Greetings dear readers!

The writer hasn’t done much this week outside of writing his Eyecon module, which means he’s been watching swashbuckling movies, reading swashbucklers and occasionally talking in an atrocious French accent. It’s pretty much business as usual for him, to the occasional dismay of his wife.

Zombies have been in the news a lot this week, with the Canadian parliament declaring that Canada will never a safe haven for zombies and pranksters hacking into Montana’s emergency broadcast system and warning people the dead were rising from their graves. As amusing as that was, what happens when there’s a real zombie emergency and people treat it as a prank? Everyone will soon be busy running for their lives and then who’ll be laughing?

X:Men: Days of Future Past may get an all CG character,  but we probably won’t get Storm. (Thank you for cutting out the pointless cameos!) Hugh Jackman has said his part in the film will be large (Ohh-er!) and director Bryan Singer announced a new cast member: Peter Dinklage. I’ve no idea who he’s playing, but I’m too busy applauding to look up who it could be. Singer has also said his planed Battlestar Galactica movie is on hold, which I’m fairly neutral on.

Hugh Jackman before coffee.

There’s no way we can avoid this, so let’s get it out of the way now - Holy Action Figure Batman! That’s right, there’s action figures from the 60’s Batman series! We’ve no word yet if the Joker figure will have a moustache hidden with greasepaint or which Catwoman will be immortalised in plastic, but there will be Batman themed Ken and Barbie dolls.

There’s talk that if Man of Steel is a hit, if could delay another Batman film, which seems frankly absurd – shouldn’t both franchises not be so reliant on each other? Given the hassle they’ve had, part of me wonders if DC should just give up and only make Batman films. Their recent hiring of Orson Scott Card to write Superman hasn’t worked how they might have hoped, with a petition started  to have him removed from the title. For those not in the know, Card has some controversial views, the sort that attract a lot of attention and furious internet anger. DC has issued an official response which was very calm and polite, in contrast to the frothing rage that’s been stirred up. Last in this bit, for the completists and the masochists alike, is the unauthorized Hindi Superman film, in it’s entirety.

The big Doctor Who news this week is that the Anniversary special will be in 3D. I’d like to be enthused by this news, but I can’t. I don’t want gimmicks, I just want a good episode – is that too much to ask? There’s a lovely bit of news concerning An Adventure in Space and Time, with actor William Russell, who played companion Ian Chesterton, appearing in the show. Turning to the new season, the return of a classic series monster has been confirmed. You’ll have to read the article if you want to be spoiled – we’re nice that way. The next Whovention (Organized by the DWCA) will have a script writing workshop and while it’s been reported that there would be a series of Doctor Who screenings taking place in cinemas, that hasn’t been confirmed. Lastly, there’s an interesting alternate history of the show, in which the Doctor was always played by a woman. Honor Blackman as the Third Doctor? I AM THERE.

No, the mystery monster isn’t the Zygons. Good guess though!

There’s a look at the action figures of Thor: The Dark World, the first teaser for  The Wolverine will be playing before GI:Joe: Retaliation and it’s speculation, but we could be seeing Black Cat in Amazing Spider-Man 2. There’s a new Iron Man 3 poster starring War Machine, Haley Atwell may be filming a flashback for Captain America 2 and while we don’t know anything about the viral site Become Iron Man, the thought of being a Stark Industries test subject makes me very nervous.

HBO have ordered a pilot for Damon Lindelof’s new show, The Leftovers, about the people left behind after the Rapture. In more HBO news, there’s  a fresh Game of Thrones trailer and George RR Martin is both looking at a series based on his book Tuf Voyaging and a Thrones prequel series. Meanwhile, as part of the YouTube show Man at Arms, there’s a look at making Jaime Lannister’s sword. I’m not going to get too pedantic, but whatever you do, ignore all the talk about the fuller being a ‘blood groove’ – it was actually to lighten the weight of the sword.

The 501^st Legion has a rival in the ‘Evil Groups that do awesome things’ category with the arrival of the Cobra 1st Legion, a group of GI Joe cosplayers who attend conventions, raise money for charity and make for awesome photo shoots. So far they’re only active in the San Francisco area, but given Cobra’s aggressive recruitment policy I’m sure new groups will be springing up soon.

And now you know. Yo Joe!

There’s clips from Oz, the Great and Powerful, the new Ghost in the Shell prequel, Bates Motel and Dark Skies. There’s a plethora of clips from Jack the Giant Slayer, here, here and more here, a fantastic live action Wreck it Ralph short and a pair of deleted scenes from the film. We have the first trailer for Monsters University and a pair of clips, here and here, along with trailers for Stephanie Myer’s The Host, the documentary Room 237, about the making of The Shining and one for the book When We Wake, about the first person successfully revived from cryogenic sleep. We also have a teaser for the latest episode of Black Mirror with word that Robert Downey Jr has bought the movie rights to an episode from the first season. Early word say’s the Americans will dumb it down, but who’d expect anything less from an American version of a British show? 

There’s some new pictures from Europa Report and a poster for the 3D re-release of Jurassic Park. Sandra Bullock will be in the Despicable Me spin off Minions, Universal have two writers working on a reboot of The Mummy, writer Richard Matheson is working on a fresh adaption of his book The Shrinking Man and if the government can sort out the tax rebate, Brad Pitt could be coming here to film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Lawrence Kasdan say’s he’ll be starting fresh when writing the new Star Wars films, which I consider a good thing. Some of the Expanded Universe is worth looking at (Timothy Zhan for the most part), but there’s a whole lot of dreck. It’s horrible of me I know, but, but part of me wishes he’d mess with the Mandalorians, just to make Karen Traviss’s head explode again. Cruel yes, but worth it. The team at Wired has looked inside the Battle of Hoth, with an analysis of the battle that’s provoked some fierce debate. One thing we can agree on though: the man who created a 140 square foot diorama of the battle in his living room deserves applause. 

Echo station 3-T-8, we have spotted Imperial Strollers!

The team behind SHIELD look mighty cheerful on the last day of shooting while it’s head honcho, Joss Whedon really isn’t happy with network TV. The ‘grimdarking up a fairy tale’ trend is continuing, with Warners looking at Red Brick Road, described as ‘Game of Thrones meets the Wizard of Oz’. There’s some casting news on the Zombieland TV adaption, NBC has cancelled Do No Harm after two episodes and we’ve a massive collection of Star Trek bloopers.

The CW network has renewed Arrow, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries while confirming casting for the Vampire Diaries spin off. Turning to SyFy, there’s a look at the soundtrack and visual effects of Blood and Chrome and they’ve announced an adaption of the Phillip K Dick story The Man in the High Castle, which is set in an alternate universe where the Axis powers won World War 2. The BBC have announced a new show, Atlantis, that’ll take the place of Merlin, AMC have commissioned an adaption of Dan Simmon’s novel The Terror and Rupert Grint is set to headline the pilot Super Clyde, about a comics fan who receives a large inheritance and decides to become a hero.

Classic shooter System Shock 2 is being re-released soon (Yes, it’ll work on modern PC’s) and we might be getting a new Arkham game this year. There’s a release date and some more art for Stargate SG-1: Unbound, with the original cast all signed on to reprise their roles. We’ve some concept art from Alien vs Predator: Evolution, a look at what little we know of Bungie’s new game Destiny and a trailer for Star Trek: The Game, which has a lot more gunfire and explosions than I normally associate with Star Trek. In an awesome piece of news, this year’s Sydney Mardi Gras will see a group of LGBT gamers marching. To all those marching, I salute you. *bows*

Gamers – we roll with style.

The team at Not Literally Productions has produced another Harry Potter parody song, Gryffindors Roar, there’s pictures of a Star Destroyer birthday cake that looks too good to eat (Plus, it lights up!) while there’s pictures of some of the upcoming Transformers toys, including a Fall of Cybertron Metroplex that’s almost three feet tall and for the cat who longs to live in the Shire there’s a Hobbit hole cat litter tray. It’s almost a shame, as every cat I’ve known would just poop on the top.

Fashion’s not a subject we think about too often (If you’ve seen my dress sense you’d know why), but there’s some shinies we can’t ignore. Firstly, there’s bear trap epaulettes, then a Tron themed prom dress that actually lights up and for chilly nights on the Enterprise, Star Trek footed pajamas.

In the strangest thing I’ve read this week (That wasn’t a tweet from Ted Nugent) a drunken man was arrested this week for waving a Bat’leth around in public (No, that’s not a euphemism). The best part? The guy’s name is Johnnie Blade. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried. Lastly, a group of scientists have said that given the right conditions, the (infamous) nuke the fridge scene in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull could have actually worked.

Quote of the Week:

Catwoman: Let no one say that Catwoman is not the best-dressed woman in the world.

Batman: There are no fashion shows where you're going, Catwoman.

Robin: And how could a feline feloness like you also be a fashion model?

Batman: Ah-ah. Give credit where credit is due, Robin. She may be evil, but she is attractive. You'll know more about that in a couple of years.

Batman – Catwoman’s Dressed to Kill

Cheers,

Gavin