The Galactica Sitrep reports that Mary McDonnell will leave the president’s office aboard the Galactica to join ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy for a mid-season three-to-five episode arc. Episode ten is already filming so this should air after the holidays when the final Battlestar Galactica episodes also air on Sci Fi Channel.
IDW Publishing has announced that veteran entertainment and media executive Greg Goldstein has joined the company as Chief Operating Officer. Goldstein will manage the company’s day-to-day operations as well as help guide IDW as it expands its existing product lines and enters new categories.
Goldstein is an industry veteran since working for Topps Comics followed by stints at Inkworks, Activision, Acclaim and most recently Upper Deck. He also founded and ran his own entertainment concern, Popmania.
Well be presenting an exclusive interview with Goldstein later this week.
This comes at a time when IDW has surpassed Image as the number four comic book publisher in America. It’s best known for its mix of media tie-ins from the just acquired G.I. Joe to Star Trek. They also publish original works such as Joe Hill’s Locke & Key.
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This Week’s Operation: "The Mousetrap"
Mission Briefing:
Charley Dixon and his wife Michelle are fleeing town from the big bad Terminator, when Cromartie himself shows up and abducts Michelle. Charley enlists the help of Sarah and Derek Reese, who track Michelle to an abandoned shack in the desert. She’s strung up to a series of explosives, that turn out to be fake. Cromartie was trying to lure Sarah out in the open so she’d contact John, and then he could trace his location. His mission successful, Cromartie blows up the shack and drives off in pursuit of John. Michelle is severely injured in the blast and needs a hospital, but Cromartie has sabotaged Sarah’s car. They hijack a van and race against time to save both John and Michelle.
Meanwhile, John goes to buy a computer with Cameron, but ditches her to hang out with his new friend Riley. Cameron stalks them from a distance, but Riley and John catch on and run off. John gets a phone call from Cromartie posing as his mother. Using Sarah’s voice, he tells John to meet at a nearby pier. John shows up and sees that it’s not his mom at all, unless she’d undergone extensive work in the past couple hours. John pulls some Mission: Impossible moves to evade Cromartie, and the two eventually wind up in the ocean. Luckily for John, Terminators don’t move so well in the water, and Cromartie sinks to the bottom. John and Cameron later reunite with Derek and Sarah, and John notices blood in the hijacked van. It’s revealed that Michelle died from her wounds, and Charley is not happy at all.
Elsewhere, former FBI agent James Ellison is contacted by mysterious CEO Catherine Weaver, who is secretly a T-1000. She tells him that her company has been trying to reverse engineer Terminator technology from parts they’ve found in recent years, but their attempts haven’t been successful. She wants answers, but more importantly, she wants Ellison to help her find another Terminator.
While promoting his role on TNT’s Raising the Bar, J. August Richards was asked about Gunn’s role in the Angel: After the Fall comic. The comic, from IDW, continues the WB’s series as a sixth season which saw Gunn turned into a vampire and becoming the latest Big Bad.
“You’re kidding!” he exclaimed to ifmagazine. “Oh, my God. I need to see this. That is crazy. I was told that that was what was going to happen if we were to continue or do a TV movie, but I’m so happy to actually see it happening somewhere. I always thought Gunn’s end should be, he should turn into a vampire and kill himself. That’s always how I saw that character ending. I hope I get to act that one day, I really do. I’m still connected to that character.”
The Times of London confirms that the Hot Fuzz duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost has been asked to play the Thompson Twins in Steven Spielberg’s Tintin. Hergé’s identical twin detectives were usually played for comic relief so the casting sounds ideal.
"[Spielberg] said, ‘Hey, maybe you and Nick Frost could play the Thompson Twins’", Pegg ttold the Times Online.
Thomson and Thompson as they are known, can only be told apart in the albums by their mustaches. Thomson is the bumbling detective with the flared moustache whle the bumbling detective with the flat moustache is Thompson. The duo of incompetent detectives first appeared in Cigars of the Pharaoh which was first published in 1932. At the time, they were intially identified just as X33 and X33bis.
The pair are said to be physically inspired by Hergé’s father and uncle, who were twins, complete with matching bowlers. Historians say a picture of two mustachioed, bowler-hatted, formally dressed detectives appearing on the cover of the March 2, 1919 Le Miroir also influenced the storyteller.
With the news that Albert Finney has been cast for one of the Doctor Who 2009 Specials, speculation is running at Blogtorwho that he will reprise Winston Churchill, a part he’s played on television in the past.
So, it’s probably best to sum up all that we know to date about the four Specials and the annual Christmas story so we can keep fact from fiction straight.
The 2008 Christmas Special, entitled "The Next Doctor" according to the BBC, will guest star David Morrissey (The Other Boleyn Girl) and Dervla Kirwan (True Dare Kiss) and air on the BBC in December. No American airdate has been announced.
The four 2009 specials have two written by producer Russell T. Davies, one written by Davies and Phil Ford and one by Davies and Gareth Roberts. Two are expected to be filmed in the United States. One will feature the characters of Donna Noble(Catherine Tate) and her grandfather, Wilf (Bernard Cribbins). The Master (John Simm) will be back for one story. Brian Blessed has been announced but either as Yrcanos or someone new. George Moffett will be back as the Doctor’s daughter Jenn.
As for opponents beyond The Master, the site says a scene from the season finale featuring Cybermen aboard the TARDIS was cut (but is expected on the DVD release) and may set up the first Special. The Sea Devils, last seen in 1984’s “Warriors of the Deep”, are said to be coming back.
The first special is currently scheduled to air in the UK next April. The second special may not air until Christmas time and then the final two are set to run the week following.
Finally, a new Children in Need special is rumored as being planned fopr their November 14 broadcast which will feature former Doctors Peter Davison, Sylvester McCoy and Colin Baker. To raise funds, a behind-the-scenes tour of the studios where Doctor Who, The Sarah Jane Adventures and Torchwood are filmed is being offered as a prize in this year’s BBC Children In Need appeal.
Cardiff will play host to 100 competition winners, who must be UK residents, and their friends and families on November 8 and 9, during a brief gap in the production schedule.
Russell T. Davies said in a release, "This is so exciting. Giving fans the opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes look at where we film Doctor Who, Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures is just brilliant.
"It’ll be the perfect opportunity for the whole family to experience something unique and truly extraordinary. It will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience – and the best thing is that all the money raised will go towards BBC Children in Need."
To be in with a chance of winning a place on the tour, people will have to correctly answer a multiple-choice question. This will be announced on Friday, September 26 on The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 and on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru. It will also be available on the official Doctor Who website, along with the full terms and conditions.
Those of you who left [[[Heroes]]] after the debauchery that was season two may want to make a return to the show for this season, because if the first two episodes were any indicator, this season is going to be exactly what comic book and TV fans alike have been waiting for.
Where we left off
The virus from the second season was contained by the heroes. Adam (the immortal man) was taken away by Hiro, while Nathan, Peter, and Matt decided that it’s time to tell the world exactly who they are. Right before Nathan’s big “outing”, he was shot by a mysterious man and presumed dead. Sylar escaped the clutches of Elle and the company, only to realize that his powers were coming back. Nikki went on a quest to save her cousin Monica from evil drug dealers when she was trapped in a building when it exploded. Finally reaching Suresh, Maya, the girl with the power to kill people when she cries, begs him to help her get rid of her powers. All this while Noah (HRG) is captured and put into custody by the Company, and Claire is safe in Texas, for now.
What’s changed
Between the backlash that the show received online from the fans, and the untimely writers’ strike, this show went through quite a few last minute changes, cutting the season in half with only 11 episodes. Originally, the plan was to have Sylar off the series for a while, while actor Zachary Quinto worked on J.J. Abrams’ [[[Star Trek]]], but due to the episode cut, they were able to work around his schedule, and have Sylar back in full swing for this season. Many other things were changed due to the negative response the show runners got from the fans. One big change for this season was a lack of superfluous characters. The “Spanish wonder twins” — Maya and her dead brother — were a big problem for the online community, and Maya’s role will take a whole new — and far less whiney — turn this season. Also, Nikki’s cousin Monica, who had the ability to mimic any action she saw on TV (much like any 11 year old boy) will be completely gone this year, and whether she’s even mentioned in dialogue or not is still unknown (ie. “Boy, things have been quiet here ever since Monica left to fight crime in Ireland”). Along with those changes came new character arcs, which may or may not fall in line with the consistency of the show. For instance; the “my two dads” storyline in which Suresh and Parkman took care of the child Molly, will be abolished. In fact, Suresh goes through a whole new metamorphosis this season, both physically and emotionally.
Finally, the biggest change in the show, and the best element of the two-part premiere; the pacing and revelation of the plot. A major problem with the series in the past was that it took six episodes for anything noteworthy to actually happen. In the first two hours, we get more questions answered and action-packed moments than you could ask for. Of course there will still be bigger questions to be revealed at a later episode, but you can thank the formula of modern hour-dramas for that.
For a while now, I’ve been thinking that maybe Jonathan Lethem is the best writer of his generation. What prevents me from just coming out with it… Dammit, Lethem is the king! – is that I haven’t read many other writers of Lethem’s (and my son’s) generation. Maybe the Elvis Presley of prosemeisters is lurking out there someplace, with a birthday that puts him somewhere between 40 and 50, and I just haven’t heard of him. So let me be content with stating the obvious, that Lethem does his job well.
He writes novels and essays and, lately, comic books. But what I want to call your attention to and, incidentally, dub this week’s Recommended Reading, is his op-ed piece in last Sunday’s New York Times. It discusses the latest Batman movie and relates the film to what’s happening in our tortured nation. It’s a pretty gloomy bit of superb writing. But how could it not be gloomy? I said it was about what’s happening to the good old U. S. of A., didn’t I? Where could cheer come from? Maybe Johnny Mac’s flacks?
Yeah, the market imploded and some of it received a bailout from the Feds and who will eventually foot the bill? Ol’ tax payin’ you and me, that’s who. But that’s not what’s eating my lunch. I mean… economics! Finance! Who understands that stuff? Certainly not me. (I used to think that those boring old guys in suits, whose job it is to understand that stuff, did, in fact, understand it. Guess not, though.) But what bothers me for the next five minutes, or until I see another newspaper or watch CNN some more, is that according to one poll, 54 percent of the pollees think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president.
This gives me sadness, and a profound feeling of alienation, because nothing in Ms. Palin’s record, nor anything I’m aware she’s said since being anointed Johnny Mac’s running mate, indicates that she is even qualified for the governance jobs she’s already had, much less the biggest of the big leagues, and I wonder what they’re seeing that I’m not, my fellow Americans. Or do they want a leader who apparently believes the First Amendment has no more importance than the slip of paper in a fortune cookie? That denies the validity of evolution? That thinks the current military debacle is a mission from God… ? No point in continuing the catalogue… If my fellows know of these things and they don’t care about them, then the system is broken. If they don’t know… well. how could they not?
Guest comics are a tool of the trade in webcomics: The host needs a day off, the guest wants to get his work out there. A small comic can get a huge boost to traffic with a link and endorsement from a more popular site, and a guest comic is often the best way to get both.
Artist Ryan Estrada has taken this to new heights by drawing 70 comics, all of which were posted last Wednesday, 9/18. The comics are now being posted at Estrada’s own site, and are archived at each of the host sites. The lineup includes such notables as 8-bit Theater, Real Life Comics, Overcompensating, Dominic Deegan, and Wapsi Square. The good folks at Fleen have been kind enough to work up a complete list.
This is actually the second time Estrada has set guest comic records: Last year, during “Estradarama 2007”, he posted guest comics to some twenty different sites. This draw attention both to his ongoing work and the then newly-created custom-comics service Cartoon Commune.
This year, he’s using the day to announce a new full comic book, written with John Baird of the Create a Comic Project, titled Create a Comic Project Presents: Climate Change. The 34-page book is available at Lulu.com as a $6.00 printed edition or $0.50 download.
Spider-Woman is suddenyl a hot chatracter again after her major role in Secret Invasion. Now for the video completist out there, be aware that Morningstar Entertainment will release Spider-Woman – Spider-Woman vs. The Fly on October 14. According to TV Shows on DVD, the disc will contain the monumental battle from the 1980s along with two bonus episodes from the 1967 Spider-Man cartoon: "The Slippery Dr. Von Schlick" and "The Spider and the Fly". At present this is only scheduled to be released in Canada and can be purchased through Amazon.ca.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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