‘Eli Stone”s Marc Guggenheim on the Season so Far
"I think in many ways we’re following the Battlestar Galactica model of blowing the show up every other week and constantly raising the stakes," Marc Guggenheim told Sci FI Wire.
The co-creator and executive producer of ABC’s Eli Stone, Guggenheim added, "The name of the game here is just how can we expand the show in every conceivable way. How can we make the musical numbers bigger? How can we make the visual-effects sequences more cinematic? How can we expand and deepen the relationships among all of our characters? The show is going to bigger and bigger and bigger places."
The Tuesday night series features the title character, played by Johnny Lee Miller, as suffering from an aneurysm that also enables him to receive visions from Heaven, enabling him to come to the aid of others. Of course, few believe him and hence drama ensues. After trying to get rid of the life-threatening spot in his brain, Eli accepted his role in life rather than see the responsibility shift to his brother. He’s also continued to practice law at Wethersby, Posner & Klein where several of his coworkers, notably Victor Garber and Loretta Divine, tend to burst into hallucinating song and dance.
The show has tried to gain notice with stunt casting such as Sigourney Weaver in the season opener followed by Katie Holmes a week later. Coming up will be singer Seal in the seventh episode. "We’ve got some cool visual effects happening in episode 207…where we literally put Eli in the middle of a movie," Guggenheim said. "We do it in a way that you’ve never seen on the show before, where we’re trying to push the envelope in terms of the way Eli has his visions."
Guggenheim, who works on the show with his pal Greg Berlanti, form two-thirds of the team behind the Green Lantern screenplay and continues to write Wolverine stories for Marvel. Still, his weekly series is his baby and intends to get as many people to try it out as possible. The character is out to make Earth a nicer place to live.
"I think it’s all a part of being true to the concept of the show, because the concept of the show is about changing the world," Guggenheim said. "In the first season, we did a flash-forward to the future, where Eli’s talking to thousands of people in Times Square in New York, and we’re always keeping that in the back of our minds as we plot out these stories. Like knowing that’s ultimately where we’d like to go."
Universal Studios would like to revisit the Klumps once more and have put out an open call to writers for pitches for a third Nutty Professor film according to 
Frank Spotnitz spoke with 
Dark Horse Films is negotiating with Sammo Hung (Kung Fu Hustle) to star in, and Kevin Munroe (TMNT) to direct War Monkeys, described as a horror comedy. The script is from Cleve Nettles (All Over Again) and will be produced by Chris Patton (Destination Mars), who came up with the concept, and Robert Sanchez.
Come March, just as Battlestar Galactica signs off after four amazing seasons on Sci Fi Channel, Tokyopop will be releasing Battlestar Galactica: Echoes of New Caprica, a Manga anthology volume that will feature stories from the Cylon occupation and human escape from New Caprica by a variety of creators, including Richard Hatch, who has appeared in both television editions.
Nothing has the warm and fuzzies attached to it better than a classic Disney Christmas, just one of the titles we point to on this week’s tour of the comic and DVD shelves, plus:
or 
Marvel Comics today released the variant cover to Marvel Apes #0 as illustrated by Salva Espin. The one-shot reprints Collecting the birth of breakout hero The Gibbon from Amazing Spider-Man #110-11 and the first ever Spider-Monkey story (as seen in Amazing Spider-Man Family #1).
Comics Kingdom
Warner Home Video has announced a March 3, 2009 release date for its direct-to-DVD Wonder Woman film. It will be released in what has rapidly become a standard pattern for genre offerings:a Single Disc DVD for $19.98, 2 Disc Special Edition DVD for $29.98 and Blu-ray Disc for $34.99. The animated original movie will also be available OnDemand and Pay-Per-View as well as available for download day and date. Originally, the DVD had been announced for February release but was delayed a few weeks for unspecified reasons.
Pixar movies are the kind of family movie you can enjoy without the family. There’s something there for the adults and the themes tend to be universal ones. Pixar’s creators understand how to think and laugh like a kid and tailor their movies for the broadest possible audience without feeling the need to dumb down the content or characterization. Instead, their movies are smart and funny and usually heartwarming.
