New Alias Answers All
lias creator J.J. Abrams told Zap2it that the secret of Sydney Bristow's missing two years was revealed in the new episode, "Full Disclosure," which aired Jan. 11.
"It felt like at this moment in the show, the midpoint of the year, that we had this story that this allows us to tell," Abrams told the site. "It sends the story in a direction that we needed to go."
At the end of last year's second season, Bristow (Jennifer Garner) awoke after a knock-down fight with the evil doppelganger of her dead roommate, Francie (Merrin Dungey), to discover that she had lost two years of her life.
"There's nothing more frustrating to me than shows or movies that raise provocative questions only to abandon you, like, 'Go talk about it and figure it out,'" Abrams said. "That's not to say that you always want all the answers. Part of the fun is not getting all the answers, filling in the blanks yourself to some degree. But I feel, if you don't provide viewers with some concrete specifics, they start to get disinterested and feel, 'Oh, it's a lot of hot air, smoke and mirrors,' and not pay attention. You have to reward your fans."
It's not the first time Abrams has thrown fans a curveball. Midway through the second season, he upended the series' premise in an episode that aired after the Super Bowl, the site reported. Similarly, "Full Disclosure" ends with a big twist. "Although there are some new questions that are posed, and there's a big twist at the end, the thing that was the most fun for me on this story is it's finally allowed us to tie together these many loose ends," Abrams said. "If you've been watching the show and trying to figure it out, this show really does answer so many of the questions and then it raises others. To me, it feels like a crucial tent-pole episode for the year, that everything was building to this moment. Then there's this roller coaster because of it, this ride we're going to be on until the end of the year." "Full Disclosure" is written by series co-producer Jesse Alexander and airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Rights Hang Up Hobbit?
dispute over the film rights to J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit could wreck plans for a prequel to director Peter Jackson's blockbuster Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the Australian Advertiser newspaper reported.
Jackson has expressed interest in filming Tolkien's first book.
But the legalities over the film and distribution rights are threatening to derail the project, the newspaper reported. New Line Cinema, the company that made the Rings films, owns the movie rights to The Hobbit. But the distribution rights governing the release of the film belong to United Artists, although New Line has first refusal on producing the movie.
Meanwhile, Tolkein's great-grandson, Royd Tolkien, 34, told the newspaper, "I would love to see Peter Jackson make a film of The Hobbit. That would be the perfect ending."
Van Helsing Swashbuckles
ugh Jackman, who stars in the upcoming Universal horror film Van Helsing, told the Australian Daily Telegraph newspaper that the role is a throwback to classic swashbucklers, according to a report on Jackman's Landing.
"The feel of this movie is more about Errol Flynn than anything," Jackman told the newspaper. "It's a big, swashbuckling movie. I've got long hair, and [Van Helsing] is set in that period with the kind of heroic look and with a feel of lightness."
Jackman said that his character is a mercenary for the Catholic church who is hired to kill vampires and other creatures. "It's kind of like 20th-century black ops, so any possessed soul that is out there, Van Helsing's job is to go out there and exterminate them," Jackman said. "He's also on a private quest, because he's a very conflicted character. It's fair to say he's disgruntled. He's not really happy in his job, and his job is kind of an admission of failure."
The movie is set in Transylvania and features classic Universal Pictures horror creatures such as Dracula, the werewolf and Frankenstein's monster. "It's a lot of fun and a little bit spooky," Jackman said. "Van Helsing is not just a cool James Bond, where he shoots the villain and has a bit of a snigger and a laugh and moves on to the next one. Van Helsing is psychologically very interesting."
Van Helsing is slated for a May 7 release. Universal is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Whedon Joining X-Men?
uffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon is one of the new writers of Marvel Comics' X-Men series, according to a report on the Comic Book Resources site's
Lying in the Gutters column by Rich Johnston.
Whedon, an avowed comic-book fan, previously penned the original Dark Horse title Fray, based on his Buffy mythology.
Marvel honcho Joe Quesada has been wooing Whedon to write X-Men, the columnist reported. There will be a 12-month gap between writer Grant Morrison's leaving the book and Whedon and John Cassaday's coming on board, the site added.
Finding Life After Firefly
orena Baccarin, who stars in the upcoming Fox supernatural series Still Life, told SCI FI Wire that the show has a surprisingly lighthearted tone.
"It's really just a beautiful show about humanity," the former Firefly star said in an interview at the Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention. "I think it can be dark at times, but in those moments of sorrow we really find a lot of comedy, and it has a good combination of both."
Baccarin is best known for her role as high-class interstellar prostitute Inara Serra on Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon's canceled SF western Firefly. Still Life is a one-hour drama from Buffy executive producer Marti Noxon and centers on a family dealing with the death of their oldest son, Jake, who watches over them from beyond the grave. Baccarin plays Jake's former fiancee. She recently completed filming the first seven episodes on location in Vancouver, B.C.
Baccarin said the show has been favorably compared to HBO's critically acclaimed series Six Feet Under, which also examines the subject of death, albeit from a less grave point of view. "A lot of people have been comparing it to Six Feet Under, because it's somewhat dark, but it's not depressing," she said. "It's very lifelike. You wouldn't just necessarily be crying your eyes out all the time." Still Life is expected to debut on Fox at midseason.
Thunder Story Revealed
rusader Entertainment has released a detailed synopsis of A Sound of Thunder, its upcoming feature-film adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic SF short story of the same name.
Peter Hyams (2010) directed the movie, which stars Edward Burns, Ben Kingsley and Catherine McCormack.
The spoiler-filled synopsis, which is only loosely based on Bradbury's story: In the not-too-distant future, scientist Travis Ryer (Burns) finances his research into time-travel technology by leading expeditions of burned-out billionaires who pay thousands of dollars for the opportunity to hunt extinct creatures of the past, the site said.
On one such hunt, the guns malfunction, and the team barely makes it back alive. When Travis returns to the past the following day, the time portal computer goes haywire. Volcanoes explode, and dinosaurs die. When Travis returns to the present, he discovers ominous signs that something is amiss: Files are missing from his computer, the weather has turned strange, strange plant life is sprouting up around New York. Travis suspects that somehow he and his team must have corrupted the timeline.
This belief is confirmed when Travis tracks down Allison, the inventor of modern time travel, just as a "time wave" rolls through New York. Instantly, swarms of bugs overwhelm New York. Whole buildings disappear. People cease to exist. Enlisting Allison's help, Travis deduces that one of the self-indulgent billionaires must have brought a butterfly back from the past, despite dire warnings against this. This butterfly must have been an ecological hinge point, Travis surmises, and now the current ecosystem is in jeopardy. Humanity may cease to exist. Travis, Allison and their team set out across a New York landscape now rife with thick jungle and dangerous, never-before-seen predators, determined to track down the stolen butterfly. Once it's found, they must bring it back to the Cretaceous period before the last time wave hits and man's mark is forever swept from the face of the Earth.
Crowe Eyed For Da Vinci?
he CinemaEye Web site reported that director Ron Howard is eyeing Russell Crowe and Kate Beckinsale for lead roles in his film adaptation of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.
Howard has already recruited writer Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) to adapt the novel, the site reported.
Crowe starred in Howard's Oscar-winning Mind, and the director is currently in preproduction on his second film with Crowe, Cinderella Man, which starts shooting in March, the site reported.
Beckinsale is rumored to be in the lead to play Sofia, the dark-haired female protagonist and love interest for Crowe, the site added. Beckinsale (Underworld) stars in the upcoming Van Helsing.
More Batman Rumors Hyped
he SuperheroHype! Web site reported more rumors about the upcoming new Batman movie, which is now supposedly called Batman: Intimidation.
Citing an anonymous source, the site reported spoilers that the previously rumored Iceland shoot will deal with Christian Bale's Batman fighting Ras Al Ghul's student on the ice in a training exercise. The shooting, the film's first, will reportedly take about two weeks.
The site added that the movie combines storylines from the caped crusader's year one and year two mythology.
Brendon Talks Buffy Film
ormer Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Nicholas Brendon told TV Guide Online that a proposed Buffy feature film is a ways off.
"We've talked about it," Brendon (Xander) told the site. "I'm sure if it happens, it'd be in a couple of years."
Brendon added that none of the cult series' stars have signed on to do a movie yet. "No, no, no," he said. Series creator Joss Whedon "just always wanted to make the movie. We've only been off the air seven months, so we're just trying to catch our breath."
But Brendon said he has ideas for his character, who lost an eye in the series' last season. "If we do the Buffy film, I'm going to be wearing an eye patch," he said. "Let's not have Willow just fix it [with magic]. Let's do the patch."
Zone Reruns To Air
ew Line TV has sold reruns of the new Twilight Zone series to stations representing more than 75 percent of the country, Variety reported.
The Forest Whitaker-hosted series first aired on UPN in 2002. Jason Alexander, Molly Sims and Portia de Rossi are among stars who made appearances, the trade paper reported.
Twilight Zone was made available to the marketplace as single half-hour or back-to-back segments, the trade paper reported. Tribune stations WPIX New York, KCAL/KCBS Los Angeles and WGN Chicago have signed on, along with station groups Belo, Hearst Argyle, Scripps Howard and Meredith, for a fall launch. Twilight Zone is produced by New Line Television in association with Trilogy Entertainment Group.
Rama Eyes Web Debut
organ Freeman's production company told C|net that its long-gestating film adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama will debut simultaneously in theaters and on the Web sometime in the future.
Freeman and Lori McCreary, chief executive of Freeman's Revelations Entertainment production company, told the site that such a release pattern could start a trend. The company plans to release another movie similarly.
"This is a lot like DVD," McCreary said at the Consumer Electronics Show. "It was around for years, but then one studio embraced it. The same thing is going to happen with online distribution of film. It is not a matter of if, but who goes first." Intel is reportedly involved in the production of Rendezvous With Rama.
Behr Joins Gellar In Grudge
ormer Roswell star Jason Behr will star opposite former Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar in a remake of Takashi Shimizu's Japanese horror movie The Grudge for Senator Films, Variety reported.
Takashi will direct the remake, produced by Nathan Kahane, Doug Davison and Roy Lee. Spider-Man director Sam Raimi executive produces via his Ghost House Pictures, the trade paper reported.
The Grudge is set to film this month in Tokyo; Columbia Pictures will distribute domestically.
Stephen Susco adapted the screenplay, which combines elements from the original and its three sequels, the trade paper reported. The original Grudge deals with a murderous curse stemming from a grudge held by someone who died enraged. Behr plays a college student at an international university in Tokyo, the boyfriend of Gellar's character.
Krypto To Fly?
he Comics2Film Web site reported a rumor that an animated children's series is in the works centered on Superman's dog, Krypto.
Citing an anonymous source, the site reported that Warner Brothers Animation has given the green light to the show, which will be targeted at younger viewers.
The source was unclear as to whether the show will be aimed at the Cartoon Network, The Kids WB! or some other network, the site reported.
Grendel Heads For Film
arner Brothers-based John Wells Productions has optioned the film rights to Matt Wagner's graphic novel Grendel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Wells optioned the rights from Wagner, in association with Dark Horse Entertainment and Arsenal Entertainment, the trade paper reported. Carl Lund is attached to write the screenplay adaptation.
Grendel spans several decades, encompassing various generations of characters. Lund's script will focus on the story of Christine Spar, the adopted granddaughter of the notoriously sadistic yet rich and graceful Hunter Rose, the original superhero Grendel.
Mostow Gets Seconds
onathan Mostow, director of Terminator 3, will helm a Paramount remake of the 1966 John Frankenheimer SF film Seconds after he does a page-one rewrite, Variety reported.
Hal Lieberman will produce, along with Mace Neufeld, the trade paper reported.
Mostow became interested in Seconds after going back and reading the 1964 David Ely novel on which Frankenheimer's movie was based, the trade paper reported. Mostow recently pitched a new take that is closer to the book than the first movie was, and Paramount chief Sherry Lansing gave the green light, the trade paper reported. The film will be retitled.
The original film starred John Randolph as an older man who gets a younger face and identity.
Platinum Options SF Comics
latinum Studios has optioned the film rights to the genre comic series The Dark Fringe and Rust, the company announced.
Platinum's Scott Rosenberg was behind the adaptation of the obscure comic Men in Black for the movies.
Platinum plans on producing live-action movies of The Dark Fringe and Rust.
The Dark Fringe is an original graphic novel written and inked by Eman R. Torre, penciled by John Kissee and published by Atomic Rocket Publications. It is an SF crime story set in a futuristic metropolis called Zenith, featuring a crime boss with a cybernetic hand.
Rust, the creation of writer Steve Miller, is about an ordinary cop who is transformed into a metal-covered creature of living rust in an industrial accident.
PKD Nominees Named
he judges of the 2003 Philip K. Dick Award and the Philadelphia SF Society announced the final ballot for the award, which honors distinguished science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States.
First prize and any special citations will be announced on April 9 at Norwescon 27 in Seattle.
The award, named for the legendary SF author, is presented annually and is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. The ceremony is sponsored by the NorthWest Science Fiction Society. The list of nominees follows.
•Hyperthought by M.M. Buckner
•Clade by Mark Budz
•Dante's Equation by Jane Jensen
•Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
•Spin State by Chris Moriarty
•Steel Helix by Ann Tonsor Zeddies
Nemo Leads Annies
isney/Pixar's Finding Nemo topped the list of animated movies nominated for an Annie Award, with 12 nods from ASIFA-Hollywood, the International Animated Film Society, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Nemo bagged nominations for outstanding animated theatrical feature, directing, music, voice acting, production design, character design and multiple character animation and effects animation, the trade paper reported. Winners will be announced at the annual Annie Awards ceremony Feb. 7 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, Calif.
The Annies, expected to act as a precursor to the animated-film Oscar race, recognize achievements in 22 categories, including feature films, TV, commercials, home video, electronic media and shorts, the trade paper reported.
Nemo will compete against Disney's Brother Bear, Warner's Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Go Fish Pictures' Millennium Actress and Les Armateurs' Triplets of Belleville.
Competing for the top prize in the animated television race are Renegade Animation's Captain Sturdy, Nickelodeon's The Fairly OddParents, Cartoon Network Studios' Samurai Jack, Gracie Films' The Simpsons and Adelaide Productions Inc.'s Spider-Man Animated Series, the trade paper reported.
King Rakes in Awards
eter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King continued to rack up awards on Jan. 5, taking best picture and director awards from the Online Film Critics Society, the Kansas City Film Critics Circle and the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, Variety reported.
In December, King was named best picture of 2003 by the New York Film Critics Circle, the trade paper reported.
The Las Vegas critics also cited King co-star Sean Astin for best supporting actor. Both the Vegas and online groups also lauded the Rings finale for best cinematography (Andrew Lesnie), original score (Howard Shore), costume design (Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor), art direction and visual effects. The online critics also honored the movie for best adapted screenplay (Philippa Boyens, Jackson and Fran Walsh) and sound, the trade paper reported.
Nemo, Pirates People's Choice
inding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl led the best picture nominees for the fan-driven 30th People's Choice Awards, the Reuters news service reported.
The movies were both nominated for favorite motion picture, along with The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, another box-office smash and the second installment in the popular Middle-earth trilogy, the news service reported.
The nominees are picked by a nationwide telephone poll and online voting, and although The Two Towers was released at the end of 2002, it played for much of 2003, Reuters reported.
Nominated for favorite comedy motion picture were Nemo, Bruce Almighty and Elf.
Spy Writers Hired
ark Swift and Damian Shannon, the writing team behind New Line's Freddy vs. Jason, have been tapped by Universal Pictures to rewrite Spy Hunter, a video game adaptation to star Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson, Variety reported.
The film is slated to begin shooting in June for a summer 2005 release.
Chuck Gordon and Adrian Askarieh are producing, with Neal Moritz and Marty Adelstein expected to come on board as well, the trade paper reported.
Spy Hunter stars Johnson as a former fighter pilot who turns to doing battle in souped-up cars for a secret espionage service, the trade paper reported. Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (2 Fast 2 Furious) wrote the original script.
Swift and Shannon are also writing Area 52, about an alien monster that wreaks havoc after escaping from a secret government base in Antarctica, the trade paper reported.
Universal is owned by Vivendi Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Lowe Stakes Claim In Salem
ob Lowe, who stars in TNT's upcoming new miniseries based on Stephen King's Salem's Lot, told reporters that he was a fan of King even before starring in a TV adaptation of The Stand 10 years ago.
"I love Stephen King," Lowe said during a press conference at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Hollywood. "When he's adapted well ... and this script is a really great adaptation ... and when the filmmakers spend time on the characters and don't rush right into the horror, I think he's one of the greatest people on the screen."
Lowe added, "I was really excited to be a part of it, because it's also [part of] the holy trinity: The Shining, The Stand and Salem's Lot. So [I've done] two out of three."
In the new version of Lot, which has been previously adapted for television, Lowe plays Ben Mears, a successful writer who returns to his small hometown of Jerusalem's Lot and uncovers sinister doings involving vampires. The miniseries also stars Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer, James Cromwell, Samantha Mathis, Andre Braugher and Rebecca Gibney.
Dealing with vampires proved difficult for Lowe in real life. "When I got back [from Australia, where the show was filmed], my right wrist was [in pain]," he said. "Anytime I shook somebody's hand, it was excruciating, and I couldn't figure out what I had done. And then as I was watching the dailies in post-production, I realized it's from staking people. ... I've got staking elbow. ... Vampire elbow." The two-part, four-hour Salem's Lot is slated to air on TNT in June.
Father Guests On Joan
oan of Arcadia star Amber Tamblyn's real-life father, Russ Tamblyn, will guest star on the CBS fantasy series—playing "God the father," the Zap2it Web site reported.
Russ Tamblyn (West Side Story) will appear in "Night Without Stars," an episode set for February sweeps, an anonymous CBS source told the Web site.
The story has God telling Joan that she should work with kids, so she signs up for a program that babysits children of abuse victims, the site reported. Her friend Adam (Christopher Marquette), who has harbored a crush on Joan, ends up smitten with another volunteer and asks her to a White Stripes concert on a night when Joan is set to babysit. A peeved Joan then encounters God in the guise of an aging hippie dog walker (Russ Tamblyn), the site reported.
Russ Tamblyn earned an Oscar nomination for 1957's Peyton Place and is perhaps best known for his dancing roles in musicals. More recently, he played Dr. Lawrence Jacoby on Twin Peaks.
Hauser Enters Cave
ole Hauser (Pitch Black) will star in Screen Gems/Lakeshore Entertainment's upcoming SF horror film Cave, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Bruce Hunt, who directed the second and third units on The Matrix and The Matrix Revolutions, will make his directorial debut on the horror thriller, the trade paper reported.
Michael Steinberg wrote the script for the movie, about a group of expert cave explorers who find themselves trapped in a deep-sea cave collapse and who mysteriously mutate into primeval beings. Hauser will star as the team's lead explorer, the trade paper reported.
U.K Author Aiken Dies
ritish fantasy author Joan Aiken, who was best known as a writer of charming and quirky children's stories, died Jan. 4, the U.K. Telegraph newspaper reported.
She was 79.
Aiken wrote 92 novels (among them The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, 1963), including 27 for adults, as well as plays, poems and short stories.
Influenced as a child by John Masefield, Mervyn Peake and the C.S. Lewis trilogy Out of the Silent Planet (she reportedly hated his Narnia series), Aiken created Gothic fantasy "alternate" worlds as the backdrop for unsettling and often outrageous plots notable for their dramatic force, color and strength of imagination, the Telegraph reported.
Aiken's works include Nightbirds on Nantucket (1966), a 1953 collection of short fiction called All You've Ever Wanted and Other Stories, Trouble with Product X (1966) and the second and third books in the Wolves Chronicles series, Black Hearts in Battersea (1964) and Nightbirds on Nantucket (1966). In 1969 her novel The Whispering Mountain (1968) won the Guardian Children's Book Award, and in 1972 Night Fall won America's Edgar Allan Poe Award for juvenile mystery, the newspaper reported.
Notable among her later books were the Arabel and Mortimer series, which was adapted as a series for BBC children's television. She also wrote several "sequels," or pastiches, of Jane Austen's novels, including The Watsons, Mansfield Park and Emma, the newspaper reported. Aiken is survived by a son and a daughter.
Singer Revisits Triangle
-Men director Bryan Singer told SCI FI Wire that he is producing a SCI FI Channel miniseries about the Bermuda Triangle and will write a treatment with Independence Day producer Dean Devlin.
The as-yet-untitled eight-hour miniseries will air in four parts, Singer said in an interview.
"The hook is turn the myth upside down, make kids scared of [the Bermuda Triangle] again," Singer said. The Triangle has lost its luster because of "war, current events, the usual things that turn people away from traditional horror," he added. To him, the Triangle represents "the unknown, everyone's greatest fear."
Singer does not plan to direct an episode of the series, because the nature of the project requires one director to handle all four parts, he said. "The way it would be sequenced, the entire series would have to be shot out of sequence, so I wouldn't be able to shoot one of the episodes. The guy who does them has to do them all. So I'd just produce it. But I co-wrote the stories."
Star Re-Ups For Scooby 3
inda Cardellini, who reprises the role of Velma in the upcoming sequel film Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, told the Los Angeles Daily News that she's already signed on for a third installment in the franchise.
"The first movie, I was a stranger to everyone," Cardellini (TV's ER) told the newspaper. "The second time it was like old home week. It allowed for a lot more freedom."
In the sequel, "my character has a love interest played by Seth Green," Cardellini added. "He's a museum curator, and she is just so in love and scared. She has to deal with her fear of intimacy along with solving the crime, and, of course, he becomes a suspect."
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Alicia Silverstone and Matthew Lillard, arrives in theaters on March 26.
Freddy Contest At Museum
reddy vs. Jason stars Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) and Ken Kirzinger (Jason Voorhees) will appear at the Hollywood Wax Museum on Jan. 13 to judge a look-alike contest as a promotion for the upcoming DVD of last year's horror film.
The museum in Los Angeles will also unveil Freddy and Jason wax figures engaged in combat. Co-star Jason Ritter, who is also a regular on ABC's Joan of Arcadia, will also be on hand during the ceremony, which takes place at 10 a.m.
Winner of the look-alike contest will receive a $500 cash prize; runners-up will get cash, signed DVDs and other prizes.
The two-disc platinum series Freddy vs. Jason DVD features commentary tracks with director Ronny Yu, Englund and Kirzinger; widescreen and full-screen versions of the film, with multiple sound options; a "Jump to a Death" menu option; deleted scenes; an optional opening and ending, with commentary; behind-the-scenes coverage; visual effects exploration; and more. The DVD comes out Jan. 13.
Sonic Heroes Due
ega of America announced the launch of Sonic Heroes, a new video game title for the GameCube and the first original Sonic the Hedgehog console game in three years.
The game is also expected to ship for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 on Jan. 27, Sega announced.
Sonic Heroes challenges gamers to control three characters simultaneously, each offering the unique individual ability of speed, power or flight. Multiple teams follow their own unique story paths across 14 massive stages. Their combined objective: to thwart the plans of Sonic's arch-nemesis, the nefarious Dr. Eggman, the company said.
Sonic Heroes will carry a suggested retail price of $49.95.
Exorcist Reshoots Start
he Dark Horizons Web site reported that reshoots on the troubled prequel film Exorcist: The Beginning commence this week in Rome.
New cast members include Izabella Scorupco and James D'Arcy, who replaces Gabriel Mann. Alan Ford has also landed one of the lead roles, the site added.
Renny Harlin has stepped in for original director Paul Schrader and will virtually reshoot the entire film.
Shirley Creeps With Crawlers
F author John Shirley told SCI FI Wire that his latest novel, Crawlers, would mean different things to different people.
"If I were to pitch it to a movie producer, I'd say it was a body-snatchers story—pod people if you like, though there are no aliens or pods—from the point of view of contemporary teenagers in a California suburb, wherein the adults are rather sickeningly taken over by a nanotech group mind, turning into grotesque 'crawlers' which can look human and then creepily inhuman," Shirley said in an interview. "And the town's youth is its main hope."
Shirley, author of Demons, Wetbones and Eclipse, added, "If I were to describe [Crawlers] to a friend, I'd say it was a cautionary tale about our being out of balance with our technology. Our tools use us, as Thoreau said. And it's also about how adults abandon something precious in themselves, as they leave their youth: a sort of awakeness that is the difference between being a kind of robot and a real living breathing human being. And somewhere in there I might try to mention that it fuses cyberpunk sensibilities, about the street's uses for things, with classic horror forms. In this case, maybe it's the things' uses for the street." Crawlers is now in bookstores and is published by Del Rey.
Moore: Galactica Up In Air
onald D. Moore, executive producer of SCI FI Channel's hit miniseries Battlestar Galactica, told the SyFy Portal Web site that he's prepping a proposed series, but that no decision has been made on whether it will go forward.
The "jury is still out" on whether SCI FI will pick up the highly rated miniseries as a full-blown series, Moore told the site.
"We're still in discussions with the network," Moore said. "The actors' contracts have been extended until the end of January (that is the time period in which their options for series can be picked up), and I've been working on the show bible and the first few episodes in anticipation of a possible order." He added, "It's a complicated, ambitious show, and SCI FI Channel wants to understand all the economic implications before going to series—pretty standard network procedure—but I'm hopeful we'll get the pickup."
Moore also confirmed comments he previously made to IGN FilmForce that he will not be returning as a producer of HBO's fantasy series Carnivale, the site reported. "I won't be returning to Carnivale for its second season, as I decided to concentrate on development and hopefully a BSG series," Moore said.
SCI FI Thursday Unveiled
CI FI Channel on Jan. 7 unveiled its second night of original programming, SCI FI Thursday, which channel president Bonnie Hammer told reporters would target younger adults with edgier fare.
The new night kicks off March 4 with two new series, Mad Mad House and Tripping the Rift, and the return of the popular Scare Tactics. Hammer unveiled the new slate at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Hollywood.
The two-hour programming block starts at 9 p.m. ET/PT, with the new reality series Mad Mad House, a 10-episode hourlong show that will feature five alternative lifestyle practitioners.
Scare Tactics, hosted by Shannen Doherty, returns for a second season of hidden-camera antics at 10 p.m.
The half-hour series is followed at 10:30 p.m. by Tripping the Rift, SCI FI's first animated series, which sends up all things SF. The half-hour show follows the adventures of The Free Enterprise, a smuggling vessel led by a stumpy purple alien named Chode who, along with his colorful group of misfit shipmates, battles archenemies and new obstacles in space each week. The voice cast includes Stephen Root (News Radio), Gina Gershon (Prey for Rock & Roll), "Stuttering" John Melendez (The Howard Stern Show) and Maurice LaMarche (the Brain from Pinky & the Brain).
SCI FI Thursday joins SCI FI Friday, which includes the network's highest-rated original series, Stargate SG-1.
Earthsea Gets Green Light
CI FI Channel announced that it has given a green light to the original miniseries Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea, which is set to begin production in New Zealand this spring.
Adapted from Le Guin's popular book series, the four-hour Earthsea miniseries is written by Gavin Scott (The Mists of Avalon), with Robert Halmi Sr. (Dreamkeeper, Merlin), Lawrence Bender (Kill Bill) and Kevin Brown (Roswell) executive producing. Earthsea is slated to debut on SCI FI in December.
An adaptation of the first two books in Le Guin's trilogy, A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan, the Earthsea miniseries tells the story of a reckless youth destined to become the greatest sorcerer in the mystical land of Earthsea. On his journey to manhood, he will combat dragons, fall in love, cross death's threshold and ultimately wield the power to reunite a kingdom, SCI FI said.
Mad Mad House To Debut
CI FI Channel announced that its reality series Mad Mad House will debut March 4 and will air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT as part of a new original programming block called SCI FI Thursday.
The 10-episode weekly series chronicles the unhinging of 10 everyday people who move into a house run by a vampire, a Wiccan, a naturist, a Voodoo Priestess and a "modern primitive" to compete for a $100,000 prize, the network reported.
The one-hour series is part reality and part game. The 10 guests will be judged by the so-called Alts (for alternative lifestyles) to determine their openness to and tolerance of alternative lifestyles. From their participation in house activities to their willingness to get to know the Alts, the guests will be subject to constant evaluation. The Alts will determine which of their guests will be banished in the weekly elimination ceremony and which one will ultimately walk away with the six-figure prize.
Created by Arthur Smith and Kent Weed, Mad Mad House is produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions (Paradise Hotel).
Briefly Noted
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The full trailer has gone live for the upcoming remake of Dawn of the Dead, which will open in March.
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Dark Horizons has posted extensive spoilers for the upcoming new Batman movie, which it says will be an origin story.
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SuperheroHype! reported that pro wrestler Kevin "Big Sexy" Nash will play The Russian opposite Thomas Jane in Lions Gate's upcoming The Punisher, due out on April 16.
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Warner Brothers announced a July 30 release date for its upcoming Catwoman movie and a Sept. 17 date for Constantine, which is based on the DC/Vertigo comic series Hellblazer.
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Douglas Greenfield, the sound consultant on Alien 3 and Jurassic Park, among other films, will be honored with the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at a gala in Pasadena, Calif., on Feb. 14, Zap2it reported. The Bonner award recognizes Greenfield's contribution to the academy and the world of films since the late 1970s.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King's Peter Jackson was one of five helmers nominated for best director by the Directors Guild of America, the Reuters news service reported. The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association, meanwhile, named King best film and Jackson best director.
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The preliminary ballot for the 2003 Nebula Awards has been posted on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site. The awards will be presented April 17 at the annual Nebula Awards banquet in Seattle.
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Lord of the Rings stars Elijah Wood and Dominic Monaghan will be celebrity monarchs in big New Orleans Carnival parades before the Feb. 24 Mardis Gras celebration, the Associated Press reported. Wood will be riding in the Sunday night parade of the Krewe of Bacchus, and Monaghan will be with the Krewe of Orpheus, the Monday night parade founded by singer Harry Connick Jr.
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Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) has been cast in an undisclosed role in the upcoming fourth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Variety reported.
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Catwoman star Halle Berry wants to adopt the rare Bengal cat she shares the screen with in the new superhero movie, TeenHollywood.com reported. According to on-set sources, Berry enjoys a closer relationship with the feline film star than any of her human cast-mates, who include Sharon Stone.
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ABC has opened an official Web site for its upcoming supernatural 15-hour drama series Kingdom Hospital, from horrormeister Stephen King, which will air Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, starting March 3.
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The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was among the six nominees for the Producers Guild of America's Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year award announced on Jan. 5, Variety reported. PGA awards ceremonies will be held Jan. 17 in Los Angeles.
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Citing a news story in the Vancouver Sun, SCI FI Wire incorrectly reported that a woman killed in a Vancouver, B.C., shooting was the daughter of former X-Files actor William B. Davis.
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The blue-skinned Andorians, led by Shran (returning guest star Jeffrey Combs), will appear in the Jan. 21 episode of UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise, "Proving Ground." The Andorian warship will track Enterprise down in the Delphic Expanse to help Capt. Archer (Scott Bakula) track down the Xindi's superweapon.
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Ben Edlund, executive producer of The WB's Angel, told SCI FI Wire that he will make his directing debut on an upcoming episode of the series. Edlund, who also created The Tick, will direct the 14th episode of the season, "Smile Time," which he also wrote, based on an idea from series co-creator Joss Whedon.
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New Line Cinema has tapped the writing team of Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio to adapt the SF comic book Planet Terry for the big screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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The Venture Brothers, a cartoon comedy-adventure television series produced by New York-based Noodlesoup Productions, won the animated television series award at Cineme 2003, Chicago's first animation film festival, Variety reported. Cartoon Network is set to broadcast the first 13 half-hour episodes of The Venture Brothers in the spring.
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