Hailing Frequencies Issue #305

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TV Guide reports that Greg Grunberg, who plays Agent Weiss, will be leaving this show this fall.

Meanwhile, Elodie Bouchez is joining up as Zoe Rienne, a new regular character and internationally wanted criminal with a mysterious background.

Charles Roven has told SCI FI Wire that the cast locked in place and the script is "in the works" for the next Batman. The director isn't a sure thing yes, though. "We're waiting for Chris Nolan to declare himself. We will do it after he does that." Nolan says that Steve Carrell is not being considered for the Joker.

Bill Gardner has taken over as chief executive officer at Eidos, and his first project it to get the Tomb Raider series going again. First, we're going to get Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Legend as a video game, and then we may well get another movie. (No word on whether BP might join AJ in fighting the bad guys, but it would be kinda fun, don't you think?)

GameSpot has an interview with Ubisoft's developer Michel Ancel about the King Kong (via Jackson) videogame: "The film gives an overall context and proposes strong themes and characters, in particular King Kong himself. I approached the game on my side thinking of it as a full creation, while taking a maximum of my inspiration from the values within the movie... To survive in King Kong, you'll have to understand and take advantage of your surroundings." Read the interview and see clips from the game here.

J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince have received a Quill nomination in the "Children's Chapter Book/Middle Grade" category. Congrats!

Well, they're gonna do some more Highlander stuff. Three new TV movies are in the works, starting with Highlander: The Source, with Adrian Paul playing Duncan MacLeod. Brett Leonard (Lawnmower Man) will direct, and shooting starts in Lithuania this October, with no fewer than three production companies: Davis-Panzer Productions, Sequence Films and Grosvenor Park. This time, the Immortals are looking for...wait for it...the Holy Grail!

Davis-Panzer Productions will also be coming out with an anime Highlander film, in partnership with Imagi and Madhouse of Japan. And there will be a video game from them in conjunction with SCI Games Ltd. of London. My guess? Chopping off heads will win you points!

Best Novel: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Best Novella: "The Concrete Jungle" by Charles Stross
Best Novelette: "The Faery Handbag" by Kelly Link
Best Short Story: "Travels With My Cats" by Mike Resnick
Best Related Book: The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction, Edward James and Farah Mendlesohn, eds.
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: The Incredibles
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: "33," Battlestar Galactica (whoo hoo!)
Best Professional Editor: Ellen Datlow
Best Professional Artist: Jim Burns
Best Semiprozine: Ansible
Best Fanzine: Plokta
Best Fan Writer: David Langford
Best Fan Artist: Sue Mason
Best Website: SCI Fiction, Ellen Datlow, ed.; Craig Engler, general manager
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Elizabeth Bear
Special Interaction Committee Award: David Pringle

I love this one, especially as I teach a course in Review Writing. Sony has been successfully sued by disgruntled movie-goers who said they say some crappy movies, including Hollow Man and A Knight's Tale, because of fake "quotes" from nonexistent critics used in ad campaigns. Sony Pictures' Entertainment has agreed to pay $1.5m to resolve the class-action suit and has agreed not to make up more "It's the greatest movie ever!" quotes.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest has a July 2006 release date.
Pirates 3 should be out for summer 2007.

Autographed pix of Richard Dean Anderson are being sold by Legends Memorabilia to benefit the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in its efforts to stop the slaughter of Canadian seals. Cute little baby seals.

We got trouble, right here in River City. JoWood has ended its contract with Perception, which was developing the videogame Stargate SG-1: The Alliance. It's Wood who has the rights, and he said that Perception's quality wasn't up to snuff. So, no game for now.

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 engineering position suggested by Scotty was once dubbed "undignified" by Spock?

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:

This week on Celebrity Challenge, Harrison Ford attempts to jump 2 Hari Krishna AND 2 Robert Smiths in one leap! - Jamie Ray

Honorable Mentions..

...And Noah marches in the animals 2 by 2. - Sue

Meat loaf Monday in an average California high school cafeteria. - sexualuniverse

"I told you these saffron robes weren't a good disguise when infiltrating a vampire cult!" - sexualuniverse

Lenny and Squiggy follow Laverne and Shirley to the Milwaukee convent and distillery. - sexualuniverse

Season ten's SG:1 team - sexualuniverse

"Is that Ric Ocasek?" - BTCHONWHLS

Having seen both of these movies, I would on the surface say "No, they aren't the same." But let's delve a little deeper. The angsty, brooding of Tom and Ioan, the self-loathing of Tom and Michael, the showy curves of Miranda and Jessica, the rebellious teens (Robbie and Johnny), megalomaniacal bad guys (aliens who are power hungry/Doom who is power hungry)...I dunno. Could be. The main diff would be the direction and the extreme use of gore (and we ain't talking Al here, although some would argue that the acting of some actors is rather wooden..). Schpeelberg lays out a great rendition of a "classic" while TPTB at Marvel lay out character development and angst of the highest degree and both have a sort of climactic rise to...the ending. Only Marvel did an epilogue and left room for a sequel...

Next week's topic: Any theories about why the box-office is in a slump, considering all the big-budget sci-fi stuff out there?

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 Wedding Crashers, The......................$127,679,000
2 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.......$158,458,387
3 Sky High...........................................$22,985,596
4 Must Love Dogs.................................$18,862,992
5 Stealth............................................$18,700,373
6 March of the Penguins........................$26,296,803 (This is now the second highest-grossing doc ever, 2nd to Fahrenheit 9/11.)
7 Fantastic Four.................................$139,724,204
8 Bad News Bears, The..........................$26,163,832
9 Island, The (2005).............................$27,826,885
10 War of the Worlds, The....................$221,066,743

1. Medium 4.5
2. Desperate Housewives 4.2
3. Lost 3.2
4. Smallville 1.2
5. Charmed 0.8

1. Stargate SG-1 1.8
2. The X-Files 1.7
3. Mutant X 1.3
4. Twilight Zone 1.3
5. Andromeda 1.2
6. The Outer Limits 1.2
7. She Spies 1.2
8. Angel 1.1
9. Buffy 1.1
10. Ripley's 1.0

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2. The Historian
3. Eldest (Inheritance 2)
4. Harry Potter paper box set
5. The Da Vinci Code
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
7. The Time Traveler's Wife
8. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
9. Angels and Demons
10. Chronicles of Narnia box set

1. Sin City
2. The Muppet Show
3. Lost season one
4. Stargate SG-1 season eight
5. Firefly complete series
6. Alias season four
7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
8. Battlestar Galactica season one
9. Star Wars trilogy
10. Constantine