Category: tv

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Other worlds: GRRM’s A Dance with Dragons is done

Yes, George R. R. Martin finished the book. The fifth volume of A Song of Ice and Fire got a July 12th publication date last month, but he still wasn’t quite finished with the manuscript, leaving many to doubt that the long-awaited book would actually become a reality. Well, worry no longer, because Martin posted today that Kong has been slain. For those not up on GRRM’s lingo – ‘Kong’ is the book’s nickname – his editor, Anne Groell, has confirmed in plain English.

Meanwhile, HBO’s Game of Thrones TV show has been doing well – ratings held steady for the second episode, and it’s already been renewed for a second season. And you’ll certainly want to check out Time’s four–part interview with Martin about the show, including his thoughts on how the next few volumes should be split up for filming.

Awards. Nominees for the 2011 Hugo and Campbell Awards were announced the other day, and I’m still a little in shock that two of my 2010 favorites – The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and Feed – are up for best novel.

Tolkien. The extended editions of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy will be in theaters this June. Individually, thankfully.

Dark Tower. And for new adaptations, it appears that Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) has signed on to play Roland in Ron Howard’s take on Stephen King’s epic fantasy series.

Recs. Thanks to Jo Walton, I now want to give Daniel Abraham’s Long Price Quartet a swing. And while I was already planning to try Genevieve Valentine’s Mechanique, but Charlie Jane Anders’ review has made me even more intrigued.

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Hopes for Stargate movie gone

Stargate Creator and Executive Producer Brad Wright announced at Creation’s Stargate convention in Vancouver that attempts to finance ongoing movies for the franchise have fallen apart in the wake of the Stargate Universe cancellation.

Given the amount of time that this has been dragging out, it’s not entirely surprising, but still a little sad that the final decision has been made.

Still, you have to give props to a franchise  that lasted fifteen years and produced some truly iconic episodes of sci-fi brilliance out of a movie that didn’t exactly tear up the box office. And there is surely precedent for a franchise to be revived after time has rendered many nostalgic. (Can you say Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica, anyone?)

So dust off those DVD’s and give a salute to a great franchise. See you on the other side of the ‘Gate!

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And the rest: What is Nathan Fillion doing?

Is it… Robot Elvis? What kind of pose is Nathan Fillion doing on the cover of the new Entertainment Weekly? Topless Robot readers have many, many answers. Your reward: Looking at Nathan Fillion.

Shocking facts! A survey of 5,041 Star Trek fans found that 57% of them were female. Fascinating.

Brain a moose. Check out the manuscript for George R. R. Martin’s A Dance With Dragons. Or check out the HBO features on House Stark, House Baratheon, House Lannister and House Targaryen.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry… A funny Regretsy post involving Roseanne Barr, Carrie Fisher and (of course) a puzzling crafted object.

Your indie moment(s) of zen. Mario and a trailer for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off recut as an Sofia Coppola-esque coming-of-age film.

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Dying for more details on Legend of Korra?

The Wall Street Journals’ Speakeasy blog has been breaking news about the new series from the folks behind Avatar: the Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra.

On Monday, they have us our first look at the face of series’ title character, Korra – she was facing away from us in the initial art.

Tuesday brought casting info: Janet Varney will be voicing Korra, with J.K. Simmons as her airbending teacher, Aang’s son Tenzin. You’ll probably recognize Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, aka the best part of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies. We don’t know anything about the rest of the characters, but other familiar voices include Daniel Dae Kim (Lost, ATLA’s General Fong,) Lance Henriksen (remember Millennium?) Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men) and David Faustino (Married With Children.) Perhaps the most controversial name? Seychelle Gabriel, who played Princess Yue in M. Night Shyamalan’s much-maligned Airbender adaption. But folks, let’s cut her some slack: It’s not like she scripted or directed the thing.

Wednesday we got an interview with series creators Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, where they reveal that Nickelodeon ordered an additional 14 episodes – which brings the total number to 26! Go read it.

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Can fans help Nathan Fillion buy Firefly rights?

Oh, Nathan Fillion, you should know better than to put something out there as tantalizing as a wish to buy the rights to Firefly.

Just a few days back, he made a comment to Entertainment Weekly that he’d happily buy the rights to Firefly and put new content on the internet if he won $300 milion in the lottery. Now that same wacky spirit that helped the Browncoats get a movie made out of a cancelled series is pulling together to raise the funds. (Smartly, no actual funds are being collected. They have learned from past Trek-related disasters.)

As Entertainment Weekly rightly points out, even if folks could raise the funds, it would be difficult to convince 20th Century Fox to let go of the rights. And then there’s the whole “gettin’ the band back together” problem.

But still. Nearly everyone in the cast and production team have a mighty love for the franchise. And it’s hard to tell a Browncoat something can’t be done. They might be just the people to figure out how to pull off a mass funding of a television/movie production. Ya just never know.

Wouldn’t that be shiny?

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Rick Berman about to dish on his Star Trek reign

StarTrek.com has interviewed Rick Berman, the man who took over running the Trek franchise for Gene Roddenberry (all hail, The Great Bird of the Galaxy!).

Oddly quiet since his departure from all things Trek, Mr. Berman seems to be ready to open up about his controversial reign leading Star Trek.  (For example, was 7 of 9 really necessary? Did DS9 take things away from Gene’s vision?)

And yes, folks, there’s a memoir on the way. This should get folks good and riled! Mr. Berman gives us a preview in Parts 1 and 2, with Part 3 posting tomorrow.

Edit: Part 3 is posted!

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And the rest: Anne Hathaway is The Dark Knight Rises’ Selina Kyle; X-Men prequel blitz begins

And the catsuit goes to… Warner Bros. announced today that Anne Hathaway has been cast as Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. Reaction has been mixed, but I’m willing to wait and see. (Remember when Heath Ledger was cast?) Earlier rumors claimed there’s a second female lead yet to be cast as well.

Also revealed is that Tom Hardy will play Bane, one of Batman’s newer (well, 1993) foes. Unlike Hathaway, whose performance is bound to be judged harshly against Michelle Pfeiffer’s take on the character (among others,) Hardy has much less baggage to overcome. Bane’s only film appearance thus far was in the much-derided Batman and Robin as a henchmen to Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy.

X-Men: First Class. DC not your thing? Hero Complex visits the set of the X-Men prequel, which stars James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as the young Professor X and Magneto. (Lingering question: Will January Jones actually convince us she’s not Betty Draper, budding supervillain?) There are another couple photos at /Film. And lastly, check out the teaser poster at AICN.

Buffy. Joss Whedon talks to Entertainment Weekly about the Season 8 comics. Warning: Massive spoilers. If you don’t risk them but still feel like getting depressive about something, Blastr has seven Whedon projects we’ll never see, almost all of which look better than Dollhouse.

Harry Potter. Another round of spoil-or-not: A pivotal death scene is being changed for Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Or, see Alexis Liddell’s concept art for ‘The Three Brothers’ sequence in Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

A Game of Thrones. There’s been so much news on the HBO adaption over the past few weeks that I can’t keep up, but one thing you don’t want to miss is the latest teaser.