Sci-Fi Storm

Richard Salter writes “Two new high-quality fanzines from DWIN (North America’s longest-running Doctor Who fan club) have been released to celebrate the series’ 40th anniversary.

Myth Makers Presents: Essentials is a fiction anthology featuring stories from top Who book authors Andy Lane, Daniel O’Mahony, Jonathan Blum, Mark Clapham and more, which also features “Essential Elements of Doctor Who” chosen by Robert J. Sawyer, Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Raymond E. Feist, Piers Anthony, Larry Niven and many others.

Enlightenment #118: A Forty Year Adventure in Time and Space is a huge year-by-year examination of the series by acclaimed Doctor Who author Lance Parkin, with an introduction by Lloyd Rose.

For more details and to order copies, visit www.dwin.org“

tchansen writes “According to Ain’t It Cool News, the character of Saruman has been cut from the beginning of ‘Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’. The scouring of the Shire isn’t in this movie at all, so the only place the character was featured was at the beginning. The story, a posting of an email between Harry Knowles and Peter Jackson, is that Peter felt that the seven minutes cut was really just tying up loose ends from the previous movie and messed up the pacing of the third movie. The seven minutes cut will return in the Extended Edition DVD released later next year.” You know, I read this several days ago, and never posted it.

According to Variety, the WB has ordered a pilot for a new version of the venerable undead soap opera Dark Shadows, with original producer Dan Curtis joining with John Wells (ER, The West Wing), and aiming for a 2004-2005 prime-time slot. The original ran from 1966-1971, starring Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins, and was briefly resurrected in 1991.

Dreamworks has released the trailer for Shrek 2, the sequel to the suprise hit and Oscar-winning (and non-Pixar) CGI movie. (Other formats/resolutions available via Coming Soon). Shrek 2 follows the newlywedded couple to Fiona’s home of Far, Far Away to meet her parents – who are unaware of her curse, or her husband…Shrek 2 is expected in theaters May 24th, 2004.

The WB suspended production on new series Tarzan after only eight episodes have been produced. Two episodes remain to be aired and will do so, and the network will decided based on the ratings of those episodes what will happen next. However, with its disappointing ratings so far (averaging 3.9 million viewers), it is unlikely to return.

Just a friendly reminder that Star Wars: Clone Wars, a series of animated shorts that fill in between Episodes II and III, debuts tonight at 8pm ET on The Cartoon Network. Also, The Rumor Mill at The Digital Bits is reporting that after a Lucasfilm meeting their DVD release plans are set – with the original Trilogy being released September 2004.

I apologize for the lack of any postings. I’ve contracted this 5-day virus going around which involves very high fevers (102-103 degrees), horrible headaches, etc. which has also been preventing me from sleeping, so when I feel well enough to do something on the computer I’ve got other things to do, and no earth-shattering news has really come out. If there is something newsworthy, please submit it and I will post it, but please be sure to include a link to your source…

SF author, SFWA 1999 Grand Master and high school teacher Hal Clement died this morning while asleep at his home in Milton, Massachusetts. His most famous work was 1954’s Mission of Gravity, and earlier this year released Noise. Among the already mentioned, he was also a pilot in WWII and a scout leader with a variety of degrees. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter, and a grandson.

Now this could be interesting. The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the cult British Gerry Anderson show UFO, a precursor of Space: 1999 (Space: 1999 was originally written as a second season of UFO but then developed separately) could be reborn in the US, produced by Trilogy Entertainment Group (The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone) and Carlton America. Given SCI FI Channel’s conspiracy bent of late, I’m suprised they haven’t ordered two full seasons already. But will the purple wigs return? You can get the original show on DVD: Set 1 Set 2

TerraFrost writes “Featured in TV Guide, TELE, and Sci Fi Weekly, Voltayre’s Encyclopedia Xenobiologica was considered to be one of the best Babylon 5 websites around. When it went offline in 1998, it left a huge void that in many ways was never filled. Today, it has been refilled, and in fact, improved. The new URL is here.” VEX is one of the best – it was featured in the same Summer Sci-Fi issue of TV Guide (July 5-11, 1997) as The Lurker’s Guide and my own more general encyclopedia. I just wish I had the graphical talent. Not sure why it was gone so long. The author also created Babylon Park.Update: Just got e-mail from Voltayre, and the site has been updated and is back at it’s old address. The other site is old.