Club Jade

Ex-Doctor Who star David Tennant voices the droid Huyang, who helps the young Jedi on their lightsaber quest in ‘A Test of Strength.’ After watching IGN’s exclusive clip, I’m surprised no one guessed this one at Celebration!

Tennant is best known for playing the Tenth Doctor on Who, but may also be familiar to genre fans from his turn as Barty Crouch Junior in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

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.

The Clone Wars actress and Her Universe founder Ashley Eckstein was a guest on Tosche Station Radio last night, where she answered fan questions and revealed a few upcoming products, including a new Halloween bag from Katie Cook (pictured, last year’s,) more Star Wars pajamas, a Spock costume top, and extended sizes for the Ahsoka Tano costume top. They’ll also be coming out with a Tardis dress exclusively for Hot Topic.

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.

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.

Awards. The Hugo Award winners were announced at Worldcon this past weekend. Taking Best Novel was Jo Walton’s Among Others, beating out George R. R. Martin’s A Dance With Dragons and works by China Miéville, James S. A. Corey and Mira Grant. (Walton also won the Nebula for the book.) Other writing prizes went to Kij Johnson, Charlie Jane Anders, Ken Liu and more.

The dramatic presentation awards went to Game of Thrones S1 and Neil Gaiman for his Doctor Who episode ‘The Doctor’s Wife.’ (Gaiman took the opportunity to announce he’s writing another episode for the show.) Also noteworthy to us, SF Signal winning for Best Fanzine!

Tolkien. With Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit adaption now being three films, the second has been retitled The Desolation of Smaug, with There and Back Again now being the third installment. I fully expect it to contain at least an hour of various slow-motion endings. But seriously, it looks like there was a lot of hints dropped at DragonCon.

A Song of Ice And Fire. A hilarious Storm of Swords ‘It Gets Better’ PSA. Yes, of course there are spoilers. Or, you can read what GRRM has revealed of the Targaryen conquest of Westeros from the upcoming The World of Ice and Fire.

Lists. io9 picks fall’s must-read SF/F books and explores the mermaid trend in YA.

Records. The Hunger Games series has outsold Harry Potter – at least on Amazon.

Also: Ray Bradbury’s FBI file / Lev Grossman interviews Terry Brooks / Ursula Le Guin’s Noble Prize odds / Dark Tower adaption not so dead after all?

Don’t forget that the new series of Doctor Who starts up this Saturday with “Asylum of the Daleks”. The Doctor, Amy and Rory are back, and this time they’re headed to a place that even regular Daleks fear. For those in the US, Doctor Who starts up on BBC America on Saturday at 9pm/8c. Helping get us back into the timey-wimey mood, BBC has been posting a series of fun shorts, called Pond Life, focusing on Mr. and Mrs. Pond since we last saw them.

• Pond Life – Part 1 – Voice mail from the Doctor
• Pond Life – Part 2 – A late night visitor
• Pond Life – Part 3 – A new houseguest
• Pond Life – Part 4 – Living with the houseguest
• Pond Life – Part 5 – Things take a turn

What does writer and producer Stephen Moffat have to say about writing his first Dalek episode? RadioTimes has his episode guide.

Also celebrating the start of series 7, Nerdist Channel has a few programs related for their Doctor Who-eekend: For wacky fun, the Doctor Who cast and crew takes on Chris Hardwick, Wil Wheaton and more in Chris Hardwick’s All Star Celebrity Bowling on Friday (preview here – “Bowling is cool”). On Saturday, check out the Doctor Who Premiere Q&A at 10pm/9c, with Chris Hardwick talking with Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Executive Producer Caroline Skinner after the premiere.

EDIT: BBC America just put up a new Her Universe Doctor Who shirt for sale, combining the logo and the Amy Pond introduction. Go check it out / buy it!

Somehow, this weekend, I suddenly became a Who watcher. Now, to finish S6 before this comes out…

In related news, it looks like the Ninth Doctor, Christopher Eccleston, will be taking on chief baddie duties in the Thor sequel.