Tolkien's 111th Birthday Feted
ans of Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien will observe the late writer's 111th birthday this Jan. 3—the same "eleventy-first" birthday celebrated by Bilbo Baggins at the beginning of Tolkien's epic work.
In Hollywood and all over the world, fans will commemorate the day, Variety reported.
That will include a "Toast to the Professor" endorsed by the Tolkien Society in the United Kingdom and administered by fan volunteers all over the world, like Tolkien Forever founder Kristi Fojtik and "J.R.R. Tolkien's 111th Birthday DVD Project" producer Josh Rubinstein of Los Angeles, the trade paper reported. Fans will gather at the Cat and Fiddle Pub in Hollywood to raise a glass at exactly 9 p.m. and utter the words "The Professor." Rubinstein is coordinating DVD coverage of the parties around the world for a half-hour documentary on the event.
Fojtik, founder of the L.A. chapter of the official LOTR Fan Club, meanwhile, is planning a Hall of Fire event on Jan. 3 at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., the trade paper reported.
Tolkien died in 1973 at the age of 81. The film version of The Two Towers is now playing in theaters.
Vegas Critics Scale Towers
he Las Vegas Film Critics honored The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers with four awards, the most of any film in 2002, the Reuters news service reported.
The second of Peter Jackson's movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien's books took home kudos for best director (Jackson), best visual effects (Jim Rygiel, Joe Letteri, Randall William Cook and Alex Funke), best costume design (Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor) and best film editing (D. Michael Horton and Jabez Olssen), the news service reported.
The group also selected Lilo & Stitch as best animated film.
Top SF Characters Ranked
FX magazine has published a list of the top 10 science-fiction characters of all time, as determined by a poll of readers.
The results of the poll include four characters from UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, two from the SCI FI Channel's Farscape and two from Star Wars. The number one spot went to British SF legend Doctor Who.
The complete top 10 list follows:
1. Doctor Who (Doctor Who)
2. Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
3. Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
4. John Crichton (Farscape)
5. Aeryn Sun (Farscape)
6. Han Solo (the Star Wars saga)
7. Willow Rosenberg (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
8. Darth Vader (the Star Wars saga)
9. Angel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
10. Gandalf (Lord of the Rings)
Daredevil In Home Stretch
aredevil producer Gary Foster told the Comics Continuum Web site that the movie is in the final stages of post-production.
"All is well in Daredevil land," Foster told the site. "We have locked the picture and continue to deliver visual effects daily. Graeme Revell has recorded most of the score."
All the remains is "finishing up our last visual-effects shots, color timing and final mix," Foster said. "We will deliver the film in late January for our Feb. 14 release."
The Continuum also reported that a commercial for Daredevil will likely air during ABC's Super Bowl coverage on Jan. 26.
Is Buffy Slain?
! Online columnist Watch With Wanda reported that it's unlikely that Buffy the Vampire Slayer will return for an eighth season next year.
An anonymous source at the show told the site that no decision has been made on an eighth season, but it's highly doubtful star Sarah Michelle Gellar will sign.
"It's the general feeling around set that this will be the end of it," the source told Wanda. As for a spinoff, "The problem is the cast members who would work best aren't really that interested. I think they want to just move on. It's time."
Nebula First Ballot Ready
he preliminary ballot for the 2002 Nebula Awards will be mailed to members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America by Jan. 4, the official SFWA Web site reported.
Each member may nominate no more than five works in each category on the preliminary ballot and must return the ballot by Feb. 6 to be counted. The final ballot will be mailed Feb. 15.
The Nebula Awards will be announced at the 2002 Nebula Awards banquet in Philadelphia on April 19. A full list of ballot contenders follows.
Novel
•Lion's Blood by Steven Barnes
•Kiln People by David Brin
•The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold
•In the Company of Others by Julie E. Czerneda
•American Gods by Neil Gaiman
•The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin
•The Consciousness Plague by Paul Levinson
•Illumination by Terry McGarry
•Nekropolis by Maureen F. McHugh
•Ombria in Shadow by Patricia McKillip
•Picoverse by Robert A. Metzger
•Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
•Technogenesis by Syne Mitchell
•Adventures in Time and Space with Max Merriwell by Pat Murphy
•Dreams of the Compass Rose by Vera Nazarian
•The Impossible Bird by Patrick O'Leary
•The Getaway Special by Jerry Oltion
•J. by William Sanders
•Child of Venus by Pamela Sargent
•Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer
•Argonaut by Stanley Schmidt
•Alien Taste by Wen Spencer
•The Peshawar Lancers by S.M. Stirling
•Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick
•Compass Reach by Mark W. Tiedemann
•Divine Intervention by Ken Wharton
Novella
•"Bug Out!" by Michael A. Burstein and Shane Tourtellotte
•"Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl's" by Adam-Troy Castro
•"Hell Is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang
•"Bronte's Egg" by Richard Chwedyk
•"The Chief Designer" by Andy Duncan
•"The Political Officer" by Charles Coleman Finlay
•"In Spirit" by Pat Forde
•"Magic's Price" by Bud Sparhawk
Novelette
•"The Ferryman's Wife" by Richard Bowes
•"Look Away" by Stephen L. Burns
•"Madonna of the Maquiladora" by Gregory Frost
•"The Job Interview" by Mike Moscoe
•"When This World Is All on Fire" by William Sanders
•"The Essayist in the Wilderness" by William Browning Spencer
•"The Days Between" by Allen Steele
•"Lobsters" by Charles Stross
•"The Return of Spring" by Shane Tourtellotte
Short Story
•"Refugees from Nulongwe" by M. Shayne Bell
•"Mirror" by Chris Bunch
•"Spaceships" by Michael A. Burstein
•"Creature" by Carol Emshwiller
•"Creation" by Jeffrey Ford
•"Iron Joan" by ElizaBeth Gilligan
•"Cut" by Megan Lindholm
•"Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City" by Jack McDevitt
•"The Gods Abandon Alcibiades" by Joel Richards
•"The Djinn Who Lives Between Night and Day" by Bruce Holland Rogers
•"The Veil Beyond the Veil" by William Shunn
•"Isolation Ward 4" by Kevin G. Summers
•"The Dog Said Bow-Wow" by Michael Swanwick
Script
•Shrek by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio
•The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson
•"Once More With Feeling," Buffy the Vampire Slayer, by Joss Whedon
Pan Copyright Challenged
anadian author Emily Somma has filed suit in San Francisco federal court claiming that the characters in Peter Pan are now in the public domain and no longer protected by a copyright awarded in 1929, according to an Associated Press report in The Hollywood Reporter.
The suit is a pre-emptive move in anticipation of legal action by the British hospital that currently holds the copyright to the 1904 play Peter Pan, which was awarded by the original creator, Sir James M. Barrie, to the hospital, the AP reported.
The Great Ormand Street Hospital for Sick Children in London has warned Somma to halt publication of After the Rain: A New Adventure for Peter Pan, which has been published in Canada and can be purchased through the Internet. A lawyer for the hospital claims Somma's efforts to publish a work without paying royalties is depriving the hospital of revenue it needs to treat sick children. Somma's lawyer, Elizabeth Rader, said the author has offered to pay royalties, but was rebuffed, the trade paper reported.
Gambon Not Dumbledore?
spokesman for Warner Brothers downplayed for SCI FI Wire recent reports that British actor Michael Gambon has been cast as Professor Dumbledore in the upcoming third Harry Potter film.
"It's a rumor, and it's not confirmed," the spokesman said in an interview. The spokesman declined to offer further details.
Earlier this week, E! Online reported that Gambon was in line to take on the role originated by the late Richard Harris, who died in October, in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, based on the third of J.K. Rowling's best-selling fantasy novels. But other reports have disputed that story, with the studio denying that the casting has gone forward.
McKellen Won't Be Dumbledore
ontrary to a report in the British tabloid The Sun, Lord of the Rings star Ian McKellen will not succeed the late Richard Harris as Professor Dumbledore in the third Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the Dark Horizons Web site reported.
The Sun ran a news item last week under the headline: "New Potter Wizard Is ... Gandalf!" stating that Warner Brothers has cast McKellen as the headmaster of Hogwarts School after fellow Rings cast member Christopher Lee turned it down.
But according to McKellen's own Web site, the veteran actor has not been cast in the role and Lee was not even asked. While the story is untrue, McKellen has not ruled out appearing in a future Potter film in some capacity, the Web site reported.
Majors Sues Over Six Million
ee Majors, star of TV's classic SF series Six Million Dollar Man, is suing Universal, claiming that the studio owes him money from the 1970s show, the Associated Press reported.
In a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Dec. 31, Majors claims Universal failed to live up to a 1975 agreement that guaranteed him 15 percent of the show's net profits, the AP reported. The actor seeks unspecified damages.
Major starred in the Six Million Dollar Man from 1973 to 1978.
Universal is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Fourth Dead Film Due?
he Ain't It Cool News Web site reported a rumor that Fox is developing a fourth Living Dead movie with Night of the Living Dead director George Romero.
The movie is reportedly entitled Dead Reckoning.
The site reported that Fox had picked up the rights for the fourth installment in the franchise from Anchor Bay. It's unclear whether the project is a theatrical film or a straight-to-video release. The report was based on a tip by an anonymous correspondent.
Farscape, SG-1 Return
he SCI FI Channel brings back SCI FI Fridays on Jan. 10, featuring new episodes of its original series Farscape and Stargate SG-1, the network announced.
Farscape airs in its new 8 p.m. ET/PT timeslot and kicks off with the first of 11 new episodes, including the show's series finale on March 21. Stargate SG-1 returns to its 9 p.m. slot with the final 11 episodes of the sixth season.
As Farscape's season four resumes, John Crichton (Ben Browder) finally returns to Earth with Aeryn (Claudia Black) and the crew of Moya in tow.
On Stargate SG-1, the SG-1 team, led by Col. Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson), continues to use the top-secret Stargate portal to safeguard Earth from the Gou'ald. But the secrecy of their program will become compromised when a Gou'ald mothership crashes into the Pacific Ocean.
Production on a seventh original season of SG-1 will begin in Vancouver, B.C., in early 2003 for a summer premiere. The series is produced by Kawoosh Productions and distributed by MGM Worldwide Television Distribution.
The original episodes of Farscape and Stargate SG-1 will be followed at 10 p.m. by reruns of the SF series Tracker, which SCI FI recently acquired. The series stars Adrian Paul (Highlander) as Cole, a prison warden from the Migar system who has been sent to Earth to track and recapture a group of escaped prisoners bent on taking over their new homeworld.
Knight PC Game Coming
ri Synergy announced that it will publish a North American PC version of a Knight Rider game, based on the 1980s TV series, before the end of March, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Netherlands-based Davilex developed the game, which has been available in Europe for the PlayStation 2 since November, the site reported.
The game was originally scheduled for release on all current console platforms as well as the PC, but so far only the PS2 version has come out. The game allows players to pilot K.I.T.T., the sentient black Trans-Am.
Dead Zone Has A Secret
hawn Piller, co-creator of USA Network's original series The Dead Zone, told SCI FI Wire that the upcoming second season of the hit series will raise storytelling and character arcs to a new level.
"There's the big secret brewing," Piller said in an interview. "I don't think that we handled it the way I think a traditional show would handle it."
Last season's cliffhanger complicated the lives of the main characters when Johnny Smith (Anthony Michael Hall) had a romantic encounter with his married ex-fiancée, Sarah (Nicole de Boer)."Everyone was a little nervous about it," Piller said. "I know the actors were. Chris Bruno [who plays Sarah's husband, Walt], in particular, didn't want to be perceived as the guy who would let that happen or take it, and he was just bummed out. We talked to him about what our plans were for his character, and then he got really excited and trusted us and went down the road. And the same with Nicole de Boer. Michael Hall is down for anything and loves a challenge, and I think it was a little bit easier for him."
Piller admitted they could have dragged out the romantic set up longer before Johnny and Sarah hit the sheets, but the writers didn't want to. "We didn't want to make it such a serialized, soap-opera type thing," he said. "And although we
could have milked it longer, I think what we're doing now will evolve the characters in a way that makes everybody stand on their own. I think we were a little worried that Sarah was becoming too much of a homemaker, and I know she wanted to be more proactive. When we talked to her originally about doing the show, we really wanted to find stuff for her to do that was challenging. We have, and I think we need to keep doing that."
Season two kicks off Jan. 5 with the episode "Valley of the Shadow," a story about a kidnapped child. The episode will also touch on the "big secret," as well as the apocalyptic premonition Johnny had in the first-season finale, when he met Greg Stillson (Sean Patrick Flanery), a character who was prominent in the original Stephen King novel. "It's going to be a continuing Greg Stillson arc," Piller said. "We'll be getting more into what's going on with the guy who may or may not be responsible for the end of the world. ... He is an evil, evil guy, but at the same time, he doesn't think he's evil, which makes him really scary. He's addicted to fame, and he's addicted to power. He's just very angry, and he's just got some dark stuff going on." The second season begins at 10 p.m. ET/PT Jan. 5.
USA Network is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Men In Black III Mulled
olumbia Pictures is looking to re-team Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in a third installment in its Men in Black film franchise, TV Guide Online reported.
"The studio wants one," producer Walter Parkes told the site. "We're trying to figure out the auspices of it and what to do to freshen that franchise up a little bit."
Men in Black II grossed about $190 million domestically, but Parkes doesn't deny that the sequel was disappointing creatively. "It was a heartbreaking thing," he said. "There were many disagreements among the different principals, and what came out was not a movie worthy of the franchise."
Director Barry Sonnenfeld earlier told TV Guide Online that producers made him a nervous wreck during much of the sequel's shoot. "[My health was] compromised by the fear and tension and anxiety that was put on me by everyone being nervous that the movie wasn't going to make any money," the director said. "I'll never be OK as long as I live."
Will Parkes look for a new director? "Oh, I'm not getting into that," Parkes said with a wink. "That I don't know."
Gibson Options In Death
el Gibson's Icon Productions company has optioned the film rights to the In Death SF novel series—by romantic suspense author Nora Roberts writing as "J.D. Robb"—for Fox 2000, Roberts' official Web site reported.
The series centers on Eve Dallas, a detective with the New York City Police and Safety Department in the year 2058.
Starting with the 1995 novel Naked in Death, Roberts has written a new In Death title every six months, with the latest, Portrait in Death and Imitation in Death, due in 2003. The titles include Glory in Death (1995), Immortal in Death (1996), Rapture in Death (1996), Ceremony in Death (1997), Vengeance in Death (1997), Midnight in Death anthology (1998), Holiday in Death (1999), Conspiracy in Death (1999), Loyalty in Death (1999), Witness in Death (2000), Judgment in Death (2000), Betrayal in Death (2001), Seduction in Death (2001), Reunion in Death (2002) and Purity in Death (2002).
Starship 2 In Works?
tarship Troopers star Casper Van Dien told fans on his official Web site message board that a direct-to-video sequel may be in the works.
"They may do a SST 2, with [the first film's creature visual effects supervisor Phil] Tippet set to direct," Van Dien posted. The film would mark longtime F/X guru Tippett's directorial debut.
But Van Dien, who played Johnny Rico in the first movie, added that he hasn't been asked to return. The sequel would star Clancy Brown, who played Sgt. Zim in the first film, Van Dien said. "I talked with Ed Neumeier (the writer)," he added. "It is a confirmed maybe. So far I am not involved in that."
Sin Renamed, Delayed
he supernatural film Sin Eater has been renamed The Order and will move from its original Jan. 17 premiere date to an as-yet-undetermined later opening, possibly in the late summer, Variety reported.
The new title refers to an ancient order of rogue priests who eat food off a corpse in order to take on unforgiven sins and absolve the deceased, the trade paper reported. Heath Ledger stars.
Fox bumped the Brian Helgeland-directed movie after the filmmaker and the studio agreed that the special visual effects needed work, the trade paper reported. The effects, originally handled by Mill Film in London, are now being done by Asylum in Santa Monica, Calif. The visual effects in question depict sins flying out of the human body. Post-production insiders, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Variety that Mill's effects were funny, rather than terrifying; one insider described the exiting sins as "looking like calamari."
Blade Runner Helmer Knighted
idley Scott, director of Alien and Blade Runner, was named a knight of the British Empire in England, leading the list of Queen Elizabeth II's annual New Year's Honors, E! Online reported.
Scott, a three-time Oscar nominee for best director, was honored for his services to the film and television industry, the site reported.
In addition to the SF classic movies, the 65-year-old director's credits include Gladiator, Thelma and Louise and Black Hawk Down.
Star Trek Attraction Opens
tar Trek - The Adventure is now open to the public in London's Hyde Park, the official Star Trek Web site reported.
The attraction, which features "specially re-created sets, props, costumes and interactive demonstrations representing all five TV series and all 10 feature films," opened Dec. 27 and is drawing notice in the press, the site reported.
According to an earlier feature in The Hollywood Reporter, the event is slated to run in Hyde Park through Jan. 31, but may be extended through May if it maintains its goal of 500 visitors per day. Tickets for the event can be purchased online via Bookings Direct.
Danes Talks T3
laire Danes, who co-stars in the upcoming sequel Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, told UGO.com that her character will see some action in the film.
"I never did a genre of that kind and on that scale. I was pretty overwhelmed," she said in an interview while promoting her latest film, The Hours. "I play Kate Miller. She's a veterinarian and she's engaged to kind of a conservative kind of guy, and the Terminator abducts her. John Connor comes to save her and adventures unfold."
While the actress wouldn't divulge the exact nature of her adventures, she told the site that Kate is not unlike Sigourney Weaver's character Ripley in the Alien films. "I do have awesome lines, but I'm sworn to secrecy. I'm pretty impressive in it."
Briefly Noted
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An animated comic has gone up on the Web for Darknews Falls, the supernatural horror film that opens on Jan. 24.
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The Australian Herald Sun newspaper reported that Robert Downey Jr. is being eyed for a role in Fury Road, the proposed fourth Mad Max movie, alongside his Air America co-star Mel Gibson, according to a report on the ComingSoon.net Web site.
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The Dark Side of Gary Oldman fan Web site reported a rumor that Gary Oldman will appear in the next two Harry Potter movies.
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The BBC Cult Web site has posted a preview of Eden Studios' Buffy the Vampire Slayer role-playing game, based on the popular UPN TV show.
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Actor John Doe told the Dark Horizons Web site that a potential movie based on the canceled series Roswell is "almost a certainty." Although Doe said he has already agreed to do it, he warned, "Don't be surprised if all the 'kids' don't come back for it."
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Universal has posted a new trailer for the upcoming Dr. Seuss adaptation The Cat in the Hat, which stars Mike Myers and opens Thanksgiving weekend, 2003.
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Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was listed as the top woman earner of 2002 in the British newspaper The Mail. According to the newspaper, her annual salary of about $77 million is six times greater than the salary of the queen.
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