6.12.06
HELLO
And here's the three hundred and fortieth edition of "Hailing Frequencies."
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Am I crazy for really wanting a Darth Tater?
BLOG: Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Listings
4400
Well, the second season premiered on Sunday (if you haven't seen it, stop reading), and executive producer Ira Steven Behr told SCI FI Wire that Lily Moore ages and then dies off, because "I was basically told that [Laura Allen, who plays the character] wasn't going to be back....Yeah. It was not a creative decision, ultimately. It was a business decision. And, as I was saying, there's ... just so many things that I'm sure you hear all the time from people on shows. They're just money decisions and business decisions, and there's a lot of people with a lot of say in all these things. A lot of people who have to answer to a lot of other people who don't have any dealings with [us], and it just ... got out of hand. And, suddenly, there you go. So you just move on."
Tippi Hedren, who plays the aged version of Lily Moore has a fun interview at Zap2it. Fave bit:
Asked if she'll become a steady "4400" watcher now, Hedren says, "Oh, you bet I will. It'll be just like '24' for me."
In fact, if the "24" producers are interested, Hedren would love to guest-star, perhaps even as the mother of terrorist-fighter Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland).
"Perfect," she says, "just as long as they don't kill me off."
The 4400 airs Sundays at 9 PM on USA
AintitCool has a small possible spoiler for season three.
Did you know that Tricia Helfer hosts Canada's Next Top Model? You can catch it on YouTube.
The new season starts in October.
BIRDS, THE (BUT NOT QUITE)
And speaking of Tippi, the long-discussed remake of The Birds, under development at Platinum Dunes, isn't really going to be a remake after all. Brad Fuller told Bloody-Disgusting.com that the movie is to be based on Daphne du Maurier's short story that acted as "inspiration" for Hitchcock's film. "So while the concept of birds attacking will be the same, the plot is totally different from Hitchcock's film. We are currently in the process of developing the script."
For those of you keeping score at home, du Maurier's story is set in Cornwall and has an explanation for the birds' aggression (a brutal winter leaves little food), while the Hitchcock version takes place in California and never explains the birds' vicious behavior, making it a lot creepier, IMO. Of course, neither version can ever compare with The Clams.
FANTASTIC FOUR 2
Despite its lousiness, Fantastic Four has a sequel coming out June 15, 2007. Ioan Gruffudd has an interview with a brief reference to the film at ComingSoon.net.
A Feast for Crows, by George R. R. Martin
GHOST WHISPERER
John Gray has a new two-year contract with Touchstone Television to keep his creation, Ghost Whisperer, on track by writing and directing episodes.
Recent rumors that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is going to be filmed in part on location in Italy have been debunked.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Frustration
LeakyCauldron has some pictures of the actual shoot in Scotland that include two of Radcliffe's body double dressed in Harry's Gryffindor uniform.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix comes out globally July 13, 2007.
INDY 4
Access Hollywood has gotten the scoop direct from George Lucas himself that he and Spielberg want Sean Connery to appear in the fourth Indiana Jones movie.
LORD OF THE RINGS
AintItCool has a review of the Lost spin-off book, Bad Twin.
MUPPET SHOW (BUT NOT QUITE)
Jim Henson Co.'s going to be revisiting a premise in Late Night Buffet for TBS, a show put on by putter with human celebrity guests. Henson Co. co-chair and co-chief executive officer Brian Henson and Bill Barretta will wrangle the puppets, including hosts Augustus Pfiffle and Delbert Kastle. No Dr. Teeth for the band, be we will get Gina Cappellini and her pet monkeys.
NEXT
Producer/star Nicolas Cage promoted his next film, based on Philip K. Dick's "The Golden Man," at SCI FI Wire. The story deals with a man who can see two minutes into the future, an ability Cage feels would make the character "have an interest in the supernatural, science itself, anything that could help explain his condition." Cage talks about how he has these qualities himself. Cage adds: "I'd been thinking a lot about the notion that there are people who may or may not have powers, and what would you do if you were born with powers that could be possibly very terrifying and uncomfortable for others around you? For example, seeing into your future. So it occurred to me, how could I play that part, and what could I do with that part that would seem real and also protect the character from being labeled a freak? So I thought, 'Well, he could hide in plain sight. He could be a magician in Vegas.' And these people, sometimes you see them, and you go, 'How do they do that?' So my thing was, have him use the magic act as a disguise for the reality, which is that he really does have powers. So that was the main thrust of the change that I made."
Sounds interesting. We'll get to see sometime September 2007.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN
ComingSoon has an interview with Bill Nighy, who plays Davy Jones. Fave bit:
CS: Was there a lot of physical make-up involved with creating those tentacles or was it all CGI?
Nighy: Oh, it's all CGI. My face is made-up to bleed into the creature, and I have to wear up those funky computer pajama trousers and have white dots all over the place for the mapping points for the computer. I'd done that stuff before where you have prosthetics, when I was a vampire in the "Underworld" movie, and I did vow then that nobody would ever be allowed to do anything of that kind to me again.
Check out the Official Site.
SPIDER-MAN
IfMagazine reports: "There are four villains this time, Venom, Sandman, and Green Goblin and when is the fourth going to be revealed? ARAD: Right we have four villains. Pretty soon [we'll reveal the fourth villain] I believe. Maybe around Comic Con we'll reveal something and the madness will begin."
Spider-Man 3 is now filming in New York. The movie is slated for May 4, 2007.
TrekNation has a fun interview up with John de Lancie (is there any other kind?). Fave bit:
Trek Nation: You were on the first-ever Next Gen...What did you channel to play an omnipotent character judging the human race?
John De Lancie: My kids said, 'Gee, it's not unlike you walking around the house, Dad!' There are things that you know to do: if you're playing a king, just being a king is not enough. Or an omnipotent being - you have to be the omnipotent being who's too stupid to know it, the omnipotent being with the feet of clay, or the omnipotent being who has a real self-image problem. You try to fracture it as much as possible.
SyFy Portal and Eugene W. Roddenberry will partner to commemorate Trek's 40th anniversary this September. Wow. I am OLD! The fun has already starting, with SyFy Portal counting down the top 40 Star Trek with staff memories and behind-the-scenes stuff for each episode. There's also a "quest" game, with props for prizes. Check it out.
TrekNation has a retro review of TOS' "The Ultimate Computer."
Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal
Spoilers from the SCI FI Wire: (highlight to read)
Michael Shanks says that the semi-budding romance between Jackson and Vala is going to be toned down even as the character joins the cast as a regular. If you remember, Vala has been knocked up by the Ori and will next season give birth to Adria, a child who will age rapidly into Firefly's Morena Baccarin. Shanks says: "We're doing a lot of balancing right now. We're trying to find the fun of it, and we're trying to find the push-pull in a more practical, kind of friendship situation. There's an episode where Daniel and Vala go out to dinner to talk about her personal growth, so to speak, and there's all the innuendo and misconception that can happen in that kind of situation."
Stargate SG-1's season ten premieres July 14 with "Flesh and Blood."
SUPERMAN
Bryan Singer told SCI FI Wire about a deleted scene where Superman flies in a crystal ship to the fragments of Krypton, but he had to take it out. "I cut a [version of the] film that was about two hours and 45 minutes...that I showed to friends and family...And watching with a group of people, we're watching the movie unfold, I felt that ...[the cut scene] was really interesting on its own and could deserve a life. [But] somewhere else. On DVD. Or, maybe, I think it should be on 3-D IMAX. ... It's very elegant, but, ... in the context of this movie—where this movie needed to be and what it needed to be about—I didn't feel it."
And about that IMAX version, Singer told SCI FI Wire that "We shot [the film] with a Genesis camera, which is a digital system...So we have a much higher resolution. So it projects really well to IMAX. That's one benefit for IMAX." Twenty minutes of the film will have the 3D effect. "The idea is that Clark takes off his glasses, and you put yours on. Not in every sequence, but in a few sequences. They have this amazing system at IMAX. I was extremely blown away when they took some of my 2-D material and '3-D-ified' it using their process. And it was astonishing."
BLOG: TOP MOVIES
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Movies in the Hopper
BLOG: Week's Top Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books & DVDs
Check out, X-Men 3: The Gayest Movie of the Summer, So Far (it's actually quite fun).
NEWS BITS
One of the following news items is false. Can you spot it? (For the answer, highlight below.)
Reveal the fake (highlight): Strong DVD sales may well be behind Warner Bros.' move to court director Francis Lawrence and Star Keanu Reeves for a possible sequel to Constantine.
INSANE TREK
TRIVIA
This Week's Question: Name the character who says this and the episode: "If
it should become necessary to fight, could you arrange to find some rocks to
throw at them?"
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: Matt Frewer got a role originally intended for what other
actor?
Answer: Robin Williams
First winner
Lou
Second winner
Patty
Third winner
wow
Fourth winner
Suprpntr
Fifth winner
Susan
"LETTERS TO THE EDITOR"
This week's topic: A lot of critics are complaining that the movie of The DA Vinci Code is actually too faithful to the book. Do you think that's a valid criticism?
***
I agree with the critic who said that the film of the DA Vinci Code was probably the best film that could be made from the book. The book has a lot of discussion and codes and puzzles that work better on the page than on the screen. And it's not like the main characters are tremendously compelling in the book, either. Making Langdon's character more of a skeptic was probably done to mollify people who objected to all the speculation presented as fact but it also made the movie character more than just the book's "me, too" source of exposition next to the much more charismatic Teabing. (The "Grail expert" is more interesting in both versions, book and movie, than the supposed hero. And McKellen steals the movie. He's the only one who looks like he's having fun.) DA Vinci Code is not a great book, just a good page turner. If Dan Brown hadn't put in that page about how factual everything was (and if it didn't all turn out to be so demonstrably false) it probably would have been forgotten just like most airport reading
***
If the book isn't "movie ready," then it should be made to fit the new medium. Yeah, it's a valid complaint.
BTCHONWHLS
***
Next week's topic: Are you anxiously awaiting Stargate SG-1's tenth season, or has the show lost you?
***
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