Comments: Sometimes the Hugo awards will honor a good work, and yet still clearly fail to give the award to the most deserving nominee. That happened this year in the Short Form Dramatic Presentation category where Gollum's acceptance speech at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards won the prize. The acceptance speech was for the award "Best Digital Character", and knowing that the award was going to be given to Gollum ahead of time WETA Digital cooked up a routine where Andy Serkis started to accept the award but was interrupted by an incensed Gollum. If you have the extended edition DVD set of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, it is included as a hidden Easter egg at the end of the first disc's listing of scene selections. The bit was funny and well-done, but it was just a trivial piece of fluff. There is simply no real argument that can be made that it was a more deserving winner than either of the two Firefly episodes or the Buffy episode it was up against (not having seen Smallville, I can't offer an opinion one way or another on the quality of its nominated episode). I think the award should have gone to the Firefly episode The Message, but I didn't get to make the decision.
I can't be certain, but it seems plausible that Gollum's victory was a side effect of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King winning the Long Form Dramatic Presentation Hugo Award, which capped off a three year sweep for that category for Peter Jackson, Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, and company. In the print categories, Lois McMaster Bujold added yet another Hugo trophy to her already impressive collection, and Neil Gaiman won a Hugo Award for the third year in a row, with each victory coming in a different category.
Best Novel
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
Other Finalists:
Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson
Humans by Robert J. Sawyer
Ilium by Dan Simmons
Singularity Sky by Charles Stross
Best Novella
The Cookie Monster by Vernor Vinge
Other Finalists:
The Empress of Mars by Kage Baker
The Green Leopard Plague by Walter Jon Williams
Just Like the Ones We Used to Know by Connie Willis
Walk in Silence by Catherine Asaro
Best Novelette
Legions in Time by Michael Swanwick
Other Finalists:
Bernardo's House by James Patrick Kelly
The Empire of Ice Cream by Jeffrey Ford
Hexagons by Robert Reed
Into the Gardens of Sweet Night by Jay Lake
Nightfall Charles Stross
Best Short Story
A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman
Other Finalists:
Four Short Novels by Joe Haldeman
Paying it Forward by Michael A. Burstein
Robots Don't Cry by Mike Resnick
The Tale of the Golden Eagle by David D. Levine
Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work
The Chesley Awards for Science Fiction & Fantasy Art: A Retrospective by John Grant and Elizabeth L. Humphrey, with Pamela D. Scoville
Other Finalists:
Dreamer of Dune: The Biography of Frank Herbert by Brian Herbert
Master Storyteller: An Illustrated Tour of the Fiction of L. Ron Hubbard by William J. Widder
Scores: Reviews 1993-2003 by John Clute
Spectrum 10: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art edited by Cathy Fenner and Arnie Fenner
The Thackery T. Lambshead Pocket Guide to Eccentric & Discredited Diseases edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Mark Roberts
Best Dramatic Presentation: Long Form
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Other Finalists:
28 Days Later
Finding Nemo
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
X2: X-Men United
Best Dramatic Presentation: Short Form
Gollum's Acceptance Speech at the 2003 MTV Movie Awards
Other Finalists:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chosen
Firefly: Heart of Gold
Firefly: The Message
Smallville: Rosetta
Best Professional Editor
Gardner Dozois
Other Finalists:
Ellen Datlow
David G. Hartwell
Stanley Schmidt
Gordon van Gelder
Best Professional Artist
Bob Eggleton
Other Finalists:
Jim Burns
Frank Frazetta
Frank Kelly Freas
Donato Giancola
Best Semi-Prozine
Locus edited by Charles N. Brown, Kirsten Gong-Wong, and Jennifer A. Hall
Other Finalists:
Ansible edited by David Langford
Interzone edited by David Pringle
The New York Review of Science Fiction edited by Kathryn Cramer, David G. Hartwell, and Kevin Maroney
The Third Alternative edited by Andy CoxBest Fanzine
Emerald City edited by Cheryl Morgan
Other Finalists:
Challenger edited by Guy H. Lillian, III
File 770 edited by Mike Glyer
Mimosa edited by Nicki Lynch and Rich Lynch
Plokta edited by Steve Davies, Alison Scott, and Mike Scott
Best Fan Writer
Dave Langford
Other Finalists:
Jeff Berkwits
Bob Devney
John L. Flynn
Cheryl Morgan
Best Fan Artist
Other Finalists:
Brad Foster
Teddy Harvia
Sue Mason
Steve Stiles
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
Jay Lake
Other Finalists:
David D. Levine
Karin Lowachee
Chris Moriarty
Tim Pratt
What Are the Hugo Awards?
Go to previous year's nominees: 2003
Go to subsequent year's nominees: 2005
2004 Hugo Longlist Book Award Reviews Home
No comments:
Post a Comment