Dec 31: Die Hard: Things seem to be progressing on the fourth and final installment for the Die Hard franchise. Moviehole.net is reporting the fourth film now has a title. Yes, it's predictable... it's... Die Hardest. Amazing that that the actor made famous by the franchise is still bitching and moaning about doing the film. He's tired of running with guns and yelling. He's keen to get the film done so he can move on to more intelligent films. Yeah, doing the same style boring M. Night Shalaman (sp) films is so much better Bruce. 

Dec 31: New Dumbledore: Now E online is reporting that British actor Michael Gambon has been cast as the new Prof. Dumbledore in the third and future Harry Potter films. This report is now bogus as of Jan 3, 2k3.

Dec 31: The Rift: Cameron still won't be stepping behind the camera for his next project. The director will be producing the project with Richard Kelly taking the helm of "The Rift". where a group of NY University college kids that are lead by a team of physics professors to build a Dimensional Rift in the middle of the Antarctic.

Dec 31: Happy New Year To Everyone! Have fun, and be safe. 

Dec 30: Predator 2 on DVD: The second Predator film and likely the better one starring Danny Glover is finally heading to DVD format. The MSRP is just $14.95 with places online like DVD Planet offering it at $10.99. It due to hit the retailers on February 4th, 2003. The cover art is great, and it will have no extras other than a making of, and the trailer.

Dec 30: Deep Space Nine: Paramount has proven that they believe Deep Space Nine to be the shit series of the Star Trek franchise. An image of the Seasonal Boxed Set designs can be found over at thedigitalbits.com. Only the season number changes in color with each boxed set. It is a horribly cheap design compared to what they did for the Next Generation. 

Dec 30:Video HQ: The Video HeadQuarters area has been updated with a few changes and a new page. 

Dec 30: McKellen on Dumbledore: Ian McKellen's official website has posted a statement that he has NOT signed on to play Prof. Dumbledore in the third film despite rumors to the contrary. The statement also reports that Christopher Lee hasn't been offered the role either. But he doesn't rule out the possibility of appearing in the film in some other capacity.   The actor is perfect for the role, and it may be just a matter of dotting the i's and crossing the t's. Time will tell. 

Dec 30: No news: With it being the end of the year, the holiday and so on, news is thin and far between. There is lots to see and check out on the site. Enjoy.

Dec 29: Deathwatch Alert: Don't let these save the show campaigns fool you. There is no way they can work together either, despite claims otherwise. The chances are slim that any network will pick one of them up, much less two or three getting saved. Invisible Man has been gone almost to long now to get a serious look by any network. Firefly couldn't get ratings on Fox, so it isn't going to pick up better numbers anywhere else. Witchblade is likely to hit syndication rather than another network. None have shown interest in it. Odyssey 5 has a slim chance with the Sci-Fi Channel - very slim. The network has Stargate and Tremors with a possible Battlestar Galactica series in its future. There is very little money for another series on the network. But it is possible. Farscape has good ratings and got the axe from the Sci-Fi Channel based on cost. The only rumor is UPN being interested. Hell, UPN should be after all five series but they just aren't that smart. Birds of Prey is the odd man out. Better ratings than Firefly, but less interest. This series should be looking at syndication like Mutant X and Andromeda. Genre fans are getting dumped on this season. Quality series with good ratings taking a fall for no reason other than money and a change in direction. Why aren't they all looking at syndication? Time slots... Andromeda and Mutant X own the top slots. Repeats of X-Files, Buffy, Friends, Drew Carry and Will & Grace take up most of the other prime slots and garner better ratings than new episodes of Sci-Fi series.  Farscape and Odyssey 5 are top choices. Farscape has 11 new episodes and Odyssey 5 still has four episodes left. NOTE to fans after an email I got: This isn't an opinion, it's fact. Roswell and Bionic Woman changed networks, with no layoff. Due South returned after being off the air for 18 months to do two 13 episode seasons. It's rare - fans will be lucky if just one of them gets picked up. I wish all of the would. 

Dec 29: Video Dubbing: The video dubbing area has been updated with new material and images. VIDEO DUBBING. 

Dec 29: Dark Knight: I wrote last week that the UK series Dark Knight was airing on HBO... my mistake. The series is airing Friday nights at 8pm on Showtime Beyond. I got an email about and could not find the info. Came across it yesterday. 

Dec 28: MIP3, Indiana, Jurassic & More: Tom Cruise and his third (and possibly final) Mission Impossible assignment is scheduled to hit theaters Memorial Day in 2004. In 2005 fans can look forward to at least three genre sequels with Jurassic Park IV, Indiana Jones V, and Star Wars: Episode Three. The third Harry Potter film is slated for theaters in 2004 along with Van Helsing and Tomorrow. 

Dec 28: Smallville: The second season of Smallville continues to pull in viewers and crush the competition. The ratings for the series continue to be in the 4.5 range this season. 

Dec 28: Winston Turns to Gaming: Special Effects master Stan Winston has bought the feature film rights to the video game "The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse". The SFX guru will also be lending a hand creating the creatures for the upcoming video game. (Rue Morgue website) 

Dec 28: Roswell: The series was a flop, but maybe on the big screen it would be better. That's the thinking of many behind the series. Things are looking very good for a feature film based on the series. But don't expect all the series stars to return for the feature.

Dec 28: Lord of the Rings 3: The third film of the trilogy will be longer than the first two tells director Peter Jackson to the Chicago Sun-Times. Says Jackson, "It will be as long as it needs to be."  You can bet the studio is going to set a run-time limit on the film. Fans should get quite a treat when the trilogy comes to DVD from Peter Jackson, as he edits the films into one huge feature film. 

Dec 28: King Turns Toys: Fox Licensing and Merchandising has partnered up with Toycom to create action figures for the animated series King of the Hill. Four figures will hit stores this month with three more in January. All the men will come with a can of Alamo beer. 

Dec 28: Farscape Makes Final Run: January 10 begins Farscapes final run of new episodes as its fourth season comes to a close. There are 11 new episodes remaining. Perhaps a final chance to prove to other networks this show deserves a new home. Fans of the series must make sure they tune in every week to get the series ratings up over 2.0 for 11 straight weeks. 

Dec 26: Deathwatch: The Sci-Fi Channel telefilm, "Deathwatch" is set during World War I. Filming took place over a seven week period in Prague. This was in November with minus-12 conditions. Sets included 400 meters of dug out trenches, 60,000 gallons of waters and mud from a pond to create the evil settings of Deathwatch. 

Dec 25: Merry Christmas From Scifi2k: I would like to take a moment and wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas. In this moment I would like to thank all of you for making Scifi2k.com a popular place to visit. In the past three years the website has grown in popularity more than 1000%. Thank you all for a wonderful year on the site and I hope you all continue to come here, and tell your friends about us. Merry Christmas to all. 

Dec 25: King of the Hill: Hard to believe but the animated series King of the Hill is seven years old. Over its seven year run, the series has continued to improve in the ratings. It is currently in the top 40. Writers are currently working on scripts for the eighth season. 

Dec 24: Robocop: Dark Justice: The 8 hour mini-series was very basic with a shitty sound-track and now the ultimate mistake happens as only the first 94 minutes are coming to DVD in Robocop: Dark Justice at $24.99. It isn't even the complete 8 hours and its overpriced. DVD Planet will be selling the un-wanted teleflilm at $17.99. The DVD will be released 2.25.2003, but I don't think the sales will warrant the rest of the mini-series release anytime soon. 

Dec 24: Odyssey 5 Canceled: Despite fans desires the fledgling series Odyssey 5 has been canceled by Showtime. Sony TV however is finished with the series folks. They too will be shopping their series around for a new home. Producer Alan Bennet dropped the bomb on fans in the newsgroup rec.arts.sf.tv    The series was Showtimes highest rated original series this season, even over the renewed Jeremiah. Showtime reportedly wants to get out of the scifi genre and they have a long relationship with MGM. Sony TV has contacted the Sci-Fi Channel, but they won't hear anything until January from them. Odyssey 5 averaged an impressive 3.6 rating on Friday nights while Showtime itself had a 2.7 rating on the same night. Fans were tuning in specifically for Odyssey.  Jeremiah only averaged a 2.6 rating. Unlike standard networks, Showtime doesn't base its renewal on just ratings. Stargate gained 91% going from Showtime to the Sci-Fi Channel. Odyssey 5's ratings on Showtime are better than Stargate when it aired on the network. It could be a quality series for the new Sci-Fi Channel programming. 

Dec 24: Viacom and Sci-Fi: Rumors, and likely just that, have surfaced that Viacom is possibly negotiating with Vivendi Universal for the Sci-Fi Channel. Viacom's interested is only in the SFC and no other part or parts of Vivendi Universal. Remember, just a rumor at this point.

Dec 24: Lots of Shopping: It's Christmas time and even the networks have possible material to shop through. Studios and Producers are busy this season shopping their canceled series. There is only so many places to offer your wares and they don't seem interested in syndication. Being offered around... Farscape, the Invisible Man, Odyssey 5, Witchblade, Firefly and Birds of Prey.  Seldom are series picked up by another network once canceled but it does happen. These series would start a great new Sci-Fi Channel. Anyone got a few bucks to invest? 

Dec 23: Farscape Marathon Dec 24: The Sci-Fi Channel will air a Farscape Marathon on Christmas Eve to get fans up to date for the final 11 episodes of its fourth and final season. If you ain't with family the marathon begins airing at 8am tomorrow. If you are with family and can't plop the plump rump in front of the TV then set the VCR. New episode begin airing January 10th at 8pm. 

Dec 23: No Computerized Dumbledore: The late Richard Harris will not be computerized for Harry Potter 3 (to expensive most likely). Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee are still the front runners to take over the role. McKellen would be great in the role. 

Dec 23: Lord of the Box Office: Peter Jackson's second Lord of the Rings feature, The Two Towers, kicked some serious ass at the box office sucking up over $101M for the five day opening. 

Dec 23: TNT Goes Western Again: TNT is about the only station continuing to do western telefilms and will premiere its most expensive Western remake Telefilm on three consecutive nights, January 17th thru the 19th amid classic westerns in a 52 hour western marathon. The $12.5M western titled "Monte Walsh" stars none other than an aging Tom Selleck. The remake, once hoped by TNT to be a four-hour mini-series is just at 2.5 hours with commercials due to escalating costs. It was filmed in Calgary. It would have cost another $3M to shoot the film in the United States. Us Americans... not very smart an many many things. 

Dec 23: Friends For Ten: NBC has announced the pick-up of Friends for Tenth season. The budget per episode increases from $7M to $9M and just 18 episodes rather than the normal 22. It is now the most expensive series ever.

Dec 21: Odyssey 5: Things are looking pretty bad for the Showtime series getting a second season. There are still six unaired episodes in the can and Showtime has yet to announce air dates for the them. (Ron Wolfe) I found the new series to be extremely well done and exciting to watch. I hope there is some way for Odyssey 5 to return.

Dec 21: Jeremiah: Fans can look forward to the second season to begin airing in March 2003. Jeremiah, Queer as Folk, and Soul Food will anchor Showtime on Sunday, Wednesdays, and Friday nights. 

Dec 21: Mad Max 4: The final segment in the franchise may be filming in Australia after all. A note worthy Aussie player informed "MOVIEHOLE.NET"  that most of the film will be helmed in Australia just as the previous three films were. There is no way director George Miller would take Mad Max from Australia.

Dec 21: Slider Turns Cop?: Crossing Jordan creator Tim Kring is working with NBC to develop the detective character Woody Holt into his own spin-off series. The detective is played by none other than sliders Jerry O'Connell. The project is in the very early stages of development but NBC is very interested. 

Dec 21: Relic Hunter on DVD: The season one, 22 episode, boxed set is being offered in several places for an un-impressive $125 plus shipping. That's big bucks for a not so popular series. 

Dec 20: Campbell Gets Bigger: Director Sam Raimi hopes to find a larger role for his buddy Bruce Campbell in the Spiderman Sequel. When asked if it would be a small role he replied, "No, a new character who in one way or another would be rather harmful to Tobey Maguire."

Dec 20: Nemesis DVD Short: If fans are expecting to see the 45 minutes of missing film restored in the DVD release of the film you'll be disappointed. If you have any editing talent you can be a god, as the 45 minutes of footage will be included on the disc. Director Stuart Baird says, "I'll never cut them back into the film because I don't think they make it work, but I'll show them on the DVD."  Also to be featured on the DVD version will be the extended ending, which leaves the film on a different note. 

Dec 20: Taken Hits High: Beyond the outstanding ratings and leap to the number one cable spot, the $35M 20 hour mini-series also brought in 41 NEW advertisers that paid premium prices. Taken episodes aired 61 times over the two-week period. (Ron Wolfe)

Dec 20: Steward Done With Trek: Patrick Stewart, who plays Jon Luc Picard,  remarked on Tuesday that regardless of whether or not another Trek feature he will not be returning to the franchise. (Scott Strout) This is very good news for Star Trek fans. Now we need Rick Berman to say the same thing. 

Dec 20: Nemesis: Wow, not a great story and a crappy ending. Standard Berman shit from what I saw. Maybe Paramount should have left the 50 fucking minutes in the damn film rather than cutting it to death. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the footage WILL be restored on the DVD. 

Dec 20: Show Me 26: the new Lord of the Rings feature, the Two Towers, earned $26M opening day, Wednesday. 

Dec 18: Firefly: A save Firefly website? Did you really think it wouldn't happen? sure it would. There are petitions for everything anymore and they now mean nothing anymore. Firefly is the most requested download in the newsgroups with three formats being requested. If you want to do your part and help save Firefly go to savefirefly.com. (Thanks to Sporlock) 

Dec 18: Alien Gets Registered: Ridley Scott's classic sci-fi horror film "ALIEN" has become part of the National Film Registry that now has 350 films in it. Alien was one of the first films to establish the strong sci-fi female lead, played by Sigourney Weaver. (Brian Pesti)

Dec 18: Indiana on DVD: Paramount and the Spielberg/Lucas camp are arguing about it. Paramount was to wait and release the first three films in a boxed set, while the S&L want the film released individually and then release a boxed set with the three films or possibly all four films. Both want to see them start by the fall of 2003. (Brian Pesti & DVDFile.com) Me, I want the boxed set, none of this one disc at a time bullshit. 

Dec 18: 1000 Days Series: The Marvel comics Strikeforce: Morituri will become A Thousand Days series for the Sci-Fi Channel in 2003. The story deals with a group of super soldiers who die 1,000 days after being engineered to fight evil. The comic book appeared in the 80's and will be reprinted by Marvel before the series debut. 

Dec 18: Sci-Fi Goes Big Time: With the success of TAKEN on the Sci-Fi Channel the USA Network and the Sci-Fi Channel will spend between $300M and $400M for original programming through 2005. 

Dec 18: TAKEN: The 20 hour mini-series averaged a whopping 4.97 million viewers.  During the ten days of the mini-series the Sci-Fi channel beat out UPN and the WB in household ratings. Maybe this is something that UPN and the WB should be looking into. A good many viewers were not satisfied with the mini-series ending.

Dec 18: Sci-Fi Big Events: Sci-Fi Channel president Bonnie Hammer wants at least two big events for the network per year. For 2003 fans can look for the six-hour mini-series "Children of Dune" and the four-hour mini-series "Battlestar Galactica". 

Dec 18: Brosnan 21: We all know Pierce Brosnan is the best Bond since Sean Connery. Brosnan will be back in the 21st Bond film. Says producer Barbara Broccoli to the associated press, "It's like asking a bride as she's going up the aisle who her next husband is going to be," Broccoli told the wire service. "I mean, he is James Bond. He's our guy. And until he's no longer James Bond, we ain't looking anywhere." 

Dec 18: Geller as Bond?: Buffy's Sarah Michelle Gellar has told people she wants to be the next Bond, not Bond Girl. That's the biggest joke in Hollywood right now. If they did turn Bond into a female lead, it sure as hell wouldn't be her. Stick to Daphne, it's more to her speed.

Dec 18: Bad Boys 2 & T3: If you want to view new trailers for Bad Boys 2 and Terminator 3 then head off to Apple.com/Trailers. Enjoy.

Dec 18: New Sci-Fi Channel: Vivendi/Universal Chairman and CEO, Barry Diller, has said that the heavy commitment to original programming is making it difficult for Viacom to succeed with a competing cable network dedicated to Science Fiction fare. Viacom has been talking for several years about starting a new Sci-Fi Channel, and are still interested in doing it. (thefutoncritic.com) The success of what the Sci-Fi Channel is doing just means that Viacom will have to come out shooting when they do. If they actually care about the fans and the classic series they wouldn't have a hard time bring fans over. 

Dec 17: Banner Ad Blues: Banner ad companies are truly the near death experience of the internet. They clutter up sites with tons of pop-ups, yet pay the host sites almost nothing in return. I ran ads for Gorilla Nation making almost nothing and removed all the ads from the website. Now UGO (who would not accept this site two-years ago have come knocking and now SpecificCLICK network would like you to see their pop up ads on scifi2k.com promising 80% of the revenues. They won't be appearing here. Banner ads from click through companies are crap. 

Dec 17: The Winner Is!: We've done the drawing for the BABYLON 5 DVD SEASON ONE BOXED SET, and the WINNER IS... KEN EWING of Beaverton, Oregon. Congrats KEN!!!

Dec 17: Farscape in January: Farscape returns to the Sci-Fi Channel in January to air its final 11 episodes in the series. The first three for us to see... (Ron Wolf)
   "Terra Firma" 1-17-03: The crew returns to Moya - in orbit around modern-day Earth - to find Jack and a contingent of Earth dignitaries waiting for them. The aliens are introduced to an amazed and apprehensive public, but soon find life in the public eye difficult. As Crichton tries to readjust to life on Earth, his relationships become strained, especially with Aeryn. Meanwhile, a monstrous assassin is sent by Grayza to hunt for Crichton. 
   "Twice Shy" 1-24-03:  Chiana purchases Talikaa, an abused slave girl from a passing trading ship. When the crew starts acting strangely and Talikaa disappears, they realize she may not be as innocent as she seemed. 
   "Mental as Anything" 1-31-03: Scorpius takes Crichton, D'Argo and Rygel into an advanced training camp where students learn mental discipline. D'Argo is confronted with the arrival of Macton, the Peacekeeper who murdered his wife, Lo'Laan, then framed him for the crime. When Scorpius forces Crichton into torturous anti-Scarran training, D'Argo must face the demons from his past ... alone.

Dec 17: Back to the Future: It's out FINALLY on DVD. The trilogy boxed set arrives in stores today. 

Dec 17: Dinotopia Done: The useless and horribly done series Dinotopia on ABC is done. The network will pull the series from its line-up after its Dec 26th episode. 

Dec 17: Indiana Jones IV: Apparently Indiana Jones Dad, played by Sean Connery, will not be adventuring the entire episode with his son in the fourth installment. According to Spielberg, Sean Connery will be back for a few scenes. (Columnist Cindy Pearlman & moviehole.net)

Dec 17: Gladiator 2: Russell Crowe appears to be interested in returning in Gladiator 2, even though his character of Maximus died in the first film. He is exploring some ideas on how to return.

Dec 17: Angel: E-Online reports that in Episode 13 sees the release of Faith released from prison and that a main character will die in the episode. 

Dec 17: Firefly Final Episode: Kind of fitting that Fox TV's final airing of Firefly will be the two-hour pilot that Fox did not like. There will still be three unaired episodes in the can when the series exits. The Sci-Fi Channel was under contract to air the series beginning in January. If they honor the contract, something the SFC doesn't do that often, fans could see the episodes then. 

Dec 16: B5 Contest: The Contest/Give-a-Way for the Babylon 5 season one boxed set has closed. The drawing will take place tomorrow and the winner announced. Good luck to all that entered and thanks for playing.

Dec 16: Trek Give-A-Way Coming: I have  Nemesis Movie Posters and  Mini-CD's from Paramount coming for a contest/give-a-way very soon. Stay Tuned. 

Dec 16: Max Headroom: Matt Frewer, who most recently played in TAKEN, told the scifi wire that he it trying to put a deal together for a new Max Headroom project. 

Dec 16: Nemesis: Projections were pretty close for the opening weekend as Star Nemesis took in $18.8M. Paramount was hoping for about $20M. The franchise may be set to FADE To BLACK. Rick Berman's comments were stupid, that maybe they should have waited a year or two before doing the film. What a stupid comment. Step down Rick, your bad for Star Trek.

Dec 16: More Chips: No, not cow chips, but a return to the 1970's television series about two Los Angeles motorcycle cops. Doug Liman and David Bartis with their Hypnotic production company are working on a CHiPs updated project giving it a new spin. The project is for none other than the WBtv network.

Dec 16: Arthur: Jerry Bruckheimer has brought director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) onboard to helm his Disney project, Arthur.

Dec 16: Venom: There is a rumor that Venom may be chosen for a Villain in the second film with Doc Ock. Production is slated to begin February 2003. Rumored to be up for the role of Venom are Dwayne Johnson (the Rock) and Vin Diesel (pitch black). 

Dec 15: Crowe To Wed: Next year will find Russell Crowe (Gladiator) of the bachelor list. The actor has finally asked girlfriend Danielle Spenser to marry him next year. The couple will exchange vows near the end of next year.

Dec 15: Nemesis Estimates Bad: Late tonight or tomorrow we find out for sure, but studio estimates are horrible for Star Trek: Nemesis. Estimates are that Nemesis will only open to about $18.7M in just over 2700 theaters. That will bring the film in at second behind Jennifer Lopez's Maid In Manhattan at $19M. I have told you a hundred times before - Rick Berman is done and Paramount wouldn't know a good release date if it bit them in the ass. Two Towers comes out Wednesday. 

Dec 15: Ghostrider: Columbia Pictures new script for Ghostrider should be done sometime after Christmas. Unfortunately the film is headed for a PG-13 rating, rather than the hard R that Goyer's dark and violent script would have brought. It's hard to imagine some guy with a flaming skull head riding a motorcycle in a PG-13 film. I thought this one would have been along the lines of the Terminator films. 

Dec 15: Hulk: The official website for the Hulk has some new content for fans with a new photo gallery, video clips and the teaser trailer. OFFICIAL SITE 

Dec 15: Daredevil Trailer: How do you get some people to buy a shitty DVD like the new release of "LIKE MIKE"? You just add a trailer for a movie like Daredevil to it. Some fans will by the disc just for the trailer.  Don't laugh, a lot of fans paid to see a feature film just catch the trailer for Star Wars before the film was released. 

Dec 15: B5 DVD Contest Final Day: Today is the last day for entries into the Babylon 5 Season One DVD Boxed Set contest. Get your entry in today date stamped by midnight. The drawing will be Monday and the winner posted and notified Monday/Tuesday. Good Luck to all of you that entered. :)

Dec 15: Scifi2k Update: The site has made a few changes over the last two days. Not that much in appearance. Two areas have been removed and two others changed a bit for advertising contests, give-a-ways and so on.  I am planning to expand the Video Headquarters section with more images and information. If you have any suggestions for the site drop me an email. Always interested in new ideas, old ideas or changes that fans want to see. EMAIL ME 

Dec 14: Locutus Anyone?: Are you into Star Trek? Even a little? Many are, and some more than other apparently. Some serious fans are huge fans with some serious bucks to spend. There are over 470 replica life-size, $5000, Locutus figures floating around today.

Dec 14: Firefly Done At Fox: Fox TV has pulled the plug on its Dark Angel replacement series "Firefly". Production will complete the 15 episodes, but it is unclear if Fox will show the three unaired episodes. It appears that the idea for Firefly to return in January has been nixed. 20th Century and Mutant Enemy Production will be talking with other networks about finding Firefly a new home. (zap2it.com) Like I stated before Joss Whedon could find himself with a lot of time of his hands next season. Better series no one wanted... Invisible Man, Witchblade, and Farscape. 

Dec 14: King Conan Back On: Warner Bros. and Conan Properties have reach an agreement to keep the project with the studio. Details of the deal have not yet been released. (darkhorizons.com)

Dec 14: Bat Sup is ON: Alan Horn, the COO of Warner Bros., has told the Hollywood Reporter that all three Superhero projects are a go. The Superman will be an early years flick, with Batman: Year One being a retelling of the Batman origin. Then fans can look forward to the touted "Batman vs Superman" feature. 

Dec 14: Baywatch, Hawaiian Style: This show is pure fantasy and fans will be getting a return gig on February 28, 2003 with Baywatch: Hawaiian Marriage. 15 actors that passed through the series will show up in the telefilm as Mitch, played by Hasselhoff, get set to hear wedding bells in Hawaii. The list includes, Pamela Anderson (she has a lot of time on her hands these days), Gina Lee Nolan (sheena), Yasimine Bleethe (Nash Bridges), Jeremy Jackson and John Allen Nelson. 

Dec 14: OZ end to Air: The HBO series "OZ" will air its final 8 episodes beginning Sunday, January 5th. The 8 episodes will wrap up the numerous storylines. 

Dec 14: Star Trek Goes Bankrupt: Hard to imagine, but the bankrupt German company of KirchMedia has purchased the Television and Movie library of Paramount Pictures for $500M through 2011. A bankrupt company that can't pay its creditors, can spend $500M to purchase TV & Film rights. One reason this country's financial situation is in the shits.

Dec 14: Dumbledore Goes Digital: Another actor has been found to play the role of Albus Dumbledore, originally played by Richard Harris. Several SFX houses have been contacted about facial mapping techniques to add the actors visage to the characters role in the third film. The process was used first in the Crow and later in many other films. 

Dec 13: SFX Slows Tremors: Not sure how many, if any, are looking forward to the new Tremors Series on the Sci-Fi Channel, but the network has moved the series premiere from January to March in order to allow the SFX company to catch up on the special effects rather than cut corners. 

Dec 13: Mad Max: You would expect the fourth film to be filmed in Australia as the other three have been. It isn't going to happen. Moviehole.net and Clint Morris tells me that Mad Max will be filmed in Nemibia thanks to incentives and Australia not having any production space available. Fox's production of Mad Max 4 looks to be in the $200M range now and Mel Gibson's salary has ballooned to about $50M. What a waste of money on both sides. The three films have only grossed about $70M gross. 

Dec 13: I Robot: The Will Smith lead feature, based on the novel by Isaac Asimov, will be heading to Canada for production. The United States just doesn't understand the incentive program to get productions done here. Stupid bloody bastards.

Dec 13: THREE DAYS LEFT: Hey all! Don't be a DWEEB! Just three days left in the BABYLON 5 DVD, SEASON ONE BOXED SET Contest/Give-A-Way. GET YOUR ENTRIES IN TODAY!!!

Dec 13: More Series Fan Pages: Will the forced Cost Removal of some areas, Scifi2k will be adding more TV Series Fan Pages coming to the site in the near future. Stay Tuned. If you have one, and would like to donate it to Scifi2k.com drop an email. 

Dec 13: More Scifi2k Give-A-Ways: Scifi2k.com is working on more give-a-ways to the fans... I have some rare patches, SIX autographed Conan novels by Leonard Carpenter and hopefully some more interesting stuff coming in the future. 

Dec 13: Sizemore Unemployed: CBS has handed Michael Mann and his series, Robbery Homicide Division its walking papers. The show has finished production on the first season but CBS has no plans to air the remaining episodes. The series maintained low ratings in its Friday and Saturday timeslots. 

Dec 13: UPN Names Names: The United Paramount Network remains in the cellar among networks. They do however attract big names to develop series that the network slams after just a few episodes. Joel Silver's production company has given the network "The Strip" about two Vegas ex-cops, and Freedom" Both series canned in less than 13 episodes. Also hired or lured to develop material have been Danny Devito, Wes Craven, Mel Gibson, Brian Grazer, Marvel Comics, John Milius, Newman, Todd McFarlane and other A List producers and scribes. WHAT HAS UPN KILLED! The list is long, long, long... Secret Agent Man, The Strip, Freedom, Level 9, Legend, No Where Man, the Sentinel, Dilbert, Blockbusters Shockwave Cinema, All Souls, Mercy Point, Haunted, Seven Days, Special Unit 2. Roswell and more. The list is long and includes series whose ratings were not that bad.

Dec 13: Stern Is Sci-Fi: The Hollywood Reporter tells fans that executive producer Mark Stern that oversaw the Twilight Zone and Outer Limits for Trilogy Entertainment is moving in to the Sci-Fi Channel as the new head of Programming for the network. He will also be working Universal Television Production to develop Sci-Fi for other broadcast outlets. 

Dec 13: Submariner: Marvel's Kevin Feige tells Cinescape Online that they should have a script by early next year. 

Dec 13: Indiana Jones IV: Steven Spielberg has told the Zap2it website that Harrison Ford is onboard, with a script that has been written and approved. Production is still greenlighted for 2004 with a 2005 release. 

Dec 13: Rocky 6: Over the last several years Stallone could not get the studio over the $15M mark for a Rocky 6 feature. Stallone has now decided that if the $10M to $15M is all that he can get then that's what he'll do it for. He is in final negotiations to star in the film. Is this one to be a winner? You don't see him forking over any money out of his pocket do you? The story follows a 50-year-old Rocky Balboa who dedicates his time and talent to a youth center. After some prodding, the middle-aged fighter is lured back to the ring for one last fight. Hey, it's fantasy. 

Dec 13: Taken: I'm still watching. Others are too... The Sci-Fi Channel was number one in the cable ratings over HBO and ESPN with a 3.35 rating thanks to TAKEN from Steven Spielberg. The only problem is after part three the ratings have fallen off. Episode One scored a 6.1 rating; Episode Two a 4.86 and Episode Three hit 5.18 in the ratings. While the 20 hour series does drag heavily it is loaded with quality acting and an interesting story. 

Dec 13: Dragnet Doomed?: The series could be doomed before it starts airing. ABC has decided to run the new Dragnet series in the Sunday at 10pm timeslot rather than the previous announced Monday at 9pm slot. The Practice, currently in the 10pm Sunday slot will be moving to 9pm. 

Dec 13: Jeremiah: Platinum Production has started production on the second season of Jeremiah in Canada. Showtime has yet to decide on a time-slot for the series in the upcoming season. Last season Jeremiah teamed up with Odyssey 5 on Friday Nights, which hopefully we'll see again. 

Dec 13: MPAA & eBay: Movie Pirates beware. the MPAA. Culminating a months-long probe, investigators purchased pirated movies online. Tuesday civil lawsuits were filed against bootleg film operators in 8 states. The lawsuits, of course, were about copyright infringement over the internet.  In just one year over 12,000 fake DVD's alone were sold on eBay. 

Dec 11: Ghost Rider: Nicolas Cage may be back on to star in "Ghost Rider". Columbia Pictures has settled on a script for the project. David Goyers original script was rejected when Columbia took over from Dimesion Films for being to violent. (heaven forbid) Cage is fine with that and excited to be back on the project.

Dec 10: The Dead Zone: USA network has released information on the return of Anthony Michael Hall's "The Dead Zone". Season Two begins January 5th on the USA Network and January 17th on the Sci-Fi Channel. The new episodes will take the series into some new directions with more intensity and drama than season one. Sean Patrick Flanery returns in season two. Storylines include... Johnny taking on a corporation whose drug causes defects in children. Three women kidnap Johnny to help them solve the mystery of a haunted house. Another episode has Johnny working with Walt (Chris Bruno) rescue four people trapped in a mine and then one where he see Bruno in a casket and must find out why. 

Dec 10: Mad Max Returns: Mel Gibson has agreed to return to the role that made him famous. Of course the return has a price tag of $25M in salary. The film is budgeted at $104M and begins production in May 2003 or 2004, in Australia.  George Miller wrote the script and will produce for 20th Century Fox. (variety)  We'll get a fourth Mad Max, but NOT a Lethal Weapon 5. Crap.

Dec 10: Taken: The 20 hour maxi-series from Steven Spielberg and the Sci-Fi Channel has turned boring, long and drawn out. To much Drama seems to be dragging the production down for many fans. If the story had been cut down to about 10 to 12 hours it would have been much better. 

Dec 10: Sheen as Lex: Brett Ratner still wants a tall unknown cast as his Superman, but did tell a college radio station in Anaheim, Ca. that he has talked with actor Charlie Sheen about playing the role of Lex Luthor. Ratner said he would love to work with Sheen now that he has sobered up and is free of his TV gig. (darkhorizons.com)

Dec 10: Sizemore Battered: Tom Sizemore (the Relic, Red Planet) has been accused by his ex-girlfriend of domestic abuse saying that the actor hit her in the face and threw her to the ground. (Where are the marks?). It appears that this is a case of an ex-lover trying to shake-down the actor for money, says Sizemore's lawyer, Robert Barta. A court appearance is set for January 8th.

Dec 9: Astin Directs Angel: Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings, Goonies) has been a busy man while working on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. He will be part of season two of Jeremiah as well as directing an upcoming episode of the WB's ANGEL. The episode is called "Soulless". The episode is expected to air during the February sweeps. The gig as Astin called it was a lot harder than he thought it would be.

Dec 9: Big Bucks Buffy: UPN is considering a deal to offer Sarah Michelle Gellar $750K per episode for another season of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. This was reported on teentelevision.com, but with no word of the source. Seems like a huge risk for UPN, since Buffy's ratings have slipped quite a bit this season. 

Dec 9: Bond on Top: James Bond jumped back to the number one spot after falling behind Harry Potter last week. Bond took in $13M and Harry got $10M. Harry Potter is currently $90M a head of Bond. 

Dec 9: Matrix & Scooby II News: Clint Morris of Moviehole.net was nice enough to pass on some interview news from the AFI Awards... Thanks Clint... Clayton on MATRIX REVOLUTIONS Clayton Watson was another face we caught up with at Saturday's AFI Awards and typically I pushed him for information on his role as The Kid in both new "Matrix" movies. "I can't tell you anything", he laughed, before adding "I play a character called The Kid, who is more prominent in the third one more so than the second one and it was a big 14 months shoot. I'm looking forward to the release in May, I hope I get to go to Tokyo, London, and the big one at the Chinese Theatre. We'll see...but a great experience".  Isla Fisher on SCOOBY DOO 2...  We caught up with Isla Fisher ("Scooby Doo") at the A.F.I Awards this past weekend and she had some shattering news for fans of the Scooby flicks. She's not coming back to do another one - nope Shaggy's without his Mary-Jane come the sequel. Asked whether she was coming back, she laughed, answering "Ah...........No". Instead Isla's busy working back in Australia on a film called "The Wanabes", directed by and co-starring Nick Gianoupoulis. Gianoupoulis, also in attendance, said he was pleased "Isla agreed to do this film, because she can essentially pick and choose her movies now, especially with Scooby doing great business". "She's great in this movie, I think she's going to really surprise everyone".

Dec 8: TiVo News: A lot of working stiffs have gone out and purchased a TiVo unit so they don't mess their favorite shows. There is a great article on the units and their growing popularity up at CNN this week. CLICK HERE to check it out. 

Dec 8: Quinn Dead: The 32 year old actor, Glenn Quinn, who played on Roseanne and the first season of ANGEL has died. The cause at first unknown is now believed to be a drug overdoes. If this is true it almost isn't worth reporting. 

Dec 8: Site Updates: The Channel News and Movie Mania areas have been updated this week. Check them out today.

Dec 8: Werewolf: Remember the series on Fox? Well, it's never aired on the Sci-Fi Channel or anywhere since it repeated on the USA network many many years ago. Fans looking for the series however, may get to do so online as the really official WEREWOLFTV.com website works out a deal that may allow them to post the episodes on line. Keep checking the Werewolf website for news. Do not send the site email with questions. They will not be answered. 

Dec 7: Shatner on E: William Shatner will be featured on the E' True Hollywood story Sunday, December 8th , at 8pm. (thanks to Brian)

Dec 7: Babylon 5 Drawing Soon: Only 9 more days until the drawing for the B5 DVD Boxed Set. Enter to win today.

Dec 7: Enterprise A Dead Subject?: The ratings continue to drop for UPN's Enterprise each week. The new episode titled "Vanishing Point" actually made audiences vanish by about one million people dropping the ratings to a mere 2.5 rating. UPN programming chief, Dawn Ostroff, promises sexier and more action packed episodes in a retooling effort. Gee, the dreaded retool word. Shit, this show needs new writers and a few people with fresh ideas. Paramount needs to assign Rick Berman somewhere else and bring in NEW FRESH talent. Star Trek is almost 40 years old and its living on borrowed ideas and trusting fans. Fans are no longer happy with the status quo. Changes are needed and it's not more sex. Wake-up Paramount! 

Dec 7: Whedon One: The way things are progressing this season creator Josh Whedon could be down to just Angel, which has ratings in the 4's, when it's all done. Firefly hasn't done well, and Buffy has lost audience numbers in its seventh season. UPN wants the series back even if it's retooled with a new lead and even new title. Whedon could have some time on his hands next fall. 

Dec 6: NYPD 2069: Danny Pino has joined the cast of the new series NYPD 2069 for Fox. He'll play a young detective in the show from Steven Bochco. 

Dec 6: Tremors TV: The new series will feature some known guest stars in its first season. They include Christopher Lloyd, Michael Rooker, and Nicholas Turturro. The SFX for the series are done by the KNB EFX Group. (moviehole.net)

Dec 6: Tremors 4: There will be at least one more low budget Tremors feature. The fourth film will be directed by Tremors co-creator S. S. Wilson. The KNB EFX Group are also doing the effects for this one.

Dec 6: Code 46: Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton will star in United Artists feature "Code 46", directed and produced by Michael Winterbottom. The story follows a futuristic romance that centers on a couple who go on the run after authorities discover that the female was cloned using DNA from the male’s mother.

Dec 6: Battlestar Galactica: It's ON! The Ronald D. Moore's version of "Battlestar Galactica" on the Sci-Fi Channel has been given the greenlight by USA Cable Entertainment. Production is set to be in Vancouver in March of 2003. The four-hour mini-series will be different than the original 145 minute (rarely seen) feature. The synopsis is very much the same but the characters are different. Starbuck will be a ballsy loner with a nasty mouth and enjoys jogging around the Galactica in her bra.  (I like that part. Hell, leave the bra in your quarters.) Apollo will still be the hansome twenty something fighter jock, but will be extremely bitter towards his father.   I hope the series is much different from the original. We don't need to head down the same boring path. The original series was a great concept, with average acting, lousy writing and wonder special effects. I want more and fans deserve better. I can't wait to see what the ex-trek alumni comes up with. (filmjerk.com)

Dec 6: Center of the Earth Remake: Rumorman dropped in with a quick note.  George Clooney is set to star in a remake of Jules Verne's classic JOURNEY TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH, says HotDog Magazine. Apparently the film has been reworked as an "Indiana Jones" style action-fest with Clooney pencilled in as the lead and Monica Belluci as the female lead. Stan Winston is doing the effects. Also... It's just one of a few epic remakes in the works, says the magazine, with Geoffrey Rush attached to play Captain Nemo in a remake of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA and Matt Damon or Christian Bale eyed for MASTER OF THE WORLD, of which John Malkovich is being rumoured as the villain. All planned for sometime in 2004. (Thanks Rumorman)

Dec 6: Fox DVDs: Fox is considering the following series for DVD considerations... Alien Nation, Lost in Space, the Time Tunnel, Millenium, and Dark Angel. Great News... (thanks to Ron Wolf)

Dec 6: No Space Now or Beyond: Fans of the underrated series 'Space: Above and Beyond' may never see this one season wonder on DVD, except in black market copies. Fox, at this time, is NOT considering this one along with Whedon's Firefly, Greg, the Bunny, the Tick or the Adventures of Brisco County Jr.  for DVD anytime in the near future. (Futon Critic) Crap! While Fox is giving fans a lot to be happy about missing out on a few of these titles really stinks.

Dec 6: Die Hard 4: Moviehole.net is scooping word that director John McTiernan might be returning to the franchise to helm the final Die Hard film starring the much older Bruce Willis. McTiernan directed the first and third installments and Willis has requested his return for this one.

Dec 6: Pitch Black Trilogy: Ray Park (Episode One, X-Men) is in negotiations to join the cast of Vin Diesel's Trilogy "The Chronicles of Riddick". He would likely be the nemesis for Riddick. 

Dec 6: Ronin: Frank Millers break out book Ronin is currently in development for feature treatment at New Line Cinema.

Dec 6: Roswell DVD: NOPE - at least for a while. The rights to this series and even the original 1960's Batman series for DVD are in legal hell. 

Dec 6: Vader Needs Bulk: "Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones star Hayden Christensen has been told to "beef up" for the next installment of the hit sci-fi franchise. Worried studio bosses fear Christensen, who will transform from Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader for the final episode in the Star Wars series, is too slight of frame to be a convincingly fearsome part-human, part-robot. An insider says, "Hayden will change physically in this film. He'll be bigger." (Brian Pesti)

Dec 5: Shazam: The superhero Captain Marvel is getting feature film treatment at New Line Cinema with DC comics and New Line still working out the details. (cinescape online)

Dec 5: Taken Scores: The Sci-Fi Channel and Steven Spielberg are taking the cable rating by storm with an impressive 4.9 for its opening two hours Dec 2nd from 9 to 11pm.  (zap2it.com)  Bonnie Hammer is excited by the ratings.

Dec 5: Terminator 3: Bad news for fans of the first two films theme music. Marco Beltran will use all new material and NONE of the old stuff including the famous theme music. (TheArnoldFans.com) Shit! 

Dec 5: Banderas Dumps Spouse: Antonio Banderas (spy kids, Mask of Zorro) has finally dumped his alcohol abusing wife, Melanie Griffith. The actor has had enough of her jealous and paranoia since their wedding in 1996. Reports are that Banderas is only doing this to teach his wife not to be so possessive. For tomorrows lesson... 

Dec 4: Gladiator II: Yes, the $450M woldwide box office hit is getting a sequel. John Logan, who wrote the original, is meeting with Ridley Scott to flesh out the story. Dreamworks is eager to get the project greenlit and underway. The sequel looks to actually be a prequel. 

Dec 4: DS9 to Trek 12?: If fans have their way it would happen. The voters poll currently running at scifi.com has 42% of fans preferring Sisko, Dax and Kira over three from the other Trek series. Hell, just bring the cast of Deepspace Nine in to replace most of the Next Generation. That would be great. 

Dec 4: Smith A Robot: Will Smith has finally inked to star in I, Robot, the big-budgeted adaptation of Isaac Asimov's classic short-story. 

Dec 4: Nemesis: The closer it gets to release the less it looks like fans will get to see the 50 minutes of footage restored when the DVD is released. It might be included, but that is about it. Looks like some fan will get the opportunity to creative another fan edit.

Dec 4: Hellboy Casting: 30 year old Selma Blair, star of Scary Movie, will be a superhero in the upcoming "HELLBOY" starring Ron Perlman from director Guillermo del Toro. Special Effects master Rick Baker will be handling the Special Effects. Production is set to begin in March. 

Dec 4: Ryder an Addict too: What Winona Ryder had in her purse might prove that the actress isn't just a thief, but a low life drug addict as well. Police found eight different types of drugs in the woman's purse along with two different names used to obtain them. The drugs found were, Percodan, Valium, Vicoden, Vicoprofen, Demerol, Diazepam and Morphine Sulfate. (Zap2It.com)  What a loser. Any normal moron would have gotten the three years in prison and this... thing gets three years probation. Yeah, our court system is fair and equal for everyone. 

Dec 4: Hulk DVD's Coming: Anchor Bay will be releasing Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby's "HULK" series on DVD next spring according to Comics2Film.com. Bootleg DVD's are being done in Canada are available through auctions on eBay. 

Dec 4: Babylon 5 Season 2 & 3: The season two DVD boxed set for Babylon 5 looks to be headed to stores in March of 2003. Season 3 could be hot on it heels in September of 2003. Very Cool News. (thedigitalbits.com)

Dec 4: A&E Idiot Savant: The network A&E must be totally stupid paying $700,000 per episode for Thirdwatch from NBC.  The series isn't that popular to begin with, and hasn't done well for A&E either. Amazing the decisions that butthole executives continue to make and keep their jobs. 

Dec 3: 12 Days Left: There's just 12 days left in the Babylon 5 DVD boxed set drawing. Don't forget to enter to win. 

Dec 3: Sci-Fi More Annoying: Could the Sci-Fi Channel do anything more annoying to the fans. They've canceled fan favorite series and given us substandard scifi original telefilms. Now they've given us a new Sci-Fi bug in the corner of the screen. First is was there small logo, Now we've got a new logo with sci-fi written beside it. I was attempting to watch Part One of Taken last night and the new logo kept pulling my eyes away from the movie. This network does just about everything wrong. Hey, don't ya think we know what channel were watching?

Dec 3: Spiderman, King of the World: Spiderman is now King of the World. Previous worldwide box office champion "Titanic" and 20th Century Fox had earned $2.68 Billion in 1998, has been surpassed by the webslinger and Sony with $2.75 Billion. (Variety) 

Dec 3: Spawn 2: Todd McFarlane and Steve Niles must have done a poor job with their Spawn 2 scripture. Comics2Film has reported that producer Don Murphy has hired scribe Hans Rodionoff to pen the new script. McFarlane seemed determined to use less Spawn and more of the two cops Sam and Twitch. Rodionoff will rewrite, adding more spawn into the story. After all, it isn't called "Sam and Twitch Meet Spawn". 

Dec 3: Troi Finished: Marina Sirtis told the Sci-Fi Wire that she is hoping that Nemesis is the last for Counselor Troi. Shit, no ones twisting her arm to come back to each film. Just say NO. Jeez!

Dec 3: Farscape, the Motion Picture: Claudia Black told patrons at the Farscape Convention in New York that there is the possibility of a Farscape feature film or a four-part telefilm. For now Black says that exec-producer David Kemper has found a way to finish Farscape with what was shot without actually ending it, hinting that it leaves room to finish telling the story later on. (aint it cool)

Dec 2: Dino In Trouble: The new series Dinotopia is already in trouble after its dismal debut of a 1.7 rating. It is the last new series to make it debut for the season and will likely be canceled before you know it. It's awful. 

Dec 2: Potter #1: As expected Harry Potter jumped back into the number one spot at the box office over the holiday weekend. The film has taken in about $32M during thanksgiving three day weekend, which brings the films 17 day total to a very cool $200M. BUT, for the five day total (Wed - Sun) Die Another Day was the big winner $46M. 

Dec 1: UPN Struggles Again: UPN is once again floundering in the basement behind the WB. Their new series continue to lack originality and are unable to find an audience. The network continues to pass on quality series that are getting the axe at other networks despite good ratings. UPN has passed on "The Invisible Man"; "Witchblade"; "Farscape" and now "Birds of Prey". Any of these series garnered ratings that UPN would enjoy having along with a huge fan base that would follow any of these series to UPN. Their management is as stupid as that of the Sci-Fi Channel.

Dec 1: X Star X-tra Bad: Gillian Anderson couldn't wait to get away from the X-Files after 8 years for the London Stage. Critics however have told the actress after her first curtain call that she has lost her X-appeal. What did the critic really think? Financial Times - "She is woefully uninvolving. Does Anderson's voice have no capacity for heart-catching uplift, no sudden changes of volume?" The Daily Telegraph - "This one is a pure, unmitigated stinker," said The Daily Telegraph which called her performance "pitifully exposed and inadequate." 

Dec 1: Tower has No Power: Tower Records is on the ropes after 43 years with huge debts. They are hoping for some release this by Christmas shoppers. The chain is known from deep selections and storebrand appearance. However, the franchise of 113 stores in 21 states is also know for STEEP PRICES. How steep are their prices? A normal CD costing $13.99 at most stores costs $18.99 at Tower Records. Where would you shop? Like most, they are shopping elsewhere. The company has lost $167M in the last four years. If in four years this company hasn't learnt to fix things, then maybe its time the greedy bastards go under. Selection is great... but pricing is number one with shoppers to day. We aren't talking about a buck more than other stores, we're talking about price gouging. Screw'um.

Dec 1: Fastlane Slowed: The less than average new series Fastlane will be leaving its prime Wednesday at 9pm timeslot for Firefly's dismal 8pm on Friday slot on January 10th when it goes into hiatus. It is rumored that Firefly will move into the Wednesday at 9pm slot when it returns. The hope is likely that Fastlane will be helped out teaming up with the successful John Doe.