I, Robot Hot Again
purred by the movie adaptation, sales of Isaac Asimov's classic SF book I, Robot have spiked, and publisher Bantam Spectra has printed 310,000 paperback copies, USA Today reported.
I, Robot is number 44 on the USA Today Best-Selling Books list, the first Asimov book to appear on the list since Forward the Foundation spent nine weeks on it in 1994, the newspaper reported.
I, Robot, the classic collection of nine short stories about robots, which was published in 1950, is the inspiration for a movie starring Will Smith, which opened July 16.
Irwyn Applebaum of Bantam Dell Publishing Group told the newspaper, "Our hope in the publishing industry is that reading will outlast the robots and the movies."
Star Trained Hard For Robot
ill Smith, who stars in the SF movie I, Robot, told SCI FI Wire that he worked hard to stay in peak physical shape for the action-adventure film, in which he appears nude or without a shirt in several scenes.
"Oh, man, I train," Smith said in an interview. "I train at lunch or after work, three, four, five times a week."
Smith added that the training is only part of his discipline as an actor. "It's kind of a game that I play with myself," he said. "At the end of the day, everybody's tired, and everybody's going home. I need to know that I'm the one person that's going to the gym. It's just [that] I need that mindset. Because I've been successful financially, it's easy to get lazy, and then once you start to slip physically, you're going to start to slip mentally, and then inevitably you're going to slip creatively. So I start with my body, then my mind, and it keeps my creativity."
Does Smith's physical fitness put pressure on his famous wife, The Matrix Reloaded's Jada Pinkett Smith? "She just need to keep up, you know?" Smith said with a smile. "She just need to keep up. No, Jada's not going out like that. ... She watched the [nude] scene last night, went right to the gym this morning. She's like, 'Nope. No, you're not catching me out there.'" I, Robot, from director Alex Proyas and inspired by Isaac Asimov's book, opens July 30.
Alias Alters Course
.J. Abrams, creator and executive producer of the ABC spy series Alias, told SCI FI Wire that he remembers the exact moment when he realized the show had gotten off track this past season.
"I'll tell you exactly when," Abrams said in an interview at the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles, where he was promoting his new series Lost. "I was in Hawaii shooting Lost, and I watched Alias on television in Hawaii and just thought, 'Oh, my God. We've lost the show.'"
Abrams went on to explain exactly what he felt went wrong. "The biggest problem is I lost Sydney," he said, referring to the show's main character, played by Jennifer Garner. "I totally lost Sydney. Sydney and Vaughn, there was no more hope in that story. Sydney and Jack, there should always be some child/parent conflict going on there, and there was none. Sloane was on the periphery. Dixon was given a role of authority, but with no consequence. It felt like everywhere I looked there were issues that I wasn't happy with."
Abrams said he is grateful for a chance to make the appropriate adjustments to the show, which will return in January 2005 and will run without repeats for the remainder of the season. "I knew there were things I wanted to do, and luckily ABC picked us up again," Abrams said. "I just wrote the first episode, which I am as excited about as I have been about any episode I've ever done. I'm so happy that we get this shot. [We're] using what was working and going back to that in a way. You'll see what we're doing, and it's so immediately, for me, satisfying. I hope people like it. But I know that where I was really unhappy with it, I'm really happy now."
Lumbly Wants Action In Alias
arl Lumbly, who plays CIA director Marcus Dixon in ABC's spy drama Alias, told SCI FI Wire that he asked for more action scenes in the upcoming fourth season after spending most of the third giving orders from an office.
"I think last season for me, moving from the field to administration, was a curve ball," Lumbly said in an interview during the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "I think as both an actor and a character, there was a struggle going on."
Lumbly said that it was his own frustration as an actor that helped him understand the character's place on the show. "This past season, while I may not have been as thrilled with the role or the tasks that the character had, a lot came out of it for me personally in having to tackle that and in the idea that a lot of us have jobs that we don't love every day," Lumbly said. "You still have to do justice to it, and you have to do honor to it, and, especially in our case, you have to save the world and you have to be bigger than that."
The fourth season of Alias starts filming in July, but the new episodes won't be shown on ABC until January 2005 to avoid having to air reruns during the season. For his part, Lumbly said he thinks the midseason, no-rerun approach will be good for the show in the long run. "I think the idea of airing it consecutively makes a tremendous amount of sense," he said. "Also, I think the idea that we are going to start shooting it at the end of July, but they won't start airing it until January, there will be a lot more work that can be done in that prelude period that will make each episode, I think, even better." Alias will air in its usual Sunday 9 p.m. ET/PT timeslot.
Alias, Joan Get Emmy Nods
BS' Joan of Arcadia received the highest accolades among SF&F TV shows, while ABC's Alias received the most nods among SF&F programs, in the nominations for the 56th Annual Prime-Time Emmy Awards, which were announced July 15 by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Joan of Arcadia was nominated for three awards, including outstanding drama series, outstanding lead actress in a drama (Amber Tamblyn) and outstanding guest actress in a drama (Louise Fletcher). Alias received eight nominations, including outstanding lead actress in a drama (Jennifer Garner) and outstanding supporting actor in a drama (Victor Garber).
SCI FI Channel's original miniseries Battlestar Galactica received three technical nominations, including outstanding visual effects for a miniseries, and its original series Stargate SG-1 got one nod, for outstanding visual effects for a series, for the season-ending episode "Lost City, Part 2."
Other SF&F programming received mostly technical nominations, including HBO's Carnivale, with seven nominations; UPN's Star Trek: Enterprise, with four; Showtime's Dead Like Me, with two; the canceled Fox animated series Futurama, with two, including outstanding animated series less than an hour; and ABC's Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital, with two nominations.
The prime-time Emmy awards will be presented in a live broadcast on ABC, hosted by Garry Shandling, from the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium on Sept. 19.
Lost Role Changed For Fox
atthew Fox, who stars in the upcoming ABC television series Lost, told SCI FI Wire that his character was originally going to die in the first draft of the pilot script.
Series creator J.J. Abrams "wanted to do this really intense thing, where he sets up a really heroic character and then he kills him after the second act," Fox said in an interview during ABC's fall season preview in Los Angeles. "And then everybody kept reading the script and going, 'You just can't kill this guy. You just can't kill him.'"
Fox plays the lead role of Jack, a surgeon trapped on a remote island after surviving a plane crash. He was the last actor to join the cast of 15 and one of the few to have the opportunity to read the finished script before signing on. "It was just the best script I've ever read," Fox said. "I just love the entire premise and the opportunity that gives this incredible cast to do some really fantastic dramatic material. I was completely 100 percent sold, totally excited about it."
Through the process of filming the two-hour pilot (which will be shown as the first and second episodes of the show), the script changed constantly to fit the strengths and dynamics of Fox and the cast, which includes Dominic Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings), Harold Perrineau (The Matrix Reloaded), Terry O'Quinn (Alias), Daniel Dae Kim (Angel) and Emilie de Ravin (Roswell), among others. "As a writer you have an idea of what the character is on the page, but then you meet somebody that you think has got all these qualities, and they adjust the character," Fox said. "[The writers are] always watching us, and they're also watching the dynamics that go on between us, and I think it elicits ideas they have for pairings of characters." Lost premieres Sept. 22 and will air on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Abrams Added SF To Lost
.J. Abrams, co-creator of the upcoming ABC television series Lost, told SCI FI Wire that he wasn't excited about the premise of the show until he and executive producer Damon Lindelof added an element of mystery to it.
"In fact, I didn't even like the premise," Abrams (Alias) said during an interview at the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "I mean, the idea of a plane crash and people who land on an island, ... it wasn't very interesting to me. But Damon came in, and we started talking. And I started to think, '[What] if the island isn't just an island, and if there's a story about the island, and if it very slowly becomes about where they land and not just that they crash-landed?'"
In Lost, Matthew Fox leads a large cast playing survivors of a devastating plane crash on a remote island. The survivors slowly realize that they're not alone on the mysterious island, which may harbor hostile creatures or worse. The cast includes Dominic Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings), Harold Perrineau (The Matrix Reloaded), Terry O'Quinn (Alias), Daniel Dae Kim (Angel) and Emilie de Ravin (Roswell), among others.
In creating the tone of Lost, Abrams said that he and Lindelof were inspired by the works of Michael Crichton, who often mixes science fiction with science fact in his novels. "When [Crichton's] stuff works at its best, it's usually a story that takes you in through the characters and explains stuff sort of in a science-fact sort of way," Abrams said. "So by the time you get to the science fiction, you've been sort of initiated. And it felt to us that ... we can do the same and tell a story that's from the inside out about these characters, something that interests us, which is an aspect of science fiction, [and] not do a science-fiction series, but ... have a show that has a thread of that in the fabric of it. We need to do it in the beginning of the show and not, 'Oh, by the way, we're now turning this into something that also has science fiction.'"
Abrams promised that each episode of Lost will offer small clues to the secret of the island. "We're doing things in order for people to go, 'Oh, that's what that is,'" he said. Lost premieres Sept. 22 and will air on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
WB Wants Angel Movie
arth Ancier, chairman of The WB network, confirmed to SCI FI Wire that the network has approached Angel creator Joss Whedon about doing a telefilm version of the canceled television series, about a vampire with a soul.
"[We] have an offer on the table to Joss to do movies," Ancier said during the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "When Joss and David Boreanaz are both interested in doing it at the same time, I'm sure we will be doing Angel movies. Certainly Joss would like to. David will take a bit more coaxing, but I think he will do it."
Ancier later attributed the cancellation of the series, which ended a five-year run on The WB last May, to pressure from producer 20th Century Fox Television for a quick answer as to the show's renewal. "They had pushed for an early decision on whether the show should come back or not," Ancier said. "Had they not pushed for the early renewal, or, conversely, if we had said, 'You know what? Let's wait till we get to the scheduling room in May and decide then,' ... the show may or may not have been back. But I think we would have had that opportunity to discuss it. I think the mistake that was made is that between us and 20th, we didn't wait until May. We just made the decision early based upon their request."
Alba Fills Out Four
essica Alba (Dark Angel) has been cast as Sue Storm/The Invisible Girl in Fox's upcoming Marvel Comics adaptation Fantastic Four, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Alba, whose features include the upcoming Sin City, beat out stiff competition that included Rachel McAdams and Elizabeth Banks, the trade paper reported.
Alba's casting completes the quartet of superheroes. She joins Michael Chiklis (Benjamin Grimm/the Thing), Chris Evans (Johnny Storm/the Human Torch) and Ioan Gruffudd (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic), the trade paper reported. Tim Story is set to direct.
Singer Signs For Superman
-Men director Bryan Singer signed a deal to develop and direct the long-gestating Superman movie for Warner Brothers, the third helmer to take on the off-again, on-again project, Variety reported.
Singer will work with X2 writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris to draft a new script for the movie, which is slated to begin production late this year in Australia, the trade paper reported. The studio has apparently scrapped a Superman script by J.J. Abrams (TV's Alias).
A tug of war over Singer's next project had been going on for weeks, with Fox's third X-Men installment competing with Warner's remake of Logan's Run to land the helmer, the trade paper reported. It now looks likely that Singer will not do the third X-Men, even though he has an overall deal with Fox.
McG quit Superman last week in a reported dispute over location and budget, and producers Neal Moritz and Gilbert Adler have apparently disappeared from the scene as well, the trade paper reported. The fate of producer Jon Peters also is up in the air. Earlier, Brett Ratner had been attached to direct, but dropped out.
Rumors late last week had Singer signing a deal that would still allow him to direct Logan's Run, but Francis Lawrence (Warner's upcoming Constantine comic adaptation) has also been rumored to be in line for Logan's Run.
McG Talks Superman Split
cG, who recently bowed out as director of the upcoming Superman feature film, told SCI FI Wire that he and the executives at Warner Brothers could not agree on the focus of the story.
"I was passionate about telling the genesis story, and the studio wanted something a little different," McG said in an interview while promoting his new upcoming television series The Mountain. "We were working on the picture for a long time, and ultimately we just agreed that it's best just to pursue other interests at this point."
Despite his creative differences with the studio, the director said that his departure from the project was amicable and that he doesn't expect the issue to affect his dealings with the studio-owned WB television network, which is airing The Mountain in the fall. "It was very good," he said. He added: "I'm going to look into some of the things we have in development at Wonderland and go some different directions and watch over our television business and keep trying to develop the storytelling."
Let Smallville's Luthor Kiss
ichael Rosenbaum, who plays future villain Lex Luthor on The WB's teen-Superman series Smallville, told SCI FI Wire that Lex is still headed for the dark side, but not any time soon.
"Oh, Lex is going to hell," Rosenbaum said during the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "He's going to become his father," Rosenbaum said. "We know that's going to happen. Lex is doing everything in his power to stay on track, to be the good guy, to fight the powers of evil. But you know what? Sometimes it's just inevitable. There's nothing you can do about it, right?"
Rosenbaum, who was sporting a Mohawk haircut before returning to his characteristic bald look for the role, revealed that he is headed up to the show's location in Vancouver, B.C., on July 16 to film his first scene of the season premiere, which will take place on a jet. Rosenbaum wouldn't say what's in store for his character this season, but he did mention something he would like to see. "I hope they let Lex make out with Lana," Rosenbaum joked. "I doubt that's going to happen, but you never know. Because you know what? I think Lex is a good kisser, and I think Lana needs to learn." Smallville begins its fourth season on Sept. 22 in its regular 8 p.m. ET/PT Wednesday timeslot.
Smallville Population Grows By Two
iles Millar, executive producer of The WB's teen-Superman TV series Smallville, told SCI FI Wire that the producers wanted to bring in new faces for the upcoming season as alternative love interests for Clark (Tom Welling) and Lana (Kristin Kreuk).
"We were getting tired of the Clark/Lana relationship," Millar said in an interview during The WB's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "We sort of, like, strip-mined that relationship. So we wanted to bring in some new faces and reenergize the romance in the show and get some new triangles going."
One of those new additions will be Clark's famous future love interest, Lois Lane, played by Erica Durance. Durance is contracted for 13 episodes, with the possibility of more if her character works well within the context of the show. Millar said he is pleased with what he's seen so far. "Erica is stunningly beautiful," he said. "She's clearly a different vibe to Lana. She's very sophisticated and very funny and sassy, energetic and urban. Clark and Erica together, they shot their first scene today, and it's just awesome, the chemistry. So it's going to be really exciting to see that relationship."
Lana, too, will be getting a new potential love interest in the form of Jensen Ackles, previously seen in the canceled Fox series Dark Angel. Ackles will meet up with Kristin Kreuk's character in Paris over the summer. "Jensen also brings a whole new element to the show," Millar said. "He's pretty sexy, and I think when Lana comes back from Paris she's a really changed person. She's come back with a new look and a new attitude, and she's put the past behind her, and she's very confident." Smallville begins its fourth season on Sept. 22 in its regular 8 p.m. ET/PT Wednesday timeslot.
Smallville's Clark Will Fly
n a reversal of the show's original "no flights, no tights" edict, Smallville executive producer Miles Millar confirmed to SCI FI Wire that star Tom Welling will be seen flying in the upcoming fourth-season premiere—but not in a way viewers might expect.
"He doesn't fly as Clark. He flies as Kal-El," Millar said in an interview at The WB's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "The first episode is all about visualizing the internal fight between Clark and Kal-El. Clark Kent represents his Earth-bound persona, the kid who was brought up by the Kents. And Kal-El represents the person that Jor-El wants him to be. This personifies that."
As he has in each of the three previous seasons, Clark will discover a new power this year. But despite the instance in the season premiere, Millar insists, "it's not flight." As fans of the comic book know, that leaves few possibilities. So will cold breath be next?" It might be," Millar said. "There aren't many powers left."
This season will focus on Clark's senior year of high school and will move toward a big revelation toward the end, Millar hinted. "Clark Kent, at the end of this year, will really graduate," he said. "And we're introducing a whole new mythology as well that will involve Lana, Lex and Clark. And at the end of the season we pay off something that is huge in the Superman mythology. It all leads towards something. Diehard fans of the mythology will realize what it is pretty quickly, others won't." Smallville begins its fourth season on Sept. 22 in its regular 8 p.m. ET/PT Wednesday timeslot.
Spiner Beams To Enterprise
tar Trek: The Next Generation star Brent Spiner (Data) will guest star in UPN's upcoming fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Spiner has been tapped to do three episodes of the Trek prequel series, playing the great-great-grandfather of Dr. Noonien Soong, the creator of Data. Spiner previously played Dr. Soong in an episode of TNG.
Rumors also suggest that original Star Trek star William Shatner may also pay a visit to Enterprise, but sources told the trade paper that there are no immediate plans for a guest appearance. Enterprise, originally scheduled for 9 p.m. ET/PT Fridays in the fall, will now air at 8 p.m., the trade paper reported.
SG-1 Premiere Breaks Records
he two-hour eighth-season premiere of the SCI FI Channel original series Stargate SG-1 broke records with a 2.4 rating in its July 9 initial airing, the network announced.
The two-part episode "New Order" captured 3.22 million viewers, making it the most-watched original episode of Stargate SG-1 in the series' history.
The episode also broke all of SCI FI's previous viewership records for original series:
•It was the first episode of a SCI FI original series to deliver more than 3 million viewers.
•It was the first episode of a SCI FI original series to deliver more than 2 million viewers aged 25-54.
•It was the highest-rated and most-watched episode of Stargate SG-1 on SCI FI.
•It was the highest-rated and most-watched program on SCI FI in 2004.
•It was the most-watched Stargate SG-1 episode in its entire eight-year cable run.
•It was the most-watched episode of an original series in SCI FI history.
The Stargate SG-1 season premiere led SCI FI Channel to the top slot for the night among viewers 25-54 and second place among 18- to 49-year-olds.
Atlantis Forges Own Identity
obert C. Cooper, executive producer of SCI FI Channel's upcoming original series Stargate Atlantis, told SCI FI Wire that the show will be more than simply a rehash of its predecessor series, Stargate SG-1.
"We want to appeal to the audience of SG-1, and we wanted to capitalize on what we feel has made SG-1 a success and made it this long-running show," Cooper said in an interview during a break in filming on the show's set outside Vancouver, B.C. "And yet we also wanted it to feel like it wasn't SG-2, that it's a new show."
Originally, Atlantis was designed to replace SG-1 once it left the air, Cooper said. "There was a plan to basically have SG-1 come to a close as a television series and maybe roll into a series of feature films, and have that be more of a passing of the baton into the new series," he said. "But SCI FI asked us to do season eight [of SG-1] and season one of Atlantis at the same time. So that caused us to rethink the concept a little bit for the spinoff series, so that it would exist at the same time."
As a result, Cooper and his team of writers opted to ship the Atlantis team of explorers to the distant Pegasus galaxy, where they discover the lost city of Atlantis—but also find that they can't return to Earth. "I think that made the spinoff series better, made it stand alone a little bit more," Cooper said. "We decided to set it in a different galaxy, which allowed us to kind of wipe the slate clean and meant that the new team of heroes wasn't going to be running into the same old enemies or crossing over ... with SG-1. We didn't want people to wonder, 'Well, why isn't SG-1 coming to save the day?' ... And there was also something about why hadn't we discovered where the lost city was? And the fact that it was moved to a whole other galaxy, and there's this other new frontier, so to speak: a whole new network of Stargates that you can't really connect ... easily with from the network in our galaxy. And then coming up with a different enemy: That ultimately ... set the tone for the show."
The new enemy is the Wraith. "All of the planets we visit are cultures that are shaped by the Wraith and the context of having this enemy," Cooper said. "In many ways, the tone of SG-1 was set by the fact that the Goa'uld had taken people from various times in Earth's history and transplanted them in other galaxies, and we kind of went around finding these little pockets of ancient culture. ... The cultures in the Pegasus galaxy are all being shaped by how they've dealt with the overriding presence of the Wraith." Stargate Atlantis premieres with a two-hour episode, "Rising," at 9 p.m. ET/PT on July 16.
Francks Gets Active In Atlantis
ainbow Sun Francks, who plays the gung-ho Lt. Aiden Ford in SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate Atlantis, told SCI FI Wire that his character gets to "run around" and "shoot people."
"He's ... second in command," Francks said in an interview on the show's set outside Vancouver, B.C. "Backstory's a U.S. Marine. He's a young guy. He's definitely ... a guy who likes to get the job done, whatever the job may be. He's at 200 percent at all times."
Francks' character backs up military leader Maj. John Sheppard (Joe Flanigan) on the team of explorers who are dispatched through the Stargate to the lost city of Atlantis in the distant Pegasus galaxy. As a military character, Francks said he gets to do a lot of stunts.
"They're letting me do, well, pretty much my own stuff as [much as] I can, other than stuff where things are blowing up in my face," Francks said. In one upcoming episode, Francks found himself in a wire stunt harness for a sequence in which he and members of the team are on board one of the show's new spacecraft, nicknamed a "puddle jumper." To save the crew, Ford must blow the ship's rear hatch "and let the air out of my lungs and hold on for dear life while I'm about to be sucked into space," he said. "What's really cool is you see the door come ... down and start sucking things out. ... Then you just see me, and they've got my ankles hooked up, and I just get jacked right up, voom, like so hard and fast and really cool, and I'm holding on, and I couldn't let go, because ... if I did let go, I would have just smashed my face right away. So I was really holding on for dear life. I haven't seen the shot yet, but apparently it looks really good."
Stargate Atlantis premieres with a two-hour episode, "Rising," at 9 p.m. ET/PT on July 16.
Luttrell Fights In Atlantis
achel Luttrell, who plays Teyla Emmagan in SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate Atlantis, told SCI FI Wire that she had to bone up on martial arts to play the leader of an alien world.
"I do a lot of fighting. That will be a definite part of my presence on the show," Luttrell said in an interview on the show's set near Vancouver, B.C. "So I'm learning kali, which is a form of Filipino martial arts [stick fighting], and now I'm learning a bit of kung fu and ... boxing and hand-to-hand and knife [fighting]."
Luttrell's character is a human on the alien world of Athos in the Pegasus galaxy, who encounters a team of Earth explorers. "I come from a civilization which is, in comparison to Earth, slightly more primitive," Luttrell said. "We have some technological advances, like we can start fire with lasers and ... stuff like that. And ... we have a civilization that has reached a certain level of advancement. But we're kind of keeping that under wraps right now, because we're living under the threat of this horrific enemy called the Wraith. So we live in tents, and we move our settlements again and again and again to try and stay away from the Wraith. And essentially what ends up happening is ... the Atlantis team members find us, and we end up battling with the Wraith, and my people end up having to evacuate the planet. And so we move to Atlantis, and I end up joining the team."
Luttrell, who had some training as a dancer, had to learn a variety of fighting skills to play the warrior. "I am the leader of my people, so I am a warrior, and I am probably, at this point, the one who knows the most about the Wraith," she said. "So I make a good addition to the team." Stargate Atlantis premieres with a two-hour episode, "Rising," at 9 p.m. ET/PT on July 16.
Point Pleasant Moves Ahead
ail Berman, president of entertainment for the Fox network, told SCI FI Wire that the network has ordered additional scripts for the proposed supernatural series Point Pleasant, from former Buffy the Vampire Slayer executive producer Marti Noxon.
"Point Pleasant is a pilot that we have done, and now we're doing a couple of additional scripts for it," Berman said in an interview at Fox's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "How do I describe Point Pleasant to you? It's kind of Peyton Place meets The Omen. ... This is right up your alley."
Earlier news reports suggest that Point Pleasant will center on a small New Jersey beach community that is turned upside down when a mysterious young girl washes ashore and begins to affect the town's residents in unsettling ways.
Berman, whose history with Noxon dates back to Berman's own days as an executive producer of Buffy, said that the network is enthusiastic about working with Noxon, despite having killed Noxon's last proposed show, Still Life. Still Life centered on a family whose youngest son, a police rookie, is killed in the line of duty and who comments on his surviving family from beyond the grave. A pilot was produced, but did not make it to the network's schedule. "I don't think we'll put it on the air," Berman told reporters. "I just don't think it's good enough."
Later, Berman added, "It wasn't terrible at all. I just think in the end it ... didn't live up to the concept, initially. I think the concept of the tale of a young man telling the story from the grave is probably a more literary device than it is an actual television device. So if I implied that it was terrible in any way, I certainly didn't mean to. It just wasn't ... enough for us." As for Noxon, she said: "We adore her. We think she's one of the most talented people we've ever worked with, and personally I adore her from my life with Buffy. So ... she's a great lady, a great creator, just all around fantastic." Point Pleasant is not on Fox's upcoming fall schedule.
Jack and Bobby Looks To Future
homas Schlamme, executive producer of the upcoming WB series Jack and Bobby, told SCI FI Wire that he and the writers discussed how to depict the year 2040 in the show, which focuses on two young brothers, one of whom is destined to grow up to become president of the United States.
"The writers had this great exercise where everybody came in with a topic and talked about what the world would be in 2040," Schlamme said during the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "It actually gives you a small window and a small hope that that's what it will be like, and someone like this can grow up and lead this country."
Schlamme said the futuristic setting will allow for stories based on a wide variety of issues extrapolated from the present day. "Besides the personal stories, it allows us to talk about thematic elements that are existing in 2004 America," Schlamme said. "How did these little snapshots of life right now affect the future of the world? And then we get to see how, in fact, they could affect the future of the world."
The series, starring Christine Lahti (Schlamme's off-screen wife) as the boys' mother, will jump back and forth between the present day and the future. The story in between will be revealed at a slow, deliberate pace, according to executive producer Greg Berlanti. "That's sort of the X-Files mystery of the show that we're figuring some of that out as we go," Berlanti said. "And it's another reason to sort of not want to miss an episode, because that may be an episode where you get an important piece of the jigsaw." Jack and Bobby will air Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT in the fall.
No Resurrection For Shadows
he WB has abandoned development of its previously announced remake of the cult vampire soap opera Dark Shadows, according to Garth Ancier, chairman of the frog network.
"[It was] wonderfully produced by John Wells, very well-written," Ancier said during the network's fall press preview in Los Angeles. "[It] just didn't quite gel the way we hoped it would gel, and we didn't go forward, and we're not going forward."
Despite its price tag of between $5 million and $6 million, Ancier said that the network was unhappy with the direction the show had taken after a last-minute change in directors. "There was a director assigned to it [Rob Goldman], who was a terrific director," Ancier said. "He pulled out to do a feature film. We had a new director come in who was accomplished in movies, but frankly didn't do a particularly good job, and the rest is history."
Ancier added that even executive producer Wells realized the pilot was unsalvageable. "It's not like John has come back to us and said, 'You know what? I really still love this. I really want to go forward with it,'" Ancier said. "If John Wells wanted to do that, I'm sure we would do it."
Baldwin Takes Over Scare
tephen Baldwin has signed on to host the third season of SCI FI Channel's original series Scare Tactics, replacing original host Shannen Doherty, who has left to pursue other projects, the network confirmed.
SCI FI has ordered 14 new episodes of Scare Tactics, a half-hour hidden-camera series produced by Hallock Healey Entertainment.
"It's a hilarious show, a lot of fun," Baldwin said in a statement. "It's more fun than I anticipated. The producers get my sense of humor." He added: "It's been interesting coming on board [to an established show] and working with the producers to create a new feel. There's a more spontaneous, high-level energy feel to the show. ... I'm excited about opportunities in the future for whole new levels in Scare Tactics. I think we can take this show to places it hasn't reached yet."
Doherty completed eight episodes of the second season. "Shannen was a great fit for the show and really helped get Scare Tactics the attention it deserves," series producer Scott Hallock said in a statement.
Beowulf Goes To Movies
arner Brothers is developing a film based on the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Newcomer Matthew Sand will write the script for the film version of the story, about a knight who takes up the sword against a monster.
The eighth-century tale centers on Beowulf of the Geats, who is called to slay Grendel, a monster that is attacking a Danish kingdom. The poem is known to have been an influence on J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, the trade paper reported.
New Passion Suit Filed
he distributor of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ has sued another theater company, alleging it owes at least $1 million and also failed to hand over box-office receipts, the Associated Press reported.
Icon Distribution filed the lawsuit this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Muvico Theaters, which the lawsuit said owns 233 screens in three states, the AP reported.
The wires service's phone calls to Muvico, which is based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., were not immediately returned July 15.
Muvico owes about $1 million based on an agreement to pay 55 percent of receipts, Icon's attorney Jeffrey McFarland told the AP. It was the second such lawsuit Icon has filed seeking an agreed-upon share of ticket sales for the film.
Indy IV Delayed Again
rank Marshall, producer of the proposed fourth Indiana Jones movie, told SCI FI Wire that ongoing script changes will delay the film for at least another year.
"Indiana Jones [IV] is still in the writing stage," Marshall said. But, he added, "it's still a live project, and [producer George] Lucas is working on the script at this time."
At one point, it looked like Indy IV was nearing production, with director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford eager to shoot Frank Darabont's draft. But Lucas balked, putting the project on hold once more.
Marshall said that Lucas was currently completing the script with another writer, whom he declined to identify. "I'd say we have about two-thirds of a great story, and now we're working on the last third," Marshall said. "We'll get our schedules coordinated, but it won't be for another year or so." Complicating matters: Ford is getting long in the tooth; he observed his 62nd birthday on July 13.
Nevertheless, Marshall said that the production team was excited about the project, but reluctant to start until they made sure all elements of the film were perfect. "We don't want to proceed with something that we all don't feel is worthy," Marshall said. "Obviously, we don't want to do this movie unless it's going to be great."
Odyssey Goes Fantasy Route
creenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, who is adapting Homer's The Odyssey for the movies, told SCI FI Wire that he will use selections of the original Homeric text to play up the fantasy elements of the story.
Boyce added that his approach will differ from the recent Troy, an adaptation of The Iliad, which dispensed with the epic poem's gods and monsters in favor of strictly human drama.
"I wasn't that happy with leaving the gods out of Troy," Boyce said in an interview. "I didn't really know what the point was. I'd much rather go for it, although, actually, it is very difficult to get the gods to work, because in the background there is always the shadow of Laurence Olivier in a purple-white robe playing chess [as in 1981's Clash of the Titans]. You don't want to go down that road, and it's very difficult to re-imagine that."
Boyce added, "I'll probably use some of the more prophetic bits of it, where you're predicting how the journey's going to turn out and stuff like that. There are just some lines that you can't do without. But I'm going to play around with it. Troy was quite serious. This is more kind of Ray Harryhausen territory."
The movie comes from Heyday Films, producer of the Harry Potter films, and is envisioned as a family film. As a result, Boyce said that will refocus the story on the younger character of Telemachus. "The version that we're doing is very much from the point of view of Telamachus, Odysseus' son, who goes looking for him. You get to Odysseus, and you do see a lot of Odysseus in the film, but the controlling point of view is Telemachus. So it's kind of about fathers and sons, and it's young in that way." Boyce said he has only finished a first draft of The Odyssey.
Romero Raises New Dead Film
eorge Romero is set to direct Land of the Dead, a horror film that picks up the zombie saga that began in Romero's original Night of the Living Dead and continued with Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, Variety reported.
Based on Romero's own script, the movie will begin production in October in Winnipeg, Manitoba, or Pittsburgh, the site of shooting for Romero's original 1968 zombie trilogy.
In Land of the Dead, the zombies having taken over the world, and those left alive are confined to a walled-in city that keeps out the corpses. Anarchy rules the streets, with the wealthy insulated and living in fortified skyscrapers, and the movie revolves around a group of scavengers who must thwart an attempt to overthrow the city while the dead are evolving from brainless slow-moving creatures into more advanced creatures, the trade paper reported.
Atmosphere chairman and chief executive Mark Canton and president Bernie Goldmann will produce, along with Romero's partner, Peter Grunwald, of Romero Grunwald Productions.
New Line Options Vampire
ew Line Cinema has optioned film rights for the role-playing game Vampire: The Requiem from White Wolf Publishing for producer Adam Fields, Variety reported.
New Line's eyeing the property as a potential franchise property, the trade paper reported.
Requiem introduces a contemporary horror universe that details the night life of vampires, the trade paper reported. Requiem and its ancillary role-playing products will be published Aug. 30 through White Wolf's World of Darkness imprint. Requiem is a successor to White Wolf's 1991 Vampire: The Masquerade.
Murray: Wax Fire Burned Fast
had Michael Murray, who stars as Nick in the remake of House of Wax, told SCI FI Wire that he was in mid-scene when fire broke out and destroyed an Australian soundstage last month, temporarily halting production.
"I was a foot and a half away from it," Murray said in an interview. "I was lying on the ground, and they called 'Action!' It's a climactic part of the movie. I started to get water blisters on my hand [from the heat], and I jumped up and said 'What?' I got out of there in the middle of a take, and I turned around and, whoosh, everything was gone."
Murray added that producers acted swiftly. "Everyone got out all right, [and] they made sure they did a headcount immediately. That was the most important thing. Yeah, you lose equipment, You lose the stage. You lose everything else. But the fact of the matter is everyone got out OK. That's all we cared about. Everything else can be replaced."
House of Wax was seven weeks into its 11-week shoot for Warner Brothers/Village Roadshow Pictures when fire erupted when molten wax figures came into contact with gas burners, Variety reported last month. There were no injuries, and the Warner Roadshow Studios soundstage in Queensland will be rebuilt as soon as possible, Village Roadshow told Variety. The movie, a remake of the 1953 Vincent Price horror movie, delayed production when several sets were destroyed. House of Wax, which was originally slated to premiere this year, has been bumped back to early 2005.
Go Westworld, Young Man
creenwriter John Brancato told SCI FI Wire that he and partner Michael Ferris are working on a rewrite for a proposed remake of the classic 1973 SF movie Westworld, originally written by Michael Crichton.
Their premise expands the world of the film from that of a robot-populated western theme park to one featuring more fantasy realms.
Westworld began as a vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger, who must now be recast, as the Austrian actor is now governor of California. "We have to settle on a script and then see what the studio wants to do with it," Brancato said. He added that certain one-liners in the script will no longer work without Schwarzenegger. "One early line we had that we loved was 'No minibar' as an Arnold line. That's just not going to work without him."
The writers are mindful of original Westworld star Yul Brynner as they create new characters. "We definitely have relentless robots that have a little bit of a Yul Brynner feel," Brancato said. "I've been thinking about classic western heroes and villains who aren't available unless we can digitally recreate them." No start date is set for Westworld, and Brancato had no date for completing his draft.
Terminator 4 Draft Finished
creenwriter John Brancato told SCI FI Wire that he and partner Michael Ferris have turned in a draft of a script for a proposed fourth Terminator movie—one that works around the expected absence of previous Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is now the governor of California.
"We did have to think about a new franchise character, [because] he couldn't carry the movies anymore," Brancato said in an interview. "That caused us to have a pretty novel approach to what a new terminator would be like. What directions would it go in? There will be a new robot on the set of Terminator 4."
Brancato and Ferris wrote the screenplay for the last installment, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, which was directed by Jonathan Mostow. Brancato said that Mostow is involved in development of the fourth movie, but added, "We'll see if it winds up being him as director. If it does come to life—and everything's up in the air—it might come out in about a year and a half to two years."
Producers have suggested that the series could continue through a fifth film. But the writers have not worked that far ahead. "Five, I don't want to think about," Brancato said.
Alien Prop Fetches $55,000
rish singer Chris de Burgh paid just under £29,875 ($55,434) to buy a latex "chest-bursting" Alien model from the 1979 classic SF movie, the BBC News Web site reported.
De Burgh bought the piece, which was seen bursting from John Hurt's chest, at a London auction, well exceeding the expected price of around £12,000.
Bidding was frantic for the lot, which auctioneer Bonhams described as "an iconic piece of science fiction film history." De Burgh told the BBC: "I bought it because I believed it was a defining moment in cinema history for its sheer horror. I know John Hurt very well, and of course I will give him natural visiting orders, being the mother of this creature."
Anderson Auctions For Charity
he Official Gillian Anderson Web Site, dedicated to the former The X-Files star, will sponsor a small auction of autographed or personalized items to benefit charity, Aug. 2-9.
The eBay auction will feature seven items, including three X-Files scripts autographed by Anderson, who played FBI Special Agent Dana Scully on the hit SF series.
The auction will benefit Anderson's favorite charities: the Neurofribromatosis Association of the United Kingdom, Neurofibromatosis, Inc., and Buskaid, which helps young black musicians in South African townships.
Omega Wins Campbell Award
ack McDevitt's SF novel Omega won the John W. Campbell Award for best science fiction novel of 2003, which was announced July 9 at the University of Kansas, according to a report on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Web site.
Kage Baker's short story "The Empress of Mars," meanwhile, took home the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for best short science fiction in 2003.
James Patrick Kelly's "Bernardo's House" finished in second place for the Sturgeon Award, and John Kessel's "It's All True" took third place. Justina Robson's Natural History placed second for the Campbell Award, and Philip E. Baruth's The X President was third.
At the same ceremony, SF authors Brian Aldiss and Harry Harrison were inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. Mary Shelley and E.E. Smith were inducted posthumously. This was the final year for induction in the SFF Hall of Fame, the site reported. In the future it will be renamed the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and included in the new Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. A surprise presentation of the 2004 First Fandom Hall of Fame Award was also made to Aldiss.
Doom 3 Ships In August
d Software and Activision confirmed that the highly anticipated Doom 3 first-person shooter is done and ready for manufacture for the PC and will ship to retailers the week of Aug. 2.
The long-awaited SF horror sequel game is built on id's new 3-D technology, the company said. There is no word on other versions of the game, which has been in development for half a decade.
"Doom 3 is done!" Todd Hollenshead, id's chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Doom 3 is a video-game experience unlike any before it. From the cinema-quality visuals and the incredible 5.1 sound to the terrifying atmosphere and hyper-realistic environments, the whole game screams 'interactive horror film!' Add in the most ferocious lineup of demons hell has ever brought to bear, and you have an experience so intense that you'll need to keep your heart medicine handy."
In Doom 3, players are assigned to the Union Aerospace Corp.'s Mars research facility, where experiments have unlocked the gates to hell.
Star Ocean Due In August
quare Enix announced that Star Ocean Till the End of Time, an SF anime-style role-playing video game, will ship to North American retailers on Aug. 31.
The intergalactic adventure for the PlayStation 2 will come in special foil box packaging with two DVDs and carry a suggested retail price of $49.95, the company said.
Star Ocean features the Japanese "director's cut" version of the game. Extras include extended high-resolution cinematic sequences, two new areas with varied gameplay, new playable characters that expand the story and several "vs." modes, in which players can also choose from a variety of looks for the characters, the company said.
Set in SD 772, 400 years since the climactic battle with the "Ten Wise Men," Star Ocean centers on humans and aliens who co-exist in both advanced and less-developed societies as the Galaxy Federation continues to research the cosmos to gain more influence in space.
Fallout 3 In The Works
ethesda Softworks announced that it will develop and publish Fallout 3, the video-game sequel to the popular role-playing-game franchise.
Bethesda licensed the rights to the Fallout franchise from Interplay Entertainment Corp. in a deal that awards Bethesda rights to the franchise for the PC, home consoles, handhelds and other media, with the option to develop and publish additional sequels, the company said.
Originally released in 1997, Fallout places a player in the role of a "vault-dweller," who ventures from his secluded, underground "survival vault" into a post-apocalyptic world of mutants, radiation, gangs and violence. Fallout 3 will be developed by Bethesda, along with the next chapter of The Elder Scrolls, both under the direction of Todd Howard, executive producer of The Elder Scrolls.
More Narnia In The Works?
he New Zealand Herald newspaper reported a rumor that work has begun on a script for a second movie in the proposed series of films adapted from C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia books.
The newspaper based its story on statements reportedly made by Mark Zoradi, president of Buena Vista International, Disney's foreign distributor, to the Screen Daily Web site.
If the first movie in the series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is successful, Disney may decide to film the next two at the same time, Zoradi reportedly said.
The new script may be Prince Caspian, Lewis' second Narnia novel, although there is debate over the best order in which to read the series, the newspaper reported.
Director Andrew Adamson (Shrek) began filming Lion in New Zealand this week.
Briefly Noted
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Jet Net, a French furniture maker, has created a Star Trek-themed coffee table, the FunFurDe Web site reported.
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Moviefone has posted a new trailer for DreamWorks' upcoming computer-animated fish movie Shark Tale, featuring the voices of Will Smith and Angelina Jolie, which opens Oct. 1.
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Spain's Atletico de Madrid soccer team will wear shirts emblazoned with the Spider-Man 2 logo at the Intertoto Cup matches this summer, the Associated Press reported.
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The new Kid's WB animated series The Batman will feature an original title track by U2 guitarist The Edge, the network announced. "I'm very excited to be a part of what looks like an interesting new take on Batman," The Edge said in a pre-recorded video interview during The WB's fall press preview in Los Angeles.
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Anonymous Content has optioned film rights to Tasty Bullet, a yet-to-be-published SF graphic novel by Jonathan Vankin and Arnold Pander about an insidious energy drink that may or may not be brainwashing those who drink it, Variety reported.
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Ubisoft, in cooperation with LucasArts, announced that it is developing a game based on the Star Wars trilogy for the GameBoy Advance, the GameSpot Web site reported. Star Wars Trilogy: Apprentice of the Force will hit stores in September.
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UPN announced that it will air Star Trek: Enterprise at 8 p.m. ET/PT Fridays in the fall, instead of the previously announced 9 p.m. ET/PT. UPN will begin airing reruns of Enterprise this summer in its new Friday timeslot beginning Aug. 6.
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Warner Brothers has acquired The Wild, an SF movie pitch by writer Tim Rollins, about an Earth left swarming with dangerous, rapidly evolving organisms in the wake of genetic tinkering, Variety reported.
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Reese Witherspoon and Kristin Chenoweth are in negotiations to voice roles in Walt Disney Feature Animation's upcoming computer-animated film Rapunzel Unbraided, Variety reported. The movie is in preproduction but has yet to be green-lighted.
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Action No. 1, the comic book that introduced Superman, is being offered on an eBay auction by Lelands.com, the sports and pop culture auction house, on behalf of actor Charlie Sheen. The opening bid is 10 cents—the original cover price—and the auction will end on July 28.
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ABC prime-time entertainment president Stephen McPherson told reporters that the network hopes to develop another Stephen King movie, despite the dismal ratings of the last collaboration, Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital. Speaking at the ABC fall press tour in Los Angeles via video from his honeymoon in Paris, McPherson said, "We're actually looking at a movie of his right now that we're hoping may in fact get green-lit shortly."
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Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was praised for making reading "cool" as she received an honorary degree from Edinburgh University on July 8, the Associated Press reported. Rowling received the degree of doctor honoris causa in recognition of her contribution to children's literature.
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Paramount Pictures is developing a remake of Cecil B. DeMille's biblical epic The Ten Commandments with producer Mark Gordon (The Day After Tomorrow), Variety reported. Charles Randolph (The Life of David Gale) is drafting the script.
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Fox will release The Day After Tomorrow on DVD on Oct. 5, Variety reported. The single-disc DVD will feature the first insert for the studio's new national rebate offer: $10 back with the purchase of three of eight qualifying Fox titles to be released in the fourth quarter.
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In its first movie tie-in, Discovery Channel's American Chopper will feature a custom-made motorcycle inspired by Fox's SF movie I, Robot and special segments with star Will Smith in a special two-part episode, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Locus magazine has published The Locus Awards, an anthology of selected SF stories that have won the magazine's annual readers' poll over the past 30 years.
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