Hailing Frequencies Issue #325

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In other news, I really have to update my links. Some of them are so old and dead they're going to rise up and suck the blood out of my other links.

Here's a marriage made in heaven. Tim Robbins told Empire Online that he's got the script together for yet another remake of George Orwell's 1984. Now he just needs production money. He's already directing the stage version adapted by Michael Gene Sullivan. Robbins reads from his personal Cliff's Notes: "In the book, Big Brother says we're not really concerned about 85 percent of the people, because they're so stupefied by poverty and overwork that they're never going to be part of the problem...When we think about the authoritarian world that Orwell painted, the catchphrases are one thing, but when you read the book again, the specifics and relevance for now are stunning."

Spike TV has made it official. They'll be doing a Blade TV show (their first original series) if their two-hour pilot in June gets good ratings. The show is intended to rope in those Spike-beloved men in the audience. Pancho Mansfield, executive vice president, original programming at Spike TV, said: "The new Blade promises to capture what men want to see: thrilling action and effects combined with an intelligent and highly creative story."

Blade writer David S. Goyer will executive produce and co-wrote with Geoff Johns. Kirk "Sticky" Jones (Over There) stars as the half-human, half-vampire warrior, along with Jill Wagner as undercover operative Krista Starr, Neil Jackson, Nelson Lee and Jessica Gower. Goyer states: "One of the things that the fans always seemed to be really interested in were all the inner workings and machinations of the vampire world. So we tried to come up with an idea that would allow us to explore that more."

March 27 and 28 at 9 PM ET/PT, SCI FI Channel will premiere the two-part, four-hour Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King starring Julian Sands, Kristanna Loken, Alicia Witt, Samuel West, Robert Pattinson and Max Von Sydow. The story deals with a blacksmith who doesn't know he was born the heir to a conquered kingdom. When an asteroid strikes the Earth, (yes, you read that right), our hero goes off to find love and adventure. Tim Halkin and Andreas Grosch executive produce and by Rola Bauer and Andreas Schmid produce. Diane Duane, Peter Morwood and Uli Edel are the writers, with Edel directing.

Loni Peristere, visual-effects supervisor for Serenity, told SCI FI Wire that, contrary to what Joss Whedon has been saying, there might be more Serenity movies if this first one keeps raking in the bucks as a DVD. Peristere says: "We did so well on [Amazon.com] with the Firefly box set and the performance of that helped us get the movie made. We wish the audience would get up and go to the theater, but it shows that they like to keep coming back and revisiting the world Joss created."

Serenity made "only" $25 million domestic in theatres, but could make a great deal more than that on DVD if it keeps on the way it's going.

Peristere also reveals a DVD Easter Egg: "In the main menu, if you play around with the buttons you'll find a featurette of the Fruity Oaty Bar [the product shown on a commercial in the film]." From the main menu highlight "play," then press left, which will highlight a marker on the right side of the menu; press "enter."

Warner Brothers is looking for Luna Lovegood among UK girls between the ages of 13 and 16. Contact Fiona Weir. No experience is necessary. Applicants are asked to apply in person on Jan. 14 at the Central Hall, Westminster Storey's Gate, Westminster, London. The production will take applications from 10 a.m., with no lines before 8 a.m. The queue will close at 2 p.m. Applicants will be asked to show a copy of their passport as proof of age and nationality. Applicants are also asked to wear no makeup, costumes or high heels.

Warner Home Video is releasing Goblet of Fire on HD DVD April 11, 2006. Order of the Phoenix is in preproduction and should go before cameras February 2006.

Katee Sackhoff, our beloved Starbuck, told SCI FI Wire at the Television Critics Association winter press tour that her character, "Girl," in The Last Sentinel has "blue hair and a scar down her face, and she's covered in tattoos, and she's pretty much just a renegade. Like, she's really bad. She's got knives like hidden all over her body. Yeah, so I'm excited."

Directed by Jesse Johnson, the film is set in future where drone soldiers rule the world. Girl is a resistance fighter with 'tude, so Sackhoff has had to work hard to keep her from blending with her Starbuck character. The Last Sentinel will start shooting in a few days in LA.

The Chronicles of Narnia has made $530 million global so far. That means the first movie has made more than enough to get the ball rolling on the next film, Prince Caspian. Cary Granat, chief executive officer of Walden Media, says that the script is being adapted and a director will soon be named for production to begin by the fourth quarter of next year.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith and War of the Worlds are among the seven films in consideration for the sound editing Oscar.

Title: Piranha
Origin: Remake of 1978 movie
Director: Chuck Russell
Studio: Dimension Films
Premise: Duh
Production date: Spring 2006

Title: Monster Club: The Movie
Origin: Britain's AP Comics Monster Club created by Kit Wallis
Studio: Image in Media, Treehouse Film, Television Ltd. and China Film Animation Ltd.
Premise: 3D animation of four friends who battle monsters
Production date: soon

Title: Where the Wild Things Are
Origin: Maurice Sendak's book
Director: Spike Jonze
Scriptwriter: Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers
Producers: Playtone's Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and John Carls.
Studio: Warner Brothers (was Universal)
Premise: Live-action/CGI little boy adventure with monsters
Production date: later this year

Title: The Wee Free Men
Origin: Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel
Scriptwriter: Pamela Pettler
Producers: Sam Raimi, Josh Donen, Vince Gerardis and Ralph Vicinanza
Director: Sam Raimi
Studio:
Premise: Farm girl rescues brother from parallel universe.
Production date: After Spider-Man 3 wraps

SCI FI Channel and Steven Spielberg did great work and got great ratings for the miniseries Taken, so they're teaming up again for the 12-hour miniseries Nine Lives. They'll be using screenwriter Les Bohem again as well. Look for it on your TV in 2007.

Nine Lives deals with love after death, with several grieving main character who realize how to reunite with their beloveds...for a price.

Jerry Bruckheimer told ComingSoon.net hat production is almost done on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. "We're in the Bahamas...finishing 2 and then doing 3. I think we have about five or six more days left on Pirates 2, and then we're done with it. We'll break in March and edit 2 and then go back at the end of the summer and finish 3."

Dead Man's Chest again stars Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley. It will take over theatres July 7.

I'm guessing this Keanu Reeves movie must really, really stink. Warner Independent Pictures is again delaying the release of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkley, now planning to get it into theatres in July. Keanu Reeves plays an undercover cop spying on his drugged-out friends who gets all paranoid, perhaps because those friends include Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder and Rory Cochrane. Yipes.

Patrick Stewart just loves to tease us, doesn't he? The little scamp. He's told WENN's Website that Paramount may want him to do Picard again, but "they told me it was still two, three or four years down the road, by which time I would only be able to sit in the captain's chair and not have the energy to get out of it." Sure, baby.

Meanwhile, Corgi International is going to be offerings cast models of the original Enterprise and Klingon Bird of Prey next month to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Star Trek. Oh, man, I'm old. In May, they'll bring out the Enterprise-D, then, in the fall, they'll do all three again with light-up bases. Sweet.

Comcast Digital is offering the Star Trek movies "on-demand" this month. Read more at StarTrek.com.

Howard Stern kicked off his first censorship-free show with George Takei and didn't ask him about being gay.

No, I'm just kidding. Of course they talked about that, as they Stern had phone sex with a Playboy bunny, talked about having sex with his current squeeze, and cursed a lot.

Star Wars: Episode III—Revenge of the Sith took the coveted "favorite movie and favorite movie drama" awards at the 32nd annual People's Choice Awards in ceremonies January 10 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Winners were determined by Internet voting, so this wasn't actually a surprise. Congrats!

There's a fun interview with Ben Browder at SCI FI Wire about how much he like working with Claudia Black again. He mentions that he'd love to do more Farscape, then laughs "when asked who'd win if John Crichton and Cameron Mitchell ever got into a fight. 'The simple answer is that Aeryn would dispatch Vala and then rescue John....Cameron would have the upper hand until Aeryn kicked his ass.'"

Brandon Routh told SCI FI Wire that his version of Superman is "lost. He's learned things about the world that have changed, and he's not found what he went after...and he just feels alone....he's not sure if he wants to use his power even....I mean, he's an alien, but he's human. Or he does his best to be. He lives here. He wants to be part of that world, I think."

Superman Returns opens June 30. Sometime after that the film will show up on FX, which has already bought the cable TV rights for around 12% of whatever the domestic gross is, with a cap at between $17 million and $25 million, depending on the contract's length of term and on whether Warner finds another buyer to share the window with FX. Please, please, could I have some of that money?

One of the following news items is false. Can you spot it? (For the answer, highlight below.)

Reveal the fake (highlight): Meanwhile, CBS has a sci-fi pilot lined up about a small alien who lives with a suburban family and keeps trying to eat the cat. (I never watched Alf, but that was the premise, right?)

This Week's Question is from Lou: When was the only time the Enterprise was put under Double Red Alert?

Send your answer to scifi@about.com. All correctly answering trivia maniacs will have their names mentioned in the next newsletter. 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: Who gets to say one of Trek's lamest lines, "Happiness at least, sir"?

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..

"Not everyone was pleased with Peter Jackson's version of King Kong." - Debra Smith

“Hey! The Vulcan nerve pinch does work!” - Elder

"Shine my boots, you filthy human." - Sue

"All the apes of the world gathered together to bring an end to the Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch reunion." - Chris

"How dare you offer me a banana daiquiri?! I loathe bananas!" - Elaine

"Let go my Eggo!" - tri_pilot

"Stop it! It tickles!" - mcmahanclan

"Get your stinkin paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" - Rick

"In the exciting BSG Season 2 finale, Helo gets attacked by little-seen Cylon humanoid model #9 for knocking up his daughter Sharon." - evay

“I am just making sure your Mickey Mouse in New York pin stays in. Gotta go deep, you know…” - Raymond

“…You wanna walk like me, talk like me, oh yes you do-oo-oo!...” - Raymond

The monkey’s favourite show was The Simpsons and he took every opportunity to say: “Why… you little….!” - Raymond

Beware the Roth of the Monkey. - Raymond

“Take it BACK! Davy Jones was NOT the leader of my band!” - Raymond

“We had everything! Oscar winners, Rick’s makeup, sumptuous sets… everything except a script….” - Raymond

"LETTERS TO THE EDITOR"

This week's topic: Does the overall quality of dramatic sci-fi seem to be getting better, worse, or holding the same, in your experience?

I must say that as a tried and true Trekker, I feel spoiled. Thats right, I feel like Trek (for the most part anyway) was (and still is) the quintessential Sci-Fi show, of which all others are compared. I find myself trying to get into other shows...trying to like Earth:Final Conflict, then trying to like Stargate, (I must admit Babylon 5 had some very good seasons), but all in all they pale in comparison (IMHO) to Trek.

Even today, with Battlestar Galactica (BSG), I find myself being critical. Even little things get me, like "why don't they have any type of shield technology?", "why can't they break any new ground, like ST did with transporters?". Another thing is is the way many of these shows slip into the 'soap opera'/long term arc storylines, that I have indicated in the past is where I believe led ST to its current downfall. TOS had very little of that, it was episodic and tackled alot of deep moral issues that transcend the genre. The fact that it was taking place in the 23rd century meant less than the issues that were being examined.

And so for me every sci-fi TV show must be compared with the standard bearer, Star Trek.

I never thought ST translated very well on the big screen. I happen to think that audiences now are not dazzled by special effects as they were 20 or 30 years ago. And so as a consequence, the allure of sci-fi, with space battles and the such are diminished. I went to see Serenity and thought it was good, and I hoped it would be successful but I think it will just be regulated to be "yet another movie."

I think the high point of all sci-fi TV shows was DS9. BSG seems to have potential and I will give it a try.

Looking forward, I would say that sci-fi writers need to take a look back and see what it was that created a legend and then go out and take some chances and write crisp storys with characters that are multidimentional and whom we can care about.

Next week's topic: Any thoughts about Battlestar Galactica and this Admiral Cain character?

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 Hostel....................................$23,986,782
2 The Chronicles of Narnia...........$250,357,188
3 Fun With Dick And Jane..............$83,186,862
4 Brokeback Mountain...................$24,396,000
5 King Kong...............................$194,820,415
6 Munich....................................$27,288,995
7 Memoirs of a Geisha...................$41,602,941
8 Rumor Has It............................$36,475,243
9 The Family Stone......................$54,204,265
10 Casanova................................$5,944,000

1. Lost 12.3
2. Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer 8.6 (whee!)
3. Medium 8.3
4. Invasion 6.4
5. Surface 6.1
6. Ghost Whisperer 6.0
7. Santa Claus is Coming to Town 4.7
8. Medium 2.8
9. Happy Elf 3.5

1. Alias 2.0
2. Smallville 1.7
3. Stargate SG-1 1.6
4. Star Trek: Enterprise 1.4
5. Stargate Atlantis 1.4
6. The Outer Limits 1.0
7. Farscape .7
8. Sabrina .7
9. The Twilight Zone .7

1. Narnia box set
2. The Da Vinci Code
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
4. The Chronicles of Narnia
5. Cell
6. Wicked
7. Ptolemy's Gate (Bartimaeus 3)
8. Angels & Demons
9. Harry Potter paper box set
10. Unleash the Night

1. Serenity
2. Firefly complete series
2. Battlestar Galactica season 2.0
4. Star Wars: Episode III
5. Lost season one
6. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
7. Battlestar Galactica season one
8. Sin City
9. Madagascar
10. The Brothers Grimm