Braga Working On New Trek
tar Trek: Voyager executive producer Brannon Braga told Eon Magazine that he and partner Rick Berman are working on a concept for a new Trek series, but declined to give details.
"The bottom line is there's a show in development that Rick and I are talking about with Paramount, it's in the very preliminary stages, and I doubt you would see anything before the fall of 2001," Braga told Eon.
"There's a concept, but it's so early. ... We've been talking with Paramount for months, sitting in rooms talking about ideas, and we have one we think is going to be the one," he added.
As for the recurring question about when Voyager will return to Earth, Braga told the magazine, "I don't know what's going to happen. I kind of wish I did know so I could start planning. I think we'll know more next year [Voyager's last season]. ... We talked about bringing the ship home this year or doing it as the last episode, or the sixth-to-last episode, and we see good possibilities in all these directions. I don't mean to sound wishy-washy, but I just haven't decided. But we're continuing to talk about it, and I think it's safe to say that the ship will continue to have contact with Earth [and the character of Lt. Barclay] at the very least, the way we've established this season."
Farscape Returns March 17
arscape, The SCI FI Channel's original series from creator Rockne S. O'Bannon, returns for its second season on March 17 at 8 p.m. ET.
The series' 22 new episodes will appear regularly on Friday nights as part of the channel's "SCI FI Prime" lineup.
Farscape, from The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment, was named "Critic's Choice for Best Sci-fi Series of 1999" by TV Guide. The series stars Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Anthony Simcoe, Virginia Hey and newcomer Gigi Edgley. Farscape follows the adventures of astronaut John Crichton (Browder), who joins a motley band of escaped renegades traversing the universe in Moya, a living ship.
SCI FI's Friday lineup will also include good vs. evil at 9 p.m. ET and LEXX at 10 p.m. ET. Farscape replays at 11 p.m. ET.
Rings Location Scrapped?
he makers of New Line's film trilogy The Lord of the Rings may be rethinking plans to shoot in New Zealand's Tongariro National Park, the oldest such park in the country, according to TheOneRing.net fan Web site.
Citing anonymous sources, the site reported that filmmakers may be dissuaded by the park's remote locale and the difficulty in moving people, horses and equipment to the location.
The site added that the country's Department of Conservation isn't keen on allowing the film crew, numbering more than 400 people, to shoot in the preserve. The Lord of the Rings, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy of novels of the same name, is filming around New Zealand with an eye to a December 2001 release.
Rings Hobbiton Shooting Ends
irector Peter Jackson has wrapped photography at the Hobbiton set in New Zealand for his film trilogy The Lord of the Rings, according to the E! Online Web site.
"After an intensive month's shooting in hot summer weather, the cast and crew wrapped exterior scenes at the massive Hobbiton set in Hamilton," the site reported.
The detailed village set has been burned to the ground, and the countryside restored, according to the site. Filming of the trilogy, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's three novels of the same name, has moved indoors to soundstages in Wellington. Scenes that include Bilbo Baggins' party at the start of the first film will be shot there.
Identical Hobbit hole sets have been constructed at the studios: one full-size for the actors playing Hobbits, and one Hobbit-size, where Ian McKellen, who plays the human wizard Gandalf, will tower over furnishings designed for three-foot-six-inch Hobbits.
Rings Reel Screened In L.A.
six-minute "showreel" of footage from Peter Jackson's film trilogy The Lord of the Rings was shown for the first time to an audience in Los Angeles as part of an effort to lure movie production to New Zealand, the New Zealand Herald newspaper reported.
The Lord of the Rings films, based on J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy of novels of the same name, is still in production in that country.
The reel showed scenes of hooded figures backed by New Zealand landscapes, thousands of extras, a quaint rustic Middle-Earth village and stars Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler and Christopher Lee in costume, the newspaper reported.
New Zealand's ambassador to the U.S., former Prime Minister Jim Bolger, as well as two of the country's best-known mayors, hosted the screening at the home of Consul-General Jim Howe on Saturday, Feb. 26.
Nebula Awards Final Ballot Posted
he Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America have announced the final ballot for the 2000 Nebula Award, which honors the best SF&F books, stories and scripts of 1999.
The Nebulas are awarded annually to the best science fiction novel, novella, novelette and short story published in the previous year, as voted on by the active members of the SFWA. This year's awards will be given out at the 2000 Nebula Awards Weekend to be held in New York May 19 to 21. The complete list of 2000 nominees is:
Novels
George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings
Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky
Maureen McHugh, Mission Child
Sean Stewart, Mockingbird
Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents
Ken Macleod, The Cassini Division
Novellas
L. Timmel Duchamp, "Living Trust"
Michael A. Burstein, "Reality Check"
Adam-Troy Castro & Jerry Oltion, "The Astronaut From Wyoming"
Andy Duncan, "The Executioners' Guild"
Ted Chiang, "The Story of Your Life"
David Marusek, "The Wedding Album"
Novelettes
Brian A. Hopkins, "Five Days in April"
Jack McDevitt & Stanley Schmidt, "Good Intentions"
Esther M. Friesner, "How to Make Unicorn Pie"
Mary Turzillo, "Mars is No Place for Children"
Bruce Sterling, "Taklamakan"
Phyllis Eisenstein, "The Island in the Lake"
Short Stories
Michael Swanwick, "Ancient Engines"
Frances Sherwood, "Basil the Dog"
Constance Ash, "Flower Kiss"
Michael Swanwick, "Radiant Doors"
Leslie What, "The Cost of Doing Business"
Bruce Holland Rogers, "The Dead Boy at Your Window"
Scripts
Brad Bird & Tim McCanlies, Iron Giant
Larry & Andy Wachowski, The Matrix
M. Night Shyamalan, The Sixth Sense
Robert J. Avrech, The Devil's Arithmetic
John Millerman, The Uranus Experiment: Part 2
Sawa Wants To Be Anakin
evon Sawa (Idle Hands) is the latest actor vying to play the adult Anakin Skywalker in George Lucas' upcoming Star Wars: Episode II.
Sources told SCI FI Wire that Sawa has been putting out feelers to Lucasfilm about taking on the role of the future Darth Vader.
While doing press promotion for his new supernatural thriller film Final Destination, Sawa told SCI FI Wire that he hasn't talked with anyone at Lucasfilm yet about the role. But, he added, "I'm a big Star Wars fan. ... I'm into the sci-fi stuff. ... [It would] totally be something I'd be interested in doing. If George Lucas is [reading] this, 'Hook it up, yo!'"
Sawa has the lead role in Destination, directed by James Wong (TV's Millennium and The Others) from a script co-written by his partner Glen Morgan. Destination opens March 10.
New Name For Anakin?
dd a new name to the long list of contenders to play Anakin Skywalker: Chris Masterson (My Best Friend's Wedding).
The Dark Horizons Web site reports that the actor told an Australian radio program that he will be doing a movie that begins filming this summer.
When pressed on whether it was Star Wars: Episode II, "Chris apparently became nervous and said he could not talk about it, refusing to be pushed on the issue," the site reported.
Jolie To Play Lara Croft
ngelina Jolie is in final talks to play Lara Croft in the upcoming Paramount movie Tomb Raider, based on the Eidos Interactive video game series of the same name, according to Variety.
The choice of Jolie, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in last year's Girl Interrupted, would appear to contradict recent comments by director Simon West that he was seeking an unknown actress to play the part of the popular archaeologist adventurer.
But Jolie embodies some of the qualities of Croft, who is intrepid and resourceful as well as easy on the eyes. Jolie has already played a similar character: the police officer who worked with Denzel Washington in The Bone Collector, according to the trade paper.
Tomb Raider is set to begin production this summer.
Roughnecks Had Rough Start
oughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, the half-hour computer-animated TV series based on the feature film Starship Troopers, had a bumpy start because of the decision to use 3-D animation.
"Sony had originally designed the show to be a 2-D show, and had already sold the show to BKN [Bohbots Kids Network] to begin at a scheduled date--a date that, in retrospect, was too early by months for a 3-D show," Foundation Imaging animator Jarrod Davis told the IGN Sci-Fi Web site.
But Roughnecks, which appears on The SCI FI Channel, is back on track, said Davis, whose company produces the show. "We've all learned a lot over the course of the show, as is to be expected, since this show is really the first of its kind. But I think we've settled into a system that really works, and, with limited modifications, could work for almost any project of this type."
Foundation will produce 37 original episodes of Roughnecks, plus four clips shows, some of which have a little original footage to tie everything together, Davis told the Web site. The show airs on SCI FI Monday through Thursday at 7:30 a.m. ET as part of a two-hour programming block supplied by BKN.
New Exorcist Site Turns Heads
new official Web site for the classic supernatural horror film The Exorcist has opened in connection with its limited re-release this month.
Director William Friedkin and writer William Peter Blatty contributed to the site, which commemorates the release of a new, never-before-seen version of the 1973 hit.
In addition to background information, video and audio from the film, the site will feature new interviews with filmmakers. On Friday, March 3, Friedkin discusses the difficulties filming the movie in Iraq in 1973. The site also contains more than 50 photographs Friedkin personally took on location in Iraq.
The re-edited version of The Exorcist opens in limited release March 17
in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Athens, Ga.; and Austin, Texas. The movie will open later in other cities.
New Pokemon Movie Due
arner Bros. has moved up the release of its animated film Pokemon the Movie 2000, the next installment in the popular children's franchise, to July 21, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The release, originally titled Pocket Monsters Revelation Lugia when it premiered in Japan last year, will introduce six new Pokemon characters.
The film has been re-edited and rewritten for U.S. audiences, according to the trade paper. Moviegoers will receive four free new Pokemon trading cards with each paid admission.
Pokemon the First Movie is still in theaters, and will also be released on home video on March 21.
Fans Urge Revival Of Galactica
ans of Battlestar Galactica are mounting a letter-writing campaign in support of actor Richard Hatch's efforts to revive the 1970s SF television series as either a feature film or a new show.
Battlestar Galactica: The Battlestar Galactica Revival Homepage entreats fans to write Universal Studios to persuade them to give Hatch the rights to develop a new Galactica.
"Now is the time to voice your interest in seeing Battlestar Galactica: Second Coming put into production," the site said, referring to Hatch's project. "Never underestimate the power a letter from a fan can generate."
Hatch proposes reuniting the original cast of the series and starting the story where it left off when the series was canceled in 1980. So far, the actor has not been successful in winning film rights from Universal or television rights from Studios USA. Series creator Glen Larson, meanwhile, has said he wants to develop his own Galactica project, an IMAX film. Studios USA is owned by the USA Networks, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Indy SF Movie Coming To Web
uantum Project, starring Stephen Dorff, Fay Masterson and John Cleese, is an independent SF film that will be distributed for a fee exclusively on the Web, through SightSound.com, beginning May 5.
The $3 million special-effects movie will tell the story of two "electron-crossed" lovers and is being touted as the first independent movie developed exclusively for the Internet, according to Variety.
The film will be directed by Eugenio Zanetti (production designer on What Dreams May Come and The Haunting). It is produced by Metafilmics, which produced Dreams, and Sightsound.com, which is providing financing.
Sightsound.com is a four-year-old Internet company based in Mt. Lebanon, Pa., that distributes movies and music online for studios and independent filmmakers.
Harsh Realm Authors Get Credit
federal judge ordered 20th Century Fox and producer Chris Carter to credit the creators of the comic book series Harsh Realm in Carter's canceled television series of the same name.
U.S. District Judge John Martin of the Southern District of New York issued a preliminary injunction requiring Fox to display the following credit at the beginning and end of each episode of the TV series in any future airings: "Inspired by the Harsh Realm comic book series. Created by James D. Hudnall and Andrew Paquette. Published by Harris Publications, Inc.," Variety reported.
The judge also ruled that the "inspired by" credit should run near the "created by Chris Carter" credit, the trade paper reported. A Fox spokesman told Variety, "We are pleased that the court vindicated our position that Chris Carter is the creator of the Harsh Realm television series and that the court adopted the 'inspired by' credit that Fox had already included in the show as a good-faith effort to resolve this matter."
Paquette and Hudnall had sued Fox to dispute the credits the pair had been receiving on the series, which was canceled by the Fox broadcast network after only three showings. The preliminary injunction will remain in place until the lawsuit is tried. The eight original episodes of Harsh Realm that were shot before production was shut down will air on the FX cable network starting this month.
Stan Lee Unveils Web Series
he 7th Portal, an animated Web-based fantasy series from Spider-Man creator Stan Lee, premiered on the comic book author's official Web site on Tuesday, Feb. 29.
The youth-oriented series is produced by Stan Lee Media and Dick Clark Communications Inc.
The 7th Portal tells the story of six young computer gamesters who are sucked into a parallel dimension to battle the forces of darkness. The Web series was launched at a celebrity party in Los Angeles featuring performances by Jerry Lee Lewis, Chaka Khan and Perry Farrell.
Action Man Comes To Fox Kids
ction Man, a computer-animated children's TV series based on the Hasbro Toys franchise of the same name, is coming to Fox Kids Network.
A one-hour pilot for the series, from Mainframe Entertainment (Reboot) in Vancouver, will appear in May, and the regular series will debut in September, Mainframe said.
Action Man will be accompanied by a major marketing push and the U.S. introduction of Action Man toys, games and other merchandise. Action Man is currently the best-selling boys' action-figure toy line in Europe.
Singer: X-Men Is More Than Action
irector Bryan Singer, who is close to wrapping filming on Fox's upcoming X-Men movie, said that fans shouldn't expect a traditional action movie, according to the What's Worth Watching Web site.
Speaking at a panel discussion in Toronto on the state of independent cinema, Singer said, "It's not Woody Allen or David Cronenberg's X-Men on one hand, but it's not Michael Bay's X-Men either," referring to the director of 1998's Armageddon.
"If I do press on the picture, they're like, 'What's it like making a big action movie?' And I'm like, 'I'm not making a big action movie,'" Singer told the "Script to Screen" conference on Saturday, Feb. 26, according to the Web site. "There's action in it--the characters fight--but it might not be what people are expecting. On the other hand, I'm very proud of it. It's the kind of movie I would go see as a kid. It's not the kind of movie that the more interesting filmmakers usually try to tackle."
Singer also revealed that X-Men, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, is intended to be the first in a series of movies. He called the prospect of becoming attached to a series "treacherous" and revealed that he turned down directing an Alien sequel, though he earlier claimed not to have.
UPN Cans Gorilla World
PN has scrapped plans for Gorilla World, an SF television series about talking apes from Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, after lawyers from Twentieth Century Fox protested similarities to the studio's Planet of the Apes franchise, according to Variety.
Fox, which plans to produce a remake of the original 1968 Apes film, had sent a cease-and-desist letter to UPN, the trade paper reported.
UPN denied that the letter had any bearing on its decision to cancel Gorilla World, and added that the network hopes to develop another series with McFarlane for next season. Earlier, McFarlane had all but challenged Fox's copyright when announcing Gorilla World: "When was Fox granted the rights to be the only people who talked about Darwin?''
Fox's upcoming Apes movie will be directed by Tim Burton (Sleepy Hollow).
RoboCop Details Emerge
lot details of the upcoming television miniseries RoboCop: Prime Directives emerged in an interview with Julian Grant, the producer and director, in Cinescape magazine.
The miniseries, which is shooting in Toronto, will appear on Canada's Space: The Imagination Station, but a U.S. distributor hasn't been signed yet, the magazine reported.
Grant says the four-part miniseries picks up 10 years after the events in the original feature film RoboCop. In the first episode, "Dark Justice," Alex Murphy (RoboCop, played by Page Fletcher) faces a mysterious cyborg vigilante known as The Bone Machine.
Murphy's former partner, John T. Cable (Maurice Dean Wint), shows up to investigate, prompting a cabal of executives to reprogram Murphy to kill his former friend. In part two, "Meltdown," Cable is reborn as a cyborg under the control of the evil corporation OCP. In the third and fourth segments, "Resurrection" and "Crash & Burn," Murphy and Cable join forces to fight a crazed scientist who wants to unleash a deadly computer virus.
O'Connell To Discuss Sliders Movie
erry O'Connell, who starred in The SCI FI Channel series Sliders, told SCI FI Wire that he is scheduled to meet the week of Mar. 6 with series co-creator Robert K. Weiss to discuss the possibility of making a feature film based on the show.
It would be O'Connell's first association with the series since he left it after the fourth season.
Speaking at a press event to promote his upcoming movie Mission to Mars, O'Connell said, "I'm meeting with [Weiss] next week for a possible Sliders movie. A feature film. ... [It] should be pretty fun." Weiss co-created the popular SF series in 1995 with Tracy Torme.
O'Connell, who played the lead character Quinn Mallory, said he lost touch with the show since he left, owing in part to what he called a contractual dispute between him and Studios USA, which owns the show. It's part of the reason he would decline to take part in another television series based on Sliders, O'Connell said. Studios USA had no comment on the dispute. Studios USA is owned by USA Networks, which also owns The SCI FI Channel.
In Mission to Mars, O'Connell plays astronaut Phil Ohlmyer, who takes part in a rescue mission to the red planet. "It's so much more fun to be an astronaut," he said of his role. "You put on that spacesuit every day. You have the American flag over one arm. You've got a NASA patch on another. That's like every red-blooded American's dream come true. It was a real pleasure. I was like a four-year-old again getting into that suit. I loved it."
Blair Witch 2 Plot Emerges
he highly anticipated sequel to 1999's surprise hit movie The Blair Witch Project will pick up where the original movie left off, according to the Popcorn U.K. Web site.
Citing Screen International company documents aimed at winning investors for the sequel, the Popcorn site revealed that the film will center on three teen-agers who visit the original Blair Witch Web site, which was set up by Artisan Entertainment.
The teen-agers then decide to go into the Maryland woods themselves to discover whether the witch is real. Popcorn also reports that Blair Witch 2 will show people being killed onscreen, in contrast to the original movie, and will feature a more traditional narrative style.
Cheadle Readies Showtime Movie
ctor Don Cheadle, who plays astronaut Luke Graham in the upcoming movie Mission to Mars, told SCI FI Wire that he is writing a screenplay for a paranormal movie that he will also direct for the Showtime cable network.
Cheadle, who spoke during a press junket for M2M in Los Angeles, said his new telefilm, Groomed, is based on a play he wrote, about a man who has visions of a race riot in Nebraska and attempts to warn his friends about it.
"It's about four black men who are going to a wedding in Nebraska," Cheadle said. "One of them is getting married. The main character, you don't know if he's precognitive, or if he's insane. ... [He] has these visions, while watching [a football] game, that there's going to kind of a reverse L.A. [riots] happen in Nebraska, and there's going to be black guys getting pulled out of cars and beat up. ... And he goes about preparing his friends, without telling them, for this apocalypse that he thinks is going to happen."
It's the second project Cheadle plans to direct; the first is a feature film for Danny De Vito's Jersey Films called Knifehand, a contemporary urban update of Shane, for which he's also writing the script. Cheadle said he won't act in either of the films.
Cheadle also said he's looking to do more SF films. "I love science fiction," the actor said. "I would [do more]. I would like to do even crazier stuff [than Mission to Mars], more heightened stuff. The thing about this movie was that ... the technology and the research as far as getting to Mars is really based on real projections and real ideas. ... [But doing] something like Alien would be fun. Creatures, fighting, all of that stuff." Mission to Mars opens March 10.
Top Directors Vie For Potter
ow that Steven Spielberg has bowed out of directing the feature film version of J.K. Rowling's popular children's novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, at least 10 top directors are reviewing Steve Kloves' script, Variety columnist Michael Fleming reported.
Meanwhile, Kloves is working on a second draft of the script, Fleming reported.
The directors include Peter Weir, Wolfgang Petersen, Rob Reiner, Jonathan Demme and Brad Silberling, according to the trade paper. Warner Bros., meanwhile, is considering whether to shoot two Potter films back to back, possibly with the same director on each.
Cartoon Network Expands Slate
he Cartoon Network is adding four new half-hour series in 2000 and 2001, including Sheep in the Big City, about a sheep who escapes a top-secret military organization; Centipede; and two anime series, Gundam Wing and Tenchi Muyo, Variety reported.
The cable network has also ordered 120 new episodes of existing shows, the trade paper reported.
Variety added that the network also has 25 animated shorts in development to debut as series pilots over the next two years. Viewers will be able to vote on which ones should be turned into series.
Bentley Near Vampire Lestat Role
es Bentley is in final talks to assume the role of the vampire Lestat in the upcoming Warner Bros. movie Queen of the Damned, the follow-up to 1994's Interview With the Vampire, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Based on the Anne Rice novel of the same name, Queen is expected to start filming this spring in Australia, the trade paper reported.
Michael Rymer (In Too Deep) will direct Queen. Scott Abbott and Michael Petroni wrote the screenplay.
Bentley, who made a splash as the video-obsessed drug dealer in American Beauty last year, takes on the role played by Tom Cruise in the first Vampire film.
Rubin To Write Stuart Little II
ruce Joel Rubin (Ghost) has been signed to write the script for Stuart Little II, the sequel to 1999's hit fantasy children's film Stuart Little.
The sequel is being readied for a Christmas 2001 release, according to Variety.
The trade paper reported that Geena Davis, who starred opposite Hugh Laurie in the first film, is on board to reprise her role. Discussions are still underway with director Rob Minkoff. The first movie was based on the children's book of the same name by essayist E.B. White.
Rubin is also writing a script for a proposed television series for NBC about psychic people who hear the voices of spirits warning of a momentous shift coming for mankind, Variety reported.
Midler To Join Women
ette Midler is in final talks to co-star in Paramount Pictures' paranormal romantic comedy What Women Want, which stars Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Midler will play a psychiatrist to Gibson's character, who acquires the ability to read women's minds after an accident, the trade paper reported.
Nancy Meyers rewrote the script by Josh Goldsmith and Kathy Yuspah and will direct the film.
Suit Claims Plagiarism In Alien 4
wo French screenwriters are suing 20th Century Fox, alleging that the studio plagiarized their script in the 1997 SF film Alien Resurrection.
The final screenplay for the film, directed by Frenchman Jean-Pierre Jeunet, was credited to Joss Whedon, who is best known for creating The WB's hit TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Brothers Roger and Lazid Iaichouchene argue in their suit that they wrote a screenplay in 1993 for a fourth installment of the Alien film series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The brothers' screenplay reportedly resurrected Sigourney Weaver's Ripley character, who died at the end of Alien 3. The brothers claim that the screenplay of the finished film is "identical" to one they wrote.
The brothers are seeking damages of at least 100 million francs ($15.5 million).
Twentieth Century Fox's Paris legal representatives, Auguste and Debouzy, said that Fox strongly denied the accusation and will vigorously defend against it in court.
Fehr To Play Spider-Man?
rendan Fehr, who plays Michael on The WB's hit series Roswell, was overheard saying he's considering playing the role of Peter Parker in the upcoming feature film version of Marvel Comics' Spider-Man series.
Fehr--who appeared at a Roswell fan party on Saturday, Feb. 26, dressed in a Spider-Man T-shirt--said he had received a copy of the script and was reading it with an eye to the lead role.
Director Sam Raimi has been signed to helm Columbia Pictures' Spider-Man, which is slated for production in late spring or early summer for a summer 2001 release.
TV's American Hero Set For Movie
alt Disney Co. has bought the rights to the 1980s TV situation comedy The Greatest American Hero and plans to turn it into a feature film.
The series starred William Katt as a normal guy who admires comic-book superheroes and becomes one when he finds a mysterious suit, according to Variety. The series ran on ABC from 1981 to 1983.
Disney's Touchstone Pictures will collaborate on the project with series creator Steven J. Cannell and Film Roman. Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein (Never Been Kissed) will write the script.
China Presses SF Piracy Case
hina may permanently close down a magazine for allegedly pirating stories and photographs from Science Fiction World, the country's most respected SF periodical.
It would be the first case of copyright infringement involving science fiction in China, where the genre is controversial, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
Liu Bo, an official with the State Press and Publications Administration, told Xinhua that Hebei-based Popular Literature magazine will possibly be closed down because of the alleged infringement. Science Fiction World has won the World's Best Sci-Fi Magazine award from the World Sci-Fi Organization.
Until the mid-1990s, SF was regarded in China as "spiritual pollution" and "pseudoscience" and was banned from publishing. SF began to emerge from the shadows when authorities stressed that science and man's imagination are vital for the nation's creativity and competitiveness.
Roswell Heads For Cliffhanger
oswell, The WB's hit teen alien television series, is headed into a season-ending cliffhanger with some new characters, executive producer Jason Katims told SCI FI Wire.
"There is one new character we're introducing this season: Tess, a new girl in town [played by newcomer Emilie De Raven], who comes in and upsets the apple cart for various reasons," Katims said in an interview.
Katims said the new character will debut in an episode in mid-March. "She comes in, and one of the [male] characters in our show ... is sort of drawn to her, despite himself," he said. "And it kind of ... creates some problems."
Katims added that the three alien leads, Max, Isabel and Michael, will eventually find the person they've been seeking. "By the end of the season, they'll discover the fourth alien they've been searching for all this time. The cliffhanger at the end of the season is how certain people of the group become divided because of the presence of the fourth alien, and it splits them up. ... Once this begins to happen, the stakes become extremely high, and there's a lot of danger and definitely potential for people to die."
A cliffhanger of a different sort is creating anxiety for Katims and his crew: whether The WB will renew the freshman show for a second year. "We haven't heard," he said. "My understanding is, we'll probably not know officially until May, when they announce their season." But, he added, "we're hopeful, but you never know for sure. The WB has been real supportive of the show, beginning first of all with buying the show when it was originally developed for Fox, then giving it a really strong launch and really being behind it. ... And they haven't changed that. ... We're just going to work really hard and make the final episodes of the season great and make it impossible for them not to pick it up."
LeGuin Story Becomes Musical
he Hidden Sky, a musical based on the Ursula K. LeGuin SF short story "The Masters," premieres Tuesday, Feb. 29, at the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia.
The show features music and lyrics by Peter Foley and a book by Kate Chisholm and is directed by Prince Music Theater Artistic Director Ben Levit, according to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site.
The musical tells the story of a young woman's pursuit of her dreams in a repressive future society. The show runs through March 19. Reservations can be made by calling (215) 587-5565.
Stoker Ballot Coming In March
he final ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards, honoring genre works published in 1999, will be released the week of March 20.
The awards will be presented May 13 at the Stoker Awards Banquet in conjunction with the World Horror Convention in Denver.
The Horror Writers Association sponsors the annual awards, recognizing superior achievement in the field. Winners are determined by vote of the active members of the association.
A full list of nominees may be found at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association of America Web site.
Briefly Noted
- Bill Mumy, who played Will Robinson in the 1960s space opera Lost in Space, said he has been approached by a TV executive interested in reviving the series in syndication. Mumy told TV Guide Online that he'd be interested in doing a new version of the series "as long as the deal wasn't embarrassing or tacky."
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The WB will swap its teen alien TV series Roswell with Felicity, starting April 5. Roswell moves to Mondays at 9 p.m., where it will face off with UPN's Star Trek: Voyager, and will play up Roswell's SF angle. Felicity moves to Wednesdays at 9 p.m.
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Propelled by his earnings from Star Wars: Episode I, filmmaker George Lucas topped Forbes magazine's 1999 list of highest-earning celebrities.
Tom Hanks, who starred in The Green Mile, ranked fifth.
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Nine people have filed suit against the Rancho Santa Fe movie theater in Las Vegas, claiming that they were terrorized in the confusion resulting from a fake gunfight promoting the movie Wild Wild West, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The suit says that customers were given no notice of the mock shootout outside the theater.
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F. Gary Gray has dropped out as director of the feature film Black Knight, a fantasy comedy starring comedian Chris Tucker as a restaurant employee who is transported back to medieval times. No new director has been named yet.
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Robin Wright Penn (Forrest Gump) is in talks to replace Julianne Moore in M. Night Shyamalan's supernatural thriller film Unbreakable. Penn would play opposite Bruce Willis in the next feature from the director of The Sixth Sense.
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The Cinescape Web site reports that production will start March 20 in Vancouver on the pilot for the upcoming Fox Television series The Lone Gunmen, based on characters introduced in The X-Files. A source told the site that production will continue through April 7.
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TheOneRing.net Web site reports that Australian actor Hugo Weaving (The Matrix) has been cast as Elrond, the elf who leads the council at Rivendell, in the film trilogy The Lord of the Rings. The site further reported that Australian actress Miranda Otto (The Thin Red Line) has been cast as Éowyn, the maiden who falls in love with Aragorn, in the films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's three novels of the same name.
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The Dark Horizons Web site comes up with the first casting rumor for the proposed feature film based on the 1980s TV sitcom The Greatest American Hero. Comedian Adam Sandler is rumored to be a candidate to play the hero, who finds a mysterious suit that confers super powers on its wearer, the site reported.
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All three Indiana Jones movies will run on The SCI FI Channel on consecutive days this month. It is the first time the three films have aired together in the same week. Raiders of the Lost Ark airs at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. ET March 7; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom at the same times March 8; and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade at the same times on March 9.
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Blade Runner producer Bud Yorkin has joined the board of directors of Peace Arch Entertainment, producers of The SCI FI Channel series First Wave.
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The Coming Attractions Web site adds to rumors about who might play Wonder Woman in the upcoming feature film based on the DC Comics heroine. The site speculates that American Pie actress Shannon Elizabeth is in the running, and that Lynda Carter, who played the character in the 1970s TV series Wonder Woman, may appear in the movie as the Amazon queen, Hippolyta.
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Delta Burke will join Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt in Paramount's paranormal comedy film What Women Want.
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The Cinescape Web site reported that the director of the feature film version of Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four series will be Mrs. Doubtfire editor Raja Gosnell, not Roger Donaldson (Dante's Peak), as had been previously reported.
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Stuart Little will be released on home video April 18, with the videocassette priced at $24.95. The DVD will be priced at $27.95 and will feature two audio commentary tracks, a visual-effects gag reel, a blooper gag reel, screen tests, video games, a read-along feature, six deleted scenes and three music videos.
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About 75 fans of Roswell, The WB's hit teen alien television series, gathered for the first-ever "Roswellian" party on the Paramount lot in Hollywood on Saturday, Feb. 26. Co-stars Brendan Fehr (Michael) and Majandra Delfino (Maria) appeared.
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The Matrix and its editor Zach Staenberg won the top awards for best dramatic film editing presented by the American Cinema Editors , at the 50th Annual ACE Eddie Awards on Sunday, Feb. 27. Eric Zumbrunnen took the trophy for comedy or musical films for his work on Being John Malkovich.
