Sci-Fi Storm

BaronMoritani writes “In this Landsraad exclusive interview,
actress Daniela Amavia discusses her role in
the Children of Dune miniseries.
She also hints at a future project, an upcoming film,
and assures one ‘raad member that it is indeed her.

Go here for details:

http://groups.msn.com/TheLandsraad/_whatsnew.msnw“ Many thanks to the Baron for keeping the Spice flowing…

BaronMoritani writes “Gee Williams, a.k.a. Bijaz from the Children of Dune miniseries, has been kind enough to grant an interview with the Landsraad Dune site.

In this interview, Williams discusses his background, how he earned his role in the Children of Dune miniseries, one of his favorite moments from the miniseries, and his admiration for his agent Warrick Davis (Willow)

Details here:

http://groups.msn.com/TheLandsraad/_whatsnew.msnw“

The great folks at Warner Home Video sent me a “preview” DVD of The Animatrix, the set of 9 anime-style and CGI shorts set in the world of The Matrix and act as a prelude to The Matrix Reloaded. It’s sort of an extended commercial for the true DVD, which comes out June 3rd. But all I can say is WOW! The anime segments remind me of the styles of the best anime features, and the realism of the CGI rendering – these characters look REAL. Even the case it came in is cool – the DVD pops out of the top when you pull the index card down! The DVD will also include commentary and features on the 7 directors plus more. Did I forget to say the WHV people are wonderful? (Maybe they’ll send me a full copy to review… 🙂 (P.S. I’m experimenting with including the Amazon.com images…let me know if it is too much…)

Egads. I can’t even comment on some of these shows, but the SCI FI Channel has announced some new series, a couple of miniseries, and a bunch of reality shows (apparently they forget the “FI” stands for “fiction”…) Notable is the announcement of the long rumored spinoff Stargate: Atlantis, where the ruins of Atlantis prove to have been a base for the Ancients, who built the stargates, and a new team takes off for a “distant universe”.

hossman writes “For those of you who’ve heard of the Internet Speculative Fiction DataBase, you’ll be glad to here that it’s back online in full, thanks to the fine folks at the Texas A&M Cushing Library
.

For those of you who have never heard of ISFDB, It’s an extremely complete database of SF&F Books and Magazines. An indespensible research tool for collectors, and a great resource for all SF readers.”

From a recent posting by JMS on UseNet: Apparently the director of Daredevil (I am assuming Mark Steven Johnson) has expressed an interest in making the JMS comic Midnight Nation his next movie, so meetings are being set up. Also in the posting – another studio may be interested in Polaris , which was turned down by the increasingly non-SF SCI FI Channel; His commentaries for Season 3 DVDs of Babylon 5 are finished; A new audio drama series is in the works; Season 2 of Jeremiah is pretty much complete, although it probably won’t air until August; A new TV series is in development; and Supreme Power, his Marvel-published title, debuts July 16th.

Lord of the Rings make Peter Jackson has apparently decided do a remake of the classic King Kong. At first I thought, “Why another remake? Haven’t they done enough of them?”, then I realized there really has only been two versions (not including pseudo-sequels and knockoffs). In other news, production on Scooby-Doo 2 is set to begin April 14th, with all cast returning and aimed for a March 2004 release. I have to admit, I was impressed with the first one, especially the portrayals of Shaggy and Velma.

P.S. Catch the history of Jackson’s King Kong project at Cinescape’s Development Heck (formerly Coming Attractions).