Lucasfilm Defends DVD Changes
ucasfilm spokesman Jim Ward told SCI FI Wire that the company strongly defends Star Wars creator George Lucas' right to make controversial alterations to his beloved original trilogy of films in the upcoming DVD release.
"It comes down to what [Lucas] has said constantly, which is that he very strongly believes in an artist's right to have his work presented in the way he wants it presented," Ward said in an interview at the press preview of the DVD set in Los Angeles. "In terms of your own personal art, and how you want it to be presented, the artist has that right."
The DVD set of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi includes changes to the 1997 so-called "special editions" of the movies, which were released theatrically. Those films in turn significantly altered the original release versions of the movies. But Ward, vice president of marketing and distribution at Lucasfilm Ltd., said, "With the '97 version of the film, or what he feels is closer to his original vision, he couldn't accomplish [certain things] back in 1977, and people either like it, or they don't. We respect that point of view. But at the end of the day George feels very strongly about artists' rights."
SCI FI Wire obtained an early copy of the DVD set and confirmed reported changes that have been made to the films since the 1997 release, when Lucas used state-of-the-art computer technology to make what he considered improvements to the original movies' visual effects. The new changes, detailed below, are largely revisions to earlier edits or changes made to include actors and character developments unveiled in the prequel films Episodes I-III. Among the changes:
•In Episode IV: A New Hope, the controversial confrontation in the cantina in Mos Eisley has been changed yet again. The villainous Greedo now fires shots at Han Solo (Harrison Ford) at the same time Solo fires back. In the original film, Solo fired first; in 1997, Lucas changed the scene to have Greedo fire first.
•Also in Episode IV, 1997's added computer-generated footage of Jabba the Hutt appears to have been improved, with more fluid motion.
•In Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, the hologram image of the Emperor has been altered to feature Ian McDiarmid, the actor who played the Emperor in Return of the Jedi and appears in all three prequel films. The scene's dialogue has also changed to clarify the progression of Luke Skywalker's training as a Jedi, as well as to acknowledge the relationship between Luke and Vader. In the original release of Empire, the Emperor's image was played by an unbilled old woman wearing prosthetic makeup, with chimpanzee eyes superimposed in post-production into darkened eye sockets, the official Star Wars Web site reported. The original voice was provided by Clive Revill.
•In Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker is added as a ghostly image in the final scenes of the film, alongside Yoda and Alec Guinness' Obi-Wan Kenobi. But Sebastian Shaw remains as the face of Darth Vader/Anakin in the scene in which Luke removes Vader's helmet, and not Christensen, as had been rumored.
The star Wars Trilogy DVD set hits retailers on Sept. 21.
Lost's Secrets Hinted
avid Fury, co-executive producer of ABC's upcoming SF series Lost, told SCI FI Wire that one of the most mysterious characters on the new series about plane crash survivors stranded on a mysterious South Pacific island is the island itself.
"It is very interesting and has its own mythology that will hopefully unfold over many seasons," Fury (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) said in an interview. "We are hearing and seeing very odd occurrences, like a polar bear on the island. How does something like that happen in the South Pacific?"
While Lost is an amalgam of different genres, including SF, Fury explained that realism is the key in making it all work. "What we are trying to do is make sure everything has a very Scully explanation," Fury said, referring to the X-Files character. "This is not a show about the supernatural, despite the fact that we have a very huge creature that likes to eat people. Despite the surreal, bizarre aspects of the island, there will be an explanation for it. It may not come for a very long time, but certain information about the island will explain how things are possible. We'll try to root it in real science or real pseudo-science. There will be no mystical reason or an island of monsters. The island has been around for millennia, and many people have found themselves on it, and as far as we know, nobody has ever gotten off. There is also the possibility of others being on the island, they just haven't seen them yet. And we'll never know how big this island is. It could be enormous, but odd things will keep them from knowing the full length and breadth of it. It's an interesting little allegory. It will be very mysterious."
Lost, which was co-created by Alias' J.J. Abrams, balances a core cast of 11 main characters, led by Matthew Fox (Haunted) and newcomer Evangeline Lily. That many characters gives the creative team a lot to explore, Fury said. "We are discovering there are so many stories to tell," he said. "There will be burgeoning romances that will be handled in a credible fashion and triangles, and not to get soap opera-y, but things are going to happen. Also, the show will always be from the perspective [of] the people on the island, so we never see the outside world, except from their perspective. We'll see how things go, whether or not other people can arrive on the island. There could be an errant parachute, but certainly not the Harlem Globetrotters," he said with a laugh. "I hope people recognize this is a show that is unique and compelling, because there will be lots of surprises." Lost premieres on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Sept. 22.
Fury Happy To Find Lost
avid Fury, co-executive producer of ABC's upcoming SF series Lost, told SCI FI Wire that he intended to develop his own show after the end of his last one, The WB's Angel, but that he couldn't pass up the new series co-created by J.J. Abrams (Alias).
"I turned down everything this year and had some nice offers, but nothing felt right to me," Fury said in an interview. "I wanted to spend more time at home and thought I was entitled to take a year off. It's a testament to J.J. and [co-creator] Damon Lindelof, because I had turned down Lost initially. It's only because they forgot that they tried me again. I decided I owed them the courtesy to see the pilot, and it was great! I decided to meet them, and I was totally seduced."
Shot on location in Hawaii, Lost centers on the survivors of a plane crash trying to stay alive on an isolated South Pacific island, where freakish occurrences take place. Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly lead an ensemble cast.
"It's not an easy show to categorize," said Fury, who previously wrote for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "It borders on genre, an adventure show and character studies. It's what appealed to me about Buffy, which was that it could be so many different things. My biggest problem with shows in general is that they are what they are. But this is a show where we can mess around with the tone of it. I'm really happy to be on it." Lost premieres on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Sept. 22.
Bassett Guests On Alias
ilm actress Angela Bassett told SCI FI Wire that she will make a rare TV appearance as a guest star in at least two episodes of ABC's Alias, playing a superior to Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) in the upcoming fourth season.
"I got a call from [series creator] J.J. Abrams," Bassett said in an interview while promoting her latest movie, Mr. 3000. "They were just very excited about the possibility of me coming aboard and doing a couple of guest appearances, doing an arc as a character who's a CIA field supervisor."
Bassett added, "She's a big muckety-muck at the CIA and is Sydney's new boss. And you don't know if I'm giving her a hard time or if I'm on her side or what, because there's always that secret-agent, double-back, secret-spy, double-agent thing going on. I'd seen the show a few times. So I was familiar with the characters, and I was a big fan of the actors. I'd worked with Carl Lumbly and Victor Garber on How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and I think Jennifer is quite extraordinary."
Bassett said that she has already completed one episode and will return soon for another. She sounded optimistic that she won't meet the fate of so many other guest stars and end up either taking a bullet or falling from a building. "I hope not!" Bassett said, laughing. "In the first episode I'm a very competent person. She jabs at me, and I come back at her. I guess I could always take a bullet. You don't know." Alias returns to the air in January.
Evil Star Kicked High
illa Jovovich, who reprises the role of Alice in the upcoming zombie sequel film Resident Evil: Apocalypse, told SCI FI Wire that she performed many of her own fights in the film, using a wide range of martial arts and weapons.
"We wanted to focus on more like high-impact martial arts, so you know tae kwon do was a major element of that," Jovovich said in an interview. "Because in the first movie, Alice's big kick to the dog was like what people really loved, we wanted to take advantage of that and really have her lay down some great kicks."
In addition, Jovovich said she studied Filipino kali, a form of stick fighting, as well as capoeira, a Brazilian martial art characterized by sweeping movements and high kicks. "Just to put a little flavor in there and also because [director] Alexander Witt is from Argentina, he said, 'Wouldn't it be great to put some capoeira into it?'" she said. She added: "In the graveyard sequence, when you see her kind of flipping from one place to the next, ... she's like using capoeira moves. So it was quite a lot of different stuff."
But that wasn't the hard stuff, Jovovich said. The most difficult thing was running down the vertical face of a five-story building, suspended only by a single wire. "The martial arts I love, because it's something I love to do anyway in my life," she said. "You know, I prefer martial arts to the gym any day of the week ... because that stuff is fun for me. The scariest part was dealing with certain fears that I've had since I was a kid. Like a fear of heights and fear of small places. So when I had to like scale down a five-story building, I was like, 'Oh, my God.' It was probably like 6 a.m., negative 7 below [zero] in Toronto in the winter. I'm like hanging there [on a wire] at 6 a.m. going, 'Oh, my God. What did I get myself into?'" Resident Evil: Apocalypse opens Sept. 10.
Star Eager For Third Evil
illa Jovovich, who reprises the role of Alice in the upcoming zombie sequel film Resident Evil: Apocalypse, told SCI FI Wire that she'd love to do a third movie if this one does well.
"Listen, we never expected part one to do as good as it did," she said in an interview. "I always imagined it to be like a maybe cult following at best. But it was like a European action film. ... So, you know, keep our fingers crossed. It'd be great. If people want to see another one, we'll give it to them."
Resident Evil: Apocalypse picks up the story where 2002's hit movie, based on the Capcom video-game series, left off. The sequel's storyline evolved from the first film's ending, which director Paul W.S. Anderson (Jovovich's real-life fiance) cooked up at the last minute, she said.
"When we filmed the first one, like, the script went through many changes during the actual filming," Jovovich said. "And by the time we were halfway through, the original ending—me and Matt [Eric Mabius] riding away into the sunset in a Winnebago—felt like it wasn't working, and it was like, 'Look, you know, let's figure out a new ending.' And Paul figured out this really great ending, and we put in the Nemesis, and it was really good. But in some way, a whole new movie sprang out of it, which was really cool, because suddenly we had this false ending, and then suddenly a new movie starts. So sort of based on that, he kept on going in his own mind about the story. Like, 'Where did Alice go next, and what happened?' So he was already kind of thinking about Apocalypse even back then."
In Apocalypse, Jovovich and new cast members Sienna Guillory and Oded Fehr find themselves trapped in Raccoon City, with zombies, Lickers and the villainous Nemesis creature on their trail. Like the first Resident Evil, Apocalypse also ends with a sequence that seems to set up a third film. "We've kind of followed the tradition of the first one to have like the false ending and stuff," Jovovich said. Apocalypse opens Sept. 10.
Ultraviolet In Home Stretch
illa Jovovich, star of the upcoming SF movie Ultraviolet, told SCI FI Wire that she just completed production on the movie, which shot for seven months in China and Hong Kong under writer/director Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium).
"I just got back last month," Jovovich (the upcoming Resident Evil: Apocalypse) said in an interview. "It's super cool. It's very different from Resident Evil, but it's a sci-fi movie, and there is a virus in it. But those are the only similarities."
Ultraviolet (not to be confused with the British vampire TV series of the same name) deals with a war in the 21st century between humans and those infected with a disease that turns them into superhuman but short-lived vampire-like creatures. "My character ... [has] this sickness," she said. "It's an epidemic that's spread in the world where all sicknesses have been cured, ... except for this one epidemic that the government has created and in a way [is] using for their own benefit. But it gets out, and they're trying to annihilate everybody that has it. Now the people that have it realize what's going on and go underground."
Jovovich plays a leader of the resistance. "I'm on my last 36 hours of life when the movie starts, ... and my last mission before I go, because I'm a revolutionary, is to strap bombs to my chest and explode this huge government building where the nemesis guy who's controlling everything is and pretty much destroy the Establishment. But through this, I get sort of thrown in with this 9-year-old boy, and I have to be like a mom. ... It's like a remake of Gloria, but in the future, with lots of great martial arts and special effects."
Jovovich co-stars with 11-year-old Cameron Bright (Godsend), she said. Ultraviolet is tentatively slotted for a summer 2005 release.
Underworld 2 Gears Up
om Rosenberg, producer of the upcoming sequel to 2003's vampire-werewolf movie Underworld, told SCI FI Wire that the follow-up will pick up where the original movie left off.
"I think the real intense followers of the whole saga will really love the second one," Rosenberg said in an interview. "It's very intricate. It gives Selene's [Kate Beckinsale] history, Viktor's [Bill Nighy] history, and then of course now Marcus is going to come out of the crypt. So it's really cool. I'm excited about it."
Rosenberg added that the sequel, which doesn't yet have a firm title, is set to begin shooting in November. "We may call it something else," Rosenberg said. "We'll probably call it something with Underworld, but right now it's Underworld 2."
Rosenberg added that Underworld director Len Wiseman wants to be careful not to obscure what made the first film appealing. "It's much bigger action, but we have to keep the coolness of it and not let the action overwhelm it," Rosenberg said. "I like the whole world that's created, and you have to stay within that world. I don't want to jam mindless nonstop action at the audience; this is going to still be story-driven. But we're going to have cool sequences and some bigger action. This story is better, more intricate and more interesting. That's what I really like about it." Underworld 2 is due to be released in 2005.
Hellboy 2 Planned
ellboy director Guillermo del Toro told a chat on the Empire Online Web site that he is already working on ideas for a sequel, the second film in what he imagines as a trilogy.
"I would love to make Hellboy into a trilogy," del Toro told fans. "Creatively, Mike Mignola [creator of the Hellboy comics] and I know that we want to at least do that. Economically, it's the studio's decision."
Del Toro said the Hellboy sequel will feature one new character from Mignola's comics, but not another. "We tried to do an entire sequel based on the Roger [the Homunculus] origin story, and found it to be actually very similar to what Hellboy is in the first movie: a conflicted monster," del Toro said. "So the sequel will have another B.P.R.D. member, Johan the Ectoplasmic Agent."
Gaiman: Coraline Film A Go
eil Gaiman, author of the fantastical children's book Coraline, announced on his official Web site that director Henry Selik (Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas) is going forward with an animated version of the book.
Coraline was optioned shortly after its release in 2002. Gaiman said he was notified at last weekend's World Science Fiction Convention in Boston that the option has been exercised.
The book follows the adventures of a curious young girl who discovers a portal in her new house leading to a dark mirror universe inhabited by singing mice, a talking cat and creepy "other" versions of her parents whose sweetness and attentiveness mask sinister motives. The film will be made using the same stop-motion animation techniques Selik emplyed in Nightmare Before Christmas.
Gaiman wrote in his blog that he spoke with Selik Wednesday and has faith in the director's vision. "Henry read the book a year before it was published, and has been holding his breath for the last six months to find out what would happen," Gaiman said. "Right now he has ideas about, well, everything really, from the cast to the songs. He wants it to be faithful and funny and smart and spooky. I've told him he can use me, bounce ideas off me, or whatever, but that ultimately it's his movie. I just want to sit in the audience at the premiere, with a thing of popcorn on my lap, grinning like a goof."
Theron Had Close Call
tuart Townsend, the boyfriend of Charlize Theron, said that her recent back injury on the set of Aeon Flux was bad, but could have been much worse, the Associated Press reported.
Theron injured her neck when she slipped while doing a back-flip somersault in platform shoes. "The slipped disc went almost into the spinal cord," Townsend said. "She's fine, but could've been in a lot of trouble."
Townsend, who starred in Queen of the Damned and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, said that Theron had insisted on doing her own stunts. "She's just that kind of girl," he said. "She's like, `Yeah, I'll do anything.' But I said, `The stunt girl is going to start working and not you.'"
The Berlin production has been halted since the accident was reported on Aug. 31. Townsend says he expects Theron to be laid up for six weeks. It is not known if the injury will require script changes or when shooting will be resumed, the news service said.
Potter VI Snippet Teased
arry Potter author J.K. Rowling has revealed a few lines from her upcoming sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, on her official Web site, according to a report on Zap2it.
Fans who solved a dart-game puzzle found two lines from the book:
"He looked rather like an old lion. There were streaks of grey in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp."
Rowling's site does not reveal who is being described. Rowling is currently writing The Half Blood Prince and has not set a publication date.
Forgotten Got Back To Basics
ruce Cohen, producer of the upcoming thriller film The Forgotten, told SCI FI Wire that the script went through several incarnations, but the focus always remained on the mystery of a woman (Julianne Moore) grieving the loss of her son, only to be told he never existed.
"We did a lot of work on the script, and we returned back to the original writer, Gerald Di Pego [Phenomenon], who had written the early draft," Cohen said in an interview. "The idea of the missing son was there in all the incarnations, even from the script that we read. It was always the central theme, the connection of a mother and child. And what if everyone in the world, and every document and newspaper, said your son never existed, but you, as the mother, were the only person to believe he did? Do you trust everyone else, or do you cling to that knowledge that you feel you have as a parent, that you had a son?"
Cohen added, "Once we read [Gerald's] initial draft and found out that it had been his idea, Dan [Jinx, Cohen's producing partner,] and I always believe that whenever possible you want to stick with the original writer, because they have the clearest vision of the project. We were very happy to go back to him and work with him through the rest of the process, and we feel like he's written a beautiful script." The Forgotten opens on Sept. 24.
Forgotten Twists Reality
oseph Ruben, the director of the upcoming SF film The Forgotten, told SCI FI Wire that the film isn't the standard thriller.
"What is interesting about the movie is that it starts off like a psychological thriller, about a woman [Julianne Moore] who may or may not have had a psychotic break with reality, where she has created a kid and a whole world surrounding her," Ruben said in an interview. "As you get deeper in the movie with her, it gets stranger. It really becomes more of a science-fiction film rather than a psychological thriller."
Moore plays a mother grieving over the loss of her 8-year-old son in a plane crash. While in therapy, she is shocked when her psychiatrist tells her that her son never existed and is a figment of her tortured reality. Moore then sets out to prove her son was real and that she isn't insane.
Rubens said that her journey is what sparks the twist of the film. "The movie is very real for most of the story, and then something happens about two-thirds of the way into it, and because the movie has been so real, literally the audience's jaw drops. It's so unexpected in a way, but [it] feels completely believable in the context of what has come before. We subtly try to suggest underneath that there is more going on than what you are seeing." The Forgotten opens on Sept. 24.
Finding Polar's Inner Child
om Hanks, who stars in the upcoming computer-generated fantasy film The Polar Express, told reporters that the movie gave him a chance to return to his childhood.
In the movie, which is based on Chris Van Allsburg's best-selling children's book, Hanks is one of four adults who give voice to child characters (the others are Peter Scolari, Nona Gaya and Eddie Deezen). That meant that director Robert Zemeckis "wasn't at the mercy of a child work schedule," Hanks said at a press preview of the movie in Los Angeles. The very first time that all the actors got together, Hanks took advantage
of the moment to get back in the mindset of his youth. "I passed gas so
loudly on set it put everyone in the proper mood," Hanks told a group of
journalists at an early look at the unfinished film on Sept. 9.
Polar Express tells the story of a young boy whose faith in Santa Claus is reawakened when,
on Christmas Eve, a steam trains pulls in front of his home to take him to
the North Pole. The film's imagery closely follows the book's illustrations, achieving a quality that resembled drawings. The movie also made use of a new process Zemeckis described as "performance capturing": The computer animation is based on the facial movements of the actors giving voice to the characters.
Hanks said the process freed him. "As an actor, I can tell you [that] making this movie was exactly like
performing in theater in the round when I was in college," he said, adding that the actors didn't have to do as many takes as they normally have to do in a live-action film. He added that the actors weren't restricted by lighting or sets. The Polar Express opens nationwide on Nov. 10.
October Means Monsters In HD
avid Sehring, senior vice president and general manager of the high-definition network Monsters HD, told SCI FI Wire that the channel has several high-profile events lined up for October.
"Basically every day is Halloween on Monsters HD," Sehring said in an interview. "We are doing something fun called 'Howl-ween' with some of the Howling movies, I think we've got II, III, V and VI, American Werewolf in London, Silver Bullet, Ginger Snaps, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Werewolves on Wheels. And then we have a little something we're calling 'Jason vs. Michael vs. Leatherface vs. Freddy' where we're just grouping up all our Halloween films, Texas Chainsaw Massacre I through IV, obviously Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. I think people are interested in these monsters and they're still quite vibrant today."
Monsters HD launched last year as part of the VOOM high-definition satellite service. Sehring, who programmed the popular "Monsterfest" movie festivals for traditional cable channel American Movie Classics, said that the channel is broadening its spectrum with premieres, exclusives and original programming. In addition to "Howl-ween," the channel's October offerings will include a night of films hosted by Cabin Fever director and horror fanatic Eli Roth, a documentary series focusing on different aspects of fandom titled Monsterama, a festival of 1980s slasher films, the premiere of Bubba Ho-Tep, starring Bruce Campbell, and the original documentary Tales from the Crypt: From Horror Comics to Television, about controversial comic-book publisher EC Comics.
Sehring assured horror fans that the channel will stay faithful to the spirit of the horror genre with its continued focus on independent and alternative content. "If you take a look at our schedule you can see we're the real deal," he said. "If horror fans want the goods, they can get this just by going out and getting VOOM."
Smallville Gets Another Lois
argot Kidder—who played Lois Lane in the Superman feature films—will make an appearance in the premiere of the WB's teen Superman series, the network announced.
Kidder's character is also scheduled to appear in the sixth episode of the season, according to a press release on the network's Web site.
Kidder will be playing Bridgette Crosby, emissary to Dr. Virgil Swann (played in previous seasons by Kidder's Superman co-star Christopher Reeve). Reeve will not appear in the episode himself, but a report on the Kryptonsite Web site stated that producers are trying to work with the actor's schedule so that he may return. Kidder will be the fourth actor from the films to appear on the show, following Reeve, series regular Annette O'Toole (who played Lana Lang in Superman III) and recurring guest-star Terence Stamp, who played General Zod in the first two films and can be heard on the show as the voice of Superman's father, Jor-El. Smallville premieres on the WB at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Sept. 22.
Dead Zone Staying Alive
SA Network has ordered a fourth season of the supernatural drama The Dead Zone, Variety reported.
The production will begin shooting a full 22-episode cycle beginning in November.
The series, starring Anthony Michael Hall as a man with the ability to see into the future, continues to rank as one of the highest-rated original series on basic cable. The third season, which ended in August, averaged 3.5 million viewers, up 27 percent in USA's target 25-54 demo from the previous season, the trade paper reported. The series earned 6.4 million viewers when it premiered in June of 2002, earning the highest rating for a series premiere on basic cable, a record recently broken by USA's miniseries The 4400.
USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
Rings Computer For Hire
eta Digital, the company which created the visual effects for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is joining with telecommunications company Gen-i to establish a supercomputing center where commercial customers can harness the power of the supercomputer used in the production of the films, the Associated Press reported.
The New Zealand Supercomputing Center will offer researchers the largest supercomputing cluster available for commercial hire in the Southern Hemisphere, the news service said.
A spokesman for the center said that the supercomputer ranks 80th among the world's top 500 powerful computers and can perform 2.8 trillion calculations per second. Weta Digital, which is jointly owned by Rings director Peter Jackson and fellow Oscar winners Richard Taylor and Jamie Selkirk, issued a joint statement with Gen-i that they hope to upgrade the computer's power by adding extra servers, putting it among the top 10 of the world's most powerful supercomputers. The computer's processing capacity will be available on demand to universities, research organizations and businesses for as long as they need it, the news service said.
Aurora Finalists Named
rganizers announced the finalists for the 2004 Aurora Awards, given by the Canadian SF and Fantasy Association for works by Canadian authors, artists, and fans.
The winners will be announced at Congrès Boréal, Quebec's oldest science fiction and fantasy convention, to be held Oct. 29-31 in Montreal. A full list of finalists follows.
Best Long-Form Work in English
• Hidden in Sight by Julie E. Czerneda
• Burndive by Karin Lowachee
• Humans by Robert J. Sawyer
• A Telling of Stars by Caitlin Sweet
• Scream Queen by Edo van Belkom
• Blind Lake Robert Charles Wilson
Best Long-Form Work in French
• Phaos by Alain Bergeron
• La Cage de Londres by Jean-Pierre Guillet
• Le Stratège de Léda by Michèle Laframboise
• La Chevauchèe des hippocampes by Robert Tessier
Best Short-Form Work in English
• "Stars" by Carolyn Clink
• "The Siren Stone" by Derwin Mak
• "Come All Ye Faithful" by Robert J. Sawyer
• "Scream Angel" by Doug Smith
• "Porter's Progress" by Isaac Szpindel
Best Short-Form Work in French
• "La Nuit" by Sylvie Bérard
• "Volvox" by Marie-Josée L'Hérault
• "Du clonage considéré comme un des beaux-arts" by Mario Tessier
• "La Course de Kathryn" by Elisabeth Vonarburg
Best Work in English (Other)
• Space Inc, Julie E. Czerneda, ed.
• "From the Files of Matthews Gentech" by Bruce Ballon
• "May Queen" by Heather Dale
• Neo-Opsis Science Fiction Magazine
• Robert J. Sawyer, Writer-in-Residence
• The Stars As Seen from this Particular Angle of Night, Sandra Kasturi, ed.
Best Work in French (Other)
• Solaris, Joel Champetier, ed.
• "Sur le Seuil", a short film directed by éEric Tessier, screenplay by Patrick Senécal and éEric Tessier
Artistic Achievement
• James Beveridge
• Lar deSouza
• Stephanie Ann Johanson
• Michèle Laframboise
• Jean-Pierre Normand
• Martin Springett
• Ronn Sutton
• Mel Vavaroutsos
Fan Achievement (Publication)
• Made in Canada Newsletter, Don Bassie, ed.
• Zine-Zag, Salvador Dallaire, director
Fan Achievement (Organizational)
• Roy Miles
• Martin Miller
• Marah Searle-Kovacevic
• Joan Sherman
• Brian Upward
Fan Achievement (Other)
• Peter de Jager
• Eric Layman
• Gord Rose
• Larry Stewart
• Urban Tapestry
Star Trek Online Coming
erpetual Entertainment announced that it has acquired the rights to a massively multiplayer online game based on the Star Trek universe, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Under the agreement, the two-year-old, San Francisco-based company will develop and publish the online game for release in 2007, with public beta testing to begin in 2006, the site reported.
The game will be set during the 24th-century timeline of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, though other timelines could be added later through expansion packs. Players will be able to create characters of familiar races and go on solo and multiplayer missions involving characters, locales and situations from the Star Trek movies and television series, the company said.
Though Perpetual has released few specific details about the game, the company has posted a list of frequently asked questions and answers on the official Star Trek Web site.
Dawn Of War Demo Online
HQ and the GameSpot DLX Web site will post a demo for the upcoming Warhammer 40K real-time strategy game Dawn of War for download beginning Sept. 9.
The demo lets players lead humanity's finest soldiers in a full early campaign level and includes a tutorial. Additionally, players can hone their space-marine strategies against the computer A.I. in two skirmish maps, the GameSpot Web site reported.
Based on the popular Warhammer 40K tabletop war game from UK-based Games Workshop, Dawn of War will follow a fractious contingent of space marines struggling to defend a colony in a far-flung corner of the of the Warhammer universe. It will feature an 11-mission single-player campaign with approximately 10 to 15 hours of gameplay. The game will also feature an extensive online multiplayer component, and will allow players to play on one of four sides: the space marines, the orks, the eldar and the chaos space marines, the site reported.
Dawn of War is being developed by THQ-owned Relic Entertainment and will ship worldwide on Sept. 20.
DC's Dark Crisis Sells
he DC Comics miniseries Identity Crisis has become a controversial best-seller due to its dark themes and angst-ridden superheroes, the Associated Press reported.
The seven-part series, which opens with the rape and murder of the wife of the Justice League's Elongated Man, has become the number-one comic in the world after just three issues.
Identity Crisis explores the anguish of heroes such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and the Flash following the death of innocent loved ones, and creates situations of moral ambiguity. While the comic is selling out in stores, it has caused a stir with purists upset by the shift to a darker tone, and the concerns are not limited to the fans. The Associated Press reported rumors about editors punching walls after reading the Identity Crisis script and other writers and artists who have threatened never to work with DC again. Regardless of the strong reactions, DC said that the events in the series will have an impact on the future storylines of all the characters. The fourth issue of Identity Crisis is due in stores next week.
Chesley Winners Announced
he 19th annual Chesley Awards for SF and fantasy art were announced Sept. 3 at Noreascon 4, the 62nd World Science Fiction Convention in Boston, organizers announced.
The awards are presented by the Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists and named for famed space artist Chesley Bonestell. A full list of winners follows.
Cover Illustration, Hardcover
• Donato Giancola, cover of City by Clifford D. Simak
Cover Illustration, Paperback
• Todd Lockwood, cover of Tangled Webs by Elaine Cunningham
Cover Illustration, Magazine
• Bob Eggleton, cover of Fantasy & Science Fiction July 2003
Interior Illustration
• Todd Lockwood, for Crossing Into the Empire by Robert Silverberg
Color Work, Unpublished
• "She", Michael Whelan
Monochrome Work, Unpublished
• "Autumn Faeries", Gary Lippincott
Three-Dimensional
• "Jack", Gary Lippincott
Art Director
• Irene Gallo
Gaming-Related Illustration
• Draconomicon, Todd Lockwood
Production Illustration
• "Anna of the Celts", Dean Morrissey
Contribution to ASFA
• Teresa Patterson
Takei Sees Patient 14
ormer Star Trek star George Takei told SCI FI Wire that he co-stars with another Trek veteran, John de Lancie (Q), in Patient 14, an upcoming independent SF film that mixes genres.
"Patient 14 is a political SF thriller about this strange anomaly that seems to be happening with certain people who get serious head injuries," said Takei, best known as Capt. Sulu in the original Star Trek television series and films. "As they're recovering they develop the ability to hear what other people around them are thinking, and it drives most of them crazy, because they hear everyone around and can't cope with all of those voices going through their minds."
Takei added, "John de Lancie and I head up a research team that is looking into the anomaly and trying to get these people to focus in on one individual so that it doesn't drive them mad. It's like tuning in one radio station and tuning out others. And this, of course, becomes of interest to a governmental secret intelligence agency, especially when one female patient seems to be succeeding in our research. Then things start happening to our research team members, horrific things, and with that to tantalize you I'll leave it at that."
Finished in early 2004, Patient 14 also features Tucker Smallwood (Space: Above and Beyond), Iona Morris (Star Trek: Voyager) and Robert David Hall (C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation). First-timer Andrew Bakalar wrote, produced and directed the movie. Takei said that the filmmaker was still seeking a distibutor. "[Bakalar] was talking about trying to get it into film festivals," Takei said. "He said he almost got it into Sundance. It's an independent production, so it's got a little bit rockier road than a big studio film."
Atlantis Gets Charmed
ildart Jackson—best known for his recurring role as Gideon, the evil Elder, on The WB's Charmed—told SCI FI Wire that he's just wrapped production on "Before I Sleep," an upcoming episode of the SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate Atlantis.
"I'm playing an Ancient who is a Nutty Professor type," Jackson said in an interview. "The story, which I thought was very good, is that they find an old lady who is the 10,000-year-old version of Dr. Weir [Torri Higginson]. She's looking at the 10,000-year-old version of herself."
Jackson added, "It transpires that 10,000 years ago, when the Atlanteans left the city, there was a guy called Janus [Jackson], who was this very forward-thinking professor and Ancient who created a time machine. Basically, it's the story of Janus and Dr. Weir and how she used his time machine and came back to the city, and [how] they saved the city together 10,000 years ago."
Jackson said that Atlantis regular Higginson played both iterations of Dr. Weir. "They did some amazing makeup, a whole prosthetic process," Jackson said. "Torri was fantastic. All of my stuff, basically, was with her, and she had a whole ordeal to go through before we did anything together. She was getting up at two in the morning to do four hours of makeup before the day started. She not only had to do the Ancient scenes, which were the ones I was in, but she had to do the scenes with Dr. Weir in the current time dealing with the old Dr. Weir. So she had a lot of work to do." Jackson's episode of Atlantis will air in early 2005.
Depp In Venice For Neverland
ohnny Depp, who plays Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie in the upcoming biography film Finding Neverland, appeared at the Venice Film Festival over the weekend for the film's premiere amid talk of an Oscar nomination, the Reuters news service reported.
The film, directed by Marc Forster (Monster's Ball), is scheduled for release in the U.S. on Nov. 12, but critics are already touting Depp, who adopted a flawless Scottish accent for the film, as a contender for Best Actor, the news service said. When asked about the rumors, Depp was modest. "I don't know anything about it," he told the service.
Neverland is based on Allan Knee's play The Man Who Was Peter Pan. Kate Winslet also stars as a widowed mother whose children inspire Barrie to write the story. The film has been warmly received by critics at the 61st Venice Film Festival, where it is one of 70 features in competition.
Retro Hugos Awarded
he Retro Hugo Awards for best science fiction works in 1954 were presented Sept. 3 at the 62nd World Science Fiction Convention, Noreascon 4, in Boston, organizers announced.
The Retro Hugos are awards for excellence in the field of science fiction and fantasy for a year in which a World Science Fiction Convention was held but no Hugo awards were given. This year the awards were given for 1954, when no Hugo awards (then called "Special Achievement Awards") were presented. Works eligible for the Retro Hugos were first published or released in 1953. A full list of winners follows.
Best Novel
•Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Best Novella
•"A Case of Conscience" by James Blish
Best Novelette
•"Earthman, Come Home" by James Blish
Best Short Story
•"The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke
Best Related Book
•Conquest of the Moon by Wernher von Braun, Fred L. Whipple and Willy Ley
Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form
•The War of the Worlds
Best Professional Editor
•John W. Campbell
Best Professional Artist
•Chesley Bonestell
Best Fanzine
•Slant
Best Fan Writer
•Bob Tucker
New Dragon Ball For Game Boy
ideo-game publisher and distributor Majesco announced that it has shipped Dragon Ball GT Vol. 1, the company's first Dragon Ball GT title for Game Boy Advance.
Sales of merchandise related to the Dragon Ball anime franchise total more than $3 billion worldwide. Dragon Ball Web sites receive more than eight million hits per day, and the term "Dragon Ball" was a top 10 search term on the Lycos 50 Daily Report for a total of two hundred consecutive weeks, the company said.
The new game features two episodes, "A Grand Problem" and "Pan's Gambit," both starring the characters Goku and Trunks. It retails for $19.99.
Atari Classics Return
tari will soon be offering consumers a chance to revisit its classic titles with two new releases that take advantage of the current nostalgic trend in video games, the company announced.
The Atari Anthology collection features 85 games originally created for video arcade machines and the Atari 2600 system. The vintage games, ranging from Pong to Adventure to Battlezone, can be played on PlayStation 2 or Xbox systems. Also included are new challenge modes and 3D interface, which offers a polished portal into all the games.
The company also announced the Atari Flashback console, a stand-alone, plug-and-play unit loaded with 20 classic Atari games, including Asteroids, Centipede, Breakout and the never-before-released Saboteur. Atari Flashback, a hybrid of the classic Atari 2600 and 7800 consoles, is modeled to resemble a smaller replica of the 7800 and plugs directly into a television set, the company said. Both Atari Anthology and the Atari Flashback console will be available in November.
New Andromeda, Thing In Works
CI FI Channel has partnered with Oscar-nominated director Ridley Scott to revive The Andromeda Strain and with fellow Oscar nominee Frank Darabont to produce a remake of The Thing.
Scott and his brother, Tony Scott, will executive produce a new four-hour miniseries version of The Andromeda Strain, based on Michael Crichton's best-selling novel about an alien virus, the network announced.
Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan (The Quiet American) will write the script for the updated Andromeda Strain. David W. Zucker and Tom Thayer will also executive produce the miniseries, from Scott Free Productions and Thayer's Traveler's Rest Films, in association with NBC Universal Television Studio.
Darabont will executive produce a four-hour miniseries remake of The Thing, about an Antarctic expedition that stumbles upon a shapeshifting alien. David Leslie Johnson will write the screenplay. David Foster (producer of director John Carpenter's 1982 film version of The Thing) will also executive produce the miniseries, from NBC Universal Television Studio. The Thing is originally based on John W. Campbell Jr.'s classic SF short story "Who Goes There?" The story was first adapted for the screen as The Thing in 1951.
Darabont told Variety that Johnson should complete his adaptation of The Thing by Christmas and shooting could get under way next year, with an airdate on SCI FI either in December 2005 or early spring 2006.
Bridges To Topline Tideland
eff Bridges will star in Terry Gilliam's upcoming fantasy-tinged movie Tideland, sources told The Hollywood Reporter.
The film reunites the actor and director, who last teamed in 1991 for the Oscar-winning movie The Fisher King, the trade paper reported. Bridges joins a cast that already includes 9-year-old newcomer Jodelle Ferland, Jennifer Tilly, Janet McTeer and Brendan Fletcher.
Based on Mitch Cullin's Southern gothic novel and adapted for the big screen by Tony Grisoni, Tideland follows the story of a girl who creates a surreal fantasy world to escape the pain of her father's death, the trade paper reported.
Exodus Has Igor Hunch
xodus Film is developing Igor, a computer-animated movie about a hunchbacked lab assistant who dreams of winning first place at the annual Evil Science Fair, Variety reported.
The $20 million-$25 million movie is being financed via Exodus' film fund and is eyeing a 2007 release, the trade paper reported.
Chris McKenna wrote the script for Igor, which is being developed as a possible franchise, the trade paper reported.
Wolf A Howling Success
olf Brother, a new children's novel that combines a prehistoric story with supernatural elements, debuted 20 years after British author Michelle Paver began drafting it and has gathered international interest, the Agence France-Presse news service reported.
Wolf Brother has netted $5 million so far, Paver's agent, Peter Cox, told AFP. "There has been amazing interest in this book, but it touches a nerve," Cox told AFP.
Paver, a 43-year-old former lawyer, first drafted the book in 1982 while in college, but left it unfinished. Last year, having established herself as an author of love stories, she came across the manuscript and decided to turn it into a children's novel, the AFP reported.
Wolf Brother tells the story of a 12-year-old boy living 6,000 years ago, who teams up with an orphaned wolf cub after his father is killed, and the pair try to rid their native forest of an evil force, the AFP reported. Paver has begun work on a sequel in the hope of emulating the success of the Harry Potter series.
Briefly Noted
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The Moviehole Web site reported a rumor from a "studio insider" that Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon will be directing the next X-Men movie for Fox.
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Legendary animator Frank Thomas, who worked on some of Disney's most beloved animated films, died of natural causes on Sept. 8 at the age of 92, the Associated Press reported. One of Walt Disney's trusted "Nine Old Men," Thomas began working at the studio in 1934 as part of the team behind Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated feature. He went on to create such iconic characters as Pinocchio, the wicked stepmother in Cinderella. the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland and Captain Hook in Peter Pan.
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Andrzej Bartkowiak (Cradle 2 the Grave) has replaced Enda McCallion as director of the upcoming video-game adaptation Doom, Variety reported. McCallion left the project due to personal reasons, the trade paper said. The film, based on the popular game series developed by id Software and published by Activision, is still scheduled to begin filming in mid-October.
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Yokohama, Japan, has been selected as the location for the 2007 World Science Fiction Convention, organizers announced. The convention will take place from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3, 2007. A Web site for the event is already open.
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Husband-and-wife writing team Robert and Michelle King have signed on to adapt Peter McAllister's bestselling science-fiction novel Cosmonaut for Warner Brothers, Variety reported. The film will be the first feature for the team, whose television work includes The Line, Suburban Cop and Angels in the Infield.
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KongIsKing.net, a fan site devoted to Peter Jackson's (Lord of the Rings) upcoming King Kong remake, has been updated with video and photos from the New Zealand set.
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USA Networks has opened a new Web site, including images and a new teaser trailer, for its upcoming adaptation of Frankenstein, which premieres Oct. 10 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.
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MTV has ordered an animated pilot for Hef's Superbunnies, about a team of pajama-clad buxom superheroes, which is a collaboration between Stan Lee's newly launched Pow! Entertainment and Playboy's Alta Loma Entertainment division, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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