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Hailing Frequencies #373
8.24.07
HELLO
And here's the three hundred and seventy-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.
Tomorrow's my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday, Mom! :-)
BUFFY/ANGEL
James Marsters has a fun interview up at EW. Here's the part about Spike:
There have been rumors about a Spike spin-off. What can you tell us about that?
Joss came to me as Angel was coming down and asked me if I would be interested in that, and I said, ''Heck yeah, I'd love to work with you anytime, call me — I'll come across the Earth for you.'' But to do Spike, let's do him [before] seven years [go by], because otherwise, I'm going to get too old and vampires don't age. Frankly, I think I'm looking a little better than I thought I would, and with a decent screen test we could find out if it was still possible. It has to be believable.[But] I don't think the character of Spike really sparked Joss' imagination. I think that he was designed to be a throwaway character that got popular with the fans. Personally, he never really got into him. Every character on the show was a version of Joss, but Joss didn't see Spike that way. Spike was the other guy. He was the guy who might mess up the show, actually, because vampires are supposed to be ugly and hated.
What about Angel?
Angel was an exception too, but Angel wasn't Joss' idea and I think by the time I came on, he was afraid that these good-looking vampires were going to take over the theme. So whenever Joss would write an episode, Spike would have, like, five lines. [Laughs] That's fine. I mean, the man gave me a job and he's a great guy and everything. What Joss has said is that he's done with television.Any chance he'd take any of the Buffy characters to the big screen?
I think the only thing he wants to take to the big screen would be Buffy herself, and I don't think Sarah [Michelle Gellar] is interested. But you know, I can't talk for her. As far as Spike, there was some interest about a year and a half ago, but it fell apart right away.
CAEVMAN
Geico's Cavemanscrib.com has had some serious coding done, which makes sense, considering it's promoting both Geico and the upcoming sitcom from ABC based on the character. It's fun, anyway. You knock on the door and visit the Caveman's apartment before and after a party and click on things. Some are fun, some are silly, all are promoting something or other.
EUREKA
Michael Shanks and Lexa Doig (who are married, BTW) will guest star in two different episodes of Eureka. Doig will be in "Maneater" Sept 18, and Shanks be in "All that Glitters" Sept. 25
FANTASTIC VOYAGE
Word has again surfaced about the remake of Asimov's Fantastic Voyage (1966), where a team is shrunk down to be injected in a scientist's body to remove an inoperable brain clot. Fox is doing it now, with director Roland Emmerich. Variety says Marianne & Cormac Wibberley (National Treasure) are being wooed to write the script.
FLASH GORDON
I tried to like this, but...phew.
HARRY POTTER
Rumors have been circulating that Rowling is writing a crime novel. The Guardian explains it all started as an onstage joke by her husband. Rowling is evidently not writing much of anything right this minute.
In addition to the Children's Fiction Books list, J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books also appears on several other Publisher's Weekly most recent bests book lists: rank title (publisher)
Books Most Borrowed in US Libraries: Fiction, for the week August 15, 2007
5 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Bestselling Audio Fiction, for the week of July 30, 2007
1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (unabridged CD) (Random House Audio/Listening Library)
4 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (unabr. CD) (Random House Audio)
6 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (unabr. CD) (Random House Audio/Listening Library)
8 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (unabr. CD) (Random House/Audio Listening Library)
Bestselling Children's Series and Tie-ins, for the week of July 30, 2007
1 Harry Potter (Scholastic/Levine)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has a tentative opening date of November 21, 2008.
HEROES
Evidently, not enough people are already watching this show, so the twelve main cast members are touring eight countries in eight days for the "Heroes World Tour," sponsored by NBC Universal and Nissan, August 26 to September 24 (coinciding with DVD release dates and the premiere of the second season.
Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) will be featured in a multi-episode arc, according to Variety. Check out her interview ("I love nerds.") at EW. No word yet
Hey! Not just Sulu, but also Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) will guest star on Heroes next season.
JURASSIC PARK
SpielbergFilms.com says that rumors are "unfounded" that a fourth movie in the franchise is about to get underway. There will, however, be a fourth (and probably a sixth), but "the story and screenplay are still in development."
LOGAN'S RUN
Okay, there have been (I think) about three attempts now to remake this classically kitschy sci-fi movie "starring" Farrah Fawcet, and now things are on again.
The Hollywood Reporter...er...reports that Warner Bros. has hired Joseph Kosinski to direct and Tim Sexton (Children of Men) to script, and Joel Silver to produce the redo. The claim, as usual, is that the second movie will be "truer" to the original novel (by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson) than the first movie.
LOST
TV Guide sends word that Rebecca Mader (All My Children) has joined the cast, as has Ken Leung as a mathematician. Lance Reddick is also joining up as Arthur Stevens, a mysterious corporate headhunter.
MEGA-SNAKE
Review coming...
MISC...
- South Park opens its 11th season October 3 at 10p.
- ComingSoon.net reports that the sequel to Alien vs. Predator is Aliens vs. Predator Requiem (wow! so highbrow!) and will roar into theatres on Christmas.
- Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants, all from Irwin Allen, will start airing on LifeTV, beginning Thursdays at 8 PM. Look for the '60s fest premiere September 6, Variety says.
- Check out the new site for Robert Zemeckis' computer-animated Beowulf, which opens November 16..
- SCI FI Wire has an interview up with Brian Herbert on his latest (but hardly last) book in his father's universe (co-authored with Kevin J. Anderson), Sandworms of Dune.
- Wow. This isn't sci-fi, but this is coooool. (It uses this online tool.)
- Moviehole.net says The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian will go before cameras without The Rock in South Africa on October 1.
- Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) will have a cameo in The Dark Knight
- Colm Meaney fans will be glad to hear that he's about to sign on to co-star with Jason O'Mara in Life on Mars for ABC. Americanized from the BBC series, the show has O'Mara playing a detective sent back to 1972, the year that people's clothes were just incredibly bad.
- DC Comics is targeting younger readers with three new comic books under its Johnny DC kids' imprint: Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam (from Captain Marvel's universe) from creator/writer Mike Kunkle, Tiny Titans from Art Baltazar, and a new version of Super Friends from Sholly Fisch.
- Here's a blog you don't see everyday: How I Am Becoming An Astronaut.
- Len Wiseman will direct New Line's remake of Escape From New York.
PAINKILLER JANE
I tried. I really tried to get into SCI FI's Painkiller Jane, but...no dice. And, as it turns out, I'm not the only one. Ratings for the show have been poor, and SCI FI has announced that the show's season finale September 21 will be the end of the line.
PREMIERES
Moonlight premieres September 28, 9 PM.
SCI FI has announced the following premiere dates for the Fall:
- Ghost Hunters - Sept. 26 (Wednesdays at 9 PM)
- Ghost Hunters Halloween Special airs from 11 PM - 5 AM on Oct. 31
- Stargate Atlantis - Sept. 28 (Fridays at 10 PM), with a mid-season finale Dec. 7.
- In October, SCI FI will air Battlestar Galactica "mini-sodes" entitled "Razor" during episodes of Flash Gordon, Fridays 9 PM.
- Summer series with fall finales include Who Wants To Be a Superhero? 9 PM Sept. 13, Painkiller Jane 10 PM Sept. 21, Eureka 9 PM Oct. 2, and Doctor Who 8 PM. Oct. 5.
- Original miniseries Tin Man will air sometime in December.
RANDOM DIALOG QUIZ
Can you name the movie? "No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space."
Highlight to read the answer: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
RATINGS - This week
- Heroes [rerun] 1.9/3
- Ghost Whisperer [rerun] 3.6/7
- Smallville [rerun] 1.3/2
- Supernatural [rerun] 1.1/2
TOP SCI FI NETWORK SHOWS, 7.30-8.5, 2007
Ghost Whisperer 3.4
Jericho 2.3
Smallville 1.3
Supernatural 1.2
STAR TREK
USA Today reports that Zachary Quinto will shoot his "young Mr. Spock" scenes this November. Eleven sets have so far been built for the film at the Paramount lot, and two weeks of shooting for the film will be in Iceland.
You can download and view the fan-written-produced-acted "lost" episode of Star Trek: New Voyages, "World Enough and Time," at the Magic Time Website. The episode stars George Takei as Sulu, who's been stuck in a temporal anomaly for decades.
The LA Times has an article about online languages. Here's a clip:
It's all part of a weirdly Babel-esque boom of new languages. Once the private arena of J.R.R. Tolkien, Esperanto speakers and grunting Klingon fanatics, invented languages have flourished on the Internet and begun creeping into the public domain.
The website Langmaker.com lists more than 1,000 language inventors and 1,902 made-up languages, from `Ayvárith to Zyem.
The language inventors have, of course, created a word to describe what they do -- "conlang," short for constructed languages.Created languages may have no hope of supplanting the real thing, but for most conlangers, that is hardly the goal. Hobbyists like Kisa find it a fun or therapeutic practice. Linguists can use conlangs to dissect how real language works. For a select few who write fiction or work for Hollywood, conlanging can even be a moneymaker.
But to most linguaphiles, conlangs are simply art. Their palette holds not paints but the buzz of the letter "z," the hiss of an "s," the trill of an Italian "r."
And sometimes the howl of a Klingon scream: "Hab SoSlI' Quch!"
"Your mother has a smooth forehead!"
STARGATES
Okay, an article I've been sitting on for months is about how sci-fi shows, such as SGA, really need to quit that mid-season break thing in America when the shows air in other countries. The second half of SGA's last season really suffered in the ratings, IMO, because so many of the fans had already seen the episodes on tape from friends up north and...er...various other means. For evidence, I point out that the most fan-centric episodes, such as "The Tao of Rodney," got the lowest ratings. Conversely, episodes with little online buzz actually scored higher.
But now there is no need to write this article (nor any chance to gloat how right I was), as SCI FI Channel will be showing SGA with only a typical Christmas break. Here's the tentative schedule, courtesy of the wonderful folks at Gateworld (who also have spoilers for the episodes, if you want them).
Sept. 29 - "Adrift"
Oct. 5 - "Lifeline"
Oct. 12 - "Reunion"
Oct. 19 - "Doppelganger"
Oct. 26 - "Travelers"
Nov. 2 - "Tabula Rasa"
Nov. 9 - "Missing"
Nov. 16 - "The Seer"
Nov. 23 - No new episode
Nov. 30 - "Miller's Crossing"
Dec. 7 - "This Mortal Coil" (Mid-season finale)
Dec. 14 - No new episode
Dec. 21 - No new episode
Dec. 28 - No new episode
Jan. 4 - "Be All My Sins Remember'd"
Jan. 11 - "Spoils of War"
Jan. 18 - "Quarantine"
Jan. 25 - "Outcast"
Feb. 1 - "Midway"
Feb. 8 - "Trio"
Feb. 15 - "Harmony"
Feb. 22 - "The Kindred, Part 1"
Feb. 29 - "The Kindred, Part 2"
Mar. 7 - Season Finale (Untitled)
Gateworld also has a picture of the packaging for the 54-disc complete set DCD box for Stargate SG-1.
And for a Gateworld trifecta, check out their latest interview with David Hewlett. (It's worth the half-hour listen, but there's a transcript, if you prefer.)
Fans in England, rejoice! Sky One (and Sky One HD) will premiere season four of Stargate Atlantis October 9 at 8 PM.
TRANSFORMERS
...is getting released for Imax this September 21, with additional footage.
Proving again that money talks whilst bullshit walks, Michael Bay has had to back pedal furiously from late-night blogged comments about how he wouldn't direct the Transformers sequel as a protest to Paramount's decision to back the HD DVD, but not Blu-ray. Basically, he's pulling an "I don't know what I was thinking." Along with "HD rocks!" -- proving that you don't have to be an anime semi to transform yourself.
TOP US MOVIES TODAY FROM THE NUMBERS
1.
Weekend Box Office Estimates: August 17-19, 2007
Superbad (Sony) $31.2 million - opening weekend
Rush Hour 3 (New Line) $21.8 million - 2 wk total $88.2m
The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) $18.9 million - 3 wk total $163.8m
The Simpsons Movie (Fox) $6.7 million - 4 wk total $165.1m
The Invasion (Warner Bros.) $6.0 million - opening weekend
Stardust (Paramount) $5.2 million - 2 wk total $19.1m
Hairspray 2007 (New Line) $4.3 million - 5 wk total $100.6m
Underdog (Buena Vista) $3.6 million - 3 wk total $31.7m
Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix (Warner Bros.) $3.5 million - 6 wk total $278.7m
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (Universal) $3.5 million - 5 wk total $110.4m
Source: Box Office Mojo
TOP BOOKS SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 8.24.07
1. Harry
Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
2. Eclipse (Twilight, Book 3)
3. New Moon (Twilight, Book 2)
4. Spook Country
5. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
6. His Dark Materials Trilogy
, by Philip Pullman
7. Harry Potter Paperback Box Set (Books 1-6)
8. Stardust
9. Sandworms of Dune
10. The
Children of Hurin: Deluxe Edition
,
Christopher Tolkien (from his dad's notes)
TOP DVDs SCI-FI/FANTASY @ Amazon, 8.24.07
1. 300
4. The Secret (Extended Edition)
6. Heroes - Season 1
3. Serenity (Collector's Edition)
2. Babylon 5 - The Lost Tales
5. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters for DVD
7. Lost - The Complete Third Season
5. Stargate SG-1 - Season 10
8. Smallville - The Complete Sixth Season
3. Blade Runner (Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition)
INSANE TREK TRIVIA
This Week's Question: According to the "Illogical" song, Mr. Spock acknowledges that cars have many excellent qualities, but -- what?
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: Of what relevance to Trekkers is the Rohwer Relocation Center?
Answer: George Takei's family was sent there during WWII.
First winner
Lou
Second winner
Doug
Third winner
Susan
Fourth winner
Neil - www.TVsGreatestHits.com
Fifth winner
athena28
Sixth winner
Michael
Seventh winner
Dan
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:
"Aren't you a little short for a Sandperson?" - Michael
Honorable mentions...
"The after-effects of the latest party drug from Alpha Centari." - Kathryn
"Always remember, my child, your eyes are the windows to your soul." - Kathryn
"These eyes cry every night for you
These arms long to hold you again." - Susan
"I'm a little teapot.. this is my handle, this is my spout.." - Brendan
"When asked to strike a pose, all he could think of was the Statue of Liberty." -Wendy
"A VERY surprise guest at William Shatner's recent roast." - Michael
"Jawa? I barely knew 'er!" (Sorry, VERY old joke) - - Michael
"Friends, Jawas, Countrymen. Lend me your auditory organs!" - Michael
"Even among Jawas, Ricky was short. In a pathetic attempt to appear taller, he would wear a large hat under his hood. But his friends could tell. His beady glowing eyes gave him away." - Michael
"When George Lucas says 'bit part' he MEANS it." - Michael
"alQueda-Mart now carries the very latest in middle-eastern desert wear (pictured above), which features binoculars, an iPod holster, carrying accoutrements for up to 30 firearms cartridges of various sizes (thanks to Chinese-made elastic bands) and a canteen. Perfect for everything from droid stealing to supermarket bombings! Unisex. Sizes S, M, L, XL and OMG!" - Neil
"At Guido's we have a full selection of Lawn Jawas to adorn your residence." - Debra
"Hot item on Ebay: a lawn jockey from Skywalker Ranch!" - Chris
"You're bustin' my balls here, dude. Bustin' my balls." - BTCHONWHLS
"Excuse me, could you give me directions to the nearest Death Star?" - ozzygreybeard
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR"
Last week's topic: Anybody got a few words to say about Stardust?
***
Evidently not.
***
[on another topic]
Sorry to hear of the "Dresden Files" demise, I thought it to be a great premise and well produced and acted. The SciFi Channel choices are somewhat bent, for instance, why is Professional Wrestling on? One would think, if given the choice, Wrestling would lose hands down to 'Dresden' The demographics here, are unfathomable.!!!
***
Next week's topic: Sometimes it's hard to be a woman. No, wait. I meant, sometimes it's hard to figure out what I should and shouldn't report on. Despite what other sites seem to think, I don't judge James Bond to be sci-fi or fantasy. On the other hand, Lost's producer like to claim it's not sci-fi, but no one's buying it. A lot of things for children are technically fantasy, but I'm not going to report on the latest shopping spree by the Bratz.
How about you? Do you think something out there is sci-fi/fantasy but doesn't get treated like it? Or that somethings that are treated as sci-fi/fantasy shouldn't be?
***
Send me something if you've got something to say. It can be about anything that's on your mind!
HAILING FREQUENCIES CLOSED
