Report 31A. This is a digest of recent Sci-Fi- and genre-related news as of 3rd April 2001.

News & Notes

Group News:

Back in Action….

Well, almost.

Thanks to Bob for standing in for me while I was incapacitated last week.  In the last 10 days I have seen more of the inside of my bathroom than anyone should have to see in a year, and while I may not yet be fully recovered, I now feel well enough to get back to the pile of e-mails waiting to be answered, not to mention the pile of tapes waiting for labels, etc.

Apologies to everyone for the delays in both fields.  I shall make every effort to get back up to date as quickly as possible.  Your restraint and patience have been remarkable.  I shall try to do them justice by keeping you waiting no longer.

What Goes Around..

..Comes Around.

I am delighted to announce that only weeks after we announced that Fandom.Com was attempting to strong-arm various fan groups and websites into ceasing use of the title “Fandom”, the company appears to have gone bust and ceased operating.  I am not normally a vindictive person (with a couple of forgivable exceptions) but I am so pleased to see the greedy bastards behind this company fail that I get a warm and fuzzy feeling all over.

Now I can use the term Fandom without a bitter taste in my mouth.  It’s nice to know that there is some justice after all, and that the decent, dedicated fans that work tirelessly in the background, usually without much praise or thanks can once again do their thing without hindrance from such people.

There are however repercussions to consider.  When they thought they were rolling in money, they bought out Creation, the company that runs the big commercial conventions that made life difficult for the small fan-run conventions, and also Cinescape Magazine. Now, if Creation were to go under, I would shed not a single tear, but Cinescape would be a great loss. This is the most fan-oriented of the genre magazines, and a great source or reliable news.  Let’s hope someone buys it and keeps it running.

A Note on PayPal

I have had several e-mails over the last couple of months from clients wanting to use PayPal, bemoaning the fact that the registration process can take up to two weeks, while the service establishes a link with your credit card company.  In fact, several people have abandoned using the service because of this, as they didn’t want to wait that long for their tapes.

For those of you who may be considering using PayPal for future payments (and we would encourage you to do so – experience now suggests that once your account is established, this is the safest, fastest and also probably the cheapest method of paying for tapes) we strongly recommend that you set up your account well in advance. 

Also, when you do set up your account, there is an option to nominate us as your sponsor – if you do this, we get a $5.00 bonus for each new client, which we can always make use of.

TV News:

Buffy Gets the Treatment

In the last 48 hours, we have had 8 e-mails from distraught Buffy fans asking us for confirmation of the various spoof posts in Buffy-related newsgroups.

As far as we know:

UPN have not offered 2.6 million per episode, thus winning the bid for Season 6.  As a result, the suggestion that the season will consist of a series of Buffy/WCW Wrestling crossovers is unlikely, to say the least;

Buffy is not pregnant with Riley’s child, losing her powers which are passed on to her daughter;

Buffy ands Spike will not become a couple;

Riley will not return from Belize and stake Spike;

Buffy will not turn lesbian, fall for Willow and kill Tara to clear the way fro her own advances;

Giles is not to become the leader of the Initiative.

However, there is considerable evidence to support the following:

The Season Finale (being Buffy’s 100th episode) is to be a two-hour special, featuring everyone.  Many former cast members will return, including the entire main cast of Angel, and several former Buffy feature actors – and before you ask, we are not sure about Oz;

James Marsters has been cast in a British Movie (to be directed by Tim Roth) which will shoot at about the same time as the early part of Season 6, and Spike will therefore not feature in the first half of the season. Marsters reportedly said “the setup for his temporary departure will be awesome, the fulfillment of Spike's wildest fantasies!"

Buffy Will Be a Little More “Animated” in Future

Joss Whedon, creator of The WB's hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will produce an animated version of the series for Fox, the New York Daily News reported. The Saturday morning show will take the series' storyline back to Sunnydale High School, where Buffy will find herself contending with boys, homework--and bloodsucking fiends, the newspaper reported.

The animated Buffy is being planned as a half-hour show that could go on the air as early as February 2002, but is aiming at fall of next year. "The animated series is an opportunity to take our characters back to the beginning of their adulthood and tell the stories we never got to tell about Buffy and her friends," Whedon told the Daily News. "It's a chance to recapture those years of heartache and confusion and do the stories we never could afford to do in live action."

Ed: Please note that we do not normally tape cartoons.  We will keep you advised of progress on this show as we get more information, but once we get closer to the time, if you want this, speak up.  Do not assume that this will automatically be added to the library.

Whedon Fumes At Fox over Clash of Angels

Joss Whedon, creator of The WB's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off, Angel, told TV Guide Online that he's upset at Fox for putting Dark Angel on against his show, even though Fox produces all of them. Dark Angel airs on Fox's broadcast network in the same Tuesday timeslot as Angel, and has caused the latter show's ratings to suffer.

"The fact that they put [Dark Angel] on opposite a show that they produce, thereby hurting it, shows that they really don't care," Whedon told TV Guide. "Their big picture is clearly so big that whatever I think and whatever I am doing doesn't matter, and I resent that. But I am not the big-picture guy. I'm just making my shows."

But Whedon said he hasn't asked Fox to move Dark Angel. "I don't deal with that," he said. "I have no control over that. I am not someone that can say, 'Work your schedule.' Ultimately I am not going to ask them to do anything. As long as I get to make my shows, the people who want to watch them will."

A&E Will Update Lathe

A&E will produce a new television version of The Lathe of Heaven, based on Ursula K. LeGuin's classic SF novel, Variety reported. In 1980, PBS adapted the book in a low budget but critically acclaimed television film, which was recently re-released.

A&E's version will star James Caan, Lukas Haas (Mars Attacks) and Lisa Bonet (Enemy of the State) and will be directed by Philip Haas from a script by Alan Sharp, the trade paper reported.

Caan will star as Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist whose patient George Orr (Haas) has the ability to alter reality through his dreams. Bonet will portray Heather LeLache, Orr's attorney and confidante. Production will begin in May in Montreal with an eye to a late-2002 airdate, Variety reported.

Ed: Let’s hope they can retain the atmospheric and claustrophobic feel of the original and that the implications of the story don’t get lost in special effects.  If anyone wants to see the original, we have it available.

'Neverending' Series

Hallmark Entertainment has announced a TV series based on the popular Neverending Story best-selling novel by Michael Ende. The novel previously spawned a series of three successful movies released in 1984, 1990, and 1994.

Written by Leila Basen and directed by Giles Walker the television series appears to be a re-telling of the original tale, rather than an extension of the previous films. The story recounts the adventures of 12-year-old Bastian Balthazar Bux, "a lonely, overweight boy whose mother is dead and whose father is so wrapped up in grief that he barely acknowledges Bastian's existence. Books are Bastian's only escape and he creates a make-believe world called "Fantasia," where he can create solutions to his real-world dilemmas. '

Currently filming in Montreal, the show will star Mark Rendall in the role of Bastian, along with Jane Wheeler, John Dunn-Hill, and Lisa Bronwyn Moore.

Movie News:

Judd As 'Catwoman'

Word has it that Ashley Judd has signed on to play the role of Catwoman in an upcoming film featuring the character.

According to Variety, Judd will take the title role in a fast developing Catwoman movie at Warner Bros. In addition, word has it that scribe John Rogers is currently at work writing the film's script.

Judd chose to jump on board the project after a meeting last week with producer Denise DiNovi and Warners Exec VP Kevin McCormick as well as worldwide production prez Lorenzo di Bonaventura. No further details were revealed, particularly regarding who might direct the coming film.

This now puts the tally for Batman related films at three. Previously Darren Aronfsky (Requiem for a Dream) was given the nod to proceed in writing the script for Batman: Year One. Frank Miller, who wrote the original graphic novel, is working with the helmer on the project's script.

Meanwhile, director Boaz Yakin (Remember the Titans) is currently at work developing the live-action movie version of the Batman Beyond animated TV series. Yakin is also said to be working with Paul Dini and Alan Burchett on the project.

X-Men 2 Aims At Fall Start

X-Men 2 may begin production in Canada in early fall for a July 2002 release, the Toronto Sun reported. Director Bryan Singer also confirmed that Gambit, Beast and Jubilee will appear in the sequel, the newspaper reported.

X-Men 2 may not shoot in Toronto, the location of the first X-Men movie, the newspaper reported. Instead, Singer may take production to Vancouver, which is closer to Los Angeles. Other possible locations include Montreal and Australia. Production could be delayed by the impending actors' union strike in July.

Reno Is Rollerball Heavy

Jean Reno--co-star of John McTiernan's upcoming Rollerball remake--said that his character is hero Chris Klein's nemesis. "I'm the villain," Reno said during a press tour to promote his new fantasy film Just Visiting. "[He] is a crazy guy--a monster--owning the rights, owning the teams, owning lives. And having the possibility to kill you."

Reno co-stars with Klein, X-Men's Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and LL Cool J in the remake of Norman Jewison's 1975 SF movie of the same name. Reno said he was attracted to the SF film--about a shadowy league of motorcycle-riding skaters--by the chance to work with the Die Hard director, whom he described as a "very good director, very good guy."

Primary filming on Rollerball has been completed, but the tentative August release date could be pushed back by the impending writer's union strike.

 

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

According to PREVIEWS, the first issue of Joss Whedon's FRAY, an 8-part comic book mini-series set in the future "Buffyverse," will be out this summer, as will the first in a series of novels based on GENE RODDENBERRY'S LOST UNIVERSE, which was a short-lived comic series with a premise similar to ANDROMEDA (instead of the Commonwealth, we have PLAN*NET). Both are scheduled to be shipped to stores in June.

Paramount and Intertainment will develop A Window to Atlantis, a fantasy film based on a pitch by twin writers Chad and Carey Hayes, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie, which is described as an action thriller, centers on a father's search for his daughter, who disappeared at sea, and his encounter with a potential alien city.

Rumor has it that wrestler The Rock (aka Dwayne Johnson) is under consideration for the title role in the proposed Duke Nukem movie. Dimension Films is reportedly developing the movie, based on the 3-D Realms video game series of the same name. The Rock will appear in the upcoming sequel The Mummy Returns and is also starring in a proposed Mummy prequel, The Scorpion King.

UPN has passed on the untitled SF pilot from Nightmare on Elm Street director Wes Craven, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show focused on an entrepreneur and his partner, an artificial intelligence specialist, as they investigated the supernatural. Craven was to produce and direct the pilot. Craven will now pitch the series to other networks as a midseason replacement series, the trade paper reported.

 

Part B Follows Shortly.