Club Jade

Various movie adaptions of Neil Gaiman’s highly-acclaimed and much-beloved Sandman comic series have ended up stuck in development hell over the years – much to the relief of the fans.

Now, however, a new challenger emerges: TV. The Hollywood Reporter said Wednesday that Warner Bros. is looking to get the rights for the series from DC Entertainment, and Supernatural creator Eric Kripke is their first choice to helm it. Neil Gaiman is not (yet?) involved.

As a fan of Sandman, I’ve never really wanted it on screen: The story works wonderfully as a comic, and I can’t see how doing it otherwise would any favors. (With all apologies to Dark Horse and their Star Wars folks, it was Sandman that finally showed me of the heights the format was capable of.)

I can’t pretend to be an expert on Kripke, but his name does not exactly install faith in the project: I’ve never been able to make it through an entire episode of Supernatural, and little I’ve heard about the series makes me want to keep trying.

If Gaiman gets on board, I would be a little less OH HELL NO about the very idea. But for now? Here’s hoping for another round of development hell.

One way or another, now is a good time to check the series out if you haven’t already. The first volume is a tad shaky, as all newborn comics are, but things start shaping up with the second.

Rogue Leader on Tumblr created a map that corroponds each of the United States to a planet from Star Wars. It didn’t take long for a few objections to spring up on Twitter, but I must admit I get a huge kick out of Michigan being Kuat. (via)

You can purchase a season pass for S3 in standard for $38.99 or high definition for $54.99 now. The sneak peek (a scene on a Kamino featuring Grievous and Ventress, plus the trailer that played in the finale) is free!

Fresh off the Emmy broadcast, the Gemini Award nominations, recognizing achievement in Canadian English-language television, have been released.  And, unlike in the US, they tend to appreciate good genre television.

Stargate Universe did pretty well for itself:

• Best Dramatic Series
• Best Performance by an Actor – Robert Carlyle (Human), Louis Ferreira (Justice)
• Best Direction – Andy Mikita (Air, Part 1)
• Best Original Music Score – Joel Goldsmith (Light)
• Best Photography – Light
• Best Editing – Human
• Best Sound Series
• Best Visual Effect – Air, Part 1

Other genre nods:

• Alice – Matt Frewer (Best Performance by a Supporting Actor, Mini-Series), Andrew Lee Potts (Best Performance by a Lead Actor, Mini-Series), Caterina Scorsone (Best Performance by a Lead Actress, Mini-Series), Makeup, Costume Design, Best Writing Mini-Series
• Sanctuary – Christopher Hyerdahl (Best Performance by an Actor, Guest Role), Best Sound Series

StarWars.com has a new Clone Wars preview video today, ‘Truly Cinematic,’ featuring Dee Bradley Baker, Matt Lanter, James Arnold Taylor, and Ashley Eckstein. There are peeks at a lot of the footage that was revealed at Celebration, but I’m not well-vested enough to know if anything else is all-new.

Start keeping an eye out for Ryder Windham’s Millennium Falcon: A 3-D Owner’s Guide. Comic fans can head out Wednesday for a pair of reprints: The Old Republic—Threat of Peace #3 and The Clone Wars: Hero of the Confederacy.

…From TFN’s Jovial Jay Shepard. (via)

The Emmys are tonight, but in this corner of the internet the biggest winner has already been announced: Star Wars: Uncut was named the Emmy winner for Interactive Fiction at last weekend’s Creative Arts awards. (A story even made the front of the Arts section of the New York Times.) Even Lucasfilm is down with the fan film’s success:

Lucasfilm said in a statement Friday that “we are really pleased that they won an Emmy for their efforts” and that its long-time partner for fan productions, Atom Films, is in talks with the producers. Atom holds an annual Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge, which culminates in screenings of winning films on the Spike channel, and “we hope that some day ‘Star Wars Uncut’ can air on Spike,” Lucasfilm said.

Also winning last week was Robot Chicken, which took home the Emmy for Short Form Animated Program.

StarWars.com has a look at the adidas Originals Star Wars Collection for Fall/Winter 2010, including this adorable set of droid shoes!

In case you missed it, there was this small little movie that came out last year called Avatar.  (Not to be confused with Avatar:  The Last Airbender.)  It really struggled; only pulling in three Academy Awards.  (So sad.)

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, director and creator James Cameron is talking about its impending 3D re-release; including more Pandoric atmosphere and a missing tear-jerker moment.

Apparently, he is hoping this re-release will test out whether or not the Avatar brand can develop into a Star Wars- or Star Trek-type franchise.

Perhaps, being an old fart Star Wars fan, I find this difficult to believe.  But stranger things have happened.  (As in back in 1977.)  And even an attempt at doing more with the Avatar franchise will make at least the Avatarians (Pandorians? Avatar fans?) happy, for now.  So more power to him.