By Don Smith

This weeks column is loaded with things which to anticipate with glee in the worlds of stage, screen, television and gaming worlds. If you have any suggestions or comments about Snippets, feel free to contact me at don@airlockalpha.com.

P.S. Theres a possible Star Wars Spoiler at the very end of the column. Be careful if you dont want to know anything about the next film.

"Thats One for Me!" - Gamers and fans of Frodo-land should be excited to hear that game-maker Electronic Arts is developing "The Battle for Middle-earth," a new real-time strategy game based on Peter Jacksons "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The game will include battles from all three movies, voice talent of actors who played the roles in the movies and clips from the film.

EA will have the team that created "Command & Conquer: Generals" design the latest in the LOTR line with players able to control forces from the sides of dark or light. The PC version should be available summer 2004.

For those of you who dont know, "Command & Conquer" is well-respected in the gaming community. This is one to look forward to.

From Hobbits to Giants - Peter Jacksons film plans after finishing post on "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" include a creature more the size of Balrog than a Hobbit.

Jackson will write a remake of "King Kong" for Universal Pictures in November with shooting to begin next summer. Rumor has it that Australian actress Naomi Watts ("The Ring", "Mulholland Drive") is being considered for the lead role.

For those who may not know, the talented Jackson is a HUGE fan of the original. He even owns one of the original stop-motion models used in the 1933 classic. He should do this movie right. (Hollywood Reporter)

"And the Road Warrior...He is now, only in my memories" - Looks like Mel Gibsons return as Mad Max has been nixed for now. Pre-production in Namibia on "Mad Max: Fury Road" was halted due to concerns about the war in Iraq with Gibson ("Signs") pushing ahead to finish his biblical film "The Passion." Now he has moved on to star in "Under and Alone," a true story about a U.S. Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agent who went undercover with a motorcycle gang. (Variety)

I Like to Watch the Spam-e-looooooot! - Mike Nichols ("The Birdcage," "The Graduate") has agreed to direct "Spamelot," a musical adaptation of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

Python member Eric Idle wrote the script for the musical based on the original 1975 movie. The Broadway piece will feature two songs from the original and is expected to debut in the spring of 2005. (E! Online)

Games and Books and Remakes: Oh My! - Davis Films has bought the rights to "Silent Hill," Konami's best-selling horror video game franchise. Samuel Hadida ("Resident Evil") to produce. Christophe Gans (writer/director of "Brotherhood of the Wolf") will direct. If they can capture the mood of those games (and a decent script), they will have a hit.

Wetworks has purchased the rights to Arthur C. Clarke's "Venus Prime." It is about the first product of biotech engineering. A superhuman named Sparta, whose memory has been erased, must discover the mystery of who she is and why a group wants her out of the way. Paul Preuss is set to write. (If anyone knows what hes done before, drop me a line.)

Fox Searchlight wants to remake the 1958 classic "The Fly" (again!) More power to them but I thought Cronenbergs 1986 version did that and did it well. Unknown writer/director on this one so "Be afraid. Be very afraid." (ScriptSales.com)

The Return of the "Big Damn Heroes" - Just a reminder: Joss Whedons "Firefly" started pre-orders this week for its Dec. 9, 2003 release. The four-disc set will include all the episodes, commentary on eight of them, deleted scenes from three eps, and Joss himself singing the "Firefly" theme. What more could you want?! Well, 20th Century Fox Home Video, how about wide-screen instead of that crappy full-screen format?

Emmy TakenBy Genre Shows - Congrats to the Sci-Fi Channel as "Steven Spielberg Presents Taken" nabbed an Emmy last weekend. Extra kudos to executive producer Leslie Bohem who wrote all 20 hours of the miniseries. For those of you not familiar with television writing, thats about 1,200 pages of script that he tied together quite well.

Other genre shows that earned recognition from the Academy included: Special Visual Effects for a Series, "Firefly: Serenity," Fox; Special Visual Effects for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special, "Frank Herbert's Children of Dune," Sci-Fi; and : nothing else, because genre is the bastard child of regular TV and movie awards.

Griff hasnt come out of his house for, like, a week - Two television entrepreneurs are collecting opinions from the best in the field of creep and gore to - what else?! - start the first all Horror Channel. Names like John Carpenter, Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper have been tapped for an advisory channel. Plans are to start the channel - when else?! - Halloween night 2004, as soon as the $4 million start up money can be raised.

SyUniverse graphic artist Bryant Griffin (also known as "Griff") - the biggest horror fan I know - is currently checking all his pant pockets in search of forgotten change to contribute to the cause.

New DVD Releases

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: 25th Anniversary Edition (1978)

Holes (2003)

Howling V: The Rebirth/Howling VI: The Freaks

Prom Night III: The Last Kiss/Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil

(strangely, these previous two were in a two disc set: who woulda guessed?!)

Xena: Warrior Princess: Season Two (7-disc set)

And SPOILER ALERT:

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Force.net reported a rumor that the next Star Wars movie will feature a character many people should recognize: Grand Moff Tarkin, played by Peter Cushing in the first movie. The site posted two images of an actor who might play Tarkin and who looks a lot like Cushing, who died in 1994.

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