TV NEWS 
14.THE GLASS TEAT 
With news on a possible Miramax Channel, THE SOPRANOS, QUANTUM LEAP, a TREMORS series, UPN, THE REN & STIMPY SHOW, STRIPPERELLA, GARY THE RAT and DEAD LIKE ME. 
15.ALIAS GETS MORE COMPLEX 
16.THE NEW POWERS-THAT-BE AT ANGEL 
17.THE END OF BUFFY, REVISITED 
18.CARRIE IS PROGRESSING ON TRACK 
19.ARE YOU A CARTOON CHARACTER IN LEGAL TROUBLE? CALL HARVEY BIRDMAN 
20.DISNEY'S LIVE-ACTION HUNCHBACK IS ON THE WAY 
21.ROBERT ALTMAN FILMS THE ULTIMATE SPY STORY FOR HBO 
22.USA WILL UPDATE NIGHT GALLERY 
23.SCARE TACTICS IS CANDID CAMERA WITH TEETH 
24.THE SCI-FI CHANNEL - IT'S NOT JUST FOR ALIENS ANYMORE 
25.PARAMOUNT SAYS STAR TREK STILL ROCKS 
26.KEEP YOUR EYE ON CLANDESTINE COMMERCIALS 
27.$250 A YEAR AND NOTHING TO WATCH? 
28.EMMY FORGETS IMAGINATIVE TELEVISION FOR THE MAJOR AWARDS 

EVENT NEWS 
29.THINGS TO COME 
With news on FANEX 16, SLANTED FEDORA, HORRORFIND, CAPCLAVE 2002 and CHILLER THEATER. 

LITERARY NEWS 
30.THE BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER COREBOOK IS READY TO SLAY 'EM 
31.HARRY POTTER AND THE CRAPPY CHINESE KNOCKOFF 
32.RECENT TITLES: BOOKS ABOUT MOVIES AND TELEVISION 
33.RECENT TITLES: MEDIA TIE-INS 

MOVIE NEWS 
34.QUICK TAKES 
With news on WONDER WOMAN, a remake of SCANNERS, X2, KING KONG, END GAME, INDIANA JONES, THE MATRIX RELOADED, Steven Spielberg of post 9/11 paranoia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, SOLARIS and THE PRISONER. 
35.ALIEN VS. PREDATOR IS FINALLY GOING TO HAPPEN 
36.BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN IS READY TO GO UP, UP AND AWAAAAAAAAAAY! 
37.FREDDY VS. JASON IS A GO 
38.LORD OF THE RIDDICK 
39.DARK SHADOWS MIGHT MAKE ITS RETURN ON THE BIG SCREEN 
40.SNAKE LIVES! 
41.THE EXORCIST 4:1 LIVES! 
42.FAHRENHEIT 451 IS STILL A HOT PROJECT 
43.THERE'S A NEW DIRECTOR FOR HARRY POTTER III 
44.THANK THE AFI FOR INDY 4 
45.ENHANCING THE TWO TOWERS 
46.THE NEW PETER PAN GOES BACK TO ITS ROOTS 
47.THE SOPRANOS: THE MOVIE? 
48.PLANET OF THE APES IS STILL AN ACTIVE FRANCHISE 
49.SPY KIDS 2 HONORS RAY HARRYHAUSEN 
50.RODRIGUEZ GOES TO WORK ON SPY KIDS 3 
51.PATRICK STEWART'S BACK AS PICARD - BUT FOR HOW LONG? 
52.HAYDEN CHRISTOPHER WILL BE THE MAN IN THE PLASTIC MASK 
53.TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT RETURNS TO THE BIG SCREEN 
54.SHYAMALAN MULLS UNBREAKABLE 2 
55.THERE'S NO RUSH FOR ANOTHER X-FILES MOVIE 
56.MUTANTS: THE NEXT GENERATION 
57.OSCAR LEAPS IN LEAP YEAR 
58.GREENBELT SUPPORTS ITS LOCAL THEATER 
59IMAGINATIVE CINEMA FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST 
With news on the premieres of SIGNS, SPY KIDS 2, XXX, THE ADVENTURES OF PLUTO NASH, SIMONE and FEAR DOT COM. 

INTERNET NEWS 
60.THE STAR TREK 3-D VIRTUAL CONVENTION BEAMS TO YOU IN AUGUST 
61.THE MPAA HUNTS PIRATES ONLINE 

TECHNOLOGY NEWS 
62.GREAT EXPECTATIONS FOR DVR'S 

VIDEO NEWS 
63.BLOCKBUSTER FEELS THREATENED BY MAJOR RETAIL CHAINS 
64.DVD IS FINALLY PULLING AHEAD OF VHS 
65.MGM DOUBLES UP ON HORROR 
66.THE UK CROSSES THE BRIDGE TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

IN REVIEW 
67.AUGUST CALENDAR 

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1.OUR JILLA-JALLA JELLA JULY MEETING 
    Our July meeting will go down in the history of the ICS as the evening when all of our lives changed. It was our fourth annual pizza night, and even though that was a lot of fun, and we all walked away stuffed, that's not what changed us. John Clayton talked with us about special effects in the movies, but as wonderful as that talk was, and the production footage that he showed, that didn't change us either. No, it was the film that John brought, STING OF DEATH, that did it. It wasn't even this story of a mad marine biologist (!) who is carrying out secret tests on jellyfish that did it, really. It was hearing sixties singer Neil Sedaka singing "Do The Jellyfish!" that pushed us over the edge. It was all we could do to resist leaping to our feet and erupting into a spontaneous Portuguese Man-O-War Trot! 
    Apparently Sedaka was playing at a nearby club in Florida when this little stinker was being made. The director, William Grefe, gave him $1,000 to sing (what he hoped would be) the breakout hit of 1966. Obviously, the 20th century simply wasn't mature enough for the gelatinous charms of this aquatic ballad. It took the ICS to embrace this little pound puppy of a song. There was general consensus that until something else comes along (I dare not say "something better" since the sound of a cat fight is arguably better than this stinky little ditty) "Do the Jellyfish" is now our official club song. 
    For those of you who may have missed it, or simply wish to relive the evening, here are the lyrics to our new club ballad (they work best if you can think of them in that high tenor of Mr. Sedaka's). 

Wella, I'm saying fella 
Forget your Cinderella 
And do the jella 
The jilla-jalla jella! 
It's really swella 
To do the Jellyfish! 
Monkey, don't be a donkey. 
It's nothing like the Monkey! 
It isn't funky or anything that's junky! 
It's something swella! 
The jilla-jalla Jellyfish! 

It isn't hard to do 
So you can learn it too! 
Hey now let's do it now. 
If you don't know the way 
Then I'll show you how! 

Wella, you've gotta jella 
Or you're not any fella! 
Ring the bella with every Cinderella 
When you can jella 
And do the jella Jellyfish! 

Hey! Hoo! Hey! Ha!

2.WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBER: AMY PEARLMAN 
    Greetings to our newest member - Amy Pearlman. Amy found out about us through a Penny Saver ad, got a complimentary ICS Files via e-mail and joined up, without first attending a meeting! Way to go Amy! We're looking forward to meeting you. 
    Apologies to Jeanette Nathan. I spoke to her about the same time as Amy. She showed some a lot of interest in the club. I confused her with Amy in an earlier e-mail. Sorry for the confusion. 

3.WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST/OLDEST MEMBER: TOM BURKE 
    Tom Burke was there the day we founded the ICS. He served on the Board for the first year of our existence. He also moved to another galaxy far, far away (called Fairfield, Pa.). It's about two-hours each way for Tom. But you just can't keep a good member down! The ICS is proud and pleased to welcome Tom Burke back to the fold. If you don't know him, take the time to talk with him. He's a great guy. 
    Welcome home Tom. It's great to have you back! 

4.WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBER: TROY FARWELL 
    Those of you who were in the old Horror and Fantasy Film Society might remember Troy Farwell. He's a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic fan who joins us from Alexandria, Va. He bumped into one of our fliers at Shore Leave, dropped by and joined up (undeterred by THE STING OF DEATH!). 
    Troy's made a long-term commitment to the ICS. He volunteered to bring in movies for our next available month, which happens to be December, 2003. Atta'boy, Troy! 

5.WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST MEMBERS: MICHAEL AND PAULA WILDER 
    Michael and Paula Wilder seem to have the same love affair going that the rest of us have - movies. Not all of us are as demonstrative of our affection. The Wilders see several first-run movies a week - nearly everything that comes out. Boy, are you guys in the right club! 
    Paula and Michael, thanks for taking time from your vigorous movie schedule to fit us in. We're happy to have you on board! 

6.NEWS OF OUR AUGUST MEETING: THE BASICS 
    Our August meeting will be held on Saturday August 24 at 6:00 P.M. at the church hall behind the Perry Hall Presbyterian Church located at 8848 BelAir Road. Take Baltimore Beltway exit 32 north on Belair Road. Turn left onto Joppa Road. Immediately past the miniature golf course turn left into the parking lot. If you miss it there are ample turn-around opportunities. If you get stuck call 410-598-8005. That's Dave Henderson's cell phone. He'll talk you in. 

7.OUR AUGUST MEETING: PUTTIN' THE HAMMER DOWN WITH CHRISTOPHER LEE 
    There's one man whose mere name can set the pulse of the Sentz women racing, and he'll be the centerpiece of our August presentation and films. I'm referring, of course, to that worthy inheritor of Dracula's cape, the legendary British actor, Christopher Lee. Donna and Dava will take us on a stroll through Mr. Lee's Hammer vampire films. Come prepared to enjoy an evening with the Count in Hammer's crisp gory color. It should be fun! 

8.AHEAD FOR THE ICS 
    We have a lot of things coming up as we look ahead to our fall meetings. On September 28 I'll pick up on part 2 of my World of Martial Arts Cinema. This time we'll look at The World Of Bushido focusing on the classic samurai films of Japan. On October 26 Dave Henderson talks about "Those Groovy Vampires of the Seventies." We'll also do our annual Halloween potluck supper that evening. On November 23 Charlie Wittig will do a retrospective of computers and the movies. It should be fun. Hope you can make it. 

9.THE ICS LIGHTS THE NIGHT WITH SUE FEDER 
    Sue Feder is participating in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk. This is a charity established to eradicate leukemia and related diseases, including lymphoma, myeloma and Hodgkin's Disease. This is a cause that's special to Sue. She's fought her way back from Lymphoma since we first met her. The ICS generously donated $67.85 at our July meeting. We thank everyone who contributed. 
    Sue will be passing the hat around once again in August for sponsorship. Donations are strictly voluntary and greatly appreciated. 

10.WE NEED YOUR HELP FOR FANEX 
    Fanex is scheduled to take place from Friday August 16 to Sunday August 18. Anyone with an ICS badge gets in for free. This should be a fun time and we encourage everyone to join us. We're going to need your help to pull this off. 
    DEALER'S ROOM: We'll need your help staffing our table in the dealer's room. We'll be selling some movies but, most of all, we're trying to tell people about the club. You get to stand around and talk with fellow film fans all day. It's fun, easy work. We'll need people throughout the weekend helping out. The hours are: 
Friday AUGUST 16: 5 PM - 7PM 
Saturday AUGUST 17 10 AM - 6PM 
Sunday AUGUST 18 11 AM - 4 PM 
    MOVIE ROOM: This is an incredibly laid back job. All we need is to make sure that movies are loaded into the appropriate player at the appropriate time, notify someone in case there's any problems, and make sure that no one tampers with the equipment. Here's an overview as to what's going on in the movie room (these titles are subject to change). 

Friday AUGUST 16 
5:00 BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA 
6:15 SPOOKS RUN WILD 
7:20 BRIDE OF THE MONSTER 
8:30 INVISIBLE GHOST 
9:40 RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE 
10:50 to be announced 

Saturday AUGUST 17 
10:00 run clips for guest, Professor Paul Jensen 
11:00 to be announced 
2:00 DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE 
3:30 NIGHT CALLER FROM OUTER SPACE 
5:00 run clips for guest Bob Sargent 
6:00 Jack Pierce Tribute on DVD 
7:15 GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH 
8:30 HORRORS OF SPIDER ISLAND 
9:50 SESSION 9 

Sunday AUGUST 18 
11:00 NIGHT STALKER 
12:15 CRAWLING EYE 
1:45 to be announced 
3:00 run clips for PEOPLE Vs. BATMAN 

11.IT'S CALENDAR TIME AGAIN 
    We're starting to assemble the 2003 ICS Calendar. This is a great way for movie fans to remember their favorite past time all through the year. This year's theme will be 50's sci-fi. 
    An ICS calendar is loaded with useful stuff. It has The dates of all of our meetings on it, anniversaries unique to the club, area conventions and film festivals, and dates related to the theme. You'll be able to find out when a favorite movie was released or when a favorite star was born or died. And every page will be facing a scene of another great 50's sci-fi classic, either in living color or in beautiful black and white. They're great for homes, offices or as gifts to other film fans. 
    The calendars sell for $15 each. Because of printing costs we make very few extras. IF YOU WANT A 2003 ICS CALENDAR DON'T BE SHY. SPEAK UP! We'll try to have them ready for our October meeting. 

12.THE ICS MEMBERSHIP CERTIFICATE 
    At our August meeting we'll be introducing the Imaginative Cinema Society Membership Certificate. It's designed as a gift certificate for membership. If you've got friends who've been thinking of joining the ICS, get them an ICS Membership Certificate. If you're making out a Christmas or Chanukah gift list for folks trying to think of what to buy you, list the ICS Membership Certificate. When we do our annual Yankee Swap this year, and you're stuck for a gift, consider an ICS Membership Certificate. 
    They cost $20 (I suppose we could sell $30 certificates for couples). We'll be showing them off at our August meeting. Get in touch with Regina if you're interested. 

13.AN ICS FIELD TRIP? 
    Timonium, Maryland is home to the largest comic distributor, and perhaps the largest comic book collection, in the world. Diamond Distributors, home to Steve Geppi's Geppi Comics empire, has a jaw dropping array of comic-related artwork, figures, toys and other comic related material. They offer a free private tour, by appointment, on weekdays from 10-4. 
    Is anyone interested in a tour? They take about an hour. You'll find rare treasures that don't exist anywhere else. We'll discuss this at the next meeting. In the meantime if anyone would like to go on their own (I think they'll even do tours for one), call Joe McGukkin at Diamond. He's at 410-560-7100, ext. 452. 

tvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnewstvnew 
14.THE GLASS TEAT 
The Miramax Channel? Miramax Co-chairman Harvey Weinstein confirmed that he is exploring the possibility of launching a cable network that would present the studio's eclectic library of independent films. Weinstein said, "The final extension of the Miramax brand would be a Miramax cable channel. . . . We are doing all the research now. I want to learn a lot about the business." A spokesman for the company later explained that Miramax was in the "very early stages of research and development" on the channel. "It conceivably could be started over the next couple of years." . . . Is THE SOPRANOS End in Sight? It may be "coitans" (as Bugs Bunny would say) for THE SOPRANOS. Creator David Chase announced he plans to quit the show after the fifth season. Chase confirmed he won't stay on the show beyond the fifth season - and the series' stars Edie Falco and James Gandolfini are planning to follow him out the door. Gandolfini said, "I started with David and I'd like to finish it with him." Chase says the fourth season will concentrate on Tony Soprano and his wife Carmela's roles as parents. . . . The Sci-Fi Channel takes a LEAP. The Sci-Fi Channel, which is now a part of Universal Television Group, is developing a number of original series and films based on existing Universal titles, the network announced. Sci-Fi will develop a two-hour movie based on QUANTUM LEAP, which will also serve as a back-door pilot for a possible series. Series creator Don P. Bellisario will executive produce. . . . The Sci-Fi Channel gets the TREMORS. Sci-Fi will also develop a one-hour action series based on the TREMORS series of movies, which will be scheduled for a January 2003 premiere. The films' creators, executive producers Nancy Roberts, Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson, will work with series executive producer David Israel. . . . BUFFY and ENTERPRISE are lighting up UPN. A couple of years back UPN's (then) new owners, Viacom, were contemplating closing up shop at UPN and moving some shows and personnel over to their sister network, CBS. Now it looks like the best move that was never made. BUFFY and ENTERPRISE helped boost UPN's ratings among total viewers last season by 15 %. They also helped UPN see a 13 % increase in adult viewers 18-49 and a 19 % hike in adults 18-34 in the 2001-'02 season. In all three categories, UPN bested its arch rival The WB. . . .TNN Orders New REN & STIMPY. TNN has ordered 6 new episodes of THE REN & STIMPY SHOW for an animated primetime programming block for adults which will launch next spring. TNN will also air the 52 existing REN & STIMPY episodes, and there are talks of a possible full-length animated TV movie. The other animated shows that will be part of TNN's programming include Stan Lee's STRIPPERELLA, and Kelsey Grammer's GARY THE RAT. . . . A DEAD Pilot is born. MGM began production on DEAD LIKE ME, a series pilot that will air on Showtime in 2003. The fantasy comedy tells the story of George, a disaffected young woman (Ellen Muth), who is killed when a piece of the Mir space station hits her. She awakes to find herself assigned to a job in the afterlife, working for a "reaper" named Rube (Mandy Patinkin). Bryan Fuller (STAR TREK: VOYAGER) wrote the script and serves as executive producer of the pilot. 

15.ALIAS GETS MORE COMPLEX 
    Susan Lyne, president of ABC Entertainment, said that ABC's spy series ALIAS will take on a new level of complexity in its sophomore season, with Lena Olin joining the cast as the mother of Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner). “We have seen the first episode script for ALIAS,” Lyne said. “This is going to drive some really provocative episodes this fall and certainly a big arc for the next season. I will promise you this is going to be the most interesting family on television this year.” 
    The show will continue to send Sydney to exotic locations. Lyne said that the secret to shooting foreign locations on a TV budget is simple. “[The producers] do a remarkable job, and the studio does too, Touchstone, in creatively using locations and sets that look as if they are traveling around the world, when they are in fact usually in the back halls of some of those Disney buildings,” Lyne said. “They have a phenomenal creative team that has been able to write and shoot and build and edit in such a way that it feels like a big feature film every week. The first episode of the new season is as good an hour of television as I’ve ever seen, and it will take you around the world.” 
    On July 18, Alias was nominated for several Emmy Awards, including best writing for a dramatic series, best actress in a drama (Garner) and best supporting actor (Victor Garber, who plays Sydney’s father, Jack Bristow). ALIAS returns in the fall to its Sunday timeslot at 9 PM. 

16.THE NEW POWERS-THAT-BE AT ANGEL 
    Joss Whedon said that it has been an adjustment replacing ANGEL's co-creator and show runner David Greenwalt, who is stepping aside to run ABC's new supernatural drama MIRACLES. Greenwalt will remain with ANGEL as a creative consultant, but TV veteran David Simkins (FREAKYLINKS) will take over the job of running ANGEL on a daily basis, Whedon said. 
    Greenwalt's decision to leave "was a bit of a shock to the system, because we obviously created the show together, and he's such a central part of it," Whedon said. "But [executive producer] Tim [Minear] and I brought in David Simkins. . . . We have built a staff over the years. It's now our fourth year, so we have enough people to sort of stop the gap. And the process is more difficult without David, but the show isn't going to suffer, because I won't let it." 
    Whedon added that Simkins brings a complementary sensibility to the show. He's "someone that we could really get into the story with, who can really work with the actors and do all the things we need a producer to do," Whedon said. "Unfortunately, though, Greenwalt was also a great director, which means we have to find new guys there. But Simkins . . . has done a lot of shows, and he understands the dynamic when you're coming onto a show that suddenly has this vacuum, which is great. Because [with] a lot of people, it would be a real conflict, because it's a position of power. But he understands what that power is, and he's a really gracious guy, and he really fits with our sensibility, and so it's working out well." 
    Whedon, who is running FIREFLY, for Fox, in addition to overseeing BUFFY, will lean on Minear as well. Minear will also run FIREFLY with Whedon. "He is running ANGEL with me the way he is running FIREFLY with me. He is, like, completely bifurcated at this point. Eventually he'll be more on FIREFLY, when ANGEL gets on its feet, but for now, with the sudden hole that Greenwalt has left, Minear is spending a lot more time on ANGEL than we intended." 
    ANGEL co-star Alexis Denisof (Wesley) said that Simkins has been doing his homework in preparation for taking over ANGEL. "He sat down this summer with his wife and watched 66 episodes of ANGEL from beginning to end in a marathon," Denisof said. "Can you imagine? They just took one tape out and put the next one in. He was just hammering it. I mean, that's more than any hardcore fan would do. So he's already got the bible in his head of the show. He's done his homework, and he's ready to go." 

17.THE END OF BUFFY, REVISITED 
    In the last issue of The ICS Files we pondered the question of the end of the BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER series. We left it at Marti Noxon's assertion assertion that there would be a season eight (seven is debuting this September). Here's some further news on that. 
    Joss Whedon is saying that we may see a Buffy-less BUFFY. He said that he's leaving open the possibility of carrying on the show after next year, even if Sarah Michelle Gellar decides not to renew her contract, which expires at the end of year seven. 
Almost every cast member has renewed for season eight. The holdouts are Gellar and Emma Caulfield, who plays Anya. 
    Contemplating the series without Buffy, Whedon said, "I'm game for almost anything. It's an incredibly strong ensemble. It's a very strong mythos. It's a huge universe we've created and an incredible cast of actors. So there are definitely opportunities for different kinds of shows." Gellar has made plain her desire to move on after the show's seventh season ends, whether the show goes on or not after that. 
    Emma Caulfield said that she intends to leave the show after the end of the seventh season. She explained, "I'm leaving. I'm done. It's just time, you know? It's been five great years. But it's sort of like, I use the analogy of, like, high school. . . . Four years. It's time to graduate, you know? It's time." 
    Anthony Stewart Head (Giles) said that he expects the upcoming seventh season to be the show's last. "It's supposed to be, from what I know. If it is, it will be born out of everyone wanting to move on." 
    Eighth season or not, look for the debut of season seven next month. It kicks off on September 24. 

18.CARRIE IS PROGRESSING ON TRACK 
    Less than a month after NBC announced that they are developing a 12-hour limited series based on author Anne Rice's THE WITCHING HOUR the network has gone into production on a project that started out as another scary book - Stephen King's CARRIE. NBC's version stars Angela Bettis as the teen outcast who gets revenge on her peers and town at a prom that goes horribly awry when her telekinetic powers take over. 
    Bettis won rave reviews when she played Abigail, a twisted teen from another time, in the most recent Broadway production of Arthur Miller's THE CRUCIBLE. She has also appeared in the movies GIRL, INTERRUPTED and BLESS THE CHILD. Patricia Clarkson (SIX FEET UNDER) plays Carrie's religious fanatic mother, while David Keith, Jasmine Guy and Emilie de Ravin (ROSWELL) round out the cast. 
    CARRIE is slated to air this fall. 

19.ARE YOU A CARTOON CHARACTER IN LEGAL TROUBLE? CALL HARVEY BIRDMAN 
    It takes a certain kind of mind to imagine Boo Boo of the YOGI BEAR cartoons as an eco-terrorist known as the "Unabooboo." Fortunately, such minds exist between the ears of Erik Richter and Michael Ouweleen, the creators of Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" series HARVEY BIRDMAN, ATTORNEY AT LAW. The network has ordered 20 new episodes of the series, which takes the obscure Hanna-Barbera superhero of the 1960s and turns him into a masked, winged litigator in the cartoon court of last resort. 
    "Yeah, we grew up watching this stuff," Ouweleen said. "And it is kind of weird - I almost feel like when I grew up watching this stuff that I was going to do this. I would watch THE SUPERFRIENDS' and go, 'God, why did they put those stupid sidekicks in?' " 
    Richter says HARVEY BIRDMAN shows that even superheroes in ridiculous costumes have to pay the bills. Thus Harvey (voiced by Gary Cole) has a day job as a lawyer, arguing cases against old foes like Reducto. 
    "We consider ourselves kind of caretakers of these characters in a way," Richter says. "You know, that they have these separate lives." 
    As with the aforementioned Unabooboo, the series gets most of its laughs by placing familiar cartoon characters in absurd situations. Thus we have Fred Flintstone as a mob boss, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy getting busted for possession and minor Superfriend Apache Chief having trouble, uh, growing. 
    Ouweleen and Richter say Cartoon Network has given them pretty much free rein to play with characters as they wish, although they try not to go too far. And Cole notes that the humor comes from affection for the old cartoons. 
    "I have affection for all these characters. But I think that's why it's fun, and also juicy to, you know, put a twisted sense on all of them," Cole says. "If the material is good and if the writing is clever, to me, I don't think you really have to have a feeling about the characters at all, because I think that's provided in what they've created." 

20.DISNEY'S LIVE-ACTION HUNCHBACK IS ON THE WAY 
   Producer Neil Meron said that he's producing a live-action TV version of Disney's animated HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, to air during the 2003-04 season on ABC, complete with the talking gargoyles. "They'll probably be CGI, and then we'll probably have actors in costumes, and there'll be a combination of various techniques to make the gargoyles come to life," Meron said. 
    Meron also plans to use the same songs from the Disney film, but with a twist. "A lot of the lyrics will be rewritten, because of our different approach to the material," he said. "We have a whole different take on it, so we're going to have to adjust the lyrics. And we'll probably have one or two new songs as well." 
    Why did Meron choose HUNCHBACK for a live-action adaptation? "Of the Disney animated films, there were very few with real people," he said. "HUNCHBACK had real people. It's hard to do LION KING live-action, because they're animals, unless it's a stage piece. So we've chosen real people. It's such a wonderful story and a great score. There's drama at the core of it." 

21.ROBERT ALTMAN FILMS THE ULTIMATE SPY STORY FOR HBO 
    Robert Altman has teamed up with Cate Blanchett to make a three-hour movie on the life of famous World War I spy Mata Hari. The film will be made for HBO. 
    "To do it the way I plan on doing it would not fit a theatrical release because it would be too long a picture," Altman said. "It's such a big undertaking that if we did it at HBO, we could do it in a full three hours. It pleases my soul to be able to go after an audience that will get what we are doing." 
    The three-hour movie will center on the beautiful Dutch-born Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, who, at the beginning of the 20th Century moved to France where she started a career as a nude dancer. Her fame made it easy to travel to various European countries even during the war. So, the French Secret Service asked Mata Hari to mingle with the Germans and find out as much as she could. 
    However, during her first mission she was arrested by the British Intelligence Service but was released. The French became suspicious. It also became clear that German army officers were paying her. Officially it was to keep them company but the French intelligence office wasn't so sure. 
    When she tried to cross the French border to visit one of her lovers, she was arrested by the French Secret Service and interrogated. During one of these long sessions, she succumbed and confessed to being a German spy, known under the pseudonym of H21. 
    During the trial the French were convinced that she was "one of the greatest spies of the century, responsible for the death of tens of thousands of soldiers." She was found guilty and condemned to death. On Oct. 15, 1917 she was shot by a firing squad. 

22.USA WILL UPDATE NIGHT GALLERY 
    USA Network announced that it will produce a new limited series that updates Rod Serling's classic TV series NIGHT GALLERY as part of its new development slate of original programming. The new series will feature a two-hour movie with four stories of psychological horror. Other stories will be based on new material, as well as stories from modern best-selling authors and updates of classic NIGHT GALLERY episodes, such as one directed by a then 22-year-old Steven Spielberg. 
    Writers on the new NIGHT GALLERY will include David Pirie (BREAKING THE WAVES) and Wesley Strick (THE GLASS HOUSE). Tom Thayer (The Sci-Fi Channel's original miniseries FIRESTARTER: REKINDLED) will executive produce. 

23.SCARE TACTICS IS CANDID CAMERA WITH TEETH 
    The Sci-Fi Channel said that it has ordered 13 episodes of SCARE TACTICS, a hidden-camera reality series that will mine people's fears of UFOs, ghosts and other phenomena for laughs. The series is schedules for the first quarter of 2003. 
    Shannen Doherty  will host the show, in which friends and relatives will set up their loved ones in elaborate pranks that range from a mock alien encounter to babysitting in a haunted house. Scott Hallock and Kevin Healey (SPY TV) created the series, which will be produced by Hallock Healey Entertainment. 

24.THE SCI-FI CHANNEL - IT'S NOT JUST FOR ALIENS ANYMORE 
   The Sci-Fi Channel is "bringing things back to Earth." Network president Bonnie Hammer said that the channel, which has one of the largest original programming lineups on cable, wants to broaden its slate somewhat while keeping its core fans. 
    To that end, Sci-Fi is planning a big programming event for each quarter, beginning with CLIVE BARKER'S SAINT SINNER, in October. In December, it will launch its most ambitious original project yet, the 20-hour miniseries TAKEN. 
    Hammer says that although TAKEN which was executive produced by Steven Spielberg, deals with alien abductions, the multi-generational story has the feel more of an epic drama than a straight sci-fi series. 
    In addition, Sci-Fi has ordered 65 episodes of THE DREAM TEAM. Hosts Annabelle Gurwitch and psychotherapist/dream expert Michael Lennox will help members of a studio audience and callers interpret their dreams. 
    The network also wants to continue developing what Hammer calls its "boy action movies" - thrillers that involve sci-fi or fantasy elements and "mayhem every 8 minutes or so." A number of them will be included in the 22 original movies Sci-Fi hopes to make for 2003. 

25.PARAMOUNT SAYS STAR TREK STILL ROCKS 
    There's been speculation among some fans that STAR TREK is a dying franchise. Contrary to speculation, Paramount doesn't feel TREK is on the wane after more than three decades. "We see no signs of the STAR TREK franchise weakening," Rob Friedman, chief operating officer of Paramount Pictures and vice chairman of the Paramount Motion Picture Group, announced. "The new TV show ENTERPRISE is strong, video sales are strong, and the movies are performing in the $80 million to $100 million range." 
    Expectations are running high for the tenth big-screen TREK, STAR TREK: NEMESIS. Rick Berman humbly said, "I don't want to start talking in ridiculous superlatives, but fans are going to get one hell of a movie. There are immense space battles and a good deal of humor, but there's also some extremely terrifying elements to the story." 
    Berman is especially excited about Tom Hardy, who plays the villainous Shinzon in NEMESIS. He said, "He'll go down as perhaps the greatest STAR TREK villain ever, right up there with Ricardo Montalban's Khan."  With any luck he'll be more memorable than Malcolm McDowell's sneery Dr. Tolian Soran in STAR TREK: GENERATIONS or F. Murray Abraham's latex laden Adhar Ru'afo in STAR TREK: INSURRECTION. 

26.KEEP YOUR EYE ON CLANDESTINE COMMERCIALS 
    As TV viewers increasingly use new technology to skip commercials, networks are likely to begin to rely on product placements, 10-second pop-up ads, and other ad models to deliver pitches to viewers, according to a panel of media experts. "I don't think the 30-second commercial is going to disappear, but I think we will be seeing a lot more innovative ways of presenting products to the public," Debbie Solomon, a senior partner for media buyers MindShare U.S., said. However, CBS Television President Les Moonves said, "We are fighting [product placement] because it takes away from the purity of certain shows." He maintained that thus far personal video recorders like TiVo, which allow viewers to skip commercials, have not had "any negative impact on our bottom line. . . . I don't think [PVRs] will mean the death of broadcast television." 
    I'm looking forward to seeing Buffy slay a vampire, whirl around and face the camera, and smilingly inform us which lumber yard we can visit for really quality stakes. 

27.$250 A YEAR AND NOTHING TO WATCH? 
   Would you pay $250 a year on top of your existing cable bill to watch TV that was entirely commercial-free? That's what Jamie Kellner, chairman and CEO of TBS Inc., figures it would cost each household if television's current business model of ad-supported programming collapses. And he believes it could as technology makes it easier for people not to watch commercials. 
    Kellner created a stir recently when he said that people who use digital recording devices like TiVo or ReplayTV that can automatically skip commercials were "stealing" from broadcasters. He backed off that statement somewhat but continued to stress that if advertisers don't feel they're getting their money's worth, they will pull out and broadcasters will look for other ways to pay for programming. 
    "I'm not opposed to having commercial-less television," Kellner says. "I'm a television person - we make it, and we find some way to sell it, get a profit from it. That's what my business is." 
    What he's trying to do, he says, is draw attention to the way that digital recorders can basically eliminate ads from the shows they record. He says a recent survey of TiVo and ReplayTV users shows more than 70 percent of them skip the ads when they watch recorded programs. 
    He's also concerned about the fact that next-generation digital recorders like the ReplayTV 4000 have Internet connections that would allow users to send stored programs to other ReplayTV users. TBS' parent, AOL Time Warner, is one of more than 30 entertainment companies suing Sonicblue, ReplayTV's manufacturer, to block that feature. 
    Although the Supreme Court ruled in the early 1980s that people could record TV programs for their own use in a case involving a challenge to VCR technology, Kellner is more concerned with the ease and quality of recording with digital machines. 
    "In the analog world, you could get away with [recording] and everything was OK, because you couldn't send it through the Internet," he says. "You couldn't store it at 100-percent quality and the trade it with other people, and things like that." 
    It's not a problem yet, Kellner says, because fewer than 1 percent of TV households own a digital recorder. 
    He points to the music industry's recent struggles with file-sharing as an example of what could happen - although TV executives haven't alienated their audience as aggressively as the music business has with higher prices and less diverse content. He simply says he wants everyone to think about a TV world where all programming is fee-based. 
    "Would all of you on top of what you're paying today be willing to pay $250 a year" - a little more than $20 a month - "to eliminate commercials?" Kellner asks. "I don't know the answer to that. I just don't know how the average American would feel about that." 

28.EMMY FORGETS IMAGINATIVE TELEVISION FOR THE MAJOR AWARDS 
    The Emmy Nominations are in. As has often happened, of the 433 nominations from 86 categories, far too few were imaginative television. Our favorite series were once again shut out of the major categories. 
    Joss Whedon, said that he didn't hold anything against the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for the show's omission from the acting, dramatic writing or best music nominations. David Greenwalt, who served as producer for BUFFY and ANGEL was unsurprised. Despite a strong push by 20th Century Fox TV for recognition of BUFFY's musical episode last season, it was shut out of the writing, acting and directing categories. ANGEL was blanked altogether even though it had its best season creatively. Greenwalt said. "Mr. Whedon wrote and directed one of the best pieces of television in the last 10 years. Let me say the last half-dozen years. But, unfortunately, his assistant forgot to put in for the Emmys. He did get nominated once. Those are shows with young people and those are shows that fly under the Emmy radar. And also, genre shows. It's very difficult for a show called BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER or shows with people in rubber masks, for the people in the Emmys to understand the caliber of writing and directing, etc., going on." 
    Below is a list of the sci-fi, fantasy and horror shows that got remembered by the Television Academy. Look for the 54th annual prime-time Emmy Awards on September 22 on NBC. 
    Animated Program Less Than One Hour: AS TOLD BY GINGER-“Lunatic Lake,” FUTURAMA-“Roswell That Ends Well” 
    Animated Program One Hour or More: SAMURAI JACK 
    Art Direction for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special: DINOTOPIA-“Part 1,” THE MISTS OF AVALON-“Part 1,” STEPHEN KING'S ROSE RED-“Part 2." 
    Costumes for a Series: FARSCAPE-“Into the Lion's Den (Part 1); Lambs to the Slaughter” 
    Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special: DINOTOPIA-“Part 1,” ANNE RICE'S THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS- “Part 1,” THE MISTS OF AVALON-“Part 1” 
    Hairstyling for a Series: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER-“Hell's Bells,” ENTERPRISE-“Two Days and Two Nights” 
    Hairstyling for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special: DINOTOPIA-“Part 1,” ANNE RICE'S THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS-“Part 1,” THE MISTS OF AVALON-“Part 1” 
    Main Title Design: WOLF LAKE 
    Makeup for a Series (Non-Prosthetic): BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER-“Hell's Bells” 
    Makeup for a Series (Prosthetic): ENTERPRISE-“Broken Bow,” BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER-“Hell's Bells” 
    Makeup for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Non-Prosthetic): DINOTOPIA-“Part 1,” JIM HENSON'S JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: THE REAL STORY-“Part 2,” THE MISTS OF AVALON-“Part 1” 
    Makeup for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Prosthetic): JIM HENSON'S JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: THE REAL STORY-“Part 2” 
    Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore): THE X-FILES-“The Truth,” XENA: WARRIOR PRINCESS-“A Friend in Need II.” 
    Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special (Dramatic Underscore): JIM HENSON'S JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: THE REAL STORY-“Part 2,”  THE MISTS OF AVALON-“Part 1” 
    Music Direction: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER-“Once More With Feeling,” DINOTOPIA-“Part 1" 
    Main Title Theme Music: JUSTICE LEAGUE, WOLF LAKE 
    Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie: Joan Allen-THE MISTS OF AVALON, Anjelica Huston, THE MISTS OF AVALON 
    Miniseries: DINOTOPIA, THE MISTS OF AVALON 
    Children's Program: SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS 
    Sound Editing for a Series: ENTERPRISE-“Broken Bow," SMALLVILLE, “Pilot" 
    Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special: ANNE RICE'S THE FEAST OF ALL SAINTS- “Part 1” 
    Special Visual Effects for a Series: ENTERPRISE-“Breaking the Ice," ENTERPRISE-“Broken Bow (Pilot)," SMALLVILLE-“Pilot," STARGATE SG-1-“Enemies," STARGATE SG-1-“Revelations" 
    Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special: DINOTOPIA-“Part 3.” 

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29.THINGS TO COME 
    FANEX 16 is coming to the Timonium Days Inn, located at 9615 Deereco Road in Timonium, Maryland. The convention's on August 16-18. THE ICS WILL HAVE A TABLE AT THE SHOW. WE'LL ALSO BE SHOWING MOVIES THERE. ICS MEMBERS WHO WEAR THEIR BADGES WILL GET IN FOR FREE. At this writing the folks from FANEX are still building their guest list. So far they've got John Saxon, Carol Lynley producer Ted Bohus, director Fred Olen Ray, local legend George Stover and director Robert Tinnell. They'll also have their very knowledgeable staff of writers on hand. They've got Anthony Ambrogio, Mark Clark, ICS member Cindy Ruth Collins, Gary Dorst, Charlie Ellis, James Janis, Paul Jensen, Tom Johnson, Allen K., Richard Klemensen, Lenny Kohl, Jonathan Lampley, Greg Mank, John E. Parnum, Michael H. Price, Mark Redfield, Robert Sargent, Bryan Senn, Brian Smith, Don Smith, Gary J. Svehla, Jeff Thompson, Steven Thornton, Steve Vertlieb, Neil Vokes and Tom Weaver. Events include Eurotrash 101, Jack the Ripper (hopefully not live and in person), YOUNG GOODMAN BROWN (a lost film from Robert Tinnell) a premiere of the new DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE film from Baltimore's Redfield Arts, a recollection of FANEXes past on Friday night and a special Saturday night trip to the Bengie's Drive-In Saturday night! After the first run feature, the Bengie's will show shorts and a film selected for FANEXers! For the general public a weekend memberships is a very thrifty $30. Memberships at the door are $10 a day. For more information either ask at a club meeting or click on the above link. 

    SLANTED FEDORA is coming to the Doubletree Hotel-Crystal City, located at 300 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, VA from August 16-18. This is not a fan-run convention. This is a for-profit endeavor and is priced accordingly. This is their last large event in Washington, DC. They'll be narrowing their focus (starting next year) to only six large events a year, and a large number of smaller events.  Next year they'll hold a single day event in DC, followed by several additional one day events in the surrounding area. The guests are all TREK guests. From TNG they'll have Marina Sirtis (Troi) appearing Saturday only. From DS9 they've got Michael Dorn (Worf), Andrew Robinson (Garrick, appearing Saturday only) and Alexander Siddig (Dr Bashir - appearing Sunday only). From VOYAGER they've got Ethan Phillips (Neelix - appearing Sunday only) and Robert Picardo (The Doctor). There is a complex pattern of who will sign when and how much they'll charge. It's enough to make a Ferengi dizzy! See the Website or drop them a note for more information for the skinny. They'll be live theatre. On Friday, August 17 Alexander Siddig and Andrew Robinson will star in their original play, "Into the Matrix" featuring their characters from DS9. On Saturday August 18 live dinner theatre starts at 7 PM (starring Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis starring in Neal Simon's "Plaza Suite"). All advertised guests will sign a set of autographs for all reserved seat ticket holders each day. The show hours are Friday, August 16, 2 PM till 8 PM, with evening theatre starting at 8:30; Saturday, August 17 10 AM till 6 PM, with evening dinner theatre starting at 7 PM and on Sunday, August 18 from 10 AM till 6 PM. The daily general admission is $10. Daily general admission gets you into the convention. General admission tickets are not available in advance. General admission seats are subject to availability, once they're sold out, they're sold out. General admission seating is available behind the reserved seating, and behind the VIP Reserved/Theatre package seating. General Admission seats do not include a guaranteed opportunity for autographs.  Many times, the stars  will be able to sign extra autographs but there will always be an extra fee. Convention weekend reserved seating is $60. With this you keep the same seat all weekend long. Autographs are called row by row. For the shortest wait in the autograph line, order early.  Convention reserved seating includes the convention, access to the dealer room, access to the stars presentations, plus a complete sets of all autographs from all advertised guests. Reserved admission seating is available behind the  VIP Reserved/Theatre package seating. Saturday or Sunday one-day reserved seating is $50. The theatre package is $100 for people who don't want anything but the theater. The VIP reserved seating/theater package is $125. You get up close seating, autographs from all the guests, the convention and the theaters. You can order tickets Online at the above link, call them at (913) 441-9405 or mail them a check at Slanted Fedora Entertainment/ 4623 Aminda St./ Shawnee, KS 66226. The prices sited did not include the local 7.25% sales tax. 

    HORRORFIND is returning to the BWI Airport Marriott at 1743 West Nursery Road, Baltimore, on August 23-25. For those of you who went last year and may have been put off with logistical problems, the Horrorfind folks promise us they've got it under control. For fans who had to park down the road and walk forever to get to the hotel, the Marriott has made more space available this year and a new parking lot has opened just across the street. For fans who got hassled waiting to meet Bruce Campbell, this year they're going to use a special colored and numbered custom printed ticket system. They'll announce over the PA system as well as post signs throughout the convention which color and numbered ticket is up for getting in line. For attendees who thought there to be a larger area designated for people to gather for some of the guest speakers, a new layout will allow us to make a large section into a speakers area with large seating capacity. They've also made arrangements with the hotel to convert the bar and or entire indoor pool area into large capacity theater style seating for the highest demand speakers. Some guests may also be scheduled to speak twice in separate sessions. Speaking of guests, the show biz folk scheduled to show include Dee Wallace Stone (ET, CUJO), Doug Bradley (HELLRAISER'S Pinhead), Linda Blair (THE EXORCIST), an EVIL DEAD reunion with Bruce Campbell (EVIL DEAD, EVIL DEAD II, ARMY OF DARKNESS); Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker, Sarah York, Tom Sullivan (Make-up EffectsEVIL DEAD - he'll be bringing a large selection of original props and memorabilia for the Evil Dead movie); an EVIL DEAD Museum!; Tom Savini (Special FX, Actor, Director - Tom Savini will do a special Haunted House Illusions seminar on Sunday - stay tuned for details); Ken Foree (DAWN OF THE DEAD) Mel Welles (LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, INVASION EARTH), Michael Berryman (THE HILLS HAVE EYES I & II), Dick Dyszel (Count Gore De Vol - TV's CREATURE FEATURE Horror Host), Brinke Stevens (HAUNTING FEAR, NIGHTMARE SISTERS), Countess Vladmira (actress, model and comic book star of Countess Vladmira: Blood Relations), Jasi Cotton Lanier (actress, model and stunt woman) Baltimore natives Joe Ripple and Don Dohler of Timewarp Films and Kevin Scarpino (The Son Of Ghoul is Northeast Ohio's longest running costumed horror-movie host of 16 years). There'll also be plenty of horror and science-fiction authors on hand. You'll have a chance to meet Douglas Clegg, Thomas "Black Jack" Ketchum, Tom Piccirilli, Edward Lee, Karen Taylor, John Pelan, Yvonne Navarro, Weston Ochse, Brian Keene, David Whitman, Gene O'Neill and Mark MCLaughlin. They'll also be various other guests, such as Leonard Pickel (Owner, Haunted Attraction Magazine, known as Mr. Halloween to some, Mad Doctor), John L Burton (a giant in the Haunted House and Halloween industry) Mason Winfield (paranormal investigator and occult writer), The Patient Creatures (a Halloween acting and story telling group), The Maniacal Brothers (haunted house designers, make-up and performers) and Ron Chamberlain (Monsters in the Basement Make-up Artist). Special events include a special Tour Baltimore offer for discounted $10.00 per person tour tickets for the Fell's Point Ghost Walk during the convention and Halloween and Haunt Seminars by some of the biggest names in the Haunt industry. This year they'll also have more Big Halloween and Haunt Vendors bringing displays of cool stuff. This year they promise a Halloween Dungeon -full of surprises. There'll be a seance with Mason Winfield - this time in a big dark scary room, horror author readings and signings, a packed dealers room with lots of horrors, a costume ball Saturday night, a rare (special permission) showing of the independent film, IN THE DARK. The show hours are Friday August 23: Show Starts 7 PM lobby, dealers room 7:30 PM to 11 PM. Saturday August 24: Dealer's and Celebrity Rooms Open 10 AM - 7 PM and special events, shows, movies and party from 6 PM on. Sunday August 25: Dealer's Rooms Open 11 AM - 5 PM. Tickets prices are $30.00 for a weekend pass, $20.00 for a single day pass. 

    CAPCLAVE 2002 arrives on a new date - October 18 - 20, 2002 (last year was September) - and a new location - the Hilton Silver Spring located at 8727 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, Maryland 20910. The theme of the convention is "Celebrating the Short Story in Science Fiction." The guest of honor is Stanley Schmidt, editor of Analog. The artist guest of honor is Alexis Gilliland, winner of four Hugos for best fan artist. At this writing they're still building the rest of their guest list. They'll be featuring literary discussions with authors, readings by authors, a dealer's room, art exhibits, science presentations, a con suite, parties, chances for conversations and a relaxed atmosphere. The membership rate is $30 until September 3rd, $35 through September, and then $40 at the door. To register, send your name, preferred badge name, email address, and snail-mail address and phone number to: Capclave 2002 Registration/ c/o Bob MacIntosh/ 7113 Wayne Dr./ Annandale VA 22003-1734. 

    CHILLER THEATER is being held October 25-27 at the Sheraton Meadowlands in E. Rutherford, NJ. Unfortunately it's a little too early to give you a guest list, but you can asume that they'll have their usual stellar lineup. Here's what we do know: The schedule will be Friday October 25 - 6 PM - 11 PM, Saturday October 26 - 11 AM - 7 PM and Sunday October 27 - 11 AM - 5 PM. The Sheraton Medowlands is located on Rt. 3 East (across from Giants Stadium) in E. Rutherford, NJ. Their phone number is (201) 896-0500. As far as admission early bird advance tickets are $10 per day, or $25 for all three days. Valid through August 15th. (after August 15th, the price will increase to $12 per day and $30 for all three days.). Pre-show tickets give you access to the show one hour earlier than the general public on Friday night or Saturday morning. Ideally, pre-show tickets are usually purchased by those wanting access to very limited sale items at the show before general ticket holders enter the show. Pre-show tickets give you access to purchase limited model kits, movie classic items and other items. These tickets cost $20 each (per day, US Funds) at the show. Pre-Show & VIP Tickets are available in advance only. They enable ticket-holders entry for the entire weekend plus one hour early on Friday or Saturday they're selling for $35. Pre-show both days, plus all day Sunday is $45. Children age 12 and under free when accompanied by an adult. The mailing address for tickets is Chiller Theatre Inc/ P O Box 23/ Rutherford NJ 07070. 

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30.THE BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER COREBOOK IS READY TO SLAY 'EM 
    Eden Studio will release BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Corebook, the first-ever official Buffy role-playing game, in August. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Corebook was written by C.J. Carella, creator of the WitchCraft and Armageddon role-playing games, and lets would-be Slayers and Scoobies operate within the Buffyverse. According to Eden, the hardcover, 256-page book will offer role-playing basics for newcomers; a Buffyspeak guide; detailed instructions for devising role-playing episodes, seasons and series; a guide to character creation, including pre-constructed heroes and white hats; a primer on magic; and the Buffy Unisystem, streamlined for cinematic slayage and sneakage. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER Corebook will also feature a foreword by Christopher Golden. It will sell for $40. 

31.HARRY POTTER AND THE CRAPPY CHINESE KNOCKOFF 
    The anxious Harry Potter fans of China got the much anticipated fifth Harry Potter book. According to the book's cover J.K. Rowling is the author of Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-To-Dragon. It has her name and picture on it. That, unfortunately, is where the association with Ms. Rowling ends. 
    The anonymous Chinese author of this unauthorized book has Harry turning into a hairy dwarf after a "sour-sweet rain." The book features characters familiar to Potter fans, including the Dursleys and Harry's Hogwarts classmates Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy. 
    Here's an excerpt of the deathless prose that comprises this forgery. "Harry is wondering in his bath how long it will take to wash away the creamy cake from his face. To a grown-up, handsome young man, it is disgusting to have filthy dirt on his body. Lying in a luxurious bathtub and rubbing his face with his hands, he thinks about Dudley's face, which is as fat as Aunt Petunia's bottom." 
    Rowling is still at work on the real fifth installment. She's not expected to be finished this year. 

32.RECENT TITLES: BOOKS ABOUT MOVIES AND TELEVISION 
    Asian Cult Cinema by Thomas Weisser, Max Allan Collins (Introduction), $14.00 
Weisser reviews hundreds of Asian cult films, rating them with one to four stars. The book is packed with intriguing data and brimming with its author's knowledge, enthusiasm, and humor. Although Weisser concentrates mainly on movies from the genre's most fruitful period, the 1980s and 1990s, he also provides a supplementary guide to the martial arts films of the 1970s. Also included is an index to the films of kung fu fighters who tried to take Bruce Lee's place after the master's untimely death in 1973. As Max Allan Collins writes in the book's introduction, this is "a travel guide to an exotic but surprisingly accessible foreign land, an alternate universe of filmmaking that has the energy, talent, and enthusiasm that Hollywood long ago squandered." 
    CultTVman's Ultimate Modeling Guide to Classic Sci-Fi Movies by Steve Iverson, Anthony Taylor, $19.95 
This book features 152 pages of material covering classic science fiction subjects: FORBIDDEN PLANET, WAR OF THE WORLDS, 2001, A SPACE ODYSSEY and more. Among the model building information and techniques are painting your ships; diorama creation; metalic paint finishes; lighting; resin building; casting parts; resin figure building; styrene kit construction; creative model displays; aftermarket parts. 
    Drive-In Movie Posters (Illustrated History of Movies Through Posters Series, 18) by Richard Allen (Editor), Bruce Hershenson (Editor), $20.00 
This book contains 169 of the absolute worst (and trashiest) films ever made!  They were carefully chosen for the absolute best poster art and taglines, ones that promised far more than the films delivered! 
    Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Movies We Can See by Jonathan Rosenbaum, $16.95 
Is the cinema, as some writers have asserted, really dead? Contrary to what we have been led to believe, films are better than ever-we just can't see the good ones. Movie Wars powerfully explains how movies are packaged, distributed, and promoted, and how, at every stage of the process, the potential moviegoer is treated with contempt. Using examples ranging from the New York Times's coverage of the Cannes film festival to the anticommercial practices of Orson Welles, Movie Wars details the workings of the powerful forces that are in the process of ruining our precious cinematic culture and heritage, and the counterforces that have begun to fight back. 
    The Unauthorized Jackie Chan Encyclopedia: From PROJECT A to SHANGHAI NOON and Beyond by John Corcoran, $18.00 
This is a comprehensive filmography, from Chan's childhood roles to his blockbuster hits of today An exhaustive bibliographic guide to the books and magazine stories dedicated to the star. It also features list of official Jackie Chan fan clubs, complete with contact information and Web addresses Carefully researched by martial arts expert and journalist John Corcoran and featuring photographs of Jackie Chan taken throughout his career, this lively and informative A-to-Z reference is nothing less than a Chan fan's dream come true. 

33.RECENT TITLES: MEDIA TIE-INS 
    BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Rebellion by Richard Hatch, Alan Rodgers, $23.00 
A continuation of the adventures of Apollo, Starbuck, Boomer, Tigh, Cassiopeia, Athena, Sheba, Bojay, Baltar and others as they face new trials which threaten to destroy the rag tag fleet from within. And may yet succeed, no thanks to new and old foes alike. 
    BBC Radio Presents The Fellowship of the Ring: A Dramatization [ABRIDGED] by J. R. R. Tolkien (Editor), $25.95 
The BBC presents an abridged version of Professor Tolkien's classic tale. This version's most special of special effects are the well honed voices of England's rigorously trained actors. 
    THE PRISONER by Thomas M. Disch, $12.00 
This is a reprint of a 1969 novelization of the series. 
    STAR TREK: Errand of Vengeance - The Edge of the Sword by Kevin Ryan, $6.99 
Lt. Jon Anderson is the newest security officer aboard the U.S.S Enterprise. He joins the crew at a time of mounting tension between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Previous battles have been inconclusive, but Starfleet Command fears that the Klingons are gearing up for a major offensive. The Enterprise would be on the front lines of an all-out interstellar war. But Lieutenant Anderson has a secret: he is actually a Klingon infiltrator assigned to sabotage Starfleet from within. His first mission: kill Capt. James T. Kirk. 
    STAR TREK: Janus Gate Book Three of Three - Past Prologue by L. A. Graf, $6.99 
Thanks to the accidental triggering of an ancient alien technology, Captain Kirk has been banished to his own past. During a brutal massacre on Tarsus IV, Kodos the Executioner entered the history books as one of the most genocidal tyrants of the twenty-third century. As a boy, Kirk barely survived. Can he stand by now and let it happen again? Lt. Kevin Riley is the only other survivor of Tarsus IV serving aboard the U.S.S Enterprise. His traumatic memories provide Spock's best hope of finding their time-lost captain - before Kirk alters their time line forever! 
    T2: Rising Storm by S. M. Stirling, $19.95 
Hunted for years, Sarah and John Connor have waged a grave battle to save humanity from destruction. Aided by Dieter von Rossbach, an ex-counterterrorism operative who will eventually be used as the physical model for the T-101 Terminator units, the Connors have sabotaged the Cyberdyne research facility and stopped a deadly I-950 Infiltrator unit from completing her mission.But the war is far from over, and now the heroes have been separated. Severely injured - both mentally and physically - and recuperating under military surveillance, Sarah Connor must face her deepest fears . . . alone. Meanwhile, von Rossbach, hunted by both the CIA and his former allies, begins a delicate mission to recruit supporters and arms support for the coming battle.Aided by a beautiful and brilliant MIT student, John Connor starts a desperate campaign across the United States and Central America to prepare an unsuspecting human race for the dark times ahead. For the original I-950 Infiltrator unit left a contingency plan - and, unbeknownst to our heroes, more Infiltrators have initiated their own clandestine operations, including the hunt to terminate the Connors. And this time, despite all their efforts, the brave heroes may not be able to stop the future war between human and machine. Cyberdyne Corporation is not the only one with plans for the computer network, and hidden far away in a top secret military base, a fledgling Skynet takes its first steps toward sentience and toward the rise of the machines and the termination of all human life 

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34.QUICK TAKES 
THE WONDER'S GONE FOR SANDRA BULLOCK. Sandra Bullock won't be putting on the tights to play Wonder Woman. Contrary to long-standing reports that Bullock would play Amazon Diana Prince, Bullock said, "I just don't have the time or the capability to think that I can pull that off." Bullock's not sure who should play the part, but she can describe her. "Somebody who is really athletically inclined and can kick ass. She's agile. She's like a cat. That's what it deserves. It deserves someone who can enjoy the camp, but also play the serious or the dark side. Because Wonder Woman has such a dark core to it, if [producers] embrace that, there's a couple of women that could do a good job." . . . ARTISAN WILL REMAKE SCANNERS. Artisan Pictures (the company known for THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) will remake SCANNERS, the 1981 David Cronenberg movie. The original film told the story of a scientist who infiltrates an underground movement of people with telepathic abilities. The remake will amp up Cronenberg's themes of paranoia and terrorism conspiracies, as well as special effects. . . . SENATOR KELLY RETURNS TO X2. Bruce Davison, who played Senator Kelly in X-MEN, confirmed that he will make an appearance in X2. "I'm going up [to Vancouver] to do something in X2," Davison said. "Sen. Kelly, they're going to rejuvenate him." Kelly melted into a puddle of goo in the first X-MEN. So how will he return? "Well, I can't tell you that," Davison said. But he did say that it was important to have a character like Kelly in the superhero film, because "it's sort of the human voice of melted reason." In the first film, Kelly took a hard stance against mutants. This time around, Davison said that would change. "He is one, isn't he?" Davison said coyly. X2 is currently in production, aiming for a May 2, 2003, release. . . . PETER JACKSON'S KONG Universal Pictures is rumored to be eager to develop Peter Jackson's remake of KING KONG. The studio's supposed plan is to get Jackson to start working on the film directly after he's done with RETURN OF THE KING. There's been no official confirmation of this rumor at this writing. . . . CONNERY SPIES AGAIN! Sean Connery will play a spy again for the first time since he said good-bye to James Bond in 1983. A spokesman for Mandalay Pictures, which will be producing the film titled END GAME, said that Connery "will be playing a CIA agent much closer to his own age [71]. He is up against the odds, resourceful and witty but he has to rely on others to help him out." The spokesman added: "It's a fantastic coup to get Sir Sean back as a spy again. He set the standard as James Bond and no one has matched it yet." . . . NO LITTLE INDIES. Harrison Ford said that his character won't have a son in the fourth INDIANA JONES movie, as rumored. He said, "Hey, there's only one son in these movies, and I'll always be Sean Connery's little boy!" . . . THE MATRIX II'S RELEASE DATE IS SET. Warner Brothers set a May 15, 2003, release date for THE MATRIX RELOADED. It would mark the first time in modern history that Warner has released a film on a Thursday. RELOADED is aiming for a release on more than 3,200 screens eight days before the Memorial Day weekend - a pattern similar to that of STAR WARS: EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES. . . . SPIELBERG FORESEES MOVIE PARANOIA. The display of national unity that followed the Sept. 11 attacks is unlikely to be reflected in forthcoming movies, according to Steven Spielberg. Spielberg said, "There's a national hug going on which is beautiful to see, but that will give way to paranoia and mistrust. The stories will get further away from Frank Capra. Rather than trusting your neighbor with your life and children, you'll be running from them." . . . THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE SILVER SCREEN. Emmy-winning writer Ann Peacock will adapt C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Walden Media is producing the feature adaptation in partnership with the C.S. Lewis Company. Walden partnered with the Lewis company in December to option the entire seven-part fantasy book series The Chronicles of Narnia, of which The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the second and best known installment. The movie will be directed by Andrew Adamson (co-director of SHREK). . . . SOLARIS GETS AN EARLY LAUNCH. Steven Soderbergh's SOLARIS will get an early launch date of Nov. 27. The Fox space movie - a remake of Andrei Tarkovsky's classic 1972 Russian-language movie of the same name - wrapped principal photography in early July and had been set for a Dec. 13 release date. Like Tarkovsky's film, Soderbergh's SOLARIS is based on Polish author Stanislaw Lem's SF novel. The date shift places SOLARIS, starring George Clooney, two weeks ahead of STAR TREK: NEMESIS, which opens on Dec. 13. . . . THE PRISONER IS MISSING IN ACTION. There've been rumors for years about Mel Gibson's involvement on a film based on THE PRISONER. Recently Gibson denied that he will be involved in a feature film of THE PRISONER. Until someone else steps forward, or Mel changes his mind, we'll have to assume that No. 6 has finally resigned. 

35.ALIEN VS. PREDATOR IS FINALLY GOING TO HAPPEN 
    The long-rumored ALIEN VS. PREDATOR film has gained momentum with the hiring of RESIDENT EVIL director Paul Anderson to write and direct the project for Fox. ALIEN producers David Giler and Walter Hill and PREDATOR producers John Davis, Lawrence Gordon and Joel Silver will produce the spinoff. 
    ALIEN VS. PREDATOR will take its cue from the popular video game titles published by Fox Interactive. Assuming the movie's plot sticks to the game, a human scientists on a distant planet makes the mistake of experimenting on Aliens and Predators. He hatches Alien eggs to create an environment that would serve as a lure to Predators. 

36.BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN IS READY TO GO UP, UP AND AWAAAAAAAAAAY! 
    Wolfgang Petersen will direct BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN for Warner Brothers, with the movie targeted for a 2004 release. Andrew Kevin Walker (SEVEN) wrote the script. Petersen will produce with Diana Rathbun. 
    Word of the movie comes amid continuing development of similar Batman and Superman projects, including a new SUPERMAN to be directed by McG (CHARLIE'S ANGELS), Darren Aronofsky's BATMAN: YEAR ONE, a CATWOMAN movie and a live-action version of the BATMAN BEYOND animated TV series. 
    Petersen said that the two DC Comics superheroes will clash over their beliefs. "I cannot tell you what really gets them together," he said. "I can say that much of [the conflict] is because of the different philosophies that they represent. Superman represents sort of everything clear and bright and noble. He represents our hopes and ideals. Batman, on the other hand, represents the dark and obsessive and vengeful side. The plot is structured in a way that these two very different sides basically of the same coin have to clash at some point, because they handle situations totally differently. For a large portion of the thing they are at each other's throats. But then, of course, because they are both crime fighters, they join forces again and fight evil." 
    There's a rolling fog of odd casting rumors going around. I reported at the July meeting that the role of Superman would definitely go to Jude Law. I said that based on a report from a usually reliable source. I've since discovered that my usually reliable source was relying on the very unreliable "Ain't It Cool News." 
    Warner Brothers has confirmed that Law is a favorite to play Superman and that Colin Farrell is in the lead for Batman. They said, "The roles have NOT been cast yet. They are still seeing other actors in casting next week. Jude Law and Colin Farrell are very definitely in the running, but nothing has been locked yet." That could be true, or it could be Hollywood-babble for "we want them to play the parts but we're not going to say it until they accept salaries that won't break our backs." 
    The casting rumors don't end there. One story has it that Matt Damon is being sought as a lead - either one! Earlier buzz said that, variously, Johnny Depp, James Franco and Paul Walker were on the short list for roles. 
    Petersen is expected to begin shooting BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN in early 2003, with plans for five or six months of shooting. He assures us that Walker's script will contain villains, lots of action and absolutely no Robin. 

37.FREDDY VS. JASON IS A GO 
    There've Internet rumblings and fan buzz for years about a FREDDY VS. JASON movie. Well, rumble no more. New Line Cinema gave a green light to the matchup with NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET's bad boy getting down with FRIDAY THE 13th's hockey-masked nasty. 
    Brad Renfro will star beside Robert Englund, who will reprise his ELM STREET role of Freddy Krueger for the eighth time. The studio hasn't decided who will play Jason Voorhees. He's been played most recently by Kane Hodder. 
    Hong Kong director Ronny Yu (BRIDE OF CHUCKY) will direct the film, which is slated to start shooting Sept. 9 in Vancouver, B.C. Mark Swift and Damian Shannon wrote the script, and longtime FRIDAY THE 13th producer Sean Cunningham will produce. Look for it sometime next year. 

38.LORD OF THE RIDDICK 
    Vin Diesel said that he is confirmed for a trilogy of sequels to PITCH BLACK. The first of the three follow-up movies is titled THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK. "If you're familiar with the [J.R.R.] Tolkien novels, in the same way that Hobbit is prequel to The Lord of the Rings, PITCH BLACK is a prequel to THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK [trilogy]," Diesel said. None of the three CHRONICLES will be prequels to PITCH BLACK, as has been rumored. 
    The three films will deal with "the universe that Riddick is involved with," Diesel said. "It's got this extensive story that [director] David Twohy's putting together. He calls it the evil STAR WARS." Diesel wouldn't reveal any more specific details, but did say why he chose to stick with the RIDDICK franchise, while turning down further THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS movies. 
    "I always loved the Riddick character, and I thought that the Riddick character spoke to our generation," Diesel said. "It was one of the first times that I saw an audience root for the convict, and I thought that was interesting, the concept of the audience rooting for a guy who's been prejudged, ruled out and given up on and misrepresented. The idea of us judging this guy, Riddick, by his actions, as opposed to his past, is interesting to me." 

39.DARK SHADOWS MIGHT MAKE ITS RETURN ON THE BIG SCREEN 
    DARK SHADOWS creator Dan Curtis confirmed that he is developing a new big- screen version of his gothic soap opera. "We are working on making that happen," Curtis said. "We have people who are interested in providing financing, and we're having lots of conversations. Will it happen? I can't say, but it's a possibility. Do you want to hear something funny? We'd heard for ages that Johnny Depp always wanted to play Barnabas Collins, so we checked into it, and lo and behold, depending on the script, it is something that he'd like to do. I'd also very much like to work with [screenwriter] Steven de Souza, and we've had a lot of fun talking about it." 
    Is there still a sufficient fan-base for a show off the air for this many decades? Curtis says yes. "DARK SHADOWS has an undying audience. The show never goes away. It's running on Sci-Fi Channel, and 40 episodes were recently put out on a four-disc DVD set. I understand they sold out within days and [Mpi Media Group] had to go back for a second printing. Never in my life did I imagine that the show would still be around." 

40.SNAKE LIVES! 
    Snake Plissken, the hero of ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and ESCAPE FROM L.A., is making a multimedia comeback beginning in the spring. An anime feature film is in the works for a 2004 release, and Hurricane Entertainment has partnered with director John Carpenter, producer Debra Hill and actor Kurt Russell to produce a comic book series, John Carpenter's Snake Plissken Chronicles, which will debut in conjunction with the special-edition DVD of Carpenter's ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. 
    In the anime movie, Russell will voice Snake. Carpenter, Russell and Debra Hill will executive produce, in conjunction with a Japanese anime studio. In addition, several video game publishers are vying for rights to the character, with the first game expected to hit stores in 2004. Russell will be involved in the video game, including doing motion capture and voice work. 

41.THE EXORCIST 4:1 LIVES! 
    Liam Neeson, who is cast to play a young Father Merrin in THE EXORCIST 4:1, said that the movie is still alive, despite the departure and death of director John Frankenheimer at age 72. "We lost our director, John Frankenheimer, who passed away, so we're all still in a state of mourning and actively looking for another director," Neeson said. Frankenheimer left the project in June to undergo back surgery and subsequently died on July 6 of a stroke due to complications. 
    Neeson declined to answer questions about his motivations in playing Merrin or whether he would look to the original film for inspiration. THE EXORCIST 4:1, which deals with events preceding the original EXORCIST, was scheduled to begin production in August, with an eye on a release on July 18, 2003. 

42.FAHRENHEIT 451 IS STILL A HOT PROJECT 
    Recently Mel Gibson discounted rumors that FAHRENHEIT 451 was about to be made. He didn't deny involvement in  FAHRENHEIT 451, but he said that it's "on the back burner." He also added "I think its prohibitively expensive." 
    Frank Darabont, who is writing and directing the movie quickly countered Gibson's pessimism. He said that he won't be distracted by writing the proposed fourth INDIANA JONES movie. Darabont said that he hopes to make FAHRENHEIT 451 within the year. "Aside from just delaying [451] just a little bit, [INDY IV] won't affect it at all," Darabont said. "I'm really keen on doing FAHRENHEIT 451. That's been my second favorite book of all time, since I was a kid. While Mr. Bradbury is still alive and vital, I'd love to get that thing into production." 
    Darabont said that his first favorite book is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. "But we don't want to talk about that," he said, referring to the film based on that book. "That was directed by somebody else." 
    Bradbury's book was first adapted into a film by François Truffaut in 1966. Darabont said that his version will make use of modern visual-effects technology for a more faithful adaptation. "Hopefully, [mine will be] a bit more sophisticated," he said. "There was a limit to what they could do back then, and I'd like to visually treat it as a more realistic and serious world than they were able to do back then. They got a little sci-fi-ey with it. [I want to] be as faithful to the book as possible. If you love the book, why change it?" 
    Known for dramatic films like THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION and THE GREEN MILE, Darabont promised the same approach for Fahrenheit, with just one twist. "Flamethrowers," he said. "This time I get to blow things [up]." 

43.THERE'S A NEW DIRECTOR FOR HARRY POTTER III 
    Mexican-born director Alfonso Cuaron will direct HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN, the third movie in the franchise. Cuaron (A LITTLE PRINCESS, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN) steps in for Chris Columbus, who directed the first two POTTER movies, but said he would pull out after completing the second film, HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS. 
    Production on AZKABAN is scheduled to begin in England in the first quarter of 2003. AZKABAN will introduce new characters to the universe of Hogwarts and Harry Potter. David Heyman, Columbus and Mark Radcliffe will produce the film, which is slated for release in summer 2004. 

44.THANK THE AFI FOR INDY 4 
    INDIANA JONES producer Frank Marshall said that the notion of reviving the film franchise became a reality only after the series' key players gathered in 2001 at an American Film Institute dinner to honor Harrison Ford. "[We] all saw each other backstage in tuxedoes, and it was a nostalgic moment where we got to talking, and we found how much fun we had on these movies," Marshall said. "But these days it takes us all a while to clear our schedules." 
    Marhsall, who also produced the SIGNS, added, "It's going to be the same team: George Lucas, Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg and me. We are working on the film as we speak. I think production will start in 2004 for release in the summer of 2005. There are certain elements that are in all three movies that we will strive to maintain: the archaeology aspect, the fun of the movies and a little bit of the supernatural." 

45.ENHANCING THE TWO TOWERS 
    Peter Jackson said that he shot additional footage for THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS earlier this year to supplement principal photography that was completed last year. "We're shooting about another 25 minutes of stuff, although some of it is to replace other scenes," Jackson told the site. "It was a process I always planned on. It's a great way to shoot, like hand-crafting a film, allowing you to figure it out over time. For instance, there's completely new scenes with Sam [Sean Astin] and Frodo [Elijah Wood]. Since we finished, we really wanted to make the Gollum story more psychological, things we thought of later." 
    Executive producer Mark Ordesky said, "The great thing is [that THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING] was hailed as this visual epic, and films two and three are so much bigger. In film two, to make a STAR WARS analogy, you have got a much more EMPIRE STRIKES BACK structure, meaning you've got Merry, Pippin and Treebeard in Fangorn and Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas at Helm's Deep and Frodo and Sam going to Mordor. It's like an aperture that opens wider. I mean they literally get to the Black Gates. You get to see the Black Gates, with these gigantic cave trolls pushing them open." 
    Look for THE TWO TOWERS to open Dec. 18. RETURN OF THE KING opens in December 2003. 

46.THE NEW PETER PAN GOES BACK TO ITS ROOTS 
    Producer Lucy Fisher said that her  PETER PAN movie would be the first faithful live-action adaptation of J.M. Barrie's original book and play. "The actual live-action version has never been done," Fisher said. "It's been made into an animated movie, a musical and HOOK, which was another interpretation. The J.M. Barrie source material never has." 
    Fisher said the appeal of going back to the source would be to explore its themes with modern special effects. "It's to return to the original, which is incredibly interesting, kind of dark and inspirational also. Because of special-effects capabilities now, we can actually do the flying, and we can do Tinkerbell and do Neverland in ways that nobody has ever seen before." 
    There will be some practical sets for NEVERLAND, but filmmakers will also use a lot of computer animation to expand those sets, Fisher said. The title character will be played by 13-year-old actor Jeremy Sumpter. Fisher noted that the casting of Sumpter, best known as young Adam Meiks in the Bill Paxton-directed FRAILTY, breaks a long-standing tradition. "The first time it's being played by a boy," she said. PETER PAN is a separate project from NEVERLAND, a Miramax film in which Johnny Depp is playing J.M. Barrie. 

47.THE SOPRANOS: THE MOVIE? 
    Although SOPRANOS creator-producer David Chase has vowed to leave the series after next season and the actors have indicated that they will not re-sign without him, that doesn't mean its the end of the series. The show could return as a theatrical movie, according to HBO executives and program producers. Chase himself appeared to endorse the plan. He said, "That could possibly work. . . . I would be very interested in that. My problem creatively is the kids: How old will they be, and all that. . . . And also, if you want to do flashbacks, you don't have Livia. It's tough." 
    I'll keep you posted as things develop. 

48.PLANET OF THE APES IS STILL AN ACTIVE FRANCHISE 
    PLANET OF THE APES producer Richard Zanuck said that a sequel to the 2001 film will be delayed. Zanuck said that Fox told him that it does not want to exhaust the franchise with too many sequels right away. "The idea is to space it out now," Zanuck said. "The studio doesn't think that a sequel has to be made immediately. They made a lot of money off the picture, but the theory, at least what they're telling me, is that every three years or more [they will make one]." 
    After the first PLANET OF THE APES movie in 1968, four films sequels followed rapidly until 1973, as well as a TV series in 1974 and TV movies in 1975 and 1981. The series lay dormant for 20 years after that. "They don't want the franchise to just burn out and be finished again for another 20 years," Zanuck said. "I don't know whether they're right or not, but that seems to be the idea." 
    Zanuck said the next film could pick up right where the last one left off, with Leo Davidson's (Mark Wahlberg) further adventures on an ape world. "They have a deal with Mark Wahlberg in place, but I don't know what their ultimate plan is," Zanuck said. 

49.SPY KIDS 2 HONORS RAY HARRYHAUSEN 
    Robert Rodriguez is taking it old school in SPY KIDS 2: THE ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS. The movie in part is his homage to the 1960s films of Ray Harryhausen. "I've always wanted to do one, and I used to think, I want to make my SINBAD movie someday or JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS. And then when I was doing SPY KIDS, I realized, 'Wow, if we do a SPY KIDS 2, I can make that Ray Harryhausen movie, and it won't be dependent on being on its own. And since it's part of a sequel, it would be easier to get it made. I definitely wanted to do that and go more old school with the look, so it felt more like stop-motion [animation] and not look so JURASSIC PARK-ey." 
    In SPY KIDS 2, the young heroes travel to a mysterious island, where they do battle with a variety of bizarre creatures, including warrior skeletons right out of 1963's JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS. Rodriguez said he intentionally left the visual effects a little rough around the edges. "[It's] pure [computer] animation, [but without] all the blur frames," he said. "[I] just took out the blur frames so that . . . especially . . . the lead character, the ape guy, . . . would be more personable. . . . He just feels, you know, that he is a good guy, because he moves like in stop-motion. . . . That's why it's called LOST DREAMS. Because it's like my old memories of [lost] movies." 
    See below for details on the movie and a link to the site. 

50.RODRIGUEZ GOES TO WORK ON SPY KIDS 3 
    Robert Rodriguez is already writing the script for a third SPY KIDS feature. he hopes to begin shooting it in November. As noted below, the second movie, SPY KIDS 2: THE ISLAND OF LOST DREAMS, opens Aug. 7. 
    "I'm still writing the script," Rodriguez said. "I mean, it just comes, because it's . . . one of those big ideas that . . . you don't even have to write it. It just comes to you: 'Ahh, that's what happens next!' I keep drawing it." 
    Rodriguez added that a third movie wasn't a hard sell, even though the second one hasn't come out yet. "I just . . . called the studio back in March and said, 'Guess what we're making? SPY KIDS 3!' [They said,] 'I didn't know there was going to be a 3.' [I said,] 'Neither did I, but I've got an idea, and I'm going to tell you right now.' I told them the idea, and they said, 'Oh my God, let's make SPY KIDS 3.'" Rodriguez declined to offer any details about the third movie, except to say, "This is such a different movie. It's such a different movie. It's not SPY KIDS  go to Vegas. Even people who have no interest in SPY KIDS  would go see it." 

51.PATRICK STEWART'S BACK AS PICARD - BUT FOR HOW LONG? 
    Patrick Stewart smiled slyly when asked if it would be safe to say that he's taken Capt. Jean-Luc Picard from Point A with STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION to Point Z with STAR TREK: NEMESIS. "Your question presupposes that [NEMESIS] is Z," he said to the questioner. "I don't know yet if this is Z. It may or may not be the case." 
    Stewart added that his STAR TREK association remains both a blessing and a curse. "I must say that STAR TREK is 90 % blessing," he said. "The curse part of it is minimal and has only to do with a couple of personal issues and one professional issue. One of the personal issues is the loss of privacy, of course. And the professional issue is the one I've spoken of often, and that's that you run the risk of something becoming an albatross around your neck when, professionally, you are so associated with one role. Fortunately, I have been able to do a great deal of work outside of STAR TREK. And I'm pleased that there were four years between INSURRECTION and NEMESIS. So, for me, the blessing of STAR TREK definitely outweighs the curse of it." 
    The "blessing" almost wasn't enough to lure him back another time. He was so frustrated with negotiations that he nearly walked away from the role. He explains, "I was a breath away from saying this is not worth the time. An absolute breath away. They were negotiating so uncompromisingly that it had reached the point where humiliation was the only way of settling this and I wasn't prepared to do that." Luckily for all concerned the parties finally came together - and Stewart's role was safe. "It's a very curious place Hollywood, in that in the space of a day, someone's attitude can shift from downright brutality to treating you as family." 
    Despite the conflict leading up to the filming Stewart remains optimistic about the quality of the film. "I think it's possible that there might be more to anticipate and to be excited about with NEMESIS than with any of our previous movies, including everybody's favorite, FIRST CONTACT. I think we've got the mix right, in terms of a strong story. There are two storylines running side by side, interconnecting at different times. We have a very strong action base as well for this, which means that the dialogue scenes are broken up with really quite effective sequences of action. It has romance in it - in fact, it's probably the sexiest movie we've done in some respects, although unfortunately none of this involves me. It has a psychological aspect to it, too, which is interesting and potent. And there are surprises - the kind of surprises that, while we were shooting it, we were licking our chops with glee at the thought of these things that were going to surprise people." 

52.HAYDEN CHRISTOPHER WILL BE THE MAN IN THE PLASTIC MASK 
    Fans of David Prowse will have to visit the video store if they want to see their favorite actor as their favorite villain. Hayden Christensen will be THE Man in Black in STAR WARS: EPISODE III. He'll be wearing the body suit and mask of the evil Darth Vader. 
    EPISODE III will begin filming in Australia next summer, with Boba Fett actor Daniel Logan told to keep the months of July and August free. 

53.TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT RETURNS TO THE BIG SCREEN 
    The legendary film that introduced the world, and Humphrey Bogart, to Lauren Bacall, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, may be on its way to a remake. Benicio Del Toro has signed on to star in a movie version of Ernest Hemingway’s TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT for Universal Pictures. The actor will also produce the movie, which Tod “Kip” Williams (THE ADVENTURES OF SEBASTIAN COLE) will direct. 
    Obtaining the rights to book wasn’t easy. Following Howard Hawks’ sanitized and romanticized version of the book in his 1945 movie Warner Bros. has been reluctant to release remake rights. So Williams, a fan of the book and Hemingway’s, went directly to the author’s estate with the promise that his film will retain more of the book’s prose and essence that the first film did, despite the fact that he plans to update the story about a boat captain who gets involved with smugglers. 
    In the updated TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, del Toro will play a poor fisherman in the Florida Keys (instead of the original film's setting of Martinique) who out of desperation becomes involved with illegal smuggling in order to feed his family. 

54.SHYAMALAN MULLS UNBREAKABLE 2 
    M. Night Shyamalan said that he originally wanted to do a sequel to his superhero film UNBREAKABLE, but thought better of it when critics and audiences reacted lukewarmly to the movie. "I would have, but I just didn't feel enough love," Shyamalan said. "That's the true answer. Most people won't give you the true answer. I just didn't feel enough love." 
    Shyamalan added that he was a bit surprised by the negative reaction to the movie, which starred Bruce Willis as a reluctant hero. "I was mostly surprised at the lack of the acknowledgment of what at least we aspired to do, [which] was to do the classy, non-fighting Goblins-on-the-roof version [of a comic book story]. SPIDER-MAN was the goblins on the roof. I liked SPIDER-MAN a lot. And my favorite part of it was the first hour, again, becoming Spider-Man. That's what I like, and that's what I wanted to make a movie of. And yeah, I have other ideas for Mr. Glass [Samuel L. Jackson] and Bruce's character, but . . . ." 
    Asked if he might be persuaded to do a sequel, Shyamalan said, "I don't know. There's a lot of [fans], like when we had the first screening of SIGNS, these UNBREAKABLE fanatics came out in force. And I was like, wow. They all came out. They came out with the DVDs and the posters. I was like, holy moley. And there was one SIXTH SENSE DVD there. And everybody else was UNBREAKABLE. And I was like, wow. I guess there is a little cult thing going on. But that was really sweet. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe." 

55.THERE'S NO RUSH FOR ANOTHER X-FILES MOVIE 
    Rob Bowman, who directed the first X-FILES feature film, said that we shouldn't expect a second movie until the time is really ripe for one. "I know Chris Carter intends to do another movie, and Fox Studios certainly wants one," Bowman said. "David Duchovny definitely wants to do another one, and I'm pretty certain Gillian Anderson could be talked into doing one. It's really a matter of gauging fan appetite. When we did the first one, the series was at its peak, so the appetite wasn't all that great for a feature film. Chris pointed out the first STAR TREK movie didn't come out until 15 years after the TV show ended. I doubt Chris will make us all wait that long for another X-FILES movie, but he will wait for people to get really hungry." 
    Would Bowman direct a second installment? "No one has even whispered the possibility to me. I'd be on board in an instant if they asked me, but if they don't, it doesn't matter, because I had such incredible experiences with THE X-FILES already." 

56.MUTANTS: THE NEXT GENERATION 
    X2, the X-MEN sequel, will feature a whole new host of mutant superheroes. Among the newcomers: Colossus, Jubilee, Kitty Pryde, Siryn, Pyro, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Beast and Gambit. 
    Colossus, a Russian-born mutant who can turn into steel, will be played by Daniel Cudmore. Jubilee, an Asian-American teen capable of conjuring bursts of energy, will be played by Kea Wong. Kitty Pryde, a teenager from Illinois who can pass through objects and who later adopts the name Sprite or Shadowcat, will be played by Katie Stuart. Siryn, a young Irish woman who can emit sonic screams, will be played by Shauna Kain. Aaron Stanford will appear as Pyro, and Alan Cumming will be Nightcrawler. 
    In addition, Shawn Ashmore will return as Bobby "Iceman" Drake, and there will be small cameos as part of a montage scene of the blue-furred Beast and the card-throwing Gambit. Fox has confirmed that Toad (Ray Park) and Sabretooth (Tyler Mane) will not return in the sequel. Look for it on May 2, 2003. 

57.OSCAR LEAPS IN LEAP YEAR 
    In an apparent effort to boost its TV ratings and shorten the sometimes blood-letting marketing campaign for awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that it had decided to hold the yearly Oscar show in February instead of March, starting in 2004 (Feb. 29). Ratings for the Oscars have been falling since a host of similar movie awards shows have materialized over the years, most of them staged prior to the Oscars. There're questions about whether the Academy will be able to book the Kodak Theater for the new date, whether it will be able to get the necessary official permits - and, most importantly, whether ABC will go along. The network had been urging the Academy to stage the Oscars during the February sweeps. The new date would fall just outside the sweeps period. 
    The decision to move up the Oscar ceremonies has caused a virtual pile-up among other awards shows as they attempt to bump up their schedules as well. Among those seeking earlier dates, are the Producers Guild, the Directors Guild, the Writers Guild, the Screen Actors Guild, and the British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA). Stephen Woolley, chairman of BAFTA's film committee, said that it had shifted its awards ceremonies to Feb. 8. "To have our awards ceremony just a week before [the Oscars] would not work for the industry as a whole," he said. Adding to the confusion caused by the date switch is the fact that the change-of-date could be overruled by the Academy's board of governors when it meets on Aug. 8. An executive of the Directors Guild said, "We've booked two dates [for the DGA's awards banquet] for 2004. If [the Oscars] do end up doing the switch, we've got Feb. 7 blocked out. . . . If they end up not doing it, we've got our normal March 6." 
    A spokesman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences denied rumors that the Academy had decided to move its Oscar ceremony in order to shorten the sometimes nasty campaigns among the nominees. Spokesman John Pavlik said, "The basic reason for doing this is to improve the position of the Academy Awards with regard to ratings and viewership. The ratings have been dipping in recent years, and this is just one of a number of things we're trying to get those ratings up." 
    Miramax Co-chairman Harvey Weinstein said that the date change will work against smaller films that are released late in the year and require word of mouth to build. Academy voters, he says, may not even see them. "This shorter awards season is going to favor the bigger movies, which means favoring the bigger studios." 

58.GREENBELT SUPPORTS ITS LOCAL THEATER 
    Do you remember the name of your local movie theater - you know, the cinematic shrine you used to visit where you first fell in love with movies? As I drive around Baltimore I see their slain carcasses dotting the landscape. The Paramount, the Earle, the Vilma, the Colony, the Northway, the Tower, the Arcade, the Belvedere, the 5 West, the 7 East, the Playhouse - the list is endless. Movie fans across the country carry an obituary of dead theaters in their hearts. 
    The people and city of Greenbelt, Maryland; a suburb of D.C. in Prince George's county; have drawn a line in the sand. They refuse to let the "bigger is better" philosophy claim the historic P&G Old Greenbelt movie theater. Nostalgia has won out over the bottom line in a happy ending for county moviegoers who crave an alternative to huge multiplexes. The theater is being taken over by the City of Greenbelt, ensuring that county residents will continue to have an old-fashioned one-screen movie house. 
    The 393-seat theater in the Roosevelt Center shopping complex in the original section of Greenbelt stands out in this modern era of multiplexes and stadium seating. At 40 feet, the screen is the biggest in the county, even bigger than its original from 
1938, when the theater opened. Though higher than the original admission of 30 cents for adults and 15 cents for children, today's ticket prices (between $4 and $6) are still less than those of area competitors. 
    In the 63 years since its opening, the cinema has gone through many changes, having to close as a movie theater from 1976 to 1990 because of financial losses. The theater was a community arts center from 1980 to 1987. Rather than risk closing the Old Greenbelt again, the city decided to buy the theater so that it's not subject to the whims of its property owner, George Christacos, or its theater operator, both of whom have expressed concern over losing money, said City Manager Michael McLaughlin. "The [city] council is aware that the property owner has commented that it doesn't generate much rent and needs more money out of the space. Five to 10 years ago, he proposed to put a dollar store in there. We're trying to guard against that," McLaughlin said. 
    The city has tried before to guard against losing the theater, by sponsoring four film festivals in 1999 after Sanchez, the operator since 1990 and also in the early 1970s, considered shutting down the theater because he was consistently losing money. "I threatened to close it three years ago. It was more of a hobby than anything, and it got to be a financial drain," Sanchez said. "Luckily, the city came to the rescue with the film festivals, and things are slowly getting better," Sanchez said. "There's no place else in [Prince George's] County to play alternative films," Sanchez said. 
    Attendance has picked up slightly, in part because the 1999 film festivals made people aware of the theater. With increased attendance came better movie choices. Some of the recent movies shown at the Old Greenbelt include MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, GOSFORD PARK and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. The theater also played FLYING DOWN TO RIO as part of its monthly classic film series co-sponsored by the Prince George's County Library System. 
    In addition, thousands of dollars raised by the Friends of Old Greenbelt Theater, a group of local movie buffs and fans of the venue, have helped pay the bills. The group is glad the city is taking it over, said member Anne Headley, because they "want 
whatever will keep the theater open. It's a wonderful place."
   "It's one of the few remaining 'non-cattle-plexes,' as I call them," said Bob Haupt, the theater's projectionist. Haupt says some people go to the Old Greenbelt to avoid going into the District to the historic Uptown Theater. "Some like it better than the Uptown. The sound system is so good, it's like an amusement park ride." 
    McLaughlin said the city does not plan to change the Old Greenbelt but is still working out the details of the transaction. He would not comment on whether Sanchez would continue to operate it. 
    The P&G Old Greenbelt is at 129 Centerway Rd., Greenbelt. Free parking. For recorded information about showtimes, call 301-474-9744 or visit www.pgtheatres.com. 

59IMAGINATIVE CINEMA FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST 
    AUGUST 2: SIGNS is based upon the phenomenon known as "crop circles", where mysterious patterns are found in remote fields. In this movie a pastor/farmer, Graham Hess (Mel Gibson), in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, becomes a media sensation when strange 500-foot crop circles begin appearing in his fields. Joaquin Phoenix plays his younger brother, a minor league baseball player. The movie was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan (UNBREAKABLE, THE SIXTH SENSE). 

    AUGUST 7: SPY KIDS 2 is, of course, the sequel to 2001's SPY KIDS. The movie follows the further adventures of Carmen and Juni Cortez (Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara), the children of super-spies Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino), this movie sees them challenged by another pair of spy siblings, Gary (Matt O'Leary) and Gerti (Emily Osment) Giggles. When the adult spies are taken out of commission (again), the two teams are all that's left to save the world. Steve Buscemi is a scientist that lives on the island of the title; Ricardo Montalban and Holland Taylor play Ingrid's parents, former spies themselves. The movie was once again directed and written by by Robert Rodriguez (SPY KIDS, EL MARIACHI). 
    Rodriguez once said that there are currently no plans for a third film (partly because the kids are aging too quickly), with the story resolving itself at the end of this sequel. Miramax has announced plans to release SPY KIDS 3 on July 23rd, 2003. 

    AUGUST 9: XXX  stars Vin Diesel as a charismatic, and tattooed, extreme sports performance artist named Xander Cage. He videotapes himself pulling dangerous (and sometimes illegal) stunts then sells them on the black market. Think of James Bond as a rock star/chick magnet. He's recruited by a government agent (Samuel L. Jackson) to infiltrate a Russian crime ring, Anarchy 99, led by a mysterious figure called Yorgi (Marton Csokas). They plan on unleashing a lethal substance in the rivers of Europe. The plot sends Agent XXX racing through a series of adventures. The movie also features Dario Argento's daughter, Asia Argento. The director is Rob Cohen (DRAGONHEART, THE FAST & THE FURIOUS). The screenwriter is Rich Wilkes (AIRHEADS, GLORY DAZE). 

    AUGUST 16: THE ADVENTURES OF PLUTO NASH stars  Eddie Murphy as the title character, owner of a nightclub on the Moon in 2087. He finds himself in hot water when he refuses to sell his club to the local mob. The lunar gangsters are helping the mysterious Rex Crater mastermind a plan to take over the moon. Randy Quaid plays Nash's robot bodyguard, Bruno - who is quickly approaching obsolescence. Pam Grier plays Nash's gun-toting mother, Flura. Jay Mohr plays Nash's best friend, a popular Italian singer named Tony Francis. The director is Ron Underwood (MIGHTY JOE YOUNG, TREMORS, CITY SLICKERS). The screenwriter is Neil Cuthbert (MYSTERY MEN, cowriter of HOCUS POCUS). 

    AUGUST 23: SIMONE follows a Hollywood producer (Al Pacino) and his struggle with the latest digital creation in cinema – S1m0ne (Rachel Roberts), an actress courtesy the CGI School of the Performing Arts. S1m0ne makes her screen debut when the producer's leading lady drops out. Simone becomes on overnight sensation and the producer has a lot of explaining to do. Catherine Keener plays a studio chief and Pacino's ex-wife.  The movie's written and directed by Andrew Niccol (writer and director of GATTACA and writer of THE TRUMAN SHOW). 

    AUGUST 30: FEAR DOT COM is about a series of deaths that arouse the suspicion of a police detective (Stephen Dorff) and a health examiner (Natascha McElhone). They suspect it may all have to do with the victims' shared visits to a web site called Feardotcom, run by a "black widow" woman who may be playing a deadly game. The director is William Malone (HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL). The screenwriter is Josephine Coyle (cowriter of 1998's BALLAD OF THE NIGHTINGALE, which never found distribution in the U.S.). 

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60.THE STAR TREK 3-D VIRTUAL CONVENTION BEAMS TO YOU IN AUGUST 
    On August 2-4 Vir-Con 2002 comes streaming our way, sponsored by Creation Entertainment. If it's a Creation Entertainment convention you'll immediately know two things - it will be well run and it won't be cheap. 
    You can become the STAR TREK avatar of your choice and enter the 3D virtual convention hall. There are dozens of STAR TREK avatars to choose from: THE ORIGINAL SERIES, THE NEXT GENERATION, DEEP SPACE NINE and ENTERPRISE. Both male and female versions are offered in ranks of Ensigns, Commanders or Captains from a variety of species. Human, Vulcan, Romulan, Andorian, Klingon, Cardassian, Bolian, Borg, Bajoran and Ferengi. You can select how the Virtual Convention attendees will see you. 
    Once inside, you can teleport throughout the 3D convention hall, participate in exclusive online fan activities, purchase official STAR TREK licensed products in the virtual STAR TREK Mall, chat with fans from around the world and cruise into the 3D Grand Ballroom to see a "live" wide shot of the stage at the Official STAR TREK Convention in Las Vegas. Watch Leonard Nimoy accept his lifetime achievement award from Creation Entertainment while chatting with your fans from around the world. All Passes include a Klingon Warrior or Starfleet Ensign avatar. 
    On Friday catch Marina Sirtis, Nichelle Nichols and the members of the Ferengi Family Hour: Max Grodenchik, Chase Masterson, Aron Eisenberg as well as script supervisor Lolita Fatjo. On Saturday, in addition to Kate Mulgrew and Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Robbie McNeill, Roxann Dawson and Richard Arnold will all be appearing. Finally on Sunday catch appearances by Anthony Montgomery, Dominic Keating, Tim Russ and Nana Visitor. 
    Kate Mulgrew and Leonard Nimoy will be appearing via streaming video live from the stage at Creation’s convention in Las Vegas. Mulgrew will no doubt be sharing her experiences as the Captain of Voyager and Leonard Nimoy will be presented with Creation's Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring his career and good works. Both celebrities will be appearing on Saturday August 3, 2002 live on stage at the Las Vegas Hilton and in the Vir-Con Virtual Grand Ballroom. 
    A One-Day Event General Admission Pass is $14.95. All three days are $39.95. 
    A One-Day Event Preferred Pass is $39.95. All three days are just $99.95. It's the same as a General Admission but with private, medium close-up video/audio of "live" convention stage, the ability to submit questions to the actors on stage, the ability to post your personal auctions in the Vir-Con Trading Room, plus backstage access to a private Green Room to chat with STAR TREK celebrities. 
    The Latinum Pass goes for $109.95. It has all the features of a Three-Day Preferred Pass; including three full virtual convention days, preferred streaming video seating with the ability to submit questions to the stage, special Green Room celebrity chats, choice of any avatar from for all three days, PLUS choice of two autographed photos from STAR TREK celebrities. 
    If you're interested, Creation recommends a DSL, Cable Modem, T1 or LAN Internet connection. Click on the above link for further details. Let us know how you made out. 

61.THE MPAA HUNTS PIRATES ONLINE 
    The Motion Picture Association of America said that it is using special search-engine technology that can spot movies being sent over peer-to-peer Internet networks. Since it began doing so, it added, it has sent out more than 100,000 letters cease-and-desist letters. AOL Time Warner's broadband division is currently trying to identify those users who regularly transfer huge files over its system, believing that many of them may be swapping movie files. AOL said that it has begun taking measures to "interfere" with those customers. 

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62.GREAT EXPECTATIONS FOR DVR'S 
    By the end of this year 1.5% of U.S. homes will have digital video recorders. According to a study conducted by a the Camel Group, a telecommunications media consulting firm, it will be the beginning of as landslide. The 300,000 now will swell to 4.8 million by 2005. According to their projections, by 2008, 25% of all American homes will have their own DVR's. 

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63.BLOCKBUSTER FEELS THREATENED BY MAJOR RETAIL CHAINS 
    Blockbuster, the guys who've virtually killed off small mom&pop retail stores, aren't happy. They're complaining of "aggressive" pricing of DVDs by major retail chains like Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart, Target, and Costco - where the discs are sometimes employed as "loss leaders." This poses a significant challenge to Blockbuster, the nation's largest video rental chain. Noting that the average owner of a DVD player buys about 15 DVDs a year, Ben Feingold, chief of Sony's Columbia TriStar Home Video unit, commented, "That's the bigger issue for a Blockbuster." (DVD sales totaled $905.5 million at Wal-Mart, but only $160 million at Blockbuster.) The company quoted from an SEC filing in which Blockbuster acknowledged that competition from the retail chains "has increased consumer interest in purchasing movies on DVD and has reduced the advantage to home video retailers." 
    Meanwhile, spending on home video purchases and rentals was up 13.3 percent to $8.79 billion during the first half of the year. 

64.DVD IS FINALLY PULLING AHEAD OF VHS 
   Home video turned out to be an $18.7-billion industry in 2001, with DVDs outselling VHS videocassettes for the first time, although trailing on the rental market, according to a report by the Video Software Dealers Association. Sales for DVDs totaled $5.4 billion versus $4.9 billion for VHS. However, consumers spent $7 billion for VHS rentals against only $1.4 billion for DVD rentals. By year's end one in four U.S. households owned a DVD player. 

65.MGM DOUBLES UP ON HORROR 
    MGM is releasing a batch of double features on DVD in its "Midnite Movie" line. This group of titles (mostly Vincent Price films from the sixties and seventies) hit store shelves August 27. They're all priced at $14.95. 
    The titles are DERANGED/MOTEL HELL, THE OBLONG BOX/SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH/PREMATURE BURIAL, WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN/WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO?, THE ATTIC/CRAWLSPACE and TEEN WOLF/TEEN WOLF TOO. 
    All but one of the titles (WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO?) are in anamorphic widescreen. Almost all contain no DVD extras. 

66.THE UK CROSSES THE BRIDGE TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 
    Sam Peckinpah's 1971 thriller STRAW DOGS, which has been unavailable at video rental stores in Britain since 1984, when the British Board of Film Classification declined to reclassify it under a new law, will be given a new home-video release in the U.K. Ken Law, the company's head of marketing, said that he submitted the uncut version of the film to the BBFC a year ago and said, "It became a personal crusade. . . . We had a good open dialogue with the BBFC, and I'm delighted with the outcome." Prior to making its decision to allow the film to be released with a 18 rating, the BBFC said that it had consulted a group of psychologists about the possible effects of a rape scene on young viewers. The film will also be screened theatrically in London. 

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67.AUGUST CALENDAR
FRI. 2: MOVIE - SIGNS premeires. 

SAT. 3: TV - WILLIAM SHATNER'S FULL MOON FRIGHT NIGHT premeires 

WED. 7: MOVIE - SPY KIDS 2 premeires. 

FRI. 9: MOVIE - XXX  premieres. 

FRI. 16 - SUN. 18:  EVENT - FANEX 16 
           EVENT - SLANTED FEDORA 

FRI. 16: MOVIE - THE ADVENTURES OF PLUTO NASH premieres. 

FRI. 23 - SUN. 25: EVENT - HORRORFIND 

FRI. 23: MOVIE - SIMONE premieres 

SAT 24: ICS MEETING 

FRI. 30: MOVIE - FEAR DOT COM premieres.