Hailing Frequencies, Issue #286
3.4.05 - 3.11.05
HELLO
And here's the two hundred and eighty-sixth edition of "Hailing Frequencies."
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Seriously, people. How is it March already?
4400
At last! Word comes that production will soon begin on the second season, which will premiere June 5. The action will continue six months after the first "semi-season" ends, with Homeland Security agent Tom Baldwin (Joel Gretsch) back investigating the returnees with Diana Skouris (Jacqueline McKenzie). Jordan Collier (Billy Campbell) has published a scandal-oriented book about the abductees. Other returns for the season are Patrick Flueger (Shawn Farrell), Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (Richard Tyler), Laura Allen (Lily Moore), Chad Faust (Kyle) and Conchita Campbell (Maia).
ANGEL
A scene from Angel that has a woman vampire biting her guy's neck did not violate federal indecency rules, the Federal Communications Commission ruled on Feb. 25. Whew! For a moment there, I was thinking we'd have another "Fanggate." The complaint about that and another, similar scene was from, of course, the Parents Television Council.
James Marsters, who is a delicious 42, told TV Guide that he could only play Spike in TV movies for the the next four or five years. "Past that, I'm too old. Spike's a vampire, man, and I've got high standards — you have to believe that the guy has not aged since we met him."
BABYLON 5
J. Michael Straczynski posted to his Usenet group that The Memory of Shadows, a Cascade/Babylon 5 feature film, will not happen.: "The deal could not be put together, and it did not look as if that was going to change at any point in the foreseeable future." Straczynski hasn't completely given up hope of a B5-type movie one of these days, "because such things are simply inevitable...The only thing I can say without equivocation is that when that day comes, as the rights-holder, I will make darned sure that it's done right, because I'd rather have no B5 movie than one that doesn't live up to what fans and I myself would want to see. To that end ... I can wait."
ELF 2
If New Line gets its way, we'll soon have a sequel to the $220 million (worldwide) comedy about a man raised by elves at the North Pole who travels to New York to find his real father. (Remember Farrell in the little elf shower? AHAHAHAHA) New Line production president Toby Emmerich told Variety they would only do the movie with Will Ferrell, and director Jon Favreau has the option to direct the sequel after reviewing the script, which has yet to be written.
HARRY POTTER
A BBC article reports:
Filming on the fifth Potter movie - The Order of the Phoenix - is due to start in January 2006, and there have already been lots of rumours about casting. The script won't be finalised for months, so at the moment it's unclear whether characters like Luna Lovegood will make it into the movie. But it's unlikely that there will be casting calls that anyone can go to.
Producer of GoF David Heyman told SCI FI Wire that they basically trimmed the book down to movie size by focusing on Harry's story alone. "The film will not deal with the subplot involving Winky and Dobby, two house elves, and the issue of elf liberation. 'It's Hermione's issue.'" New sets for this sequel include the Weasley's world cup tent, a cemetery, a trophy room, the Ministry Box at the Quidditch World Cup stadium, and a Trial Chamber. There are also underwater scenes, "And a massive Dragon Arena sits outdoors, where Harry and other contestants in the Triwizard Tournament will try to procure eggs from the flying beasts."
WB has denied any rumors that David Yates is considering casting an American actress as Lily Potter in OotP.
Cute.
Goblet of Fire's coming to theatres November 18, and Half-Blood Prince will be available June 16.
HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
SCI FI Wire has a bit up about a phone conversation between producer Robbie Stamp and Douglas Adams shortly before the author died. "I think one of the reasons when he died that I felt so strongly that if we could make a movie we should, and that his family felt it, was that Douglas so desperately wanted there to be a movie." Adams receives a posthumous executive producer credit on the movie.
Man, oh man. I cannot wait. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy opens April 29.
If you could have just one of the following, which would it be?
A Babel Fish 26%
A Hitchhiking Thumb 0%
A Copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide 23%
A Towel 20%
An Improbability Drive 10%
Your Own Customized Planet from Magratheria 20%
HOW'D WE DO?
The Incredibles: Best Animated-Feature Oscar
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Best Original Screenplay
Spider-Man 2: John Dykstra and his team Best Visual Effects
LORD OF THE RINGS
Peter Jackson's production company, Wingnut Films Ltd., is suing New Line Cinema over profits from video release of Fellowship of the Ring. The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles seeks unspecified damages, restitution and an order barring New Line from striking any more deals without seeking the most competitive and beneficial terms from unaffiliated third parties. Ah, mankind's greed. Mankind's greed.
STAR TREK
Many articles and interviews on the Net bemoan the cancellation of ENT, and there's a rumor going around that UPN plans to store, rather than destroy, ENT's sets. Meanwhile, TrekUnited.com, the fan campaign to raise over $30 million to pay for a fifth season, announced that they have three anonymous pledges for $3 million. Here's what Anon, Anon, and Anon had to say about it:
We think Star Trek and especially its latest incarnation, Enterprise, is the kind of TV that should be aired more often...at least one out of two of all the actual entrepreneurs involved in this industry has been inspired by Star Trek...the people airing this kind of TV have a responsibility; inspiration. Star Trek has inspired us...Enterprise needs to be renewed, for the sake of fan loyalty, for being quality TV, for bringing imagination and hope for a better future to our homes, but over all that, for inspiring us so strongly that we have fought all our adult lives to bring that future closer to our children and to us.
In a final promotion whimper, UPN is inviting ENT fans to vote online for their favorite episodes from the past four seasons, which will be broadcast March 25, April 1 and April 8.
If you're interested in protesting the cancellation of ENT, try SaveEnterprise.com and/or The Enterprise Project. TrekUnited.com is trying to get fans themselves to pay for a fifth season. You can also write your own plea to Bonnie Hammer, Sci Fi Channel, and David Stapf, Paramount.
Ms. Bonnie Hammer
President and General Manager
Sci Fi Channel
1230 Avenue Of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
Mr. David Stapf
President
Paramount Television
5555 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3112
STAR WARS
The full trailer for Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith will premiere on Fox during the March 10 broadcast of The O.C. If you can't stomach that pile of dung, it will shortly be all over TV.
Spoiler (highlight to read): Here's the opening "crawl" for Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith:
War! The Republic is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Sith Lord, Count Dooku. There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere. In a stunning move, the fiendish droid leader, General Grievous, has swept into the Republic capital and kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Galactic Senate. As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their valuable hostage, two Jedi Knights lead a desperate mission to rescue the captive Chancellor....
X-MEN
Zak Penn told SCI FI Wire about the challenges of writing a draft for the script for a third X-Men: "I think on X-Men 2, I counted 14 main characters, and I haven't even begun to count how many there are now...it's so complicated juggling all these different storylines. The movie is still coming together, but I believe that all the major players are back....We don't know who the director is yet...I actually got along pretty well with Bryan. He's got very strong opinions, but fundamentally, because he did such a good job on the movies, it was hard not to. ... There are people involved, I guess, who didn't get along with Bryan, but he clearly did an excellent job with the first two films. So it's going to be difficult to follow in his footsteps. That said, there's no question that because he's got strong opinions it's a little bit easier for me as a writer, because ... whatever ... it's one less argument you need to have."
NEWS BITS
NOT SCI-FI, BUT SOUNDS LIKE IT
Geena Davis will play the first female president of the United States in Rod Lurie's ABC drama pilot Commander in Chief.
INSANE TREK TRIVIA
This Week's Question: What does Data occasionally ingest to lubricate his biofunctions?
Send your answer to scifi@about.com. All correctly answering trivia maniacs will have their names mentioned in the next letter. The first winner gets to make a request, anything they like -- within reason -- for the next "Hailing Frequencies" Issue. Please let me know if you don't want me to post your email address if you win.
Last Week's Question: What song did Kirk suggest before the camping trio settled on "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"?
Answer: "Moon Over Rigel Seven." (I'll also take "Pack Up Your Troubles.")
First winner
bababanana
Second winner
Patty Greenberg
Third winner
Lou
CAPTION CONTEST
Send in your best caption for the picture below. The best (as in, my favorite) entry will appear in next week's issue.
[Insert caption here.]
THIS WEEK'S WINNER:
Hired to decorate the House o'Horrors for the Sunnydale Carnival, Spike carefully poses his Buffybot and Drudoll for maximum dramatic effect. - evay
Honorable Mentions...
"Mr. Pointy here says three's a crowd. Oh, hello, Spike." - BTCHONWHLS
"Let's see... wooden stake, holy cross... oh my God, where's the garlic? Garlique? Damn you, Larry King!" - Alex
"No, Buffy. I said, let's go out for a steak." - Debra Smith
"How do you like your steak?" - RJ
"LETTERS TO THE EDITOR"
This week's topic: Any thoughts on that Peter Jennings UFO special?
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No replies. :-(
Next week's topic: Is the new Battlestar Galactica too dark?
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Send me something if you've got something to say. It can be about anything that's on your mind! (Please let me know if you don't want your email address to accompany your name in either contest or for the LTE.)
TOP MOVIES FROM THE NUMBERS
1 Hitch............................................$125,886,000
2 Diary of a Mad Black Woman.......$26,052,000
3 Million Dollar Baby.......................$68,465,000
4 Constantine ...................................$54,526,000
5 Man of the House..........................$10,476,000
6 Because of Winn-Dixie................. $23,578,000
7 Cursed..........................................$11,414,000
8 Aviator..........................................$94,712,000
9 Sideways.......................................$64,091,000
10 Son of the Mask..........................$14,821,000
TOP SF/F NETWORK SHOWS, NGR, 2/7/05 - 2/13/05
1. Desperate Housewives 14
2. Lost 11.6
3. Medium 9.2
4. Joan of Arcadia 5.0
5. Smallville 3.1
6. Point Pleasant 2.6
7. Charmed 2.0
8. Enterprise 1.8
TOP SF/F SYNDICATED SHOWS, NGR, 2/7/05 - 2/13/05
1. Stargate SG-1 2.0
2. Andromeda 1.6
3. The X-Files 1.6
4. Mutant X 1.5
5. Buffy 1.2
6. The Outer Limits 1.2
7. She Spies 1.2
8. Angel 1.1
9. The Twilight Zone 1.1
10. Sabrina 0.8
TOP SCI-FI/FANTASY BOOKS, Amazon - 2/25/05
1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2. A Treasure's Trove
3. The Da Vinci Code
4. Angels and Demons
5. State of Fear
6. The Time Traveler's Wife
7. The Five People You Meet in Heaven
8. The Dark Tower (Dark Tower 7)
9. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
10. Chainfire (Sword of Truth)
TOP SCI-FI/FANTASY DVDS, Amazon - 2/28/05
1. The Incredibles
2. Bambi
3. Angel season five
4. Nausicaa
5. Phantom of the Opera
6. Return of the King platinum edition
7. Finding Neverland
8. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
9. Shark Tale
10. Lord of the Rings trilogy
HAILING FREQUENCIES CLOSED
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http://scifi.about.com/blhailarchive.htm
Julia Houston
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Guide @ About.com
scifi@about.com