Hailing Frequencies Issue #295

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Anyone else hooked on those "animal rescue" shows? I particularly love the eps where they have some cat collector, and the officers go into the house, and it's just packs of wild kittens. Of course, it's very sad for the cats and the person and all that, but there's something irresistible in the sight of all those cat faces looking in the camera and going, "What are you looking at? Is it interesting? Should I come check it out?"

The show starts back up this week (whee!) and TrekWeb has an interview up with executive producer and former DS9 writer Ira Steven Behr. Here's a bit:

Whether or not Sydney Bristow is pregnant, J.J. Abrams has no plans to make her character with child. Expect hiding behind furniture and interesting camera angles.

Well, sci-fi and fantasy are still getting overlooked for Oscars, but maybe the genres are starting to get some of the respect they deserve on TV. The Television Critics Association's nominations for the 2005 TCA Awards include the ranks from the best new sci-fi show in a while, Lost. The winners will be announced at a July 23rd ceremony at Beverly Hilton Hotel, hosted by Craig Ferguson.

PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
“Arrested Development” (Fox)
“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” (Comedy Central)
“Deadwood” (HBO)
“Desperate Housewives” (ABC)
“Lost” (ABC)

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA
“24” (Fox)
“Deadwood” (HBO)
“House” (Fox)
“Lost” (ABC)
“Rescue Me” (FX)

OUTSTANDING NEW PROGRAM OF THE YEAR
“Desperate Housewives” (ABC)
“House” (Fox)
“Lost” (ABC)
“Rescue Me” (FX)
“Veronica Mars” (UPN)

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT IN DRAMA
Kristen Bell (“Veronica Mars”)
Matthew Fox (“Lost” - Jack)
Hugh Laurie (“House”)
Ian McShane (“Deadwood”)
Kiefer Sutherland (“24”)

Ronald D. Moore told SCI FI Wire: [spoiler alert; highlight to read] "Yes, there are a couple of familiar faces that will go down for the count...I would say the events of the end of last season [mark] the beginning of this season...Adama's [Edward James Olmos] shot. There's people stranded on Kobol. Kara's [Katee Sackhoff] back on Caprica. Those storylines continue; all those continue. I would say we don't wrap up season one until episode seven. Adama is not back on his feet anytime soon. Commander Tigh [Michael Hogan] is in charge of Galactica. Laura [Roslyn, played by Mary McDonnell,] is in jail. There's a meteor crisis that follows the cliffhanger, and Tigh kind of steers them through that crisis successfully. But, you know, Tigh, he's probably the guy you don't want in charge...Things begin to unravel when [Tigh's] in charge of the fleet. He declares martial law at a certain point. There is an incident where he sends the troops to get supplies, because the ships are withholding supplies from Galactica. He says enough is enough and sends out the troops, and an incident happens, and people get killed. They shoot a bunch of civilians. It's a whole nightmare, and Laura starts an insurrection and the fleet divides. There's a lot of fallout from the events of the last season."

The show returns July 15 and will air Fridays at 10. They're currently shooting episodes 6 & 7.

Unlike most movies destined for the bucks of Batman Begins, there's no sequel currently in the works, co-author David Goyer told SCI FI Wire: "Chris and I have talked about it, but a lot of whether or not I'd come back depends on whether or not Chris comes back. And Chris has not decided."

It's not exactly news that both the Catholic and Anglican Church don't think much of Dan Brown's best-selling mega-bucker "theologically unsound" The Da Vinci Code, but just to officialize their position, they've denied the film's producers' request to shoot in Westminster Abbey. They did get permission to shoot in Lincoln Cathedral and the Louvre Museum. Meanwhile, Paul Bettany has signed on to play Silas, a character who's also come under fire for being a bad guy and an albino at the same time. He joins (all together now) Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno and Alfred Molina. Filming begins in June for a May 2006 release.

Getting ready to dazzle us with his take on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four series, J. Michael Straczynski told SCI FI Wire that starting with #527 this June, Reed and Susan Richards will be trying to keep the government from getting its hands on their kids: "They say, 'We know you love your kids, Franklin and Valeria, but it's not a safe environment to raise the kids. You're attacked all the time; police are always being called here.' Then the kids say, 'Oh, yeah, it's been a busy year. I was taken to hell for a while. Blair's possessed. Mom was thrown off the roof.' So, you see, the city welfare department has a valid point of view. Yes, you care for your kids, but is this a safe environment for them? We have to really confront that. How do you deal with that?"

Blackfilm.com has posted some publicity pix and a synopsis of the movie. And check out the trailer.

Producer David Heyman told Screen Daily.com: "We are exploring all options to determine the best place in the world to make [Order of the Pheonix]. We are looking at the UK and other places all over the world." Pretty cool.

Goblet of Fire's coming to theatres November 18, and Half-Blood Prince will be available July 16. German edition will be released on Oct. 1, 2005. Amazon.de is selling it at 22.50 Euros.

Lucas and Spielberg have both okayed Jeff Nathanson's script for, yes, a fourth Indiana Jones movie, according to Variety reported. If Harrison Ford okays it as well, the project should go forward.

May 25's season finale averaged 20.7 million viewers with a 7.8 among adults 18-49.

Simon Says has published the rules for the latest and Ninth Strange New Worlds Contest. Three winners will receive bonus advances ranging $400-$1000 on top of a per-word rate and royalties. Stories may involve characters and situations from any of the Star Trek series. Entries must be typed, no more than 7500 words, and not previously published. Bad writing, regular character death, and R-rated stuff disqualified you, and only amateur writers living in the United States and Canada are eligible. Winners will be announced in December.

Kate Mulgrew told The San Francisco Chronicle that after finishing up her current run as Katherine Hepburn in Tea at Five in Los Angeles this summer, she's taking a crack at Cleopatra. And while I admire Mulgrew greatly, I gotta tell you, I'm not seeing it.

Don't die on us, you hot stud! Patrick Stewart was rushed to the hospital May 30 with chest pains, but, thankfully, return only three hours later with an all-clear. Stewart had a preemptive angioplasty procedure last year.

Cirroc Lofton told SCI FI Wire that his rap album, Divine Intervention, will mention Jake Sisko: "One beat will use the original Star Trek theme song and have that beat in a hip-hop type of mode....I'm a rap lyricist. Rap is a very powerful tool and either can be used correctly and incorrectly, and I hope I can get my messages out there. I want it to be enjoyable, inspirational and educational."

The special edition DVD for Star Trek: Insurrection will be in US stores June 7th on two discs featuring new extras. The special edition DVD of Star Trek: Nemesis will be available in the UK November 7th.

Where's Triumph when you need him? This August, coming to a bowling alley near you: The Star Wars Strike Force Bowling League. The league claims they'll be hosted in about 1,000 alleys in the US and 100 in the UK with the cost will be about $10 per week per bowler. Look here for more info if you're really that big a nerd.

Theforce.net has further information on the rumor that Lucas' next Star Wars movie, if he makes one, might be a pre-prequel.

Lucas will receive the American Film Institute's 33rd Life Achievement Award on June 9. Watch it on USA Network June 20, 9 PM.

Richard Dean Anderson talked about O'Neill absence from Season Nine with Now Playing: “The situation I put to myself, my immediate future that is, employment-wise, is that I don’t want to leave Los Angeles for a while. I’d rather not do a series that would keep me end-to-end five days a week...Part of my situation [with] MGM in the latter years was to create a schedule that allowed me to spend more time down here in Los Angeles. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t even do what I need to do to accommodate my daughter now. I’ve had some offers to do some things that would shoot here.”

There's no need for complete despair, however, as O'Neill will be "around" for the season, appearing from time to time to let us know how he's doing and to pant over Sam in her short-shorts.

SCI FI Channel does better with its miniseries than its creature-features, having done such winners as Steven Spielberg Presents TAKEN, Battlestar Galactica, and Children of Dune, so we might get another good one with production starting on its upcoming six-hour original miniseries The Triangle. Shooting has started in Cape Town, South Africa with Dean Devlin and Bryan Singer executive-producing as well as creating the story of a a billionaire, Rice Benirall (Sam Neill), who investigates the loss of cargo ships in the infamous Bermuda Triangle. Look for it to air in December.

You know, things haven't been great for War of the Worlds. Tom Cruise was supposed to promote it on Oprah, but instead jumped around on the furniture because he's in lug. There was a small-budget version of the same book-turned-movie last year. And now the always-entertaining crotchety old man of sci-fi, Harlan Ellison, bitched to SCI FI Wire and others at his Enigma Con panel, entitled "How Does SF Stay in Business in a World of Marching Morons?" at UCLA: "What annoys me is that Spielberg is such an egomaniac these days that it has to be 'Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. No, you puss-bag. It's H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, and it wouldn't kill you to put his f--king name on it.....He's not a genius. He's not a trendsetter. There isn't one moment of any Spielberg film ... that matches the least moment of a Kurosawa film. Kurosawa was a blinding genius of cinema. His vision was astonishing."

Meanwhile, Spielberg was voted the greatest director of all time by readers of Empire, a UK film magazine.

Matthew Vaughn has decided not to direct X-Men III, pulling out just before location scouting was to begin and citing family reasons. 20th Century Fox still plans to make that May 26, 2006 release date, and will doubtlessly have a new director soon.

This Week's Question: The Tarkakian Incident turned out to be a plot by what other alien race?

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.

Send in your best caption for the picture below. The best (as in, my favorite) entry will appear in next week's issue.

Honorable Mentions...

"Star Wars Riverdance, coming soon to a stage near you!" - Patty

"WOWCH! This friggin' sand is HOT!" - Debra Smith

"May I have this dance?" - Robert

"You put your left foot in , you put your left out..." - Hazi

"Put your right foot in, take your right foot out, put your right foot in and you shake it all about." - Sue & RK

"I see that your schwartz is bigger and brighter than mine." - BTCHONWHLS

"Are you sure this Jedi rain dance will end the draught on Tattooine, Master?" - sexualuniverse

"Fire ants! Fire ants!" - sexualuniverse

"Sooner or later, one of my kicks is gonna connect!" - sexualuniverse

"I told you that gasoline and a trampoline was just a terrible idea!" - R

“Well, my mother was Russian; she was taught this dance by my uncle Keptin Chekov.” - Raymond

Those auditions for American Idol just get harder… - Raymond

“I’ve done this move on the PlayStation a million times, but I’ve never gotten a charley horse this bad.” - Raymond

“Let’s see you parody THIS move in X-Men 3!” - Raymond

This week's topic: Do you think the next Potter book and/or movie can possibly live up to all the hype?

On the issue of the Sith. When did Lucas make these guys up? I think it must've been pretty last minute considering all Kevin J. Anderson books set after Return of the Jedi refer to Sith as Dark Jedi. Why wouldn't these texts, since they are Lucas-approved, have all the information he did? Answer--I want to do a prequel...Dark Jedi sounds so lame...I know, lets call them Sith! I can't believe George would rather do another prequel rather than give fans what they want--a view of the New Republic and the reformation of the Jedi! Hamill, Fisher, and Ford might be too old to carry the film on their own (though I don't think so) but why not have it be primarily about their children, or grandchildren? We can only hope that the television series he was discussed goes through and that it is post-ROTJ and not some WB Teen angst soap opera staring a CG Yoda with bad hair and pimples.

As for Harry Potter, I have to say I am a bit worried about Goblet of Fire. It was far too much book for one movie. I think what has frustrated me the most about the movies from the beginning is this tendency to say "there isn't enough time for all that" yet the scriptwriter and director will spend fifteen minutes on some silly moment that was breezed over in the book. The scene with the spiders was far too drawn out in COS, as was the scene in flying car, and the scene in the snow in POA and the flying with Buckbeak. Because these scenes were overplayed to make the money spent on special effects worthwhile viewers lost out on scenes like the Deathday Party in COS and the importance of Quiddich in POA. Now in GOF they aren't going to include the Winky "subplot" which was key to the unraveling of the novel and the identity of Barty Crouch. Not to mention Winky is the one that gets blamed for stealing Harry's wand at the Quiddich Cup. How will they handle that scene? I am afraid it will be one of those "Nicholas Flamel" moments where instead of just letting Harry read the card on the train to set up the chain of clues, instead they spend five minutes watching Harry sit on a windowsill and brood with his owl. Warner Brothers isn't thinking about it logically. I am not saying these aren't good movies--I own all three. I just feel the longer the books become, the less satisfying these movies will be. Too bad they didn't have someone like Peter Jackson directing them.

Next week's topic: Fifty years from now, which of the Star Trek series do you think will generally be considered the best?

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.)

1 Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith......$278,901,370
2 Madagascar.................................$68,623,633
3 Longest Yard, The.........................$66,255,597
4 Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants......$2,135,432
5 Monster-in-Law............................$64,210,000
6 Crash..........................................$37,178,214
7 Kicking and Screaming....................$44,982,195
8 Unleashed....................................$22,543,000
9 Kingdom of Heaven........................$45,358,670
10 Interpreter, The..........................$69,483,350

1. Desperate Housewives 15.8
2. Lost 10.6
3. Medium 8.5
4. Alias 6.3
5. Revelations 5.6
6. Smallville 2.6
7. Charmed 2.3
8. Enterprise 2.2

1. Stargate SG-1 1.7
2. Andromeda 1.5
3. She Spies 1.5
4. Twilight Zone 1.3
5. Mutant X 1.2
6. The Outer Limits 1.2
7. The X-Files 1.2
8. Angel 1.1
9. Buffy 1.1
10. Ripley's 0.8

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2. Black Rose (In the Garden)
3. The Da Vinci Code
4. Eldest (Inheritance 2)
5. Star Wars: Episode III
6. The Opal Deception (Artemis Fowl 4)
7. Angels and Demons
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
9. The Time Traveler's Wife
10. The Five People You Meet in Heaven

1. Star Wars trilogy
2. Lost season one
3. Star Wars: Episode I
4. Star Wars: Episode II
5. Phantom of the Opera
6. Team America: World Police
7. The Incredibles
8. Star Wars: Clone Wars, vol. 1
9. Desperate Housewives season one
10. The Return of the King