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Home , Alan Dean Foster, Bob Burden, Bob Ducsay, Brent Forrester, Bridget Hoffman, Demon Knight

23 YEARS EXPLORING ^ GOLDFINGER s

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COMPLIMENTS OF THE STAR OCEAN GAME DEVEL0PER5.

YOU'RE GOING TO BE AWHILE. bad there's Too no "indefinite date" box to check an impact on the course of the game. on those post office forms. Since you have no Even your emotions determine the fate of your idea when you'll be returning. Everything you do in this journey. You may choose to be romantically linked with

game will have an impact on the way the journey ends. another character, or you may choose to remain friends.

If it ever does. But no matter what, it will affect your path. And more

You start on a quest that begins at the edge of the seriously, if a friend dies in battle, you'll feel incredible

universe. And ends -well, that's entirely up to you. Every rage that will cause you to fight with even more furious

single person you _ combat moves. meet, every step *#" jjl^^fEk {£ ^ and every decision V^_-. t HE SECOND STORY// no easy way out.

you make will ulti- ^CTsrafs»:p«c,i c»s««. M Tools and skills do ^ -'-««,SS.9S' ^mbSSSS««„S>SSS mmmSaSSmmmSSSS. mmm^SJSSmif-«w^VVV -f-^—— • not just appear » |P - ' alongtheway- You fate of a planet. h *-m* I | i W, ^3>_ * -1b8||H must create many In short, the 2r .^j*^ ^7^IjSiL, djflBMB?*^ > items from raw maniacal gods ^" ] ^^^.ift ' materials. And to

are poised to kill

every single living then find yourself

f .

P'-et. Ferocious ^^^^^^^ monsters threaten yourself braving

at every turn. Evil magic lurks in the shadows. And to raise the countless routes while traveling through this game.

the stakes, questions of identity hang in the balance. And there are over 80 endings. The deeper you delve, So you must battle against the evil and hideous the more you'll discover that nothing - no detail, no clue,

monsters in real-time, polygonal combat. You can no conversation, no skill - can be taken for granted. And customize complicated combination moves and set that anything is possible. Including the fact that you might up decoys to take the fall. But no matter what, there's not ever make it back. still no end in sight. DISCOVER WHAT'S OUT THERE. Because who you choose to talk to and share information with will greatly affect you. Characters can think and feel for themselves. Some will join you on your quest, others will betray you. And to add to the ENkX. PlayStation challenge, you have the option of playing two different characters, both unique in personality and both having WWW. P LAYSTAT IDN.COM

© 1 999 trl-Ace Inc./UNKS/ Minato Koio/ENIX. All Rights Reserved. STAR OCEAN The Second Story is a trademark and ENIX is a registered trademark ot Enix Corporation PlayStation and the PlayStation logos are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

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A long time ago but not far enough away, there was the fan. For more fan types, see the gatefold poster on page 47.

WILLI N6 To foR6\\JB ANV MISSTEP F3V ttoR&E. 3MOR£BA£SOF EWOK PINCUSHION MERCHANPISE (WELL, ALMOST ANV) OUT IN THE CAR HAS EVERV f3LEWAN PET NAMED ENTIRE VEAR'5 AFTER A FAVORITE PAVCHECK CHARACTER IN I RAV

INSIDE THIS ISSUE NUMBER 267 • OCTOBER 1999 • THE SCIENCE FICTION UNIVERSE 24 ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE 51 A FOR TREK? 76 DARTH MOM Universal Studios Escape offers Series guru truly On Tatooine, Pernilla August raises many new believes it has one young Skywalker 30 ECHO LOCATION 56 ERIC IDLE SPEAKS 80 THE NEW INVADER While working in Chicago, Kevin And then afterward, he's off on Sebastian spence continues Bacon gets haunted The Road to Mars fighting the First Wave 34 DEATHMATCH 60 THE SORTA SUPERFRIENDS 84 THAT GOLDEN GIRL It's Jean-Claude Van Damme vs. Five of the are just When Shirley Eaton met 007, she the Universal Soldiers sitting around, talking got all painted up 39 THE FIRST CRUSADE 65 SOUTHERN DISCOMFORT 90 ROSEMARY'S SPACE BABY As the limited series ends, here's Shortly, Kenneth Branagh plays the Rand Ravich has delivered a a timely visit on set wild wild villain monster from outer space 43 COSTUMING THE CRUSADE 68 BOOGIE MAN The Excalibur crew wears the Stylishly, Geoffrey Rush builds a latest in fashions better Frankenstein NEXT ISSUE ON SALE 47 THE FACES OF FANDOM 72 MATERNAL MENACE OCTOBER 5 Ace cartoonist Tom Holtkamp The Mother of All Monsters is caricatures familiar types sweet Bridget Hoffman

STARLOC: The Science Fiction universe is published monthly by STARLOG GROUP, INC., 475 Park Avenue South, , NY 10016. STARLOG and The Science Fiction uni- verse are registered trademarks of Inc. Starlog Group, (ISSN 0191-4626) (Canadian GST number: R-124704826) This is issue Number 267, October 1999. Content is © Copy- right 1999 by STARLOG GROUP, INC. All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction in part or in whole—including the reprinting or posting of articles and graphics on any Internet or computer site—without the publishers' written permission is strictly forbidden. STARLOG accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials, but if submittals are accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope, they'll be considered and, if necessary, returned. Please do not call the edi- torial office re: this material. Freelancer phone calls will not be accepted. STARLOG does not publish fiction. Fiction submissions are not accepted and will be discard- ed without reply. Products advertised are not necessarily endorsed by starlog, and views expressed in editorial copy are not necessarily those of starlog Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional mailing offices. Subscription rates: $49.97 one year (12 issues) delivered in U.S. only. Canadian and foreign subscriptions $59.97 in U.S. funds only. New subscriptions send directly to STARLOG, 475 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016. Notification of change of address or renewals send to STARLOG Subscription Dept., P.O. Box 430, Mt. Morris, |L 61054-0430 or for Customer Service, call toll-free 1-800-877-5549. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to STARLOG Subscription Dept., P.O. Box 430, Mt. Morris, IL 61054-0430. Printed in U.S.A.

1

President/Publisher QUOTE OF THE FINAL NORMAN JACOBS MONTH FAREWELLS Executive vice President EfSENSTEIN shovel well. I shovel very hese , producers "I 1 Th well." I aand creators died in Associate Publisher MILBURN SMITH —The Shoveler, Mystery Men recent months. Oliver Reed (May) v.P./circulation Director The star of Curse of the ART SCHULKIN STUPID NETWORK Werewolf us well as Oliver, Executive Art Director DECISION OF THE The Adventures of Baron W.R. MOHALLEY MONTH Munchausen, Tommy & UPN: For cancelling Mercy Editor countless others. DAVID MCDONNELL Point. Yes, we know they did it 1 A.E. "Buck" Houghton but when they finally broadcast the new, unaired episodes Managing Editor months ago, Jr. (May) The quintessential sadness was re-emphasized. KEITH OLEXA this summer (without any fanfare), the producer of The Twilight great untapped poten- Those orphaned episodes showed off the series' Zone, who produced the clas- Associate Editor Secret Diaries Desmond Pfeiffer and Love JEANNE PROVOST tial. Yet, UPN gave The of sic show's first 39 episodes, Boat: The Next Wave more of a fair shake. What a shame. (interviewed in STARLOG Contributing Editors #115) DAVID HUTCHISON ANTHONY TIMPONE "Candy" Candido (May) The voice of Fid- MICHAEL CINCOLD get in The Great Mouse Detective, the Indian TOM WEAVER IAN SPELLING Chief in Peter Pan & other animated characters (COMICS SCENE #17) Consultant John Stears (June) The special FX wizard KERRY O'QUINN Star Wars, Goldfinger, whose talents enlivened Senior Art Director Outland, F/ and many others. JIM MCLERNON Edward Dmytryk (July) The controversial Art Director director of The Devil Commands as well as The RICK TENG Caine Mutiny, Raintree Country & others Financial Director: Joan Baetz (STARLOG #235) Marketing Director: Daniel Sierra Circulation Manager: Maria Damiani Art: Yvonne Jang. John Dinsdale, NOW ON SALE DmltriyOstrovskiy, May Yung. Staff: Debbie Irwin, Dee Erwine, Jose Look to a newsstand near you for SCI-FI TV, Soto, Sunny Witchel, David Andreas. Correspondents: (West Coast) Kyle the magazine of today's science-fiction tele- Counts, Pat Jankiewlcz, Marc Shapiro, Issue vision from the STARLOG editorial team. Bill warren; (NYC) Mike MCAvennie, Mau- BYE-BYE, LOVE McTlgue, Joe Nazzaro, Steve #7 (now on sale) includes interviews with Richard Dean reen Swires, Dan Yakir; () Will Mui ray; this issue goes to press, Associ- Days Sam As Anderson, Ethan Phillips, Helen Shaver and Seven (Chicago) Kim Howard Johnson; (The ate Editor Jeanne Provost leaves Whipple, previews of Angel & Lexx and episode guides to west) Bill Flor ence, Jo Beth Taylor; (D.C.) to return to the (poison) Lynne Stephens; (Canada) Peter Bloch- STARLOG as Earth: Final DS9 & (both gatefold posters) as well Phillips; (Booklog) penny She has Hansen, Mark ivy-covered halls of academe. Scott Schu- Conflict. As the series ends, SCI-FI TV also concludes it Cru- Kenny, Jean-Marc Lofficier, toiled here for 19 fun-filled months, mack, Michael Wolff; (Cartoons) Kev interviews (Daniel Dae Kim, David sade coverage with two Brockschmidt, Alain Chaperon, Mike helping us miss more deadlines than Allen Brooks), an extensive set visit and a complete episode Fisher, Tom Holtkamp, Bob Muleady. ever before and providing essential Thanks: Frederick Aaron, Dawn checklist. Attridge, Pernilla August, Kevin Bacon, glue to our patchwork efforts. Now Craig Baumgarten, Michael Benson, Rick instead of unruly writers and irate edi- Berman, Kenneth Branagh, Tye Bour- Jennifer Bryan, Casey Cannon, tors, she'll be dealing with a relatively sedate dony, David Chapman, Kevin Clement, Nelson irate acade- set of unruly undergraduates and Coates, Gary cole, Sophia Cottrell, Gloria mics. Yes, she'll be teaching again at the Uni- Davles, Chris Day, Joe DiGaetano, Carrie Dobro, Tony Dow, Shirley Eaton, Joel Eis- versity of Kentucky while finishing her ner, Leesa Evans, David Fudge, Randy long-gestating Master's thesis (whose subject Garden, Janeane Garofalo, Lynne Hale, Bridget Hoffman, Dark Hoffman, Mar- we won't pretend to understand, though real- jean Holden, John lacovelli, Eric idle, ly big words are involved). We appreciate her Lana Kim, David Koepp, Leah Krantzler, Beth Lewis-Wilson, Nicole Lucas, William great work here at STARLOG. So long & H. Macy, Bob Miller, Kel Mitchell, Steve thanks for all the fish, Jeanne. We'll miss you Moore, Louis Paul, Lee Pfeiffer, Rand more than you know. Ravich, Paul Reubens, Mic Rodgers, Geoffrey Rush, Steve Sansweet, Amanda Scholer, Eric Schusterman, Bob Shreve, CORRECTIONS Carol Smith, Gina Soliz, Sebastian 0 TANGO Spence, Chris Stapleton, , Cyd Deep Blue Sea article in Swank, Michele Torrico, Scott Trow- this fall is an offbeat new romantic The Dancing toward theaters Damme, Mike STARLOG #265 failed to bridge, Jean-Claude Van comedy directed by former STARLOG staffer Damon Vejar, Jeff Walker, Samantha Walker final writing include the movie's Santostefano, Three to Tango. Neve Campbell, Dylan Trippe, Crystal Warren, Mark Watson, Michele weisler, Bill Wilson, credit. It is Written by Duncan McDermott and Matthew Perry (pictured) star along with cover Art: Earth: NASA; voyager: Gary previously Kennedy and Donna & Wayne Pow- Oliver Piatt and Bob Balaban. Santostefano Hurtzel/©1994 Paramount Pictures; Sol- ers. STARLOG regrets the omission. helmed Fangoria Films' Severed Ties. dier: Nels lstaelson/01999 Sony Pic- tures Entertainment; Goldfinger: ©1964 #266 includ- STARLOG Danjad. S.A. ed two misspelled names. For Advertising Information: FILM FANTASY CALENDAR 12121 689-2830. FAX (212) 889-7933 The new star joining Earth: September: Stir of Echoes, Stigmata. Advertising Director: Rita Eisenstein Final Conflict is Jayne Heit- Classified Ads Manager: Tim Clark Souls, House on Haunted Hill. October: Lost coast Ads: The Faust company, ineyer. And the writer of the west November: Toy Story 2, End of Days, Sleepy Hollow, The World Is 24050 Madison St. Suite 101, Torrance, CA "Spell Casting" sidebar Not Enough. 90505 (310) 373-9604. FAX (310) 3/3-8760. Licensing Rep: Robert J. spells his name Joe Nazzaro. Man, international December: Stuart Little, Galaxy Quest, The Bicentennial Abramson & Associates, inc., 720 Post But we knew that. 10583 Fantasia 2000, The Green Mile, Scream 3, The Ninth Gate. Road, scarsdale, NY takes you inside the heart of the saga...

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©1999 Lucasfilni Ltd.&TM. All rights reserved. Used under authorization www.dk.com • www.starwars.com COMICS SCENE THE SEQUEL GAME Fraser isn't contractually obligated Former STARLOG contributor Scott Lob- Brendan •tot go swinging again. Nevertheless, Disney _ "dell,c an incredibly prolific comic book is planning a George of the Jungle sequel. writer for the last decade, is moving on to new Although he was uncertain about the idea in media. Miramax's Dimension Films signed pre-release interviews re: , Stephen Lobdell to a writing/development deal. The Sommers has signed up to write and direct a first two projects involved: a movie version of sequel. Hellhole (the Lobdell-Adam Pallina Image MEIMUOG Johnston whose past genre work Joe comic book following a police squad whose — includes Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, The Rocke- specialty is supernatural folks) and The Last By DAVID MCDONNELL teer, Jumanji and October Sky—will direct the Man on Earth (an original romantic comedy next Jurassic Park sequel. script). Platinum Studios, the film production group spearheaded by former Malibu comics The principal Scott Rosenberg, has sold Million Dollar Heroes to New Line Cinema. didn't FANTASY FILMS property, devised by Rosenberg and Platinum's Paul Benjamin and Jake Friedman, Universal's computer-ani- the heroes they Frankenstein, begin as a comic book. It focuses on two rival comics artists who become set best mated fantasy that's in the works, is created in order to fight crime and, incidentally, win a $1 million bet as to who's the in 19th century Eastern Europe. Other than superguy. protagonists the X- the Frankenstein Monster, its Ray (Darth Maul) Park will spring into action as Magneto's cohort, the Toad, in also include the Wolf Man and Dr. Pretori- Men movie. Bruce Davison will also be on hand, playing mutant-hating Senator Kelly. ous (from Bride of Frankenstein). The most eagerly awaited fantasy film will bronze up to the HERO IN BRONZE is Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of play the heroic Doc Savage. Ring (based on the J.R.R. Tolkien classic). face of Doc Savage will soon The The cast so far: Elijah (Deep Impact) belong to Arnold Schwarzenegger. Wood as Frodo, Sir Ian McKellen as Gan- He'll play Doc Savage: The Man of dalf. Bronze in a new film feature about 's The End ofEternity has Lester Dent's immortal pulp hero. been acquired by Paramount Pictures. It's a Castle Rock production for Gary (Total Recall) Goldman is scripting. Universal and Warner Bros. Frank Ridley Scott might direct (though he's (The Shawshank Redemption) likely to be busy helming Hannibal, the Darabont and Chuck (The Mask) Rus- Silence of the Lambs sequel, first). sell will co-produce and possibly co- The cast of What Planet Are You From? direct. Screenwriter David Leslie is stellar—Gary Shandling, Annette Ben- Johnson is working on a script from a ing, John Goodman, Ben Kingsley, Greg story by Johnson and Brent Hill. Kinnear, Linda Fiorentino, Camryn Man- Longtime fans will, of course, heim. The director is the justifiably recall 's 1974 movie (with acclaimed Mike (The Graduate) Nichols. Ron Ely as Doc) which was intended And the storyline? Well, aliens from to prompt a series of sequels. Chuck another galaxy need women (of course) to Connors was the hero in an unsold TV mate with—but the aliens lack the neces- pilot from the early . sary equipment. And so the Shan- dling is dispatched (complete with his GENRE TV mechanical organ) to deal with the prob- Martian, The Adventures of Superman lem. A G rating is not anticipated. Nick at Nite has acquired reruns of My Favorite and Ron Ely's Tarzan series for eventual broadcast (on Nick, Nickelodeon or TV Land). They'll begin The Sci-Fi Channel has ordered a second 22-episode season of Farscape. airing in March. Verne's novel, pre- Journey to the Center of the Earth, yet another new version of Jules mieres on the USA Network September 14. Again Other bows include Buffy's delayed "Earshot" episode (September 21), Now & (debut, September 24), Futurama & (season openers, September 26), Buffy Harsh (season opener) & Angel (premiere, both October 5), Roswell (premiere, October 6), bow). Realm (premiere, October 8) and The X-Files (an appropriate Halloween season 's The Illustrated Man is in the works as a TV project.

CHARACTER CASTINGS Space Cowboys (which Eastwood is direct- Devane, Colm Meaney will play the Leprechaun ing) are , William Harden. leader in NBC's November four-hour James Cromwell and Marcia Gay star in mini-series Leprechauns. Alice in Wonder- Chris Kattan and Dave Foley also land mini-series director Nick Willing and the animated/live-action adventure Monkey a half-woman, Peter Barnes are reteaming on the project. Bone. Rose McGowan plays Randy Quaid plays the human coping with half cat in the film. Wayans, Thora the mischievous Irish critters. Whoopi Gold- Jeremy Irons, Marlon (Lois Clark) berg sounds off as the Grand Banshee. (Patriot Games) Birch, Justin & the Abbotts) Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones and Whalin and Zoe (Inventing Look for Angel to start doing astronauts who McLellan star in the long-planned movie ver- some soul searching in his James Garner are retired sion of Dungeons & Dragons. own show October 5. return for a rescue mission. Joining them in

10 STARLOG/October 1999 These lithographs, magnificent examples of film art, have been signed by Ralph McQuarrie, the original production artist and numbered in a Limited Edition of only 2,500. They come matted and ramed with a still from the sequence ictured in the lithograph and a light- ed one-of-a-kind (no two are alike!) 70mm film eel from the actual movie scene. Batteries not included.

Lithographs measure 1 8" x 1 2".

— ^ .

A New Hope A New Hope The Empire Strikes Back Rebel Ceremony 50006 The Cantina on 50052 Rebel Patrol of Echo Base 50036 Battle of Hoth 50038 d Litt Edii?°»

The Empire Strikes Back Return ol the Jedi

Cloud City of Bespin 50039 The Rancor Pit 50051 Main Reactor 50055

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Postage & Handling: USA Please add $8 New York State residents add 8 1/4% sales tax.

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Method pf Payment: Cash Check Card Expiration Date: .(Mo./Yr.) Money Order Discover Master Card Visa Credit cards orders over $10 may Your Daytime #: be faxed to 212-889-7933. Phone (_ Limited Edition Lithographs $200 each Print Please indicate quantity being ordered. Name As It Appears On Your Card Send cash, check or money order to: A New Hope Cloud City of Bespin 50039 Rebel Starlog Group, Inc. Ceremony 50006 Return of the Jedi Street The Cantina on Mos Eisley Jabba The Hutt 50050 475 Park Avenue South 50052 The Rancor Pit 50051 New York, NY 10016 The Empire Strikes Back Speeder Bike Chase 50052 City State Zip IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO Rebel Patrol of Echo 50036 Death Star Main Reactor CUT OUT COUPON WE WILL ACCEPT WRITTEN ORDERS. Battle of Hoth 50038 50055 Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. Your Signature End of Days by Dennis Danvers (Avon/Eos, he, 372 pp, $16) The sequel to Circuit of Heaven revisits a future when most of humanity has aban- Flashforward by Robert J. Sawyer (Tor, he, 319 pp, $23.95) doned reality for stultifying immortality in a For two minutes, the consciousness of the human race leaps forward D nri»Miiai i-r| computerized dream world, the Bin. Only 20 years to glimpse the future. That's the premise of this excellent SF misfits and fanatics remain on the "real" novel, a perfect blend of cosmic speculation and human drama, and Earth. Trapped outside the Bin is scientist Sawyer's best book yet. Walter Tillman, whose tragic affair with his Lloyd Simcoe's physics experiment may have caused the "flashfor- boss' wife left him stranded alone in a small ward," and as he tries to explain it and deal with the guilt from the destruc- Bin prototype for more than a century. tion the blackout caused, Lloyd must face the implications of his own While Walter plots a return to real life, his vision, which suggests that he and his fiancee will not live happily ever .. DENNIS DANVERS lost love, Stephanie Sanders, hopes to mmmmmmmnoMm after. Lloyd's partner, Theo Procides, is even worse off: Theo had no escape the Bin so she can die. Bringing vision, implying he'll be dead in 20 years. them together, and, incidentally, determining the planet's fate, is one Other people's visions reveal Theo will be murdered—but by who? of Stephanie's bio-engineered clones, a young soldier of the tyrant Humanity must come to grips with knowing the future, while pondering who plans to destroy the Bin, a Bin-born, death-obsessed philosopher the real question: Should the experiment be repeated for another, deeper and Newman Rogers—the brilliant-yet-fallible creator of the Bin. flashforward? Danvers develops his bizarre, interlocking romances with rigorous love, free will, Flashforward's bold plot lets Sawyer muse on true logic, so that these techno-fairy tales. of rebirth and transformation quantum reality and the nature of consciousness while telling a funny, seem perfectly plausible. The religious imagery of the last chapters is wrenching tale of fallible humans in a mystifying universe. overdone, but End of Days is still an audacious, fun and touching —Scott W. Schumack novel. —Scott W. Schumack The Spell-Bound Scholar by Christopher Christopher Stasheff (Ace, pb, 309 pp, $6.99) Timberjak by Don DeBrandt (Ace, pb, 370 Stasheff The latest "Warlock" novel has the Gal- pp, $5.99) lowglass clan, master psychics of the The sequel to Steeldriver is another enter- medieval planet Gramarye, struggling to SPElL~BOUND taining mix of pyrotechnics and redeem a deadly foe. folk tale archetypes. Finister, an esper mdfemme fatale work- Hone, a cyborg assassin, Melody, an artifi- ing for an interstellar conspiracy, tries to kill cial intelligence, and Mike, a disembodied or enslave young Gregory Gallowglass, a vir- mind, are fleeing the they out- tuous scholar who seems utterly indifferent to witted in Steeldriver when they reach the plan- romance. Instead of a ripe target for assassi- et Shinnkaria, the battleground for two nation or seduction, Finister finds Gregory a implacable foes. Paul Banyan is a logger powerful, perceptive opponent who pierces intent on harvesting the planet's energy- her illusions and comes to love the good per- absorbing trees, and Johnny Rainforest is the son he senses within her evil shell. Gregory ultimately asks his kin to i eco-terrorist out; to stop him. Banyan hires the help him save Finister's soul and make him worthy of her. trio to capture Rainforest, but they soon wonder if they're on the right This book has little to offer readers who aren't fans of this endless side. The answer to that and other questions lies in a hellish, beautiful series. Finister's evil and Gregory's love are so contrived that it's hard wilderness, the Indigo Wild. to take them seriously. The flashbacks to Finister's life of betrayal and DeBrandt makes Timberjak a riot of inventiveness. There's a new manipulation are sometimes effective, but her reformation, like much creature, gadget or artificial reality on every page, all fully rationalized of the action, relies on psi powers that are no more believable than the in the book's SF context; at one point, for example, some characters mock-feudal setting. through in the nostrils of a huge plant-animal. The —Scott W. Schumack leap novel is one chase, fight and desperate ploy after another, and it ends with the ultimate, hilarious, tasteless lawyer joke. Faded Steel Heat by Glen Cook (Roc, pb, —Scott W. Schumacl 356 pp, $6.99) FADED Garrett Files, tough detective, uncovers a STEEL HEAT morass of murder and conspiracy when extor- Household Gods by Judith Tarr and Harry Turtledove (Tor, he, tionists threaten his friend—a master beer 512 pp, $24.95) maker of the city of TunFaire. This is some- In Household Gods, Nicole Gunther Perrin takes a Roman Holi- makes a how related to the anti-minority fanaticism day—SF style. A frustrated, divorced single mother, Perrin sweeping the city—and this being the world simple prayer after a particularly bad day—a prayer that lands her of myth and magic, the minorities are ogres, back in the body of an ancestor during the time of Marcus Aurelius. elves and trolls. With bodies piling up, Garrett Although she's at first pleased with her new situation, her new world's is courted by the government, the human foul smells (they never let up in this book, and are even put to good supremacists and TunFaire's underworld. The use), ruthless sexism and rampant death from plague and pillage final- dinar. She also devel- mm story behind the killings goes back to a recent ly teach our heroine there are two sides to every war and some very special soldiers; it will ops a new appreciation of fairness and entitlement. (such as Connie take all of Garrett's luck and skill to find the truth—and survive. Household Gods is reminiscent of other works this story all This rambling novel is only for fans of the series. The pseudo- Willis' ), but Tarr and Turtledove make medieval setting where people talk about "psychopaths" and "covert their own. Many aspects of Roman life are explored, from the ricr gladiatorial sacrifices operations" is never convincing, and Garrett's wisecracking narration, simplicity of food to the blood-curdling cry of while funny, soon grows stale. The solutions to the various puzzles And when Perrin returns from her "historic" jaunt and begins setting off. All in all, a fur seem arbitrary, and while the book is too long and slow for good, light her upside-down world right, the story really pays entertainment, any serious points about racism or the legacy of war are and enlightening read. —Keith Olexi lost in the pulp fiction ambiance. —Scott W. Schumack

12 STARLOG/Octofrer 1999

The Shadow ofArarat by Thomas Harlan (Tor, he, 512 pp, $26.95) In Harlan's debut novel, the Roman Empire is still thriving approxi- mately 200 years after it fell in our reality. The Emperors of the West and East have united to crush Persia, while Rome itself is in danger from a curse that's destroying it from within. Harlan has lavished incredible detail on the Roman, Egyptian and Persian settings in The Shadow of Ararat, and that works against the novel in the beginning. The characters are overwhelmed by the vast moti- panorama of the book. It doesn't help that several characters lack vation for their actions. But persevere, for after 100 pages or so, things out. It really start moving, as dead men live again and the troops move will be interesting to see what Harlan does with the follow-up. —Penny L. Kenny

The Stone War by Madeleine E. Robins (Tor, he, 320 pp, $23.95) MADELEINE E, ROBINS John Tietjen loves . No matter how dangerous it when a series seems to others, it's his home. It's where he belongs. So THE S10NE WAR he must of disasters cut it off from the rest of the world, he knows return and do what he can to restore it. Robins' The Stone War is a wonderful near-future dark fantasy filled well with real characters who exhibit warmth, humor and compassion as per- as less admirable traits. Her New York City has its own memorable for it. sonality. The reader can see why Tietjen's willing to risk his life the Even more impressive is that while there's plenty of action, city's fate depends not on might, but on an act of love and compassion. The Stone War is a must-read. —Penny L. Kenny

The Black Swan by Mercedes Lackey (DAW, he, 400 pp, $24.95)

seen it before. Lackey offers i Yes, The Black Swan is Swan Lake, but not as anyone has ever wicked enchante whole new angle on the transformed Odette, the brave Prince Siegfried and the Von Rothbarth. are the ones mos Actually, two of the characters in The Black Swan who are not enchanted powerful scene. Odile, transformed. Siegfried goes from hedonist to hero in one believable, and her growth i devoted daughter trying to earn her father's love, learns to choose her own path, at the story's heart. While magic and romance abound, Lackey doesn't forget humor. Some cute scenes betwee add warmth to thi characters (including a memorable one that leaves Odette with three hands!) excellent fantasy. —Penny L. Kenn

Destiny's Shield by Eric Flint and David Drake (Baen, he, 474 pp, $23) bygone A growing subgenre of SF is "historical fiction"—accounts of events in which some SF element has been added for good measure. Mosl of these are from authors with strong military fiction backgrounds. One can almost imagine them silently contemplating old world maps oi ." wargame boards, thinking "Perhaps if . . David Drake A recent example is the series written by Eric Flint and begun with An Oblique Approach and continued with In the Heart oj the Byzantine Darkness. In Destiny 's Shield, war is breaking out between Empire and the Malwa Empire of India, which is controlled by a malevo lent force from the future. The Byzantine general Belisarius, however, ha< an ace up his sleeve in the form of Aide, an intelligent crystal determinec also has the sup to stop its dark counterpart. Along with Aide, Belisarius port of the cleverest and ablest minds of his time. Fans of intrigue and imperial plotting should find this enjoyable. —Michael WolJ,

Dark Cities Underground by Lisa Goldstein (Tor, he, 252 pp, $22.95) the model fo While writing a book on a classic fantasy series, Ruthie Barry meets Jerry Jones, to forget the Neverwas books, am the series' boy hero. Jones is a middle-aged recluse who longs out, but a strange mar has never forgiven his mother for having written them. Ruthie draws Jerry is real and the ke Barnaby Sattermole, intrudes. He seems to think Jerry's boyhood dream world reality into a nightmarish realr to immense power. Soon, Ruthie and Jerry fall beneath the skin of world domination. of ritual murder, incarnate myths and grotesque cabals vying for Goldstein invoke Despite some intriguing elements, Dark Cities Underground never gels. she never quite balance the charm and underlying darkness of beloved children's books, but clouds, they accept th fantasy and reality—when her characters leap oceans and talk to rain it's not strong enoug unreality too easily. When the book's labyrinthine plot does become clear, anticlimactic, and while the cor to support the story. Ruthie's showdown with Sattermole is eluding reconciliations are touching, the book is still a disappointment. —Scott W. Schumac HE'D LIKET S WITH YOU

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400 Flesh and Silver by Stephen L. Burns (Roc, Bloodrights by N. Lee Wood (Ace, he, F/esh pb, 352 pp, $5.99) pp, $22.95) stolen from her by e— »t ana Science fiction often reminds us that the By claiming birthrights delicate politi- S/ Aver future will not necessarily remove prejudice. Dr. her half-uncle, Antonya upsets a becomes a pawn in a Gregory Marchey is a physician who has had his cal-religious balance and hands and forearms replaced with advanced dangerous game of intrigue. But she's no one's both the bionic limbs of silver. He is now a greater sur- game piece, and she'll bring down her goal. geon than before, but the price he pays is bigotry church and the state to achieve quickly cre- from his professional peers, and fear from his The set-up is great, and Wood characters. It's a patients. Marchey is well on the way to the bot- ates sympathy for the main Antonya take tom of an almost fatal depression when circum- pleasure to watch the intelligent grows too stances put him on a world where he not only on the local leaders. But then Wood forgetting to devel- faces his greatest challenge, but a chance to enamored of the intrigue, them finally accept what he has become. op characters in some cases and making others. The final third of Bloodrights gets back on The problem with messages like this one is that they're often deliv- act incongruously in but that time it has lost momentum, making the ending unsat- ered to the choir. But, even if Burns sometimes allows himself to become track, by Bloodrights never fulfills its potential. heavy-handed, the lesson nonetheless bears repeating. And decent med- isfying. Sadly, —Penny L. Kenny ical SF stories have become rarer. Hopefully, Burns' work signifies a resurgence in this particular subgenre. —Michael Wolff The Company of Glass, Everien: Book One by Valery Leith (Ban- tam/Spectra, tpb, 432 pp, $13.95) Eighteen years ago, Quintar led his men to Jai Pendu to locate a Operation Luna by (Tor, he, 320 pp, $22.95) powerful artifact. He found it, but lost his men in the process. Scarred will be delighted to read a new novel featuring were- Anderson fans an in spirit, he fled and became Tarquin. Now, returning with news of wolf Steven Matuchek and his lovely, witchy wife, Ginny, taking place in invasion, he discovers another trip to Jai Pendu is being planned, and that alternate reality where a rational (this is Anderson after all) form of that to save his kingdom, he'll have to face his past. magic works. In this book, which can be read totally independently of its Leith has concocted an intriguing tale. Rather than unraveling mys- predecessor (Operation Chaos), the first Moon launches are being sabo- teries, she adds more with every turn of the page. And while the read- have relocated to our satellite. taged by demons who could er is never totally confused, elements like the mysterious Sekk There are many good things about Operation Luna: the confrontation have used a bit more explanation. Quintar is handled well, but the same with a thinly disguised Fu Manchu, the dwarf Fjalar, the encounter with cannot be said for the major supporting characters, who are not mem- Norse deity Mimir and the use of Southwestern Native American orable individuals. Overall, though, The Company of Glass is an mythology are all delightful concepts, well executed. The plot, however, impressive opening volume. sags in part, and the ending comes across as rushed and impromptu. —Penny L. Kenny There are political digressions on the nature of taxes and politics that dis- tract the reader from the plot. Operation Luna comes across as an excel- Sean McMullen (Tor, he, 448 lent first draft in need of some editing. Souls in the Great Machine by pp, —Jean-Marc Lofficier $17.95) In a post-apocalyptic Australia, a librarian rediscovers the comput- only this machine is not made of silicon and wire, but of human The Conqueror's Child: Book IV of the Holdfast Chronicles by Suzy er; components. McKee Charnas (Tor, he, 384 pp, $24.95) The opening chapters of Souls in the Great Machine are fascinat- Thirty years ago, Charnas published Walk to the End ofthe World. Now, ing. Here's a world of low-level technology where mayorates war foi her new book The Conqueror's Child completes the saga of Alldera Con- supremacy, a mysterious call can pull any living thing to its doom and queror and the Holdfast. librarians hold all the real power. Alldera's daughter Sorrel enters the Holdfast hoping to make a connec- It's great reading until the proliferation of detail bogs the readei tion with her absent mother. Nearly all the characters are interesting, yet McMullen glosses While Charnas masterfully condenses the Holdfast's history into a few down. over their personalities in favor of showing how this world works short pages, there's no denying that the first half of the book is just set-up. There's no sense that the characters have any stake in the scenes The characters don't develop any depth until later chapters, which makes McMullen puts them in. the beginning a dull read. Once the characters become individuals, howev- A debate rages throughout the novel: Can the Great Machine pos er, instead of types, The Conqueror's Child becomes a thought-provoking sess a soul? There's no question the book lacks one. adventure. —Penny L. Kenw —Penny L. Kenny

Bear (Del , he, 448 $24) (Baen, Darwin's Radio by Greg pp, : i nr. ,.. The Fata Morgana by Leo Frankowski Sprinkle Laurie Garrett's The Coming Plague with selected dose: he, 320 pp, $21) of A.E. Van Vogt's and you begin to capture the flavor of Dar Treet, Adam and friends build a boat—rough- win's Radio—although the mounting tension, not to mention the sci MORGANA ly the size of the QEII—on their downtime. A entific intensity, raise the novel to incomparable heights. Bear give series of events sends them all cruising to various evolution a shot in the arm when an impending epidemic of a flu-lik shores until eventually only Treet and Adam disease becomes a death sentence for unborn children. remain. The two Michiganders then become thei Or does it? Scientists Kaye Lang and Mitch Rafelson have shipwrecked on the legendary Western Isles. doubts, and they are determined to unlock this plague's secrets. Th Adam's antics keep the story afloat to this complicated as a DNA strand—is that the diseas tw i s t—as elegant and point—though Frankowski 's loving attention to isn't even pathogenic, but is the result of an ancient relic in our geneti nautical detail threatens to scuttle it at times material that has chosen now to stir, with consequences far more terrify but now The Fata Morgana becomes becalmed ing, or promising, perhaps, than the loss of a single generation. eo frankdwSnci in lectures, lectures, lectures. Even while fight- Bear's writing can be quite a handful. The novel at times read ing for their lives, these characters lecture! And if the asides on feminin- textbook than a dramatic work. But when the stor Fata more like a genetic ity and religion are meant to be amusing or satiric, they fail. Let The finally gets rolling, the result is a good, intriguing hard SF tale. sail without you. Morgana —Keith Olex —Penny L. Kenny

16 STAKLOG/October 1999 . AN EXCITING NEW PUBLICATION FROM STARLOG ENTERTAINMENT, INC., HE MOST RESPECTED C^fSSSS^prrx-r^,,. NAME IN m IpiSZaiiia 0 GENRE *|Vt|V PUBLISHING

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State Zip If you do not want to cut out coupon, we will accept written orders. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks I for delivery. PHARAOH OUT FILMS From deep beneath the ancient sands of Egypt aris- es Universal's recent box-office smash, The Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser, Arnold Vosloo and Rachel Weisz. Sell-through priced at only $22.98 on videocassette, the film will be marked either as a full widescreen edition or the cropped pan-and-scan ver- sion. The DVD Collector's Edition is priced slightly higher at $29.98, but includes a 40-minute special FX documentary, Building a Better Mummy, an audio deleted scenes, commentary from writer/director and editor Bob Ducsay, as well as and special FX scene access. theatrical trailers, a separate audio track for the score, interactive visuals in CLV. The laser version in widescreen and Dolby Digital sound is priced at $34.98 its original 1932 version Additionally, Universal Home Video has created a special DVD edition of audio commentary from film of The Mummy ($34.98) starring Boris Karloff. Extra goodies include an documentary, Mummy Dearest: A historian Paul M. Jensen, special archival photos and an original Horror Tradition Unearthed, from filmmaker David J. Skal. Prince Egypt (sell- There's more Egyptian adventure in the form of DreamWorks' animated of Kilmer as Moses. It's also through priced at $26.99). voices Pharaoh Seti with Val The high-priced available on CLV laser ($29.99) from Image Entertainment and on DVD ($34.98). commentary by directors Brenda Chap- DVD edition has all the deluxe goodies, including a running a technical man, Steve Hickner and Simon Wells, a making-of featurette, production notes, trailers, chariot race. effects reel, art design show and a multi-image segment of the dark blue police call Far from the hot sands of Egypt and thousands of years in the future stands a (Patrick Troughton) and his box on a frozen glacier. With Earth locked in a new Ice Age, the Doctor body. The iced entity is companions seek refuge at a science station, where they discover a frozen from the ice in order to finish his Varga of the Martian Ice Warriors, who is busy freeing his battalion The Mummy walks on VHS and black-and-white six-part story which conquest of Earth. "The Ice Warriors" is vintage Doctor Who, a DVD. He's Arnold Vosloo. Edition VHS) from BBC originally aired 30 years ago. This package is a special Collector's ($34.98, seen story's missing Episodes Two and Three. There Video and comes with an audio CD featuring the complete soundtrack of this rarely facts about the Mar- at the making of "The Ice Warriors," plus more fascinating is also a 48-page book featuring a behind-the-scenes look tian monsters.

FANTASY FORAYS on DVD The Thirteenth Floor ($24.95) from Columbia Tri Star bows with audio commentary by director Josef Rusnak and production designer Kirk M. Petruccelli, and a film trailer. Two journeys into fantasy debut on DVD this month from director : Labyrinth ($24.95), starring David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly; and ($24.95, co-directed by Frank Oz), based on the drawings of fantasy artist Brian Froud. The special edition of The Dark Crystal includes an hour-long documentary, two deleted scenes, character concept drawings, scenes from the original work print with the characters speaking in a fantasy language, Trevor Jones' music score on an isolated will audio track, trailers, biographies and production notes. Labyrinth include a trailer and a behind-the-scenes documentary. A special-edition DVD boxed set containing Capricorn One, Stargate and Millennium has been announced from Artisan Home Entertainment priced at $59.98 for all three films. John Boorman's spellbinding retelling of the Arthurian legends, Excal- Co-director Frank Oz "chats" with one of the Muppet stars ^wr, debuts from Warner Bros on DVD at an economical $19.98. The of The Dark Crystal. It's now on DVD with lotsa extras. beautiful and original film stars Nigel Terry as Arthur, Helen Mirren as Leondegrance. Morgana Nicol Williamson as Merlin, LiamNeeson as Gawain and Patrick Stewart as of the '60s, The Avengers, have been newly transferred The original adventures of John Steed and Emma Peel from the cult TV series Entertainment in several boxed sets. The complete 1965 and 1966 sea- from original British materials and are being distributed by Arts and color each. The 1967 season, the first year that the series appeared in sons (all black-and-white) are available as a boxed series at $44.98 years, available in VHS compilations. Though The Avengers ran for nine in America, will be available shortly. All three seasons are already these three seasons represent the peak of the show's popularity.

that Trog is the LASED IN SPACE "Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi," $29.98). Crawford realizes long-sought "missing link" and deserves Babylon 5 saga continues on Volume 4.02, "Summoning" and "Falling The 4.03, "The close study, but Trog is more interested in laserdisc from Warner Home Video this Toward Apotheosis" and Volume rampaging through the countryside and month, with several new volumes priced at Long Night" and "Into the Fire." updating of My abducting little girls. This low-budget $29.98 each in CLV. Look for: Volume 2.04, Disney's charmless thriller is notable only as Crawford's last "Soul Mates" and "Race Through Dark Favorite Martian is now on laser, retailing but with no extra screen appearance. Michael Gough co-stars. Places," Volume 2.05, "Coming of Shad- at $39.98 in widescreen, Freddie Francis—otherwise known to genre ows" and "GROPOS," Volume 2.06, "All goodies. — stars as anthropologist fans as the cinematographer of Alone in the Night" and "Acts of Sacrifice," Joan Crawford Home Video, directed this monster-on-the-run flick. Volume 4.01, "Hour of the Wolf and Dr. Brocton in Trog (Warner

18 STARLOG/Ocfober 1999 games, rivalries and traditions of the 20th Comic strips that moved, That's what they called century. Hundreds of rare photos. Plus, included them as this — amazing medium emerged early free with each copy, thoroughly collectible base- in the 20th century. The characters seemed to ball cards! live as well. As motion pictures grew up, so did animation, no longer confined to theater Comic strips were born just before the turn of screens, but for television. Now, relive the the century. Now, in this all-color entry in the excitement in this all-color entry in the STAR- STARLOG MILLENNIUM series, filled with rare LOG MILLENNIUM series, filled with rare art, art, photos, packed with interviews, anecdotes designs, storyboards & photos, packed with & unusual facts, meet the characters & their cre- interviews, unpublished anecdotes & unusual ators who made the comics an exciting part of facts. 20th century pulp culture, from the Yellow Kid & the Katzenjammer Kids to Dilbert & Spawn.

This beautifully illustrated history of the auto- mobile takes a decade-by-decade look at the It began with Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Today world's love affair with the car, from the Model it is hard to imagine a world without the myths of T right up to the present day. The greatest race science fiction, without and Star Wars, , passenger cars, convertibles, luxury The X-Files and many more. Now, in this all- automobiles and more! color entry in the STARLOG MILLENNIUM series, filled with fantastic photos & artwork, laced with interviews, anecdotes & facts, relive 100 YEARS OF BASEBALL takes a decade-by- the wonder of a century of todays, tomorrows & decade look at the greatest baseball players, yesterdays.

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Sohl #12 Roddenberry. Doug Buck Rogers. $1 5. . 2. Trek: Conan. Caroline David Hasselhoff. $5. Jennifer Beals. Trumbull. $5. Fontana. George RR Lost Generation. $5. Steven Munro. . $10. Martin. $10. Spielberg. Dick Smith. #35 Billy Dee Williams. #80 Billy Dee Williams. #99 Anthony Daniels. CE3K. $10. #137 Marshall. War of Empire & Voyage FX. $5. #58 Blade Runner. The Anthony Ainley. Zemeckis. "Cubby" #11 9 Takei. Kerwin the Worlds. $5. Thing. Syd Mead. Trek Jedi FX 1. $5. #13 Broccoli. Mad Max. $5. Matthews. Doc Savage. David Prowse. Pal. #36 4th Anniversary. bloopers. $5. $5. Logan's Run EP Guide. $5. Nichols. Prowse. #138 Michael Dorn. John #81 . #100 Lucas. Nimoy. Larroquette. Jean-Claude Glen Larson. Yvette #59 The Thing. Fred Ward. Veronica Carpenter. Ellison. #121 Reeve. Mel Brooks. Van #14 Project UFO. Mimieux. $6. Arnold Damme. John Schwarzenegger. Cartwright. Greystoke. Harryhausen. Nichols. Jim Danforth. Saturday Dante. Lithgow. Weller. Schuck. Lenard. Phyllis Kirstie Alley. 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Fred Road Warrior. $15. Fritz Leiber. Marshall. #102 Spielberg. Lundgren. Tim Dalton. Invaders EP Guide. $5. Freiberger. $5. 2. Wheaton. Rex Reason. Dr. Who. V. $10. Mel Blanc. Michael Robocop. ST: TNG. $50. Eric #62 Ricardo Stoltz. B&B. $5. Montalban. Douglas. Irwin Allen #17 Spielberg. 2. #40 Hamill. Gerard. Koenig 2. James Doohan. #84 8th Anniversary. Alley. Doug Adams. #124 Roddenberry. Roddenberry. . Kevin #141 Diana Muldaur. Jane Ken Tobey. Dr. Who. $5. Nimoy. Frank Oz. Chris Peter Davison. $5. McCarthy. Gary Jared Martin. . Seymour. Freiberger 2. Amanda Lambert. Marc Singer, Lockwood. Courteney Ralph McQuarrie. $5. Empire FX. $4. Pays. Gilliam. Bennett. #63 Spielberg. Nimoy. a Banzai. Jedi FX 3. $6. #103 Daryl Hannah. Cox. STTNG. $15. Kneale 3. $5. Russell. Rutger Hauer. Hauer. Bennett. Bottin. #18 Empire. . #41 Sam Jones. James Horner. $25. #85 Jim Henson. Elmer Bernstein. Dirk Benedict. Richard $5. #125 Bruce Dern. Gerry #143 Perlman. Kelley. . $5. Jeff Goldbium. Hatch. $5. 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I mm mat A WILD, ductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, Phantom Williams was already the Music best-known film HIGH-TECH Something was different about composer in the world. For 13 years, he tonight's concert at New York's Sym- presided over concerts without aloofness or phony Hall. Although many concert- pomposity—just a nice guy playing music RIDE! goers arrived in formal attire dark — suits, he loved. The enthusiastic applause that —, co-author elegant dresses and sparkling jewelry—half greeted his return appearance on stage Dune: House Atreides the crowd appeared to be casually attired proved that the audience still adored him. teens and twentysomethings, milling about The program began with a rousing ren- as if they were at a science fiction conven- dition of Erich Korngold's The Adventures tion. I approached a boy and girl searching ofRobin Hood, then raced through Miklos for the balcony stairway and asked, "Why Rozsa's "Parade of the Charioteers" from are you here?" Ben-Hur. It lingered over lush music from "I've always wanted to see the Boston Gone with the Wind, Laura and A Place in Pops," the young replied. man "John the Sun, and was followed by a lyrical trib- Williams is conducting tonight, and I like ute to the film music of Victor Young. the music they're playing." Then, Williams ended the three-act pro- "Any music in particular?" I inquired gram by launching into The Phantom knowingly. Menace. "Well, sure," he said with a smile, "I At the final crescendo, the conductor want to hear Star Wars." and orchestra were met with a thunderous The Phantom Menace had opened a standing ovation. After many bows, the week earlier in theaters around the country, audience was given a charming encore, but amassing more than $100 million in box- it was not enough. Our applause continued, office receipts the first weekend despite disap- pointing reviews. But one thing was undisput- ed: Good or bad, Episode I was a milestone in sci- ence fiction. Certainly part of that landmark prestige can be credited to ' score. Weav- ing an emotional musical New York Times bestselling tapestry both complex authors, L. Ron Hubbard and sophisticated, Williams' work lent con- (Battlefield Earth, Mission siderable depth to The Earth®) and Dave Wolverton Phantom Menace. And (Star Wars: The Courtship while the composer recalled themes from the of ) take you first three movies, he on the ultimate off-road also blended the classical adventure. If with the theatrical in new you enjoyed ways to create a fresh, high-energy score. wild and insistent. We refused to let the the fast-and-fun ride of The music of Star Wars has no doubt evening end without hearing Williams' Back to the Future and prompted many young people to explore signature piece. music like high-tech gadgets that beyond MTV. And proof of their Finally, with grin and a shrug, he interest wandered about this concert hall. It stepped onto the podium, turned to the would stump even the reminded me of when I was a boy. I had orchestra, and lifted his baton. With a Men In Black, then been introduced, you must thanks to the Boston Pops mighty downward stroke, the crashing Orchestra and their legendary read Very Trip. conductor main title music from Star Wars filled the A Strange Arthur Fiedler, to serious, symphonic acoustically perfect hall. From majestic to music. Their recordings were fun and full sweet to sinister, the orchestra tossed Wherever Books of vitality, and their spirit was dramatic. I melodies from one section to another until got hooked classics are Sold on and began a person- the familiar ending arrangement brought al exploration that has enriched my soul. the very special evening to a totally satis- $25.00 US, $33.50 Canada It had always been one of my dreams to factory conclusion. Also Available in Audio see the Boston Pops play. Tonight that We poured into the streets, the smiles $25.00 US, $33.50 Canada dream would finally come true. Williams on our faces a testament to our brief jour- or call: 1-800-722-1733 would conduct a program of classic film ney to a musical world from a galaxy far, Internet: www.bridgepub.com music, culminating with a suite from The far away. Phantom Menace. —Kerry O'Quinn © 1999 BI'I. All Rights Reserved. MISSION EARTH In 1980, when he was appointed con- is a trademark owned by L. Ron Hubbard Library. M

chris- Islands of Adventure is the centerpiece of a $2.6 billion expansion tened Universal Studios Escape. The five "fantasy islands"—Marvel Super- Seuss Hero Island, Jurassic Park, the Lost Continent, Toon Lagoon and Landing—are actually contiguous attraction areas, part theme park, part thrill lake. Guests can ride, part boardwalk, which form the perimeter of an artificial taxi from the stroll leisurely from one island to the other or travel via water park's Port of Entry across the lake to Jurassic Park. a Those children at heart will probably gravitate toward Seuss Landing, candy-colored land of bent trees and crooked buildings designed as a tribute to travel the works of the legendary Theodore Geisel (Dr. Seuss). Visitors can Fish, with the Cat in the Hat, encounter splashing fountains at One Fish, Two "Caro-Seuss-el" Red Fish, Blue Fish, ride what is billed as the most elaborate it with a mouse" in the world and even dine on that proverbial "would not eat meal at the Green Eggs and Ham Cafe. can see a For the more adventurous, there's the Lost Continent, where one battle special FX-laden Sinbad stage show, fight in the middle of a mythic between Poseidon and Zeus (complete with pyrotechnics, fog, smoke and the Duel- water effects) or enter Merlin's mystic realm and dare to tame one of foot of each ing Dragons—two coasters which intertwine and hurtle within a elaborate other at speeds of up to 60 mph. Surrounding these attractions is an set village of shops, restaurants and game stalls which could easily double as a for an episode of Hercules, and may provide more variety and interest to many Universal Studios opened in When visitors than the attractions themselves. Orlando in 1990, the theme park chose to compete with World in its Forgotten worlds the past from this old-world village is the land backyard by emulating the successful formula Retreating even further into own Spielberg's of Jurassic Park, carefully modeled after the environment of Steven of its predecessor, Universal Studios Hol- blockbuster movies Jurassic Park and The Lost World (Spielberg is billed as tour of a original lywood. Combining a behind-the-scenes Creative Consultant to Islands of Adventure, as he had been with the working production studio with cinema-themed Universal Studios Florida park). From the towering entrance gate straight out past the electrified fences complete with rustling bushes and the stage shows and attractions, the park invited visitors of the films, Center, an eerily familiar sounds of wild velociraptors, you face the Discovery to "ride the movies." Now, a decade later, Universal Center. interactive entertainment venue reminiscent of the movie's Visitor extension which in an has unveiled a multi-billion-dollar Inside, you encounter museum-like exhibits of dinosaur remains, engage an extinct beast, assist genetic invites visitors on a new host of rides and attractions. experiment to combine your DNA with that of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish winds through a circular maze of water spouts and streams. Guests must guide their fish through, and try not to get wet!

* 1

Horton, the gentle elephant from Horton Hears a Who, greets visitors to Seuss Landing.

engineers in the incubation birth and of new Do you like them, Sam I Am? The dinos and test your knowledge in a spirited Green Eggs and Ham Cafe serves Dr. game of "You Bet Jurassic!" Seuss' famous meal to all who are The huge glass wall of the Center's restau- willing to try. rant overlooks the climactic river falls drop of string those in a line, and the operator then the Jurassic Park River Adventure. The ride, has the ability to override any of these which carries visitors through a river maze scripted actions and tailor them to the spe- filled with all manner of animatronic cific audience and situation. Each time you dinosaurs, culminates in a hungry T-Rex walk through, you'll see something differ- encounter and a thrilling escape by way of an ent. 85-foot plunge billed as the longest, fastest, "Our whole premise here is that we real- steepest water descent ever built. ly have living, breathing dinosaurs," Shreve In stark contrast to the thrill of dodging a says. "Triceratops is the cow of the prehis- hungry lizard is the comparatively sedate Pter- toric world, a natural choice for a hands-on anodon Flyers ride, which whisks you around guest experience. We started with a one- the island on the backs of these winged reptiles inch maquette of the animal, scanned it into (actually carefully disguised ski lift - the computer and then hired the engineer- nisms). There's also the interactive play area ing firm Spar Aerospace in Canada to cre- called Camp Jurassic. Here, guests roam deep ate a mechanical design. We then did a lava pits, navigate narrow rope bridges, explore full-figure, life-size clay sculpture, from amber mines and dodge pesky Spitters (actual- which we made impressions and tooling for ly water cannons manned by other guests). silicone skin and a fiberglass shell. Once Perhaps the most overlooked and underap- the figure is assembled, fiberglass is used preciated portion of Jurassic Park is the Tricer- only for the pelvis, the front shoulder and atops Encounter. Through a series of the two side panels. The walk-through exhibits, you discover first-hand balance is skeletal. what it's like to care for, monitor, breed and Because it moves so handle these dinosaurs. "Our three dinosaurs, much—articulated from Chris, Cera and Topper, represent the most the tip of her nose to the advanced animated figures ever built," show tip of her tail, she can producer Bob Shreve explains. "They each have more than a hundred functions; they breathe, and they even go to the bathroom. Their actions are scripted by a series of what we call emotional beats: serious, frightened, aggressive, bored, sleepy or angry. We just

STARLOG/Octofer 1999 25 bend almost in a 'U' —we were limited by how much solid structure we could use for shape and support." The creature's rigid foam and skeletal structure weighs in at some 25,000 pounds—substantially heavier than the real animal. And at 10 feet high by 24 feet long, there was little chance of getting the beasts to walk on their own, so each creature was transported by flatbed truck from Canada and lifted into place by crane. 'ft "We originally negotiated with and to act as art directors, but at the last moment they both had to withdraw because of movie obligations," Shreve continues. "One of the . consultants we were working with suggested we talk to Hall Trane, a noted paleontologist/animator who does all the dinosaur animations for the Amer- ican Museum of Natural History and the Discovery Channel. He, in turn, suggested we talk to Spar, who had expressed an interest in becoming involved, but had no track record with animated fig- ures. We were interested in working with Hall, and since both he and Spar were located in Toronto and Spar obviously had the qualifications, if not the experience, we felt it was a perfect marriage. Obvi- ously, we're very pleased with the results."

If Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls brings Jay Ward's zany world to life in the Perils ofPauline- esque flume ride.

and racing through an explod- 1 Popeye & Bluto's ing dynamite shack. "Because Bilge-Rat Barges offer Featured along jf you're in a small boat, you a bumping, with other churning have a small reach envelope, Whitewater raft ride, characters at at and when you come out of the atop speed of 16 feet Toon Lagoon is per second. Dudley building at the top of the fall, Do-Right, one you see nothing but sky," Sta- Mountie who pleton grins. "Then when the doesn't always boat dips, you see nothing but get his man. the tiny opening of the shack

with nothing else around it and you feel like you're coming out of the Cartoon Landscapes boat. It's fun to | watch folks put their Moving from the creature-filled Juras- hands up as if they're riding a conven- sic Park rainforest, you enter a whimsical tional rollercoaster and then immediate- world populated by those colorful cre- ly snap them down when that last plunge ations of page and screen in Toon Lagoon. starts." These include comic-strip and cartoon The climactic plunge through the characters ranging from the Yellow Kid to dynamite shack carries the boat below Zippy the Pinhead and many others in water level for a huge, wet water splash between. . "Exploding out from the building, Show producer Chris Stapleton is par- with nothing underneath you, and then ticularly proud of the way his team has ; plunging through a small building successfully created a three-dimensional beneath the water and splashing to a halt world populated by two-dimensional is a real rush," the producer professes. | toons. "Islands of Adventure is about ush- "And, of course, it helps when we set ering the guests through the Port of Entry you up with the 'Hitchcock trick' of and bringing them into a fantasy land and showing what to expect up front, so that never letting them go, never letting 'the each little bump and dip along the way outside world' intrude on their experi- has you anticipating the Big Drop. ence," Stapleton says. "Working in film, "Ripsaw is a flume ride. Popeye and you concentrate on one scene, perhaps Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges is a raft ride. only a few seconds, and then you come We tried to take each type further than back and concentrate on another. Here, it has been taken before," Stapleton sverything's happening in real time. The explains. "Water is such a dynamic great challenge is to melt the boundaries element, something that's difficult to between the 'cube' —the typical 'attrac- control. That was particularly evident ion in a the box'— natural environment, with the Popeye/Bluto raft ride. Here he restaurants and the shopping areas to you are always at the water's mercy, :reate a complete atmosphere." because at no point is the raft guided With Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw by rails. We kept pushing to get the 'alls, the creators seized on the Perils of water faster, to get the right flow, to get °auline concept, thrusting guests into the the corners and turns tight." ruddle of a struggle between Dudley and The jostling, jolting ride carries he dastardly Snidely Whiplash for the you swiftly underneath a bridge, down ;afety of damsel-in-distress Nell. Guests a river, around Popeye's boat, into a ind themselves on the edge of a cliff, "cannonball run," where you're inderneath a boulder, facing an oncoming assaulted by water cannons, and past rain, ducking under a swinging saw blade an 18-foot octopus, all before "this

VTAKLOG/October 1999 27 One lucky audience member helps the X-Men deter a disgruntled heckler.

4

' MM W^S. buildings above, giv- huge dip-drop where all you see is a color peer down from the a Marvel big wave churning and you feel like ing you the sense that you're in you're being sucked down a drain," comic book. You can seek out rare treasures at at the Captain America the producer notes, 'Toon Lagoon is definitely the comics shop, dine performance by the X- the wettest island in the park. We pump one Cafe, watch a stage latest games at King- million gallons per minute. Water is a kid mag- Men or engage the video but you come to Super-Hero net. It either draws kids in or it draws the kid pin's Arcade, three offered here out of you." Island for the rides, and the Stapleton's team comprised more than 50 are Marvel-ous. against individuals of wildly diverse backgrounds, Doctor Doom's Fear Fall pits you villain makes you many of whom had never worked in the theme your own fears as the master extract park business before. "Between the creative an unwitting participant in his plan to weapon. people and the engineers and the corporate enough terror to power his ultimate only to defeat his arch-enemies, folk," he says, "we were able to find just the His goal? Not Fantastic Four, but to dominate the world. right mix to make it all work. If a ride was only the the park, a pair of designed by show producers, it would be Towering 200 feet above the impetus for this scary extremely dangerous, and if it was only steel towers provide are strapped into a seat and designed by engineers, it would be really bor- experience. You sky at the speed of a 747, and ing. So between the two, we get something thrust into the to the ground. The view is that's both safe and exciting." then dropped breathtaking—on a clear day you can see Comics universes downtown Orlando—but there is little time to Exciting does enjoy it, for the ride bounces you, bungee- not begin to style, back up before finally gliding to a stop

Twin steel towers loom 200 feet above the ground at Doctor Doom's Fear Fall.

describe the back on terra firma. Is the good doctor suc- rides that com- cessful in extracting your fear? Only you can prise Marvel Super-Hero judge. state-of-the-art Island, as your "safety" is left For the Incredible Hulk, a turns in in the hands of fiendish super- metal rollercoaster which twists and 3* Super-Hero villains and a scientist's exper- and around the main entrance to all park MM_r iment run amok. Here is where Island, the challenge was to engage An project comic book fans and thrill- guests in the experience, explains emerald with alike will find the best director Mark Watson. "Having it blend monster seekers Universal has to offer. On the traffic patterns of people, making it go indeed, the that the under the bridge and miss the sides of our can- Incredible an exhilarating walk down were logistical hurdles we Hulk Coaster street past the Baxter Building tilevered balconies, because Hulk is not just a travels at up to 60 and Matt Murdock's law had to overcome, overall show experience. W miles per hour, and with office, gigantic images of ride, it's an thrust equal to that of a U.S. your favorites in full, glorious ' People who don't like rollercoasters and who found them limited to a screen size of eight by light from one side of the screen, instead of the have no desire to ride the Hulk still enjoy expe- eight feet, which was not nearly big enough for other side, to make it fit in this box. Another riencing it from the bridge, feeling that adrena- our purposes. We had to invent a new way of important reason we used rear-screen is that it line rush without ever setting foot in one of the doing it." allowed us to put special FX and other moving ' cars." Spider-Man represents the first time that 3- equipment right in front of the screen without As a participant in Dr. Bruce Banner's D and rear-screen have been married on this casting a shadow. Those kinds of tricks allow gamma-ray tests, you are caught in the Gamma scale. "We had to manufacture a screen mater- us to increase the illusion of depth. If you can Force Accelerator when things go awry. Much ial in these sizes that would allow the light to have something in the foreground, the middle as Banner feels when he's out of control amidst hold the polarization," Trowbridge reports. ground and the background, you can trigger the change into the Hulk, you're helpless as "One of the reasons rear-screen projection is subtle clues in the brain to suggest depth." your vehicle is abruptly thrust into the air. important is that if you looked from above at a The 13 screens utilized in the Amazing Going from zero to 40 mph in two seconds at plan view of this building, you would realize Adventures of Spider-Man range in width from mach speed (the equivalent of an F-16 fighter Spider-Man hails thrill-seekers jet) and then immediately being thrown into a before his 3-D confrontation with zero-g barrel roll, you'll know how Tom Hanks ndicate begins. must have felt in Apollo 131 And this is only

how the ride starts. Before your experience is over, you endure a series of twists and hairpin turns as you careen around the track and under a bridge, with people crossing above you.

For all the death-defying thrills of Doctor Doom's Fear Fall and the awesome rush of the Incredible Hulk, however, the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man is, without ques- tion, the crown jewel. It combines the best ele- ments of Universal's Back to the Future motion-simulator ride film with the 3-D wiz- ardry of the T2:3D attraction. Nothing beats Spider-Man swinging down and landing on the hood of your car, or being in the middle of comic-book action battles between Spidey and Dr. Octopus, Electro, Hobgoblin and Hydro- man, accomplished through a seamless combi- nation of motion simulator, pyrotechnics and 3-D.

The tour begins at the Daily Bugle, with the discovery that the building is empty. Phones 20 feet to 90 feet, with each standing 35 feet are ringing off the hook, desks are abandoned, tall. Two giant curved screens are used to and news reports blare details of a daring theft enable a full 360-degree field of vision at two of the Statue of Liberty by a team of super- vil- strategic points to totally immerse guests in lains. You're recruited to use publisher J. Jonah the action. "We want to completely encom- Jameson's new hi-tech news-gathering vehicle, pass [the audience] in effects that we could the Scoop, to help track the criminals and not do any other way except on film," says retrieve Manhattan's leading lady. You careen Trowbridge, "so these screens were critical. through and above the streets of New York, One instance is the huge drop at the end, and encountering the bad guys along the way, each the other is when you're flying through and with his own special "surprise" to give you a around the skyscrapers in Manhattan." sensory jolt, twist or tingle, including a Described by Universal as a "threshold thrilling finale featuring a sensory drop 40 sto- attraction which represents the evolution of ries to the pavement below. immersive entertainment," the ride intro- "Prior to this attraction, large-format rear- duces a first-of-its-kind technology called screen three-dimensional projection was "moving points of convergence," which thought to be impossible," explains Scott allows for realistic 3-D action to be seen Trowbridge, senior show producer for Super- from the audience's moving point-of-view. Hero Island. "3-D uses polarized light which Kleiser-Walczak Construction developed oscillates in a very specific orientation. With this technology to bring Spider-Man and his front-screen projection, you bounce light off a arch-enemies to life through digital actors. surface. Normally, these 3-D screens are very Vast comic-book environments, practical reflective surfaces, so the light bounces off in sets and effects all were combined to the same orientation and therefore maintains immerse viewers in a total visceral and sen- :he same polarization. sory experience. "Rear-screen is completely different, Gambling seems to be in Universal's Decause you're actually pushing the light blood. Having spent more on this park hrough the screen material. When you push how jam-packed everything is. Everything's expansion than it would have cost to produce a ight through that plastic, glass or acrylic lying on top of each other or through each handful of blockbuster films, the company is icreen material, it loses polarization and does other, and we even have cones of projection banking on this combination of thrill rides, lot allow two images to hit the eyeballs sepa- that intersect. Two projectors are shooting light splashes and familiar characters—all fantasy, ately. So can't you do effective 3-D with con- across the same space at different screens, so SF or comics-related—to entice you to jump ventional rear-screen. There are some when you try to lay out that kind of attraction, in, hold on, and drop down for a breathtaking echniques for doing it on a small scale, but we you realize how important it is to project this Universal experience. Are you ready? -Sr

STARLOG/October 1999 29

hen Chicago blue-col- The scene currently being shot involves abstract. He's floating in a comfortable arm- lar worker Tom Witzky, played by Kevin (Apollo 13) Bacon, chair toward the screen—I wanted a couple Witzky agrees to be floating through a hypnotically induced dream images of that, so we put Kevin on a rig that hypnotized at a party, state, and includes a bizarre series of visual we'll paint out." he has no idea of the effects. Even though the sequence takes up Another shot appears on the monitor, one phantasmal trouble only a few moments of screen time, it contains in which the camera is below Bacon and the being stirred up. But in some complicated FX and will take all day to armchair. "I shot this low because I wanted to Stir of Echoes, the fea- film. see as much of this really cool place's ceiling ture based on the as possible," says Koepp. "It's the ultimate Richard Matheson novel, Ghost Images couch potato's dream—an armchair that goes Witzky finds that a post- While the crew is rehearsing, director anywhere I want. Last night, I was calling it hypnotic suggestion David Koepp watches the previous day's the 'Captain of the Enterprise' shot." unleashes powers in him he never knew he shooting on a small video monitor. Stir of The writer/director hopes Stir of Echoes possessed, powers which reveal a ghostly Echoes is Koepp's second effort as a director will scare audiences rather than shock them. shade who desperately needs his help. (following The Trigger Effect) after a highly "I'm in search of the eerie on this film," says Today, the only spooky stirrings in the 72- successful screenwriting career including hits Koepp. "I like something that just creeps me year-old Rialto Theater come from the cos- like the two Jurassic Parks and Mission Impos- out. Stumbling around trying to find the weird tume and makeup people. The Joliet, Illinois sible. is a lot more fun." movie palace is currently home to the Stir of On the monitor, Koepp watches Bacon sit- The crew is ready and Koepp steps over to Echoes cast and crew as they prepare to shoot ting in an armchair, high above the theater guide them. Three crew members roll the a scene. A set of tracks has been laid along the seats, as he floats toward the screen. The crane holding the camera over the empty seats auditorium's center aisle. The camera is sequence occurs on the same evening as the and toward the screen. On cue, the movie pro- mounted on a crane that can be rolled down the party in which Witzky is first hypnotized. jector is suddenly racked into sharp focus and tracks toward the movie screen, and the crew "That night, while trying to sleep, he has all the word "Sleep" appears. Koepp watches, practices rolling the camera to the front rows, of these images running through his head," delighted by the image's spookiness. gliding just above the seats. explains Koepp. "They have to start out really "This is the sort of thing you might see

The Witzky home becomes the site of a haunting in this thriller with dark, psychological EL

ished surface. Also, I think the guy has to ha\je then watch some other pretend ; Kevin is physical presence, and \ to be hypnotized—which is what you an imposing that, too. not see it such a wiry, in-shape guy that he had always see in movies—why j and I had a good rapport, ' subjectively? Why not see it the way From the start, Kevin mutual understanding of the char- the person sees it, see the images that and a good the person is asked to create in their acter." crew with a sug- head?' That's a hypnosis sequence I As Koepp approaches the shot, Bacon enteis haven't seen before. gestion for the upcoming and quietly takes a seat in the "We see all the things as Witzky the auditorium of coffee. He explains that sees them. Witzky's sister-in-law back, sipping a cup screen are used [Ileana Douglas of To Die For], who most of the movie's green FX yourself in a for the hypnosis sequence. "Most of that takes when you're on the edge of dream, when is hypnotizing him, says, 'Picture says, "and near the front and it's place within this theater," Bacon you're edging into sleep but you're not quite theater,' and we're sitting that flash that I'm not she says, 'It's a movie the- there are more images there yet, and the day's images are still flash- a bare stage. Then cut screen comes down and actually in—images that they're going to ing through your mind," says Koepp. 'Tom's ater,' and zoom). A Then she says, together." wife [Kathryn Erbe of What About Bob?] there are people sitting in front. point is to empty,' and the people disap- Bacon agrees that the film's wakes up in the middle of the night and they 'The theater is surprise. "When I read the says, 'Make it a big old movie scare rather than start to make out, and intercut with the sex pear. She really freaked out by it," he the camera is going to fly back and script, I just was scene he starts to see images that don't make palace,' and story more than an VA see this huge space. We had a 10- says. "It's a character any sense to him. They become violent, quick we suddenly doing stuff loop of the word 'Sleep' made, movie. It's funny, because David's and specific. In his own house, this horrible act minute film way, little camera's going to drift toward that that's creepy, but in a very simplistic of violence is jolting him out of lovemaking. It and the kid shooi s the images change as he images. I did this scene where a freaks him out so much that he gets out of bed word. We're seeing simple, but there w^s This is my attempt himself and it was very and goes downstairs. He has a headache and directs them to be changed. the Hitchcock. Hitchcock once said, something about the lighting, the room, he's incredibly thirsty, and that builds up to the to defy Alfred played it made interesting in a dialogue and the way that the kid point where he sees the woman. Then he 'Hypnosis cannot be that's going to make for a very disturbin; becomes obsessed with her and the images film,' so we'll see!" scene, without any kind of effects. he's seeing." visuals "Here, we're telling a story and scarin Koepp first became involved with Stir of Spectral relationship people with shots and with the intensity of Echoes because he admired the book's author. Koepp has developed a good characters. Any- the director claims is perfect what's happening with the "I've always been a fan of Richard Matheson," with Bacon, who says Koepp. "He's a writer's writer. He has for the Witzky role. such an incredibly fertile imagination and has "Aside from being a written some of my favorite books, movies and very gifted actor, he strange combi- TV shows. I was in a used bookstore in LA has a nation of physicality when I saw A Stir ofEchoes. I didn't know the intelligence," title, but of course knew his stuff, so I read it and Koepp. "Kevin's and thought it was great. So I hunted down the says I a really bright actor, rights—it was written in '58—and that's how can also credi- got ahold of it." but he The book's hypnosis slant fascinated bly play someone Koepp, and today's lensing, in fact, is his who isn't well-edu- a real attempt to film a hypnosis sequence in an inno- cated. He has for that vative manner. "The hypnotist in the book uses sensitivity person, and a projection technique, which means that the kind of them as a subject is asked to project himself into a com- doesn't play see an forting or soothing environment," says Koepp. cliche. You can intellectual fire alive "When I read it, I thought, 'Instead of watch- pol- ing some actor or actress say all that stuff, and beneath a less

4. •> •isr,-*^...... — a

Ileana Douglas body can make a monster and put gel on it "X instructed by the director to avoid is both earthy that only takes money and tools, but it can a more upscale approach to Stir of and sometimes the do work for you. In a movie like Echoes. "David felt we had seen otherworldly this one, without monsters, it's all about what's too many thrillers or ghost stories as Witzky's going on in this guy's head. If you can make set in that middle-class milieu, and hypnotist that scary making sister-in-law, — the mundane scary is a wanted to get something that had a tough job but a job well-done." Lisa, working-class ethic to it, a scruffi- The theater quiets down for another ness, a definite blue-collar feel," rehearsal, and the camera crew rolls film for says Coates. "That's not the usual another shot. Looking on is visual FX supervi- take on this subject matter. He sent sor Casey {Titanic) Cannon, who explains her me to Chicago to scout for a neigh- role in the previous day's filming. "We put borhood that would have a bar, Kevin on an armchair on a jib arm and green- funeral home and church in close screened the jib arm. We had him up about 20 proximity, without getting the feet in the air flying through the heart of the streets too wide or the relation- theater, and he begins to receive messages ships with the houses too far apart. from the unknown. Most of the FX you'll see As David and I found things we in this film are very organic, and they teeter on liked for the locations, the script the brink of eerie." modified to fit those new ele- One of Cannon's main goals was to create ments—it's handy when the director is also an innovative look for the ghost of Samantha your screenwriter." (played by Jenny Morrison, a professional Among those looking on is executive pro- dancer). "We've seen ghosts in movies from ducer Michele (Paulie) Weisler, who agreed Poltergeist to Ghostbusters," says Cannon. with Koepp that, regardless of expense, a "We've seen the ethereal, floating, luminous location shoot in Chicago was important. ghosts, 3-D characterized ghosts in Casper. "We went to Toronto and Vancouver, but we We really wanted to make her look very convinced the studio to let us try Chicago," 'I'm in search of the eerie on this film."

unnerving. We decided to shoot her at variable says Weisler. "It's less expensive to shoot in frame rates against green screen. We're shoot- Toronto and they were pushing us in that ing at six frames per second to get a very direction, but since it's scripted for Chicago, strange, twisted skip-frame look. We wanted it it meant a lot to David to get that flavor, so to seem like it's really her movement, like for we convinced them to spend a little more one brief moment she's moving normally, and money. This is a real neighborhood town— then she starts to twitch and then she's back to church and a bar on every block—and I think normal, but maybe her head and her eyes are we've captured that with our locations." moving slightly differently. We're going to Morrison arrives on set, with pale skin, bounce between heap, have eluded Wit-Ky, mi six, 12 and 24 frames per sec- scars and bruises, matted wig and the appro- may learn that he ond, so we can mix them was bettei together and create a priate wardrobe. Costume designer Leesa scene with her. Her movements are all in-cam- Evans follows her, making a few final adjust- oxygen tank and tiny breathing apparatus are era and normal, but they look very strange." ments in her costume before the actress, guid- set up for her. As they prepare to shoot, Bacon The film's other FX add to the unreality. ed by Koepp, enters the auditorium and takes crouches down in the row of seats next to her. "When Tom sees Samantha the first time, in her place in a seat close to the front. The camera begins advancing toward the addition to her speed being different, we're Evans, who previously teamed with Koepp ghostly figure now, and as it nears the actress, also going to put a slight vapor around her on The Trigger Effect, was in the unique posi- Bacon's hand reaches out and gently touches body," says Cannon. "We're imagining that the tion of creating a costume for an otherworldly her shoulder. Slowly she turns toward atmosphere where him, she exists is different. character. "We talked a lot about the charac- revealing herself in the darkened theater. When her spirit manifests itself in our environ- ter's psychology, if Samantha had different When the plastic becomes too discolored ment, it creates a condensation between heat personality elements while she was living and by stage blood, Morrison must be re-wrapped, and cold, and we're going to show the vapor what type of clothing she might have worn so Koepp steps out of the way for a few that hovers over her body. Her breath is going then," says Evans. "From that point, I took a moments. Though there is little gratuitous to be very subtly cold, with a slight vapor that certain direction with color tone and style to blood in Stir ofEchoes, he admits that the suc- Domes out of her. Her eyes will be held steady make her ethereal yet real. cess of films like Scream made it easier to get so they don't blink—we have to track all of her "When they cast Samantha, we slightly studio funding. ;ye movements and freeze them. We all want- altered our plans. You want her to be haunting, "I had an easier time being able to direct id the visual FX to uncover this girl's tragic but is that hauntingly beautiful or hauntingly this because it fell within an understandable story and support her angst, and allow us to scary? In the end, we went with this creature genre," says David Koepp. "It's a bit of a ourney into her world." who was ethereal and scary, yet evokes a cer- genre-buster in that it's a horror movie and a tain amount of sympathy." fantasy, but one thing is clear—it's a scary Local Haunts Inside the auditorium, Koepp calls out: movie! That's something they understand, and Cannon goes to confer with Koepp, while "Bring in the plastic and the oxygen!" Saman- it's sellable. You can communicate that >roduction designer Nelson to peo- (Kiss the Girls) tha is to be wrapped in a plastic sheet when ple. Believe me—when I'm done, Stir Abates watches the filming. of Coates says he was Witzky discovers her, so for safety's sake, an Echoes is going to be scary." ^

— J

.e m * uring the decade since Luc Dever- directs the girl toward the aux defeated his in Uni- exit, then looks straight versal Soldier, he married, ahead, bracing himself for fathered a daughter, lost a wife combat. The irresistible and regained his humanity. But when force is about to meet an I Ryan-Lathrop Corporation revives the Unisol immovable object. project, Luc is drawn back in only to find him- Rodgers explains that self on the run again—not just from one Uni- this is all the build-up to a versal Soldier this time, but an army of them. decisive battle. "This is According to Universal Soldier: The the final fight that Jean- Return producer Craig Baumgarten: "Luc Claude has with Romeo," returned to a normal human life [at the first he says. "He has to get his film's end], but the Unisol program has been daughter out of Ryan- started again, up under more stringent govern- Lathrop before it blows ment supervisory control. All of the Unisols up. That's the ticking are now commanded and monitored by the clock. He's about to make super-computer S.E.T.H. But as the story pro- it out when he has this gresses, S.E.T.H. becomes aware of govern- final confrontation." ment budget cutbacks that threaten to shut him After Rodgers finishes down, so he rebels. This is a computer that has another take, that immov- gained such a level of intelligence that he can able object—wrestler- think and act for himself, so he takes control of turned-actor Bill the Unisols and proceeds to mastermind an Goldberg—walks onto insurrection for his own survival. In doing so, the set, playing a battered he morphs himself into human form [played by but not beaten Unisol unit Michael Jai White]. And Luc, as the only pro- with the unlikely name of

gram chief who wasn't killed in the uprising, Romeo. Goldberg is must stop S.E.T.H. and the Unisols." helped into the remainder H of his costume—a vest Theaters of war that has been dirtied and The site of the Ryan-Lathrop headquarters, tom—and takes his place and the principal location for the film, is the for the next shot. aborted Supercollider accelerator outside of The first Universal Waxahachie, Texas. The billion-dollar project, Soldier featured a climac- abandoned for years despite nearly 70 miles of tic battle between Van tunnels constructed underground, provides a Damme and Dolph Lund- perfect home for the Return cast and crew. The gren, but the sequel pits the Muscles from and yet retain realism. "In the script, these film unit has taken over virtually all of the Brussels against two tremendous opponents: guys are bionic men—they're recycled dead buildings on site, turning them into the corpo- the humanoid S.E.T.H. and Romeo. soldiers, but new and improved," says Bryan. rate/military base. Van Damme watches from behind the cam- "Consequently, their uniforms are essentially One of the huge buildings is a labyrinth of era as his opponent prepares for the scene. bullet-proof. The script refers to the uniform as sets offices, — experimental chambers and lab- "This is going to be a great fight," says Van almost like armor without looking like it and oratories. The largest room houses a wide Damme. "Mic started as a stunt guy, which is without restricting movement. They're padded assortment of military vehicles: tanks, Jeeps, so helpful for me and for — him, too. He knows in the knees, shoulders and elbows to give that missile launchers and a helicopter. In another where to put the camera and how to repeat armored feeling while protecting the body's warehouse, the film crew gathers around a some cuts—it's great. He has done many vulnerable points." doorway leading to a laboratory set. action movies before, so it's routine for him. Goldberg's scuffed uniform illustrates the They're preparing for a climactic chase Our collaboration is very good." daily wear and tear these costumes endure. It scene in which Luc must free his daughter As they break, costume designer Jennifer has forced Bryan to fashion several uniforms Hillary and escape from the complex before (GoodFellas) Bryan carefully inspects Gold- for each actor. "For Bill Goldberg, I have a the other Unisols can stop him. As director Mic berg's outfit. She has designed the Universal total of four uniforms," she says. "Then of Rodgers rolls the cameras, Van Damme and Soldiers' new uniforms emphasizing Ryan- course, he has a stunt double who has just as actress Karis Bryant, who plays Hillary, cau- Lathrop elements, but she also had to incorpo- many. We also have to have continuity as the tiously run through the complex. Van Damme rate a host of special features into the costumes uniform goes through certain stages of degra-

STAKLOQ/OctobiT 1999 35 —

Although The Return is

loaded with special FX, i the fight sequence. Apple boxes the story a truck dation during — this scene, it takes only a 1 are being placed on the floor. A rolls over Romeo, and he crashes bit of camera trickery to tight shot will be needed to create through a plaster wall, so I have give Goldberg the upper the illusion of Luc being lifted off to make sure he has plaster dust hand over Van Damme. of his feet by Romeo. Van Damme on his uniform." steps onto a box, then crouches Bryan's costumes also had to low. Goldberg reaches out one arm make allowances for various FX. and grabs Van Damme by the "The uniforms get blown up, so throat. Then Van Damme slowly we have to rig them with explo- stands, making it appear as if sives in such a way that when Romeo is raising him high in the they go off, it's effective and it air. looks real," she laughs. "I lose a lot of uniforms to the special Designs of Battle effects guys." While the unit continues film- Rules of ing, production designer David Engagement (Last Exit to Brooklyn) Chapman at his drawing board, going over a few Once Goldberg's shots are finished, he sits sketches. Chapman is responsible for much of takes off his vest, and the crew breaks to set up the film's look, based upon Rodgers' ideas for the climactic fight. In the center of the virtually everything but lighting and costumes. room, Van Damme, Goldberg and Rodgers He notes that almost nothing has been based discuss their ideas for the battle. They walk on designs from the first Universal Soldier. through punches and kicks, the crew gathers "It's a much later time period and Ryan- around to watch and several mats are placed on Lathrop is a different company," says Chap- the cement floor. man. "They've put away the old regime and When Rodgers is satisfied, he sets their started this brand new organization, so we've marks on the cement floor with chalk, and started from scratch. When I got the job, I was stand-ins are brought in. The crew sets the told to find the soul of Ryan-Lathrop. It had to lights while Van Damme and Goldberg stand be hi-tech, yet not futuristic—Mic didn't want off to the side and rehearse. Though Van to get into a futuristic, cartoony sort of thing. It Damme began his career as a martial artist and had to be very up-to-date and very believable, Goldberg is best known as a wrestler, Rodgers with consideration given to giving Mic enough notes that they have been able to mesh their fighting room." individual talents to develop some truly excit- Designing sets within the Supercollider has ing fight sequences. Erin (Heidi Schanz) is a reporter who been a delight for Chapman. "It's huge," he "J.C. definitely knows how to throw a reg- sees the attack at Ryan-Lathrop Corp. as says, "and the main space we're in is about 85 ular punch, and he knows how to work with her first big break—assuming the Unisols feet by 432 feet by 35 feet high—it's bigger someone else who knows another type of don't break her first. than any soundstage I've ever worked on." fighting," says Rodgers. "Just because Bill's a Benson, "we Of all his designs for the film, Chapman is wrestler doesn't mean he doesn't know about "In an action sequence," says angles as we possibly proudest of the entire Brain Chamber com- judo and martial arts. He's very well-versed, want to capture as many says Chap- it with several cam- plex. "We call it the Cold Room," more so than anyone really understands. For can, and it's easier to do cameras, we try to get man. "The whole complex [is transparent] to his size—he's 280 pounds or so—he's the eras. By taking three can cut about 150-200 feet through seven or eight lay- quickest guy I've ever seen. I wouldn't want to multiple different positions, so that we with different colored lights and that matter. them all together for an even flow through the ers of glass, get in a fight with him—or J.C. , for medium, one wide- stuff. The Rejuvenation Chamber contains a J.C. would kick the crap out of anybody!" sequence. We shoot one change the angles green glowing gas, the Brain Chamber is Finally, the cameras are set, and Goldberg angle and one tight, and we is deep blue. so it isn't always just a bright white and the Cold Room slips into the rest of his costume. There are as much as possible cut in we can Setting the camera up and looking along them, three different cameras ready to roll when the straight push in or a straight — between 45 you get all of those colors layered through a fighting begins. They take their places, smoke change the angles somewhere and 90 degrees." great deal of depth." is pumped in to help diffuse the lighting and degrees action The next part of the action sequence has Rodgers shouts, "Action!" When the fight Using multiple cameras for the "It's easier for Van Damme's stunt double taking his position begins, a hand-held camera moves around the sequences has other advantages. capture a scene on the on top of the boxes, attached to a wire, while scene as the combatants circle each other. us and more dynamic to repetitious takes and Goldberg resumes his stance with one hand After one punch, Goldberg is off-balance, but first take than it is to do Benson. "It also around Deveraux's neck Production assistants Rodgers orders his crew to keep filming. A few repeat the action," says off-camera then hoist the stunt double in the more punches and kicks complete the shot. becomes stale for the actors—the spontaneity Goldberg is effort- the first take. We want to air, making it appear as if Still, there is no time to rest. The crew sets is always there on lessly lifting him over his head. up quickly and begins another take. The hand- keep that alive." hand-held cam- But the biggest blast is yet to come. FX held camera moves in to cover Van Damme, Benson also likes to use a Tur- "It works out well coordinator Joe (Teenage Mutant Ninja over Goldberg's shoulder. After a flurry of era for fighting sequences. that camera kinetic, tles) DiGaetano and his department are once punches and kicks, Goldberg lifts Van Damme here to get in and make not necessarily again being called on for some explosive over his head and the director cuts. For the energetic, part of the scene. It's to do says. "It's the audience's action. "The next shot we're about next take, Goldberg twists Van Damme's arm, the actor's POV" he energetic and involves a 20mm high explosive round that's then raises him over his shoulder like a rag POV. The frame is full, it's putting the camera down in fired into [one of the actors]," says DiGaetano. doll. Director of photography Michael (T-2) active. It's not like the "This is all going to be live-action. We have Benson looks on approvingly. The fight scene one place and letting the actors roam explosive charges going onto his chest, result- is utilizing up to three cameras for each shot, frame." for the next part of ing in a large blast with a lot of flash and unusual for most films but not for The Return. Rodgers begins to set up

36 STARWG/Octobcr 1999 rent features. "I've never seen either one of smoke coming out the front. This hit is larger them," says Baumgarten. "Van Damme wasn't than anything I've done previously on any in them. I don't know what they were about or movie. It's larger than what we normally call a what they did. Somebody went out at one point 'shotgun blast.' It took days of experimentation during the Carolco bankruptcy and tried to sell and demonstrations to get something that met the rights for a TV series, and they ended up with our director's approval." with two TV movies. They're just kind of bas- DiGaetano's department has been busy tard children." with a number of other FX. "There have been a Carolco's financial problems, in fact, were variety of effects, from smoke, fire and steam the reason it has taken so long to produce this line differences. "The first one was a road to small bullet hits and larger bullet hits to long-contemplated follow-up. Eventually, movie about these guys chasing Van Damme, 20mm rounds and gigantic explosions," sequel rights were acquired, paving the way who was on the run with . This one DiGaetano explains. "We had to do a simula- for this film. "We wanted to do it many years is about a place under siege. Hopefully we tion where this entire complex is supposed to ago, but Carolco went bankrupt shortly after made a movie that's true to the spirit of the first be blown up by a team that comes to destroy making the first movie," says Baumgarten. one, but that's completely original," says Craig the master computer. In order for us to do that, The script for Universal Soldier: The Baumgarten. "I consciously looked for an we had to do quite a large explosion in front of Return changed it actually — started out as a existing screenplay, because I didn't want to the buildings. We couldn't damage these build- totally different movie. "We bought an existing develop another Universal Soldier—I wanted ings, so we hid them behind a wall of fire script which was about this S.E.T.H. brain that the movie to be different. approximately 400 feet long and 300 feet high. created an army of ," says Baumgarten. "But at the same time, I wanted it to be true We went through a two-week period where we "I had read the script and liked it a lot, and felt to the first one—with a lot of action and humor were doing nothing but explosions—just about the way to make it was to it make about an and heart. Those are the elements that made every shot in the movie. Basically, we were army of Unisols. Once we did that, we had to the first one work, and they're in the second doing a war movie." create a part for the Luc Deveraux character. one, too. But the story and characters are in a The piece then ceased to focus on a super-mad different time. Luc Deveraux is a normal Spoils of Combat scientist and began to focus on this guy trying human being now, not a Unisol wandering There have been two other Universal Sol- to stop the program from running amok." around lost in his own skin, so it's a very dif- dier sequels, telefilms which first aired on Although the first movie was shot in Ari- ferent kind of part for Van Damme. I hope that Showtime in 1998, but they don't figure into zona, the producer realized that it made more fans will respond to this one. It's going to be a the official continuity of the original and cur- sense to shoot the sequel in Texas due to story- really kick-ass movie!" ^

STAR LOG/October 1 999 37 MAIL PAYMENT WITH THIS COUPON (OR FACSIMILE) TO STARLOG GROUP, INC. 475 PARK AVENUE SOUTH 13" x 13" Framed plaque signed by entire crew NEW YORK, NY 10016 includes certificate of authenticity 4-8 FOR DELIVERY 00 ALLOW WEEKS nut S BSD. please add 8 25% sales tax. SHIPPING & HANDLING: under S20 add 55.50, $20 & over add $7.50. *NY RESIDENTS: orders outside of the U.S. CREDIT CARD ORDcnb T-shirts are available in M, L, XL & XXL. Sorry, we cannot ship PAN RF FAXFD TO 212.889.7933 oauction spin-off. Director Mike Vejar (middle) and his By JOE NAZZARO script supervisor Kate Lewis (left) make notes behind the scenes on "The Needs of the an innocuous-looking warehouse com- Earth." Inplex just outside LA, an ambitious SF action-adventure series is in production.

Created by writer/producer J. Michael Straczynski, Crusade is Babylon 5's long-

awaited spin-off. The limited series, ending its first run on TNT this month, centers around the military ship Excalibur and her crew who search the universe for a cure to an alien plague threatening to destroy all human life on Earth. The crew is headed by Captain Matthew Gideon (Gary Cole) and includes First Officer John Matheson (Daniel Dae Kim), Dr. Sarah Chambers (Marjean Holden), IPX xeno-arche- ologist Max Eilerson (David Allen Brooks), alien thief Dureena (Carrie Dobro) and exiled technomage Galen (Peter Woodward). The first week of production on the series began with filming "The Needs of Earth," but work was also being done for the next show, "The Memory of War." Here is that episode's production breakdown. Thursday, 3 p.m. While director Mike Vejar busily shoots "The Needs of Earth" on the Excalibur sets (Stage C), "Memory" director Tony Dow preps for a "tone meeting." This is a chance for writer and director to dis- cuss the script in detail, resolving questions and establishing the episode's overall tone. Also in attendance is Dow's Assistant Director Pam Eilerson and producer John Copeland. Dow has a number of questions about the characters: What kind of guy is Eilerson? He's very full of himself? Can people sense Galen's arrival? He receives answers from Straczynski, some of them rather cryptic, then Dow and Copeland discuss specifics about the way the episode will be shot—keep the camera mov- ing, fill the frame as much as possible, even (and perhaps especially) shoot the action in a different way from Babylon 5.

4:30 p.m. In an adjoining building is Crusade's art department, where production designer John Iacovelli works his special type of magic. He describes, with the air of an excit- sd kid, the impressive-looking Excalibur sets. The Excalibur 'We knew the Excalibur would be our perma- bridge set, sans cast and crew. Is this the eerie emptiness Earth nent set," he explains, "and that would be dri- can expect, if the ship's mission fails? ving many of the things which happened on he show, so needed we to come up with a set that inally built, and we added another big long corri- suffers from this 'It's obviously a set' [look], and contained four or five different places, like the dor that we can re-dress as other things." I'm sure we'll have some of those problems. One ned bay, corridors and crew quarters. One of the designer's biggest Crusade chal- reason we created a heavy atmosphere for this "The one thing we needed a lot of, because of lenges is creating convincing alien landscapes on first episode, even though it wasn't on our break- he way Joe writes, was corridors, so we had two a studio soundstage. "When you look at the first down sheet—although it worked out scientifical- >n either side of the Excalibur when it was orig- Star Trek series now," says Iacovelli, "it really ly—was to disguise the backgrounds, because With lines reminisce of a Charles Rennie n designer John < the The inside of Excalibur's Mackintosh interior, slli had his fill of quarters combine shuttlecraft, which waits ready crew this one, all like futuristic geometry with to fly the unfriendly skies in suit Mike Vejar's I elegance. search of aliens and antidotes, ageless

According to lacovelli, Star we'll be seeing them again as cave walls. That's Trek Classic "suffers from this the challenge and curse that comes with planet- 'It's obviously a set' look." The side work, because we will probably never do designer worked to make his location shooting, other than what we can do on interiors extra earthy, by our stages." contrast. In order to make Crusade's planetscapes even more realistic, the art department has set up regular meetings with the animators at Netter Digital and consultants at JPL (the Jet Propul- sion Laboratory). "Every three or four episodes, we're having a 'planetary discussion,' about what planets should look like. That helps us, because I didn't want to go to brown and dusty planets five times in a row, and even though sometimes we'll go to a place that looks very similar to one we've already been to, we really show. don 't want it to be the 'planet of the week' In some cases, we'll be depending much more on big matte paintings that are actually animat- ed than we have in the past. That's going to be the real test for Netter Digital: to see just how successful we are in marrying the physical stuff with the animated matte paintings. It's a big order." 5:45 p.m. Back in the studio, props mas- ter Dark Hoffman is responsible for filling Cru- Iacovelli's remark wants to bring back that Friday, 10 a.m. sade with a wealth of new accessories, weapons ship and everything, he realized. design, more like a piece of about a "heavy atmosphere" is now and assorted electronic devices. As Hoffman style with a sleeker transformed into the they came out nicely. They stick Stage A, which has been explains, pretty much everything must be built jewelry, and blanketed with so they stay on better and we don't desolate surface of Praxis 9, is from scratch, rather than re-using items created with a clasp, simulate the planet's about them falling off all the an oil-based smoke to for B5. "We're trying to recycle some stuff, but have to worry atmosphere. Respirator masks have been time." toxic it hasn't been easy, because Joe has been writing to the crew. Without them, Directoi props master is busy putting the finish- passed out new stuff in every script so far, so everything The explains, the the mysterious Apocalypse Box, of Photography Fred Murphy has to be fresh. It has been a bit of a push to get ing touches on would eventually cause rather awkward which makes its first appearance in "The Mem- smoke it done, because I haven't learned how to say no "I went out and hunted down an intestinal problems. yet." ory of War." showed me On adjoining Stage B, wardrobe, makeup Sharp-eyed viewers will notice the gleaming outer box, and then Harlan Ellison suits on Cole Ditko Dr. Strange comic books and I and props people are fitting EVA silver wrist links, which were actually re-intro- his Steve Amendola, who plays the rene- from them. I got Xeroxes of them Dobro and Tony duced in A Call to Arms. Straczynski's tongue- [saw] designs Unfortunately, Amen pick out a number of styles to show gade alien Natchok Var. in-cheek script direction reads, "Yes, we're and tried to large for hi! chosen, we had [the design] dola's prosthetic head proves too back to the damn wrist links, and this Joe. Once that was going tean applied to the box. The inner helmet, so the Optic Nerve makeup FX time we're going to do them right." brass-etched and foam craniun block that lets the light has to cut the top off his massive Hoffman explains: "They originally came box is a solid amber later. It slowly pulses while it talks, and re-apply makeup up with the idea for the pilot or the first season shine through. Production meeting for "Thi is supposed to be a million or so years old. 11 a.m. of Babylon 5, but it just didn't work well. It was- and the start of eacl get some information about it Memory of War." Before very good design and Joe was really I've been trying to n't a representative been pretty coy." episode, producers, director and unhappy with them, but since we're on a new from Joe, but he has from each department assemble and go through which Dureena must crack the code on an air- As the Optic Nerve team check their extras the script page by page. Eilerson leads this meet- lock door before being overcome by the toxic one last time, an alien slave ducks into a nearby ing, passing out storyboards and schedules. atmosphere. "We've chosen a very difficult one alcove to check the messages on his mobile Iacovelli presents models of the sets they'll be to start out with," he notes of the episode, and phone. The assistant directors move through the building, Hoffman shows some props that will after a pause, "but it looks really good so far." crowd, telling them where to move. "Once be used, and various departments ask questions Monday, 9 a.m. Stage B has been set again, folks," announces Second AD David of Dow and Copeland. Through it all, visual FX up as an alien bazaar, for scenes 30/31. Praxis Fudge, "you're the sleaziest bottom-feeding art director Tim Earles sits quietly in the corner, Colony is a for the lowest forms of scum of the universe!" sketching out designs for the Praxis Colony life in the sector: terrorists, smugglers and The cameraman begins circling the set, dome, which eventually will be generated by traders in illegal goods. While Dureena tries to slowly dipping in and out of the action. Vejar computer in post-production. contact the Thieves Guild, Gideon creates a dis- pops the Fifth Element soundtrack CD into a 12 p.m. Visual FX supervisor Steve traction by picking a fight 6' 6" with a alien portable player. "I try to find something that will Moore, a new face on Crusade, is nonetheless a Norg. help set the mood," he explains, "and it also veteran of countless FX-intensive projects from Makeup and wardrobe departments have gives them something to react to on the set." Ghostbusters II to Titanic. Working on Crusade been working non-stop since before dawn. 4:30 p.m. The crew set up Gideon's fight presents a new set of challenges for Moore, due Today's call sheet specifies a bartender, a slave with the Norg. Cole's stunt double Phil Culotta to the restrictions in budget and scheduling. trader, two criminals, three smugglers, three ter- crashes into a table which explodes under his "Because this is television," he explains, "time is rorists, a commercial pilot, six gamblers, two weight, prompting a roar of applause from the a big factor, so you don't have the same time you traders, 10 prosthetic aliens and 12 pullover crew. The stuntman dusts himself off, and Cole do on a film. This is a seven-day shoot, so some aliens. That's a lot of extras. takes his place in the debris. 'Thank God they days you go set on hoping to get an hour and you Vejar is using a small "eye-mo" camera that didn't need another one!" remarks Culotta, get 10 minutes. Getting involved with the direc- can be carried easily through the crowd. "We're looking at what's left of the table. tor is a big part of it. Mike Vejar and I work also going to do something in post-production," Tuesday, 10 a.m. Costume designer together well because we read the script togeth- he says, "because this takes place right after Randy Gardell (see page 43) and his team are er even before we get a final draft, and we'll sit Dureena comes in from that poisonous atmos- still cleaning up from yesterday's massive down and talk about what the shots will be. phere and is still a little woozy, so it will have a crowd scene. Racks of alien costumes fill the Once we determine that, then we get into mak- dreamlike quality." corridor outside the wardrobe department. "We ing those shots happen in the allotted time." At a Crusade production meeting, Dow (pink Moore has already learned to shirt), AD Pam Eilerson (at his right) and choose his battles carefully when department heads review the doing an ambitious, FX-laden genre script for "The Memory of War." series within a modest budget. "I would like to take these shots and say, 'OK, 30 percent of the show we're going to make really cool, 70 percent is going to be OK, and then we'll build on that and shoot for 35 percent and then 40 percent.' We'll never get to 100 percent because of the schedule and the time available to us, but the ladder

has to be a little higher each time. I a lr-i don't want to get complacent. If they get complacent, I'm out of here!" 2:30 p.m. Back on Stage A, the smoke has dissipated considerably, and Vejar is working on a scene in

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IF f prosthet- just from the standpoint nation of Galen without dislodging his had a lot of different things to pull from, and just married together—not pair of rubber gloves, she it look like the person is really in that ics. Slipping on a put it all together," says Garden. "When you see of making create some smiles at the camera. "Who's next?" she jokes. somebody, you know what stock to put togeth- environment, but you also have to first day of pieces of business. For example, in 11 a.m. Vejar arrives, for the er, and for me, that's the best way to do it, so interactive of Earth." He's is on this bridge that post-production on "The Needs you can pull bits and pieces together as they're this episode, Dureena "Racing just dive to get out of the also starting prep on his next episode, standing in front of you—put that vest on, try a blows up, so she can time. Having fin- and I were talking about the Night" in just nine days' hat, change those shoes, and then you put bits of way, but the stunt guy back that actual- ished shooting his first episode of Crusade, he's jewelry on and you've got the trader, the thief or having something hit her in the it. "We did real- if do the action, then happy with about 80 percent of whatever. [Key costumer] Linda Huse is terrific ly knocks her over. So we is very going to have to create a piece ly well," Vejar claims. "Fred Murphy at getting those extras wrangled and dressed in the CGI guys are to shoot more debris to hit her in the back. It fast, so he gives me the ability the morning and making sure they look right all of the bridge or seven days, which is fast, but that kind of stuff is material. In our regimented through the day, which is a huge headache." will all happen very schedule, I think we did things look real!' a very tight shooting Gardell is also working on Galen's costume what makes first show, which also intrigued by the possibil- really well, especially for the for tomorrow morning when Peter Woodward The director is cruise. Everybody is the camera in a different way from is always a shakedown comes in to shoot his first Crusade scene. "The ity of using each other for the first time, and they're "It's much more fluid, less cutting, more meeting first thing we have to do is 'distress' one of B5. precision, more move- a little nervous and tentative. them," he says, referring to a scene in which visual information, less

some stuff last night in the mon- ment. There's a shot I'm very excited to do: it's 'There was I wanted to get that we didn't get. It's a a very wide matte painting shot of a city I have tage that compressed time montage where Natchok lis- in my head, and suddenly, we snap-zoom right the works of Mozart. But we ran out of into Dureena sitting on top of this building. tens to couldn't get the coverage I really going to do is take it as wide as I can time and I Galen's coat is torn by one of Dureena's knives What I'm problem in comparison and stop, and go from six wanted. That's a small "We've got one of the shoulders rigged so that and then zoom down else we did on the episode." frames to 24, and when the matte painting is to everything it's just replaceable after they do that. We'll just that some scenes could to start the zoom and do a six- The director admits replace the leather, and he has two fresh cos- built, they'll have used more time. Monday's alien bazaar match it. It shouldn't be too dif- have tumes right out of the starting gate." frame zoom to example, could easily have taken a because everything is flying by so fast, scenes, for 11 a.lll. Tomorrow is also the first day of ficult, shoot. "As it turns out, it of motion blur on it." day-and-a-half to shooting for Dow, who's directing "The Memo- there will be a lot because the work that we didn't get Cole is questioning Vejar about the almost was, ry of War." Dow is low-key about his first Cru- 2 p.m. that's why we Gideon's former ship, the Cer- that day went on to yesterday, and sade assignment, even though he was booked pronunciation of everything by the time we finished. is like Crusade Jeopardy," the didn't get fairly late in the game. "I was supposed to be up berus. "This atypical of television. As a matter of " 'I'll take pornographic Narns for That's not in Calgary shooting another show. I had no idea actor quips, that with Babylon 5, and now " Vejar is still in good humor, fact, I would say what happened, but I was pleased as hell that $200, Alex!' stage moves and Crusade, the episodes are written in such a way do the second episode. I've despite the fact that he has two they wanted me to can before wrapping that it's not completely ludicrous that you consciously trying to keep the style that three scenes to complete been that do it in the time frame, unlike many shows Mike has established with the show and hope- tonight. do any of it in a.m. Day one of "The I work on, where you couldn't fully take it a couple of steps farther." Wednesday, 8 to shoot what was on the The crew is lighting the med seven days if you were Dow may be fairly calm about the episode Memory of War." C, where Dow is actually get- page. shooting in a little less than 18 hours, bay sets on Stage he'll start Babylon 5 was, shoot the episode's final scene. It's "Crusade will become what but he has also done his homework. 'This show ting ready to the time frame you set, and he has just a show written to be done in attempting something different—more Woodward's first day on the is the great things hours in the makeup trailer, have to shoot. That's one of action, mystery and excitement—and they're spent the last few really think about pro- elaborate prosthetic makeup of wires about Joe and John: they going to different places and trying to show dif- having an scripts in such a way, applied to his back. It's an early duction, and writing the ferent environments. They've perfected their and circuitry months in advance. With for Dobro as well; the actress was here and you also get them CGI capabilities to the point where they're morning preparing right now, I've had the a.m., for her regular makeup and hair, the show I'm ready to start creating virtual sets and environ- before 5 months, and I've got half a shot a head-to-toe covering of mud. Dobro script for two ment situations. This is the first episode that as well as upbeat, considering the fact that list already." really tests that out. is surprisingly about the race for a cure, an alien mud wrestler. For a show that's "As far as I'm concerned, CGI can be great, she looks like what she can do in her exami- time is, indeed, of the essence. and the action can be great, but they have to be Holden asks —

Costume designer Randy Gardell mixed Arthurian knights and military might to array the Starship Excalibur's crew of space j^Hj crusaders.

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ten the producers of Babylon 5 decid- because we're two different ed to launch their spin-off series, people; we could work on the same

Crusade, they knew it would have to project and still come up with something different." have a distinctly different look from its predecessor. Whereas B5 was One of Gardell's earliest challenges was designing the Excalibur crew designed more as a Casablanca in space, Crusade would be a principal- uniforms, which were mostly grey and somewhat stiffer-looking in their ly ship-bound drama with a more militaristic edge. And that edge need- original incarnation. "I just started sitting down and playing with ideas ed to be reflected in everything, including, of course, the costumes. pages and pages of doodles," he says. "They didn't really say what they

Randy Gardell, the costume designer chosen to outfit the Excalibur specifically wanted; they talked about all of the elements, so I did a range crew, was eager to take up the task, which included having to solve the of things. I went off in different directions, and showed them three dif- more unusual challenges of a weekly SF series. "That has been my tick- ferent versions [to choose from]. et," claims the soft-spoken Gardell, "because I was always very good at "We knew it had to be something very clean, so I started thinking figuring things out. I could put things together and make one strange about the show's name and doing some research on that, looking at something out of another, and that has been very useful for me." knights and similar things. It intrigued me to revisit what I had learned a

long time ago about the Crusades, looking back at what that was all about

Drape Crusader again and pulling elements out of that. I also liked looking up the char-

Gardell originally came to LA from New York in 1979 with an art acters' names to see what they meant and who they were. It's like a puz- director friend, but it would be many years before the designer would see zle that suddenly comes together when you look at all the different ele- his name on the screen. Eventually, he was introduced to a costume ments." maker working on the masked ball sequence for Batman Returns, who For Carrie Dobro, who plays the alien thief Dureena, Gardell looked brought Gardell in on the project. From there, he met the film's costume at the character's original costume from the TV movie A Call to Arms, designers Bob Ringwood and Mary Vogt, later working with them on and took it in a slightly different direction. "With Dureena, it was a ques- several other projects, including The Shadow, Demolition Man and the tion of, how can we mix and match a number of different elements so that next two Batman films. she has a wide variety of looks. It might be vests, bustiers, blouses or Work on Crusade arose when another old friend, the show's produc- something like that. It's thinking about function as well. She's always fer- tion designer John Iacovelli, suggested that Gardell send in his resume to reting around in tunnels, digging, hanging, diving and jumping. What the producers. An interview soon followed, "and by the time I got home, would this person put on so she could do any of these things? So that [producer] John Copeland had called and said, 'We would really like you lends itself to a certain kind of clothing." to do this.' It was that easy." The other returnee from A Call to Arms is enigmatic technomage Gardell quickly immersed himself in the Babylon 5/Crusade Galen (Peter Woodward). In Crusade, Gardell designed a new coat for Universe, but was told he wasn't bound by the look of the original series, him, made from a ribbonette fabric with leather details around the hood created by costume designer Ann Bruice-Aling. "They were very keen to and cuffs. "We used simple shapes and then let the fabrics speak for see what I was going to bring to the table and didn't try to compare what themselves. There are leather-covered buttons, as a double-breasted

I would do with what Ann might have done. It's senseless anyway thing, but they're functional. He can wear it in a variety of ways. The stint on ix Shreck's isked ball in tman Returns //ed the seeds several more itures before rdell threaded

: way to this est sartorial usade.

hood folds back nicely and neatly, so when he's not using it, it still looks with the improvements. "They felt maybe the overall look was more mil- and works well with the coat. It doesn't look cumbersome—it looks itaristic than they wanted, and tried to broaden it and relax it a bit, so it interesting—so getting that right was tricky." still had a military look and feel but wasn't quite so rigid. I tried to come Gardell designed two different looks for Marjean Holden, who plays up with a costume or a uniform that might resemble something that the ship's medical officer, Dr. Sarah Chambers: a grey medbay uniform, already exists, like a flight suit, which comes apart in all sorts of pieces, and a more casual, off-duty costume. "She's serious about her work and so it could be worn in many different ways. If you want to formalize it what she does, and the uniform says that. When she's casual, she's in a little, it can be zipped and buttoned up. To relax, it zips around the softer things, but when she's at work, it's very neat and crisp and clean. waist and then the arms come off—all sorts of different things. "It made sense that she was brought aboard by this corporation as a "I think they wanted to put the officers and the crew in a variety of physician and research scientist, and they would have supplied some sort different environments. Rather than just having them only on the of a uniform for her. Then, knowing John [Iacovelli's] colors and what he Bridge, they added a Ward Room where the crew could go to relax and was going to be using [for the sets], Kim [M. Holly, the show's wardrobe hang out, and a gymnasium, which gets all of the people out of the supervisor] and I went shopping through the fabric stores and spotted Bridge and into other places on the ship. They can be in the Ward Room some wonderful pieces, so that was the med lab outfit." and unzip their flight suits around the waist and down the front and

IPX xenoarchaeologist Max Eilerson (David Allen Brooks) wasn't wear it as an open jacket, or they can zip the sleeves off, with a variety part of the Earthforce crew, and Gardell wanted to reflect that in his of different colored T-shirts or mock turtlenecks on underneath. It relax- choice of clothing. "He's really a civilian, and so while he has his some- es the look, and it's a little easier on the eye than that severely cut, grey what formal things to wear to meetings and conferences, he also has a and red uniform." more archaeological look for when he goes off-planet. He also has two The other characters were also given small twists. "Galen is pretty distinct looks for when he's at work with his crew on a planet, and when much the same," Gardell explains, "although he has a few changes, and he's back on the ship, which is a little more pulled-together. Eilerson we've added a big cloak for those slightly more dramatic moments. would be somebody who, rather than really getting his hands too dirty, We've also added new things with Dureena and Dr. Chambers. I've put would be a little bit cleaner. He would be dressed in the uniform, but not the doctor in very sheer lab coat shapes that you can actually see necessarily involved in doing the work." through; you can see what she's wearing underneath. It's maybe slight-

ly less buttoned up, a little more casual now. Initially, we talked about

Canned Costumes her being very serious-minded, but it was good to soften her a bit." With just five episodes in the can, Crusade underwent a major over- With 13 episodes of Crusade finished—most probably the only 13 haul, unveiling new sets and costumes, not to mention a new debut episodes ever to be shot—Randy Gardell is nonetheless pleased with ;show, "War Zone." The initial five episodes were moved into the mid- the look he created in future fashions. "It's always nice to have a little idle of the season. Series creator J. Michael Straczynski actually includ- bit of time to settle in with the way somebody is looking. They're all ied a plot thread that explained the change of uniforms. happy with it, and it seems to suit them a bit more. We've always had a

The new Excalibur crew uniforms were quite different from the orig- sense of who these people are, and it's just trying to broaden and define inal look, and everyone, from the cast to the producers, was delighted them further." -*»

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Pictures All Voyager & DS9 Photos: Copyright 1998, 1999 Paramount

teady as she goes. That, reveals executive producer Rick Berman, is the game plan for Star Trek: Voyager as it streaks into its sixth sea- son this fall. Viewers can once again expect plenty of action and drama, some new aliens, a bit of and a good mix of episodes devoted to Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). "I would like to think a lot will be the same, in the positive sense," Berman says. "Change-wise, there's a minimum of what one would call major sixth sea- son changes. We do have one big change in that we have a TV series that will be, for the first time in seven years, the only first-run Star Trek show on the air. The last time that happened was during the fourth season of The Next Generation.

"As a result, we have an opportunity to attract a number of people who were perhaps not there to watch Voyager last season. I think there's defi- hour nitely a percentage of the TV audience that's willing to dedicate one of their lives to Star Trek, and many of those people chose to watch Deep Space Nine. Now, with DS9 gone, we have the goal of trying to get some of these people to come over and sample Voyager!' Final voyagers Naysayers would point out that Voyager has never been a ratings giant Trek as a franchise (though it is UPN's highest-rated show), and that Star and co- is in a down cycle. These people suggest that perhaps Berman executive producer Brannon Braga should really shake things up on Voy- is doing just ager, if not to revamp the show—which loyal watchers think a feat pulled fine—then at least to get it noticed again by the uninitiated, every- off remarkably well back when Ryan sashayed on the set to play one's favorite Borg babe. Berman insists that he feels no heat whatsoever from either Paramount Pictures or UPN to push the panic button. "Our relationship with the studio and with the network is such that we bul aren't pressured at all," he comments. "We have self-imposed pressure, want it's not to suddenly do an episode with 30 naked Bolians. What we is make the firsl to do—and what we're making a great effort to do— to half-dozen episodes the type of shows where you don't have to know Voy- ager to get into this program or understand what's going on in a specific episode. This has always been our goal with the motion pictures. Whethei the audience was in Sweden or South Carolina, we didn't want people tc to get tha feel that they had to be Star Trek fans to enjoy it. I think we want in th< across this year both in the context of Voyager's episodes and also we'v< show's marketing. So far, in the first half-dozen episodes, I think done a decent job." "Thi What's on tap, then, for that first block of season six episodes? cliffhanger,' first one is called 'Equinox, Part II,' a continuation of our Berman responds. "It's our head-to-head struggle between Janeway am Captain Ransom [John Savage]. We then have two wonderful episodes episode one that's primarily a Borg episode and the next is a Klingon —

'Survival Instinct' has to do with Voyager now seeks out its old life and civilization alone, since some ex-Borg drones arriving on the DSffs close leaves Janeway and crew as the sole first-run Star Trek ship and presenting Seven of Nine series to navigate the airwaves. with some very dark secrets from her

past. The Klingon episode is called 'Barge of the Dead.' It's a Ron Moore story about Torres [Roxann Dawson] embarking on a spiritual journey. We find ourselves, if not in Klingon Hell, then certainly on our way to Klingon Hell. It's a very, very exciting episode. We built an amazing set that depicts the Barge of the Dead, the barge that takes the unheroic, the dis- honorable dead to Klingon Hell, as opposed to Sto-Vo-Kor or the better places Klingons like to go when they pass away. "We have a wonderful Walter Mitty story with the Doctor [Robert Picardo] coming up. It's very funny. We have a show called 'Dragon's 116111 ^6 "Slides muM nw> do Teeth' that was going to be a two- w parter, but has now been locked in as WW

a one-hour. In it, we'll meet a very interesting new alien race that we're if finy 1116 dfit hiifjf to F^irtli? hoping to see more of in the not-too-

A departure by Kate duction and casting meetings. I pretty much Mulgrew might have thrown spend the same amount of time, though. It's Voyager into a tailspin. odd. Mathematically, it doesn't make any Fortunately, the actress sense. When you're producing one TV series, it decided to remain in the takes up 100 percent of your time. When Captain's chair. you're producing two series, it takes up 100 percent of your time, but you just use the time slightly differently." As for Mulgrew: "Kate went through a period of being a little stressed out and tired," Berman explains. "She was involved in this period prior to meeting a remarkable guy whom she recently married. There were some stressful moments, but both Kate and Jeri Ryan, by the way, are on board for the entire run. And I never really doubted that that was going to happen." The saga of Moore, acknowledges Berman,

requires a little bit more explaining. "First of s all, Ron left on perfectly good terms. Ron and 8 k'l I are on good terms. Ron and Brannon are on

good terms. Any stories that it was an angry departure—and I've heard all kinds of sto- ries—are bull. Maybe what it came down to was simply that having spent many years working on DS9, working with a group of peo- ple, the writing staff, who had a specific way of III doing things, Ron hoped that he could come over to Voyager and get in bed with a group of distant future. We've got a great Joe Menosky Trek voyage prematurely and the entrance, people who did things in quite different ways, conspiracy story coming up. It will look at how then quick retreat, of Moore as co-executive as many TV shows do. And it just didn't work :onspiracy fever can run through a group of producer. "I've always been involved in the out well for him. people and have everybody believing some- day-to-day," Berman notes. "I would say that "Ron and Braga had worked together on Ihing that is perhaps not the case." the busier I get with something other than a many projects—TV shows and movies As much bustle as there seems likely to be single TV series, the more I'll focus my time always as partners. It was hoped that he would m screen, there has been plenty behind the on what I feel is essential. What I feel is essen- come along and work under Brannon, so to Li scenes as well. These days, with DS9 off the air tial is always working the on scripts and work- speak, which is sometimes a very difficult ind no feature consuming so much of his time, ing on the cuts. thing to do, to suddenly be in a position that's, 3erman is even more involved in the day-to- "When I'm suddenly doing one show as even to a very minor degree, subordinate to iay production of Voyager than before. Then, opposed to two, I can spend more time on the somebody who has been a friend and a partner here are the little matters of Mulgrew's much- scripts, the cuts and on the story meetings, but before. It can seem like something one can do, )ublicized contemplations about ending her I also get to spend a little bit more time in pro- but when you get right down to doing it, it can

SlhKLOG/October 1999 53 be difficult. Ron came to me and we spoke at length, and he felt that maybe, after 10 years, it really was the best time for him to get out of space and get back to the 20th cen- tury. Obviously, the door is always wide open here for Ron's return. I've worked with him for a long time and I'm very fond of him." Home Runs Trek veteran Ken Biller has returned to the fold to take Moore's place, and one of the issues on the table continues to be whether or not to bring Voyager home. It's an old issue and one, truth be told, with which Berman seems bored. "How many episodes might getting back involve? It could involve a dozen," he says. "How many episodes could one do, if any, after we get back to Earth? You could do a season of very exciting things. These are all questions that I have are up in the air. There are things that | us discussing getting the ship home and pleased," Berman says, characters. That's something that doesn't exist there are things that have us realizing it would finale itself. "I was Whether we're the arc that ran from "Penumbra" very much in television today. be a good idea to hold it until much closer to referring to movies or fea- of War." "If I have any crit- talking about TV, made-for-TV the end of the run. It's a continual discussion." through "The Dogs we're talking conversation I had with Ira tures, I don't know. Whether There are no discussions, however, to be icism, it involves a place at one time, I for weeks about just how about all of .them in one had about DS9. It's over. Done. A part of TV [Steven Behr] many that we've seen to let the war last. I was don't know, but I can't imagine history. All that's left to do is look back on the long we were going would resolve the war a little the last of them." final batch of episodes that led up to the two- hoping that we second half of the final Audiences can also rest assured that Voy- hour finale, "What You Leave Behind," and the sooner than the episode. But, in the long ager won't be the last Star Trek series they'll are currently develop- run, it built quite nicely. see. Berman and Braga "The resolution of the ing a new series tentatively set to debut in fall disclose characters in the finale 2000 or spring 2001. Other than to departure from was a lot of fun. We had that it will "be a pretty dramatic can't say so many characters, reg- the last couple of series," Berman most ulars and secondary more, as the proposed series is in its expect anoth- characters, and there was embryonic stages. Fans can also but whether or a lot of closure. We tied er Trek feature at some point, remains a up many loose ends, and not it's a Next Generation adventure given Paramount boss I think we did it in a very mystery, particularly that the stu- effective manner. I just Sherry Lansing's recent comments wish that we had more dio hopes to reinvent the Trek film franchise. with time, so that we could "I've had some very initial discussions Paramount," have dealt more with the motion picture people at Rom [Max Grodenchik] Berman notes. "Obviously, there will be a next and many of the other film. To say that Insurrection was the last film secondary characters that would be as silly as saying that Voyager is the deal we just didn't have time last series. As to. whether Star Trek X will Data [Brenl to get too deeply into." with Picard [Patrick, Stewart], All of which evokes Spiner] and company, whether it will deal with combination oi the question: Have we one of the other groups or a brand new seen the last of the DS9 groups, or whether it will deal with characters? "In my heart, characters, that's all up for discussion. Anc have been made." I think we've not seen the absolutely no decisions thatlnsurrec last of them," Berman Incidentally, it's worth noting tion directed by Frakes, which brings t( replies. "There are mil: was of tht lions of people who feel the table the interesting phenomenon very^strongly about these Star Trek cast directing episodes. Over th<

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STARLOG/Octofcer 1999 Design & Layout: RickTeng Photo: Copyright 1998 Paramount Pictures

"There will be a next years, the Next Generation, DS9 and Voy- film" to follow ager sets have emerged as the stamping Insurrection, Berman grounds for actors transforming them- (left) asserts cryptically. selves into directors. Among those step- But what sort of story ping behind the camera: Frakes, Stewart, will it tell? He's not LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Avery saying. Brooks, Rene Auberjonois, Alexander Siddig, Michael Dorn, Andrew Robinson, Robert Picardo, Robert Duncan McNeill, Tim Russ and Roxann Dawson. Several of them—most notably Frakes and Bur- ton—have crossed over into directing other Trek shows and features, as well as shows and features unrelated to Trek. None of them would have gotten the shot, of course, had Star Trek boss Berman not given the green light. "In a way, we let actors direct as a perk, as a favor," notes Berman, more or less

i\7 . acknowledging that directing opportuni- ties help keep restless actors happy. "I feel that, ever since having sent Jonathan to school 10 years ago, our batting aver- age has been quite good. The negative side of it is that every time you have an employed actor direct an episode, you've got an unemployed full-time director who perhaps should be directing that episode. It's a problem. "The fact is that I have "On the other hand, there never been involved in a sin- are two aspects to directing tele- gle discussion about a vision. One is all of the techni- Starfleet Academy film with cal aspects of it. The other is the anybody at the studio," he ability to work with actors. insists, as this particular con- Actors, in a very genuine way, versation ends. "The only have both. They certainly know people I've discussed it with how to work with actors and have been people who have know how to talk to actors. As told me that the next film will far as the technical elements, be a Starfleet Academy film, these are people who spend because that's what they've hours and hours a day, five days heard. The nature of Star a week, 40 weeks a year, sitting Trek is characters with a cer- and watching cameramen, tain degree of experience and lighting people and directors wisdom who get into posi- work. They're very familiar tions where they, diplomati- with many of the elements that cally and emotionally, deal go into directing TV. So they with whatever kind of strug- tend to make very interesting gle might exist in a single directors. episode or film. To do that "It does become a bit of a with 'kids' on a weekly basis, pain, though," Berman admits. I think, would be extremely "Let's say I've hired Roxann to difficult. I've found that all of do episode nine. That means the kids in space attempts Roxann has to be very light in that have been made, as far as episode eight because, while I'm concerned, have not suc- she's prepping, you don't want ceeded, both on TV and on her to have to be on the stage film. acting a lot. She has to be rela- "A Starfleet Academy tively light in episode 10 show would have to be because she'll be editing her Earthbound, to some degree, episode. She has to be relatively which I see little value in. light in episode nine because And putting young people in you certainly don't want a first- or second-time Starfleet Academy. "That's the best rumor of jeopardy and having young people dealing director directing themselves too much. It does all," Berman says, "and I hear it continually." with conflict with aliens on a regular basis is cause us to manipulate our schedules to some But wait, Rick. There have been Starfleet not the idea that Gene [Roddenberry] would degree, to manipulate our scripts. But the Academy novels and Starfleet Academy have been interested in doing. Nor is it a direc- rewards, in almost every case, have been episodes of Voyager. And didn't Harve Bennett tion I'm interested in going in." worthwhile." want to make Starfleet Academy features that Well, young cast or not, thanks to the The rumor mill is churning out the notion put the spotlight on youthful versions of the efforts of Rick Berman, Star Trek's unspeci- that the subsequent film perhaps even the Trek Classic characters? Surely, there's — some fied-year mission looks like it's still going next series —will center on young cadets at merit to the idea, if not the rumors. strong. .

STARLOG/October 1999 55 11 J J i iff I 1 By KIM HOWARD JOHNSON

"The reason some films don't work is that n the far-off future of the human on comedy. _J instead of a I was intrigued there are two White Faces together, race, only one thing is absolutely cer- "About four years ago, a Nose. If you look at to write it as a novel," the Monty White Face and Red l tain: There will be comedy. enough Bowfinger [which stars and Alex Muscroft and Lewis Ashby are Python member explains. "What really hap- you see a White Face and a pened was, I became fascinated by comedy. Eddie Murphy], I a 23rd-century comedy team perform- there are Suddenly, my robot character started to look at Red Nose, which works. Sometimes 1 ing on a vaudeville circuit of mining work. The two comedians and ask, 'What the hell two Red Noses, and that doesn't I stations and interstellar cruise ships, the people bark when balance has to be right. That was making their way to Mars as they were they doing? Why did it ' Earth was observation, and I've very generously given face hostile audiences, exploding they did what they did? What on its place in the scheme to my robot." planets and the fearsome diva Brenda Wooley. comedy and what was questions, I Idle's novel is told through the eyes of a Carlton the robot—a David Bowie-looka- of evolution?' When I raised those stumbles realized they were fascinating and a rather nice professor studying comedy who like droid—is studying the human phenome- whole issue of come- upon Carlton's doctoral dissertation on human non known as comedy through the eyes of his way of dealing with the and why comedy, De Rerum Comoedia. This spin on the two human companions in The Road to Mars, dy, what makes comedians comedians analysis of comedy is what gives Idle's SF w If there were to be advanced civilizations in adventure story added depth. for me," thei "That's what makes it interesting the universe, one would really expect says Idle. "The plot is there. It tells a story and humor, wouldn't one?" the yarn all hangs together, but the things that to have intrigued me were the writer who becomes rather envious of the person he's writing about, Eric Idle's new comedic SF novel. Although they're so screwed up." Carlton is Idle's theories involves the two and the De Rerum Comoedia, which the book is being published this month by Pan- One of Face and the writing. You're looking at human behavioral theon ($24 in hardcover), the idea began as a types of laugh makers: the White represents patterns through the eye of a robot asking, screenplay more than 15 years ago. Red Nose. The White Face, which controlling clown who never 'Why do we do comedy?' For me, it was a "It's something I've always liked," says Idle. the mind, is the and pie, while the Red Nose repre- fresh way of exploring what we do "I started writing it in '82 or '83, the year I did gets hit with a subversive clown who takes have done, and what the people around [Monty Python's] Meaning of Life. When I set sents the body, a face and makes all the prat- me do. That gave it some depth which up the whole thing in those days, it was Robin all the pies in the I thought was missing from the Williams and maybe Dan Aykroyd and David falls. of the Red Nose and screenplay." Bowie. That was the whole idea of the cast." "I outlined my theory a robotic the White Face to [Scottish comedian] Billy Viewing humor from Road Trips Connolly, and he said, 'That's fascinating, viewpoint helped take the curse Billy and [his off analyzing comedy, which is After the studios told Idle that The Road to that's really good. That works!' encouraged me, generally a very unfunny thing. Mars would be too expensive to produce, he let wife] Pamela [Stephenson] is a good theory, "It gave the story an extra ele- the script alone for several years. It was not and I thought, 'Maybe this ahead with this in some ment, to be able to do it until 1995 that he decided to revive it as a maybe I should go through a robot who misses book, as a way of exploring his own theories form.'

56 STARLOG/Octofcer 1999

— "

Photo: Copyright 1995 MCA/Universal Home Video only license I've taken is the robot who, it seems to me, is about as smart as my new Sony

Pentium III. They can speak now, so you're getting close to how well they'll be able to do things for you just on voice commands. And I'm pretty sure we'll start building things that look like us, because you've only got to go to Disneyland to find them. So I tried to make it within our universe. As much as I loved The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I didn 't want to go into fantasy. "I tried to make it as realistic as I possibly could, inasmuch as I believe life in the solar system will be in 300 years' time," says Idle. "And I got a great kick out of thinking that peo- ple could be doing research on us. At one point in the book, they actually do research on me, of On the science Eric Idle, and there was a whole bit on me. I comedy, Eric Idle took it out, because it was very clever, but it posits a "force that is was too much about Eric Idle, you know?" the opposite of Though a longtime fan of science and sci- gravity.. .there is such a Idle's treading The Road to Mars force and I'm hoping ence fiction, not because he that they eventually thanks to its screenplay origin, novel. "The script went name it levity." aimed to write a genre from studio to studio and people kept

saying it was just too expensive," he the joke," Idle says. "It gives it a explains. nice edge." "For me, it was always about show In the novel, Idle has even business and the future of show busi- devised an entire field of study ness. Now, I'm not a big fan of furry based on comedy. "If there were to creatures running around in space. I be advanced civilizations in the uni- like my science to be how I perceive it, verse, one would really expect them what kind of things are going on in this to have humor, wouldn't one? extraordinary universe—I don't con- Therefore, humor is some kind of ceive that we'll ever be in touch with survival tool. It's an actual tool of anybody out there because the dis- evolution," he theorizes. "I just love tances are too immense. Whole civi- the mathematics of this force that is lizations could die out before you even the opposite of gravity, which is got near anybody who might exist on a called levity. I loved naming it, similar level. That doesn't mean they because there is such a force and don't exist, so I really like to ask ques- I'm hoping that they eventually tions like, 'Do they have a sense of name it levity, because I think it's humor?' the perfect opposite for gravity. I Of course, just because humans think [the theory] may ultimately be might not closely encounter any E.T.s leading science in the right direc- doesn't mean we should refrain from tion. Arthur C. Clarke thinks my sci- space travel. Our current exploration ence is pretty damned good." of the universe, according to Idle, is Though the title is evocative of analogous to another period of history. the and Bing Crosby "It seems to me that we're in the 15th "Road" pictures, the original screen- century," he observes. "We've just dis- play was developed with Williams covered North America and boat travel in mind. "Nobody had written a film takes us six months to get there. In a for Robin yet—it was before Good very short period of time, we can Morning, , and I was think- expect an equivalent expansion in the speed of ing, 'Well, how do you make someone as Space Nuts further stories involve a future travel. But we will still not get much funny as Robin funny?' And the answer to me Although few SF the predicts that entertain- than the edge of our solar system within was, 'How was Bob Hope funny? Well, usual- filled with comedy, Idle millennium, because it's just travel from starship to space station, next conceivable ly he played an entertainer or comedian.' That ers will automaton and too big beyond that. We will definitely start ter- you the excuse that they can be funny. I playing to audiences human, gives Arthur around the circuit, just raforming Mars, I think—that's then got thinking that what would be funny other. "They'll be going comedians or entertainers Clarke's idea, anyway. We will establish would be a nostalgic look at the future, and that like any circuit of people on the road now, colonies, we will build things in space and we was long before Back to the Future. even like rock-and-roll technological powers galaxies," says Idle. "They will harness some of the "I liked the idea that you could look at the they're in their own must. areas of entertainment to of our solar system simply because we future almost through the past, and then it go from isolated little our evolutional [legacy]. little of entertainment, you That's the pressure of became, 'Well, quite obviously, the only thing other isolated areas has another five- fact that they get on a tour bus We know that the Sun only that will exist in the future that is the same as know? The years to go, so instinctively, rocket is only slightly different and-a-half-billion now will be show business.' And people will be instead of a we know we have to get off the planet." laughing. That will continue, that's a tradition, it's the same idea." for Idle is preferable tc story takes place in our own solar sys- Writing a book that is human. They'll want live entertainment The get final cut,' century, without alien races or doing a screenplay, "because you of some form, too. Despite all the many surro- tem in the 23rd going, 'Who's "I didn't want to invent he says. "There aren't idiots gate forms of entertainment, live humor will elements of fantasy. all wore heads," Idle admits. "The going to play that?' or 'What if they never actually be replaced." people with green

58 STARLOG/October 1999 ,

Quest Art: Copyright 1 998 Warner Bros.

the video back end,' so this year's 30th

they just dumped it. anniversary celebra- Then Disney came tion of Monty along and went, 'Well, Python came in the this isn't much of a hit, form of a concert so we'll just re-title it held in July in LA's [as Mr. Toad's Wild Getty Center, "Eric Ride] and stick it out Idle Sings Monty there.' It's very unfortu- Python Songs." "It was

nate, but I have the a standing ovation tri- feeling that good work umph," he notes proudly, always lasts, so you before revealing his latest, will see it still, I think." unlikely career move. "My Idle co-stars in the new friend Clint Black just upcoming live-action recorded 'The Galaxy Song' [from Dudley Do-Right. "I The Meaning ofLife] and I wrote him play a drunken a nice new opening. We sang it together, so prospector who I'm now a country artist!" becomes Dudley's Zen Idle has also been helping Livent—the pro- Master, thanks to a last- ducing company behind the musical minute rewrite," says Ragtime—to develop a new Broadway musical Idle. "So, it's OK, my based on the works of Dr. Seuss. The Seussical, part is cute and I get the as it's now called, is targeted to open on Broad- wigs?' I'm just tired of the imbecilities of writ- laughs, apparently. I love Brendan Fraser. way in fall 2000. "I helped co-create it," says ing in the film world. I haven't done it for two [Director] Hugh Wilson is very bright and Idle. "I did six weeks of research, and I wrote years— gave it up I when I decided to write smart, too. In fact, the last day I was shooting, them a story out of all the Seuss books. I out- novels. I gave him a copy of my book and he disap- lined characters and a storyline. They've gone "When The Road to Mars was a film, I was peared into his trailer. When he came back, he off and written a book and some music. I did at Paramount with these people, and they came said, 'You're wasting your time! You're a prose go to New York and play the Cat in the Hat back for and said, 'Look, we know we weren't writer!' I was both flattered and at the same them, the first two-week feel-through time, and supposed to rewrite it, and in your contract it time it was like, 'Wait a minute —I'm wasting that was fun. They would have liked to says me you can't possibly rewrite it, but we've my time?!' I was trying to make him laugh." [continue]. Broadway's one thing, but months put a man on it and we've had him working for on the road as the Cat in the Hat would drive several months, and he has actually now gone me 'round the bend! So, I love the show, and mad; we've driven him mad. But what we've the tunes are fabulous. I'm a consultant, so I've done is, we've changed it, and now the protag- onists are no longer comedians, they're removal men.' And I said, 'Goodbye' and "I didn't walked out. I'm glad I did, because if you sell it to them, it becomes whatever they like. By want to keeping it and owning it myself, I was then

able to find out what it was about and where it invent should go."

idle Plans people with Idle has been keeping busy with numerous other projects. His voice-over talents have been utilized for such animated fare as Quest for Camelot (as one-half of a two-headed dragon), South Park and Disney's Hercules TV series. got a nice role in it, which is just giving them "It's quick and easy," he notes. "And you advice and encouragement. meet people. I'm in this South Park thing, and "It's mainly Horton's story," Idle reveals, it took me all of 10 minutes. [Trey Parker and referring to that elephantine hero who once Matt Stone] are nice guys and I like them. I heard a Who. "The Cat in the Hat still exists, went in and said hello and they showed me but he's not allowed contractually to be the their spread, and I did it and went out. That's center of the story. He's a bit like the narrator, nice. The other element is most animation is he comes in and out like an emcee—but I for children, and that's fun for my daughter. It's shouldn't say too much more about it. It's fun to be in a kids' movie." going to be wonderful!" The actor who played a bad guy in — 1995's Despite Idle, a man who practically wrote the all of Eric Idle's other collabora- Casper—starred as Ratty in the award-win- book on silly humor, has just written a practical tions, The Road to Mars remains his own story, ning live-action fantasy Wind in the Willows, book about.. .silly humor. and despite the project's roots as a screenplay, which was directed by fellow Pythonian Terry he no longer cares if it ever becomes a film. "I Jones. "I loved Terry and I loved playing This fall, Idle joins NBC's Suddenly Susan, don't have any feelings or emotions," he says. Ratty," he says. "It was a good role and a great playing a magazine publisher. He laughs about "This is my cut. This is how I wanted to present experience." the uncomplimentary manner in which pub- it. I think it's the best thing I've written so far, Sadly, the film's American distribution was lishers are portrayed on TV, but asks no for- and I'm very happy with the way my writing's unhinged by a lawsuit. "It was settled that giveness for his own character. "I shall be going. And I would like to write more. If I Columbia would get the film rights and Disney playing it in that manner," he assures. "Do not could just write, that would be fabulous for me. the video rights," Idle explains. "Columbia worry about it. I think that's their intention. I'm And if I sell The Road to Mars to the said, movies 'We're not going to put a fortune into not a particularly nice magazine publisher." and it pays for me to write marketing something else, that this, in order for Disney to collect all One of Idle's individual contributions to would be great as well."

STARLOG/October 1999 59 Sphinx, isn't around to pontificate By IAN SPELLING Frankenstein has hatched a most insidious plays the toss few of his alter-ego's amazingly revenge plot, and the city's sole hope is a con- and a lame, simplistic aphorisms about. Hank Azaria, so hampion City needs a new tingent of well-meaning, if woefully deft as the master of silverware known as the hero. Captain Amazing is superhero wannabes. but has a really it the fol- Blue Raja, is also missing, he over-exposed and later indis- Take that basic plot and attach to source good excuse. Azaria's off on a heroic leave of posed, the long-imprisoned lowing: Bob Burden's cult comics as (Kinka absence, getting married this very day to his and recently freed Casanova material, a first-time feature director Usher), a $70-some- longtime love and Mad About You co-star, When most of his thing million budget, actress Helen Hunt. Stiller stunts didn't make eye-popping set design But the others are all here—Ben William (the Shovel- the final cut, and a top-flight cast that (Mr. Furious), William H. Macy H. Macy got a little Mitchell includes an Oscar win- er), Paul Reubens (the Spleen), Kel mad. Only Hollywood Garofalo (the ner, two Oscar nomi- (Invisible Boy) and Janeane would dare to irk a nees, a three-time Bowler). guy with a shovel, Emmy Award winner, who knows how to strike use it. several comedians, a Lucky the script," recalls top- selling hip-hop star "I originally passed on strikes (Pras of the Fugees), a Garofalo, who plays a heroine who bowling teen sensation and a back at crime by tossing a transparent father's skull- couple of catchy disco ball—which contains her late thought, '1 songs, and you have in the direction of any baddies. "I Mystery Men, an offbeat really don't want to be in a big-budget action challenge comedy/fantasy now in film. I don't think there's much of a Bill and Geof- theaters. there.' Then I heard that Macy Casanov£ Today, the Mystery frey Rush [as the villainous

and ] Men have assembled to Frankenstein, see page 68] signed on, What it consider their movie was like, 'Am I missing something? I really likec exploits. But there are going on?' Then I met Kinka and Kinka, al heroes absent from the him. And I thought, 'Geoffrey, Bill, I went through the scrip lineup—Wes Studi, who right, I'll do it.' Then

60 STARLOG/Octofcer 1999 with Brent Forrester, the writer they hired to do some rewrites, and I tried to bring One-third less filling than something to it that was a little more inter- esting. Hopefully, I did." Indeed, Garofalo was pleased to be able your average superhero! to work with such a creatively open director. "Kinka was so generous about letting us change things, especially Ben, Hank and

me. We riffed on a lot of things [on set]. Kinka was very open to that, and a lot of directors are not so generous. I kind of need that freedom. It's not always necessary,

because sometimes everything is there in the

script. But it feels good to know you can riff. "Unfortunately, many scripts are not

well-written. That's the reality, especially if they make it to the commercial studio level. They've been watered down even more than they were. Or if somebody was con- sciously writing a commercial film, they

really write mediocre stuff. So, it's good to know a director is going to say, 'OK, screw around with it. That's fine.' If they don't say that, you feel like you're acting with [your hands tied] behind your back." In playing the Bowler, Garofalo elected

not to overdo it. She by no means chews the scenery and she purposely did not speak her lines with belabored exclamation points. "I tried not to say anything pithy, like, 'Hasta la vista, baby!' or 'Eat my dust! ' I tried very hard not to do that," states the actress, who turns up next year in another big-studio picture, The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, in which she cameos as Mini-Mogul. "I was forced to do it a couple of times—there was no way around it—but otherwise I said things in a much more naturalistic, linear way. I can't stand bumper-sticker adages. I really hate pithy dialogue, especially in an action film. It's just there to make the audience go, 'Yeah!' It makes me cringe. When I had to

it do for Mystery Men, I committed to it, but I was cursing on the inside." Garofalo, no surprise, brought her pal Stiller into the fold as Mr. Furious. The two had already worked together on TV's and in such films as Real- ity Bites and Permanent Midnight. They had also collaborated on a bestselling tome, Feel This Book. Intriguingly, Stiller, who had previously helmed Reality Bites and The Cable Guy, almost directed Mystery Men, although he admits his version of the hero flick "wouldn't have been anything like Kinka's movie.

"I was so happy every day that I was acting in it that I hadn 't chosen to direct it," Stiller says, "because it's such a big action/special FX movie. What happened was that I said I would do it right before I started [acting in] There's Something About Mary. Then I realized that Mystery Men was this huge movie and that I wasn't up for directing it.

"I loved the idea of it, though, of these guys who wanted to be superheroes but weren't very good [at it]. I guess my ver-

STARLOG/October 1999 61 imperiled love interest of Mr. Furi- ous] comes across wonderfully. Her role was a fractious thing

because it wasn't clear how big that subplot should be and how, big m m exactly, it related to the last, battle. And man, I thought she

nailed it so well. She's so grown up and such a mensch. Greg Kinn- ear [Captain Amazing] was won- derful and Lena Olin [as Frankenstein's cohort, Dr. Anabel Leek]—be still my heart. There was a ton of stuff shot with Lena. They were right to cut it, because

it didn't advance the plot, but man,

is she one sexy broad. She would talk to Geoffrey and just touch his lip with her finger, and the crew would die. It was a thrill to work with these actors." I Then, there's Mitchell, who scores big as Invisible Boy, a turn invisible. get lucky?" recalls the star of young man who thinks he can sion would have been a little bit more satirical, 'How did I so time vanishing Pleasantville and ER, whose character Invisible Boy has a hard and I think the good thing about [Usher's] Fargo, watching him, bui a spade almost as convincingly as should anyone actually be movie is that the characters are all treated as swings have wielded a sword. "I've wanted to most of his newfound superhero pals real. Kinka respected the fact that these people Errol Flynn celebritj forever. He's hilarious in the faith in him. Mitchell is a major really believe in what they're doing. I proba- work with Hank thanks to his the one who just steals my among teens across the country, bly would have been more cynical about the movie. Janeane is half of the popu- She's quite a talented writer, and years on Nickelodeon as one whole thing." heart in this. lar Kenan and Kel Show and the spinoff movif I know she takes great pride in her comedy out of Good Burger. "It's every actor's dream to pla} Digging Deep writing, but also she acts the bejeezus has been one of my a superhero," notes Mitchell, who also per Like Garofalo, Macy was impressed by his this thing. And Paul the soundtrack, "Who Ari forever. Claire Forlani [as Monica, the forms a song on co-stars. "As the cast became apparent, I went, heroes

62 STARLOG/Ocfofcer 1999 "

le Boy may have The enigmatic Sphmx (Wcs Sludi, far left) istory where faces a problem tougher than any riddle: How kwasa good thing. do yon turn this bunch into superhorocs-?

Those Mystery Men?" and co-directed its Actually, Macy wants to gripe just a tad. as possible. The juxtaposition of those two video. "Invisible Boy was just about the last "There were a lot of shoveling gags that didn't things is where the humor would come from. I character cast, so I got to see everybody else make it in," he says. "In a truly Hollywood think that was borne out." that was already in it. I thought, 'Oh man, I've scenario, I spent three months learning how to got to get in this film!' do really cool tricks with a shovel. I could flip Creative Fury audition "My was funny. I did my lines it in the air, this way and that way. As a matter Stiller, like Macy and Garofalo, tinkered and then Kinka said, 'OK, now show me that of fact, during the first two weeks of the shoot, with the initial depiction of his character. Mr. you can turn invisible.' I was like, "What? You I had this gash over my eye that they had to Furious at one point had genuine superpowers want me to turn invisible now? Right here?' I cover with makeup because I had clocked and was constantly angry. The actor felt did it as an improv. I pretended to talk to a myself in the face with a shovel just before we uncertain as to how to play that, and decided it chameleon. That was my way of turning invis- started shooting. Of course, I got all these would be far more interesting if Mr. Furious ible. I like, was 'Teach me your ways,' great gags down that I worked so hard on. And were a "tough guy" who wasn't quite as tough because a chameleon disappears by blending what's the shot? Extreme close-ups. I said, as he imagined himself. "Originally, he was in. I said, 'Oh, well, you're naked. I get it!' and 'Kinka, why did you have me do all of this tough, then fell in love and lost his powers I started pulling clothes my off. Then I ran into work if it's all going to be tight shots?' But because of that. I didn't know how to do that walls and said, 'Oh, I'm not invisible yet,' and you see a little bit of it." for a whole movie," asserts Stiller, who only fell on the ground. They said, 'This kid is In a movie about misfits, the Shoveler read " Richie Rich as a kid. "I felt it would be crazy. Let's put him in the movie.' seems to be the most normal of all the charac- interesting to reverse it, to have him try to be As for Reubens, better known as his for- ters. He has a wife and kids and a nice house tough and then realize, with the help of this mer, iconic alter-ego, Pee-Wee Herman, he with a pool. He has a solid job. It's just that he woman, that he doesn't have to be something jumped into the fray for a variety of reasons. has spent years of his life striving to do good, he isn't. I felt that was in keeping with the idea "I liked the idea," notes the actor, who didn't to make Champion City a safe place for his of the movie, which is guys trying to be some- know much about Mystery Men before sign- family. "He's the character I glommed onto thing they aren't, but are striving to be." ing for on the film, but had read the comic immediately," Macy reveals. "I don't know Reubens didn't worry too much about any book adventures of Batman and Superman. "I why. I opted to use the Western cowboy as the of it. "I have to say I felt a little cheap and hadn't seen it before, but I liked Kinka and image for the role. I felt should dirty," jokes the actor, who has also appeared what he had done [as a director of TV com- be the guy to model it after. Early on, I asked in Batman Returns and the original Buffy the mercials]. I loved the cast that was assembled for and got permission to cut half the lines. Vampire Slayer film. "A fart is such an easy by the time I came onto it. And I thought the The Shoveler used to be much more talky than way to get a laugh." As for the technical chal- script was fun, smart and goofy at the same he is now. I thought, 'Cut all the lines and just lenges of portraying the Spleen? "In case you time." be sage and Western about it.' It's kind of didn't know," he says, "the farts were sound Each of the actors involved took their roles unusual for an actor to say that, but I was effects." rather seriously, but not too seriously, as befit smart enough to tell Kinka, 'I'm still in the OK, it's all said and done. The film is in the film's spirit. Garofalo gamely lugged movie. Don't just shoot the guy who's talking. theaters and it's up to audiences to decide around a 30-pound bowling ball. Stiller dealt Make sure that you get shots of me.' I remind- whether or not Usher and company tapped with sporting a hot leather outfit for several ed him pretty much on an hourly basis for four into something special in bringing this comic- months on an often sultry set. Reubens months. book world to life. Moviegoers will also have endured an hour in the makeup chair as faux "It was also choice my to play him as an to determine if the film has enough commer- zits were applied to his face. Mitchell dyed his everyman, and that was a big topic of discus- cial appeal for mainstream audiences. So, now hair bright yellow and pretty much got naked sion. The script was in flux and it was being it can be asked: What's with the film's tide, for the film's finale. But complaints were kept written as we went along. We did talk a lot given that Garofalo not only adds welcome to a bare minimum. "There were plenty of about its tone. I always held that we should be femininity to the superheroic proceedings, but times when I was like, 'Oh, my God, what is grounded in reality and that the superhero part pretty much steals the whole show? "It's just a going on?!' " admits Garofalo. "But then you should come from the writer, Kinka and the name," Janeane Garofalo says, laughing. "It think, 'Oh, I'm getting paid very well to do [costume and set] designers. I wanted to be in sounds better than saying The Mystery Men this. Shut up.' a comic-book world, but to ground it as much and a Woman or The Mystery Persons."

STARLOG/Octo&er 1999 63 . _

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ild Wild West is probably not the kind of movie you would expect to co-star Kenneth Branagh. But the m u 1 1 i - 1 a 1 e n t e d actor/writer/direc- tor/producer, who helped reintro- duce that hot film scribe William Shakespeare to mainstream audi- ences, welcomed the chance to play the diabolical Dr. Arliss Loveless in this decidedly un-art-house flick

"I enjoyed the script and the character," says Branagh. "I felt that with Barry [Sonnen- feld] as director, I would have a degree of choice as an actor. I also liked the idea that Wild Wild West would be a visceral event pic-

ture, and yet it would have those quirky touch-

es. I thought it would be fascinating to be in such a film." Camp Villainy Branagh, who recently completed the Shakespearean romantic musical comedy Love's Labour's Lost, quickly learned the dif- ference between his previous lower-budget productions and a megabuck monster like Wild Wild West. "I was shocked the first day I walked on the set of this film. I said, 'Christ! There are more people here than on any picture " that I've ever worked on.' The actor was tempted to go back and view the old Wild Wild West TV series, particularly those episodes involving Michael Dunn, who played the small-screen inspiration for Arliss: Dr. Miguelito Loveless. But he eventually

decided against it. "Obviously, I knew about

the series, but I didn't want to be too influenced to by it. Besides, Barry told me this was going be a very different Loveless, so I shouldn't con- myself. He told me, 'You won't be a fuse " midget in this, but you will be very short.' THIS Ml OF MOVIE NEEDS A VILLAIN LIKE LOVELESS. other declares his intention to divide up America is Branagh found a great deal he liked about who is occasionally rather chilling and, at he's very at the end of the day, he almost Hitlerian in tone. Because Arliss Loveless. "I immediately saw it as great times, rather camp. But a personality against actorly and elegant, playing Loveless gave me fun to play one of those flamboyant villains is definitely a force and can play. My job was the opportunity to go over the top." who truly wishes to take over the world," he whom the good guys his biggest reality of this angry man." Consequently, Branagh saw says. "Loveless has a brilliant military mind simply to find the Loveless, once the challenge in playing in the Wild Wild West as with fantastic scientific ability. He's excessive The key to mastering being tucked into striking the right emotional tone. "Sometimes and elegant, but masculine and believes he's actor became accustomed to that hid his legs things had to be dead straight, and sometimes I the most fabulous creature. He's also quite a specially built wheelchair getting the Southern accent had to take the time to put a little comic spin on angry, given his physical condition, and all this from view, was Barry would studied tapes of TV evangelists it," he says. "On any given scene, anger is now put into avenging himself on the down. Branagh of flamboyant eloquence. play things many different ways. The free- rest of the country." to get into the spirit right to be very hyp- dom—that the director will choose the Far from a typical one-note fantasy foil, "The way I had to speak had necessary work- sense, I would be [take] —makes for a good and Branagh saw Loveless as a man of many notic," he explains. "In a been impossible Loveless is always very con- ing atmosphere. It would have facets, enjoying "his psychosis, his vanity, his working a crowd. having on people. to guess the right tone, because much of the dandy ways, his rage and ongoing anger about scious of the effect he's said with a sense time I was working against blue screen anc being half a man and about the South giving up Every line he says to West is woulc knowingness. The scene where Loveless really had no idea how big the scene on him. I saw myself as playing the antagonist of — — TARLOG/Ocfoter 1999 ultimately be. All through the movie, I was covering my bases, working not to do the wrong thing at the wrong time."

While that might sound as if the tension level on the Wild Wild West set was high, Branagh says that nothing could be further from the truth. "Barry is very good in that he doesn't let any sense of pressure filter down to the actors. And working with Will [Smith as Jim West], Kevin [Kline as Artemus Gordon] and Salma [Hayek as Rita Escobar] was a lark. Everybody seemed to have a different sense of humor about them, and we all seemed to mesh perfectly."

Elegant Pain Branagh, however, will say that working on Wild Wild West wasn't a vacation. And he has enough bumps and bruises from doing his own

stunt work to prove it. "I definitely took a beat- ing," he chuckles. "The whole fight sequence in the Tarantula's underbelly, with all those hydraulics going on, was pretty dangerous. All

those bloody wheels were going at all times, and I didn't have much control of my wheel-

chair. Every time I turned around, I was being

flung around by Will or being kicked from pil- "AFTER A WHILE, I lar to post. I was whipped around at great ACTUALLY FELT MYSELF speed. A lot of the fight at the film's end was just Will and me, without a whole lot of special BECOMING A PART OF THIS MACHINE." effects. Wright-Penn, How to Kill Your Neighbor's In Wild Wild West, Branagh was faced with "I spent a lot of time suspended from Dog. simply acting and not being involved in the wires," he continues. "But the things that were Over the course of his career, Branagh has direction, production or writing (a rarity for the the most difficult were those that were, physi- appeared in several big-name —and in some man who also helmed such films as Henry V, cally, the most uncomfortable. Being in the cases, FX-intensive —films including Mary Hamlet and Dead Again). The frustration level wheelchair definitely limits your range and Shelley's Frankenstein, which he directed (and could have been high, but Branagh relished the performance. With my legs tucked under discussed and in STARLOG #211). He cites Wild freedom to just act. packed into this little box, I began to develop a Wild West as a perfect example of how he has "I certainly did not find myself wanting to completely different relationship with the way avoided being overwhelmed by effects and do any more than I would expect actors to do if I moved. The wheelchair was I was directing, which is to bring very agile, and Barry wanted it as much input to the table as I to be much quicker than I was can," he says. "I was actually comfortable with. There were thrilled to not be involved with all many moments in filming where the logistics of this film." I would exit a frame very quick- But Kenneth Branagh is never ly, and there would be this crash far away from a directorial project. off-camera as I ran into some- As always, he has his own criteria thing. After a while, I actually for stepping behind the camera. "I felt myself becoming a part of : am compelled by certain stories. I this machine. I wasn 't sad to say have to be totally committed to a ', goodbye to it when we were fin- story, because it usually means the . ished, however." agony of having to persuade : Prior to Wild Wild West, somebody to give me the money to < Branagh stepped into another make the film. Then you have to • fantastic adventure in one seg- be in the middle of the casting i ment of a three-story anthology nightmare and all the other night- ; Alien Love Triangle. "I play this mares. I put myself through that > scientist who has invented time ordeal because I get powerfully i travel. And he comes home one attracted to material, and it doesn't ' night to discover that his wife The actor's previous foray into fantasy came as star and director of leave me. A good story becomes a [Courteney Cox] is really a male 's Frankenstein. compulsion, and I've had a num- alien who requires his time-trav- ber of films drive me that way." el device to help get him back to his planet," technology. "Quite simply, in Wild Wild West, While Wild Wild West might not rank high Branagh explains. "It was really fun to shoot." we were given the space to act," Branagh says. on his list of compulsions, he does see his por- Branagh and Kline will be heard though "The — characters were a very important part of trayal of Loveless as powerfully motivating. not seen—voicing a Bing Crosby-Bob Hope- the landscape of this picture. Yes, there were "This kind of movie needs a villain like Love- like team, the protagonists of The Road to special FX, but there were also the relation- less. He needed to be this loud, funny, mad, Eldorado. This animated adventure is due out ships in the movie and the Loveless story. I psychotic, straight, deadpan creation for this from DreamWorks next spring. Next up for could tell going in that there would be a bal- film to work. He could not merely be one Branagh is a comedy co-starring Robin ance between the technology and the people." thing. He had to be many things."

Universal Studios All Mystery Men Photos: Melinda Sue Gordon/Copyright 1999

an inflation-influenced $1 million in the remake) to a group of people if they'll spend a night in a creepy old manse. The film, which co-stars Famke Janssen, Elizabeth Hurley, Peter Gallagher, DS9's leffrey Combs, Taye (Go) Digs, James {Buffy) Marsters and Brid- gette {Mortal Kombat) Wilson, opens next month. "My character is kind of a technogeek who creates phenomenal theme parks. He's a guy out of MIT who, rather than go to NASA, got into pop culture and creates crazy roller coast- er rides," reveals Rush, who never saw the original, but sports a Price-ian thin mustache

that he insists is more tribute to John Waters than his Haunted Hill predecessor. 'There's a notion of the aberrant in all of this, but my

character is very rational and he confronts the unknown terror. "Their aim is for the movie to be a very, very scary piece. As an acting exercise it was extraordinary. Again, as with Mystery Men, there was such a set of codes that belonged to the specific genre. I found that you had to be so king, along with henchmen Tony C All that glitters isn't gold lame. This glitzy disco specific in your performance and in your act- Izzard), hides grim secrets behind his groovy veneer. (Pras) and Tony P (Eddie ing intentions. You probably have to be more you're shooting clay truthful than in most things. Towards the end of books are quite severe and dramatic. It's a little should be like when being chased by you're saying "Pull," it should House on Haunted Hill, I'm like film thinking, and I can tell you about that pigeons. When ludicrous ' loved the collaboration.'' 'the thing,' and we would have as an actor. Kinka would be shooting scenes be like "Fire!" He moments on the set. For one brief set-up, a and you would go, 'Where's the camera?' guy with a Steadicam was just a few feet You would look around, and the camera away from me, and all he was doing was would be down on the floor behind you, rushing towards me, ending up on my eyes. with a wide lens on it, like a 10-millimeter It's a cold moment of performance; you just lens. So you know that camera down there have to go 'TERROR! !' And that can either is taking in the whole room, and that all be really crude or it can be a fine moment in you'll see of you in that shot is the back of a sequence." your body. Then the camera will come While several actors who participated in around and be in your face. So it's worth The Haunting, that other 1999 creaky- knowing that comic-book syntax in abode flick, reported that the sets gave them advance." the willies, Rush can't say the same hap- Of course, nothing could prepare Rush pened to him while shooting The House on for the intricacies of Mystery Men's special Haunted Hill. "On the stage, if you're doing FX. "I had never done anything quite like something night by night, people tend to be what we did in Mystery Men," he acknowl- in the dressing room, hanging out. The edges. "I had never done any green screen. energy in the dressing room from the half- But my [big scene) at the end, when 1 tum- hour call can be huge," he explains. "It's all ble off the minor ball, was done with a lot filthy jokes, wild stories and people knock- of green screen. 1 was in a harness on a ing around and doing all of that. We had a green soundstage. They shot it in reverse. I little bit of that on House on Haunted Hill. was hanging over the camera and was The set was just a crummy, dirty, nasty winched up into the air, with my legs dan- place to be because it was so dark and dusty, gling. But I quite liked all of that. It kept with cobwebs everywhere. Much of the things lively." time we were down in this grungy cellar. I Even more lively, no doubt, was the day know from people who have seen footage on set that Reubens, as the ever-flatulent of the film that it looks amazing; it looks so Spleen, passed wind right into the actor's eerie. But you don't have that sense while face. "Paul was hilarious and very gener- you're doing it. ous," praises Rush of TV and moviedom's "The House on Haunted Hill seemed former Pee-wee Herman. "We hadn't really According to Rush, "There's a notion of the Haunted like a nice companion piece to Mystery met before we did the fart sequence in the aberrant" in the plot of The House on cur- "but character is very rational." Men," concludes Geoffrey Rush, who's limo. He had been shooting his stuff and I Hill, my rently shooting Quills, a Philip (The Right had been shooting mine, and we would just Stuff) Kaufman-directed drama that casts him kind of wave to each other. I was a huge Pec- Favorite Haunts Winslet, after wrapping Mystery Men, as the Marquis de Sade opposite Kate wee fan. When we did the scene, it was a nice Immediately "If I'm leapt into production on The House Michael Caine and Joaquin Phoenix. bonding thing for us. He said, 'Can I stick my the actor of William Castle's going to do two studio pictures, there's some- ass in the window and blah-blah-blah,' and I on Haunted Hill, a remake unpredictable classic about a man (Vincent Price thing nice about genres. They're said, 'Yeah, and my hair should go like that!' 1958 camp in the remake) who offers to me." And he loved that. He thought I was a very in the original, Rush ($10,000 in the original, As unpredictable as Rush himself. serious, classical actor. I also said to him, it a tidy sum of money

70 STARLOG/Octofoer 1999

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erky, wide-eyed actress latex mask that they apply with glue in every Bridget Hoffman little place so it will move with my face, which neously]. She's a tortured mother, but she is looks like a high makes it expressive. I can't go to the bathroom the real villain, too. She becomes less of a vil- school girl, happier in once the costume is on, though, so I can't lain as the episodes go on. I'm glad that she a mall than in a dark drink anything. At lunch time, I can take off has become lighter, because I love comedy, cave in Ancient Greece. the teeth and eyes, but not the mask." but it's always more fun to be the villain. I had Ironically, she prefers the cave, While her wriggling tentacles and snake- a great time when Glenn Shadix came along as she plays the Mother of All Mon- like appearance are impressive on screen, "it's [as Echidna's husband Typhon]. Now she's sters on Hercules: The Legendary not a comfortable costume," she asserts. "The 'the good monster,' " Hoffman notes wryly. Journeys. Echidna suit is heavy. I have a plastic bib that "And I think, 'What is the future for a good As Echidna, she has spawned most of the goes around my waist and heavy gears on my monster?' You don't know what she's going to world's fantastic creatures from the fear- — shoulders to work the tentacles. I also bite into do next, really—whether she'll be nice or not." some Hydra and Tholian Bird to the savage, my lips with my fake teeth. My eyes are cov- Hoffman also loves the show's heroes. three-headed Cerberus. Since Hercules has ered by contact lenses, and I have a complete- "Kevin Sorbo is a really nice, Midwestern guy, personally wiped out most of her infamous ly covered face. My real arms were too long friendly and accessible. Michael Hurst offspring, the slithering matriarch bears him for the tentacles, so I have to hold them [Iolaus] is a great guy, too. On Hercules, I more than a little ill will. cramped up while we shoot. Once I put my don't work withtoo many other cast fnembers "I don't think Echidna's evil. She's just a arms in the tentacles, I can't use hands. my because I'm in a cave," she explains. "But I've very protective mother," the actress declares "Contact lenses are put in afterwards. And also worked with Hercules' mother, Alcmene while taking a break from directing a dubbing unfortunately, because the scleral contacts [Liddy Holloway]. I try to kill her in my first session for a Japanese cartoon in a North Hol- need to breathe and be watered every so often, episode. It's funny. I was roaming lywood sound around studio. "Echidna's very easily the KNB guys used to put them in for me. Auckland, New Zealand on one of angered, my days and when she gets mad, watch out! They're great guys, but my corneas still got a off, so I went into a place for lunch and Liddy She's not sentimental, but there are reasons little scratched," she winces. "They didn't was there. I thought, 'I only know four people why she does what she does. She wants to pro- know when to stop pushing. They sent me to a in the city who aren't on the Hercules set right tect her children from Hercules. I remember at doctor and he said, 'You're " scratching your now, and I run into one of them.' the costume fitting, [Hercules producer] Rob eyes.' So I started putting in the lenses myself Tapert said to me, 'I want people to feel sorry before I put on my tentacles, and then every-

for her.' To me, she's quite sympathetic thing was fine. It's something I didn't com- because she's a heartbroken mother." plain about, because I was there to be this monster." Spawning every monster in the world is all in a day's work for Mommy Eeriest Indeed, and Hoffman appreciates how the Bridget Hoffman, In creating the character, the show's cos- who plays costume helps her performance. "It's a Zen Hercules' scary—but tume designers turned to also kinda mythology, preserv- thing. Once I sit in the chair, I know I'll be sweet—Echidna. ing Echidna's womanly-body-with-serpent's- there for quite a while. The suit is heavy and torso appearance. And while the look is defi- cramped, which focuses me. I got to a point Later episodes feature Echidna's spouse, nitely monstrous, Hoffman recognizes that where I could almost shut myself down," the the friendly giant Typhon, whose alter-ego parts of her shine through. "I think Echidna actress admits. "None of me was available. I Hoffman praises heartily. "Glenn's a Southern looks like me. She has my nose, eyes, my my didn't even have hands, so they would call gentleman. He likes to talk and tell stories, and cheekbones, but she has more color," Hoffman 'action' and I would really feel like one mon- he can really entertain. I love working with says, "and is more exotic-looking than I am." strous mother." Glenn. He was so great in Beetlejuice, and Transforming the actress into the serpen- Her favorite episode is "Mother of All now we're writing something together. I love tine matron "takes three hours of makeup Monsters," in fact, because "Echidna is really the episode where I say to him, 'Get over here, every day," Hoffman explains. "It's a very thin at her meanest and most sympathetic [simulta- lover boy.'

STARLOG/Octo/OT- 1999 73 "

versions of the poster, but Viewers can't help I'm in every one. wondering, though, just "I finally appeared in an how Echidna and movie when I Typhon hooked up. worked on Army of Dark- How did a happy-go- ness. Patricia Tallman [Baby- lucky giant marry a rep- lon 5's Lyta Alexander] and I tilian monstrosity? "My are Deadite serving maidens brother Mike asked me to Brace's Evil Ash. I had no that, too," she laughs. complaints—we got to wear "He said, 'How did he these great Deadite cos- turn out to be your hus- tumes," she grins. "See what band? How does that has befallen my life because work?!' I said, 'If you of Rob and Sam." read Greek mythology, It was "through the good these are real charac- graces of Rob Tapert" that ters.' In the myths, Hoffman discovered the joys Typhon and Echidna are of monster motherhood. "I also brother and sister, was playing Squeaky which is probably why Fromme in the musical they have monsters [for Assassins, when Rob and a children] it's a lesson — group of people came to see to people not to inbreed. me. The next day, he called "One thing I wish and said, 'How would you they would change is like us to torture you again? my size. After Typhon's We'll make you the Mother of All Monsters.' I than me. They first episode, he became bigger BRUCE DELL said, 'Tell me about it.' Rob said, 'It's in New do forced perspective on Glenn and me, but Zealand.' And I said, 'Sure! You don't have to between one episode and the next, they made tell me any more.' It was that immediate." him bigger. I used to be huge compared to As Hercules and Xena—and their numer- Hercules. I could hold Hercules up with my ous allies and cohorts—frequently cross tentacle and he would dangle there, but when paths, might we see Echidna try to kill a cer- Typhon the giant came along, they made me tain Warrior Princess? "Why not? She lives in smaller. I didn't like that." the same neighborhood, they run into the After her failed attempt to avenge herself same people and," Hoffman smiles coyly, on Hercules, Echidna returned with a "Echidna's not dead." vengeance in "Monster Child in the Promised Not dead at all, and being a big-as-life TV Land." "That's where my baby is stolen by villainess delights Hoffman's fans and family. Heslov]. When I was off, I Klepto [Grant Her- 'I have 10 nieces and nephews who love would bum around with Grant or Glenn." cules," she smiles. "When I first did it, I felt Serpent's Tale bad telling them it was me because they believed she was real. I said, T don't want to Compared to her fabled character, Hoff- disillusion you by telling you it was me.' I man's own history seems prosaic. She hails 's loved that they thought Echidna was real, scary from Grayling, Michigan, "a tiny, little town and cool. They always say to me, 'Do that out in the woods. As a little girl, I would sing voice! Do that voice!' Last time I saw them, around the state with my sisters and brothers. they asked a lot! My niece Shannon does the We were called 'Bunch of Kids.' I majored in voice really well. I sent my nephew Mike my engineering in college, but I was also knock- Echidna mask so he could take it to school and ing on doors, doing the car shows and theater. show people. He loves the fact that I'm Echid- I finally asked myself, 'What do I really want na because he loves to draw monsters." to do? What would I want to do, even if I had of to eat peanut butter sandwiches for the rest the ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE vocal Horde peanut butter my life?' I would rather eat a in TERROR GRUELING The actress has appeared in several genre sandwich and do what I really want to do, films and TV projects, starting with the at frugal EC* because I'm very good being > 1 <3 I T A L L Y MASTER Howard Cohen-directed Time Trackers. "That Soon after making that decision, Hoffman The role on Hercules reunited Hoffman Roger Corman's company. I'm the filmmakers Sam was for ran into Michigan's cult fellow Raimi chum Bruce with Sam only scientist in the future who understands Michigan State Raimi and Tapert. "I went to Campbell, the star of all three Evil Dead how things work in the past, so I'm sent with University after they did, but we knew each flicks. a team of time-traveling scientists to stop a other from work in films around . They and fan- night taking publicity man trying to alter history. I love SF had already filmed Evil Dead, but needed poster. We stayed up all employment in almost needed the poster right away, so tasy, but I would take some publicity and poster shots, so I modeled shots. They notes. built indoor graveyard area. We did any genre," she for them." they an standing behind Hoffman also got into the habit in Sam Even though she has no scenes in the film different shots, one of me . "We shot Bruce Campbell, several different ones of Raimi's second film, it's Hoffman who appears on the classic 1983 taken a The German poster has Bruce that in Michigan. I'm a nun who has Evil Dead poster. "All that was me," she says, Bruce and me. fellow nun was Frances as I hang onto him. In vow of silence. My re-creating her classic poster pose by clutch- holding a chainsaw always wanted to the ground. There are different [Fargo] McDormand. I had ing her own throat. "That was me on the another, I'm on

74 STARLOG/October 1999 be a nun when I was growing up," she confides Cagliostro." takes place in real time, an ambitious project to "When I little, was I thought I would be a very Slipping on her earphones and watching an pull off nowadays, especially when things are spiritual nun. Well, here I am in Hollywood." animated cartoon on screen, she explains, cut all over. It was a short shoot, only two And while not seen, Hoffman has been "Today I'm directing and writing 26 episodes weeks. Working with Bruce and Josh again heard in another Tapert/Raimi production, of a Japanese anime called Mysterious was fun; they always have something for me to Darkman, voicing Darkman's computer. PlaylFushiki Ugi. Mysterious Play is " a great do. Whenever they ask, I say, Til go!' "Bruce was doing post-production work for story about two girls who find an ancient Chi- She will always be grateful to Raimi and Rob and Sam, and he asked me to help. I was nese book in the library. As they read it, they Tapert. "Those guys changed my life. I love physically in the movie as well, but I got cut get transported back to ancient China. It's a hit them so much. Rob and Sam are the best peo- out," the actress notes. "I had a scene with TV show in Japan and will be released in the ple in the world, and they have stayed the Frances in the restroom at the opening party U.S. on video. I direct the actors, and when I same," she marvels. "I don't see them that scene, but it didn't make the cut.' go home at night, I write the next episode.' much now, but they have included me in many Hoffman has lent her voice to many other Besides acting and directing, Hoffman is projects. Rob and Sam are still the same guys C©ffi© movies, including redubs and var- also a screenwriter. "I've had three movies that from Michigan; they are kind and listen to ious anime. "Since Darkman, I've done a lot of I've written produced so far including — a SF everyone. In this business, that's unusual. It film/voice replacement, voice matching and movie, Space Case, which I starred in with tends to be that when people get any bit of group stuff. Sometimes I add in lines for Ray Walston. It was set in the future, when influence or power, they let you know. It's so actresses who have gone on to other projects. Earth sends all of their undesirables to this asy- refreshing to see talented, nice people get their In Barb Wire, I completely re-did the voice of lum planet. I co-wrote a movie on HBO due." 'Spike.' It was a tough-looking punk character, recently, Double Exposure starring Dedee As for herself, "I did a guest shot on ER, but she had this happy, high voice. So I had to Pfeiffer. And I just wrote a film for Ebony & and I'm getting ready to play King Lear's re-do her performance. I voice the meek, funny Ivory Films, an intense, Detroit City drama." meanest daughter at the LA Repertory. I'm girl in Jackie Chan's Rumble in the Bronx, plus Hoffman recently reunited with Campbell also writing and directing more programs. I'm I've done voice work for Operation Condor, for Running Time. "That was directed by Josh happy," Bridget Hoffman says. "And what I First Strike, Mr. Nice Guy. I do a lot of Japan- Becker, another of the Renaissance gang," she said is true—I would rather eat a peanut butter ;se anime as well. A lot of Miyazaki; I'm the says happily. "It's a black-and-white movie sandwich and do what I really want to do, but princess in Castle in the Sky and in Castle of about a robber Bruce that — — supposedly now I don't have to eat peanut butter."

STARLOG/October 1999 75 Madonna and child? Not quite. When Shmi (Pernilla August) immaculately conceived Anakin (Jake Lloyd), what rough beast slouched toward Tatooine to be born?

will come ' Phantom mother to a wide-eyed innocent who lb' to Shmi? That Prior to her involvement with The .... or not " o Shmi U exposure to to embody all that is evil in a galaxy far, far J^^l question, actually, never came Menace, August had precious little Back in 1993, she away? 40 I V up for Pernilla August, who the Star Wars phenomenon. "Northern "George actually didn't give me any more H portrays Shmi Skywalker in guest-starred as Momma in the 1918" episode of The Young Indiana backstory than we know from the movie," ^ Star Wars: Episode I: The Phan- Italy, June J adventure directed by her replies August, whom some American filmgo- \ torn Menace. The acclaimed Jones Chronicles, an Lucas saw ers may remember for her memorable perfor- Swedish actress desperately want- then-husband Bille August. George Fanny and though the two did not meet at the mances in Ingmar Bergman's ed to play young Anakin's (Jake Lloyd) moth- her work, and The However, August did make the acquain- Alexander, Bille August's Jerusalem er, but she did fret about her ability to pull off time. McCallum while filming the Best Intentions, directed by Bille August from the part, as she needed to speak English and tance of Rick a Bergman screenplay. "Shmi and Anakin have had never done so before on the silver screen. show. probably about three was the producer of Young Indy been slaves for a while, "It was a big challenge, and I was so glad McCallum lot of space and I felt course, went on to produce The Phan- years. George gave us a for it," August says. "I was nervous at the and, of into August at a we were building the character together. It was beginning. I'm not used to speaking in English. tom Menace. After running film festival two years ago, McCallum asked a give and take. I didn't know if it would work, if I could speak reels to the "He didn't talk too much, but I never hesi- another language and do the acting at the same her to send some performance about casting people. She did, then tated to ask him if I was wondering time. I'm not going to tell you what scene I did Phantom Menace with him. I think invited to screen test for Shmi and, ulti- something. I liked working on my first day, but I could see it on the screen was very brave and sup- mately, she won the role. Shmi is 'the' mother. She's when I watched the movie. I could tell that was portive of her son. She's not selfish. She lets my first day. It was OK after a while, though, Anakin go and she's thinking of the best way and now I would like to do more English-lan- Mom Enslaved teaches him to go with his is Shmi, this slave and single for him. She also guage films." So just who

76 S'VARLOG/October 1999 —

As Shmi Skywa/ker, Psmilla August is maternal fcrce to be reckoned witr feelings."elings." — versial. But it's good, sometimes, to let the Then, there's that little matter ofAnakin's audience put in what they want to put in. It's apparent Immaculate Conception, a scenario a challenge to the audience." that has generated a variety of opinions rang- August spent about a month toiling on ing from bemusement to confusion to anger. The Phantom Menace, spending two weeks "I think Shmi has some kind of feeling about on soundstages at Leavesden Studios just it. She has contact with something. She has outside and another two weeks on some kind of Force," August explains. "She location in sweltering Tunisia. Though sur- knows that something is going to happen. She knew the first time she saw Qui-Gon [Liam Neeson] that he was going to take Ingmar Anakin away. I got the feeling she knew, but Bergman I can't explain it. George didn't explain it to me, and I didn't think, Anakin is going to be and Darth. ,' because Shmi doesn't know that. I decided none of that is my world. It all Vader had to happens later. I played it as, 'This is now and this is the be story we're brothers? going to tell' I don't think Shmi does anything wrong as a parent rounded by a make-believe world, August to turn Anakin to the Dark Side. It has to be reports that she—and everyone around her something else, but we don't know yet what strived to make it feel real. "It's very impor- that something else is. tant to think of any role in anything as real," "I'm not surprised George [dropped in she argues. "Especially in a SF film, you :he Immaculate Conception scenario]. He's According to August, Shmi's backstory is hazy. have to be believable every single second. Duilding up to it in a way, in a religious way. But audiences can surely predict one thing Otherwise, it's a cartoon. When I first went to \ctually, I am surprised. It's a little contro- about her future: Anakin w/7/come back for her. the set and saw all these spaceships and crea- i

STARLOG/Oclober 1999 77 Working with Liam Neeson was wonderful, says August. "When you meet him on the set, you just go ^Nobody c with it. He's so there, so supportive and so polite." knows wiiatfe I

going to 1

happen to J Mommy." j a set right after on The Phantom Menace ^ wrapping Les Miserables, directed by Bille g August]." | Son unbound ] Asked to select her favorite scene in the $

movie, August instantly points to what she \ scene," those tender calls the "goodbye j moments on Tatooine during which Shmi I farewell to her son and tells him not to bids j look back, then wraps him up in a loving hug J he tearfully runs to her and promises when , that he will come back to get her. "The scene j has such beautiful lines in it," she enthuses. much, too, "The scenes with Liam I like very . is probably the best of but the goodbye scene . ' my scenes. They're very emotional moments in a film that has a lot of politics and action. The sections on Tatooine are very important. They have to be there. Otherwise, it's just computer stuff." Bottom line, the actress thinks Lucas the pulled it off, that he concocted a tale with right mix of wonder, SF, action, adventure, heart and mystery. "It's overwhelming," she says. "I have to go home to Sweden and just

digest it all. It's so much. When I saw it the

first time, I thought, 'God, is this the movie I worked on?' I only had my little scenes and I had very little to do with the special effects. So I love to see it all put together was wonderful.

it. And I have to see it again."

Love it though she may, there's the very real possibility August could face a backlash

at home in Sweden. Many actors from foreign lands have complained in the past that their countrymen often belittle their successes in America with cries of selling out or going commercial. "That hasn't happened yet!" August remarks. "No, no, no. I think Sweden

is proud of me. I've only had support, and peo- watched the pod race anxiously...and August made Above this grungy crowd, Shmi only had good things to say. They've racing to the death. ple have believe "a man running around with a sign" was little Anakin, been wishing me good luck. Just after I got the part, a Swedish journalist wrote that I had "Jake is so sweet," she raves. "I tried to be a tares, I thought, 'Oh my God, what is this? I'm Berman's mother and that I was friend to him. I got to know his par- played Ingmar going to be a part of this?' After two hours, it motherly Darth Vader's mother, so because they were always with him, which now going to play 'Hi!' It becomes so natural, and that's ents was like, Darth Vader had to be He's so relaxed. I've worked with Ingmar Bergman and a wonderful feeling. was good. brothers. I thought that was very funny." quite a lot, and you have to be patient with "It's part of your job as an actor to get there, kids Next up for August is the maternal role, co- act- them. They are so sensitive. I think it's impor- to make it believable. For me, that's what starring with Christian Bale in Mary and Jesus, tant that [child actors] always have one person ing is about. It was hard sometimes. For exam- movie airing in November. With to relate to, and George was that person for a NBC TV ple, when we did the pod race scene, there was Menace a smash hit and with Jake. He would talk to George about the char- The Phantom no pod. It was a man running around with a that he'll return for Shmi our relationship. I thought what I Anakin's promise sign. 'Here's Anakin! Here it comes again!' acter and likely that August help Jake was just to show that I'm still hanging in the air, it's That could get a bit tricky. I remember that could do to once again, if not in Episode II, professional and that I'm doing it for real, to be could appear Natalie Portman and I were laughing because it or perhaps in both. and be there when we were acting. I also then in Episode III, felt weird and it was so absurd. But you have to open going to happen to with Liam. When you meet him "Nobody knows what's concentrate and use your imagination all the loved working Pernilla August says with a sly the set, you just go with it. He's so there, so Mommy," time." on "We'll see. I would love to come back and so polite. I'll do anything with laugh. Helping the actress make it real were her supportive again." He's also such a great actor [who arrived and play her co-stars, most specifically Neeson and Lloyd. him.

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Lucasfilm Ltd. TM. All rights reserved. & Used under authorization. Visit the Official Star Wars Weh She at hHp://wvw.starwars. ( A former security officer turned prophet of doom, Cade Foster (Sebastian Spence) struggles to make Earth's future uglier on First Wave.

prophet maintains that it's realistic to dramatize a PHILLIPS lost book written by the long-dead By MARK fight against insur- Nostradamus. The book warns of an alien hero's inner turmoil in his odds. "His motivation last year was will in three waves: infil- mountable Foster is barely a person invasion that come death. In one episode attack and Armageddon. to avenge his wife's anymore, if you go by Sebas- tration, outright has "The Box"], he finds the alien who strangled definition. By the end of the first episode, Foster L Cadetian Spence's empty But it's an for his wife's mur- his wife and kills him. "Being a part of the human been framed by the aliens see a change in lonely cross-country journey revenge. That's when we is having your job, your der. He begins a race here and expose the conspiracy. Cade. He realizes the aliens are still wife, your kids, and being from town to town to stopped, they're going to con- in the life of this reluc- unless they're able to watch TV when you Chaos is nothing new His hatred of the tough line to toe long tinue killing other people. get home from work," says tant crusader, who had a percent for screwing up his life." landed. And it's the charac- aliens is 100 opence, the star of the alien con- before the aliens early shows, Foster tried to convince inner destruction, and past pains, that fas- In the spiracy series First Wave. "But Foster doesn't ter's ordinary townsfolk of the invasion while stay- cinate the actor. have that anymore. He eats, drinks, thinks and ahead of the police. Last season, has never been discussed in the show, ing one step sleeps aliens. That's all he's focused on. His "It took on myriad identities, posing but Cade Foster had a very dark and painful Foster also life is saturated with this battle and in the safety official, a track coach, a Spence reveals. "He was abused as a reporter, a process, he's losing his humanity." childhood," a religious convert, a long-lost and his mother died of cancer. bounty hunter, With the extraterrestrials on the brink of by his father record company executive as he pounded daily in his fight against nephew and a invading Earth, Foster tries to expose their He's being conspiracy. Spence is Nobody believes him, the police tried to expose the plans to the rest of the unsuspecting these aliens. invasion have now given Foster a pursuing him, the aliens want him dead happy that the writers world. Spence, who is now filming the second are direct goal. "There's much less of the process Cade is losing his compas more season of the Sci-Fi Channel's First Wave, and in the let convince you there It annoys him 'Please sit down and me Foster's determination sion and becoming much colder. explains that while becoming more has predicted he will be the are aliens' scenes. He's now steadfast, his soul is taking a fierce that Nostradamus remains developing tactical it or military-minded. He's one-man war, savior of humanity. He doesn't believe drubbing as he carries on his tremen- not the ways to defeat the aliens, and yet the want it. He's like, 'No, it's not me, I'm on him are making him darker Prowling Prophet Chosen One!' He doesn't want that responsi dous pressures and less human. He's feeling incredible hostil- Foster's world turns upside down when bility. these bloody bastards who are "At the same time, he's becoming obsessed ity toward aliens surreptitiously select him as a human these aliens: 'I'll destroy myself to responsible." guinea pig to determine whether humans will as he fights you bloody bastards!' Originally make easy prey for global conquest. Out of destroy you, Pals much more fearful of the aliens, but Paranoid 117 human test subjects, he is the only one he was is "Crazy Eddie" Nam- to die because on the Foster's only ally aliens' relentless physi- he's no longer afraid able to withstand the whom Foster meets already dead. The human things bulous (Rob LaBelle), and mental torture. But that's only the inside, he's cal Eddie's Internet website, The so precious to him, like love, are after reading beginning for Foster, a former thief who had that were Times. Eddie, a feisty social outcast, gone. He has become more callous and Paranoid turned his life around. His nightmare contin- uses his computer wizardry to help Fostei weird hallucinations aggressive. For him, it's payback time!" ues when he experiences time Brancato (STARLOG track down the aliens. At the same his savings are wiped Created by Chris his house is ransacked, Eddie's produced by Francis Ford Cade's cool demeanor helps to calm from his job at a security #251) and executive out and he's fired pleasure to act witl Coppola and Larry Sugar, First Wave has frayed nerves. "It's a firm. "He plays paranoid, ] worldwide success for over a year. Rob," Spence smiles. Discovering that extraterrestrials, in prepa- enjoyed dynamic is wonderful Channel has already committed to play irritated, and the ration for a massive attack, are taking on The Sci-Fi for it. Some of my favorife year of episodes. Rob really goes form and infiltrating society, Foster's a third human with Crazy Eddie." Spence, the lead of this unusual series, days are acting only hope in stopping the takeover lies with a

80 STARLOG/Ocfofrer 1999 o longer afraid to die becauseise o^on the inside, hefaLalxBadVjiead? ^ ;

All First Wave Photos: Copyright 1999 USA Network Toronto and I was passed over. I wasn't even Alien Invader Barbie? Foster and Crazy Edd considered because I was too young. They saw (Rob LaBelle) infiltrate a cloning lab with Cade Foster as being older, in his mid-30s. So hung up on th with inhabitants who are totally I completely dismissed it and moved on auty myth, .and world dbnquest. tape got my life. But somehow, my audition put into a reel with the three main choices for the role. While they were spinning through that audition reel, someone said, 'Who's that young guy there?' They decided to add me as a possible choice and eventually asked me to do a screen test. It was this huge, five-page scene, and my nerves were shot as I did it in front of a dozen producers. I blew it. I was much too nervous. But there had been a couple of scenes well, on my first audition tape that had played and they sensed a genuine quality I had in playing the character. They decided to take a chance on me. My agent called me and said, 'Break out the wine!' Because I had screwed up my screen test so badly, I was still doubtful. But everybody was in my corner, Larry Sugar in particular." Spence feels good about the first season, but he admits the series' concept is not an easy one to sustain. "I'm lucky that our writers are so clever. They do a good job of not let- ting the stories fall flat. They've set up the premise very well, and it's not the same sce- nario every week—where I go into some small town and uncover the latest alien experiment. The stories have become more twisted and weirder, and my character is actively aggressive in finding ways to defeat these aliens." He considers the pilot, "Subject 117" (written by Brancato), the ideal premiere for the show. "I loved all of that creepy

stuff, where I find out my life is going hay- wire because of these aliens. That was a really spooky show. The second episode, 'Crazy Eddie,' is another favorite. In 'The Box,' Cade returns to his hometown of Chicago to put a flower on his wife's grave. The aliens, knowing his emotions for her will betray him, arrange to have the cops arrest him. One of them is an alien, and the show consists of me and one other actor in an interrogation room, exchanging intense dialogue in this confrontation. It reaches a furious crescendo when the alien cop tells Cade that he was the one who killed Cade's wife. Cade kills him and escapes. As an

actor, I loved the psychological torture my character has to go through." There is only one alien that Foster Joshua (Roger emotions." respects in any way, and that's but powerful scene between some real human A quiet subterfuge of his race's win the lead role on Cross), who hates the LaBelle provided both actors with That Spence would Spence and reflect thai Wave was something neither Nos- invasion plans. "It's important to one of their favorite moments. In "Marker First are evil," Spence points out nor the young actor could have pre- not all aliens 262," Foster is seized with despair over the tradamus aliens in TV and film are depicted as didn't think I had a chance," he says. "Most invasion and expresses disappointment in his dicted. "I cut you to pieces. But Joshua isn' Canadian and native of St. John's, New- bad. They'll fellow man. He announces to Eddie that he's A just walking in and sliming this foundland, Spence got an early start in the interested in hanging up his savior mantle, moving up north He's too proud for that. He advocates business by acting in local theater. His mother planet. and~beginning a new life. Eddie, stunned and approach: 'If we're gonna figh successful local actress and his father more direct scared, desperately talks him out of it. was a let's meet 'em head on. Knocl playwright. Although he had already co- these humans, handle it anymore," says was a "Cade can't "We're here." acclaimed movie The Boys of St. on the front door and say, can't accept this kind of responsi- starred in the Spence. "He a mutual respect and had guest roles on The X- Joshua and Cade develop Eddie, who was a paranoid schizo- Vincent (1994) bility. hope that maybe there an Outer Limits and Sliders, Spence and it gives Cade living in a trailer before he met Cade, Files, The phrenic share Joshua's point-of himself a long shot for the role of other aliens who will and who now has a sense of purpose in his life, considered view. But Cade doesn't trust Joshua or consid I've got nothing!' Foster. tells Cade, 'If you quit, saved each other' of irony involved in my cast- er him an ally. They've Eddie knows how empty his life will be with- "There's a bit lives, but whether they'll work together dow ing," he says. "I auditioned for this role in out Cade. I loved that scene. We got to play

82 STARLOG/October 1999 ,

Selected Photos: Carol Segal Design & Layout: RickTeng

This victim (Emanuelle Vaugier) of brutal extraterrestrial tests may not survive to fight, but her plight fuels Foster's vendetta.

tnc Lne, I don't know. It's an interesting

dynamic, and acting with Roger is wonderful.

Whenever I work with Roger or Rob, it's a pleasure. They're my two actor allies on the show." ft Perpetual Pounding Despite the help from his colleagues, Spence takes the brunt of the blows on First Wave. The show requires him to run, jump fight and duck gunfire. In "The Aftertime,' Foster is even killed (albeit briefly). The actor was a movie reviewer at one point and he took "We're not The X-Files, where everybody also has intense an scene in "Target 117," try us to see all kinds of stuff. I loved Time Ban- knows everything about it. Frankly, I was ing to calm a panicked Crazy Eddie after the dits, and Blade Runner is my favorite film of never a big X-Files fan, it's all done on the pair find themselves trapped on an island all time." same note. And I think people are getting tired While chatting in his trailer, Spence belies his Despite his zeal for way-out films, the of watching Star Trek-type shows, where you fatigue with good humor, but he'll be fighting actor is leery of the idea of real aliens on Earth, see guys in spandex doing their number on a a femme fatale alien assassin (played by super- malevolent or otherwise. "I've seen documen- studio set. Some of these shows have all of star wrestler Sable) in the episode, and jump- taries where people say they've been abducted. these fantastic alien races like the Zenons, the ing out of a car before it bursts into flames I don't dismiss them, but I've never had an Mamons or the Balogs, and it gets pretty far- before the night is out. alien encounter. As a kid, I used to think about out." "It's interesting how Cade Foster and I that kind of thing, but once you're 18 and real Grimacing and shaking his head, Sebastian ended up paralleling each other," he says life smacks you in the face, you forget about Spence—who played Eddie Fein in Family of thoughtfully. "Cade is so wired and intense, aliens and monsters under the bed. I still give Cops III in between Waves,—admits he's not a running and getting beat up by aliens, that after credence that there are probably aliens out total SF prude. He just sees First Wave for a certain amount of episodes, he's really beat there. I doubt that we're alone, but I'm not one what it is. "I really shouldn't be dissing other up and tired. And here I am, an actor running of those guys running around saying, 'Hey, did shows, but my point is that First Wave is a and jumping around, working 15-hour days you hear about that flying saucer report last much cleaner and simpler show. The stories and literally wearing out as last season pro- night?' Unlike Foster, Cade I'm not seeing are great, we have good characters and I like to gressed. I got more physically decrepit as we aliens in every corner." think we have some good acting going on. went on. Through no fault of the show, I Spence has compared other SF shows We're doing it genuinely. We're not a bunch of injured myself around episode 10 last season," presently airing to First Wave and offers his cocky actors trying to pull the wool over your referring to an old back injury he aggravated. opinion on his why series seems to appeal to eyes, saying, 'Man, look at us, we're doing "I ended up going in for surgery by episode 2 an audience tired 1 of intergalactic explosions some stupid SF show.' We, as actors, really go but this year, I'm back to 100 percent and I'm and space antics. "I've found that people either for this ourselves. We try to make it as good as starting off this season very strong." like science fiction or they're frumpy 40-year- we can and make it something we're proud of. Spence respects the genre and grew up olds who don't dig it; they watch and First Wave isn't about nine billion explosions with one of the most popular SF films of all then go to sleep. The people who watch First going off or great FX or mind-popping wiz- time. "I was around 10 when Star Wars came Wave really dig the show. We're like this little ardry. It's about stories and characters, and I out, and even now, just hearing the music SF show that not everybody knows about, but think people are recognizing that. First Wave is brings back shivers!" he laughs. "My father many who do are loyal fans. a great show to be a part of."

STARLOG/October 1999 83 —

ame comes in all rapidly starred in a quartet of genre forays Golden Days Born on January 12, 1937 in the North Lon- shapes, sizes and col- the 1966 version of Agatha Christie's Ten Little and don suburb of Edgeware, Middlesex, Shirley ors—especially gold. Indians, Around the World Under the Sea, grew up in a lower middle-class When British actress as Sax Rohmer's female Fu Manchu, Su-Muru, Jean Eaton family. Her parents eventually opened a hotel Shirley Eaton spent one in The Million Eyes of Su-Muru and The Girl Cornwall. Her mother encouraged her to uncomfortable morning in from Rio. Then, after giving birth to a second in a performer. 1964 covered in gold paint son, she retreated from public notoriety at age become first job was as a model for knitting i for a small yet pivotal role 31, retiring into a more fulfilling domestic life. "My Eaton recalls. "My first theatrical opposite Sean Connery in Three decades later, Eaton is back, with patterns,"

adventure was at 12, in Sir Benjamin Britten's . Goldfinger, she expected to convention appearances on both sides of the Golden children's opera Let's Make an Opera. I had attract attention in the James Bond extravagan- Atlantic and a new autobiography, in America. To mark what we call 'a variety background.' Until za. Little did she anticipate, though, that her Girl, due out in October films took over, my early career was as a singer appearance would create an international sen- the occasion, she has granted STARLOG an home, to which and dancer in the theater." sation, enshrining her as an icon of 1960s pop- interview from her Middlesex her hus- Making her screen debut at age 12, as an ular culture. As she would soon learn, the she moved from France following out of the extra in the 1949 drama No Place for Jennifer, trouble with being an icon is that you may not band's death in 1995. Thirty years diminished her candor about Eaton worked continuously on live British TV, realize it until it's too late to do you any good. limelight haven't which left her acting in plays and hosting and singing on her "I always took my career with a pinch of a career she never sought, " she never wanted own series, Teleclub. So popular did she salt," Eaton declares. 'Work hard, be polite stereotyped as a sex symbol become that she even starred at 17 in a teen and treat it as a game' is my philosophy. It's to be. very pretty and had a good magazine comic strip titled Shirley, which only now that I realize how important it was. I "I was always The chronicled her fictional exploits. didn't think about Goldfinger making me a big figure," she says. "That was the problem. what to do with That same year, 1954, Eaton began appear- star. I've never been ambitious for that ridicu- English have never known put in come- ing regularly on the big screen, progressing lous notion called 'stardom.' I just went out and beautiful women. Producers me how else to deal from extra to supporting part to female leads. did my work, and came back home to my hus- dies because they didn't know time, actresses Having supplied the romantic interest in Val band and son." with me. In England at that Guest's naval spoof Further Up the Creek Eaton had already served a long tenure as a played either the girl next door or the tart. I fell she reunited with the writer/director a working professional before her sojourn into somewhere in between. They always had me in (1958), year later for her genre debut. In the fantasy Bondage, providing generous slices of cheese- my undies, or getting out of a bath. They they didn't take me musical comedy Life Is a Circus, Eaton por- cake in lowbrow British comedies of the 1950s appreciated my looks, but trayed a trapeze artist nicknamed "Shirl Girl," and '60s. Propelled to leading lady status, she seriously as a dramatic actress."

84 STARLOG/October 1999 3b*

aneing James

Today, Shirley Eaton is still a Golden Girl. That's the title of her book, to be published in America next month. Eaton It wasn't until she y saw Goldfinger at its London pre- miere that Eaton realized it wasn't her voice answer- ing 007 Sean Connery. She had been dubbed. her mettle.

whose shabby circus troupe is reluctantly ly menacing about him." Spillane, who also starred as his two-fisted pri- aided by curmudgeonly genie Lionel Jefferies Carve Up! producers Robert S. Baker and vate eye creation. (STARLOG #205). Monty Berman subsequently hired Eaton for "I loved making The Girl Hunters," Eaton "Life Is a Circus was a happy movie to three episodes of their popular TV series The says. "I was terribly worried about working make," Eaton remembers. "It was the nearest I Saint, starring Roger Moore. Another change- with Mickey, knowing that he was an author ever came to doing a musical film. Val was a of-pace assignment arrived in 1963, when and not an actor. But he was fabulous with his very precise director. Lionel had a colorful per- Eaton played a senator's bikini-clad widow in lines. He would make funny remarks if he got sonality. My husband and I became friends the Mike Hammer mystery The Girl Hunters. them wrong, but he seemed extremely confi- with him and his wife, and we saw them social- The gritty thriller was co-written by Mickey dent. He liked playing his own character." ly for a while. I climbed up high and sat on the

trapeze, but a double did my act. I was terrified, but it was fun." Invariably presented as wholesome, genial sexpots clad in skimpy outfits, Eaton's charac- 1 ' .' ters provoked her male co-stars to behave like buffoons. Such antics were particularly appar- ent in the 1962 horror comedy What a Carve Up.' (a.k.a. No Place Like Homicide), a slap- stick remake of the 1933 Boris Karloff vehicle The Ghoul. Carry On colleagues Sydney James and Kenneth Connor chewed the scenery, crashing a haunted house for the inevitable reading of a will. Bravely maintain- Eaton "loved" ing stiff upper lips were genre vets Dennis shooting The Price as a bemused heir, Michael Gough as a Girl Hunters with club-footed butler and Donald Pleasence as a (center) Mickey sinister solicitor. Spillane, who "Dennis was an excellent actor," Eaton portrayed his notes, "but he was very nervous. I believe he own detective drank himself to death. Donald wasn't theatri- creation Mike cal, but there was something strong and slight- Hammer.

STARLOG/Oetofe/- 1999 been dubbed by an anonymous actress with a higher-pitched voice. "It was an awful, humili- ating experience," she laments. "I had no warn-

ing, and I was really upset. When I heard that other voice, I went cold. I've never known what happened. I can only imagine that I was not available, because I had rushed off to Greece to make The Naked Brigade. I asked Guy Hamilton recently about the dubbing. He Golden images said he knew nothing about it." physique cap- Upon her return, Eaton was cast as Jill Although Eaton's golden really Masterson, Sean Connery's ill-fated bed- tured the world's imagination, it was who appeared mate, in Guy Hamilton's definitive James glamour model Margaret Nolan and in Robert Bond Goldfinger. Her smallest part in gold on the film's posters evocative main title sequence. in a decade—she worked less than a week Brownjohn's mystery," Eaton ponders. on her three brief scenes—it remains her "This is another a totally dif- signature role, as the novel sight of her "Margaret was a stripper, and had I asked about ostensibly nude, gold-covered corpse ferent face and figure from mine. told that they tried the gold paint out seared its way into people's conscious- it, and was apparently shot ness. To lessen the danger of skin suffoca- on her, to see the effect. They used it. I don't say tion, even though she actually wore gold footage with her, and then fans, because they pasties and a g-string, Hamilton complet- anything about this to the But, if it had been ed the sequence in just one morning. automatically think it's me. "They were worried about what the me in the posters and the credits, then you see in the paint might do to me," Eaton explains wouldn't be shocked when you me "Apparently, a girl in America had been movie." from completely painted for a night club act, Likewise, Eaton's name was absent posters and print ads. "I and then died from it. So they left about a most of Goldfinger's reveals. "They four-inch section of my body unpainted. sued the producers for that," she supposed to have the from my breastbone to my tummy button broke my contract. I was size billing as Honor Blackman. We set- It was uncomfortable, and I felt very hot.' same just before the picture opened. A stills photographer captured the tled out of court, going to put an body painting for posterity. "I didn't mind Otherwise, my lawyer was tried to correct it, the photos being taken, because I felt as if injunction on the film. They is some posters but still not as I was wearing a bikini," Eaton comments so my name on — the uncomfortable The actress only endured "It was like having thin sun cream filled big as Honor's." morning spent participated in gold body paint twice—for the with gold particles applied to me with a Nevertheless, Eaton for later Life magazine vari- filming the scene and a paintbrush. The particles were heavy, and Goldfinger's publicity duties, attending session. premieres. "It was photo made my pores close up. It was horribly ous press-packed American in a hur- paint. I immediately sheer madness," she says. "Like being Advancing to her first major Hollywood difficult to remove the wardrobe lady ricane. There was no good fighting it, because studio-backed picture, Eaton flew to Africa in went to my shower, where the spent about an hour I couldn't control it. I just had to get on with it. 1964 to play the female lead between Robert and two makeup girls example, I later, I went to a Every time I stepped off a plane, for Culp and Harry Guardino in Ivan Tors' big washing me down. A week parti had to wear a different gold outfit. I became game hunting adventure Rhino! for MGM. Turkish bath to sweat out any remaining sometimes, but on the whole, I did it all over again for a photo tired and grumpy "Rhino! is one of my favorite films," she states. cles. And then which was on the cover of Life!' people were lovely to me." "I look terrific in it, and I liked the fact that it session, perfunctory part. Catapulted to a higher profile, Eaton gained made an important point about animal preser- Overqualified for such a actioner The appalled to discover, at Goldfinger first billing for the Greek war vation. I had a wonderful time in Africa. I used Eaton was cast premiere, that her performance had Naked Brigade. She then joined an all-star to go off exploring with the game warden on London

86 STARLOG/Orfofcer 1999 a

She Rules a Palace of Pleasure

of potential victims as the female lead opposite One Million Eyes may not Hugh O'Brian in Ten Little Indians, produced by have seen Su-Muru in the schlockmeister Harry Alan Towers. scanty original run. The fol-

"I had a solid, serious role," she points out. "It low-up was never released was one of Harry's few good films. He was a theatrically in America.

shadowy character. I enjoyed making the picture, UNOSAV SHOHIEFF HARIW AWN TOWHB KMNNMSAai • POM fell but I sensed that he was a hustler. Daliah Lavi was Muru, released by AIP, in which quite temperamental. She was gorgeous, with Eaton's scheme to enslave long, dark hair, but the short wig she had to wear mankind is thwarted by Hollywood expatriate didn't do anything for her. Overdressing her made George (Robot Monster) Nader and aging beach me look better, but I would have preferred us both partier Frankie Avalon. to look equally beautiful." "It was a ridiculous role," she concedes, "but it

was a different part for me. I knew it wasn't such

Golden Hearts an up-market production as other films I had Rejoining producer Tors, Eaton to Flori- went made, but I wanted to play Su-Muru. Perhaps I da in for 1966, MGM's hard SF adventure Around wanted to prove something to myself. Harry the World Under the Sea. Again cast by Tors was always polite and respectful, but the against type, she portrayed the only woman— women around him made me uncom marine biologist —among five male scientists fortable. There were a lot of girls in aboard a nuclear-powered submarine planting the Su-Muru movies, and some of earthquake detectors along the ocean floor. Her them were most unwholesome." jfl presence in such close quarters creates unavoid- Shot at the primitive Shaw JH able sexual tension, until seaworthy leader Lloyd Brothers Studios in Hong jfl Bridges' admonition that women deserve parity Kong, Million Eyes required with men in the new world of science. Eaton to forcefully "It was Ivan's idea that a woman can be sexy seduce Nader—and as well as scientific," Eaton emphasizes. "That's then tie him up and why I liked him so much. He could see the real whip him. me, so I immediately felt a rapport with him. I've "George was

always been an intelligent woman, but after work- polite about it," ing with so many comedians, one began to won- she recounts. der. Around the World was one of the happiest "The working films I made, on set and off. Most of the cast's conditions were spouses were there, and everyone got on well. We extremely all went off deep-sea diving together." unpleasant. We After her second son's birth, Eaton braved the shot it in July, and perils of Los Angeles to star with in her the studio was first Hollywood-based production, the TV movie very hot. I spy thriller The Scorpio Letters. Lingering in Tin- was full of seltown, she supported Bob Hope in Eight on the perspiration

Lam. all the Curiously, after breaking into mainstream time." American films, Eaton detoured into low-budget Eaton independent exploitation by playing Sax endured a Rohmer's power-crazed dominatrix Su-Muru in a second Su- pair of potboilers produced by Towers. First up Muru ses- was the tongue-in-cheek The Million Eyes ofSu- W

1968, journeying to Brazil for the even more poverty-stricken The Girl from Rio (a.k.a. Future Women), directed by Jess Franco. This MISS WHAT'S time her stubborn psychopath was rechris- DON'T "Sunanda" tened "Sumitra" in the credits and in the post-synch dubbing, and launched her latest assault on male authority from "Femina, on TELEVISION! the City of Women." Under any moniker, Rio is one of Franco's most chaotic attempts to TuNe IN TO SCI-FI TV FOR THE laTES make a coherent film, and consequently never received theatrical release in America or Eng- Here's the programming lineup of past editions. land. Pinching every penny in sight, Towers had All SCI-FI TVs are still available as back issues. Order NOW. Franco shoot two brief, gratuitous scenes of Eaton—lasting a mere 68 seconds—during the R ii a| Interviews: David Duchovny, Rene Auberjonois, ;f S o Vag b . B AH VLQNl Rio finale, which he inserted without her Tallman, Richard ^Smk TT 1 Salome Jens, Tim Russ, Patricia knowledge near the end of his previous pro- Team. i Chevolleau. Sliders. Space Island One. Super Adventure duction, Franco's The Blood of Fu Manchu %%Vl 1-4. Kill). '^ Episode Guide Posters: Buffy Year 1-2, Voyager $10 (a.k.a. Against All Odds and Kiss and m^^L JB YJ1 Although he awarded her special "Guest Star" billing, Towers never paid her for this unau- jonfessel- Interviews:interviews: Chris Carter, jjC"? -ajr m 4+ ZZ2 Cm* , S cameo. I Tf m-Z Nicole deBoer. Roxann Daw- thorized Sadly, this chapter brought Eaton's career son, Robert Duncan McNeill, Bill to a bittersweet close, as she decided on the X-writer Vince ewQax i .1-^, f\ Mumy, Mark Dacascos, j lioole m 8 Jb plane home from Brazil that her priorities had Gilligan. The animated Godzilla & changed. "It was a combination of circum- RoboCop. BRATS of the Lost Nebula. J* | stances," she admits. "Before the two Su- Posters: Xena Y1-3, Episode Guide Murus, I was already doubting that I would Hercu/esY1-4. $6 continue. With two sons and a family to run, I couldn't do justice to both my personal life

•« e Interviews: Kate Mulgrew, and my career. I felt like I was being pulled JL>^ Ho«m V JJL *"T| 3 hrft&Bttai.i.-!'i!(r™is; offered Armin apart. So it was a timely escape. I was • Dorn, 111". I II hHl* TT Jjl Michael >,i;;it'i1ri f.'iira: i HI. B ,, 5 miiuri.uiocoHiuvHfciiiF. ^ p. all * ' films after that, and I turned them down." 9 . - LaPaglia, James ... ^ ^* Shimerman, Jonathan Energized by her cordial reception at • * iciFit . 7 % McCaffrey, John Bradley, Maria Del recent James Bond events in England, Eaton * , Mar, X-director Rob Bowman. Raven. enjoyed a warm welcome at her first American Ju/es Verne. Episode Guide h A -wfcfJ Young convention appearance, the Halloween 1998 5 Complete Y1 -5, 35S5S Posters: Babylon Chiller Theater Expo in Secaucus, New Jersey. =LJk , Millennium Y1-2. S6 "It makes me feel joyful and very flattered," i 1 , . she muses. "When I was busy doing it all, my and ii ^» interviews: Robert Picardo, Garrett Wang, Cir- life was so hectic. Now, it's nice to pause some importance. I TT roc Lofton, Alyson Hannigan, Anita La Selva, see that my career was of don't know if I deserve it, but it's rewarding to Richard Burgi, Sabine Karsenti, Kevin Conroy, B5 producer know how many fans I still have, and that peo- John Copeland. Episode Guide Posters: Stargate SG-1 ple enjoy my work. I love to be loved—espe- Y1-2, S//dersY1-4.$6 cially since I lost my darling husband." In her 20-year acting career, Eaton experi- #5 Available April. $6 9 #B Available June. $6 • #7 Available August. $6 enced all aspects of her profession. Such an #8 Available October. $6 • #9 Available December. $6 eventful life should make Golden Girl a lively read. And, should circumstances prove fortu- itous, she might even consider a limited return to acting, now that she has filmed an interview for mystery novelist Max Allan Collins' docu- ISSUES mentary tribute to . Whatever SCI-FI BACK hold, this feisty, 62-year-old TV future her may grandmother of four continues to outwit the Please send me these SCI-FI TV issues fickle (gold)finger of fate. # Price # Price Total enclosed: $_ # Price _ # Price "I made big commitments when I was Price # Price # : young," Shirley Eaton reflects. "I was only 20 Account No. first child Postage & Handling: New York State when I married, and 22 when my residents add 8 1/4% sales tax. One mag- was born. I had already made my choices, and Card Expiration Date: / (Mo./Yr.) azine: $2. to five magazines: Add Add Up I don't regret them. A career is just a career, Add $5. $3. Six or more magazines: Daytime Phone #:( ) Your but you're a mother until you die. I'm more at Method of Payment: the end of my life than at the beginning, and I Cash Check Money Order think I made the right decisions. I've packed a It Appears On Your Card Discover Master Card Visa Print Name As lot into life. There have been some hard Credit card orders may be faxed to 21 2-889-7933. my times and some wonderful times, both in my Cash, check or money order to: Street STARLOG GROUP, INC. career and in my personal life. But I wouldn't 475 Park Avenue South be the woman I am today had I not made those State Zip York, NY 10016 City New decisions—and I'm pleased about that. I've coupon, we is If you do not want to cut out got a few wrinkles on my face, but my figure will accept written orders Please allow 4 still gorgeous. I could still be painted gold."

to 6 weeks for delivery. I Your Signature CD Cassette Quan. Price Each Total Price Send cash, check or money order to: Starlog 475 Park Ave. South, New York, NY 10016 Fax (212) 889-7933

Name Address stage: US 150 per unit Postage and Shipping City State _Zip_ Canada - 3.00 per unit Phone # Foreign - 5.00 per unit Total Amount Due se allow • • Visa/Mastercard # 4 8 weeks tor delivery Fortiori ordets send US funds onlv. Exp,

I want to cut magazine? write order on any plain pieoe ol paper

— —

beautiful, young, and outside of Earth, totally cut off [was too was that person. She's a classic story. That's the beauty of The Astro- pletely innocent, and yet she definitely seems older naut's Wife—you're lying in bed with your much for him]." has that kind of '40s writer liked the idea enough, in fact, to than her years. Charlize wife, husband or lover, and you think, 'Do I The glamour feel to her. At the same time, she's the it for an original script rather than incor- really know this person? What do I really know save the person I was " Ash, especially when he recog- girl next door. She was exactly about the person I've given my life to?' porate it into the tale's true pivotal character. "The looking for. This is a big issue with Ravich, who nized Johnny. sat down and of that story, the more I saw that "The same with We believes in the SF and horror genres' ability to more I thought suggests, it's not his character is his wife, talked about it. As the title draw upon people's innermost fears. "I love the really interesting least, it's seen through her she's the one to whom the audience movie, it's hers—at horror because its external mechanics are so because understood his part, of the movie through eyes. But Johnny not only the blood, the gore, the heightened relates. I try to tell much extreme: never identify with her, and he took that character to places I would acceleration of plot and the serious scares. It her eyes, because we progres- and eventually heartbroken for have imagined and yet were a natural allows you to explore deep, dark psychological we're scared sion of where he should go. For example, secrets, because the world that you set around her." from the South John- Ravich notes that although the astronaut Spencer is an astronaut — it is so dark. Now, obviously those things ny himself is from Tennessee—and he went through college and graduate school in the Air Force. Astronauts are physical and mental giants, and they are very refined—all their motions are refined; they're like computers. They've been through so much schooling. "So Johnny came up with the notion that when the accident happens to his character, he should go back to an earlier version of who Spencer was—regressing into his own grandfa- ther, mentally and psychologically. All the schooling and social manners are lost—and

this is a scary, hard-drinking, white trash guy from the 1930s. It all comes out in flashes you get a flash when Johnny has a drink in his hand and when he looks at his wife, and you think, This guy is capable of extreme vio- lence' —you see something in him from a much earlier time. It's really terrifying."

Bitter or worse

Still, there were challenges for Ravich

especially when it came to directing certain scenes. "For me, the scariest moments are through Spencer's draw- lingered in his mind while he when Jillian is going [aliens and monsters] can be used mechanical- character she finds this letter, and she turns horror searched for a suitable story, a new twist on the ers and ly, and they quite often are, but in real her husband is standing there him. "Then I realized that of course around and they're used to explore very deep psychologi- wife struck the monster is out of the has to get pregnant. My wife was actu- watching her. Once cal problems." the wife anymore, so handling time, too, so that may have closet, it's not that scary The movie also touches upon the delicacy ally pregnant at the those very real moments with the actors was it. When Jillian finds out she's preg- of human relationships—on how fragile they influenced difficult for me and also the most it's quite like Rosemary's Baby., Her the most are. "We all wonder how much we know other nant— because leads gynecologist, NASA officials rewarding part, especially my people how much is kept hidden either by friends, her — more accomplished authority are all telling her that were amazing and much design or by accident," notes Ravich. "Is there people with — wrong. And yet when she and her than I am. a part of human nature that never allows you to nothing's "There's one scene in the movie toward the know somebody?" husband get home and the lights go off, there's a showdown between husband and wife. definitely something wrong." end, Florida, around Cape Rendering Asunder The director took normal reactions about The movie starts in "Not only Kennedy [a.k.a. Canaveral], a very warm place Ravich thinks he might know his movie childbirth as inspiration for Jillian. water it's like a develop fears and ambivalent with blue skies and fresh — well, but his interest in The Astronaut's Wife do many women there. Once he has their own pregnancies, but fairy tale. It's always sunny came about quite by accident. "I had been feelings about when the accident, Spencer takes Jillian to New York working on another project [an animated ver- which is perfect for a movie like this— this huge firm. It pregnant, they mutate. They become City, where he gets a job at sion of Ash, the comic book by loe Quesada & they're world. creatures. They grow quickly becomes a very, very cold limmy Palmiotti then published by Laurie these fantastic, horror perceptions change, "They move in winter, which also could be Bradach, wife of STARLOG writer Kim and they change, their psychological really, they become why she might be having the Howard Johnson] that also used other writers, their appetites change— takes her away from all her these Hollywood aliens." breakdown. He it never got made," he recalls. "We were but warm, nurturing could pull off this subtle but friends, from this terribly searching around for new bad guys. I thought it But who York. transformation not to mention essay environment, into a cold New would be interesting to have a human astronaut intense — husband? Ravich had definite "And you're never outside—in the film, go up, get into an accident and then come back the chilling in one different interior environ- in mind when casting and he was you're always a bad guy. Maybe the explosion in the satellite thoughts — rather quickly. "I ment after another. So she goes from this very changes him, maybe he was taken over super- fortunate to locate his talent Ravich. "Many very naturalistic world in Florida into this wintery maybe he's too stressed out, having found Charlize first," says naturally, anymore. expressed interest in being in New York without any natural reality radio contact, or maybe those two minutes talented actresses lost very high minutes after sitting down The people—she has moved into this when he thinks he's going to die turn him into the film, but five York society aren't real either. with her for breakfast one morning, I knew she Catholic, New — a supervillain—the experience of being corn- —

They all seem like aliens. And she herself starts in Los Angeles in the early '80s, I realized that The Matrix—everyone thought it was ground- feeling like an alien, too I had seen about 100 plays in my life as com- breaking technology. The technology has been "Anyway, toward the end, they're back in pared to 10,000 movies. I took one screenwrit- around for years, but finally two guys came their cold New York apartment, and they're ing class and I immediately discovered I was along who knew how to use it to serve a story." having this kind of man-woman showdown, much more comfortable and much happier The Astronaut's and Johnny came Wife includes two very sig- up to me and said, 'I'm going writing screenplays than plays." nificant examples of FX which, to try something.' says Ravich, The cameras started to roll, Several years later, Ravich became a work- "hopefully I'm using just and he unleashed right, where the story something on the set that was ing screenwriter whose output includes The starts out very naturalistic and then like lightning. He unloaded becomes on her verbally, Maker, directed by Tim Hunter, and Candy- this world of suspicion, whispers, voices and using most of the words of the script, but man: Farewell to the Flesh. For years, Ravich letters that are folded over so you can't see adding to them and changing them. After it was contentedly practiced his craft, despite the fact them when the woman walks in the room. And over, everyone just sat around with their that many scripts he worked on ended up with- just when the natural world is down to Earth mouths open it — was a true moment of horror. out his byline. But directing was clearly on the with all its force, then I use "That's FX to burst through Johnny's talent: He's able to go horizon. The writer eventually borrowed and there's even more. Just inside when you think and find something raw and bring it out, enough money to make Oink, a highly stylized there's nothing more this world can throw at but in a controlled way. It was a scary thing short in black-and-white, heavily influenced by this poor woman, that's where the FX come he had definitely been in touch with something German Expressionist films like Dr. Mabuse in." inside him that was real raw human energy. But and The Cabinet ofDr. Caligari. For Ravich, the actual shoot was a deliri- it didn't get away from him. He brought it out "It's about this dry-cleaner who abuses his ously happy time to observe the many people and shaped it and controlled it. It was an amaz- wife and the woman who works under him and who were helping put his ing moment." vision on film, espe- everybody else, too," explains Ravich. "One cially cinematographer Allen Daviau. night, while he's abusing his wife sexually, Man and he "Nobody can compare with him for the sheer strife has a heart attack and wakes up in the hospital beauty he creates," says the director, "and I The Astronaut's marks Wife Ravich's direc- needing a heart transplant, but since he's such wanted the film to be beautiful, '40s style— torial debut. Four years earlier, he had a short film shown at Sundance and other festivals, and he has worked on several scripts for New Line Cinema. Based on that short and his writ- ing efforts, New Line execs suggested that he approach them with a script that he would like to direct. "It took five minutes" to get the go- ahead once he pitched The Astronaut's Wife. The transformation from short film director to maker of big-budget films has certainly had

its share of difficulties, but "luckily I was the only person there who had never done it before, so I was very well-protected."

Pre-production, in particular, was a fright- ening time. "Every day, the movie wanted to

fall apart. In pre-production, that's its natural momentum, but once you start production, the movie wants to stay together—and that

becomes its natural momentum. And I had an

amazing cast and crew. I couldn't believe all the quality people that had stepped up to take part in this project. I was incredibly lucky." But Ravich hardly needs the protection, not with his background he worked — on a script an asshole, he's at the bottom of the transplant even the horror. It makes it dreamy, which I with Dario Argento, for example —or his inter- list and they give him a pig's heart. He doesn't think makes it scarier." est. The filmmaker admits he's a fan of both SF take his medication, so he turns into a pig. And The movie's grand movement is from natu- and horror. "I like good movies. I think Stanley his wife and this woman he abused move in ralism to the bare essentials representing the Kubrick made the best horror, SF and psycho- together and keep him in the backyard on a heroine's universe. "When she moves to New logical films. Barry Lyndon is my favorite chain." York and her world gets colder and colder, movie, but I we think 2001 is the best SF film of all That Oink has an SF and horror bent is kept stripping the colors time and The out of it, so by the Shining is one of the scariest hardly surprising. 'Today," he continues, "SF movie's end, she's practically in black-and- movies ever made. When I wax growing up in is such a part of our lives we live in this — sci- white. Then in post-production, we did that New Jersey, there was a theater that played ence fiction universe. Now there's a service with the sound, cheesy too. In the beginning, it's natu- horror movies on Friday nights, like network of doctors and lawyers in America ralistic to the point of being Phantasm, The over the top—with Boogens and The Incubus. My who dictate into a microphone on the Internet a barking dog and a tweeting bird, rustling of father and I would go see these B-movies all and that's e-mailed to India, where there's a leaves, laughter off-screen somewhere—but the time, and I just loved them. It was a roller whole class of people training to be tran- once you get to New York, you strip those coaster. I loved the immediate scare. I loved sit- scribers. The people in India type up the things away and you finally get down to a ting there and actually being scared feeling — memos and e-mail them back to the doctors in woman in a room and all you hear is her something." New York by morning. So the doctors don't breath—her cold, cold breath." This intense feeling spurred Ravich on to need secretaries. That is SF! Next for Rand Ravich is a thriller he's writ- become a film writer. "I always wrote as a kid, "The challenge is that in earlier times the ing for Michael Douglas and a rewrite of and I a hor- went to college as a philosophy major, but introduction of technology to film was interest- ror film titled Wrath, about also a hit man who's [ did a lot of playwriting. Then I went to ing, but now you really have to use it in a way hired to kill the Devil. Sounds like a UCLA and got challenge my masters in playwriting. But that turns the story. That's what's so good about he is ready to meet. * QOOP JOS>, UTTLE NOOJ H£«£ sou 00, ALL THE GALAX.5'3 PIC' A' NIC JAS3A. OMB SaskETS cvill 3£ MINE? FROZEN

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"What is Q? If I answer

that, I would be squelch- ing the imaginations of so many millions of people who have their own opin- ions." —John de Lancie Interview: Ian Spelling & David

McDonnell, issue #206

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