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Hailing Frequencies #364
5.24.07
HELLO
And here's the three hundred and sixty-fourth edition of "Hailing Frequencies."
If you want to be notified when this newsletter is updated, email me to be put on my "notification" list.
Does anyone out there live in Vermont? What's it like?
NEW AT THE SITE
Lost and Confused - Okay, after the season finale of Lost, I need to say a few words.
TOP SEVEN STAR TREK CLIFFHANGERS IF THE LOST WRITERS DID THEM
Analog Analytical Laboratory Awards:
Best Novella: "The Good Kill" by Barry B. Longyear
Best Novelette: "Lady Be Good" by John G. Hemry
Best Short Story: "Kyrie Eleison" by John G. Hemry
Best Fact: "The Great Sumatran Earthquakes of 2004-5" by Richard A. Lovett
Best Cover: September 2006 by Jean Pierre Normand
Asimov's Readers' Awards:
Best Novella: "The Walls of the Universe" by Paul Melko
Best Novelette: "Yellow Card Man" by Paolo Bacigalupi
Best Short Story: "Impossible Dreams" by Tim Pratt
Best Poem: "Remembering the Future" by Darrell Schweitzer
Best Cover Artist: J.K. Potter
DARK KNIGHT
Anthony Michael Hall, star of USA Network's The Dead Zone and countless teen flicks from the 1980s, appears to have joined the cast of The Dark Knight in top secret role. Hall spoke with the LA Daily News about the part over the weekend. He says, "I signed a confidentiality agreement, and I can't say which part I'm playing because it affects the story. I can't give away the suspense — it's a $200 million surprise, and I don't want to be the guy to ruin it." He adds, "I'm excited about it — Christian Bale back as Batman. Heath Ledger is joining the cast as the Joker. Of course, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine return, and they're great."
DISNEY
Anika Noni Rose (Dreamgirls) will voice Princess Tiana, who lives in New Orleans while slavery was around but will in no way endorse slavery, in The Princess and the Frog. The character's original name was Maddy, but Disney changed it under concerns that "Maddy" sounds too much like "Mammy." (God knows how they ever got "Doc" past the censors, eh?)
Oh, and the name of the movie used to be The Frog Princess, but Disney didn't want to offend the French. (I'm not making that up.)
HARRY POTTER
Tokyo will get the premiere of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on June 28.
 |
Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows, all 784 pages, flies to shelves July
21. The soundtrack to the film will be available July 1.
|
HEROES
The kick-ass Heroes finale scooped up a 7.8/12. Sweet!
The New York Times has an article up about the spate of new sci-fi and fantasy shows. The article points out that while the success of Lost and Heroes is spawning imitations, there's a danger in having so much of the same type of thing on TV. People are "looking for something different." However, people are also, in our angst-filled times, looking for escapism. "The prevalence of supernatural plots 'is reflective of increasing anxiety — personal, economic and national' that pervades the American mood, said Mr. Rash, who was in New York last week to attend the networks’ presentations. The broadcasters also introduced spooky series for the 2006-7 season, Mr. Rash noted, but they made the mistake of offering plot lines 'that were too close to home,' tackling subjects like domestic terrorism, kidnapping and hostage-taking. Tellingly, none of those shows — which included 'The Nine' on ABC, 'Vanished' on Fox and 'Kidnapped' on NBC — are returning. Most of the coming new shows 'are playing to viewers’ desire to be in fantasyland,' said Shari Anne Brill, senior vice president and director of programming at Carat USA in New York, part of the Carat division of the Aegis Group, adding, 'The real world has become such a horrendous place that people are looking for magic to avoid the tragic.'" Interesting viewpoint, rather like the fantasy-oriented fare of The Depression. (Thanks, Kim!)
JERICO
Fans of Jericho have been sending emails to CBS, created a MySpace page, and did up an online petition. So far, it's earned them a personal letter from CBS Entertainment chief Nina Tassler on the show's message boards. Wow.
To the fans of Jericho:
We have read your emails over the past few days and have been touched by the depth and passion with which you have expressed your disappointment. Please know that canceling a television series is a very difficult decision. Hundreds of people at the Network, the production company and the incredibly-talented creative team worked very hard to build and serve the community for this show -- both on-air and online. It is a show we loved too.
Thank you for supporting Jericho with such passion. We truly appreciate the commitment you made to the series and we are humbled by your disappointment. In the coming weeks, we hope to develop a way to provide closure to the compelling drama that was the Jericho story.
Sincerely,
Nina Tassler, President of CBS Entertainment
MISC...
- And the next recycled idea for a Broadway musical is...The Addams Family!
- CW's Smallville finale got a 2.3/4, and Supernatural a 1.8/3.
- IGN has a fun list, Top 10 Computer-Animated Films.
- A live-action He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie is a go, again
- C.H.U.D. reports the wistful-thinking rumor that Karen Allen will return as Marion Ravenwood in Indy IV. I just wanna know why she wasn't in Indies II & III.
- Robert Rodriguez (Grindhouse) will direct the reheated Barbarella for Universal Pictures. Look for it in 2008.
- Ain't It Cool News (which continues to earn my "Worst Organized Website" award, says Keanu Reeves, Jude Law and Patrick Wilson are being considered for the Watchmen movie.
- TV Guide says Annette O'Toole has been downgraded to a semi-regular in her role as Martha Kent on The CW's Smallville.
- MGM Home Entertainment will release a two-disc collector's-edition DVD of the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the version with Leonard Nimoy) this August 7. It's hoping to cash in on some of the excitement from the movie The Invasion, which opens globally August 17.
- ComingSoon.net has a pic of Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight, and pixs of The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
RANDOM DIALOG QUIZ
Can you name the TV show? "Where's the sacrificial child?"
Highlight to read the answer: South Park.
SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY
Mike Myers will star in the long-planned remake of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty for 20th Century Fox. The 1947 version, starring Danny Kaye, is based on a short story by James Thurber, and both will be sources for the new script from Jay Kogen.
For those living under a rock, Walter Mitty is an accountant who daydreams about being a great hero/adventurer and suddenly gets caught up in real intrigue when a woman gives him a book that contains the location of the Dutch crown jewels.
SHREK III
IGN has a review up for the Shrek The Third Motion Picture Soundtrack: "As with the previous two Shrek installments the accompanying soundtrack mines the rock world, culling nuggets from the past, mixing in a few new joints, and generally going for a somewhat ironic sense of fun and circumstance."
SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT
Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant, the first in a nine-book series from HarperCollins publishers, is selling well, so many studios reportedly wrestled for the movie rights. Warner Bros., which is already eyeing the end of its Harry Potter series, won the tussle for an undisclosed sum. The horror-comedy stories deal with skeleton detective Skulduggery Pleasant and his accomplice Stephanie, who try to foil evil in modern-day Dublin.
SPIDER-MAN III
| Total US Gross | $286,385,002 |
| International Gross | $465,100,000 |
| Worldwide Gross | $751,485,002 |
Holy wow.
STAR TREK
Retro review "The Big Goodbye."
STAR WARS
It's kind of hard to tell, but that's Natalie Portman as a sort of badly raving ghost in Paul McCartney's new video, "Dance Tonight."
The History Channel is promoting its Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed special, airing Memorial Day, with a voice mail from Darth Vader at History.com, and a minisite all about Memorial Day, with videos, battle maps, timelines and feature stories spanning from the American Revolution to the current war in Iraq. For more about the special, go here.
TOP US MOVIES TODAY FROM THE NUMBERS
1 Shrek the Third.................$138,706,832
2 Spider-Man 3.................$286,385,002
3 28 Weeks Later.................$20,180,401
4 Georgia Rule.................$13,690,850
5 Disturbia......................$71,981,588
6 Fracture.....................$35,006,000
7 Delta Farce.................$6,426,577
8 The Invisible.................$17,809,026
9 Next........................$16,727,747
10 Waitress.................$2,314,260
Weekend Box Office Estimates: May 18-20, 2007
Shrek the Third (Paramount/DreamWorks) $122.0 million - opening weekend
Spider-Man 3 (Sony) $28.5 million - 3 wk total $281.9m
28 Weeks Later (Fox Atomic) $5.2 million - 2 wk total $18.6m
Disturbia (Paramount/DreamWorks) $3.7 million - 6 wk total $71.3m
Georgia Rule (Universal) $3.5 million - 2 wk total $12.6m
Fracture (New Line) $2.5 million - 5 wk total $34.7m
Delta Farce (Lionsgate) $1.8 million - 2 wk total $6.1m
The Invisible (Buena Vista) $1.3 million - 4 wk total $17.7m
Hot Fuzz (Rogue Pictures) $1.3 million - 5 wk total $21.1m
Waitress (Fox Searchlight) $1.1 million - 3 wk total $2.2m
Source: Box Office Mojo
TOP BOOKS SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 5.24.07
1. Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
2.
The
Children of Hurin: Deluxe Edition
3. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
4. The
Harlequin: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel
5. All Together Dead (Southern Vampire Mysteries, Bk. 7)
6. Slaughterhouse-Five
7. The
Time Traveler's Wife
8. 1984,
by George Orwell
9. Fahrenheit 451
10. Sacrifice (Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, Book 5)
TOP DVDs SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 5.24.07
1. Pan's
Labyrinth (Two-Disc Special Edition)
2. Heroes - Season 1
3. Pirates
of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
4. Pirates
of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl
5. The Fountain (read my review)
6. Stargate SG-1 - Season 10
7. The
Complete Matrix Trilogy
8. Deja Vu
9. Night at the Museum (Widescreen Edition)
10. Lost
- The Complete Second Season
TOP SCI FI SYNDICATED SHOWS - Nielsen Galaxy Report, 4.30-5.6.07
Alias 1.5
Smallville 1.5
Enterprise 1.4
Stargate Atlantis 1.0
Stargate SG-1 0.9
Farscape 0.6
The Outer Limits 0.5
INSANE TREK TRIVIA
This Week's Question: What Star Trek phenomonenon was like being "wrapped in pure joy"?
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 alien race has gold skin and feeds off the life force of kidnapped males?
Answer: The women of Tarus II, from TAS: "The Loreli Signal"
First (and only!) winner
Debra
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:
"Homer Simpson shuddered when the Downsize Me Presenters showed him all the food he could not eat." - Kathryn
Honorable mentions...
"Oh no! Look at our careers!" - BTCHONWHLS
"Gilligan!!" - Debra
"Oh my God, it's Homer Simpson coming for the all-you-can-eat lunch!" - Ozzygreybeard
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR"
Last week's topic: How about you? Do you like it when they "humanize" bad guys, or do you think it can come off as cheap? Or, if you rather, send me your "Top 25" sci-fi and fantasy list!
***
It's not about humanizing villains; it's about giving them believable motives for their actions. "Nyah-ha-ha! I'm going to destroy the world because I'm evil," just doesn't cut it. So grounding the villain's actions in some understandable emotion, impulse, or plan is just good storytelling.
I love the fact that at one point the "X-Files" suggested that the Conspiracy was only collaborating with the aliens to buy time to figure out the black oil and try to neutralize the threat. So Mulder's attempts to bring the whole thing to light actually endangered their plot to out-maneuver the alien invaders! Too bad the series didn't follow that up. Imagine having your hero be totally wrong in his righteous crusade!
While any of the 7 deadly sins work (arrogance, lust, greed, rage, envy, self-indulgence, sloth) perhaps the best is to have the villain's motive appear to be, from his viewpoint, noble or just. One of the best was in "The Peacemaker." The terrorist's explanatory speech towards the end had a logic that made the thinking viewer squirm. The best such reversal, though, is in the SF classic, "The Forbin Project." We are rooting for the rebel scientist until his creation explains that all it is doing is what it was created to do: bring peace to the world. And the only way it can do it is by dominating the irrational warlike humans! Man has created his own god and he doesn't like it!
In regards to "Heroes," as Sylar sees it, his murders have been pragmatic up to now. This is the only way he can acquire more powers and thus benefit himself. He doesn't see the profit in killing so many. And he was raised by a very religious mother. So his conscience, glimpsed by Mohinder in the graffiti on the walls of his apartment ("Forgive me!"), might balk at such wanton destruction. But when he kills his mother, it appears that either he killed his conscience, or else his despair has spilled over into nihilism. Alternately, he has hit upon the same idea as Linderman and Mama Petrelli and is trying to actualize the future seen by Hiro 5 years hence.
***
I considered putting together a list of top 25 sci-fi incarnations of the last 25 years but while I could probably put a list together, I'd never be happy with the ordering! Instead I thought I'd send a top 3 list following a recent conversation with a friend of mine. We were talking about sci-fi season cliffhangers and put forward our favourites. Interestingly, we agreed on the same 3 even if the order wasn't the same!
3) Battlestar Galactica (S1) - Adama being shot, I just about saw it coming but it was so well done, it became an instant favourite. 2) Babylon 5 (S3) - Sheridan jumping into a bottomless cavern but not before nuking a Shadow base with the White Star, there are so many good moments in that season but I think was still struggling to pick my jaw off the floor with that one. 1) Star Trek: TNG (S3) - The Best of Both Worlds Pt1, need I say more? It's 17 years old but it's my first memory of a season cliffhanger of that kind and I think it sort of paved the way for cliffhangers in many of today's shows. As an aside since I mentioned it at number 2, has any one seen just how badly the CGI has aged in Babylon 5? I love the show to bits but watching it on up to date equipment shows just how far CGI has moved on since then considered much of it was state of the art 15 years ago!
Thanks,
Mac
***
Next week's topic: What do you think about the Times' argument? Does there seem to be more escapist TV in sci-fi and fantasy lately? Do you think it has a connection to our tense times?
***
Send me something if you've got something to say. It can be about anything that's on your mind!
HAILING FREQUENCIES CLOSED
