William Sanders sells collection to Norilana Books

William Sanders sold East of the Sun and West of Fort Smith to Norilana Books, which plans to publish it in September 2008. The book will be a reprint collection, which Norilana calls "the definitive short fiction collection by award winning author William Sanders. It will gather into one volume all of his previously collected short work in addition to several previously unseen originals.

Supernatural Gets A Fourth Year?

Sera Gamble, producer of The CW's Supernatural, told SCI FI Wire that the writers are brimming with story possibilities for the show's upcoming fourth season, which The CW recently announced.
"[Series creator and executive producer] Eric [Kripke] has some really strong ideas for how to expand the mythology next season," Gamble said in an interview. "We've been pitching ideas to each other that have [gotten] everybody really excited. ... First, we got deeply philosophical, and then we went back to 'Hey, how can we chop a bunch of people's heads off with these ideas?'"
Gamble added that the early pickup by The CW means that the writers can set things up as the third season winds down. "We're especially excited that we heard about the pickup early enough that we can start working on what we're going to be doing at the beginning of next season now, so we can thread some things in," she said.
The current third season, which was interrupted by the recently settled writers' strike, concentrated on the battle by Sam and Dean Winchester (Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles) against the demon army unleashed at the end of the previous year. Meanwhile, the season is building to a resolution of Dean's dilemma: He struck a deal with a demon to trade his soul for Sam's life. He has only a year to live.
Kripke told Gamble that he has "an idea for a good turn that the mythology could take [in the middle of next season] that's related to the demon mythology that we've been building and that we concentrated on in season three," Gamble said.
The producers are thinking in terms of a five-year arc for the series, Gamble added. "There are aspects of the mythology that have always been plotted out," she said. "There's approximately a five-year plan that's been in place since the show began."
But, Gamble added, the details of the fourth season are being honed now. "Additionally, we have a list of several monsters that we've been dying to do for a long time that we're going to get a chance to do now," she said. "I call it the beer-and-popcorn episodes. They're really like meat and potatoes. Like, sit down, watch scary things, blood spatter hits the camera, and people scream and clutch each other in fear. And that's the end of your hour," she added with a laugh.
The third season will resume with new episodes, starting April 24, building to the season finale, written by Kripke, in which Dean must face the deal he struck with a demon to save Sam's life. The strike-shortened season has caused the writers to abbreviate some of the planned stories, but Dean's fate will remain front and center as the season comes to a close, Gamble said, offering a few spoilers.
"The season finale takes place on the very last day before his card gets pulled by the demon," Gamble said. "It's a fight to the finish. Several of the players that we've been watching deal with this over the course of the season will be in the episode. We said we weren't going to make it easy for them, and we've made it pretty difficult, bordering upon impossible."
Will Dean survive and elude hell's clutches? "For all you know, [in the fourth season] it's going to be Sam with a flashlight in haunted houses with a special cell phone that calls hell," Gamble said with tongue in cheek. "Everyone has a theory. Everyone will find out soon enough. They just have to wait a few more months."

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=51330

Superman lawsuit

You good folks might have heard a mention here or there about "some Superman lawsuit." But after the news just now coming out, I'm pretty sure you'll know more about it.

According to The New York Times:

"A federal judge here on Wednesday ruled that the heirs of Jerome Siegel -- who 70 years ago sold the rights to the action hero he created with Joseph Shuster to Detective Comics for $130 -- were entitled to reclaim their share of the U.S. copyright to the character."

Apparently, the international rights to Superman remain the property of Time Warner.

There's also the chance that if this decision sticks it will open a can of worms with the heirs of 'Supes' co-creator Joseph "Joe" Shuster in 2013.

And it's also become a question-mark as to whether or not the Siegels are owed any profits for film ventures like 2006's Superman Returns or its currently-in-development sequel Superman: The Man of Steel for 2010; not to mention, the increasingly looking-like-its-not-going-to-happen-anyway Justice League Mortal!

This thing will continue to be dragged out in the courts for years.

Time Warner (via their legal muscle) will probably get this decision over-turned. At least, that's what I see happening.

Source: The New York Times

New Star Trek Trailer With Indiana Jones

  
Screen Rant has received word from someone who has been a reliable source in the past stating that "it's 100% that there will be a new Star Trek trailer with Indiana Jones."

According to the source, the new trailer will be a continuation of what we saw in the teaser trailer - showing further progress on the construction of the USS Enterprise with technicians working on the ship. There will be new audio, but no word on whether we will see or hear any of the cast
members.

So, that means we'll be seeing the new trailer in movie theaters on May 22nd, the release date for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

As mentioned previously, the release date for Star Trek 11 has been pushed back from December 2008 to May 2009.

V for Vendetta heads to Blu-ray

On May 20, Warner Bros. will release "V for Vendetta" on Blu-ray. Previously, the title was only available in high definition on HD DVD.
Synopsis:
Set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain, V For Vendetta tells the story of a mild-mannered young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman) who is rescued from a life-and-death situation by a masked vigilante (Hugo Weaving) known only as "V." Incomparably charismatic and ferociously skilled in the art of combat and deception, V ignites a revolution when he detonates two London landmarks and takes over the government-controlled airwaves, urging his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression. As Evey uncovers the truth about V's mysterious background, she also discovers the truth about herself and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his plot to bring freedom and justice back to a society fraught with cruelty and corruption.

Sequel Cataclysmo and the Battle for Earth to be released next week

  Independent filmmaker Kevin Christensen writes "I recently directed a science-fiction action comedy feature film called Cataclysmo and the Time Boys. It's inspired by Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, about two men from 500 years in the future who are sent back in time to the present to stop a worldwide catastrophe called 'Cataclysmo.'" The film has been serialized into 24 5-minute episodes, and the entire film is online at webserials.com and on youtube.

On 4 April, he'll release the sequel, Cataclysmo and the Battle for Earth, in which "Johnny, Bucky, and Samantha return to save Earth from the devastating effects of Cataclysmo. In their greatest battle yet, our heroes face off against a worldwide army of gorillas… but the real trouble begins when they realize that they may not be alone.…"

Cerra Flies To Dark Swarm

Erica Cerra, who plays Deputy Jo Lupo on SCI FI Channel's original series Eureka, told SCI FI Wire that she'll co-star in the upcoming SF film Dark Swarm.
Dark Swarm follows a group of people who've survived an attack on Earth by carnivorous alien creatures and who prepare to make one last stand against them.
"It's all CGI," Cerra said in an interview. "It's supposed to be really cool. It's an all-green-screen sort of film. I don't know how much of it I can give away. But the basic setup is that there is something sort of taking over the Earth. ... Initially, they're under the impression it's a swarm, but then they start to kind of unravel what exactly it is."
Cerra is joined in the cast by popular genre actors Christopher Judge (Stargate SG-1) and Ed Wasser (Babylon 5). Tim Pyle (Decaying Orbit) has co-written and will direct. Pyle will also handle the visual effects, as he's done on such productions as Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and the SCI FI original miniseries Children of Dune.
Asked if she's a hero or a victim in the film, Cerra laughed and replied: "Both."
Dark Swarm goes into production this summer with an eye toward a 2009 release.

Jericho Looking For New Home

Carol Barbee, executive producer of CBS' canceled post-apocalyptic series Jericho, told SCI FI Wire that talks are ongoing to find the show another home, perhaps on a cable network.
"I can't really say [much] about specifics, and, ... partially, it's because I'm not the one having those conversations," Barbee said in an interview on March 24, the eve of the show's final episode. "[CBS] Paramount [Television, which produces the show,] has been pursing it, and our agents have been into that, so, you know, I am pushing those people and coming up with ideas to have those people pursue."
Barbee wouldn't offer details about any talks. "There were several ideas that have been floated, and there was some interest, but we'll have to see," she said. "It wasn't something that could be sewn up before we were going to air the finale. ... It would have been better had we been able to announce one with the other, but it just didn't happen that fast."
Barbee said that she and the show's cast and crew got official word of the show's cancellation at the end of last week, in time to choose one of two endings for the season finale: A cliffhanger or a series ender. "We were told that they were having a meeting on Thursday, ... internally at CBS, to decide which of the endings to show for this Tuesday night's finale, and then we were given the heads up after that meeting that they were going to show the alternate [ending, with the series finale], which obviously to us meant that we were going to finish our run on CBS," Barbee said. Barbee asked CBS to delay its formal announcement for 24 hours so she could inform the cast and crew; the news broke on Friday.
If Jericho is not picked up for another season by a TV network, Barbee said that she could envision it living on in some other form. "There's definitely an Internet series to be had, and we always talked about a graphic novel, and ... a movie," Barbee said. "I mean, there are lots of things that I could easily see as a way to continue the story."
But time may be running out. Jericho wrapped its second season of episodes back in November, just as the writers' strike was beginning. Since then, the cast and crew have been freed to pursue other projects, and the show's sets and backlot have been dismantled and either destroyed or put into storage. Barbee herself has moved on to another series, Swingtown, created by Jericho alumnus Mike Kelley, about the lives of couples experimenting with sexual and social mores in a 1970s Chicago suburb, which will air on CBS this summer and is shooting on the same stages once occupied by Jericho.
Looking back on Jericho, Barbee was pleased that it attracted a core of die-hard fans who were responsible for getting CBS to resurrect the show for a second season. "We appreciated the second life that we had, and we feel like we've made the most of it, and we will just be forever indebted to the fans for taking us on this amazing ride," she said. "I think it will always be a highlight in our careers, that we got to be a part of that." Jericho's finale, "Patriots and Tyrants," airs March 25 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
(Fans wishing to write SCI FI Channel about picking Jericho up should NOT use the scifiwire@scifi.com e-mail address, but rather should send snail mail here: SCI FI Channel, 21st Floor, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112.)

Sanctuary Is All New

Amanda Tapping, star and executive producer of SCI FI Channel's upcoming new series Sanctuary, told SCI FI Wire that the show will differ significantly from the Web series on which it is based.
SCI FI Channel announced in late January that it had ordered 13 episodes of Sanctuary, which was created by Damian Kindler and co-written by Martin Wood, both of whom, like Tapping, are veterans of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis.
Tapping will reprise her role as Dr. Helen Magnus, an apparently immortal doctor and scientist who seeks to locate, aid and protect supernatural creatures. To adapt the high-definition digital Web series for television, SCI FI has ordered up a new pilot.
"The fact is it's already evolving," Tapping said in an interview at the channel's upfront presentation to advertisers in New York earlier this month. "Our pilot that we're now going to start shooting is very different from what you've seen on the Web. But [Magnus] is still this crazy character. She's 157 years old, and she's very eccentric and very sexy and very unapologetic. I love it."
Tapping, who will continue to guest-star on Atlantis as Col. Samantha Carter, said that the transition to television opens up all sorts of possibilities for Sanctuary.
"It gives us a good home base," Tapping said. "SCI FI is the perfect fit for this show and for me, because I have worked with the network for so long. It made so much sense to stay with this network. They understand the genre. They understand the fans. And now they understand multimedia platforms in terms of utilizing social networking, which is what our company is all about. So it's a perfect fit." Sanctuary will premiere later this year.

Batman: The Movie (1966) on Blu-ray

Bring out your shark repellent because on July 1, Fox will release the 1966 "Batman: The Movie" starring Adam West and Burt Ward.
Special Features Include:
Commentary by actors Adam West and Burt Ward
Commentary by screenwriter Lorenzo Semple, Jr.
Isolated Score Track 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio (Lossless)
All-new high-definition featurettes:
Batman: A Dynamic Legacy
Caped Crusaders: A Heroes Tribute
Gotham City's Most Wanted
2001 35th Anniversary Piece Featuring Interviews with Adam West and Burt Ward
The Batmobile Revealed with George Barris
The Batmobile Interactive Tour - A 360 Degree Navigational Tour
Batman on Location: Mapping the Movie
Holy Pop-Up Trivia Track, Batman!
Original Teaser and Theatrical Trailers
Galleries:
From the Vaults of Adam West
Interactive Pressbook
Posters
Production Stills
Behind the Scenes
Premiere
Also available to collectors will be a limited edition of only 5,000 copies with a 1/18th scale Batmobile from Hot Wheels®.
Synopsis:
From the height of the television show's popularity, this full-length movie features all four of Batman (Adam West) and Robin's (Burt Ward) most dastardly and cunning adversaries: the Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the Joker (Cesar Romero), the Riddler (Frank Gorshin), and the Catwoman (Lee Meriwether), joining forces to take over the world thanks to a De-Hydrator that turns people into piles of dust. The dynamic duo pull out all the stops, with a BIFF! and a KA-POW!, to stop the bad guys.

Star Trek Movie Using iPhone As Starfleet Communicator ?

According to sources from the iPhone Savior website working close to the production, a slickly modified version of iPhone is being used as the new communicator in the upcoming Star Trek movie prequel.
According to the site, video chat was mentioned along with a lifeform detector and hints that the device may also be able to transport crew members.
iPhone Savior website is making efforts to confirm communications supposedly coming from on location in Iceland. It makes sense that Apple's wildly popular iPhone which is clearly a quantum leap beyond other smartphones would be the favored device for Star Trek.
This information is preliminary, of course, and entirely rumor.

CBS has canceled Jericho

CBS has canceled Jericho, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Producers have been told the show is ending its run on the broadcast network, sources told the trade paper.
CBS will air the season finale on March 25 with an ending that helps give closure to fans.
After the first season concluded with an abrupt cut to black, fans famously inundated CBS with tens of thousands of pounds of peanuts to urge the network to continue the show. For the seven-episode second season, producers shot two endings: one that leaves viewers in suspense for a third round, another that is more conclusive.
The ending that will air Tuesday night doesn't entirely slam the door on the series, but it is different from the cliffhanger version, sources told The Hollywood Reporter. It also doesn't preclude the possibility of Jericho's finding a second life on cable, though the economics of the production will likely prevent a continuation of the show.

Buffy Spinoff Still Alive

Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon told fans that a spinoff project is still a possibility when asked about the raft of rumored spinoffs that never came to fruition after the show left the air nearly five years ago.
Asked about future Buffy TV or film projects, Whedon said, "My answer would be, like, there are so many stars that would have to align [for them to happen]. But, you know, there's a reason I worked with all of these people for so long. They're enormously talented. And clearly, from the comic, it's a story that I can't let go of. I think it would be really cool."
Whedon spoke as part of a panel at the William S. Paley Television Festival March 20 in Hollywood that reunited him with his Buffy cast members Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield, Michelle Trachtenberg, Charisma Carpenter, Seth Green and Amber Benson and fellow producers Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt.
Once the cult hit Buffy went off the air, reports circulated that Whedon was variously developing a spinoff series that would feature the vampire Spike (Marsters) or a British show that would feature the character of Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head). None came to pass.
Since then, Whedon and several of his writers and artists have picked up the story of Buffy Summers and her "Scooby Gang" in a series of comics for Dark Horse, characterized as "season eight" of the TV show. Whedon let loose a spoiler that Green's character, the werewolf Oz, would appear in a future issue of the comic.
TV Guide critic Matt Roush, who moderated the Paley reunion panel discussion, asked whether the comic--which has morphed and developed the Buffy mythology well beyond the show's season finale--would ultimately affect any Buffy spinoff TV shows or films.  
"Hypothetically, if you could make things align, that would be fun," Whedon said, adding: "And it would be lovely to make it all tie in. But if I had to shoot down everything I'm doing in the comics because we were doing a project [and] I was filming with these actual people, I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep."
Before the panel discussion, fans screened the musical episode "Once More With Feeling." Whedon later said that he had just wrapped production on another musical project. "I literally drove here from wrapping the shooting on a little independent short of my own called Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, my next musical, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. And it's going to come out somewhere, at some point, possibly on a computer. We haven't figure that out yet. And it's awesome." Noxon admitted that she also has a small part.
Could Buffy wind up in musical form on Broadway? "I would love to take a Buffy to Broadway," Whedon said. "It would not be this ['Once More With Feeling']. This is an episode of television. ... You would have to start from scratch. I've spent some time daydreaming about it, because I'm me."
Would any of his Buffy cast be on board? Most raised their hands--with the notable exception of Gellar, who smiled, shook her head and said, "I'm out."

2008 Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge

AtomFilms, in partnership with Lucasfilm, has announced their 2008 Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge. AtomFilms' Marketing Coordinator, Kate Zuparko, said "Star Wars fans should submit their parody, fan fiction, or mash-up (new this year: we even have a special tool for fans to create a mash-up online) by 27 May for consideration in this year's Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge. Top fan movies will be selected by AtomFilms and Lucasfilm, including George Lucas as one of the judges! Awards will be announced at San Diego Comic Con on 24 July."

The contest announcement says that they're looking for "Star Wars themed action, comedy, downright depressing, or demented video." They prefer entries to be under 5 minutes in length, parodies of the entire Star Wars universe (films, comics, and books) are fine, as are films about Star Wars fandom. They're allowing some use of Star Wars music, but no nudity, and no SAG actors. Use of the Star Wars mash-up tool on starwars.com is permitted. For more details and complete rules, see this page.

AtomFilms, a service of MTV networks, formed ten years ago as an online video site. It is now "a daily source of original weeb shows, animation, and short films." They also license and develop content from independent creators, providing "a pipeline to the big timme." Last year, they added a section called AtomUploads, which "enables users to immediately post and share their own videos, while helping [Atom] find new content that's right for commercial distribution on AtomFilms."

"Bionic Woman" - Done

Evidently, the rumors are true - "Bionic Woman" is dead.

Although NBC has not issued an official release, series executive producer David Eick told SCI FI Wire that the network has indeed canceled the show.

Here's his quote:

"I just felt that the process was so frustrating, and the conditions under which we were making that show never really came to fruition in such a way that I felt like we could make the show well..."

"We just didn't ever bring it all together like we did with Battlestar. At a certain point, when it becomes that frustrating, I think you're better off to say, 'Let's try again another time,' and let it go."

Although I was not surprised by the news (I thought that "Bionic Woman" has had no chance of returning for a while), I did recently see some positive news on the show.

Caprica Gets Green Light

SCI FI Channel has given a green light for production to begin on Caprica, a two-hour backdoor pilot and Battlestar Galactica prequel from executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick. Production is slated to begin in Vancouver, Canada, this spring.
Set 50 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica, Caprica follows two rival families--the Greystones and the Adamas --as they grow, compete and thrive in the vibrant world of the 12 Colonies. Enmeshed in the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence and robotics that will eventually lead to the creation of the Cylons, the two houses go toe to toe.
"I'm thrilled with the chance to expand on the Galactica world and get deeper into the origins of the story we've been telling," Moore said in a statement. "It's also great to have a chance at doing a completely different kind of science fiction series, one that's even more character-oriented and doesn't rely on pyrotechnics to carry the story."
In his own statement, Eick said: "While Caprica will have its own personality, it will carry on Battlestar's commitment to pushing the boundaries of the genre, and we're thrilled that SCI FI has seen fit to giving us another opportunity to tell character-driven stories in challenging ways."
The fourth season of Battlestar Galactica kicks off on March 28 at 10 p.m. ET/PT with two back-to-back half-hour specials, with the first new episode premiering the following week, April 4, at 10 p.m.