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ELEVENTH HOUR mad scientist? =11 JANUARY #372' THE SCIENCE FICTION UNIVERSE

2] THE DAY THE O r"e EARTH STOOD * * STILL

NUMBER 372 • JANUARY 2009 • THE SCIENCE FICTION UNIVERSE . ainniM, ......

STARLOC .

13 CRASHDOWN & DOOMSDAY Calactica's Sam Witwer lands in

16 THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL AGAIN STARLOG visits the reincarnation on location

20 MAKER OF A BRAND-NEW DAY Scott Derrickson explains why they remade it

24 WITH DIRECTING His continues with a Librarian encore

28 FINDING 007LAND helms James Bond's grim mission

32 THE LATEST BOND GIRL Olga Kurylenko has her own agenda

51 MATT GROENING SPEAKS! His toon topics are Futurama & The Simpsons

54 HEROICALLY SEEKING LEGENDS Craig Horner wields the sword in syndication

58 SAD, MAD & DANGEROUS TO KNOW John Noble researches science on the

62 OF THE WORLD PRIMEVAL Douglas Henshall fights dinosaurs today

67 AGENT OF THE ELEVENTH HOUR Marley Shelton goes into timely action

72 FIRST MOVIE ON THE MOON Producer Jimmy Lydon launched Countdown

76 INSIDE NASA HISTORY Visit Space Center Houston to touch the Moon COMICS SCENE

36 CLARK WITHOUT LOIS Briefly, Dean Cain recalls life as

38 ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY John Newton soared high, but not for long

42 TALES OF GREEN ARROW With bow in hand, Justin Hartley targets evil

46 WHEN FLEW Helen Slater acted superheroic 25 years ago

Director Jonathan Frakes sends Noah Wyle into more Dewey Decimal System derring-do as The Librarian. Read all about it on page 24.

Photo: Mark Hill/Copyright 2008 TNT 4 mMG/January 2009 ACTION PACKED! A MUST-SEE FOR THE FANS OE THE GAME I" -Jenna Gusch, UG0.com ALL NEW GG-ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

JAPANESE BOX OFFICE SMASH FINALLY INFECTS AMERICA!

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ir-i M.:n. Lam :'.;.itv,.im.i.'.i— also feature articles and commentary by series editor Anthony Tollin and STARLOG's Will President Murray). Selected Docs will now also include THOMAS DeFEO Savage writer Lester Dent's Click Rush the

"Gadget Man" short stories. The first story Executive Art Director mimes W.R. MOHALLEY (from a 1937 Crime Busters), "Talking Toad," will be reprinted as originally written (with cut Editor DAVID MCDONNELL QUOTE OF THE MONTH text restored) in Doc #23. Meanwhile, there "If you don't get horny reading FANGO- are celebrity introductions in Shadow #23 (by Art Director RIA, I'm Britney Spears." Margot Stevenson, Orson Welles' Margot HEINER FEIL —Simon Baker, The Mentalist (pilot) Lane on radio) and #25 (by renowned portrait Managing Editor painter Everett Raymond Kinstler, who con- ALLAN DART STUPID DECISIONS tributed illos to The Shadow and other pulps Contributing Editors OF THE MONTH early in his career). The best way to get either ANTHONY TIMPONE note three exits, stage right—engi- the Doc or Shadow reprint series is by sub- MICHAEL CINCOLD Let's TOM WEAVER neered by the managements involved—that scription (six volumes, $72 first class mail, IAN SPELLING we found particularly wrong-headed: ex- $66 media mail; 12-issue sub $144 first, $132 JOE NAZZARO WILL MURRAY STARLOG contributor Jami Bernard's depar- media; check or Paypal) directly from Tollin, ture as a NY Daily News movie critic (many P.O. Box 761474, San Antonio, TX 78245- Executive Assistants months ago now), old friend Maitland ("Flick 1474. E-mail address: DEE ERWINE sanctumotr@earth- SAMUEL ZIMMERMAN Chick") McDonagh's more recent exodus link.net See the website (www. shadow from TV Guide and comics pal Jeph Loeb's sanctum.com). correspondents: (LA) Pat Jankiewicz, Bob November dismissal from the world of Well, we didn't realize it, but Monty Miller, Marc Shapiro, Bill Warren, Dan Yakir; (NYC) Dan Dlckholtz, Keith Olexa; (Chicago) Heroes. Hey, managements, you aren't sup- Python authority (and longtime STARLOG Kim Howard Johnson; (Phoenix) Bill posed to get rid of the good people! Florence; (D.C.) Rhonda Krafchin; (Canada) Mark Phillips; (Booklog) Penny Kenny, Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, Michael Wolff; THE PERFECT GIFTS (Toons) Alain "bortQ." Chaperon, Mike not give subscriptions to STARLOG Fisher, Tom Holtkamp, Bob Muleady, Leah Why Rosenthal; (Photos) Donn Nottage, Lisa and FANGORIA to friends and family? Orris. We may be a tad prejudiced, but it seems to us Radio staff: Diane Ferenczl, Mike Kostel, Debbie Rochon. they're the perfect holiday gifts. For ordering websites: Fred Ehrhart, Danny Gonzalez, info, see the sub ads this issue on page 71 and Tom Powers. special Thanks to: Joe Barslo, Michael 66. So, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Broidy, Dean Cain, David & Eileen Colton, Year. Jennifer Connelly, Carmen Davenporte- McNeal, Scott Derrickson, Jennifer Flo- rence, Marc Forster, Jonathan Frakes, BY OUR CONTRIBUTORS Howard Green, Matt Groening, Justin Hart- last, Tom Weaver confesses (as per his ley, Leif Helland, Douglas Henshall, Craig At Horner, Elissa Johansmeier, Angela H. Jung, latest interview compilation), "I Talked Carman Knight, Shanay Knighton, Olga With a ZombieV (McFarland, he, $45). That's Kurylenko, Merlsa Levine, Dot Lin, Jimmy Lydon, Julie Nagem, Frances Newsom, John why we call Weaver the Voodoo King of Film Newton, Tram Nguyen, John Noble, Chrissy Historians. His 19th book in 21 years (slack- Ouesada, Keanu Reeves, Sarah Sanders, er!) includes 23 interviews; most initially Heather Sautter, Rich scrivani, Conor sell- ers, Marley Shelton, Helen slater, Steven appeared in STARLOG, but here they're avail- Solomon, Ei-win Stoff, shannon sturcken, able in exhaustive, really lengthy, uncut form. Anthony Tollin, Jeff Walker, Mark Walton, Marissa weinstein, Robert Wise, Sam This volume's lineup boasts Robert Conrad, witwer, Judy Yam. Lee Meriwether, James Darren, Robert Col- cover images: Day: Trademark & ©2008 20th bert, Century Fox Film Corp. All Rights Reserved; Laurie Mitchell, Ann (The Curse of the Quantum: ©2008 Danjaq, LLC, United Artists Cat People) Carter, Tandra Quinn, Eric Brae- Corporation & Industries, den, Jimmy Lydon (who talks inc. All Rights Reserved; Fringe: George about another Here's a new volume for your STARLOG Holz/©2008 . All project, Countdown, this issue on page 72), the Rights Reserved. Contributors Library. Do you own Tom Tom Corbett, Space Cadet trio and others. For Weaver's other 18 books? Why not? For Advertising info, Contact: more info, see the website (www.mcfarland- Bekah McKendry, 646-666-7336 pub.com) or order by phone (800-253-2187). contributor) Rebekahefangoriaonline.com Kim Howard Johnson has written We've learned of some special added mate- a calendar! Yes, he has! It's, naturally, Monty rial in those great reprints of Doc Savage and Python's Flying Circus 2009 Day-at-a-Time The Shadow from Nostalgia Ventures (which Calendar (DateWorks, $13.99), offering 365 days' worth of dialogue excerpts, factoids,

STARLOG (ISSN 0191-4626, trivia and the like from America's favorite Canadian GST number: R-124704826) is published monthly except for February & September by STARLOG GROUP, INC/THE BROOKLYN COMPANY, INC., 250 W. 49th Street Suite 304 3rd Fir British TV comedy team all lovingly compiled New York, NY 10019. STARLOG and The Science Fiction Universe are registered trademarks of STARLOG by KHJ. It also includes months and (special GROUP, INC. This is issue Number 372, January 2009. Entire contents are copyright ©2009 by STARLOG GROUP, All INC. rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction in part or in whole—including the reprinting or bonus) days of the week. posting of articles, photos and graphics on any Internet website—without the publishers' written per- mission is strictly forbidden. STARLOG accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts photos or other materials, if but submittals are accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope they'll be con- CORRECTION! sidered and, if necessary, returned. Please do not phone the editorial office re: this material Due to time thought we were being so careful in constraints, freelancer calls will not be accepted. STARLOG does not publish fiction. Fiction submissions We are not sifting through 45-year-old Munsters accepted and are discarded without reply. Products advertised are not necessarily endorsed by STARLOG, and views expressed in editorial copy are not necessarily those of STARLOG Please note- Due to stills so as not to inadvertently publish, in the a warehouse fire, back issues are no longer available directly from STARLOG. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and additional STARLOG #370 interview with Pat Priest, a mailing offices. Subscription rates: $56.97 one year (12 issues) delivered in u s only. Canadian and foreign subscriptions $66.97 in U.S. funds only. New subscriptions send directly to shot of her 13-episode predecessor in the Mar- STARLOG Subscription Dept., 250 W. 49th street, Suite 304, 3rd Fir, New York, NY 10019. Postmaster send ilyn role (Beverly address Owen). But darned if we changes to STARLOG Subscription Dept., 250 w. 49th street, Suite 304, 3rd Fir New York NY 10019 Printed in U.S.A. didn't do that once anyhow (the photo at the top of page 39 turns out to be Owen, not

6 Smm/January 2009 www.starlog.com rors movie musical. "Feed May: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (5/1), Star

me, Seymour!" Trek (5/8), Terminator Salvation: The Future Tony Hillerman (Octo- Begins (5/22), Night at the Museum: Battle of ber) The great mystery writer the Smithsonian (5/22), Up (5/29). ^ TOM IEARTH STOOD STI LL who chronicled the novel June: The Tooth Fairy (6/19), Transformers 2: /IICHAEL RENNIE DIALOGUE BLOOPERS! adventures of Navajo cops Lt. Revenge of the Fallen (6/26). Joe Leaphorn and Officer Jim July: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (7/1), Chee. 2012 (7/10), Land of the (7/17), Harry mru WHATP I SAYf Studs Turkel (October) Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (7/17), G- WZAPA WHAfP I 6AY? The Pulitzer Prize-winning Force (7/24). author, radio broadcaster and : G.I. Joe (8/7). practitioner of oral history. A October: Toy Story (in 3-D, 10/2), Where the master interviewer. Wild Things Are (10/16), Astro Boy (10/23). John Leonard (Novem- November: The Fantastic Mr. Fox (11/6), ber) The brilliant critic who Planet 51 (11/20), The Surrogates (11/20). reviewed books, movies and December: Avatar (12/18), A Christmas TV shows. His criticism Carol (12/25), The Princess and the Frog appeared in The New York (12/25). Times Book Review (where he once served as Editor), Harp- er's Magazine and New York. He was also seen on CBS' Sunday Morning and heard on NPR's Fresh Air. (No- vember) The bestselling nov-

elist whose works (most made ^ani into movies) include The An- MFV dromeda Strain, The Terminal Man, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Congo, Sphere, Time- line, Eaters of the Dead (filmed as The 13th Warrior), Rising Sun, Prey, Next and under his "John Lange" Priest). Priest laughs it off, saying that this Binary (published a movie he direct- isn't the first such mix-up in print. STARLOG pseudonym, it became TV directed regrets the error nonetheless and also salutes ed, retitled Pursuit). He scripted and (based Priest for her atypically upbeat attitude about Westworld, The Great Train Robbery (from Robin Cook's the snafu. No wonder Marilyn has always on his own book), Coma co-scripted been our favorite Munster! novel) and Runaway. He also Twister and created E.R. (STARLOG #91 & THE LAST FAREWELLS #192, FANGORIA #126) science fiction universe sadly salutes The isitt these fantastic talents who have died. It has WHERE TO FIND... Check out Sirius been, as you will see, a particularly bad time ...FANGORIA RADIO? Seriously, THoHGtf, whv p° we Friday nights, for especially good writers. Satellite Radio (Channel 102) Fool AROUND WITH THEIR COWS? live show Harry Spalding (June) The indefatigible 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. (an encore of the screenwriter for Robert L. Lippert's Regal immediately follows). See the website for sub- Films and Associated Producers Inc. in the scription info (sirius.com/fangoria). 1950s and '60s—so prolific, he often used a pseudonym so that the Spalding name would WHERE TO BE... you. That's not seem to be on the company's every pic- ...December 12? In a theater near Still again. Klaatu ture! His genre-heavy filmography includes The Day the Earth Stood scripts for Curse of the Fly, House of the barada nitko! Damned, The Day Mars Invaded Earth, The Earth Dies Screaming, Witchcraft and others. FILM FANTASY CALENDAR (STARLOG YEARBOOK #10) Release dates are extremely subject to Christopher Wicking (October) The change and may shift without notice. screenwriter of Scream and Scream Again, Cry December: Punisher: War Zone (12/5), The Stood Still (12/12), The Curious of the Banshee, Blood from the Mummy's Day the Earth The Tale Tomb, Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971), 7b Case of Benjamin Button (12/19), of Spirit the Devil a Daughter, Demons of the Mind and Despereaux (12/19), The (12/25). The Oblong Box (credited with "additional dia- January 2009: Inkheart (1/23), Underworld: logue" though he actually revised the screen- Rise of the Lycans (1/23). Street Fighter: The play). Initially a film critic. He also wrote (with February: Coraline (2/6), Tise Vahimagi) the pioneering reference guide Legend of Chun Li (2/27). The American Vein: Directors and Directions March: Watchmen (3/5), Race to Witch Moun- Knowing (3/20), Monsters vs. in Television. (FANGORIA #84) tain (3/13), Fine Bare Books and Vintage Movie Posters of Aliens (3/27). Levi Stubbs (October) The lead singer in Horror and Science Fiction be the April: Dragonball Z (4/3), The Wolfman (4/3), the Four Tops. But to us he'll always www.bloodyrare.com voice of Audrey II in the Little Shop of Hor- Whiteout (4/24). UPDATES way, there's a new 35th Anniversary edition of David Tennant is exiting Doctor Who's the novel (with an intro by John Scalzi) due TARDIS, though he will still play the hero out in April (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Mar- in the Christmas special The Next Doctor and tin's Griffin, tpb, $13.95).

four special shows. A new Doctor is expected Randall {Braveheart) Wallace is adapting to debut in 2010. IMDiWG Diana Gabaldon's Outlander (the first of the Don Cheadle has replaced Terrence six-novel fantasy series) for Essential Pictures. Howard as Jim Rhodes (later War Machine) in By DAVID MCDONNELL The new Street Fighter movie has cast the next two Iron Man films as well as The Smallville sweetheart Kristin Kreuk (as Chun- Avengers. Robert Downey Jr. has signed up for Li), Chris {Rollerball) Klein, Journeyman's all three flicks, too. for Snyder to direct. Moon Bloodgood, Rick Yune and The Green With Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane, Thulsa Zak {The Incredible Hulk) Penn will script Mile's Michael Clarke Duncan (as Balrog).

Doom and Red Sonja all taken, the Robert E. a new take on The Argonauts for 20th Century Neal McDonough is the villain William Bison. Howard adaptation race next turns to. ..Bran Fox. Mak Morn! {Hancock) Berg is on board Boogeyman's Stiles White and Juliet BROADWAY RHYTHM to helm a picture starring Howard's King of Snowden are scripting a Poltergeist redux. ow here's casting that makes sense! A the Picts. John {Intolerable Cruelty) Romano They also wrote the Birds remake that's in the N new production of Samuel Beckett's Wait- is scripting. works. ing for opens in April at London's The- Thomas Sangster has exited the Tintin role Jack Black will go large for a new, contem- ater Royal Haymarket. since the project postponed shooting (due to (Vladimir) and Sir Ian McKellen financing obstacles). That problem's almost (Estragon) will star. solved, but it looks like there will only be two Meanwhile, on Broadway, Tintin films for now (not three). look for a revival of Noel Cow- That proposed sequel to The Dark Crystal ard's Blithe Spirit next spring. is dead. Genre vets Simon {The Hitchhik- There will be a episode 3-D of Chuck. er's Guide to the Galaxy) Jones and Angela {Bedknobs & Broom- COMICS SCENE sticks) Lansbury star along with Western Weird Tales' Jonah Hex is riding Rupert Everett and Christine to the screen as portrayed — by Josh Ebersole. Lansbury will play the {Grindhouse) Brolin. Crank's Mark Neveldine wacky psychic, of course. Brian Taylor will & serve as writer-directors. Paul Williams has composed Sam {American Beauty) Mendes will direct new songs for Emmet Otter's the film version of Preacher for Columbia Pic- Jug-Band Christmas, a Broad- tures. The Garth Ennis-Steve Dillon title way musical based on the 1977 (COMICS SCENE Vol. 2, #50) was once an Jim Henson TV special now HBO project. being mounted by the Jim Hen- Warner Bros, has decided to kill The son Company and Theatrics. It Graysons, the before-he-was-Robin exploits opens this month. of young Dick Grayson. The unscripted Warn- er Bros. TV pilot project was intended by the ANIMATION SCENE CW as a companion piece to (or replacement John {Excalibur) Boorman is for) Smallville. directing his first CG-animat- Marvel is teaming with Film Roman to ed film, a new version of L. produce another 26-episode Avengers toon. Frank Baum's The Wonderful This one will be called The Avengers: Earth's Wizard of Oz. The script's by Mightiest Heroes. Boorman, Ron Mita and Jim On the other hand, Marvel has axed the McCalin. Hulk Gamma Corps TV toon in development. Jay Baruchel will voice Hic- Next month sees the direct-to-DVD release cup the Horrendous Haddock the of the animated Hulk vs. from Lionsgate and Third, the young Viking hero Marvel. It includes two different brawls as the REIGN OVER ME who learns How to Train Your big green guy takes on Wolverine and then The candy is coming down hard in the new Adam Dragon for DreamWorks Anima- Thor. Look for it January 27. Sandler fantasy comedy about a handyman whose tion. The cast also includes 300's Sony has acquired rights to War Heroes, a Bedtime Stories told to a niece and nephew Gerard Butler (Hiccup's father six-issue comics mini-series by Mark Millar magically come to life. It hits theaters 25. & December Stoick the Vast), Jonah Hill Tony Harris. It's about soldiers are who given (Snotlout the Bully), Christopher superpowers. porary version of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Mintz-Plasse (Fishlegs) and America Ferrera Bryan Singer will produce a film version of Travels for 20th Century Fox. Animation vet- (Astrid). Bonnie {Cars) Arnold is producing. Radical Publishing's five-issue mini-series eran Rob {Shark Tale) Letterman will make his Peter Hastings is directing. Freedom Formula. live-action debut on the project, scripted by Oprah Winfrey voices the Princess' mother Joe {Shrek) Stillman and Nicholas Stoller. in Disney's The Princess and the Frog, due out THE REMAKE CAME Shooting begins in March. next fall. {The 4400) Peters is now doing Scott a new Among the voice cast in Cloudy With a version of Kenneth Johnson's V for Warn- SF PEOPLE Chance of Meatballs are Anna Faris, Bill er Bros. TV and ABC. Johnson isn't part of last, Ridley Scott is returning to science Hader, Andy Samberg, Tracy Morgan, James this project. At fiction. He has chosen a book he wanted to Caan, Mr. T and STARLOG favorite Bruce Alex Tse—who co-scripted Watchmen—is film for more than 20 years: Joe Haldeman's Campbell. reteaming with director Zack Snyder. Tse is classic novel The Forever War. Scott will Cartoon Network has ordered 26 episodes adapting Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man direct a movie adaptation for Fox 2000. By the of that new Pink Panther toon for 2009.

8 mm/January 2009 Earth is no longer the SAME FDR tv THOSE ON BATTLESTAR GALACTICA the season. Bruce Davison, Sydney Poitier & the starship New episodes of its fourth (and final) 22- Yancy Arias are exiting. Leapfrog. episode season resume airing on SCI FI 1/10. A two-hour standalone prequel TV LEGEND OF THE SEEKER movie will follow the series' end. The syndicated series, formerly known as Wizard's First Rule, is based on Terry CHUCK Goodkind's Sword of Truth novels. Craig Airs on NBC. Renewed for a 22-episode Horner talks about his heroics on page 54. season, airing Mondays. Ratings, howev-

er, are disappointing. NBC.com offers Chuck THE LIBRARIAN: episodes and Inside Buy More (complete THE CURSE OF THE JUDAS with career advice from Big Mike). CHALICE Third Librarian telefilm debuts 12/7, 8 D0LLH0USE p.m. on TNT. Director Jonathan Frakes Fox has ordered seven episodes of the Joss previews the adventure on page 24. Whedon-created show starring Eliza Dushku. Premieres 2/13 (scheduled to air LIFE ON MARS version of the BBC Fridays, 9 p.m.) New Americanized series airs Thursdays on ABC. Ratings ELEVENTH HOUR are declining. New series on CBS, an Americanized ver- sion of the British show. Airs Thursdays. PRIMEVAL airs Saturdays on BBC Ratings are improving. Will probably be The British series renewed for the rest of the season soon. America. Douglas Henshall debriefs on Marley Shelton speaks out on page 67. page 62. FRINGE PUSHING DAISIES second season by ABC, air- New Fox series created by J.J. Abrams, Renewed for a & . Airs ing Wednesdays. Ratings are disappoint- cancellation. Tuesdays. It's a hit. Renewed for the rest of ing. In danger of on page 58. the season. John Noble chats SANCTUARY HEROES ew TV show based on the Internet series on SCI FI. Renewed for a third season by NBC, now N airs Fridays, 10 p.m. airing Mondays. NBC.com is offering more webisodes this month. Ratings continue THE SIMPSONS Sundays on Fox. Creator Matt to decline. Co-exec producers Jeph Loeb & Airs (and Jesse Alexander have exited. Groening discusses the show Futurama) on page 51. KING OF THE HILL SMALLVILLE Airs Sundays on Fox. The network has Thursdays on the CW. Ratings are decided not to renew it after the current Airs Justin 13-episode season ends. ABC may pick it up. OK. Sam Witwer (page 13), Hartley (page 42) and Helen Slater (page 46) KNIGHT RIDER chat this issue. Airs Wednesdays on NBC. Ratings are dis- appointing, but renewed it for the rest of STARGATE ATLANTIS Renewed for a fifth 20-episode season, its SUBSCRIBER SERVICES last. A direct-to-DVD movie and spin-off Missing copies? Moving? Renewals? Receiving TV series (Stargate: Universe) will follow. duplicates? Subscription questions? Write to: STARLOG : 250 West 49th St., Suite 304, 3rd FI. THE CLONE WARS New York, NY 10019 series airs Fridays on NEW SUBSCRIBERS: ew CG-animated Cartoon Network. Ratings are great. in this issue. N See subscription ad Mailing Label Here Attach TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES NAME Airs Mondays on Fox. Despite disappoint- ing ratings, it has been renewed for the ADDRESS rest of the season. It moves to Fridays, 8 p.m. on 2/13.

Note: Airdates shift without notice. Airtimes are EST. Series are only listed for which STARLOG has new info. CITY

STATE ZIP... MORE MACICKS Season One and Two episodes, and tacking on The lineup of family-friendly features begins three episodes from the '60s cartoon series, a in the proper Christmas spirit this month Lassie episode featuring the Masked Man of the with the return of the lovable green in Plains, a 1950 Lone Ranger radio show, plus an DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Halls, a 88-page commemorative book, a complete small-screen "holiday special" in which his episode guide and reprints of comic books. Christmas Eve plans don't quite jibe with those Hi-Yo, Classic Media! of Donkey, Puss in Boots, Gingy and the rest of And Hi-Who to the Time Lord, perpetual fash- the gang. Based on a true story, and featuring ion disaster Doctor Who, back on TV with a series the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, whose Complete Fourth Season (with a new com- Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas. To get DVP panion, Donna Noble, played by Catherine Tate) By TOM WEAVER you to spend $19.99 on a 22-minute program is now a $99.98, six-disc set from BBC Warner. that you coulda recorded off TV to begin with, The highlights include a visit to Pompeii on the 79 the special features include a couple of sing-alongs and "Gingy's A.D. eve of the volcanic eruption, a murder investigation alongside Dunking Game." Agatha Christie and a voyage to the home world of the sinister Ood. "When you're true to yourself, magical things can happen" is the By purchasing Dr. Syn: The Scarecrow ofRomney Marsh (Walt Dis- moral of Disney's animated Tinker Bell, but if you knew that already ney Video, $32.99), Videologgers can transport \htmselves through (or it to heart took after reading it at the start of this sentence), you just time, back to 18th-Century England, and watch a masked hero, the saved $29.99. Also from the Mouse House comes The Little Mermaid Scarecrow, defend oppressed villagers. Originally a 1963 Walt Dis- ney's Wonderful World of Color fhree-parter, Dr. Syn features STAR- LOG favorite (collect 'em all!) Patrick McGoohan as the daytime

vicar/nighttime avenger. For comparison's sake, run it as a double-bill with the same era's feature film Night Creatures, with Peter Cushing in the swashbuckling dual role, just one of the eight Hammer movies included on Universal's The Hammer Horror Series: The Franchise Collection ($29.98). (The others are The Brides of Dracula, The Curse of the Werewolf, 1962's The Phantom of the Opera, Paranoiac, The Kiss of the Vampire, Nightmare, The Evil of Frankenstein.) A whopping 61 tales of the macabre constitute Universal's Night Gallery: Season Two ($59.98), a five-disc collector's set hosted by the master of mystery, Rod Serling. Sweetening the deal are audio com- mentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes and a gallery presentation of

the paintings from the . At the rate Universal is releas- ing this er Bell and friends series, look for the announcement of Night Gallery: Season ures. Three in STARLOG #412 in December 2012, page 14, paragraph five. Even more monstrous are Universal's three volumes of The Mummy: //: Return to the Sea: Special Edition ($29.99) and WALL-E: Three- The Animated Series ($14.98), derived from the recent Brendan Fras- Disc Special Edition ($39.99). If looking at the face of Vince Vaughn er movies. puts you in the holiday mood, check out Fred Claus (Warner, $28.98), The survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 come closer to solving the with Vaughn as St. Nick's disgruntled older brother, who's creating mystery of their remote island prison in Disney's Lost: The Complete chaos at the top-of-the-world toy factory. Fourth Season: The Expanded Experience ($59.99), 14 episodes on five discs streeting on December 9, before the start of the fifth season. The added-value material includes audio commentaries, bloopers, TV ON DVD deleted scenes, a "Making of and more. knew that the Final Frontier smelled like steak? Who According to As far as holiday releases of TV on DVD sets go, we quickly a British scientist hired by to re-create NASA in a lab what "wrap up" (get it?) with Lexx: Season One (Echo Bridge Home Enter- astronauts sniff outside their space stations, "fried steak" is what the tainment, $39.99), Mission: Impossible: The Fifth TV Season (Para- space walkers report. Videolog suspects that the Star Trek Universe mount, $49.99), The Incredible Hulk: The Complete Fifth Season smells a lot like hash rehash, to be more precise — —as the original (Universal, $29.98) and Reaper: Season One (Lionsgate, $39.98). series boldly, nay, brassily continues its umpty-umpth incursion on Alpha's archivists have another oddball treasure from the home video: Paramount's remastered Season Three, on seven discs, is dawning days of television: a half-hour circa 1949 version of the $84.98. Or you can get it as part of Star Trek: The Original Series: Charles Dickens classic which, just to be different, the filmmakers Three Season Pack, a $249.98, 25-disc set. Our space-tracking devices mistitled THE Christmas Carol. Taylor Holmes is the slave-drivin' also detect a smorgasbord of videostore- interstellar adventures Ebenezer, the ultimate morale vampire, backed up by a STARLOG- in the galaxy-spanning, seven-disc Filmation Sci-Fi Box Set (Navarre friendly cast of Hideous Sun Demon stars Robert Clarke and Patrick Corporation, $39.98), comprised of episodes of Ark 11, Space Acade- Whyte (as Fred and Bob Cratchit, respectively), Jill St. John in an early my and Jason Star Command. of role (under another name) as one of the Cratchit kids and on-camera Like bloodhounds who have picked up the scent, The Real Ghost- host and narrator ! It's just one of four holiday-themed TV busters remain dedicated to their job, protecting humanity from curs- episodes in Alpha's Rare Christmas TV Classics: Volume Two ($7.98). es and demons and spooks (oh my!) in the animated series. The For those with a taste for the old and obscure (and then some), entire run of 147 digitally restored episodes (and 12 hours-plus of there's also Alpha's Here Comes Tobor and Other Lost Action Shows added-value material) is on 25 discs in The Real Ghostbusters: The of the 1950s ($7.98), a quartet of Eisenhower-era TV pilots, among Complete Collection ($179.99). Who ya gonna call? Time-Life, them the Curt Siodmak-created and -produced Captain Fathom, with because (like that company's previous home video releases Get Smart Don Megowan as the adventurous captain of an atomic-powered sub and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) it isn't available in stores. Not yet, and Kenneth Tobey as one of his crewmen. Also in the set are episodes anyway. of the equally short-lived Counterspy (again with Megowan), Sea Take a vine-swinging ride with George in the new George of the Divers and, of course, the named-in-the-DVD-title Here Comes Jungle Two Pack, a combo of the complete original series and the first Tobor, which reuses the impressive (if perhaps dyslexic) mechanical season of Cartoon Network's new one. It's $32.95 from Classic man from the 1954 feature film Tobor the Great. (That's new on DVD Media, the folks who also bring us The Lone Ranger: 75th Anniver- too, $14.98 from Lionsgate, and includes a mini-poster inspired by the sary Collector's Edition ($1 19.95), a 13-disc set incorporating all 78 original's theatrical poster.)

10 SWm/January2009 www.starlog.com —

MAGIC JOURNEYS mated series, featurettes about the voice artists and the score, deleted %uring a scientific expedition in Iceland, scientist Brendan Fraser, scenes, etc. It's rated PG, partly for "momentary smoking." Mean- l^his nephew Josh Hutcherson and their guide Anita Briem are while, in Fox Home Entertainment's Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

' trapped in a cave from which their only escape is to go deeper and ($49.98), the come-ons include a "never-before-seen" "Making of deeper, on a veritable Journey to the Center of the Earth. SEE! Man- doc, deleted scenes from Episode I and new featurettes for Episode eating plants! GASP! At giant flying piranha! WONDER! How III. dinosaurs got down there through that little cave! And all in 3-D! If you're heartily sick of seeing how the space wars were won, take Inspired by the Jules Verne novel, this family adventure is comin' at ya a break from the Science Fiction Universe and learn instead How the from New Line Home Video ($28.98) along with four pairs of 3-D West Was Won—the 1962 made-in-Cinerama Western epic, recently glasses (plus a 2-D version for fans who can't be bothered), featurettes on DVD from Warner in a stunning Three-Disc Special Edition. This on "Hollow Earth" theories and "How to Make a Dinosaur Drool" and John Ford-Henry Hathaway-George Marshall-directed blockbuster the a commentary with Fraser and director Eric Brevig. comprised of five interlocking stories about pioneers taming I Speaking of seeking an escape, Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) American frontier—is now available with restored clarity, its original artist (Catherine Zeta-Jones) Cinerama "three-panel join lines" eliminated and in roof-raising ! becomes involved with a beautiful con Acts (Weinstein Dolby 5.1 audio. And, who knows, perhaps our Support of this ! with a music-hall psychic schtick in Death Defying which reportedly was written without Houdini as endeavor (just $20.98) will encourage the restoration and release of i Company, $19.98), at genre-related George Pal's same-year Cinerama The Wonderful World of the Broth- ! a character, and then revised. For an accurate look a figure, VCI Entertainment's Caveman: V.T. Hamlin & Alley Oop ers Grimm. May the forts be with you! \ the Iowa-born cartoonist who created the i ($19.99) tells the story of long-running comic strip Alley Oop. The extras include a "Video Mini \ Doc Interview" with Will Eisner and commentary by this doc's writer- COMICS SEEN? | feature Superman: Doomsday is director (and STARLOG pal) Max Allan Collins, who tells more direct-to-DVD animated | The Jurassic returning as a Warner two-disc special edition ($24.98) with audio i about the innovative Hamlin, whose work paved the way for Making of Super- Flintstones. (Speaking of The Flintstones, December 2 commentary, featurettes ("When Heroes Die: The \ Park and The film The Called Flint- man: Doomsday," "The Clash of the Juggernauts," "Behind the Voic- > saw Warner's release of the 1966 feature Man Frontier"), plus four episodes of stone, a spoof of the then-current movie spy craze. It's $19.98, as is es" and " New \ Superman: The Animated Series. The big news on the superhero ! Warner's same-day release Hey There, It's Yogi Bear.) the recent box office block- of Eisner, who died in 2005, he has his own doc, Will scene, however, is Warner's release of ] Speaking continuing his Cartoonist (Image, $19.98), in which the creator buster The Dark Knight, with Christian Bale's Batman \ Eisner: Profession: particular. (Eisner is one war on crime in general and on Heath Ledger's Joker in 5 of The Spirit and the modern graphic novel is honored

' single-disc version and, for $34.99, a Two-Disc Spe- of the interviewees). Continuing in the doc/tribute vein, there's also There's a $28.98 with bonus material to crowd the Batcave: Alpha's new Fanex Files: Samuel Z. Arkojf: The Incredible Story of cial Edition enough behind-the-scenes looks at the development of the new Bat-suit and the Founder of American International Pictures ($9.98). Actually, Knight IMAX Scenes" (six action sequences in Arkoff was AIP's vice-president, not its founder (that was James H. Bat-pod, "The Dark framing), "Gotham Tonight" ("six episodes of Nicholson), but The Incredible Story ofthe Vice-President just doesn't their original IMAX Gotham Cable's premier news program") and more. Although he isn't a superhero—or even a super agent—Maxwell

Smart is the best crimefighter that CONTROL has. OK, wouldja believe that he's the second best? Steve Carell takes over Don Adams' Agent 86 alongside Anne Hathaway's Agent 99 in Warner's Get Smart: Two-Disc Special Edition ($34.99). In addition to the 2008 comedy, the disc includes featurettes ("The Right Agent for the Right J Job: Behind-the-Scenes Training," "Max in Moscow!" and "Lan- Linguistics"), a gag reel and "Spying on I guage Lessons: Spotlight on Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control!'

DVDS IN BRIEF Pink Panther: Ultimate Collection (MGM Home Entertainment, $199.98): Think pink! An 18-disc set of all nine feature films, from 1964's The Pink Panther to 2006's The Pink Panther with Steve Mar-

tin, plus umpteen cartoons and a Pink Panther encyclopedia. Brainstorm (Warner, $19.97): The Douglas Trumbull-directed SF- thriller about research scientists (Louise Fletcher, Christopher Walken) whose new sensory experience-recording machine is being abused in unforeseen ways. It's part of Warner's lineup have the same razzmatazz, does it? This look at the man and his used—and — with of new Natalie Wood releases (there's also a six-disc, $59.92 Natalie movies is made up of Tom Weaver's (who?) FANEX 2000 &A Signature Collection). SZA, augmented by trailers and talking-head comments by AIP fans. Wood (DreamWorks, $19.99): Another go-round for the Meanwhile, the kind of movies made by Nicholson and Arkoff get no Madagascar tale of the Zoosters longing to be free of NYC's Central Park Zoo. respect in Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition CG Edition with the addition of The Madagascar Pen- (Shout! Factory, $69.99), which features the funmakers' send-ups of It's now a Holiday guins in: Christmas Caper. First Spaceship on Venus (1960), Laserblast (1978), Werewolf (\996) A and Future War (1997), plus bonus features and a figurine of Crow T. Robot. IN BLU-RAY The first-ever animated feature from Animation, Star NEW issue's new (and brief) rundown of Blu-ray releases include Wars: The Clone Wars, takes place between Episodes II and ///, and This Line's Journey to the Center of the Earth ($35.99), and finds Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi meeting up with such New Warner's The Mask Superman: Doomsday ($29.99) and villains as Count Dooku, General Grievous and Asajj Ventress. Warn- ($28.99), the Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Get Smart and The Dark Knight (all er's $28.98 single disc features an audio commentary; spring for probably mentioned everything else already—or not. $34.99 two-disc edition for lots more bonus material, including a $35.99). We ani- There's always 2009. Happy Blu-year! sneak peek at Season One of Cartoon Network's already airing

mL%/Jamiary 2009 11 —

Rouge.. .and it's coming to life. Flavored like Celtic poetry, The January

What reads like the plot of an Outer Dancer is the first effort in what promises to Limits episode expands under Buckner's be a space opera of epic proportions. Instead

The Knight of the Red Beard by Andre hand. Using a wonderfully detailed Cajun of letting the story leisurely spin itself out, Norton & Sasha Miller ~ backdrop, Buckner gives Flynn shoehorns as much intense action ~ ~ and (Tor, he, 368 pp, $25.95) us a character study of a plot as he can into the book's relatively small Fans of Nordornland young woman at the length, and the result will leave readers both rulers Ashen and Gaurin will crossroads not only of wide-eyed and breathless. be somewhat disappointed her career and goals, but —Michael Wolff with The Knight of the Red of her heart. Beard, as the couple plays a And hovering over The Night Children by Kit Reed (Tor limited role this time around. all of this is the rising Starscape, he, 240 pp, $17.95) The story instead focuses on specter of the Water- Jule Deveraux is accidentally left the trials of their youngest mind—a creature which behind in the Castertown MegaMall, an children, Elin and Mikkel. is neither good nor evil, enormous complex of shops, restaurants the two plots, Of Mikkel's but undeniably alien. and amusement parks. Now, she's part of sea adventure is the most Buckner's novel is an the phantom legion of abandoned, lost and interesting. Elin's story is entertaining, quick read runaway children who eke out a precarious more political, concerns and and ultimately as satisfy- existence within the mall under the her quest for power. However, ing as the food found omnipresent eye of its owner, Amos Zozz. neither character is fascinat- within its setting. Unfortunately, Jule has picked a worse ing, and the inordinate —Michael Wolff than usual time to arrive, because Zozz has amount of time spent on the plans to exterminate what he considers to supporting cast makes this volume one of the the All Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth be the vermin in his mall. In order to sur- series' weaker entries. And while Ashen and Bear (Tor, he, 368 pp, $24.95) vive, the various gangs and sects must Gaurin's story comes to an end, there are At the end of time, in a city where make an unprecedented leap and somehow enough loose ends left over that more Oak, magic and technology work together to join forces. Yew, Ash and Rowan tales are sure to follow. create fearsome wonders, Reed's work has al- —Penny Kenny the last Valkyrie encoun- ways nimbly danced the ters the Wolf, the eater of borderland between cold The Gods Return by David Drake (Tor, worlds. Each has their reality and fairy tale, and he, 400 pp, $25.95) role to play, assigned by the author doesn't miss a The final chapter of the "Crown of the Fate, but can even the end step here. She knows how Isles" trilogy finds the kingdoms now unit- of the world bring peace to reach an audience with- ed under Prince Garde's rule. However, to tormented souls? out talking down or being the servants of the forbidden gods of All the Windwracked condescending to them. Palomir have decided to take matters into Stars is poetic and mythic And that's why Jule and their own hands and call forth "The science fiction, that takes friends should gain plenty Worm"—a horror that will devour all life the Norse idea of the of identification and sup- and clear a path for the Dark Gods' return. world's end and makes port among the readers of There aren't any surprises here from something new of it. this slice of dark whimsy. Drake, and that extends to the quality of There's no lack of humor, —Michael Wolff his writing and the pace of the action and either, and some of the plot. The author has never been one to let exchanges between the Liberation by Brian characters sit idle or rest on their laurels. Valkyrie and her steed are Francis Slattery (Tor, tpb, Rather, Drake has them leap into situations quite amusing. However, 304 pp, $14.95) with a speed that would make the heroes the overall mood is one of soft melancholy The U.S. has collapsed from economic from an Edgar Rice Burroughs novel pant and desperation in this fascinating medita- failure. Foreign lenders have withdrawn all in exhaustion. tion on renewal, resurrection and rebirth. support. Indian tribes are rising once again, Fortunately, the characters share the —Penny Kenny and communities are growing closer into superhuman endurance of those classic near-feudal states. The Aardvark, a crime folk, which is good news for readers who The January Dancer by Michael Flynn lord, has a plan for streamlining the newly have come to expect non-stop thrills from (Tor, he, 352 pp, $24.95) revived institution of slavery into a major Drake's pen. The title refers to an artifact possessed of money-making proposition. Only the Slick —Michael enormous Wolff power. In a universe where star- Six (a reunited gang of once-infamous crimi- ships travel along superluminal highways and nals) has any chance of somehow correcting Watermind by M.M. Buckner (Tor, he, humans are scattered across a collection of the situation—;/ that's their intention. 304, $24.95) exotic colonies, the slightest myth regarding As usual, Slattery whips out a sprawling For decades, the Mississippi River has this artifact's whereabouts drives both the quilt of a novel Liberation is a travelogue of been carrying the nation's industrial waste. small and the mighty in search of it. a wild and colorfully peculiar world populat- More recently, this has included such items as Meanwhile, in a bar on a distant planet, a ed by characters who are often as much sym- microchips, nano-devices and genetically harper wishes to compose a song about the bols as they are people. At times, the story is modified seed. C.J. Reilly a quirky and bril- January Dancer. — She encounters an old man, casual and haphazard, but Slattery's of liant MIT dropout working on a pollution and from there, the Dancer's story unfolds, a collapsed America is unmistakably seduc- spill—stumbles upon a discovery: She learns beginning with the tale of Amos January, the tive and, in these days, close enough to about a collection of exotic waste material starship captain who encountered the Dancer, today's world to be uncomfortable. gathering in Devil's Swamp near Baton and then lost it. —Michael Wolff

12 SMLOG/Januaty 2009 this keeps up, they're going to start calling Smallville fans will see far more of Davis than what's happening, and he goes on this whole Ifhim "SF Sam." Sam Witwer recently joined Doomsday. It's his feeling that it's best to quest to discover what's occurring during the Smallville cast as Davis Bloom/ develop Davis slowly, and to get to know him these missing time periods. And what he dis- Doomsday, and that's just the latest in a string as a young man before he transforms entirely covers is just horrible. of genre credits. Already on his CV: guest into a villain. "The whole story is that he's this "We want to make him this good guy who shots on Dark Angel, Angel and Enterprise, a perpetual outsider," the actor explains. "He goes on an unpleasant journey and learns year-long stint as Crashdown on Battlestar was raised in the foster system, and he's a real- things about himself that he never, ever want- Galactica, the role of Private Jessup in the ly good person—a little bit moody, but a good ed to know. If I have any say in it—and I've film adaptation of 's The Mist, a guy- definitely put this forward and pitched ideas to cameo in the upcoming futuristic thriller "Davis is a paramedic, and he's brought them—I would like for us to take as much Game and the pivotal part of the Apprentice in into the story because he meets Chloe [Allison time as we can with that journey throughout the video game Star Wars: The Force Un- Mack]. They hit it off right away and form this the season. You probably want to have some leashed. Heck, he even provided the voice of close friendship. The problem is that he starts sort of payoff, at least by season's end, but it a little the Guardian of Forever in the on-line New blacking out and waking up in unfamiliar ter- would be nice to get to know this guy Voyages outing "In Harm's Way." ritory and in strange circumstances. This bit, so that you realize what he has lost as he goes through "I do like the genre, but it's a quirk of fate," happens more and more often until i Witwer says of his many dips in the SF pool. starts becoming a big concern for him his story." Witwer reveals that in "I don't know how I've visited these franchis- So, naturally, he wants to find out

It's time to ARRIVING IN SMALLVILLE, "SF SAM" WITWER meet Doomsday REALLY DOES LOVE THE GENRE (Battlestar ADMITS THAT HE Galactica's Sam Witwer). He's Davis Bloom, "this good guy who goes on an unpleasant journey," emerging as an evil force of DOOMSDAY nature in the CW's Smallville. IS HERE! By IAN SPELLING

es and been making these rounds, but it seems

to be happening. In the case of Smallville, I guess they just decided that they wanted me

for the role. When it came to Star Wars, my headshot and resume were submitted because

I have a friend at Lucasfilm. Also, the concept

art they created looked like me. I do love SF,

but I love lots of things. I'm simply happy to be a part of these franchises that meant so much to me as a kid: Superman, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica." Doomsday Scenario A call from the Smallville producers led to the gig as Davis/Doomsday. "I actually had no idea what was happening at the time," Witwer admits. "I was told to go in and meet

with these guys. I barely even knew what

show I was going in for, and then they pitched me this role. That was surprising. Usually, you walk into a meeting, and you're like, 'OK, are we talking? Am I reading something?' "But they sort of pitched this role to me. They were like, 'He's this character who goes through all this stuff.' And they told me about his very interesting

arc. So I started researching it, and they came up with a really cool story, and that was that. Later on, they offered me the part. I don't know

if they saw The Mist or Dexter or Battlestar Galactica, but somehow

they knew who I was and decided that they wanted me to play the role." Witwer notes that if he has his way, '

top-secret underling. "Star Wars started with Dark Angel, the James Cameron

was pretty awesome, and it con- SF series that made a star of Jessica Alba. tinues to be awesome," Witwer Witwer appeared as Marrow in the episode raves. "I was just at Skywalker "Love in Vein."

Ranch, and I ran into Ron "Dark Angel was my first major guest star,

Moore, which was fun. I was and my first role with any meat in Holly- sitting there, and there were a wood," he recalls. "The casting director who bunch of people in the same hired me for that was Robert Ulrich. He had

room having a chat. I looked been trying to cast me, I guess, for different over, and there was my old parts, like the recurring boy friend on Felicity

boss, the showrunner and cre- and things like that. So Robert kept trying to ator of the new Battlestar hire me for this and that, and eventually Dark Galactica. So I walked up to Angel came along. That was a really fun role,

Ron, and we had a nice little because it wasn't something where I could chat. Anyway, Force Unleashed simply walk in and talk the way I'm speaking is very, very cool. The script is right now. I couldn't just say, 'I'm the guy on really good, the story is amaz- Dark Angel. What's going on?' The character

ing and it fits within the frame- had a certain presence, and as a matter of fact, work of the Star Wars saga. The he was going to be a recurring role, a villain, themes are the same, the vil- but then the show got cancelled." lains are the same and it's Star Over on Enterprise, he played Colonial Wars. But the game also has its Xindi-Arboreal in Season Three's "The Ship-

own tone, and that's what I like ment." "That was a situation where I simply about it. wanted to be on Star Trek" he laughs. "I was "We shot a bunch of stuff like, 'Look, just throw a bunch of prosthetics

with the help of the boys at on me. I don't care. I want to be able to say ILM," he adds. "They made a that I was on a Star Trek show.' That's what it digital double of me, did some was all about, and doing Enterprise was a "Davis is a paramedic, and motion-capture for reference good time." he's brought into the story," Witwer and created this story. There's As for Battlestar Galactica, Witwer watch- explains, after encountering an hour of cinematic throughout ed and loved the mini-series, and then phoned Chloe (Allison Mack). "They hit it the game, and I got to sit and and asked his agent off right away and form this to call the casting director watch close friendship." that in a big theater at the once Battlestar went to series. The casting Presidio, which was really fun. director? Yup, Robert Ulrich. "Robert had addition to his friendship with Chloe, Davis Aside from that, there are many, many, many been very kind to me in the past, and he came becomes buddies with (Tom Wel- hours of game play. I did so much voicework back to me with this series regular thing that I ling). And then, Davis will exhibit some of the on Force Unleashed over the past year and a didn't expect," Witwer says. "So I got to con- powers that eventually render Doomsday so half that I couldn't wait to find out what the tribute to a show that I thought had a big fearsome. "We're definitely going to see that," hell happened in the game. It was weird to future. Battlestar Galactica was totally amaz- Witwer says of the Clark-Davis bond. "In play the game and hear my voice talking back ing. It was a great process. And the show terms of his abilities, the fun thing about this to me." directly led to me landing The Mist, because character is that he isn't even clear on what his [writer-director] became a abilities are. He doesn't know anything about Death wish Battlestar Galactica fan two weeks before my them. Smallville and The Force Unleashed repre- audition!"

"In fact, one of the things that I keep push- sent only the tip of the iceberg as far as Wit- Crashdown died in the second season ing for and reminding them and the writers wer's — genre excursions are concerned. It all episode "Fragged." He was slain by Baltar are gracious when it comes to my suggestions and putting up with my crap—is that this guy isn't of this world. He doesn't understand superheroes. He doesn't live in a world where Superman exists. This is all very unusual for him. So, it's going to be a big shock when he learns that he has these abilities. He has lived there for years. As far as he's concerned, he's a normal guy. He's unaware that he's inde- structible. But he will become aware of that." And, of course, if Smallville follows the DC Comics handbook, Doomsday and Super- man must eventually go mano-a-mano in a fight to the death (and in the comics, it was Superman's death). "Well, that's the thing," Witwer says. "If Superman and Doomsday don't throw down by season's end, then why did you do it? You have to have a throwdown. So we'll see what happens." Moving on to Star Wars: The Force Un- leashed, the recently released game takes place between the two big-screen Star Wars trilogies, and its events pave the way for Episode IV. The Apprentice, meanwhile, isn't His Galactica flight ended tragically. Nonetheless, the actor declares, "I was very happy any mere apprentice, but rather 's with Crashdown's death."

14 SMWG/hnuary 2009 www.sfarlog.com —

al, and everyone had their opinion on it. It was interesting to go to the SF boards after he died

and see the debate. I was very happy with Crashdown's death." Mist Opportunity In The Mist, Darabont's take on the King novella, a mysterious, creature-laden fog en- velopes a town, forcing a number of locals to seek refuge in a supermarket. Soon, they're not only under siege by the creepy things just beyond the store's windows, but inside people are siding either with the rational David Dray- ton (Thomas Jane) or the Bible-spouting, fear- mongering Mrs. Carmody (Marcia Gay Har- den). Witwer essayed Jessup, the young soldier who references something called the Arrowhead Project as a possible explanation for the events just moments before he's stabbed and thrown to the creatures outside the supermarket. "That was one of my favorite gigs of all Witwer has his own band, the Crashtones. For more info, drive over to his website (www.samwitwer.com). time," Witwer comments. "Frank is an incred- ible talent. It's really great to work with a director who has similar storytelling sen- sibilities to your own, where you're like, T know what he's going for. I know

what he's doing. And I would try to do the same

thing.' Frank is collabora-

tive, open and he put me at

ease on the first day I was on the set. He wrote and directed The Shawshank Redemption. He wrote and directed The Green Mile. Frank has solidified his place in film history. So

when I met him, I was inti- mated as hell, but he's one of us, man. Frank is a cool, friendly guy who wanted to talk about Battlestar Galac- tica and geek out about this and that. After he showed me that side of himself, I couldn't be intimidated by the guy anymore. We forged a friendship and had a cool time working together. And

I loved the movie." Whatever happens next, an ill-fated soldier (seated "One of my favorite gigs of all time," The Mist cast Witwer as Private Jessup, it will just be that much on floor). more of a good thing. "It's use me, so why an amazing life," he says of his career to date. (James Callis), and remembered fondly, if me too much money to not in the second "I'm entirely pleased. I can't tell you how misleadingly, as having bravely died in battle. don't you either use me more that I had to let's give him a glorious death. Let's happy I am with it. I'm very glad "I actually asked for it, believe it or not," he season or killing this guy off suffer a little bit at first, because it makes me reveals. "If you watch the DVDs and listen to get our money's worth by that truly appreciate how well things are going the commentaries, you'll get corroboration on in a really cool way!' David and I made now. It has been a steady upward progression this from [executive producers] David Eick deal, and he kept it. in terms of the quality and size of the roles and Ron Moore. Basically, there was some "When I saw the second season scripts that I stunned, and the pay. That's neat, too! miscommunication as to what Crashdown led up to Crashdown's death, was that they were giving "I've been able to do roles that I would would be doing in the first and subsequent sea- thrilled and so thankful material, because they hadn't have done for free," Sam Witwer concludes. "I sons, and I felt that I wasn't necessarily given me challenging T been doing was push- would have done The Mist for free. I would the chance to compete against the other char- done that yet. All had flying in the back of the ship have done Dexter for free. Same with acters. You had stories about Lee and Starbuck ing switches and Boomer, and then they finally gave me Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars. They're and all these people, and everyone had already with story arc that would end in all things that I totally believe in, things that been established in the mini-series. I hadn't. this meaty Crashdown's demise. It was multi-dimension- I'm crazy about!" So I talked to David and said, 'You're paying

mm/Januaty 2009 15 STARLOG stops by the s to uncover why the filmmakers wanted ti revisit the 1951 masterwork. THE DAY TH

. hp —

Joining Reeves in the role of the enig- matic alien visitor are Jennifer Connelly as Dr. Helen Benson, Jaden Smith as her eight- year-old son Jacob and Kathy Bates as the Secretary of Defense. Scott (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) Derrickson directs from a script by Ryne Douglas Pearson and David Scarpa.

Farewell, Cort The original film was very much a prod- uct of its time—a Cold War/SF parable in which an alien saucer lands in Washington, D.C. with an important message for mankind: Cease your wars, or face absolute annihilation. The US-USSR nuclear arms race was only two years old in 1951, and the chilling message brought by Klaatu and his robot enforcer Gort resonated with nervous audiences. Fifty-seven years later, a new version of that important message is being delivered. Cold War concerns have been replaced by a new worry: the environment. As Klaatu "In the first film,' tells Benson, "If the Earth dies, you die. If Keanu Reeves you die, the Earth survives." Going Green says of 1951 s may no longer be just an option. The Day the On the surface, the new premise may Earth Stood Still, seem less compelling, but Derrickson "Michael Rennie and was more human believes that it's far more urgent, than human." appropriate. "One of the things that I so love about the original movie—aside from all the cinematic invention—is that it was really the only science fiction film at the Jennifer Connelly (here with Jon Hamm) plays Dr. Helen Benson. "I'm really critical of time where fear-mongering wasn't its films and myself," she admits, "but I've been happy on this movie." theme and conception," he points out. "Most of the other SF movies existed to make us afraid of something—of the Red Menace, or of all of the places that science was exploring at the time. They were all warnings. Day was the only one that chal- lenged mankind to be the best version of

itself." Aside from state-of-the-art FX unimag- inable in 1951, this Day the Earth Stood Still

is mounted on an expanded canvas. Klaatu lands in Central Park, not in the Washington Mall. And there are other A ships. The '50s-style flying saucers have been replaced by CGI "orbs" of enormous size and varying colors and characteristics. "We're shooting sequences all over the globe," reveals Stoff. "In terms of the origi- nal, the movie will be 100 percent recogniz-

able. But it has been reimagined for today." The formerly robotic Gort will be entirely CG, and vastly larger than before. exactly the same ends as he's was probably inevitable that some- The inspiration for this 2008 reimagin- "He's used to used in the original," Stoff says. "It's some- day, someone would attempt to offi- ing goes back to 1994, according to produc- because I Erwin Stoff. " was the thing that I don't want to go into, Itcially remake Robert Wise's classic er think Gort's reimagining is one of the 1951 film, The Day the Earth Stood motor behind it," he relates. "When Keanu Fox, the of pro- smarter, more ingenious things [in this Still. Arguably one of the top SF Reeves did Speed for head studio had a poster of The film]. But having said that, he plays the movies of all time, a new Day represents a duction at the his desk. same role in terms of his power for destruc- daunting challenge to anyone bold enough Day the Earth Stood Still behind After Speed opened—and was a big hit tion. Gort has the capability to end it all." to tackle it. other. I Day's storyline so intrigued Connelly Back in the 1980s, Ray Bradbury took a everyone was glad-handing each poster said, 'We that she was motivated to take on the role shot at scripting a sequel that went back to looked up at the and playing originally played by Patricia Neal. "I the , Harry Bates' memorable 1940 should remake that with Keanu thought the script was really powerful," Astounding short story, "Farewell to the Klaatu.' But the production head got anoth- Connelly notes. "I loved that it looks at how Master." But The Day the Earth Stood Still er job, and everyone got busy. Now, all these pass." we treat each other, how we live on Earth II never went to camera. years later, it has come to

2009 17 www.starlog.com SWm/January gests otherworldly monk's robes. And it's not only his robes that are grey. This Klaatu experiences profound emo- tional changes after he lands on Earth to lay

down the law. "Klaatu is conflicted about a decision that he has made," explains Reeves. "He comes to a more human understanding,

and is affected by it. Klaatu has some ambiva- lence, and begins to believe that people aren't as bad as he thought." His relationship with Benson and her son feeds into that. "There's more interaction between Klaatu and Helen, and there's more with her and the kid," Reeves reveals. "And Klaatu spends more time with both of them." "The relationship between Helen and her son is much more deeply explored," concurs Connelly. "It's our little story within the story—a mother and a son who are in conflict and have sadness in their relationship. You know that there's a crisis coming, and that something has to shift or break. There are a bunch of scenes about that tension. You hope

they're going to work it out. You want Jacob to grow up. And Jaden is just so charming and interesting."

The role originally played by Sam Jaffe, Dr. Barnhardt, has unexpectedly fallen into the capable hands of STARLOG favorite John Cleese. "He was fantastic," praises Derrick- son. "Everybody loved him. We wrapped him

on Friday. People were sad when he left. The crew was literally grieving, because he's so funny and full of life. And yet the character he plays is quite serious. John is fiercely intellec- tual, and I think he appreciated the opportuni- ty to demonstrate what he can do as an actor."

"It was the most difficult role to cast," in-

and whether we do that responsibly. We have a obsessive about [the film I'm working on] that tendency to be self-destructive. script The just I can't stop thinking about it. I can't stop read- struck me. It was poignant and moving, but ing the script." also exciting, dramatic, thrilling and suspense- ful. And I like these guys, so I wanted to work Hail, Klaatu with them." Taking on the Michael Rennie role As for stepping into Neal's acting shoes, required that Reeves bone up on more than Connelly observes, "She did such marvelous just the script. "I watched the [1951] film a work. Actually, my character has been updat- few times in a row," he says. "Klaatu was kind ed so much, just in terms of my vocation, what of like the nice guy who carries a big stick. I'm I do and my purpose. I have a very different not such a nice guy [in this movie]. It's more job in this, and my character feels much dif- complex, which I like." ferent than Patricia Neal's. It's a difficult part." Reeves plays a very different Klaatu, both This time around, Benson is a Princeton conceptually and spiritually. "[Rennie's alien] microbiologist enlisted by NASA to study wasn't quite an Everyman, but he was very Klaatu. Connelly sees this Day the Earth human," the actor observes. "In this version, Stood Still not as a genre or remake opportuni- Klaatu isn't. My Klaatu is an entity trapped in ty, but as a serious acting challenge. "I don't a human body, but he clearly isn 't human. He want to classify films into what is serious and doesn't have the same human empathetic qual- what isn't," she says. "In terms of the way that ities. He's a little more sinister. Michael Ren- I work, I can't say, 'Oh, I'm doing this one for nie brings the stick out at the end. I bring the whatever superficial reason.' I'm extremely stick out at the beginning!" committed to everything I become involved in. The alien's true form and nature are close- Comparing his Klaatu to Rennie's, I approach everything from my character's ly-guarded secrets, but production art visible Reeves remarks, "He's point-of-view, still the same kind and I approach it with the same around the set depicts a Klaatu who wears of human character facing the same seriousness. I get so madly compulsive and some type of greyish hooded outfit that sug- kind of violence."

18 SMWG/knuary 2009 www.starlog.com — "

serts Stoff. "We struggled with that for months and months. And when his name popped up, we thought, 'Yeah, who would you rather make the argument for mankind but John

Cleese?' It seemed right." Jon (Mad Men) Hamm's role is a new one, yet in a way, it's a hybrid of two characters from the '51 film. "I play Dr. Michael Granier, a scientist who tries to figure out the issue that has descended upon the Earth," he explains. "My husband [Paul me, "As it stands now, there appears to be some Bettany] asked " it look?' sort of backstory between Helen and him, How does Connelly comments. which plays out throughout the film. But for "I said, It looks really the most part, he's reacting to the things that good.' Even he was are happening and trying to make as much like, 'My God, she Granier stands in sense out of them as he can. never says that!' place of the audience. So it has been interest- ing." "One of the things that has made this shoot tent. shadowy fig- Kaufman version] as a kid. That remake made a really fun and less stressful experience than Connelly hovers over the A very creepy within. Is it Reeves? Peering a large impression on me. It was a usual is [we had a final script]," Stoff notes. ure can be seen experience. Kaufman's film was a great update "Usually, the larger the movie, the greater the through a viewport, she notices something. sign of neural activi- in terms of retelling the same story for its chance that the script isn't done by the time "He's dreaming. Any time." you start shooting. For a number of reasons ty?" physician whispers an unin- Comparisons are inevitable, and here they a great job was done on the screenplay, and The attending are invited. Especially in the choice of Reeves there was the impending writers' strike—we telligible response. Derrickson shouts, as Klaatu, which has already generated talk were dealing with an absolute deadline. So Off-camera, director about the character's similarities to Reeves' we've had the enormous advantage and plea- "Now!" encapsulated form erupts in Neo in the Matrix trilogy. But surface mes- sure of a finished and blocked script. And that Abruptly, the different pounding at the tent sianic qualities aside, these are very freed everyone up to ask more questions, be- violence, struggling and characters. "Klaatu has an innate curiosity, a cause we're working with a complete frame- like a trapped animal. naivete almost, that's tempered by a certain work." Connelly cries out, "Get help!" says charging in, yelling, "Code degree of cynicism and spirituality," On the Vancouver Film Studios sound- Hamm comes than we do about Patient is conscious!" Stoff. "Klaatu knows more stage, STARLOG observes a hospital room set White! about tent, he locks eyes with the big picture, but way less than we do from a video village around the corner. Reaching the some- the world in which we live." Reeves, wearing hospital scrubs, strides onto Connelly. "He recognizes you. Say "Both films have a different way of telling the set. Soon, the cameras are rolling. thing." Klaatu speaks. "My name is the story," says Reeves. "My take on Connelly enters, walking deliberately through Leaning in, Connelly help you. You being slightly more sinister comes from the a doorway. An attending physician looks up Dr. Helen Benson. I'm trying to film's structure. Klaatu comes to see, to judge, and moves away from a hyperbaric chamber. have nothing to fear from us." kind of looks The agitated patient quickly settles and when he looks out, he just Jaden Smith essays Connelly's child in the film. down. Connelly and Hamm share a sur- out. In the original, Klaatu was warm and is I'm not that "The relationship between Helen and her son prised look. fuzzy, more human than human. she notes. much more deeply explored," They go again. And again. Around guy ' • • n original], Take Four, there's a line change when "I'm not trying to avoid [the it. has such a Hamm says, "He's looking at you. Say because Rennie is fantastic in He alien. I'm a something." After Connelly delivers naturalistic quality—that Tm an amusement. But he her lines, the two actors share a hopeful human' quality. It's almost Klaatu doesn't want look. has his frustrations, too. fear. He wants a rational answer." Klaatu Barada Nikto For her part, Connelly radiates confi- her director. "I look for- Hopeful is the operative word on dence—especially in thing," she says. "I this set. Everyone involved with Day ward to seeing the whole doing a better job. appears to be mindful that they are couldn't imagine anyone best version that could remaking what is, for many, their Scott has made the and understands favorite SF film. have been made. He is smart, loves film- Speculation that this 21st-century the original film. He loves it. He film his- version might surprise audiences by making. Scott knows so much about to be dipping into Bates' very different story tory and current movies. He wants Day I think that he has all of for inspiration is quickly shot down by real and dramatic, and Stoff. "No, we didn't," he says. "We're the bases covered." anticipating dealing with the existing movie and its One thing audiences will be Still lands in screenplay [as scripted by Edmund H. when The Day the Earth Stood theaters on December 12 is the original's most North]." " Adds Derrickson, "One of the famous line. "I say, 'Klaatu Barada Nikto,' happily replies. "Of course I do. things I remember saying to Erwin was Reeves context is a bit different." that I felt a fairly worthy target for this However, the in the script movie, as a remake, was Philip "I don't think that line was Derrickson Kaufman's Invasion of the Body when Keanu came on board," Scott the one who said, 'We Snatchers. I didn't see the Don Siegel reveals. "Keanu was original until after I saw the [1978 gotta have it!'" i&

mm/January 2009 19 After helming Hellraiser: Inferno and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, director Scott Derrickson takes on his biggest genre project with The Day the Earth Stood Still.

THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL Director Scott Derrickson may be the bravest man in Hollywood. Few directors would have the Will director courage to helm a remake of Robert Wise's 1951 cinematic clas- ScoLL sic, The Day the J Derrickson Earth Stood Still. The genre-stretching film is routinely cited in Top 10 lists of the best SF motion pictures, win the Day with and in 1995, it was selected for preservation by the prestigious National Film Registry this remake of for its cultural significance. It was such a product of its time, its roles linked so inex- tricably with its cast, that, like Casablanca, an SF classic? redoing it seemed unthinkable. Not so to 20th Century Fox, which owns By WILL MURRAY the rights. Talk of a remake has been in the air for more than a decade. As long ago as 1994, Fox executives contemplated casting Keanu Reeves as the enigmatic emissary from the stars known only as Klaatu. The idea finally jelled last year, when Derrickson was offered the project—his first directing job since 2005's The Exorcism of Emily Rose. "It was a Fox property," Derrickson notes. "They struggled with it for years try- ing to find a way to make it work. Writer David Scarpa was the key." As for Derrickson's participation, "I

20 STARLOG//ani/oryJ?000 www.starlog.com

Still. "It's built into the

narrative, somewhat in- extricably," he explains.

"To the degree that it's in

the original, it's in ours, but probably not as direct or as obvious. They have some me- taphors in the original that we don't. And, of course, Keanu has done this before!"

The director is allud- ing to Reeves' messianic Neo in the Wachowskis' groundbreaking Matrix trilogy. Now, Reeves' eerie screen persona seems to be a more ap-

propriate fit than it was

when his name was ini- tially floated as Klaatu in

the aftermath of his first big hit, Speed.

"That [religious ele- ment is] one of the appealing things about The Day the Earth Stood The Klaatu-as-Christ metaphor wasn't lost Still" Derrickson contin- upon Derrickson, who says that the ues. "In my opinion, story's religious aspects attracted him to probably with the excep- the project. tion of Mr. Carpenter, I found that aspect rather who graduated from 's Biola Uni- elegant. Again, whether versity with degrees in humanities, communi- it's The Matrix, E.T., cations and theological studies. His previous Braveheart or any of films (as either writer, producer or director), those films that are basi- The Visitation, Hellraiser: Inferno and The cally Christ narratives, Exorcism of Emily Rose, fall loosely into the it's strong storytelling. It religious realm. Even his first short film, Love resonates with people." in the Ruins, covers that ground. Back in 1951, the Derrickson says that he isn't walking away "Man vs. man" was the issue in the first movie. In the redux, menace looming over from that allegory in his Day the Earth Stood the focus and fight has shifted to a "man vs. nature" standoff humanity was the H- bomb. Today, nuclear an-

nihilation still looms. But after the fall of the Iron Curtain, mutually assured destruction has taken a back seat to another kind of extinction threat: global warming and related environ-

mental issues. The 20th Century's "man vs. man" has been replaced by the 21st Century's

"man vs. nature." Or is it the other way around?

Either way, Derrickson is determined to do justice to the source film he's reimagining. "I'm a big fan of the original," he offers. "I had a chance to meet Robert Wise and talk about this film and The Haunting. The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Haunting are my two favorite films. In the case of The Day the Earth Stood Still, its greatness is self-explanatory in that it was one of the first movies that brought real intelligence and legitimacy to SF. And it was such a fantastic statement about the glob- al situation during that time." Next up for the director: helming John Milton's epic poem of Lucifer's war against Heaven and the fall of Adam and Eve, Paradise Lost. And after that, producing a remake of 's The Birds. No So why redo an SF classic? Derrickson thinks that the original Day is of its time, and question about it: Scott Derrickson is a major felt the premise was ripe for a present-day update. risk-taker. 4& ,

22 Smm/hnuary 2009 FIRST CONTACT

F. Zanuck all things are possible, especially here to an actor whom studio chief Darryl Since signed to a in the STARLOG Universe, we'll happily had just seen in an English play and acknowledge that, had he had the chance to Fox contract. "[Michael Rennie] was a big plus here was a man who had never hear about it, Robert Wise might have greatly for us, because admired Scott Derrickson's new approach to The been seen on the [American] screen before," Wise more credibility to Day the Earth Stood Still. But in 1994 and STAR- remarked. "That brought much Claude Rains." LOG #211, the last time we checked in with the it than, for instance, if we had had enhanced veteran director on the subject of his 1951 origi- Wise also thought Rennie in the role element. "He was tall and nal, he talked about the rumors of a remake and the movie's religious of aesthetic; had you put the beard said, "I don't like [that idea] at all." thin and kind been the Christ figure." In fact, even the prospect of a follow-up film on him, he could have touches in the made his enthusiasm level stand still. "My agent But even with all the allegorical looking the part of a was called, many years ago now; they wanted to storyline and Rennie even of working on the in a sequel. I 20th-century Christ, "none us know if I would be interested doing in picture knew it [was an allegory]," Wise admitted. told him, 'Hell, no.' I don't believe those the picture came out, that things." "It was only later, after noticing. Once A two-time Oscar winner people started it pointed out to us, we who died at age 91 in 2005, was and we Wise had the distinction of felt like, 'Of course!' didn't know why we hadn't directing the first major SF it! That came as a real picture ever to come out of seen I had the book Hollywood. "[The Day the surprise to me. too close to my face, I think!" Earth Stood Still] wasn't a Even with more money, big, big, big budget for those Wise asserted, there was very days," he recalled. "I would little would have done dif- imagine the budget was he "Today, I suppose, around $900,000 or $1 mil- ferently. those special effects we had lion, something like that. But might be a little more sophis- there was no question that we ticated, work a little better, would have all the facilities although they seemed to do and all the ability to do it at the job for us at the time," he 20th Century Fox, and we commented. "It seemed to me would have fine crews and we got pretty much every- fine technicians and all of thing we wanted." that. And the special effects If in 1994 an alien being people, of course, were very did arrive on Earth with the good there." What "grabbed" Wise about demands (and threats) that Klaatu made, "the world the story was "number one, it would [no longer] have any was [for once] an alien from LookjngLooking back gtat hjjhis filmilm in 1994, director ^ nuc | ea r silos—all that would t an outer space who wasn Robert Wise thoughtth< TThe Dayy the be gone, finished up. All that evil alien. Also, it was a sci- Earth Stood Still "holds"t\( fupup Samndamn Jenwell after stuff would be behind us, and ence fiction film set on Earth, all thesethe: years." we wouldn't be having the and I thought that was mar- and their fact that it problems we're having now with Korea velous. I liked the setting, [and] the

I think it would be a much I threat of nuclear arms. was in Washington, the heart of our country; peaceful world." thought that made it very real, very believable, more still, that with my And if instead of making the Earth stand very mundane. I tried to heighten Wise said that it credible he could turn back time, Robert casting, too. I wanted to make just as do differently as I there was very little he would and believable as it could possibly be, and think of the landmark movie. "If I really looked that's one of its strengths." director it, sure I would find a few One canny casting move was the hiring of a at it and examined I'm could be a little better, a little relative unknown to play the mysterious space things that maybe dialogue that could be better from emissary Klaatu. At first, the director, producer sharper. Some it But I think by and large, Julian Blaustein and writer Edmund H. North today's perspective. all these years." envisioned Claude Rains in the silver jumpsuit, holds up damn well after —Tom Weaver but when Rains was unavailable, attention turned www.starlog.com miOG/January 2009 .

Librarians get a bad rap. Conventional wisdom would have us In the process, Flynn falls in love with a beautiful chanteuse (Stana believe they're smart but meek, well-read but nerdy. Weil, that Katie), who has her own secrets. Bruce Davison also stars, along stereotype just won't fly anymore. It has been shattered by with Librarian regulars Bob Newhart and Flynn Carsen, the librarian at 's Metropolitan Jane Curtin (who work at this repository Library. Flynn may be a bit bookish—he does have 22 college of mystical relics and strange artifacts). degrees, after all —but he has never been less boring or more self- "For my money, this movie is the best of assured than he is in The Curse of the Judas Chalice (airing the three," declares actor-director December 7), the third installment in TNT's popular Librarian tele- Jonathan Frakes, who also helmed the sec- film franchise. ond entry in the series, Return to King This time, as scripted by Marco Schnabel, Flynn (Noah Wyle) Solomon's Mines. (The first, Quest for the travels to New Orleans to prevent nefarious forces from using the Spear, was directed by Peter Winther.) "I fabled Judas Chalice to resurrect an ancient, all-powerful vampire. like the vampire story, I love Stana and I'm

WIS** i%L. Jonathan Frakes is still an actor, but lately, the former Star Trek: The Next Generation star has been focusing on directing.

Flynn Carsen (Noah Wyle) the Librarian travels to New Orleans to investigate The Curse of the Judas Chalice.

Is

.i ...

Jonathan Frakes directs the Librarian's

exploits in the Big Easy. Read all about it!

24 mm/Janumy 2009 A

' , ^ . - A V

Third Rock from the Sun's Jane Curtin returns as Charlene for this third TNT Librarian film (which airs December 7).

get a wnoie snonmuiu ative jobs whose work you respect, you Frakes thinks that more freely. I going. That gives everyone the opportunity to work Stana Katie is going found that to be true on Star Trek: The Next Generation, too. It has to be a big star—and been my experience that there's a real advantage to having a famil- he isn't alone. The iarity with people on both sides of the camera. actress is also in of Solace "[Executive producer] Dean Devlin and I agree on the kind of Quantum and The Spirit. movies we like to make. We have similar sensibilities and a nice trust level. As for Noah, he and I clicked while making the last Librarian in Africa. And having him as a producer on this franchise helps, because he's fully engaged. He shows up on time, ready to work and he's full of ideas. Noah works his ass off, all day long. Having worked with him, Bob and Jane on the last one, I didn't have to introduce myself to them as they arrived on the set. We also had the same camera operator this time. The bottom line is, a little history goes a long way." Nevvhart, who turns 80 in 2009, doesn't take many acting roles these days. In fact, he hasn't appeared in anything outside of the Librarian movies since 2005, when he guest-starred on three episodes of Desperate Housewives. Frakes thoroughly enjoys every opportunity to work with the comedy legend. "First of all, I think Library, it's genius to cast Bob as the 3,000-year-old founder of the sort and all of the mystery involved with that, as opposed to some foBm of straight role," the director remarks. "Bob brings 'Bob' to every- thing he does, so for him to play this part is a stroke of genius on Dean's part. Bob is a thrill to be around. He's one of the few peo- Vegas. ple who can still tell stories about Frank Sinatra and old Bob has dinner on Friday nights with Don Rickles! So you can only z imagine how much fun it is on the set between takes." Professor g Turning to Davison, who plays the elderly, crippled i Lazlo, Frakes says, "Bruce has always been one of my favorites. | He's a chameleon. Bruce becomes whatever character he's playing. I He wasn't afraid to get all greasy and old and shriveled up, as he Believe it or 0 is in the first half of the movie. [SPOILER ALERT!] two | not, before we got Bruce, we seriously thought about casting would play | actors to play his role. One would play Lazlo, and one = the guy he becomes later. We didn't know if we could find an actor 1 who would be able to do both. When we cast Bruce, though, we WKw//// ^ommim Newhart, who plays Judson, the I knew that he could essay the shriveled, decrepit old man as well as One of Frakes' favorites is Bob he 3,000-year-old founder of the Library 3 the virile vampire at the end. And Bruce, being the kind of actor

Smm/January 2009 25 www.starlog.com After spending 14 years on ER, Wyle is finally getting the chance to show off his comedic side as Flynn Carsen.

New Orleans is the setting this time. Frakes felt that the Big Easy was the perfect place for this vampire tale.

Solomon's Mines, which featured locations in Mexico and Africa respectively.

"One reason for going to New Orleans was to take advantage of the attractive tax rebate incentive to filmmakers," Frakes admits. However, financial considerations were only part of the decision. "The idea of going to a place that had suffered so much, as New Orleans did with Hurricane Katrina, and giving people there an opportunity to work, was not lost on us. And I must say, when you get down there and you see Knight Rider's Bruce Davison essays two roles in Chalice: the how happy and thankful they are that crippled Professor Lazlo, and his vampiric incarnation. you've brought the work back, it pays off. We hired lots of local talent, way beyond anything I would is, relished the chance to play that entire arc." have imagined. Usually, you cast in LA and take people with you to the Frakes believes that Katie is going to be a huge star. "The compar- location. But with the exception of the regulars and Stana, Curse's isons to Penelope Cruz, I think, are inevitable," he notes. "The fact that entire cast was hired locally, including Dikran Tulaine, who plays the Stana actually sings for herself in this picture is wonderful, and I love chief villain, and all of his sidekicks." her French accent. She stars in Castle, Rob Bowman's new pilot for But the most important reason for choosing New Orleans, Frakes ABC. We were lucky to get Stana at the beginning of what I think will insists, was to serve the needs of the story. "New Orleans was simply be a big career. She's gorgeous and very talented." the right place to do a vampire story," he chuckles. "The two fit like As for Curtin, Frakes calls himself "a huge fan of hers. We have the hand in glove. The place reeks of that kind of lore." same sensibilities, the same politics. I was thrilled that we got to fea- Frakes falls silent for a moment, and when he resumes, his tone is ture her a little more in Curse'' far more somber. "You can still see the effects of Katrina down there, and it's heart-wrenching," he says. "To go to the Ninth Ward and see On the Bayou that people have not come home, and to see X's spray-painted on - For the first time in the Librarian franchise, the setting for Flynn's ings, or words like 'two dead'—those are reminders of what it was like. adventure is domestic rather than international. Frakes thoroughly There are still people living in trailers in the driveways of what once embraced the opportunity to shoot the film in New Orleans, which were their homes. We would go out to scout locations and see cement imbues the movie with a distinctly different feel than Quest and foundations. A hundred yards off, we would see the floor of the house,

26 mm/January 2009 www.starlog.com then another hundred yards beyond that, we would see rubble. It's a visual reminder of what houses along the water were put through. "On our rare days off during filming," he continues, "we would go out to eat, and people would tell stories about big restaurants that wait- ed until their entire staff was back in place [after the disaster] —from the busboys up to the chefs—before reopening. The people stuck together. New Orleans is an amazing place."

For many, the city is synonymous with jazz music, which is some- thing Frakes knows a thing or two about. Next Generation fans will recall Frakes, as Will Riker, playing the trombone on occasion. He has a cameo in Curse of the Judas Chalice, in which he appears as—you guessed it—a trombone player. "Music is an important element of this film," he affirms. "Just to be able to shoot on Bourbon Street and use traditional Dixieland jazz was terrific. Joseph LoDuca's score is the best Librarian score yet. Joseph loves New Orleans music, and you can feel that love in his score. He gave the main theme music, which you hear whenever Flynn does something heroic, a New Orleans flavor." Back in 2004, Frakes told STARLOG (issue #325) about a feature he was developing for Disney called Illusion. Whatever happened to He has helmed two Leverage episodes so far, including "The project? "I wish I knew," he answers with a sigh. "Hollywood that Wedding Job." Gina Bellman and Timothy Hutton star in the new made other magic movies instead, so that script is probably just sitting TNT action-drama series. on somebody's desk. It ran into a saturation problem. It's like when suddenly everyone wants to make a heist movie, or everyone wants to Frakes directed "The Discarded," one of six episodes of the short- make a medical show. That sort of thing happens in Hollywood all the lived SF anthology series Masters of Science Fiction (now on DVD time. I would still like to make Illusion." from Anchor Bay Entertainment). The segment was penned by Harlan Frakes did make Thunderbirds, the summer 2004 live-action feature Ellison and Josh Olson, based on an original story by Ellison. "That revival of the 1965 TV series, but the film failed to take off was spectacular," Frakes enthuses. "I loved that series. I don't under- at the box office. "It was a wonderful movie," he remarks, "but it was stand why it didn't find its audience. My episode had John Hurt, Brian misplaced in terms of its release. I wish Thunderbirds had been kept Dennehy and James Denton in it. Harlan's story was so good—very series. It where it was meant to be: a small release sometime in February. Then dark, sad and morbid. All the pieces were there for that whole science fiction. it might have found its audience. I keep hearing from people who have was peppered with wonderful stories by true masters of little kids, who say, That movie is fabu- But it got buried at 10 p.m. on Saturday nights in the summertime." lous!' It got killed by the competition." The director thinks that At present, Frakes is putting the finish- On the Holodeck Wyle and the ing touches on a couple of episodes he In 2005, Frakes returned to the role franchise are directed for TNT's new action-drama getting better that made him famous when the producers series, Leverage (which also debuts as they go of Star Trek: Enterprise asked him to December 7, following Judas Chalice's along. In appear as Commander Riker (along with premiere). "It's sort of like Ocean's 12 or Frakes' opinion, as Counselor Troi) in the Mission: Impossible, with a modern-day Chalice is Robin Hood premise," Frakes explains. series' final episode, "These Are the the best Hutton is the star. One episode, Voyages..." That show had Riker using the Librarian yet. "Timothy Holodeck to look back at the last mission 'The Wedding Job,' has the Leverage team of the Enterprise NX-01. taking over the wedding of an LA mob- "There were two great parts to doing ster's daughter. In my second, 'The Juror a that," Frakes explains. "One was getting to #6 Job,' the team takes over courtroom picked up, and I get work with Marina, whom I adore. The trial. If the series gets directing other was being on the set again with so the feeling it will be, I will be many people from Next Generation. Many more episodes. TNT is high on the show." is work- of those people were retiring—people in In addition to Leverage, Frakes the makeup department, the visual effects ing on an adaptation of the 1981 Young department, the key grip department. I had Adult SF novel The Green Futures of done 182 episodes [of Next Generation] Tycho by William Sleator. "We'll see if it with them, and some of the movies, too. goes," he allows. 'These Are the Voyages...' was to be their He's also "pushing very hard" to get the going. hoping last show. So there was a sentimental value next Librarian feature "I'm participate, if not, we'll to that." that TNT will but At the same time, Frakes remains a bit do it through Dean's company, Electric dumbfounded that he and Sirtis were Entertainment," Frakes offers. "The will contin- called upon to close out Enterprise. "I Librarian franchise definitely they'll must say, Scott Bakula was incredibly ue, and I will stay involved, if have

it. feel like generous to allow us to come in at the end me. I feel paternal toward I [producer] Mark Roskin and I of his show. I don't think I would have Dean, Noah, been as graceful as he was," Frakes says are the keepers of the Librarian flame." Jonathan candidly. "I mean, come on, you bring in Meanwhile, don't count out people from another show to close your Frakes, the actor. He may be getting more roles these days, series down? That's kind of cold, isn't it? directing gigs than acting "that's not by choice, that's by circum- Of course, it was meant as a valentine to but that I'm available the fans, but to the Enterprise actors, it stance. Get the word out actor with a grey must have felt like, 'Hey, this is our show. to anybody who needs an " What are you guys doing here?' beard!" -4s- i uantum of Solace. Not exactly a title that Taking some rolls trippingly off the wise words \ tongue, but it's also [the name of an obscure 1959 Ian Fleming from Orson short story featuring legendary superspy James (1967's Casino Bond. That tale provides the jumping-off point for Royale) the latest 007 film of the same name, with Daniel Welles to Craig reprising the role he took over in Casino heart, Marc Royale. Forster Director Marc {Finding Neverland) Forster decided to

admits that the moniker threw him for a loop at first. take the "[Producers] Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli plunge and asked me into their office, where there was this direct a James board with written on it," Forster Bond film. recalls. "They said, 'What do you think of the title?' I said, 'What? Quantum of Solace? What's that

about?' It's a short story by Fleming, and it's one of

the few [Bond story] titles left. There are only like

two more that haven't been used. But the title grew

on me, and now I really like it, because Bond gets his

quantum of solace at the movie's end. It's still odd,

though. Who would come up with a title like that?" Taking place immediately after Casino Royale's

events, Quantum of Solace finds Bond still reeling from the death of Vesper (Eva Green), and seeking answers from the mysterious Mr. White (Jesper Christensen). But he soon discovers that the organiza-

tion that had been blackmailing Vesper is a complex and dangerous enigma.

Tracking an MI6 traitor's bank account to Haiti, Bond encounters the beautiful Camille (Olga Kurylenko), who in turn leads him to Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a ruthless businessman and mem- ber of the Quantum organization. Bond's mission takes | him to Austria, Italy and finally South America, where 1 he forges an alliance with a merciless Bolivian general

and discovers that Greene is about to take control of one of the world's most valuable natural resources. As Bond tries to find his way through a web of betrayal and mur- der, he must stay ahead of the terrorists, CIA and even his boss M (Judi Dench), who believes that the agent has gone rogue.

For Forster, one of the earliest challenges in accepting the Quantum of Solace assignment was that he was essentially taking on a sequel to the hugely successful

Casino Royale. "When I first met Barbara and Michael, they said, 'Look, we want it to start half an hour after

Casino Royale, and it should be a direct sequel.' I thought that was interesting, because I didn't have to deal with

Bond 'fresh.' He lost the love of his life in the last one.

This is a Bond who is in pain, and he's dealing with all of this emotional texture."

While Forster knew his film had to fit the Bond series'

Unlikely director Marc Forster helps a vengeful James Bond make peace.

FINDING By JOE NAZZARO

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visual sensibilities, he also wanted to find ways of putting and Bond in the boat sequence, the plane sequence and at the to dive further his personal stamp on it. "I said to myself, 'OK, what is the end with the fire sequence. [My goal was] Bond movie that / always wanted to see?' So the first thing into Bond's pain and get a little more under his skin. I was thrillers, because I felt this I did was specifically include some of the styles from the specifically inspired by '70s fast. It should start like a bullet and '60s—stylistic references that I liked from Ken Adam's movie should be really designs on those films. keep you on the edge of your seat right up until the last "The MI6 office was outdated, so I wanted to re- frame."

create its entire look, making it completely new and

modernizing it with graphics," Forster continues. "I Neverland Fantasies Forster also used new artists for the title sequence, and Born in Germany and raised in Switzerland, thought about the influences on the early Bond moved to NY in 1990 to build a filmmaking career in the films, which I've always felt came a little bit from States. He made his directorial debut in 2000 with ( ' Alfred Hitchcock. So I looked at some Hitchcock Everything Put Together, but it was his work on Monster's movies; for example, the opera sequence in The Ball that got Hollywood's attention, with Halle Berry win- Man Who Knew Too Much was a big influence on ning a Best Actress Oscar for her performance (which she our opera scene. coincidentally followed with her own 007 turn in Die

"I wanted to tell our action sequences stylis- Another Day). director, tically, and because it's a Bond film, I wanted to Having established himself as an up-and-coming Finding set them in the four elements, so there are Forster' s next film was the critically acclaimed action sequences set in fire, water, air and so Neverland, which starred Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet in a author J.M. Barrie. "It on. I also wanted to tell a story that moved the semi-biographical tale about Peter Pan characters forward, especially with Camille was a magical experience for me," he says, "because escap-

Daniel Craig was another factor in Forster signing on to Quantum of Solace, The director calls his leading man a smart actor and good collaborator. God, how can he do that?" It was brilliant." he never made a mainstream or commercial

Forster followed up Finding Neverland movie, and I began thinking he had a point.

with the surreal thriller Stay, the comedy "Suddenly, I was like, 'More people will Stranger Than Fiction and a controversial see this film than my six movies put together!'

adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's bestselling It's crazy that I could reach all of these people novel The Kite Runner. Having built up an with just one movie, and this one character,

eclectic body of work over the past decade, and I became more and more intrigued. I nor- Forster wasn't all that interested in directing mally turn down these big-budget Hollywood

the latest Bond adventure, but it was a quote films, because you have to deal with the studio from the late Orson Welles that made him executive bureaucracy. There are so many

rethink the decision. chefs in the kitchen, and I really believe in a

"There were a couple of motivations," he single voice, which is hard with these fran-

says. "I took the first meeting out of respect, chises. But then I met Barbara and Michael,

even though I really wasn't interested. But my and this is their franchise, so I would only

DP [] and editor [Matt have to deal with them. I thought it would be Chesse, who cut Quantum of Solace with Get an interesting challenge to work with them

Smart's Richard Pearson], who have been because it's one-on-fwo, and I figured this Johnny Depp played pirate again in longtime collaborators, are huge fans. Finding Neverland, Forster's acclaimed Bond could be an interesting franchise to direct. And They kept talking film about Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie. about how Bond was part of when I met Daniel, he explained to me how film history and saying, "We don't want to they work and how supportive they are of film- ing into my imagination was something I did as influence you, Marc. You always make your makers. So I trusted them and, creatively, it a child. Growing up in the Switzerland moun- own decisions,' But I began to realize how has been a great experience." tains, I always felt that [my imagination] many people have been affected by Bond. I helped free me from a lot of pain, and Finding never realized that. And before I met with the Filmdom Realities Neverland brought me back to that. I had an producers again, I read a quote from Welles Even so, Forster was under no illusion that incredible time on that movie, the and kids where he said that his biggest regret was that directing one of the biggest Bond films in the were so good. Freddie Highmore [who plays No superfluous Peter, one of Winslet's sons] is a special person. third nipples or "I remember shooting the scene on the Persian cats for bench, the last sequence when Freddie sheds this Bond the one tear. I had always envisioned shooting baddie! Forster that using motion-control, and when Johnny wanted saw the camera, he said, 'Tim Burton uses Mathieu

those, and they always break down.' I said, Amalric's

'No, no, it isn't going to break down. It will be Dominic great!' So we were shooting the scene, and Greene to be an atypical Freddie and Johnny were excellent, but then it villain.

Camille (Olga Kurylenko) is the latest in a long line of beautiful Bond Girls. However, the heartbroken 007 doesn't fall in love with her.

started to lightly drizzle, and suddenly the Action and camera broke down. The rain started coming international locales are down harder, and we couldn't fix the motion- elements of control camera. I felt so bad about it, because every Bond Freddie was so good, and I thought to myself, picture, but 'Oh my God, I have to tell him!' Forster "I went to his trailer and said, 'I'm really (right) aimed sorry, Freddie, I know your work was great, for subtler

but we're going to have to reshoot it.' And he character

said, 'I'm glad, Marc, because I wasn't on touches today.' He was only 10 or 11, and he wasn't as well.

'on'? So we went back and did it again, and on take three, there was that moment when the single tear drops. Freddie had been holding them back, because I told him that I didn't want him to cry. But he was watering up, and this one tear finally fell, and I thought, 'Oh my

30 Smm/January 2009 saga's 40-plus-year history was going to be an Forster's work on such films easy assignment. "I mapped out this movie to as Monster's the last detail in pre-production—in terms of Ball and The what I wanted to do and what was in my Kite Runner mind," he states. "But you always have to caught the leave room for the unexpected and those mag- Bond ical moments. I was still a little naive, and producers' once we started shooting, it got more intense, eyes. The but everything ended up going smoothly. I director enjoyed the must say, though, it really got to me in post- challenge of production, because we only had six weeks to making a cut the movie. Usually, I like to edit and big-budget, reflect, but there wasn't any time. It was truly mainstream nonstop, and the pressure got to me. I didn't movie. enjoy that one bit. It was very hard." The director is quick to single out Craig's contribution; the pair worked closely together

to flesh out the heroic but still emotionally scarred secret agent. "Daniel plays the charac- ter closer to the way Fleming wrote Bond than anyone has before," Forster says. "He's also a had to create the action really smart actor, and that's the reason I even- features more international locales than any to everybody. So we beat first, and then we were able to tell the tually signed on, because I felt that Daniel movie in the franchise's history. "It's a Bond incorporate those sort of would be a good collaborator and help me film, so the locations should be iconic. They're story. I was able to explains. ideas a bit. make the movie the way I envisioned it. I want characters in themselves," he "We like the emotional exchanges between the audience to feel Bond's physicality and shot in Panama, Chile, Austria, Italy, London "I actors, because psychologically they're pain. But at the same time, you have to believe and Mexico. Since Panama doesn't have the the infrastructure, to bring much more interesting for me to direct. There that he's fit and has the endurance to keep greatest film we had extras, so are some nice moments between Bond and going—although there's some emotional tis- lots of stuff in, and there weren't any I learned a Giancarlo Giannini's character in Italy, and I sue that's slightly damaged." we were working with [the locals]. their [exchanges] in the plane For the villainous Greene, Forster stayed good deal on The Kite Runner, so my crew also enjoy sequence. Those scenes are usually few and away from the larger-than-life Bond baddies was already used to it. far between in these movies, and if I was to do of the past, casting French actor-director "The only problem was juggling all of size, I would approach it Amalric (best-known Stateside for The Diving these locations. In the beginning, I said, 'I another film of this because, differently so that those moments would be Bell and the Butterfly), who plays the charac- don't want to shoot in the studio,' that even more in the forefront." ter in a low-key but increasingly dangerous usually, most of a Bond film is done way. in Prague Forster has laid some groundwork for a way. "I love Mathieu's French movies, and Even on the last one, they filmed sequel, even though he doesn't plan to return I've always thought he was an interesting and the Bahamas, but they built everything really as director. "We've set it up so that Bond has actor," Forster remarks. "I brought him in, and else. The producers asked me, 'Do you said, 'Yes, it will pay found a quantum of solace. That story is com- the first thing he said to me was, 'Can I have a want to do this?' And I " pleted," he says. "But if they want to do a tril- scar or a hook or something? I need a crutch to off, because it will feel more real.' ogy, they could go into the heart of Quantum play the villain. I'm playing a Bond bad guy!' and follow that organization further up the I said, 'Look, that won't work. I think you Quantum Mechanics tried to include many of the ranks. But they could also start anew with a should play it totally straight, be a nice guy.' In While Forster different storyline. I'm longing to go back and the beginning, he was insecure about that, but traditional Bond elements, he has also intro- devices that are new do something more intimate. Directing a scene he trusted me enough to say, 'OK, let's try it.' duced some filmmaking cross-cutting, such as the with Freddie in Finding Neverland, like when I thought it would be interesting to play him to the series, notably with a destroys the playhouse... Those moments differently from all the other Bond villains." early underground chase that dovetails he beautiful and precious. They really That principle could just as easily apply to horse race taking place in Siena, Italy. "That are so to me." Camille, the beautiful but revenge-driven form of storytelling is very effective," he elab- bring great joy last back at Quantum So- woman who teams up with Bond, but has an orates. "Francis Ford Coppola did that really Taking a look of lace, Forster believes that he was able to make agenda entirely her own. Camille is one of the well in The Godfather, like in the baptism substantive contribution to the latest James few Bond Girls who isn't seduced by the scene with Al Pacino [that cross-cuts] with a adventure. "These films aren't supposed agent's charms. "In the last movie, Bond lost everybody getting killed. That inspired me to Bond to be political, but while we were creating the the love of his life, so you can't have him try the technique. Greene character, we were able to introduce falling in love again," Forster points out. "I "There's something that's visually interest- the idea that not everybody who is 'green' is wanted a mirror image to him—someone who ing about [cross-cutting], because you're there asked ourselves: What do these wouldn't only be an object of beauty, but a with one action, but something else is happen- good. We also government agencies really stand for? That's three-dimensional character. It was an oppor- ing parallel to it. It adds simultaneous me- especial- why I made the CIA slightly villainous, and tunity to create an equal to Bond. taphors to Bond and the storytelling, purpose of MI6 these days: Are "After hundreds of tapes and some people ly in the Tosca scene. I had to figure out, 'We [question] the the audience doesn't hear they here to protect the country or to serve a reading for me, I brought in four or five girls have a gunfight, but to silencers, few corporate interests? to read with Daniel. Olga had the best chem- the guns, so they either have be on the they're "I wanted to raise all of those questions, as istry, and she was best-suited for the role. It's or it has to take place moment be well as the water crisis that we're going to be a hard process, because you're looking for so shooting on stage.' I thought that that would facing, and how many people will enormous- many qualities. Also, I wanted to make sure a much better way to do it." ly profit from selling water," Marc Forster that, visually, Olga and Daniel looked good Forster is also pleased with Quantum of "All of that is dropped into the together." Solace's subtler character moments. "I like comments. background, but I hope some people will pick With his cast in place, Forster spent sever- some of the more abstract stuff," he reflects. for example, I wanted to up on it. That's the only thing you can hope al months looking for the right locations to "In the boat scene, foreign for." shoot his film. Reportedly, Quantum of Solace have some dialogue, which was a little

www.starlog.com Smm/January 2009 31 "There isn't any way

that I would dress like this in real life," Olga Kurylenko says of Quantum of Solace's Camille. "I wear a T-shirt and pants."

32 SikRm/January 2009 the new BOND GIRL Oiga Kurylenko brings stylish action to 007's mission of vengeance. By joe nazzaro

this, so glad that you did it!' t's great to be this kind of Bond Girl," says actress Olga Kurylenko, going to be so happy when you see and doing. who plays the beautiful but emotionally scarred Camille in Quantum Daniel was constantly invested in and focused on what we were keeps his cool and is a brave man, it of Solace. "She's very different from the others. Camille is strong, When I see an actor like that, who feisty and independent, so she doesn't need Bond to help her. She real- gives me courage and inspiration." Amalric, who plays the ly doesn't need help from anyone, because she can do everything by She also enjoyed her scenes with Mathieu whole story about [our herself. Camille has her own mission in the movie, and her own story. villainous Dominic Greene. "We made up a a previous relationship, but I don't know She isn't an accessory for Bond." characters], because they had she remarks. "Mathieu's way of working is In Quantum of Solace, James Bond (Daniel Craig) teams up with how much I can reveal," style, and it's spontaneous. Camille, a Latin American beauty who has a specific agenda of her very interesting and different. It's his own scene, and he would try some- own. "What's interesting about this character, apart from the fact that We would do a second take of the same I like, 'What?' And he would say, 'You'll she's strong, independent and feisty, is that she also has depth? thing totally different. was going to do. It was like Kurylenko observes. "She's scarred inside as well as outside, but espe- see.' Mathieu wouldn't tell me what he was that's what kept it so fresh." cially inside. Camille has been carrying all of this pain throughout the improvisation, and (page who was able to juggle Quantum years, because of something very tragic that happened in her childhood. Finally, there's Forster 28), elaborate action sequences while never losing sight of the She lost her family, and that's what motivates her actions. Her whole of Solace's character moments. "Action films are often only about the life growing up was thinking about, 'One day I'm going to get that per- important Kurylenko says, "and in this movie, because it's so intense, we son' —the person who's responsible for what happened to her." action," to keep all of that depth present, and Marc really con- Not surprisingly, the list of actresses trying out for the coveted role needed someone was large. "It was a huge audition process, and very intense," centrated on that. that scene in the boat, which is all action, Marc told Kurylenko recalls. "There were three auditions altogether. The first was "Even during I'm looking at the screen, I'm looking at your eyes. What in Paris, which was a general audition. There were lots of people sitting me, 'When are expressing? What is going on there?' He was always focused in the waiting room. Then I got a callback and was invited to London you depth and feeling. I've worked with other directors who have to do a second audition with a different scene. That's where I met on the fine. go to the next one!' But with Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, the producers, and director said, 'The take is good. It looks Let's something wasn't right, we would go again until we got it Marc Forster. After that, I got another callback for the third and last Marc, if characters to exist naturally and feel real." audition, which was with Daniel. I had to wait three or four weeks right. The had Although Olga Kurylenko has appeared in high-profile films like before I got an answer." Payne, she isn't planning on forging a reputation as an In sharp contrast to previous Bond Girls, Camille is a darker, much Hitman and Max action heroine. "It just happened that way. I enjoyed Quantum of Solace less glamorous character. "That isn't what I'm attracted to," she says. in certain very much. I was involved in the action, but I wasn't really involved "The glamour is [still there], and I knew that there would be it in those other movies. It was fun doing my own stunts. That was some- things like that. But in Casino Royale, the female part was very inter- like thing that I discovered, but I don't want to only do that. I would esting. They started a new concept with that movie." new parts as possible. So that's my goal." Once she was cast, the Ukrainian-born model/actress began per- to do as many versatile fecting Camille's Latin American accent. "I knew what it had to sound

like, because I have lots of Hispanic friends from Latin America and Spain, so I'm familiar with Spanish," she says. "And, of course, I got Before I much better once I began spending time in Panama and Chile. even started [my language] training, I had already spent time with my friends, just listening to and recording them. I asked them to read poems in Spanish and English, and I listened to them on my iPod. I also had a coach who [helped me] prepare the accent." Since Camille is supposed to be a formidable action heroine, Kurylenko spent several months training, ranging from weapons han- dling to stuntwork, as well as spending several weeks at Bodyflight, the she UK's first and largest skydiving wind tunnel. "That was amazing!" enthuses. "We trained there for a month, and after the first day, I could it was. not lift my arms up the next morning. That's how intense My whole body was hurting and sore, and that was after spending only 10 minutes in the tunnel. But a month later, I could stay in there for 40 minutes—they couldn't take me out! My body adapted, so after that, action, it could have been very easy to nothing hurt. I've never had muscles like that before. Suddenly, I was "This movie has so much forget about everything else," Kurylenko points out. getting strong, and I really got addicted to it." And that training came in handy once shooting began. "I did have some cuts and bruises," she admits. "With the boat scene, for example, going so fast; it was difficult not to fall out of the boat, because it was amazing. Usually, it was like a rollercoaster. Seriously, the speed was when you're on a speedboat, you're sitting down and holding on to something, but we had to fight. We had to deal with the choreography, the camera moving and trying to catch everything and the [bad] guys our chasing us. Then we had to smash into other boats—and we were in

boat while it was crashing!" Kurylenko praises her leading man for being a constant source of support during filming. "Daniel is a wonderful actor, very focused and always knows what he's doing," she extols. "He would say, 'You're

www.starlog.com Another Smallville resident, FUTURE Erica Durance, first blew into town as Lois Lane in the Season Four premiere "Crusade." She became a series regular the next year, Life and is currently shooting the show's eighth season.

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' Kevin Sorbo has been busy on the genre scene, having recently appeared in Meef the Spartans, Never Cry Werewolf and An American Carol.

Happy ghoul-den anniversary to John Zacherle, seen here on September 22, 2008, 50 years to the day after his TV debut as the horror-movie-hosting Zacherley (and holding the 1958 TV Guide to prove it). The Cool Ghoul also recently celebrated his 90th birthday and returned to host duties over Halloween weekend, emceeing Tarantula (1955) in primetime on NY's Channel 11.

Supergirl Laura Vandervoort essayed Kara Zor-EI during Smallville's seventh season. And she recently returned as Clark Kent's Kryptonian cousin. Vandervoort can also be seen in Into the Blue 2.

Lucy Lawless got her start on Hercules, and then starred in her own series, Xena: Warrior Princess. Besides her Battlestar Galactica role, she'll appear with Sorbo in Bitch Slap and in this month's Adam Sandler comedy Bedtime Stories.

Lawless Photo: Copyright 2008 , ABC/Disney

Meeting for the first time are real monster kids Sara Karloff (Boris' daughter) and Donnie Dunagan (who, as a child actor, played young Peter in 1939's Son of Frankenstein). Relatively speaking, Dr. Frankenstein's patchwork progeny (Tim Herron, who tours as the Creature and others in one- man stage shows) united the duo at October's Classic Monster Movie Con in Kingsport, Tennessee.

Karloff & Dunagan Photo: Eileen Colton/CHFB News/Courtesy David Colton

34 mLOG/January 2009

Cain hasn't been a stranger to science fiction over the Deanyears. If you're a SCI FI Channel devotee, chances are you've seen him in such low-grade genre fare as Dragon Fighter, Dark Descent, Post Impact and Dead and Deader. He has also popped up in the small-screen SF and fantasy shows Smallville and the redux. "When I've done bits in series television, I remembered why I didn't want to come back to this on a regular basis!" the amiable actor jokes. Cain is talking up television, good and bad, during a midnight con- versation on the set of his latest genre flick, the creature-noir Maneater. The discussion taking place in this isolated Southern California canyon is wide-ranging, but it always comes back to his love for SF. "I enjoy science fiction," he enthuses. "Those are the cool things I get to do. I love to pretend, and I love the sense of hyper-real- ity when I'm in an SF or fantasy film." However, playing the Man of Steel for four years and 87 episodes on the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (all now available on DVD) was a mixed blessing. "That show broke me out, and

I'm grateful for that," he says. "But it was a real grind. I was in every episode and just about every

scene. It seemed like I was always working 1 8-hour days. I would go home, get a few hours' sleep and then be back on the set. That show burned me out for a very long time. With that schedule, it was impossible to have any kind of home life!" Cain offers that, to his way of think ing, the total suspension of reality was key to Lois & Clark finding and keeping an audience. "From the first episode, you had to buy inSl the fact that Lois Lane couldn't

tell 1 that Clark Kent was really . Superman with glasses on." he

offers. "If you couldn't do that, then there was no reason to watch the show."

At the time, Cain was hopeful that the TV series would burst free from the predictable comic book approach and break new ground. "There was always the notion that Lois and Clark would start having kids and that the show would deal with that," he says. "I thought that would have been great, but we never got to that point. Lois & Clark would have been awesome if they had had a kid. I was trying to get them to do that during the show's last year. My attitude was, 'Well, what are the rules? We can make up our own rules!' They could have had a child and, suddenly, the kid is 12 years old, and there would have been a whole

In Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher helped add a new—and more modern—twist to the Superman mythos.

36 SWm/hnumy 2009 the series ("Cure"), he essayed Dr. Curtis Knox, who claimed Cain showed up in Smallville again, but not as the Man of Steel. On CW that he could heal "meteor freaks." different storyline that would have taken Lois & Clark in another direc- voort (#361), Adam West (#117, #210, #290), Michael Keaton tion." Vol. 2, #9 #29), Kevin Conroy (COMICS SCENE Ratings continued to be solid enough through the fourth season that (#232, CS & BATMAN #1, SCI-FI TV #4), George Clooney (#307), everyone was set to go into a fifth. "We had already been picked up, but PRESENTS Christian Bale (#335, #367), Burt Ward (#124), Loren Lester (CSPB then Teri Hatcher [Lois] got pregnant and that was it. I can't say I was Craig (#149, #303, I on that #1), Chris O'Donnell (#217, CSPB #1), Yvonne too upset. I was ready to be done. I didn't have a life while was John Wes- CS Vol. 2, #10), Dina Meyer (#303), Ashley Scott (#354), show. It had become too much." ley Shipp (#160), Justin Hartley (page 42 this issue), Shaquille Cain has his own opinions about the recent additions to the O'Neal Phyllis Coates (#138-39), Noel Neill (#328), Margot Superman universe. "Smallville found a niche and is doing very well," (#242), Kidder (#120, #323), Teri Hatcher (ACTION HEROES '96, #54), he remarks. "That show is very different from Lois & Clark. It isn't the Erica Durance (#328, #350), Jack Larson (#130-31), Marc McClure really Superman but, in a sense, I guess it is. I guest-starred in super-speeds (#84, a new interview is forthcoming), Michael Landes (#286), episode 'Cure.' It was nice not having to be the guy who Diane Sherry (#349), Annette O'Toole (#72), Kristin Kreuk (#317, into the scene!" HEROES #1), Robert Shayne (#129), Sarah Douglas As for Superman Returns, Cain notes, "It was a beautiful film to COMICS O'Halloran Eva Marie did, and I know (#47, #111, #351), Jack (#347), look at, but I was confused by many of the things they Saint (#348), Michael Gough (#215), Pat Hingle just about everything there is to know about (#216), Gary Oldman (#336), John Schneider Superman. I think Brandon Routh did a (#319), Allison Mack (#311), John Glover (#321), great job as Superman. The movie had John Shea (#294), Michael Rosenbaum (#316, CH moments where it was humming along, #1), Kevin Spacey (#347), Cesar Romero (#146), and then there were moments where it Mark Hamill (#320), Julie Newmar (#148, #306), was really clunky." Lee Meriwether (#153, #343), Michelle Pfeiffer The actor doesn't miss the grind (#183), Danny DeVito (#183), Frank that was Lois & Clark, but, amazing- - Gorshin (CSPB #1), Jim Carrey ly, he also doesn't rule out the possi- (#218), Tommy Lee Jones (CS Vol. bility of playing the Man of Steel again 2, #53), Aaron Eckhart (#368), himself. "Who knows? I would never say Kim Basinger (#144), Nicole Kid- never," Dean Cain states. "I don't feel old, man (STARLOG SF EXPLORER and I can still move around just fine. But I #9), Christopher Walken (#183), suppose if I were going to play Superman Uma Thurman (#254), Cillian again, I would have to get back into the Murphy (#337) and others. gym, because that costume was nothing $ but a pair of tights!" Carrying a heavy workload For more coverage of some of the on Lois & Clark caught up with Cain, who "was actors who have played DC Comics' Brave ready to be done" and the Bold, see these past issues of STAR- with the series and sister magazines: Kirk Alyn (#20), LOG in its fourth #310, COMICS (#121, (and final) SCENE Vol. 2, #1), John Haymes Newton season. (#139 and page 38 this issue), Tom Welling ^ (#303, #327), Brandon Routh (#346), Helen Slater (#89 and page 46 this issue), Laura Vander JOHN NEWTON REFLECTS ON HIS SEASON OF ACTION & ADVENTURE. By PAT JAIMKIEWICZ

his square jaw, chiseled good looks and jet-black hair, WithJohn Newton still bears a strong resemblance to a Strange Visitor from Another Planet. Long before Tom Welling portrayed the kid from Krypton in Smallville, Newton (then billed as John Haymes Newton) played college stu- dent Clark Kent and his alter- for the first season of the syndicated Superboy (1988-89).

"Growing up, I was always told that I looked like Superman and Christopher Reeve," Newton confides. "It was pretty weird when I got the job, because I used to love Superboy comics as a kid. My Grandma had a big stack of them in her house, and I was always fascinated by them."

The actor's take is that "Clark and Superboy are the same person,

but obviously, Clark is the costume. Superboy is who he is. People look at it the other way around, but when you're dressed in the cape and tights, you quickly realize that it isn't about the costume. Superman doesn't get his greatness from his powers or his outfit; it's how people react to him. We figured that out early on while shooting the show.

"I flew into a scene and there were 30 extras

standing around like everything was normal. So I pointed out that, 'Nobody has seen anyone fly before, and I fly in and land in the middle of a college campus, and nobody notices? Superman's appeal comes from how people

react to him!' Once we realized that, it changed everything. Several extras did some bad acting by wildly pointing with their hands over their

mouth, but for the most part, it added to the show.

"By the same token, what makes a superhero interesting is their Achilles' heel,

their weakness. Besides Kryptonite, what is Superman afraid of? People don't care how strong or powerful someone is; what's more interesting is what they don't want to face.

I would love to go back and do it all over

again, because I tried so hard not to play it the way Chris did that I kind of got caught

and didn't do that enough. I wanted to play

him as insecure, but not a bumbling nerd. I wanted Superboy to be like a kid entering adolescence, where you're in school, discov-

ering girls and coming to terms with all those fears and self-doubt. That's tough without super-powers, and even more so with them!"

Newton (who talked about the series at the time in STARLOG #139) wasn't thrilled to be a "Boy" of Steel. " 'Superboy' always sounded funny to me—like you're almost a

man, but not quite, It stung a bit, because I was the youngest of five kids, and my big brothers always called me 'Boy' as an

insult. So when I landed the role, I never heard the end of it," he smiles. "I wanted Hawaii Five-0. first time on a set was on that pilot, them to call it The Adventures of Young Superman, but they couldn't, who worked on My 'Cut.' But because they had leased out the Superman name to Cannon Films. For and I screwed up a line and said, 'Cut!' The actor never says, started yelling at me, years, my nephews and nieces called me Superboy. My brothers sure I was a kid and didn't know any better. So Reza "Cut"! Only I say, loved that\" but not in a mean way, 'You aren't supposed to say, "Cut"!' I felt really stupid, but I can look back and laugh about it now. Adventure Comics Jackie Cooper directed two or three episodes that first season. It was Perry White in the Superboy came his way during a family trip. "I'm from North weird working with Jackie, because he was of Daily Planetl" Carolina, and we were in Wilmington, so we went to see De Laurentiis Superman films. So there I was, with the Editor The imitated art during Studios, which was 45 minutes from our beach house," he remarks. "At Clark dated Lana Lang in the comics, and life actually dated," he says. "We went the studio, they happened to be casting for Weekend at Bernie's. As I Superboy's run. "Stacy Haiduk and I had just finished my acting pro- out for six months to a year. We started dating halfway through the first very often, just on gram in New York City, I went 13 episodes. I didn't do the 'dating my co-star' thing in to talk with them, and they Superboy. Stacy is a great girl. " were excited to see a 'New "My favorite episode was 'Meet Mr. Mxyzptlk,' Newton declares, perfectly. "He's a fan- York actor.' They asked me, pronouncing the fifth-dimensional imp's name 'Could you come back tomor- tastic character, and Michael J. Pollard played him beautifully. I an actor, I always took row?' I did, and I read for the learned a lot about acting from Michael. As I I paid casting director Lynn Stal- myself very seriously—too seriously, to be honest—and think master [who discovered Reeve for that. Michael came on the set in the complete Mr. Mxyzptlk outfit, faces at the cam- for Superman]. Lynn said, the little bowler and everything, and he would make That 'Would you be interested in era operator while doing his lines and just be all over the place. see someone having that doing a TV series?' I was like, was his character, and he fit it perfectly. To about it. 'Uh, yeah!' He got on the much fun acting gave me permission not to be so serious No Where's the fun phone, called the producers in one wants to see somebody being serious all the time. Florida and said, 'We might in that?!" guested on "A Kind of have found our guy.' They flew After Playboy Playmate Julie McCullough Newton that boy knows how me to Florida, I did a screen Princess," she remarked: "John Haymes — remarks. "Julie grew up in test and then I did another one to kiss!" "That's nice of her to say," Newton in North Carolina. She played in New York City. It was ironic Durham, the next town over from mine had a couple getting cast in a TV series at a Mafia daughter on Superboy. Julie was fun and, yes, we home, after being away for four of good kissing scenes! movies, also produced years!" "The Salkinds, who produced the Superman A guest role in Desperate ex-wives, Skye Aubrey, was in His first time in the cape Superboy. .One of the Salkinds' Housewives and films like The character named was an embarrassing experi- 'Mutant,' in which she came down in a spaceship as a Haunting of Molly Hartley keep where she "Reza Badiyi directed our Vora. And she appeared in another episode as Tiger Eye, today—as do his ence. Newton busy Salkinds "He's a tried to harness my powers. Working with her was fun. The two children. "Kids get you out of pilot," Newton says. have any problems with them. your selfishness!" he quips. great guy with a strong vision were cool; I didn't

I

episodes," Newton reveals. Stacy Haiduk played Lana Lang on the series. "We started dating halfway through the first 13 "Stacy is a great girl."

2009 39 www.starlog.com Smm/Januaty "When I did the show, I watched "Anything over 20 feet would finish you if you landed on your head. the '60s Superboy pilot; Johnny Our crane was 60feet off'the ground when we were flying exteriors. We

Rockwell is really good in it. I also never had mattresses, because you could see the ground in the shot. It saw The Adventures of Superpup, made me nervous when I was carrying Stacy or somebody else. We which was hilarious. I can't figure out used beefed-up wires for that, which is why we never did close-ups, why it never aired. I did a fundraiser just far-away shots. These days, you could digitize the wires out, but with Jack Larson, the original Jimmy the technology then was prohibitively expensive. Our budget was about Olsen, and I thought he was a great $500,000 an episode. With CG, we wouldn't have to do any of that guy" today."

As always in television, there Newton's flight as Superboy was destined to last only one season. were factors that proved unexpected- Why? It's a departure he'll address later at the exit. ly torturous. "I would be in the wind machine all day with these contact Legion of Superheroes lenses on," Newton recalls. "The con- After Superboy and a stint on the syndicated version of The tacts collude would with my eyeballs, Untouchables, Newton plunged into films and TV guest shots. Among and I couldn't get them out. I had to those of interest to STARLOG, Newton did the pilot for Tru Calling. wear them because Newton notes that Melrose Superboy's eyes "Eliza Dushku was awesome," he raves. "It was a really good show, and Place "was a great campy were blue, not brown. eyes My would I thought it deserved more than two seasons. I played a jealous boy show." for As Desperate get so red and dried I out, couldn't friend/suspect, and she exonerates me. It was fun to work with her, and Housewives, the actor stand it. But I see in people full it was a nice script. We shot that in Vancouver. I did Viper out there too, laments, "I never worked makeup roles on other SF series and the crimefighting car show. I was in one episode, with Teri Hatcher, and we and they wanted to realize that I had it easy." never talked about bring me back to replace the lead. It was almost the same situation that This Superboy didn 't like flying. Superman." happened to me on Superboy. I tested for it, but they brought back the "Hanging in the air by 10 different original guy. I played another hero who drove the motorcycle version wires took its toll on my back," says Newton. "After a while, it really of the crimefighting car. They wanted to do a spin-off about me and my hurt. I never had a cable break, but some safety issues did happen. bike, but Paramount decided not to. Still, that was fun." Once, the main wire effects crew went back to England for a funeral, As for the short-lived Models Inc., "I only have one word: Whyl and these [untrained] grips let go of the guide ropes that controlled all That's my quote for readers to interpret as they want. Why! As in, 'Why of the wires that made me fly, so I went shooting " straight up in the air did I do it? Why did they make it? Just why? at full speed and then came back down hard. We did the physics of it, In the disturbing, fact-based film Alive, he was one of a group of and the wires should have broken, but they didn't. My weight times four mph would have been more than enough to exceed the wires. I was 200 pounds, and the ropes couldn't handle more than 300.. "We also did some campy shows," Newton admits, "where In a nod to Superman's Superboy dies, and then you co-creators, "Our university was discover he really isn't dead." named after Joe Shuster, and there was a campus hall named after Jerry Siegel,' Newton recalls. —

soccer players who survives a plane crash in the Andes, only to be forced to turn to cannibalism while stranded. "That was a wild experi- ence," Newton recalls. "We shot it on a glacier in Canada, isolated in the mountains. We were on a special diet to look emaciated, and many of the actors freaked out. We simulated their experience—low food, being cold and kept in one room—without the normal actor amenities. Of course, our experience was nothing like what those brave people actually went through. Alive was a challenging, rewarding experience. [Director] Frank Marshall and [producer] Kathleen Kennedy were very passionate about it, and it was a dream come true to work for them. "What was also interesting for me was meeting all of the survivors of the real crash. I went down to Uruguay the following Christmas and hung out with them. They're great people, and very spiritual after that Vizintin, experience. I talked quite a bit to the guy I played, Antonio " who everybody calls 'Tintin.' Newton got to play the heel opposite Vanilla Ice in the notorious Filming the flying scenes was flick Cool as Ice. "I usually play the hero, so I enjoyed Cool as Ice. I've often difficult—especially since seen worse movies—and I've done worse movies!" CGI didn't exist back then. "We had In The Christmas Card, "I had the lead, and Ed Asner was nomi- an early digital set," Newton says, nated for an Emmy as best supporting actor. It's the highest-rated "but it didn't have the technology Christmas Hallmark movie of all time. Even the rerun did fantastic. The of painting out the wires." Card is a good, heartfelt love story, and chicks dig that stuff." very much, but it was my first job, and I was Newton has also done time on several SCI FI Channel movies, else, I wasn't making the season's end, there was a break, and they including 2006's 5.5. Doomtrooper. "That was great," he says. "We grateful to be working. At we've been picked up for another 26.' I said, 'We shot that in Bulgaria, with the UFO [Unified Film Organization] crew. said, 'Come on back, talked about money...' And they said, 'Well, we don't have it.' I was We had a terrific director of photography, and if you took the monster have run in pretty unhappy, and things had happened that were uncool—like that out of it, you would have had an amazing film that could accident with the wires, which happened twice! I don't want to bad- theaters. It was a great WWII period piece, and I had fun working with gave my first job. If I could go Corin Nemec. mouth the producers, because they me it differently. They were good to me. "I love the SF genre, especially coming from Superboy. I was in back, I would do property, and the producers told Dark Mirror, an interesting film about a woman who sees other reali- "I got a speeding ticket on private 'That isn't Superman-like behavior.' It wasn't about that at all, and ties. It's just fun to do full-on genre movies, be it SF or Desert me, it was about [the ticket]. They Kickboxer. My wife Jennifer even did the SCIFI Channel movie it was ridiculous that they tried to say we'll work it out for next season.' Viacom was Saurian." said, 'Come back, and essentially telling me, 'We don't have the He returns to fantasy in his newest money, but this is Viacom!' So I responded, movie, the offbeat SF/mystery Yesterday 'OK, I'm not coming back.' I think they Was a Lie. "It's film noir, shot in black and thought I was bluffing. I thought they were white," says Newton. "You can't really bluffing, too. And then they hired someone explain what it is, because it's an unusual else [Gerard Christopher]. film filled with deep psychological ques- "Even up to the week before, they said, tions. Basically, a man has become lost in 'This is your last chance.' A higher-up at reality and time. Viacom even called me to say, 'If you don't "My character is my favorite role ever. go back to work, you'll never work again!' He's John Newton—the director wrote it I was scared shitless, but I had to stand by for me without knowing it. There's lots of what I believed was right. Looking back on my personal life in that character. I spent 18 it, I wish I hadn't left, but it was out of years studying what my character discovers integrity. I should have followed through in the film. When I read the script, I want- and stayed with the show, but I was young ed to do it right away. I didn't care what the and stupid you make mistakes. I've budget was—I was in. I loved the role, and — always felt guilty about leaving. Superboy the whole movie is an analogy for the dark doesn't haunt me, but I think it did for a night of the soul. It's what every religion while. I didn't put it on my resume for a points to—finding the truth within your- number of years." self." He doesn't fear "The Curse of Superboy Superman." "I had a curse on me long before Superboy came along!" he laughs. "I To this day, Newton has never revealed road-raced motorcycles, but the Superman why he left Superboy. "I'll tell you the real Curse? I don't buy it. George Reeves, yeah, story," he begins. "We had conversations Chris Reeve? Sure. But who else? I toward the end of the second 13 episodes OK. don't think Kirk Alyn had the curse, and I did 26 overall—and I had lunch with the neither did Johnny Rockwell, Dean Cain, producers. They said, 'Yeah, we're going to Brandon Routh or Tom Welling." give you more money, it isn't a problem. What if Smallville came calling for We realize you're doing this for nothing,' Commenting on the Superman Curse, Newton love playing two characters Newton to do a guest shot? "I would to which I was. I was says, "I had a curse on me long before do that!" John Newton exclaims. and doing all my own stunts for $2,500 an Superboy came along!" Well, he certainly got "Smallville is a great show, and I'm hon- episode. lucky in the lady department. He wed actress of the Superman legacy." "After my agent, taxes and everything Jennifer Capps in 2006. ored to be part ^

www.starlog.com mm/January 2009 41 — *REENBy KIM HOWARD JOHNSON 1RJWLU CARRYING QUIVER & BOW, JUSTIN HARTLEY AIMS FOR HEROICS AS THE EMERALD ARCHER.

liver Queen is back on the scene this year in the CW's Smallville, slinging more arrows than ; ever as costumed hero ;'p, Green Arrow, but Justin Hartley says that when he left the show two seasons ago, he didn't expect to return,

booked this pilot, and I really thought it was going to go," he explains. "And then, as things do, that fell through. So when I got the call to come back to Smallville, it was an easy decision. 1 didn't in my wildest dreams think that they would call me back, but I'm happy that

they did. I love this job!" Hartley was a semi-regular on Smallville two seasons ago, and he made one appearance last year (in the episode introducing Black Canary). There were noticeable changes when he returned this time around. "Michael Rosenbaum is gone now, and so are [producers] Alfred Gough and Miles Millar," he says. "Al and Miles created a great show. Everyone who has worked on Smallville would agree that those guys knew what they were doing.

"It's still the same series; it isn't like we have four new peo-

ple who are trying to re-do the entire show. And it's cool to have new blood. The four producers [Darren Schwimmer, Todd Slavin, Kelly Souders, Brian Peterson] we have now worked alongside Al and Miles for all those years, so even

though those two are gone—and that does feel a little dif- ferent—it's the same show." The Emerald Archer Hartley doesn't believe that this is a situation where differ- ent personnel have given the show new life—because Smallville

never needed it. "Every time I show up on the set, it isn't like I'm surrounded by a bunch of people who look like they've been doing this series for seven or eight years," he remarks. "It feels

like it's everyone's first day. Everybody is happy to be there. It's pretty bizarre, because that isn't a very common thing." Oliver fills many roles this season for Smallville's residents and, in particular, to Clark Kent (Tom Welling)—ranging from a friend to a former romantic rival (for Lois Lane) to a superheroic ally (for Superman). Oliver also must confront demons from his past, although there isn't any one overarching trajectory for his character this year.

"I've asked myself that question many times," he says. "I'm trying

to figure that out as well. In the first episode, it was pretty obvious to

me what was going on. Then I did another, which is actually the sea- son's third episode, about Oliver's origin, so I understood that. Then I

came back for my third show, the season's fifth, and it was like every- thing had changed. Smallville is so cool, because there's definitely a

throughline, but each show has its After leaving a own moments and its own story in recurring role two and of itself. years ago, Justin You can go to Season Hartley has returned Five and watch episode 12, and you'll to Smallville as still know what's going on. So you Green Arrow a.k.a. don't have to see every episode to fol- Oliver Queen. low Smallville.

www.starlog.com This is a green "It's the same as it has always been for Oliver, and maybe even more so now. He has art ^ '^incarnattori gone through some personal stuff, and started ^ character drinking, womanizing and doing things that j g a yOUthf ul he used to do when he was younger and fool- vigorous hero, ish. He falls back into that path, and wonders if the Green Arrow bit is even worth it, considering everything that it has cost him. So he goes through that hardship, and then he returns as a man. Oliver befriends Lois and buries that hatchet. And he's trying to get back with Tess [Cassidy Freeman], his past love interest, on what- ever level that might be."

Hartley is happy about the expansion of Oliver's relationship with Clark, which feels like a natural progression to him. "They've always written Oliver in such a way that he doesn't berate Clark, which I real- ly like," he says. "Oliver confronts him, he's straight with him and he's square with him. He says, 'This is the situation...' Oliver never whines to Clark or complains, 'Why, why, why don't you do this? Come on

He isn't that kind of person. Oliver will say, 'I call it as I see it, and you aren't doing what you should be doing. So let's move on from there.'

This year is a little bit different in that Oliver is calling him out more, but he also has a new respect for Clark. Their friendship is definitely deepening. "I don't know whether Clark has ever had a friend like that. Clark isn't going to let Oliver down. He's going to do everything he can for

Oliver, and Oliver is going to do the same. They're like brothers. It's neat how [the writers have handled] that. I wish I had more on-screen time working with Tom, because we have a blast. We laugh all the time. Many of our scenes are emotional, heartfelt and deep, but between the scenes, we're laughing, making fun of people and just going crazy. We have a really good time working together." While Oliver's earlier romance with Lois (Erica Durance) appears to be over, Hartley says that they still have a solid relationship.

"Working with Erica is great," he lauds. "She's extremely professional and funny, and she takes the job very seriously, but she doesn't take herself too seriously. Oliver and Lois' relationship is cool. They're try- ing to move on, and starting to realize that maybe they aren't totally over each other yet. But the fact of the matter is that they have to get over each other before they can move on with their lives.

"In the episode I just filmed, they have a big conversation where they say, 'We need to talk to each other and be friends, and not have all of this anxiety.' They do love each other, but that doesn't mean they have to be boy friend and girl friend. Oliver and Lois have decided to drop all of their baggage, and Lois is one of Oliver's best friends. Oliver has three really good friends in Clark, Lois and Chloe [Allison Mack]. He has acquaintances, but those are the three people he trusts most." The Sea King Comic book fans know that Green Arrow has been around in various characterizations since the '40s, but with the help of the producers and writers, Hartley has created an Oliver Queen for the present day who isn't all that far removed from himself. "Other than the billion dollars, we're a lot alike!" he jokes. "I struggle with things all of the time, and Oliver is struggling with things like his parents' murder, and that his best friend, Clark, knew about it, didn't tell him and doesn't trust him. Oliver's struggling with the kind of man that he's trying to be. I take pride every day in trying to be a better person. Some days are really good, and I feel really good about myself, and then other days I just bomb. But I think part of being a man and being able to respect yourself is that on those days that you bomb, you pick yourself up and start over again. And

Oliver is the same way. "So we have a good deal in common. The main similarity is prob-

ably what I would call 'unintended consequences.' That's when you

intend to be good and helpful, but it turns out the other way, and in the

end, it's your fault. Oliver does that, too. But he's also great. He's someone who doesn't do much Monday- in that light. Here's Clark, with all of his abil-

morning quarterbacking. Oliver puts himself ities, fully intact, no excuses, and this guy is out there, and he's totally vulnerable. He isn't tossing him around like a rag doll. There's no

superpowered, so he can be killed, and yet he Kryptonite involved. Doomsday is just bigger continues to do this stuff. Oliver has done and better."

many things in the past that he isn't proud of, Green Arrow isn't Hartley's first turn as a and he's trying to atone for them. He's a won- superhero. He played Aquaman in the unaired derful character to play. I like that Oliver is Mercy Reef series pilot that would have taken human and not indestructible. Physically and the character in a direction similar to

emotionally, he's a sensitive creature." Smallville 's take on Superman. Although not

Initially, Hartley preferred playing Oliver picked up as a series, it eventually resulted in to Green Arrow, but now he has come to enjoy Hartley's current role on Smallville, even both. "I go back and forth on that," he replies. though DCs Sea King is quite different from "The suit is uncomfortable and hot and not the Emerald Archer. very conducive to my performance because "It's colder as Aquaman!" Hartley jokes. "I

my face is covered up. So everything that I do, was in the water all day, so I pruned up. It was

everything that I have to portray, I can't do it fun, though. There's nothing like being in the with my face. I need to do it physically with Caribbean and having someone paying you my body. As an actor, you can only do so many lots of money to swim around in salt water things as a superhero. So there are certain days reefs!" where I only want to play Oliver and just talk While he may have had to forsake the about this Green Arrow guy! But then I'll do waters of the Caribbean for the studios of four days of Oliver and start to miss the Green Vancouver, Hartley doesn't regret the way Arrow side of it. I'm lucky that I get to do things ended up. "Everyone was making such both, and while I used to say Oliver [was my a big deal out of Aquaman that I told my wife, Created by Mort Weisinger and George favorite], I really don't have a preference. The 'Everybody is talking about it being the next Papp, Green Arrow debuted in More Fun Oliver stuff is fun, but come on, you can't get big show, but they need to realize that I shot a Comics #73 in 1941, and since then has better than throwing on a superhero costume! pilot that's appeared in many DC Comics titles. — all I did. I didn't shoot a series. So I get the best of both worlds." I'm not on a show.' I've done five or six pilots

There have been reports about a Smallville version of the Justice that haven't gone to series, and that's just the way it is. I like playing

League. Hartley is all in favor of that. "I heard some talk about Cyborg Green Arrow, I like Smallville and I'm happy with the way things coming back, and maybe Black Canary. I don't know if they're adding turned out."

any new characters, but I think some of the others are returning."

The episode that Hartley is most excited about to date is "Bride." The Bold Hero "It's the best script I've read all year," he comments. "Doomsday [Sam Growing up, Hartley wasn't a comic book fan. "I collected baseball

Witwer] shows up and cards," he admits. "When I got the Aquaman job, I bought lots of effortlessly throws Clark comics and did the research. Then, when Green Arrow came up, every- across the room. It's a one started giving me situation where Super- their comics, which man isn't so super any- made things easier

more, and there's this for me. When I read a

guy who can destroy script, I now know him. That brings in a Oliver's comics my-

whole new element, thology, and I know when you see Superman Smallville'^ interpre-

Hartley doesn't really care for the unwieldy costume, but playing Oliver's heroic side has grown on him.

Oliver may be a superhero, but he's also human—as his problems with drinking and womanizing attest.

44 Smm/Jtmuary2009 Trying to move on after Lois, Oliver is now tures would be tough for any actor, so Hartley

hoping to get back together with Tess tries to find the character's universal aspects as (Cassidy Freeman). he puts his own spin on Oliver Queen. "There have been so many incarnations,

but they all have the same feel to them," he

points out. "Green Arrow's spirit is embodied

in every single interpretation, so as long as I try to convey that, everything will work out. The fans usually love you or hate you. There's really no in-between. I've been very fortunate

so far, because people seem to like what I'm doing." Hartley has also dipped his toe in the

webisode world. Gemini Division is a series designed solely for the Internet, and the differ- ences from Smallville—for instance, the bud- gets—are easy to see. "It's pretty obvious when you show up and [the set is] the size of a

shoebox!" he chuckles. "It's a skeleton crew,

it's piecemeal and it's fast. [The production is] serious, though, and there's no time to dilly-

dally. I'll look around and think, 'What is this

all about?' And then I'll see Rosario Dawson and say, 'OK, I'm happy to be here!' She's so Oliver's two best friends are Clark Kent fun to work with, and probably one of the fun- (Tom Welling) and his ex-love interest Lois niest people I've ever met. Lane (Erica Durance). "Unfortunately, we didn't have lots of time

tation of Green Arrow, and so I can decide between those two and make

sense of it. They take things from the comics and twist them around a

bit. It's good to understand when they are and aren't doing that. That

way, I can be true to the comics, because I owe it to the original myth- ology." Versions of Green Arrow have appeared in the comics, from the ini-

tial back-up stories and Batman-\\\& knockoffs to the later all-out superhero tales and grim and gritty Longbow Hunters. The Emerald Archer has been interpreted by such visionaries as Jack Kirby, Neal Adams and Mike Grell. Absorbing almost 60 years of comics adven-

Appearing on the Internet series Gemini Division, Hartley played Nick Korda opposite Rosario Dawson's Anna Diaz.

to talk because we were always working. I was only on Gemini

Division for three or four weeks. But that was loads of fun. I've seen it,

and it turned out really well. It's impressive what they've done with the

show. Gemini Division is pieced together so well, and it's all green- screen, so you really need to have a grasp of the script or you'll get con- fused as to where you're at in the scene." For Hartley, Gemini Division's most challenging aspect was neither the budget nor the schedule. "It's a new territory, a totally fresh way of delivering media," he observes. "Everything has to be shorter, so an

episode is like three or four minutes, as opposed to 42. You have a very

short time to tell a story, and, again, everything is greenscreen, so if

everyone is supposed to be looking [at one spot], you have to be star- ing at the same thing, even though there really isn't anything there. There's also a whole talking-to-the-camera thing that Rosario did,

which was different from what I'm used to, but it was kind of cool." Putting forth one last thought about Smallville and Oliver Queen's development on the show, Justin Hartley replies, "I like going deep into

characters and getting emotionally involved. I know we're not doing Amistad, but at the same time, there's no reason why we can't go deep.

I enjoyed the origin story, but I would have liked to have gone even fur-

ther. I like to work, and anything that's hard is usually worth it. The more I'm working, the better. They've done a really good job so far, and I'm always happy with what they write for me!" www.starlog.com mm/January 2009 45 —

By PATJA1MKIEWICZ

ALMOST 25 YEARS LATER, HELEN SLATER REMAINS THE WOMAN OF STEEL.

Almost a quarter- irst impressions are always the strongest, and actress Helen century ago, Slater made a vivid one. In a cape, red-and-blue tights and Helen Slater skirt, the doe-eyed blonde played the high-flying Kryptonian flew into movie Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin, in 1984's comic-book fanta- theaters as sy adventure Supergirl. Supergirl. F Her Supergirl is sweet but capable of defending herself, and Slater's

earnest, touching performance is actually better than the movie. After Supergirl, she starred in numerous movies and TV shows before tak-

||,, ing a hiatus. But now, she's back, with a musical career and a return to acting. In a fun tie-in with her Super-past, she guest- starred last fall as Lara (Superman's Kryptonian Mom) on Smallville. In "Blue" and "Lara," she attempts to protect her son from a Kryptonian threat. The show boasted a new Supergirl, played by Laura Vandervoort. "I loved working with Helen," Vandervoort says. "She's great, a nice per-

son and a really good actress, and that's why it's my favorite episode."

"I feel blessed that I was Supergirl," Slater states.

It allowed me to do all kinds of movies afterward.

And I was happy to be part of another iconic science

fiction universe involving Superman. I just love the

play and technology of these fantasy worlds. It was exciting to be Superman's biological moth-

Bk er on Smallville. And it was nice to keep my Hfe. connection to the superhero world alive.

Hp§ "Smallville was so much fun, and I enjoy how they cast people from the Superman and

I Supergirl movies to do guest spots. It was a

great storyline and script, Vancouver is beau-

I tiful and they wrote this love triangle between Zor-El, Jor-El and me."

Even though Lara's DNA is smashed into a million pieces, "You never know," Slater points out. "They might figure out

some way to revive me. If anyone can do it,

* Smallville can! The writers know I loved Hl^, the episodes, and everybody was so profes- sional and treated me like gold. It's a lovely series." And Slater got to wear a lovely dress as well. "I was playing this larger-than-life

alien, and the costume I had on when I first land on Earth was just stunning this diaphanous, Greek goddess-like dress," she gushes. "From an acting

point-of-view, it was a joy to work in

that dress. I got to be 'big' as an

actress. It was so much fun!" She especially enjoyed meeting Today, Slater is happy her on-screen son. Welling is to be married, with a "Tom daughter and a new the most handsome man on the plan- career—as a singer. et," Slater remarks. "They cut one of See the website my lines, where I hug Tom and say, (www.cdbaby.com). 'My boy, you're a man! A beautiful In her Smallville guest shot as Lara, Slater got to know work. Then the Supergirl audition came up,

her Kryptonian son and it was a pretty fast turnaround. I didn't Kal-EI, a.k.a. Clark know anything about comic books. David was Kent (Tom Welling). into MAD magazine, not Superman or

Batman. I liked [director] Jeannot Szwarc very much, and I'm grateful to him for casting me, because he gave me my career. Supergirl was

a phenomenal experience. I saw Kara as very innocent, which wasn't much of a stretch,

because I was only 18 years old, so it felt close to home." Seeing herself for the first time in Supergirl's suit with that big red "S" on her

chest "was really daunting. It's strange playing

a superhero. It makes you act bigger in a funny way. Emotionally, you want to rise to the occa- sion, because you're portraying an icon." Did she stress out about having a big Hollywood movie resting on her shoulders?

"My theory is, I think when you're younger, you're fearless," Slater responds. "As we get

older, we're more aware of all the risks. When

I was doing Supergirl, I was so happy to be on

this wild adventure. I wasn't afraid at all.

Actually, I was afraid of the wirework, when I had to learn to fly with [stunt coordinator] Alf Joint."

Yes, Slater was afraid to fly. "Going up 50 feet in the air on wires in the Supergirl cos-

tume? Oh, yeah, I was scared then! Flying as

Supergirl involved an archaic structure: It was two men with a steel drum winding a pair of piano wires that would take me up and down.

That was all that was holding me up. "They would swing me around on a steel

ball hanging from a construction crane. It was

not a very sophisticated flying technique, but it

was great. When I was flying high up over the

concrete, I would sing to myself to get over the

fear. I started off only six feet above the ground, but once we went outside to make the

film, I went wayyyy up!"

Two for the price of one! Slater met the "wonderful, absolutely luminous An Actress Tested Laura Vandervoort (TV's Maid of Steel). When Marc McClure saw Faye Dunaway acting like a diva on the set, he noted that, "I man!' I was thinking, 'This is just odd. I'm not that much older than was glad I wasn't Supergirl!" But Slater took it all in . "She is an him!' Tom and I cracked up at that, because it didn't seem right to have Academy Award-winning actress, and I learned a lot from being around

his mother doting on him like that. Still, I was thrilled to be Superman's her. Her professionalism and what she wanted for herself in a scene

Mom." were impressive. I didn't know any better to think, 'Is this appropriate

As for the new Supergirl, "Laura is wonderful. She's absolutely luminous, a beautiful girl and really kind and smart. Laura knows what

she's doing. I think Smallville should do a Supergirl spin-off. They have the opportunity to talk about a young woman's rite of passage in mythic form." A Heroine Born Slater, of course, hails from Earth. "I was born in Massapequa, Long Island," she says. "I lived there for my first six years, and I have

an older brother David, who is an attorney. I went to the school from

Fame. My parents divorced, and my Mom and I were living in Great Neck, and she couldn't afford private school. Performing Arts is a pub-

lic school, and I loved acting, so my Mom said, 'Why don't you audi- tion?' I was so happy to go there, and I'm still close to my school friends." Supergirl (which she discussed in 1984 in STARLOG #89) flew at her in an offbeat way. "I decided to take a year off after high school, because while you receive so much training at Performing Arts, you aren't allowed to work professionally [while studying there]," Slater

explains. "My parents were supportive, and I had an agent, because we Although Lara's DNA has been fragged, Slater doesn't entirely were allowed to do TV commercials and modeling, but no long-term rule out a return to Smallville. It's up to the show's writers. www.starlog.com mm/January 2009 47 In the 1984 film, Kara/Linda Lee (Slater) is inspired into superheroics by her Kryptonian cousin Kal-EI (Christopher Reeve), known to Earth as Superman. 0t L

Flight (via piano wire) held its terrors.

"When I was flying high," Slater notes, "I would sing to myself to get over the fear."

or inappropriate?' To me, it was appropriate to watch how someone worked." With an all-star cast including Dunaway, Peter O'Toole, Mia Farrow (as her Mom), Brenda Vaccaro, Peter Cook and Matt Frewer, did she have a favorite? "I can't say," Slater smiles diplomatically. "I don't feel that way about my experience on it. I looked at it as though everyone was offering me something. Peter would have me do Shakespeare sonnets, which was incredible. Brenda was an earthy, charismatic woman. Overall, everybody was great.

"My favorite scene, though, is the one on the beach between Hart Bochner and me, when he asks about my superpowers. The flying bal- let [where Supergirl first arrives on Earth and discovers she can fly] is also nice."

Reportedly, Christopher Reeve gave Slater tips on how to play a Supergirfs box office flop prevented any —and member of the Superman family. "That's true," she confirms. I "When Slater went on to roles in Ruthless People and City Slickers. started shooting Supergirl, he was finishing Superman HI and doing publicity for it. Christopher's counsel was very helpful to me. One what it should be about. In terms of storytelling and potential, they night, we were sitting on a park bench on Central Park West, when these never figured it out. The movie is what it is. I hope they bring Supergirl fire trucks came roaring by us. Christopher remarked, 'Here we are, back as a film someday and do it right." Superman and Supergirl, and there's absolutely nothing we can do!' "I don't remember him giving me specific advice on being a super- A Veteran Surviving hero, but I do recall Chris being very encouraging and having a gentle Few people know that Slater dated the Dark Knight.. .sort of. She kindness, which, in a way, means more than voiced Talia, the femme fatale daughter of Ra's words sometimes. Just feeling that he was sup- THE 0BBIN5 NEW BDVENTUPE5 OF Al Ghul in Batman: The Animated Series. "Did porting me in the role was enough." I date Batman on that? Talia was in love with The movie led to massive worldwide expo- him, but Batman and her father are enemies, sure for the new star. "My parents were thrilled right? I never met the actors who played that I was Supergirl," she says. "For me, it was Batman or Ra's Al Ghul. I would just come in a strange, amazing experience. To be 18 years and do my lines with a Russian accent. I had a old and suddenly being whisked off on air- great time with the dialogue. It was a fun show, planes, put up in a beautiful flat for a year... and Talia was an exotic character." Being Supergirl made me feel a little loftier When Talia returned in Batman Beyond and compared to what I had known before. I'm sure Justice League, she was voiced by

I got a bit of an inflated ego, while my friends Hussey. "I don't know why they did that. I hon- were struggling, waitressing or getting an edu- estly didn't even know that somebody else took cation. It was a different experience." over the part," Slater says. "But if they asked

But Supergirl wasn't the box office block- me to voice Talia again, I would love to do it. buster it had been anticipated to be. "I would Cartoons are great gigs. I don't have to dress never have said at the time that it was a bless- up or put on makeup." ing [that the film underperformed], but in hind- As for her favorite projects, Slater notes, sight, by not being typecast as Supergirl, it "Some of the smaller films that people proba- allowed me to go off and do other things," bly haven't seen, like Sticky Fingers, Happy

Slater observes. "It was harder for Chris to play Together, which I did with Patrick Dempsey, different roles, while I had more freedom and and No Way Back, which I did with Russell could do small independent films. Crowe. In that, I'm a quirky stewardess and

"I was sad that the actual film was fun and Russell is a cop. I loved his brooding depth. As buoyant, but the writing was so..." Slater's for the bigger films, I'm really proud of words drift off. "Let's just say that they didn't "I hope they bring Supergirl back as Ruthless People. It was fun to do comedy, and quite know what to do with the Supergirl story. a film someday," says the silver screen's it was loosely based on the O. Henry story 'The

When they made the movie, they didn't know first Kara, "and do it right." Ransom of Red Chief I played a gentle soul so

48 mm/January 2009 " —

in his Oscar-winning role as Curly Washburn. What does this Did she like him? " 'Like' really isn't the word superheroine want for Jack Palance. You're more in awe..'' she next? "Now, I want grins. truly larger than life, and he to be on Heroes!" "He was Slater declares. She was extraordinary in that movie."

has the eyes for it. As for why she disappeared from screens herself, Slater reveals, "I think every actress who sticks around for more than 20 years and I'm happily in that category—at some point, you have your own private storyline.

I'm grateful for the work I got to do, but I'm

also grateful that I could drop out for a while

and have a 'real life' that wasn't based around

movies and acting. I sought a normal life out- side the limelight. I'm a Mom, and my daugh-

ter Hannah is now 12. She isn't a teenager yet, thank goodness!

"My husband Robert Watzke is an award- winning commercials editor. Every year, my husband and daughter make a movie for me for my birthday. One year, he ordered a green- screen off eBay and put Hannah on a broom- stick, because she's obsessed with Harry Potter. He put her in various films, flying through different scenes, including Supergirl. I'm flying along, and Hannah suddenly zips up

to me on-screen and says, 'Hi, Mommy! I'll see you in 20 years. Don't forget to name me Hannah!' Career-wise, Slater has broadened her hori- zons to the music world. "I'm a singer now," she says. "I have two CDs—the newest one is Crossword, and the other is One of These Days. Crossword is jazz/chick music, done

with the most brilliant musicians. It's selling

great at www.cdbaby.com, and I also offer it at

www.helenslater.com. Music is a viable part of

my life; it's like my garden." Remarking on her triumphant return to act- ing, Slater humbly comments, "I don't know if

my return is triumphant yet, but I've been doing small parts for the last few years and I'm

Working with Peter O'Toole was a joy for Slater, who found the whole experience of ready to go back to work. I did Grey's Ana- making Supergirl "fun and buoyant." tomy, and I want to do more acting. I would like to be in science fiction stuff—that has an

scared by life that she shakes in her boots. I loved Bette Midler. amazing following. I loved being on Smallville and maintaining my

"Comedies are always fun. I look at something like The Secret of connection to the Superman mythos. Now, I want to be on Heroesl" My Success, and it's like a perfect example of a typical '80s movie, Helen Slater knows, to the general public, she'll always be

with the bobbed haircuts and American myth of success. I see my Supergirl. "I'm fine with that. I loved being Supergirl. To have had such

clothes in that, with my big '80s shoulder pads, and I look like a foot- an iconic role at a young age? Supergirl opened lots of doors for me,

ball player!" and I'll forever be grateful for that." She was a damsel in distress in A House in the Hills. "That was a good part," Slater enthuses. "I got to run around being scared. Michael

Madsen is such an amazing creature. He's very out there. I also did 12:01, a fun time-travel movie where we go through the same scenes

again and again, like in Groundhog Day. I liked [co-star] Jonathan Silverman and director Jack Sholder." Slater played a girl on the run who becomes an outlaw martyr in another '80s film, The Legend ofBillie Jean, opposite Christian Slater

(no relation). "I'm constantly surprised by its popularity," she admits.

"Billie was a modern-day Joan of? Arc, and the movie is dear to many peoples' hearts. One of the original writers, Walter Bernstein, refused to take a credit, because they changed the script so much. He had been

a blacklisted writer, and I wish they had gone with his screenplay,

because it was closer to Saint Joan's story, and not the commercialized

fluff the finished film was. It would have been a riskier movie."

She "had a blast" in City Slickers. "It was a small part, I was just

The Girl,' but it was a fun role in a great film," she recalls. "And the guys were sooo funny: Billy Crystal, Bruno Kirby, David Paymer and Danny Stern." As a modern-day Joan of Arc, Slater personified The Legend of Her big scene in City Slickers introduces screen legend Jack Palance Billie Jean. Its popularity still surprises her. www.starlog.com STARLOG/Jonuory 2009 49 THE SOUND OF SCI-FI™

From our good friends at Decca Now available for the first time is The best music from the 1 st sea- star- vocals Records comes the hit UPIM series the wonderful music from the son of the incredible sci-fi series Featuring marvelous by ring Scott Bacula. Enhanced portion acclaimed series Scott (Jonathan Archer) Bakula, includes cast bios and Russell Watson's long-running TV starring Richard Dean star of the new UPN TV series music video of the main title song, starring Adrian Paul. This CD Includes David Arnolds "Where My Heart Will Take Me." includes several Celtic favorites. main title! ENTERPRISE!

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Don't want to cut magazine? Writs order on any plain piece ol paper. This is Matt Groening—as a Futurama

caricature. If you buy the Bender's Game DVD, you can have fun with the extra "Futurama Genetics Laboratory," mixing up your favorite characters' DNA.

Matt Groening contemplates the wild green yonder.

Gaining new life getting crazy, but there's just no stopping the Planet with a scheduled spring release of Into the Wild Green direct-to-DVD It's as Express crew as they flit about the universe in the elec- Yonder. movies, tric-mucus-colored spaceship, creating havoc (and elic- Futurama's four iting laughs) wherever they go. That's to say, it has been Futurama Shock films are Bender's nearly decade since Fry (Billy West), Leela (Katey Groening nearly gave up when Fox, after never really Big Score, The a Beast With a Sagal), Bender (John DiMaggio) and their assorted friends, showing Futurama the love, didn't quite cancel the show, Billion Backs, enemies and "frenemies" first took to the airwaves in but simply let its episode order run out. "When you hit a Bender's Game Futurama. wall like that, it's discouraging," Groening acknowledges. and next year's Co-creators Matt Groening and David X. Cohen never "Creatively, David and I had so many stories that we still Into the Wild quite achieved the success of Groening's other show—a lit- wanted to tell. We always felt, from the very beginning, that Green Yonder. tle something called The Simpsons—but nonetheless, we were an underdog show with Fox, and we had the role Meanwhile, the Futurama lasted four seasons on Fox from 1999 to 2003. model of Star Trek. We knew that we had an intensely entire original And even after its demise, Futurama refused to go gently devoted cult following, and we thought that they would saga is available into the good night. Rather, it has returned triumphantly keep the embers glowing. And they did. in four DVD sets. i- C with a quartet of made-for-DVD movies, starting with "They bombarded Fox with petitions, letters and e- 5 O Bender's Big Score, continuing with The Beast With a mails. The regular scries DVDs sold very well, and the Billion Backs and Bender's Game and stretching into 2009 other great afterlife Futurama had was on Cartoon Net-

mm/January 2009 51 —

work, where we were very popular on Adult not to have boundaries." Swim. And then Fox called us back in and So, how personally involved in the offered us the reincarnation of Futurama as a Futurama films has Groening been? "I want to DVD movie. give credit to everyone else who works so hard "We had this great meeting where they on these movies," he demurs. "I poke my head offered us a DVD movie, and we said, 'How in, and I try to offer support and a joke here

about two?' They said, 'Well, how about and there. But David is really the showrunner, three?' We said, 'How about four?' And they and also the typist. He's the one sitting at said, 'OK, stop.' So we made a deal for four the computer, typing up the scripts. films in that one meeting. The goal was to tell Usually, in these situations, there's a hap-

longer stories, and for some of them, we less writer's assistant, but David is his already had ideas. We had concepts that we own writer's assistant. We have a very had come up with way back before the series tight budget." even started that to we never got around doing. The most recent Futurama adventure, The Simpsons Movie was a hit, but So it has been fun to be able to do them. We Bender's Game (which debuted in November Groening says the double duty of making don't have the constraints we did when we and Cohen discussed last issue) centers on the a film and TV show simultaneously isn't were doing the show. The studio wanted the Planet Express gang as they contend with sky- something he's eager to do again.

movies to be a little more outrageous, and rocketing fuel costs by searching for dark mat- although that isn't our main goal, it's very nice ter deep within a mine. And deep—really, really deep—within that mine, they stumble upon a strange world: a land of wizards, knights, dragons, Munchkin-esque beings and characters who bear an uncanny resemblance to familiar Futurama faces. "The story allowed us to have fun with medieval fantasy, specifically The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and all those other fantasy stories and movies," Groening explains. "We put our characters in this medieval fantasy world—with a science fiction justification

and it was a blast. It was great to see Leela as a centaur. Is there such a thing as a female cen- taur? Well, there is now! And the Professor as a wizard... We also had fun [fooling around] with our own mythology and satirizing epic fantasy's conventions."

Groening laughs when asked if there's any specific bit in Bender's Game for which he can take credit. "My whole life has been, basical-

ly, justification for watching way too much

TV!" he grins. "That's why I have to work in

television. It's all research. I saw a TV show

late one night called The Knife Show. It's a home shopping program that specializes in

very enthusiastically selling knives, and I In Bender's Game, the Planet Express crew discovers an alternate fantasy world where thought it would be great to do some version Leela is a centaur, the Professor a wizard and Bender a knight in shining armor! of it on Futurama. And it turned out that many other people were also watching The Knife Show in a heavy-lidded haze late at night. So the actors, like and Billy, Beware the mist, John were able to re- Bender! OK, enact The Knife Show in a way that... Well, it's this fog isn't the a showstopper!" fear-inducing haze, but Bender's Futurama World will really game Of course, no Futurama DVD is complete be over if he falls without a commentary track. Groening joined off that plank—on Cohen and the cast to record a lively and his shiny laugh-out-loud funny Bender's Game com- metal ass. mentary that ranks as the highlight among a host of entertaining extras. "Futurama com- mentaries are like being at a really great party," he raves. "I haven't listened to many commentaries, but the Futurama ones seem like more fun than the others I've heard. John

is a force of nature, and Billy can channel so

many different characters, you can't believe it.

It's fun to sit in a room with them."

Groening will probably sit down with Cohen, DiMaggio, West, Sagal and company one more time—for an Into the Wild Green Yonder commentary. "That's our final adven- ture. ..unless Futurama comes back again,"

52 STARLOG/fanuwy 2009 A love and passion for the series, Can stand the you and keeping things fresh (like the behind- terror of The the-scenes episode "Behind the Treehouse of Laughter"), is why The Simpsons has Horror? Starting in run for 20 seasons. 1990, this year's

entry is the 19th (!) Halloween special.

we don't have the time to use." Even if Into the Wild Green Yonder marks Futurama's end, Groening won't lack for work. He has been writing his comic strip, Life in Hell, for almost three decades, contributed to the recently released anthology The Best American Comics—and then there's The Simpsons, currently in its 20th season. "We really like what we're doing," Groening notes, trying to explain why The Simpsons endures as an internationally popu- lar phenomenon. "There's enthusiasm and dedication on the part of the writers, actors and animators, and nobody wants to be responsible for running the show into the ground. There's a good-natured competition with ourselves, and we're trying to do things that we haven't done before. Also, there's a pride that the show has lasted so long. "No one expected The Simpsons to be on

now," he notes. "When it started [as shorts] in

1987 with The Tracey Ullman Show, I don't

think anybody anticipated we would still be

talking about it in 2008. People are shooting

for those magic numbers. It will be a couple of years, but we're heading toward 500 episodes. At the table read for the 200th, David Mirkin, one of the writer-producers, said, 'Halfway home!' And everybody laughed. But now

we've gone beyond 400. So I don't know. There's no end in sight." However, anyone hoping for a sequel to The Simpsons Movie shouldn't hold their

breath. It's about as likely as baby Maggie talking again anytime soon. "It was so When Homer accidentally pollutes the water supply, Springfield's first family earns the exhausting to both the show and the community's wrath in The Simpsons Movie. do TV movie at the same time that there has been no

Groening remarks. "I can't really talk about the animators and writing staff are about to talk about working twice as hard again. Into the Wild Green Yonder too much, except move on—or have moved on already. "We "The film was much tougher to do than we to say that it's a very satisfying final adven- would love to do more Futurama movies, and had anticipated, which was partly because we ture. There are lots of fan-pleasing develop- we are talking to Fox," says Groening (who were trying to keep the series going at the ments in it that will move people and make previously discussed the saga in STARLOG same time," Matt Groening says. "We work on them very happy." #262). "And we would love to do another the show year-round, so there isn't a team of He won't rule out further Futurama weekly series. We still haven't run dry of our animators waiting to do a movie. There's no exploits, but Groening understands that noth- original file of ideas. And every time we do a B-team. We had to use everybody—and every- ing is guaranteed. Unless Fox moves quickly, new film, it leads to so many more ideas that body got stretched to their limits!" www.starlog.com Smm/Januaty 2009 53 WIELDING THE SWORD OF TRUTH, CRAIG HORNER REAEIZES HIS DESTINY AS THE SEEKER.

By KEITH OLEXA

1BP "WT e nas ndden on horseback through Perilous lands, hacked and slashed 111 "H ML, A, his way through legions of ene- mies and dodged magic of all kinds, so Craig Horner has earned the right to make this claim.

"I know I am the Seeker," says the young actor, his voice bright with enthusiasm. "The show is Legend of the Seeker, and I'm that guy." Horner speaks the truth as only a Seeker can. He's essaying the role of Richard Cypher, hero and lead of the syn- dicated TV program adapted from author Terry Goodkind's bestselling Sword of Truth novels. The fantasy series

which bowed in early November, is the brainchild of executive producers Sam (Spider-Man) Raimi and Rob (Xena: Warrior Princess) Tapert. These creative wizards, along with Kenneth (Star Trek: Voyager) Biller and their talented crew, hope to trans- form a literary epic into yet another small- screen legend. But what of Horner? Can he bring his Seeker into the spotlight and convince audi- ences that he's the real deal and the man des- tined to wield the Sword of Truth and save his world from tyranny? If the actor's upbeat convictions are any indication, then yes. His claim isn't mere bravado, either. Horner has to believe deep down that he's the Seeker. He must become something more than a handsome participant

in endless fights and swordplay, or the lip- wrestling partner for buxom wenches. He's the guy the cameras will be following most of the time. It's a Herculean task to make Richard Cypher—hero of one of the most popular fantasy fiction series in decades—into Richard Cypher, hero of a successful TV

series. Horner's job is to turn this cipher, as it were, into a syndicated superhero. That would daunt even the most seasoned thespian, but Horner has an even tougher row to hoe. Physically, the wiry, nimble actor doesn't quite cut the same figure as Goodkind's Richard from Wizard's First Rule

and its sequels. That man is older, very tall, broad-shouldered and imposing, with grey

eyes so vivid they warrant constant mention in the books. However, Horner sports a very dif-

ferent look, and if there's any group out there

54 mm/January 2009 that rallies to have their treasured books, and

heroes, all but cloned into on-screen equiva-

lents, it's genre fans. Horner doesn't concern himself too much

with that, and neither, it seems, do Raimi, Tapert and company. They understood right away that Goodkind's books would never transfer to TV verbatim. Legend of the Seeker honors the spirit of the novels' epic storyline,

yet walks its own path. Physical differences aside, the Seeker's journey remains essentially unchanged. And Horner can get behind that. Richard's quest involves, among other things, the pursuit of

truth, knowledge and what is right. Horner clearly understands his character's heart in this

regard: Richard's grasp of truth is as natural as his grasp on his sword.

"Richard is an open book," Horner ex-

plains. "What is on Richard's face is what he's feeling. He doesn't like secrets, and he doesn't keep them. He's straightforward and honest. He's a people's man. Luckily, because of where he has grown up, he has learned why family and relationships are important. There When Kahlan Amnell (Bridget Regan) crosses over to the Westlands, the adventure aren't too many things ruling over his life, begins for young wood guide Richard Cypher (Horner). either—no tyrannical overlords or anything like that where he lives. He comes from a sim- Horner can relate to all that, particularly girl. "That went on for eight months," he adds. ple, holistic place." the questing, as landing the role was some- "I was thrown into the deep end on that series,

thing of an epic travelogue for him. "I was in and I had to learn quickly. I was number two Becoming Legends Sydney, Australia, doing a series called Blue on the call sheet. It has taken eight years to top The Westlands, Richard's home, is a bucol- Water High" he says. "I found out the audition that, but I have. Now, finally, I'm number one

ic realm devoid of magic, with trouble kept at came through for Legend, so we had a little on the call sheet. So, yes, it's challenging,

bay for so long that peace is all its people read, and it felt good, and I got an offer to go exciting and taxing, but I knew what to know. But a tragic assault, combined with an to LA for a screen test. In order to prepare for expect." incursion into the Westlands by the beautiful, that, I touched up on the book and really got While Horner brings a new look to Rich- magically adept Kahlan Amnell (Bridget the character down." (Winning the role sent ard, Kahlan seems to have been lifted whole Regan), tears Richard's world apart, while also him back across the world and to his new cloth from book to screen. Regan, with her revealing to him a larger world beyond. home away from home, New Zealand, where athletic stature, long brown hair and light eyes, Through Kahlan, and the enigmatic wizard Legend of the Seeker is being filmed.) is the perfect match for the novel's magical Zedd (Bruce Spence of The Road Warrior), Initially, Richard is a reluctant hero, and a maiden. Not that those particulars matter to Richard learns of terrible forces that threaten naive one too, but he rises to the occasion as either Regan or Horner. He's just thrilled that

his homeland, as well as the dangers to lands needed, knowing he's the man who can do it. he has a co-star who is as dedicated as he is to

and peoples he doesn't yet know from a mys- As, it seems, does Horner. "I've been acting this fantasy world. terious enemy, Darken Rahl (Craig Parker). for eight years now," he says. "I started when "I couldn't ask for a better Kahlan!" he Before long, circumstances—including mur- I was 17 and, at that time, I got my first lead exclaims. She's an Aquarian like me, and der and pursuit—force the young wood guide role. My first job ever was as the lead male in Aquarians get along with other Aquarians. We

on a long and dangerous quest for freedom, a series. It was a baptism by fire." just rock it; we work well together. She has a justice and self-discovery. That show was also in the genre: Cyber- good understanding of [Wizard's First Rule],

and she has actually read it. Thank God they

didn't get an actress [who gets all giggly] and

says things like, 'Book? What book?'

"Bridget is amazing, and she's great to work with. She's a very giving actor, she's full-on about the series and she loves Kahlan.

Also, she always speaks up if something is

against her character, and I especially like that. We work with different directors on each episode, so we, as the leads, have to nurture and protect our characters." Seeking vengeance With long, grey hair and a wild look in his eye, Spence really puts "the wiz" in his wizard Zedd. Horner lauds the unique brand of magic

that his co-star brings to the role. "Bruce is

Zedd, Zedd is Bruce," he effuses. "Spence is such a character. And he's just terrific as Zedd." Once again, New Zealand serves as the home of a fantasy world. Horner says that the Another figure who makes his presence country's purity (like this sylvan glade) is a sight to behold. known is Chase (Jay Laga'aia). An old friend

www.starlog.com STARLOG/tonuary2009 55 I

Similar to Star Wars' Obi-Wan Kenobi, Zedd (Bruce Spence) isn't the regular guy he appears to be, but rather the wizard for whom Kahlan has been searching.

of Richard's, and a loyal member of the Coun- directly—not much happens in some places, cil Guards, Chase is on hand to help when and you can't film that. It's boring." dark forces invade his homeland. "Chase plays Shooting in New Zealand gives the produ- a bigger part in the books, but we will be see- cers the opportunity to again work with many ing him," Horner promises. of the talented people who helped make the Many other characters—some from the previous Tapert-Raimi series Hercules and books, some new—help and/or hinder Rich- Xena such successes. And while Legend is ard's quest. But through it all, one villainous reminiscent of those two heroic odysseys, tyrant reigns, striving to thwart Richard at viewers shouldn't expect tongue-in-cheeki- every turn (though covertly at first). "The big ness or nods to the camera. Legend of the and I would go in the backyard with a stick enemy is Darken Rahl," Horner says. "He's in Seeker plays it straight. In terms of the action, and start chopping up imaginary people. Now, the background waiting to take over. Darken however, Horner promises enough fighting for I get paid to do it, and with a real sword. It's Rahl is always sending out his minions to get a horde of legendary heroes. freaking unreal. Thank God I'm prepared for in Richard's way. "It's extreme," he states, "but it's great. the action, because there's plenty of it. "In the first part of the pilot, we deal with You're not watching an episode for more than "There are like three fights per episode!" this other guy. He's taken from the book— 15 minutes before we get into some crazy-ass Horner laughs. "And there's horse riding and believe that he's adapted from Demmin Nass, action. It's really cool. As a kid, I was so into swinging swords on horses. We've got great but we needed to change his name a little, this kind of thing. I had a great imagination, people [helping us] —horse wranglers and because he's different from Nass. He's the pilot's villain, and we think that he's the bad guy. But he's more like Darth Vader, a villain with a more powerful villain, like the Em- peror, above him. So this guy is like Darken Rahl's Darth Vader." Fortunately, Legend of the Seeker's puppet masters are more benign. Raimi and Tapert optioned Goodkind's books after many back- and-forth sessions with the author. Goodkind was wary of entrusting his work to anyone, but came to understand and respect Raimi and Tapert's vision, which was to adapt his novels into a TV series, not copy them. With this in mind, the writers preserved key characters, items and events from the nov- els, while retaining enough creative latitude to produce what they needed, which included more self-contained episodes. Another modifi- cation was having enemies who pursue Richard and his allies, and push him forward even as he pursues other foes. Horner champi- ons the alterations, and hopes audiences will as well. "The Lord of the Rings and The Chro- nicles of Narnia have both been made into just that. good adaptations, but they're We're a Younger, and not as tall or imposing, Horner doesn't particularly fit Goodkind's TV series, and if we were to follow the books description of Richard in the books.

56 mi%/January 2009 In today's world, who wouldn't want to turn to high fantasy as a place to vent their frustra-

tions at pure evil or simply lose themselves?

"It's escapism," Horner says. "It's far out, and

we all do it. I'm the first to admit that I'm obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. No matter what's happening in your life, you can go to this other world each week and see

things that are unlike anything you know. It's like nothing you've been through today. You can imagine that you're the hero performing

magic in this fantasy world. It's appealing and

escapist. It's a. fun distraction." Will Horner be able to escape his own des- tiny, though? Richard isn't the only one who has a quest before him. Fans of Goodkind's books, and of the series, will have expecta- tions not only for Richard, but Horner himself. Does this concern the actor? "In regard to my

fans and how they're going to react, no, it doesn't," he replies. "Richard is heroic

enough. If I can play him as normal and keep

the stakes high, it will pay off in the end. All of the good deeds and things that Richard does for other people are heroic enough [to stand on their own]." Craig Horner eschews any advice about After taking part in following one's dreams and embracing one's Revenge of the Sith, Jay Laga'aia joins the destiny. However, he does want viewers to revenge of the Seeker embrace their TVs and give Legend of the as Chase, Richard's Seeker a chance. "I'm a major fan of Terry's kind-hearted friend. books, but if people turn on Legend of the Seeker expecting to see the novels, they'll be disappointed. We're taking this world and these characters and creating something new stunt coordinators from the Lord of the Rings What's left but to become a sword-wielding with every episode. So if fans want to check movies. I'm in good hands, and I can hold my hero? Richard goes through all of that. out the books, they'll get a great read, and if own with a sword." Richard starts off as innocent as can be, but they want to watch the show, they'll get a great Another perk, of course, is New Zealand circumstances turn him into this vengeful TV show." -!&r itself. Horner can't wax lyrical enough about killer. I don't think I should say anything else." the antipodal paradise that has stood in per- fectly for so many fantasy worlds. "It's hard to Learning Magic go to a place today that is still untouched," he Fantasy film franchises like Lord of the points out. "But in New Zealand, everything is Rings, Harry Potter and Chronicles ofNarnia pure. We go out on location all the time: One have turned magic and monsters into house- moment we're in Auckland, which is a major hold words, yet it's always a challenge to get city, and then we travel an hour and we're audiences to embrace new fantasy worlds and away from everything in this place where we heroes. Horner just might have the answer to can do what we want. that, however. "Richard is a real guy, and "We'll be in an area where, for 360 de- that's what is great about him," he explains. grees, we're surrounded by nothing but moun- "Wizard's First Rule describes these three tains and trees. The pristine forest, the worlds. Westland is a peaceful little town scenery—it's simply stunning. I'm from where Luke Skywalker might have grown up, Brisbane [Australia], and when there's a like Tatooine. That's Richard's home. Then drought, everything turns brown and dry. But there's the Midlands, which has a bit of magic, it's so different here—the sky is so blue, and but it's unknown. The Midlands is different everything is lush. Being surrounded by all from the Badlands, like D'hara, where Darken that, it's easy to put myself into Seekers mag- Rahl rules. ical world and get into character." "By the end of the pilot, [the group has] Horner's only a handful of episodes into gone from Westland into the Midlands. So the series, and while plenty has happened to Richard—this real, normal guy whom people Richard since the Seeker first left his peaceful can relate to—is taking the audience into this home, some of Horner's favorite moments are magical world. [All of the other characters from the pilot. "I really enjoyed it," he says. are] from this magical realm, which is good,

"It's a great journey, and many things happen because Richard is the one who's learning to Richard in those first episodes, things that magic for the first time. Richard has never change and motivate him." seen magic before. He doesn't really like it,

little? "I even fears it a little. So Richard is learning Maybe even damage him a love and Undaunted by fans' expectations, revenge stories," Horner notes. "I enjoy mo- and getting used to things along with the audi- Horner isn't worried about his destiny. vies like Braveheart, where a person's home ence." The actor believes that Legend of and loved ones are taken away from him. Audiences love magic, and it's no surprise. the Seeker is "great TV." www.starlog.com mm/January 2009 5 7 —

Funny, the difference a few months can make. The last time STARLOG caught up with John Noble—on a soundstage in Long Island City, NY for issue #370—his lat- est project was on the way, at the cusp, near

the.. .Fringe.

Since then, the Fox series saw its pilot pre-

miere in September to solid if not spectacular numbers, followed by impressively—to the surprise of many—stronger ratings in the fol- lowing weeks. And now, the J.J. Abrams-Alex

Kurtzman-Roberto Orci show is a bona fide

hit. It has already been picked up by Fox for a full 22-episode season, and Noble has emerged as a fan favorite thanks to his grip- ping performance as Dr. Walter Bishop eccentric scientist, father to estranged son Peter (Joshua Jackson) and unlikely unofficial partner to FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv). "It's pretty amazing that we were picked

up and will keep going," says Noble, who is best known to genre fans for his portrayal of Denethor in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (the extended DVD version) and The Return of the King (which he discussed in STARLOG #324). "Despite the machinations,

which I don't fully understand, of ratings sys-

tems and so forth, I certainly know the reac-

tion I get when I walk down the street in New York. People who are really into the show come and speak to me very respectfully. And this happens quite often. They're people who are truly enjoying the show. And as we go along, they're becoming more involved as we

unravel the mythology. It has been exciting to see the growth of this enterprise.

"I suppose that, looking at it objectively, it doesn't surprise me, because apart from the people who scour the Web, nobody knows. Some 9.5 million people tuned in to the pilot, and obviously those people then went and spoke about the show to more people. That's

the only thing I can think of, that word of mouth said, 'Hey, this show isn't bad.' We did very well [with the pilot], and we've sustained a good level—and an interesting demograph- ic. It's across the board, but it's mainly men in

the 1 8-to-45 group who are tuning in. And the people who stop me on the street are in that

group. It's mainly blokes who say, 'Wow, I

really dig this show, and I'm getting into it.'

Fringe is a most interesting series, and at pre-

sent, I don't think there's anything quite like it After spending on television. People have been waiting for 17 years something like Fringe." institutionalized, Dr. Walter Bishop Following the Pattern (John Noble) Fringe works on several levels. The central aids the FBI in troika of Olivia, Peter and Walter operates as their investigation a dysfunctional family who need each other. of a multitude Olivia is desperate to piece together the of strange phenomena. Pattern, both to save the lives of innocent peo- ple she has never met and to better understand what actually happened to her apparently "undead" boy friend and fellow agent, John

Scott (Mark Valley). Walter is brilliant but troubled, and scared as hell to return to the asylum where he spent the past 17 years. Peter represents Walter's link to the past, present and future, as his son is his keeper, his trans- lator and the grounding force that tethers him Dr. Bishop and

to reality. And it appears that Peter needs both Peter clash as Olivia and Walter. Teaming with Olivia steers father and son on-screen. Off- him from trouble and gives him a purpose, screen, though, while reconnecting with Walter helps him Noble extols understand his own history and, if nothing Joshua else, provides ample opportunities to crack Jackson's wise. commitment to Clearly, Fringe's producers have learned a his character. thing or two from their previous experiences,

such as Lost and . Fringe plays up its ongoing mythology, but the show isn't solely

about that. Rather, more often than not, a case

is explored, resolved and then takes its place within the context of the bigger mythology picture. And the individual characters and their relationships are works in progress. "It's a combination," Noble explains, try- ing to put a finger on the reasons for the

show's success. "This 'J J. Abrams thing' that everyone talks about... the guy assembles some wonderful and fertile minds. And between him, [co-produc- er] Jeff Pinkner and the writers, there are ideas fly-

ing all over the place. The stuff that they come up

with is quite interesting. Also, we've been given a pretty good run by Fox, in terms of letting people know about us. The dis-

parate factor is that there are interesting characters and relationships in this as

well as all of the gory and wonderful science. From the feedback that I'm get- ting, people are fascinated by, for example, the rela- tionship between Peter and

Walter. I think that might be one of the differences." And there's no denying

that Walter is one of the coolest and quirkiest char- acters on the TV land- scape. Throwing adjec- tives out there, the chemist

and research scientist is brilliant, out-of-date, Usually, Noble emotionally detached, well-meaning, scared, and AnnaTorv lost and, on top of all that, obsessive-compul- (as Agent sive. All of that makes Walter a tremendous Olivia Dunham) mountain to climb each time Noble steps don't work this before the camera. closely since "Acting should never be easy," Noble Dr. Bishop

declares. "And if hard means exhilarating and spends most of his time in exciting and challenging and the cause of an the lab. occasional sleepless night, well, yes, it's hard.

Walter is a wonderful challenge for an actor to

be given, and that's the way that I approach my work every day. And in some way, per-

haps, it's more thrilling than playing, if you Uncovering the will, a straight character, because Walter has heart of the matter isn't a such a spectrum of moods and states—emo- priority for tional states, intellectual states—that every Noble. As an day on the set is a wonderful journey for me. actor, he likes Some are better than others, and then there's not knowing the exploration of Walter's relationship with the answers to his son, which will continue to evolve. the puzzling "Walter is also bi-polar, by my definition Pattern. www.starlog.com Staying in When a strange cylindrical contraption appears in "" (Noble's favorite touch with the episode), so does the Observer, who has some sort of connection to Dr. Bishop. fans is important to Noble, who believes Fringe's producers will monitor viewers' responses to the show.

Photo: By & Copyright 2008 Donn R. Nottage anyway," Noble continues. "We see his manic behavior. It's a tragic disease, and I guess somewhere down the line we have to see the other side of that if we're going to be honest and truthful about what we're doing. We don't want to do a caricature of a crazy professor. / certainly don't intend to do that, and I know that the writers don't, either.

"One of the traps that an actor can fall into is trying to play how other people describe your character," Noble argues. "That isn't nec- essarily the truth, but rather somebody else's script and how the character is described in the because it takes Walter on a journey that I g perspective. When people say something script and everything else, and then I put it found very difficult." — g about you, it's the way that they see you. But I all together. My expectations can be no more can't completely ignore those things. So in than to be absolutely truthful to whatever I Breaking the Pattern § creating a character, I take the givens—the have to work with." While some actors on a show as dense as g " Of the episodes that have aired to date, Fringe might care to receive advance notice as Noble rates "The Arrival" as his favorite. In to where the characters and storylines are § that hour, a strange cylindrical contraption headed, Noble isn't among them. In fact, he £

turns up and heralds the first appearance of the Observer (Michael Cerveris), a bald, eyebrow- less and apparently ageless man who, accord- ing to Broyles (Lance Reddick), has a history of popping up whenever and wherever the device does. Ominously, the Observer also appears to share some history with the Bishops. "The episode's content was other-dimen- sion stuff, the Observer material," Noble says. "That was incredibly rich, provocative and,

from a personal point-of-view, it presented me with acting challenges, which I'm always happy to have. The whole thing was tantaliz-

ing, and Michael is a first-rate actor. He made a bold choice [about how] to play the Observer, and the end result was unforget- table." That episode was followed by "Power Hungry" and "," and then by a break, which gave way to "In Which We Meet Mr. Jones" and "The Equation." Talking about upcoming episodes—or episodes that were upcoming at the time of this interview—Noble invokes the requisite Abrams veil of secrecy. "I don't want to pre-empt something that has not gone to air yet," the actor explains. "In

'Mr. Jones,' we have our first venture outside of the U.S., with Olivia going off to Germany.

A young woman's life is at stake, the pressure is on and the seconds are literally ticking down as Walter works with Peter Astrid [Jasika Playing Dr. Bishop suits Noble, who and appreciates the challenge of essaying an Nicole] in the lab [to help Olivia] solve it. eminent, obsessive-compulsive and That's a very exciting show. And 'The bi-polar scientist. Equation' was exceptionally special for me,

60 mm/January 2009 prefers to be in the dark about the Pattern. "It would be to my disadvantage to know the details," Noble argues. "What is becoming evident to all of us is that there seems to be a pattern. That in itself is incredibly provocative. But I don't need to know [the answer]. That £ < u • would actually make my job harder. It would (0 o take away those moments of exploration and O £ indecision. Walter knows all of this conspira-

"Walter understands all of that, but now z .£ something is happening in which he doesn't play a part, and where he isn't the prime 08 z mover scientifically. Walter is sitting back, c 2 watching and seeing incarnations of his own work, but often in a more advanced state. So I don't need, nor do I want to know, what the

Pattern is. It keeps the drama alive. And I think that, in the true sense of these shows, [the Pattern] will grow and change in the writers' minds as they see what works and what does not. I'm pretty sure that they'll be looking at responses, say, for example, from people who the cow's coming on the set. Jasika is read STARLOG, or from the Fox website. absolutely wonderful, and one of the delight- How are people responding to this? What fas- ful surprise packages of the last several -i 5 cinates the viewers? So they might try to months of my life. She's fun to work with, and accommodate that. But that's only a guess on such a bright and wonderful young lady. And i! my part." having her add a little bit of light to the lab is N Noble speaks with far more certainty about stuff is nice. I think that with all of the quali- .2 the pleasure he takes in acting alongside his ties that Jasika has, she's going to be a very co-stars lackson, Torv, Nicole and Gene the important actor. cow. "I adore the cow!" Noble smiles. "The "I adore Anna, but I have less to do with ?! (/> cow makes me laugh. I'm a country git, mate. her because Olivia only goes to the lab on s Z o o I milked cows as a little boy, and I just adore occasion to get information. The load that them. It always pleases me when I hear that Anna's carrying—driving through this thing as

Now that the show has been given a 22-episode run, fans will get to enjoy a full season of Dr. Bishop & co.'s exploration of "fringe science."

the anchor, if you will, of the whole show—is tremendous," John Noble extols. "And my respect and love for Joshua grows every day that we spend on the set together. He takes this

very seriously, and is working so hard on his

character. I stand in absolute admiration of the young actor. And we discuss everything in ani- mated form, looking for the subtleties and nuances. That's a growing thing that, no doubt, will be observed as time goes by."

mm/January 2009 61 Yeah, Nick Cutter (Douglas Henshall) is a dinosaur hunter. But sometimes, when the shoe is on the other foot, the prehistoric creatures hunt him.

one of those innately noble guys

Me'swho is constantly trying to do the right thing for the greater good," says actor Douglas Henshall of scientist Nick Cutter, the character he plays in the British SF/action- adventure series Primeval. "That's kind of his raison d'etre every

i day," he continues. "Nick is like me in

that sense. I don't think I would have the

stamina for what he does, so I probably

would have lost it a couple of times by now, but he seems to always be objec- tive and see every point-of-view,

which is one of the most admirable things about him." In Primeval, which recently aired on BBC America (the first season hit DVD November from BBC Warner), Henshall plays a scien- tist who is investigating a series of anomalies that are tearing open holes in the fabric of time. Those holes have allowed prehistoric creatures to emerge in present-day England, and seemingly caused the disappearance of Cutter's wife, Helen (Juliet Aubrey). Cutter assembles a team of investigators consisting of lab technician and occasional bodyguard Stephen Hart (James Murray), young zoolo- gist Abby Maitland (Hannah Spearritt), enthu- siastic student Connor Temple (Andrew Lee Potts) and government liaison Claudia Brown

By JOE NAZZARO Tuesday, as well as the films Angels and Insects, Orphans, Lawless Heart and It's All About Love. Having spent the past several years divid- ing his time between stage, screen and TV, Henshall was working on another project

when he first heard about Primeval. "I guess it happened the same way any job comes up," he recalls. "I was sent the scripts, sat down and

read them, and it was a director whom I had

The Primeval team includes Stephen Hart (James Murray), Abby Maitland (Hannah Spearritt), Connor Temple (Andrew Lee Potts), Captain Tom Ryan (Mark Wakeling), Nick and Jenny Lewis a.k.a Claudia Brown (Lucy Brown).

(Lucy Brown). Soon, Helen reappears long that Helen is Nick's emotional weak spot, par-

after her apparent death. ticularly when it becomes apparent that she While Henshall agrees that his character has a very definite agenda concerning the was somewhat laidback in the early episodes, ongoing use of the anomalies. "She presses

he takes exception to the notion that Cutter is every single button he has," Henshall declares.

emotionally cut off following the loss of his "Helen is his Achilles' heel. She always turns wife. "Really?" he responds. "I suppose that's up knowing exactly where to hurt him. She's

partly the way he was written, and I think that the monkey on his back!" [series co-creator] Adrian Hodges' idea was to hold him back. But after Series One was over, Primeval Encounters and finding out that Helen had an affair with For the Scottish-born Henshall, Primeval

Stephen, Nick came back a bit harder in Series is the latest project in a career that spans near-

I don't a hero is ly decades. After establishing himself Two. suppose you want who two as a Moviegoers unfamiliar with the Scottish- bleeding all over the screen, so that was prob- theater actor in the mid-90s, he began moving born actor now have the chance to watch ably part of it, in the beginning." into British television with roles in Psychos, Henshall (and Primeval) on BBC That being said, Henshall is quick to agree Kid in the Corner, Loving You and Frances America—or in the first season DVD. www.starlog.com STARLuG//mirary2009 63 just finished working with—and whom I had a really good time with—Cilia Ware.

"So I read the first three episodes, met with the guys and a week later, I was in the middle of doing a film when I got a call saying, 'They want to offer you the part!' It happened very quickly. I was surprised, because I thought for something like this, there would have been more hoops to jump through." While Cutter's basic persona was pretty much there in those early scripts, it still took several episodes before Henshall was able to make the character his own. "You know how it is: You try little bits and pieces to see what works and what doesn't, and hopefully you end up with something that works," he explains. "That's always daunting, and by Series Two they also decided to raise the stakes as far as the action was concerned. The dialogue for our characters in Series Two was sparser than in Series One, but that was also a time issue. They had much more time to develop the initial scripts, so perhaps that's why there were more character moments in the first series. "It took me about three or four weeks to settle in, especially to try and get a handle on all the CGI and how to essentially interact with nothing, and also to work out a group dynamic. We have six main characters, [and it's difficult] to find different ways of interact- ing with people so that [the characters] aren't the same all the time. You build up different working relationships with different actors who have different ideas and styles. So it takes a little while. About halfway through the first series, we ended up with a decent shorthand.

And by Series Two, it was a piece of cake." One of Henshall's biggest challenges in those early days was learning how to act alongside the digital beasts that play a big part in each episode. "But that's also one of the

things that I really enjoy about Primeval," he notes. "If you're going to be in a show like

this, that's part of the pleasure, but it does take

it out of you a little bit. It isn't quite Bob Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where

I'm completely on my own all the time. At least there are plenty of people to go around.

"It's like when you're a kid coming up with the pretext for a game: You have that pre-

text, and you believe in it. There's no sense in

trying to dissect it. You just say, 'OK, so the

monster is , and it's coming to get

us!' That's about as complex as I make it. Certain technical things are tricky, such as [pretending to] see something in the distance

getting closer, where I need to do things with

my eyes. I'm a bit of a geek that way. I want to master those things and get them right." Henshall also must deal with the baggage that comes with being part of a high-profile genre series. "It's probably 10 times worse for David Tennant in Doctor Who," he insists. "He

could probably talk about that better than I

can, because to be perfectly honest, I haven't

had that much attention, so I haven't had to put up with that much.

"The most I get is, I'll be at the supermar- ket and occasionally kids will run up and say, 'Oh my God, what are you doing here?' That's

really sweet. So it has been really easy for me.

I suppose part of it is living in London, which —

After an eight-year disappearance, Helen returns—but she's no victim. Nick's wife (Juliet Aubrey) is fiercely competitive and resolutely independent. s

that, if people were excited enough to watch

Series One and Two, I don't really want to give anything more away about Series Three." The past several months have been extremely busy ones for Henshall. In addition to wrapping up Primeval's third season, he's in a new adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray with Ben {Prince Caspian) Barnes and Colin Firth. "Right now, I'm doing something for ITV called Collision,

which is about a car crash on a motorway. I play one of the cops who investigates what happened," he says. "It has been nonstop this year, so to be perfectly honest, I'm looking

forward to having a holiday. But it has been a enjoys Primevafs great time." technical Douglas Henshall offers a final sales pitch challenges. to genre fans who have yet to take the time to experience the series. "People who have any is an anonymous city. I've had a very easy months for an unexpected and sinister pur- interest in monsters, action, good characters ride, and whatever attention has come my way pose. Plus, Cutter is again betrayed by Helen, and excitement, well, that's all enclosed in our has been very pleasant and easy to deal with. I and by his right-hand man Stephen. show. That's what we do every week. Primeval have no complaints." "It's funny," Henshall reflects, "I have to is a really good action-adventure series with go back to something we were talking about great characters that you can watch with the

Primeval Changes earlier, about being emotionally cut off. Cutter whole family!" -$f In Series Two, Henshall's character was does have a soft spot for Connor and Abby, ——————————— still dealing with the emotional fallout from and he ends up becoming a slightly unwilling the previous season's cliffhanger. Returning to surrogate father figure to both of them. But as the present day, Cutter discovers that some far as someone hurting him personally, Nick unforeseen event during his visit to the prehis- never expected that to happen with Stephen. toric past has triggered a "Butterfly Effect" He expects it from Helen, because pretty much that has changed each of his co-workers in nothing she does surprises him. But [the first some subtle way—and completely eliminated time Stephen betrayed Nick], Stephen was Claudia from this new reality as if she never younger, more impressionable, perhaps slight- existed. ly naive and possibly manipulated by Helen. "I suppose there was a bit of adjustment for You can only be so upset at somebody like the first couple of weeks or so," Henshall says, that. But when Stephen does it again in Series

"where I was thinking, 'Am I doing the same Two, he's now an adult. Stephen can make up thing? Is this the same guy? Does this feel the his own mind, and he made the wrong choice same?' There was also some added pressure again, and I think that hurts Nick." from having done something fairly successful, Looking ahead to Primevol's just-complet- because you then have to repeat the trick and ed Season Three, Henshall, like series co-cre- make it better. But as far as the cast dynamic, ator Hodges before him (STARLOG #369), is that was easy to step back into again. It's like reluctant to disclose much in the way of putting on an old jacket: You know you looked details. "I guess the main thing that you can good when you used to wear it, but you aren't expect is that Helen isn't finished yet," he entirely sure what it does anymore!" reveals. "And there are some pretty big dis- Over the course of Season Two, Cutter's coveries coming up early on, including the team has to cope with a number of revelations issue of what's causing the anomalies in the concerning the anomalies including a secret first place. If keep — you want to interest going Henshall will soon appear in a new plot within the government to use the prehis- in a series, you have to make some forward film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's toric creatures captured over the past several progress. But as far as storylines and stuff like The Picture of Dorian Gray. www.starlog.com mm/January 2009 65 nption You can phone: 646-666-7346 or e-mail: [email protected] Mark the wicked subscrip- tion offer that's right for you!

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Foreign order, send US funds only. If you don't want to cut out coupon, we will accept written orders. Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery of first issue. arley Shelton made an 1 1th hour deci- sion.. .to star in the new CBS "sci-fact"

I drama Eleventh Hour. "It was a huge decision," says Shelton, an actress known to genre fans for Hercules in the Underworld, Warriors of Virtue, Pleasant- ville, Valentine, Sin City and Grindhouse. "The biggest factor in choosing to do a televi- sion show is the potential commitment. I had

On the CBS thriller, Special Agent Rachel Young (Shelton) is the FBI handler for scientist Dr. Jacob Hood (Rufus Sewell).

1 I By IAN SPELLING THE HC JR It's Marley Shelton's job to k handle a heroic scientist & also help save the world.

to really weigh that, but the draw of working with Rufus Sewell and the Jerry Bruckheimer

camp and this premise overrode all of that." Based on the British TV series of the same name, Eleventh Hour stars Sewell as Dr. Jacob Hood, a government scientist who makes his living racing the clock and saving the world from one scientific disaster after another. He's joined on his cases by Special Agent Rachel Young (Shelton). The show pre- miered in October, and Marley Shelton pre-debut descriptions of made her small it, Shelton acknowledges screen debut in with a giggle, described 1990 with a guest Young as everything appearance on The Family Man. from Hood's partner to Now, she's the his bodyguard to his han- female lead in TV's dler. Eleventh Hour. "What interested me

mm/January 2009 67 —

about the premise is that it's something you haven't seen before," Shelton maintains, "this idea of science being mysterious, titillating

and frightening at times. I thought that would

be a cool world to investigate, because it isn't science fiction. Our mysteries are based on real science. That was very intriguing to me, as was the idea of playing a cop and someone

who is pragmatic and aggressive, a trou- bleshooter who quickly gets to the bottom of things. Hood and Rachel both want the same results, but they go about things in entirely dif- ferent ways. He's unorthodox and thinks out- side the box, and she's by the book and wants to cut to the chase. And inherently, when you have those two very different methodologies, things gets exciting when they clash. "I've heard the 'bodyguard' description, " but we're calling it 'protection detail,'

Early on in the production, Shelton says that she and Sewell worked on the balance of friction and friendship between their characters.

I

So far, the Thursday night battle of British remakes Life Shelton's on Mars and assessment of Eleventh Hour— her character is being won by is that Agent Eleventh Hour. Young is a by-the-book woman who likes to cut to the chase.

68 Wm/January 2009 The show is based on the four-part British these strange situations. I'm the FBI handler series, starred Patrick which Stewart assigned to him, and I act as his liaison on the as Hood and Ashley Jensen as Young. casework. And, in addition to that, part of my job is protection detail. Does that make sense? Basically, I'm the law, and he's the science." New Missions With episode four in production at the time of this interview, it's still early days on Eleventh Hour. However, Shelton has already gotten a sense of the Hood- Young relationship beyond their respective tasks and missions. "Right now, as we're setting the show's tem-

plate, what we're playing around with is what

I was touching on before, which is this notion that we're such dramatically different human Comparisons with The X-Files ate beings—in terms of where our center is and inevitable, but Shelton stresses that how we approach problems. And that creates Eleventh Hour" isn't science fiction"—and an inherent clash and friction that's interesting they aren't in search of aliens, either. to watch. So there's that spark of us coming at the same problem from dramatically different [David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson] had angles. Yes, we like each other, but oftentimes such a genius relationship and were fantastic

there's tension because we're confused by together. I did my homework and thoroughly

each other." studied their dynamic while I was preparing

Fair enough, but let's let the bull into the for this. But our show is much different.

china shop or address the elephant in the room "First of all," Shelton continues, "it isn't

or whatever you want to call it, and just say the science fiction, and we aren't investigating

magic words: The X-Files. "I totally get it," extraterrestrials. And secondly, our dynamic is Shelton laughs. "Essentially, I'm his FBI han- Shelton says of the relentless comparisons much different. Hood's this incredibly right-

dler. Dr. Hood is a science advisor to the FBI between Eleventh Hour and Chris Carter's side-of-the-brain guy, and I'm the left. Right?

Director. He's this brilliant scientist who has iconic series, as well as between Hood and Is that how it crosses? I'm stumbling onto an been contracted by the FBI to help them with Young and Mulder and Scully. "Those two analogy of how to describe our characters, and and he's the science.

Although Young and Hood are trying to save people from deadly scientific experiments, their efforts aren't always successful. www.starlog.com SWL%/January 2009 69 I

"Our mysteries are based on real science."

I'm screwing it up! Something that's very having a blast together, and that makes all the ed Shelton, Blair Brown, Kelly Hu and, as important to me is Rachel and Hood's back- difference with the hours that we're pulling. Barnabas Collins, Alec {Dune) Newman. "You stories. I want to know what makes them tick. "Rufus is a great actor, and he's only going can't get enough vampire fare," Shelton states. As an actor, that's the most exciting thing to to improve my game," Shelton extols. "I real- "I'm always intrigued by the vampire world, play, all the character stuff. And I think that ly can't say enough about him. Also, it's fun to and that show has such a history. It's a shame will unfold as we progress." watch him play this particular character and that it didn't work out, because I was really Anderson and Duchovny reportedly didn't premise. You can see him formulating [theo- excited about that one." always get along during The X-Files' run. ries] while he's solving these mysteries in real A year later, Shelton appeared in Sin City,

Fortunately, Shelton and Sewell hit it off from time. You don't normally get that on TV, espe- playing "The Customer" in the Robert the get-go on Eleventh Hour. "Rufus and I get cially on one-hour shows." Rodriguez-directed opening sequence, "The along swimmingly," she raves. "He's an Customer is Always Right." That segment absolute joy. Neither of us has much experi- Old Movies convinced graphic novelist Frank Miller to let ence in this world of one-hour television, so Regardless of whether or not Eleventh Rodriguez move forward with a Sin City it's nice that we share a fresh take on it. We Hour is SF or not, Shelton has visited the sci- movie and, eventually, Miller joined also never tire of each other's company— ence fiction universe before. Reading from Rodriguez as co-director. should knock on wood—at least not yet. We're that list of genre credits at the top of this arti- "My beloved Robert Rodriguez is one of cle, Shelton addresses them one by one. the coolest people on the planet," Shelton says. After appearing in Robert Rodriguez's Sin Hercules in the Underworld: "New Zealand!" "To be a part of that ensemble was great. For City, Shelton reunited with the director she shouts. "Amazing." Warriors of Virtue: Josh Hartnett and me to be a part of the pro- for the Grindhouse feature Planet Terror. "That was all about going to Beijing, China," ject's inception—it will always hold a dear she says. "The coolest thing about that was spot in my heart. That was the first time

working with both Mandarin and Cantonese Robert and I worked together, and the movie is

Chinese. It was such a melting pot. We had an so freaking cool!" Australian sound crew and American, Scottish Shelton and Rodriguez reunited soon after and Chinese actors. That was the most interna- for Grindhouse, with the former essaying Dr.

tional film I've ever been a part of, and it was Dakota Block-McGraw in both the Rodriguez- really fun to make for that reason. directed Planet Terror and the Quentin

"You're saying that is one of my SF Tarantino-helmed portion Death Proof.

films?" she asks when Pleasantville is brought "That's the watermark [for me]," Shelton up. To which STARLOG responds absolutely, enthuses. "I'm really, really proud of that what with characters transporting through movie. I loved what Robert and Quentin

time and a television, as well as the blending attempted to do, and they absolutely pulled it

of the black-&-white and color worlds. "Good off. Planet Terror is not only an homage to point," Shelton acknowledges. "That was a exploitation, but at the same time, Robert special movie to be a part of because of the made something totally unique. He put his sig-

caliber of the people involved: Tobey Maguire, nature on it. Planet Terror is a rollercoaster

Reese Witherspoon, Joan Allen, Bill Macy... ride. And I love the character of Dakota. I

Gary Ross is an incredible filmmaker. I love enjoy the chance to employ my comedic and

working with writer-directors because I appre- dramatic skills and just have a blast."

ciate the autonomy of their vision, and it's fun Only 34 years old, Shelton already has

to help them color it in." amassed more than 50 credits. She has a small Then there's Dark Shadows. The 2004 role as an early girl friend of George Bush pilot based on the classic vampire (played by Grindhouse co-star Brolin) in never went to series despite a cast that includ- Oliver Stone's controversial W. She'll also be seen shortly as a nun/assistant basketball coach in the inspirational sports drama Our Lady of Victory and an engaged flight atten- dant who joins the Mile High Club (with Brolin, in fact) in the ensemble drama Women in Trouble. Asked how differently her career has played out vs. whatever expectations she har-

bored going into it, Shelton pauses for a minute before replying. "What drew me to act- ing was the idea of trying on different identi- ties without having to live with the conse-

quences," she explains. "I get to play all these

different people having all these different

careers and experiences. What I appreciate about my career is that I've been able to do that. I've gotten to play a wide spectrum of characters in all types of films—from com- mercial movies to more independent fare to, now, one-hour television.

"So I'm very pleased, and I feel fortunate to have had such diversity and variety," Marley Shelton smiles. "I don't look at my career and Freddy Rodriguez, Shelton and Rose McGowan are ensnarled in a zombie plague which think, 'Gosh, I've been pigeonholed as this causes Planet Terror. one thing!' " ^

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Fans of Golden Age Hollywood movies are series Wagon Train, The Alfred Hitchcock Conrad producing and directing]. I always well aware that juvenile actor Jimmy Hour and McHale's Navy. When actor-TV kept Bill on schedule and on budget. He Lydon was a fixture in their casts, start- executive Jack (Dragnet) Webb jumped from growled a lot, but his growling was just good, ing in 1938 when the 15-year-old debuted in Universal to Warner Bros., Lydon followed, competent growling—it wasn't meanness.

writer-producer-director William K. Howard's working at WB with yet another actor-turned- I was Bill's assistant on Two on a Back Door to Heaven. But many do not know TV producer, William (Cannon) Conrad, on Guillotine and two other films that we made at

that the screen 's former Henry Aldrich never the Webb-produced series 77 Sunset Strip. that time [My Blood Runs Cold and Brain- wanted to act—and, in the 1960s, went from Taking us from the Strip to Cape Kennedy and storm, all 1965]. Soon I was back over in the an on-camera career to an uncredited one the surface of the Moon, Lydon tells the rest of television end, working with the producer- behind the camera, working with the TV divi- his tale... director Jimmy Komack making the last few sions at Universal and Warner Bros, and then, episodes of the TV series Mr. Roberts, when at the latter studio, co-producing a series of STARLOG: How did you go from Warner TV Mr. Warner again called Bill in and said, "I movies. to also doing films? want you to make as many program pictures as The most timely of the bunch, made in 1966 JIMMY LYDON: Bill Conrad and I made 32 you can in a year." Once again Bill said, "I at the height of the Space Race, was the Robert of the 77 Sunset Strips, and while we were in want Jim," and again Mr. Warner said, "Go get Altman-directed Countdown, which combined the process, Jack Webb was fired by [studio him." Bill came to me and said, "You're with

the story of Man's first trip to the Moon with boss] Jack L. Warner! I was left with Bill as me. Come on." subplots of "human conflict... the internal my boss and partner, and we did a couple of The pictures that Bill and I made over the feuds, jealousies, compromises, etc., which TV shows, including Temple Houston. One next year were all done for a budget. Mr.

must exist simply because people are in- day, Mr. Warner called Bill in and said, "I want Warner said, "The budget on each is $1 mil-

volved" (from Variety 's rave review). you to make a feature [Two on a Guillotine]." lion direct." Mr. Warner, in his wisdom, had a

Several years earlier, Lydon's first off- Bill said, "I need Jim," and Mr. Warner said, strategy which was: "Let's say that, in this

camera job was with Universal's TV wing, hir- "Go get him." So I came over the invisible coming year, you make seven features..." ing the writers, producers and directors (and fence between television and features, and Bill and coincidentally,— we happened to make tightly controlling the purse strings) on the and I became partners [Lydon co-producing, seven "If one of the seven 'hits,' it will pay

Three years before in 1 IN Neil Armstrong walked rm on the Moon in real life, took the UIlJI I "giant leap" in reel life for Countdown, By TOM WEAVER produced by William Conrad and Jimmy Lydon in 1966 but released in 1968. JIMMY LYDON RECALLS HOW 3 Si (ALONGSIDE WILLIAM CONRAD & ) HE SENT JAMES CAAN TO THE MOON—IN 1966. —

for all the rest. That's about the average with The astronaut's wife (Joanna Moore)

motion pictures." He had been at it for a very worries not what Caan might come back with, all. long time, so I believed him thoroughly. but that he won't return at STARLOG: Did you have to start from scratch? LYDON: We sure did. At the outset, Bill and

I had nothing; we didn't even have the rights

to a novel. It was just us and two secretaries, and that was the company! Bill was the pro-

ducer, and I was the associate producer. Well, we started in, and by the end of a year, we had made seven features—in Technicolor and Panavision! We spent a million dollars on each and never went over budget, because that was my job once again. Some of them turned out

very well. I had never been so busy in my life.

In order to get started, I was reading scripts day and night, and so was Bill. STARLOG: Who actually came up with

As an actor, Lydon (right) went into space Countdown! he came in to direct it. war in his regular role as Biff in the 1950s LYDON: I've forgotten. It was originally a STARLOG: Did Altman ever meet "The SF kiddie show Rocky Jones, Space novel [The Pilgrim Project by Hank Searls], Boss," Mr. Warner?

Ranger with Richard Crane (left). and we bought that because it fit our budget. It LYDON: Yes. Jack Warner was supposedly an

was the first [major] film ogre, but he really wasn't at all. I loved Mr. that Robert Altman direct- Warner; he was a great boss. Maybe this was a

ed, and it was about James superstition of his, or maybe it was just a thing Caan going to the Moon he did to give a person some courage and the long before anybody in feeling that they were "home," but whenever a real life ever did. director started a motion picture at Warner

STARLOG: Where was be it a little quickie or a big production—on the pre-MASH Altman the first day of shooting, the director had to career-wise when you off- come and have lunch in our private dining ered him this picture? room. That dining room was only for 20 peo- LYDON: Altman was in ple: Mr. Warner, his heads of departments, his the doghouse at Universal producers and the director of a feature the day because he had made a he started. Altman was invited, and he had to couple of television pilots wear—as all us executives had to—a jacket that ran way over schedule and tie. Altman, of course, was almost a hippie

and over budget. So they [laughs], so I had to go into Wardrobe and get

knifed him; they didn't him a shirt, tie and jacket that fit him so he

want any part of him. could come to lunch his first day. And Mr. When Bill thought about Warner warmly welcomed him. him [for Countdown], we STARLOG: Were the location scenes filmed

ran a couple of Altaian's first? Conrad and Lydon's scream-iere feature collaboration shows, and Bill said, LYDON: Altman shot at Cape Kennedy first, was the haunted house horror flick Two on a Guillotine with Connie Stevens and Dean Jones. "Let's bring him over." We for a good two weeks. NASA had to approve sat down in Bill's office, our script before they would get involved, but Guillotine Photo: Copyright 1965 Warner Bros. Altman, Bill and myself, and we explained they were very good to us, because they had Countdown to him, and we asked, "You want their own motive. As you learn when you work to direct it?" He said, "Oh, yeah!" Bill said, in the motion picture industry and make films

"Tell him the truth, Jim," and I said, "Bob, we that involve the Marines, Army, Air Force, L have a million dollars to make this film. We Coast Guard or whoever, you have to get have cooperation from NASA, and we're approval from these various places, as well as going to be shooting at Cape Kennedy and the the Department of Defense. But each one of Douglas Aircraft environmental test lab in these government organizations needs [a big- Huntington Beach. We also have Houston [the ger budget] every year, and the only way they Space Control Center, see page 76] in our can get that is by once in a while getting the pocket." public behind them and forcing Congress to Then Bill said, "But, we only have a mil- give them more money. Well, NASA gave us lion dollars. We have a 35-day shooting sched- the permission and cooperation on Countdown ule, which is comfortable but not great. If ever because they wanted the publicity. On Count- "few you get dangerously behind schedule, Jim will down, they gave us eve?Tthing—even the use come down on your set and he'll tell you of that great machine that's taller than the

where you are [schedule-wise], and what you rockets. It's about 10 stories high, and it takes must do, and he'll give you three days to get the rockets from where they were made out to back on schedule. And if you don 7 get back on the launching pad. That machine cost $25 to schedule at the end of those three days, you're $30 million—25 or 30 times the picture's cost! no longer the director. I'll come down and fin- So we got the use of all of this machinery that ish the picture. Now, do you agree to that?" we couldn't possibly duplicate—even for

Altman said, "Yes, I do," and we said, "Sign $ 1 00 million—for free. here." He-signed that agreement, like that, and STARLOG: And we see an actual Gemini

SWm/January2009 73 always did. It was like a baseball team: Every- body loved everybody else, and everybody

pitched in. And it was just a joy to watch them. If anybody came up with an idea, Altman would always listen, and sometimes he would prefer that idea to his. STARLOG: After your stern warning, did Altman ever get behind schedule?

LYDON: Just once. I went down to the set, and we sat in a dressing room and I said, "Bob, you're three-quarters of a day behind, and it's Tuesday. Friday night you'll be back on sched- ule, or Monday morning, Bill will be direct- ing." And Friday night, he was on schedule. Countdown was the only picture he ever made

in his life on budget and on schedule, because

of the rules that I instituted. Altman did have one habit which caused us lots of trouble, but he was such a marvelous

director that we put up with it: Once you shoot a master shot, then you have to go in for cov- erage. For instance, two-shots, three-shots, over-the-shoulders, singles, close-ups and that

sort of thing. Now, if people talk over one another in the coverage, in the two-shots and Astronaut Caan's Earthbound training sequences were lensed at the Douglas Aircraft things, you can't cut it in. You need to have a Huntington Beach, CA test chamber. slight pause for the scissors. Altman had a where they teach the astronauts how to move habit, even in the close-ups, of letting every-

in space. In that chamber, you take one step, body talk right over one another as they did in and you go 10 feet! the master shot, and you can't do that. I went STARLOG: Who cast the picture? down on the set several times and said, LYDON: Bill, Altman and myself. Jimmy "Please, Bob, you know we can't cut where Caan had only made a few films at that point. we want to cut, and you won't be able to cut had some notoriety with To Kill where you want to cut. You know better. Don't a Mockingbird, but he wasn't really known. do that!" And he said [growling], "OK, all Joanna Moore, who played Jimmy's wife, was right, fine." But then he would go right ahead

married to Ryan O'Neal. She was quiet, a pret- and do it anyway! [Laughs]

ty girl, and a very good actress. She had a STARLOG: Your interior capsule set certain-

child at the time, a two- or three-year-old little ly looks realistic.

girl [Tatum O'Neal]. LYDON: The art director, Art Loel, came into Incidentally, the scenes set at Duvall's my office one day and said that they had made character's house, and around his pool, were the LEM, the landing-on-the-Moon vehicle. I

all filmed at Altman's house out in Mandeville said, "What did you make it out of? Plywood,

Canyon. I was out there for the night's shoot- and then paint it to look like steel?" He said,

ing, and everybody got along like it was a real "No. We made it out of steel." I said, "What?! Despite the best efforts of Caan (here with party. Altman was famous for that—he had a That's gonna cost a fortune!" He said, "Now, Moore and Charles Aidman), director wonderful touch with actors. There are certain hold on. Steel is cheaper than plywood." I Robert Altman and crew, Countdown directors who don't know anything about couldn't believe it. He said, "It's true. In wasn't a hit. Nonetheless, Lydon remains actors and can frighten them to death, or be Washington and Oregon, they cut all the trees, "extremely proud of that movie." mean. But Altman had a charm about him, he ship them to Japan and Japan makes plywood

liftoff in this movie. A NASA expert was on hand to watch the filming and let Lydon and company know LYDON: At Cape Kennedy, we shot the "whenever we were close to stepping on any toes scientifically." Gemini II launch [on September 12, 1966].

We filmed it in Panavision, which is much clearer than flat 35mm. When NASA saw that clarity and definition in Countdown, they decided to shoot all of their launches in Panavision. After Cape Kennedy, Altman filmed at the Space Control Center in Houston for a day or two, just entrances and exits and

things like that, using their buildings. It was a very short location shoot. Then he came back and filmed at Huntington Beach, at the Douglas Aircraft environmental test chamber that simulates the conditions on the Moon's

surface, which is one-sixth of our world's gravity. They put a certain amount of pressure into that test chamber, and as they add pres- sure, they get rid of atmosphere. When they finally get to one-sixth of [the gravity] we have here on Earth, then they stop. That's

74 mm/January 2009 and sends it back to us." You learn something every day making motion pictures, and that was the day I learned that steel is cheaper than plywood! [Laughs] We made the capsule in three sections, and when it was bolted together, it looked like the real thing. But all you had to do was take a couple of bolts out and a panel off, and then we could shoot inside it in this, that and the other direction. The motion picture industry has been using that capsule ever since, because it's accurate. And we were careful to be cor- rect. We had an expert with us from NASA, and whenever we were close to stepping on any toes scientifically or NASA-wise, he would tell us, and we would make adjust- ments.

There is a mistake in the picture, but on purpose. We knew scientifically that as a rock- et goes through the atmosphere into the void, as it tries to force its way out of gravity into a vacuum, it's very dangerous, and there's Monitoring the Moonbound Caan, each with their own concerns: wife Moore (background), bureaucratic Steve Ihnat "rival astronaut" Robert Duvall. tremendous pressure. In the dubbing room, we boss and rehearsed the scene with Jimmy's rocket in space, STARLOG: Where were in a theater in New York and a Warner theater where everything is rattling the Moon surface scenes on Hollywood Boulevard. On Thursday, our like crazy. I sat behind the shot? picture was pulled. The theaters didn't need it, three mixers—dialogue, LYDON: On the Navy because The Green Berets was so popular. We effects and music—watching test range at Trona, out in made our Countdown negative cost back run- and listening, and finally one the California desert, ning in tiny towns, airplanes and that sort of of them said, "What do you where almost nothing thing. We finally eked out our negative cost on think, Jim?" I said, "Fellas, grows, not even cactus. a picture that had been beautifully reviewed what do you hear in space?" We used that area be- throughout the country. But we didn't have There was a great quiet in the cause we knew that noth- any stars. Nobody knew who James Caan and dubbing room, and the head ing grows on the Moon. Robert Duvall were then. It just broke my mixer said, "My God, there's Just to be sure, we sent heart. no atmosphere to carry the the prop and greens de- STARLOG: Altman complained in inter- sound. You can't hear anything partments out there two views later about the way he was treated on in space!" I said, "That's riiii- days ahead of time. So Countdown, and he claimed that the ending This "flight to the stars" was ight." They said, "What are we whatever little things was reshot and that he was fired before the one of Caan's early steps to were growing there, it production's end. gonna do?" And I told them, stardom. Lydon cast the "How many people who see picture along with Conrad and didn't take much time to LYDON: We didn't reshoot anything. And no, this film are going to know Altman. pull them up and get rid he was never fired. The only thing that he did that? Maybe eight or 10 scien- of them. not get was final cut. We had that, and we tists, but the public won't." STARLOG: Why didn't you get screen credit should have had that. As I told you, we had ter- STARLOG: Without those rattling noises, on all these movies you co-produced? rible problems trying to cut back and forth audiences would have thought something went LYDON: I fought for it, but Mr. Warner said, within a scene because of his overlapping dia- wrong with the film's sound! "There are so many credits on a picture now. logue. We finally cut it together, and he was a

LYDON: That's right! So I said, "Put in the You and Bill do the pictures, and next year little mad at us, but we had to do what we had sound," and we did. I'm sure that even today, you'll get your producer credit, and Bill will to do. as much as people know about space travel, stay executive producer." So I was actually the STARLOG: Looking back, how do you feel they want to hear those sounds—even though producer without any credit at all. about the movies that you and Conrad made, they shouldn't be able to hear them! But then STARLOG: How did Countdown do at the and Countdown in particular? there's also a mistake in the picture that isn't box office? LYDON: Bill and I made a couple of very on purpose, and that I never caught until, I LYDON: Around the same time as we were good pictures. Countdown and Chubasco were think, some reviewer pointed it out: At the end, making Countdown, John Wayne came on the both very well-reviewed. Every one of our when Jimmy is on the Moon with the one- lot with Batjac Productions to make The films made their negative cost back—but that sixth gravity of Earth, he has this little rubber Green Berets. He had a big budget, and we was about it. We didn't have any star power, mouse toy that his young son gave him for were making our million-dollar Countdown. none at all. good luck. Jimmy's searching for the LEM on Both pictures were reviewed on the same day, As for Countdown, well, there have been the Moon, the survival shelter he has to find, and everything bad you could say about a film other pictures about the space program: The or he's going to run out of air and die. And they said about The Green Berets, and every- Right Stuff, Apollo 13, Space Cowboys and so when he finally sees the shelter's flashing bea- thing great you could say about a film they on. Those newer films are very well-made, but con and knows that he's going to live, he takes said about Countdown. You would have sworn Countdown was the forerunner, and we got that mouse out of his spacesuit, tosses it up that I wrote the Countdown reviews! Some of magnificent reviews that you wouldn't and catches it. We did that shot on Earth, of them were so magnificent that I thought that believe. I'm still extremely proud of the movie. course, so the toy went up in the air and came Bill and I were home free and would be mak- And proud of Altman. Altman was, in my down the way it would on Earth. But Jimmy ing films for Warner for the next 10 years! mind, right up until the time he died, a mag- was supposedly on the Moon, where the [Laughs] nificent filmmaker. He did exactly what Bill mouse should have gone up and back down in On a Wednesday, Warner released the dou- and I thought he would do: He made a great, slow-motion and landed like a feather. ble-feature The Green Berets and Countdown great film. www.starlog.com SWm/January 2009 75 Space Center Houston opened in 1992 as the Johnson Space Center's official visitor arena.

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Writer Bill Florence f and kids Austen and Chloe enjoy an orbital turn 111 on a Space Center DfcSTU Houston racecar.

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this age of cell phones, the Internet and over 5,000 times more memory than the main- Houston. Elsewhere in this same building (but,

Innotebook-sized personal computers, it's frame computers that guided the Apollo 11 alas, not on the tour) is the new Mission almost inconceivable that NASA could mission. Control Center, actually two separate control send astronauts to the Moon in 1969 using "Just one of those IBM/360 Model 75 rooms where NASA operates its present-day slide rules and a pair of 200-kilobyte main- mainframes would have filled up this whole Space Shuttle and International Space Station frame computers. room," adds Barsio, sweeping his arms wide. programs. The Shuttle may lift off from "Who passed out?" asks Joe Barsio, a tour "We used two mainframes, and they were way Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but the guide at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space down below this floor. We sent 27 astronauts Houston facility is where the astronauts train Center in Houston, Texas after he shares this to the vicinity of the Moon between 1969 and and the missions are coordinated. bit of astounding information. Roused from 1973, and all 27 returned to Earth on 400K." In fact, Johnson Space Center has been the stunned silence, the tour group breaks into With anecdotes like these, the history of operational hub of every American human laughter. Barsio definitely has our attention. America's Space Program truly comes alive in space mission since 1963. When Neil Arm-

Think about it: The 2.5-gigabyte Macintosh the Mission Control Room at Johnson Space strong set foot on the Moon on July 20, 1 969, computer I used to write this story actually has Center, 25 miles southeast of downtown his call came into this room: "Houston,

76 SWm/January 2009 www.starlog.com .

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This is the historic Mission Control Room, where all manned space missions were overseen until the late 1990s.

Houston is a 180,000-square-foot "edu-tain- ment" complex that opened in 1992 at a cost of $75 million. Part space-science theme park and part space-travel museum, the Center fea- tures permanent and traveling exhibits, films, galleries, educational presentations and an incredible collection of space artifacts. Following Barsio's presentation in historic Mission Control, our tram host herds us back down the 87 steps to ground level. My three- year-old daughter, Chloe, eschews the elevator again and descends the stairs as nimbly (but slowly) as she ascended them. Up ahead, my wife, Jennifer, carries our nine-month-old son, Austen. (Parents with very young children, be aware that you cannot take a baby stroller onto A full-size Space Shuttle mockup, used the tram tour or into many other attractions.) for astronaut training, is also on hand. Back on the tram, we lurch into motion and the recorded commentary points out various of stairs to a catwalk from which we look out

structures as we pass. On the left, an astronaut over a vast hangar. Pieces of the International quarantine facility shelters Space Shuttle Space Station—actually training modules crews for a week before launch to protect them resembling the real thing—are spread about from illnesses that would prevent them from on the floor, approximately in their configura- flying. On the right, huge tanks store liquid tion in space. Two of the biggest are the nitrogen at 320 degrees below to simulate Destiny, a laboratory, and the Harmony, a util- Tranquility Base here. The fijg/e has landed." the cold, harsh environment of space during ity hub. While both of these sections are

Nine months later, the Apollo 13 crew called equipment tests. Farther off, a field of rocks American-made, several other modules bear here with the ominous line, "Houston, we have and sand helps astronauts prepare for working the flags of partner nations, including Russia, a problem." on the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. The Japan and Italy. In all, 15 countries are partic- sound of John F. Kennedy's voice comes on, ipating in the Space Station project, which will Blast Off making his famous speech to Congress on be complete in 2010.

Mission Control is just one stop on the two- May 25, 1961: "I believe this nation should The most dominating profile in the hangar, hour Johnson Space Center tram tour. The tour, commit itself to achieving the goal, before this though, is the centerpiece of America's Space

in turn, is one of a multitude of attractions decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon Program: the Space Shuttle orbiter. The wings

offered at Space Center Houston, the official and returning him back safely to the Earth." are missing because they aren't necessary for

visitor center for JSC. Located across the street Building 9, our second stop, is the Astro- astronaut training activities, but even without from the NASA campus, Space Center nauts' Training Facility. We climb another set them, it's an impressive vehicle. The tail fin

Building 9's Astronauts'Training Facility offers an intriguing look at components of the International Space Station. S The massive Saturn Von display is composed of rocket stages once intended to be £ launched in future missions.

reaches almost to the hangar's ceiling, and at present, the massive cargo bay doors hang open. Manned spaceflight took a giant leap forward in 1981 with the advent of the Space Shuttle program. For the first time, NASA had a reusable spacecraft that could blast off like a rocket but land like an airplane. Many Star

Trek fans are aware that the first Shuttle ever built was named Enterprise in honor of Trek's famous fictional starship. (That Shuttle, which NASA rolled out in 1976, was used as a test vehicle only, and never flew in space.) A sobering sight awaits us at the next tram

stop. Set back from the road is a small circle of trees called the Astronaut Memorial Grove.

The first set of oaks was planted in 1996 on the 10th anniversary of the Challenger explo- sion—one tree for each crew member lost. Additional oaks have been planted in honor of astronauts who have died since then, includ- ing seven trees for the Columbia crew who

perished during re-entry on February 1, 2003. Our final stop on the tour of the JSC grounds is Rocket Park. Here, we get up close and personal with an awesome Saturn V rock- Kids Space Place is a five-story Mars-themed play structure festooned with mazes, et, the largest and most powerful U.S. expend- slides and tunnels. able launch vehicle ever built. NASA

Named Adventure by a Houston fourth-grade class, this Shuttle Get a first-hand view of a complex and crowded Space Shuttle mockup includes replica equipment from the Endeavor. cockpit inside the Adventure.

78 STARLOG/toiua/y 2009 Steam, engine roar and close-up visuals at the Blast Off Theater mimic the feel of an actual Shuttle liftoff.

Mission Briefing Officer Frances Newsom provides updates on current Shuttle efforts at the Mission Status Center.

of three Saturn brockets left in the world, and

it's the only one composed entirely of stages that were meant to be used in future missions. Those expeditions were eventually cancelled, allowing this rocket to go on display for pos-

terity. Taller than a 36-story building, the rock-

et lies horizontally inside a massive hangar, a dramatic reminder of a bygone, glorious chap- launched 13 of these three-stage behemoths ter in America's Space Program. between 1967 and 1973, all but one in service to the Apollo lunar landing program. The last in Orbit Saturn V was used to launch the Skylab space The tram brings us back to Space Center station, which NASA operated from 1973 to Houston around noon, giving us five hours 1974. This one at Space Center Houston is one until closing. Jennifer wants to examine the

After the Shuttles retire in 2010, NASA's next generation of spacecraft will include the Orion (bound for the Moon and Mars).

This Apollo-Soyuz docking module trainer An Astronaut Gallery showcases this collection of real spacesuits, many worn during helped astronauts prepare for the historic past NASA missions. rendezvous in space during July 1975.

As the Center's only "real" ride, the Morphis motion simulator Using the Space Station Habitation Module, Shanay Knighton gives guests a wild "Cosmic Coaster" experience. explains some basics of living way out there. www.starlog.com mUM/January 2009 79 Behind this high-flying hero is a 30-foot replica of the International Space Station.

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Prototype for a new outfit, the Mark 3 spacesuit allows for greater astronaut mobility and comfort.

gy, it's ironic that the simulators come off as anachronistic.

If the Flight Simulator Experience is a dis- appointment, the Blast Off Theater gets things back on track. "It's like IMAX in 10-D!" the Center's brochure proclaims, and while that

may be a stretch, it's certainly a cool experi- ence. We join a group for the 2 p.m. show and stand in a darkened room before three adjoin- ing screens. Then the film starts, and we are treated to a Space Shuttle launch in dramatic, multisensory fashion. Jets of steam issue from slots in the wall like billowing exhaust. The

view of the rocket boosters as they is so

close and the roar so loud that it feels like we're actually standing on the launch pad.

When the film is over, we step through doors on the right and enter the Mission Status Center, where Mission Briefing Officer Frances Newsom provides up-to-the-minute updates on current missions and Space Station

life-size model of NASA's new Orion Crew We leave the Adventure and give Morphis Module, which will take astronauts back to the a try. This motion simulator—the only real Moon and eventually to Mars in the years to amusement-park-style "ride" at Space Center come. Chloe wants to explore Kids Space Houston—puts guests on a "Cosmic Coaster" Place, a five-story Mars-themed play struc- that drops, twists and turns wildly through a ture. Austen just wants lunch. Come to think fantasy spacescape. The five-minute experi- of it, we all do. So we end up in the Zero-G ence isn't particularly original, but it is rich in Diner, a space-themed food court where the color, sound and movement. Chloe emerges fast-food counters have names like Blast Off with a big smile, eager to ride again.

Bistro and Solar Salad. Austen and I go check out the Flight Simu- Back in the center plaza area, the Ad- lator Experience, a collection of glowing mon- venture, a full-scale mockup of the Space itors and consoles inside a darkened chamber. Shuttle's forward section, grabs our attention. Each interactive station has a different educa- Stairs beside the nose cone lead visitors into tional function. One explains in basic terms the Shuttle's mid-deck and flight deck, which how to build a rocket, asking the user to "Click are outfitted with exact replicas of the to design and launch your own rocket." I try it, Endeavor's equipment during its maiden voy- as well as other simulators that promise to help age in May 1992. In the cramped flight deck, me plan a Mars mission or land the Space two pilot seats face a dizzying array of con- Shuttle or tour the Solar System. Unfortun- trols, switches is and lights. The effect so real, ately, the devices feel clumsy and none of One of the many artifacts exhibited inside so immersive, that one almost expects to see them really does much. Given Space Center the Starship Gallery is this dramatic the blackness of space out the windows. Houston's celebration of space-age technolo- Space Shuttle model.

80 Smm/January 2009 www.starlog.com Photo: Courtesy Space Center Houston

Inside the Starship Gallery hangs the last actually-flown Mercury capsule. activities. Large screens behind her show live sleeker. Orion has two and a half times the antibacterial wipes and a no-rinse shampoo. shots of Mission Control, where a flight direc- volume of its predecessor, not to mention all Even sleeping poses challenges in space. tor, flight controller and numerous others the advantages of 21st-century technology. "Each astronaut has a sleep restraint unit that maintain contact with astronauts aboard the NASA says Orion will carry out missions to works like a sleeping bag," says Knighton. Space Station. Currently about the size of a the International Space Station, the Moon, "You climb inside and zip yourself up. three-bedroom home, the Space Station is 75 Mars and possibly even asteroids. Restraints across your body hold you down." percent complete and has been constantly Across the plaza is the Living in Space She goes on to explain that while sleeping in a manned for seven years. It couldn't have been exhibit. Here, Mission Briefing Officer Sha- weightless environment, your head will nod up built, and couldn't be completed, without the nay Knighton uses a Habitation Module, an and down to the rhythm of your heartbeat, so Space Shuttle, which Newsom refers to as "a early prototype of the Space Station living even your head must be strapped down or moving van for the space program." In fact, quarters, to explain how astronauts live, eat, you'll wake up with a sore neck. shortly after our visit, the Shuttle Discovery work and sleep in space. She shows off the The lack of gravity can wreak havoc on the delivered the Japanese Kibo laboratory and its personal hygiene unit, the medical area and astronauts' physical condition, so they exer- robotic arm to the Space Station. the galley, where astronauts eat foods that cise for two to four hours every day. Even One thing the Shuttle cannot do is go to the have been cooked and prepared at the JSC then, well—the picture Knighton paints isn't Moon or Mars, so NASA will retire the fleet in Space Shuttle Research Kitchen. "The last pretty. "Lots of fluids from your lower extrem- 2010. There simply isn't enough money in time an astronaut ate something out of a tube ities shift upward," she says. "Your face and NASA's budget to simultaneously support the was back in the 1970s," she notes. "Today they nose get stuffy, and your blood flows differ- Space Shuttle program and the next generation eat the same kind of foods we eat down here, ently. Your bones lose calcium. Your spine of spacecraft, which is still in development. except that theirs are dehydrated." expands one to two inches within your first "Museums are fighting over who gets to keep Naturally, someone wants to know how eight to 48 hours in space. Most of these the three Shuttles after they retire, and we're astronauts in space go to the bathroom. Knigh- things return to normal when you get back to fighting, too," Newsom explains. "Hopefully, ton goes into the details of the "waste man- Earth, but in space, the word 'normal' has a we'll have a Shuttle come live right here with agement system," otherwise known as the completely different definition. Your legs us." She adds, "Many of us who work here are "space potty." Among her jewels of wisdom: shrink as you lose mass. Eventually, you start privileged to see the astronauts in training. "You put your feet in restraints to keep you on to develop a medical condition that NASA " Many of us live near astronauts. We see them target, and you hold on tight." NASA has plans likes to call 'chicken legs.' around town, in the grocery store, parks, to recycle liquid waste, she adds. "They can After the show, I ask Knighton if she's ever restaurants, church, Little League. Any time a extract elements to be used for breathable oxy- stumped by audience questions. She laughs mission goes up, a big piece of our hearts goes gen, fuel, even consumable water." and says, "I'm seldom stumped, but I have up with them." There's no shower aboard the Space been asked things like, 'What time does the The Mars mission, which will be part of Station. NASA did try one back in 1973 on 2:30 show start?' That's a ringer. When I first '4:15.' NASA's new Constellation Program, is still 20 Skylab. According to Knighton, the astronauts started working here, I would answer, to 25 years off. First, NASA will send astro- didn't like it much because they spent more Lately, though, I've been getting questions nauts back to the Moon. Why? "The President time chasing water droplets that escaped from about the Shuttle's emissions. The fact is, the charged us with returning to the Moon by the shower than actually washing themselves. Shuttle doesn 't put out harmful emissions. The 2020, and then going on to Mars by 2030," Today the astronauts take a sponge bath with byproducts of the Shuttle's external fuel tank Newsom notes. "These lunar missions will be are hydrogen and oxygen, the byproducts of very different from the Apollo missions. We'll water. When it lifts off the pad, the cloud of be building a permanently manned outpost on exhaust you see is 97 percent water vapor." the Moon." A new rocket, Ares, and a new crew mod- Touch Down ule, Orion, will make the Constellation Pro- Adjacent to the Living in Space exhibit is gram possible. "The Ares 5 will be cargo the Astronaut Gallery, featuring an impressive only—a heavy lifter," our Briefing Officer collection of spacesuits from every era of says. "The Ares 1 will lift the Orion crew vehi- American manned space exploration. Included cle to the Moon. One of you may be on board; here is the suit worn by Donald "Deke" you just don't know it yet." As the presentation Slayton during 1 975's historic Apollo-Soyuz ends, Newsom recommends taking a look at Test Project, a goodwill flight in which the the full-size Orion mockup that sits outside the American and Russian space programs joined Space Trader gift shop, so we go there next. forces. There's also an ejection escape suit

Built by Lockheed-Martin, Orion is a large Touch another world in the Lunar worn by John Young during the Space Shuttle white cone, similar in shape to the Apollo cap- Samples Vault, Earth's largest display of Columbia's maiden voyage in 1981, and an sules of the past, but much smoother and rocks brought back from the Moon. extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) that's just

STARLOG//cwuary2009 81 —

Moon in 1972 is here, too. Ron Evans remained aboard If You Go... while Eugene Cernan and Here's what you need to know to make your Harrison "Jack" Schmitt journey to Space Center Houston. headed down in the Lunar How to get there: Space Center Houston,

Module. Cernan and Schmitt whose physical address is 1601 NASA Parkway,

are the last two humans (so Houston, Texas 77058, is actually located about

far) to set foot on the Moon. halfway between Houston and Galveston in the The passageway leads to town of Webster. The drive from Houston's the Lunar Samples Vault, George Bush Intercontinental Airport takes

where I touch a 3.8 billion- about 55 minutes. From the airport, take US-59 year-old piece of Moon rock. south to I-49 south, toward Galveston. After The Apollo 1 7 crew collected driving about 21 miles on I-45, take Exit 25

it from the Valley of Taurus toward NASA/Alvin. You'll enter the Gulf The Skylab T-GTrainer is the Space Center Houston's Litro, an area comparable in Freeway, then quickly (less than half a mile single largest artifact. The building was erected around it. scale to the Grand Canyon. later) take the NASA Road 1 ramp and merge

like the one worn by Catherine Sullivan in Several larger Moon rocks are on display onto FM 528 N/W NASA Road 1. Drive about

1984 when she became the first American behind glass. three miles to the Space Center. Parking is $5. woman to walk in space. NASA continues to As the hour nears 5 p.m., time grows short. Phone: (281) 244-2100.

re-engineer its spacesuits to deal with the chal- Before leaving the Starship Gallery, I make Hours: Space Center Houston is open every day lenges of longer and more demanding space- sure to walk through the Skylab 1-G Trainer, of the year except Christmas. Hours are 10-5

flights. The newest is the Mark 3, a prototype the largest artifact at Space Center Houston. It weekdays, 10-6 weekends, with extended hours

composed of both hard and soft materials that was too big to fit through any doors, so the throughout the summer and some holidays.

will offer astronauts more comfort and flexi- building was constructed around it. Astronauts Ticket Prices: Adults: $1 8.95; Children (ages 4-

bility on future missions. trained inside this mockup to prepare for life 11): $14.95; Seniors: $17.95. Children under4 Behind the Astronaut Gallery is the Space aboard Skylab. are free. Additionally, the Center offers "mem- Center Theater, an IMAX facility where we Just outside the Starship Gallery, a bright- berships" ($20.95 for an individual, $79.95 for watch the 25-minute fdm To Be an Astronaut. orange Lunar Module Test Article hangs from a family of four) that entitle you to a 10 percent

It offers a behind-the-scenes look at the selec- the ceiling, as if arrested mid-flight. The discount on food and souvenirs, plus free park-

tion process and the rigorous training that LMTA was a trainer that the Apollo astronauts ing and admission for a year (after the first

astronauts endure. We're treated to breathtak- used to prepare for their commutes to and visit).

ing images of Earth as seen from space, plus from the Moon. Staring at it, I'm still amazed Group Pricing (10 or more): $6.50/ticket

another Space Shuttle liftoff, this time on a that 12 men were able to visit the Moon Reservations for any Monday made at least one five-story-tall screen. It's extraordinary. between 1969 and 1972 thanks to this odd week in advance. $9.50/ticket—Reservations Over in the Starship Gallery Theater, one jumble of shapes and angles. NASA engineers for any day made at least one week in advance.

more short film awaits us: On Human Destiny, designed the Lunar Module less for comfort $1 1 .50/ticket—Reservations for any day made

featuring vintage footage of space missions. than practicality. Once it landed on the Moon, less than one week in advance.

Afterward, we set out to explore the Space the craft became the astronauts' base camp. Re: Group Pricing, call (281) 244-2105.

Center's greatest attraction: the Starship When it was time to leave, the orange-colored Note: The regular NASA Tram Tour, which

Gallery. Within these dark, labyrinthine pas- lower portion, or descent stage, served as a offers a behind-the-scenes look at several areas

sages and chambers are many of the actual launch pad for the upper portion, called the of the Johnson Space Center, is included in the space vehicles and artifacts we just saw in the ascent stage. admission price. Alternatively, visitors can opt

movie, each beautifully lit and carefully pre- Now, for everyone visiting Space Center to take the Level 9 Tour, a four- to five-hour

served. Taken together, they trace the progres- Houston, it really is time to leave. I reunite visit to areas not included in the regular tour. sion of America's manned space flight efforts. with my family. Chloe has spent a few minutes The Level 9 costs $79.95 and must be booked

The mood within the exhibit is almost rever- in the Kids Space Place, but the long day has in advance. It includes lunch and two-day

ential; people speak in hushed tones as they taken its toll on her enthusiasm; she's ready to admission to the Space Center. For info on the

move from display to display. Everything here go. As we head for the exit, I cast a final look Level 9 Tour, call (281) 244-2115. bears the weight of historical significance. A back at the Lunar Module. Neil Armstrong's Where to stay: Webster-area hotels include "Space Exploration Timeline" along the wall legendary words come to mind: "That's one Comfort Suites, Best Western/NASA, Days Inn helps visitors understand all the items in small step for man, one giant leap for & Suites, Hampton Inn & Suites and LaQuinta. chronological context. mankind." <£& See spacecenter.org/VisitorServicesHotels.html Hanging from the ceiling before a back- for addresses and contacts. drop of fiber-optic stars is the Project Mercury Where to eat: Space Center Houston's Zero-G "Faith 7" spacecraft, in which Diner has five options: the Blast Off Bistro circled the Earth for 34 hours on May 15, (sandwiches, soups and pizzas); South of the 1963. Nearby is an original model of the Martian Border (Tex-Mex); Moon Wok (Asian); Goddard Rocket, the world's first liquid- Solar Salad (self-explanatory); and Launch

fueled rocket. Robert H. Goddard launched it Foods (cheeseburgers, pizzas, chicken tenders, on March 16, 1926, earning him a place in his- combo/basket deals).

tory as one of the fathers of modern rocketry. What else to see and do: After exploring all of Moving farther into the gallery, we Space Center Houston's exhibits and attrac-

encounter the Apollo Lunar Module Cockpit tions, hit the beach. Galveston, on the spectacu-

Trainer, originally used at Johnson Space lar Gulf Coast, is just 30 minutes to the south- Center to prepare astronauts, engineers, flight east. The metropolitan experience of Houston

controllers and technicians for the Apollo lunar lies a half-hour to the northwest. Or stay in the landings. A Lunar Rover trainer is also on dis- Webster area, where you can visit the Kemah play, on loan from the Smithsonian. This Boardwalk (www.kemahboardwalk.com), featur-

"Moon buggy," as it was known, was used dur- ing restaurants, rides, shopping and games for

ing the last three Apollo missions. The actual As if in mid-flight, a Lunar Module Test kids.

Apollo 17 Command Module that orbited the Article hangs from the ceiling. —Bill Florence

82 SWm/January 2009 www.starlog.com rue ^ LAT(rcr. u f

I rft w OfJC n^**** — WHEN THERE'S A FIGHT WITH A DRAGON, IT'S MORE FUN TO BE ON HIS SIDE,

As Dungeon Master, you get to control the monsters, craft the challenges,

and create the stories that get re-told. Expand your imagination beyond

your character sheet and into a D&D® campaign of your own.

Pick up the Starter Set or jump right in with your copy of the 9 Dungeon Master's Guide —and share the experience.

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