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Hailing Frequencies #362
5.10.07

HELLO

And here's the three hundred and sixty-second edition of "Hailing Frequencies."

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

Anyone out there graduating? We got a lot of 'em here!

28 WEEKS LATER

IGN has a review up of 28 Weeks Later: "The violence is also surprisingly more confronting and graphic than you might expect, despite being a zombie film. The genre doesn't really suit the squeamish anyway, but we were kind of shocked by the wince-inducing level of bloodshed.... '28 Weeks Later' is what the original film might've been like had it been created by an American crew with a large initial budget. A lot of the soul it had has been excised. It's a strange and tangible difference in tone. Where '28 Days Later' was subtle and quiet with moments of punctuated, jarring violence, '28 Weeks Later' is the polar opposite; it's loud and aggressive and, above all else, an action film."

ANIME

SCI FI Channel is going to do "Ani-Monday," sort of a sci-fi version of Adult Swim, with anime such as Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society, Ninja Scroll, Blood: The Last Vampire, Read or Die and Blackjack. Look for it Mondays from 11 PM to 1 AM ET/PT, starting June 11.

EUREKA

Season two premieres July 10. For my take on this show, go here.

HARRY POTTER

And today's award for Best Bad Taste goes to the jerk who Photoshopped boobs and blond highlights on 15-year-old Hermione Granger in a poster for the Imax 3D cinemas' release Order of the Phoenix. Credit The Leaky Cauldron for noticing the shenanigans first.

Check out the article at The Daily Mail for details. Here's their best bit: "I get the full heebie jeebies thinking about the person who sat there thinking, "Now, if we cinch her waist a bit, and inflate her bust a bit, and give her some dramatic lighting and more blonde hair, this would be a much better picture."

Pre-orders of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at Amazon.com have surpassed 1,000,000 units.

The Wall Street Journal has an article about Potter non-fiction:

Already there are more than 190 Harry Potter-related titles in print, according to R.R. Bowker. Among the more unusual: "If Harry Potter Ran General Electric: Leadership Wisdom From the World of Wizards" by Tom Morris published in 2006. There's also "Harry Potter and Torah," which Dov Krulwich self-published late last year. Mr. Krulwich, who works in the high-tech industry in Israel, describes the book as "Jewish perspectives on Harry Potter themes" and says it is aimed at teens and young adults.

But the likelihood of a short shelf life [with publication of the last book] isn't stopping publishers from moving quickly while interest is still high. "My suspicion is that there will be a rush of books after the series ends," says Daniel Nexon, an assistant professor in the government department at Georgetown University who co-edited "Harry Potter and International Relations," published last year by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc. "Having the final book out will generate a lot of buzz, and they'll look at that frenzy as one last big marketing opportunity."

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, all 784 pages, flies to shelves July 21. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens July 13. The soundtrack to the film will be available July 1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has a tentative opening date of November 21, 2008.

HEROES

Heroes, which had a totally rad episode on Monday, scored a 6.6/10.

Hayden Panettiere told SCI FI Wire she might be getting a boyfriend on Heroes next season. What a tvist!

EW has a lengthy (and spoiler-filled) article on the season finale of Heroes.

HULK

Okay, the Hulk sequel started filming this summer in Toronto, with Edward Norton as Hulk and Liv Tyler as Betty Ross. Tim Roth will play the villainous Emil Blonsky/Abomination.

IGN talks with Zak Penn about the Hulk sequel: "the villain is going to be this character from the comics, the Abomination, who will not be called the Abomination out loud in the film because it's a silly, silly name....It just is; it's so hard to work in. 'Hey, what should we call that guy?' 'He's an abomination!'"

LOST

Defying the expectations of fans who've wondered if Lost could ever actually wrap up all those loose stories, ABC has announced that three years from now, in the 2009-10 season, the show will end regardless of ratings. For the 2007-08 season, Lost will air in uninterrupted arcs of 16 episodes each. That means we're pretty much halfway through the storylines.

Disney-ABC Television and Cox Communications will provide episodes of prime time shows Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Lost and Ugly Betty for its FreeZone video on demand platform the day after the shows premiere on air.

ABC's Lost found a 7.4/12 Wednesday, while NBC's Medium scored a 5.2/9.

MISC...

• SCI FI Wire has an interview up with Brandon Sanderson about his latest novel, The Mistborn: The Final Empire.
• Congrats to The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, the top-selling PC title across North America and Europe.
• Looks like Eddie Murphy is going to star and do multiple roles in Columbia Pictures' big-screen adaptation of Fantasy Island. Hey, maybe he'll play a comedian who dreams of once again being funny.
• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is considering playing Captain Marvel in the Shazam! movie.
• Work is already underway for Transformers II. (The first one comes out July 4.)
• Screen Gems is gonna do Armageddagain: The Day Before Tomorrow, a spoof to be directed by Robert Moniot with an eye on a 2008 release.
• NBC has already renewed Medium for a fourth season, 2007/08. This season, Medium has really been doing well, with a 3.0/8 among A18-49 , 8.5 million viewers average.
• Read this on Fark.com: " It's always the judgment of God until someone loses an eye." AHAHA!
• IGN has some rad pix for The Golden Compass.
• Okay, I really made the wrong career moves. MySpace just agreed to acquire PhotoBucket for a reported $250 million in cash and bonuses.
• For those who get it, Warner Bros. Television Group signed on to provide Joost with a pair of branded broadband channels. WBTV: Sci-Fi Fix will feature Aquaman, Babylon 5, Invasion and My Favorite Martian.
• IGN has yet more images for the Fantastic Four sequel.
• Work on Shrek 4 has begun, with Mike Mitchell (Sky High, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo) in talks to direct a script by Tim Sullivan.
• The script for Indy 4 has Henry Jones in it, but Sean Connery has yet to agree to play the character.
• TOO COOL! EW has a list of the top 25 sci-fi movies and TV shows of the past 25 years. Oh, check it out! (I must admit, the "snappy" writing does remind me of why About and I parted ways.)

RANDOM DIALOG QUIZ

Can you name the movie? "So this is planet Houston."

Highlight to read the answer: Superman II

REAL SCIENCE NEWS

The Science Channel has acquired From the Earth to the Moon from HBO and will air the miniseries starting beginning May 15 9 PM.

Bill Gates will "retire" mid-2008 and will focus on on developing online advertising services at Microsoft before he goes. Microsoft has been losing ground in search engine marketing, getting just an 8.46% market share last month compared to over 12.5% a year ago, according to Hitwise.

SPIDER-MAN

Spider-Man III broke every box office record known to mankind, sucking down $373 million globally last weekend. The movie's playing in 107 countries, and in North America alone wrapped up $148 million. In other news, I'd really like me some of that money.

FX has inked a five-year TV licensing agreement for Spider-Man 3 for a sum to be determined after the movie has finished its domestic box office run. FYI, they paid more than $50 million for Spidy II.

Oh, and hey. NPR provides my favorite line yet about Spider-Man III: "If you're over 13, this is all allegedly interesting because of the special effects — which are pretty special, if a little videogame-y. They're also consequence-free, since nobody even gets bruised when crashing through brick walls. Sandman gets his face shaved off by a passing train, after which he merely re-molecularizes. You sort of have to de-molecularize your brain to stay engaged."

STAR TREK

I didn't report on the site this week that James Doohan's ashes had finally been shot into space, because the whole thing took so long it was kinda sad. But now...yeesh. Those ashes, along with those from 200 other people, may well have returned to Earth somewhere in the New Mexico mountains, still in their capsule.

Check out the retro review of "Hide and Q."

SUPERNATURAL

Supernatural is getting companion books. Supernatural: The Official Companion Season 1, is coming out in the US this September in the United States, with a U.K. release in October. It'll have behind-the-scenes interviews, episode guides,and a 16-page full-color supplement.

CW's Smallville scored a 2.1/4 and Supernatural a 1.8/3, while over at CBS Ghost Whisperer racked up a 5.9/11.

TERMINATOR IV...AND V...AND VI

Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna sold all rights to the Terminator to The Halcyon Company, which plans to make three movie T films, all without Arnold or Linda.

TOP US MOVIES TODAY FROM THE NUMBERS

1 Spider-Man 3................................$161,401,784
2 Disturbia........................................$60,374,161
3 Fracture........................................$27,049,000
4 Next.............................................$12,194,162
5 Hot Fuzz........................................$16,535,000
6 Lucky You........................................$2,926,761
7 The Invisible...................................$12,687,928
8 Blades of Glory...............................$111,907,388
9 Meet the Robinsons..........................$92,060,518
10 Vacancy.......................................$16,665,504

Weekend Box Office Estimates: May 4-6, 2007
Spider-Man 3 (Sony)                             $148.0 million - opening weekend (goodness!)
Disturbia (Paramount/DreamWorks)           $5.7 million - 4 wk total $59.9m
Fracture (New Line)                               $3.4 million - 3 wk total $26.5m
The Invisible (Buena Vista)                      $3.1 million - 2 wk total $12.3m
Next (Paramount)                                  $2.7 million - 2 wk total $11.8m
Lucky You (Warner Bros.)                        $2.5 million - opening weekend
Meet the Robinsons (Buena Vista)             $2.5 million - 6 wk total $91.8m
Blades of Glory (Paramount/DreamWorks)   $2.3 million - 6 wk total $111.6m
Hot Fuzz (Rogue Pictures)                       $2.1 million - 3 wk total $16.1m
Are We Done Yet? (Sony Revolution)         $1.5 million - 5 wk total $16.4m
Source: Box Office Mojo

TOP BOOKS SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 4.5.07

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
2. The Children of Hurin: Deluxe Edition, Christopher Tolkien (from his dad's notes)
3. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
4. All Together Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 7), by by Charlaine Harris
5. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
6. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
7. Kings of Infinite Space: A Novel, by James Hynes
8. The Harlequin: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel, by Laurell K. Hamilton
9. No Humans Involved , by Kelley Armstrong
10. White Night: A Novel of The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher

TOP DVDs SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 4.5.07

1. Night at the Museum (Widescreen Edition)
2. Pan's Labyrinth (Two-Disc Special Edition)
3. The 4400 - The Complete Third Season
4. Deja Vu
5. Children of Men (Widescreen Edition) (read my review)
6. Stargate SG-1 - Season 10
7. The Fountain (read my review)
8. Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales
9. Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
10. Peter Pan (Two-Disc Platinum Edition)

TOP SCI FI NETWORK SHOWS - Nielsen Galaxy Report, 4.9-4.15.07

Lost 7.2
Jericho 5.3
Medium 5.2
Ghost Whisperer 5.1
Smallville 1.6
Battlestar Galactica 0.2

TOP SCI FI SYNDICATED SHOWS - Nielsen Galaxy Report, 4.16-4.22.07

Alias 1.8
Smallville 1.6
Star Trek 1.2
Stargate Atlantis 1.1
Stargate SG-1 1.1
The Outer Limits 0.7
Farscape 0.6

INSANE TREK TRIVIA

This Week's Question: Who did a "professional job" on Kirk's back?

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: Three episodes of TNG use the same space station animation background, though each episode takes place at a different station. What are the episodes?

Answer: "Ensign Rio", "Remember Me," and "11001001."

Nobody got it.
:-p~

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.]

THIS WEEK'S WINNER:

Tim Man: "Are you sure we can get on American Idol with this routine?"
Dorothy: "Well, it worked for Sanjaya." - Rene

Honorable mentions...

Vala/Dorothy: "Hey, big boy… Is that a carrot in your pants or are you just glad to see me?"
Teal’c/Tin Man: "He is glad to see you." - Neil

"Cover art for The Dominatrix of Oz." - BTCHONWHLS

"Are you sure this is the best way to audition for Stargate Atlantis?" - Ozzygreybeard

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR"

Last week's topic: Can we hear from people who see Spider-Man III? Is it any good?

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No replies.

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Next week's topic: If you had the power to protect a sci-fi or fantasy film from ever having a sequel or being remade, which movie would it be?

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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