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                                    SF NEWS
                                  by Paul Nash

     # Neil Gaiman, writer of Sandman and Neverwhere, will be writing for
     the fifth, and final series of Babylon 5.

     # Claudia Christian (Susan Ivanova) will be leaving Babylon 5 at the
     end of Season 4.  The news first broke when magazine Variety
     reported she would be leaving the show and would be seeking new work.
     There seems to be a little confusion about exactly what happened. JMS
     says she passed on signing up for the fifth series, while Christian's
     take was the offer of a contract was withdrawn by Warner Brothers,
     and so she was basically fired.  Following in Gillian Anderson's
     diminutive footsteps, Claudia Christian is soon to be the subject of
     a FHM photo-shoot.

     # Chris Carter has left Millennium to focus on the X-Files film and
     fifth series.  He has handed the mantle of executive producers to
     Glen Morgan and James Wong.  The pair are famous for being former
     X-Files writers and Space: Above and Beyond creators/writers.  They
     have brought on board Darin Morgan, writer of memorable and award
     winning episodes of X-Files Season 3.  This coupled with supposedly
     "revolutionary ideas" should in trust the safety of the flagging
     series.

     # The X-Files film's principal photography has been completed, so
     the current release schedule of May 1998 looks likely.  Confirmed to
     star along side Duchovny and Anderson are regulars Mitch Pileggi
     (Skinner) and the Lone Gunmen, aswell as actor Martin Landau
     (given the dummy name of Mr. Farber).  The film was shot in L.A., not
     Vancouver, and will feature car blowing up antics, killer bees,
     Mulder in hospital (which has obviously never happened before) and a
     Mulder and Scully kiss...

     # MIB followed the now predictable pattern of SF Summer blockbusters
     , and broke box office records all over the place.In America it
     grossed more than ID4 did in its first three days, and also made it
     past the $100 million mark in just over a week.  Unsurprisingly,
     there will be a MIB 2.  There will also be (god forbid) a third
     Jurassic Park movie.