2006 Robot Hall Of Fame inductees
Five new robots, both fictional and real, are inducted into Carnegie Mellon University’s Robot Hall Of Fame. With C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels presenting the awards, the quintet of new inductees consists of:
- Maria (1927, from Metropolis)
- Gort (1951, from The Day The Earth Stood Still)
- SCARA (1978, Yamanashi University – industrial small-component assembly robot)
- AIBO (1999, Sony – consumer grade robot dog with artificial intelligence)
- David (2001, from A.I.: Artificial Intelligence)
Abrams to be new Trek moviemaker
Entertainment industry newspaper Daily Variety reports that J.J. Abrams, creator of Lost and Alias, and director/producer of Paramount’s heavily-promoted Mission: Impossible III, has signed a deal to produce and direct the eleventh Star Trek film, which has suddenly moved from “off the schedule” (following the cooling of the studio’s attitude toward the Trek franchise in the wake of the Star Trek: Enterprise cancellation) to a 2008 release date. Fellow Lost producers Bryan Burk and Damon Lindelof are also signed on as producers of the still-untitled movie, which is said to focus on the first mission for a young James T. Kirk and Spock. Mission: Impossible III (and former Xena/Hercules) writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are on board as scriptwriters.
Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy: The Movie
The big screen adaptation of Douglas Adams’ science fiction comedy The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy premieres in theaters worldwide. Starring Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel and Sam Rockwell, and featuring a cameo appearance from original BBC radio/TV actor Simon Jones, the movie is often criticized for being “Americanized” (despite being produced by a British production company with a largely British cast). Despite an open ending pointing toward a sequel, the movie’s box office take doesn’t merit a second film.
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2004 Robot Hall Of Fame inductees
Carnie Mellon University inducts five new members to its Robot Hall Of Fame at a press event promoting the movie adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot. The 2004 inductees, again split almost evenly between fictional and real robots, are:
- Astro Boy (1951, manga/anime character)
- Robby The Robot (1956, from Forbidden Planet)
- Shakey (1966, Stanford Research Institute – first robot capable of autonomous tasks)
- C-3PO (1977, from Star Wars)
- ASIMO (2000, Honda – humanoid robot capable of navigating uneven terrain)
Judges for the 2004 Hall include SimCity creator Wil Wright, roboticist Ruzena Bajcsy and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.
2003 Robot Hall Of Fame inductees
The first four inductees – two real and two fictional – are inducted into the Robot Hall Of Fame created by Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science.
- Unimate (1961, General Motors) – the first robotic arm used in car assembly
- HAL-9000 (1968, from 2001: a space odyssey)
- R2-D2 (1977, from Star Wars)
- Sojourner (1996, NASA) – the first successful Mars rover
The panel of judges in future years will pare down the number of nominations awarded to fictional creations. R2-D2 actor Kenny Baker and Douglas Rains, the voice actor behind HAL, are in attendance.
Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek: Nemesis, the fourth and final feature film of the Star Trek: The Next Generation movie franchise, premieres. Directed by Stuart Baird and co-written by Brent “Data” Spiner, Nemesis falls flat at the box office (and even before its opening day, Paramount is already promoting it as the last voyage of the Star Trek: TNG cast). The next movie in the franchise takes a radically different approach to the Star Trek universe.
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Actress Kim Hunter dies
Actress Kim Hunter, who played Zira in Planet Of The Apes and two of its sequels, dies of a heart attack at the age of 79. She won an Oscar in 1952 as best supporting actress in A Streetcar Named Desire. Her career also included the legendary topical TV comedy That Was The Week That Was, guest shots on numerous episodes of Playhouse 90, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, Mission: Impossible, and many other films and TV appearances.
Sir Alec Guinness, Star Wars actor, dies
Sir Alec Guinness, best known to SF fans as Obi-Wan Kenobi, dies at the age of 86. He was a working actor for over six decades, though directors had to beg him into participating in his two best-known outings – Star Wars and The Bridge Over The River Kwai; indeed, in recent years, he has made his disdain for the former project very well known to any fans who dared to ask. Reports around the time of his death indicated that Sir Alec Guinness has been suffering from liver cancer. He is survived by his wife and son.
Episode II pre-production underway
Before Episode I‘s theatrical premiere, the pre-production phase of Star Wars Episode II has already begun, with principal photography to commence toward the end of 1999. Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiamid, Ahmed Best, and Anthony Daniels are all slated to reprise their roles, though it will be necessary to recast Anakin Skywalker, since the second film will take place at least a decade after the events of The Phantom Menace.
The Phantom Merchandise Menace
Weeks ahead of the movie’s premiere, stores across America open at midnight as the first merchandise from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace goes on sale, ranging from action figures to the movie’s soundtrack (whose track titles offer major spoilers for the film’s storyline). Heavily featured in advance promotion, any items with the face of Darth Maul sell faster than nearly anything else.
Star Trek: Insurrection
Paramount debuts Star Trek: Insurrection in theaters, featuring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation directed by their own co-star, Jonathan Frakes. Written by former TNG executive producer Michael Piller, the writer responsible for the fan-favorite TV two-parter The Best Of Both Worlds, this movie’s development is somewhat troubled, and its increased reliance on humor earns mixed reviews.
Every generation has a legend…
Receiving more fanfare than any movie preview in the history of cinema, the first teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace premieres nationwide, appearing before the Pixar computer-animated family film A Bug’s Life. So eager are Star Wars fans to catch their first glimpse of the new prequel that many reportedly pay full ticket price to simply watch the preview and leave before the movie with which it’s packaged. Lucasfilm’s official Star Wars web site posts the trailer on the web – though the size of the file and the still-mostly-dial-up shape of the internet at the time makes watching it online a challenge.
Episode I filming begins
George Lucas films the first footage for the hotly-anticipated Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace at England’s Leavesden Film Studios, a facility that Lucasfilm has rented out for the duration of the movie’s expected long production period. By this point, even details of minor cast members have been leaked to the public, possibly making the production of Episode I the beginning of the modern age of internet spoilers. The cast includes Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Nataline Portman and Jake Lloyd, with veteran cast members such as Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker and Ian McDiarmid reprising their roles from the original trilogy. Cameras are expected to roll through September, with a 1999 release date already set.
Star Trek: First Contact
Paramount debuts Star Trek: First Contact in theaters, featuring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation directed by their own co-star, Jonathan Frakes. The movie focuses on the Borg, arguably the strongest enemy to arise from TNG, and features actors and elements of both Deep Space Nine and Voyager. This proves to be the biggest hit of the TNG crew’s tenure at the movies.
Star Trek: Generations
Paramount debuts Star Trek: Generations in theaters, the first movie to primarily feature the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, though original Trek actors William Shatner, James Doohan and Walter Koenig reprise their roles. This movie has the most in common with the recently-ended series, with David Carson (director several well-regarded TV episodes, including the two-hour Deep Space Nine pilot) and composer Dennis McCarthy continuing in their respective roles here, though fan reactions are mixed over the death of a major character.
Writing Episode I
After dropping his kids off at school, Star Wars creator George Lucas sits down with a box of pencils and a blank legal pad, and begins writing, in longhand, the script of what will become Star Wars Episode I (though at this point, the script draft is titled Star Wars: The Beginning). Having already amassed continuity notes on the original trilogy as well as story notes dating back to the early 1970s from the early “Journal of the Whills” drafts of the Star Wars storyline, Lucas knows only that the story will involve the early days of Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.
Lucas reveals Star Wars prequel plans
A decade after the premiere of the most recent Star Wars theatrical film (and a couple of years into a burgeoning new wave of Star Wars marketing whose most visible components are new original novels, a new action figure line, and popular role playing and computer games), George Lucas quietly announces in Daily Variety that he plans to produce – but not direct – a trilogy of prequel movies set prior to Star Wars. Though the announcement excites the Star Wars fan base, it’s one of many such announcements in the pages of Variety, many of which concern projects that never make it to the screen.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
The first Star Trek film since 1982’s Star Trek II to be directed by Nicholas Meyer, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country premieres in theaters, with Paramount billing it as the final appearance of the original crew. Depicting the earliest hints of a political alliance between the Federation and the Klingons, Star Trek VI is intended to hint at the future already playing out on TV on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and is preceded by a special two-part episode of that show featuring Leonard Nimoy. While some of the cast reprise their roles in later movies, TV episodes and even fan-made productions, this does mark the final appearance of DeForest Kelley in character as Dr. McCoy.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Co-written and directed by William Shatner (whose contract allows him to direct a Star Trek movie since his co-star Leonard Nimoy has done so), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier premieres in theaters to decidedly mixed reviews. This is the first movie featuring the original cast to debut during the run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and its shaky box office performance ends Harve Bennett’s run as the creative force behind the Star Trek movies.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Directed by Leonard Nimoy, who also has a hand in development of the story, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home premieres in theaters. Directly following up on events in the prior two movies, Star Trek IV closes out a trilogy, and by bringing the action to 20th century Earth, complete with fish-out-of-water comedy, becomes a solid hit with an embedded ecological message. The movie’s success caps off a year-long celebration of Star Trek’s 20th anniversary.
Dune
The long-awaited, long-delayed feature film adaptation Dune premieres, based on the best-selling SF novel by Frank Herbert. Starring Kyle McLachlan (Twin Peaks), Sean Young (Blade Runner), featuring Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Sting (lead singer of The Police), and directed by David Lynch (The Elephant Man, Twin Peaks), the movie meets with very mixed reviews, compressing many of the book’s events into a narrative that viewers not already familiar with the book find confusing.
2010: The Year We Make Contact
The big-screen sequel 2010: The Year We Make Contact, starring Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren and Bob Balaban, arrives in theaters. Adapted from Arthur C. Clarke’s novel “2010: Odyssey Two”, Peter Hyams’ movie is visually stunning, especially since none of the original setpieces or models remained from 2001, having been destroyed following production at Stanley Kubrick’s direct instruction. Though heavily hyped, 2010 proves disappointing for moviegoers expecting more of 2001‘s trippy imagery.
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Countdown To Looking Glass
HBO premieres the made-for-TV movie Countdown To Looking Glass, starring Scott Glenn and Helen Shaver as reporters caught in the outbreak of World War III. In later years, when the movie becomes part of a movie package syndicated to local TV stations, it will accidentally cause panic among some of its audience.
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
With producer Harve Bennett now firmly in creative control of the movie franchise, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock premieres in theaters, directed by Leonard Nimoy (who, since his character is being searched for, plays only a small role as an actor in the film). The movie is a direct sequel to the events of the previous film, and sets up story developments for the fourth Star Trek movie, effectively serving as the middle chapter of a trilogy. The movie’s success confirms Nimoy’s graduation from actor to director.
Tron
Disney’s Tron – the first movie to pay homage to the ’80s video game craze and the first movie to arrive with video game tie-ins already in the works – premieres in theaters. Starring Bruce Boxleitner and Jeff Bridges, the film establishes of the most distinctive visual idea of the decade, that of a person being “sucked into” the digital world, where glowing body armor is worn.
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Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
Produced and co-written by Harve Bennett (The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invisible Man) and directed by Nicholas Meyer, Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan debuts in theaters. The story follows up on the first season TV episode Space Seed, bringing back Ricardo Montalban (who is now a star thanks to his stint on ABC’s Fantasy Island) as Khan and introducing Kirstie Alley as a new member of the Enterprise crew. With faster pacing, increased action, and a more contemporary military sci-fi feel, the sequel is a hit that guarantees future sequels, as well as gradually increasing interest on Paramount’s part to return the franchise to television years later.
Revenge Of The Jedi
George Lucas completes his handwritten first-draft screenplay for the third Star Wars film, titled Revenge Of The Jedi at this early stage. Revisions to the script will continue throughout 1981, with The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders Of The Lost Ark co-writer Lawrence Kasdan once again contributing to the story and dialogue; a revision to the movie’s title will also be made, though merchandising with the early title will already be in circulation by that time.
Star Wars vs. Galactica: case dismissed
Long after Glen A. Larson’s science fiction series Battlestar Galactica has completed its run, a California judge throws out 20th Century Fox’s 1978 lawsuit, which alleged that Galactica was too close to elements of Star Wars for the studio’s comfort. (Also at issue, though not specifically mentioned in the legal proceedings, was Universal Studios’ hiring of such Star Wars personnel as FX guru John Dykstra and illustrator Ralph McQuarrie to work on Galactica.) Universal’s television series is declared different enough in key areas to not be considered a rip-off – small comfort for the studio, since ABC cancelled had the series earlier in the year. Still, Galactica’s legal status will come into play later, as Universal will later reassert and exploit its rights to the basic Battlestar Galactica storyline in the 21st century. This is not the end of the lawsuit, however; much like both franchises, it too is revived in 1983, and Universal is ordered to pay 20th Century Fox a settlement of nearly a quarter million dollars in 1984.
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The Empire Strikes Back
With expectations riding higher than they probably ever will for another sequel in movie history, the first Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, hits theaters and kicks off a whole new wave of merchandise. Yoda, AT-ATs, and Darth Vader’s march are unleashed on the world, while the cliffhanger ending hooks everyone in for the third movie with a shocking reputation about Luke’s lineage.
The Empire Strikes Cash
In contrast to 1977, where no toy licensee had a lock on the right to make Star Wars toys until weeks after the movie’s premiere, Kenner rolls out the first toys for The Empire Strikes Back nearly a month ahead of the movie; kids (and their long-suffering parents) make the first wave of figures an immediate sell-out, despite not knowing anything about the movie’s plotline.
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