3.7.06 - 3.14.06
HELLO
And here's the three hundred and thirty-first edition of "Hailing Frequencies."
If you want to be notified when this newsletter is updated, email me to be put on my "notification" list.
Okay, the first change is that I'm trying to blog more throughout the week, not just present news in here. That means some of the newsletter will link to the blogs. I'm also posting some of the more static elements separately. I've gotten rid of the "new at the site" part, because I send that out with the newsletter annoucenment. I'm also trying to streamline things a bit. I also think this works better as a newsletter earlier in the week. Do you have any feedback about these changes? Let me know!
4400
Ira Steven Beh SCI FI Wire's Patrick Lee that the upcoming third season will have provide revelations about the main characters and deepen the show's mythology. more information about the main characters and to expect a new direction in the show's upcoming third season that will focus more on the show's mythology and main characters: "Last year we kind of alternated kind of big mythology type of episodes ... [with episodes in which] we'd introduce the 4400, they would have a problem that either affected them or affected society in general, and we would deal with that problem. ... What we're going to be focusing on basically this season [is] bigger sweep. I call it playing big ball rather than little ball. ... I think every story this year will have an impact on our people."
Megalyn Echikunwoke is joining the cast as an adult version of baby Isabelle.
The 4400 returns with 13 new episodes, starting June 4.
BLOG: MORE STRANGE HAPPENINGS AT ALIAS
FIREFLY/SERENITY
From EmpireOnline:
So is there any hope for a Serenity sequel, or another series?
Joss Whedon: "You know, we didn’t exactly set the box office aflame.
The DVD is doing quite well. Nobody’s said anything. I don’t rule
it out, I’d love to do it, but I’m focusing on whatever’s
next, as are my actors. If anybody ever calls for us to come back together,
that would be a great joy, but the fact that we got to make this film is, in
itself, a bit of a miracle, so you don’t ask for another one for a while."
There's more fun stuff about Serenity in the interview, but don't read it if you haven't seen the movie yet!
HARRY POTTER
Check out the high-res Goblet of Fire picture gallery at LeakyCauldron.
Leaky's also got the EW review of the GoF DVD.
ComingSoon has an interview with Prisoner of Azkanban director Alfonso Cuaron, who disappointingly says he has no current plans to helm another Potter film, "but I can tell you that I spent the most beautiful two years of my life doing 'Harry Potter'. Everything around the J.K. Rowling product is surrounded by this very beneficial energy. It's fantastic to be around her and associated with it. I don't know. In the future, if I'm invited, I would consider it definitely because it was such a beautiful experience, but in the same hand, I'm not very good about repeating stuff that I did before."
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix should be in theatres in 2007.
INDIANA IV
Steven Spielberg told Fox 411 that David Koepp (War of the Worlds) has been tagged to complete the script for Indy IV. Sorry, everyone.
OSCARS
Well, Sunday night we had another Oscars presentation for supposedly the best in film achievement for the year. And, once again, sci-fi and fantasy films were infuriatingly overlooked. So, this year, we have the Racsos! (They're kind of like the Saturn Awards meets The People Choice Awards meets Julia Makes a Poll). Be heard, sci-fi and fantasy fans!
PIRATES
Dead Man's Chest again stars Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley. It will take over theatres July 7.
BLOG: SAD NEWS FOR PUFNSTUF FANS
STAR TREK
BLOG: ARE WE GOING TO HAVE MORE STAR TREK SOON, OR NOT?
TrekToday has a retro review of "Friday's Child."
Dreamcloud has an interview up with Ian Lane David abut the making of Star Trek: Legacy, a pretty hot-looking new game, as the screepcaps show. Says Davis: "For a long time, we’ve wanted to create a game that brought all the elements of the Star Trek series together in one place, focusing on combat. We’ve had the great fortune of collaborating with amazing partners that have the same core vision. It’s truly the Star Trek game we’ve always wanted to make: it spans the whole timeline and presents the most “realistic” Star Trek combat experience ever....From the moment you pick up the game, you’ll be thrust right into the captain’s seat on some of the most famous ships from Star Trek lore. As the Admiral of your very own fleet, you’ll be calling the shots on how you tackle each mission, what ships and capabilities you bring into battle, and you will be the deciding factor on whether your ships will ever see Earth again. Want to go in with phasers and photons blazing while screaming ancient Klingon battle cries or do you want to creep in with all the stealth and cunning you can muster? It’s totally up to you."
Sweet.
Trek Nation has a great interview up with Queen Borg herself, Alice Krige. Fave bit:
Trek Nation: I have to ask you the very shallow question that I'm sure everybody has asked you about the costume.
Alice Krige: It's not shallow. Everyone does ask it and it's very germane, because without the costume and without the look of her face and head...it is impossible to separate the character from her physical appearance. In fact, the costume and the makeup were extraordinarily helpful to me in finding who she was. I go in search of a character and I really never know if I'm going to find her, so I never know what it is that's going to trigger the life of the character. There were three things that triggered the life of the Borg Queen. One was watching the video of A Brief History of Time and rereading the book. The other two things were the costume, the suit and the head. By the time we had put her together physically, it was like going through a portal. By the time I put in the lenses, I was in a different state. I'd opened the door to that entity as it were.
STARGATE
Richard Dean Anderson's official fanclub Website is looking for help getting a star for Anderson on the Walk of Fame. You GO!
X-MEN
SCI FI Wire's John Sullivan has an interview up with Kelsey Grammer (Beast), who was concerned about whether fans would like Matthew Vaughn's choice to cast him. Grammer says: "It's great to be able to play a role that's obviously so fully realized before you get to it. It's almost like playing a famous person, like playing Orson Welles or playing Winston Churchill. It brings that kind of associative power with it, and so that's kind of fun."
Grammar has also found that wearing all that make-up is "limiting in some ways, the prosthetic pieces, but they are still my eyes, so 80 percent of my communicative powers are still pretty evident," Grammer said. "You know what's going on. I think in some ways it actually helps the character achieve that stoic presence that I think he has."
X3: The Last Stand opens on May 26.
BLOG: WONDER WOMAN HINTS FROM WHEDON
NEWS BITS
One of the following news items is false. Can you spot it? (For the answer, highlight below.)
Reveal the fake
(highlight): Comedy Central's latest project features
the day and times of the TiVo logo, who will run his own Letterman-like talkshow.
(But it's a cool idea, isn't it?)
INSANE TREK TRIVIA
T his Week's Question: What other TV show besides Star Trek likes to
keep working "47" into the dialogue and scenery?
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: Recite the verse Mr. Spock noted as bad poetry.
Answer: Wind shall rise/And fog descend/So leave here, all/Or meet your end.
First winner
Sue
Sue's wish is is for everyone to have a great week and for Taylor Hicks to win American Idol.
Second winner
Lou
Third winner
Rissa
Fourth winner
Rick
BLOG: CAPTION
CONTEST
"LETTERS TO THE EDITOR"
This week's topic was suggested by CBurke1290 -- thanks!: Have advances in CGI allowed TV/movie sci-fi writers to be less creative?
***
I think it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. It enables filmakers to put their dreams on screen and to show us their vision of the story. On the other hand, with the whole story spoon fed to us it makes it difficult to come away from the experience with our own ideas and opinions. Why think when you don't have to? Okay, that's a bit extreme. But think about this, what if the shark in Jaws hadn't had mechanical problems? You have to have some creative challenges when you're bringing a story to life; that's when the process becomes exciting and fun. Personally, I don't think you always have to CGI things. I didn't like the animated characters in Episode I of Star Wars; I wish that they had used muppets. I know it was probably flashier and maybe easier to use the computer, but it (and I know I'm being weird here) made it harder for me to suspend my disbelief. I guess it's just that I grew up with the Muppets, and they seem more real to me than a computer program. The point here is, sometimes you should go old school and sometimes you shouldn't. Because we have CGI, filmakers have that option, and anything that gives you more choices is a good thing.
***
[on last week's topic]
"Stars of
sci-Fi and fantasy shows tend to bounce around inside the genre. What actor
from a past TV show would you most like to see get a new sci-fi/fantasy TV series?
"
I'm going to let my stripes as a bit of a Joss Whedon fan show a bit here and
say it's:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Alyson Hannigan, who to this day still makes
me like Willow the most out of all the BtVS characters, bar none. And like the
others on my list, the gal's got some serious talent - being able to portray
everything from sweet, innocent nerds (a la seasons 1-3ish), to addicts (remember
the season six / season seven subplot with magic addiction?), to deliciously
evil characters (the two evil!vampire!Willow episodes are half the reason I
bought the season three box set, and the temporary return of evil!Willow, "Bored
now" catchphrase and all, is the only reason I didn't hate the season six
finale).
And really, that's narrowing it down as far as I can! Coming in at a very close
second and third are: Firefly's Nathan Fillion. Just an awesome actor. I'd list
a single scene in Firefly that makes me feel this way, but there's so many that
I simply can't pick just one! (Although I do love how in the original two-part
pilot he shows he can swing in an instant from tense, serious drama to warm,
just plain silly comedy); and Firefly's brilliant still-sort-of-a-newcomer Summer
Glau, whose portrayal of the schizophrenic psychic River Tam still makes me
laugh and shiver and almost want to cry, often in the same episode (this after
seeing most of the series two or three times thanks to the wonder of SciFi Channel
reruns and DVD). She can be cute, funny, scary, eerie - sometimes all at once!
Granted, there was good writing (at least as far as characterization went; the
plots had a few kinks once in a while, especially in the beginning), but damned
if she didn't pull it off spectacularly!
But really, any of the old Buffy or Firefly casts, and throw in
Angel's cast, as well, because though I didn't see it as much as BtVS or Firefly,
they seemed really good as well.
Joss just really has a penchant for getting good casts together, I suppose!
Jamie
***
Next week's topic: What's your theory on why sci-fi/fantasy stuff gets overlooked by the Oscars (and all the other popular awards shows)?
***
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.)
BLOG:
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HAILING FREQUENCIES CLOSED
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Julia Houston
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Guide @ About.com
scifi@about.com