Report 26A.This is a digest of recent Sci-Fi- and genre-related news as of 27 February 2001.

News & Notes

Group News:

Anybody not need Stereo?

One of our three converters has given up the ghost on the stereo front.  It still records fine in Mono, and the picture quality is as good as the others, so we have pulled it out of the stack and set it aside to use whenever we can.  There are already a few of our contacts who are not interested in stereo, as they watch their tapes through a standard TV set without connecting the VCR to any form of amplifier or Home Theater System.

If you are one of these, and are not bothered about stereo, please let us know, and we can continue to get as much use out of this machine until we can afford to replace it.  There is no point in us having it repaired, as it is our oldest converter, and is hardly worth more than the cost of the repair.

You might even get your tapes faster, as there will only be a limited number of tapes that we can do on this machine.

The Writers’ Strike

I was asked last week for more detail on the forthcoming writers’ strike.  This is a fairly complex issue, and I have been doing some research throughout the week. Once I have compiled enough examples and anecdotes to illustrate the history of this problem (which goes back over 20 years) I intend to write a comprehensive article on the matter.  I will send this out to everyone, but it will be clearly titled, so if you are not interested, feel free to delete it.  There will be no other issues covered in the article, so you will not miss anything else.

Long Period of Reruns on the Way

Looking ahead at next week’s schedule, we are relieved to see that finally, the reruns are upon us.  This has been a most unusual season.  By this stage, we would have expected maybe 13 or at most 14 episodes of most series to have aired, with a few reruns thrown in here and there to stretch out the season (and to give us some breathing space) but by the end of this week, most will have reached 16 and some have reached as high as 17.

As every network will want to retain at least 4 new episodes for May Sweeps, and keep back their season finales probably for early June, this means that some series are literally out of new episodes to air.  As a result, we are expecting very little new material through March and April.

The exceptions are:

X-Files returns on April 1st with the conclusion to the current cliffhanger – there will be no XF reruns in March, as the first few episodes of The Lone Gunmen will air in the X-Files’ Sunday night slot;

Farscape – Season 3 begins in 3 weeks;

Sopranos – Season 3 begins next week;

Some sitcoms and non-genre dramas will not air reruns but will be replaced by new shows for a trial period;

This long period of reruns will have two consequences for us:

1.     It gives us a chance to catch up on the backlog and more importantly,

2.     It allows us to take on more odds and ends than we have been able to over the last few months.

If you have been waiting for a chance to pick up a few odd items, now is the chance.

A Special Word on Xena

We have had several howls of protest from Xena fans over the last couple of weeks, as the series will go into long reruns with 15 episodes aired – i.e. one episode short of node 6:4.  Many fans do not want to wait for anything up to 2 months to see the three episodes that we have, so we have decide to break from our usual rigid adherence to the nodes and offer the following tape now for those who want it:

Xena 6:4a

S6-13 YOU ARE THERE

S6-14 PATH OF VENGEANCE

S6-15 TO HELICON AND BACK

+ either The E! Celebrity Special on Lucy Lawless (40 minutes), or the episode of Just Shoot Me where Lucy guest stars as a high-class hooker (22 minutes).

If you would like this for your next tape, please let us know.  As there are then 7 more episodes to come, we will do special 6:5s and 6:6s for everyone who wants this tape now, so you won’t end up either missing an episode, or getting three eps twice.

 

TV News:

X-Files Picks Up Mulder Arc

The X-Files creator Chris Carter told Science Fiction Weekly that the next few episodes will deal with the ultimate fate of Agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny). "As of last Sunday night's episode, Mulder returns," Carter said in an interview. "But to the shock and horror of Agent Scully [Gillian Anderson], he is not doing too well. In fact, the title of the episode is 'This Is Not Happening.' That takes us to a cliffhanger, which brings Mulder back for the rest of the episodes for the season."

Carter added, "I'll tell you that all of the remaining episodes, which begin in April, take place in present time, so people should not be too overly concerned, or should not expect the worst when they see Sunday night's episode."

Carter said it's been hard balancing the various old and new characters this season. "It's always difficult--even when you've got all of the elements, and you've got them all the time," he said. "This season, it was a different show in many ways with Mulder missing. We've sort of corrupted the dynamic. But bringing in someone like Robert Patrick [Agent John Doggett] actually created a new dynamic, which I think is great. Now, we're creating an even different dynamic for the show, with Mulder's return and the addition of Annabeth Gish as Agent Monica Reyes. So far our experiments have worked wonderfully. We continue to pay very careful attention to how these things are working, so that X-Files may go on to season nine, and we still maintain our ability to do what we have always hoped to do, which is feature films."

In a separate interview, Chris Carter told free-lance SF columnist Ian Spelling that the show could go on for a ninth year. David Duchovny returns this month for the arc building to the season finale, "as a cliffhanger for season nine or perhaps even the end of the show," Carter told Spelling.

Carter added, "My preference is to do The X-Files next year, if we can find a way to do it right, to make it creatively interesting for ourselves. I think the stories are out there to be told, but when you get to the ninth year of a show, you need resources to keep doing the same good work. The costs go up. So my preference is do The X-Files next year, but there are things that need to be hammered out between all the participants in the process."

Fox Delays The Tick

Fox's upcoming live-action version of The Tick, based on Ben Edlund's comic series and animated show of the same name, has been bumped back on Fox's schedule to either summer or fall, a spokeswoman told journalists. The Tick--a satirical take on superhero stories--had originally been slated as a midseason replacement to debut in March.

But the Fox spokeswoman said in a mid-season press conference that Fox was now holding it for later so that it will have something new to air in the event that impending writers' and actors' strikes take place this spring. Fox also doesn't have a current slot for the show, which wrapped production of its initial nine episodes on Feb. 16.

The Tick, from Edlund and Men in Black director Barry Sonnenfeld, stars Patrick Warburton as the big blue superhero.

Justice League Leads New Stable of Animations 

The Cartoon Network unveiled a full slate of new programming--including its new Justice League series--at a press conference in New York Feb. 21. The new shows will launch in the summer and throughout the 2001-2002 television season.

Justice League is a new one-hour action-adventure series based on the popular DC Comics series Justice League of America. It premieres in November.

Among the other new shows:

•Time Squad, a half-hour comedy series set to launch in June.

•Samurai Jack, a half-hour action-adventure set to launch in August.

•Grim & Evil, a half-hour comedy set to launch in October.

The network has also acquired the rights to Batman: The Animated Series, The Adventures of Batman & Robin, The New Batman/Superman Adventures and Superman. The series will air throughout 2001-2002.

The network will also air 96 new episodes of Dragonball Z; six new anime series to premiere in 2001, including Mobile Suit Gundam, Pilot Candidate, Gundam 8s, Outlaw Star, Big O and Dragonball; and a three-day "June Bugs" marathon of Looney Toons in June.

Editor’s Note:  We have already had requests for information on Justice League.  If anyone else is interested I this or any of the other shows listed above, let us know well in advance please.

Galactica Returns

X-Men director Bryan Singer will reinvent an updated Battlestar Galactica television series for Studios USA, which inherited the rights to the 1970s cult SF show from Universal, Variety reported. Singer has made a deal with Studios USA to executive produce it with his X-Men partner Tom DeSanto, the trade paper reported.

The original series, starring Lorne Greene, was created by Glen Larson and ran on ABC for two seasons starting in 1978. Larson is attached to the new series, but Singer's plans would appear to torpedo earlier efforts to revive Galactica by original series star Richard Hatch (not the Survivor winner).

USA Television Production Group president David Kissinger told Variety that he received frequent e-mails from fans, but never considered reviving the series until Singer approached him. "I never dreamed a filmmaker of Bryan's stature would be enough of a hard-core fan that he saw this as a franchise that could be reinvented," Kissinger told the trade paper. "In the initial meeting, I was wary that he might be just another feature guy looking to slap his name on a TV project, but it was immediately clear this wasn't so. He's got a whole mythology and arc for the series already worked out."

Dan Pasternack, the Studios USA television executive shepherding Bryan Singer's proposed new Battlestar Galactica series, said that the show will likely pick up the story after the events of the original 1970s series. "It's a little bit premature, and we're in the very early creative inception," Pasternack said in an interview. "I will tell you that Bryan Singer's intent is to be very faithful to the spirit and legacy of the original show. I think his intent is creatively to go forward in time as the saga has continued in his mind."

No scripts have been written yet for the new show, but Pasternack said it's likely the show will not feature characters from the original series, except the Cylons. "I think it's safe to say you can't do Battlestar Galactica without Cylons," he said. "But what our relationship to the Cylons will be, I can't say."

Pasternack added that no one involved in talks about the new series has had any conversations with original Galactica star Richard Hatch (Apollo), who has been trying to mount his own revival of the series. But series creator Glen Larson is on board in an advisory capacity. "Bryan and Glen sat down," Pasternack said. "We wanted to make sure this union was very blessed by Glen. ... He has blessed this and wants to see it go forward. ... We want to make sure that respect is paid."

Singer will bring on writers to help him and partner Tom DeSanto come up with scripts for the new show, which Pasternack said will be conceived on an epic scale and make use of up-to-the-minute special-effects technology. "I can assure you [Singer] is very committed to adhering to that which came before," he said. "He's not looking to take it in any direction that would be disappointing to the fans of the original show." Among other things, Pasternack said it's possible the Galactica will find itself on an entirely new mission. "I don't know if [finding Earth] is the goal in this show. ... We could be on a different exodus."

Singer will direct the pilot if it doesn't conflict with his plans to helm X-Men 2. The studio is finalizing deals with show runners and will shop the series to networks shortly. Pasternack--who admitted to collecting Galactica trading cards and action figures as a boy--said that Studios USA hopes the show will air on a broadcast network and also on The Sci-Fi Channel in the same way the studio's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs on both NBC and USA Network. Because of the lag time in producing the effects-heavy show, and the prospect of writers' and actors' strikes this spring, Pasternack added that Galactica won't appear any earlier than mid-season 2002. "It's pretty epic stuff we're going to do," he said. "We're committed to doing it right, now that we have Bryan. It's waited some 20-odd years to be reborn. We're committed to doing it right."

First Wave Future Uncertain

Chris Brancato, creator and co-executive producer of The Sci-Fi Channel's original series First Wave, told Science Fiction Weekly that he's still waiting for word on whether the show will be renewed for a fourth season. The series began airing its third season only last month.

"The decision comes from Sci-Fi here domestically and also from Pearson Television, who distributes our show in all other territories in the world," Brancato told SFW. "It would be a combined decision between the two of them."

Brancato said the show's ratings have suffered. "Our ratings were hurt last year here in the U.S., because we were moved from Friday nights, where we were on with Farscape, to stand alone on Sunday nights," he said. "Our ratings went down about a 10th of a point on average every episode, because we were just sort of all alone on Sunday night with Highlander and The Crow reruns. And now, we're part of a new block of programming on Monday nights, with a couple of other new shows. Hopefully we'll do well there." Subsequent to this interview, Sci-Fi announced that First Wave will be moving from its Monday night slot to Saturdays March 24.

Brancato added, "Our initial commitment to the Sci-Fi Channel was to do three years. I think what we've been able to do is create a wonderful season finale for season three. Should we continue, that's going to require a lot of discussion about where we're going with the show. So the answer to your question, no, I don't have in mind yet what the [series] finale of the show is going to be; however, I feel the finale of season three is very effective to end the season. We'll see what happens after that."

He also said that fans are helping as well, saying, "We have a core group of die-hard fans who are wonderful people and who care about the show a lot and have lobbied the SCI FI Channel to continue the show. I think it's been effective... Bonnie Hammer, executive vice president and general manager of the SCI FI Channel, is aware of the packages of salt that she's received from fans, as well as all sorts of other things they send to remind her how much they like it."

He adds, "She's tickled by that. Ultimately, it's about ratings and dollars and cents. But it certainly doesn't hurt that this wonderful group of committed fans have expressed their liking of the show."

Stars Grace New Outer Limits

The Blair Witch Project star(?) Heather Donahue and Twin Peaks star Sherilyn Fenn are among the actors who will appear in new episodes of The Outer Limits, which begin airing on The Sci-Fi Channel March 16. Writer Jeffrey Hirschfield, who also voices the robot head 790 on Sci-Fi's Lexx, will pen an episode of Outer Limits.

Donahue will star in "The Surrogate," about a struggling young artist who signs up for a surrogate birth program only to discover that she has made a life-altering decision. The episode airs April 13. Fenn appears in "Replica," playing a scientist who volunteers to be cloned, with disastrous results. It airs June 22. Hirschfield will write an episode entitled "Father," which airs in July.

Peter DeLuise--who has written and directed episodes of Showtime's Stargate SG-1--steps behind the camera for the episode "Alienshop," the story of a shopkeeper who has an eerie knack for knowing what customers need. DeLuise, who also appeared in the SF TV show SeaQuest DSV, plays a small role in the episode, which airs June 8.

 Voyager Episode Details Reported

The official Star Trek Web site has updated information on some of the final episodes in Voyager's seven-year run. Episode 268, "Natural Law," is the first of three episodes preceding the two-hour finale. In it, Seven of Nine and Chakotay find themselves marooned in a hostile primitive environment.

Episode 269, "Destiny," is directed by LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge on The Next Generation) and reunites Neelix with his people as he tries to save an imperiled Talaxian settlement. Episode 270, "Renaissance Man," features The Doctor, who must become a master of disguise to save Capt. Janeway.

The site reported no details about the final episode, in which the ship presumably makes its way back to Earth.

'Special Unit 2' Details

Producer Evan Katz has been talking about his upcoming UPN network midseason TV series, Special Unit 2.

While talking to journalists about the series, which will focus on a special section of the Chicago police department that battles monsters among us, Katz says, "It's sort of a black comedy, action-adventure creature show. It's fun and a little weird. It's basically an attempt to give genre fans what they want, but also give the audience a really good time."

Katz briefly touches on what we can expect see among the program's monster menaces, saying, "It's a real visceral show, with lots of stuff blowing up. We have gargoyles. ... Instead of a regular mummy, we have a samurai mummy, a martial-arts expert. ... We have stockbroker werewolves and a creature made up of human liposuction fat."

The show, as yet, has no set premiere date.

Difficult 'Buffy' Dealings

In order for the WB to get Buffy the Vampire Slayer beyond this year, Fox is putting the bite on the network for more money per episode. As yet, with the clock ticking, the WB isn't buying.

According to Variety, the official renegotiation period between the two parties is set to expire on Thursday, with word that a deal is not likely to happen this week. In addition, the trade reports that though the WB did make an offer of $1.6M per episode (they previously have paid in the range of $1M), Fox is holding out for more, with unnamed insiders reporting that they're looking for full production costs plus a premium in the $2.3-2.5M range. It's suggested that the network has a deal in place along those lines for Spelling Television's 7th Heaven TV series.

The WB is said to be dismissing comparisons between the two shows noting that 7th Heaven is the net's highest rated program.

As it stands, if a deal between the two parties can't be sealed by Thursday (which is sounding very likely to be the case), Fox will be able to offer the show to outside interests for the highest bidder.

The trade reports that though there is the chance that the program could land on the Fox TV network, both ABC and UPN networks are said to be interested in bidding on the series.

 

Movie News: 

Lucas Says No To Episodes VII-IX

Star Wars creator George Lucas told USA Today that he has no plans to make a third trilogy of films after he completes Episode III. "No way," Lucas told the newspaper. "I guarantee that. After the next one [Episode III], I'll move on."

Lucas is currently in post-production on Episode II, which is due in theaters in May 2002. Lucas said he was lured back to the Star Wars saga because of technology. "When I came back to do Episode I, I'd reached a point where I could tell the story I always wanted to tell in a way that I wasn't able to before, because of the technology required. So, I thought, 'This will be fun.' I can tell the story any way I want, as if I were writing a book. In the other films I was constantly saying, 'I can't do that. It's too expensive, too hard or technically impossible.' I wanted to tell the story of Darth Vader, because he'd become such an icon. And I was driven by being able to move around in his world technically. It's been enjoyable taking a new medium and pushing it to its limits."

Rhys-Davies Sees Rings Success

John Rhys-Davies--who plays Gimli the Dwarf in Peter Jackson's upcoming Lord of the Rings film trilogy--told the Empire Online Web site that the movies will amaze audiences. "It's going to be the biggest film series of all time," Rhys-Davies told the site. "The casting--present company excepted--is remarkable, just extraordinary. You look at each of these people and think, 'I know exactly who that is.'"

About director Jackson, Rhys-Davies said, "I've never met or worked with a director with a more comprehensive artillery of qualities for a big project like this than Peter Jackson. Someone should give him a medal pretty damn quickly."

Sixth Sense II In Works

Spyglass Entertainment Group revealed plans to develop a sequel to the hit ghost movie The Sixth Sense, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Spyglass outlined its plans in a 525-page document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with an initial public offering, the trade paper reported.

The company lists The Sixth Sense II among its films "currently in development, preproduction and production." Spyglass said it has begun to "selectively exploit" the original film through other media projects, including a deal with Scholastic Inc. to create a series of spin-off books, the trade paper reported. Spyglass said it owns all prequel, sequel and remake rights to Sixth Sense.

The company did not say whether director M. Night Shyamalan or star Bruce Willis is attached to the project.

Time Machine Goes Forward

Production has begun on director Simon Wells' updated movie version of his grandfather H.G. Wells' classic SF book The Time Machine, DreamWorks Pictures announced. Principal photography began on location at Vassar College in upstate New York, with additional location filming to be undertaken in Albany, Troy and Schenectady. The film then returns to Los Angeles, where shooting will be completed on soundstages at Warner Brothers studios.