Star Trek 9 To Launch March 1998
he final pieces are falling into place for the next installment of the Star Trek film franchise, which will be the ninth movie in the overall series and the third set in the Next Generation universe. Despite the fact that actor Brent Spiner is holding out for more money and Jonathan Frakes has not finalized a deal to direct, Paramount said the film will begin production in March 1998.
Frakes is considered a lock for the director's position following his strong behind-the-camera efforts on the immensely successful Star Trek: First Contact. Likewise, Spiner's excellent performance in First Contact is expected to earn him the pay raise he's seeking, especially considering that Paramount recently ponied up a reported $12 million to sign Patrick Stewart to the project.
(Sci-Fi Wire)
Meet The X-Fools: Mully And Scudder
ast week Parroty Interactive began shipping The X-Fools, a "paranoid paranormal CD-ROM parody" of Fox's hit television show, The X-Files. In The X-Fools, gamers take on the role of an FBI agent trainee who is under the guidance of two paranoid ex-FBI agents, Mully and Scudder.
Mully and Scudder subject players to a "deprogramming regimen" that includes interactive games, trivia and "multimedia vignettes." Players can also embark on The Conspiracy Quest, which will allow them to win prizes by solving "X-Fool-ish" password puzzles.
The X-Fools follows in the somewhat dubious footsteps of Parroty's earlier releases, the Myst parody Pyst and the Star Wars parody, Star Warped. The X-Fools costs $19.95 and is available for Windows 95, Windows 3.1 and Macintosh platforms running System 7.1 or later.
(Sci-Fi Wire)
Canticle Sequel Hits Store Shelves
or more than 30 years the seminal 1959 SF book A Canticle for Leibowitz was famed author Walter M. Miller's only published novel. Although he had been working on a sequel for decades, he committed suicide in 1995 with the manuscript more than 100 pages short of completion.
But last week Bantam Books brought out the long-awaited sequel under the title Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman. The book was completed by award-winning writer Terry Bisson, who worked from the notes and half-written scenes that the reclusive Miller left behind.
(Sci-Fi Wire)
Fox Wins Friday Night With The Visitor, Millennium
he Fox network scored key victories in the ratings game for the week of Sept. 22 on the strength of its Friday night SF lineup, which features the new Dean Devlin/Roland Emmerich series The Visitor at 8 p.m. followed by Chris Carter's Millennium at 9 p.m. Fox managed to outperform ABC, CBS and NBC in the key demographic of adults 18-49, despite the fact that all three of the major networks were premiering new series, while Fox was already into the second week of its season.
Fox's overall ratings were up substantially from last year, thanks in part to Millennium's ratings increase of 13 percent in the 18-49 demographic compared to its last-season average. The Visitor was up 15 percent in the 18-49 demographic over the show that held the 8 p.m. time slot for Fox last year, Sliders.
The victory was a mixed blessing for The Visitor, which lost 23 percent of its 18-49 viewership between its season premiere and its second episode.
(Sci-Fi Wire)
Starship Troopers In The Cards For Inkworks
nkworks will release a set of 81 collectible Starship Troopers cards later this month in advance of the much-anticipated Starship Troopers movie by director Paul Verhoeven, which is due to hit theaters Nov. 7. The cards will feature scenes from the movie on the front, while the back will contain the original storyboard "that inspired the scene," according to Inkworks.
There will be a total of 15 "special" cards in the set, ranging from embossed cards featuring alien insects fighting troopers to two special storyboards that will be both foiled and embossed.
(Sci-Fi Wire)
Magic Adds ESPN2 To Its Deck
n what has to be a first for collectible trading card games, the Magic: The Gathering World Championships will be broadcast in October and November on the ESPN2 sports network. Wizards of the Coast, the company behind Magic, has been touting the game as the "intellectual sport of the '90s," and its president and CEO said the ESPN2 coverage legitimizes the claim.
ESPN2 will air individual and team competitions on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 10:30 p.m. PST and Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 1:30 a.m. EST. Additional Magic segments will be broadcast on Nov. 25 and 26.
(Sci-Fi Wire)
Wanted: A Few Good Alien Abductees
howtime wants to hear your abduction story, and if you've got a video of the encounter, so much the better. Of course, since Showtime isn't saying what exactly it wants your stories for, you'll probably have to be a true believer before you send them your name and phone number, which is all they want...for now.
The only thing Showtime is saying about the project is that, "as part of our continuing effort to enhance our sci-fi programming, Showtime is interested in having our audience share its experiences with us." True believers are given one of two e-mail addresses to send their information to, with a promise that someone from the cable network will contact them later to explain the "legal mumbo-jumbo."
Interested abductees should visit the Showtime Online Web site.
(Sci-Fi Wire)
Teletubbies Picked Up By PBS
inky Winky, Dipsy, Po and Laa-Laa are set to invade U.S. soil come April 1998, when the British children's show Teletubbies makes its debut on the PBS network. Tinky Winky and the gang are the Teletubbies of the show's title, a group of cuddly cyber bears with TVs in their tummies and antennas on their heads.
Between bouts of eating Tubby Toast and Tubby Custard, the Teletubbies use their built-in TVs to watch real children at play. Although the show is targeted at preschoolers, it's become a hit with the more than 2 million Britons of all ages who tune in each day to watch Tubbyland (not to mention the Tubbytronic Superdome).
Despite the fact that the show has been derided in Britain for its simplicity and endless repetition, the Brits are expected to spend more than $48 million on Tubby paraphernalia by year's end, according to Daily Variety. U.S. viewers should be able to get their fill of the popular show, which will air for a half-hour each weekday on PBS, complete with American voice-overs.
(Sci-Fi Wire)
Production Begins On Serling Teleplay
roduction began Sept. 29 on the Sci-Fi Channel original movie A Town Has Turned To Dust, which is based on a teleplay written by Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling. The film is a morality story about bigotry and mob psychology; it takes place in the distant future, when much of Earth has been abandoned and environmentally ravaged.
The script was originally produced as a live CBS "Playhouse 90" episode in 1958 and starred William Shatner, among others. The new version of the film will star Ron Perlman (Beauty and the Beast, Alien Resurrection), Stephen Lang (Fire Down Below) and Judy Collins.
(Sci-Fi Wire)
