Marvel Entertainment backs S.H.I.E.L.D.

A year ago the story broke that Jackson had signed a nine-picture deal to star as S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury. This would include Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Avengers and other cameos in addition to a solo film based on the organization S.H.I.E.L.D. Based on the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby creation, Nick Fury is a hard-boiled, cigar-chomping, gun-toting super spy dropping into dangerous situations with high-tech devices and a devil-may-care attitude.

As the Thor and Captain America sequels are now gaining press again, news of a S.H.I.E.L.D. feature film comes via Spinoff:

It’s no surprise that Marvel is planning sequels to Thor and Captain America following the release next year of The Avengers, or that characters like Black Widow and Hawkeye (and Iron Fist and Doctor Strange, for that matter) are being eyed for solo projects. However, it may be news that the studio envisions S.H.I.E.L.D. headlining its own movie.

The word comes courtesy of Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige in the latest issue of Disney twenty-three, the quarterly publication of D23: The Official Disney Fan Club (via IGN).

Following The Avengers, which premieres on May 4, 2012, Feige says, “Thor will go off into a new adventure, and Captain America will continue to explore the modern world in another film of his own. We hope that holds true for the characters appearing in that film — Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the spy organization, S.H.I.E.L.D. — all of whom are more than worthy and capable of carrying their own films. And, we’ve got a lot of other characters we’re prepping and getting ready for film debuts: the world of martial arts, these great cosmic space fantasies, Dr. Strange, and the magic side of the Marvel Universe. There are many, many stories to be mined.”

It should be noted that Feige’s comment about the Captain America sequel indicates that the story’s setting may not be as up in the air as screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus had suggested. Instead of a further exploration of the Sentinel of Liberty’s World War II adventures, it looks as if we’ll see Steve Rogers in the modern Marvel Universe. (Maybe there’s still hope for that Winter Soldier storyline?)

But to the matter at hand, a movie centering on S.H.I.E.L.D. seems almost inevitable when you consider the casting of the charismatic Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, the popularity and expanding role of Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, the addition of Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, the use of the fictional agency as a marketing tool and the increased presence of the spy organization in Thor (in which operatives all drive Honda Acuras). So perhaps a spinoff project has always been in the cards.

Doctor Who Big Finish- The Land of the Dead

The Land of the Dead

Story 04 Written by Stephen Cole
Released January 2000

In the cold seclusion of Alaska, The Doctor and Nyssa find themselves embroiled in the final moments of a very old tragedy, forever altering the lives of two men linked in their grief. Rich eccentric Shaun Brett is constructing an insane testament to his departed father, using the skills of his childhood ‘friend’ Tulung. Both of their fathers had perished in a violent event that the TARDIS briefly witnessed 30 years ago. A great mystery and a stronger sense of resentment and anger connects the two men who seem doomed to wallow in the same excavation site that served as a burial mound for their parents.

In the midst of the drama is the wise-cracking designer Monica Lewis who uses natural material in building themed rooms in a shrine to Brett’s father’s historic find. Revisited, the dig is a wealth of knowledge and all of it is being used as building material in rooms made of stone, earth and even in a grisly case, of bone itself. Fragments of an unknown race of creatures predating the dinosaurs, nick-named Permians by the Doctor, are becoming animated and hostile, tearing at whatever and whoever they find and using raw material to renew themselves.

Like Whispers of Terror, The Land of the Dead is a wonderfully brilliant and inspired piece of classic Doctor Who tinged with new ideas and heightened drama. In addition to a knock-out cast and well-crafted supporting characters, the story allows for Peter Davison’s Doctor to once again shine. A somewhat short-of-breath and scattered hero on screen, his depiction of the Doctor was often hampered by badly conceived companions and over-ambitious scripts.

In the Big Finish audios, Davison is given ample room to move and show what he is capable of without the BBC production team calling the shots. As indicated in several interviews, Davison had intended to inject a healthy dose of dry English wit into his version of the Doctor, but was kept from doing so by producer JNT who wished wished to distance himself from the sophomoric humor of the Graham Williams/Tom Baker/Douglas Adams era. In this instance, Davison is no longer restricted by any such demands and comes off as a sparkling personality. A brilliant, strange and whimsical personality, the Fifth Doctor of the audio adventures is an extension of the ideas that the actor explored on screen rather than an imitation.

Writer Stephen Cole comes from a long line of accomplishments in print including the highly acclaimed Doctor Who novel The Ancestor Cell. Of his three main Doctor Who Big Finish audios to date I have listened to this and the Apocalypse Element, an adventure steeped in action and technical jargon, but in my opinion little real substance in comparison to the Land of the Dead. A thrilling adventure full of charm and suspense, it comes highly recommended.

Doctor Who – The Land of the Dead can be purchased at local retailers and online from Big Finish.

Read other Big Finish reviews at the Daily P.O.P. here.