35A 1 May 2001
Eastlant Sci-Fi Group - 2000-2001 Season Progress Report 35A.
This is a digest of recent Sci-Fi- and genre-related news as of 1st May 2001.
News & Notes
Group News:
Text-Only Version
May we remind everyone that we do publish a text-only version of Part A? If any of you have difficulty with HTML e-mail, let us know and we will transfer you to the automailer for that version of the newsletter.
Nero Wolfe Correction
We have realized that apart from the pilot, which is a feature-length episode, the Nero Wolfe series episodes are standard length – i.e. 43 minutes after editing.
TV News:
Well, That Didn’t Last Long, Did It?
After only two episodes UPN’s new ghostly medical drama “All Souls” has been pulled from the schedule. Nothing like giving a show a chance, huh? No news as to whether the remaining four episodes will, ever air. Seems a shame really. From the two eps we saw, this actually looked quite promising. It was certainly more spine-tingling than last years’ “wet” ghost show “The Others”.
So far, the various scheduling sites haven’t been updated, so an episode is still listed for this week. If it appears we will grab it, but after that, the fate of this show appears to be sealed.
Mind you, it is hardly surprising. This was new, untried commodity, with no established audience, airing at the same time as Angel on WB and Dark Angel on Fox. I wonder if anyone at UPN was actually surprised that it failed?
To suggest that these people have the IQ of a family pet is an insult to every local dog that ever crapped on my lawn.
WB Posts News On Buffy
The WB posted another statement on its official Web site about the move of its hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer to UPN this fall. Among other things, the network confirmed that it would continue operating the official Buffy Web site, but only "for as long as the show is still on The WB."
The statement--from WB co-presidents for entertainment Susanne Daniels and Jordan Levin--added, "Of course we're disappointed that Buffy won't be part of our long-term future, but we couldn't be prouder of what we've accomplished through years of nurturing and believing in the show and of the achievements to date of the talented cast and crew. It took a lot of time, effort and energy to get this show on the air at a time when there was nothing else out there like it, and to make it a success even when others doubted.
"Knowing how much you care about the show, we negotiated strongly to keep it on The WB, but ultimately the price 20th Television [the studio that produces Buffy] wanted was too high for us to pay while continuing to bring you other quality programming six nights a week," the statement said. "You will definitely want to see what happens in Sunnydale as the current season draws to a close. With the same passion we brought to Buffy, we're also working on some amazing new programs for next season we think you'll be very excited about, and are looking forward to announcing those on TheWB.com in a few weeks."
UPN May Keep Buffy Time Slot
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon told TV Guide Online that he expects UPN to keep the show in its current timeslot once it moves from The WB in the fall. "The talk is of trying to keep it in the same slot--Tuesday at 8 [p.m.]," Whedon told the site. "There is no assurance of that; they may have a different plan. But that's the expectation and the hope."
As for Buffy spin-off Angel, Whedon said he doubted The WB would hurt the show out of spite or in retaliation for the move. "The WB is going to look at their schedule and see how strong they think it is, and if it fits in and if it can help them," Whedon said. "If they think [it will], then they'll keep it. People thought the decision would be made based on 'It's just too weird' or 'It can't stand alone.' But it has a slightly different audience than Buffy, and I believe it can stand alone. They're going to make that decision not on the high emotions of the last week, but on just regular old network scheduling."
But Whedon added that he hoped Angel would eventually move to UPN, where it can run as a block with Buffy, as before. "That is my hope as well. It's just simpler if they're together--if they're a block."
New Face On Angel?
David Greenwalt--executive producer and co-creator of The WB's Angel--is hoping to add a familiar face to the show's lineup next year: Adrian Pasdar, star of Greenwalt's critically acclaimed but short-lived Fox show Profit. Pasdar currently stars in NBC and Pax's supernatural drama Mysterious Ways.
"We've been dying to bring him to Angel," Greenwalt said in an interview. "It's a thing I've tried to work out a couple of times, and it's just a mammoth scheduling problem. But I would love to see him appear in Wolfram & Hart. It would make a lot of sense."
Greenwalt added that he's not worried about the show's future, even though its predecessor series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, moves to UPN next season. UPN has already promised to pick up Angel for two years if The WB cancels it; otherwise, it will remain on the frog network. "My thoughts are, we'll be in a good home either way," Greenwalt said. "It's all good."
Ally Will Go The Distance
Despite reports in the entertainment press last week that there might be problems with the last 2 Ally McBeal episodes this season, it now appears that Robert Downey Jr. had in fact finished all his filming before being fired, so the season will run to 22 episodes as originally planned. Beyond this, some means will have to be found to write Downey out, but we can leave that to David Kelley.
Mutant X Casts Canucks!
In an article in the Toronto Sun, four of the leads for the Mutant X TV series have been announced. All four are Canadians and would be able to continue working if the U.S. Screen Actors Guild goes on strike. (As an aside, Andromeda can do that as well, minus Sorbo and Cobb, if need be).
The actors are:
- Brennan (to be played by Victor Webster), who can conduct electricity.
- Emma (Lauren Lee Smith), a telepath who can influence other's emotions and behavior.
- Shalimar (Victoria Pratt), whose DNA is half human-half animal.
- Jessie (Forbes March), who can alter his body density.
Calgary native Webster, 28, is best known for playing Nicholas Alamain on Days Of Our Lives and starred in the TV movie The Chippendales Murder, filmed in Toronto last summer. His other credits include the Aaron Spelling series Sunset Beach, the U.S. cable series The Lot, martial arts movie Gangland and made-for-video action fantasy Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled.
March, 27, hails from Halifax but has been based in New York where he played Scott Parker Chandler on soap opera All My Children. He was also on the CBC teen series Northwood.
Pratt, 29, who grew up in small town Chesley, Ontario, co-starred as Sarge on the syndicated action sci-fi series Cleopatra 2525 and also had a recurring role on Xena: Warrior Princess.
Smith, 20 and from Vancouver, starred in the TV movie version of the story of Appalachian teacher Christy. She also played Erin Evans on the boy band series 2gether, was on the TV series Dark Angel and had a small part in the feature Get Carter.
Still to be cast is the role of the group's leader, Adam Xero, and the main adversary, Eckhart. The article also notes that the Mutant code names will be downplayed in the series.
Hamill, Brown Voice JLA
Mark Hamill and Clancy Brown will reprise their Superman roles of the Joker and Lex Luthor for the Cartoon Network's upcoming Justice League animated series, Comics Continuum reported. The Joker and Lex Luthor will be part of the Injustice Gang on the series.
Recording for the first season of Justice League, based on the DC Comics series Justice League of America, is about halfway completed. Kevin Conroy, the voice of Bruce Wayne and Batman in the animated Batman series, also returns. Other voices include George Newbern as Superman, Phil LaMarr as Green Lantern, Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, Maria Canals as Hawkgirl, Carl Lumbly as Martian Manhunter and Michael Rosenbaum as the Flash.
Animation producer Bruce Timm (Batman Beyond) also told Comics Continuum that his upcoming Justice League series will have a familiar look. "It's very much in the same style and genre as Superman and Batman," Timm said. "The major difference is that we're going for a more realistic look in the backgrounds."
Timm added, "The events that take place in the show are so much larger than life than what happens in Batman. Batman, it was a fairly mundane adventure just in the fact that it was a non-superpowered human fighting non-superpowered villains for the most part, so we were able to stylize the backgrounds more to give the show more visual interest. Whereas with this show--we've got a goddess and a guy from Krypton and a guy from Mars and a space cop all teamed up together. So there's a lot of visual pow right there already. We felt the fact that these characters are already so larger than life, we should try to make the setting of the Earth look a little more realistic, so it will feel a little more believable, if that makes sense. So we're going for a little bit more of a--it's not really photographic or photo-realistic--but it's a little bit more of a realistic background." Cartoon Network has ordered 26 half-hour episodes of Justice League, which debuts in November.
Sci-Fi Lands Mars and Charles Dickens in Space
The Sci-Fi Channel is developing Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, a four-hour miniseries adaptation of Robinson's best-selling Mars trilogy of SF novels, the network announced. Like the books (Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars), the miniseries will chronicle the lives of the first 100 colonists on the Red Planet and their epic struggle to create a new world.
Robinson, a member of NASA's Mars Committee, will consult on the project. Red Mars will be executive produced by the partners at “Created By”.
Sci-Fi also announced that it is developing a science fiction version of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, changing the story's venue from the French Revolution to two planets long ago and far away. Ken Raskoff will produce the four-hour original miniseries.
Sci-Fi Lab Rolls Out First Product
The Sci-Fi Channel's programming development unit, the Sci-Fi Lab, has announced its first batch of specials. The Lab is a stand-alone unit with its own facilities, charged with creating programming outside the traditional programming development process.
Currently in development (all working titles):
•Alien Hunter, about a hunter and his crew dedicated to saving the galaxy's most endangered and dangerous animals.
•Celebrity Time Capsule, in which 50 visionaries and celebrities come together to create a video time capsule for the next century, telecast from the base of the missile silo storing the memories of today for the people of tomorrow.
•Conspiracy Theory, which asks the questions, "Do men in black really exist? What was Roswell really the site for? Was Princess Di murdered? Was O.J. framed by the mob?" Conspiracy Theory entertains wacky theories in a talk-show atmosphere and features a Tom Green-like roving reporter.
Krige As Borg Queen?
Recently rumors have been floating around that had suggested that Alice Krige would be returning to the role she played in Star Trek: First Contact: the Borg Queen. Now, there appears to be confirmation.
While appearing on the Fox & Friends talk show, Kate Mulgrew answered a question about Star Trek: Voyager and the returning character, saying, "The Queen? I just worked with her."
She then let slip, "Boy, she's marvelous, Alice Krige. There's some great stuff with her in the finale."
Previously the part had been played, on Voyager, by actress Susanna Thompson. No reason is, as yet, known why Krige ended up back in the part.
Bakula On 'Enterprise'?
Rumors have been flying for quite some time that Scott Bakula was going to be playing the captain on board the coming fifth Star Trek series, Enterprise, but another project seems to have gotten in the way of making it a done deal.
According to Variety, Bakula has signed on for the CBS comedy pilot project called Late Boomers. Bakula will be taking on the role that had originally been filled by Burt Reynolds who recently departed the project due to creative differences.
Still, the trade does note that at this point, Bakula is only contractually signed on the pilot in a guest capacity. This situation may also be the reason that Paramount has held back verifying any specifics of their coming fifth Star Trek series, which everyone is now calling Enterprise.
The trade does note that the actor had initially turned down the Trek program's lead role, though he has since resumed talks in recent deals, with no solid deal as yet signed.
ABC Has A New Wrinkle
ABC will develop a miniseries based on Madeleine L'Engle's classic children's SF novel A Wrinkle in Time, to star Alfre Woodard, Kate Nelligan and Alison Elliott, according to The Hollywood Reporter. BLT Productions and Fireworks International will produce and Miramax Television will distribute the four-hour miniseries in association with Dimension Films. Susan Shilliday wrote the script, and John Kent Harrison will direct the show, which began production in Vancouver.
The miniseries marks the first time the 1962 novel has been adapted for the screen. Miramax had been developing Wrinkle as a feature for years, before it revamped the book as a miniseries for Miramax's Disney sibling ABC, the trade paper reported. Wrinkle tells the story of a brother and a sister who encounter three eccentric unearthly women and embark on a cosmic journey in search of their physicist father.
Wrinkle is slated to air on consecutive Sunday nights next season as part of The Wonderful World of Disney.
NBC Aims At Ground Zero
NBC will air the original television movie Ground Zero, starring Katherine Heigl (The WB's Roswell) and Kerr Smith (The Forsaken), Variety reported. Charlie's Angels producer Leonard Goldberg will produce.
Eric Laneuville will direct Ground Zero, which is slated to start production in Vancouver, B.C., this week, the trade paper reported. Heigl and Smith will play college students who build a nuclear bomb, which is then stolen by terrorists intent on blowing up San Francisco. Tom Vaughan wrote the script, which is based on James Mills' novel The Seventh Power.
Movie News:
Blade 2 Goes Its Own Way
David Goyer--who wrote and is producing the upcoming sequel Blade 2 has suggested that the movie will veer off from 1998's original Blade. "We wanted to try to tell a new story that wasn't just the same one rehashed again," Goyer said. "With this movie, we went in just a completely different direction. We have a very large cast, a lot of vampires and more villains than in the first one."
Blade 2, starring Wesley Snipes, is currently in production in Prague under director Guillermo del Toro. Goyer added that the sequel won't pull punches, just like the first movie. "Just because it's a sequel, we didn't tone anything down, let's put it that way," he said.
Goyer added, "It looks great. There were a lot of blues in the first film. This has more greens and yellows and sodium. It kind of looks like “Seven The Action Movie” in a way." Goyer said production on Blade 2 could go into July, with second-unit work. He said that New Line will probably release the film in either spring or summer 2002.
In separate news, Wesley Snipes was recently treated for minor burns after a mishap with pyrotechnics on the set. It is not expected that these minor injuries will interfere with the production schedule.
Disney Returns To Witch
Disney will remake its 1975 supernatural movie Escape to Witch Mountain, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Adam Kulakow will write the new version for producer Andrew Gunn.
The remake of the movie, about two children with telekinetic powers, is described as being in the vein of The WB's Roswell or Fox's The X-Files, the trade paper reported. The original movie was based on a novel of the same name by Alexander Key and was followed by the 1978 sequel Return from Witch Mountain.
In the new version, the two children will be teens and won't be related, as they were in the original.
Disney Signs Signs
Disney has bought Signs, a supernatural thriller movie from Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan, which he will direct in the fall, Variety reported. Disney pre-empted other studios in snapping up the script; Disney produced both Sixth Sense and last year's Unbreakable, which together have grossed more than $900 million worldwide, the trade paper reported.
The plot of Signs is a secret, but like Shyamalan's previous two films, it is set in his home state of Pennsylvania. It revolves around the sudden appearance of a 500-foot array of circles and lines found in the crops of a family farm, the trade paper reported.
Jolie Got Tomb Gift
Angelina Jolie told Cinescape magazine that she snagged some souvenirs from the set of her upcoming Tomb Raider movie, according to a report on the Empire Online Web site. "I'm having my guns sent," Jolie told the magazine. "They were just put in their case, so I can have Lara's guns. I became really close to them and wore them every day, so I want them here."
Jolie added that she had to figure out how to play Lara Croft, the heroine of the Eidos video-game series on which the film is based. "I wanted to really understand someone being raised a certain way in England--their culture, the accent and also the class that she's raised in--the manners," Jolie said. "She's Lady Lara Croft, and I had very little practice in being a lady."
Reed To Direct Fantastic
Peyton Reed (Bring It On) will develop and direct Fantastic Four, a Fox movie based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, Variety reported.
Fantastic Four centers on four astronauts who develop superhuman powers after their spaceship is exposed to cosmic rays. Marvel Studios, 1492 Pictures' Michael Barnathan and Constantin Films' Bernd Eichinger will produce.
Sam Hamm (Monkeybone) and Philip Morton have written a script and Michael France (GoldenEye) and Chris Columbus have contributed story ideas, but the producers and Reed are currently seeking a new writer, the trade paper reported.
Raja Gosnell, Brian Helgeland and Columbus have all been rumored at various times to be directing the movie.
'Nevermore' Movie Project
Edgar Allan Poe will be the focus of a new mystery/whodunit featuring the author in the midst of a murder mystery titled Nevermore: The Nightmares of Edgar Allan Poe.
According to Variety columnist Michael Fleming, the project will be directed by Craig Rosenberg from a script he will write. The film will tell the story of Poe, who is still grieving from the death of his wife in Baltimore. Meanwhile, there's been a series of murders that seem to have drawn their inspiration from Poe's macabre stories...which serves to place the author highest on a short list of suspects. Making matters worse is that due to his state of mind, Poe isn't sure he isn't the killer.
Fleming reports that the film will also be peopled with characters from Poe's stories. For example, while grieving, the author has been staying in the crumbling home of Roderick Usher.
The Neal Moritz produced project seems to have no connection to oft-mentioned Nightmare of Edgar Allan Poe project that has been in development forever with Michael Jackson said to be ready to play the tortured author.
'Trek X' Title, Spoiler?
Word has come of what might be the title for the tenth Star Trek feature film as well the coming film's opening scene.
A tipster checking in with TrekToday purports to have got a hold of the first few pages of the coming film's script. The site reports that the script currently has a title of Star Trek X: Nemesis. If that sounds familiar, it's because it has also been a title tossed around quite a bit for previous Trek films, particularly Star Trek: Insurrection.
In addition, the tipster talks of the film's opening scene...which could be a spoiler for those who would rather not know a thing about the coming film. If that mean you, then move along to another story by scrolling down to “Spoilers End”.
Spoilers Begin
TrekToday reports the following:
"After the opening credits, the first location we are shown is Alaska - the site of William Riker's and Deanna Troi's wedding. Serving as best man is Jean-Luc Picard, the Captain under whose watch the Imzadi were reunited."
Rumors have also been flying regarding the wedding.
Time will tell, of course.
-----Original Message-----
From: Eastlant Sci-Fi Group [mailto:eastlant@kua.net]
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 9:16 AM
To: Eastlant Automailer
Subject: Eastlant Sci-Fi Group - 2000-2001 Season Progress Report 35A
Eastlant Sci-Fi Group - 2000-2001 Season Progress Report 35A.
This is a digest of recent Sci-Fi- and genre-related news as of 1st May 2001.
News & Notes
Group News:
Text-Only Version
May we remind everyone that we do publish a text-only version of Part A? If any of you have difficulty with HTML e-mail, let us know and we will transfer you to the automailer for that version of the newsletter.
Nero Wolfe Correction
We have realized that apart from the pilot, which is a feature-length episode, the Nero Wolfe series episodes are standard length – i.e. 43 minutes after editing.
TV News:
Well, That Didn’t Last Long, Did It?
After only two episodes UPN’s new ghostly medical drama “All Souls” has been pulled from the schedule. Nothing like giving a show a chance, huh? No news as to whether the remaining four episodes will, ever air. Seems a shame really. From the two eps we saw, this actually looked quite promising. It was certainly more spine-tingling than last years’ “wet” ghost show “The Others”.
So far, the various scheduling sites haven’t been updated, so an episode is still listed for this week. If it appears we will grab it, but after that, the fate of this show appears to be sealed.
Mind you, it is hardly surprising. This was new, untried commodity, with no established audience, airing at the same time as Angel on WB and Dark Angel on Fox. I wonder if anyone at UPN was actually surprised that it failed?
To suggest that these people have the IQ of a family pet is an insult to every local dog that ever crapped on my lawn.
WB Posts News On Buffy
The WB posted another statement on its official Web site about the move of its hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer to UPN this fall. Among other things, the network confirmed that it would continue operating the official Buffy Web site, but only "for as long as the show is still on The WB."
The statement--from WB co-presidents for entertainment Susanne Daniels and Jordan Levin--added, "Of course we're disappointed that Buffy won't be part of our long-term future, but we couldn't be prouder of what we've accomplished through years of nurturing and believing in the show and of the achievements to date of the talented cast and crew. It took a lot of time, effort and energy to get this show on the air at a time when there was nothing else out there like it, and to make it a success even when others doubted.
"Knowing how much you care about the show, we negotiated strongly to keep it on The WB, but ultimately the price 20th Television [the studio that produces Buffy] wanted was too high for us to pay while continuing to bring you other quality programming six nights a week," the statement said. "You will definitely want to see what happens in Sunnydale as the current season draws to a close. With the same passion we brought to Buffy, we're also working on some amazing new programs for next season we think you'll be very excited about, and are looking forward to announcing those on TheWB.com in a few weeks."
UPN May Keep Buffy Time Slot
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon told TV Guide Online that he expects UPN to keep the show in its current timeslot once it moves from The WB in the fall. "The talk is of trying to keep it in the same slot--Tuesday at 8 [p.m.]," Whedon told the site. "There is no assurance of that; they may have a different plan. But that's the expectation and the hope."
As for Buffy spin-off Angel, Whedon said he doubted The WB would hurt the show out of spite or in retaliation for the move. "The WB is going to look at their schedule and see how strong they think it is, and if it fits in and if it can help them," Whedon said. "If they think [it will], then they'll keep it. People thought the decision would be made based on 'It's just too weird' or 'It can't stand alone.' But it has a slightly different audience than Buffy, and I believe it can stand alone. They're going to make that decision not on the high emotions of the last week, but on just regular old network scheduling."
But Whedon added that he hoped Angel would eventually move to UPN, where it can run as a block with Buffy, as before. "That is my hope as well. It's just simpler if they're together--if they're a block."
New Face On Angel?
David Greenwalt--executive producer and co-creator of The WB's Angel--is hoping to add a familiar face to the show's lineup next year: Adrian Pasdar, star of Greenwalt's critically acclaimed but short-lived Fox show Profit. Pasdar currently stars in NBC and Pax's supernatural drama Mysterious Ways.
"We've been dying to bring him to Angel," Greenwalt said in an interview. "It's a thing I've tried to work out a couple of times, and it's just a mammoth scheduling problem. But I would love to see him appear in Wolfram & Hart. It would make a lot of sense."
Greenwalt added that he's not worried about the show's future, even though its predecessor series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, moves to UPN next season. UPN has already promised to pick up Angel for two years if The WB cancels it; otherwise, it will remain on the frog network. "My thoughts are, we'll be in a good home either way," Greenwalt said. "It's all good."
Ally Will Go The Distance
Despite reports in the entertainment press last week that there might be problems with the last 2 Ally McBeal episodes this season, it now appears that Robert Downey Jr. had in fact finished all his filming before being fired, so the season will run to 22 episodes as originally planned. Beyond this, some means will have to be found to write Downey out, but we can leave that to David Kelley.
Mutant X Casts Canucks!
In an article in the Toronto Sun, four of the leads for the Mutant X TV series have been announced. All four are Canadians and would be able to continue working if the U.S. Screen Actors Guild goes on strike. (As an aside, Andromeda can do that as well, minus Sorbo and Cobb, if need be).
The actors are:
- Brennan (to be played by Victor Webster), who can conduct electricity.
- Emma (Lauren Lee Smith), a telepath who can influence other's emotions and behavior.
- Shalimar (Victoria Pratt), whose DNA is half human-half animal.
- Jessie (Forbes March), who can alter his body density.
Calgary native Webster, 28, is best known for playing Nicholas Alamain on Days Of Our Lives and starred in the TV movie The Chippendales Murder, filmed in Toronto last summer. His other credits include the Aaron Spelling series Sunset Beach, the U.S. cable series The Lot, martial arts movie Gangland and made-for-video action fantasy Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled.
March, 27, hails from Halifax but has been based in New York where he played Scott Parker Chandler on soap opera All My Children. He was also on the CBC teen series Northwood.
Pratt, 29, who grew up in small town Chesley, Ontario, co-starred as Sarge on the syndicated action sci-fi series Cleopatra 2525 and also had a recurring role on Xena: Warrior Princess.
Smith, 20 and from Vancouver, starred in the TV movie version of the story of Appalachian teacher Christy. She also played Erin Evans on the boy band series 2gether, was on the TV series Dark Angel and had a small part in the feature Get Carter.
Still to be cast is the role of the group's leader, Adam Xero, and the main adversary, Eckhart. The article also notes that the Mutant code names will be downplayed in the series.
Hamill, Brown Voice JLA
Mark Hamill and Clancy Brown will reprise their Superman roles of the Joker and Lex Luthor for the Cartoon Network's upcoming Justice League animated series, Comics Continuum reported. The Joker and Lex Luthor will be part of the Injustice Gang on the series.
Recording for the first season of Justice League, based on the DC Comics series Justice League of America, is about halfway completed. Kevin Conroy, the voice of Bruce Wayne and Batman in the animated Batman series, also returns. Other voices include George Newbern as Superman, Phil LaMarr as Green Lantern, Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, Maria Canals as Hawkgirl, Carl Lumbly as Martian Manhunter and Michael Rosenbaum as the Flash.
Animation producer Bruce Timm (Batman Beyond) also told Comics Continuum that his upcoming Justice League series will have a familiar look. "It's very much in the same style and genre as Superman and Batman," Timm said. "The major difference is that we're going for a more realistic look in the backgrounds."
Timm added, "The events that take place in the show are so much larger than life than what happens in Batman. Batman, it was a fairly mundane adventure just in the fact that it was a non-superpowered human fighting non-superpowered villains for the most part, so we were able to stylize the backgrounds more to give the show more visual interest. Whereas with this show--we've got a goddess and a guy from Krypton and a guy from Mars and a space cop all teamed up together. So there's a lot of visual pow right there already. We felt the fact that these characters are already so larger than life, we should try to make the setting of the Earth look a little more realistic, so it will feel a little more believable, if that makes sense. So we're going for a little bit more of a--it's not really photographic or photo-realistic--but it's a little bit more of a realistic background." Cartoon Network has ordered 26 half-hour episodes of Justice League, which debuts in November.
Sci-Fi Lands Mars and Charles Dickens in Space
The Sci-Fi Channel is developing Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, a four-hour miniseries adaptation of Robinson's best-selling Mars trilogy of SF novels, the network announced. Like the books (Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars), the miniseries will chronicle the lives of the first 100 colonists on the Red Planet and their epic struggle to create a new world.
Robinson, a member of NASA's Mars Committee, will consult on the project. Red Mars will be executive produced by the partners at “Created By”.
Sci-Fi also announced that it is developing a science fiction version of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, changing the story's venue from the French Revolution to two planets long ago and far away. Ken Raskoff will produce the four-hour original miniseries.
Sci-Fi Lab Rolls Out First Product
The Sci-Fi Channel's programming development unit, the Sci-Fi Lab, has announced its first batch of specials. The Lab is a stand-alone unit with its own facilities, charged with creating programming outside the traditional programming development process.
Currently in development (all working titles):
•Alien Hunter, about a hunter and his crew dedicated to saving the galaxy's most endangered and dangerous animals.
•Celebrity Time Capsule, in which 50 visionaries and celebrities come together to create a video time capsule for the next century, telecast from the base of the missile silo storing the memories of today for the people of tomorrow.
•Conspiracy Theory, which asks the questions, "Do men in black really exist? What was Roswell really the site for? Was Princess Di murdered? Was O.J. framed by the mob?" Conspiracy Theory entertains wacky theories in a talk-show atmosphere and features a Tom Green-like roving reporter.
Krige As Borg Queen?
Recently rumors have been floating around that had suggested that Alice Krige would be returning to the role she played in Star Trek: First Contact: the Borg Queen. Now, there appears to be confirmation.
While appearing on the Fox & Friends talk show, Kate Mulgrew answered a question about Star Trek: Voyager and the returning character, saying, "The Queen? I just worked with her."
She then let slip, "Boy, she's marvelous, Alice Krige. There's some great stuff with her in the finale."
Previously the part had been played, on Voyager, by actress Susanna Thompson. No reason is, as yet, known why Krige ended up back in the part.
Bakula On 'Enterprise'?
Rumors have been flying for quite some time that Scott Bakula was going to be playing the captain on board the coming fifth Star Trek series, Enterprise, but another project seems to have gotten in the way of making it a done deal.
According to Variety, Bakula has signed on for the CBS comedy pilot project called Late Boomers. Bakula will be taking on the role that had originally been filled by Burt Reynolds who recently departed the project due to creative differences.
Still, the trade does note that at this point, Bakula is only contractually signed on the pilot in a guest capacity. This situation may also be the reason that Paramount has held back verifying any specifics of their coming fifth Star Trek series, which everyone is now calling Enterprise.
The trade does note that the actor had initially turned down the Trek program's lead role, though he has since resumed talks in recent deals, with no solid deal as yet signed.
ABC Has A New Wrinkle
ABC will develop a miniseries based on Madeleine L'Engle's classic children's SF novel A Wrinkle in Time, to star Alfre Woodard, Kate Nelligan and Alison Elliott, according to The Hollywood Reporter. BLT Productions and Fireworks International will produce and Miramax Television will distribute the four-hour miniseries in association with Dimension Films. Susan Shilliday wrote the script, and John Kent Harrison will direct the show, which began production in Vancouver.
The miniseries marks the first time the 1962 novel has been adapted for the screen. Miramax had been developing Wrinkle as a feature for years, before it revamped the book as a miniseries for Miramax's Disney sibling ABC, the trade paper reported. Wrinkle tells the story of a brother and a sister who encounter three eccentric unearthly women and embark on a cosmic journey in search of their physicist father.
Wrinkle is slated to air on consecutive Sunday nights next season as part of The Wonderful World of Disney.
NBC Aims At Ground Zero
NBC will air the original television movie Ground Zero, starring Katherine Heigl (The WB's Roswell) and Kerr Smith (The Forsaken), Variety reported. Charlie's Angels producer Leonard Goldberg will produce.
Eric Laneuville will direct Ground Zero, which is slated to start production in Vancouver, B.C., this week, the trade paper reported. Heigl and Smith will play college students who build a nuclear bomb, which is then stolen by terrorists intent on blowing up San Francisco. Tom Vaughan wrote the script, which is based on James Mills' novel The Seventh Power.
Movie News:
Blade 2 Goes Its Own Way
David Goyer--who wrote and is producing the upcoming sequel Blade 2 has suggested that the movie will veer off from 1998's original Blade. "We wanted to try to tell a new story that wasn't just the same one rehashed again," Goyer said. "With this movie, we went in just a completely different direction. We have a very large cast, a lot of vampires and more villains than in the first one."
Blade 2, starring Wesley Snipes, is currently in production in Prague under director Guillermo del Toro. Goyer added that the sequel won't pull punches, just like the first movie. "Just because it's a sequel, we didn't tone anything down, let's put it that way," he said.
Goyer added, "It looks great. There were a lot of blues in the first film. This has more greens and yellows and sodium. It kind of looks like “Seven The Action Movie” in a way." Goyer said production on Blade 2 could go into July, with second-unit work. He said that New Line will probably release the film in either spring or summer 2002.
In separate news, Wesley Snipes was recently treated for minor burns after a mishap with pyrotechnics on the set. It is not expected that these minor injuries will interfere with the production schedule.
Disney Returns To Witch
Disney will remake its 1975 supernatural movie Escape to Witch Mountain, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Adam Kulakow will write the new version for producer Andrew Gunn.
The remake of the movie, about two children with telekinetic powers, is described as being in the vein of The WB's Roswell or Fox's The X-Files, the trade paper reported. The original movie was based on a novel of the same name by Alexander Key and was followed by the 1978 sequel Return from Witch Mountain.
In the new version, the two children will be teens and won't be related, as they were in the original.
Disney Signs Signs
Disney has bought Signs, a supernatural thriller movie from Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan, which he will direct in the fall, Variety reported. Disney pre-empted other studios in snapping up the script; Disney produced both Sixth Sense and last year's Unbreakable, which together have grossed more than $900 million worldwide, the trade paper reported.
The plot of Signs is a secret, but like Shyamalan's previous two films, it is set in his home state of Pennsylvania. It revolves around the sudden appearance of a 500-foot array of circles and lines found in the crops of a family farm, the trade paper reported.
Jolie Got Tomb Gift
Angelina Jolie told Cinescape magazine that she snagged some souvenirs from the set of her upcoming Tomb Raider movie, according to a report on the Empire Online Web site. "I'm having my guns sent," Jolie told the magazine. "They were just put in their case, so I can have Lara's guns. I became really close to them and wore them every day, so I want them here."
Jolie added that she had to figure out how to play Lara Croft, the heroine of the Eidos video-game series on which the film is based. "I wanted to really understand someone being raised a certain way in England--their culture, the accent and also the class that she's raised in--the manners," Jolie said. "She's Lady Lara Croft, and I had very little practice in being a lady."
Reed To Direct Fantastic
Peyton Reed (Bring It On) will develop and direct Fantastic Four, a Fox movie based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, Variety reported.
Fantastic Four centers on four astronauts who develop superhuman powers after their spaceship is exposed to cosmic rays. Marvel Studios, 1492 Pictures' Michael Barnathan and Constantin Films' Bernd Eichinger will produce.
Sam Hamm (Monkeybone) and Philip Morton have written a script and Michael France (GoldenEye) and Chris Columbus have contributed story ideas, but the producers and Reed are currently seeking a new writer, the trade paper reported.
Raja Gosnell, Brian Helgeland and Columbus have all been rumored at various times to be directing the movie.
'Nevermore' Movie Project
Edgar Allan Poe will be the focus of a new mystery/whodunit featuring the author in the midst of a murder mystery titled Nevermore: The Nightmares of Edgar Allan Poe.
According to Variety columnist Michael Fleming, the project will be directed by Craig Rosenberg from a script he will write. The film will tell the story of Poe, who is still grieving from the death of his wife in Baltimore. Meanwhile, there's been a series of murders that seem to have drawn their inspiration from Poe's macabre stories...which serves to place the author highest on a short list of suspects. Making matters worse is that due to his state of mind, Poe isn't sure he isn't the killer.
Fleming reports that the film will also be peopled with characters from Poe's stories. For example, while grieving, the author has been staying in the crumbling home of Roderick Usher.
The Neal Moritz produced project seems to have no connection to oft-mentioned Nightmare of Edgar Allan Poe project that has been in development forever with Michael Jackson said to be ready to play the tortured author.
'Trek X' Title, Spoiler?
Word has come of what might be the title for the tenth Star Trek feature film as well the coming film's opening scene.
A tipster checking in with TrekToday purports to have got a hold of the first few pages of the coming film's script. The site reports that the script currently has a title of Star Trek X: Nemesis. If that sounds familiar, it's because it has also been a title tossed around quite a bit for previous Trek films, particularly Star Trek: Insurrection.
In addition, the tipster talks of the film's opening scene...which could be a spoiler for those who would rather not know a thing about the coming film. If that mean you, then move along to another story by scrolling down to “Spoilers End”.
Spoilers Begin
TrekToday reports the following:
"After the opening credits, the first location we are shown is Alaska - the site of William Riker's and Deanna Troi's wedding. Serving as best man is Jean-Luc Picard, the Captain under whose watch the Imzadi were reunited."
Rumors have also been flying regarding the wedding.
Time will tell, of course.
Spoilers End
Genre Veterans are “Unspeakable”
Thomas Wright (Dark Angel) has been tapped to direct Dennis Hopper, Dina Meyer and Lance Henriksen in the supernatural thriller movie Unspeakable, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The independent film, budgeted at $2 million to $3 million, is slated to start shooting May 5 in Santa Fe, N.M.
Pavan Grover wrote the script, with Earl Mac Rauch and Wright collaborating on rewrites. Unspeakable tells the story of a female psychologist who must deal with a serial killer after he escapes the electric chair, raising the possibility that he is not human.
Meyer is best known among genre fans for her role in Starship Troopers; Henriksen starred in Fox's Millennium. Earl Mac Rauch wrote the script for 1984's The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
Evolution Juggles Laughs, Scares
Ivan Reitman, director of the upcoming SF comedy movie Evolution, told the New York Daily News that the film will remind viewers of one of his earlier hits. "Ever since Ghostbusters, I've been looking for a good story in which something amazing and large threatens the existence of our planet--something around which I could develop a character comedy. But it's hard to come by," the director told the newspaper.
In Evolution, David Duchovny, Orlando Jones and Julianne Moore combine forces to deal with a meteorite that contains organisms that evolve at an accelerated rate. "A level of evolution that took 200 million years on Earth just takes several hours," Reitman said. He added, "I like cross-genre movies, maybe because they're so hard to do. You have to get the tone right, because the humor often undercuts the truth or the fright or the science."
Finding Timeline's Time
Lauren Shuler Donner, who is producing the feature-film version of Michael Crichton's time-travel novel Timeline, told The Hollywood Reporter that filmmakers had to improvise to recreate the book's medieval setting. Timeline tells the story of a professor and his students who travel back to 14th-century France and find themselves in the middle of a war.
"So, 14th century--'Okay, we'd better scout in Europe. We'd better find a place,'" Shuler told Reporter columnist Martin Grove. "It's interesting, because Michael Crichton's book is based in the Dordogne area of France. We went there first to film and make it real, and there's electric wires everywhere. There's 21st century civilization. We couldn't shoot there. So we had to go actually to a place in England on the border of Wales to recreate the castle and the village, where there is no evidence of today's life. England doubles for France."
Shuler described the story as "an adventure romance." "We have a professor that goes back in a time machine to the Middle Ages during the Hundred Year War, when France is fighting England to get back their land," she said. "He gets stuck back there, and his students have to go back and get him. And once they're there, they're in the middle of war, and they're in terrible danger. They're not sure they can get back, and we're rooting for them to try to get back into their present lives."
Odds and Ends: Short items not worthy of an article in their own right.
· Terminator 3 star Arnold Schwarzenegger told the Los Angeles Times that he is not planning to run for governor of the state of California in 2002, as has been widely speculated.
· Word has it that DreamWork's Time Machine project is behind schedule due to changes made to the project by the film's director. While talking to ShowBiz Ireland, singer turned actress Samantha Mumba revealed, "He decided that he wanted to change a few things so now we've got to re-shoot everything. Everything has gone back to square one but it’s all for the best I suppose. Both [my brother] Omero and I were initially gutted because we had worked so hard. But we're all in it together and everyone wants to get the movie back on track."
· Fox Kids has ordered 26 episodes of a new anime series, Medabot, to debut in the fall, Variety reported. The series, from Nelvana in association with NAS/Kodansha, is set in the year 2122, when every kid owns a pet robot with artificial intelligence.
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.
Eastlant Sci-Fi Group - 2000-2001 Season Progress Report 35A.
This is a digest of recent Sci-Fi- and genre-related news as of 1st May 2001.
News & Notes
Group News:
Text-Only Version
May we remind everyone that we do publish a text-only version of Part A? If any of you have difficulty with HTML e-mail, let us know and we will transfer you to the automailer for that version of the newsletter.
Nero Wolfe Correction
We have realized that apart from the pilot, which is a feature-length episode, the Nero Wolfe series episodes are standard length – i.e. 43 minutes after editing.
TV News:
Well, That Didn’t Last Long, Did It?
After only two episodes UPN’s new ghostly medical drama “All Souls” has been pulled from the schedule. Nothing like giving a show a chance, huh? No news as to whether the remaining four episodes will, ever air. Seems a shame really. From the two eps we saw, this actually looked quite promising. It was certainly more spine-tingling than last years’ “wet” ghost show “The Others”.
So far, the various scheduling sites haven’t been updated, so an episode is still listed for this week. If it appears we will grab it, but after that, the fate of this show appears to be sealed.
Mind you, it is hardly surprising. This was new, untried commodity, with no established audience, airing at the same time as Angel on WB and Dark Angel on Fox. I wonder if anyone at UPN was actually surprised that it failed?
To suggest that these people have the IQ of a family pet is an insult to every local dog that ever crapped on my lawn.
WB Posts News On Buffy
The WB posted another statement on its official Web site about the move of its hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer to UPN this fall. Among other things, the network confirmed that it would continue operating the official Buffy Web site, but only "for as long as the show is still on The WB."
The statement--from WB co-presidents for entertainment Susanne Daniels and Jordan Levin--added, "Of course we're disappointed that Buffy won't be part of our long-term future, but we couldn't be prouder of what we've accomplished through years of nurturing and believing in the show and of the achievements to date of the talented cast and crew. It took a lot of time, effort and energy to get this show on the air at a time when there was nothing else out there like it, and to make it a success even when others doubted.
"Knowing how much you care about the show, we negotiated strongly to keep it on The WB, but ultimately the price 20th Television [the studio that produces Buffy] wanted was too high for us to pay while continuing to bring you other quality programming six nights a week," the statement said. "You will definitely want to see what happens in Sunnydale as the current season draws to a close. With the same passion we brought to Buffy, we're also working on some amazing new programs for next season we think you'll be very excited about, and are looking forward to announcing those on TheWB.com in a few weeks."
UPN May Keep Buffy Time Slot
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon told TV Guide Online that he expects UPN to keep the show in its current timeslot once it moves from The WB in the fall. "The talk is of trying to keep it in the same slot--Tuesday at 8 [p.m.]," Whedon told the site. "There is no assurance of that; they may have a different plan. But that's the expectation and the hope."
As for Buffy spin-off Angel, Whedon said he doubted The WB would hurt the show out of spite or in retaliation for the move. "The WB is going to look at their schedule and see how strong they think it is, and if it fits in and if it can help them," Whedon said. "If they think [it will], then they'll keep it. People thought the decision would be made based on 'It's just too weird' or 'It can't stand alone.' But it has a slightly different audience than Buffy, and I believe it can stand alone. They're going to make that decision not on the high emotions of the last week, but on just regular old network scheduling."
But Whedon added that he hoped Angel would eventually move to UPN, where it can run as a block with Buffy, as before. "That is my hope as well. It's just simpler if they're together--if they're a block."
New Face On Angel?
David Greenwalt--executive producer and co-creator of The WB's Angel--is hoping to add a familiar face to the show's lineup next year: Adrian Pasdar, star of Greenwalt's critically acclaimed but short-lived Fox show Profit. Pasdar currently stars in NBC and Pax's supernatural drama Mysterious Ways.
"We've been dying to bring him to Angel," Greenwalt said in an interview. "It's a thing I've tried to work out a couple of times, and it's just a mammoth scheduling problem. But I would love to see him appear in Wolfram & Hart. It would make a lot of sense."
Greenwalt added that he's not worried about the show's future, even though its predecessor series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, moves to UPN next season. UPN has already promised to pick up Angel for two years if The WB cancels it; otherwise, it will remain on the frog network. "My thoughts are, we'll be in a good home either way," Greenwalt said. "It's all good."
Ally Will Go The Distance
Despite reports in the entertainment press last week that there might be problems with the last 2 Ally McBeal episodes this season, it now appears that Robert Downey Jr. had in fact finished all his filming before being fired, so the season will run to 22 episodes as originally planned. Beyond this, some means will have to be found to write Downey out, but we can leave that to David Kelley.
Mutant X Casts Canucks!
In an article in the Toronto Sun, four of the leads for the Mutant X TV series have been announced. All four are Canadians and would be able to continue working if the U.S. Screen Actors Guild goes on strike. (As an aside, Andromeda can do that as well, minus Sorbo and Cobb, if need be).
The actors are:
- Brennan (to be played by Victor Webster), who can conduct electricity.
- Emma (Lauren Lee Smith), a telepath who can influence other's emotions and behavior.
- Shalimar (Victoria Pratt), whose DNA is half human-half animal.
- Jessie (Forbes March), who can alter his body density.
Calgary native Webster, 28, is best known for playing Nicholas Alamain on Days Of Our Lives and starred in the TV movie The Chippendales Murder, filmed in Toronto last summer. His other credits include the Aaron Spelling series Sunset Beach, the U.S. cable series The Lot, martial arts movie Gangland and made-for-video action fantasy Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled.
March, 27, hails from Halifax but has been based in New York where he played Scott Parker Chandler on soap opera All My Children. He was also on the CBC teen series Northwood.
Pratt, 29, who grew up in small town Chesley, Ontario, co-starred as Sarge on the syndicated action sci-fi series Cleopatra 2525 and also had a recurring role on Xena: Warrior Princess.
Smith, 20 and from Vancouver, starred in the TV movie version of the story of Appalachian teacher Christy. She also played Erin Evans on the boy band series 2gether, was on the TV series Dark Angel and had a small part in the feature Get Carter.
Still to be cast is the role of the group's leader, Adam Xero, and the main adversary, Eckhart. The article also notes that the Mutant code names will be downplayed in the series.
Hamill, Brown Voice JLA
Mark Hamill and Clancy Brown will reprise their Superman roles of the Joker and Lex Luthor for the Cartoon Network's upcoming Justice League animated series, Comics Continuum reported. The Joker and Lex Luthor will be part of the Injustice Gang on the series.
Recording for the first season of Justice League, based on the DC Comics series Justice League of America, is about halfway completed. Kevin Conroy, the voice of Bruce Wayne and Batman in the animated Batman series, also returns. Other voices include George Newbern as Superman, Phil LaMarr as Green Lantern, Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, Maria Canals as Hawkgirl, Carl Lumbly as Martian Manhunter and Michael Rosenbaum as the Flash.
Animation producer Bruce Timm (Batman Beyond) also told Comics Continuum that his upcoming Justice League series will have a familiar look. "It's very much in the same style and genre as Superman and Batman," Timm said. "The major difference is that we're going for a more realistic look in the backgrounds."
Timm added, "The events that take place in the show are so much larger than life than what happens in Batman. Batman, it was a fairly mundane adventure just in the fact that it was a non-superpowered human fighting non-superpowered villains for the most part, so we were able to stylize the backgrounds more to give the show more visual interest. Whereas with this show--we've got a goddess and a guy from Krypton and a guy from Mars and a space cop all teamed up together. So there's a lot of visual pow right there already. We felt the fact that these characters are already so larger than life, we should try to make the setting of the Earth look a little more realistic, so it will feel a little more believable, if that makes sense. So we're going for a little bit more of a--it's not really photographic or photo-realistic--but it's a little bit more of a realistic background." Cartoon Network has ordered 26 half-hour episodes of Justice League, which debuts in November.
Sci-Fi Lands Mars and Charles Dickens in Space
The Sci-Fi Channel is developing Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, a four-hour miniseries adaptation of Robinson's best-selling Mars trilogy of SF novels, the network announced. Like the books (Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars), the miniseries will chronicle the lives of the first 100 colonists on the Red Planet and their epic struggle to create a new world.
Robinson, a member of NASA's Mars Committee, will consult on the project. Red Mars will be executive produced by the partners at “Created By”.
Sci-Fi also announced that it is developing a science fiction version of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, changing the story's venue from the French Revolution to two planets long ago and far away. Ken Raskoff will produce the four-hour original miniseries.
Sci-Fi Lab Rolls Out First Product
The Sci-Fi Channel's programming development unit, the Sci-Fi Lab, has announced its first batch of specials. The Lab is a stand-alone unit with its own facilities, charged with creating programming outside the traditional programming development process.
Currently in development (all working titles):
•Alien Hunter, about a hunter and his crew dedicated to saving the galaxy's most endangered and dangerous animals.
•Celebrity Time Capsule, in which 50 visionaries and celebrities come together to create a video time capsule for the next century, telecast from the base of the missile silo storing the memories of today for the people of tomorrow.
•Conspiracy Theory, which asks the questions, "Do men in black really exist? What was Roswell really the site for? Was Princess Di murdered? Was O.J. framed by the mob?" Conspiracy Theory entertains wacky theories in a talk-show atmosphere and features a Tom Green-like roving reporter.
Krige As Borg Queen?
Recently rumors have been floating around that had suggested that Alice Krige would be returning to the role she played in Star Trek: First Contact: the Borg Queen. Now, there appears to be confirmation.
While appearing on the Fox & Friends talk show, Kate Mulgrew answered a question about Star Trek: Voyager and the returning character, saying, "The Queen? I just worked with her."
She then let slip, "Boy, she's marvelous, Alice Krige. There's some great stuff with her in the finale."
Previously the part had been played, on Voyager, by actress Susanna Thompson. No reason is, as yet, known why Krige ended up back in the part.
Bakula On 'Enterprise'?
Rumors have been flying for quite some time that Scott Bakula was going to be playing the captain on board the coming fifth Star Trek series, Enterprise, but another project seems to have gotten in the way of making it a done deal.
According to Variety, Bakula has signed on for the CBS comedy pilot project called Late Boomers. Bakula will be taking on the role that had originally been filled by Burt Reynolds who recently departed the project due to creative differences.
Still, the trade does note that at this point, Bakula is only contractually signed on the pilot in a guest capacity. This situation may also be the reason that Paramount has held back verifying any specifics of their coming fifth Star Trek series, which everyone is now calling Enterprise.
The trade does note that the actor had initially turned down the Trek program's lead role, though he has since resumed talks in recent deals, with no solid deal as yet signed.
ABC Has A New Wrinkle
ABC will develop a miniseries based on Madeleine L'Engle's classic children's SF novel A Wrinkle in Time, to star Alfre Woodard, Kate Nelligan and Alison Elliott, according to The Hollywood Reporter. BLT Productions and Fireworks International will produce and Miramax Television will distribute the four-hour miniseries in association with Dimension Films. Susan Shilliday wrote the script, and John Kent Harrison will direct the show, which began production in Vancouver.
The miniseries marks the first time the 1962 novel has been adapted for the screen. Miramax had been developing Wrinkle as a feature for years, before it revamped the book as a miniseries for Miramax's Disney sibling ABC, the trade paper reported. Wrinkle tells the story of a brother and a sister who encounter three eccentric unearthly women and embark on a cosmic journey in search of their physicist father.
Wrinkle is slated to air on consecutive Sunday nights next season as part of The Wonderful World of Disney.
NBC Aims At Ground Zero
NBC will air the original television movie Ground Zero, starring Katherine Heigl (The WB's Roswell) and Kerr Smith (The Forsaken), Variety reported. Charlie's Angels producer Leonard Goldberg will produce.
Eric Laneuville will direct Ground Zero, which is slated to start production in Vancouver, B.C., this week, the trade paper reported. Heigl and Smith will play college students who build a nuclear bomb, which is then stolen by terrorists intent on blowing up San Francisco. Tom Vaughan wrote the script, which is based on James Mills' novel The Seventh Power.
Movie News:
Blade 2 Goes Its Own Way
David Goyer--who wrote and is producing the upcoming sequel Blade 2 has suggested that the movie will veer off from 1998's original Blade. "We wanted to try to tell a new story that wasn't just the same one rehashed again," Goyer said. "With this movie, we went in just a completely different direction. We have a very large cast, a lot of vampires and more villains than in the first one."
Blade 2, starring Wesley Snipes, is currently in production in Prague under director Guillermo del Toro. Goyer added that the sequel won't pull punches, just like the first movie. "Just because it's a sequel, we didn't tone anything down, let's put it that way," he said.
Goyer added, "It looks great. There were a lot of blues in the first film. This has more greens and yellows and sodium. It kind of looks like “Seven The Action Movie” in a way." Goyer said production on Blade 2 could go into July, with second-unit work. He said that New Line will probably release the film in either spring or summer 2002.
In separate news, Wesley Snipes was recently treated for minor burns after a mishap with pyrotechnics on the set. It is not expected that these minor injuries will interfere with the production schedule.
Disney Returns To Witch
Disney will remake its 1975 supernatural movie Escape to Witch Mountain, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Adam Kulakow will write the new version for producer Andrew Gunn.
The remake of the movie, about two children with telekinetic powers, is described as being in the vein of The WB's Roswell or Fox's The X-Files, the trade paper reported. The original movie was based on a novel of the same name by Alexander Key and was followed by the 1978 sequel Return from Witch Mountain.
In the new version, the two children will be teens and won't be related, as they were in the original.
Disney Signs Signs
Disney has bought Signs, a supernatural thriller movie from Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan, which he will direct in the fall, Variety reported. Disney pre-empted other studios in snapping up the script; Disney produced both Sixth Sense and last year's Unbreakable, which together have grossed more than $900 million worldwide, the trade paper reported.
The plot of Signs is a secret, but like Shyamalan's previous two films, it is set in his home state of Pennsylvania. It revolves around the sudden appearance of a 500-foot array of circles and lines found in the crops of a family farm, the trade paper reported.
Jolie Got Tomb Gift
Angelina Jolie told Cinescape magazine that she snagged some souvenirs from the set of her upcoming Tomb Raider movie, according to a report on the Empire Online Web site. "I'm having my guns sent," Jolie told the magazine. "They were just put in their case, so I can have Lara's guns. I became really close to them and wore them every day, so I want them here."
Jolie added that she had to figure out how to play Lara Croft, the heroine of the Eidos video-game series on which the film is based. "I wanted to really understand someone being raised a certain way in England--their culture, the accent and also the class that she's raised in--the manners," Jolie said. "She's Lady Lara Croft, and I had very little practice in being a lady."
Reed To Direct Fantastic
Peyton Reed (Bring It On) will develop and direct Fantastic Four, a Fox movie based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, Variety reported.
Fantastic Four centers on four astronauts who develop superhuman powers after their spaceship is exposed to cosmic rays. Marvel Studios, 1492 Pictures' Michael Barnathan and Constantin Films' Bernd Eichinger will produce.
Sam Hamm (Monkeybone) and Philip Morton have written a script and Michael France (GoldenEye) and Chris Columbus have contributed story ideas, but the producers and Reed are currently seeking a new writer, the trade paper reported.
Raja Gosnell, Brian Helgeland and Columbus have all been rumored at various times to be directing the movie.
'Nevermore' Movie Project
Edgar Allan Poe will be the focus of a new mystery/whodunit featuring the author in the midst of a murder mystery titled Nevermore: The Nightmares of Edgar Allan Poe.
According to Variety columnist Michael Fleming, the project will be directed by Craig Rosenberg from a script he will write. The film will tell the story of Poe, who is still grieving from the death of his wife in Baltimore. Meanwhile, there's been a series of murders that seem to have drawn their inspiration from Poe's macabre stories...which serves to place the author highest on a short list of suspects. Making matters worse is that due to his state of mind, Poe isn't sure he isn't the killer.
Fleming reports that the film will also be peopled with characters from Poe's stories. For example, while grieving, the author has been staying in the crumbling home of Roderick Usher.
The Neal Moritz produced project seems to have no connection to oft-mentioned Nightmare of Edgar Allan Poe project that has been in development forever with Michael Jackson said to be ready to play the tortured author.
'Trek X' Title, Spoiler?
Word has come of what might be the title for the tenth Star Trek feature film as well the coming film's opening scene.
A tipster checking in with TrekToday purports to have got a hold of the first few pages of the coming film's script. The site reports that the script currently has a title of Star Trek X: Nemesis. If that sounds familiar, it's because it has also been a title tossed around quite a bit for previous Trek films, particularly Star Trek: Insurrection.
In addition, the tipster talks of the film's opening scene...which could be a spoiler for those who would rather not know a thing about the coming film. If that mean you, then move along to another story by scrolling down to “Spoilers End”.
Spoilers Begin
TrekToday reports the following:
"After the opening credits, the first location we are shown is Alaska - the site of William Riker's and Deanna Troi's wedding. Serving as best man is Jean-Luc Picard, the Captain under whose watch the Imzadi were reunited."
Rumors have also been flying regarding the wedding.
Time will tell, of course.
-----Original Message-----
From: Eastlant Sci-Fi Group [mailto:eastlant@kua.net]
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 9:16 AM
To: Eastlant Automailer
Subject: Eastlant Sci-Fi Group - 2000-2001 Season Progress Report 35A
Eastlant Sci-Fi Group - 2000-2001 Season Progress Report 35A.
This is a digest of recent Sci-Fi- and genre-related news as of 1st May 2001.
News & Notes
Group News:
Text-Only Version
May we remind everyone that we do publish a text-only version of Part A? If any of you have difficulty with HTML e-mail, let us know and we will transfer you to the automailer for that version of the newsletter.
Nero Wolfe Correction
We have realized that apart from the pilot, which is a feature-length episode, the Nero Wolfe series episodes are standard length – i.e. 43 minutes after editing.
TV News:
Well, That Didn’t Last Long, Did It?
After only two episodes UPN’s new ghostly medical drama “All Souls” has been pulled from the schedule. Nothing like giving a show a chance, huh? No news as to whether the remaining four episodes will, ever air. Seems a shame really. From the two eps we saw, this actually looked quite promising. It was certainly more spine-tingling than last years’ “wet” ghost show “The Others”.
So far, the various scheduling sites haven’t been updated, so an episode is still listed for this week. If it appears we will grab it, but after that, the fate of this show appears to be sealed.
Mind you, it is hardly surprising. This was new, untried commodity, with no established audience, airing at the same time as Angel on WB and Dark Angel on Fox. I wonder if anyone at UPN was actually surprised that it failed?
To suggest that these people have the IQ of a family pet is an insult to every local dog that ever crapped on my lawn.
WB Posts News On Buffy
The WB posted another statement on its official Web site about the move of its hit series Buffy the Vampire Slayer to UPN this fall. Among other things, the network confirmed that it would continue operating the official Buffy Web site, but only "for as long as the show is still on The WB."
The statement--from WB co-presidents for entertainment Susanne Daniels and Jordan Levin--added, "Of course we're disappointed that Buffy won't be part of our long-term future, but we couldn't be prouder of what we've accomplished through years of nurturing and believing in the show and of the achievements to date of the talented cast and crew. It took a lot of time, effort and energy to get this show on the air at a time when there was nothing else out there like it, and to make it a success even when others doubted.
"Knowing how much you care about the show, we negotiated strongly to keep it on The WB, but ultimately the price 20th Television [the studio that produces Buffy] wanted was too high for us to pay while continuing to bring you other quality programming six nights a week," the statement said. "You will definitely want to see what happens in Sunnydale as the current season draws to a close. With the same passion we brought to Buffy, we're also working on some amazing new programs for next season we think you'll be very excited about, and are looking forward to announcing those on TheWB.com in a few weeks."
UPN May Keep Buffy Time Slot
Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon told TV Guide Online that he expects UPN to keep the show in its current timeslot once it moves from The WB in the fall. "The talk is of trying to keep it in the same slot--Tuesday at 8 [p.m.]," Whedon told the site. "There is no assurance of that; they may have a different plan. But that's the expectation and the hope."
As for Buffy spin-off Angel, Whedon said he doubted The WB would hurt the show out of spite or in retaliation for the move. "The WB is going to look at their schedule and see how strong they think it is, and if it fits in and if it can help them," Whedon said. "If they think [it will], then they'll keep it. People thought the decision would be made based on 'It's just too weird' or 'It can't stand alone.' But it has a slightly different audience than Buffy, and I believe it can stand alone. They're going to make that decision not on the high emotions of the last week, but on just regular old network scheduling."
But Whedon added that he hoped Angel would eventually move to UPN, where it can run as a block with Buffy, as before. "That is my hope as well. It's just simpler if they're together--if they're a block."
New Face On Angel?
David Greenwalt--executive producer and co-creator of The WB's Angel--is hoping to add a familiar face to the show's lineup next year: Adrian Pasdar, star of Greenwalt's critically acclaimed but short-lived Fox show Profit. Pasdar currently stars in NBC and Pax's supernatural drama Mysterious Ways.
"We've been dying to bring him to Angel," Greenwalt said in an interview. "It's a thing I've tried to work out a couple of times, and it's just a mammoth scheduling problem. But I would love to see him appear in Wolfram & Hart. It would make a lot of sense."
Greenwalt added that he's not worried about the show's future, even though its predecessor series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, moves to UPN next season. UPN has already promised to pick up Angel for two years if The WB cancels it; otherwise, it will remain on the frog network. "My thoughts are, we'll be in a good home either way," Greenwalt said. "It's all good."
Ally Will Go The Distance
Despite reports in the entertainment press last week that there might be problems with the last 2 Ally McBeal episodes this season, it now appears that Robert Downey Jr. had in fact finished all his filming before being fired, so the season will run to 22 episodes as originally planned. Beyond this, some means will have to be found to write Downey out, but we can leave that to David Kelley.
Mutant X Casts Canucks!
In an article in the Toronto Sun, four of the leads for the Mutant X TV series have been announced. All four are Canadians and would be able to continue working if the U.S. Screen Actors Guild goes on strike. (As an aside, Andromeda can do that as well, minus Sorbo and Cobb, if need be).
The actors are:
- Brennan (to be played by Victor Webster), who can conduct electricity.
- Emma (Lauren Lee Smith), a telepath who can influence other's emotions and behavior.
- Shalimar (Victoria Pratt), whose DNA is half human-half animal.
- Jessie (Forbes March), who can alter his body density.
Calgary native Webster, 28, is best known for playing Nicholas Alamain on Days Of Our Lives and starred in the TV movie The Chippendales Murder, filmed in Toronto last summer. His other credits include the Aaron Spelling series Sunset Beach, the U.S. cable series The Lot, martial arts movie Gangland and made-for-video action fantasy Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled.
March, 27, hails from Halifax but has been based in New York where he played Scott Parker Chandler on soap opera All My Children. He was also on the CBC teen series Northwood.
Pratt, 29, who grew up in small town Chesley, Ontario, co-starred as Sarge on the syndicated action sci-fi series Cleopatra 2525 and also had a recurring role on Xena: Warrior Princess.
Smith, 20 and from Vancouver, starred in the TV movie version of the story of Appalachian teacher Christy. She also played Erin Evans on the boy band series 2gether, was on the TV series Dark Angel and had a small part in the feature Get Carter.
Still to be cast is the role of the group's leader, Adam Xero, and the main adversary, Eckhart. The article also notes that the Mutant code names will be downplayed in the series.
Hamill, Brown Voice JLA
Mark Hamill and Clancy Brown will reprise their Superman roles of the Joker and Lex Luthor for the Cartoon Network's upcoming Justice League animated series, Comics Continuum reported. The Joker and Lex Luthor will be part of the Injustice Gang on the series.
Recording for the first season of Justice League, based on the DC Comics series Justice League of America, is about halfway completed. Kevin Conroy, the voice of Bruce Wayne and Batman in the animated Batman series, also returns. Other voices include George Newbern as Superman, Phil LaMarr as Green Lantern, Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, Maria Canals as Hawkgirl, Carl Lumbly as Martian Manhunter and Michael Rosenbaum as the Flash.
Animation producer Bruce Timm (Batman Beyond) also told Comics Continuum that his upcoming Justice League series will have a familiar look. "It's very much in the same style and genre as Superman and Batman," Timm said. "The major difference is that we're going for a more realistic look in the backgrounds."
Timm added, "The events that take place in the show are so much larger than life than what happens in Batman. Batman, it was a fairly mundane adventure just in the fact that it was a non-superpowered human fighting non-superpowered villains for the most part, so we were able to stylize the backgrounds more to give the show more visual interest. Whereas with this show--we've got a goddess and a guy from Krypton and a guy from Mars and a space cop all teamed up together. So there's a lot of visual pow right there already. We felt the fact that these characters are already so larger than life, we should try to make the setting of the Earth look a little more realistic, so it will feel a little more believable, if that makes sense. So we're going for a little bit more of a--it's not really photographic or photo-realistic--but it's a little bit more of a realistic background." Cartoon Network has ordered 26 half-hour episodes of Justice League, which debuts in November.
Sci-Fi Lands Mars and Charles Dickens in Space
The Sci-Fi Channel is developing Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, a four-hour miniseries adaptation of Robinson's best-selling Mars trilogy of SF novels, the network announced. Like the books (Red Mars, Blue Mars and Green Mars), the miniseries will chronicle the lives of the first 100 colonists on the Red Planet and their epic struggle to create a new world.
Robinson, a member of NASA's Mars Committee, will consult on the project. Red Mars will be executive produced by the partners at “Created By”.
Sci-Fi also announced that it is developing a science fiction version of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, changing the story's venue from the French Revolution to two planets long ago and far away. Ken Raskoff will produce the four-hour original miniseries.
Sci-Fi Lab Rolls Out First Product
The Sci-Fi Channel's programming development unit, the Sci-Fi Lab, has announced its first batch of specials. The Lab is a stand-alone unit with its own facilities, charged with creating programming outside the traditional programming development process.
Currently in development (all working titles):
•Alien Hunter, about a hunter and his crew dedicated to saving the galaxy's most endangered and dangerous animals.
•Celebrity Time Capsule, in which 50 visionaries and celebrities come together to create a video time capsule for the next century, telecast from the base of the missile silo storing the memories of today for the people of tomorrow.
•Conspiracy Theory, which asks the questions, "Do men in black really exist? What was Roswell really the site for? Was Princess Di murdered? Was O.J. framed by the mob?" Conspiracy Theory entertains wacky theories in a talk-show atmosphere and features a Tom Green-like roving reporter.
Krige As Borg Queen?
Recently rumors have been floating around that had suggested that Alice Krige would be returning to the role she played in Star Trek: First Contact: the Borg Queen. Now, there appears to be confirmation.
While appearing on the Fox & Friends talk show, Kate Mulgrew answered a question about Star Trek: Voyager and the returning character, saying, "The Queen? I just worked with her."
She then let slip, "Boy, she's marvelous, Alice Krige. There's some great stuff with her in the finale."
Previously the part had been played, on Voyager, by actress Susanna Thompson. No reason is, as yet, known why Krige ended up back in the part.
Bakula On 'Enterprise'?
Rumors have been flying for quite some time that Scott Bakula was going to be playing the captain on board the coming fifth Star Trek series, Enterprise, but another project seems to have gotten in the way of making it a done deal.
According to Variety, Bakula has signed on for the CBS comedy pilot project called Late Boomers. Bakula will be taking on the role that had originally been filled by Burt Reynolds who recently departed the project due to creative differences.
Still, the trade does note that at this point, Bakula is only contractually signed on the pilot in a guest capacity. This situation may also be the reason that Paramount has held back verifying any specifics of their coming fifth Star Trek series, which everyone is now calling Enterprise.
The trade does note that the actor had initially turned down the Trek program's lead role, though he has since resumed talks in recent deals, with no solid deal as yet signed.
ABC Has A New Wrinkle
ABC will develop a miniseries based on Madeleine L'Engle's classic children's SF novel A Wrinkle in Time, to star Alfre Woodard, Kate Nelligan and Alison Elliott, according to The Hollywood Reporter. BLT Productions and Fireworks International will produce and Miramax Television will distribute the four-hour miniseries in association with Dimension Films. Susan Shilliday wrote the script, and John Kent Harrison will direct the show, which began production in Vancouver.
The miniseries marks the first time the 1962 novel has been adapted for the screen. Miramax had been developing Wrinkle as a feature for years, before it revamped the book as a miniseries for Miramax's Disney sibling ABC, the trade paper reported. Wrinkle tells the story of a brother and a sister who encounter three eccentric unearthly women and embark on a cosmic journey in search of their physicist father.
Wrinkle is slated to air on consecutive Sunday nights next season as part of The Wonderful World of Disney.
NBC Aims At Ground Zero
NBC will air the original television movie Ground Zero, starring Katherine Heigl (The WB's Roswell) and Kerr Smith (The Forsaken), Variety reported. Charlie's Angels producer Leonard Goldberg will produce.
Eric Laneuville will direct Ground Zero, which is slated to start production in Vancouver, B.C., this week, the trade paper reported. Heigl and Smith will play college students who build a nuclear bomb, which is then stolen by terrorists intent on blowing up San Francisco. Tom Vaughan wrote the script, which is based on James Mills' novel The Seventh Power.
Movie News:
Blade 2 Goes Its Own Way
David Goyer--who wrote and is producing the upcoming sequel Blade 2 has suggested that the movie will veer off from 1998's original Blade. "We wanted to try to tell a new story that wasn't just the same one rehashed again," Goyer said. "With this movie, we went in just a completely different direction. We have a very large cast, a lot of vampires and more villains than in the first one."
Blade 2, starring Wesley Snipes, is currently in production in Prague under director Guillermo del Toro. Goyer added that the sequel won't pull punches, just like the first movie. "Just because it's a sequel, we didn't tone anything down, let's put it that way," he said.
Goyer added, "It looks great. There were a lot of blues in the first film. This has more greens and yellows and sodium. It kind of looks like “Seven The Action Movie” in a way." Goyer said production on Blade 2 could go into July, with second-unit work. He said that New Line will probably release the film in either spring or summer 2002.
In separate news, Wesley Snipes was recently treated for minor burns after a mishap with pyrotechnics on the set. It is not expected that these minor injuries will interfere with the production schedule.
Disney Returns To Witch
Disney will remake its 1975 supernatural movie Escape to Witch Mountain, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Adam Kulakow will write the new version for producer Andrew Gunn.
The remake of the movie, about two children with telekinetic powers, is described as being in the vein of The WB's Roswell or Fox's The X-Files, the trade paper reported. The original movie was based on a novel of the same name by Alexander Key and was followed by the 1978 sequel Return from Witch Mountain.
In the new version, the two children will be teens and won't be related, as they were in the original.
Disney Signs Signs
Disney has bought Signs, a supernatural thriller movie from Sixth Sense director M. Night Shyamalan, which he will direct in the fall, Variety reported. Disney pre-empted other studios in snapping up the script; Disney produced both Sixth Sense and last year's Unbreakable, which together have grossed more than $900 million worldwide, the trade paper reported.
The plot of Signs is a secret, but like Shyamalan's previous two films, it is set in his home state of Pennsylvania. It revolves around the sudden appearance of a 500-foot array of circles and lines found in the crops of a family farm, the trade paper reported.
Jolie Got Tomb Gift
Angelina Jolie told Cinescape magazine that she snagged some souvenirs from the set of her upcoming Tomb Raider movie, according to a report on the Empire Online Web site. "I'm having my guns sent," Jolie told the magazine. "They were just put in their case, so I can have Lara's guns. I became really close to them and wore them every day, so I want them here."
Jolie added that she had to figure out how to play Lara Croft, the heroine of the Eidos video-game series on which the film is based. "I wanted to really understand someone being raised a certain way in England--their culture, the accent and also the class that she's raised in--the manners," Jolie said. "She's Lady Lara Croft, and I had very little practice in being a lady."
Reed To Direct Fantastic
Peyton Reed (Bring It On) will develop and direct Fantastic Four, a Fox movie based on the Marvel Comics series of the same name, Variety reported.
Fantastic Four centers on four astronauts who develop superhuman powers after their spaceship is exposed to cosmic rays. Marvel Studios, 1492 Pictures' Michael Barnathan and Constantin Films' Bernd Eichinger will produce.
Sam Hamm (Monkeybone) and Philip Morton have written a script and Michael France (GoldenEye) and Chris Columbus have contributed story ideas, but the producers and Reed are currently seeking a new writer, the trade paper reported.
Raja Gosnell, Brian Helgeland and Columbus have all been rumored at various times to be directing the movie.
'Nevermore' Movie Project
Edgar Allan Poe will be the focus of a new mystery/whodunit featuring the author in the midst of a murder mystery titled Nevermore: The Nightmares of Edgar Allan Poe.
According to Variety columnist Michael Fleming, the project will be directed by Craig Rosenberg from a script he will write. The film will tell the story of Poe, who is still grieving from the death of his wife in Baltimore. Meanwhile, there's been a series of murders that seem to have drawn their inspiration from Poe's macabre stories...which serves to place the author highest on a short list of suspects. Making matters worse is that due to his state of mind, Poe isn't sure he isn't the killer.
Fleming reports that the film will also be peopled with characters from Poe's stories. For example, while grieving, the author has been staying in the crumbling home of Roderick Usher.
The Neal Moritz produced project seems to have no connection to oft-mentioned Nightmare of Edgar Allan Poe project that has been in development forever with Michael Jackson said to be ready to play the tortured author.
'Trek X' Title, Spoiler?
Word has come of what might be the title for the tenth Star Trek feature film as well the coming film's opening scene.
A tipster checking in with TrekToday purports to have got a hold of the first few pages of the coming film's script. The site reports that the script currently has a title of Star Trek X: Nemesis. If that sounds familiar, it's because it has also been a title tossed around quite a bit for previous Trek films, particularly Star Trek: Insurrection.
In addition, the tipster talks of the film's opening scene...which could be a spoiler for those who would rather not know a thing about the coming film. If that mean you, then move along to another story by scrolling down to “Spoilers End”.
Spoilers Begin
TrekToday reports the following:
"After the opening credits, the first location we are shown is Alaska - the site of William Riker's and Deanna Troi's wedding. Serving as best man is Jean-Luc Picard, the Captain under whose watch the Imzadi were reunited."
Rumors have also been flying regarding the wedding.
Time will tell, of course.
Spoilers End
Genre Veterans are “Unspeakable”
Thomas Wright (Dark Angel) has been tapped to direct Dennis Hopper, Dina Meyer and Lance Henriksen in the supernatural thriller movie Unspeakable, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The independent film, budgeted at $2 million to $3 million, is slated to start shooting May 5 in Santa Fe, N.M.
Pavan Grover wrote the script, with Earl Mac Rauch and Wright collaborating on rewrites. Unspeakable tells the story of a female psychologist who must deal with a serial killer after he escapes the electric chair, raising the possibility that he is not human.
Meyer is best known among genre fans for her role in Starship Troopers; Henriksen starred in Fox's Millennium. Earl Mac Rauch wrote the script for 1984's The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
Evolution Juggles Laughs, Scares
Ivan Reitman, director of the upcoming SF comedy movie Evolution, told the New York Daily News that the film will remind viewers of one of his earlier hits. "Ever since Ghostbusters, I've been looking for a good story in which something amazing and large threatens the existence of our planet--something around which I could develop a character comedy. But it's hard to come by," the director told the newspaper.
In Evolution, David Duchovny, Orlando Jones and Julianne Moore combine forces to deal with a meteorite that contains organisms that evolve at an accelerated rate. "A level of evolution that took 200 million years on Earth just takes several hours," Reitman said. He added, "I like cross-genre movies, maybe because they're so hard to do. You have to get the tone right, because the humor often undercuts the truth or the fright or the science."
Finding Timeline's Time
Lauren Shuler Donner, who is producing the feature-film version of Michael Crichton's time-travel novel Timeline, told The Hollywood Reporter that filmmakers had to improvise to recreate the book's medieval setting. Timeline tells the story of a professor and his students who travel back to 14th-century France and find themselves in the middle of a war.
"So, 14th century--'Okay, we'd better scout in Europe. We'd better find a place,'" Shuler told Reporter columnist Martin Grove. "It's interesting, because Michael Crichton's book is based in the Dordogne area of France. We went there first to film and make it real, and there's electric wires everywhere. There's 21st century civilization. We couldn't shoot there. So we had to go actually to a place in England on the border of Wales to recreate the castle and the village, where there is no evidence of today's life. England doubles for France."
Shuler described the story as "an adventure romance." "We have a professor that goes back in a time machine to the Middle Ages during the Hundred Year War, when France is fighting England to get back their land," she said. "He gets stuck back there, and his students have to go back and get him. And once they're there, they're in the middle of war, and they're in terrible danger. They're not sure they can get back, and we're rooting for them to try to get back into their present lives."
Odds and Ends: Short items not worthy of an article in their own right.
· Terminator 3 star Arnold Schwarzenegger told the Los Angeles Times that he is not planning to run for governor of the state of California in 2002, as has been widely speculated.
· Word has it that DreamWork's Time Machine project is behind schedule due to changes made to the project by the film's director. While talking to ShowBiz Ireland, singer turned actress Samantha Mumba revealed, "He decided that he wanted to change a few things so now we've got to re-shoot everything. Everything has gone back to square one but it’s all for the best I suppose. Both [my brother] Omero and I were initially gutted because we had worked so hard. But we're all in it together and everyone wants to get the movie back on track."
· Fox Kids has ordered 26 episodes of a new anime series, Medabot, to debut in the fall, Variety reported. The series, from Nelvana in association with NAS/Kodansha, is set in the year 2122, when every kid owns a pet robot with artificial intelligence.
Part B Follows Shortly.
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