Sci-Fi Storm

It awards time again, and I’m not talking about whats on TV. Nominations are now open for the 2001 Hugo Awards. The Hugos are the fan-voted awards from the World Science Fiction Society, done every year at the Worldcon. which this year is at ConJosé in San Jose, California, August 29th – September 2nd. And hey, there is a Web Site award this year…nudge nudge wink wink…

Seems NBC is cleaning out the closet again. Word on the street (at least according to Variety) is that NBC has commissioned a script from FOX Television for a two-hour TV movie as a pilot for a new series. It will be extensively updated, with references to the 60s show. No word on whether it will have anything to do with the 1998 feature movie, which didn’t do well enough at the box office to revive the franchise.

Will there be more Qunatum Leap? Executive producer Donald Bellisario says it isn’t likely. In an interview on TV Guide Online, he says that Universal, who owns all the rights, ” has never shown an interest.” Too bad – Scott Bakula playing a different character each week made for some of the best acting on TV.

For those who didn’t watch the awards last night, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring won Best Picture as well as Best Digital Effects and Best Production Design, taking home the most awards of any movie.

The ComiCon web site has an interview with JMS online in their Forum. In it he discusses his schedule, response to Amazing Spider-Man #36, and hints at the future.

The man who got me to unload lots of cash for bits of cardboard, Richard Garfield (creator of Magic: The Gathering) and producer Wizards of the Coast (now a division of Hasbro) managed a lucrative exclusive license to produce trading-card games based on the Star Wars universe, with the first release due in April, drawing from Episode II. I wasn’t much of a fan of the previous Star Wars CCG, but this could be more promising.

After the great success of Shrek and Monsters, Inc., it seems that a lot of studios want to hop on the computer-generated bandwagon, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Fox has their entry, Ice Age, coming out March 15th, and Universal has three movies in development, including a version of Where the Wild Things Are, Sony is working on Astro Boy, and of course DreamWorks has a Shrek sequel aimed at 2003…

I’ve heard this from several places that it supposedly was in USA Today: Apparently members of the Christ Community Church in Alamogordo, New Mexico held a bonfire – fueled by Harry Poter books and various Star Wars, Tolkien, and even Shakespeare items. The words “Satanic deception” and the teach “children how they can get into witchcraft”. Funny, no matter how much I say “up” to my broom, it doesn’t move.

Seems DC Comics wants to turn back the clock at the start of 2002 – temporarily. A new one-off issue of Batman called Batman: The Ten Cent Adventure is due out today, retailing for just 10 cents. Seems it will act as a springboard for the next arc, entitled “Bruce Wayne: Murderer?”