THE ZOCALO TODAY – September 23, 2006

WHAT'S NEW
Not a lot new on the Babylon 5 front. I expect to hear something
from Café Press shortly on the Babylon 5 Script Book #9. JMS
mentioned last week that he was finishing it up and it would be out
shortly. JMS' plate rather full these days, but he wants to keep
that project moving ahead.

DISCUSSION TOPIC:
With the new season upon us, I think it might be time to start
talking about the new series coming our way. Have you had a chance
to watch JERICHO, EUREKA, HEROES (premieres on Monday)? How about
the old series – were the new seasons worth waiting for? Are you
anticipating the return of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, DOCTOR WHO?
Send your comments along to sgbruckner@... so that I can post
them for everyone to read on the Discussion Page.

PAT TALLMAN WALKING FOR AIDS - OCTOBER 15
I know I sent this out as a special note last week, but I thought I
would repeat it just in case someone missed the note – and in the
hope that others would jump in to support Pat's efforts.

Below is a note from Pat Tallman:
Dear Friends,
I am walking again! We are walking to eradicate AIDS and promote the
U.S. Department of Peace. To help out go to
http://aidswalklosangeles2006.kintera.org/ptallman
We need YOU to join Team Department Of Peace for this year's AIDS
Walk Los Angeles!

To learn more about our involvement or to register through me,
please email me . Online registration is also available at the AIDS
Walk website: http://www.aidswalk.net. Click to AIDS Walk Los
Angeles and go to "REGISTER ONLINE". Remember to indicate that you
are on Department Of Peace team. You can download your sponsor form
to print out immediately and receive your Walker Kit from the AIDS
Walk office. Encourage your family members and friends to register
online to walk with our team- the more the better!

Please join our team and walk on Sunday, October 15th- it's an
important cause and an inspiring day.

If you cannot join us for the day, please sponsor me for any amount
you can. You can send checks to me made out to AIDs Walk LA , Pat
Tallman 23235 Burbank Blvd. Woodland Hills CA 91367. Or you can go
to my link & donate online. It's really easy.
Thank you so much!

Together we can do so much to end the suffering from this
devestating illness.

In Hope and Peace,
Pat

BABYLON 5 PODCASTS
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Welcome to Show #33!
Interview: John Copeland, producer for Babylon 5
Continuing with our talk with John Copeland, we get his impressions
on production costs then and now, we find out about his fascination
and appreciation of The Flying Tigers and aviator history, and much
more. And how many producers do you know that have their own trading
cards and action figures?

Listener Feedback: Tim sometimes doesn't pay attention. This is what
happens when he doodles too much. We have voicemails about why Talia
had to do the mind scan in "The Quality of Mercy", bringing up the
question of nature vs nurture; a message about statute of
limitations for punishment; Steve in Denver comments on Tim's
viewpoint on the Vorlons; Joe from Michigan comments on the alleged
time paradox in "Babylon Squared"; Jonathan in California comments
again on whether the Vorlons adhered to Valen's prophecies or not.
We also go through a handful of emails… and we're still not caught
up on your feedback!

Babylon Podcast: Show #32
by Summer —
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Welcome to Show #32!
Interview: John Copeland, producer for Babylon 5
After a little bit of Dragon*Con recap discussion, Tim, Summer and
Jeffrey have an engaging and entertaining talk with B5 producer John
Copeland.

We find out how B5 grew, in terms of the show finding its feet and
finding its fans, how those fans were able to give instant feedback
on the show back to the creators, and how those fans found each
other and grew into a unified force that's still alive and vibrant
today.

We also talk about how B5 was treated much like an orphaned project
by the suits, the work involved in producing and directing such a
richly conceived show, the impact of winning Hugos, and much, much
more.

Vote for us!
Let's get this show's rank into The Pickle's Top 100!
If you want to listen to us live as we record episodes, that feature
will be be available starting September 6th, 9pm EDT/6pm PDT. You
can find all of the necessary info here, including instructions on
how to join the IRC chatroom for live interactive feedback from the
Draco Vista Studios.

Go to <http://www.babylonpodcast.com>Babylon Podcast to listen to
the archived copies of previous shows.

For your convenience, I've put all the previous Babylon Podcasts on
a page here at <http://www.isnnews.net/zocalo/podcast.shtml>B5
Podcast. Podcasts are scheduled for every Wednesday, so be sure to
listen when you have a chance -- and send a comment or two.

NEW STAR TREK SCRIPT BOOKS
TOS volumes 1 and 2
For the first time ever, enjoy these limited edition bound script
series. Through the end of 2006, Season One will carry Limited
Edition 40th anniversary covers. These special volumes also include
Gene Roddenberry quotes, and a never-before-seen family photo
provided by the Roddenberry archive.

These are the first two volumes of a 13-volume set comprising all
three seasons of The Original Series.

Complete your set and enjoy a custom-design tiled spine image.
Season One carries its own complete image as well.

Collect them all while they're available!
Link: http://www.cafepress.com/roddenberry

NEW DVDS
SUPERMAN ULTIMATE COLLECTION:
Warner Home Video has released images and details for its Superman
Ultimate Collectors Edition, due in stores on Tuesday, Nov.28. The
set will feature SUPERMAN RETURNS: SPECIAL EDITION, SUPERMAN II: THE
RICHARD DONNER CUT, SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE FOUR DISC SPECIAL EDITIONI,
SUPERMAN II TWO DISC SPECIAL EDITION and SUPERMAN III and SUPERMAN
IV DELUXE EDITIONS. Also included are the documentaries You Will
Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman and Look Up in the Sky! The
Amazing Story of Superman and Bryan Singer's Journals Extended
Edition. The set has a suggested price of $99.92.

NEW SCIENCE FICTION MAGAZINES
STARBURST #342: Star Trek 40th Anniversary - Celebrate the 40th
birthday of this legendary Sci-Fi series as the stars from two
generations of bold voyages talk about working on the show, plus a
look back at a classic Trek movie! Kirk and Spock Reunited! Original
series stars William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy chat about their fond
memories of the series and movies. Brent Spiner Exclusive Interview -
The actor best known as Lt Cmdr Data on The Next Generation recalls
his tour of duty aboard the Enterprise D. Flashback: The Wrath of
Khan - The archives examines one of the most popular Star Trek
movies, with interviews and contemporary reviews. BATTLESTAR
GALACTICA (2000s)- Season 3 PreviewBattlestar line-up - As this
acclaimed series returns to our screens, one of the stars looks
ahead to the crew's dangerous new battles with the invading Cylons.

SCIENCE FICTION NEWS THIS WEEK:
THE FOUNTAIN
Darren Aronofsky's controversial SF epic THE FOUNTAIN will receive
the $25,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Award, to be presented at the
Hamptons International Film Festival, which takes place Oct. 18-22
on Long Island, New York. The cash prize is awarded to a feature-
length film that explores science and technology themes in fresh,
innovative ways and depicts scientists and engineers in a realistic
and compelling fashion. THE FOUNTAIN tells the tale of a man's
efforts to save the woman he loves over the course of 1,500 years.
It stars Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Ellen Burstyn and was
written and directed by Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream). The film
garnered raves in its preview screening at Comic-Con International
in San Diego in July, but has been blasted by critics at film
festivals in Venice and Toronto. "Although its themes and characters
sprawl over 1,000 years, from the 16th to the 26th centuries, and
invoke myth and fantasy as well as science, Darren Aronofsky's
powerful central story is about a contemporary scientist who tries
to save his beloved wife from cancer through scientific research and
experimentation," the Sloan foundation said in a statement. "In
accurately depicting the enormous potential—and very real limits—of
modern scientific efforts to cure disease and extend human life,
this beautiful symphony on what it means to lose someone you love
pushes the frontiers of time and space to reveal that humanity and
mortality may be inextricable, and only art, for now, can bestow
immortality." The Hamptons/Sloan feature-film prize comes from the
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's program in public understanding of
science, which also includes the Sundance and Tribeca film
festivals, to form part of a broader effort to stimulate leading
artists in film, television and theater to create more credible
works about science and technology.

IGOR
According to Variety, the Weinstein Co. has tapped Tony Leondis to
direct the upcoming animated film Igor. Leondis served as a writer
on the animated films THE PRINCE OF EGYPT and HOME ON THE RANGE and
also helmed the home-video release LILO & STITCH: 2: STITCH HAS A
GLITCH. IGOR, from Exodus Film Group, examines the machinations of a
mad scientist's assistant. Christian Slater and John Cleese are
among those voicing characters. John Eraklis and Max Howard produce;
Chris McKenna is penning the script.

ATLAS SHRUGGED
According to Variety, Angelina Jolie is set to star in the film
adaptation of Ayn Rand's iconic tome ATLAS SHRUGGED for Lionsgate.
Jolie, a longtime fan of Rand's, was eager to play the role of
Dagney Taggart, the most powerful female character in any of Rand's
books. A movie version of the Russian-born author's novel, which
runs more than 1,100 pages, has been long in the making. For years,
producer Al Ruddy tried to bring ATLAS SHRUGGED to the bigscreen,
attracting the interest of Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and Faye
Dunaway along the way. Howard and Karen Baldwin ("Ray") hold the
rights to this most ambitious novel of Rand's, and are producing.

TRANSFORMERS
John Rogers, who wrote the first draft of the TRANSFORMERS script,
talked to Newsarama about the movie. "Yep, I wrote the first draft.
I've seen the shooting script, and it's about half and half. They've
moved one of the storylines a little earlier, and they've increased
the big military aspect, whereas I had focused on some of the
smaller, personal stories. Yeah, you know, I get a credit, we'll
see. We'll see what it looks like eventually. It goes from me, to
the other guys, who work quite extensively with Michael Bay, so
using what he needs to get his vision across. The characters are the
same, the rough plot's the same, and I've seen the mock-ups of the
battles and it's gonna be frickin' huge. It'll be a lot of fun to
see." TRANSFORMERS hits theaters on July 4.

GRACE
The Hollywood Reporter indicates that Laura San Giacomo has been
tapped to co-star opposite Holly Hunter in TNT's drama pilot GRACE.
Leon Rippy and Bokeem Woodbine also have been cast in the project
from Fox TV Studios. GRACE centers on a jaded Oklahoma City police
detective (Hunter) who is visited by an irascible angel (Rippy) and
offered an opportunity to redeem her life. San Giacomo will play
Grace's best friend, a forensic scientist. Woodbine will play a
death-row inmate who also can see the angel.

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
According to the Comics Consortiuum, Dark Horse Comics will publish
a new series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics that will pick up
the story of the cult TV show and act as a de facto eighth season.
The new Buffy series is targeted for a March launch, and the first
story arc will be a four-part series that will chronicle events
after the Buffy television series' finale, which aired in 2003.
Buffy creator Joss Whedon will write, with art by Georges Jeanty.

DOCTOR WHO - SEASON TWO
BBC Worldwide Americas announced that the complete second season of
the BBC's new DOCTOR WHO series will be released on DVD in the
United States on Jan. 16, 2007. "We're over the moon with Doctor
Who," said Megan Branigan, vice president of BBC video marketing, in
an interview. "We're really pleased with the results this year.
We're very excited to continue the momentum with [season] two as we
did with [season] one." (The second season of Doctor Who will air in
the United States on SCI FI Channel, starting Sept. 29.) The six-
disc set will feature a lenticular cover depicting David Tennant,
who takes over the role of the Doctor from Christopher Eccleston,
and Billie Piper as his traveling companion, Rose Tyler. Bonus
features will include video diaries from Tennant and Piper, as well
as episodes of the behind-the-scenes series Doctor Who Confidential,
which ran concurrently with the show when it aired in the United
Kingdom. The date of the release, and future releases, was timed to
fall on the Tuesday following the airing of the second series
finale, "Doomsday," on SCI FI Channel, Branigan said. The content on
the U.S. release will be identical to the version available in the
U.K., which is due in November. "It's done that way on purpose,
because it really is a global program," Branigan said. "We've agreed
with the BBC that our fans in the U.K. would notice tremendously if
the content was different, and we did actually do that with some of
the classic Whos. And we got some feedback that people were upset
because they had already bought the U.K. edition, and then all of a
sudden ours got put out, and we had added value. So we decided as a
global company to do [just one version]." Like the program itself,
the DVD is designed to appeal to longtime fans of the franchise, as
well as to those whose familiarity with the Doctor is limited to the
new incarnation. "It's the best of both worlds, because we're
appealing to both the core fans and to this new audience," Branigan
said. "I mean, the program does that all on its own. And SCI FI does
that for us, too. Because it's more mainstream, maybe it brings more
of an audience to SCI FI that they didn't have as well. But
certainly the people who are watching the SCI FI Channel are a
perfect target for the program."

SMALLVILLE NEWS
With SMALLVILLE's new season launching next week, the CW has
released new images from "Sneeze," the second episode of the sixth
season, set to air on Thursday, Oct. 5. Justin Hartley is playing
Oliver Queen/the Green Arrow. Here's how the network describes the
episode:

"Clark (Tom Welling) works hard to clean up the destruction done by
Zod and develops what he thinks is his first cold. However, he soon
discovers it is a new power - super breath! Lois (Erica Durance)
lands a job at The Inquisitor, the local tabloid, and Lana (Kristin
Kreuk) moves in with Lex (Michael Rosenbaum), who believes someone
is following him, which quickly proves to be true after he is
kidnapped."

In other Smallville news, the previously reported episode featuring
other DC heroes who have appeared on Smallville -- Cyborg, Flash and
Aquaman, along with Green Arrow -- will be called "Justice." The
episode won't begin filming for a few weeks and will likely be the
11th episode of the season.

Al Gough, executive producer of SMALLVILLE, is excited about the
coming season. He says the show is going to make a big splash for
its sixth season -- and first on The CW. "We've got everything
crossed we can possibly have crossed for the launch of Season 6 and
the new CW network," Gough said. "I can honestly tell you that this
will be our biggest season opener in Smallville history. You are
going to see inside the Phantom Zone, you are going to see Zod, you
are going to see Jimmy Olsen, as well as an incredible amount of
action, spectacle, humor and, of course, heart." SMALLVILLE actually
makes its CW debut on Thursday with a repeat of "Vessel," last
season's finale. The sixth-season opener, "Zod," will air on
Thursday, Sept. 28.

GHOST WHISPERER
Executive Producer of GHOST WHISPERER, John Gray, says that the
series will continue to develop its ghostly mythology with the
introduction of a new mysterious character, Bleeding Man, when the
series premieres this week. "He shows up at the end of episode two,"
Gray said in an interview. "All you really see of him is from
behind, and he is watching Melinda [Jennifer Love Hewitt]. And the
first few times he appears, she's not aware of him, and his hands
hang at his side. But his right hand is just drenched with blood and
dripping blood." Last season introduced the ghostly characters
Laughing Man and Wide Brim Man to the show's mythology. This season,
the story of the Bleeding Man will evolve over the first few
episodes until we learn who he is and what he wants, Gray said.
GHOST WHISPERER stars Hewitt as Melinda Gordon, a young woman who
helps the dead cross over. Last season, Melinda's best friend,
Andrea (Aisha Tyler), was killed when an airplane crashed into her
car in a shocking season finale that was reminiscent of The Sixth
Sense. In the last moments of the episode, Wide Brim Man was headed
toward Andrea, indicating her soul was in jeopardy. "The big
question now is will Andrea cross over?" Gray said. "And how will
that come about, if it comes about? What happens if it doesn't come
about? All those things. That's what we'll be tackling in the first
new episode." Gray added that just because a character dies on the
show, that doesn't mean he or she won't pop up again on a regular
basis. "That is the beauty part of our show," he said with a laugh.
This season GHOST WHISPERER will also introduce two new living
characters played by Camryn Manheim and Jay Mohr. Manheim will play
a real-estate agent with an office on the square; Mohr will play a
skeptical professor of the supernatural. Also look for both
Melinda's mom, who was played by Anne Archer, and Jim's mom, who was
played by Christine Baranski, to make a return visit. "Mostly we're
still going to stick with our core, our nucleus, of emotional
stories, and get a good scare and a good cry," Gray said. "And
continue to develop Melinda as a character and her relationship and
her world. Then we'll also be just weaving in how her world is
affected by the mythology that we choose and the ongoing good and
evil elements of that. It's going to be like last year, but more."
The second season of GHOST WHISPERER premieres Sept. 22 at 8 p.m.
ET/PT.

I AM LEGEND
Variety reports that Brazilian actress Alice Braga will co-star
opposite Will Smith in Warner Brothers' upcoming SF movie I AM
LEGEND, based on Richard Matheson's seminal vampire novel. Director
Francis Lawrence (Constantine) is set to start shooting the long-
gestating film in New York this fall. Screenwriters Akiva Goldsman
and Mark Protosevich adapted Matheson's novel; the movie deals with
three survivors of an apocalypse who are forced to battle vampire-
like beings in an empty New York City. Braga (City of God) most
recently starred in the Brazilian film Lower City.

REX MUNDI
According to the Los Angeles Times, Jim Uhls (Fight Club) has been
hired to adapt Arvid Nelson and Eric Johnson's graphic novel series
REX MUNDI into a feature film for Johnny Depp to star in and produce
through his Infinitum Nihil production company. REX MUNDI (King of
the World) posits an alternate 1933 in which the Reformation never
happened, the Inquisition is still in full swing, Europe remains
dominated by the Catholic church and the rest of the world consists
of colonies. Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean) will play a pathologist
investigating the mysterious death of the priest who found him as an
orphan. "It's a noir-ish Raiders of the Lost Ark," Uhls told the
Times. "There are murders and a mystery, and the lead character
discovers a massive conspiracy, biblical in its origin."

SPACEBALLS
According to Variety, MGM TV has commissioned an animated series
based on Mel Brooks' 1987 SPACEBALLS movie. The exclusive rights in
the U.S. have been sold to Comcast's G4 cable network. Encompassing
a one-hour pilot and 13 half-hour episodes, the project represents
the first scripted series greenlit by the new TV division at MGM,
led by Jim Packer, president of the worldwide TV distribution group.
Brooks and Thomas Meehan, who co-wrote the movie with Ronnie Graham,
have penned the one-hour pilot, and Meehan will supervise the
writing of the 13 half-hours. Brooks will do two of the voices,
President Skroob and Yogurt. Germany's Berliner Film Companie will
provide the animation. The series is set to kick off on G4 in the
fall of 2007.

OPEN SEASON - ANIMATED FEATURE
Both Martin Lawrence and Debra Messing voice characters in the
upcoming animated film OPEN SEASON. They signed on because of a love
for animation that goes back to childhood. In a recent interview,
Lawrence said, "I always loved animation. When I was growing up, my
favorites were Batman, Superman and Underdog, but most of all The
Flintstones. I loved Fred. They were like my favorites. I felt like
if anyone could stop a car with their feet, I mean, how can you not
be impressed with that?" Messing cited Disney's Winnie the Pooh as
her favorite, which encouraged her to want to voice a cartoon
character. "I loved Winnie the Pooh when I was a child," she
said. "I loved The Little Mermaid and Charlotte's Web, too." In OPEN
SEASON, the inaugural feature from Sony Pictures Animation, Messing
voices a park ranger named Beth who has a pet grizzly bear named
Boog (Lawrence). Beth has to return Boog back to the wild just as
hunting season begins. Gary Sinise voices the role of Shaw, a mean-
spirited hunter who wants Boog as one of his trophies. "I think it's
important to introduce animation to children, at least the parts
that aren't scary," said Messing, who was pregnant during the making
of OPEN SEASON and now has a 2-year-old son named Roman. "His first
love was Winnie the Pooh, too. I would show him the non-scary parts
of THE LION KING, like the singing. He loved the songs. He loved
Hakuna Matata, so he would sing. And also The Jungle Book." OPEN
SEASON also features the voices of Ashton Kutcher, Patrick
Warburton, Billy Connolly, Jon Favreau, Jane Krakowski and Georgia
Engel. It opens nationwide on Sept. 29.

HAPPY FEET
Rock star Prince has written an original song for the upcoming
animated musical movie HAPPY FEET, Warner Brothers announced at a
preview screening of movie footage in West Hollywood, Calif.
yesterday. The film will also feature the singing debut of voice
star Brittany Murphy and a Spanish-language version of Frank
Sinatra's "My Way," sung by Robin Williams. The movie will also
feature music by Yolanda Adams, Fantasia Barrino, Gia Farrell,
Chrissie Hynde, Patti LaBelle, kd lang, Jason Mraz and Pink, as well
as the motion-captured tap dancing of Savion Glover. HAPPY FEET
stars the voice of Elijah Wood as Mumble, an emperor penguin who is
unable to master the "heart song" his species must sing to attract a
mate. But he can tap dance and manages to find similarly fleet-
footed friends among the rival Adelie clan of penguins. Warner
screened about 17 minutes of the movie, featuring hundreds of
singing and dancing penguins, to audiences of invited guests and
their children. Afterwards, guests were treated to penguin-shaped
cookies and got a chance to get a photo with real penguins. HAPPY
FEET, directed by George Miller (Babe), also stars Nicole Kidman,
Hugh Jackman and Hugo Weaving and opens Nov. 17.

GEORGE LUCAS
According to the Hollywood Reporter, STAR WARS creator George Lucas
is donating $175 million through his Lucas Foundation to his alma
mater, the newly renamed University of Southern California School of
Cinematic Arts, the largest single donation in USC's history. Of the
donation, $75 million will be earmarked for the construction of new
educational buildings on the Los Angeles campus and renovations of
existing structures at the school, while $100 million will provide
an endowment. In related news, AP reported that Lucas was named
grand marshal of the 118th annual Tournament of Roses in the L.A.
suburb of Pasadena, Calif. The theme for the annual New Years Day
parade is "Our Good Nature."

I AM LEGEND
Blackfilm reports that actress Salli Richardson ("Anacondas",
TV's "Eureka") has been cast as Ginny, the wife of Will Smith's
character, and that Alice Braga (niece of legendary Brazilian
actress Sonia Braga) has been cast as Anna in the latest film
adaptation of the Richard Matheson classic "I Am Legend". 'Legend'
is about a terrible plague that has decimated the world, and those
who were unfortunate enough to survive have been transformed into
blood-thirsty creatures of the night. Except, that is, for Robert
Neville. He alone appears to be immune to this disease, but the grim
irony is that now he is the outsider. Will Smith will be playing the
role of Robert Neville.

STARGATE AND CHARITY EFFORT
Richard Dean Anderson, former star of SCI FI Channel's original
series Stargate SG-1, will appear at FMA Vancouver 2006, a charity
benefit gala at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts in that
Canadian city on Sept. 30, organizers announced. Anderson's SG-1 co-
star Amanda Tapping will host the gala. Anderson is described as a
champion of environmental concerns and an ambassador at the event on
behalf of Sea Shepherd, a conservation society committed to
protecting marine wildlife under the United Nations World Charter
for Nature.

LOST
Many familiar faces return in the upcoming third-season premiere of
ABC's LOST, "A Tale of Two Cities," including William Mapother's
deceased Ethan and John Terry's Christian Shephard, Jack's father.
The episode, written by co-creators J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof
from a story by Lindelof, also marks the return of Julie Bowen as
Jack's wife, Sarah, who was last seen in the season-two episode "The
Hunting Party." In "A Tale of Two Cities," Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate
(Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) begin to discover what
they are up against as prisoners of the Others, led by Henry Gale
(new series regular Michael Emerson), ABC said. Besides Mapother,
Terry and Bowen, the premiere's guest stars include M.C. Gainey as
the Others' Mr. Friendly (aka Zeke), Brett Cullen as Goodwin, Blake
Bashoff as Karl, Julie Adams as Amelia, Stephen Semel as Adam,
Isabelle Cherwin as a little girl, Alexandra Morgan as a moderator,
Sonya Seng as a receptionist, Sally Davis as a teacher and Julie Ow
as a nurse. Jack Bender directed "A Tale of Two Cities," which
premieres Oct. 4 in Lost's regular Wednesday timeslot, 9 p.m. ET/PT.

NEW TOLKIEN BOOK COMING
According to Associated Press, an unfinished tale by Lord of the
Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien has been edited by his son into a
completed work and will be released next spring. Christopher Tolkien
has spent the past 30 years working on THE CHILDREN OF HURIN, an
epic tale his father began in 1918 and later abandoned. Excerpts of
THE CHILDREN OF HURIN, which includes the elves and dwarves of
Tolkien's Rings and other works, have been published before. The new
book will be published by Houghton Mifflin in the United States and
HarperCollins in England.

PAINKILLER JANE - THE SERIES
PAINKILLER JANE has finally been picked up by SciFi as a series. Sci
Fi has resurrected the dormant action pilot 'Painkiller Jane,' a
superhero actioner about a young Marine officer with self-healing
powers, ordering 22 one-hour episodes more than a year after the
pilot was shot. Production will begin up in Vancouver early November
and continue filming unlil July.

HEROES
As the September 25 premiere date draws closer, more and more
information about NBC's HEROES series is coming out. Tim Kring,
creator and executive producer of the series says that the the
series will be accompanied by a Web comic at NBC.com that will
become an integral part of the show itself. "Just to give a little
spoiler to everybody, the audience should look for the idea of the
comic book to play a huge part internally inside the show," Kring
said in an interview. The weekly HEROES Web comic will run
concurrently with the series and will have some relevance to the
episode airing that week. "People can log on and view and sort of
interact with the online comic book every week in conjunction with
the episodes," Kring said. "And the comic won't be necessarily about
that episode, but it will further enhance your viewing of the show.
It will be sometimes an alternative look at what you've seen, or the
other side of what you've seen, or a story that just sort of
enhances your appreciation of the characters." With comic-book
writer Jeph Loeb on board as a writer and producer and artist Tim
Sale providing drawings for one of the characters on the show, an
artist who paints images of the future, the connection to the comic
book worls is strong. The two were instrumental in attracting other
well-known names to the online comic, including Jim Lee and Michael
Turner. The stories will be provided by the show's writers. Kring.
who is overseeing the online comic and will also be involved in
breaking the stories, said that the project has been time-consuming
but was always part of the show's original conception. "We knew that
this was coming," he said. "This show was always sort of going to
have a large online and Internet component attached to it. So in the
development of the show and preparation for launching the show, we
took a lot of that into consideration. So we tried to carve out time
and money and personnel to sort of handle that." HEROES premieres
Sept. 25 and will air Mondays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Ali Larter, star of NBC's HEROES, will appear on the network's Today
morning show on Monday, Sept. 25, the day of Heroes' debut.

JERICHO
Jon Turteltaub, the executive producer of CBS' upcoming post-
apocalyptic drama series JERICHO, indicated in a recent interview
that he did research about what might happen after a nuclear attack
and was surprised by the answers he found. "This is going to sound
odd, but a nuclear bomb is not as bad as everybody thinks,"
Turteltaub said. "Without question on the scale of things in the
world, it's on the bad scale of things that can happen. Puppies are
on the really good side of things [laughs]. But sometimes we have
this image that one nuclear bomb would take out all of New York City
and Brooklyn and Queens and parts of New Jersey." That wouldn't be
the case with the initial blast, Turteltaub (National Treasure)
added. "Part of the question is how much of the area is
uninhabitable versus how much in our perception and our fears is
uninhabitable," he said. "Coping with our own panic may be a greater
enemy than the reality of these things." JERICHO follows the
residents of the title Kansas small town, who witness a mushroom
cloud on the horizon and lose all contact with the outside world.
The series stars Skeet Ulrich, Gerald McRaney, Pamela Reed, Ashley
Scott and Sprague Grayden. "Those of us in New York who went through
the blackout and those of us in L.A. who went through the riots and
those of us in New Orleans who went through the hurricane, and on
and on, understand how close all of us are to chaos," Turteltaub
said. "We instantly can be put in this place where everything can
just fall apart. And we know how thoroughly unprepared we are to
trust ourselves to survive." Turteltaub, who directed the pilot
episode, said the situation in which the characters of Jericho find
themselves will test them in every way. "In [an] odd way it's sort
of the best of science fiction," he said. "It is allowing the 'what
if?' to become reality, which I think science [fiction] has been
charged with since it began. You always start with your hypothesis,
and then you take that 'what if?' and try to get the most honest
answer, which is not always the extraordinary answer. It can often
be a simple, human and painful answer." JERICHO premieres Sept. 20
and will air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

DEAD ZONE - PSYCH RENEWED
According to Variety, USA Network ordered up a 13-episode sixth
season of THE DEAD ZONE, starring Anthony Michael Hall. The basic
cable network also gave an order for a 16-episode second season of
PSYCH, its comic one-hour show about an investigator who pretends to
have paranormal abilities. PSYCH airs Fridays; THE DEAD ZONE airs
with THE 4400 on Sundays. DEAD ZONE was an unlikely candidate for
renewal: Shot in Vancouver, the show has grown more expensive over
the years, rising from a production cost of $1.2 million per episode
to about $1.7 million.

TWIN PEAKS SEASON 2 DVD
According to information from Paramount, The TWIN PEAKS: SEASON 2
DVD has again been postponed from release. The DVD – in the works
for several years now – was originally due out in Australia in
November. Paramount was set to release it alongside a few other TV-
on-DVD releases, like "Melrose Place" and "Beverly Hills 90210". But
while those releases are still on target for an 11/06
release, "Peaks" is not. According to the company, PEAKS will now
probably bow in May 2007. A few more details – hopefully, that's
DVDish for "We're working on bringing you some great extras" - have
apparently got to be worked out before Dale Cooper's highly hankered-
for return to disc.

GOD, THE DEVIL AND LUCY
According to the Hollywood Reporter, New Line Cinema has
preemptively acquired GOD, THE DEVIL, AND LUCY, a comedy from David
Hubbard. The story follows God and the Devil who, tired of eternally
fighting for human souls, decide to settle things once and for all
by coming down to Earth as mortal men and competing for the love of
one woman that they mutually choose. Without using any of their
powers and relying only on human instinct and emotion, whoever gets
the woman to say "I love you" wins all the souls of humanity. Wyck
Godfrey and Marty Bowen will produce via their new Temple Hill
Productions.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

October 21-23, 2006
Armageddon Pulp Culture Expo
City: Auckland, New Zealand
B5 Guest: Mira Furlan
For more information, go to their website at http://www.pulpexpo.com

October 27~29, 2006
SuperNova Pop Culture Expo
City: Sydney, Australia
B5 Guest: Mira Furlan
For more information, go to http://www.supanova.com.au/

October 27~29, 2006
Vulkon Convention
City: Orlando, Florida
Guests: Avery Brooks, Jonathan Frakes, Denise Crosby, Walter Koenig,
Armin Shimerman, Rene Aberjonois Tim Russ, Andrew G. Probert, Suzie
Plakson
For more information, go to http://www.vulkon.com/upcoming.htm/

November 10-12, 2006
United Fan Con
Place: Springfield Marriott
City: Springfield, Massachusetts
B5 Guests: Claudia Christian
Other Guests: William Shatner (Saturday only), Grace Park
(Sharon "Boomer" Valerii), Linda Blair, David Nykl (Atlantis), Gary
Jones (Stargate), Jewel Staite (Firefly), Dean Haglund (X-Files),
Peter David, comic book writer
For more information, go to http://www.unitedfancon.com

That's about it for now.
Remember to visit the website http://www.isnnews.net for the latest
news. If you see one of the Babylon 5 cast in other roles, be sure
to send in your Ranger Sighting Report. A number of the cast have
recently shown up in NIP & TUCK – including Tracy Scoggins and
Melissa Gilbert!

Hope you all have a marvelous weekend.
Be safe!
Sandy

Sandra Bruckner
Editor/Publisher
ISN News: The Zocalo Today
http://www.isnnews.net