Death Comes To Galactica

Ronald D. Moore, executive producer of SCI FI Channel's original series Battlestar Galactica, told fans that the upcoming third season of the hit SF series could see some fatalities among the characters. "Oh, there're some changes in the air," Moore said at the 64th World Science Fiction Convention, or WorldCon, in Anaheim, Calif., over the weekend. "We're going to lose some people this year. Not all of our friends are going to make it all the way." Moore declined to be specific, but said that the show's writers have finished breaking the story arc for the end of the upcoming third season.

Moore added that the upcoming season 2.5 DVD set will include a special 90-minute version of the episode "Pegasus," which ran only 60 minutes in the original broadcast. In addition, fresh material in the form of specially filmed "webisodes," Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance, will air on SCIFI.COM's SCI FI Pulse broadband network twice weekly, starting Sept. 5. The two- or three-minute shorts will serve as a lead-in to the new season and, although not essential to the plot, will enhance the viewing experience.

Moore was joined at WorldCon by executive producer Mark Verheiden, supervising producer Michael Taylor, story editor Anne Cofell Saunders, producers David Weddle and Bradley Thompson and SCIFI.COM senior vice president Craig Engler in screening a trailer for and talking about the upcoming season.

When asked whether the show was still true to his initial vision, Moore said he felt it was on track, but that there had been surprises along the way, from both writers and actors, that made both the storyline and the characters richer.

"One of the great things about writing for Ron is you do feel empowered to try things, and it doesn't have to be ... what was in the story outline," Weddle said. "I'm sure many of you remember in season two, where Callie shoots Boomer. That was never in an outline. That wasn't a planned moment. ... [Writer] Toni Graphia called Brad [Thompson] and [me] one day and said, 'You know, I think I want Callie to shoot Boomer.'"

Moore agreed: "There's nothing like reading a script and being surprised," he said of his reaction to the change. "It's the experience of watching the show." Season three of Battlestar Galactica begins airing Oct. 6. Galactica will air Fridays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. —Nephele TempestHobbit Due In 2007?

Fan Web site TheOneRing.net posted a rumor that The Hobbit, the proposed prequel to Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, is on New Line Cinema's schedule for 2007.

According to an e-mail sent by an anonymous source, the title was clearly listed on a schedule at New Line's offices in New York City. "I was in New Line's [New York] offices to discuss upcoming projects when I clearly saw something very intriguing on a year planner," the source told the site. "The Hobbit was clearly marked on what looked like July, 2007. I couldn't exactly take a moment to investigate the calendar with my audience in the room, but it definitely said The Hobbit."Star Trek Gets Upgraded

The original 1960s Star Trek series will receive a high-tech makeover and return to broadcast syndication for the first time in 16 years, with digitally remastered episodes, Paramount announced. In honor of the show's 40th anniversary, CBS Domestic Television is releasing all 79 episodes with new special effects and music on 200 stations, beginning Sept. 16. The first batch of episodes will be chosen from a list of fan favorites.

The original special effects will be replaced with computer-generated images, including the exterior of the Starship Enterprise, based on the exact measurements of the original model, now resting in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The main title sequence will also be redone with new effects and a new digital stereo soundtrack re-recorded by an orchestra and a female singer. William Shatner's classic original recording of the 38-word "Space, the final frontier ..." monologue has been remastered and continues to open each episode.

All of the space scenes, alien landscapes and ships—including the Romulan Bird of Prey and Klingon Battle Cruisers—will be updated as well. The remastered episodes have been converted from the original film into a high-definition format, which gives viewers a clearer, crisper, more vibrant picture, even when viewed in standard definition.Nimoy, Shatner In Trek 11?

Leonard Nimoy, who played Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek series, told Jam Movies that he has been contacted by Paramount about his possible involvement in the upcoming 11th Star Trek film, being directed by J.J. Abrams.

Nimoy told the site: "The head of production at Paramount called my agency to tell them about this project, and they are aware of [William Shanter]'s and my contribution to the franchise, and they'd like us to know they might want some involvement. It was all very, very general. They might possibly want Bill and I to set up the story as a flashback. But that's just conjecture on my part."

It has been rumored that the film would deal with the first meeting of a young Spock and James T. Kirk at Starfleet Academy, but neither Abrams nor screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orc have confirmed speculation about the premise or storyline of the sequel film.Transformers Details Revealed

SCI FI Wire got a rare peek at the production of director Michael Bay's upcoming Transformers movie in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 26, including the first up-close look at the disguised versions of four key Autobots: the chartreuse search-and-rescue vehicle Ratchet, the giant black GMC 4x4 Ironhide, the sleek silver Pontiac Solstice sports car that is Jazz and the muscle-y yellow-and-black Chevy Camaro that is the new Bumblebee—so new that the car in the movie is a prototype for a vehicle that hasn't even gone into production yet. Ironhide had an Autobot logo on his tailgate; Ratchet featured a fire department seal on its doors with the same logo in the design.

In interviews with cast and crew, SCI FI Wire also got a preview of the film and learned a few key spoilers:

•The film will offer background about the origin of the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. The plot will be set in motion when 18-year-old Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) discovers his grandfather's pair of century-old glasses, improbably laser-etched with a map and information about the location of a key artifact, the "Energon" cube, which he then tries to sell on eBay. The movie will follow five separate storylines, which will all converge with a final battle between the Autobots and Decepticons, starting at Hoover Dam and ending in an American city that looks a lot like Los Angeles.

•The film is seeking permission to be the first production to film the exterior of the Pentagon since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001; the movie will also shoot in various cities, including L.A., Chicago, Detroit and Washington.

•The film will feature a top-secret military unit called Sector 7.

•Voice casting of the Transformer robots is being left until later in the production, except for Peter Cullen, who was previously named to reprise his role as Optimus Prime. In particular, producers wouldn't say whether Frank Welker, who voiced Megatron in the 1986 animated Transformers film, would voice the character in the movie.

•The movie will use a mix of computer animation and large-scale puppetry to depict the giant robots. Megatron will appear as a plane, not a giant gun, as he did in early versions of the franchise.

•The film's first full trailer will appear sometime during the holiday season this year.

Overall, director Bay told SCI FI Wire that the movie strives for realism, despite its cartoony origins. "I only wanted to do Transformers if I could do it realistic," Bay said in an interview. "And from what I've seen and what we've done with our digital studies, putting it in real-world stuff, that is lots of effects around that are real effects, that's how we make it realistic." When Bay got the first call from producer Steven Spielberg, he said, "My first thought was, 'Nah, I'm not interested.' And just because I thought, 'OK, how am I going to do a toy movie?' And then I realized, when I went to Hasbro, 'OK, start over and go for [a] realistic alien-invasion-robot movie on Earth.' And so, with that thinking in mind, that's how I went about it."

On a hot Saturday, Bay and his crew shot a scene on a blocked-off street in the heart of downtown L.A. The scene featured the four Autobots, accompanied by military crews led by co-stars Tyrese Gibson and Josh Duhamel, and young stars LaBeouf and Megan Fox, who plays Mikaela, LaBeouf's love interest. In the scene, the commandoes see what they believe to be Air Force jets flying overhead, then realize that the coming flying machines are something else—Decepticons in disguise?—and throw smoke grenades to obscure their positions as dozens of civilians run screaming around them. Ironhide, the black truck in the lead of the column of Autobots, appears to collide with a delivery truck carrying Furbys (the talking furry animal toys that are also made by Transformers maker Hasbro). The truck is on a gimbal, which allows it to swing up and stand perpendicular to the street, as if knocked on its end

. The idea is that the Furbys will be knocked from the truck, in flames, then activate when the Energon cube flies overhead. "We just wanted to have burning Furbys on the ground, you know?" Bay said with a laugh. "We're going to be blowing up a lot of little Furbys." Transformers is currently in production, with an eye to a July 4, 2007, release. —Patrick Lee, News Editor

More Spidey To Come

Kevin Feige, the new president of production for Marvel Studios, told MTV.com that the upcoming third Spider-Man film won't be the last in the hit franchise.

"There will be many more Spider-Man films to come," Feige promised the site. "We already have stacks of ideas for the next one because of the wealth of stories in the comics. We could be making Spider-Man movies for the next 20 years, based on the 50 years of Spider-Man history we have."

Rumors have circulated that the third movie from director Sam Raimi would be the last. It's unclear whether Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire and his other castmates would sign on for further installments beyond Spider-Man 3.

"When you're concentrating on one movie at a time, there's a beginning and a middle and an end to that process," Feige said. "We've been topping each one as they go, [and if that happens again,] that's the time for those discussions." Spider-Man 3 will open next May.

Godzilla Reborn On DVD

Steve Ryfle, author of Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of Godzilla and commentary contributor on the new Gojira (aka Godzilla) DVD, told SCI FI Wire that the release of the original Japanese film will surprise fans who thought they knew Godzilla. "It's like a rebirth for Godzilla in a way," Ryfle said in an interview for the release of the new DVD set. "It's my hope that now a lot of people will see that the cartoony Godzilla movies of the '70s weren't the original intent of the character and the franchise. In truth, the Godzilla from 1954 is a different creature than the one in the later films that did the flying and the corny antics. They are two different beasts with the same name. Now we finally are getting to see these films as they were intended. On these discs, in particular, you get the American version we grew up with and the Japanese version. That's really exciting to finally see how you remember it, and then see it as it was originally intended, and compare and contrast and finally draw your own conclusion as to which is better."

Gojira, filmed in Japan in 1954, was shot as a serious film inspired by a real-life nuclear accident involving a Japanese fishing boat contaminated by an American nuclear test site. The film's original anti-war message has long since been forgotten. "Unfortunately, a lot of the people who made the original film have died, but the interesting thing to me is that the director, Ishiro Honda, was fully aware that his film has been reconstructed for America," Ryfle revealed. "He was a very polite and reserved man and never expressed any displeasure about that. And, on the contrary, he expressed he was just happy that it was shown abroad. But because of the fact that he was so committed to the pacifist message of the film and the anti-nuclear sentiment, you have to assume deep down inside he was very disappointed that the film was so drastically altered, and much of what he was trying to say was taken out of it. I think he would be very happy now." Gojira is available on DVD Sept. 5. —Tara DiLullo

Lost Room Adds On Cast

Kevin Pollak, Margaret Cho, Dennis Christopher and Ewan Bremner have joined the cast of the SCI FI Channel original miniseries The Lost Room, Variety reported. The six-hour thriller stars Peter Krause as a homicide detective who stumbles upon a mysterious key that unlocks the door to a world of unimaginable power, and becomes a target of those who will stop at nothing to claim it. Julianna Margulies, Roger Bart and Elle Fanning also star.

According to the trade paper, Pollak will play Karl Kreutzfeld, a wealthy Pittsburgh businessman who's after the key, the room's highly treasured object; Cho portrays Suzie Kang, a tough, chain-smoking independent operator who will sell information to anyone about the room's powerful objects for the right price; Christopher plays Martin Ruber, a county coroner and colleague of Miller with questionable intentions; and Bremner plays Harold Stritzke, a petty thief who teams with Miller to recover the latter's lost daughter.

The Lost Room premieres on SCI FI Channel in December.

Ice Age 2 Coming On Blu-ray

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment announced its initial slate of titles for the Blu-ray high-definition format, the first of which will be the computer-animated sequel film Ice Age: The Meltdown. The film will be released on Blu-ray disc in North America on Nov. 21, the same day it comes out on DVD.

The release will include special HD extras, including an exclusive short, "No Time for Nuts," three additional CGI shorts, a commentary by director Carlos Saldanha, several featurettes and a blooper reel. Additional titles to follow for the Blu-ray platform include the recent remake of The Omen, Fantastic Four and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, all scheduled for release later this year.

Blu-ray is a next-generation optical-disc format developed for HD video. It can store as much as six times the amount of content of a standard DVD and features advanced copy protection, backward compatibility, connectivity and advanced interactivity. Twentieth Century Fox is a member of the board of directors of the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Kelly Clarifies Southland Edits

Richard Kelly, director of the upcoming SF epic film Southland Tales, backed away from an interview published in the British Hotdog magazine that the film had been cut by an hour against his wishes, and clarified that he is currently cutting the movie himself, according to a post on Kelly's MySpace.com blog.

"I just wanted to give everyone an update on Southland Tales, as there was recently an article published in Hotdog magazine about the film being taken away from me and cut down by an hour," Kelly wrote. "This interview took place during the Cannes Film Festival and WAS TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT WITHOUT REFERENCING MANY POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS THAT HAVE OCCURRED SINCE THEN," he added, using capital letters for emphasis.

Kelly added that the film has since been picked up by Sony for distribution and that he is finishing a shorter cut under the studio's supervision. "It has been a great experience, and I feel like the film is now in better shape than ever," he wrote. "The film will absolutely be released in theaters, and Sony is still deciding on an appropriate release date and strategy."

In the meantime, Kelly said that a second graphic novel of The Prequel Saga, titled Southland Tales—Book II: Fingerprints, will be released on Sept. 13. "Book III will likely come out in mid-October," he added. "If you like the books, I guarantee you will love the film, as it represents chapter IV-VI!"

Kelly added: "Thank you guys for your continued support, and please know that I am incredibly proud of this film and excited for it to be seen. What you will see in theaters will absolutely be my cut of the film!"

Craig Glad To Finish Casino

Daniel Craig, who assumes the mantle of 007 in the upcoming 21st James Bond film Casino Royale, told the Reuters news service that the coolest thing about making the film was "finishing, probably." The production involved a rigorous training and filming schedule for the actor. To create the film's signature stunt sequences, Craig was beat up, blown up and hung on wires on the back of a fuel tanker, the news service reported.

The story is based on Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, of the same name. Written in 1953, it depicts the British spy's first mission for Her Majesty's Secret Service. The film will update the setting to the present, but the opening sequence will have a nostalgic feel to it, the news service reported. "We have an opening sequence that is filmed in black and white, which is not to say this is old," Craig said. "It is just to say, 'Go with us on this one. This is from the beginning.'"

The main villain, a Frenchman named Le Chiffre, has also been changed from a Soviet agent to a terrorist financier (played by Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen), the news service reported. Eva Green (Kingdom of Heaven) also stars as British Treasury agent and potential love interest Vesper Lynd.

Craig is the sixth actor to play James Bond. He told the news service that he spoke to his predecessor, Pierce Brosnan, "quite a few times" while making the film. "Pierce said, 'Go for it,' so I did," Craig said. He is also set to appear in the next Bond film, scheduled for release in 2008. Casino Royale opens in theaters Nov. 17.

Perrineau Joins 28 Weeks

Harold Perrineau, best known for his role as Michael on ABC's Lost, has joined the cast of the zombie sequel film 28 Weeks Later, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Perrineau will play an upbeat American Special Forces pilot who documents and leads to safety the families returning to London after the viral outbreak, the trade paper reported.

The sequel to the 2002 film 28 Days Later, directed by Danny Boyle, takes place six months after the end of the first film, in which a virus causing hyper-aggression was accidentally spread from monkeys to humans. In the sequel, a carrier of the virus unknowingly ignites another infection in London. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intacto) will take over directing duties from Boyle, who is attached as a producer on the sequel. The film is scheduled for release on May 11, 2007.

Cadets Honors Thomas

Multiple award-winning SF author and editor Mike Resnick told SCI FI Wire that his new book, Space Cadets, is a limited-edition anthology of space cadet stories, intended to serve as a tribute to Frankie Thomas, who was honored posthumously at Worldcon this year. Thomas, who played the title role in the 1950s television series Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, died on May 11. "The Los Angeles [Worldcon] committee asked me to edit a book of space cadet stories in [Thomas'] honor, so I went out to find the best writers I could find [and] asked them [to contribute]," Resnick said in an interview at the science fiction convention, which took place in the L.A. suburb of Anaheim, Calif., over the weekend. "Absolutely nobody refused. We have [Worldcon author guest of honor] Connie Willis. We have a number of other former guests of honor, and for a small-press edition—I am sure we'll [also] sell to the mass market eventually—this has got a hell of a cast."

Resnick said that he got to know Thomas as he was preparing the anthology. "I'm just sorry that Frankie died before it came out, especially sorry because we became friends when we were speaking over the phone," Resnick said. "And Frankie, not Tom Corbett, is the hero of my story, and I really wanted him to be able to read it. I was about three days from e-mailing it to him when he died."

Resnick said that most of the stories are essentially coming-of-age stories about young space cadets. "I wrote a very funny [story], in which Frankie was the hero," he said. "Harry Turtledove wrote one that was just loaded with one pun after another. But I would say 85, 90 percent of them really are ... stories about young space cadets essentially coming to grips with adulthood and responsibility, which is exactly what Tom Corbett was about."

The book features a cover by Worldcon artist guest of honor James Gurney. The anthology contains stories from best-selling authors and multiple award-winners, including Kevin J. Anderson, David Brin, Gregory Benford, Mercedes Lackey, Nancy Kress, Catherine Asaro, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Barry Malzberg, Larry Niven and David Gerrold, among others. "That's a nice lineup," Resnick said.

Another new anthology of Resnick's is an editorial collaboration with fan Joe Siclari, called Worldcon Guest of Honor Speeches. "We thought somebody ought to do it before every last one of them was lost, because we found the first eight or nine, and they were in moldering fanzines that probably never had printings of 100," Resnick said. "There will be a ... second volume, ... where we expect to have at least 20 more [speeches]. ... They are historically important. [This is] kind of an amateur project—nobody got rich on it—but it's important in the field to have these things."

Although Resnick's been keeping busy editing anthologies, he's managed to find the time to keep writing fiction, too. His latest novel, Starship: Pirate, is due in December from Pyr, and he has a number of short stories forthcoming, in both anthologies and magazines. His story, "Down Memory Lane," was a Hugo Award finalist this year. —John Joseph Adams

Aquaman Joins Justice League Game

The creators of the upcoming Justice League Heroes video game have announced that it will include Aquaman as an unlockable character, alongside Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, Zatanna and Green Arrow. In the game, Aquaman will be armed with water-based super powers as well as the sword of Atlantis. He will assist his fellow Justice League Heroes in a fight against Brainiac and other villains, including Killer Frost and The Key.

Justice League Heroes features an original story by award-winning comic and animation writer Dwayne McDuffie (Justice League, Teen Titans). It was developed by Snowblind Studios for Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment and is distributed by Eidos Interactive. The game is scheduled for release in the fall of 2006 for the PlayStation2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, GameBoy Advance and Nintendo DS systems.

Outer Limits Co-Creator Dead

Joseph Stefano, co-creator of the SF anthology series The Outer Limits, has died at the age of 84, Variety reported. Stefano passed away Aug. 25 at Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The cause of death wasn't disclosed.

Stefano so-created the classic television series with screenwriter Leslie Stevens in 1963. It ran for three years and featured the memorable opening lines "There is nothing wrong with your television set. Do not attempt to adjust the picture. We are controlling transmission." Stefano will also be remembered for adapting the screenplay for the classic 1960 Alfred Hitchcock thriller Psycho, based on the pulp novel by Robert Bloch.

Besides his wife, Stefano is survived by his son, Dominic. A private family funeral was held earlier this week.

Covenant's Harlin Wanted 'Sexy'

Sebastian Stan, one of the young stars of the upcoming supernatural film The Covenant, told SCI FI Wire that director Renny Harlin had a distinctive instruction for his actors. "I think the funniest thing is, the main direction that we got from Renny Harlin, which was, like, in this Scandinavian accent, it was this booming voice that would come out of the megaphone, you know, from the end of the set. It was like, 'Make it sexy. Be more sexy.' Then you were like, 'Oohkaay,'" Stan said in an interview.

The Covenant centers on a group of young men in a small Massachusetts town who are secretly the scions of a society of warlocks. Stan plays Chase, the son of a family that was banished from town, but who has returned. The Finnish-born Harlin (Exorcist: The Beginning) shot the movie with plenty of visual effects, which required the stars to hang in harnesses and perform against green screens.

As for the "be more sexy" direction? Stan said he'd receive it even while dangling in the air in a wire harness (to simulate flying). "So I cannot feel my left thigh anymore, because I've lost complete blood in it, but I will make this long scene more sexy," he said. Even so, he added: "Renny, he was just really awesome, I thought. He's a very visual director. I remember when we first got on set, he had this entire book of images that he had put together to present us kind of like how he was going to shoot it. He was extremely concerned with [visuals], all kinds of aspects, all these minor details that go into a shot and how many angles that he wanted to shoot it at, what was better. And him, and Pierre Gill, who was our [director of photography], they really balanced each other out very well. They had a very similar sort of vision as to how they wanted it to [look], kind of dark. ... I felt like the [studio finally] gave him a movie with different kind of options than the past, the latter films that he's worked on, [geared toward] young people, and the story was a little sort of bolder and younger and daring, so I think he brought a lot to the movie." The Covenant opens Sept. 8. —Patrick Lee, News Editor

Merlin's Helmer Talks

David Wu, director of the upcoming Hallmark Channel miniseries Merlin's Apprentice, told SCI FI Wire that it was a challenge getting his young actors to lose their modern speech patterns. They would nail their performances, "but all [of a] sudden, you can see them getting on the horse, and they said, 'OK,'" the Hong Kong-born Wu said in an interview. "I said, 'No OK! King Arthur didn't say "OK." [laughs]. There's no "OK" in Camelot!'"

The three-hour Merlin's Apprentice is the sequel to the Emmy-winning Merlin and picks up the story 50 years later, when Merlin (Sam Neill) wakes up to find King Arthur dead and Camelot in trouble. The Holy Grail has deserted the kingdom, and it's up to Merlin and a young thief named Jack (John Reardon) to find it. Miranda Richardson returns as the Lady of the Lake, who tries to thwart Jack.

Wu admitted that he faced other challenges making the sequel. "The first one was so good, with such top-notch actors, an A-list cast, and with all the visual effects and special effects," he said. "Hallmark wanted to make the sequel, but with way less budget and less effects and less stars, and so I planned it out. So since we have fewer stars and less budget, we really focused and concentrated on the storytelling, which is between the apprentice and Merlin."

Even with less to work with, Wu said that he couldn't resist the challenge of taking on the legend. "I always loved Camelot and King Arthur," he said. "I grew up with King Arthur, Camelot and those Knights of [the] Round Table. So I was very excited to get this script."

While the director was more than happy with the final version, which he edited himself, that version was four hours long. The version Hallmark is airing runs only three hours and was re-edited by another editor. "That is completely breaking my heart," Wu said. "All [of a] sudden you put [the film] in some other unknown editor's hands. If you can manage to cut out one hour from the four hours, first, what you cut out means it can be disposable, which means it's not significant. Which means it's not helping the story. Which means the script not a good script. So this is my big concern." Wu added: "Sometimes it's the subtlety of all the scenes that hold the character, that hold the drama together."

Despite being worried about the shortened version of Merlin's Apprentice, Wu said that he's thrilled he got to do a movie about Camelot, especially because it was one of Robert Halmi Sr.'s projects. Miniseries king Halmi has brought many fantasy stories to the screen, including Gulliver's Travels, Arabian Nights and the original Merlin, which aired on NBC.

"I have big admiration for him," Wu said. "We talked a lot when we were shooting Snow Queen. He told me he wants to bring a lot of stories based on books, based on history, to [the screen]. He wants to get the audience back to reading books, because when they watch a movie about a book they want to read the book again. I really appreciate his passion about making moves. It's not just the calculation of commercial value or whatever. He has a voice to say. He has a story [to] tell, and he just wants to tell it. Of course he's got power [laughs]." Merlin's Apprentice premieres on the Hallmark Channel on Sept. 2 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. —Kathie Huddleston

Knight Changes Things Up

Christopher Nolan, who is directing the upcoming Batman sequel film The Dark Knight, told ComingSoon.net that he will change things up from his first movie. "I think what people responded to well about Batman Begins is how different it was from their expectations, so I think we would be foolish to not recognize that and to [try to replicate that now-predictable blueprint]," he said while editing his upcoming supernatural movie The Prestige. "I think we'll be doing something very different for the sequel. I certainly wouldn't have any interest in trying to repeat [the] experience or the formula we've made because, particularly being the origin story, it's a very unique thing, a very singular experience. My interest would sort of be to move on from that and to do something quite different."

The Dark Knight will bring back Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader, joined by Heath Ledger as the Joker. It's slated for release in June 2008.

The Prestige, starring Hugh Jackman, Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis, Piper Perabo and David Bowie, opens Oct. 20.

Gellar Gets Addicted

Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Grudge) will star in Addicted, another supernatural thriller based on an Asian horror film, which the Yari Film Group is financing and producing with Vertigo and Spitfire, Variety reported. Addicted is loosely based on the 2002 South Korean film Jungdok.

Joel Bergvall and Simon Sandquist, who helmed the acclaimed Swedish film The Invisible, will direct from a screenplay by Michael Petroni.

The movie revolves around a woman whose husband and brother-in-law end up in a coma after a horrible accident. When the brother-in-law wakes up, he says he is her true husband.

The project reunites Gellar with Vertigo, which produced The Grudge (based on the Japanese Ju-On) and the upcoming The Grudge 2, which opens Oct. 13. Vertigo also produced The Ring and The Ring 2.

Gellar (TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer) will also be seen in the supernatural thriller The Return, due out in November.

Art Debuts At Worldcon

Best-selling Dinotopia author and illustrator James Gurney, who was this year's artist guest of honor at Worldcon, told SCI FI Wire that the annual science fiction convention marked the debut of his new limited-edition art portfolio, Home Planet. "The paintings range from [the] artwork [of] Dinotopia to some of the illustrations I did for National Geographic, ... [along with] a couple of science fiction covers and ... plein-air paintings that were done outside," Gurney said in an interview at the convention in Anaheim, Calif., over the weekend. "[The portfolio is] being introduced here first at the World Science Fiction Convention, but we have another ... 2,000 copies that will be [sold] over [the] Web sites Dinotopia.com and JamesGurney.com. It was produced by Chimera Publishing, who does a lot of really nice limited-edition collectibles, so I was really excited that they wanted to do this."

The portfolio is not a bound book, but rather a hard fold-out case that contains 10 11-inch-by-14-inch archival-quality prints, along with an introductory essay by Gurney. "The special edition that is sold only here [at Worldcon] has one extra plate of a painting called Asteroid Miner that I did—one of the first paintings I did that kind of got me into the science fiction field—showing a battle-weary, tired-looking guy who has been working in the asteroid belt," Gurney said. "Each of these plates is a special color-corrected printing job that reproduces the detail and what's going on with all of the pictures."

Gurney said that he intended the title, Home Planet, to encompass the full range of the work included in the portfolio. "For myself, as an artist, I am really most attracted to down-to-earth subjects, subjects based on realism and based on the things we see in the world around us," he said. "That's a part of the fantasy that I really like the best: painting a realistic scene of something [that] does not exist. And, really, that's what all these pieces have in common and is what I was hired for at National Geographic: to do what the camera can't do, painting a scene from ancient history or an underwater view or that sort of thing."

One of the paintings, of an Irish elk, is reprinted from Gurney's upcoming book Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara, Gurney said. "This is a book that I've always wanted to do in the Dinotopia series," he said. "Now that the video game and the movie project are finished and behind us, I have a lot more time free to get back to what I love most, which is writing and illustrating together. This one is kind of a cross between Gulliver's Travels and Marco Polo. It [follows] explorer Arthur Denison [as he travels] to the eastern shores of the island through the pages of his sketch book from the 1860s. It's got a number of new dinosaurs that we haven't seen before, [including] some of the feathered dinosaurs based on the ones found in China over the last 10 years." Dinotopia: Journey to Chandara is scheduled for publication in fall 2007. —John Joseph Adams

Dead Ships Half A Million

Capcom's zombie shooter game Dead Rising has shipped more than 500,000 copies for the Xbox 360 in its first two weeks of release in North America, the GameSpot.com Web site reported. That makes the title the latest Xbox hit for the Japanese game publisher.

"In preparation for the next generation transition, in 2005 Capcom concentrated on creating titles for foreign markets while seeking to improve its marketing, sales and business operations functions in North America," the company said in a statement. "Dead Rising's early success is attributable to these changes and Capcom's foresighted philosophy of embracing next-generation development to yield a high quality title with worldwide appeal."

Dead Rising was released on Aug. 8 and retails for $59.99. The game will be released in Europe on Sept. 8 and in Japan on Sept. 28.

Heroes Speaks To Anxiety

Greg Grunberg, one of the stars of NBC's upcoming superhero drama Heroes, told SCI FI Wire that he thinks the show will speak to the anxieties people feel in this unsettled time in history. "The world is insane right now," Grunberg said in an interview between takes on the show's set in Hollywood, Calif., last week. "It really is. You can't count on anything. And so we all want to know that there's something we can count on and [that] there's stability somewhere and we're in control in some way. ... For me, what it does is [say,] 'Finally there's some people we know we can count on—if they come together, if they can control these powers.'"

Heroes tells the story of several people in different parts of the world who suddenly discover that they have superhuman abilities. Grunberg (Alias) plays Matt Parkman, a Los Angeles beat cop who finds that he can read people's thoughts. That ability allows him to help investigate crimes—and also, incidentally, may help his troubled marriage.

"We're about to shoot a scene today where I use my ability to satisfy my wife, [Janice, played by Lisa Lackey,] which is going to be very interesting," Grunberg said with a smile. "That's the scene we're shooting at the end of the day. And I'm like, 'OK.' My wife read it, and she was like, 'What?!?' I said, 'Come on! If I knew everything that turned you on and everything, it would be incredible!' So that's one thing that we're doing, and it's going go be crazy."

Grunberg added that he wouldn't mind having Parkman's mind-reading ability himself. "Are you kidding me?" he said with a laugh. "Let me tell you this: 95 percent of the time, I don't want to be inside my wife's head. I just don't want to know what's going on in there. But, yeah, 5 percent of the time, sure." Heroes premieres Sept. 25 and will air Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. NBC is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM. —Patrick Lee, News Editor

Nutter To Helm Connor Pilot

Warner Brothers TV has set David Nutter to direct the pilot for The Sarah Connor Chronicles, prompting Fox Broadcasting to give an official green light to production on the Terminator-themed project, Variety reported.

Nutter (The X-Files), whose last 12 pilots have been picked up to series, also will serve as executive producer. Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar's C2 Pictures, which produced Terminator: Rise of the Machines, is producing with Warner Brothers TV.

Fox made a put pilot commitment to Connor last fall, picking up the script from executive producer Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds). Kassar and Vajna will also executive-produce.

Casting on Connor will begin immediately, with shooting expected to commence early next year in New Mexico.

Nutter also directed the pilots of Smallville and Supernatural, as well as Terminator helmer James Cameron's Fox series Dark Angel.

Cruise Back In Business

Days after Mission: Impossible star Tom Cruise was fired by Paramount Pictures, the actor, his film partner, Paula Wagner, and an investment fund run by professional football team owner Daniel Snyder agreed on Aug. 28 to a financing package that puts Cruise back in the movie business, Reuters reported.

"This offers us the opportunity to work with all studios and continue doing what we were doing, but in more enhanced ways," Wagner told Reuters.

First and Goal LLC, an investment fund run by Washington Redskins owner Snyder and partners Dwight Shar and Mark Shapiro, will cover overhead and development costs for Cruise/Wagner Productions for two years, with an option to renew afterward.

Financial details were undisclosed, and Wagner and others involved in the deal all declined to talk about financing.

Wagner said Snyder and his partners gave her and Cruise an entry into arenas where previously it had none, as well as the freedom to continue making both low-budget and big-budget movies outside Hollywood's major studio system.

Shar is the chairman of U.S. homebuilder NVR Inc., and Shapiro is the chief executive officer of Six Flags Inc. He was recruited to turn around the ailing theme park company by Snyder, Six Flags' chairman.

Last week Sumner Redstone, chairman of Paramount's parent company, Viacom, said the studio would not renew Cruise/Wagner's production deal when it expired this month. Redstone said Cruise's "recent conduct has not been acceptable." Wagner called Redstone's comments "undignified."

Worldcon Draws 6,000

More than 6,000 science fiction professionals and fans convened to celebrate the genre at Worldcon, the 64th World Science Fiction Convention, which took place Aug. 23-27 in Anaheim, Calif. Guests of honor included author Connie Willis, artist James Gurney, fan Howard DeVore and Frankie Thomas.

Other guests included award-winning authors Harlan Ellison, George R.R. Martin, Larry Niven and Robert Silverberg. They were joined by Hollywood writers, producers and actors, including Star Trek's Walter Koenig and Marina Sirtis and Battlestar Galactica's executive producer Ronald D. Moore.

Hundreds of panel discussions featured SF/fantasy professionals speaking on everything from blogging to issues of race in science fiction. A large number of program items were devoted to Trek, in commemoration of the show's 40th anniversary this year.

Fans voted that Denver will host the 2008 Worldcon. Next year's Worldcon will take place in Yokohama, Japan, Aug. 30 through Sept. 3, 2007. —John Joseph Adams

Tyro Cast In Lipshitz Pilot

Newcomer Jack Carpenter is set to play Adam Lipshitz in NBC's comedy pilot Lipshitz Saves the World, about a 17-year-old social outcast who finds out in a most bizarre way that he might be the one to save the world, with the help of Leslie Nielsen, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The single-camera series, from NBC Universal Network TV, comes from Dan Fogelman.

Carpenter landed the role in his third professional audition after graduating this summer from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.

NBC and NBC Universal TV are both owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

Hugo Winner Beagle Has 'Hearts'

Acclaimed fantasy author Peter S. Beagle, whose "Two Hearts" won the Hugo Award for best novelette over the weekend, told SCI FI Wire that he didn't think that he would ever be able to return to the world of his beloved classic novel The Last Unicorn.

"I'd always insisted I couldn't," Beagle said in an interview. "And when I did finally do it, ... I was just wondering whether or not I could find the right tone. Which I didn't: [The protagonist,] Sooz, did. I wasn't trying in 'Two Hearts' to do what I was trying to do with [The Last Unicorn], which was kind of an homage. ... There, I was trying to write something that would be both a fairy tale and a spoof on fairy tales. Here I wasn't trying to do any of that. I was just listening to Sooz tell her story."

"Two Hearts" is the story of a 9-year-old girl named Sooz, who has to free her village from the marauding griffin that has settled in the local wood, Beagle said. "[The villagers had] gotten used to having it there," he said. "It had only taken goats and sheep, and they could live with that. Until it starts taking people. When Sooz loses her best friend, she determines to go on a mission to find the king, because this is obviously a job for a king, wherever he may be. She doesn't even know his name, but she goes looking."

Beagle said that "Two Hearts" is a "bridge story" that will connect The Last Unicorn to its forthcoming, untitled sequel. "The only thing I can tell you without spoiling it for me is that Sooz has a vision, at 17, of a lost sister that her parents never told her about," he hinted. "A sister who was either stolen, or wandered off. Sooz can't figure out what happened, whether it was fairies or gypsies or serious villains, ... or, for that matter, if the vision is real. I'll discover the whole story as I go, just like I did in writing The Last Unicorn. I can tell you that this novel will be more like The Last Unicorn and less like 'Two Hearts' in a stylistic sense, because ... we will be traveling through that same world of mixed-up anachronisms and fairy-tale tropes."

Beagle's first novel for adults in 12 years, Summerlong, is due to be published sometime in 2006. A number of other projects are in the works as well, he said: "Several new short stories and a couple of short novels, one a baseball fantasy set in the 1950s—I've always wanted to do a baseball fantasy—and the other a story with the perfectly wonderful title 'I'm Afraid You've Got Dragons.' When those are done I've got one other short novel to write, a dark fantasy, and then I'll be returning my attention mostly to Sooz and what happens because of her vision." —John Joseph Adams

Gibson Talks Luke Cage

Singer-turned-actor Tyrese Gibson told SCI FI Wire that he still hasn't committed to starring in a new film version of the Marvel Comics Luke Cage superhero franchise, but that he's "extremely interested" in it. Speaking in downtown Los Angeles on Aug. 26 on the set of his next film, the Michael-Bay-directed movie version of the Transformers toy and animated franchise, Gibson said: "They're doing a rewrite on the film. And [director] John Singleton's got me at the top of his list. I'm not full-on committed to the project, but it's something that I'm extremely interested in. Met up with [producer] Neal Moritz a few times about it. Met up with [executive producer and former Marvel chief] Avi Arad a few times about it. And, you know, we'll see what happens. It's not my movie, for the record."

Gibson would play the title character, a gang member originally named Carl Lucas, who is betrayed by a boyhood companion, imprisoned and subjected to a top-secret experiment that goes wrong, imbuing him with superhuman strength and durability. Freeing himself from prison, he adopts the pseudonym Luke Cage and becomes a crimefighting hero for hire. (The character is cited as the inspiration for the stage name of Nicolas Coppola, director Francis Ford Coppola's comics-loving nephew, who performs under the name Nicolas Cage.)

Gibson, who has made an impression on audiences as an actor in such films as 2 Fast 2 Furious, Flight of the Phoenix and Four Brothers, added: "It's something that [they're] really interested in me being a part of. I'm interested in being a part of it. And I think, you know, we'll be able to determine if John Singleton, if me, or whoever else is going to be on the project, we're waiting on the product. You know what I mean? We ... can't do a movie without a good bible. What we going to read?" —Patrick Lee, News Editor

Spin Wins Novel Hugo

Robert Charles Wilson's novel Spin took one of the top prizes at the Hugo Awards, which were announced at Worldcon, the 64th World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim, Calif., on Aug. 26. Connie Willis' "Inside Job" took the prize for best novella, and Peter S. Beagle's "Two Hearts" won the award for best novelette. David D. Levine's "Tk'tk'tk" nabbed the rocket for best short story.

The Hugo Award, also known as the Science Fiction Achievement Award, is given annually by the World Science Fiction Society. The award was named in honor of Hugo Gernsback, the founder of Amazing Stories, the first magazine devoted entirely to science fiction.

Nine-time Hugo Award winner Connie Willis, who was this year's Author Guest of Honor, presided as master of ceremonies, with assistance from four-time winner Robert Silverberg.

Other winners follow: best related book, Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More From 27 Years of the Clarion Writers' Workshop by Kate Wilhelm; best dramatic presentation, long form, Serenity; best dramatic presentation, short form, Doctor Who, "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances"; best professional editor, David G. Hartwell; best professional artist, Donato Giancola; best semiprozine, Locus; best fanzine, Plokta; best fan writer, Dave Langford; and best fan artist, Frank Wu.

Other awards presented at the Hugo ceremony included the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, which went to Old Man's War author John Scalzi, and the Seiun Awards, the Japanese equivalent of the Hugo Awards, which were presented to Ken MacLeod for his story "The Human Front" and to Greg Egan for his novel Diaspora.

Two fan awards were also presented. The Big Heart Award was given to 90-year-old writer, editor and fan Forrest J. Ackerman; the award was also renamed the Forrest J. Ackerman Big Heart Award in his honor. The First Fandom Hall of Fame Award was given to Joe L. Hensley for "a lifetime of service to fandom." —John Joseph Adams

Isles, 'Pericles' Win Sidewises

Ian R. MacLeod's The Summer Isles won the Sidewise Award for best long-form alternate history at Worldcon, the 64th World Science Fiction Convention, in Anaheim, Calif., on Aug. 25. Lois Tilton's "Pericles the Tyrant" took home the award for best short-form alternate history.

The Sidewise Awards, given out annually to works of alternate history, are named in honor of Murray Leinster's 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time." Past winners include best-selling author Philip Roth and multiple-award-winning author Harry Turtledove.

Judges for this year's award included Nick Gevers, Karen Hellekson, Evelyn Leeper, Jim Rittenhouse, Stuart Shiffman, Kurt Sidaway and Steven Silver. Leeper presided as master of ceremonies. —John Joseph Adams

Painkiller Shoots To Xbox

The hit first-person-shooter video game Painkiller has successfully made the jump to the Xbox with Painkiller: Hell Wars, which allows console gamers a crack at a game that was previously available only for the PC.

Byran Gaum, the global product marketing manager for Painkiller: Hell Wars, told SCI FI Wire that the title was assembled with the help of the PC gaming community. "Painkiller: Hell Wars is a combination of the best levels from the original Painkiller PC game and the Battle Out of Hell expansion pack," Gaum said in an interview. "Since the original Painkiller PC games were very well received by the press and public, we wanted to introduce the Painkiller universe to console gamers in its best form. We listened to the PC community very closely as they discussed their favorite levels and decided to use these levels as the basis for Painkiller: Hell Wars."

Hell Wars contains the entire storyline from the initial saga, which means there isn't a lot of plot to get in the way of the action. The story follows main character Daniel Garner, who is stranded in a place between heaven and hell. As Daniel, gamers engage in gory battle with hordes of gooey monsters while collecting souls across more than 20 completely different levels.

The PC version of Painkiller boasted some of the wildest and most wicked bosses around, all of which turn up here. Also on hand are the gory physics: Players can pin enemies to walls with a stake gun, pulverize demons bodies with rockets and tear them apart with the blast of Garner's hellish shottie. There are also seven multiplayer modes available for up to eight players. Painkiller: Hell Wars is available exclusively for the Xbox. A PSP version is planned for release sometime in early 2007. —Casey Lynch

Universal Is In Agony

Universal Pictures picked up the horror movie pitch Agony from Scott Nimerfro for him and partner Mary Parent to produce via their Stuber/Parent production banner, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

While plot details are being kept under wraps, the story is set in the world of urban legends on college campuses, with one horrifying legend in particular turning out to be true. Nimerfro is now writing the script.

Nimerfro was a writer-producer on TV's Tales From the Crypt and a writer on The Outer Limits and did writing work on Wes Craven's film Cursed and Paul Schrader's Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. He also was an associate producer on Bordello of Blood and X-Men.

Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.

BRIEFLY NOTED

Screenwriter Terry Rossio confirmed on the Wordplayer.com forum that the upcoming third film in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy will be titled Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End [sic]. It opens May 25, 2007.

Sony has posted the title sequence of its upcoming supernatural film The Covenant on the official Web site. The movie opens Sept. 8.

Max Thieriot will play a younger version of Hayden Christensen's character, the title role of Doug Liman's SF adventure Jumper, about a young man from an abusive home who develops the ability to teleport to different times and locations, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The inaugural Fuse Fangoria Chainsaw Awards will feature macabre categories such as creepiest kid, highest body count, sickest effects and killer video; Hostel landed the most nominations with six for the awards, which are scheduled for Oct. 15 at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, Variety reported.

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe has landed a new role in a TV drama, playing Jack, son of British author Rudyard Kipling, in the Ecosse Films production My Boy Jack for Great Britain's ITV1 network, Variety reported.

Science fiction and fantasy programming was shut out of the awards at the 58th annual Emmy Awards, which were broadcast from Los Angeles on NBC on Aug. 27; even though ABC's hit series Lost took home awards last year, it wasn't nominated this year.