THE ZOCALO TODAY March 15, 2009

WHAT’S NEW

JMS REWRITES FORBIDDEN PLANET
Over at FilmBuff Newsreel, there is a story about J. Michael Straczynski
trashing the first draft of the follow-up/sequel to FORBIDDEN PLANET. According
to the article, the do-over is not due to a question of quality in the writing,
but due to the fact that details of the storyline had already started to leak,
even though actual production on the project has yet to be greenlit. In a clip
from a note JMS posted on the B5 moderated newsgroup:
"Meanwhile, on a wholly different note…not of triumph but of
annoyance….because so much of the Forbidden Planet screenplay was leaked out,
Warners and I have decided to chuck the screenplay in its entirety and start
over. This is the direct result of the leaks that showed up on the nets,
including detailed script reviews of a project that was barely a week old, and
which would effectively destroy any anticipation of the movie because by the
time it finally reached the screen in 2010 or thereabouts, the story would be
old news. So we’re starting fresh, and we’re going to keep a tight lid on
the script this time.

So to the sites that say, “Where’s the harm, it’s not like they’re gonna
toss out the script because we blew the contents of same all over the nets,”
well, yes, that’s exactly what it’s like, and it’s precisely your
responsibility that a year’s worth of work was destroyed.

So we start anew, with the determined hope that the next draft will be even
better, and far more secure, than the last one."

JMS WRITING BOOK ON CHRISTINE COLLINS
There was a comment by JMS to a question of whether or not he was writing a book
based on the life of Christine Collins - the main character of CHANGELING. JMS
indicated that he was �" but had fallen behind because of the press of more
urgent matters.

CATCHING UP WITH CAST AND CREW

MELISSA GILBERT:
LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, a new musical based on the beloved Laura Ingals
Wilder series of classic American books, will launch a nationala tour in October
at The Ordway Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota, following a five-week engagement
beginning September 10 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Milburn, N.J. Melissa
Gilbert, who rose to fame as a child playing 'Laura' in the hugely successful
NBC television series "Little House on the Prairie" during the 1970's, now
continues her legacy 'on the prairie' by taking on the role of Ma. LITTLE HOUSE
ON THE PRAIRIE will also star Steve Blanchard as Pa and Kara Lindsay as Laura.

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, with Gilbert and Blanchard and Lindsay, had its
world premiere production in August, 2008 at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis,
where it shattered all box-office records and sold-out for 12 consecutive weeks.

Following the Paper Mill Playhouse engagement, LITTLE HOUSE will begin an
extensive national tour at the Ordway Theatre in St. Paul. After a two-week
engagement there, the show will continue on to more than 30 additional cities
throughout the U.S. and Canada in 2009 and 2010, including Denver, Toronto,
Houston, Tempe and Sacramento.

BABYLON 5 fans will remember Melissa as Anna Sheridan -- and the wife of Captain
Sheridan, Bruce Boxleitner.

BILL MUMY:
THE JENATORS RETURN
Bill Mumy's band, The Jenators, will play at Rusty's Surf Ranch (on the Santa
Monica Pier) March 14 at 9:00pm for one set only. (Band members: Tom
Hebenstreit, David Jolliffe, Bill Mumy, Chris Ross and Gary Stockdale). For more
info, call 310-393-7437.

WBSHOP.COM GRAND OPENING
The all-new www.WBshop.com is now open featuring the largest collection of
Warner Bros products including WATCHMEN exclusive collections. During the Grand
Opening receive 20% Off and Free Shipping on all orders including Blu-ray, Toys,
Apparel and more.
Be sure to check out all the BABYLON 5 and CRUSADE items. Each episode is sold
separately for $1.95. It is a great way to get your favorite episode without
having to spend a lot of money.
You will also find DOCTOR WHO, RED DWARF, SUPERNATURAL, V and many other TV
science fiction favorites. Check out the lithographs, calendars, stationery,
toys and photo collections too.

NEW BABYLON 5 MOVIE BOOK UNTIL APRIL 30

THE BABYLON 5 SCRIPTS OF J. 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 PODCAST
Welcome to Show #148!
Tim and Summer lament about whether or not the entry requirements are too hard
for the Chronologies contest, since we haven’t received any entries yet. Not a
one.
Is the contest entry requirement too hard? Seriously, as of 2pm PT, March 11
2009, I have received ZERO entries for this contest. Is this too hard a task for
our lurkers and rangers, or does everyone already have the Chronologies book?
Tim also relays a note from JMS saying that the studio has completely scrapped
the screenplay for the Forbidden Planet remake, so we hope the person that
leaked it was held responsible for theft of intellectual property and is now
working off a period of indentured servitude in that studio’s salt mines.

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
(extended to March 25th)

Interview: Captain Jaclyn, Jason Davis and Amy Guskin from the Babylon 5 Scripts
Team join us to discuss the new scriptbooks project that’s been kept secret
and tightly under wraps until now.
Asked and Answered: JMS answers Thousands of Fan Questions about Babylon 5 is
the title of the new series, and it’s an exhaustive compendium of questions
ever asked about B5. Starting in November 1991, and current through 2008, the
team went through over 20,000 questions from many sources that aren’t
available online anymore (online chat transcripts, convention transcripts, etc)
in addition to the newsgroup archives from GEnie, AOL and Usenet.

It’s arranged in chronological order, without editing, so it’s a rare
glimpse at the actual development process as the show is ongoing. Most people
have seen some of the answers before, but a lot of work went into establishing
the original question with the answer to preserve the original context.

Keep an eye out at the Babylon 5 Scripts store for more details as the official
announcement date of March 17th and the release date of April 7th (not April
1st) draw near.

Feel free to ask the Scripts Team any questions about the project, and if you
want to see that electronic version (for easier searching) or an electronic
index, then let the Scripts Team know! (you know, there’s a free Kindle app
available for the iPhone and iPod Touch, if a Kindle version of the book could
be made available someday)
Discussion: Tim and Summer nitpick a little more about the contents of these new
books, and are looking forward to having the finished product to dig into later.
But now Summer won’t get her Crusade books until 2010… grumblefrack.

NEWS AROUND THE WORLD OF SCIENCE FICTION

KINGS
KINGS is a contemporary David-and-Goliath saga. Ian McShane (RIVER OF SOULS)
plays King Silas Benjamin, leader of Gilboa. When a young soldier named David
Shepard (Chris Egan) ignores orders and unwittingly saves the King's son, Jack
(Sebastian Stan), everyone's lives are forever changed.
Kings premieres Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
For a review of this new mini-series, go to
http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2009/03/kings-review.html

CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK
Vin Diesel revealed recently that David Twohy was writing another CHRONICLES OF
RIDDICK film. He said that only part of the film would have a smaller scale, a
la the predecessor film PITCH BLACK. Diesel said during the interview that the
film would open with Riddick struggling to survive alone against carnivorous
monsters.
"There is a scaled-down portion of this that goes back to the Pitch Black style
of telling the story," Diesel said. "It's hot."
Diesel added that his plan is still to have four Riddick films in total. The
third would only be part two of what he always envisioned as a trilogy to follow
PITCH BLACK. "Well, you remember when I had talked about Riddick, I talked about
Riddick as being the Fellowship in the Tolkien [Lord of the Rings] series. So I
was using PITCH BLACK as Hobbit, as the independent story that introduces you to
the world of Middle-earth, and then taking THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK and
treating it as a trilogy that goes from the story that you saw to the Underverse
and ultimately to Furya in the third film." Twohy's current script is not quite
set to complete the Furya journey, so there is still one more film planned.

ALIEN ZOO
Variety reports that Joe Stillman ("Shrek 1 & 2," "Planet 51") is set to pen the
high-concept family comedy ALIEN ZOO for Warner Bros. and Unique Features. Based
on an original idea by Dylan Sellers, the concept is Jurassic Park with aliens.
The film will be live-action with CGI. Bob Shaye, Michael Lynne and Sellers will
produce.

V
The Hollywood Reporter writes that Joel Gretsch (The 4400, Taken) has come
aboard ABC's drama pilot V. V, a reboot of the 1980s miniseries, deals with an
alien invasion. Gretsch will play a Catholic priest who sees a renaissance of
faith after the Visitors arrive. He joins a cast that includes Scott Wolf.
V reunites Gretsch with 4400 co-creator/executive producer Scott Peters, who
wrote V on spec.

IT
Variety reports that Warner Brothers has tapped Dave Kajganich to adapt Stephen
King's novel IT for the big screen, with Dan Lin and Vertigo's Roy Lee and Doug
Davison producing.
IT centers on seven children in a small Maine town who confront the source of a
series of murders in 1958 and again in 1985, when the cycle begins again. The
novel was previously adapted into a 1990 ABC miniseries. Kajganich is also
writing ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK for Neal Moritz and New Line.

SEQUEL FOR JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH
According to Variety, New Line's reteaming with Walden Media and ContraFilm for
MYSTERIOUS TRAVELS, a sequel to JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH.
The sequel's based on Richard Outten's script MYSTERIOUS TRAVELS: THE LOST MAP
OF TREASURE ISLAND, in which Prof. Trevor Anderson and his nephew embark on a
journey to a mysterious island that was the subject of three classic novels
(Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and
Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels).
JOURNEY, starring Brendan Fraser and Josh Hutcherson, was a strong summer
performer last year, with $101 million domestically and another $140 million
overseas. The film was shot in live action, but the landscapes and creatures
were generated with high-definition, photo-real 3-D technology. New Line and
Walden co-financed that project. Eric Brevig, who directed Journey but has not
yet committed to helm MYSTERIOUS TRAVELS, is working with Outten to develop the
script for the sequel. Fraser and Hutcherson have not yet signed on for the
sequel.

NBC SUMMER SCHEDULE
Yesterday NBC unveiled its summer lineup, including the premiere of the SF&F
shows MERLIN and THE LISTENER and the sci-fi miniseries METEOR and THE STORM.
The network also announced the season finale of MEDIUM on June 1 at 10 p.m.
ET/PT.

THE LISTENER debuts Thursday, June 4, at 10 p.m.
This series centers on Toby Logan (Craig Olejnik), a 25-year-old paramedic who
has a big secret: He's a telepath. Until now, Toby kept his ability hidden,
exploring its possibilities only with his longtime mentor and confidant, Dr. Ray
Mercer (Colm Feore). As he makes the rounds with his energetic paramedic
partner�""Oz" Bey (Ennis Esmer)�"Toby tries to help people in crisis and, in
the process, unravel the truth about his past, with the help of detective
Charlie Marks (Lisa Marcos) and his ER doctor/ex-girlfriend, Olivia Fawcett
(Mylène Dinh-Robic). THE LISTENER is executive-produced by Christina Jennings
and Scott Garvie, Michael Amo, Tom Chehak and Clement Virgo.

MERLIN premieres Sunday, June 21, at 8 p.m. It is a new 13-part drama series
that updates the story of the infamous sorcerer of Arthurian legend. In the
mythical city of Camelot, in a time before history began, Merlin (Colin Morgan)
is a young man with magical powers who arrives in the kingdom and quickly makes
enemies, including the heir to Uther's crown, the headstrong Prince Arthur
(Bradley James). Guided by Uther's wise physician, Gaius (Richard Wilson),
Merlin is soon using his talents not just to survive but also to unlock
Camelot's mystical secrets. Merlin was created and produced by Shine Television
(executive-produced by Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps) for the BBC and
FremantleMedia Enterprises.

THE METEOR airs Sunday, June 7, at 9 p.m. and Sunday, June 14, at 9 p.m. In
METEOR, two massive rocks older than the solar system collide in space, sending
each on a collision course with Earth. Dr. Lehman (Christopher Lloyd) discovers
that a meteor three times the size of Mount Everest is heading for Earth. His
devoted young assistant Imogene O'Neill (Marla Sokoloff) feverishly types in the
coordinates, only to find the previously identified meteor named Kassandra is
also headed their way. This is only the beginning of their troubles, as showers
of smaller meteorites begin to lay waste to major cities around the globe. The
miniseries also stars Stacy Keach, Billy Campbell, Michael Rooker and Jason
Alexander.

THE STORM airs Sunday, July 19, at 9 p.m. and Sunday, July 26, at 9 p.m. THE
STORM centers on billionaire Robert Terrell (Treat Williams), who has made
history with "weather creation" technology though his Atmospheric Research
Institute. But during a test run, a blast of energy is sent into the ionosphere,
causing disastrous hurricanes, winds, torrential rains and explosive lightning
storms. Dr. Jonathan Kirk (James Van Der Beek) takes on Terrell and his
technology with the help of news reporter Danni Wilson (Teri Polo). The cast
also includes John Larroquette, Luke Perry and Marisol Nichols.

CURE
Dennis Iliadis ("The Last House on the Left ") has signed on to direct the
thriller CURE for Groundswell Productions reports Variety. The story centers on
a young man who sends his wife for an experimental treatment to save her from a
terminal illness. Although she returns completely cured, she is suddenly
infected with something more terrifying.
Beau Michael Thorne ("Max Payne") wrote the screenplay and shooting is set to
begin in the Summer. Doug Davison, Roy Lee, Brian Witten and Michael Connolly
are producing.

BACK
JERICHO fans will be happy to see that star Skeet Ulrich has signed on as the
lead of CBS' drama pilot BACK. BACK, from CBS Paramount, centers on a man
(Ulrich) who returns home to discover he was reported missing eight years
earlier, after Sept. 11. He must reconnect with his family and a world that has
moved on without him.
Dean Widenmann ("CSI: Miami") penned the script and is exec producing with
HAIRSPRAY producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. Mark Pellington is directing.
Ulrich was involved in the successful grass-roots campaign to save the cult
drama JERICHO when CBS canceled it after one season. In a rare reversal, the
network brought the show back for a second season. In addition to his starring
role on JERICHO, which is airing on the CW, Ulrich also appeared in the TNT mini
INTO THE WEST and has the Sony Screen Gems feature ARMORED in the can.

Well, I guess that is about it for now. Be sure to visit the website
(http://wwwisnnews.net) to keep up on the news for everything BABYLON 5 and
other shows of interest. Join me at my blog to talk about shows you like to
watch �" like Fringe or Dollhouse. Be sure to send in any news you want
posted for other BABYLON 5 fans to read.

Have a great day. Enjoy the remainder of your weekend.
Be safe.
Sandy

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