Christopher Nolan is doing the third Batman film, and some plot spoilers are starting to leak around the web. What intrigued me however was how Nolan has tapped Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in supporting (and antagonistic, if not villainous) roles. The rivalry between their characters in Inception was one of that film’s strengths and I am interested to see them both on screen together again.
“You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.” Indeed!
I was seriously depressed when I found out that there were only three episodes of Sherlock filmed as yet. I caught this series on a plane, actually, and was ready to go a-torrenting for the backlog, only to find I’d exhausted it. It’s as good as Dr. Who, as I’ve raved before. Unfortunately the big hold-up seemed to be that actor Martin Freeman (playing John Watson) had commitments to another big story I am anticipating – The Hobbit.
Well, looks like that’s all resolved:
there was a worry that Freeman wouldn’t be able to film The Hobbit in New Zealand due to commitments to the BBC series Sherlock. That has all been worked out, apparently. “I know my work plan,” Freeman said. “I start in January, then I’ll have a break in the summer so I can shoot the second season of Sherlock, the BBC show where I portray Watson, and then I’ll be back in New Zealand in September in order to finish the movie by the end of the year.”
Filming for the Hobbit starts now, and filming for Sherlock in the summer – with Dr Who to tide us over until then. And then Sherlock in the fall, and The Hobbit next year.
Life is good. I will barely miss Stargate Universe. (well, that’s not entirely true…)
UPDATE: from the article,
So wait, when The Hobbit comes out, Freeman will have played Arthur Dent from Hitchhiker’s Guide, Watson, and Bilbo Baggins. I mean that’s like a nerd trifecta.
Heh. Though with regards to Arthur Dent, let me quote Miracle Max: “and thank you for bringing up such a painful subject. While you’re at it, why don’t you just give me a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it?”
The colonies have finally caught up – the Dr. Who Christmas special will be aired the same night in the US as the UK, Christmas night. The reviews are in, and as always intellect and romance will triumph over brute force and cynicism. Presumably, no spinning Christmas trees of death or robotic menaces this time, just Matt Smith, unhinged and unbound.
How about a preview?
BBC America, of course. I am not sure if I can watch BBC America at home because we dont have an HDTV (though we do have digital cable). Will have to try it out. Otherwise, I’ll just torrent it.
As a follow-up, here’s a thoughtful post about what comes next for Stargate: Universe. The key point is that SyFy doesn’t own the franchise, MGM does, and there is precedent for a series to jump channels. I’m not holding my breath, but there’s more passion for SGU than any series out there since Firefly. Who knows?
Well, Syfy doesn’t actually own Stargate Universe, MGM does. From my admittedly limited understanding of TV legalese, what this means is that MGM takes care of producing the actually show and has some sort of broadcasting deal with Syfy whereby the channel gets to air the first run of the show. While this may at first seem trivial consider two facts; One, the Stargate initially aired on the premium channel Showtime before it was “canceled†and then saved by Syfy (then the Sci-Fi Channel) and Two, MGM itself has issued no statement regarding the future (or not) of the series. I think this is significant because there are many more broadcast options available for the series in today’s market and there are perhaps other channels that would be interested in a series that already has standing sets and a built-in audience.
Below, I’ve included address for some of these channels to write to in order to express interest in watching Stargate Universe on their channel. I’ve also included the address for Syfy. I honestly don’t think there is any chance that they would reverse their decision, but there is the small possibility they could be persuaded to commission a mini-series or movie to wrap up the storyline. This happened when the network canceled the series Farscape, so there is precedence. Obviously, a full season of 13 or 20 episodes would be ideal, but I think it would be worth expressing the desire to have a wrap-up to the show in whatever form we can get it.
[…]
The remaining ten episodes of Stargate Universe season two will air on Syfy sometime in 2011 and this would be a great opportunity to increase the ratings to show Syfy and/or any other potential suitors how popular the show is. Pop Culture Zoo will continue our usual coverage of those remaining episodes so please stay tuned for that.
I’m reprinting the contact information for the various execs as well:
SYFY CONTACTS
Mr. Mark Stern
Executive VP Original Programming, NBC Universal – Syfy
100 Universal City Plaza
Bldg. 1400, 14th Floor
Universal City, CA 91608
Dave Howe
President, NBC Universal – Syfy
30 Rockefeller Plaza, 21st Floor
New York, NY 10112
Thomas P. Vitale
Senior Vice President, Programming and Original Movies, NBC Universal – Syfy
30 Rockefeller Plaza, 21st Floor
New York NY, 10112
SHOW MGM YOUR SUPPORT FOR STARGATE UNIVERSE
Charles E. Cohen
Senior Executive Vice President, MGM Finance and Corporate Development
MGM Television Entertainment
10250 Constellation Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA, 90067
In the Beginning, the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. — The Hitchhiker’ Guide to the Galaxy
This is pretty depressing news – Stargate: Universe seems to have been canceled. They are midway through their second season run and the final ten episodes will air in the spring, they will also modify the plot to wrap up the storyline early (since it was originally scripted for a five year run).
That shows like ST:Voyager get dragged out for years but the great shows like Firefly and SGU get dropped before they’ve had a chance to build a wider following is massively frustrating to me. It’s amazing to me that Galactica was permitted to survive long enough to finish. Sadly, most science fiction (and SGU was no exception) have tried to imitate Galactica’s formula of oversexed characters to try and draw in the mainstream male demographics. I expect the lesson of SGU’s demise, as far as TV producers go, is that there was too much plot and not enough skin. SGU was one of the few shows out there that could credibly be called a successor to Galactica; even Caprica Galactica’s own designated heir already got the axe. The future of American science fiction is dim.
We still have the British franchises, namely Doctor Who, and if the stars align more of Sherlock. And Warehouse 13 seems to have survived the chopping block, though for how long?
Meanwhile, the SyFy rebranding is revealed to have indeed been appropriate. SyFy doesn’t have the patience that Sci-Fi channel did for good science fiction. They just want shows that look like science fiction. It’s just “siffy” now. I’m disgusted, and if I had the option to choose cable channels a-la-carte I’d drop Siffy entirely.
Incidentally, this is an example of why cable should indeed be a-la-carte. Niche channels will regress towards the mean of television norms instead of staying faithful to their niche as long as they are subsidized by general cable premiums. If these niche channels must justify their existence, however, to the niche audience, they will take more risks – and the niche audience will be more willing to pay. Right now I pay about $40 for hundreds of channels; I’d happily pay $50 for just a handful, and Siffy could get a much larger share of my money.
I hope at some point that we can skip able distribution entirely and see a future where TV shows are marketed directly to Netflix and Hulu plus.
At any rate, the long drought of American science fiction has begun.
I’m not that familiar with Craig Ferguson’s body of work, but the man deserves infinite kudos for this.
The funny thing is, this was leaked over YouTube, but actually never aired – he was stopped five minutes before broadcast, because they technically didn’t have the rights to use the theme music. Here’s the segment which broadcast instead.
This is probably never, ever, ever going to be shown in any form in the United States.
Fire up utorrent, folks…
I returned from a lengthy trip and caught a few episodes of the Grand Moffat’s latest series, Sherlock, on the flight. This particular reimagination of Sherlock Holmes is unique in that it is set in the modern day rather than the Victorian era, which for me was like a revelation. The Wikipedia entry describes the series development and inspiration in detail and makes for good reading in its own right, as a case study in adaptation of a literary masterpiece to a different medium. For example:
The writers say that they didn’t want to force the modernity of the world onto the story. There were some creative challenges, such as the decision to include the sign “221B” on Holmes’ front door. Gatiss and Moffat reflect that in the modern world the door would only display the number of the house, and there would be doorbells for each flat. However, the full house number is so iconic that they felt that they could not change it. The writers also decided that the lead characters would address each other by their first names, rather than the traditional Holmes and Watson. Director Paul McGuigan came up with the idea of putting text messages on the screen instead of having cut-away shots of a hand holding the phone.
One of the modernizing facets of the show is that John Watson is encouraged to start a blog, as means of working through his adaptation to civilian duty and the psychosomatic limp. That blog is actually available online, and makes for great supplemental material to the show, as is Holmes’ own website and even the website of the landlady at 221b Baker Street! These tie-in websites are well done, if a bit amateur (though I am utterly spoiled with respect to
ARGs by Cloudmakers).
Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you’re just getting introduced to the series), there were only three episodes made thus far. The series will be continued but our man Watson is off to New Zealand to play at Bilbo (which is also good news).
Frankly, the series was superb. So much so that if it continues, it could even eclipse Doctor Who. The parallels between the Doctor and Holmes are pretty amazing if you think about it (right down to the sidekick) and that certainly isn’t entirely coincidence. This is a great series. Between this, Dr Who, and Stargate Universe, it’s a golden winter for science fiction.
(and yes, I count Sherlock as science fiction. Discuss!)
Caprica will be canceled; there are five unaired episodes left, but they will be yanked from the Tuesday slot and rebroadcast next year sometime.
I’m disappointed, honestly. I was very skeptical of the premise when I heard about it as BSG drew to a close, but Caprica earned its own name and seemed to want to continue the traditioin of exploring the meaning of humanity. The latest episodes introduced another “angel” head-character that also lent a spiritual continuity. The subplot of Lacy joining the STO, the Church on Gemenon, and the war on Tauron all had echoes of modern issues but suitably and safely abstracted. It provided a broader vision of the Twelve Colonies than we ever had a chance to explore aboard Galactica.
However, I think Caprica spent too much time on its ensemble; I was excited that it seemed for a while that Daniel would be a widower, and disappointed that the thoroughly useless character returned. The plot was excruciatingly slow, driven by the cliffhanger formula rather than just resolving things. But still, it would have been nice to see where they went.
We pretty much know how it all turns out. Somehow, Zoe and Tamara are the seeds for true sentience among the Cylons. It would have been interesting to see how the STO and the Taurons factored into the inevitable rebellion of the war machines. And, how they tied it back to the concept of Everything that Has Happened Has Happened Before – after all, as Caprica unfolded, the Five were racing back from the radioactive ruins of Earth 1. Zoe’s angel was revealed to have given Zoe the basic design for Cylons which Daniel copied, and then she herself is destined to become the precursor to their soul. If done well, it could have added real depth to the Galactica mythos.
Unfortunately, since Moore and crew basically made stuff up as they went along and retconned the heck out of the plot with each season, I doubt that Caprica would have answered more questions than it raised. So maybe it’s a good thing Caprica has withered.
I still have SGU – and it’s the best thing on TV until the Doctor returns.
great news, you don’t need the disc anymore to stream content fron Netflix on the Wii!
Starting today, Netflix customers in the US and Canada can instantly stream content through their Wii consoles without the need to fire up a disc first.
Netflix says members who have a plan starting at $8.99 a month (or $7.99 in Canada), a Wii and an Internet connection can now instantly watch movies and TV shows by downloading the application from the Wii Shop Channel.
The new channel is available at no extra cost.
I am finding netflix streaming to be a great way to sample some of the older anime fare in particular that I have missed out on.