- This story tripped all of my geek senses – io9.com asked what if Doctor Who had done a musical episode before Buffy had? And of course they answered their own question, with video of the fifth Doctor, Peter Davison, and his then-wife doing a Cinderella-themed pantomime one Christmas.
- Legend Stan Lee is creating a wholly new comic book and it’s the ultimate
vanity project. It’s about seven aliens who get stranded on earth when their spaceship crashes. They then befriend none other than Stan Lee. The Super Seven title will launch from Archie and A Squared Entertainment this fall.
- The Hughes brothers have successfully launched The Book of Eli, and their new project is a graphic novel adaptation. A live-action Akira is in the works, finally, from Warner Bros. I’ve been against an Akira movie for years, but the technology may finally be there to make it doable.
- Alice in Wonderland released yet another featurette, this time delving deeper into the madness of the Hatter. It also brings up things I’d never thought of, like Johnny Depp needing to be sure he did his sword fighting like the Mad Hatter would fight, and not like Captain Jack Sparrow.
- Katherine Bigelow and Robert Rodriguez have both passed on Caesar, the Planet of the Apes prequel. Now the script has been floated down the mountain to directors like Pierre Morel and Scott Stewart. Why Fox doesn’t get the hint that this is a Bad Idea I have no idea. Who would you like to see direct it?
- The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) have removed all links to Amazon from their authors’ webpages in protest of the ongoing clash with the Internet giant over ebook pricing. I work for authors, and earn my living producing marginally creative content, so I understand wanting value for your work, but it really seems like nobody is going to come out of this a winner, especiall
y the fans.
- I’ve been meaning to share this concept art of the Guardians of the Universe from the upcoming Green Lantern movie. Much creepier than the cartoons I’m used to.
- Mickey Mouse and the World Yet To Come is a new comics series that started yesterday, mixing elements of classic Mickey with science fiction. It looked a little silly to me, but I showed it to a friend who loves all things Disney and he flipped. Your mileage may vary.
- On Caprica, is young Willie Adama actually William Adama as we know him on Battlestar Galactica? There are some theories out there that say no – his mother’s name is wrong, he’s the wrong age, and a few other details. If this turns out to be true, it’s a mind frak worthy of the BSG universe, but it’s kind of sick and twisted too.
- Also over on SyFy, we talked about their dark reimaginings of classic fairy tales, and expressed some excitement about the new take on Hansel and Gretel. The first trailer is out for Beauty and the Beasts, and while the story may have changed, the CGI budget for effects is pure SyFy.
- Details of the new live action Star Wars television show are starting to leak out, and it sounds a little Star Wars Christmas Special-y to me. Canon conflicts abound, and books have been canceled to make sure no new conflicts pop up.
- Marvel announced the launch of Heroic Age with Avengers #1 in May 2010. They’ve calling it a more colorful version of the heroes. I’m calling it abdominal muscles that don’t exist in nature. But poor Thing, he looks like even more of a blockhead than normal.
- The dangers of time travel are perfectly illustrated in this hilarious clip from CollegeHumor.com riffing on Back To the Future and how things probably would have happened if Hollywood hadn’t been shooting for a PG-13 rating.
- Golden Age science fiction author Phillip Klass, who wrote under the name William Tenn, has passed away at the age of 89. He specialized in humorous, warped stories and was someone I personally discovered in the tattered paperbacks of my middle school.
- Ain’t it Cool News has a couple of reviews of Avatar: The Last Airbender, and they’re mixed. One thing that neither addresses, which worries me, is that the trailers just aren’t funny. The cartoon was a wondrous mix of action, heart, world building and comic relief. How can I tell from the 30-second trailer from last week? I can’t. But this new longer trailer doesn’t bring the chuckles either.
- Michael Shanks thinks Stargate SG1 is toast. No more movies or anything. He even paints a dismal picture of Stargate Atlantis doing any movies. He seems please with his Supernatural cameo, but in odd news, he’s up for a part in Hawaii Five-O with Alex O’Loughlin and Daniel Dae Kim.
- Roland Emmerich tells MTV that his Foundation trilogy will be done with Avatar (blue guys) motion capture technology, because he doesn’t know how else it could be filmed. That’s rich coming from a guy who specializes in destroying the planet in all of his movies.
- Twilight: Breaking Dawn is being split into two movies. There, that’s all the enthusiasm I can muster.
- EA has a new Dragon Age in the pipeline for next year, along with Dea
d Space 2. I seriously doubt either will run on my Sega Dreamcast, so I can’t be too excited.
- Esquire has a photo spread of hottie FringeAnna Torv, and while she’s hiding the tasty bits, she’s nude. She doesn’t come across as naughty enough to be called nekkid, but it’s always the innocent ones.
- SyFy is pushing into programming for the 2-17 year-old set. The first products will be something called Dr. What and a property based on the de Blob video game. No word on where or when the programming will run, except “across all platforms.”
- Buried deep in “Ask Ausiello” over at Entertainment Weekly is news of Parker Stevenson of Hardy Boy fame showing up as a nobleman on Legend of the Seeker. After a deal with the Keeper goes wrong, he kidnaps Kahlan and Cara has to go undercover to rescue her. Ausiello actually says he has multiple spoilers for the show, but this is all he’s coughing up right now.
- I can’t think of a better way to wish you a great weekend than to announce that SyFy is developing an Original Picture called Sharktopus.
