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Inside Fathom Sudios; Military Trains More Unmanned Aircraft Operators

Aired April 24, 2004 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: Violence in Iraq tops headlines at this hour. A rocket attack just north of Baghdad killed five U.S. troops and wounded six more. Coalition officials say insurgents fired on base near the town of Taji. Mortar fire killed 12 people in busy Baghdad markets and dozens more were wounded. Coalition officials say they know who was behind the attack.
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BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: Who did it, we suspect the same people fired those mortars that typically fire the rockets, that fire mortar rounds at the Palestine Hotel, at the Sheraton Hotel. These people we believe are the same group of people we see inside Fallujah, former fedims (ph) Saddam, Mohama Arut (ph), the former regime elements that are trying to push this process toward sovereignty and peace for the people of Iraq off the rails.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: World financial leaders are hearing the voices of protest as they hold talks in Washington. Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are holding spring meetings. Finance officials with the so-called G-7 the worlds seven wealthiest countries have gathered in Washington as well. Demonstrators who oppose globalization are pressing the financial leaders for reform.

Family and friends gather in Nishua (ph), North Dakota to bury slain college student Dru Sjodin. Mourners remembered her by tying pink ribbons around their car antennas, pink was her favorite color. Sjodin's body was found last weekend nearly five months after she disappeared from a Grand Forks shopping mall.

Rescue workers in Indonesia are searching for seven people still missing from yesterday's landslide on the island of Sumatra. All seven were traveling on a bus engulfed by the landslide. The death toll from the slide is at least 37.

I'm Kelli Arena at CNN in Washington. More news at the bottom of the hour. NEXT@CNN begins right now.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN ANCHOR: Hi everybody. I'm Daniel Sieberg. Today on NEXT@CNN the Air Force sends an unarmed plane armed with missiles into battle against Iraqi insurgents. We will look at the role of pilot less aircraft.

Also an oft dark studio takes on Hollywood with a new animated feature. We will see how they use technology and imagination to build a fantasy world.

And have you met the subservient chicken yet? Well we tell you where to find the Internet's most cooperative barn yard bird. All that and more on NEXT.

This week, we're at Atlanta's Fathom Studios where they're getting ready to challenge Hollywood's dominance in the realm of cool animated features. We will tell you a lot more about that in a few minutes. But first, some stories in a more serious vein.

The U.S. military confirmed this week it's using predator pilot less aircraft armed with hell fire missiles against the insurgency in Iraq. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has more.

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BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): In the first known hit to kill mission against the Iraqi insurgency, an unmanned Air Force predator drone fired hell fire missiles at a team of fighters launching mortars outside a U.S. military base in Iraq. The Central Command confirmed details of the lethal predator attack which took place on April 11 at Blood Airbase about 70 miles north of Baghdad.

The drone, like this one, was flying overhead looking for insurgents that had fired mortars at the base killing one airman. The attackers were spotted through an on-board camera. The predator chased them. The ground controller got approval to fire. The missiles killing an unknown number of insurgents before they could fire again. Until now, the armed drone had been used largely against high level targets in Afghanistan and Iraq. In November 2000, a predator operated by the CIA over Yemen fired at a convey carrying a senior Al-Qaeda official killing him and five others.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Using unmanned armed predators may be a new on going tactic to help keep U.S. air crews safe from Iraqi fighters expert in shoot and run tactics.

SIEBERG: And the predator is not the only unmanned plane that has a role in Iraq. The army is using small reconnaissance drones as well and it is training soldiers on how to use them at a complex in Arizona. But as Aaron Brown reports, the program has had a bumpy flight so far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Count down, five, four, three two, one. Launch.

AARON BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These are anxious and eager young soldiers from the Pennsylvania National Guard. Anxious because the simulations they are going through now will turn into real combat in Iraq very soon. MARK FARRAR, NATIONAL GUARD: We can handle a maximum of five classes in session under normal circumstances. We currently have seven shadow classes and 100-classroom session, so significantly more than we thought we could ever handle.

BROWN: That's because after a year of war in Iraq, despite repeated requests for more men and more machines, only four army units are currently operating this small-unmanned reconnaissance plane called the Shadow or its larger cousin called the Hunter. That is just 12 planes for the entire country of Iraq, 12 sets of eyes that can spot the enemy long before the enemy can spot the army. Just 12.

FARRAR: We're currently operating 72-hour scheduled workweek. That's for the staff out here. And of course, the soldiers have additional things they have to accomplish. I do those types of things, as well as soldiering skills. So we're working 12 on, 12 off, six days a week.

BROWN: Commanders want three or four times as many of these UAV's, these unmanned aerial vehicles as they have now. So the Arizona complex is a busy place these days. But the planes are very expensive and they are also a bit delicate and Iraq is in an inhospitable place.

CAPT. HILTON NUNEZ, U.S. ARMY: Based on the environment that we were in, the temperatures, the sand, it took every effort the soldier's continuous maintenance throughout the night just so we can accomplish our mission.

BROWN: And things go wrong here, as well. The day we were there, only two Shadows' out of four were successfully launched. There was a motor problem with one. It was brought back four hours ahead of schedule. But the army needs them desperately in what soldiers call the sandbox on the ground in Iraq, and everyone from the generals down to the privates knows why.

PVT. BENJAMIN MEJIAI: It's the eyes. We can see what they're doing before we send people in there to find out. So it definitely gives us an advantage, it saves lives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: On the home front, technology offers many ways to protect against terrorism. And as Adaora Udoji reports, demand is brisk and inventors and entrepreneurs are responding.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No one knows if or when or how a terrorist might attack the U.S. again, but for the many possibilities, today the number of high tech defenses are rapidly growing. Hardly flashy like a James Bond gadget, this electronic sensor, barely an inch long can instantly sniff out 16 different chemical weapons and detecting explosives, there is a sentinel now being tested in airports.

BILL MAWRER: This kind of device would certainly find the next Richard Reed, whether he had his bomb in his shoes or some other way concealed about his person. UDOJI: Jets of air aimed to dislodge particles so explosives can be detected.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got to wait for the arms to go up.

UDOJI: At Misdetection a leading security company, executives say demand for cutting edge anti-terrorism devices has never been so great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think since 9/11, people have been looking at different types of terrorist threats.

UDOJI: People refer to the Department of Homeland Security set up in the aftermath of the tragedy. Today the agency is providing huge incentives by pumping $1.2 billion into research and development grants to companies creating high tech tools.

PENROSE ALBRIGHT, DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY: You only have to look at the way technology has had an impact on our ability to defend the nation, the impact it's had on our military forces, to appreciate how important that small investment is.

UDOJI: The response has been swift to the new market with entrepreneurs packing trade shows like this one in Las Vegas or expanding research like those at Sheffield Technology outside San Francisco, formerly dedicated to medical diagnostic equipment, it also now produces biological weapon detectors to ferret out say anthrax in a letter.

BILL MCMILLAN: The technology was perfectly poised for this hands off detection system for the post office.

UDOJI: But some analyst questions whether Homeland Security set its priorities wisely.

CHRISTOPHER PREBLE, CATO INSTITUTE: I think that it is wrong to expect that any technological solution is a silver bullet. Will make us 100 percent secure. If that's the message that is being sent then it's the wrong message.

UDOJI: Federal officials say it's one tool among many. Overall experts say right now, no one has all the answers in this new era of fighting terrorism.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: When we come back, we will get an inside look at high tech movie making and an animated feature that you may be standing in line to see this time next year. And later in the show we will meet a real-life astronomer as the inspiration for a movie actor. And find out why she spends her life searching for E.T.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: This week, we're at a movie studio in Atlanta that is taking on the big guns of animation like Disney and Pixar. Fathom Studios is making a full-length animated feature called "Delgo" with voices provided by stars ranging from Jennifer Love Hewitt to Lewis Gossett Junior to Burt Reynolds. It is due out next year. And I got a chance to see how "Delgo" is moving from script to screen.

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JASON MAURER, DIRECTOR, "DELGO:" This type of environment, you have absolute control. I can put my characters anyplace, I can put my camera any place, and I can have 1,000 characters if I want.

SIEBERG, (voice over): Computer animation and virtual cameras give "Delgo's" director Jason Maurer endless options without re shooting anything.

MAURER: If I want to make this shot longer or shorter, all I have to do is grab that dot and drag it over and it is changed. The action hasn't changed. It's exactly the same but where my camera cuts are happening is different.

SIEBERG: Once the director shares his vision for the script, characters must be created, sets and props must be built, all in the computer.

WARREN GRUBB: Everything we have to build has to be sort of unique. So it's not just building an earthly set. It's an entire new civilization.

SIEBERG: Warren Grubb is the film's digital handyman overseeing everything from designing and building "Delgo's" house to dreaming up mystical creatures, and deciding how they walk, breathe, and see.

GRUBB: We went to the zoo and we took a lot of video of different creatures, sort of got these feet that are like elephants and the trunks and you've got a body like a snail.

SIEBERG: He used both high and low-tech artistry to create the main characters' heads.

GRUBB: We actually got a sculptor to mold them physically in clay. So we ended up doing is scanning in with a laser scanner the heads based on these clay figures.

SIEBERG: Animators then use everything from mirrors to their dogs to their own acting skills to bring characters to life.

MATTHEW MUNN, CHAARACTER ANIMATOR: You zoom in on character's face, you get the mirror and you act it out in the mirror yourself, and you try to I guess animate what you see in the mirror.

THOMAS JODD, CHARACTER ANIMATOR: Every animator is a ham at heart. I use my web cam here to try to act out myself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People will thank me and welcome Sedessa (ph) as their true leader.

CHRIS HICKMAN, CHARACTER ANIMATOR: This is a character called Pookie. It's the pet of our evil villain; it is kind of a cross between a dog and a bird. He kind of looks a little bit like my Boston Terrier Caesar. So I wanted to incorporate some of my pet into the character.

PAUL DIAZ, CHARACTER ANIMATOR: Our job is to give life to these characters. If you can get that from me, then I've done my job. My six seconds that I've got here and you felt something, and then I accomplished what I set out to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that part. This one?

SIEBERG: Sometimes it's the actor's voice that takes charge of the scene.

PETE DEVLIN, CHARACTER ANIMATOR: Chris Cattan (ph) had ad libbed the entire line. So as much as he had ad libbed the line, I sort of ad libbed the animation.

SIEBERG: In his first feature film, Fathom Studios scored a coupe by snagging Freddie Prince Jr. to play Delgo. Jennifer Love- Hewitt (ph) is his love interest. Val Kilmer, Anne Bancroft and Lieu Gossett Jr. are among the other star voices. Lighting then adds detail and mood to their characters without the restrictions of human actors and a real set.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, one of the great things about virtual lighting is that we can have lights that don't cast shadows. We can have a light right in front of a character's face. We have so much more control over our lighting that we can make her look so much more evil.

SIEBERG: For animators, smoke, fog, water and grass pose enormous challenges.

MATT WILSON, LIGHTING ARTIST: Just by adding a little bit of grass to the scene, you can see that it adds volume to it and really sort of changes the environment the characters are in and adds one more level that illusion that we need to pull off an interaction with the viewer.

SIEBERG: Along with creativity, there's a lot of math and physics in animation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of technology that goes into creating all the guys.

SIEBERG: A major battle scene begins with particles.

JOHN LYTLE, TECHNICAL: Now particles are just little points in space. They have a mass. They have physical traits pretty much like anything in the real world. These particles are seeking out other particles, and what they're doing is basically attacking the other ones and killing them off.

SIEBERG: Director Maurer says the elements all have to work together. MAURER: A good movie should grip you so much that you forget about all those things. The best special effect is one you never see.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When we come back, the Sierra Club has been in a political battle as fierce as anything Mother Nature can dish out. We will tell you why.

And later, would you like a DVD player that will censor your movies for you? It may be available soon or it may not. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Fathom Studios has won all sorts of awards for its animation in television, video and CD-ROM. Some very different awards were announced this week for environmental activism, the annual Goldman Awards called the Nobel Prize for the environment.

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SIEBERG, (voice over): Margie Richard fought for years, to hold show chemical accountable for the health problems that plagued the people in her Louisiana community.

MARGIE RICHARD, 2004 GOLDMAN PRIZE WINNER: I said we really need to become organized well enough to confront the opposing persons, which were Shell. I knew we had to become well organized to be heard.

SIEBERG: The former middle school teacher becomes the first African American recipient of the Prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. An award that celebrates grass-roots environmental activism around the world. The 20th anniversary of the world's worst industrial disaster is at the foundation of the struggle launched by Richard Be (ph) and Champo Debbie Shookla (ph).

Many survivors of the 1984 gas leak that killed more than 20,000 people in Bohopal (ph), India, are still ailing to this day. They're suffering caused Bee and Shookla (ph) to seek justice and hold companies accountable for practices that injured the people or ecology in their region. In the midst of a violent narcotics war in Columbia and lax government policies that threaten nearly 30 percent of the region's plants and animals with extinction, Libya Gereso (ph) led a campaign that secured nearly six million acres in territorial rights for her nation's rural black communities. Giving them more control over development in their area. For years, Attorney Rudolph Amenga- Etego risked assassination in his struggle against Gona's (ph) government to ensure that the African nation's poor could access clean water.

RUDOLF AMENGA-ETEGO, 2004 GOLDMAN PRIZE WINNER: The present water was going up and up and up and many people were being disconnected because they couldn't pay their bills.

SIEBERG: His grass roots movement united his country's citizens and blocked a major water privatization project sponsored by the World Bank that he says would have limited people's ability to obtain affordable water supplies.

Manana Coach Lanzi (ph) launched an environmental campaign that won protections for local villagers in her home of Toblese (ph) in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Her efforts stopped the development of a major oil pipeline. It would have threatened the ecology and natural water resources in the region.

After centuries of ecological degradation under colonial occupation and warfare in East Timor, Dimetra Decarvala (ph) head of the only environmental organization on the Asian Island. Works with the poverty stricken population to encourage them to limit practices that degrade their natural resources. That's a mission shared by all the winners of this year's award.

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SIEBERG: In case you're wondering, each Goldman Prize comes with $125,000 award. Well the Beluga Sturgeon is about to be awarded some protection by the United States. The fish found in a black and Caspian seas in Europe and Asia are the source of beluga caviar. The fish and wildlife service Tuesday announced it would classify the fish as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Rules for protecting Sturgeon will be issued in six months. The United States is the world's largest importer of beluga caviar.

While efforts of anti immigration forces to take over the Sierra Club came to a head this week. As the nations most influential environment group announce the results of a controversial election for its board of directors. Casey Wian reports.

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CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Long time environmental activist Robert Van De Hoek led the Sierra Club's efforts to save 660 acre of southern California wetlands from development, but he and four other candidates from the Sierra Club's board failed in their bid to push the 112-year-old environmental organization in a new direction.

ROBERT ROY VAN DE HOEK, SIERRA CLUB BOARD CANDIDATE: I see immigration and national parks and nature all linked together in wanting to protect our country and preserve our nature, our biological diversity, endangered species, our open spaces. We have to think about population and immigration.

WIAN: While candidates in favor of immigration restrictions received fewer than 10 percent of the vote, a growing number of the Sierra Club's 750,000 members are angry over its failure to recognize immigration as a serious environmental threat. They contend the influx of a million legal and 700,000 illegal immigrants each year contribute to environmental problems ranging from water shortages in Colorado to congested freeways in California. But some in the Sierra Club establishment branded the campaign a takeover attempt by racists and animal rights extremists. Descendent directors deny that and accuse the club's establishment of running a campaign of dirty tricks.

MARCIA HANSCOM, SIERRA CLUB BOARD MEMBER: It's disappointing but not totally unpredictable that an election that so much money was spent on would have a result like this. The election was definitely bought.

WIAN: The Sierra Club president calls those accusations ridiculous.

LARRY FAHN PRESIDENT SIERRA CLUB: And the mandate that the voters, the members of our organization gave to the winning candidates was so huge, that I think it should put to rest any questions about the fairness of the election.

WIAN: Twenty three percent of the Sierra Club's members voted in the election, more than double last year's turn out.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIAN: The Sierra Club president says he hopes the issue of immigration will now go away now that the establishment candidates have won the election, but dissidents say no way and they are expected to file a lawsuit seeking to overturn the election.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coming up in our next half hour, new technology to protect kids from sex and violence on DVDs. And why movie directors hate it.

Also, we'll visit some stars that movie directors love and see how their feelings about the environment change their daily lives. Those stories and a lot more coming up right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Welcome back to NEXT@CNN. This week from Atlanta's Fathom Studios. Well, creative movie makers everywhere spend months or years getting their film exactly the way they want it. So a group of directors and studios is understandably upset about new technology that'll allow a machine to edit out parts of a movie that somebody might find offensive.

J.J. Ramberg explains.

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J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With this much violence, parents may hesitate before renting "Black Hawk Down" for their kids, but beginning as early as this month, retailers like Wal- mart and K-mart will start selling RCA's latest in DVD technology, a player that filters out vulgar language, graphic violence, and sex. BILL AHO, CEO, CLEARPLAY: You just go to your remote control and look on your TV screen and you make the settings the way that you want them. RAMBERG: In a time where kids are bombarded by marketing for Hollywood's biggest films, Bill Aho, the CEO of ClearPlay, the company which developed the technology, says he sees great demand for the filters. AHO: I think it gives more tools to families and particularly to parents. They may chose whether to use them or whether not to use them and really ClearPlay is a vehicle of choice, but it's another tool to help you to be a more responsible parent. RAMBERG: But is "Austin Powers" really "Austin Powers" without sex? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm Vana Humpalot. RAMBERG: And is the movie "Traffic" the same without the drug use scenes? Hollywood says no. STEPHEN SODERBERGH, FILM DIRECTOR: I have a real problem with somebody else coming in and altering my film and perhaps altering it in such a way that completely subverts the meaning of the film in the first place. RAMBERG: Stephen Soderbergh along with the Directors Guild of America, the seven major studios and a host of other parties are suing ClearPlay and companies like it. SODERBERGH: Somebody taking one of our films, editing it, presenting it to the public and making money is a violation of copyright in my opinion. RAMBERG: The lawsuit is pending. But so far, ClearPlay has not been deterred. AHO: We haven't let it slow us down at all, we are very confident in our legal position. RAMBERG (on camera): Right now, ClearPlay's technology works with nearly 500 DVDs, but executives say there are some films they'll never touch. Movies like: "American Pie" and "The Passion of the Christ"...without the sex and violence in those, those movies just wouldn't make sense. (END VIDEOTAPE) (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANNOUNCER: Just ahead, we'll meet an astronomer who's taking on a risky scientific mission and loves it. (END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) SIEBERG: All right. Well, you may have heard this before but an official government commission now agrees. The oceans are in trouble. The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy issued its report this week. Four years ago, congress mandated the commission be created to establish recommendations for national ocean policy. President Bush appointed a 16-member nonpartisan panel in 2001.

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ADMIRAL JAMES WATKINS, CHARMAN, U.S. COMM. ON OCEAN POLICY: We are calling on Congress and the president to establish a new national ocean policy that balances youth with sustainability, is based on sound science, and educational excellence, and moves towards an ecosystem-based management approach.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIEBERG: Several conservation groups have applauded the reported, which echoes the findings of a 2003 study by the PEW Oceans Commission. That report also concluded that overwhelming scientific evidence proves that marine ecosystems are at serious risk. The U.S. commission's report will be sent to President Bush after comments are added by the nation's governors. The Bush administration is then expected to submit to congress proposals for new ocean policy later this year. Turning to space news now, NASA launched a satellite this week on a mission to prove that Einstein was right. The "Gravity Probe B" blasted off on a Delta II rocket on Tuesday. During its 18-month mission, it'll test Einstein's predictions about how earth's gravity warps time and space. Most scientists think that it'll prove that Einstein was right. The mission has been on the drawing board since 1959 and has been canceled and revived several times. Not surprisingly, it's the longest development period of any mission in NASA history.

And a new crew is taking over the reins of the International Space Station this weekend and they've already got a problem to work on. They took off on a Soyuz rocket early Monday, Moscow time, and arrived at the station on Wednesday. A few hours later, a gyroscope stopped working. Gyroscopes help keep the station stable and in the right position. This failure leaves just two working, that's the minimum needed. NASA says the crew is not in danger, though. And it'll take a space walk to fix the problem sometime in the next month or two.

And China launched two research satellites into space early Monday. One of them is a so-called nano-satellite weighing just over 50 pounds according to the official Chinese news agency. The other will be used for mapping and surveying China's land resources.

Well, space that has been the inspiration for a lot of movies from "Star Wars" to "Alien" to "Plan 9 from Outer Space," a classic, and at least one sci-fi movie character is based on a real astronomer. Miles O'Brien has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JILL TARTER, ASTROBIOLOGIST, SETI INSTITUTE: Did things start up OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

TARTER: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, it started off ...

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jill Tarter is a patient listener, but refuses to listen to conventional wisdom.

For more than a quarter century, she has tried to answer a fundamental question: Are we alone?

TARTER: This is the oldest unanswered question, which is why I love working on it.

And we live in the first age where we can try and do an experiment to get that answer.

JODIE FOSTER, ACTOR: Little green men.

O'BRIEN: She's the real-life inspiration for the Jodie Foster character in the movie "Contact." There, she is portrayed as a stubborn crusader.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are brilliant, driven, a major pain in the ass....

O'BRIEN: She pleads guilty, without apology, to the characterization, her drive rooted in a life-long passion for space.

TARTER: It might have been the Saturday morning cartoon shows, or something, that I watched, but I spent a lot of time walking the Florida Keys with my dad, looking at the sky at night and it just seemed quite reasonable that those stars could be someone else's suns.

O'BRIEN: Born in upstate New York, Jill Tarter was a self- described tomboy. She studied engineering at Cornell and astronomy at Berkeley. And that's where she found the inspiration for her life's work -- an engineering study called the "CYCLOPS Report." For her, it might as well have been a Bible.

TARTER: It wondered how you could detect extraterrestrial intelligence, and it came up with this idea of a huge array of radio telescopes. I read it from cover to cover. I just couldn't stop, because before now, nobody had been able to try and use our technology to find someone else's. And suddenly, I was just hooked.

O'BRIEN: She was hooked on a scientific field that didn't really exist. The basic premise -- if there are intelligent civilizations out there somewhere, might they not transmit a radio beacon to the cosmos? WUFO, if you will. And if aliens are broadcasting, shouldn't we try to tune in?

TARTER: All right. So, let's see what's in here.

O'BRIEN: Jill Tarter wanted to build a career doing just that. But many of her peers warned her it was a road to scientific obscurity.

PAUL DAVIES, PHYSICIST & AUTHOR: I was a student in the '60s in London. And I got really interested in the idea of life elsewhere in the universe. And not only did my student colleagues, but professors and, in fact, anybody I spoke to thought this was totally crazy, that no one believed that there was life beyond earth. But, in any case, it would be a huge conjecture, that you would be mad to make that the subject of a scientific career.

O'BRIEN: But over time, Jill Tarter found a lot of company here on earth, if not beyond.

In 1984, she co-founded the SETI Institute in California. SETI stands for "Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence."

Today she is the lead researcher for SETI, which is funded by private donors. The field that is her passion has moved from the fringe toward the mainstream, and she is a scientific rock star.

CHRIS CHYBA, SETI INSTITUTE: I've known Jill as long as I've been in the field. Now, you can't start in the field of what's now called astrobiology and not know about Jill Tarter.

TARTER: What you see is a spherical reflector. Everything focuses at a point.

O'BRIEN: We caught up with Jill Tarter at the world's largest radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. She and her team use it to search for an alien beacon.

There are at least 200 billion stars, give or take, in our own galaxy -- just one galaxy. And so far, searchers for extraterrestrial intelligence have examined a grand total of 10,000 stars.

I guess that puts it in some perspective, then.

TARTER: Well, when we say we haven't begun to search, that kind of gives you a feeling for what we're talking about.

O'BRIEN (on camera): But how do they know what frequency the aliens might use? Or if they use radio waves at all? They could use laser beams or something we can't even imagine. And why would they bother to send a beacon at all? We could if we wanted to, and yet we don't.

The questions go on and on, which leads us to the critics who say Tarter is casting too narrow a net for an elusive prey, using human technology to reach a life form that is probably anything but.

We seem to be looking for ourselves. Is that because that's the only thing we know, and therefore, that's what we should look for? Or are we putting on blinders that may be limiting our ability to see what's really out there?

TARTER: Sure. I mean, we would love to get out of our skins as humans and think totally rationally outside the box or the body, and be able to say, well, in the abstract, this is what we should look for.

And we try and do that. But, in fact, we can't conceive what we can't conceive. We are human, and we are limited by what we understand at the moment.

You've got to have two orthogonal coordinates that you can ...

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Jill Tarter says she is content to advance her field by finding better, faster ways to look. She knows she may never get a payoff on the bet of a lifetime. So be it.

For her, there simply is no other question worth spending a lifetime trying to answer.

TARTER: For me, the important thing about detecting another intelligent species, somewhere else in the universe, is that it holds up a mirror to the earth.

And it says, OK, humans, you're all humans. And the differences between us and that life form are vast. And they should trivialize the differences among humans that we find so hard to live with these days.

Is the director here?

O'BRIEN: In the refrigerator, not far from her computer, there is always a bottle of champagne - to be opened when they hit the cosmic lotto.

For now the bubbly remains on ice. And Jill Tarter keeps listening. Wondering if this will be the night.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: What do Ed Norton and Daryl Hannah do to protect the environment? We'll show you when we come back.

Also ahead, a new way to make it to the top.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: We're behind the scenes at Fathom Studios, this week, which is producing a new animated filmed called "Delgo." And I'm joined right now by the executive producer, Marc Adler.

Marc, what was it like doing your first feature film and going up against the Pixars and the Disney's of the world? Do you feel like you have the technological capabilities in place, the computer animators to compete with them?

MARC ADLER, PRODUCER, CO-DIRECTOR: Well, Fathom Studios is the entertainment division of Macquarium Intelligent Communications and we're one of the largest interactive agencies in the country. We've been doing computer animation for over a decade, for television and most recently we've been doing Flash animation on the web. So, we had the animation skills. but to do a project of this magnitude was obviously quite a departure from what we're doing on the commercial side.

SIEBERG: Now, what about getting the big names involved, because the computer side, that's one thing the programming, but then you've got to have actors, those Hollywood stars and you've got pretty big names in this project.

ADLER: Yeah, we have incredible talent. Once again, a very big challenge to attract that type of talent to this project and it required a lot of begging. These people get hundreds of offer letters a week and we had to really cut through the clutter and get through their agent, lawyer, manager, and ultimately the talent to convince them to do the project and the only way was to create a trailer to show them the characters, the worlds, and creatures that exist, and really get them to believe in the project. SIEBERG: And the trailers we're seeing over our shoulder, right?

ADLER: Yes, it is.

SIEBERG: All right. The film coming out next year? Sometime next year?

ADLER: '05.

SIEBERG: All right. Marc Adler, thanks so much for joining us.

ADLER: Thank you.

SIEBERG: All right, well speaking of celebrities, some of them are known for being more than just being pretty faces or good actors. Some are dedicated environmentalists. On this Earth Day weekend, Sharon Collins visits with some of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHARON COLLINS CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Daryl Hannah plays a ruthless assassin in the movie "Kill Bill Vol. 2." In real life, Hannah is equally tough as an advocate for the environment. Among other things, her home is solar, she grows much of her food organically, and runs her cars on used french fry grease. We're not kidding.

COLLINS (on camera): How do you do that? You don't -- do you just pour the oil in your...

DARYL HANNAH, ACTRESS: Well, you -- I mean technically, yes you can go to the grocery store and buy a bottle of oil and put it in your car if you have a conversion kit because it actually just takes pure straight vegetable oil and your car needs like an a $100 modification. But, if it's biodiesel which is vegetable oil, what I use is recycled from fast food restaurants that's thinned with ethanol, you can put it right in your tank just like you do gas.

COLLINS (voice-over): Another star who throws a mean punch on film is Edward Norton. You may remember him from the movies "Fight Club" or "Primal Fear." Well, Norton convinced BP Solar Company to install free systems on homes by getting other celebrities to go solar.

EDWARD NORTON, ACTOR: Through this program, BP has agreed that whenever a celebrity or public figure buys a solar system for their home, BP will donate a matching system to a low income family.

COLLINS: You've seen Ed Begley, Jr. on the big screen and TV. Remember "St. Elsewhere?" But, at his home in L.A., he takes an environmental angle on just about everything he does. Begley even rigged his exercise bike to create electricity for his batteries.

ED BEGLEY, JR. ACTOR: Get the stuff that's cheap that's going to put money in your impact right away, compact florescent bulbs, energy saving thermostat, good insulation, riding a bike to work. COLLINS: Now who hasn't laughed at this guy? Actor Chevy Chase is known for his comedy, but he and his wife, Jayni, founded the Center for Environmental Education to give teachers resources to use in class. The Chevy Chase Earth Day auction supports the center and features everything from lunch with former President Clinton to an autographed guitar from Sting.

CHEVY CHASE, ACTOR: Others like Paul Newman, for instance, sent us a racing jacket.

JAYNI CHASE, WIFE: A Daytona 500 autographed...

C. CHASE: Yeah, that he's autographed. That kind of thing, generosity.

J. CHASE: And Goldie, a fabulous dress that she wore.

Yes, and her last husband, she said.

C. CHASE: Yes, and her last husband, she sent...

J. CHASE: No, no, no.

C. CHASE: She just send him.

COLLINS: Is he an environmentalist?

J. CHASE: He is now.

C. CHASE: No, but we used him for compost.

COLLINS: All joking aside, you can place bids on Chevy's auction through May 6.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Coming up, if your idea of a good time is bossing around a virtual chicken, have we got a website for you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIEBERG: Well, if you're an animator and you want a character to fly, you probably use a computer. But, what if you want a real person to fly? Well, a stuntman to goes by the name "Rocketman," appropriately enough, has figured that out too. He set a new world record this week in London by flying to the top of a 13-story building in a rocket backpack. Rocketman, whose real name is Eric Scott, in his first attempt at the record 11 years ago. He's also given uplifting performances at the 1984 Olympics and at a Michael Jackson tour.

When it comes to creating a wacky character, you can use clay models and sophisticated animation, this was me, by the way, before braces. Or you could put a guy in a chicken suit. Yes, a virtual chicken is at the top of the pecking order on the web at the moment. As Jeanne Moos reports, if you hurry, you can catch the "Subservient Chicken" at the peak of its 15 minutes of fame.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is chicken you serve and now there's Subservient Chicken.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bend over, please.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want him to do a hand-stand.

MOOS: The Subservient Chicken will do almost anything you tell him. Type "touch your toes," He'll touch his toes. Hop on one foot? Even do the moonwalk. The Subservient Chicken has become a Web sensation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a smart chicken.

MOOS: Don't expect this bird to do anything foul.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tickle his butt.

MOOS (on camera): Tickle his butt?

(voice-over): Tasteless commands like "give the bird" will result in a wagging finger, and not the one you asked for. This is Burger King's attempt at what's called viral marketing, creating buzz on the Internet for its revived slogan.

(SINGING): Have it your way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Poke your brains out.

MOOS (on camera): Poke your brains out.

(voice-over): Folks tend to think the Subservient Chicken is live, responding to their commands.

(on camera): You believe the chicken is there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MOOS (voice-over): Actually the chicken was taped performing 400 commands, then turned into a computer program.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Super chicken.

MOOS: The chicken suit was created by the Stan Winston Studio, famed for everything from "Jurassic Park" dinosaurs to Budweiser frogs.

(on camera): How about lay an egg?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MOOS: I knew you'd like that one.

(voice-over): Actually, it's the chicken's favorite move. Though we also like telling it to snap its garter.

ALAN SCOTT, STAN WINSTON STUDIO: It was also designed to be Victorian-esque.

MOOS: Why just order chicken, when you can order one around?

Die.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: In case you'd like to play along at home, you can actually print off your own chicken mask from the website. And, I'll just read off the directions for you. Cut along the dotted line, put on the chicken face, and be subservient.

Well, that's all the time we have to serve you for now. But, here's what's coming up next week.

In 1997, a young man started out as a one-man band cleaning up the Mississippi River. Today he's got a full-time staff and he is organizing cleanup events involving thousands of people. A story that shows the impact that one person can make.

That's coming up on NEXT. Until then, we'd like to hear from you. You can send us an e-mail anytime at next@cnn.com and check out our website, that's at cnn.com/next.

Thanks so much for joining us this week. For all of us, I'm Daniel Sieberg. We'll see you next time.

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