With the award, we were also pleased to include a check for $1,000.00 donated to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.  We've been raising funds on the site through the sale of caps bearing our site's logo, and fans have been very eager to assist us in raising these funds for such a worthy cause.  It's certainly not much in comparison to the amounts already raised this year through Michael's foundation, the Amazon.com Spin City auction ($122,945.15), Charlie Sheen's stint on the celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ($64,000.00), and other various events, but our fundraising efforts will be ongoing and we suspect this is just the first of many checks we'll be able to send.  Anyone who hasn't yet participated in our fundraising program can still do so by visiting our online catalog.

2000 was quite the busy year for Fox.  It all began on January 18th when he stunned the public with word that he would step down from his starring role on ABC's popular situation comedy Spin City at the end of the season to devote his time and energy towards fighting the battle against Parkinson's disease.  "I feel that right now my time and energy would be better spent with my family and working toward a cure for Parkinson's disease," he said in a statement just days before he picked up his third Golden Globe award for Spin City on January 23rd.  It was backstage of the Golden Globes where he made the announcement that he was forming his Foundation for Parkinson's Research and gave the web address on live television.

He was awarded his second Screen Actors Guild award on March 7 for Spin City just days before he taped his 100th and final episode of the sitcom before an audience comprised exclusively of family, friends and collegues.  The following week, Michael immediately stepped into a new role — that of public advocate for the Parkinsons community, and hasn't slowed down since as he continues to campaign for additional funding from Congress to go towards Parkinson's Research.

The one-hour season finale on May 24th attracted over 33 million viewers, Spin City's most watched episode since Christopher Lloyd guest-starred the year before.  He continued his award-winning year when he received his fourth Emmy Award on September 10th, hist first for Spin City.  On October 26th, he was also awarded with GQ's Courage Award, Michael's second consecutive GQ award.

2001 certainly proves to be an interesting year to come for Fox.  Fans anxiously await his performances in Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Interstate 60, Stuart Little 2, and Magic 7, as well as the opportunity to read his memoirs when his book is published next fall.  He continues to develop a sitcom for his wife Tracy Pollan, as well as serve as executive producer on Spin City. The old saying that "there's no rest for the weary" certainly holds true, doesn't it?!  Stay tuned — Michael appears to just now be getting his second wind, so the future that lies ahead looks brighter than ever.

All new BTTF collectibles surging onto the market

In recent weeks, collectors of Back to the Future memorabilia have been treated to several surprises that have recently been released.

In response to the high demand and low supply of one-sheet posters from the first film, Universal has apparently issued high quality reprints of the popular poster.  Original posters were fetching upwards of $200 or more on auction sites earlier this year, but the reprints can now be had in most places for under $25.

Both Universal Studios theme park gift shops are now carrying two brand new items — a Back to the Future...The Ride Viewmaster® ($7), and a new Radio Controlled DeLorean time machine ($30) with wrist controller.

It's certainly refreshing to see some new collectibles on the market, after having nothing new from the series in the last several years other than the Johnny Lightning DeLorean in 1998.  There are other collectibles in the works now — according to a source at DeLorean Motor Company, a company called Sunstar is working on a 1/18th scale stock DeLorean model for issue next summer, and they hope to release a BTTF version of the model at the same time.

Why are new collectibles suddenly being issued?  My guess is that the demand for the DVDs is finally making Universal and licensees aware of the popularity of this franchise.  Several online sources are claiming a Summer 2001 release for the DVDs, and if that holds true, you can expect to see many more collectibles be issued around the same time.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.  Plus, the third Ride opens in just a matter of months in Japan, which no doubt will bring new collectibles to the gift shops at all three parks.

“Cast Away” photos

Below are four choice behind-the-scenes photos of Robert Zemeckis on location with Tom Hanks in the highly anticipated film Cast Away, which opens Friday.  Additional photos can be found on the movie's official site.