36A 8 May 2001

Eastlant Sci-Fi Group - 2000-2001 Season Progress Report 36A.

This is a digest of recent Sci-Fi- and genre-related news as of 8th May 2001.

News & Notes

Group News:

Pity the Poor, Hungry Airline Pilots

It’s spring again, and like so many other skilled professionals, the Pilots of a number of US Airlines are feeling so poorly off that they now need to strike for a 25% pay raise. This is having an effect on our outgoing mail.

Although the strike is not total, it is selective. One of the areas the pilots are targeting is mail handling, and they are refusing to fly a large proportion of mail-carrying flights. As a result, the airlines are tending to refuse to carry the mail, rather than have a flight canceled, and the Postal system is backing up. This is not affecting some areas of the US very much at all, but here, being a tourist area, we are easily held to ransom.

We know that the packages we mailed out two weeks ago have been arriving sporadically, and that a lot more are outstanding than usual. If you are still waiting for packages mailed on Saturday April 27th, there is a good chance that they are still caught up in the chaos being caused by this event.

The situation is being made even worse by the fact that Delta, America’s largest Independent airline, has just agreed to such a raise for its pilots, but no other airline is prepared to follow suit. This makes the pilots who are still struggling by on less than k$100 a year (poor souls) even more adamant that they won’t go back to work until they get similar raises.

Packages mailed out on Saturday May 5th are almost certainly trapped by the strike. The US Post Office is trying to take up the slack by using its own aircraft, and by buying space on foreign aircraft, and also spare capacity on private couriers such as FedEx and DHL, but we are told that this will only cover about 20% of the backlog and also that this cannot be sustained for long because of the expense.. As a result, we think it would be wise if we postponed mailing out any more packages until we are sure they are getting through again.

Consequently, IT IS VITAL that you tell us if you receive any package from us as quickly as possible. Your e-mail to let us know that the mail is moving could help fellow fans to get their packages faster.

We apologize for this problem, but I hope you will understand that this is completely beyond our control. The latest news is that they are at least talking, so maybe this won’t last more than a few more days. Let’s hope so.

Going Solo

I have mentioned to a number of contacts over the last few weeks that I am now effectively alone here. My “willing helpers” have all departed for the summer, much earlier than usual, and I am unlikely to see them again until the fall.

This won’t affect the production of tapes as I can run the system myself easily, but I will be a little slower than usual on editing and answering e-mails. Luckily, the season has only a few weeks left to run, so there shouldn’t be much of a problem. As always I shall do my best to keep up to everything.

The Writers’ Strike Appears to Have Been Averted

Here is a press release from Associated Press regarding the tentative agreement reached last week between WGA and the producers:

Friday May 4 9:29 PM ET

Hollywood Writers Reach Agreement

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Negotiators for Hollywood writers announced a “groundbreaking” contract with producers Friday, averting a strike some feared would cripple the TV and movie industry and cost the area economy billions of dollars.

The three-year pact, which must still be approved by a majority of the guild's 11,500 members, represents an improvement of $41 million over the old contract, Writers Guild of America negotiator Michael Mahern said.

“People told us that it couldn't be done even if we stayed on strike for a year or more. Today, we are announcing an agreement with groundbreaking improvement and it has been accomplished without a strike,'' Mahern said.

The deal was reached three days after the union's contract expired with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.

Nick Counter, head of the alliance, said he was happy the two sides were able to come together, but he declined to comment on specific terms pending ratification.

“Hallelujah! My hat goes off to the negotiators,” Mayor Richard Riordan said by telephone from Acapulco, Mexico. “They certainly had the welfare of the people of Los Angeles in mind.”

Under the agreement, Fox will eventually be characterized as a full-fledged network and pay full fees to writers, rather than a discounted rate reserved for new companies.

Writers will see an increase in foreign TV residuals of about $1.3 million over the term of the contract. Residuals for made-for-cable programs, like HBO's “The Sopranos” and “Sex in the City,” will increase from under $300,000 a year to almost $4 million a year.

Both demands were among the most expensive and contentious proposals debated during bargaining sessions.

Steven Bochco, veteran writer-producer of “NYPD Blue” and other series, said he expects WGA members to approve the contract.

“It's not conceivable to me the membership wouldn't ratify,” Bochco said. “I'm sure you'll hear grumbling from certain quarters ... but I think the people who make a living writing overwhelmingly will be relieved.”

The deal grants writers bonus pay for DVD and home video releases.

Internet writers gained new protections under the plan, with health and pension benefits and intellectual property payments if the show is later shown on TV.

Writers scored victories in the area of creative rights, with producers agreeing to guidelines that allow writers to visit sets during filming. The original writer of a script also must be consulted whenever a new writer is hired for revisions.

The guild agreed to drop its objection to the so-called possessory film credit - often given to directors in the form of “A film by ...” Writers say this minimizes their contribution, but Mahern said it would be better to pursue the matter another time than let it jeopardize a settlement.

Riordan had pressed both sides to come to an agreement, warning that failure could lead to a strike that would send the city's economy into recession.

“It's certainly going to give the people of Los Angeles a jolt in their confidence as to the future of our economy,” Riordan said.

News of an agreement was greeted with jubilation throughout Hollywood. “I've got hundreds of employees jumping for joy,” said Bruce Helford, writer-executive producer of ABC's ``The Drew Carey Show.''

The agreement was a relief to Steve Gilbert, 42, of Los Angeles who is a dolly grip on TV's “That '70s Show.” Gilbert, a union worker for 22 years, said he was so concerned about production shutdowns that he applied for a job as an airport baggage handler.

Gilbert, who makes $4,000 to $6,000 a month, said he worries production will slow down despite the agreement because ``everyone stockpiled everything.'' Last year, a record-long strike by commercial actors crippled the advertising industry, prompting fears of walkouts by writers and feature actors this year.

The contract for two performers unions, the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, ends June 30. Negotiations are to begin May 10.

Back-to-back walkouts from both writers and actors would have delayed TV and movie production and could have cost the local economy nearly $6.9 billion.

Negotiations for a new writers' contract began Jan. 22 and lasted nearly six weeks before breaking off March 1. The negotiations resumed April 17, and both sides began adhering to a strict news blackout.

Writers last struck in 1988 and were out for 22 weeks. The walkout cost the industry nearly $500 million and ushered in a new wave of reality programming that does not rely as heavily on scripts.

Editor’s Note: Fingers crossed now for a similarly sensible agreement from the actor’s unions.

TV News:

U.K. Buffy Spin-off Mulled

Marti Noxon – co-executive producer of The WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer – said in an interview that creator Joss Whedon is talking with the BBC about a spin-off series centered on the character of Giles. "There is the possibility of a limited series with the BBC, starring Anthony Head," Noxon said in an interview. "It's not a done deal, but this is in discussion. There's an idea of taking the Giles character and doing a limited series in Britain next year, maybe just a limited run ... like a miniseries, perhaps, turning into a series."

The discussion is a reaction in part to Head's previously stated desire to remain closer to the United Kingdom and his family, Noxon confirmed. "It may not come to pass, but it's being discussed," she said. "It would be really awesome if it did happen, and I'm sure there'd be a way that people here would see it too. We'd hope."

In the meantime, Noxon said that she will take over much of the day-to-day production chores on Buffy next year, as Whedon spends more time developing a proposed Buffy animated series, comic books and other projects. "I'll be co-running Buffy with Joss," Noxon said. "Now, I'm sort of second in the chain of command. But next year, we're going to be more equals, although there is no equal to Joss. But in title, we're going to be more equal."

Noxon added that writers have already begun planning the season's story arc. "I think 'oh grow up' is a great way to describe it," she said. "The season-long themes for everybody will be about sort of getting kicked into the adult world--in some cases, kicking and screaming as you go. But it's time for everybody to make some decisions and take on some more adult responsibilities. So that's going to be stuff that's going on thematically next year. Obviously with Joyce's death, Dawn and Buffy and all of the members of the Scooby Gang are going to be dealing with Buffy and Dawn, at least, having to live in a much more adult world. There's no buffer. Buffy has no buffer next year. So obviously that's really going to change the way she has to face the world, and the way that everybody else does, because it's a real reality check for all of them."

One of the surprises next year: a musical episode. "It is an all-singing, all-dancing Buffy, with music written completely for the show by Joss," Noxon said. "Because he doesn't have enough to do, what with seven or eight television shows on the air, or whatever he's got, and the comic books he writes and the movies, ... he decided he wanted to learn how to play the guitar and piano, and now he's composing incredible music."

Voyager Finale Details Revealed

We have what we believe to be large chunks of the actual plot from the Voyager finale. However, if true, this represents a bunch of extremely severe spoilers, as it includes not only plot points but also resolutions to these points, so we do not intend to include it here.

If anyone can’t bear to wait and simply must know what is coming, drop us an e-mail and we will send you what we have.

Freakylinks Returns To Fox

Fox will broadcast the last four unaired original episodes of Freakylinks, starting June 1, a spokeswoman said. The low-rated paranormal series was pulled from the air in January to make way for The Lone Gunmen**.

Freakylinks will return to its Friday 9 p.m. timeslot after Gunmen finishes its initial 12-episode run. There appear to be no plans to bring Freakylinks back in the fall: The show's companion Web site has been taken down, and star Ethan Embry reportedly began shooting the feature film They in Vancouver, B.C., this month.

More than 1,000 fans of the show, meanwhile, have signed an online petition urging Fox to resurrect the series.

Editor’s Note - ** - This is utter bullshit. Freakylinks was most definitely not pulled to make way for TLG. It was pulled because it is crap and produced some of the lowest viewing figures in Fox History. End of story. This statement is typical “ass-covering” by Fox, in an attempt to save face and avoid having to admit that they were sucked into the entire Blair Witch phenomenon and were conned into putting on a TV show that had little or no chance of success.

Petulant WB Pulls Buffy Ad

In the wake of UPN's deal to take over Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The WB has apparently dropped many of its promotional efforts for the show, which is about to wrap its fifth season, Variety reported. Among other things, The WB has scuttled a planned Buffy tribute ad in The Hollywood Reporter next week, commemorating the show's 100th episode, the fifth-season finale on May 22, the trade paper reported. UPN will run its own ad instead.

In addition, a promo spot following Tuesday's Buffy episode warned viewers that there were only three episodes left before "The WB series finale" of Buffy, suggesting that the show is actually ending. Buffy moves to UPN in the fall.

Also, In an article about ABC airing a Sabrina TV movie** on May 25th, opposite Sabrina on The WB, Variety reports that The WB is planning on double-running 7th Heaven on Monday nights this summer and is looking to add a movie night, running Warner Bros owned movies, possibly on Tuesday, moving Buffy and Angel to another night or taking them off the air for a while. These actions don't bode well for either Angel or Roswell. I wouldn't be surprised if The WB doesn't renew Angel and dump Roswell, partly as payback to FOX.

Editor’s Note: “Sabrina Down Under” – If anyone wants this, let us know well in advance please.

'Roswell' Finale & Return?

Brendan Fehr is talking about the coming Roswell season finale as well as what he knows regarding the program's chances of being picked up for a third season.

While talking to Ian Spelling in an interview for Xposé Special, Fehr isn't giving any specific details on the season finale, but he does say, "It leaves a bunch of things wide open, actually."

He adds, "But that doesn’t guarantee that we have a third season. That’s not up to us at all. I think the writers have... assumed that there will be a third season, but just wrote it with the attitude, 'If we don’t, we don’t; too bad.'"

Fehr also talks of the situation at the WB lately with a departing popular series, saying, "I think I’d be ignorant to say whether or not we’ll be back. There are arguments for both, for coming back and for not coming back. Right now, with all the political stuff that’s happening with Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Fox and The WB and contracts, we’re a pawn in the whole thing. We’re not the big man on campus in terms of being a [make-or-break WB] show. So we’ll just sit and wait."

Stop Press: UPN May Pick up Roswell if WB cancels

E! Online's "Watch with Wanda" column has reported a rumor that UPN may pick up The WB's faltering teen alien series Roswell next year if the frog network cancels it after its second season ends this month. Officially, The WB has said it hasn't made up its mind about the low-rated show, but reruns of Roswell are not currently on the network's summer schedule.

Andromeda Finale Action-Packed

Cast members of the syndicated SF series Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda told the an Internet radio interviewer that the May 14 season finale will be action-packed. "You take a breath at the beginning of the episode, and then you let it out an hour later," Lisa Ryder (Beka Valentine) said. "It's constant action. It's kind of terrifying."

The episode is called "... Its Hour Come Round At Last," (Ed. A line from Yeats poem The Second Coming - “And what rough beast, it’s hour come round at last, shuffles towards Bethlehem to be born” – This is a very popular poem with SF writers – various lines from it have feature in Babylon 5, in numerous SF books and short stories and in several SF movies over the years). According to the official episode summary, Harper's repairs accidentally activate a long-dormant backup copy of Rommie's personality, which guides the ship through a reenactment of a deadly 300-year-old mission and uncovers a shocking secret that threatens all of known space and leaves the lives of the crew hanging in the balance.

"Saying it was 'very hairy' would be right along the right lines," Gordon Michael Woolvett (Seamus Harper) told Sci-Fi Talk. "That could be interpreted in so many different ways, but when you see the final episode you'll go 'ooh.'"

Kevin Sorbo (Dylan Hunt) compared the finale to the season's best episodes. "If people look at 'Angel Dark, Demon Bright' as one of their top two or three favorite episodes of the year, this will knock one of those top two or three off," he said. "It's unbelievable. It's huge. It's bigger than big."

Animated Buffy Not Cast Yet

Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon told TV Guide that he's hoping to sign the cast to voice characters in his upcoming animated version of the show. No deals have been struck, "but I'm hopeful that we can get our cast to do it," Whedon told the journal. "It wouldn't be the same without them."

The Fox show won't hit the airwaves until February 2002 at the earliest. But Whedon said he's already contending with the network over budgets. "I thought, 'No, we won't fight over budgets,'" he said. "But you're never not going to fight over budgets. They're like, 'If you want seven dragons [instead of one], you have to draw them all, and it'll cost more. But I want the show to look as good as it can, and that's going to cost money."

Still, Whedon is enthusiastic about returning to Sunnydale High. "We're getting to do what we wanted to--the things that you can't do on the [live-action version]," he said. "It's slightly more off-center ... whimsical. ... It's nice to go back to the well of adolescent stories, and the very basic dynamic of Willow likes Xander, Xander likes Buffy, and Buffy can't admit that she's attracted to that Angel guy."

X-Files Future Uncertain

The X-Files creator Chris Carter told New Times that he still hasn't decided whether the show will return for a ninth season next year. The X-Files season finale, "Existence," airs May 20 on Fox. "Right now, there is a lot of ground to cover in getting there for next year," Carter told the newspaper. "Right now, there are certain X factors, if you will. We don't know. We're all hopeful. I think everybody wants to come back. I am not sure if David [Duchovny] wants to come back or not, but I don't foresee any real concrete reason why we wouldn't come back. That said, it is in negotiation."

One of the issues may be the future of Carter's other show, The Lone Gunmen, an X-Files spin-off that is earning respectable, if not spectacular, ratings. "But it's not how I look at it," Carter said. "Certainly, I want them to treat anything we do with respect here and to support it, because we work hard and do good work. If they didn't, it would make me upset the place we've decided to call home--our partners--are not doing their part. It's simply that. It's a matter of Fox believing in the show--Fox the network and Fox the studio--and them not believing they have something on tap that has a better shot. It's as simple as that, but certainly there are politics involved."

Carter added, "I'll tell you what one of the best things is about doing [Gunmen]. Sitting in these audiences every day now, I will hear peals of laughter coming from down the hall, because they're watching dailies, and it's such a nice thing. The X-Files is what it is, and to have something like this come along, it builds on something that has been wonderful and produced for me a wonderful amount of success and opportunity. The Lone Gunmen is the lucky product of that. I look at so much comedy on television, and I'm thinking to myself, 'Well, we're funnier than that.' I just wish people would tune in and watch it."

Carter, meanwhile, told TV Guide to expect a surprise in The X-Files' two-part season finale. He said that the birth of Scully's baby will figure prominently--"but we get to it in a rather indirect way, and then it becomes the centerpiece," he told the magazine. The Lone Gunmen will also show up. And, Carter added, "I will say that you can expect a significant death in the two-parter."

Movie News:

Weisz Declines Mummy III

Rachel Weisz--who reprises her role as Evelyn in the upcoming sequel The Mummy Returns--told the New York Post that she's unwilling to return for another installment. "Definitely not," Weisz told the newspaper. "Not for $200 million. I don't do this for money, and I'm not for sale."

Weisz added, "I've played the character, and I have nothing left to add to her. Two Mummy movies is enough."

In the sequel to 1999's hit The Mummy, Evelyn plays the librarian-adventurer wife of Brendan Fraser's Rick O'Connell, and finds herself contending not only with the titular resurrected Egyptian, but also his girlfriend and an ancient warrior known as the Scorpion King. "I did it because I thought it was a fantastic role for a woman, and it reminded me of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Romancing the Stone, which were movies I really loved as a kid. It was just really unpretentious, honest entertainment, and it was very aware of its own genre--it was self-consciously a B-movie. In a certain mood, it's the sort of thing I'd like to see myself." The Mummy Returns opens May 4.

Another Step in the Right Direction For Terry Pratchett Fans

DreamWorks has acquired the screen rights to British writer Terry Pratchett's Bromeliad trilogy of best-selling fantasy novels, Variety reported. The books--Truckers, Diggers and Wings--will form the basis of a series of computer-generated movies to be spearheaded by Andrew Adamson (co-director of Shrek) and Joe Stillman (co-writer of Shrek).

The first film, Truckers, will tell the story of a group of "nomes" who are forced into the outside world when their department-store home gets demolished.

Pratchett chose DreamWorks in part because of his fondness for the studio's recent films, the trade paper reported. "I liked Chicken Run and Galaxy Quest, and you've got to be impressed when someone from the studio phones up from Hollywood one night and turns up for lunch in Wiltshire, England, the very next day," Pratchett told the paper.

Editor’s Note: Still no Discworld movies, however. Maybe if LotR is a success, studios might start looking for good fantasy material, just as Space Opera movies blossomed after Star Wars. Let’s hope so.

'Wonder Woman' Update

Forget that Chyna rumor, Sandra Bullock is still being considered the top choice for the title role of a potential Wonder Woman movie.

While talking to Variety columnist Michael Fleming, producer Leonard Goldberg spoke of the project, saying, "Sandy's interested, and we've met with her. It all depends on the script and director, of course, but she hasn't done anything this physical in a long time, and she'd like to. We'd love to have her."

'Werewolf By Night' Movie

Word has come that Marvel Comics' Werewolf By Night series is now in development as a feature film.

According to Comics2Film, the project is set up at Dimension Films with Crystal Sky Entertainment and Marvel producing. The site reports that scribe David Goyer had been approached about writing it, but he chose to pass. Now, word is that the project is seeking another writer.

Werewolf By Night tells the story of a young man named Jack Russell, who upon his eighteenth birthday discovers they he is the latest in line to suffer from a family curse of lycanthropy. The curse was placed years before via an evil book called the Darkholme.

Arad Updates Marvel Films

Marvel film executive Avi Arad gave details of several proposed movies based on Marvel Comics series to Comics Continuum. They include Deathlok, based on a short-lived series about a futuristic cyborg.

"Deathlok is going to be one of the greatest movies we ever make, because the movie is so amazing," Arad said. "It's fantastic, really an amazing story." Other Marvel movies in the works:

•Werewolf by Night, at Dimension Films. Arad said the film "will be a totally Shakespearean story." (See article above for details)

•The Hulk directed by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon director Ang Lee. "The television series never got into the psychological reason of Banner being who he is," Arad said. "If you look at the early books, Banner was an abused child. His father was a terrible man. You'll see, it will be a deeply psychological movie."

• Iron Fist, to star Ray Park; Sub-Mariner; and Man-Thing.

Hatch's 'Great War'

Richard Hatch isn't staying idle while he waits to see what happens with the developing Battlestar Galactica TV series. He's also involved in a science fiction film called The Great War of Magellan, which he and his production team have been developing.

Hatch revealed what the picture was about, saying, "It takes place in the Magellanic Cloud, which is the closest galaxy to ours. It's post-apocalyptic. If you could take Braveheart, Mad Max, Matrix and X-Files and put it all together, and weave a totally different story, you'd have The Great War of Magellan."

When asked what the current status of the project was, Hatch says, "We've been filming and doing special effects for 14 months. We should be done in May. This is a trailer presentation that will be 12 minutes long. We're negotiating book deals, a CD-ROM and audiotapes. And we have several companies interested in doing this as both a feature and TV series."

He adds, "We want to do science fiction that has great story and characters, wonderful writing and great special effects and action. Wrap all those together. It's rare that you find all those ingredients in one film. We have a team of very gifted artists from all over the world who are willing to step out of the comfort zone and do things that most people think are impossible."

Elvira To Make Her Last Stand

Cassandra Peterson--aka Elvira, Mistress of the Dark--told E! that her next movie, Elvira's Haunted Hills, will be her last. "If it doesn't do well, I'll be living in my car," Peterson joked to columnist Anderson Jones.

Haunted Hills is a parody of Roger Corman horror movies, Peterson told Jones. "The sort of gothic creature feature that would have starred Vincent Price," she said. To save money, the movie shot in Romania. "It's cheap, cheap, cheap, incredibly cheap. And they have pretty good working conditions. What they lacked in equipment, they made up for in enthusiasm." Haunted Hills comes out around Halloween.

Elvira is also currently being considered for a part in the supernatural soap opera “Passions”, as chief nemesis to Juliet Mills’ comic witch Tabatha.

No. 1 Mummy Rises Again

The Mummy Returns wrapped up the No. 1 slot at the box office on its opening weekend, taking in an estimated $70.1 million on the weekend of May 4, the Hollywood trade papers reported. The sequel to 1999's hit The Mummy ranked as the biggest non-holiday debut in film history, bumping 1999's Star Wars: Episode I, which earned $64.8 million in its first weekend, the Reuters news service reported.

The Mummy Returns, starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, set new records for Friday ($23.4 million) and Saturday ($26.8 million) as well.

Among other genre releases, Spy Kids remained strong, taking fourth place, with an estimated $4 million in ticket sales. The Robert Rodriguez movie was headed past the $100 million mark after a month of release. But audiences were forsaking The Forsaken, which sank to No. 8 in only its second weekend of release, taking in only $1.5 million.

A.I. Details Leaked

Steven Spielberg revealed key details of his upcoming top-secret SF epic movie A.I. to the Los Angeles Times over the weekend. The movie, set in the future, concerns a world divided between "mecha" robots and "orga" organic creatures, such as humans, who treat the mechas like slaves, the newspaper reported.

And though trailers for the film suggest it resembles Pinocchio--about an artificial boy's desire to become real--Spielberg told the newspaper, "Pinocchio is a catalyst for the beginning of an odyssey, a journey into the future. But it's not the movie."

The android boy (Haley Joel Osment) meets up with another "mecha" Spielberg called "his scoutmaster," the Times reported. The character, Joe Gigolo (Jude Law), is a "love mecha," Law told the paper. "He's a gigolo. He has various clients, some he just talks to, some he massages. Some he presumably takes a bit further. They are able to change the way in which he seduces." Law added that his character sings and dances in the film "as part of entertainment. He's a full-service mecha."

A.I., based on the Brain Aldiss short story "Super Toys Last All Summer Long!" and a treatment by the late Stanley Kubrick, opens June 29.

Lucas Eyes Episode III Start

Star Wars: Episode II is heavy in post-production, but director George Lucas is already looking ahead to the next film, producer Rick McCallum told the official Star Wars Web site. "George is starting to think about Episode III," McCallum told the site. "Hopefully we're going to start in September on conceptual work and start on animatics [moving storyboards] for some of the larger sequences for Episode III. We'll try to lock down the costumes by December 2002 so we can make it easier for wardrobe staff to start constructing costumes in Sydney for January 2003."

In the meantime, a rough cut of Star Wars: Episode II is being readied for June, and dozens of visual effects shots have been completed, McCallum said. Industrial Light & Magic "has completed about 160 shots, which is a lot better than what we had at this time for Episode I," he said. "Then, we were at about 63 shots. Our next goal is to have 1,100 shots done for early fall. We're looking at about 2,200 shots total--virtually every shot in the movie."

McCallum--who is on his way to Sydney to supervise dialogue looping--added that the film is on track for its planned 2002 release. "The game plan's there," he said. "We're very goal-oriented now. We have calendars everywhere. We know what we're doing next Friday. We know what we're doing the Friday after. We know what cut we have to get to."

Odds and Ends: Short items not worthy of an article in their own right.

The New Zealand Woman's Day newspaper reported a rumor that Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess) would have a cameo in Sam Raimi's upcoming Spider-Man movie. The paper ran a photograph of Lawless dressed as a punk in New York, where Spider-Man filmed recently. Lawless is married to Xena producer Rob Tapert, who is Raimi's longtime producing partner. Lawless' Xena co-star Ted Raimi, who is Sam's brother, and Bruce Campbell, who frequently appears in Raimi and Tapert productions, will also have cameos in Spider-Man.

The TrekToday Web site reported a rumor that Star Trek: Voyager character Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) will appear in the upcoming 10th Trek movie. Citing an anonymous source, TrekToday reported that the Borg character will likely appear in only a couple of scenes. Ryan's appearance would follow a tradition in Trek films: Voyager's Robert Picardo had a cameo as the Enterprise-E's emergency medical hologram in Star Trek: First Contact, and Ethan Phillips (Neelix) played a holodeck maitre d', the site reported.

Jeremy Boly, producer of the upcoming live-action Resident Evil movie, told the Scottish Daily Mail newspaper that the movie is "as realistic as possible: the fear had to be real. It's the re-invention of the zombie movie, with big action". The movie is based on the Capcom video game series of the same name.

To welcome the cast of its newly acquired Buffy the Vampire Slayer, UPN sent gift baskets valued at more than $50,000 to each of the eight regular cast members, with Cristal champagne, beluga caviar, gourmet foods and a $4,000 Cartier watch, TV Guide Online reported. Star Sarah Michelle Gellar received a Gucci necklace in place of the watch, and series creator Joss Whedon got a rare edition of Shakespeare's works, TV Guide reported.

Tommy Lee Jones will indeed be back in Men in Black 2, despite rumors to the contrary, the New York Post reported. Shooting on the sequel commences in June in New York.



Part B Follows Shortly.

Best wishes,

David Gerhard, Chairman

Bob Jenner, Information Officer

Alexandra Benedict, Entertainment Industry Liaison Officer

Eastlant Sci-Fi Group

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