NEWS

According to director Bryan Singer, the X-MEN movie will feature Professor Xavier, Wolverine, Storm, Jean Grey, Cyclops, Rogue, and Beast. Magneto will be the villain. Casting is up in the air, although Singer reportedly likes the idea of Patrick Stewart as Professor X and Angela Bassett as Storm. The film is currently still in development.

John de Lancie (Q) and Peter David (Q-IN-LAW, Q-SQUARED) are co-writing a Q book titled I, Q for Pocket Books. It's a tell-all biography about the most malevolent being in the STAR TREK Universe.

Leonard Nimoy, along with John de Lancie, announced at a recent Creation Con that there will be a live presentation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's THE LOST WORLD by ALIEN VOICES on the Sci-Fi Channel in July. Another ALIEN VOICES performance on SFC will follow this October.

A sheriff patrols Mars in the new science fiction series MARTIAN LAW which premieres on UPN this fall.

James Cameron (THE TERMINATOR, TITANIC) has optioned Hugo and Nebula Award-winning writer Kim Stanley Robinson's best-selling MARS Trilogy, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Cameron is purportedly interested in turning the books, which include RED MARS, GREEN MARS, and BLUE MARS, into a television series, although the project is still in the discussion phase. Cameron may write for it. Threshold Entertainment is also working on a Mars television series, this one based on Ben Bova's book MARS.

Spotlight Starman, the international STARMAN fan club, is attempting to revive the short-lived 1986-87 ABC TV series in the form of a two-hour made-for-TV movie, and with the support of the show's stars (Robert Hays, Christopher Daniel Barnes) and producers (John Mason, Mike Gray) they're extremely hopeful that they'll achieve their goal, which they've named PROJECT BLUE LIGHT. Most details of the storyline are being kept secret but what can be revealed is that the story is set two years after the series, in which Starman and Scott are drawn out of a safe life underground to prevent an environmental disaster and are reunited with Jenny Hayden and once again fleeing government agent George Fox.

In its largest single purchase of programming to date (in a transaction worth an estimated $150 million), the Sci-Fi Channel has bought basic cable rights to MGM's THE OUTER LIMITS, STARGATE SG-1, and POLTERGEIST: THE LEGACY, which have been airing on Showtime. Under the deal, MGM will produce 22 new episodes of POLTERGEIST exclusively for SFC.

UPN has commissioned Vancouver-based Lions Gate to produce a one-hour medical drama pilot set in space for a potential series called MERCY POINT. David Simkins (LOIS AND CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN) is a co-writer on the project.

The Sci-Fi Channel has replaced its long-running SCI-FI BUZZ with a new show called SCI-FI ENTERTAINMENT (the same name as the SFC magazine) hosted by Chase Masterson (Leeta on STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE) and Scott A. Mantz (an accountant for Creation Entertainment). SFE features a news, reviews, and gossip segment called "The Buzz," a new products and trends segment called "Living Sci-Fi," a behind-the-scenes segment called "Sci-Fi Insider," and debates on various SF issues. The show airs at 6:30 pm ET and midnight ET on Friday nights.

Atlantis (EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT, THE OUTER LIMITS) will team up with Zyntopo Productions to develop THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN, a new SF action adventure based on the series of internationally bestselling Pern novels by Anne McCaffrey. The television series will combine live action with sophisticated CGI effects. Atlantis and Zyntopo intend to begin production in 1999.

J. Michael Straczynski announced on the Los Angeles SF talk show HOUR 25 last month that THE BABYLON PROJECT: CRUSADE would go into production on July 27 for a premiere date of January 6, 1999 on TNT. No details on casting though he emphasized that the Shadow plague left on Earth would wipe out all life on the planet within 5 years if the incubation period passed with no cure found. He described the new series as the first "archaeological" SF series as a team of explorers would rummage through the remains of old civilizations in the search for that cure.

VARIETY reports NBC was not able to find a lead for its new WONDER WOMAN series, but plans to keep the series in development for mid-season 1999.

There will be a new animated BATMAN series debuting on WB this fall. Called BATMAN TOMORROW, it's set sometime in the future, with a 90-year-old Bruce Wayne serving as mentor to his successor.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY reports WB is talking to Joss Whedon about creating a spin-off of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER.

BEAST WARS, BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, and PSI FACTOR have been renewed for next season, while THE ADVENTURES OF SINBAD, THREE, MISSION GENESIS, STRANGE UNIVERSE, TIMECOP, ROAR, and PREY have all been cancelled.

Leonard Nimoy recently announced that he'd like to appear on STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, as long as he could play the evil Spock from the original series' episode "Mirror, Mirror."

Queen's Seaport Development Inc. has announced plans to build a 100,000-square-foot flying saucer-shaped Science Fiction Hall of Fame next to the QUEEN MARY in Long Beach, Calif. The $30 million project, which will break ground in August, is expected to open in 2000 and will highlight television, graphics, film, authors, and SF heroes. The first inductees to the Hall will be announced in November. To be eligible for induction, nominees must have made "outstanding contributions to the arts and sciences of science fiction, based upon either cumulative contributions or achievements, or a singular and extraordinary contribution or achievement." They must also have a body of work spanning at least 20 years.