25 June 2001

The highly-anticipated second teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is due to arrive in theaters very soon. A Warner Bros representative confirmed that the new trailer will debut with Steven Spielberg's AI: Artificial Intelligence, which is released in the US on 29th June. America Online, however, will post the trailer first on 27th June. Meanwhile, there's some controversy over rumoured content of the trailer - the fact that Harry's lightning-bolt shaped scar appears not in the middle of his forehead as many fans had envisioned, but above his right eye. The news has already started a debate among fans about the placement of the scar.

Following our report last week on the departure of Shannen Doherty from Charmed, the Warner Bros TV network officially confirmed her replacement as Rose McGowan (Scream). Doherty's character Prue Halliwell, the eldest of a trio of sister witches living in San Francisco, was written out in the cataclysmic third-season finale of the series. A two-part season premiere or a two-hour single episode later this year will introduce Paige (Gowan) - the long-lost younger half-sister of surviving siblings Piper and Phoebe, and the secret daughter of the sisters' mother and her illicit lover, a "White Lighter". Executive Producer Brad Kern discussed the challenge of writing a storyline to explain the situation with Zap2it.com.

Shannen Doherty may have left Charmed but it seems she may make a guest appearance on another hit genre TV show - Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sarah Michelle Gellar's public relations representative, who also represents Doherty, is on record as saying, "They are good friends. And appearing on the show is always a possibility. As long as Buffy wants her, I know Shannen would do it." Meanwhile Buffy co-star James Marsters (Spike) is one of several genre actors who will make guest appearances on the SF series Andromeda next season. Marsters will play the villainous Nietzschean archduke Charlemagne Bolivar, a decadent yet intelligent nobleman. Other guest actors will include the X-Files's William B. Davis (Cigarette-Smoking Man), who will play a scientist obsessed with unveiling an alien race and Lone Gunmen star Bruce Harwood, who will play a defense contractor.

Anthony Stewart Head, who plays Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is in talks to play Doctor Who's nemesis - the Master - in a future Who story. Big Finish Productions, which has a BBC license to make Doctor Who audio adventures, has approached Head, and the actor is understood to be considering the offer seriously. Talks with Anthony Ainley, who previously played the role in the television series, were unsuccessful, and Big Finish hopes to use Head's desire to remain in Britain for work as a hook to land the actor.

18 June 2001

The BBC has announced that the pilot for a proposed Dr Who radio series will be broadcast exclusively on the BBC’s website on July 13th. The pilot, entitled "Death Comes to Time," will be webcast in a series of six 5-minute audio files, and will star Sylvester McCoy as the Doctor, Sophie Aldred as his companion, Ace and guest stars Stephen Fry (Blackadder) and Jacqueline Pearce (Blakes 7). An audio trailer for the pilot will can be downloaded from the the BBC website.

A third Mummy film is definately going ahead, although its uncertain whether the two leads - Fraser and Weisz - will reprise their roles. Instead, Producer James Jacks told Wicked Magazine that he wants the next installment to "be more contemporary". As a result the story may shift to focus on an older version of the son character Alex O'Connell. Meanwhile, Warner Bros are progressing plans to do an animated cartoon series based on the hit movies.

X-Men dominated the 27th annual Saturn Awards, announced on June 12, taking home six awards, including best SF film, and Best Actor (Hugh Jackman). The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films presented the awards, which honour genre movies and television shows. Buffy the Vampire Slayer won Network Television Series, while Farscape took the Award for Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series. Best Actor on Television went to Robert Patrick (X-Files), James Marsters (Buffy) won Best Supporting Actor on Television, and Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager) won Supporting Actress on Television. For a full list of the winners, visit SciFi.com.

Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway, Star Trek Voyager) is up for the cameo role in the next Star Trek movie - a role originally offered to Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine). Due to Ryan's commitments to her new TV series, Boston Public, Trek movie producers had to settle for the next best thing. While Voyager fans are happy with the cameo, Deep Space Nine fans have started a letter campaign to ensure a DS9 actor also gets a to make cameo appearance in the film.

11 June 2001

Recently a mysterious new, re-edited version of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace has been circulating around. Dubbed "The Phantom Edit", the version apparently cuts out roughly 20 minutes of scenes and dialogue from the original theatrical version. The "Phantom Editor", an anonymous fan, replaced the signature scroll at the beginning of the film with a statement revealing his reasons for the new edit: "Anticipating the arrival of the newest Star Wars film, some fans, like myself, were extremely disappointed by the finished product. So being someone of the 'George Lucas Generation,' I have re-edited a standard VHS version of The Phantom Menace into what I believe is a much stronger film by relieving the viewer of as much story redundancy, pointless Anakin actions and dialogue, and Jar Jar Binks, as possible." Some people have been speculating that Kevin Smith, the director of Dogma is responsible for the re-edit, although he has denied this on the Internet. George Lucas is reportedly unconcerned by the unauthorised edit.

Despite its poor box-office performance, there will not only be a sequel to the Dungeons and Dragons movie, there will also be a TV show. The original story had been conceived as the first part of a trilogy, and director Courtney Solomon has suggested that certain story elements in the movie were left unfinished to leave room for a sequel. The second film "will show the great war, when all clerics get killed by the mages... One of the highlights will be a dwarfen-city under the mountains". The TV show however, will focus on different characters to the film and "will be set in many different of the existent D&D Worlds like Forgotten Realms and Krynn".

Reported trouble between two of Charmed's leading cast members, Shannen Doherty and Alyssa Milano, have led to producers to seek a replacement for Doherty. Jennifer Love Hewitt has turned down an offer to play the role of the eldest witch sister, and rumours suggest that producers are considering either Rose McGowan (Monkeybone) or Denise Richards (The World Is Not Enough) for the role. Meanwhile, the third witchy sister - Holly Marie Combs - has reportedly asked for and received a big per-episode raise, meaning she'll be making more than Milano. Perhaps there'll be more trouble brewing on the set of Charmed...

Another name has been added to the cast list for Men In Black II - Michael Bailey Smith, who plays Belthazor on Charmed. Bailey Smith is to play a character named Creepy in the film. Recent rumours regarding Tommy Lee Jones have also been proven untrue - Jones will be reprising his role.

4 June 2001

Director Jay Roach spoke briefly with US Entertainment Weekly about the status of the long-in-development Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film now that author Douglas Adams has passed away. Adam's sudden death has cast a cloud of uncertainty over the film adaptation of his most famous work, which Adams himself was writing the most recent screenplay of. According to Jay Roach, the film project is now "on indefinite hold", which is unfortunate as Roach says this of the latest draft of the screenplay: "Douglas had nailed it in the last script. He was able to be both silly and supremely intelligent at the same time."

Peter DeLuise, a writer and director of Stargate SG-1, has told US TV Highlights magazine that producers are coming up with suggestions for a possible feature film. DeLuise said the movie suggestions are "like the show, only much bigger, more elaborate and faster", although as yet there's no script. Meanwhile the possiblility of the show returning for a sixth season is a little uncertain, with DeLuise telling the magazine "Most of the actors have contracts for only five years. After that time, some of them will certainly want to continue with the show, while others may not. The most important factor will be Richard Dean Anderson [Jack O'Neill], because if he doesn't want to go on with a sixth season, there won't be a sixth season. He is the main character."

We've reported a number of rumours about negiotiations for Sandra Bullock to play the lead role in an upcoming big screen production of Wonder Woman. Bullock is apparently on record as saying that she's interested in the role, but not the "watered-down" version Lynda Carter played in the 1970s TV show of the same name. Nor is she interested in donning Carter's trademark skimpy red-blue-and-gold outfit.The latest rumour, reported by the Popcorn U.K. website is that Eliza Dushku, who plays Faith in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is now in the running to play the female super hero.

There's already a sequel in the works for the animated fantasy movie currently taking the US box office by storm - Shrek. Shrek producer John H. Williams told Variety magazine that Dreamworks, reponsible for producing the original movie, has started on its sequel. In the US, Shrek took in an estimated $99.1 million after just 10 days of release. The movie is released in Australia on 21 June.

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