Neeson eyed for starring role in Star Wars prequel
he latest report from the Star Wars front is that Liam Neeson (Schindler's List) is now the top choice for the starring role in the first of the new Star Wars movies, now in preproduction.
The Irish actor will reportedly play a new character, a master Jedi Knight, who will act as a mentor for the young Anakin Skywalker (better known as Darth Vader) and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Separately, other reports put Scottish actor Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting) at the top of the list of British actors under consideration for the role of the young Obi-Wan. Others supposedly being mulled for the key role include Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet).
But Variety reports that a Lucas spokeswoman denies that any final decisions have been made, though writer/director George Lucas has been meeting many actors.
Trivia alert: Variety also reported that McGregor may be the only prospective Kenobi with a family member in all three of the original films: uncle Denis Lawson, who played the fighter pilot Wedge.
-- Patrick Lee, U.S. Correspondent
Baxter earns 1996 Philip K. Dick Award
tephen Baxter has added another award to the growing collection of honors received by his book, The Time Ships. This time Baxter took home the 1996 Philip K. Dick Award, which is awarded annually for the distinguished original SF paperback published for the first time in the United States. The award was given out March 28 at Norwescon 20.
"It's a fine award and a complement to the John Campbell Memorial Award, which The Time Ships won in 1996; to me Campbell represents the traditions of SF, while the Dick Award, won by books like Neuromancer, represents the radical edge," Baxter said. "I don't think any book has won both awards before, and it's wonderful to be recognized by both wings of the field."
In addition to the Campbell and Dick Awards, The Time Ships was also nominated for a Hugo Award in 1996.
The Philip K. Dick Award is sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. The 1996 judges were Kathleen Ann Goonan, T. Jackson King, Daniel Marcus, Joseph Milicia and Andrew Weiner. The judges for 1997 will be Carter Scholz, Brooks Landon, Stephanie A. Smith, Paula E. Downing and Robert Charles Wilson.
-- Craig E. Engler, Editor
Martin Caidin dead at 69
artin Caidin, whose books inspired the TV show The Six Million Dollar Man and the film Marooned, died March 24 at the age of 69. He had been suffering from thyroid cancer.
Caidin, a pilot and an aerospace specialist, had published more than 80 non-fiction books by his death and was credited with founding the American Astronautical Society in 1953. His career as an SF writer began in 1956 with the publication of The Long Night.
The movie Marooned was based on Caidin's 1964 book of the same name and starred Gregory Peck, while The Six Million Dollar Man and its spinoff series The Bionic Woman were based on his 1975 book, Cyborg IV. -- C.E.E. & P.L.
Xena and Hercules go where no one has gone before
tar Fleet has apparently encountered its most formidable opponents since the Borg: Xena and Hercules.
Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys have bumped Star Trek: Deep Space Nine off the top of the Nielsen ratings for syndicated television series, the first time in 10 years a non- Star Trek series has dominated syndication. Xena and Hercules tied for first place in season-to-date ratings, with 5.8 ratings. -- P.L.
No more odysseys for Clarke?
egendary SF writer Arthur C. Clarke, now suffering from the effects of polio in his home in Sri Lanka, told The New York Times last week that his best-selling novel 3001: The Final Odyssey will be "his last hurrah." But he added that he had received letters from, among others, actor Tom Hanks urging him to press forward in the writing of 4001.
Meanwhile, the Times reported that a movie version of 3001 is under discussion. Rumor has it that Stanley Kubrick, who collaborated with Clarke on the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, may direct. -- P.L.
It must be the water ...
ove over Mulder, Scully and Frank Black: there are new aliens in town. Stargate SG-1, a syndicated TV series spinoff of the hit 1994 SF film, is now shooting in Vancouver, already the production home of Fox's The X-Files and Millennium, according to the Vancouver Sun.
In the case of MGM Worldwide Television's Stargate, the rainy Canadian city will house sets for the planet Chulok and other offworld locations. The new series, which stars MacGyver's Richard Dean Anderson, will air on the Showtime cable network starting in July.
Stargate SG-1 is only the latest in a string of SF productions north of the border, including MGM's The Outer Limits. Recent features shooting in Vancouver include the upcoming Eaters of the Dead, based on the Michael Crichton novel of an Arab traveling with fifth-century Vikings, starring Antonio Banderas.
-- P.L.
Science fiction is his destiny
tar Wars actor Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), no stranger to aliens, will reportedly play himself in a May sweeps episode of NBC's sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun. It's not the only stunt for the alien-themed show.
Film director Phil Joanou (Final Analysis) is set to direct the 3-D one-hour season finale, scheduled for May 18.
-- P.L.
We told you The X-Files was educational
n a sign that truth, which is out there, is also stranger than fiction, Fox's The X- Files won a coveted George Foster Peabody Award for quality television.
The award, presented annually for broadcast and cable excellence by the University of Georgia's Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, normally goes to PBS-style programs of a socially redeeming nature. But in choosing the popular paranormal series, Peabody officials cited its vitality.
-- P.L.
BSFA honors Banks, Bayley and Burns
he winners of the British Science Fiction Awards were announced at Intervention, the British Eastercon, which was held March 28-31 in Liverpool. Iain M. Banks's book Excession was named best novel, Barrington J. Bayley's short story "A Crab Must Try" (Interzone 103) was named best short story, and the book cover for Ancient Shores, by Jim Burns, was named best original artwork.
-- C.E.E.
Small Chicago theater performs "tour de Force"
he Farce is with Jason R. Chin, a Chicago director who's taken the entire Star Wars trilogy from the big screen to the small stage. The two-hour musical Jedi!, which opened in Chicago at the end of February, has proved so popular that it's gone from one show a weekend to three, playing to sell-out crowds.
The show, which Chin describes as a "parody/homage," was put together on a shoestring budget. R2D2 is a painted wastebasket, the Stormtroopers wear white buckets on their heads, and the "space battles" consist of a background puppet show involving Star Wars ship models on sticks.
Jedi is booked for an open-ended run at Chicago's small ImprovOlympic theater, but Chin says he's been "approached by a series of producers and entertainment lawyers about the possibility of taking it to other cities."
-- Tasha Robinson, Staff Writer
If Asteroid missed you the first time around
he Sci-Fi Channel basic cable network has acquired the exclusive rights to NBC's February miniseries Asteroid in what The Hollywood Reporter called one of the quickest syndication turnarounds in TV history. Sci-Fi also acquired rights to last year's NBC miniseries The Beast, based on the novel by Peter Benchley (Jaws).
Asteroid -- the first in a string of Earth vs. Identifiable Flying Object films -- was NBC's highest-rated miniseries since 1991.
-- P.L.
With Friends like these ...
oining fellow Friends cast member Matt LeBlanc in the SF realm (he was just cast in Lost In Space), actress Jennifer Aniston will play the love object of a giant lizard in the upcoming remake Godzilla, E! Online reports.
Aniston would join Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno (Mission Impossible), who are reportedly in talks to star in the $80 million remake by Independence Day creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin.
-- P.L.
Briefly noted...
- Tomoyuki Tanaka, the man who brought Godzilla to life in 1954 and a noted film producer in his own right, died late last month at the age of 86. Although he was best known as the father of Tokyo's favorite giant green radioactive lizard, Tanaka also produced movies with Akira Kurosawa.
- Thomas Nichols, the brother of Star Trek's Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), was one of the 39 members of Heaven's Gate who committed suicide in Rancho Sante Fe. Appearing on CNN's Larry King Live, Nichelle said her family respected the choices Thomas had made.
- Seth Goldberg, a longtime SF fan and a three-time Hugo Award administrator, died unexpectedly during the night of March 18-19. Goldberg, who was 44, died of heart failure caused by a viral infection.
- Julie Weitz, executive vice president of original programming for Turner Network Television, told The Los Angeles Times last week that the network will produce two films based on the syndicated science fiction series Babylon 5 for the 1997-98 season. As previously reported, TNT will start airing reruns of the series in January.
- J. Michael Straczynski is getting set to go behind the cameras for his directorial debut when he films episode 422 of Babylon 5 later this month. The stand-alone episode will appear in either the fourth or fifth season of the series, depending on whether Warner Bros. renews the show for its fifth and final season.
- Despite sagging ratings, Fox has ordered another full season of Chris Carter's bleak detective series Millennium. Expect some changes though, including the possibility of a full-time partner for the show's main character, Frank Black.
- Meanwhile, Australia's Seven Network has pulled Fox's Millennium from the lineup in the West Australian city of Perth, where it is feared a serial killer has claimed the lives of three young women in the past 15 months, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
- Rick Berman, the co-creator and executive producer of both ongoing Star Trek series and the co-writer of the Star Trek: The Next Generation feature films, has signed a major development deal with the Paramount Motion Picture and Television Groups. The deal calls for Berman to develop and produce films, TV series and telefilms, and it will also involve him in new media projects such as Star Trek: The Experience.
- Robert Beltran, best known to SF fans for his portrayal of Chakotay on Star Trek: Voyager, will be starring in and directing Hamlet in a production at the Actor's Gang Theater in Hollywood April 18 - May 11. The supporting cast includes several guest stars from Star Trek and Babylon 5.
- The Star Wars Special Edition movies will be released on video, laser disc and DVD in August, according to Film Threat Weekly. Also mentioned was the possibility that George Lucas will release the novelization of the first Star Wars prequel nine months before the film's May 1999 opening date.
- Ray Bradbury has reportedly turned in the script for the upcoming film version of The Martian Chronicles. The script is said to focus on the exploration of the Martian canals.
- Bucconeer, the 1998 World Science Fiction Convention, has announced that Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynksi will be attending the convention as a Special Guest. For more information, contact bucconeer@bucconeer.worldcon.org.
