Eliza Dushku spoke with Sci Fi Wire, beginning the publicity drum beat counting down to the February 13 debut of Joss Whedon’s Dollhouse.  As most know, Whedon and Dushku were having a meal when inspiration struck and he conceived the show for her on the spot.

The Dollhouse refers to a government operation where the assets have their memories wiped with new personalities imprinted.  The series picks up when Dushku’s character begins to recall her past “lives”.

"Last episode, they surgically implant cameras into my eyeballs and send me into a cult compound as a blind woman," Dushku told the press. "I was playing this tripped-out blind woman. Then I’m playing a 50-something-year-old woman in my own body in this next episode. There are just so many stories.”

The series is shooting 13 episodes including a reshot pilot and once shut down production for two weeks in order to let Whedon retool.  As a result, it has picked up the label of a “troubled” show before it airs.  On the other hand, the stylish promos have generated good word of mouth.

"I think [the way] he also originally had outlined it, we had the 13 episode pickup, but he wanted to gradually play out stories and do a lot of setups," she said. "[The network] wanted more payoffs early on to hook people, I think, so we made that adjustment. I think it’s been really successful. The scripts are tight, solid, fast, action, drama, comedy. It’s really great."

When asked about the Friday night “death” slot for SF on Fox, she scoffed and said, "Dude, we’re in the age of DVR. People watch what they want to watch."

Pinup queen Bettie Page is in a coma following a heart attack on Tuesday. "She’s critically ill," Mark Roesler of the Curtis Management Group told The Associated Press.

Page’s girl-next-door looks and comfort with nudity and bondage made her a star among photographers in the 1950s. She was even a coveted playmate for January 1955’s Playboy. Those photos proved influential to a generation of artists, notably Dave Stevens, who revived interest in her after basing a character on the model in his acclaimed Rocketeer comic book.  Other artists piled on and she gained newfound celebrity.

By that time, though, she had dropped out of sight, having found religion an dpreferring her privacy.  Only in recent years has she spoken out about her career, her notoriety and the attention it has brought her.  Her life was the basis for the Grethchen Mol film, The Notorious Betty Page. At no time has Page allowed her picture to be taken in her later years.
 

Pokémon USA has announced that the National Championship event for the Pokémon TCG, which has been held in conjunction with GAMA’s Origins Game Fair, will become a stand-alone event.  According to a report at ICv2, the 2009 Pokémon National Championship is scheduled for St. Louis the weekend of June 26 to 28, directly opposite the dates for Origins, which is held in Columbus, Ohio. 
 
Pokémon USA had held its National Championships at Origins for the past four years.  The company thanked GAMA for its past support.  “We would like to thank the Origins Game Fair and GAMA for their unwavering support of the Pokémon TCG over the last decade,” its statement said. 
 
GAMA was also speaking positively.  “…[W]e’re very happy that they are doing well and we still remain solid partners with Pokémon with our trade show, GTS, and with programs supporting the industry,” GAMA Executive Director Anthony Gallela said.  “…[W]e wish them luck… with their stand-alone event.”  
 
The Pokémon Nationals had been held in conjunction with Origins for the last four years; the event drew around 900 attendees in 2008, according to Gallela.  The scheduling opposite the show was “the best they could arrange for in their new location,” according to Gallela.  The Pokémon World Championships, held in August, have also ended up against Gen Con on occasion.

ComingSoon managed to chat briefly with George Lucas when he came to Los Angeles to present the American Cinematheque’s 23rd annual award to Samuel L. Jackson.

Of the actor, who played Mace Windu in the most recent trilogy, he commented, “To be honest, he’s the only one who asked, actually. He didn’t really lobby for it. He was on a talk show and someone asked him what movie he would’ve liked to be in or that he would like to be in that he hadn’t been in and he said ‘Star Wars.’ So I called him up and said ‘Is that true? Do you really want to be in Star Wars?’ He said ‘Yeah – as long as I’m a Jedi,’ and I said ‘Well, I have a little tiny role, but it grows if you’re willing to do the three movies.’ He said ‘I’m in.’ It was just like that. He didn’t look at it like ‘This is a chance to make a whole bunch of money, a chance to do a big thing.’ He just did what was asked of him and tried to make it as good as he possibly could.”

He confirmed his desire to make a fifth Indiana Jones film and noted, “We’re looking for a MacGuffin, which is an object that he goes after. They’re very hard to come by!” He would not commit to which characters, such as Marion and Mutt, would be in the picture, waiting to see the needs of the elusive story.

Lucas also reaffirmed to milk Star Wars for more profit by converting them to the latest 3-D technology which he said “is very difficult. It exists – it’s just extremely expensive, and so what we’re trying to do is figure out a more practical way of pulling it off.”

He then named Anthony Hamilton as his director for Red Tails, his long-gestating project about World War II Tuskegee Airmen which will shoot in the spring.  No casting has been announced.

On this day 75 years ago, the Twenty-first Amendment was enacted, which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, thereby ending Prohibtion in the United States.

So what does this have to do with comics? Well, without alcohol, the next Iron Man movie would have no plot (if you don’t know what we’re talking about, buy Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle) and people wouldn’t know what Munden’s Bar is about.

Many people still don’t know what Munden’s Bar is, but that’s a different problem.

DreamWorks has signed Len Wiseman (Underworld) to direct Atlantis Rising, an adaptation of the Platinum Studios titles. The studio, according to Variety, acquired the property in April at the urging of producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

Scott O. Brown and Tim Irwin crafted the five-issue miniseries which concluded in the spring. The story tells of an underground civilization that begins to cause concern among the surface world’s governments.  A war between surface and sea is inevitable, it seems.

“The comic brings a fresh, techno-thriller approach to a story that holds all the tenets of a classic us-vs.-them alien invasion movie,” Kurtzman told The Hollywood Reporter. Orci added, “No sea horses or tridents here.”

DreamWorks is also working with Kurtzman and Orci on another Platinum property, Cowboys & Aliens, with Robert Downey, Jr. attached to star.

Wiseman is also working with the studio on Motorcade, which is expected to shoot first.

Producer Gale Ann Hurd told Sci Fi Wire that  she envision Magdalena as  a blend of "Da Vinci Code meets Wanted", employing the shorthand producers and studio execs use to sell a project by invoking familiar concepts in a new way.  This way, risk-adverse studios feel more confident in going with something different, but not too different.

"The character doesn’t have superpowers," Hurd explained. "So I think it will be intense, but it will more than likely be a PG-13 as opposed to an R just because of the world of the character and the world of the comic book. It’s really exciting. We’re working with Matt [Hawkins] at Top Cow, and we’re working with a writer. We hope to have that up and running toward the end of the year.”

"The character doesn’t have super-powers," Hurd explained. "So I think it will be intense, but it will more than likely be a PG-13 as opposed to an R just because of the world of the character and the world of the comic book. It’s really exciting. We’re working with Matt [Hawkins] at Top Cow, and we’re working with a writer. We hope to have that up and running toward the end of the year." No writer or director has been named to the project.

The adaptation of the Top Cow series will feature Jenna DeWan (Step Up) is set to play Patience,  the latest in the Magdalena bloodline, which traces back to Mary Magdalene. The current embodiment of the line becomes the warrior and protector of the Catholic Church.

She first appeared in 1998 and  spun out of the pages of The Darkness and has starred in two solo miniseries.

While promoting today’s release of Punisher: War Zone, she also looked back to the summer and the reimagined Incredible Hulk movie.

"I think it successfully rebooted it," Hurd said. "I think the fans liked it, the general audience liked it. It’s been huge on DVD. I was just talking with [Marvel Studios chairman] David Maisel last night. The two big DVDs so far this year that have been released are Iron Man and Hulk, so it’s always nice to see that it continues to build its fan base

"[I’m] hoping there’s a sequel, but right now Marvel has its hands full with the slate they’ve announced," she said. "If there’s a sequel, it wouldn’t be until probably 2012." Marvel has not announced any firm plans for any project after 2011.