EFFECTS-PACKED `ASTEROID' ENTERS NBC'S ORBIT.Byline: Jay Bobbin bobbin, implement on which thread is wound, used in sewing, spinning, weaving, and lace making. Sometimes the wooden spools of sewing thread are called bobbins. Tribune Media Services Tribune Media Services ("TMS") is a syndication company owned by the Tribune Company. The company is divided into two divisions, "News and Features" and "Entertainment Products". It's big, it's lethal and - in case you haven't seen the ads NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. has aired since November - it's coming our way. On Sunday and Monday, that network unveils its special-effects-laden miniseries ``Asteroid asteroid, planetoid, or minor planet, small body orbiting the sun. More than 10,000 asteroids have orbits sufficiently well known to have been cataloged and named; thousands more exist. ,'' inspired in large part by the actual crashes of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comets into Jupiter in recent years. Michael Biehn (of last summer's action-movie hit ``The Rock'') heads the cast as the chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the federal agency responsible for coordinating emergency planning, preparedness, risk reduction, response, and recovery. The agency works closely with state and local governments by funding emergency programs and providing technical who tries to help people cope with the imminent crisis as an intergalactic in·ter·ga·lac·tic adj. Being or occurring between galaxies: intergalactic space. in phenomenon sets several huge asteroids This is a list of numbered minor planets, nearly all of them asteroids, in sequential order. As of late September 2007 there are 164,612 numbered minor planets, and many more not yet numbered. Most asteroids are ordinary and not particularly noteworthy. on a collision course collision course n. A course, as of moving objects or opposing philosophies, that will end in a collision or conflict if left unchanged: two planes on a collision course; dissidents on a collision course with the regime. with Earth. Annabella Sciorra (``The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'') plays the astronomer who first discovers the peril; additional stars include Don Franklin Don Franklin (born December 14, 1960) is an American actor, best known for his roles in seaQuest DSV as Commander Jonathan Ford, Seven Days as Capt. Craig Donovan, and as one of the Young Riders (Noah Dixon). (``seaQuest DSV'') as a firefighter, Anne-Marie Johnson (``In the Heat of the Night'') as his wife, Zachary B. Charles as the Sciorra character's young son and Anthony Zerbe (``The Young Riders'') as her doctor father. ``This event is science `faction,' not science fiction,'' says ``Asteroid'' executive producer John Davis (``Waterworld,'' ``The Firm''), ``because we were all critically aware that asteroids hitting Earth are quite possible. I think the tone of this is very real; it feels documentary-esque at times. It's painstakingly researched. This is not about the destruction of Earth, but about people coming to deal with this crisis. Really, what it's about is the triumph of the human spirit, about how people respond and take care of each other and pull together.'' Though he claims ``Asteroid'' was in development before last year's film ``Twister'' was, Davis allows that the success of that movie ``showed that people are really interested in natural phenomena and their sometimes-violent nature.'' Indeed, ``Asteroid'' director Bradford May adds, ``It was very important for us to have Department of Defense approval, because the military was behind all of the things that we had set up (in the script) to destroy the asteroid. We are hopeful that this is not just a disaster movie, but that it also is informational. If one of these things "These Things" is an EP by She Wants Revenge, released in 2005 by Perfect Kiss, a subsidiary of Geffen Records. Music Video The music video stars Shirley Manson, lead singer of the band Garbage. Track Listing 1. "These Things [Radio Edit]" - 3:17 2. did happen to get through our atmosphere, how would we go about taking care of it? How would we protect ourselves?'' Dallas and Kansas City are two of the locations that take the hardest hits in ``Asteroid,'' and May jokes that he decided on Dallas because ``I didn't like the film-commission people there. No, we have nothing against Dallas ... there just has to be something that gets hit.'' Showing such strikes realistically in ``Asteroid'' was the job of visual-effects producer Sam Nicholson, whose Stargate Films firm also made the Emmy-winning opening sequence for last year's NBC Summer Olympics coverage (as well as the title credits for ``Twister''). ``What we're trying to do is push the envelope of what has been done before in television, or any other medium for that matter,'' he says of his ``Asteroid'' work, ``by combining computer graphics, miniatures, live action and what we're calling a `photo-fusion' process that has never been done before. It's really putting the magic back in the medium in many ways (by offering) things you've never seen, and when you combine that with a very rich and personal story about people, you get a well-balanced project.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1--Cover--Color) The Race Against Time NBC's `Asteroid' on a collision course with Earth (2) Annabella Sciorra and Michael Biehn star in the ``Asteroid'' miniseries airing Sunday and Monday on NBC. |
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