THE ZOCALO TODAY – April 1, 2007

JEREMIAH IN SYNDICATION
I know a lot of us have been waiting for Jeremiah to come out on DVD.
We have season one, but not season two. Let's hope that we get to
see it as it hits syndication:

According to TV Week, "Jeremiah" is among several shows that have
just been syndicated to local television stations for weekend airings
starting this fall. It will run in rotation with three other sci-fi
series syndicated by MGM.

KEEPING UP WITH CAST AND CREW
PAT TALLMAN/KENNY YAKKEL/KEN FOREE
Variety reports that Producers Chris Aronoff and Jesse Lawler of
Antibody Films have announced that their horror/thriller "Dead Air"
is about to begin shooting a week from this Friday in North
Hollywood, CA. This independent film re-teams actors Bill Moseley and
Pat Tallman, who played brother and sister Johnny and Barbara in Tom
Savini's remake of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Sitting in the
director's chair is none other than LA Law's Corbin Bernsen, who
horror fans recently saw in the Masters of Horror episode "Right to
Die". The story revolves around a radioshow team attempting to warn
its listeners after a huge explosion turns zombies on the loose in
L.A. The screenplay was penned by Kenny Yakkel, whose other feature
script "Burning The Man" was recently announced and is being produced
by his wife Lawreen Yakkel (Xombie) and genre vet Ken Foree (Devil's
Rejects).

BABYLON 5 APRIL BIRTHDAYS

Christopher Franke (composer)- April 6
Maggie Egan (ISN News Reporter) - April 11
Tony Dow (director) - April 13
Warren Takeuchi (Kitaro Sasaki ) - April 19
Peter Jurasik (Londo)- April 25

If there is anyone we have missed, be sure to drop me a note so that
I can add them to our Cast and Crew Birthday Listing. We want to
include everyone in our Happy Birthday Wishes.

DISCUSSION TOPIC
What do you think of the new way networks are breaking up
the "season" for regular series? It seems like they run a couple of
episodes and are then gone for months. They return for a couple more
episodes and then are gone again. Is this good, especially for the
shows that have a continuing story? Would you prefer to see the
entire season all at once and then wait through re-runs for the next
season to begin?

Send your comments along to sgbruckner@.... I'll post them for
everyone to read on the Discussion Page.

NEW SCI-FI PUBLICATIONS

STARBURST SPECIAL #80: STAR WARS SPECIAL: In over 50 pages, Starburst
celebrates the film that prompted the creation of the magazine
itself, as it reaches its 30th anniversary... Starburst's resident
film reviewer, Alan Jones, takes a nostalgic look back at the time of
the original trilogy release; Hear from Ralph McQuarrie - designer
behind one of the most iconic Sci-Fi villains, Darth Vader! Rena Owen
Exclusive! The actress chats about her time working on Episodes II &
III as the super-slim alien Taun We and Senator Nee Alavar Carrie
Fisher - Famous for wearing that gold bikini, the Hollywood actress
reminisces about playing one of the best-loved female Sci-Fi roles
ever… Anthony Daniels - The actor looks back over his time playing
what became one of movie Sci-Fi's icons, C-3PO. Battlestar Galactica
(2000s)- Over 30 pages of interviews from the current, third, season…

TV Zone #214: HEROES: Save the Cheerleader, Save the World! Hayden
Panettiere knows her character's invulnerability must have an
Achilles' Heel… Star Milo Ventimiglia reveals why his character Peter
Petrelli's exploration of his powers has echoed his own shift into
adult roles… DOCTOR WHO: Guest star Roy Marsden brings us his
impressions of Doctor David Tennant as he reports on new season
opener Smith and Jones... Plus! A special picture preview of later
episodes, including Daleks in Manhattan. Off-world visions…Stargate
Atlantis - Production designer James Robbins opens us his sketchbook
for the first of two revealing looks at the spectacular visions that
he brings to the screen. Firefly's Nathan Fillion joins the varied
competitors in an illegal cross-continental race in DRIVE, a new
series from Buffy writer Tim Minear.

STARGATE MAGAZINE
This double issue takes you on an incredible tour of the set of both
Stargate shows, complete with behind-the-scenes action and revealing
on-set interviews with the cast and crew. Plus, don't miss the
exclusive short story!

CULT TIMES #139: LOST: Director/producer Stephen Williams revisits
some of his most recent successes on the show and looks ahead to the
next stage of adventures for the hapless islanders. DOCTOR WHO
(2000s) Preview 13 weeks of pure peril as the Doctor signs up Martha
Jones as his new companion and sets off for new adventures on Earth,
the Moon, distant planets and other times… MEDIUM - He may be the
only Dubois without psychic powers, but Joe has his own ways of
making himself useful, as Jake Weber, the man who plays him, is quick
to point out. JERICHO - After a series of devastating bombs in the
US, the citizens of Jericho are alone. But one man seems to know
more… Lennie James about playing Robert Hawkins. DRESDEN FILES - Jim
Butcher's book series comes to life! Read about a set visit as the
cast and crew talk about the ups and downs of bringing disheveled
wizard Harry Dresden to life.

NEW COMIC BOOKS:

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
Dynamite Entertainment has announced an August release for the first
Classic Battlestar Galactica trade paperback, which collects #1-5 of
the series by Rick Remender and Carlos Rafael.

The covers are by Dave Dorman and Talent Caldwell. Bonus material
includes a complete cover gallery and a preview of Battlestar
Galactica: Cylon Apocalypse.

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
Amazing Spider-Man #539 will arrive in stores on March 21 from Marvel
Comics. The issue is written by J. Michael Straczynski, with art by
Ron Garney.

Here's how Marvel describes the book:
"'Back in Black,' part 1. Look what someone found in their closet!
Reeling in the aftermath of the Civil War that¹s wracked the Marvel
Universe, Peter Parker has got plenty of reasons to consider a change
of wardrobe. Black is his state of mind. But the worst is yet to come
for Spider-Man. Gearing up for an event that will forever change the
life of your favorite web-slinger. There is no going back."
Amazing Spider-Man #539 will be 32 pages and will cost $2.99.

TV Avengers feature in new Comics International
Fans of John Steed, Cathy Gale, Emma Peel et al might want to scurry
on down to their local comics shop for a copy of Comics International
#201, the 100-page first issue from new publisher Cosmic
Publications. The long-running news magazine is continuing its
exhaustive overview at TV fantasy in comics with a detailed and
heavily illustrated look at The Avengers, written by John Freeman,
Ian Wheeler and Dez Skinn. (B5 fans will remember John Freeman as the
editor of the fabulous Babylon 5 magazine.

THIS WEEK IN SCI FI:

OCEAN'S 13 TRAILER
Warner Bros. has released a new trailer for OCEAN'S 13 at Yahoo!
Movies! The Steven Soderbergh-directed threequel, opening June 8,
stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don
Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Ellen Barkin, Al Pacino, Casey Affleck, Scott
Caan, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner and Elliot Gould. Use
this link to see the trailer
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/oceansthirteen.html.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE
Men on ice stood atop the winners' stand at the boxoffice Friday, as
Paramount Pictures' release of the DreamWorks comedy "Blades of
Glory" took the top slot for the day. According to the boxoffice
tracking site boxofficemojo.com, "Blades," starring Will Ferrell and
Jon Heder and directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, took in an
estimated $12.1 million. Buena Vista's release of the family-
oriented, animated film "Meet the Robinsons" bowed in the second
slot. "Robinsons," which is playing in 3-D at about 500 of the 3,413
locations in which it debuted, took in an estimated $7.6 million.
Bowing in 995 theaters, Miramax Films' thriller "The Lookout,"
screenwriter Scott Frank's directorial debut, ranked 11th with an
estimated $655,000. Rounding out the top five slots were Warner Bros.
Pictures' "300," in third place with an estimated $3.4 million as its
gross-to-date climbed above the $170 million mark;
Paramount's "Shooter," in fourth, with an estimated $2.525 million;
and Warners' "TMNT," in fifth, with an estimated $2.52 million.

HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY
According to IESB, Luke Goss has signed on to join the cast of the
upcoming sequel, HELLBOY 2: THE GOLDEN ARMY. After an ancient truce
existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic
is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who
treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and
awakens an unstoppable army of creatures. Now, it's up to the
planet's toughest, roughest superhero to battle the merciless
dictator and his marauders. He may be red. He may be horned. He may
be misunderstood. But when you need the job done right, it's time to
call in Hellboy (Ron Perlman). Along with his expanding team in the
Bureau for Paranormal Research and Development--pyrokinetic
girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair), aquatic empath Abe (Doug Jones) and
protoplasmic mystic Johann--the BPRD will travel between the surface
strata and the unseen magical one, where creatures of fantasy become
corporeal. And Hellboy, a creature of two worlds who's accepted by
neither, must choose between the life he knows and an unknown destiny
that beckons him. The film will begin production this June for a
August 1, 2008 release.

MIRRORS
According to Variety, Kiefer Sutherland will star with Paula Patton
in Alexandre Aja's supernatural thriller film MIRRORS. New Regency is
financing and will distribute through 20th Century Fox. The movie
will begin shooting at the beginning of May, after Sutherland wraps
season six of 24. The story revolves around a security guard
(Sutherland) who discovers an evil spirit lurking in the mirrors of
an abandoned department store. Patton will play the guard's soon-to-
be ex-wife, a coroner who has a hard time believing her husband's
claims, at least initially.

THE HAPPENING
Variety has confirmed that Mark Wahlberg has signed on to star in the
upcoming M. Night Shyamalan film, THE HAPPENING. Wahlberg will play a
man who takes his family on the run when a cataclysmic natural crisis
threatens to end the world. "Mark has a unique blend of charisma,
humanity, authenticity and skillfulness as an actor," Shyamalan
said, "all of which coalesced at this moment in his career, making
him the perfect person to take on the role of Eliot Moore, the
science teacher at the center of this event." Fox has set the release
of the film as June 13, 2008.

STRAW DOGS REMAKE
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Rod Lurie has signed on to
direct an upcoming remake of the 1971 thriller, STRAW DOGS. The
original film revolved around a young American and his English wife
who move to rural England and face increasingly vicious local
harassment. Plot details for the remake are being kept under wraps,
but sources said it will take place in the U.S. Screen Gems is in the
process of acquiring the rights to the film.

FEARNET
Variety reports that SPIDER-MAN 3 writer/director Sam Raimi will
produce the first two original series for Fearnet, the multiplatform
horror/thriller site launched five months ago by Sony, Comcast and
Lionsgate. Both projects are moving ahead, with the first set to
debut by early June. Raimi will produce via Ghost House Pictures, the
joint venture he and Rob Tapert run with Mandate's Joe Drake and
Nathan Kahane. Fearnet president Diane Robina said each series will
run seven episodes, with storylines continuing week-to-week. Episodes
will be ad-supported and run between three and five minutes. They'll
be available on all Fearnet platforms: on-demand cable, streaming
Internet video and mobile devices. Up first from Raimi is Devil's
Trade, which follows three teenagers who find themselves cursed after
buying an item off a Web site. Ben Ketai wrote the script, and Toby
Wilkins will direct. The second project, also penned by Ketai, will
serve as a prequel to 30 Days of Night, the Ghost House and Columbia
Pictures feature about vampires who feast on an isolated Alaskan
town, based on Steve Niles' graphic novel. The series will debut in
advance of the October release of the movie.

SUPERNATURAL
John Shiban, executive producer of SUPERNATURAL, said in a recent
interview that answers will be revealed as the second season wraps up
with a two-part finale. "I think people will be surprised at some of
[the answers]," Shiban (The X-Files) said. "Everybody has their
theories, of course. We've got some good twists and turns in there.
We've obviously hinted at some big things from the top of the season
involving Sam's destiny, involving Dean's mission and what the demon
is doing. ... As usual in our SUPERNATURAL world, it's not going to
be what everybody expects." SUPERNATURAL centers on brothers Sam
(Jared Padalecki) and Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) and their hunt
for mythical creatures that prey on the human race. This season, the
brothers have been seeking the demon that killed their parents and
have discovered that Sam has psychic powers. The demon, it turned
out, has plans for him and the children like him. Throughout the
season, "hints and tidbits" have been dropped, which will lead up to
the revelations in the finale, "All Hell Breaks Loose," Shiban
said. "Those things were done on purpose. At the top of the year we
said, 'As we hit our mythology periodically, let's drop this piece of
information. Let's let this out or let's let that out, which will set
up our ending.' And I'm very pleased with how it played. I think
people are not frustrated. They're not feeling we're stringing them
along, which I think is good. The sense I get is that they're excited
and they want to know more and they're going to get more." Shiban
added: "It's really been for us creatively real exciting and a real
treat. We started out the year saying, 'OK, we're not just going to
rest on our laurels.' And we were relatively happy with season one.
There were some episodes that didn't work out as well as we hoped,
and there were some things we tried that we weren't 100 percent happy
with. But we said, 'Let's not just keep doing the same thing. Let's
throw some curve balls. Let's open up the world. Let's add
characters. Let's find different ways to tell stories, both in the
area of what we call stand-alones—our sort of monster-of-the-week
episodes, where we did everything from killer clowns to a demonic
virus to the ghost of the serial killer—[and our mythology
episodes].' We try to tell stories in a different way, sometimes with
flashbacks, sometimes, [as in] 'The Night Shifter' that aired
recently, where it's sort of Dog Day Afternoon and you're telling the
story from the middle." The next original episode, "Hollywood
Babylon," will take the brothers Winchester undercover on the set of
a horror movie that may be cursed. It airs on April 19 in the show's
regular 9 p.m. ET/PT Thursday timeslot.

SMALLVILLE
The next new episode of SMALLVILLE, scheduled to air on Thursday,
April 19, will guest-star Lynda Carter as Moira Sullivan, the mother
of Chloe Sullivan, played by Allison Mack. Carter is returning to the
DC Universe of television; she is best known from the Wonder Woman
series that aired on ABC and CBS.

NEW SCIFI PROMOTION - DIE IN A MOVIE
SCI FI Channel is giving one lucky viewer the chance to be killed in
an upcoming original movie in a promotion for its "SCI FI Saturday:
The Most Dangerous Night of Television" programming block. To enter
to win a "Die-On" role in an upcoming SCI FI original action film,
slated to premiere in SCI FI's Saturday 9 p.m. ET/PT timeslot,
viewers can simply text the word "DIE" to the short code 72434.
Contenders can also enter on the SCI FI Saturday Web site. The winner
will be selected randomly and given a trip for two to the filming
location of an upcoming SCI FI original movie. The deadline to enter
is May 26. With two original world-premiere movies each month, plus a
host of other genre features, SCI FI's Saturday-night offerings
include the full range of modern science fiction fare, including
monster and disaster movies, SF/fantasy films and creative re-
imaginings of popular theatrical franchises such as the Species,
Pumpkinhead and Lake Placid movies.

STAR WARS STAMPS
The U.S. Postal Service is inviting Star Wars fans to vote on the
character they'd most like to see on a postage stamp at its official
Web site; the Postal Service will issue 15 stamps commemorating the
franchise's 30th anniversary on May 26.

STARGATE ATLANTIS
Joseph Mallozzi, executive producer of STARGATE ATLANTIS, said in a
recent interview that there will be "surprises and shocks" when the
series returns with new episodes on April 13 for the second half of
the third season. "The Replicator threat mounts over the course of
this third season," Mallozzi said. "And there's a powerful palpable
loss in one episode in particular that I'm sure will shock the fans."
Mallozzi added: "When we last saw our team they were off to the
rescue." In "The Return, Part 1" the team defied orders as they
headed off to save Gen. Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and
Richard Woolsey (Robert Picardo) from the Replicators. The first new
episode, "The Return, Part 2," debuts in the show's regular Friday 9
p.m. ET/PT timeslot. "They attempt to take Atlantis in part two, and
whether it's successful or not, it's only the opening salvo,"
Mallozzi said. "The second half of the season is a nice mix of
Atlantis' having to deal with the Replicator threat, in addition to a
lot of really nice one-off stories. Like 'The Tao of Rodney,' in
which McKay [David Hewlett] encounters an Ancient weapon that gives
him unusual powers—almost Ancient-like powers—and he begins to evolve
at a rapid pace and basically out-evolves everyone around him. That's
a fun episode. We've got a lot of fun episodes. Ken Cuperus is a new
writer that came in and wrote an episode called 'The Ark,' where we
find a space station hidden in the moon. We go on board, and once
we're on board, all hell breaks loose." Cuperus also
wrote "Submersion," which has the team investigating an underwater
lab, only to wake up something that's been dormant for thousands of
years. Viewers will also see the return of Connor Trinneer as Michael
in "Vengeance" and Richard Kind as Lucius Lavin in "Irresponsible,"
an episode Mallozzi wrote. Carl Binder wrote "Echoes," in which the
team begins to wonder if Atlantis isn't haunted. "And it leads all
the way to 'First Strike,' written by Martin Gero, which sees the
Replicators rear their ugly head and come up with a particularly
diabolical plot to target Atlantis," Mallozzi said. "The sacrifice
that Atlantis must make in order to attempt to divert or withstand
this attack is very interesting. Mallozzi and executive producer Paul
Mullie will become the show runners for Stargate Atlantis in season
four next year.

SIN CITY 2
During an interview to promote her current film, GRINDHOUSE, Rosario
Dawson, who played the lethal hooker Gail in Robert Rodriguez's Sin
City, said that she'll likely reprise the role in the upcoming sequel
film, which will again be based on Frank Miller's graphic-novel
series. "Luckily for me, or maybe not luckily for me, Frank really
loved drawing that outfit, so he pretty much put Gail in all of his
books," Dawson said. SIN CITY 2 will be a prequel film to the
original and will be based on Miller's A Dame To Kill For, Dawson
said. "It'll only be [based on] one book, as opposed to three [that
were the basis for the first film], so we'll actually have a full
story arc," she said, adding: "I think that'll pretty much be the
only thing that makes it like a regular film. Otherwise, ... it's
going to be very interesting now that all of us know the technology."
In the first Sin City, Rodriguez made use of digital visual effects
to replicate the high-contrast black- and-white look of Miller's
graphic novels. Dawson's Gail was the leader of a group of hookers
who take revenge on a dirty cop. In the first movie, Dawson famously
wore little but a bondage-and-discipline-like corset and leather
harness. For the new movie? "I'm sitting down with [costume designer]
Nina Proctor already," she said. "We're talking about what the hell I
could possibly wear to trump what I already wore in the last one. So
I'll be wearing a mask." Sin City 2 begins filming this summer with
an eye to a 2008 release. Grindhouse opens April 6.

CONVENTION CALENDAR

April 13-15, 2007
Creation's Grand Slam
Place: Burbank CA
Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel
Babylon 5 Guest: Walter Koenig
Other Guests: HAYDEN PANETTIERE, Heroes; KATEE SACKHOFF, Battlestar
Galactica; GEORGE TAKEI - Star Trek, Heroes; COLM MEANEY - STAR TREK:
The Next Generation and STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE; JUSTIN HARTLEY -
Smallville; ADRIAN PAUL - Highlander; MARC ALAIMO - Deep Space Nine;
NANA VISITOR - DS9; JAMIE BAMBER - Battlestar: Galactica; ROBERT
DUNCAN McNEILL - Star Trek: Voyager; CONNOR TRINNEER - Enterprise;
JESSICA STEEN - Stargate SG-1; MATT FREWER - Eureka; COLIN FERGUSON -
Eureka.
For more information, go to www.creationent.com

June 1-3, 2007
AdventureCon
Place: Babylon 5 Guests: Walter Koenig and Claudia Christian
Other Guests: Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Dave Prowse (Darth Vader), Billy
Dee Williams (Lando Callrision) and Jeremny Bulloch (Bobo Fete)
For More information, go to www.adventurecon.com

July 13-15, 2007
Shore Leave 29
City: Baltimore, MD
Place: Hunt Valley Marriott
Babylon 5 Guest: Claudia Christian
Guests: Nichelle Nichols, Aaron Douglas, Gary Jones, Dean Hagland
For more information, go to http://www.shore-leave.com/.

That's about it for now. There hasn't been a low of "new" news for a
while, but I did want to pass along the good word about Patty
Tallman's new project. Kenny Yakkel was the grip in Babylon 5 and
Ken Foree played on the ground pounders in "Gropos".

For those of us trying to keep up with all of J. Michael
Straczysnki's various projects, I found a wonderful website devoted
to just that. Go to http://worldofjms.com and check out all of the
items listed. There is information about BABYLON 5: THE LOST TALES,
THE CHANGELING, KING DAVID, etc. A good resource to bookmark!

Be sure to stop over at the website <http://www.isnnews.net> every so
often to catch up on whatever news I think is important -- and
interesting.

Until next time, take care.
Sandy

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