The Saturn Awards
Saturn Find Lost As Best TV Series; Dexter, Best On Cable; & Jennifer Love Hewitt Best Actress
The 34th annual Saturn Awards, presented by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, found Lost as its most popular network series. The handsome young Lost star Malcolm David Kelly was on hand to pick up the Best Actor award for the missing-in-action Matthew Fox. Acting honors also went to Michael Emmerson and Elizabeth Mitchell.
Also in the television category, everybody’s favorite serial killer Dexter was honored as the favorite cable show. And the ultra-lovely star of The Ghost Whisperer, Jennifer Love Hewitt took home a golden “Saturn” trophy for Best Actress on TV.
Hewitt said she’ll be working through the summer on next season’s shows, which will have tales that cover all areas in the fantasy and horror categories. “I love the genre. It’s really expressive and fun. You can do almost anything. One minute you can touch someone’s heart, and the next minute you can be running from monsters. And after that, you can cross someone over into the light. On Ghost Whisperer, we run the spectrum,” explained Hewitt, proudly clutching her well-deserved award.
In the movie category, Enchanted was the big winner getting awards for Best Fantasy Picture, Best Actress (Amy Adams), and Best Music (Alan Menken). Another delicious musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street won for Best Horror Film. And an award also went to Cloverfield for Best Science Fiction Film.
The big star-studded event, held at the Universal Hilton Hotel across from Universal Studios Hollywood, was highlighted by several special awards as well. In a unique gesture, the hundreds of Academy members selected both Robert Halmi Sr. and Robert Halmi Jr. to receive the Life Career Award.
“Titans of television movies and mini-series,” both deserved recognition for producing such epic shows as Gulliver’s Travels, Lonesome Dove, The Odyssey, Merlin, Moby Dick, Arabian Nights, The 10th Kingdom, Dinotopia, and most recently the lavish tales of Marco Polo and Tin Man.
Neal McDonough, star of Tin Man, and Jon Voight, who starred in the Halmi production Noah’s Ark made the presentation.
Despite their years of working together on hundreds of productions, Halmi Jr. admitted “this is the first time my dad and I have shared a stage together.” Currently they are working on Son of the Dragon and Kung Fu Killer productions, using locations in China for filming.
Another frequent flyer producer-director-writer Guillermo del Toro, who created the masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth, was on hand to pick up the George Pal Memorial Award, noting it was “a tremendous honor, since I love the genre that inspires so many.”
Del Toro has Hellboy II upcoming, which he directed in Budapest. Then he heads to New Zealand for pre-production on The Hobbit. “I’m happy to continue the Tolkien tales working with Peter Jackson who created such a legacy with the Lord of the Rings trilogy.”
As for the rest of the Saturn Awards given out, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was best makeup winner, Transformers earned best special effects honors, and Ratatouille Best Animated Film.
Will Smith taped a funny acceptance speech that was played when he was announced as Best Actor for the movie I Am Legend.
Better than any other organization in Hollywood, the Saturn Awards recognize the impact of DVD releases for fans of the genre films. So awards went to Blade Runner (5 disc ultimate edition) for Best DVD Special Edition Release; The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (remix) for Best DVD Release; The Monster Squad Best DVD Classic Film Release; Mario Bava (box sets 1 & 2) Best DVD Collection; and Twin Peaks (definitive gold box edition) Best Retro TV Series Release.
The Best TV Series Release on DVD went to Heroes, Season 1. Heroes’ star Adrian Pasdar said, “The honor sets the bar high for packing a bundle of interesting extras into the next collections.” We can’t wait.
The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films was founded in 1972 by the late Dr. Donald Reed, and left in the good hands of the organization’s chairman of the board Robert Holguin, who did an outstanding job this year putting the spotlight on the fantastic.
Go to www.saturnawards.org.
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