still no writer and no script for the project. Documentarian Joe Berlinger will direct the sequel, slated for a fall 2000 release.
ALF Actor Wright Arrested
ax Wright, who played Willie Tanner in the 1980s SF sitcom ALF, was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving following an accident on a Los Angeles freeway, police told the Reuters news service.
No one was injured in the accident, which occurred Monday, Jan. 10, on the Hollywood Freeway.
Wright played the family patriarch in the television series about a furry alien life form, or ALF, from 1986 to 1990. He is currently in the TV sitcom Norm.
McKellen Heads For Rings
an McKellen has finished up his duties playing Magneto in Fox's upcoming X-Men feature film and is now en route to New Zealand to play the wizard Gandalf in New Line's upcoming feature films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy of books, The Lord of the Rings.
The actor talked about his travels in a post to his Web site.
In a journal entry dated Jan. 8, the actor wrote, "Actually I am not sure of the date. I am in Los Angeles en route for Wellington, [New Zealand, where Rings is being shot,] with a 12-hour flight on Qantas/British Airways ahead of me. I don't wear a watch, and all I know is that the U.K. is eight hours ahead, and New Zealand is four hours behind, plus (or minus) a day.
"Nevertheless, it feels that the 21st century has really arrived now that my end-of-year obligations are completed," McKellen wrote. "I have finished my filming on X-Men--until the post-production dubbing and the publicity round starts. I have been home to London to greet friends and family and the millennium; I have packed many bags, and Middle Earth beckons."
McKellen also posted a photograph of himself "pondering Niagara Falls, Canada, during a break in shooting X-Men, November 1999."
Butler Not Sanguine About Future
ctavia E. Butler, author of a dozen SF novels and winner of a prestigious MacArthur "genius grant," doesn't believe the new century will see an improvement in racial or sexual attitudes.
In a rare interview, Butler told The New York Times, "I don't mean that it's going to get worse. I just mean that we human beings are such naturally contentious creatures.
"The only way the two issues could disappear is under a regime so totalitarian that we are not permitted to talk about it," said Butler, one of the few African-American women writing SF. "In countries where there are no racial differences or no religious differences, people find other reasons to set aside one certain group of people and generally spit in their direction. ... It delights people to find a reason to be able to kick other people."
Butler's latest novels, Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, are stories about a dystopian American future. "We are a naturally hierarchical species," she said. "When I say these things in my novels, sure I make up the aliens and all of that, but I don't make up the essential human character, the way we are."
Harsh Realm Will Return To TV
he FX cable network confirmed widespread rumors that it will resurrect Chris Carter's virtual reality series, Harsh Realm, which was canceled last fall by FX's sister network, Fox Broadcasting, after only three episodes.
Harsh Realm will return to television in March.
FX said it would air all nine episodes that were filmed before the series was canceled, including six that never hit the airwaves. The series has halted production.
Harsh Realm stars Scott Bairstow and D. B. Sweeney as soldiers who enter a virtual reality program to battle a megalomaniac played by Terry O'Quinn.
Sixth Sense Is The People's Choice
he Sixth Sense won the two top awards at the 26th annual People's Choice Awards.
The supernatural thriller was named favorite film and favorite dramatic film of 1999, according to the Reuters news service.
Sixth Sense co-star Bruce Willis was also named "favorite motion picture actor." The awards were based on a telephone poll of 5,000 Americans conducted by the Gallup Organization.
Stuart Little Still Roars In Theaters
tuart Little topped the box-office rankings during the weekend of Jan. 7, earning $11.5 million.
That brought the mouse story close to a total box-office take of $100 million in its third weekend of release, according to Variety.
SF&F films remained a staple of the top 10. The Green Mile showed it has legs, coming in third place, with $9.7 million. It is also closing in on a $100 million total.
Galaxy Quest ranked fifth, with $8.3 million. Toy Story 2 came in sixth, adding another $7.5 million to its box-office earnings and raising the total to $220 million. Bicentennial Man earned $5.2 million at No. 8.
Robinson Books Inspire Martian Flag
im Stanley Robinson's epic novel trilogy about the transformation of Mars provided the inspiration for the colors in the official Martian flag.
The titles of Robinson's books--Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars--are mirrored in the colors of the flag that was lofted into orbit aboard space shuttle Discovery in December, CNN reported.
The flag will soon fly over the Mars Arctic Research Station (MARS) that is being built near the North Pole by the Mars Society in cooperation with NASA. The MARS project will enable scientists to test technology to be used during a proposed human mission to the red planet.
The tricolor banner will fly over a two-story Mars habitat and laboratory that will be built in the United States and shipped to the arctic for reassembly in the summer. The first full field season is planned for summer 2001.
Briefly Noted
- Disney has opened the official Web site for its upcoming feature film Mission to Mars, starring Don Cheadle, Tim Robbins and Gary Sinise and directed by Brian De Palma. The Web site contains images, links and an exclusive new trailer for the movie, which opens March 10.
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The SCI FI Channel series First Wave will include new music from several MP3.com artists in upcoming episodes. Artists include Popstar, Daniel Lee Childers, Blues Connection, Lehman-Bishop, Ltd., No Connection, Stewed Tomatoes, Soulpusher, Catharsis, Wine Field, Smalltown, MC'Z, Project Vibe, Damian Child, Scott Meldrum and Code 3.
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Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg are firmly committed to making Minority Report, the SF film based on a short story of the same name by Philip K. Dick.
But neither star nor director is saying when production will start, according to Variety.
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Authors Kristine Kathryn Rusch (The Black Throne series, Star Wars: New Rebellion) and Dean Wesley Smith (Shadow Warrior) will write the novelization of Fox's upcoming feature film X-Men, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. The novel's release date is June 14.
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Seth Green, who plays Oz in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, appears on HBO's Dennis Miller Live Friday, Jan. 14, at 11:30 p.m.
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James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) may be considering the James Mason role in a remake of 1978's Heaven Can Wait, which would star Chris Rock, according to Variety.
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Benjamin Bratt told W magazine that he got food poisoning, endured 115-degree heat and witnessed personality conflicts with co-stars Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore on the set of his upcoming SF feature film Red Planet. "There was a difference of opinion, of acting style and what work was being done," Bratt said.
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The Green Mile, Inspector Gadget, The Matrix and Star Wars: Episode I top the list of nominees for best sound effects and dialogue awards from the Motion Picture Sound Editors. Winners will be named on March 25.
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Rocket USA, which makes nostalgic tin space toys, is bringing out a line of toys based on Matt Groening's animated SF spoof Futurama. The toys include a metal Bender robot, and can be viewed at the company's Web site.
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Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park) will write and produce a new hour-long drama series for Fox Broadcasting. Fox has committed to 13 episodes of the series, for which a concept has not been determined.
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Viewers of Super Bowl XXXIV on Jan. 30 may get the first glimpse at Fox's upcoming X-Men feature film, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name. "An official announcement on the release of the first trailer for X-Men has not been made, but it's quite possible Fox will advertise the movie during the Super Bowl," Marvel said on its official Web site.
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Robert Picardo, who plays the holographic doctor on UPN's Star Trek: Voyager, told Oregon conventioneers that Jennifer Lien would reprise her role of Kes in an upcoming episode, according to the TrekWeb.com site.
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Being John Malkovich was one of the films named best picture of 1999 by the National Society of Film Critics. The society, composed of 53 critics from major national publications, also honored Charlie Kaufman's script for Malkovich.
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Fox Broadcasting has renewed Matt Groening's animated SF spoof Futurama for the 2000-01 season. It's not clear how many new episodes will be ordered, according to Variety.
