Club Jade

FANDOM BREAK.

And now for something COMPLETELY different… The trailer for the Doctor Who Christmas special. And, beneath the cut, a special prequel to the special. (more…)

Yesterday, we found out that The Clone Wars brought in David Tennant, who played the Tenth Doctor. Today? The BBC announces that Warwick Davis is guesting on Doctor Who. (Doctor Who fans: That link may also contain spoilers, if you don’t want to know who the episode’s villains will be!)

Davis will appear in the current season’s penultimate episode, which was scripted by writer Neil Gaiman. Gaiman’s first Who episode, ‘The Doctor’s Wife,’ won a Hugo.

Davis began his career playing Wicket in Return of the Jedi and has since appeared in The Phantom Menace and the Harry Potter films. His most recent role was starring as ‘himself’ in the sitcom Life’s Too Short.

Doctor Who is currently on hiatus – the second half of the seventh season (or, yes, series if you’re going to Brit-pick) will start on Christmas and continue with eight episodes through the spring. That’s when we’ll see Davis’ episode.

While I can’t I was ever much impressed with Attack of the Show after the horrific, embarrassing mess Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn made of the SDCC Star Wars Spectacular back in 2009, but the news that G4 is canceling the show has made some minor waves in geekdom. Gaming program X-Play is also getting the axe as G4 looks to move into “a more upscale, sophisticated guy TV space.” Uh-huh.

Between them, the two shows helped defined the G4 network as one of the few places on TV regularly highlighting ‘mainstream’ geekdom. However, as The Mary Sue’s Jill Pantozzi points out, that void is already being filled online by people like Felicia Day and Chris Hardwick. Perhaps we’re all better served that way.

Oliver Queen fans, take note: The CW has picked up Arrow for a full season of 22 episodes. The show’s premiere was the network’s most-watched show in three years, and the best premiere since Vampire Diaries in 2009. The CW also picked up three more episodes of their Beauty and the Beast remake, which stars Smallville alum Kristin Kreuk.

Moving onto less basic broadcast news, Neil Gaiman confirmed on Tumblr that the new Doctor Who episode he wrote (announced at the Hugos, where he won for ‘The Doctor’s Wife,’) will be the 12th of the current season.

And finally, it’s hard to read a genre news site and not trip over news and pictures from Game of Thrones as they shoot S3, but if you’ve somehow managed to miss them, try Winter is Coming. As always, possible spoilers!

What genre shows have you been watching this year?

Or is it Attack of the Clones? Well, I suppose that depends on your certain point of view…

Earlier this week, Vulture posted a massive list of what they’re calling the most influential fan bases, and Star Wars came in number 2 – pretty good, all things considered. Occupying the #1 spot is Game of Thrones, which I can’t really be all that bitter about seeing as they’re peaking right now. (And, well, I’m a fan, if not technically in the fandom.)

It’s an interesting series, but one major qualm with the Star Wars listing: Warsies? Dude, no one with an actual clue uses that term. It’s not even a Trekker/Trekkie situation: No one uses it.

The Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Joss Whedon and Lord of the Rings fandoms also made the list. It’s all part of a week-long series, which also covers things like naming your fandom (don’t,) psychology and the crazy shit fans buy.

They’ve also profiled several influential fans, including the Leaky Cauldron’s Melissa Anelli, The One Ring’s Erica Challis and TFN’s Dustin Roberts.

Her Universe is revealing their new products for Halloween! A brand-new Spock hoodie, this year’s Halloween tote by Katie Cook (only available for a limited time) and a Hot Topic exclusive Tardis dress.

These are all brand new editions to their existing collection of “everyday cosplay” – the Leia hoodie, Asoka tunic (now in adult sizes,) and the Uhura tee.

We already know all about the Star Wars ones (and how to repurpose others) so why not add to your collections with some Star Trek cookie cutters?

If you’re not a big Trek fan, ThinkGeek also offers yet more Star Wars cutters (with cookbook!) and will, in the fall, be offering an April Fools spawned lightsaber ice pop maker.

New in the Her Universe store today is a Fish Fingers and Custard tee and a subtle Live Long and Prosper polo. Both are available in plus sizes.

Star Trek is 46 today: ‘The Man Trap,’ debuted September 8, 1966 on NBC. We here at CJ have a lot of love for Trek – in fact, being raised by casual sci-fi fans, I hazard to say it was more a part of my childhood than Star Wars was, by virtue of actually being on TV.

Google celebrated the series by debuting an interactive Google Doodle yesterday. Tor.com has an interesting look back at turning points in the franchise’s history, while Hero Complex talks to Michael Dorn about The Next Generation, which turns 25 this month. And, from earlier in the week, io9 has 8 ways judges have cited Trek from the bench.

Looking forward, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto have been dropping hints about the franchise’s next installment, the still-untitled (or is it?) sequel to 2009′s Star Trek.

What’s your favorite Trek memory or moment? I remain partial to the one with the whales, myself.

Here in America, anyway. Last weekend’s ‘Asylum of the Daleks’ was the most-watched telecast ever for BBC America. 1.6 million viewers tuned in, making it the series best rating for the show since it debuted on the channel in 2009. The show was also up 23% over the 2011 premiere.

Meanwhile, at home in the U.K., the premiere had 6.4 million viewers.