As has been stated waaaay back in a comment made on July 8th here, Doctor Who David Tennant is getting ready to tread the boards as the troubled murderer Hamlet.
(I had no idea until recently that this was a furtively contested rumor)
As part of the 2008 Royal Shakespeare Company season, David Tennant will share the stage with former Star Trek Captain Jean Luc Picard, Patrick Stewart (who will play the role of Claudius).
Ah yes, the lifelong battle between Star Trek and Doctor Who finally hits the stage!
This is rumored to be the first post-Doctor Who role for David as he leaves the program to pursue his ever growing acting career. As a lifelong fan of Doctor Who, playing the part of the Timelord has been a dream come true to the Scots actor, but as many actors will attest, you can’t stay the Doctor forever.
David Goyer (Blade, JSA) recently conformed that he is working on a Magneto screenplay as well as another project called ‘Supermax.’
Taking place in a maximum security prison for super powered villains, the script follows the adventures of its hero Green Arrow fighting his way out.
The script is still in development, but could easily play on the interest generated in the character since he appeared on Smallville and my mom called me up asking who Green Arrow was.
(these youtube tribute vids are very odd… aren’t they?)
A quick-witted bowman with amazing archery skills, Green Arrow was basically a Batman clone with arrows until he was revamped by Bob Haney and Neal Adams into the bearded bowman we know today.
After a stint on the road to rediscover America with square galactic cop Green Lantern, he rejoined the Justice League of America in the 70’s. Looking for a purpose to give Green Arrow, the writers decided that he should take on the role of the loud mouthed liberal in the super group. It makes sense given that not only was he a former businessman turned pauper but being surrounded by men and women capable of tearing apart cars with their bare hands, he acted as a kind of conscience for the team.
After a very long stint in comic book limbo, Green Arrow returned in a series written by popular filmmaker Kevin Smith. Smith brought his great love for the character to the series along with his high-profile star power, turning the series into a blockbuster success for the first time since the 60’s.
Bruce Timm included Green Arrow in his Justice League Unlimited cartoon series as a kind of action hero meets Star Trek’s Doctor McCoy. The character was so popular with writers that he practically took over the series.
Whatever the fate of this unusual script, I think its intentions are good. I trust Goyer’s instincts and feel that a hero fighting a prison full of super villains armed with gimmick arrows would be a huge boost to the character’s reputation.
Started in a Minnesota cable access studio in 1988, Joel Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu, Josh Weinstein and Producer Jim Mallon began work on Mystery Science Theater 3000 (or MST3k, as it is called).
Hodgson had been playing the club circuit and made a name for himself as a ’sleepy-eyed’ prop comic. From his many appearances on SNL and late night talk shows, he was beginning to see where any success would lead and he didn’t like it. He envisioned playing the role of the ‘wacky neighbor’ on any number of sitcoms for the rest of his life and decided to make his own show instead.
Joel on the HBO Comedy Special
The premise (all covered in the opening theme song), was that Joel was shot into space by his bosses who were evil scientists looking for ways to rule the world. Dr Clayton Forrester (a reference to War of the Worlds) and his assistant Larry sent really bad movies up to Joel and recorded his reactions. In an attempt to cope with the situation, Joel created his robot pals Crow (voiced by Beaulieu), Tom Servo (Weinstein) and Gypsy. Each episode began with the ‘invention exchange,’ which utilized Hodgson’s skill as a prop comic and visual comedian, before an alarm would sound, forcing Joel into the theater.
As the bad films painfully played on the screen, Joel and the robots appeared as silhouettes at the bottom of the screen, attempting to hurt the film right back with references to other films or random remarks.
The KTMA era of the program was met with resounding success by local viewers, resulting in a fan club and live shows. This early stage of the program was all ad lib and greatly differs from the later more polished efforts.
KTMA Intro
Joel and gang pitched a ‘best of’ material to the Comedy Channel and got picked up as one of their first original programs. MST underwent some drastic changes, however. The bots and sets were spruced up, Mike Nelson became head writer and the episodes were now written rather than impromptu riffs. This didn’t sit well with 18 year old comedian Weinstein and he left the series (he later resurfaced on the excellent cartoon series ‘Mission Hill’).
Weinstein was replaced by camera man Kevin Murphy as the voice of Tom Servo and by Frank Conniff as Forrester’s assistant, TV’s Frank. The new changes resulted in a very different program.
The first series (before Weinstein left) included stinkers like The Crawling Hand, the Mexican horror flick Robot Vs. The Aztec Mummy and the serial ‘Commando Cody in Radar Men From The Moon.’
Many viewers loved the full films, but even more preferred the incredibly bizarre ’shorts.’ Often concerning the awkward and mysterious concepts of dating and marriage in the 1950’s, many of the shorts made so little sense that it remains unclear what the point really was (this refers to Mister Be-Natural, Century 21 Calling, Young Man’s Fancy and A Touch of Spring Fever)
What To Do On a Date (w/Joel)
Joel and the bots enjoyed great success at Comedy Central, including the now infamous Turkey Day Marathon which featured 30 straight hours of MST3K.
It was during the first such marathon that I discovered the show and by the eight film, I was laughing at commercials. I had crossed over the threshold and would never be the same again. Unlike many fans, I had never seen any of the movies that MST3K covered.
Not a Godzilla or Gamera fan, these were new films to me. It struck me as absurd when I met a sci fi memorabilia store owner who showed so much anger at Joel and the bots ‘ruining good movies.’
Crow, Tom Servo and Gypsy riffed alongside their creator Joel Robinson (as he was called in the show) for 5 years before the young comedian had decided that he was ready for a new song to sing. He developed the TV Wheel for HBO (which sadly did not get picked up) a real-time sketch comedy program which involved the talents of many comedians such as David Cross.
TV Wheel
With Joel gone, many a fan of the series was wary of ‘the new guy,’ Mike Nelson. Of course, Mike was no stranger to the program. He had operated behind the scenes as head writer for some time and appeared numerous times as any number of characters from Morrissey to Michael Feinstein to Jack Perkins. Any worries about ‘how will the show survive’ quickly disappeared as Mike took the program on to another 5 years of success, including a feature film.
Last Clear Chance (w/Mike)
All good things come to an end and after first Frank Connif and later Trace decided to leave the show (Beaulieau worked on the incredibly odd comic book ‘Here Come The Big People’), new blood arrived in the form of Bill Corbet as Crow/Observer and Mary Joe Pehl as the decidedly manic Pearl Forrester (Clay’s mom).
Mary Joe Pehl and Bill Corbett brought a new life to the program, allowing it to survive for another two years until Sci-Fi decided to pull the plug. At first, I was resistant to the new blood and stopped watching, but have since discovered the Three Stooges hilarity of Professor BoBo and Brain Guy alongside Pearl.
The program moved from Comedy Central to the Sci-Fi Channel for its last few years and even enjoyed special episodes that allowed the crew to do something they never thought possible… riff on big budget bad movies.
Academy Of Robots’ Choice Awards Special
The last episode featured Mike and the Bots crashing to Earth. A quick jump in time saw them living in a double wide enjoying a meal of white rice watching The Crawling Hand. A deeply depressing and insightful ending, it also offered viewers the unique perspective of seeing the cast making jokes in front of a tiny monitor without us actually seeing the movie.
Many filmmakers and stars that have appeared in the films roasted on screen by Mike, Joel, Trace, Kevin and Bill, have had mixed reactions to their treatment. Not surprisingly, the producer of the Gamera and Fugitive Alien films, Sandy Frank (referred to in song by the Bots as ‘the source of all our pain), refused to allow his films to be released on DVD with the MST3K treatment. Star Joe Don Baker (ridiculed so much that he is reduced to a farting overweight clown) said he would personally punch each member of the crew for their words. On the DVD commentary of Squirm, director Jeff Lieberman was genuinely upset that MST3K didn’t ‘get’ his film and instead decided to trash it.
Personally, I think they were kind.
On the flipside, star Miles O’Keefe actually requested that his film Cave Dwellers appear on the program and was happy with the result. Similarly, the cast and crew of Time Chasers staged a reunion when the film aired on MST3K.
After the program met cancellation once and for all, the cast and crew reformed to work on the interactive PC game Darkstar in 2000… still in production.
In 2006, Murphy Nelson and Corbett got back together to form RiffTrax, a podcast version of the old MST formula. The idea is that you download the podcast and play it alongside a feature film, such as Daredevil or even the hit TV series Heroes and Lost.
Mike even teamed up with Neil Patrick Harris on the Willy Wonka remake.
Daredevil – RiffTrax
More recently, Nelson Corbett and Murphy got back together again to form ‘The Film Crew.’
Working alongside Shout! Factory, the guys will once again riff away at really bad movies. The premise here is that they will provide commentary to films that do not have any. That’s a LOT of movies and the fact that they are starting with Hollywood After Dark starring the Rue McClanahan is a sign that we have a ways to go.
Trailer
In closing, let me say that the show is certainly not for everyone. I myself use it as a kind of mental wallpaper, leaving it on as I work at home or cook dinner. I find it calming and familiar. Others find it to be obnoxious, distracting and an insult to the people who made the movies.
In The Amazing Colossal Episode Guide, Kevin Murphy wrote that he once met Kurt Vonnegut at a hotel. The famed writer took the time to tell Murphy that even makers of bad movies deserve some respect, leaving Murphy‘faced by an idol.’
I agree, to an extent. I mean, what are the chances that Kurt had ever seen ‘Monster A-Go-Go’ or ‘Castle of Fu Manchu’?
The mad genius behind Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Lab and more recently the Star Wars- Clone Wars animated series, Genndy Tartakovsky, has decided to try his hand at comic books.
Marvel Comics just announced Tartakovsky will write and draw a four issue mini series about Luke Cage, Hero for Hire.
Begun by Roy Thomas and George Tuska in 1972 as an attempt to tap into the hip nature of a non-white hero (for once), Luke Cage, Hero for Hire came off as ‘white guys trying to sound black.’ The intentions were good, but the result… awkward.
While still a very fun series that is well worth reading today, the dialog is quirky and full of forced slang as Cage seems to walk through the dirtiest alleys I’ve ever seen in comics.
In all honesty, the oft-ridiculed Luke Cage ‘blaxploitation’ comics are no sillier than Brian Michael Bendis trying to sound young and hip in Avengers or Spider-Man when he’s obviously a middle-aged suburban dork.
While I’m pleased to see that Tartakovsky is working in comics, I gotta admit that I’m disappointed that 1) it’s someone else’s character and 2) it’s a tongue-in-cheek schlocky take on said character.
I mean, haven’t we already gone down this route before?
… I thought so.
More likely than not, this is a continued agenda to bring Luke Cage to the forefront in anticipation of his big screen debut (a technique that has been done with Iron Man and to some extent Black Panther… both fantastic comics which are long overdue for movies). First, he was added to the Avengers, now he’s getting a high-profile mini-series… I just hope it pays homage to the character rather than having a quick laugh.
Fan favorite artist John Romita Jr. recently confirmed that he will be returning to Amazing Spider-Man, where his trademark style will re-establish Marvel Comics’ flagship character. I’ve been a huge fan of Romita Jr. ever since his stint on Daredevil in the 90’s. I got to meet the artist at a Convention and awkwardly praise him on his work, comparing his line work to that of the great Frank Miller. He seemed touched, which was very polite of him, but I have to admit that I was distracted by the fact that his girlfriend at the time was the model for Typhoid Mary.
As a teenage boy, I never should have seen that a drawing can be real.
John Romita Jr. of course follows in the footsteps of his father who made the all-important transition from Steve Ditko’s distinctive art on Spider-Man as the first new artist on the title since its inception.
John Romita Senior’s son is no slouch in that department and has brought new life to Uncanny X-Men, Iron Man, Black Panther and The Hulk to name just a few.
While I enjoy J. Michael Straczynski’s writing, I started reading Amazing Spider-Man just to see Romita Jr.’s artwork. Their collaboration was groundbreaking and brought a strong following to the comic book series during an anniversary year with the impressive and touching ‘Happy Birthday’ story.
John can capture both action and emotion with a master’s touch, as was made evident in the special 9/11 issue featuring the reactions of the Marvel Universe characters to the attack on the World Trade Center. It was a truly difficult assignment that John threw himself into body and soul and one that he looked back on long afterwards with a mixture of pride and sorrow.
Today fans are clamoring over his work in World War Hulk where the weight of Romita Jr.’s line is inherent in every panel. While he has the appeal and energy level of a young hot artist, John Romita Jr. has been at this game for quite some time. I was stunned to discover that his first work was actually published in 1977 when he was 21.
Added to this announcement is that fan favorite writer Dan Slott will be joining John Romita Jr. on the Amazing Spider-Man as its writer. Many comic book readers have been following Slott’s successes on She-Hulk, The Thing and more recently the excellent (but rarely read) Avengers Initiative series. A fun writer with a fan following, Slott has been plagued with second or even third tier books until this point. I’m very happy for him that he has finally landed the job that will give him the exposure he deserves.
If you are a fan of Spider-Man, but wary to jump in for fear that you’d be lost in sub-plots, this would be a great time to pick up the series.
The duo will premiere their first issue some time next year.
As I have mentioned in the past, I’m an easy mark for almost any collectibles.
It’s true to say that after each post I write, I am assessing what I physically own in reference to the subject I just wrote about. I’m also short on cash right now, so I’m mentally building a ‘to buy’ list in my head.
It’s gotten to be quite the long list at this point.
One of my vices is action figures. More expensive than a drug habit and while quieter than tuning up vintage cars, it takes up more space. Even in this case where the figures are just so tiny and cute.
I’m of course talking about Minimates.
The miniature blockish figures released by Art Asylum, Minimates have been released for every franchise from comics to movies to TV series (including the new Battlestar Galactica).
To me, the secret to the Minimates is that on first glance they look silly and stupid and certainly not worth your time or money. Then you find that one Minimate based on a character that you love… and it’s too late. You’re hooked and your desk space becomes a veritable war zone of tiny block people.
Just this summer DC Comics got in the game with their characters and have been releasing two figure sets. The difference with the DC Comics Minimates has been scale. Brainiac is noticeably larger than Superman, Killer Croc is much bigger than Batman. It’s a minor detail, but one that is appreciated.
In addition, DC Comics has decided to delve into characters that have traditionally gotten less exposure in action figure form, such as Power Girl, Ambush Bug and The Blackhawks.
Marvel Comics has struck back with more detailed designs, including Thor, Dr Strange and the unexpected addition of Valkyrie. Their Minimate line has been going strong for many years now, they even made a movie!
X-Men: Darktide
However, the line has slowed down to a crawl the past few years. Apparently this was to build up momentum for the explosion of new characters I’ve just seen previewed online.
The Marvel Zombie comic book series opened up a whole new vista of commercial possibilities for Marvel. From action figures to T-Shirts and posters… I’m still surprised there isn’t a video-game. It seems like a perfect fit.
I was surprised at the announcement of Zombie Minimates simply because I couldn’t figure out what they would look like. Well… they look very disturbing.
From Captain America’s exposed brains to Spider-Man’s bite-ridden body, these figures are downright creepy… and therefore amazing.
Knowing a good thing when they see it, Marvel Comics continued to develop exclusive releases in the Marvel Zombie Minimate line, including Daredevil, Giant Man and my favorite the ‘light snack’ Black Panther and Iron Man set.
Just in case you think the non-comic book crowd is going to escape so easily, there are Minimates based on characters from Rocky, Lord of the Rings, Speed Racer, Street Fighter, 24, Back to the Future, Star Trek, Classic Battlestar Galactica and modern Battlestar Galactica.
I’m wondering why no one has called George Lucas just yet, but the moment Star WarsMinimates are on the shelves it’s all over and I’ll have to turn to a life of crime.
Minimates are available at most comic book shops, record stores (such as Newbury Comics and FYE) and online at BigBadToyStore.
SyFy Portal again gets my attention today with a few quotes from Paul McGann on his resuming the role of the Doctor.
“I’ve heard as well, yeah I’ve heard,” McGann told SyFy Portal’s Alan Stanley Blair during the recent Collectormania convention in Glasgow, Scotland. “Well they haven’t called me, but often you hear it first through rumor. But you know … yeah I’d go back and do it … as long as I don’t have to wear a wig.”
The rest of the article can be found here, and is well worth your time.
Close friend of Doctor #7 Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann’s time as the Doctor was incredibly brief and due to rights issues and poor scheduling, American fans aren’t likely to even know he was ever the Doctor. A gentlemanly actor, McGann brought a sense of grandeur to the role of Doctor Who while maintaining that certain ‘alien’ quality that has been associated with the part since William Hartnell first played the part in 1963.
While mostly a cipher to TV viewers, the 8th Doctor as played by McGann continued his adventures in print and in sound. Appearing in Big Finish audio adventures, his time as the Doctor has been very unique. His Doctor was so popular, in fact, that he played the Doctor in an entire ’season’ of radio adventures.
McGann doesn’t rule out the possibility that he will not be coming back to Doctor Who but given that he is currently in the dark on any such plans, it probably won’t be happening for the 40th Anniversary.
But he will be resuming his radio adventures this year, so listeners in the UK remember to tune in.
I’ve had a great tip off that traces back to a decent source with links within Warner Bros. It reveals quite a bit of exciting info about how The Man of Steel is going to go down when Brian Singer steps back behind the camera next year.
Apparently, Singer and Mike Dougherty have crafted a killer pitch and ‘concept draft’ that had the suits eating out of their hands and even had a knock-on effect for the plans for JLA (I’m told). Several key story points were made clear by the pre-production conceptual art, and here are some SPOILERY details of what those images revealed:
There’s a new Kryptonian character coming to Earth as a result of Supes’ pilgrimage to Krypton that took place before Returns.
Lex makes a deal with “a new villain” (I read this as new to the films, not new to the mythos, and indeed I have some idea who it is…) in order to have Superman eradicated. This villain double crosses Lex and takes over Lexcorp (yep – sounds like Brainiac to me too). What’s more, Jason is a key part in the plot to trap Superman and…
Poor little Jason. He’s snuffed out. That should have some of you cheering, you fiends.
So, there’s a basic draft of the script (a scriptment?), pre-production art and several sequences storyboarded and, as far as I’ve been told, it’s all going down very well with the execs. Nothing’s gonna stand in the way of this film, I’m sure. And, reportedly, this one is really quite action packed with a threatening, smart double team of villains. Can’t fail.
Treat this as rumour, sure. If you must. I’m buying it entirely because I know where it comes from.
The long-running Doctor Who fansite Outpost Gallifrey is officially without its captain.
According to SyFy Portal (which I am enjoying more and more these days) :
“Outpost Gallifrey was one of the top 32,000 sites in the world in terms of traffic. Despite “Doctor Who” being a British show, it received more traffic from the United States than it did from the United Kingdom, being one of America’s top 10,000 sites, and the United Kingdom’s top 2,000 sites. By comparison, SyFy Portal is ranked in the top 99,000 sites worldwide, and is among the top 25,000 sites in the United States, and the top 80,000 sites in the United Kingdom. More than half of SyFy Portal’s traffic is from American readers, according to Alexa.”
Below is the announcement posted today by site admin Shaun Lyon:
All Good Things…
…must come to an end, and such is the case with Outpost Gallifrey. For eleven years, I’ve run this website and turned it into the most popular and influential Doctor Who website on the Internet — all despite the fact that the site has been run since day one from the USA. And though I’ve very much enjoyed the new Doctor Who series since its return in 2005 (and loved much of the previous season’s worth of stories), I’m sure it’s become clear to all of our readers that my passion for Doctor Who fandom has waned. Simply put, there are other pressing concerns on my life — my career and my higher education, my personal life, my other hobbies and so forth — that I enjoy much more these days, as a zeal for editing this website becomes more of a burden. In fact, I nearly gave it up a year ago, but due to the overwhelming response by our readers I kept things going, half-heartedly; it was due to the fantastic efforts put forth by my volunteer editors on the News Page that allowed things to continue into 2007. But even with the best of intentions, I have come to realize that I’m at the point where I just cannot devote the time and energy to it anymore.
And so, it is with heavy heart that I must announce that Outpost Gallifrey as you know it has come to an end.
However… as bittersweet as that may sound, this isn’t quite a goodbye… because while the Outpost itself goes away, four of its features will continue indefinitely, under the auspices of people who currently manage them for me.
The post goes on to say that the Outpost Gallifrey Doctor Who forum, News, Convention Guide and Series Guide will continue.
The Outpost has been a great source of news, community and entertainment for many fans, including myself. I re-converted many a lapsed fan of the old series by showing them the site and enjoyed the long awkward silences as they read episode description after description, reliving their Doctor Who experience.
Thanks for serving Doctor Who fandom for the past 11 years.
As has been stated waaaay back in a comment made on July 8th here, Doctor Who David Tennant is getting ready to tread the boards as the troubled murderer Hamlet.
David Goyer (Blade, JSA) recently conformed that he is working on a Magneto screenplay as well as another project called ‘Supermax.’
The mad genius behind Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Lab and more recently the Star Wars- Clone Wars animated series, Genndy Tartakovsky, has decided to try his hand at comic books.
Fan favorite artist John Romita Jr. recently confirmed that he will be returning to Amazing Spider-Man, where his trademark style will re-establish Marvel Comics’ flagship character. I’ve been a huge fan of Romita Jr. ever since his stint on Daredevil in the 90’s. I got to meet the artist at a Convention and awkwardly praise him on his work, comparing his line work to that of the great Frank Miller. He seemed touched, which was very polite of him, but I have to admit that I was distracted by the fact that his girlfriend at the time was the model for Typhoid Mary.
While I enjoy J. Michael Straczynski’s writing, I started reading Amazing Spider-Man just to see Romita Jr.’s artwork. Their collaboration was groundbreaking and brought a strong following to the comic book series during an anniversary year with the impressive and touching ‘Happy Birthday’ story.
Close friend of Doctor #7 Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann’s time as the Doctor was incredibly brief and due to rights issues and poor scheduling, American fans aren’t likely to even know he was ever the Doctor. A gentlemanly actor, McGann brought a sense of grandeur to the role of Doctor Who while maintaining that certain ‘alien’ quality that has been associated with the part since William Hartnell first played the part in 1963.
I’ve had a great tip off that traces back to a decent source with links within Warner Bros. It reveals quite a bit of exciting info about how The Man of Steel is going to go down when Brian Singer steps back behind the camera next year.