Yearly Archive: 2008

Legendary Heroes, the official website for Davis-Panzer Productions has just announced the Blu-ray release of Highlander: The Series – Season 1. The first 1000 who pre-order will also receive a Duncan Katana Mini-Sword so you too can swash buckles like an immortal. The box set contains all 22 episodes and will be released in February, retailing for $39.95. All subsequent seasons are anticipated to also receive Blu-ray releases.

The company let TV Shows on DVD know that Blu-ray releases for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess are also being planned.

All three series are only going to be available through the website and not circulated to other stores.

Halcyon Games has won the license to develop a third-person shooter videogame based on Terminator Salvation.

A release states that “the game offers players the chance to assume the role of John Connor, a soldier in the resistance, battling for survival against the far superior forces of SkyNet. Terminator Salvation – The Videogame is a third-person action game with concentrated armed combat against all of the SkyNet enemies from the film while encountering new enemies specifically designed for the game. The game was developed by GRIN Studios, published by Equity Games, co-published by Evolved Games and distributed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

"Terminator Salvation – The Videogame allows players to battle for survival against SkyNet enemies utilizing an incredibly fluid and realistic control set," said Cos Lazouras, President of Halcyon Games. "The player will be led through a visceral story with extremely polished production values to create a fully interactive Terminator experience."

"Building on the incredibly strong franchise, Terminator Salvation – The Videogame will be a cinematic gaming experience that complements the upcoming film," said John Quinn, Executive Vice President, Worldwide Operations, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. "Working with Halcyon and Equity Games, we will expand on the Terminator universe on next generation consoles with action packed gameplay and detailed environments."

Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello broke the news that Tricia Helfer will shift from Battlestar Galactica skinjob to spy when she guest stars on NBC’s delightful Chuck. She’ll play a fellow Special Agent and wind up being considered as a replacement for Special Agent Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski). “General Beckman — who has been growing increasingly concerned about Chuck and Sarah’s intensifying bond — considers bringing in a new G-woman to work alongside Chuck. Enter Agent Forrest, who shows no fear, no remorse and, much to Agent Casey’s delight, is very easy on the eyes.”

As the first half of the television season reaches its conclusion, lots of network shuffling has been occurring so follow along:

First, NBC has scheduled the remaining episodes of Lipstick Jungle for Friday nights on December 5 and 12, and January 2 and 9.

Where’s Crusoe? Dumped on Saturday nights, beginning December 6, and likely to be canceled when the final six episodes air.

Life on Mars, the Americanized series based on the BBC show of the same name, will be taking a break after December 11 but will return and ABC intends to order additional episodes. The show returns January 28, scheduled after Lost on Wednesday evenings.

Speaking of breaks, Smallville will take a long break as well, not coming back with new episodes until January but it will kick off its second half with the eagerly anticipated Legion story from writer Geoff Johns.
 

Since 2002, 4Kids has been programming Saturday morning fare on Fox but as the deal ends in December, the network has decided to abandon children’s programming in favor of infomercials according to Variety. 4Kids will continue to provide programming for the CW’s Saturday morning schedule under a separate deal. Some of the Fox shows will move to the CW but none were named.

4Kids had been paying Fox $20 million for the four hour block filled with animated fare based on games, toys and original properties. Two of those hours will now be returned to the local channels with the other two, 10 a.m. – noon, devoted to the paid advertising.

"These are hopefully not infomercials," said Fox Networks Group chairman Tony Vinciquerra. "These will be long-form programs that highlights their product. In that regard, it will have a little better quality." But we suspect that’s exactly what will be offered.

Saturday mornings used to feature a wide array of choices for children dating back to the 1950s but in more recent times, cable channels such as Disney and Nickelodeon siphoned away the audience so bit b bit, the network programmed less for the kids and are now closer to abandoning the once sacred hours entirely.

The deal ended after an acrimonious suit between Fox and 4Kids over money based on the percentage of affiliate stations carrying the animated shows. 4Kids contended the number fell below 90% entitling them to a $13 million refund while Fox said nothing was owed. Although 4Kids continued to provide programming, they did not pay $13 million owned between April and October. The settlement had 4Kids agree to pay $12.25 million and end the partnership now rather than next September.

World of Warcraft continues to conquer all territories it visits, be it online games, board games or comic books.  The inevitable film seems to be next on the horizon.

Blizzard executive VP of product development Frank Pearce told MTV “Legendary Pictures is currently trying to assign some names to write the screenplay and find someone to direct it, so it’s still really early in production. They want to make sure they get the right talent for those different parts, especially the screenwriting, because that’s the foundation for the movie.”

“It would be a huge undertaking and it’s not really something that we’re ready to do anytime soon.” There’s discussion between doing the film CGI with motion capture effects or live-action mixed with CGI.

The most recent expansion game, Wrath of the Lich King reportedly sold 2.8 million copies within its first 24 hours of release.
 

Long before AleX Ross, Bob Larkin became the first major painter to be known for super-hero covers thanks to his work on Marvel’s black & white magazine covers throughout the 1970s.  He was also tapped to paint the Marvel super-heroes when Fireside Press began collecting origins of the heroes.

Since then, he has been a celebrated figure for his work in science fiction, fantasy and comic books. More recently he has done licensing artwork featuring the WWE superstars. His work will be the focus of The Savage Art of Bob Larkin – Volume One, just announced from Sal Q Productions for February 2009 release.

According to a release: “There are innovators who blaze trails to show the way forward, and creative genius Bob Larkin is certainly one of them. His magazine and paperback covers are legendary. From Conan to Star Wars, Doc Savage to The Hulk, there’s little that artist Bob Larkin hasn’t painted during his lengthy career. This full spectrum color retrospective also includes an introduction by Joe Jusko and an afterword by Alex Ross.”

The 64-page volume will be an oversized softcover retailing for $19.95.
 

Just the other day we were talking about Steve Spielberg and Will Smith teaming up for the English language adaptation of the South Korean hit Old Boy. Additional details have been coming out with The Hollywood Reporter saying Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend) will likely be the screenwriter. Smith, who acted in the film, recommended Protosevich for the gig.

Smith told  Film School Rejects that rather than do a new version of Chan-wook Park’s award-winning 2003 film, they will start with the same source material,  Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi’s Manga.

"We’re looking at that right now. Not the film though, it’s the original source material. There’s the original comics of Oldboy that they made the first film from. And that’s what we’re working from, not an adaptation of the film" Smith told them.

The Manga was published in America over eight volumes by Dark Horse Comics.

Dark Horizons notes, “Though similar, there’s some notable differences between the graphic novel and the darker original film with its darker elements from live eating of octopii to brother-sister incest.”

Crunchyroll, a website offering anime on line, has announced a January 8 debut for the latest episodes from the shojo anime series Skip Beat and Shugo Chara. Subscribers  will be able to watch these along with the previously announced episodes of Naruto as part of their deal with TV Tokyo.

According to ICv2, Skip Beat is produced by Hal Film Maker, which debuted in Japan on October 5.  “It is based on the Manga by Yoshiki Nakamura about a 16 year-old girl who gets revenge on her pop idol boyfriend by becoming a bigger star herself.  The Skip Beat Manga is published here by Viz Media.”

The Shugo Chara anime, which “is based on the magical girl Manga created by Peach-Pit (published here by Del Rey), debuted in October of 2007.  A second season, Shugo Chara!! Doki, debuted on October 10, and will likely provide the ‘newest episodes’ of Shugo Chara promised by Crunchyroll.”