Angel has been renewed for a fifth season. Enterprise, Smallville, and Andromeda will also return. Buffy, Farscape, and Firefly are gone.

Hugo's There

The nominees for Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form are just what you thought they would be.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Warner Bros.), Directed by Chris Columbus; Screenplay by Steve Kloves; based on the novel by J.K. Rowling
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (New Line Cinema), Directed by Peter Jackson; Screenplay by Fran Walsh, Phillippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair & Peter Jackson, based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien
Minority Report (20th Century Fox & DreamWorks SKG), Directed by Steven Spielberg; Screenplay by Scott Frank & Jon Cohen; based on the story by Philip K. Dick
Spider-Man (Columbia Pictures), Directed by Sam Raimi; Screenplay by David Koepp; based on the comic book character created by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee
Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli & Walt Disney Pictures); Directed by Haya Miyazaki; Screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki (English version by Cindy Davis Hewitt and Donald H. Hewitt)

No Star Wars. No Star Trek. Personally, I preferred Attack of the Clones to both Spider-Man and Spirited Away, but they are admirable choices. And the winner is... almost certainly The Two Towers. But it should be Minority Report, which has original ideas, the one quality all of the other films lack.

The nominees for Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form (I trust not too many years will pass before the Hugo Awards Committee changes these titles to Best Long Drama and Best Short Drama) are:
Star Trek: Enterprise, "A Night in Sickbay" (Paramount Television), Directed by David Straiton; Teleplay by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Star Trek: Enterprise, "Carbon Creek" (Paramount Television), Directed by James Contner; Story by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga & Dan O'Shannon; Teleplay by Chris Black
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Conversations with Dead People" (20th Century Fox Television/Mutant Enemy, Inc.), Directed by Nick Marck, Teleplay by Jane Espenson & Drew Goddard
Firefly, "Serenity" (20th Century Fox Television/Mutant Enemy, Inc.), Directed by Joss Whedon; Teleplay by Joss Whedon
Angel, "Waiting in the Wings" (20th Century Fox Television/Mutant Enemy, Inc.) , Directed by Joss Whedon; Teleplay by Joss Whedon

You can probably guess which gets my vote: Firefly "Serenity" by Joss Whedon. (The list of nominations in Locus unaccountably does not list the authors of the drama awards. Imagine if they left the authors off the list of written fiction.)

A Hugo for Firefly just might be the spark to get some network interested in the series again. Whedon is also the author of the nominated Angel episode, "Waiting in the Wings". The nominated Buffy episode is "Conversations with Dead People" by Jane Espenson and Drew Goddard. It is part one of a two-part episode. The decision to split the dramatic Hugo into two categories, short and long, has not yet addressed the problem of two-part episodes. This nomination establishes a precedent of allowing each part to compete separately in the "short" category -- but how would you choose between "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" and "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II"? Contrariwise, should "The Best of Both Worlds" have to compete with a motion picture which has a budget two orders of magnitude larger?

The two Enterprise nominees are "A Night in Sickbay" by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga (my own favorite Enterprise thus far) and "Carbon Creek" by B&B and Dan O'Shannon.

TV Reviews

Enterprise, "Cogenitor" (***) by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga
Rick Berman seems to be serious about making an edgier Enterprise, as this depressing but serious episode shows. Likeable and technologically superior aliens discriminate against their third sex. Trip tries to interfere, with predictably disastrous results. Maybe we should have a directive that warns us not to interfere with alien cultures -- we could call it -- oh, I don't know, "A Really Good Directive" or something. The big question for the 21st Century is whether or not America will adopt a prime directive of not interfering with cultures we don't really understand. Oops! Too late!

Enterprise, "Regeneration" (***) by Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong
Sussman and Strong have written the most exciting Star Trek in a long time. It begins with a pastiche of John W. Campbell, Jr.'s "Who Goes There", as two frozen Borg are discovered under arctic ice, and continues as the two Borg come very close to outwitting and outfighting the entire strength of the Enterprise and its crew. Except for one Big Dumb Moment in the middle (Dr. Phlox, infected by Borg nanites, is left unguarded) this is an outstanding episode. Unfortunately, it suffered in contrast with The West Wing episode which aired immediately after it, in which a kidnapping sequence ratchets up the standard of just how exciting television can be. On May 15, Enterprise tested my loyalty to Star Trek by gratuitously asking me to choose between the conclusion of The West Wing and Vulcan sex. I chose The West Wing. Until I get a chance to watch the rerun, please do not tell me who winds up in bed with T'Pol. My guess is Hoshi.

Buffy finale May 20. Enterprise finale May 21. Next issue: an episode guide to the second season of Enterprise.