Devlin Honored At Saturn Awards
he 24th Annual Saturn Awards recognizing the best science fiction, fantasy and horror films of 1997 were presented during a ceremony held June 10 at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Century City, Calif. The awards were hosted by Byron Allen and included the presentation of the George Pal Memorial Award to Dean Devlin, who became the youngest filmmaker to receive that honor in the 24-year history of the Saturns. This year's winners and categories are:
- Best Science Fiction Film:
- Men in Black
- Best Fantasy Film:
- Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
- Best Horror Film:
- The Devil's Advocate
- Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film:
- L.A. Confidential
- Best Actor:
- Pierce Brosnan (Tomorrow Never Dies)
- Best Actress:
- Jodie Foster (Contact)
- Best Supporting Actress:
- Gloria Stuart (Titanic)
- Best Supporting Actor:
- Vincent D'Onofrio (Men in Black)
- Best Performance By A Younger Actor:
- Jena Malone (Contact)
- Best Direction:
- John Woo (Face/Off)
- Best Writing:
- Mike Web and Michael Colleary (Face/Off)
- Best Music:
- Danny Elfman (Men in Black)
- Best Costume:
- Ellen Mirojnick (Starship Troopers)
- Best Make-Up:
- Rick Lazzarini and Gordon Smith (Mimic)
- Best Special Effects:
- Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Scott E. Anderson, Phil Tippit, John Richardson (Starship Troopers)
- Best Genre Network Series:
- Buffy The Vampire Slayer (WB)
- Best Genre Cable/Syndicated Series:
- The Outer Limits (Showtime)
- Best Genre TV Presentation:
- The Shining (ABC)
- Best Genre TV Actor:
- Steven Weber (The Shining)
- Best Genre TV Actress:
- Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager)
- George Pal Memorial Award:
- Dean Devlin
- President's Award:
- James Cameron
- Life Career Award:
- James Karen
- Life Career Award:
- Michael Crichton
- Special Award:
- "Gods and Monsters"
- Service Award:
- Kevin Marcuss and Bradley Marcuss
The Saturn Awards are presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The highlights of this year's ceremony included Star Trek: Voyager actor Tim Russ accepting the Saturn on behalf of fellow cast member Kate Mulgrew and Kiss frontman Gene Simmons presenting the Pal Award to Devlin.
Star Trek IX Is Officially Insurrection
he official Star Trek Web site reports that the upcoming movie Star Trek IX finally has a name: Insurrection. Star Trek: Insurrection was reportedly chosen from a list of contending titles that, according to rumor, included Prime Directive, Rebellion and Defiance.
Star Trek: Insurrection is the ninth film in the Trek franchise and the third to feature the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The movie is currently in production and will star Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes. Frakes is also directing the film, which is scheduled for a fall release.
Patrick Stewart Eyes New Conspiracy
atrick Stewart's Paramount-based company Flying Freehold has optioned Noah Hawley's forthcoming novel A Conspiracy of Tall Men, Variety reported. The story focuses on a professor obsessed with conspiracy theories who loses his wife in a plane crash, but he suspects the accident is actually part of a plot to cover up the government's development of a mind control drug.
Stewart is reportedly eyeing the lead role in the story, which would be a change of pace from that of the villain he played opposite Mel Gibson in the movie Conspiracy Theory. Hawley's novel is due out in July from Harmony Books.
Terry Brooks To Write Prequel Novel
est-selling fantasy author Terry Brooks will write an original novel for Del Rey Books based on the first episode of the upcoming Star Wars prequel movies. The as-yet-untitled novel will chronicle the events of the movie screenplay written by George Lucas, but Del Rey has said it will go into more depth than a typical movie novelization.
Brooks has reportedly been working closely with Lucas on the book, which will be published in both hardcover and softcover at a future date to be announced by Del Rey. Brooks is best known to SF&F fans for his best-selling novel The Sword of Shannara, which was published in 1977, the same year the first Star Wars movie debuted.
"I am excited to have an author of Terry's caliber writing the novelization of Episode I," Lucas said. "The novel will go into many areas that could not be included in the film, and I am confident that Terry will do a great job in translating my vision for the film in its fullest sense into the literary medium."
NBC Revises 3rd Rock Finale
he season finale of NBC's sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun is being reshot to replace the character played by Phil Hartman, the actor who was allegedly killed by his wife on May 28 in what police suspect was a murder-suicide, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Hartman portrayed a comic villain in the finale, which was the first of a two-part storyline that will be continued in the lead episode of the upcoming season.
Although the finale ran on NBC last month, the network decided to reshoot the episode rather than try to work around the loss of Hartman. The story of the two-part cliffhanger will reportedly remain the same, but NBC plans to replace Hartman with another actor playing a new character. The revised episode will run sometime this summer.
Sliders Makes Sci-Fi History
he new season of Sliders debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel on June 8 to record viewing numbers, becoming the channel's highest-rated series premiere of all time. The first of two back-to-back original Sliders episodes ran at 9 p.m. ET and earned a 2.2 household rating in the Nielsens, which represents 1,072,000 homes. The second original episode ran at 10 p.m. ET and garnered a 2.4 rating, or an estimated 1,168,000 homes.
Those numbers were enough to best the channel's former record-setting premiere, the two-hour pilot for Space: Above & Beyond, which aired in January and earned a 2.1 household rating. Sliders also set a new mark for the highest-rated series episode on the channel, a title formerly held by the second telecast of V: The Series, which earned a 1.8 rating in August 1996.
The new episodes of Sliders kicked off the show's fourth full season and its first on the Sci-Fi Channel. Sliders originally ran on Fox for three seasons before being pulled from that network's programming lineup.
Arthur C. Clarke Earns Presidential Award
egendary SF author Arthur C. Clarke will receive the University of Illinois Presidential Award and Medallion on June 5, an honor shared by only 10 other people in the world, including Philippine President Fidel Ramos. According to Variety, Clarke is being honored "for his numerous literary and scientific achievements and for the relationship he created with the university at Urbana-Champaign when he named it as the birthplace of HAL 9000."
HAL, the artificial intelligence that played a pivotal role in Clarke's 2001 novels and films, has become one of the most celebrated computers in history, and it was recently featured on the cover of Wired magazine. Clarke was recently in headlines himself after a British tabloid accused him of being a pedophile, a charge that Clarke said has subsequently been proven false.
The Sparrow Receives Clarke Award
ary Doria Russell's novel The Sparrow earned the 1998 Arthur C. Clarke Award, which was presented for the best SF novel published for the first time in the United Kingdom in 1997, according to Locus Online. Russell received the award from Clarke's daughter Angie Edwards at a ceremony held at the Science Museum in London.
The Clarke Award was founded by author Arthur C. Clarke in 1987 and includes a cash prize of £1,000 and an engraved bookend. The Sparrow has previously earned the James Tiptree Jr. Award and the British Science Fiction Association Award.
CBS Lands Deep Impact
BS picked up the network TV rights to Paramount Pictures' surprise blockbuster movie Deep Impact for $25 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The deal gives CBS six runs of the film over six years, starting in February 2001.
In five weeks at the box office Deep Impact has earned a sizable $122 million, giving Paramount and co-producer DreamWorks SKG the first certifiable hit movie of the summer.
Godzilla Goes To NBC For $25 Million
BC picked up the network TV rights to Sony Pictures' box-office blunder Godzilla for $25 million, a sharp reduction from Sony's original asking price of $35 to $40 million, according to Variety. The price drop reflects Godzilla's performance in theaters, which has been disappointing even though the film has earned nearly $100 million since its release.
According to speculation in the film industry, Godzilla will need to make a monster-sized $240 million in order to show a profit, a number it's nowhere close to reaching. Poor reviews and plummeting ticket sales are plaguing the Dean Devlin/Roland Emmerich film, which accounts for the bargain-basement sale of the network rights. NBC is expected to air Godzilla in February 2001.
ABC To Air Unshown Timecop, Prey
his month ABC plans to begin showing the remaining unaired episodes of its two canceled SF shows Prey and Timecop. Prey will run in the Thursday, 9:00 p.m., timeslot from June 11 and through July 9, while Timecop will air Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. starting on June 20 and running through July 18.
Prey debuted on January 15 and ran for eight episodes before being pulled from ABC's lineup, leaving five unaired shows in the can. Timecop premiered last fall and ran in the juicy timeslot leading into Monday Night Football, but ABC canceled it after just five episodes, leaving four unaired installments.
A spokesperson for ABC said the network is simply using up its unaired inventory and has no plans to bring either series back.
Truman Earns $31.5 Million
im Carrey's The Truman Show took in $31.5 million at the box office during its opening weekend, accounting for nearly a third of all ticket sales over the Friday-Sunday time period, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film has earned nearly universal rave reviews from critics, but despite the praise and the movie's strong opening, industry insiders speculate Truman's success may be short-lived due to poor word of mouth.
Meanwhile, Godzilla continued its box-office slide with a disappointing $9.7 million take over the weekend, bringing its total haul to about $114 million after three weeks in release. Deep Impact finished the weekend with another $6.65 million in sales, bringing its total up to $122 million in five weeks.
Stowe, Shalhoub Join Impostor
adeleine Stowe (12 Monkeys) and Tony Shalhoub (Big Night) have agreed to star in Impostor, the second segment of a three-part SF anthology movie from Dimension Films, according to Variety. Impostor is based on the Philip K. Dick short story of the same name and co-stars Gary Sinise and Vincent D'Onofrio.
The first installment of the film, called Alien Love Triangle, was shot earlier this year and stars Kenneth Branagh, Courteney Cox and Heather Graham.
The Visitors Delayed In U.S.
he U.S. version of the 1993 French blockbuster movie Les Visiteurs won't go in front of the cameras in September as planned, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film is reportedly being delayed because the script--a long-distance collaboration between U.S. director John Hughes, French actor/screenwriter Christian Clavier and French director Jean-Marie Poire--hasn't been finished.
The Reporter quoted a source close to Clavier as saying, "They are not satisfied with the screenplay. They're writing for an American public, and that's not easy." The U.S. version of Les Visiteurs will be called The Visitors and will tell the story of an 11th century nobleman and his squire who are accidently sent forward in time to the modern-day United States.
B5 Card Game Goes To War
ame publisher Precedence said in October it will be releasing an expansion set called "The Great War" to its popular Babylon 5 collectible card game. The set will focus on the story arc that took place in seasons three and four of the B5 TV show, which dealt with a war between two powerful races called the Vorlons and the Shadows.
"The Great War" will feature major character cards such as Lorien and "potent new versions" of Commander John Sheridan and Ambassador G'kar, military cards like Black Omega Squadron and Vorlon Planet Killers, and a new card class called "contingencies" that adds depth to the tactics employed in military attacks. The expansion set includes 350 cards in all and will be sold as two new decks, each containing 60 cards, for $8.95, or in 10-card booster packs that cost $2.49.
Pi Director Lands Proteus
arren Aronofsky, who earned a director's award at the Sundance Film Festival for his low-budget SF flick Pi, has agreed to helm Dimension Film's underwater science fiction thriller Proteus, according to published reports. Proteus has been described as "Das Boot meets The Shining" and focuses on a World War II American submarine caught between the German navy above and a monstrous life form below.
Aronofsky, who wrote the screenplay for Proteus along with newcomer Lucas Sussman, will reportedly receive $600,000 to direct the film and a split of $300,000-$600,000 for his writing duties. Pi, which was picked up by Artisan Entertainment for a reported $1 million, will make its theatrical debut in July. That film is about a renegade mathematician looking for numerical order in the chaotic New York Stock Exchange.
Christopher Lloyd Enters Spooky House
hristopher Lloyd, best known to SF fans for his role as the quirky inventor Dr. Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future movies, will star in an independent film called Spooky House, according to Variety. The movie is a Halloween family feature that centers around a showbiz magician who discovers the secret to true magic.
The magician becomes involved with a group of elementary students when they try to sneak into his mysterious house. SF fans might also remember Lloyd for his roles as the evil Klingon commander Kruge in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and as John Bigbooté in The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension.
Sturgeon Finalists Announced
his year's finalists for the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for the Best Short SF of the Year were announced June 4 by James Gunn, the director of the J. Wayne and Elsie M. Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction. The winner of the award and two runner-ups will be announced at a dinner that will be held July 10 at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., in conjunction with the annual Campbell Conference. This year's finalists are:
- Alan Brennert for "Echoes" (F&SF, May 1997)
- Michael F. Flynn for "House of Dreams" (Asimov's, Oct./Nov. 1997)
- James Patrick Kelly for "Itsy Bitsy Spider" (Asimov's, June 1997)
- Mary Soon Lee for "Universal Grammar" (F&SF, April 1997)
- Paul Levinson for "Loose Ends" (Analog, May 1997)
- Paul Park for "Get a Grip" (F&SF, Dec. 1997)
- Mike Resnick for "The 43 Antarean Dynasties" (Asimov's, Dec. 1997)
- William Sanders for "The Undiscovered" (Asimov's, March 1997)
- James Sarafin and Mary Rosenblum for "One Good Juror" (Asimov's, Feb. 1997)
- Brian Stableford for "Coming to Grips with the Great Plague" (Omni Online, March 1997)
- Allen Steele for "Where Angels Fear to Tread" (Asimov's, Oct./Nov. 1997)
- Walter Jon Williams for "Lethe" (Asimov's, Sept. 1997)
The winner and two runner-ups will be chosen from the list of finalists by a committee that includes Gunn, Kij Johnson and Frederik Pohl.
Sci-Fi Renews MST3K
he Sci-Fi Channel has renewed the Peabody Award-winning SF comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000 for a 10th season. Sci-Fi ordered 13 new episodes of the show with an option to pick up nine more, and it plans to air the new season the first quarter of 1999 in MST3K's usual 5:00 p.m. ET Saturday timeslot, with repeats at 11:00 p.m. ET the same day.
MST3K is produced by Best Brains Inc. and previously ran on Comedy Central for seven seasons. The show was picked up by the Sci-Fi Channel in February 1997 and has since become "a critical and fan favorite," according to Barry Schulman, the vice president of programming for the Sci-Fi Channel.
Space Adds Sliders, Weird Science
anada's Space: The Imagination Station will be adding the SF television shows Sliders and Weird Science to its summer lineup. Space plans to show all 48 episodes of the first three seasons of Sliders in chronological order starting Monday, July 6.
Weird Science, the spin-off TV series based on the 1985 movie of the same name, will also debut on Space on July 6. Weird Science will air Mondays through Fridays at 12:30 p.m. ET and 5:00 p.m. ET, while Sliders will run Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Sci-Fi Acquires Wonder Woman In WB Deal
he Sci-Fi Channel picked up 61 hours of the television series Wonder Woman, three Stephen King miniseries and 43 movies in a deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Pay-TV. The package includes blockbuster movies such as Batman, Beetlejuice, Superman and The Witches of Eastwick, classic films like A Clockwork Orange and The Illustrated Man, and the miniseries Salem's Lot, The Shining and It.
Wonder Woman, which aired on ABC from 1975-77 and then on CBS from 1977-79, will run on the channel Monday through Friday at 3:00 p.m. ET beginning June 29. "The addition of Wonder Woman to our afternoon lineup adds another fun element to our already exciting mix of classic series," said Barry Schulman, the vice president of programming for the Sci-Fi Channel.
Roar May Return To Fox
he short-lived action/fantasy series Roar may return to Fox as a mid-season replacement, according to TV Guide Online. The Web site got the news directly from Roar creator and executive producer Shaun Cassidy, who is currently at work with Wes Craven on the new TV show Hollyweird.
Roar--a fantasy series along the lines of Xena and Hercules--went out of its way to advertise sword fights and scantily clad men and women, and although it developed a small cult following, it didn't garner the ratings Fox was hoping for. "There are five unaired episodes of Roar, and I think they're the strongest of the bunch," Cassidy earlier told the Sci-Fi Channel.
