Sci-Fi Storm

Have to at least report one Star Wars DVD rumor this year: The Rumor Mill at Digital Bits that after the successful release of Indiana Jones Trilogy DVD set, Lucasfilm is considering releasing the first Star Wars Trilogy in the same format. Think Lucas will allow the legendary “Star Wars Holiday Special” be added as an extra?

Well, I got a year off, but author Hal Colebatch ended that with his 4 new stories that appeared in Man-Kzin Wars X: The Wunder War, now indexed in the Encyclopedia of Known Space which brings the total number of entries to 1953. The book itself was great – and big. The first story alone, “One War for Wunderland”, clocks in at over 53,000 words. The first three stories are all intertwined, separated only by the time period on which they take place. And he’s threatening me with even more – two completed and several more in the works. And Niven’s Ringworld’s Children is looming on the horizon.

An exhibit which opened today at London’s Science Museum called “The Lord of the Rings the Motion Picture Trilogy: The Exhibition”, showing off costumes and movie magic, will probably be it’s most popular exhibit ever. It had almost 20,000 advanced tickets sold. The exhibit attracted 261,000 visitors in New Zealand, where it began. It will stay in London until January, then go to Singapore, then (hooray!) Boston, and finally Sydney, Australia.

The technical Emmys were awarded this past weekend in Los Angeles, amd Children of Dune and the late Firefly (for the pilot episode “Serenity”) picked up Outstanding Visual Effects for their categories. Alias picked up two, for Outstanding Makeup (“The Counteragent”) and Stunt Coordination (Finale “The Telling”).

hossman writes “Heinlein’s long lost first novel “For Us, the Living,” has been recovered, and will soon be in print. This novel apparently pre-dates his first short story, and was rejected by publishers due to it’s racy content. The book will be released in the US sometime durring January 2004 for $25 dollars — it is allready available for pre-order from several stores.” Amazon.com is taking pre-orders.

The 2003 Hugo awards were given out at Torcon 3 this weekend. No suprise, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers took Best Long Form Dramatic Presentation. Buffy took Short Form for the episode “Conversations With Dead People”, and Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer won Best Novel. Get the full winners list from the Torcon web site.

lorien1 writes “‘Babylon 5’ Still Flying High
By Martin Sieff
UPI Senior News Analyst
Published 4/30/2003 10:28 PM

WASHINGTON, April 30 (UPI) — Is “Babylon 5” the finest science fiction television series of all time? Obviously not quite, with the “Classic Star Trek” of the 1960s and Rod Serling’s wonderful, magical “Twilight Zone” still around. But the best sci-fi TV series of the past 30 years? For that, you should well consider it.” Read More for the whole article. Nice to see mainstream press, especially amid the success of the DVDs and Jerry Doyle’s push for a return.

(continue reading…)

Nick Pollotta writes ” Unfortunately, due to a snafu at the printers, the Fantasy/Humor novel, “That Darn Squid God” will not be released until October 2003.
Sorry for the delay.
Nick Pollotta, www.NickPollotta.com
John Betancourt, www.WildsidePress.com

“(That Darn Squid God) Rewrites literary history, remodels London worse than the Blitz, and convinces that it is wise never to deny the supremacy of British womanhood! What more can you ask?” ANALOG

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The Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton is getting a new attraction – a “4D” ride based on the Borg. “Borg Invasion 4D” will be an immersive ride and feature characters from Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: First Contact, and is the first ever Star Trek attraction to be rendered in 3D. Also in the news is a report that Star Trek may be added to the title of Enterprise.

Man, slow week for news. About the biggest thing is the highly-awaited Babylon 5 Season 3: Point of No Return Box Set out next Tuesday, 8/12. You’ve pre-ordered yours already, right? Don’t have any of the sets yet? Try the Season 1+2+3 Combo Pack…by the way, the Official Web Site finally got a makeover…

Update 8/15: WHV has made a number of images available for free for use with the Eyetide viewer. Use this link to get the collection.