Amanda Seyfried seems to have forgotten her Red Riding Hood for her Esquire photoshoot, and girlfriend is smoking in a black lace body suit, or a corset, or well, anything. To hell with Jennifer’s body!
Robot Chicken has its sights set firmly on two genre targets this year for the full-episode treatment like they gave Star Wars. Both James Cameron’sAvatar and the Twilight series are going to get the Robot Chicken treatment, with Avatar getting spoofed with its own action figures. I expect teary Twihard YouTube protests in 3-2-1.
There are 20 Phrases To Make You Sound Brainier. My favorite?“Avatar, on a contextual level, is an abomination. But when divorced from its own merits, the sensory experiences are ceaselessly winning.” Best part? You can replace “Avatar” with “Rachel” or “Ben” or any friend and get away with calling your friends pretty but stupid to their faces.
I don’t have a specific fantasy angle on this clip, but I think anytime you can bring the sun to a town above the arctic circle in the middle of winter, you’ve performed a kind of magic, and from the looks on the kids faces, I think they’d agree. Oh – and it’s a commercial for orange juice.
The Telegraphspent a lot of time hanging out with Matt Smith on the set of Doctor Who. In addition to talking to his improbably mini-skirted companion Amy Pond, they got to look (but not photograph) the interior of the new, multi-level TARDIS, complete with swing.
Friday I mentioned that it was a good year for Browncoats, as nearly the entire cast of Firefly had gigs. Now comes word thatSummer Glau is joining The Cape, the “everyman” super hero show that NBC is piloting. She’ll play a low rent (blogger) Lois Lane to the low rent Batman knock-off the show is about.
This amused me to no end, and I’d like to know what goes through someone’s mind to have them do Hutts and Recreation as a mashup of Star Wars and Parks & Recreation. I suspect it’s large doses of a psychotropic substance.
Despite losing its Mary Jane, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark on Broadway is apparently moving forward according to the Green Goblin, Alan Cumming. Oddly, he says he has “flying rehearsal” two weeks before he has “rehearsal.”
SyFy’s next dark fairy tale reimagining is Red, which like the Amanda Seyfried movie above, is about Little Red Riding Hood fighting werewolves. SyFy tweeted the first look at their own Red, Felicia Day. I think it’s fair to say they’re going for a contemporary look.
There’s a rumor of a Dr. Who game for Nintendo Wii. The little game system that could is being targeted because it fits neatly into the same “family friendly” demographic that Dr. Who has always attempted to occupy. Plus I’m guessing a Wiimote is a very early-edition sonic screwdriver when you come right down to it.
Entertainment Weeklytries to settle the debate of Batman vs. Superman that’s raged for so many decades, and comes down squarely in the Superman camp, because just like Spock in a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizards-Spock, Superman beats everything.
There is a new Shrek film, and it’s a rip off of It’s a Wonderful Life. Shrek Forever After is what they are promising us is the last in the series, and I intend to hold them to that, even if arson is involved.
Does Wonder Womandeserve theSmallville treatment? There seems to be a decent case for bringing her youth to the small screen.
Chris Weitzgives a long interview about Twilight: New Moon. I can’t think of anything nice to say, so I’ll stop.
As we prepare for a new Nightmare on Elm Street, we get a newFreddie Kruger action figure, both pre-burn and post-burn Freddie.
Finally, Robert Rodriguez showed up at SXSW with a sneak peek of Predators, his “fresh take” on the classic franchise, that he swears will make us forget the films that came before were connected.
It’s been a good week for Browncoats (or Firefly fans). Castle is on a role, so is Chuck. Alan Tudykwas just cast in the rebootof The Rockford Files, and now comes news that Sean Maher andJewel Staite have an upcoming storyline on the mystical SyFy Warehouse 13 season coming up.
MTV says that actor/comedian Patton Oswalt is prepping a one-shot comic with a new chapter to the Firefly story called Serenity: Float Out. It will center around a group of Wash’s friends getting together to christen a new ship.
I suppose I can’t avoid it any longer – the trailer for Twilight: Eclipse has hit the interwebs, and other than a few more long, angsty pans, the only major additions I see are Dakota Fanning and her backup singers (whoops – that’s The Runaways). You can watch, or just catch the boss’ review of the teaser.
Casting is underway for Men In Black 3. This is totally unnecessary. Current names tossed into the hat are Josh Brolin and Sacha Baron Cohen, plus Flight of the Conchords‘ Jermaine Clement. Why can’t a tentacled green alien come up from the subway and eat me instead?
I’d talk about casting for Captain America, but every time I pause writing to check my browser, there’s another name in the mix. With all these guys they’ve considered, they could have cast all of The Avengers and Ultimate Avengers as well.
Charles Stross wrote a delightfully quirky pair of books that take place in The Laundry, which is kind of like the British Secret Service for dealing with the occult. Now it’s being turned into a roleplaying video game called, naturally, The Laundry.
The creators behind the very odd and original Being Human have turned their attention to a new show for BBC One based around superheroes. Not a lot is known at this point, but it does sound like it takes place on a world similar to Earth, but not quite. The “not quite” part won’t be obvious in the beginning — which, let’s face it, is intriguing.
Speaking of British things, there’s a new trailer for Robin Hood out, and it looks possibly worse than Twilight: Eclipse (see, I have a running theme). I don’t remember any epic battles of thousands of knights battling for the king’s throne in the versions I’ve read (OK, watched the Disney cartoon). It’s included here for you to mock, plus it has knights and castles and battles on horseback, so it almost fits.
Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Eric Robertshas agreed to star in Roger Corman’sSharktopus for Syfy. I hope he plays the sane guy that saves the day, because he doesn’t look crazy enough to invent a sharktopus.
Speaking of Sharktopus, if you recall a few columns back I said I wanted SyFy to make Pirahneagle because it was the most terrifying thing I could imagine. A bunch of you jumped in with other great suggestions. We’ve all been one upped, because someone else came up with a list that while lamer than ours, had Photoshop applied to create the beasts. But seriously – Wolfoenix looks like a gay pride mascot.
Most people have a reaction to the name J. Michael Straczynski. He created Babylon 5, which people either think is better than Star Wars, or dumber than Twilight. I don’t know how to react to the news he’s taking over both Superman and Wonder Woman comics.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to describe Box of Shadows. It’s about a 15th century steampunk coffin that lets live people play ghost. But like any good Final Destination rip-off, death isn’t amused they just want to play dead and wants them to stay dead. Still, the box is kind of neat.
Night of the Living Trekkies is headed your way from the publisher of Pride, Prejudice and Zombies. It’s been described as “Galaxy Quest meets Dawn of the Dead” which is either the most terrifying thing I’ve ever heard, or the most brilliant. Head over to the link to see Zombie Spock.
Christopher Nolandid a long interview with the Los Angeles Times that they pitched as being about Inception’s dream thieves, Dark Knight, and Superman. As far as I can tell, all they said is the equivalent of “we know what we’re doing.” No details of any of it emerged other than Superman is a reboot, and Dark Knight 3 is an epilogue. If anybody else finds more content than that, put it in the comments.
The latest analysis over at the always cynical TVbytheNumbers.com has the ratings for Legend of the Seeker up slightly, but not a ton. Needless to say, they have the show on deathwatch.
Robert Englund has the most ridiculous looking horror/comedy micro-budget film in the works called The Moleman of Belmont Avenue. This has camp classic, Troma-should’ve-done-it written all over it, and I can’t think of a better way to start the weekend.
An interview with new Conan Jason Momoa (I’m still bitter they didn’t use my pick of Eric Bana) is up in which Mr. Momoa discusses how he plans to gain ten lbs of muscle for the role. That’s it? Taylor Lautner packed on 30 lbs of sheer abs to play Jacob Black and he’s only twelve years old! Okay, twelve and a half.
I never got into the movie Tron the way some people my age did, so I can’t really force myself to geek out over the trailer for the new film Tron: Legacy. It has that glossy black/chrome/neon aesthetic so many sci-fi movies seem to have these days, and some of the imagery reminds me of that god-awful Ultraviolet movie from a few years back. On the plus side, they’re apparently wielding some version of Xena’s signature weapon, the chakram, so uber-points for that. See it below:
Apparently, Disney changed the name of their upcoming Rapunzel movie to Tangled so it would appeal more to boys, who aren’t keen on seeing a movie with anything resembling a “princess” anywhere within 300 feet of the title. Aw, that’s adorable.
The Hollywood Reporter has an interesting little article about how The Hurt Locker beat out the more-successful-than-God 3D-tastic Avatar. I’m torn, because both movies were incredibly good. Personally, I think it’s because the Academy is comprised of ant-Na’vi bigots who just want to get their hands on some unobtanium, and are angry someone made a movie championing the Pandoran cause.
For those of you out there willing to forgive Hugh Jackman and company for the abominable Wolverine, they’re shooting the sequel in the near future, which is promised to be “very different” from the first film. Note they don’t say “better,” just different.
Last year I wrote an article about gigantomungous animals that exist in real life. Thankfully, I only had to write about the biggies that exist today, because Cracked has a list of 7 (thankfully) extinct giant versions of modern animals. Anyone who knows me knows that my one big weakness is bugs of any kind. Oh, god, I hate bugs, and the bigger they are, the more they creep me out. This list is going to give me nightmares for the rest of my life.
Continuing this unexpected thread of self-promotion, AfterElton.com has a new article up by yours truly concerning the greater ramifications of the deaths of Barca and Pietros on Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
Ever wanted to know what Iron Man might look like if the costume was designed by different artists? Well, now you can!
Details are emerging about “additions” to the story of the movie version of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: it will reportedly include a search for “seven swords.” This actually doesn’t bug me, as the plot of this particular Narnia book is pretty darn slight. But yeah, I’m glad they cut the “new witch.”
And finally, while on the topic of Iron Man, Slashfilm has painstakingly went through the new trailer frame-by frame and spotted Scarlett Johansson’s (I will never be able to spell her name without looking it up) stunt double when performing a crazy lucha libre spinning headscissors takedown. Yeah, that’s right, I know my wrestling moves. What, I can’t have layers? Enjoy the trailer (it’s pretty awesome):
The cast and crew of The Vampire Diaries entertained journalists at The Paley Center, and they’re spinning up for a serious cliffhanger for the season with between seven and nine unresolved points. They’ve also got gadget fever, and seem to think adding something even more unlikely than the “vampire compass” is a good idea.
The Guardian sits down to talk with Matt Smith, the new Doctor Who. Actually, I doubt there was any sitting involved, because it sounds like he could use a decent dose of Ritalyn. Absolutely manic-sounding, and it appears the Doctor will be the same when he returns next month.
Good news! The insanely bad science on Fringeis back for another season. How sad is it that I’d rather they spun Walter and the cow off into their own series instead?
The teaser for the upcoming (licensed and authorized) Buck Rogers webseries premiered Friday. It’s from James Cawley of Star Trek: Phase II fame, and has the odd twist of starting with Buck before he gets sent forward in time, and his father is played by Gil Gerard, who was Buck in the famously so-bad-it’s-good television series.
Matthew Greenberg, who wrote the ridiculously bad 1408, is trying his hand at another Stephen King property. This time he doesn’t want to expend too much energy, so we’re getting a remake of Pet Sematary. Recycling ideas must pay better than aluminum cans.
Alice In Wonderlandshattered all opening records this weekend, raking in $116.3 million domestically ($10.50 of that was mine I’d like back), and $210.3 million globally. So which records fell? Biggest Q1 opening, biggest 3D opening, and the biggest IMAX opening record that was just set by Avatar.
Urgent Smurfs Update: Casting we’re aware of includes Neil Patrick Harris as a human, Alan Cumming as Gutsy Smurf, George Lopez as Grouchy, Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf, and now this gem: Katy Perry is Smurfette. Still missing is the little girl who helps a lost Smurf find their way back to the Smurf Village located in Central Park. This update marked as urgent so you can plan to be plugging your ears in a very remote village in the Himalayas when this movie is released.
I don’t really know what to make of this trailer for Neowolf – it’s just bad-looking. And is it about vampires or werewolves? I saw fangs and neck marks, but then they talk about the full moon. The movie is due out April 20th.
Everybody hoping Lost had a plan to answer all the ridiculous questions they’ve posed over the last few years? You’re out of luck, because it looks like they’re only going to deal with the “important” questions.
And this last picture has no news value: I simply want someone to tell me what a “super-wizard” is capable of, and cite three examples.
B-movie master Roger Corman sat down to explain why he can get away with something as silly as Sharktopus. It really comes down to the fact that if the name gets tossed out and people act interested enough to suspend disbelief, he’ll figure out a way to make a movie about it. So what creature mashup should he try next? I’m going to suggest Piraneagle, because I can’t think of anything more menacing that flocks of flying piranha. Put your suggestions in the comments!
Michael Weingard sure knows how to stir the pot. He wrote an essay saying essentially that Jewish folks don’t write fantasy, they write science fiction, and justified it by citing J.R.R. Tolkein and C.S. Lewis. He then framed it as part of the fundamental differences in beliefs of the religions. This has touched off a war as people name Michael Chabon, Neil Gaiman and Marge Piercy as perfectly applicable examples of why he’s wrong. io9.com has a series of links where you can follow the fight, because it doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon.
I know Wednesday, Tim mentioned the Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter book was going to get the Tim Burtontreatment for a film. Hatchett Books actually filmed a trailer for the book release:
Jay Baruchel is doing press for She’s Out of Your League right now, but io9.com caught up with him and asked him about a magical death match between Nic Cage from the Sorceror’s Apprentice and Gandalf.Naturally he favors his costar Cage, but that could also be because it’s so hard for Gandalf to get around New York City on a horse.
That same press event allowed them to corner the sexy Krysten Ritter and talk to her about Vamps, which she’s doing with Alicia Silverstone. She won’t say much about the film, besides telling us that it’s Clueless with vampires, but the other things she says speak volumes. She’s never seen Twilight, loves True Blood. And she may be questioning her immortality, but she’s not standing in the shadows brooding, either.
Depending on your point of view, this is either good or bad. Roland Emmerich isn’t shooting Foundation next, he’s doing a political thriller. No doubt ending with the world exploding, since that’s what he does. The reason for the delay? The script is still got to lose about 25% of the pages. I’m assuming to make room for special effects.
This is really just one of those feel-good moments that lets you have hope for humanity, or in this case, a bunch of fantasy gamers. CNN has a story about a blind gamer who wanted to beat The Legend of Zelda, and had been culling enough tips and playing by sound. Then he put out an appeal for help on Skype, and over a two year period, a bunch of other gamers compiled a script for him, which he had his computer read to him, and he played the game by touch and by sound. Fantasy nerds, unite!
TheCW has renewedSmallville for a 10th season, meaning they found enough gold bullion to bribe Tom Welling. I guess we’re going to see this whole angst-driven Blur thing drag out another year.
The Magic: The Gathering movie may not be confined to a traditional fantasy setting. The producers say that since the Planeswalkers can travel through time and space, they don’t feel constrained to a Merlin-like setting.
Sam Bayer, who’s just off directing the latest Nightmare on Elm Street incarnation has his sights set on the comic book world for his next project. He wants to go after The Boys, which is a world of operatives that keep superheroes from going rogue. I saw a couple of covers, and it looks sexy and violent – like the thought of Superman hitting a bordello. I’m intrigued.
Slashfilm has a first look at some stills from Zack Snyder’s animated Legend of the Guardians, which gets its first trailer today, with Alice in Wonderland. I’m unfamiliar with the story, so I have no idea if a bunch of pictures of owls tells you anything, other than they must be some seriously tough owls to fly with armor.
As part of that same set of interviews with MTV, Daniel Radcliffe talks a bit about the plans for the scene at the end of Deathly Hallows where Harry and the gang are sending their own kids off to Hogwarts. The plan now is to go all Benjamin Button on them and age everybody with CGI.
Ratings last week were a bright spot for Spartacus: Blood and Sand, which topped a million viewers for the Friday broadcast. On the sci-fi side, Caprica improved a little, but considering it’s so much more widely distributed on basic cable, the fact that it matches the premium pay Spartacus isn’t a reason to celebrate.
Disney just paid for ant-man-themovie.com, spurring speculation that the minor super hero is about to get a major outing from the House of Mouse. But seriously - does anybody think that paying $2 to GoDaddy constitutes a $200 million decision from Disney?
Harrison Ford has confirmed that George Lucashas found an idea for anotherIndiana Jones movie, which would be a miracle, since he obviously didn’t have an idea for the last Indiana Jones movie.
I don’t know what Birdemic: Shock and Terror is – IMDB says 2008, TrailerAddict.com says 2010, and I say it looks like a spoof of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, but it’s hard to be sure. Has anyone seen it?
If Time Bandits is, like your favorite thing, ever, you can drop two Ronald Reagans ($100) on this replica of the map from the movie. At 188 layers and 1.8 GB file size, the detail is amazing, and they’ll print it on canvas for you.
James Cameron has finished a script for the sci-fi medical remake of Fantastic Voyage, where a team gets shrunk down and injected into a person to zap a clot. He has a point that what we know about medical imaging and CGI has improved dramatically since the original in the 1960s, every cartoon on the planet has copied the idea at this point, including Family Guy and Phineas and Ferb – how interesting can they make it? No director yet, but with Cameron fresh off Avatar’s mind-boggling box office, somebody is going to jump on this.
Finally, Comedy Central has a new cartoon series called Ugly Americans premiering next month that seems to be about living and dating in New York, if New York has monsters, zombies, and succubi walking around Manhattan. Which is silly, because we know they all live in Brooklyn.
Apparently not having had their fill of fantasy with Spartacus: Blood and Sand, the Starz network has obtained the rights to Pillars of the Earth, an “epic tale of good vs. evil told against the religious, social and political struggles of medieval Europe.” Man, Starz is becoming the place to be, isn’t it?
Are people excited about the new V? I can’t seem to get my finger on that particular pulse. Well, if you are, we have promises from the powers that be that we’ll see more, more, morein the coming episodes. As for me, I just want to see mega-hottie Morena Baccarin rip her face off. Is that too much to ask?
Okay, I thought the idea ofPride and Prejudice and Zombies was genius. I freakin’ loved the title Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. So needless to say, I am super-stoked to learn that Tim Burton will be directing the upcoming film adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. A possibly risky move considering the novel was just released today.
The part of Albus Dumbledore’s brother Aberforth has been cast, and it’s … Julius Caesar? Actually, it’s Ciaran Hinds, who played Julius Caesar on HBO’s Rome. From slain emperor to crazy old wizard. Not too shabby there, Ciaran.
As a New Yorker, the Tribeca Film Festival has always held a special place in my heart. I love that in a city as commercial as New York there’s a festival that really honors the independent, artistic spirit of roll-up-your-sleeves filmmakers. And I’m proud that they’re honoring that tradition by opening the festical this year with … Shrek Forever After? Seriously? Wow, can’t wait till they open next year’s festival with that hard-hitting indie documentary, Transformers 3.
I ain’t afraid o’ no spoilers. Bill Murray spills the beans on Letterman about the possibility of a new Ghostbusters movie. He doesn’t seem so into it.
This is the kind of tweet that gets a big ol’ Marvel comics fan like me all in a tizzy. Hint: Anyone feel like assembling?
I have to confess, I never read any of Terry Brooks’ Shannaranovels, even though they’ve called to me like sirens every time I pass them in the bookstore. Well, I should get crackin’, because he has three more on the way.
Anyone else suffering from a little Hobbitrumor exhaustion? It’s cast, it’s not cast, it’s in 3D, it’s not in 3D, oh, wait, it might be in 3D. Just make the freakin’ movie already. (Incidentally, I’m currently reading The Hobbit again just for fun. Guess what? It’s just as awesome as you remember. Of course, the best part of the novel is not having to hear any rumors about the making of it.)
After the more-successful-than-God run of Avatar, talk of a sequel is naturally in the works, but James Camerondoesn’t want to call it Avatar 2. He’s thinking he might call it Na’vi. I say he can call it whatever he wants, as long as we don’t have to hear rumors about it for years. Damn you, Hobbit.
Daniel Radcliffe consistently proves he’s a bloody brilliant bloke, most recently for his work with The Trevor Project, a hotline to help LGBT teenagers in crisis. That’s right, a celebrity working for a cause that he’s not personally affected by and doesn’t tie in to a film he’s promoting. He’s just doing it because he knows he has a platform and he wants to use that opportunity for good. Wingardium levi-awesome.
Finally, I’m trying to figure out an excuse I can come up with to post this next link … ooh, I got it. You all saw Look Who’s Talking, right? That was kind of fantasy … wasn’t it? Babies talking to each other? Yeah, that should work. Anyway, here’s 6 scientifically-proven facts that show that babies are completely evil, spiteful, petty A-holes.
The zombie-light film The Craziescame in third place at the box office with a respectable $16.5 million opening, behind the freak-out thriller Shutter Island and the dumb buddy cop movie Cop Out. I call it zombie-light because the zombies aren’t really undead, precisely. I’m a traditionalist.
Speaking of fake zombies, they evidently have First Amendment rights to protest against the blind materialism of American life by preaching in a mall. At least according to an “activist” judge – we’re sure Rush Limbaugh will pipe up that hating consumerism is un-American.
A dozen years after the first film, Todd McFarlane has a plan for his Spawn 2 film, and the plan is if you want something done right, do it yourself. He’s got most of a script, plans on directing, and possibly financing the film all by his lonesome. Seems fitting for a servant of the underworld.
The very first teaser trailer for Tangled is out. This is supposed to be a slightly, well, tangled retelling of Rapunzel story, complete with magic, towers and princes. The Disney film comes out November 24th, just in time for you to fight the Thanksgiving shopping crowds.
Combining the musical with the fantastic, Andrew Lloyd Weberis set to risk everything on his Phantom of the Opera sequel (he calls it a continuation), Love Never Dies. If you ask me, gambling the legacy of a musical that has grossed more than Titanic and Avatar combined is either a sign of amazing bravery, or proof he’s so rich he doesn’t have to care anymore.
The rumor mill says that DC Entertainment is moving full steam ahead with new films. The latest says they’ve found a director for The Flash – Greg Berlanti, who produces a lot of television including Brothers & Sisters on ABC. What do you think – can switch successfully from a sudser to a super hero? Does knowing he wrote most of Green Lantern help?
In other DC Entertainment rumors, the reason Chris Nolan is consulting on the new Superman movie is that his brother Jonahwants to switch from writing to directing, and DC wouldn’t sign off unless Chris was involved. I don’t know what they’re worried about, at this point Superman couldn’t get any worse, unless they try and make it dark, like The Dark Knight.
In still more collisions of Batman and Superman, that record sale price for a comic book set last week by Action Comic #1 with Superman has been eclipsed byDetective Comics #27, where Batman first appeared. The Caped Crusader fetched $1.075 million.
io9.com takes a rather sarcastic look at Beastly, the new take on Beauty and the Beast starring Alex Pettyfer, Neil Patrick Harris and Vanessa Hudgens.While reimaging a fairy tale as a cross between Mean Girls and Gossip Girl should be a kryptonite for me, something intrigues me about this film, and it can’t just be the thought of Mary-Kate Olsen as a witch. If you don’t want snark, just watch the trailer/featurette.
You know what else seems over-the-top at io9.com? Their look at the Marvel-branded television sets, which are evidently a real thing. When the new Disney division showed Marvel-framed televisions on the Disney-produced Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, I assumed it was a one-off, not a synergy thing. Silly me – Mickey Mouse televisions have been around for years, so it makes sense the House of Mouse would exploit Wolverine.
It’s finally happening – Shout! Factory is releasing the Matt FrewerMax Headroomon DVD this coming August. I haven’t seen it in more than twenty years, and I really can’t imagine it holds up all that well, but I have fond memories of the show.
Over at New Scientistthey have an interview with roboticist Noel Sharkey about Artificial Intelligence, the pros and cons, and the likelihood that we could create it, and whether we should create it. It’s a lot more fun to read than it sounds.
Fueling his likely undying fear that Edward Cullen is a role he will never escape from, Robert Pattinson was trying to do press for his new slacker film Remember Me and they couldn’t resist asking him about Twilight: Breaking Dawn, 3D, and whether the book becomes two movies. I’d honestly feel sorry for the guy, except for him being impossibly rich and handsome.
There’s the coolest Lego spaceship I’ve ever seen over at SciFi Wire, and that’s not just because I always had a soft spot for Stargate: Atlantis. Plus, they link you to the 15-year-old artist’s (what do you call a Lego-sculptor?) Flickr site for even more of his starship constructions.
Over at AfterElton.com, I took a only-slightly queer look at Alice In Wonderland, but mostly that was an excuse to post a mountain of media about the movie. There are trailers, interviews, and my favorite – the character progressions showing how they got the Red Queen’s head to look that big or the motion capture on the Tweedles. It’s really fascinating how much of this movie is CGI.
Looking to help Legend of the Seeker get a third season? The folks over at HerBlueEyes.com (a Bridget Regan fan site) offerhelpful suggestions, and even a sample letter to be sent to local affiliates!
And finally, this picture may be old, but it tugged at my heart strings. Evoking the signpost from M*A*S*H, we see distances to all our favorite fantasy realms. I wish I knew who created this so I could thank them.
Crystal Reedsat down to talk a bit about the new MTV movie/pilot for Teen Wolf, and she swears it doesn’t suck. She claims it has a darker, more romantic tone, and is visually more like True Blood. She also says the wolf is more human than wolf because he’s a young werewolf.
Doctor Who will arrive on American shores April 17th, two weeks after it hits the traditional Easter Eve broadcast in the UK.
Danny Glover is back on the silver screen, this time starring in Dragon Fire as Captain Ahab. If that made you do a double take, it should, because Dragon Fire is Moby Dick, but with dragons instead of a white whale.
Brian Dorf has another photo gallery of the construction on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Orlando, and while there’s still some scaffolding up, it looks about ready to put some landscaping down under the roller coaster.
The Telegraph has this really neat gallery of a sculpture contest sponsored by Scotch tape — you read that right. My favorite piece is the dragon pictured here (it sparkles full size), but you should really go and look at all of them. These are people with talent — and a great deal of time on their hands.
The ratings for Spartacus: Blood and Sandrebounded considerably from the dip they took against the Opening Ceremonies. In fact, it was almost a series high this past week for the duel against the Shadow of Death.
I came across two visits to the set of Nightmare on Elm Street 2010, and both said basically the same thing: this might not suck. Dark Horizons describes a few scenes in detail, while Bloody Disgusting emphasizes the stunts and the underpinnings of the world that’s being rebuilt in this film. And we have the trailer below.
Warner Bros. thinks it can manufacture success like Twilight, and is moving forward with plans for Girl With the Red Riding Hood, a modern update on the Grimm Brothers tale. To ensure success, they’re replaced the wolf with werewolves, and brought in Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke to direct.
In comics news, launching next week, at the same time as the Star Trek:TNG #24, we have the rather poorly titledStar Trek Movie Adaptation #1, based around the slightly skewed Roddenberry universe of last summer’s film. Looking at a few pages though, all the characters look like Commander Data to me, but I’m not much of an art student.
The Guardian has a list of tips for aspiring authors from some of the greats in the field, including fantasy legend Neil Gaiman. While most of the authors seem to focus on syntax and structure, I like that Neil focuses on writing, one word after the other. That’s the hardest part, even as a blogger. The first sentence of this news summary took two hours to write. All the others flowed much more easily.
While we’re talking about Neil Gaiman, he put a short post over on Tor.com saying his very existence in the literary field is entirely Michael Moorecock’s fault. So if by some chance you don’t like Neil, you know where to send the complaints.
Charles Stross is mainly know for his science fiction, but some of his early work deals with the concept of the occult and monsters, and what would happen if the government had to get involved in regulating that like it does weapons of mass destruction. Which makes a lot of sense in the books, but less when summarized. In any case, he crosses genres, and he recently sat down for a casual interview with Tech4Thought.com to discuss what science fiction is.
Recently, Action Comics #1sold for a record $1 million (said best in Dr. Evil voice). Action Comics #1 is the first appearance anywhere of Superman, or after this event, Superwallet. Fortunately, Action Comics #1 ranks at the top of the list for most expensive comics.
I’ve groused a bit before about the apparent lack of humor in Avatar: The Last Airbender, and this interview with Jackson Rathbone, who plays Sokka, doesn’t help my concern. Sokka is the comic relief, and the humanizing factor in the cartoon, as he has not bending of the elements. Here he mostly talks about fighting in the movie, and how it helped him for Twilight: Eclipse.
Matthew Goodehas auditioned for the part of Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit, which is good news in that they seem to be making progress if auditions are happening. It’s bad news because I just can’t see Matthew Goode as Bilbo — he’s almost impossibly handsome and would make a better elf.
Fox has picked up the rights to a series of science fiction books by John Twelve Hawks called the Fourth Realm Trilogy and has set Watchmen co-writer Alex Tse to turn them into screenplays. While the description says they’re science fiction, it also says the heroes can use a sort of astral projection to send their spirits into other dimensions, so it seems to scramble some genres. Has anyone read them?
io9.com gives a gallery of some DC Comics cosplayers from France, and frankly, they’re hot. These are not your normally gathering of geeks – some of these girls could be runway models. As for the guys, well, that looks about normal.
The most recent ratings for The Legend of the Seeker show that through February 13, it was tying season highs, and looking really good. The only issue I see for renewal is that the syndication market is really rough right now, and original programming is pricey. But this looks like a consistent performance.
How To Train Your Dragon has stopped bombarding us with silly Olympic spoofs and release a theatrical trailer. I have to admit, the more I see, the less opposed I am to seeing this movie. I’m not sold yet, but I do like some of the action scenes in this trailer, and I’m willing to forgive what I see as an uninspiring animation style.
Mickey Rourke is in demand these days. Not only is he finishing up his role as Whiplash in Iron Man 2, he’s also being pursued for a couple of fantasy scripts, including the role of Conan’s father in the Conan the Barbarian remake starring Jason Mamoa. Also in the fantasy realm is casting for King Hyperion in War of the Gods with Henry Cavill of Tudors fame.
There’s a list available of all the authors that are opting out of Google’s book scanning project, and it’s bad news for science fiction and fantasy fans, because all the big favorites are on the list, not just Ursula K. Le Guin.
Peter Berg’sBattleship movie won’t begin with an alien battle, even if it gets there eventually. And it won’t be in 3D, either, making it a bit of an oddball for action films. But not to worry – Taylor Lautner’sStretch Armstrong will be reach out from the screen to grab you in full, wondrous 3D.
I want to finish with two clips from Alice In Wonderland, which is opening next week. The first is the most extensive world building and interview piece we’ve seen to date, and several new actors like the Tweedle’s Matt Lucas appearin it.
And the second is a short clip from the film where Anne Hathaway as the White Queen makes a magic potion to shrink Alice back to the right size. Some of the ingredients are a little questionable – I might just stay tall.
For those who love a little high fantasy with their gambling, Microgaming is unleashing video slot machines based on the Lord of the Rings movies. Makes sense — anyone who’s spent any time in a casino knows that the people hunched over the video slot machines bear more than a passing resemblance to Gollum.
Arrr! Deadwood’s Ian McShaneis in talks to join the cast of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth installment of the super popular series. It’s funny. I never realized how attached I was to Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann until I learned that the series was going on without them.
While we’re on the subject of POTC, here’s a cool little report about the Black Pearl — the actual ship used in filming — arriving in Hawaii while they prep for the new movie. Is anyone else surprised to discover it’s actually a sea-worthy vessel?
Early reactions to the new high-fantasy-spoof Your Highness are rolling in, and it’s looking good. But then, with a cast that includes James Franco and Zooey Deschanel, did we really have any doubts?
Speaking of early reports, a few lucky chaps got a sneak-preview of some footage from the latest Narniamovie, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and were mighty pleased with what they saw. (Let’s hope so. I thought Prince Caspian was way too dark and depressing.)
io9 has a list of 18 shows that they believe could save sci-fi and fantasy on the small screen. It’s a pretty exhaustive list, but oddly it includes the upcoming remake of La Femme Nikita. I was a huge fan of the series with Peta Wilson from the 9′0s, but I don’t remember it being science-fiction at all. Am I remembering it wrong?
One of the shows on the aforementioned list is a possible US version of the hit British show Torchwood, which is of course a spin-off of another hit British show, Doctor Who. After hearing about it for years, I finally watched all three seasons, and was delighted to discover it actually exceeded the hype. But half of its charm was the Welsh and British accents, so I’m not sure how smoothly the transition to the states would work. Plus, given how creator Russel T. Davies loves nothing more than brutally killing his beloved main characters, I’m wondering if there’s anyone left loyal enough to give it a chance.
You know how Barbie has had about a million jobs? Here’s a hilarious list of how 20 action figures spend their moonlighting time.
For everyone out there who, like me, has been watching Lost since the very first season and who, like me, has a horrible memory, here’s a reminder of the great storylines that … uh … never actually went anywhere. Oh, yeah! Remember when Charlie was a horrible person? Forgot all about that.
So there’s a movie coming out called Centurion, which tells the story of seven Roman soldiers who are stranded behind enemy lines when their legion is attacked and slaughtered in Britain. So, the guys who invaded and attempted to conquer an entire race of people … are the good guys? And the ancient Britons who are fighting back, led by a rather Boudicca-esque leader, are the bad guys? Interestingly, the film doesn’t have distribution in the states as of yet.
Turns out both Matt Damon and Jake Gyllenhaal turned down the lead role in Avatar. Good move, guys. I mean, sure neither one of you is exactly hurting for cash right now, but still.
Finally, just so everyone can stay on the same page with all of the genre shows that are currently on the air, Trekmovie.com gives us a handy-dandy renewal report card.
Our long national nightmare with vampires has happened before, and it will happen again. According to NPR, vampires always appear during time of chaos and strife, because they stand above all the ups and downs of humanity. So since the economy sucks, so do the vamps.
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton sat down with MTV to talk about Alice In Wonderland, but ended up on a tangent about the worst idea Johnny had ever had for a movie – H.R. Punstuf with Johnny in the role of Freddy the Magic Flute. There’s also this story about flatulent horses during the filming of Sleepy Hollow.
The 2009 Nebula Awardnominations have been announced, and while I’m evidently too illiterate to have read any of the books, I have seen three of the movies. “Put him in the cone of shame.” Up was nominated.
io9.com points us to the SCP Foundation, which is a Wiki project to catalog the weird. In essence, it’s a database with bite-size descriptions of monsters, immortals, objects of power, and the like. It’s organized like a shadowy Warehouse-13style organization that catalogs and organizes a shadow world that takes place in the shorts that are submitted.
Comic Book Resources has an interview with Jeanine Schaefer on Marvel’s Girl Comics. I’m not a huge expert on the characters, but it seems like they set out to grab attention for the series with a polarizing name. There are worse things in the world.
I know we once featured the Locus Recommended Reading List, but this version looks longer – maybe what we had before was a teaser list? In any case, I recognize a few of the books here, and more than a few of the authors, so go buy a some and prepare for the next paralyzing blizzard.
We tend to think of green-screen special effects as the sole province of fantasy and science fiction movies and television. This Stargate Studios production reel shows a different story, with work on everything from Mars landings to adding a subway train to Ugly Betty. We can no longer trust anything we see, apparently. On the plus side, you can now show this to your friends that mock your favorite fantasy show:
There’s a great blog that has a guy recapping episodes of Lost from the point-of-view of someone who hasn’t watched any of the seasons of Lost. It’s hilarious if you think the series is “punking” us all, since there really is no master plan. If you think it’s the most brilliant television ever aired, please send the hate mail to him, not me.
Evil Wil Wheatonis returning toThe Big Bang Theory as Sheldon’s arch nemesis. Last time he out-geeked Sheldon, this time Sheldon wants revenge. If this doesn’t excite you, please turn in your all of you Magic: The Gathering Cards and proceed to TMZ.com
There’s an argument being made for why NBC shouldn’t cancel Heroes, and parts of it make sense, like reaching the magical 100 episodes required for syndication. But the best argument I’ve come up with isn’t in the article: NBC obviously hates viewers, so why shouldn’t they keep punishing us with more episodes of what this show has turned into?
We mentioned last week that Supernatural is coming back for season six, and we said that Eric Kripke, who has guided it from the beginning, would be returning. We were sort-of right. He’s still doing the mapping of the show, and producing, but he’s handing showrunner duties over to Sera Gamble. Can’t lie, it makes me a little nervous.
J.K. Rowling is named in yet another lawsuit charging she stole the ideas for the Harry Potter books. In this case, it’s fairly narrow, concerning mostly elements of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but that’s not stopping the lawyer from talking about going for a billion dollars from the thing.
Geekcrafts has an awesomeAvatar: The Last Airbender cake version of Appa, along with step-by-step construction tips for making your own. This is edible, and frankly looks more like Appa should than that hard plastic action figure last week. Also, there’s a new trailer with a few seconds of new footage that aired during the Winter Olympics. Still not seeing the humor – needs more Sokka.
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udyk 
names tossed into the hat are Josh Brolin and Sacha Baron Cohen, plus Flight of the Conchords‘ Jermaine Clement. Why can’t a tentacled green alien come up from the subway and eat me instead?
because he doesn’t look crazy enough to invent a sharktopus.
pitched as being about Inception’s dream thieves, Dark Knight, and Superman. As far as I can tell, all they said is the equivalent of “we know what we’re doing.” No details of any of it emerged other than Superman is a reboot, and Dark Knight 3 is an epilogue. If anybody else finds more content than that, put it in the comments.
The Hollywood Reporter has an 
for the rest of my life.
es instead?
human, Alan Cumming as Gutsy Smurf, George Lopez as Grouchy, Jonathan Winters as Papa Smurf, and now this gem: Katy Perry is Smurfette. Still missing is the little girl who helps a lost Smurf find their way back to the Smurf Village located in Central Park. This update marked as urgent so you can plan to be plugging your ears in a very remote village in the Himalayas when this movie is released.
the name gets tossed out and people act interested enough to suspend disbelief, he’ll figure out a way to make a movie about it. So what creature mashup should he try next? I’m going to suggest Piraneagle, because I can’t think of anything more menacing that flocks of flying piranha. Put your suggestions in the comments!
about Vamps, which she’s doing with Alicia Silverstone. 
super hero is about to get a major outing from the House of Mouse. But seriously - does anybody think that paying $2 to GoDaddy constitutes a $200 million decision from Disney?
Voyage, where a team gets shrunk down and injected into a person to zap a clot. He has a point that what we know about medical imaging and CGI has improved dramatically since the original in the 1960s, every cartoon on the planet has copied the idea at this point, including Family Guy and Phineas and Ferb – how interesting can they make it? 
As a New Yorker, the Tribeca Film Festival has always held a special place in my heart. I love that in a city as commercial as New York there’s a festival that really honors the independent, artistic spirit of roll-up-your-sleeves filmmakers. And I’m proud that they’re honoring that tradition by opening the festical this year with … 
Daniel Radcliffe consistently proves he’s a bloody brilliant bloke, most recently for 
the dumb buddy cop movie Cop Out. I call it zombie-light because the zombies aren’t really undead, precisely. I’m a traditionalist.
on 
Wolf, and she swears it doesn’t suck. She claims it has a darker, more romantic tone, and is visually more like True Blood. She also says the wolf is more human than wolf because he’s a young werewolf.
tape — you read that right. My favorite piece is the dragon pictured here (it sparkles full size), but you should 
field, including fantasy legend Neil Gaiman. While most of the authors seem to focus on syntax and structure, I like that Neil focuses on writing, one word after the other. That’s the hardest part, even as a blogger. The first sentence of this news summary took two hours to write. All the others flowed much more easily.
Arrr! Deadwood’s Ian McShane 
One of the shows on the aforementioned list is a possible 
because they stand above all the ups and downs of humanity. So since the economy sucks, so do the vamps.
Comics. I’m not a huge expert on the characters, but it seems like they set out to grab attention for the series with a polarizing name. There are worse things in the world.
nemesis. Last time he out-geeked Sheldon, this time Sheldon wants revenge. If this doesn’t excite you, please turn in your all of you Magic: The Gathering Cards and proceed to TMZ.com
Harry Potter books. In this case, it’s fairly narrow, concerning mostly elements of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but that’s not stopping the lawyer from talking about going for a billion dollars from the thing.