Hailing Frequencies Issue #300

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Happy Fourth of July! Or, if you're Canadian, Happy First of July. Or, if you're not American or Canadian, Happy July!

Johnny Depp is doing some potential damage control by fending off suggestions Willy Wonka is in any way like Michael Jackson, because, you know, Depp is playing the character as sort of soft and fey.

Michael Jackson is not soft and fey, people. He's a creepy-assed glow-in-the-dark toy.

Anyway, Depp told SCI FI Wire: "You know, the weird thing is, that actually never occurred to me, that there would be any kind of potential connection to Michael Jackson. It never entered my mind. And I still don't understand it...I would say, if there was anyone you'd want to compare it to, it would be like a Howard Hughes, almost, you know? Like, a reclusive...germophobe, controlling kind of [guy]...there were memories that I have of when I was a little kid watching, like, children's shows and children's show hosts. And I distinctly remember, even at that age, thinking: Their speech pattern and the kind of musical quality of the way they're speaking to the camera and to the children, I thought then it was really strange. Even then, I thought it was super bizarre, because it was always: [assumes artificial voice] 'Hello, children. How are you?' You know? That kind of thing. "So, ... like, guys that I watched, Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rogers and Uncle Al and all these guys, became the main part of the ingredient."

Meanwhile, Tim Burton told SCI FI Wire that (spoiler - highlight to read): he added a "troubled relationship" with Wonka's father to the character'sz backstory. The movie includes flashbacks. Burton says: "You try to work out your issues, but then you realize those kinds of traumatic issues just stay with you forever...Somehow they just keep reoccurring. No matter how hard I try to get them out of my head, they sort of stay there....We sort of felt that if you have an eccentric character—and it's fine; it works in the book—we just felt in the movie, you've got a guy that's acting that strange, you kind of want to get a flavor of why he is the way he is...Otherwise he's just a weirdo."

Have you seen 8 Simple Rules? Well, Kaley Cuoco is joining Charmed in its eighth season, according to Variety, as a young witch-apprentice to the Charmed Ones.

Filming begins this week in Vancouver for Dungeon Siege, the latest videogame-to-film production, budgeted at $60 million and directed by Uwe Boll. The movie stars Jason Statham, Leelee Sobieski, Ron Perlman, Matthew Lillard, Burt Reynolds, Kristanna Loken and John Rhys Davies. Whew!

20th Century Fox will do Rob Reger's Emily the Strange as a live-action/animation film. Since Emily's first appearance in 1993, many studios have been after the popular character, whose thin little thirteen-year-old body is draped in goth-drab black, suitable for the adventures she has, but Reger told the Hollywood Reporter, "only Fox was willing to make me a true partner in the process, and thus ensuring the integrity of the character."

Activision has released the Fantastic 4 video game, that blends elements of the Marvel Comics series and Fox's movie. Players can work in teams and two-player co-op mode, taking on the roles of superheroes Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/The Human Torch and Ben Grimm/The Thing to defeat the evil Dr. Doom. Gamers control all four team members and can dynamically switch between characters.

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

Look for Nexus Ops, the latest strategy board game from Avalon Hill (published by Wizards of the Coast) in stores now. Aggressively competitive for 2-4 players, ages 12 and up, Nexus Ops features a fantastical "other world" scenario as players advance their armies across a changing landscape toward a three-dimensional volcano. SRP $45. Coming in July, Avalon Hill will reprint RoboRally, the popular game of battling robots by Dr. Richard Garfield, and in October we'll get Vegas Showdown, where gamers compete against each other to determine who can best manage limited resources to build the most luxurious casino in Las Vegas. For more information on Avalon Hill, visit avalonhill.com.

Amazon.com has gotten more than a million worldwide pre-orders for Half Blood Prince. Borders warns its customers that they're already running low, so people need to pre-order from them by Saturday, July 2. After that, people ordering will be put on a wait list.

Scholastic reports they're about ready to ship out the 10.8 million copies of Half-Blood Prince to retailers.

The Jumbotron in New York's Times Square will serve as the "official countdown clock" July 15.

The Oxford Primary Dictionary uses citations from children's authors, like J.K. Rowling, Philip Pullman, and Roald Dahl, to help seven-to-eleven-year-olds better understand the definitions.

Scholastic has announced the ten winners of its "Why I Love Reading Harry Potter!" essay contest.

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.

Hey! Nobody's made a new Highlander movie recently! So Adrian Paul has announced on his Website that he will executive-produce and star in Highlander V, currently still being scripted by David Abramowitz. Production should start in Eastern Europe later this year: "I always said I would never do another one unless I had more control over the final product. Well, this time I am executive-producing it. Brett Leonard is set to direct. Be ready to see a new Highlander film...with a new sound and look for 2006. Everyone is excited to be able to produce something that we have more control over and to revamp such a successful franchise. Once the rights fell back to Davis-Panzer Productions, Peter Davis approached me to star and executive-produce. Watch here for more details as they are announced."

Johnny Depp told SCI FI Wire that things look good for having Keith Richards play Sparrow's father, "But I don't know when [shooting will happen]. It's all going to depend on where we are and where he is, because he's got a little thing called the Rolling Stones tour to do." The two sequels are being shot back-to-back, with Dead Man's Chest reuniting the cast from The Curse of the Black Pearl, Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, and adds Bill Nighy as Davy Jones.

The face of "Future Guy" on ENT has been reveal at The Official Site. And yes, that face does look familiar! James Horan did it, and has been a guest star in several other episodes, including Jo'Bril in TNG's "Suspicions" and Lieutenant Barnaby in TNG's "Descent, Part II." Check out the article and video interviews.

NASA and Xerox have a fun article up about a new, Star Trek-like talking female computer:

Lou would like to purchase the complete collection of TOS DVDs, preferably all three seasons, but "I will buy only one if you have only one." Anyone out there?

George Lucas, who's been all into retiring and making arty films and stuff these days, is talking to Wired: "The big tent-pole movies will be the first victim of the rapid technological changes we're seeing now...Why pay for something when you can get it for free on opening day [by downloading]?" He also notes that with the Internet and DVDs, filmmakers are making smaller-scope movies. "When you're designing for DVD, you tend to end up with more close-ups, and your wide shots aren't so wide. I don't subscribe to that stylistic shift, but a lot of kids making movies now grew up on TV and DVDs -- not films in theaters -- so that's how they make movies."

Do you live in North Carolina and long to be paid less than minimum wage for standing around all day in the sun? Well, NBC's Surface (was Fathom) has issued a casting call to North Carolina residents of all ages and ethnicities for just such a purpose. Open casting calls will take place July 2, 9 and 16 in Jacksonville, Wilmington and Myrtle Beach in North Carolina, where the series will shoot. Casting takes place on July 2 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Jacksonville Mall in Jacksonville, on July 9 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Westfield Independence Mall in Wilmington and on July 16 from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Broadway at the Beach in Myrtle Beach. For information, write Extras Casting, Surface Productions, 1223 N. 23rd St., Wilmington, NC 28405, call (910) 772-5667 or e-mail at wilmcasting@yahoo.com.

Surface, starring Lake Bell as Daughtery Carstarphen, will air Mondays 8 PM in the fall. The hour-long drama asks: "What would life be like if a new form of sea life began to appear in various locations around the globe?" Jay R. Ferguson also stars as Richard Owen, Rade Serbedzija as Dr. Aleksander Cirko and Carter Jenkins as Miles.

War of the Worlds took in $21.3 million domestic and $13.3 million global for a total of $34.6 million in its opening day June 29, the biggest Wednesday debut for a Paramount Pictures movie, according to Reuters.

DPFilms' blog says Maggie Grace will not play Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat in X-Men III, despite rumors, and that Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men Marvel comics will be the base for the script.

Paul Winchell, the voice of Tigger and Gargamel, passed away last Friday at the age of 82. John Fiedler, the voice of Piglet, died the following day at 80.

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's the basic premise of the story, "Visit to a Weird Planet"?

Answer: Kirk, Spock, and McCoy find themselves suddenly in Desilu Studios, filming this show called Star Trek. (It's in the sequel, "Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited," that Shatner, Nemoy, and Kelley find themselves aboard the Enterprise.)

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

THIS WEEK'S WINNER:

3-WAY TIE!

Unfortunatly, Lord Vader's experience with Priceline was less than satisfying. - Debra

and

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to squirt the Emperor in the face with my microphone!" - sexualuniverse

and

"We find your lack of talent disturbing." - Lucas

Honorable Mentions...

"And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain...ONE MORE TIME!" - Angie

"Scotty, now would be a good time to energize. Scotty? Is this thing on?" - sexualuniverse

"Everybody's a critic." - sexualuniverse

"Damn, not another parallel universe!" - sexualuniverse

"The Emperor, a droid, and a Wookie walk into a bar..." - sexualuniverse

"And now, a medley from my album. Hey, wait! Guys! Guys? - sexualuniverse"

"As the storm troopers carried away the alien that was assaulting their eardrums, they were left to ask just what 'Lucy in The Sky with Diamonds'is." - RJ

"Now Priceline can save you a ton on Stormtroopers too!" - Rick

Revolution was in the air after the soldiers of the Empire discovered their Emperor's true identity.- Lucas

“Watch that hand, Trooper!” - Raymond

"Damn you, Shirley Schmidt!" - Karen

"Please, Priceline, I still want to be your shill. I can still do good work, better then Leonard -- I promise. - Sue

One of the great special-effect ride sci fi /novels/, being directed by freakin' /Spielberg/, with (crazy though he may be) Tom Cruise (from whom Spielberg got a marvelous performance in /Minority Report/)? I mean, really, we make fun of Cruise, but step back and look at all the elements here - great source novel, great director (who does great adaptation work - /Jaws/ anyone?), good "dashing everyman" star (in that he's the everyman, only dashing!).

(Must not sound like Comic Book Guy, must not sound like Comic Book Guy, must not sound like Comic Book Guy...)

Next week's topic: All you people axiously awaiting Half-Blood Prince, what would you most like to see happen in the book?

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 War of the Worlds, The..............................$21,256,483
2 Batman Begins........................................$132,823,668
3 Herbie: Fully Loaded..................................$24,218,000
4 Bewitched...............................................$27,505,136
5 Mr. And Mrs. Smith..................................$131,675,588
6 Madagascar............................................$164,124,363
7 Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith..................$360,797,421
8 Longest Yard, The...................................$144,124,123
9 Land of the Dead......................................$12,931,670
10 Adventures of Shark Boy & Lava Girl............$32,285,000

1. Medium 5.3
2. Lost 4.5
3. Joan of Arcadia 2.4
4. Smallville 1.6
5. Charmed 1.4

1. Stargate SG-1 1.6
2. Andromeda 1.3
3. Buffy 1.3
4. Twilight Zone 1.3
5. Mutant X 1.2
6. She Spies 1.1
7. The X-Files 1.1
8. Angel 1.0
9. Ripley's 0.9
10. The Outer Limits 0.9

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2. Eldest (Inheritance 2)
3. The Da Vinci Code
4. Angels & Demons
5. The Time Traveler's Wife
6. Black Rose (In the Garden)
7. Dance of Death
8. The Opal Deception (Artemis Fowl 4)
9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
10. 1984

1. Star Wars trilogy
2. Phantom of the Opera
3. The Incredibles
4. La Femme Nikita season three
5. Team America: World Police
6. The 4400 season one
7. Firefly complete series
8. Star Wars: Episode I
9. Lost season one
10. Prisoner of Azkaban