Report 17A.This is a digest of recent Sci-Fi- and genre-related news as of 28 December 2000.

News & Notes

Group News:

Let the Mailing Commence

Later today, we will be making the first of several trips to the Post Office laden with literally hundreds of tapes to mail.  We will more than likely mail out every day this week, and it will take us a while to catch up on the e-mails to let you know what is on the way, as these are individual messages not mass mailings through the automailer.

We will get to everyone. Please be patient.

Thanks for the Cards

Thank you to everyone who sent us any form of greeting over the holiday season.  We received a pile of Christmas Cards, as well as a few tasty gifts and also a number of Internet greetings.

We hope everyone had a great Christmas.  We certainly did, but now it’s time to get on with the job at hand.

Thinking Ahead to February

As we get closer to the second big block of new episodes, which begins in early February, that is the point at which we start to think about recycling the first batch of non-genre tapes.  Also, at this point we stop taping anything that has been abandoned by those who asked for it.

This season, the only show we are likely to be dropping is Madigan Men, but we do need to recycle the first bunch of episodes of 3rd Roc, Boston Public, Drew Carey, Ed, ER, Everybody Loves Raymond, Family Law, Frasier, The Fugitive, JAG, The Practice, Spin City, That’s Life and Will & Grace.

If you asked for these and haven’t yet sent payment, or you are thinking about ordering any episodes of any of these shows, now is the time, or they will be gone. Other non-genre shows will be retained until later in the season, as we have definite and ongoing commitments for them.

TV News:

First Some Items of Scheduling News:

Cleopatra 2525 Full-Length Episodes

What appears to be the first block of full-length episodes of Cleo 2525 has been scheduled for February sweeps.  We are not sure exactly how many of these there are, but so far 5 have been scheduled to air between January 29th and the beginning of March.

Xena TV Movies

At last we know something about these. It now appears that these TV movies are to be based on double episodes originally planned for previous seasons but never filmed. Indeed, the first of them is likely to be the “Japan” story which was to be the middle of this current season, but which will now be replaced with two other as-yet-unspecified episodes.

Given the number of previously unfilmed doubles available, this series of movies could go on almost indefinitely

More news when we have it.

USA Stretches Nikita

It appears that USA Network intends to stretch the remaining 8 episodes of Nikita to last right through the spring. So far it looks as if they will air 3 new episodes, followed by reruns of these first three.  A second similar block will then air, to be capped off by the final two episodes that may well air together on a date chosen to have the greatest impact. Our guess would be the first week of May Sweeps.

First Pretender TV Movie Due in January

The first of the Pretender TV movie is due to air January 22nd. Entitled Pretender 2001, the TV movie appears to pick up right after the final season cliffhanger, although the TNT press release gives little detail.

This movie will be available as soon as we have it.

Lone Gunmen Website Up and Running

A cleverly designed website for the upcoming Lone Gunmen series is now operating.  The site, made to look like a genuine commercial site for an operating company “E-Com-Con”, is very extensive and provides a lot of detail.

Note the presence of Suzanne Modeski, who was featured in two of the TLG X-Files episodes.

The site is at:

http://www.e-com-con.com/

Please note that the secure login is a dummy and you don’t need a password to enter the site.

Movie News: 

Park To Play Iron Fist

Ray Park (X-Men) has signed to play the lead in Iron Fist, Artisan Entertainment's upcoming feature film based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, the Comics Continuum and IGN FilmForce reported. The Continuum reported that Iron Fist will begin production before the impending actors' strike next year.

IGN reported that an announcement was due soon on Park's casting. John Turman will write the script for Iron Fist. No director is attached.

Park has also said he wants to reprise the role of Toad in the upcoming sequel to last year's hit X-Men movie.

Fourth 'Crow' Movie Goes Ahead

Despite problems with the 3rd Crow Movie, Music video director Joseph Kahn has been selected to direct the fourth Crow feature film, The Crow: Lazarus, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The film, which has a script by James Gibson, will tell the story of rap artist (played by DMX) who is killed in a drive-by shooting by a biker gang. Of course, he rises out of the grave to exact his revenge.

The film, which currently has no distributor, is scheduled to start shooting in the spring.

No 'Reign' For Arnold

It looks like you can scratch Arnold Schwarzenegger from the cast list of the Reign of Fire project. ShowBiz Ireland, who initially broke the story that Arnold was at one time in talks to appear in the movie, is now saying it isn't going to happen.

The Ireland Mirror newspaper also reports that the producers of Reign are now saying that Arnold will not be in the film.

The film's publicist, Gerry Lundberg, also gave the latest word on the production, saying, "Principle photography on Reign of Fire is due to begin filming in March 2001. Filming is scheduled to take place in various locations in Dublin, Wicklow and Northern Ireland."

Bruce Campbell Update

Now, it's official. As previously revealed by director Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell as signed on to the Spider-Man movie, but now we'll know what part he'll play. According to Variety, Campbell will play the part of a ring announcer during Peter Parker's disguised battle with a wrestler.

In addition, Campbell has also signed onto Frank Darabont's Bijou. He'll play the part of a Hollywood actor who stars in a film called "Sand Pirates of the Sahara", which in the '50s era story was written by a blacklisted writer (played by Jim Carrey).

Official 'Spider-Man' Casting

There are more official announcements of casting on the Spider-Man movie.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, and as previously revealed by director Sam Raimi, Cliff Robertson and Rosemary Harris have signed on to play the parts of Peter Parker's Uncle Ben and Aunt May, respectively.

Meanwhile, as previously rumored, J.K. Simmons has now been attached to the project in the role of Spider-Man's nemesis and Peter Parker's boss, J. Jonah Jameson.

Kirsten Dunst will play Mary Jane Watson, Parker's girlfriend. Willem Dafoe is attached as Norman Osborne, who is secretly the villainous Green Goblin. James Franco is Osborne's son, Harry. And, as reported above, Bruce Campbell will play the part of a ring announcer, most likely in a wrestling match where Peter Parker uses his powers to make money.

The film is finally set to begin production in January.

Fehr 'Forsaken'

Brendan Fehr (Roswell) is switching aliens for fangs in his upcoming vampire film The Forsaken. The film, which is scheduled to hit screens in April 2000, will tell the story of an "infected" hitchhiker (Fehr) who wanders the back roads of Arizona in search of a 400-year old vampire predator.

While talking to the LA Times, Fehr explains the film, saying, "We take the route that this could be a vampire eating next to you in a restaurant. We went with no fangs, just typical people who have been bitten and, you know, turned. I'm just some slacker kid and I'm trying to get my life back."

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

·        The pilot episode for the potential vampire soap opera Living By Night has officially wrapped production. Producer Dana Windsor announced that shooting was completed this last Sunday. He reveals that bad weather and scheduling conflicts with two of the cast caused some delays, though he estimates that editing will be finishing in the next couple of weeks.

·        There looks to have been some further casting of Blade 2: Bloodhunt. According to the Comics Continuum, Ron Perlman (Beauty and the Beast TV series, City of Lost Children) and singer Luke Goss (Love Life) have signed on to the film. Though the specific parts they play in the film were not revealed, CC suggests that they both may play members of the vampire gang, the Bloodpack, that the film's hero is forced to team up with.

·        Yet another popular video game is heading towards the big screen. This time Tecmo's fighting action game, Dead Or Alive: Hardcore, has been given the big screen nod. According to the Hollywood Reporter, independent production company Mindfire Entertainment snagged both the film and television rights to the video game series with an eye on bringing them to the big screen in a series of films.

·        In a recent interview, Keanu Reeves suggested that he would be open to doing a third “Bill & Ted” movie, revisiting the characters in their 40s.  He went so far as to suggest that he had discussed the idea with B&T co-star Alex Winter, who appeared to be receptive.  Don’t hold your breath though.  It could be ten years before you see any real movement on this movie.

Part B follows shortly.