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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2009
DARK KNIGHT PASSES $1 BILLION MARKThe Hollywood Reporter writes that Warner Bros. announced Friday that Christopher Nolan's Batman saga has crossed the $1 billion mark in worldwide revenues, having accumulated a $1,001,082,160 billion gross to date. With eight Oscar nominations in its column, the film, from Warners and Legendary Pictures, currently ranks as the fourth highest worldwide grosser of all time, just below the No. 3 film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and No. 2 "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." The record-setting "Titanic" reigns atop the list with more than $1.8 billion. Since its release in July, DARK KNIGHT also has become Warners' highest grossing film worldwide as well as the second-highest-grossing film domestically of all time. In its Imax release, it ranks as the largest 2-D digitally remastered Imax release of all time in both the domestic market with $49.6 million and worldwide with a gross of $64.9 million. "From our initial record-shattering opening weekend to the unprecedented momentum of the film's boxoffice run, we could not be more proud of 'The Dark Knight's' unparalleled success," said Warners domestic distribution president Dan Fellman. "We salute our filmmakers, cast and crew on making cinematic history." "Chris Nolan has taken the Batman franchise to a new level internationally," added international distribution president Veronica Kwan-Rubinek. "Audiences around the world have really embraced 'The Dark Knight,' which has more than doubled the gross of any of the prior films in the franchise."
TOP SCIENCE FICTION NEWS STORIES:
9:00pm on CBS
9:00pm on SciFi
UPDATE FROM JMSBack from London, and gradually working my way out of jet-lag to catch up with writing. As I'd anticipated, the BAFTA went to "In Bruges," and deservedly so. Overall, it was a great experience, and I'm perfectly content with the resolution. One can't expect a home run in one's first kick at the cat, as they say in places where apparently cats are not terribly popular.(And to a query upstream, yes, I have a theramin. No, I don't use it to make strange noises in the middle of the night. I have a cat for that.) In other mews...I mean, news.... I'm on draft two of Forbidden Planet, and the process is going well, very exciting stuff, and I hope I can talk about some of that in more detail soonish. About to make the final touches to World War Z, then with any luck we can get this thing into pre-productoin also soonish. Draft One of Lensman is in, now working on draft two. There have been a couple of previews for Ninja Assassin, and the audience scores have been just terrific. I have a suspicion that this is going to do very well. The pilot script for Last Words has gone in to Dreamworks, and they're very very pleased with the script. So we'll see where this goes. Interestingly, due to all the writing work, I've lately begun to be offered directing gigs, most of it in the SF genre (natch). Nothing has grabbed me enough yet to want to tackle it, but we'll see what the future holds. A couple of studios have extended the offer for me to write and direct my own stuff, which is pretty cool. My agent has forbidden me to take on any other screenplay assignments until March/April, but some projects have begun to circle Casa Straczynski of late, looking for an open place to land when an opening comes. Some very cool stuff on the horizon.
The interesting times continue.
NEW BABYLON 5 MOVIE BOOK UNTIL APRIL 30THE BABYLON 5 SCRIPTS OFJ. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI THE TV MOVIES Featuring these Scripts • Thirdspace • The River of Souls • The Legend of the Rangers • The Lost Tales These TV Movie scripts are twice the length of a single episode of Babylon 5 and are the page count equivalent of EIGHT episodic scripts making it the second biggest book ever with more than 450 pages! ALL THAT PLUS THESE SPECIAL BONUSES * The included version of The Legend of the Rangers is an early draft that is 20 pages longer than the script that was filmed, which means you get to read scenes and exchanges of dialogue that never made it to the screen. * Exhumed from Joe's vault, a 3-page fragment of an outline detailing the premise for a Psi Corps feature film . Focusing on The Telepath War, and appropriately titled "Wars of the Mind," JMS' notes reveal the background of the conflict -- teeps vs. teeps, the cast of characters -- including the identity of the Interstellar Alliance's Vice President, and the explosive deaths of two B5 regulars -- something hinted at, but never stated in an official series document. * J. Michael Straczynski's personal, behind-the-scenes photos taken on the set of The Lost Tales and The Legend of the Rangers -- included in these 36 images are the last pictures taken of Andreas Katsulas as G'Kar. For more information about this book, go to http://www.cafepress.com/thejoestore. The $10 discount is only good through February 5. This book will only be available through April 30.
BABYLON PODCASTWelcome to Show #145!Seriously, how do you guys like that Babylon Podcast Season 4 opening sequence? Crazy cool, isn’t it? Contest: We’ve come up with a contest to give away a copy of the B5 Chronologies scriptbook! Can you identify all the voices in the podcast opening montage? If you think you can, submit your entries to contest [at] sliceofscifi [dot] com with the Subject line of Babylon Podcast Chronologies Contest, and include your mailing address. We need all 12 voices correctly identified and in order, and a single winner will be selected from all the people who submit fully correct entries, and participants who helped with the lines are not eligible to enter this contest… maybe next time, gang. Submit your entries by midnight Pacific time, March 3rd, and we’ll randomly pick a winner from pool of correct entries live on the live feed on March 4th. Every voice in there is known somewhere in the podosphere, so get cracking! Visit Deep Geeking, and if you want to contribute a geeking essay, send an email to Summer. Discussion: Tim and Summer revisit the discussion about Ivanova’s “I am Death Incarnate” declaration before leading the White Star fleet up against the advanced EA Destroyer fleet. We compare it to President Laura Roslin’s speech from the recent BSG Season 4 episode “Blood on the Scales”, and Summer amends her previous assessment of Ivanova’s speech. She doesn’t hate it, like Tim and Mike do, but it definitely doesn’t rank as high in her estimation as before. Voicemail: Arkle adds his thoughts about and full support for Ivanova’s “Death Incarnate” speech; Todd from Grand Rapids adds his comments about the Ivanova speech; a comment on how maybe they did hang up on Ivanova during her speech and no one told her about it. Troy sent an email saying that Tim’s wrong about Ivanova’s speech, and how apropos it is for a warrior walking into her death; another email thinks that it appropriately displays her state of being near the breaking point, under the pressures of leading the fleet and being worried about Sheridan’s welfare in captivity. Bethany from Oklahoma is catching up after being without Internet access while in Colorado for a month, and she watched episodes of “Babylon 5? on her drive back home through the Rocky Mountains… good thing she didn’t really have to watch the screen rather than the road; comments on the various themes in “Between the Darkness and the Light”, with the struggles of many of the characters being echoes of the title; Dave from Kentucky lets us know that there’s a large selection of Babylon 5 ships done in Legos; Doug calls in about #134 and the difference in sizes between the B4 and B5 stations; Gary has a question for Jeffrey about the Babylon 5 Mall Tour mentioned in some old issues of “The Universe Today”, and Jeffrey tells us what he remembers about the tour, a promotional venture by TNT to promote the upcoming new Season 5 episodes (paging Sandy Bruckner!) Gary sends his apologies to Jeffrey for bringing Ed Wasser to the show for us to talk with; Edmund from Greenville wants to chat about “Intersection in Real Time”, and how it originally was slated to be the Season 4 finale, and thinks the way we ended up receiving the shows works better than the original plan; Bethany from Oklahoma shares her thoughts on “Intersections in Real Time”; Kate from Chicagoland has issues with the Shadow War wrapping up too quickly; Neil from Bowie comments on his shiny new copy of the TV Movies Scriptbook; Bethany from Oklahoma comments on the discussion for “Exercise of Vital Powers”; Gary lets us know that JMS didn’t win the BAFTA for The Changeling, and Jeffrey says that the winner, In Bruges, is well worth checking out. And finally, the Return of Jarsto! Jarsto smacks both Tim and Summer for not remembering “In The Beginning” in detail in regards to how the Babylon Project came about, from Show #138 (Summer claims sleep deprivation); Jarsto chimes in again about Marcus gets the lyrics wrong during his rendition of “A Modern Major General”, and submits that perhaps the Vorlons, and NOT the Shadows, destroyed the first three stations, since they knew they’d need to take B4 back in time for their use. Babylon Podcast: You’re not sure what happened to you, but you liked it… Happy Vorlontine’s Day, everybody! Second Life Info: FarPoint Media’s Second Life space is now the penthouse suite of Third Life Books. You can find the castle at http://slurl.com/secondlife/beraudes/203/151/49. Come see the castle roof pool, and more! Babylon 5 Information Gathering: If you know of a dead or abandoned B5 related website that may be in need of a new home, let Summer know! Maybe we can mirror it here or house it on a sister site.
DISCUSSION TOPIC - TOP 10 SCI FI FILMSI started thinking about conventions this morning and thought this might a a good discussion topic -- one that everyone who has gone to a convention could share with readers here at THE ZOCALO TODAY. What is your best, worst convention experience?Send in your comments to sgbruckner@aol.com. I'll post your selections our discussion page for all readers to share. I'll post some of my comments in my blog -- see below.
MORE MODELS
Have I missed anyone? If you know the birthday of someone connected with Babylon 5,
pass the information along. We want to include everyone in our Happy Birthday Wishes.
Synopsis: Wonder Woman begins on the mystical island of Themyscira, where a proud
and fierce warrior race of Amazons resides. They have raised Princess Diana, a
daughter of stunning beauty, extraordinary strength and incredible fighting prowess.
Diana possesses a host of super human powers granted to her by the gods and goddesses
of Olympus and her strength and stamina are unparalleled. When Air Force fighter
pilot Steve Trevor crash lands on the island, the rebellious and headstrong Diana
defies Amazonian law by accompanying Trevor back to civilization. Meanwhile, Ares
(the God of War) has escaped his imprisonment at the hands of the Amazons and has
decided to exact his revenge by starting a world war that will destroy them all.
It is up to Princess Diana to save her people and the world by using her gifts to
become the ultimate Wonder Woman.
Here's a great clip from the movie:
How do you fight an extraterrestrial invasion … when you can’t tell who is friend
or foe?
From Raw Feed, creators of the Rest Stop and Otis shockers, comes the sci-fi/horror
tale ALIEN RAIDERS, a nerve-shredding battle for human survival against aliens that
invade our world by invading our bodies. Be alert. Beware. Be afraid. The creatures’
next host could be your neighbor. Your kid brother. No – it’s you!
Produced by Dan Myrick (co-director of The Blair Witch Project, co-writer of BOOK OF
SHADOWS: BLAIR WITCH 2, director of Solstice, The Believers, and The Objective) and
directed by Ben Rock (Shadow of the Blair Witch, Conversations), Alien Raiders is
WHV’s sixth acquired title from the successful “Raw Feed” film franchise. “Alien
Raiders explores the mystery, suspense, fear and tension behind mankind's fight
for survival against alien invasion,” said producer Dan Myrick. “It takes the
ingredients of horror and suspense from previous Raw Feed installments and adds
a science fiction element to increase the anxiety factor.”
Some video clips from the WB:
DEEP BREATH 1:38 YouTube
GETTING UGLY 1:45 YouTube
Description:
Everyone's favorite cat and mouse duo Tom and Jerry return to DVD in an all-new set of adventures on Tom and Jerry Tales Volume 6, which will be released by Warner Home Video (WHV) February 3, 2009. The sixth volume of the hit Kids' WB TV series will feature 15 action-packed cartoons showcasing Tom and Jerry's latest adventures. In this volume of Tom and Jerry Tales, Tom and Jerry's unending pursuit takes them around the world from Africa to Australia and on. The duo also learns some valuable lessons about history, including an episode where Tom inadvertently turns the Declaration of Independence into a paper airplane and an episode where Jerry has a role in the Wright Brothers first flight at Kitty Hawk. Tom and Jerry are also involved in a number of musical adventures that are anything but harmonious -- Jerry sabotages Tom's efforts to win a Flamenco dance contest and Tom tries to avert his girlfriend's attention from Jerry by singing the blues. Three very cool episodes on this DVD are entirely devoted to the theme of snow and ice. The duo confronts each other on a frozen pond where Jerry wants to skate but Tom plans to play hockey. Tom and Jerry also engage in an all-out snowball battle and later on, find themselves face-to-face with the giant abominable snowmouse. "Tom and Jerry is one of the greatest cartoons of all time," commented Amit Desai, WHV Vice President of Family, Animation & Sports Marketing. He added, "The essence of the show has remained unchanged and that's why it's as successful today as it was decades ago. Tom and Jerry Tales maintains the same classic formula that has made this cartoon a success but places the characters in a contemporary setting, which is why the show continues to be a big hit with kids today."
Start your engines! Its Motocross season and competing against the likes of Peppermint Patty and the Masked Marvel – aka a certain daredevil beagle named Snoopy – can intimidate anyone. But if Charlie Brown – tagged with unlucky number 13 – can keep the pace slow and steady (as well as hold onto his helmet), he might just win the race! It’s fast and furious fun right up through the finish line of this wonderful Emmy Award® winner as Outstanding Children’s Special, rolling out in a spit-shined re-mastered deluxe edition with improved picture and audio.
DVD Special Features Include: Dust Yourself Off and Pick Yourself Up, Charlie Brown - An original featurette that tells the story of how Charles Schulz' son Craig and his life-long passion for dirt biking, served as an inspiration for his dad to include it in his famous comic strip.
REVIEW:
Synopsis:
For more information on other DVDs that have just been released and reviewed, go to
New DVDs
Ka D'argo lives on -- only in this Farscape mini-series set in continuity during
Season 3 between episodes "Revenging Angel" and "Fractures!" Follow the adventures
of John Crichton's best friend D'argo as he's forced to not only save the day and
end planetary war, he's got to do it all with mouthy "princess" Jool along for the
ride. And that means trouble!
Farscape creator Rockne O'Bannon is back! Television's science fiction masterpiece
Farscape continues with the same hit writing team from the first sold out mini-series!
Crichton and crew are all here as it's friend vs. friend and ally vs. ally as a
mysterious wave of violence sweeps through the crew of Moya. And worse, an entire
planet!
Discover what all the buzz is about! This beautiful hardcover collects issues #1-6
of Ardden Entertainment’s critically acclaimed new Flash Gordon monthly series, and
includes the almost-impossible-to-find issue #0. In this first arc of the new series,
Flash, CIA Agent Dale Arden, and mad scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov rocket off to the planet
Mongo and find themselves in the middle of a deadly civil war with none other than Ming
the “Merciful” at the center of the conflict! Available in Regular and Remarked Signed
editions.
Torchwood is an action-packed sci-fi series spinning out of the BBC hit Doctor Who,
following the adventures of a secret team of investigators who use scavenged alien
technology to solve present day crimes — both alien and human. When Torchwood comes
under fire in an all-out attack by extra-dimensional shock troopers, the team is torn
in all directions. And with a deadly rift bleeding through into their own reality,
time itself could be destroyed if the Torchwood team can't stop it! Featuring story
and artwork by a whole host of top British comic creators, including Paul Grist
(Jack Staff), Ian Edginton and D'Israeli (Scarlet Traces), and Simon Furman
(Transformers), Torchwood: Rift War collects the comic strips from Titan
Publishing's best-selling Torchwood: The Official Magazine, based on BBC
America's highest-rated series ever.
Culled from storylines that didn’t make it past the cutting room floor, the Battlestar
Galactica manga takes place in Season 3 of the popular television series. In "Teacher’s
Pet," teacher Laura Roslin struggles to educate and inspire her young students with a
"human-centric" curriculum on New Caprica, until she begins to suspect one of her own
students may be a Cylon informer. Back on board the Galactica after Adama’s daring
rescue of the human population in "Shelf Life," President Tom Zarek is determined to
root out and punish any human traitor suspected of collaborating with the Cylons
during the occupation by death. But will he be able to follow through when a long-
lost friend is on top of the target list? And in "Visitation," Starbuck is stunned
when she discovers the young girl Kacey living in squalor in the shantytown, so
stunned that in her attempt to help, she crosses a line that shocks even those
closest to her.
While the critically acclaimed series may be coming to an end, Dynamite Entertainment
enters 2009 with a series of new and exciting Battlestar Galactica comic book events
Beginning with The Final Five, a three-issue event tying directly into the events of
the final episodes of the series, Dynamite will continue to provide a home for great
Galactica stories in 2009 and beyond! The Final Five #1 (of 4) is overseen By Seamus
Kevin (Origins) Fahey and David Reed with the complete authorization of Sci Fi and
the producers and features the back story of the Cylons, man and their current
struggle against one another! Joining the writers is Galactica veteran Nigel
Raynor, who also provide one of the two incredible covers! And to top it all
off, Red Sonja and Super Zombies artist Mel Rubi is also providing an incredible
cover!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
As some of you may know, I was hired by Joe Straczynski back in the
day to create Babylon 5 music videos for him to use at science fiction
conventions, and later to promote the show to networks. Eight were
produced over the run of the series, not including the memorial videos
I did later for Rick Biggs and Andreas Katsulas.
For the longest time, the only way to see these was if Joe or I showed
them at a convention, but now, after numerous requests from fans over
the years, Joe has given me permission me to post these online.
Danger Zone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYNG0ow0G0k
I Need a Hero:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFo3Lau2Occ
Requiem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7ckXY6yiVQ
Nobody's Side:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk9LvldiOf0
Welcome to the Third Age:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT5q_ltXiY0
Keep Yourself Alive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0lRtpWR5lo
The Phantom B5 Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uV4GMNjDdYc
Third Age 2K:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqIyY0PWjbI
Richard Biggs memorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyD4L8yNtsA
Andreas Katsulas memorial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2UQ2l9NPIg
- This is the extended version that I did for Andreas' widow ater the
original cut was released on the net. It's never been seen online
until now.
For those of you who've never seen these, I hope you enjoy them - and
for those that have (and emailed me many times over the years about
releasing them), I hope they're as good as you remember. Working with
Joe on these videos was one of the highlights of my career, and I'll
be forever grateful to him for the doors these have opened for me. I'm
proud to have them on my resume.
John Hudgens
July 10-12, 2009
For more information, go to http://www.shore-leave.com/
July 10-12, 2009
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS!
Be sure to visit the referenced sites to see if there have been changes in
dates/guests attending. Visit our Convention Calendar
for a full listing of upcoming conventions.
BACK ISSUES OF THE ZOCALO TODAY
Take care and I look forward to hearing from you. Sandra Bruckner (sgbruckner@aol.com) Editor/Publisher ISN News: The Zocalo Today http://www.isnnews.net Copyright - SBruckner, 1999-2009
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THIRD TWILIGHT FILM
As Sci Fi's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA enters its final episodes, Universal has quietly
entered into negotiations with Glen A. Larson to write and produce a big-screen
version of the property he created. BATTLESTAR, which originally aired on ABC in
1978, was produced in the wake of the success of STAR WARS, which caused a sci-fi
revival in popular culture. The premise involved a human civilization living on a
series of 12 planets that are decimated from an attack by intelligent robots known
as Cylons. Protected by the last surviving warship, a "battlestar" called Galactica,
the survivors fled in any ship that could fly. The Commander of the Galactica, Adama
(Lorne Greene), led this "rag-tag fugitive fleet" of 220 ships in search of a new
home on a legendary planet called Earth. The series co-starred Richard Hatch and
Dirk Benedict.
BABYLON 5 SHIP MODELS
WONDER WOMAN MOVIE
ALIEN RAIDERS
SIMON SCHAMA THE AMERICAN FUTURE - A HISTORY
TOM AND JERRY TALES: VOLUME 6
YOU'RE A GOOD SPORT CHARLIE BROWN
MOONLIGHT
FARSCAPE: D'ARGO'S LAMENT #1>br>
Written by Keith R.A. DeCandido, art by Tommy Patterson, covers by Michael DiPascale
and Will Sliney.
FARSCAPE: STRANGE DETRACTORS #2
Flash Gordon Volume 1: The Mercy Wars HC
Torchwood: Rift War GN
Battlestar Galactica: The Manga
Battlestar Galactica: The Final Five #1
March 27-29, 2009