Golden Globe Awards highlight strange goings-on at The X-Files

hose weird little grey people who dwell in our midst -- otherwise known as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association -- tapped Fox's The X-Files as top TV drama and its two charismatic stars, David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, as top dramatic TV actors in the 54th annual Golden Globe Awards, given out in Beverly Hills, Calif., last week.

(NBC's alien comedy 3rd Rock From the Sun garnered a globe for best TV comedy or musical program. 3rd Rock star John Lithgow took home the best actor award in the same category.)

It's been a busy month for The X-Files. Earlier, series creator Chris Carter told television executives meeting in Pasadena that next season -- the popular show's fifth -- may be his last, as he turns his attention to movies, specifically the much-anticipated X-Files feature.

Asked what it would take to keep him on, he quipped that he might reconsider if Fox starts "rolling out that Seinfeld money," referring to the $1-million -per-episode deal standup comedian Jerry Seinfeld will reportedly get for his own sitcom.

Though Carter -- whose attention is being split these days between X-Files and his freshman series Millennium -- may be free to leave the show, Duchovny and Anderson are contractually bound for a sixth year.

Anderson, who plays brainy FBI Special Agent Dana Scully, is apparently unbound in other ways, however. News reports say she has separated from her husband of three years, former X-Files art director Clyde Klotz. Various rumors have put her in the company of erstwhile X-Files guest star Adrian Hughes, but both have denied a relationship. Anderson and Klotz have a two-year-old daughter, Piper.

Meanwhile, X-Files co-star Mitch Pileggi, who plays Assistant FBI Director Walter Skinner, tied the knot over the holidays with Arlene Rempel, who works as Anderson's stand-in on the X-Files' Vancouver set. Duchovny, who plays paranoid agent Fox Mulder, stood up as best man.

And the show goes on. In an upcoming episode that might be subtitled "The Nonsilence of the Limbs," film actress and director Jodie Foster will be a guest star, as the voice of a man's tattoo that sends him messages to kill.

-- Patrick Lee, U.S. Correspondent

Eon 4 blasted off Web

The pioneering SF webisodic series Eon 4, which chronicled the first contact of Earthlings with a race of alien superbeings, has been cancelled with the bankruptcy filing of its parent company, American Cybercast. The series, created by Alien Nation and new Twilight Zone writer Rockne O'Bannon, was one of three so-called "websodics" produced by AMCY. The other two, The Spot and The Pyramid, will continue in scaled-down productions.

Though AMCY reeled in an impressive roster of advertisers for its programs -- including Sony, Eastman Kodak, Apple Computer, Toyota and Visa -- ad revenues weren't enough to keep the ambitious project afloat, Variety reported. -- P.L.

New SF movies revealing something in the air

Forget volcano movies, the next wave of SF thrillers will spotlight falling objects. First up is NBC-TV's miniseries Asteroid, which airs February 16 and 17, during which a hailstorm of epic proportions levels Los Angeles.

Now comes word that Dreamworks SKG, the studio co-founded by Steven Spielberg, will team up with Paramount to make Deep Impact, an epic about the imminent collision of a comet with Earth. Production begins April 21.

Based on the classic SF film When Worlds Collide and Arthur C. Clarke's The Hammer of God, Impact is an original screenplay co-written by Michael Tolkin (best known for The Player and executive produced by Spielberg himself. -- P.L.

Sony fires early warning shots at Starship Troopers Web site

In the latest skirmish between corporate media and online fan culture, Wired News reported that Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. has warned Harry Knowles that his unofficial Starship Troopers Web site may violate trademark laws. Knowles took down his pages, which featured wireframe prototypes of the giant insectoid creatures that will terrorize Earthlings in Paul Verhoeven's film of Robert Heinlein's classic SF tale, slated for release in November.

Knowles's troubles are only the latest in a jihad by corporate interests against fan Web sites. Viacom, parent company of Paramount and owner of Star Trek, has warned some fan sites to remove copyrighted and trademarked material, while Fox has issued similar warnings to X-Files fans.

The campaigns are sparking fan backlash, with Trekkers in particular comparing Viacom and the official Star Trek Continuum page on Microsoft Network to the Borg. -- P.L.

Babylon 5 spinoff series slated

The tentative title for the rumored Babylon 5 spinoff series is The Babylon Project: Crusade, according to Netter Digital Entertainment. The new series, which will reportedly take place after the time frame of the main B5 story arc, will focus on the Rangers.

According to The Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5, B5 creator J. Michael Straczynski said that Warner Bros. has also asked him for a treatment on a sequel, and TNT is interested in doing two original B5 movies set during the current time frame, with one of them a prequel.

Meanwhile, Babylon 5 has won the American Cinema Foundation's 1997 E Pluribus Unum Award, given to feature film and television productions that address social values in a positive manner. -- P.L.

Oldman signs on for Lost in Space

Gary Oldman, the irascible British actor best known for playing Bram Stoker's Dracula, will take on the role of a different kind of bloodsucker: the lily-livered Dr. Zachary Smith in the upcoming film version of the high-camp 1960s television series Lost in Space.

Oldman is reportedly in final talks to assume the role first played by Johnathan Harris in the famous televison show that also featured Billy Mumy (now a regular on Babylon 5). Oldman's asking price: $4 million.

Oldman would be the first principal cast member signed for the New Line movie. As for the original Dr. Smith, he's still around and in his 80s, last seen on a science fiction cable show about -- what else -- Lost in Space. -- P.L.

Tom and Emilio consider time traveling movie

Variety reports that Tom Cruise and Emilio Estevez are considering producing and starring in a time travel thriller called Timejumpers. Estevez had a small part in the summer blockbuster Mission: Impossible, which Cruise starred in and produced. Timejumpers is an SF action thriller about an elite group of federal agents who travel back in time to record major crimes and then bring the tapes back to the present for use as evidence in court.

The story follows two time-jumping brothers and the jeopardy they face when they uncover corruption in the program. Cruise's production company paid an initial low six-figure sum for a pitch by screenwriter Bo Zenga, whose fee will rise to the mid six-figures if the film is made. -- P.L.

Seven partners to Rendevous with Rama

Actor Morgan Freeman (most recently seen in Moll Flanders and Chain Reaction) has plans to bring Arthur C. Clarke's classic SF tale, Rendezvous with Rama, to the big screen.

He and producer Lori McCreary have reportedly formed a production company, Revelations Entertainment, to adapt the epic tale, to be helmed by Seven director David Fincher. Fincher and Freeman last worked together in Seven. -- P.L.

New film puts Miramax on the lunatic fringe

Miramax films, the studio known for such classy fare as The English Patient and Il Postino (The Postman), has apparently seen the future and it is: science fiction. Miramax's Dimension Films will produce Lunatic Fringe, an original SF story about a band of future misfits who join forces to make a daring rescue.

Earlier, Miramax announced it had acquired the sequel rights to the Arnold-Schwarzenegger-on-Mars hit, Total Recall. -- P.L.