4.18.06
HELLO
And here's the three hundred and thirty-fifth edition of "Hailing Frequencies."
If you want to be notified when this newsletter is updated, email me to be put on my "notification" list.
Product placement in comic books. sigh
BATMAN
Kellvin Chavez at Latino Review interviews Robin Williams. Fave bit:
Would you then consider taking a role like the Joker for Batman Begins sequel?
Robin Williams: Oh God Yeah!
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Mind spoiler warning. Highlight to read:
John Sullivan talked with Sackhoff (Starbuck) about the upcoming third season of Battlestar Galactica. After lobbying since the show began that Starbuck's hair can be long without making the character too "feminine," it looked like sshe was going to get her wish at the end of last season. But no, "It's going to be gone. Shorter than it was in the miniseries." Sackhoff also warns that Starbuck "goes through a lot of turmoil in the first four episodes...The depths of despair she finds herself in are pretty deep at the end of episode four. And she kind of re-establishes her commitment to the military in episode five, which is the haircut."
Finally, the interview at SCI FI Wire hints at a new and "unlikely" love interest that will make viewers "livid."
I can't wait!
Ron Moore is thinking great thoughts about a BSG video game. No real details yet, but I bet it kicks toaster ass.
BLOG: Top SF/F Movies, Shows, Books & DVDs
BLOG: Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Listings
BOOKS
M.M. Buckner's War Surf won the Philip K. Dick Award for 2005, recognizing distinguished science fiction originally published in paperback. Congrats.!
David W. Wixon, assistant to Gordon R. Dickson, tells SCI FI Wire that he completed the late Dickson's novel Antagonist.
Gary Braunbeck tells SCI FI Wire about the personal components of In the Midnight Museum.
DA VINCI CODE
Columbia Pictures and Google bring us The Da Vinci Code Quest on Google, a 24-day game that began April 17. Solve the puzzles and win prizes, including first-class vacations to New York, Paris, London and Rome,Sony televisions, computers, cameras, satellite navigation systems, home theater systems, and more stuff you'll have to declare on your taxes, you know.
Four new clips from Ron Howard's upcoming The DA Vinci Code have been linked through SCI FI Wire's Trailers page.
DOCTOR WHO
The BBC reports that the second season premiere nabbed 8.3 million, with David Tennant now playing as The Doctor and Billie Piper still his assistant Rose.
BLOG: Doctor Who Season Two
BLOG: Doctor Who Picture Gallery
EVENT HORIZON
IGN has a review up of the Special Ed DVD of Event Horizon. Face bit:
It's a fun horror movie, if a bit lightweight. It's an old-fashioned spook fest in which the mystery of who'll die next is more fun than how they die. Character development isn't great, but the majority of the crew is expendable, and it's sufficient to know what they fear and how the ship exploits those fears. At the same time, the horror effects were low-budget in 1998 and look even worse now. Cheap CGI and cheap green-screen effects sorely stick out and do take away from some of the movie's mystery.
FINALES (SERIES/SEASON)
May 5: Ghost Whisperer
(CBS)
May 9: Gilmore Girls (WB)
May 11: Smallville (WB)
May 17: Invasion (ABC)
May 21: Desperate Housewives (ABC)
May 22: 24 (Fox), Alias (ABC)
May 24: Lost (ABC)
HARRY POTTER
At 16. Daniel Radcliffe will become the youngest non-royal ever to have an individual portrait in England's National Portrait Gallery. Congrats!
PotterCast #35, the second part of our call-in show from this weekend, is now available for download at TheLeakyCauldron.
Warner Bros. and IMAX Corporation say that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the first 2D Digitally remastered IMAX film to surpass the $20 million (USD) mark at the box office.
BLOG: MOVIES TO WATCH FOR
REAL SCIENCE NEWS
Add a new dinosaur to your toy box. The bones of an enormous species of carnivorous dinosaur, longer than all other previously discovered meat-eaters, were found in western Patagonia. Scientists rushed to win the name contest, and the prize went to "Mapusaurus roseae," a member of the carcharodontosaurids. Say that five times real fast, then read more at Discovery.com.
BLOG: Sci-Fi & Fantasy Movies with the Best Scores/Soundtracks
SERENITY
AintItCoolNews has some blurbs on the release of HD DVDs, and praises Serenity above the others:
Of course, you could skip the Warner launch titles altogether and just go straight to this, Joss Whedon’s space western, beautifully shot by Jack N. Green. Here’s the exact sort of title Warner should have used as their opening shot... an FX driven action film. I’ve talked to someone who has seen this transfer, someone who actually works in the production end of the DVD business, and they were knocked out by the picture quality on SERENITY. Of course, when they saw it, the mastering team couldn’t get half the file to play... but I’m sure that’s been worked out. If you’re looking to make your machine sit up and dance right out of the box, here’s your one safe bet for the week.
Meanwhile, FilmForce talked with Chiwetel Ejiofor (The Operative), who said he'd like to be in a sequel, but knows nothing about any movement on the project.
STAR TREK
SyFyPortal
has an interview up with Erik Jendresen was given the task of writing Star
Trek XI: The Beginning, a script Jendresen says was the victim of "regime
change" at Paramount. However, while the project may have been stalled, it's
not necessarily dead.
Jendresen explains that the concept of the film is to fill the "void" between
the end of ENT and the beginning of TOS by focusing on Kirk's progenitor, Tiberius
Chase. The film would then be the first of a trilogy centered around the formation
of the Federation. "There is a producer at Paramount who has been championing
this and the notion that we have the opportunity to plug the gap with this trilogy."
We'll have to see.
X-MEN
Some fun promotional behind-the-scenes video footage for the third X-Men movie is available at MSN.
Wilson Morales has an interview with Bill Duke, who plays the head of Homeland Security, at Blackfilm.com. Fave bit:
With only a couple of scenes to play, did you do any research on your character?
BD: I did some background search in terms of the government and the people who are in a higher position and the power that they have. With General Trask, his overall attitude was that if he had a mission or a goal, he would do it for the country, but also there are personal goals that override that. That was interesting to explore that.
Daniel Fienberg has an interview with Ellen Page, who plays Kitty Pryde (Shadowcast), at Zap2it. Fave bit:
"I actually haven't seen the movie so as far as I know, I have no idea what just happened in the edit. Kitty's involved more and has a bit of a subplot with a certain other mutant and we'll see. It's all fun. I get to fight in the end."
X-Men: The Last Stand hopes to have you sitting in theatres May 26.
NEWS BITS
One of the following news items is false. Can you spot it? (For the answer, highlight below.)
Reveal the fake (highlight): Lindsey Lohan will go in drag for her next TV film project, donning a man's suit for the role of Bob Cratchet in Hallmark's latest version of A Christmas Carol.
INSANE TREK
TRIVIA
This Week's Question: From whence came the name "Klingon"?
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: What episode of which show is the first time we hear about
"gold-pressed latinum"?
Answer: DS9's "The Emissary."
No winners
"LETTERS TO THE EDITOR"
This week's topic: Who's the best sci-fi and/or fantasy author out there working right now?
***
No replies. :-(
***
Next week's topic: Is Lost keeping its quality going?
***
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.)
HAILING FREQUENCIES CLOSED
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Julia Houston
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Guide @ About.com
scifi@about.com