Archive for the ‘TV’ Category

Robot Chicken DC Special

September 7th, 2012 by Susie

Robot Chicken is airing it’s special DC episode this Sunday at midnight ET on the Cartoon Network.  If you don’t know what Robot Chicken is, it’s a sketch parody show. All the the sketches are stop motion animation usually done using modified action figures. I love it! It’s a big ball of geeky-slapsticky-anarchic-randomness. They’ve done three specials where all the sketches were about Star Wars. This episode will be devoted to skewering the DC universe. I can’t wait! And it’s airing on my birthday.  Thank you, Cartoon Network!

I’ve seen the Avengers, now what do I watch?

May 4th, 2012 by Susie

 

Disclaimer:  If you reading this prior to Saturday afternoon, I haven’t seen the movie yet, but am expecting to love it.  I have great faith in Joss
It’s Avengers opening day!  Some of you may have already seen it, maybe even at a midnight showing.  And after months of anticipation you might feel like there’s nothing left to watch to get excited about.  Or you loved the movie so much you want other movies and shows that capture the same feeling.  Well lucky you, I’ve got a few suggestions!  Whether you’re craving more funny, more superheroes, or just more epic Jossness, no worries, I’ve got you covered.
1) the Cabin in the Woods.  It’s still in theaters so it’s a perfect fix if you’re craving more of that communal adrenaline rush.
Why will it appeal to Avengers fans?  Well it features Chris Hemsworth, aka Thor.  And it is a humorous take on horror movies while still delivering actual scares.  Much the way I predict the Avengers will deliver everything you want out of a super hero movie, while having fun with the genre (though I suspect it won’t be quite as meta as Cabin in the Woods).  And it was cowritten by some dude with a familiar sounding name, rhymes with bleedin’.  Even if you hate horror movies (I must raise my hand here) there is a lot to enjoy about this flick.
2) Firefly and Serenity.  Serenity is Joss’ big screen debut, and while it’s possible to enjoy Serenity, without having seen any episodes of Firefly, the television show that preceded it, once you see Serenity, you’ll want to see everything involving Mal and the crew.  You might as well do it in order.  It’s only twelve episodes, not too much of a time commitment.
Why will it appeal to Avengers fans? Once again we’ve got the Joss factor.  But it is also really exciting, with a twisty plot, and intriguing, quippy, sometimes mysterious, characters.  Plus you want to see River Tam kick butt.  Trust me on that.
3)The Incredibles. The movie that solidified Pixar as one of the best companies currently making films, not just the best making kid’s films. Why will it appeal to Avengers fans? Superheroes, of course.  But also it blends top notch action with compelling character arcs.  You’ve got a guy who feels trapped in his unsatisfying job.  A marriage under extreme pressure.  A teenager who wants to blend into the crowd.  And a sociopath who would destroy a city, just so he can be the one to save it.
3) Dr. Horrible’s Singalong Blog.  Another unconventional take on superheroes.  This time focussing on a wannabe super villain.  Plus musical numbers!
Why will it appeal to Avengers fans? Again it’s the brainchild of Joss, along with his talented brothers and sister in-law.  And Nathan Fillion’s Captain Hammer  is at least as arrogant as Robert Downey Jr’s Ironman (though not as endearing).
4) The Specials.  It might not have the production values of the Avengers, it’s a worthy entry into the super team oeuvre (which is pretty small at least in feature films).
Why will it appeal to Avengers fans? The Avengers are Earth’s mightiest heroes.  The Specials–not so much.  They are the superhero community’s version of the D list.  There isn’t much action in the movie, but anyone familiar with super teams will appreciate the humor.  Plus it features Rob Lowe in a comedy before the world at large realized how funny he is.
And a few things to look forward to. Joss’ next movie is Much Ado About Nothing.  It’s a modern set interpretation of the Shakespeare comedy (my favorite of the comedies).  It was filmed in a month and entirely in his house.  It features many actors he’s worked with in the past, Amy Acker, Alexis Denisoff, Fran Kranz, etc.  It’s unclear when it’s coming out, or if it will get a theatrical release, but I’m excited to see it.
And also coming soon is the Amazing Spider-man.  I’m not sure Spider-man was in need of a reboot so soon, but Spidey is a great character.  I’m interested to see what Andrew Garfield brings to the role.

Everything’s Coming Up Milhouse!–Er–Greyjoy!

April 16th, 2012 by Susie

Last night Florence, Mike, and I were preparing to watch the latest episode of Game of Thrones.  We were  discussing Theon Greyjoy’s accidental and very amusing attempts to hit on his own sister, the previous week.  Poor Theon desperately wants to be cool and never will be. (At least going by the first season, I haven’t read the books so I don’t know if his fortunes change later on.) It occurred to me that Theon Greyjoy is the Milhouse of Game of Thrones.

I really like Milhouse, he’s utterly pathetic yet often misguidedly optimistic.  I find him really lovable (This is the same reason I harbor a deep affection for Butters on South Park and Andy Bernard on the Office).  I don’t yet love Theon in that manner, but if he keeps being so adorably pitiful, I might.

And to help that along, here are pictures of Theon accompanied by some of my favorite Milhouse quotes.

Milhouse: This is where I come to cry

 

 

Milhouse Van Houten: Well, I used a rhyming dictionary, but it only gives you options. The job of the poet is to say, “this one, I guess.” 

 

 

Milhouse Van Houten: Ow! It’s stuck! Now I’ll have a quizzical expression all day. 

 

 

Milhouse: Remember the time he ate my goldfish? And you lied and said I never had goldfish. Then why did I have the bowl, Bart? Why did I have the bowl?

 

 

Milhouse: I like being under your shadow! It’s nice and cool! 

 

 

 

Theon: Unchain me, and I will serve you.

(I did a search for Theon quotes and that was the very first thing to pop up.  I think that about sums it up, don’t you?)

 

Now I’m wondering, if Theon is Milhouse, which GoT character is Ralph Wiggum?

And Now for Something Completely Different

October 12th, 2011 by Susie

Or not that different actually since it’s a comic, and that’s what this site is all about. The different thing is that it’s a comic by me. Despite that i didn’t draw a single panel, it took an awfully long time to put together. Four whole hours! I’m such a artistic visionary, or something. I don’t know if anyone besides me will find it amusing, but here it is.

In order for the post not be enormous I put in the pages as thumbnails.  You’ll have to click on each one to read it.

Poor Giles.  I hope it made someone smile (other than me).

Seriously, They’re Evil!

October 7th, 2011 by Susie

This isn’t particularly timely, but I thought of it last night and it made me giggle, so I whipped this up.

I’m not trying to besmirch Liza Minelli in any way, she seems perfectly nice, if a bit eccentric.  I just can’t think of an instance in a sci fi film or tv show where a female character with extremely short black hair was benevolent, can you?

 

 

 

My longest post ever!: or My thoughts on Buffy Season Eight.

February 17th, 2011 by Susie

Buffy season 8 came to an end last month, with issue 40.  I have some thoughts on both the final issue, and the series as a whole.  I plan on going into detail about the plot, so anyone who has not read the whole thing, and is wary of spoilers, should not read beyond the jump.

Buffy the TV show meant a lot to me.  I connected to it from the moment it came on the air, and for the entire seven years it was on the air, I looked forward to every new episode.  I think I only missed seeing two episodes the night they aired, that whole time.  It is the reason I follow every project Joss Whedon works on with great interest.  Somewhere around season two, I became an unabashed fangirl, and haven’t looked back since.  And it’s fair to say my own writing has been heavily influenced by it.  In that I think a hero (or even more so, a heroine) should not be infallible, that they can make mistakes and fall down, and still remain a hero.

So when it was announced that Joss would be resuming the series as a comic, I was thrilled.  I could not wait for my friends to return, and find out what he had in store for them next.  The first twenty issues or so were pretty spectacular, beautiful art, and brilliantly written.  Having Joss write many, and oversee the rest, assured that the tone of the show carried over to the comics, and that the characters felt true to how they had been previously portrayed.  Those issues did a really good job bringing the audience up to speed with what the Scooby gang had been doing since the end of the series.  And also establishing new characters to root for, such as Renee and Satsu.

Spoilers from here on.  You have been warned, don’t whine to me if you read something you don’t want to.

(more…)

Wonder Woman series going ahead, and it sounds like a disaster!

February 3rd, 2011 by Susie

A couple of months ago, I posted that David “Ally Mcbeal” Kelley was developing a Wonder Woman series for television, and that I was very open that I did not think Kelley was the right person for the job.  Initially, all the networks passed on the script claiming that it would be too expensive to produce.  But NBC changed executives, and the new regime decided to order the pilot.

Well blogger/TV critic Jace Lacob, has had a look at the script, and it is worse than I had imagined.  You can see his summary here, but it does not bode well at all.  Some things that stick out for me as not just inconsistent to the character, but really bad writing in general are: that Diana is given three identities.  One is Wonder Woman, crime fighter.  Another is as Diana Themyscira, the CEO of an international corporation, who collects transforming aircraft (the hell?).  And finally  as Diana Prince, a mousy assistant.  I don’t get this conceit at all.  It is traditional for super-hero’s to have a super-hero identity, and a separate civilian identity (in fact in the comics she does sort of have three, wonder woman, Diana Prince, and the Princess of the Amazons.  But the princess/wonder woman identities are publicly acknowledged as the same).  But why have two civilian identities?  with two separate residences?  Especially when at least one of the identities, the CEO, sounds to be very recognizable as a public figure.  What is the point of the third identity?  This just makes the character sound a bit psycho.

Anaother red flag, that this is not a Wonder Woman I want to watch is this that as the CEO, she has  in her employ a gaggle of “nerds” whose function seems to be to make sexual inneundo about her.  For example when she instructs them to bone up on something, one replies the he would, “Bone you up right now, boss.”  That she tolerates this is makes her not just unbelievable as Wonder Woman, but as a successful business woman, as well.

Lacob says it best here, about what sounds likely to be one of the worst scenes to ever be filmed;

In the script’s most painful sequence, Diana is subpoenaed by the Senate Judiciary Committee and forced to give testimony about the events in Hollywood. She ends up filibustering about everything under the sun for several pages: the politics of the LAPD (name checking ex-police chiefs Daryl Gates and William Bratton), the economy, stimulus funds, pharmaceutical companies, Roger Clemens, the FDA and the FCC, and how networks will air commercials about erectile dysfunction but not for condoms. It’s clearly meant to be a showcase scene for the actress playing Diana, a calculated bid at awards and social relevance. Congratulations, David E. Kelley, the transformation of Wonder Woman from superhero to personal mouthpiece is now complete. Adding further insult to injury: real-life California Senator Dianne Feinstein is described as giving Diana a thumbs-up.

Pages of rambling about anything that crosses Kelley’s mind, is the big triumphant moment?  In a show about a super-hero?  What?

And apparently the episode ends with her weeping over her romantic woes!  DO NOT WANT!

Yeah it sounds horrible, and I do not get what NBC was thinking.  Are Harry’s Law, and the Cape doing that well?

Anyway here are the original concept sketches for Wonder Woman, way back in the forties.

Yes, she is wearing a bustier, but she was a warrior damnit!

And just because I think it’s awesome, here is Project Runway’s Chris March as Wonder Woman.

Epic Doctor Who Fan Comic

January 21st, 2011 by Susie

This has been out there on interwebs for awhile, but I only just discovered it last week.  A cartoonist going only by Rich, has created a Doctor Who fan comic spanning 247 pages, called the Ten Doctors.  He clearly has a deep affection for Doctor Who, because the comic is very much a labor of love.  It took over three years to complete, and is a very complex, but entertaining adventure.  As the name implies, it features all ten incarnations of the doctor, through David Tennant.  It was completed before Matt Smith debuted as Doctor Eleven, so he is absent.  It also features countless past companions, aliens, and enemies.  I got into Doctor Who with the new series, so I was only really familiar with the characters from the ninth Doctor’s era and onward.  My experience with old school Who, is composed only of two Tom Baker serials, and short youtube clips, of the other Doctors.  So I did not recognize all the companions, or enemies, or plot elements refferenced, but it didn’t really matter, the story was told well enough that I could infer the most of what I needed to know.  Whenever I did get confused, I could just scroll down to that page’s comment section, and there was usually someone who had posed my question already, and an answer from either Rich, or another reader.  Each doctor, and most of the companions gets a moment to shine, over the course of the comic.  Based just on reading of this comic, I now am a fan of Doctors two, and five, and the companions Jamie, the Brigadier, Ace, Romana and Leela.  (I was already a fan of nine, ten, four, and eleven, and all their companions)  There are plenty of humorous moments, and quite a few touching ones as well.  It is drawn in an animated style, with rough pencils as the finished version.  Someone on Devient Art is going through it, and inking and coloring the pages, but has only reached the sixth page, last time I checked.  Regardless, it is quite is an impressive accomplishment.  Rich has a few other comics, featuring original characters.  Based on the qulity of the Ten Doctors, I plan on checking them out.

You should be able to click on the following image to be taken to the first page of the Ten Doctors on Rich’s website.  If you are anything like me, you will spend the next few days reading the whole thing.

Fantasy Casting: Alias Power Man.

January 7th, 2011 by Susie

I had not been planning to do a follow up casting post, about AKA Jessica Jones, but Florence came up with such an inspired sugestion for Luke Cage, that I had to make it an official post.

In the Marvel universe Luke is the hero known as Power Man.  In Alias, while he is still Power Man, he mainly plays the part of Jess’ occasional ally, and hookup.

I’ll let Florence put it in her words, whom she would cast.

Luke Cage= Tyr from Andromeda. My favorite gorgeous deadpan Nietzschian must return to the screen. I’m sure the actor could portray some genuine emotion in his relationship with Jessica, but his default badassitude would be perfect.


I could not agree more.  The The actor in question, is Keith Hamilton Cobb.   He definitely can play a total badass, and he can smolder to boot.   And he has the superhero physique, as well.   This pick is so good, that I am not offering any alternative.  Though I would love to hear anyone else’s suggestion, in the comments

Fantasy Casting: Who is Jessica Jones?

January 4th, 2011 by Susie

As I reported in my last post, ABC is developing a television series based on Alias (the comic, not the previous ABC series by that name). While it is yet to be seen how well the comic will translate into a series, we can still have fun trying to cast it.
Jessica Jones, the heroine of Alias, is a private detective with super powers.  Those being:  flight, super strength, and near invulnerability to injury.   She was once a costumed superhero, going for a time by the name of Jewel, and later briefly by the name Knightress.  However she was never among the top tier of heroes, such as Spider-man or the Fantastic Four.  During her tenure as a superhero, she went through an ordeal that left her emotionally scarred, and caused her to retire from the game. It also left her with a very thick, defensive shell built up around her, to keep her from being vulnerable again.   Essentially she prevents others from hurting her, by inflicting all the damage herself.   She drinks a lot, she sleeps with guys that she doesn’t care about, and that don’t care about her.  And she keeps anyone that might care for her at a safe distance, with a great deal of sarcasism, cynisim, and if that doesn’t work, hostility.
So who could possibly play a character this caustic, and still hold the audience sympathy?   I have three choices.
My first pick, is not known for her portrayals of wounded antiheroes.   In fact she is best known for playing one of the most relentlessly cheerful characters ever to grace a television screen.  Jewel Staite played the adorable, optimistic, genius mechanic Kaylee Frye, on the late, long lamented (by me at least, and a few others) Firefly.   Part of my reason for casting her would simply be because Jessica is so different from Kaylee, that it would be really interesting to see her play that end of the spectrum.   Another reason is that she sort of reminds me of the way artist Micheal Gaydos, drew Jessica.

And she would have no problem portraying the Jess’ youthful exuberance, in flashbacks to her more innocent Jewel days. (Just noticed I cast an actress named Jewel to play a character code named Jewel, that is imaginative of me).  I have not seen her in many roles outside the “verse” , so I don’t know what kind of a range she has, but she endeared herself to me so much as Kaylee, that I want to see her carry a series, even if I’m not entirely certain she can pull off Jessica acerbic wit. (Although she did manage to make Simon to feel like a moron, more than once).

My next two choices on the other hand, would have no problem with that aspect of the character.

Caroline Dhavernas, was the lead on another series that was cancelled far too early.  If Firefly’s run was short, then Caroline’s show Wonderfalls’, was microscopic.  Only three episodes ever aired on network television.  Luckily around twelve episodes of this quirky, funny, and often touching but not cloying, show were filmed, and they were released on DVD.  (Coincidentally Jewel Staite guest starred on a few episodes).

As the main character Jaye, Caroline displayed a talent for the biting, yet deadpan delivery, which is just how Jessica sounds in my head.  While Jaye was just naturally antisocial, rather than having become so due to a trauma, I have confidence that Caroline could convey that she was covering up a deep secret.  She is about to debut in the cast of Shonda Rhymes’ new show Off the Map, which is one of the reasons I plan to watch it, but if that show doesnt take off, or even if it does, she would be perfect in the part of Jessica.

Like the my other picks, I am shocked that my final choice has not had a bigger career.  She is incredibly talented.  Alicia Witt has been working steadily since she was fourteen years-old, yet she is not a household name.  She has been in projects as varied as the family drama Friday Night Lights, the sitcom Cybill, and the scifi epic Dune.

She is probably closer to the age that Jessica is meant to be in the comic, than the other two.  (Though who knows if the network, would want a heroine as old as, [gasp!] thirty-five).  And since she  has been in the business for so long, she could probably relate to Jess’ loss of innocence, and idealism, about her chosen profession.  Despite no longer being a twenty-something ingenue, she is absolutely stunning.  Which I’m sure would help grease the wheels of casting.  Plus she too is a master of the dead pan delivery.

Here is quick side by side of each.  Got a favorite among them?  Or your own pick?

So those are my top picks.  Any ideas about who should be the supporting cast?  Anyone out there scream Luke Cage to you?  Or Miss Marvel?

Jessica Jones on network TV?

December 19th, 2010 by Susie

Entertainment Weekly recently reported that ABC is developing Brian Michael Bendis’ Marvel series Alias as a TV series.  It centered on private investigator Jessica Jones, a former super heroine.  Bendis is listed as a consultant, while Melissa Rosenberg is credited as the writer. It’s going to be called Aka Jessica Jones, as calling it Alias would be pretty confusing. I hate to be negative about a project that is so early in the development stage, but I have some serious reservations about this. I really liked Alias, (earlier this year I named Jessica Jones one of my top female characters) but I can’t really see it translating well as a television series. Especially on risk wary network television. Jessica’s back story is pretty dark, while it’s about equal to some of the stuff seen on SVU and CSI, I doubt that the network would sign off on it for a lead female character. So it would likely be watered down. They will probably be worried that Jess’ drinking, and self destructive behavior, would turn off viewers, and try to make her flaws more “relatable”, like compulsive eating. Gone also would be the references to the surrounding Marvel universe, which was pivotal to the series, to illustrate and contrast Jess’ role within it. They would have to go, since it’s unlikely Marvel would grant them the rights to use Spider-man, or the Fantastic Four, and it would confusing for the casual viewer anyway. And while in the comics Jess’ cases were pretty gritty, with a superhero element thrown in, the series is probably going to want to inject a whole lot more action into it. Altogether it would probably make the show pretty unrecognizable from it’s source material. Also worrying is that Bendis is just a consultant, while Rosenberg is in charge. Her only credit listed in the article is writing the screenplay for Twilight. That movie was a huge financial success, so it makes sense that she would be given more oppurtunties as a result. It’s just that I found that movie dreadfully boring (I haven’t read the book yet, so I can’t say how much of that can be blamed on the source material, over the screenplay).
I really hope that I’m wrong. I hope that whatever comes from this is awesome, regardless of how much it resembles the excellent comic series. I’m just skeptical, about the likelihood. Between this news, the David E. Kelley run Wonder Woman series, and the Jossless Buffy reboot, the next few years are not looking promising for female superheroes on screen.

Vampire Puppets, two great tastes that go great together!

October 21st, 2010 by Susie

I have loved puppets since I was a little kid.  I blame Sesame Street. (Jim Henson, the Muppets, and Sesame Street were a huge influence on me.  I have fur and felt coming out my ears).  One of my cherished childhood toys was a very authentic Grover puppet.  I’m still a little sad that it disappeared around the time my family moved.

I haven’t loved vampires quite as long.  However considering I have spent a little over a year writing a very silly series of novels about vampires, it’s fair to say that I love them now.  I do not love every book, move, or tv show that feature vampires, there are just far too many.  I do love an awful lot of them though, including Buffy, the Dresden Files, True Blood, and the Vampire Diaries.

So it should come as little surprise that I love love love, vampire puppets!  It’s just a perfect intersection of my interests, (much like space circuses are for Marty).

There has surprisingly been a lot of bloodsucking puppets over the years.

The most famous, and earliest occurrence of the phenomena that I can think of, is of course, the Count von Count, from Sesame Street. (I think I also had a Count puppet around the same time I had the Grover, but it wasn’t quite as treasured, or as true to life).  The Count has all the trappings of the classic vampire lifestyle, the gothic castle, the snazzy duds, and excellent grooming habits, but without the bloodlust.  He just thirsts for numbers.

There was also Count Blah a character on the short lived Greg the Bunny TV show.  The conceit of the show was that puppets were another race, that lived alongside humans.  If they were lucky they could get work on kids shows.  Blah was clearly inspired by the Count.  He wore a similar costume, and used a Bela Lugosi style accent.  He was called Blah, because he said “blah” at every pause in his sentences.

Most recently another short lived comedy gave us a Vampire Puppet episode.  ABCfamily’s surprisingly clever scifi/action spoof the Middle Man, did an episode where the spirit of Vlad the Impaler, was awoken in a ventriloquist’s dummy version of him.

Perhaps my favorite vampire puppet incident, is the Smile Time episode of Angel.  It was written by Ben Edlund, the creator of the Tick, who had some experience with bizarre humor.  In it, our vampire detective hero, gets magically turned into a muppet style puppet, and hijinks ensue.  It is a fabulous episode, that really had fun with the premise.  He had a removable nose!  It became a big favorite among the show’s fans.

It even inspired IDW to do a follow up comics in miniseries.  In which Angel’s rival Spike, also got puppetized. (Hey look!  This post does have something to do with comics after all!  Go me!)

It wasn’t just tv that has embraced the vampire puppet movement.  In the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the main character (played by Jason Segel who also wrote the screenplay) writes and performs a Dracula opera starring puppets.  The puppets were made for him by the Henson workshop!  It’s a hilarious sequence in an already extremely funny movie.

There is even an webshop called Dopplefangers that will make a custom vampire puppet version of yourself!

And a few years ago, a friend of mine performed in a play inspired by Nosferatu, featuring many great puppets.

(My pal Emily and Lil Orlock)

It may not the biggest sub-trend in the vampire fad, but I think it’s my favorite.

New Wonder Woman TV show.

October 4th, 2010 by Susie

According to this article Warner Brothers is developing a Wonder Woman series for television.

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/10/wonder-woman-tv-show.html

It does not say how far into development they have gotten, or which network will likely air it.  It does say that they have chosen David E. Kelley to be showrunner.  This seems like a bad fit to me.  Kelley has had success in the past, creating such shows as, Ally McBeal, Chicago Hope, The Practice, and Picket Fences, none of which have much in common with Wonder Woman.  I don’t know what the plans they have in store for the show, but I would think it would have to be an action drama to some extent, and Kelley doesn’t have much experience with action.  I am not much of a Kelley fan, I have not been able to stick with one of his shows for much more than a season or two.  In my experience, he tends run out of character driven stories pretty quickly, and then relies on increasingly  absurd plot twists, and controversial stunts, just for the sake of controversy.  His characters are usually very quirky, and as the series progress they seem to lose any humanity that makes them relatable, devolving into a walking mass of unusual ticks.  This does not bode well for his Wonder Woman, as though she has gone through many different characterizations over the course of her sixty plus years of being published, she has never come across to me as either quirky, or neurotic (another Kelley main stay).  I guess we will have to wait and see what comes of it.

Watchman Saturday Morning Cartoon!

March 26th, 2009 by Susie

I saw the movie this week and I wil write about eventualy, but I had to post this video I just ran into on you tube.
Watchmen cartoon

It is brilliant! And not that implausible, I recall cartoons being made from innapropriate source material pretty regularly, although none of them spring to mind just this second.

Also It’s Just Some Random Guy has been doing a Watchmen series as well.
Random guy watchmen #1
random guy watchmen #2
random guy watchmen #3

Regardless of how I felt of the movie, the release has wrought these and that is good.

No Heroics

August 29th, 2008 by jason

I just saw the trailer for a new series starting in the UK in a few weeks, No Heroics.  It looks like a cross between The Office and Cheers with a little bit of Hancock thrown in.  The trailer is entertaining, but it’s long enough that they could’ve thrown in all the good stuff from the series.

Of course, having a sitcom like this, as well as movies like My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and even Hancock means that we’ve crested the wave, and now are sliding in to the time when a genre becomes a parody of itself.

It’ll start airing on ITV in the UK on 10 September, and is produced by Tiger Aspect, who have a long history of television comedy (League of Gentlemen, Dame Edna, Mr. Bean).

UPDATE: Click here to watch the trailer on YouTube.

Dr. Horrible panel at Comic-Con

July 31st, 2008 by Martin

As someone stuck up here in Minnesota rather than in California for San Diego’s Comic-Con, I basically just have to sit back and watch the news roll in from everybody else. But this report about the panel on Dr. Horrible is just too good not to share. Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day, Simon Helberg and of course Joss Whedon himself were all present.

There was much banter — repartee even! — at the expense of scoopage. After an audience member playfully accused Whedon of liking to kill off his female characters, Harris deadpanned, “You do kill a lot of chicks.” Retorted Whedon, “I have two tricks. You’re either out, or your dead.” Fillion, meanwhile, cracked some choice phallic “Captain Hammer” jokes, then claimed that Harris, vis-a-vis Doogie Howser, invented the blog. And Harris? He claimed he didn’t recall said show, referring to that time in his life as his “heroin years.”

But there were a few revelations among the revelry. On the ever-enduring Buffy front, we learned:
• Joyce Summers had Whedon’s favorite death on Buffy. Said Whedon: It was “the most time I got to spend with something that close to me.” Awww.
• Oz will return to Dark Horse’s most-excellent Buffy comic(!).
• Willow was basically outed only because Oz left the show.
• And, no, Whedon was never going make Xander gay.

And in Dr. Horrible news:
• Harris did some of his own MTV Cribs-like choreography in the musical, including that beloved shoulder shimmy in the second act.
• While filming, Whedon sang as Hammer to Felicia’s character. And cowriter Maurissa Tancharoen has it on tape.
• They’re hosting a contest for “Evil League of Evil” video submissions that are no longer than three minutes. The top 10 will be on the Dr. Horrible DVD.
• The Dr. Horrible soundtrack will be available for download in a couple of weeks.
• Lastly, if you want to be an agent of doom, and rock an iPhone, you too can log onto the very same interface Doc Horrible used in the film at www.thesoftwire.com/horrible_remote.html.

Pretty cool, huh? Here is more coverage of the panel including a video, and confirmation that Whedon said there will be more Dr. Horrible.

More comic-con news: EW’s Popwatch, Wizard’s SDCC news central, and finally Newsarama’s coverage guide. There’s tons more where that came from, but who has time to read it all?

Chuck #1

June 16th, 2008 by Michael

I picked up Chuck #1 on a whim…I’d been looking for something different from the usual Marvel superhero fare I’m used to. The art looked kinda cool and the pages I skimmed through looked intriguing enough. Then I read it and I had to admit, I was a little confused. There’s this guy named Chuck who daydreams at work about Gilligan’s island inhabited by his coworkers at a Best Buy knockoff that gets blown up. Apparently he’s some spy type of person in some agency that employs psychics and there’s some sort of “intersection” in his head. Whatever that means.

Admitting defeat, I sheepishly turned to the internet to find out more about this comic. That’s when I found out that this was a comic adaptation of a TV series…one I don’t watch. The comic was obviously written for fans of the show (which makes me wonder how successful they hope the comic will be? Is there a huge market for comic versions of somewhat obscure TV shows?), and was thus lost on me. I was more intrigued by what I at first thought the story was about…some poor geek at the “Buy More superstore” who dreams these fantastic situations he puts himself and his friends in…and makes this his reality. But since I’m not a fan of the show and they didn’t really make the comic that accessible to a new audience, I most likely won’t be picking up any more. Which is unfortunate, because there is some genuinely witty dialogue and storytelling here. If anyone else watches the show, though, I’d be interested in what they thought.

Chuck is Written by Peter Johnson and Zev Barow with art by Jeremy Haun and Phil Noto

Power Pack tv pilot

May 10th, 2008 by jason

It seems like at one point or another, just about every super-hero has had some sort of film or television appearance.  And if it’s something that never actually aired on tv, you can bet that someone made a pilot for it that never went anywhere.  Just recently, I got the opportunity to see something I had been trying to find for years, the unaired live action Power Pack tv pilot.  Alex, Julie, Jack and Katie might’ve had their very own tv series, had this show impressed some execs just a bit more.  Judging by the style of the show, they were going for a Saturday morning, or mid-afternoon show, seeking the coveted Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers audience.  What they made, though, was a little closer to Small Wonder.  Most people might say that’s a dis, but at the time, I loved Small Wonder.  And I can see me back then, eating this up with a spoon.  However, being made in 1991, the producers missed the Small Wonder boat by a few years.  Not enough action for MMPR, too young for Saved By The Bell, I’m not sure which fan base they were really going for here.

As far as the story goes, the origin is similar.  The kids still got their powers from an alien named Whitemane, the powers are mostly the same, but they’re not super-heroes.  They don’t fight Snarks.  Their parents know about their powers.  And most of the situational plot comes from not letting the neighbours know about their powers.  They’ve just moved to a new town, and they get a lecture from Mom & Dad about how important it is that they fit in here, so no using powers in public.  Their powers are similar to what they have in the comics, with some twists.  Alex is pretty much the same, Julie is super-fast, but couldn’t fly (at least not in this episode–she does pedal a bicycle at superspeed with the rainbow trailing her), Jack appears to only be able to shrink, and Katie…well, she has some sort of energy powers, but I have no idea what they are.  What was shown in the episode was her creating a glowing globe in her hand, and releasing some sort of energy at a ghost, but not explosive energy.  Plus she doesn’t have to “charge up” by disintegrating matter.

The production quality was that of a pilot, never meant to be aired.  The producers were trying to sell the episode, so the effects are pretty dicey.  The background music during the beginning was from Beetlejuice and in one scene, the radio is playing New Kids on the Block.  I can’t say I blame the executives from giving this one a pass, but I’d like to see what could’ve been had the show been greenlit. It wasn’t unenjoyable, but it was a little bit closer to Alf or Bewitched than it was to the Marvel comic that meant so much to me as a kid.

Watch the Tick on Hulu.com

March 27th, 2008 by Martin

The TickThe entirety of The Tick (the live action series) is now available on Hulu.com. When I first saw this version of the tick, it was at a thanksgiving family reunion, and we literally watched all nine episodes at least two or maybe three times that weekend. Hysterical stuff.

My only previous exposure to The Tick had been in my Latin courses at college. The professor was absolutely nuts for The Tick, and would quote it regularly. I think he even went so far as to bring in some clips from the animated series for us to watch. Then about two years ago I got into the Tick comics, and had to collect them all in Trade Paperback.

So… just to add some links to this post, and spruce things up a bit, I started googling for the Tick, hoping to find a cool weblog by the creator or something. Instead, I found out that Ben Edlund, the creator/artist for the comics, was also a writer/producer for Firefly and Angel, and furthermore has written episodes of The Venture Brothers! He also wrote Titan A.E., which I didn’t think was nearly as bad as everyone said it was). His latest writing/producing credits are on a show called Supernatural, which I haven’t heard of, (or if I had, I didn’t care at the time), and which I will now gleefully Tivo!

Here is a choice quote from an interview with Edlund that I found on slashdot:

The Tick is a work in stupid. Just as others may choose clay or stone or paint, I and my compatriots have chosen stupidity as our medium. But stupid must be worked and mastered like any other material; during this experimental stage, the viewer of the work may feel he or she is observing “perceptiveness” or “art.” This is simply an illusion.