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Hailing Frequencies #353
3.1.07

HELLO

And here's the three hundred and fifty-third edition of "Hailing Frequencies."

If you want to be notified when this newsletter is updated, email me to be put on my "notification" list.

I don't know, but I might have to get one of these for myself.

NEW AT THE SITE THIS WEEK

I have a lot of plans for this site, and I'd like your help in figuring out what major projects I should work on first. If you care to give me your two cents, please write back and put the following in the order you'd like to see me work on them:

• Timeline for Battlestar Galactica story-so-far
• Stargate Atlantis Season Three Picture Gallery
• Setting up a fanfic archive
• Timeline for both Stargates story-so-far and character profiles
• Recommended Reading Bookstore
• Recommended Viewing DVD-land
• Timeline for Lost story-so-far and character profiles
• Setting up the site with a discussion board
• Setting up the site for y'all to have blogs here with RSS feeds (if I can manage it!)
• Trying my luck at getting an interview with Kit Whitfield now that I'm no longer with the NYT

Feel free to tell me if some of these don't appeal, and to make your own suggestions.

Highlights from Starfleet Academy Career Day

March 2007 Desktop Calendar

300

RottenTomatoes has a run-down on the 100% positive (so far) reviews of 300, which opens nationwide March 9. Best quote definitely comes from Variety: "Possibly nowhere outside of gay porn have so many broad shoulders, bulging biceps and ripped torsos been seen onscreen as in 300, a fact that will generate a certain bonus audience of its own; it's not even certain Steve Reeves, the original "Hercules," would have made the grade here."

AREA 52

Benderspink has acquired film rights to Brian Haberlin's graphic novel, Area 52, which features scientists guarding over alien technology at a military base in Antarctica (ahem, Stargate, anyone?) who have to fight an alien. Chris Bender and J.C. Spink will produce with Quattro partner Jim Strader. Haberlin will executive-produce.

And Paul Reubens will play the alien!

BUFFY

IRL (In Real Life), a documentary about the online community of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans, premieres March 10, which is the 10-year anniversary of the series' premiere on The WB. Check out the film's MySpace.

DREAMWORKS & AARDMAN

Wallace and Gromit creators Dreamworks and Aardman Animations were to do five movies together. Chicken Run did well. Flushed Away and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit did not, so good-bye agreement. Dreamworks said the firms now had "different business goals," (meaning they want to do CGI films which have a much better track record), and Aardman Animations said their "ambitions have moved apart," (meaning they're not going the CGI route any time soon).

DOCTOR WHO

Despite some bumps in the legal road, plans are still in the works for the BBC to follow US networks in allowing downloads of aired episodes of shows like Doctor Who after they've aired. That would mean that US and other fans could actually download the shows before they air in their own countries.

GET SMART

Updated casting news for the oh-so-necessary remake of Get Smart: Alan Arkin & Steve Carell will star with Peter Segal directing for Warner Bros. Anne Hathaway will be Agent 99. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Terrence Stamp are also in the cast.

HARRY POTTER

Congrats to Daniel Radcliffe for getting a standing O for the opening night of his West End show Equus. The Gielgud Theatre has already presold $3.1 million in advance tix.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows flies to shelves July 21.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens July 13.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has a tentative opening date of November 21, 2008.

Knitters! Check it out!

HEROES

NBC's Heroes rated an 8.4/13 Monday, Feb 26.

Tune in to the March 5 episode of Heroes to see a clip from Spider-Man 3.

LORD OF THE RINGS

New Line Cinema plans to have The Hobbit in theatres for 2009, but there's no word about whether Peter Jackson will direct.

LOST

Writers and co-executive producers Eddy Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have signed a mid-seven-figure deal with ABC TV. They're staying with Lost at least until 2010 while developing other projects.

MISC...

• Indy 4 will begin production June 18th.
• Paramount Pictures and producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura are going to make Tony Abbott's Kringle into a movie, with Mark Dindal directing. The story is about the origin of Santa, with fairy warfare.
• IGN has the trailer up for The Last Mimzy.
• Louis Leterrier will be directing Hulk 2, to be shot this summer principally in Toronto. No cast news yet.
• Babylon 5's own J. Michael Straczynski is writing the screenplay adaptation World War Z, by Max Brooks, for Paramount. Read Cat's review of this excellent book here.
• Warner Bros has gotten Kiernan and Michele Mulroney to spec the script for a film version of Justice League of America, from DC Comics, according to Variety.
• Jerry Bruckheimer has the movie rights to Ubisoft's game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and is in development with Walt Disney Pictures for a possible summer 2008 release date.
• ABC's Pushing Daisies has cast Kristin Chenoweth as the lead, a guy who can revive the dead. Swoosie Kurtz has also been cast.
• Jamie Bamber's episode of Ghost Whisperer scored a 6.5/11. Sweet.
• Congrats to Cat in the Hat, which is now 50 years old.

THE MUMMY

The Mummy 3 will shoot in Montreal, Canada, which is okay, since there's a new mummy (or dragon) in town and the story doesn't take place in Egypt this time. No start date yet, but Rob Cohen is directing Alfred Gough and Miles Millar's script. Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz are expected back, but are not yet under contract. Their roles will be marginalized, however, as Alex O'Connell, now in his twenties, will start. Jonathan, Evy's brother, will be returning as well.

RAZZIES

Well, no surprise that the Oscars totally overlooked all the good sci-fi out there, but at least there's no question we'll get represented at the Razzies:
Winners of the 2007 Razzies:
Worst Picture: Basic Instinct 2
Worst Director: M. Night Shyamalan for Lady in the Water
Worst Actor: Marlon and Shawn Wayans in Little Man
Worst Actress: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct 2
Worst Supporting Actor: M. Night Shyamalan for Lady in the Water
Worst Supporting Actress: Carmen Electra in Date Movie and Scary Movie 4
Full List

ROSWELL

Congratulations go to Roswell, New Mexico, which is hosting the Amazing Roswell UFO Festival, July 5-8, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the "UFO crash" of 1947. There will be music and trinkets, guest speakers, authors, live entertainment, family-friendly activities and possibly an "alien abduction." oooh (And I would do totally go, too, if I could drive there.)

SCANNERS

David Cronenberg's Scanners (1981) will be remade by Dimension Films, which has gotten Darren Lynn Bousman to direct and David Goyer to script. No word on who'll play the guys whose heads explode from telepathic weaponry, but it should hit the screen (ew) in late 2008.

STAR TREK

According to the BBC, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie will start shooting in August for a Dec 25 2008 release date in the US.

The film will definitely focus Kirk and Spock The Early Years, and will cover their meeting at the Academy (even though canon has it they didn't meet then) and their first space mission together.

It's completely unconfirmed, but IGN reports that "sources" say Paramount is trying to cast Matt Damon as Kirk, Adrien Brody as Spock, and Gary Sinise as McCoy.

SCI FI Wire contradicts IGN's report about the casting for Trek XI, saying: "Contrary to reports on the Internet, no decisions have been made on the film's budget, casting or production start date; all are subject to a final script being approved by the studio."

TRUE BLOOD

Remember Anna Paquin from The Piano? She's been cast in the lead for HBO's True Blood, based on the novels in the Southern Vampire Mysteries, by Charlaine Harris. Sam Trammell and Ryan Kwanten also star. Vampires are living off synthetic blood and are trying to fit into mainstream society, beginning with a small town in Louisiana.

WALL-E

According to Jimhillmedia.com, Pixar's next project (summer 2008) will be Wall-E, a story about a lonely robot (with his pet cockroach, Spot), who has been abandoned on Earth of 2700 with the mission to pick up all the trash. (Warning, clicking on the link will render major spoilers.) Here's a picture of the little guy.

SOUNDS LIKE SCI-FI BUT ISN'T NEWS

The Police reunion tour?!

TOP MOVIES FROM THE NUMBERS

1 Ghost Rider.....$81,230,226
2 The Number 23.....$16,658,000
3 Reno 911!: Miami.....$11,603,595
4 Bridge to Terabithia.....$47,974,808
5 Music and Lyrics.....$32,736,349
6 Norbit..................$75,677,178
7 Breach................$21,140,755
8 Amazing Grace.....$4,660,000
9 The Astronaut Farmer.....$5,040,650
10 Daddy's Little Girls.....$25,670,548

TOP BOOKS SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 3.1.07

1. 300, by Frank Miller
2. Exile (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force), by Aaron Allston
3. Eldest (Inheritance, Book 2), by Christopher Paolini
4. Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1), by Jim Butcher (my review)
5. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
6. Blood Bound (Mercy Thompson Series, Book 2), by Patricia Briggs
7. All Together Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 7), by Charlaine Harris
8. Deep Storm: A Novel, by Lincoln Child
9. Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2)
10. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks (Cat's review)

TOP DVDs SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 3.1.07

1. Peter Pan (Two-Disc Platinum Edition)
2. Stargate Atlantis - The Complete Second Season (coming March 6!!)
3. Firefly - The Complete Series (Recommended!!)
4. Charmed - The Complete Seventh Season
5. The Little Mermaid (Two-Disc Special Edition)
6. Tideland
7. Lost - The Complete Second Season
8. Beauty and the Beast - The Complete First Season
9. Cinderella (Two-Disc Special Edition)
10. Star Wars - Episode III, Revenge of the Sith (Widescreen Edition)

INSANE TREK TRIVIA

This Week's Question: What is the ratio for the matter/anti-matter mixture in the warp core?

Send your answer to julia.houston@gmail.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 Star Trek character really should beware friendly dogs who turn into mini-twisters?

Answer: Geordi La Forge.

First winner
evay

For her prize, evay has asked for a new Holonovel, which I'm working on and almost done with.

Second winner
Pianokeyboardorg

Third winner
Paul

CAPTION CONTEST

Send in your best caption for the picture below. The best (as in, my favorite) entry will appear in next week's issue.

[Insert caption here.]

Last week's topic: One of the reasons I'm not at my old site anymore is that I really couldn't get a handle on doing sci-fi and fantasy for "general audiences." What do you guys think? Are the genres insular by nature?

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No replies.

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Next week's topic: If you could have ONE thing (gadget-wise) from a sci-fi/fantasy show or film, what would it be?

Send me something if you've got something to say.  It can be about anything that's on your mind!

HAILING FREQUENCIES CLOSED

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Julia Houston