Report 22A. This is a digest of recent Sci-Fi- and genre-related news as of 30 January 2001.

News & Notes

Group News:

A Short Word on PayPal

It seems that PayPal is fast becoming the method of choice for payments.  We have no problem with this, but I think in the light of recent delays, we will now have to accept the first message from PayPal as confirmation that your deposit has been made.

They are a little slow in sending out money, sometimes taking up to 3 weeks, but it isn’t fair that you should have to wait that long simply because they want to keep your money in a bank for a few days longer to earn more interest.

From here on, if you make a payment using this method, please drop us an e-mail, as before, and as soon as we receive the first message from PP, we will acknowledge it and schedule the tapes to be run off.

For anyone who is concerned about PP, please don’t be.  They have proved to be very reliable.  We haven’t had one single glitch yet with this service, and we are rapidly developing confidence in this method.

Scandinavian Trek Con

Thanks to Jocke Andersson in Malmo Sweden for information on a major Trek Con to take place in Scandinavia this year.

If any of our northern European contacts are interested, have a look at:

 http://www.trekcon.dk/

A version of the website in English is available at:

http://www.trekcon.com/

TV News:

Loads of Snippets from NATPE

I was asked several times over the last week “What is NATPE”?  I apologize to those new contacts who were not with us in previous years.  I didn’t allow for you.

NATPE is the National Association of Television Production Executives, a professional body for the people involved in every aspect of the making of TV shows.  (This organization is usually referred to here as Nat’s piss – and I know that Gnat is spelled with a G so don’t all e-mail to tell me that – we are just being sardonic – you know our opinion of TV Execs).

Each year, they meet at this time to exhibit their ideas for new shows.  Also at this convention, the official announcements are made about renewals, cancellations, etc.

The event is not open to the public, but certain groups are invited to send a representative.  Our group is one such, and we take it in turns to visit the event.

This year, Mike Sanderson, the head of the group’s conventions division, went along.  So far he has sent us 3 reports.  I will include the basics of these, but they are too long and involved to repeat in full.  Also be aware that there may be some duplication of items mentioned elsewhere in this newsletter:

First Report:

Shows being pitched for syndication include:

Trackers - starring Adrian Paul as an alien bounty hunter come to Earth to track down escaped criminals set in Chicago. (Sounds like Brimstone with aliens instead of evil souls).

Colosseum (their spelling - not mine - maybe they should do some research before proposing an idea) _ Starring Andrew Dice Clay as a Brooklyn boxing promoter who goes back in time to the days of ancient Rome due to a magical amulet.  Co-produced by Sam Egan (Outer Limits/ Northern Exposure) and Mario Azzopardi (Director on Highlander, Poltergeist, Outer Limits, Stargate, etc).  The demo tape looks good, borrowing some stock footage from Gladiator.

Starhunter – Not much detail here but I believe you have covered some of this in previous newsletters.

Jules Verne - Being shopped for first run syndication. Have talked with some of the cast.

William Shatner's Full Moon Frightfest - 12 Full Moon horror/sci-fi movies, hosted by Shatner with contests where viewers can win a chance to co-host, get a date with a Full Moon Scream Queen or be in a Full Moon movie.

Celebrity Jeopardy has taped here with Kevin Sorbo and Seth Green, to air in early February.

Tribune has officially greenlighted Andromeda, Beastmaster and Earth Final Conflict for next year.  New Line has green-lighted Lost World for its third season.

Jennifer Sky - Definitely looks different in person.  Cleopatra 2525 shot six hour episodes.  She didn't know they were starting as early as they are.   The final episode does give some closure to the series.  The hours have more character moments in them.

Robert Duncan McNeill & Tim Russ on the Voyager finale - "I don't know".  They are being kept in the dark about it.

Judson Scott - Has a guest starring role in the three part X-Files episode coming up at the end of February.

Second Report:

Crossing Over with John Edward seems to be the big news at the show.  Studios USA has been signing up stations and has given the series a firm go for syndication.  They now have to decide on whether the syndicated airings will be before the Sci-Fi ones.  Apparently one of the big selling points for the show was a Dateline report that set out to debunk him but ended up on the fence about it.

Trackers seems to be getting a good amount of attention.  Adrian Paul was in meetings most of the day (I never actually saw him, though). No announcements on clearances yet, though.

Pearson's Colosseum with Andrew Dice Clay has gotten a skeptical response from some of the press.  No word on how successful they've been selling it.  If they don't get enough, it likely won't happen.  In my opinion, this is just a bandwagon idea.  After the announcement of “The Watch”, a detective show set in ancient Rome based on the Senate’s patrolling police force, everybody sees to be coming up wit Roman ideas.

Marc Scott Zicree is also in town working on deals for the series C.O.R.E. he's been developing with Michael Reaves and Jonathon Frakes.  Things are looking very good for it happening.  They have a production deal lined up and he's having a meeting this morning with a likely U.S. outlet.  It's a series set on a deep space mining colony with various alien races and humans involved.  This sounds like “Outland: The Series”. Could be interesting.

Third Report:

We now have details for the first three Lone Gunmen episodes.  The Lone Gunmen will likely move to the Friday time slot occupied by Freakylinks once they air the last four episodes in March.

UPN is pulling Level 9 the first two Fridays of February.

Sci-Fi will have a Farscape special on March 16th, pre-empting Black Scorpion to lead into the Season Three opener.

Celebrity Jeopardy Schedule For the Week of Feb 5th

Feb 5th - Jodie Foster, Harry Connick, Jr., Nathan Lane

Feb 6th - Jeff Probst, Martha Stewart, Charles Barkley

Feb 7th - Wayne Brady, Eric Idle, Dana Delany

Feb 8th - Kevin Sorbo, Jane Krakowski, Mike Piazza

Feb 9th - Seth Green, Brandi Chastain, Steven Page

(The last four were taped in Las Vegas, the first in LA)

That’s all for now.  More next week if there is anything of interest.

Mutant X Gears Up For June

Mutant X, the upcoming syndicated television series from Marvel, will begin filming in Toronto on June 4, according to Comics2Film. Producers have also sent out a casting call for the show, which will spin off Marvel's successful X-Men comic series and feature film.

Mutant X--which has no relation to the Marvel series of the same name--will reportedly tell the story of five genetically engineered humans who were all victims of the Human Genome Project, a top-secret experiment on fetuses that created children with enhanced gifts.

The New Mutants will be led by Adam Xero and will battle a covert government agency called the Genetic Security Agency, led by Albion Magnus, the site reported. Each adventure will pit the good mutants against other powerful mutants working for the GSA.

Because the show is being shot in Canada, it is expected to be immune to the impending U.S. actors' strike this summer.

Buffy Bites Her Tongue

A day after threatening to quit if her hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer moves from The WB, star Sarah Michelle Gellar backed away from her ultimatum, the Los Angeles Times reported. "I'm not going anywhere, and I can't stress that enough," a contrite Gellar told the Times on Wednesday, adding that she was "humiliated" over the reaction to comments she made to E!

On Jan. 23, Gellar told the magazine that she would leave the show if it switches networks. Fox, which produces the series, has been threatening to pull it from The WB if it can't reach agreement on terms of a new contract, including more money per episode. Both ABC and the Fox broadcasting network have reportedly expressed interest in acquiring Buffy.

But on Jan. 24, Gellar told the Times, "I just said it in passing, and it was only meant to show my appreciation and support for The WB. But Fox has been very good to me, too. I intend to stay with Buffy, no matter what." Gellar--who has at least one more year on her contract after the current fifth season--added that she "absolutely" hopes to continue doing the show even after that, the Times reported.

JMS Confirms Sci-Fi Talks

Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski confirmed for fans that he and partner Doug Netter are talking with The Sci-Fi Channel about new projects, which could include a new TV movie or series set in the B5 universe. Sci-Fi cable channel’s Bonnie Hammer had earlier announced that such talks were underway, but would not offer details about them.

But in a bulletin board posting Straczynski said, "To confirm what Sci-Fi executive vice president and general manager Bonnie Hammer has stated, yes, there are conversations ongoing between SFC, Warner Brothers, myself and Doug Netter about some new projects. I'm not at liberty at this point to be much more specific than that. Could be a movie in the B5 universe. Could be a series set in the B5 universe. Could be a combination of those, plus a little something else. Suffice to say that SFC wants to become the new home for B5 in all its parts and pieces, and there are several possible ways to accomplish this currently under discussion."

Straczynski added, "We may have some resolution on these issues as early as next month. To that end, we have verified the availability and interest of those who helped make B5 a success among the crew, and everyone we have spoken to is excited and ready to get going. Same crew, same quality, same dedication. Beyond that, I can't comment ... except to say that if we get the go-ahead on what I think may be coming, it could be a very exciting opportunity to do another kind of story that no one's ever done before in SF TV, just as no one had ever done anything quite like B5 before."

'JLA' TV Series

Though rumored for some time, the Cartoon Network has officially announced their forthcoming Justice League animated TV series.

The cable station has ordered up an initial 26 episodes of the coming series, which will have a heroic roster featuring Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter. JLA fans may be disturbed that Aquaman was not mentioned, but previous rumors suggest that the character may appear in a guest capacity.

The basic premise will be like that of the numerous comic series that have had the same title in that the JLA will called upon to battle against allied villains, supernatural creatures and other powerful forces of evil determined to usurp authority over the world and to destroy the Justice League.

The truly great news, which confirms previous rumors, is that Bruce Timm (Batman: TAS, Batman Beyond) will be the man in charge of the series. Jean MacCurdy, president of Warner Bros. Animation describes Timm, saying, "I can think of no one more appropriate or qualified to bring the JLA superheroes to life than Bruce Timm. As he so brilliantly demonstrated with Batman and Superman, he is passionate about creating an entertaining and dynamic series that will thrill the legions of JLA fans everywhere, as well as introduce a whole new generation of fans to these classic characters as they come together in a brand new series."

Timm himself is quoted as saying, "After working on the Superman and Batman series for the last several years, Justice League is a great opportunity to develop those characters a step further and bring more of the iconic DC Comics superheroes to life. I am looking forward to exploring whole new realms of the superhero world."

The Justice League series will be launched within the cable station's regular Toenail block of programming starting in fall 2001, if not sooner.

Mists Star Welcomed Change

Julianna Margulies--the former ER star who will play King Arthur's sister in the upcoming Mists of Avalon miniseries--told TV Guide that she welcomes the change. "It's as far away from pink scrubs as you can get," Margulies told the site.

Margulies plays Morgaine in the TNT series based on Marion Zimmer Bradley's best-selling novel of the same name, a distaff retelling of the Arthurian legends. Margulies called Morgaine "the quintessential female character." But it took some convincing to get Margulies to sign on. "I actually tried not to read [the script,] because I thought, 'I'm leaving television. I shouldn't go and do television right away,'" she said. "And [then] I got snowed in at O'Haire Airport one day while I was doing ER, and I read the script, and I couldn't put it down."

Movie News: 

Time's Right For Machine

Principal photography for Simon Wells' upcoming The Time Machine--the latest feature film based the classic SF novel by his grandfather, H.G. Wells--begins Feb. 5 in New York and Los Angeles,  Dark Horizons reported. The movie will shoot for 76 days, until May 21.

The budget for the movie is reportedly around $85 million, with a quarter of that slated for the visual effects, the site reported. Time Machine is tentatively set for a Dec. 21 release.

Spawn 2 Will Change Things

Spawn creator Todd McFarlane told the Toronto Sun newspaper that the upcoming sequel to 1997's PG-rated Spawn movie will feature a new cast, new effects--and an R rating. "When New Line's rights lapsed, it took us, like, 72 hours to sell it to another studio [Columbia]," McFarlane told the Sun. "We're supposed to deliver a treatment in a month. And if we can get them to say OK, we'll start scripting. We can get it sort of in shape to shoot by the end of this year."

McFarlane added, "To me, the real Spawn movie will be the sequel, the one I've been living with in terms of mood and attitude. This'll be one of those sequels that will have nothing in common from the first to the second, other than the name and the character. It's not a special-effects movie. It's a suspense thriller--a spooky, creepy movie that'll scare people."

Lee To Alter The Hulk?

Ang Lee--who will direct the upcoming feature-film version of Marvel Comics' The Hulk series--told Eon magazine that he'll put his own spin on the familiar story. "I'm familiar with the comic, but not as fanatic as some of the people," Lee told journalists. "I'm just beginning on the script and [will] probably be changing it entirely. I don't know. I would like to have a new approach to the material. I like to bring drama and character study into a pop-entertaining genre."

Lee had reportedly been attracted to the project on the strength of David Hayter's draft of the much-rewritten script. "But", the director added, "it's just in the beginning stages. We've got to do so much research and prepare work and just see what's happening." Lee said he's aiming at a 2003 release.

BBC Backs Off Who Report

The BBC has backed off a report that it was closing in on a feature-film version of its longstanding Doctor Who series. The British Telegraph newspaper had quoted BBC movie head David Thompson saying that a movie was on the horizon and that it would be budgeted at around £40 million ($59 million).

But, a BBC spokeswoman said "the Sunday Telegraph got it wrong." She added that plans for a movie version of the show were in development, but that there had been no progress.

Logan's Run Remake Closer to the Book?

William F. Nolan, co-author of the novel Logan's Run, told Cinescape that he has high hopes for an upcoming feature-film version of the book that was previously turned into a 1976 movie and a 1977 TV series. Director Skip Woods is planning a $100 million remake that would hew closer to the original novel.

Nolan said that Woods plans to stay true to several elements of the book that were changed by the earlier versions. For instance, the villainous cyborg Box won't be the "slow-moving vanity table" seen in the 1976 film, Nolan said. "He's going to be a fast-moving, deadly piece of work," Nolan told Cinescape contributor John Muir.

No Lords In Blade 2

Traci Elizabeth Lords announced that she will not appear in Blade 2: Bloodhunt, the sequel to 1999's Blade, and that her role will be written out of the film. "There were a lot of reasons," Lords said in an interview. "I think that Blade was such a great show, and I loved it and loved working with New Line. But for many different reasons, including scheduling, Blade 2 just wasn't right."

Lords was originally supposed to play the twin of her vampire character, who died in the first movie. Since Lords opted out of the sequel, "I've heard that that role has since been written out," she said. "Now that role doesn't even exist." Blade 2, which is directed by Guillermo del Toro, is currently in production and is based on the Marvel Comics series Blade the Vampire Hunter.

Lords currently co-stars in The Sci-Fi Channel original series First Wave, which wrapped production on its third season last month.

'Akira' Re-Release

Akira is coming back, better than ever, to theaters in the U.S. in the spring.

According to Variety, Pioneer Entertainment (USA) is putting $1M towards the restoration and improvement of the film, which hit theaters in the U.S. in 1988. The restoration will include "a high-definition mastering and a remixing of the audio components to create a soundtrack in Dolby Digital AC3 Surround Sound." In addition, a new English dub will be created which will be more faithful to the original Japanese version of the film.

A new corresponding DVD and VHS tape version of the film will hit stores in the fourth quarter of 2001.

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

·        Director John Landis will produce The Kronenberg Chronicles, a new comedic paranormal television series for FX, Variety reported.

·        Alexander Siddig (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) has joined the cast of Reign of Fire, a post-apocalyptic movie about fighting dragons, according to the Sid City fan Web site.

·        The FX cable network is steadily developing a number of original series, one of which is a paranormal half-hour comedy called The Kronenberg Chronicles. According to Variety, the John Landis created program will tell the ongoing adventures of a bumbling scientist who investigates paranormal phenomenon and related mysteries.

·        Tron star Bruce Boxleitner told Eon magazine that he'd be willing to appear in the proposed sequel, Tron 2.0. "[Director] Steven Lisberger is doing a script. I hope he remembers his old buddies," he said. "I could be old Tron! I don't know. I read the premise of the plot, and it doesn't even involve the old cast. ... Personally, I think they should get a guy that looks like Bill Gates."

Part B Follows Shortly.

Best wishes,

David Gerhard, Chairman

Bob Jenner, Information Officer

Alexandra Benedict, Entertainment Industry Liaison Officer

Eastlant Sci-Fi Group

Fans Working for Fandom, Not for Profit.