SciFi Weekend: Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Westworld, 12 Monkeys, Doctor Who

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Entertainment Weekly interviewed Andrew Kreisberg about the second season of Supergirl, which returns this week on CW along with DC’S Legends of Tomorrow. He revealed that Supergirl will travel from her dimension to “our” dimension where The Flash, Arrow, and Legends live, but the universes are not combined. More excerpts from the interview:

What’s going on with Kara personally and professionally this season?
For this season, she’s feeling really good about herself as Supergirl. She spent a lot of time last year doubting herself, learning, training, getting stronger and getting better at it. Then, at the end of the year, Superman got taken out and she saved the world all by herself, so we come into season 2 and she feels like she’s got a handle on being Supergirl — it’s everybody else in her life that she feels like, “How can I be a girlfriend? What am I supposed to do with my career? How can I be there for my sister?” So it’s all the Kara stuff that’s really the tough stuff early on, and that’s where Clark comes in. We say it’s like becoming a parent, where when you were a kid, your parents knew everything and then you become an adult and you’re like, “I’m lost, I don’t know what to do.” You realize that neither did your parents; they were making it up as they went, they just presented themselves as knowing it all even if they were dying inside. That’s one of things that Kara says, like, “I know how to be Supergirl, but I don’t know how to do any of this other stuff. But Clark, he makes it look easy, he’s Superman, he’s a great reporter, he’s a great boyfriend. How does he do it?” And Clark says, “I’m making it up as I go, too. It’s all about balancing it and it’s all a day-to-day thing. Just because I make it look easy, doesn’t mean that it is.” So Kara is really growing up this season, that’s really her journey.

What brings Superman to National City?
The two of them actually show up to the same crisis. It wasn’t a turf war, they just both heard about the same tragedy on the news and both flew into action. But they haven’t really gotten a chance to spend time together, especially since she’s come out as Supergirl, and they both want that. Both of them have a bit of sadness about them, they both have that sense of feeling alone, they both have that sense of feeling different, and both of them remark that that loneliness, that alienation, that isolation goes away when they are together. Part of what these episodes explore is that they don’t get that because of the machinations of the plot and of the actions of Project Cadmus, the villains; they both have homes to defend and they have to defend their own turf.

What brings Mon-El (Chris Wood) to Earth?
He’s brought to Earth because he’s from Daxam, just as in the comics, which was a sister world to Krypton. The destruction of Krypton also resulted in a very bad day for Daxam. That’s how he escaped that cataclysm and came to Earth. What’s interesting about it is that Kara has always had mentors, whether it was Laura [Benanti], or it was the Danvers, or whether it was Cat, or Clark, but now she has somebody to take care of, she has somebody to mentor. He’s fresh off the boat — as far as he’s concerned. He got into a pod on Daxam and then the next day was on Earth. She says to somebody in one of the early episodes that she wasn’t sent to Earth to be Supergirl, she was sent to Earth to watch Clark, take care of him and to be a protector. In a way, Mon-El coming here, she’s finally now getting to fill that original mission..

Talk about Project Cadmus and whether it’s the big bad this season.
They’re the big bad of the first part of the year — a second big bad will emerge later in the year — but they’re dedicated to eradicating alien life on Earth. They’re fanatics, they’re true believers. What’s interesting about them is it’s this collection of scientists, it’s this collection of very bright, patriotic people who truly believe what they’re saying. That makes them even more dangerous, because they believe they have a point, that ever since these aliens started coming here, the Earth has become this free for all, and human beings are about to get knocked off the food chain. They don’t care that you’re wearing a cape one day, what happens when you turn around and decide I don’t want people cheering for me anymore, I want people bowing before me? So their goal is to eliminate the J’onns and the Supermans and the Supergirls of the world along with all the other evil aliens that are out there — they don’t make that distinction, which creates an interesting problem for our good guys.

TV Guide has some more information on the second season of Supergirl.

Collider has some information on the second season of Legends of Tomorrow (extended trailer above. The original trailer posted is no longer available so the replacement might not correspond entirely with the article).

Legends seems poised in Season 2 to bring some interesting things to the table. Firstly there’s a shakeup among the core team, which has added a historian (played by Nick Zano) as well as a whole new host of heroes — who don’t just bumble their way through space and time like a wrecking ball — with the Justice Society of America. Even more promising, perhaps, is the Legion of Doom, which will take villains Damien Darhk, Eobard Thawne, and others in a super-villain team-up that could be a lot of fun. And fun is really the key word with Legends. At this summer’s TCA press tour, I spoke briefly with EP Phil Klemmer about how Season 2 might be different than what we’ve seen before, and he assured me that the emphasis is just going to be on having fun.

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So far with two episodes of West World available (the second streaming ahead of its usual showing on HBO tonight) the series looks promising. Of course with Anthony Hopkins (who also played Hannibal Lecter) in charge, you have to be suspicious that something is up. SciFi Now interviewed Anthony Hopkins:

You play Dr Robert Ford, the creator of Westworld and another mysterious character. What is it that draws you to these roles?
I knew what scares people when I was a kid – that’s the art of the control freak. I’m not a control freak in my life, I’m the opposite. But they keep casting me as control freak nuts. I always make an attempt to go the opposite of what an audience would expect.

Elia Kazan once had to play a gangster, and met one of Al Capone’s buddies. This guy said – “you don’t have to holler. They know who you are. If you’re playing a killer be very quiet.”

What was it about Westworld that intrigued you?
Artificial intelligence is very interesting. I was on holiday recently up in Ohio and I was having lunch, this young guy sitting at the table opposite me. He worked at MIT in artificial intelligence. I told him about Westworld. He said it’s very unlikely we’ll ever be able to create a living cell. He didn’t think we’d ever create Westworld robots.

I saw the original years ago, and then my agent said that Jonah wanted to cast me and would I read the script. We met, and I was intrigued by it, and so I said yes.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is yet another genre movie to be turned into a television series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. I have no idea how it will work as an ongoing television series (as I also wonder with Westworld) but it was an excellent movie.

Things don’t look very good in 2163 in the above season 3 trailer for 12 Monkeys which was shown at New York Comic Con.

The above first look at the Doctor Who Christmas Special, episode entitled The Return of Doctor Mysterio, was shown at the New York Comic Con. As promised, it does include a superhero. Radio Times also points out that it looks like the sonic screwdriver makes a comeback. More on the Christmas Special at The Telegraph and below.

Video of the full Doctor Who panel at New York Comic Con is above. Mashable has the following key points:

  • Showrunner Steven Moffat says Mackie’s Bill “starts her journey with the Doctor in a surprising way,” and promises that the reveals will keep coming over the course of the new companion’s journey in Season 10, but declined to give further details about her introduction — except to say, “I can promise you it’s really quite different.”
  • Capaldi notes that Bill “refreshes” the show, since she “comes from the real world; she doesn’t come from the world of Doctor Who, so she has to be introduced” to the Doctor’s way of doing things. Moffat adds, “you’re getting to see the Doctor for the first time all over again through a new pair of eyes,” thanks to the new companion.
  • On that note, Moffat says that Season 10 will be a great starting point for new viewers, since they took the opportunity to reset things with Bill’s introduction. “If I can give you a tone word for the season, it’s ‘brand new’ … episode 1 really is episode 1, it explains the entire mythos of Doctor Who, and you can start there,” he promises.
  • Bill won’t appear in the Christmas special, which is titled “The Return of Doctor Mysterio,” but Lucas’ Nardole will be back for the festive installment. “Just as I was thinking it would be great if the Doctor had some kind of valet or butler who wouldn’t be very polite or obedient, Matt said he wanted to come back,” Moffat says of bringing Lucas back to the fold. “He just kept volunteering to do more. It’s working better than we could’ve expected.”
  • Nardole will be “a little different” from the last time we saw him — both a bit more grounded and, at times, even “sinister,” per Moffat: “There are lots of layers to him.”
  • The Christmas special is inspired by Moffat’s love of Superman — specifically Clark Kent, who the showrunner describes as “awesome — he goes around pretending he’s not a god; he doesn’t tell the woman he loves that he’s the person she’s in love with — it’s a love triangle with two people.” He says he’s always wanted to write Clark Kent’s journey, which is fitting, because Capaldi compares the tone of the special to the original Christopher Reeve Superman film, calling it, “a new, ironic, good-hearted superhero movie.”

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Screen Rant has more on the panel.

The Doctor also appears in the above trailer for the spin off series Class. There is a crack in space and time, reminiscent of the crack in Amy Pond’s wall.

Debate To Open With Trump Tape–What About Wikileaks Release On Clinton?

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It looks like the fix is in. CNN reports that the first question will go to Hillary Clinton and be on the Trump videotape. They certainly should ask about the Trump tape, as what he said is inexcusable, but don’t leave out the Winkleaks Clinton email which further shows that what the left has been saying about her is true. Plus if they ask Trump about the women he assaulted, they should ask Clinton about the women who were killed in her wars. Fair is fair.

I do have one tip for the debate moderators: Whenever Clinton answers a question, ask her if she is giving her public or private position.

It is interesting to see so many Republicans finally dropping their support for Trump. Of course it is easy for Republicans to withdraw their support of Donald Trump. They have another Republican in the wings, ready to win the White House–Hillary Clinton. If there was ever any question of where she stands politically, the material released by Wikileaks confirmed this.

The tapes do provide good reason for Republicans to distance themselves from Trump. They also explain why the women in his life stand as they do:

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