Author: Robert Greenberger

Everywhere you look, dystopia stories abound. Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games became the movie event of the spring while the most talking about new NBC series is J.J. Abrams’ Revolution. Little surprise then that basic cable’s ratings darling in 2011 was TNT’s Falling Skies. With the show’s second season debuting June 17, the first season has been released on DVD from Warner Home Entertainment. The premise is not necessarily an original one: aliens have arrived and have largely conquered Earth while small bands of resistance fighters struggle to free humanity. What the aliens want remains a mystery.

The series, which has been in development since 2009, was conceived by Bob Rodat, writer of Saving Private Ryan, and has been produced by Steven Spielberg, who enhanced many of Rodat’s notions. The showrunner for season one is my old pal Mark Verheiden (who handled a different dystopia on Battlestar Galactica), who brought his own point of view to the project. Verheiden’s sure hand made the ten episode first season quite entertaining and he’ll be missed when he moves to consulting producer (at least he wrote the two hour season opener for a smooth transition).

A history professor turned soldier, Tom Mason, is the series’ protagonist and is well played by Noah Wylie, mixing his knowledge with some grit while putting his two sons ahead of all else.  He is part of a regiment, the Second Massachusetts (near Concord, get it?), periodically receiving intelligence from nearby groups and sporadically getting news from armed forces elsewhere in America. The enemy, known as “Skitters”, are insectoid and reside in mammoth craft looming over key cities around the world. Using mechanical soldiers dubbed “mechs”, they maintain martial law and kill adults who oppose them, taking the children. (more…)

George Newbern makes his triumphant return as the voice of the Man of Steel in SUPERMAN VS. THE ELITE, the latest DC Comics Premiere Movie coming June 12 from Warner Home Video.

Newbern put all the resounding tones of truth, justice and the American way into the commanding vocals behind the animation of Superman in both the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited television series. He last reprised the character’s voice for the DC Showcase original animated short, Superman/Shazam! The Return of Black Adam.

Newbern is a constant on primetime television, appearing on current hit series like NCIS, The Mentalist, Castle and Grey’s Anatomy, to name a but a few. He’s widely recognized for his starring turn opposite Steve Martin in Father of the Bride, and for the NBC series Providence. His latest projects include a recurring role on the new ABC hit series Scandal.

In SUPERMAN VS. THE ELITE, Superman’s effectiveness as a super hero comes into question when a new group of super powerful crusaders, known as “The Elite,” appear on the scene.  As super heroes, the Elite know no bounds, and are more than willing to kill, even on a massive scale, to stop villainy — putting them on a collision course with the ever-ethical and decidedly non-lethal Man of Steel.

Newbern is joined in the core cast by NCIS star Pauley Perrette as Lois Lane and versatile voice actor Robin Atkin Downes (Babylon 5) as Manchester Black, leader of The Elite. David Kaufman (Justice League: Doom) also reprises his Justice League TV series role as Jimmy Olsen.

Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, the all-new, PG-13 rated film arrives June 12, 2012 from Warner Home Video as a Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD, On Demand and for Download. Both the Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD will include an UltraViolet™ Digital Copy.

Newbern offered a few thoughts about playing Superman in a short chat following his final recording session for the film. (more…)

The challenge in producing a teen-centric horror television show is that it will inevitably be compared to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Joss Whedon was note perfect with the casting and theme of high school is a horror movie. It takes a brave showrunner to come up with a variation that avoids duplication and can withstand the comparison. MTV, once the home for teen centric music videos, has gone from reality television to scripted series so it made sense that sooner or later they’d dip a claw into the horror genre. What few expected was how successful they would be.

The 1985 Michal J. Fox comedy Teen Wolf was a largely entertaining film capitalizing on the actor’s immense popularity from NBC’s Family Ties and certainly had a theme worthy of adaptation into weekly television. In both the film and the series, a teen encounters a werewolf and becomes one. The world knows they exist thanks to countless movies so his presence isn’t necessarily as shocking as one would expect. The transformation also allows the lead character to explore his true nature as he suddenly goes from lacrosse-playing social outcast to exceptional guy. Still, he keeps his hairy alter ego a dark secret.

The series focuses on Scott McCall (Tyler Posey), a Beacon Hills High School student who becomes a werewolf and keeps it a secret with the exception of sharing the news with his best friend “Stiles” Stilinski (Dylan O’Brien). Together, they spend the first six episodes dealing with what this means and trying to find a cure, leading them to the poorly named Dr. Lycos. Meantime, they learn there is another werewolf lurking on the outskirts of town, Derek Hale (Tyler Hoechlin), with secrets of his own. The second story arc involves a threat from the beast known as the Alpha which explores the werewolf pack mentality which is a fresh take. (more…)