According to the suit, although the "Lord of the Rings" films produced by New Line are among the most financially successful films ever created, with worldwide gross receipts of nearly $6 billion, New Line has failed to pay the plaintiffs any portion of the gross profit participation they are entitled to under their deal.

The complaint seeks, among other things, in excess of $150 million in compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages, and a declaration from the Court that the plaintiffs have a right to terminate any further rights New Line may have to the Tolkien works under the agreements, including "The Hobbit", due to the serious and material nature of the breach of the agreements.

Bonnie Eskenazi, the trustees' U.S. counsel who filed the complaint, said, "New Line has brought new meaning to the phrase 'creative accounting.' I cannot imagine how on earth New Line will argue to a jury that these films could gross literally billions of dollars, and yet the creator’s heirs, who are entitled to a share of gross receipts, don't get a penny."

The trustees' UK lawyer, Steven Maier, of Manches LLP, added: "The Tolkien trustees do not file lawsuits lightly, and have tried unsuccessfully to resolve their claims out of court. But in this case, New Line has left them no option at all. New Line has not paid the plaintiffs even one penny of its contractual share of gross receipts despite the billions of dollars of gross revenue generated by these wildly successful motion pictures. To make matters worse, to date New Line has even prevented the plaintiffs from auditing the last two films of the series."

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Jumper Director Meets the MIT Physicists

Filmmaker Douglas Liman was a physics prodigy who landed a scholarship to Brown University. He never took a physics class and ended up as a successful director. He and actor Hayden Christensen agreed to attend a symposium at MIT with two MIT physicists, Dr. Farhi and Dr. Tegmark, to discuss the physics behind Limon's new SF film Jumper. The hero of Jumper can teleport himself wherever he wants, just by thinking about it. So what did the real physicists have to say?

In real experiments recently, Dr. Farhi told the movie fans, physicists had managed to "teleport" a single elementary particle, a photon, which transmits light, about one and a half miles, "a little less exotic than what you see in the movie." What is actually teleported in these experiments, he explained, is not the particle itself but all the quantum information about the particle.

To accomplish this is no small matter. Among other things, the teleporters have to create a pair of so-called entangled particles, which maintain a kind of spooky correlation even though they are separated by light years. Both of them exist in a kind of quantum fog of possibility until one or the other is observed. Measuring one particle instantly affects its separated-at-birth twin no matter how far away. If one is found to be spinning clockwise, for example, the other will be found to be spinning counter clockwise.

In order to use this magic to "teleport" a third particle, Dr. Farhi emphasized, you have to send a conventional signal between the entangled twins, and that takes time, according to Einstein. "You cannot get that thing over there faster than the speed of light," Dr. Farhi said, to cheers from the crowd.

*****

Dr. Tegmark said that even inaccurate science fiction movies could inspire scientists to think. You could see something that you think is impossible, he said, but that might start you thinking. "Why is that impossible? It can trigger a train of thought," he said.

Dr. Farhi is bringing us down with his bummer news that there won't be transporter technology by the end of the year, but he and Dr. Tegmark did like the movie. We can't wait to see it.

Posted on February 9, 2008
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Val Kilmer is the New Voice of Knight Rider's KITT

Val Kilmer has replaced Will Arnett as the voice of KITT on re-imagined Knight Rider television series. Apparently, there was a carmaker conflict. Arnett had done all his work and everyone liked it, but he has been the longtime voice of GMC Trucks. And KITT is strictly a Ford product.

For the better part of a decade, Arnett has done voice-over work for General Motors -- as the voice of GMC Trucks. NBC's new "Knight," however, is "played" by a Ford Mustang. What's more, Ford isn't simply providing cars for "Knight Rider." It's taking an active role in the marketing and branding of the pic, a backdoor pilot for a possible series. Ford's logo even appears all over NBC's on-air promos for the pic.

Not surprisingly, when GM found out about the Ford connection, it asked Arnett to pull out. "I was very excited at the prospect of playing the part of KITT in the new 'Knight Rider' movie," Arnett said. "However, because of a long relationship with General Motors as the voice of GMC Trucks, I had to respectfully withdraw from the project."

While NBC and Universal Media Studios will have to scramble to replace Arnett's dialogue with Kilmer's work, the upside is landing a well-known name for the part. In addition to his roles in pics such as "Batman Forever," "Heat" and "Top Gun," Kilmer has done plenty of voice-over work, including the voice of Moses in 1998's "The Prince of Egypt."

Val Kilmer is KITT?? Ok, fine, cheesy as it may be we'll be tuning in. Plus, we heard the series has a Transformers-like vibe.

Posted on February 7, 2008
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Stargate Atlantis Filming Season Five Soon

Stargate Atlantis will begin filming its fifth season in late February, according to the Sci Fi channel.

Fan favorite Paul McGillion will return for five episodes to reprise his role as Dr. Carson Beckett. Amanda Tapping (Col. Samantha Carter) will appear as a special guest star in several episodes, and Stargate SG-1 star Michael Shanks (Dr. Daniel Jackson) will appear as a special guest in episodes as well.

Robert Picardo, who plays International Oversight Committee rep Richard Woolsey, joins the Atlantis cast this season as Woolsey assumes command of the Atlantis expedition. The team, led by Lt. Col. Sheppard (Joe Flanigan), Dr. Rodney McKay (David Hewlett), Teyla (Rachel Luttrell), Ronon (Jason Momoa) and Dr. Jennifer Keller (Jewel Staite), must adjust to his unique leadership style.

In the fifth season, the status quo is shaken following the events of season four, which is currently airing on SCI FI Fridays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Cherished friends are lost, others are found. New alliances are forged while new races are introduced.

Season five was picked up for twenty episodes, which is good. The season will include a 100th episode, which is when the writers usually go off the rails with some kind of crazy "funny episode, just for the fans." Please don't let them do that this time. Because it's always awful.

Posted on February 5, 2008
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U.S. Navy Brings Railgun to Life

The U.S. Navy may have invented a railgun but gamers have been using railguns to destroy enemies for several years now. Wikipedia describes a railgun as type a gun that "converts electrical energy (rather than the more conventional chemical energy from an explosive propellant) into projectile kinetic energy." Wikipedia's entry also mentions that railguns were part of the plot in the 1996 film Eraser starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Vanessa Williams. The Free-Lance Star points to railgun video game usage as early as the Quake II video game.

Railgun technology has been featured in popular games such as Quake II, in which players can choose weapons for combat. In a 2006 listing by Game trailers.com, a handheld railgun was ranked seventh on the list of the 10 favorite video-game weapons.

Mark Daniel, a self-described gamer from Fredericksburg, said the weaponry in video games can be almost as much of a draw as the characters or story line. He said it's "cool to see technology can be influenced by science fiction, video games and movies."

"Every time they have a new idea for a weapon in a video game you get a lot of hype about it," he said.

Indeed, a Free Lance-Star story on the railgun last year drew more than 300,000 hits online.

Even though it is not a novel idea the U.S. Navy's railgun is still very impressive and unlike the video game and movie railguns it is worth noting that the Navy's railgun is real. Gizmodo says it destroys everything it touches at 5,640 mph. Here's a video of the Navy's railgun in action.



Posted on February 2, 2008
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