Got some sci-fi or fantasy goss? Even something controversial? Share it with us...

Please email your news to Fiona McLennan. Don't forget to include your name (so we can acknowledge you!) and your source.

Padmé in Jedi and Jar-Jar in New Hope

Harry Knowles, the Ain't It Cool News guy has some good original Star Wars trilogy news for us. Well...Good depends largely on your point of view!

Natalie Portman will be shooting scenes for Return of the Jedi in between her Episode III schedule and Jar-Jar Binks MAY find his way into A New Hope. Hmmm....

New Two Towers trailer

And while you're at AICN check out Harry's review of the new The Two Towers trailer.

Be sure to keep an eye on lordoftherings.net for the latest...

IJ4 from the horse's mouth

George Lucas is reported to have confirmed that he hopes to start filming the next Indiana Jones film in 2004... I liked it better when they were filming sooner but there you have it! The good news is at least it is officially moving instead of just rumoured to be! Check it out at TheRaider.net

Star Wars and Buffy games

Sci-Fi Wire previewed a couple of upcoming LucasArts games including Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (featuring Jango Fett from Attack of the Clones) and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic which is set 4,000 years prior to the films.

Also coming soon (slated for release later this year in the US) is Star Wars: The Clone Wars which will be a first-person adventure within scenes based on Attack of the Clones. So you can actually BE Anakin in battle against Count Dooku!

The long-awaited Buffy game is also nearing completion and is due for release in the US in July. Read all about it at Sci-Fi Wire.

Poster Vandals

It seems we have an epidemic of poster vandals. The SMH reports that at least 540 limited release posters have been stolen by fans from around Australia.

The spirituality of Star Wars

"When the film [Star Wars: A New Hope] came out, almost every single religion took Star Wars and used it as an example of their religion; they were able to relate it to stories in the Bible, in the Koran and in the Torah." - George Lucas

Faithandvalues.com has done an extensive spread on the ideas associated with Star Wars and religion - makes for interesting reading... particularly if you like to find deeper meanings in popular culture.

And still MORE Indy IV news

AICN have still MORE news on the Indiana Jones IV project which SEEMS (fingers and toes desperately crossed) to be gearing up well...

Spoilers for Buffy finale

Joss Whedon has been foreshadowing the Buffy finale... Read all about it at SciFi Wire. I doubt' the spoilers will come as an enormous surprise to anyone, but they are there (kind of) so be warned!

Bringing out the dead?

The technology exists, literally, to bring Hollywood Greats of the past back to the Silver Screen. In fact - it's been theoretically possible for some time now... I attended a lecture on Digital Media in film a couple of years ago and this was one of the hot topics of discussion - digital technology has the ability to MAKE a "virtual actor" out of a real one, but is it a good idea? And who owns the copyright on the IMAGE of an actor? Is that the actor? The film studio? Or the photographer/cinematographer? It's quite an interesting debate, actually...

George Lucas is emphatically against the idea as you can read at Ananova. I was fascinated to read that it has, in fact, already been done to a certain extent:

"When veteran British actor Oliver Reed died during filming of the Roman epic Gladiator, scenes were digitally altered to make it look as if he was there."

Read the full article.

Episode III

Attack of the Clones may only have hit cinemas yesterday but the stars are already looking forward to Episode III. See Sci-Fi Wire for details...

The Matrix: Reloaded trailer

Warner has released the first teaser trailer for The Matrix: Reloaded at whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com

Affleck the Daredevil

The next Marvel Comics flick is set to be Daredevil, with Hollywood Super Spunk Ben Affleck. There's a good article (including a pic of the outfit) at USA Today.

More on T3

As Terminator fans are probably aware Jonathan Mostow is stepping up to direct the upcoming Terminator 3 flick in place of James Cameron. He chats to Sci-Fi Wire about it here.

More on IJ4

The good folk at Indyfan.com are cautiously optimistic about progress on the next Indy adventure. They may be scouting for locations as we speak if AICN and Dark Horizons are correct. Be sure to keep an eye on Indyfan.com's Reality Check page for this project.

The battle of Joss and Dark Angel

Fox has pulled the plug on Dark Angel in favour of Joss Whedon's new project Firefly (more on this series in the Archives). Firefly will premiere towards the end of the year in the US and has been awarded Dark Angel's coveted spot - Friday, 8pm. Check it out at Sci-Fi Wire.

Attack of the Clones in cinemas NOW

Wandering down George St, Sydney last night (for those non-Sydneysiders that's where the city's city cinemas are) we saw not one but TWO real live Jedi Knights. Complete with robes. And a queue. And a barricade. Frightening stuff but they looked like they were having fun : )

You can read the SMH's review here. Or you could just head pretty much anywhere on the web and find a review... Lots of Star Wars gossip and news at Ananova, TheForce.net and even StarWars.com.

Hayden Christensen has told Sci-Fi Wire that he's "looking forward" to turning to the Dark Side in Episode III. After all he gets to "murder the entire Jedi race"... Between that and wearing Darth's helm he's going to be quite busy!

Red Dwarf on DVD

On the subject of Star Wars if you'd like to see Red Dwarf do Star Wars click here and download the 1999 'Star Wars' trailer for Season VIII Red Dwarf - every generation has an idiot... (let me know if it's any good, actually - my firewall won't let me download!). Lots of other grabs there too.

Back to the point, however! The DVDs for Red Dwarf Season I are in production and will be released worldwide on the 4th of November. The BBC's website for Red Dwarf assures us that we should "expect state-of-the-art extra features, including photo galleries, outtakes, deleted scenes and filmed interviews." Sounds pretty good... The other series are to follow.

Star Wars on DVD

And jumping BACK to Star Wars click here to view Rick McCallum's interview with Empireonline.co.uk. Turns out the delay with the original trilogy making it to DVD (another three years or so) is all down to George Lucas. McCallum is reported to have said: "With George… he’ll keep on changing the film till the day he dies." In a nutshell Lucas is shooting extra footage for the originals whilst filming the prequels. Heard of a Director's Cut, Mr Lucas? I'd spring for it! It seems we're going to have to be patient for the COMPLETE version, however...

Spiderman breaks the record

Spiderman has broken The Phantom Menace's record as the fastest film ever to take $200 million in the US. Full details at Ananova.

New Bond trailer

Before you email me and tell me that James Bond has nothing to do with sci-fi/fantasy I'm going to justify this update by stating categorically that James Bond is PURE fantasy! ; )

The teaser trailer is available for download here

Are Bloom And Ricci Dating?

This just in from Phantophile, Zoid.

Lord Of The Rings star Orlando Bloom has been spotted in the arms of cool Hollywood babe Christina Ricci. According to British teen magazine Just 17, the pair were seen leaving a Hollywood party after the Sleepy Hollow actress fell ill. Ricci reportedly vomited in the street while Bloom--he's elf Legolas in Peter Jackson's fantasy epic--held back her hair and whispered sweet nothings in her ear. Neither party has yet confirmed the story.

All I can say is if true it must be true love cos you really wouldn't do that sort of thing for anyone.

Batman in Catwoman

AICN tells us that there is the possibility that Michael Keaton MIGHT be set to reprise his role of Batman in the upcoming production of Catwoman. Maybe. Read the gossip here.

Arnold chats about T3

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been talking to Sci-Fi Wire about T3.

Award news from the UK

Great award news just in from the UK office:

George RR Martin's A Storm of Swords has been shortlisted for the 2002 Nebula Award

Lois McMaster Bujold's The Curse of Chalion and Passage by Connie Willis have both been shortlisted for this year's Hugo (that's 2 out of 6!)

And of course next week the 2002 Arthur C Clarke Award-winner will be announced: we have The Secret of Life by Paul McAuley and (again) Passage by Connie Willis shortlisted.

Harry Potter a no go

We may well be waiting a while for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Ideally the book would be out in our Spring, at the end of the year, however Rowling is yet to complete the manuscript. A spokesperson for Bloomsbury is reported to have said: "as soon as we have the completed manuscript we will announce a publication date". Keep your fingers and toes crossed that that date is sooner rather than later! Read the full article at Ananova.

Go Keanu hunting on Saturday

If Sydneysiders are looking for something to do tomorrow (that's Saturday the 11th of May) then why not go hover outside the Governor Phillip Tower. According to AICN The Matrix Reloaded will be filming there...

Angelina to reprise Lara

Angelina Jolie will reprise her role as Lara Croft in the sequel to Tomb Raider. Full story at SciFi Wire

Spot the Spiderman blunder

Head over to Movie-Mistakes.com for a WHOPPING great list of errors in the upcoming Spiderman movie. Other films that get the Movie-Mistakes treatment are The Matrix, The Fellowship of the Ring, Star Wars and Terminator 2.

My apologies for the long delay in update - we've got a lot to catch up on!

Minority Report

The third Minority Report trailer is now available for download from the official website. It's a Steven Spielberg film (based on a story by Philip K Dick) set in 2054. Starring Tom Cruise, The Minority Report will hit Australian screens on June 20th.

Star Wars

The next Star Wars prequel, Attack of the Clones opens around the world next week, so the publicity machine is running riot as you would expect! BE WARNED: Many of the links on this page WILL have spoilers so proceed at your own risk!

Ananova tells us that producer Rick McCallam has told The Sunday Times that the making of Attack Of The Clones has revolutionised Hollywood as it is the first significant film to have been shot entirely digitally.

There are a host of magazines and newspapers worldwide with Star Wars features (Australia's selection includes Barbie Mag, Disney Adventures and DMag according to the official news page)

TheForce.net reports that: "The June issue of Empire Magazine has dedicated over 3/4 of the issue to nothing but Star Wars"

While you're at TheForce.net be sure to check out the Celebration II section for LOADS of gossip, and there are even early spoilers for Ep III here (including the suggestion that Hugh Jackman will be involved - this from Rick McCallum: I can't say much, but yes - he will be involved").

AICN has compiled a list of online reviews for us...

The Hulk

The first trailer for Ang Lee's The Hulk (starring Australia's Eric Bana) is now available online at the film's official website.

IJ4 - could it be?

Potentially some FANTASTIC news from Ain't It Cool - Harry tells us that Indiana Jones 4 might be shooting as early as June. Upcomingmovies.com has a good overview of the project's news to date.

The Matrix on Time

Time.com has a splash on The Matrix sequels. Includes some fantastic pictures.

Danes in T3

Arnoldmovies.com reports that Clare Danes will play "the romantic interest" in Terminator 3.

ID4II

Independence Day II is in the works according to Sci-Fi Wire. Producer Dean Devlin is reported to have said: "we're back to work on doing a sequel to Independence Day," Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin wrote and produced the original together.

What's next for Giles?

Anthony Stewart Head (Giles in Buffy) has been chatting with Sci-Fi Wire about the much anticipated BBC spin-off Ripper or The Watcher (final name yet to be settled on). Back in England Giles will be a "changed man" because his motivation will be completely different. There are still lots of contractual and practical problems (where to find a British Joss to oversee the project?) to be resolved so it's doubtful we'll see anything soon.

Home | Books | Authors | Community | News | Contact us | FAQ | Sitemap

Terms of use | Privacy Policy | Copyright © 2003 HarperCollinsPublishers Australia. All rights reserved.