Warner delays decision on Babylon 5
ans anxiously awaiting word on the future of Babylon 5 will have to anxiously wait a bit longer, as Warner Brothers now has until July 15 to make a decision on whether it will air the fifth and final season of the show. Series creator J. Michael Straczynski confirmed that Warner asked for and received a 30-day extension on the contracts of B5 cast members, giving the network additional time to find room for the show in its crowded schedule.
Meanwhile, the first Babylon 5 television movie, a prequel entitled In the Beginning, is set to air on Turner Network Television in January 1998. A second B5 movie called Thirdspace -- which Straczynski called "the general season four movie" -- will air later that year.
Finally, the release date for Fleer's Babylon 5: Special Edition trading cards has been pushed back to June 25.
-- Craig E. Engler, Editor
Britain's ITV marks UFO sighting with extensive SF lineup
o celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kenneth Arnold's seminal UFO sighting -- which gave birth to the term "flying saucer" -- this month the British ITV network will present a week-long strand of programming under the banner title "Into the Unknown."
A number of specially commissioned documentaries and several major premieres are scheduled, beginning Saturday, June 21, with The Aliens Are Coming, which takes a look at movies such as Mars Attacks! and Independence Day. It also asks the question, what if aliens were to invade England? Host Jonathan Ross, a well-known television presenter in the United Kingdom with an avowed genre interest (he once co-owned a comic shop), also speaks to Star Trek's William Shatner during this one-hour special.
Sunday evening at 9 p.m. sees the premiere of the movie-length police drama Police 2020, a British-made film and the potential pilot for a series set some 23 years in the future (see story below). Rather oddly, the press office for the makers of the film is quick to dissuade callers from labeling it as science fiction, but perhaps no-one has told the office 2020 it is to be a focal part of a week essentially devoted to the genre.
Naturally a UFO documentary is to be seen during the week, as is a two-part exploration of humanity's place in the universe, called We Are Not Alone. These are interspersed with a number of movies, although all with the exception of Jacob's Ladder have been seen before on British television. The week concludes with the British terrestrial television premiere of Chris Carter's Millennium, which is preceded the day before with a specially made documentary on the series. The full schedule:
- Saturday June 21
- 10:05pm to 11:05pm -- The Aliens Are Coming
- 11:05pm to 12:55am -- Movie: The Island of Doctor Moreau
- Sunday June 22
- 9:00pm-11:00pm -- 2020
- Monday June 23
- 10:40pm-12:40am -- Movie: Alien 3
- Tuesday June 24
- 8:30pm-9pm -- The Paranormal World of Paul McKenna
- 10:40pm-11:40pm -- We Are Not Alone: Part 1
- 11:40pm-1:40am -- Movie: The Thing
- Thursday June 26
- 10:40pm-11:40pm -- We Are Not Alone: Part 2
- Friday June 27
- 8:30pm-10pm -- Strange But True: Encounters UFO Special
- Saturday June 28
- 9:05pm-9:50pm -- Millennium: Fact and Fiction
- 9:50pm-11:45pm -- Movie: The Running Man
- 11:45pm-1:50am -- Movie: Jacob's Ladder
- Sunday June 29
- 10:00pm-10:50pm -- Millennium
-- John Gosling, U.K. Correspondent
Ghosh's Calcutta Chromosome wins Clarke Award
mitav Ghosh's The Calcutta Chromosome, an SF novel that deals with themes of colonialism, the control of research and the quest for immortality, won this year's prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award for the best new British science fiction title.
Ghosh, whose award was presented in a ceremony at the British Science Museum last month, joins a long line of distinguished past winners, including Paul J. McAuley, Margaret Atwood, George Turner, Rachel Pollack, Geoff Ryman, Colin Greenland, Pat Cadigan, Marge Piercy and Jeff Noon.
The Arthur C. Clarke Award, named for the legendary SF author, was established in 1986 with a grant from Clarke to encourage science fiction in Great Britain, and is given to the best new title published in the year.
-- Patrick Lee, U.S. Correspondent
George Turner, Australian SF master, dead at 80
ustralian SF writer and critic George Turner, author of 13 SF and other novels, died June 8 after a stroke in his home at Ballarat, Victoria. He was 80.
A winner of several awards who was scheduled to be the Guest of Honor at the 1999 Worldcon in Australia, Turner was first known as one of the sternest and most incisive critics of science fiction to come out of Australia.
But he also made a mark in the world of SF fiction, starting with the trilogy comprising "Beloved Son," "Vaneglory" and "Yesterday's Men." His novel "The Sea and Summer" won the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1988 and was nominated for the Nebula Award. In 1993 Turner was described by Peter Nicholls in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction as "his country's most distinguished SF writer."
Turner's legion of fans in Melbourne are establishing a Web page to commemorate his life and work.
-- P.L.
Star Wars: More dispatches from the front
teven Spielberg (The Lost World: Jurassic Park) may be in line to direct the second of three proposed prequels to Star Wars, Entertainment Weekly reports.
As its source, the magazine quotes Irvin Kershner, who directed The Empire Strikes Back. "George [Lucas] told me that he believes Spielberg is going to do [part 2]," Kershner said. "He might do it for the money, because it'll be a sure thing."
Meanwhile, Lucas himself and his producers could be heard all over television this month confirming nagging details about the first film (rumored to be titled Star Wars: The Balance of the Force) that have been flying about the Internet for months, including the casting of Jake Lloyd, Ewan McGregor, Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman in key roles.
For his part, McGregor told E! Online that he's excited about his role as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi. "I grew up on Star Wars. Plus, my uncle [Denis Lawson] was in all three. He played X-wing fighter pilot Wedge Antilles. I remember the excitement of going to see the first film when I was five or six, initially to see him. But at that age, the whole thing just blew my hair back. What's great is that, if this works out, my daughter will be five or six by the time all of this batch comes out. It'll be great for her to have her daddy in it, you know."
Scanner Darkly heads for the big screen
egendary SF writer Philip K. Dick's Scanner Darkly will become a feature film, Daily Variety reports.
Scanner is based on Dick's experiences with drug addiction and tells the story of a narcotics agent who becomes hooked on drugs, making him too estranged from reality to realize he's actually keeping himself under surveillance. Dick stories have formed the basis of such popular SF films as Blade Runner and Total Recall.
The movie version of Dick's 1977 thriller will be directed by 25-year-old Australian Emma-Kate Croghan (Love and Other
Catastrophes).
-- P.L.
British Police 2020 debuts June 21
ull details of the plot and cast for Police 2020, the ambitious telemovie from Granada Television have emerged. The series is set in the British city of Manchester, where an influx of Russian and East European immigrants has created a new underclass.
The focal point for the movie is the police precinct known as Garrison 212, whose night-shift team is confronted by a serious hostage situation on the Little Moscow housing estate. A gunman, Eddie Longshaw (Keith Barron), is blaming the immigrants for an outbreak of tuberculosis which killed his wife, and now he intends exacting revenge by executing his hostages at the precise time of day his wife died.
Described as "more Blade Runner than Thunderbirds and more futuristic than fantastical," Police 2020 also stars Liam Cunningham as the night shift's senior officer Billy O'Connell and Rachel Davies as fellow officer Marsha Beagley. If successful, a full series is expected to be commissioned. -- J.G.
Five Rings Publishing gives worm sign
ive Rings Publishing, in conjunction with Last Unicorn Games, will release the collectable card game, Dune: Eye of the Storm, in July. Based on both the novel by Frank Herbert and the David Lynch film, the set totals about 300 cards. Five Rings is betting loyal fans of the saga and eager gamers will want to add some spice to their lives, at about $8.99 for a starter deck and $2.99 for a booster pack.
-- Tamara I. Hladik, Associate Editor
Roll the dice in Area 51
ike a government agency launching the first weather balloon of the
season, gaming company Chessex will be launching Area 51 dice in July. The game's premise revolves around the dynamic between invading alien grays, a secret government agency called MJ12, and a top secret fighter plane, Aurora. The complete set includes 23 mm, 16 mm, 34 mm and 36 mm polyhedral dice, which come in six flavors: MJ12, Aurora, Greys, Invaders, Stars and Biopsy.
-- T.H.
The truth for Scully is: $4 million
he truth? Gillian Anderson, who has been playing coy with producers of The X-Files movie, has finally signed a contract to reprise her role as Special Agent Dana Scully for the feature version of the popular Fox series, the last major cast member to do so, TV Guide reports.
Anderson, who currently earns about half the salary of her co-star David Duchovny, likely held out for a deal comparable to Duchovny's $4 million payday, the magazine reports. Anderson's okay comes not a moment too soon: the movie is scheduled to go before the cameras this month, for a summer 1998 release. -- P.L.
Wesley Snipes takes on SF
esley Snipes (Murder at 1600) becomes the latest feature film star to do TV SF, Mr. Showbiz reports. Snipes is set to star in the ABC telefilm Futuresport, a Rollerball-type action-drama about a dangerous new game that decides "the fate of entire countries."
The film is also a series pilot. Snipes, who will also executive produce,
has agreed to appear in a recurring role if the show is picked up.
-- P.L.
"Picard" makes it $12 million
aking him the highest-paid actor ever to helm a starship, Patrick Stewart has been offered a breath-taking $12 million to reprise his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the next installment of the Star Trek film series, Daily Variety reported.
In addition, Stewart will act as the film's associate co-producer and get a three-year, first-look deal with Paramount. That's a big raise from the $5 million he received for Star Trek: First Contact, which earned $92 million at the U.S. box office.
Jonathan Frakes, who directed the last Trek film, is expected to once again take the helm. Paramount is still working out deals with the other Next Generation cast members, and it's rumored that Brent Spiner will receive $5 million to return as Data, Variety reports.
-- P.L.
Schwarzenegger will be back...in a classic SF tale
irector Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) is reportedly in talks with Arnold Schwarzenegger (Batman & Robin) to make a new feature version of SF novelist Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, Daily Variety reported.
Set in a future post-war Los Angeles, the film is about the last healthy survivor of biological weapons (Schwarzenegger), who must battle crazed mutants that avoid the sun. If the story sounds familiar, it's because it's been made into movies twice before: The Last Man on Earth (1964) with Vincent Price, and The Omega Man (1971) with Charlton Heston.
-- P.L.
Frakes is "Number One" at Paramount
onathan Frakes, Star Trek: The Next Generation's redoubtable William Riker, has reportedly signed a two-year, first-look production deal with Trek studio Paramount to develop and direct feature films, according to the Mr. Showbiz Web site and Daily Variety.
Frakes, who directed the hit film Star Trek: First Contact, is also reportedly mulling a deal to helm the third feature starring the Next Generation cast. "If the script is as good as the last one, I'd be a fool not to," Frakes told Variety.
Back on earth, Frakes is said to be developing several television projects, on which Paramount will get first say. "It's the least I can do after the decade they've given me."
-- P.L.
Resistance was futile for new Voyager cast member
his fall, Star Trek: Voyager will introduce a surprising new crew member: a half-human Borg character named "Seven of Nine."
The new character, to be played by actress Jeri Ryan (Dark Skies), debuts in the fourth-season premiere of the UPN series. The episode -- "Scorpion, Part II" -- is the climax of last season's Borg-in-peril cliffhanger, according to Paramount Network Television.
"'Seven of Nine' is something of a 'wild child' -- she was a human assimilated by Borg as a young girl," said Voyager Creator/Executive Producer Rick Berman. "But once Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) severs her connection to the Collective, she is forced to stay on Voyager and adapt to human society. 'Seven of Nine' should provide us with countless new story lines."
-- P.L.
I can quit anytime I want to. No, really.
t may not seem logical, but some true-blue fans of Star Trek and all its incarnations are like drug addicts who suffer withdrawal symptoms if deprived of a Trek fix, according to a British study cited in Daily Variety.
According to the study, one female Trekker spent her whole vacation worrying that her home VCR had not been set to record the latest episode. Another spent $10,000 each year on Star Trek merchandise.
Psychologist Sandy Wolfson studied Trekkers for four years:
"My research found that about 5 to 10 percent of fans met the psychological criteria of addiction," she told the London Times. "They show withdrawal symptoms such as frustration and agitation if they miss an episode and develop higher tolerance levels, so they need increasing doses," she said.
But Trek love doesn't make you a loser, she added. "Most Trekkies have made friends and even met spouses through their love of the series, and they are intellectually challenged by the range of moral and ethical dilemmas presented in the show."
-- P.L.
U.K. gets Spaced Out
he United Kingdom's Channel 4 will be filming episodes of their new science fiction quiz show Spaced Out through July and August. In what must be considered a major coup, they have secured the participation of William Shatner, who will appearing in two episodes.
Red Dwarf's Craig Charles will be captaining one of the teams, and other contestants are expected to include: from Doctor Who, Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred; from UFO, Ed Bishop; and from Star Trek: DS9, Max Grodenchik and Armin Shimmerman. Filming will take place in Glasgow in front of a live audience on June 16-17, 23-24, 31, and July 1.
Tickets are free, and can be obtained by ringing 0141,429,1750. -- J.G.
Space Ghost cuts a CD
pace Ghost and the other animated stars of the Cartoon Network's Cartoon Planet are launching a new CD that will be titled Space Ghost's Musical Bar-B-Que.
The CD, to be released on the Kid Rhino label, will feature 25 tracks of music and 13 comical vignettes. It showcases musical numbers from the campy SF-talk show amalgam, Space Ghost Coast to Coast on the cartoon cable network, as performed by Space Ghost and his two alien sidekicks, Zorak and Brak.
-- P.L.
SF fans, unite
he Fan History Project, whose Web site is devoted to preserving the long history of SF fan-fueled publications, is "desperately" seeking volunteers to send material.
The project, whose Web site is funded by the Florida Association for Nucleation and Conventions, Inc. -- or F.A.N.A.C. -- says it is looking for avid fans to type up their favorite fan articles or 'zines, scan their favorite photos from a convention or club, or upload electronic copies of their favorite fanzines.
For those interested in getting information on fan publications, the site has complete checklists of several dozen important fanzines, ranging from John Bangsund's Australian Science Fiction Review to Joe Kennedy's Vampire, as well as such publications as Dimensions, the Fanscient, Fantasy Commentator, Hyphen, Quandry, Pong and Slant.
The site also contains current and searchable listings of the Fan Historical Archive Collection, the Memory Hole Collection and the West Coast Science Fiction Association Archives, as well as links to related sites.
-- P.L.
Briefly Noted
- While NBC has officially canceled Dark Skies, it seems pretty certain that the show will return as one or more television movies in the near future. Rumor has it that both UPN and The Sci-Fi Channel are interested in airing the telefilms, and with UPN promising a "Thursday Night Sci-Fi Movie" every week, they'll definitely need to run something in the time slot...
- Several sources have reported that Ray Bradbury is hard at work on new screenplays of The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451. Dreamworks SKG is reportedly working with Bradbury on the new Chronicles, while Mel Gibson has been mentioned in conjunction with 451.
- Ursula K. Le Guin's "Unlocking the Air and Other Stories" was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the fiction category for 1997. The Pulitzers were announced April 7.
- Holy bad reviews, Batman! According to the lucky -- or unlucky -- few who have seen advance screenings of the upcoming movie Batman and Robin, descriptions such as "deplorable" and "stomach turning" don't adequately describe how bad the latest Bat film is.
- The British tabloid the Daily Mail reports Mel Gibson is being offered a highly suspect $40 million to star in a fourth Mad Max film. In the proposed film, Max would come out of retirement to protect a village, only to die within the film's first half hour, leaving his teenage son to avenge his death, the tabloid reports...
- Space Island One looks to be ambitious new U.K. science fiction series commissioned by Sky One, the U.K. arm of Rupert Murdoch's Fox empire. Realism seems to be high on the agenda, with first behind-the-scenes model shots showing a shuttle craft echoing closely the design of NASA's forthcoming shuttle replacement vehicle.
- Brent Spiner (Star Trek: First Contact,Independence Day) will play the role of John Adams in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of the musical 1776, according to Playbill Online.
- Sarah Michelle Gellar, better known to fans of the surprise hit WB series as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is reportedly in final talks to co-star in Scream II, the sequel to director Wes Craven's hit slasher movie. Gellar would join returnees Neve Campbell (Party of Five) and Courteney Cox (Friends).
- Back in Sunnydale, meanwhile, Armin Shimmerman ("Quark" on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) will be appearing with some regularity on Buffy as Principal Snyder. Fans will recall that the school's previous principal was eaten by students possessed by hyena spirits. As Buffy herself might say: Whatever.
- British customs agents reportedly seized bootleg copies of The Lost World, Men in Black and several other major films when they searched the luggage of two men flying from New York to Glasgow earlier this month. Officials said the tapes would have been used to make an estimated $1.63 million worth of pirated videos.
- Last issue we told you a Timecop TV series would be debuting in the fall. Now comes word that next spring will see three original Timecop novels, courtesy of Del Rey. The publisher claims the novels will take the Time Enforcement Commission "to new and exotic locales across the centuries."
- Author Suzy McKee Charnas will be teaching an unexpected week at the Clarion West Science Fiction Writer's Workshop this year. Charnas is replacing another instructor who will be unable to attend workshop.
