Greg Berlanti discussed last week’s episode of Supergirl, including the scenes with Alex coming out:
“It didn’t start with, ‘Oh we want one of the characters to come out. Which one should it be?'” executive producer Andrew Kreisberg told E! News. “It really came out of exploring Alex and finding out how we can go deeper with Alex this season, what makes her tick and what drives her. Why is she the person she is? It made sense for Alex, as opposed to this sort of mandate that we had to do this.”
As Kreisberg explained, this revelation is going to allow for a happier, more fulfilled Alex—and that’s a good thing. “I’ve always loved Alex as a character and part of that is there’s always been this twinge of sadness about her, which I don’t think I or anyone could ever quite put their finger on,” he told us. “And this season, we’re really getting at that. And the notion that Alex is going to be truer to herself and come out and be able to lead a full and complete and happy life, if you love Alex, then you love that this is happening for her because it means she’s going to be happy in a way that she wasn’t able to be before.”
He also discussed the other major revelation in last week’s episode:
Can we trust Lana (Katie McGrath) now that we know what her mama’s up to?
“I want you to not be sure. I think that’s what’s most interesting, that you don’t know where Lena stands or whose side is she on. She does have this very powerful name, and it’s a name that connotes death and destruction and mistrust. We sort of say in a later episode, Kara was lucky enough to be adopted by the Danvers, this beautiful, loving family. And Lena was adopted by these monsters. How much is nature versus nurture makes up the suspense of these next few episodes. And the season.”
Andrew Kreisberg has more on Supergirl, including shooting down a fan theory about the upcoming Cyborg Superman episode.
Supergirl wasn’t the only show in the Berlantiverse to apparently have a big revelation. Arrow seemed to give the identity of Prometheus. I suspected misdirection when viewing the scene, and Buddy TV is even more adamant that Quenton cannot be Prometheus. We shall see how this all turns out over the course of the season.
Stephen Amell and Marc Guggenheim discussed the future of Arrow, including what Oliver’s fate should be and how long the show might go on:
Whenever Arrow decides to enact its endgame, should Oliver pay a price for his practice of taking other lives in the name of vengeance and justice, law and order? “It’s a great question,” says Guggenheim. “There’s an element of this show that’s very Sons of Anarchy to me, which had a similar question: Was there any redemption to be had for Jackson?” (If you don’t know how things ended for the outlaw biker played by Charlie Hunnam, we won’t spoil it for you. Get thee to Netflix!) “I will say that I have a very specific notion as to how I would like to see the series end.”
But Amell does believe Arrow has reached a crossroads. “I do really believe that this season is sort of a throw-down-the-gauntlet year for us, where we’re either going to do what we do and do it well or it’s the last year,” he says. “If we find that magic formula — which is not magic, it’s just hard work and playing to your strengths — then the show could go on for a really long time.”
The CW Network must be happy with the rebooting of Legends of Tomorrow. The season has been extended from thirteen to seventeen episodes.
CW has released the above promo of the crossover event involving Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow, which starts November 28.
NBC also had an episode with a big revelation–which might also be misdirection. TV Line looks at whether Red really is Liz’s father on The Blacklist.
CBS is considering a spinoff of The Big Bang Theory entitled Sheldon. It would be a prequel about Sheldon Cooper at age 12.
I had contemplated having a longer section on the reaction of people in the entertainment industry to the election of Donald Trump but do not have time for that now. I will save the post-election material for another date, but do highly recommend the video below. Benedict Cumberbach presented The Tale of the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election before the results were in, while visiting James Corden. The video mocks both Clinton and Trump. I purposely am not giving examples of the lines in the tale so they can be enjoyed as the story is told, but if you insist upon reading about it first, you can check here.
The Mirror reports that the BBC wants Doctor Who to feel like”a brand new show” with the upcoming change in showrunner.
BBC bosses want Doctor Who to feel like “a brand new show” under incoming boss Chris Chibnall… so we can expect a whole new line-up in 2018.
Insiders say the Broadchurch writer will have a “clean slate” to start afresh for his first series – rather bad news for actress Pearl Mackie, who plays new assistant Bill in Steven Moffat’s last run, currently filming for next year.
Pearl, 29, yet to be seen by viewers, is said to have been signed on a one-year contract and is expected to depart with Peter Capaldi , 58, and Moffat after 2017’s Christmas special.
The replacement Time Lord is likely to be played by a younger actor in a bid to help boost the flagging sales of dolls, books, DVDs and toys.
Our source says: “BBC management wants a return to the format from the David Tennant era, when you had a dashing male lead and young female companion.
“Merchandising has dropped off sharply in recent years and there is a strong desire to boost the show’s popularity among kids.”
Variety reports that Bryan Fuller has stepped down as show runner of Star Trek Discovery.
The decision was made late last week to hand the day-to-day showrunning reins to “Star Trek” exec producers Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts as “Discovery” gears up for the start of filming next month and a May 2017 premiere date. Fuller, who will remain an executive producer, will still be involved in breaking stories, and the show will continue to follow his vision for the universe that this latest “Trek” series will inhabit. Writer-director Akiva Goldsman is also expected to join “Discovery” in a top creative role…
Sources said there had been some strain between “Star Trek” producer CBS Television Studios and Fuller over the progress of production on the show, as Fuller is also juggling the final weeks of shooting and post-production duties on Starz’s upcoming drama “American Gods” and prepping a reboot of “Amazing Stories” for NBC. Fuller has penned the first two scripts for “Discovery” and has hammered out the broader story arc and mythology for the new “Trek” realm
It was previously announced that the show will have a female lead. The Hollywood Reporter has information on the rest of the crew: “the rest of the cast also will feature an openly gay actor as one of the male leads (which Fuller confirmed), a female admiral, a male Klingon captain, a male admiral, a male adviser and a British male doctor.”
It is now official that Sherlock will return in the US and the UK on January 1. Trailer above.
Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of the first regeneration of Doctor Who when William Hartnell was replaced by Patrick Troughton. Now we anticipate such changes, but it sure must have been a surprise to viewers to see the lead in the show change in such a unique manner.
Inverse looks at what we know so far about the upcoming superhero-themed Doctor Who Christmas Special (sneak peak video above):
“The Christmas specials generally always have a kind of warmer feel … this Christmas special that we’ve done … has caught the feeling of that kind of superhero movie,” Capaldi said in new sneak-peak from BBC America. He also called this superhero “ironic” and “funny,” but made it clear that this would be a legit superhero story in that it would be “quite exciting.”
The new clip from BBC America isn’t a full trailer, so we don’t have much new information about the superhero, still only mysteriously known as “Grant.” Reiterating his previous comments from New York Comic Con, Who showrunner Steven Moffat said that he feels the best superhero story is still “Clark Kent,” which doubles-down on the idea that this story and “Grant” in particular will be more focused on a secret identity than a story about superpowers.
Humans returns on Channel 4 this week. Den of Geek has interviews with members of the the cast.
The Hollywood Reporter looks at what happened on the DC shows on Fox and The CW Network last week. This includes the revelation on Gotham that Penguin is gay, and speculation that Alex Danvers on Supergirl is also gay. We have a new version of Harrison Wells (who presumably will turn out to be evil) and the return of Killer Frost on The Flash. We are going to get yet another superhero on Arrow with District Attorney Adrian Chase becoming Vigilante. Legends of Tomorrow potentially has major changes for Ray Palmer (unless he just rebuilds his A.T.O.M. suit) and a mysterious warning from Barry Allen of 2056.
If there wasn’t already far too many genre related shows to keep up with, Greg Berlanti of CW’s DC superhero shows and Jason Rothenberg, show runner of The 100, are working together on a new show for The CW Network. Deadline reports:
Written by Rothenberg, Searchers is about a group of unlikely heroes who find themselves on the journey of a lifetime. Ten years after the death of their parents, a pragmatic brother and free spirited sister are forced to team up when they learn that their mother’s terrifying and bizarre stories may be a road map to discovering the great legends, myths, and unexplainable mysteries of the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGGNNSmGDpU
Girlmore Girls returns on Friday, November 25. Perfect for an all-nighter after Thanksgiving dinner, and can be completed with plenty of time to spare before the Michigan-Ohio State game. Netflix released the official trailer above, complete with Wonder Woman and mention of Superman.
Gilmore girls makes its much-anticipated return with four memorable chapters from the lives of Lorelai, Emily, Rory and countless more Stars Hollow stalwarts. Picking up nine years after we last dropped in on the whimsical Connecticut town, Gilmore girls: A Year in the Life finds each of our leading ladies at a major crossroad: Lorelai’s relationship with Luke is at an unnerving standstill; Rory’s budding journalism career in New York has stalled before it’s even begun; and Emily’s world is turned upside down following the untimely passing of her beloved husband, Richard.
Gilmore girls: A Year in the Life is told through four 90-minute chapters — each spanning one season: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall — and brings back to life everything from the quaint corner diner to the dreamy Dragonfly Inn to a fast-talking, quick-witted mother-daughter love story unlike any other. Gilmore girls: A Year in the Life launches Friday, November 25, everywhere that Netflix is available.
All four shows in the Berlantiverse have premiered on the CW Network for this season. (Spoilers ahead for those who are not up to date). The Flash returned with the long-anticipated Flashpoint story, and couldn’t keep up with the hype. Unfortunately it was all predictable that after saving his mother, some reason would come up which would force Barry to restore the time line. This combined both disasters for some of his friends with him developing the problem of losing his original memories. It was mostly resolved in the first episode, but the restored timeline did have some changes, such as Iris not speaking to her father. Almost everything was fixed by the end of the second episode. There is one change which does extend to Arrow–Diggle now has a son rather than a daughter (with the son seen in an episode of Legends of Tomorrow last season).
While The Flash got off to a mixed opening, Supergirl started the season strong with the introduction of Superman–now putting these two series out in front of the Berlantiverse shows. It was the perfect view of Superman for this series–the version from the latest movies certainly would not have fit in.
I bet nobody was surprised that Kara decided to become a reporter. The move of Winn from CatCo to the DEO is exactly the type of change which might be farfetched in the real world, but which fits into television reality. They hinted at changes for Cat Grant, which is probably a cover for Calista Flockart not going to appear as often due to the move of the show to Vancouver. It does make sense that Kara will not see her as much with the change from her personal assistant to reporter. She will have a new boss, with some information from Entertainment Weekly:
Kara’s working relationship with her new boss, Snapper Carr, is very different from the one she had with Cat Grant. “Cat — both with Kara and I think with others — is actually devoted to mentoring people,” EP Andrew Kreisberg says. “She challenges them hard, but she does that with the idea that she’s forging them and they’re going to come out the other side as stronger, better people. Snapper Carr doesn’t give a crap. He believes in the written word, in facts and ‘Are you good at your job or are you not? If you’re not good at your job, I don’t have time for you.’”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyghhCQ-d28
A clip from next week’s episode in which Kara meets Snapper Carr is above.
While The Flash was about Barry and Iris getting together regardless of the time line, Kreisberg has decided that Kara and Jimmy Olsen should just be friends. I just hope they stick with this decision. We have seen far too many Ross and Rachel situations on television.
Arrow has been on a downward trajectory since its superb second season, and it is too early to say whether it can move out of third place among the Berlantiverse shows. The first two episodes of the season have concentrated on building a new team, and have been rather unremarkable. Maybe once this is established the show will improve. At least the flash backs in Russia look more interesting than the flash backs from last season.
Legends of Tomorrow has been largely rebooted, but I’d still rank it as the weakest of the four seasons based upon the single episode available so far. It appears that the team has a new leader in place of Arthur Darvill’s character Rip Hunter, but I’m not certain that he is really gone for good. On the one hand the mission first season was more personal for Rip Hunter and it might make sense to reduce the emphasis on him. On the other hand, it is Arthur Darvill who has the direct connection to the Time Masters they are replacing (along with a certain Time Lord). So far we have only had a glimpse of the Justice Society of America, but we should be seeing a lot of them next week.
So, the Justice Society of America, or JSA, was DC comics’ first all-star super group, debuting in the 1940s. Its initial roster consisted of names who should sound very familiar to followers of recent movies and shows. There was the Atom, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and the Flash, among others. Only these weren’t the same characters which viewers are familiar with today. A key aspect of DC lore is the notion of masked personas being passed down through generations, so when the company dusted off the super group concept in the 60’s with the Justice League of America, it didn’t take long for the creators to retcon the two teams as being part of a lineage.
Judging by the trailer, it seems this JSA might be the only official super group in the “Arrowverse,” and its line-up will be cherry picked from various incarnations of the team. It’ll also apparently live up to its name more by operating as a clandestine secret society. Who are the members, though?
Hourman
The first wearer of this cowl, Rex Tyler, takes his name from the Miralco Pill which grants superhuman physical prowess for an hour once ingested. As soon as time’s up, though, Hourman’s reverts back to being a normal human being. The chronal chaos seen in the trailer suggests, however, that this guy will be an amalgamation of all three heroes in the tradition, having the time-travel capability of the second Hourman, along with the black costume of the third.
Stargirl
She’s a more light-hearted heroine with ties to two superhero dynasties. Stargirl wields the powerful “cosmic staff,” which absorbs and re-directs energy, allowing her to fly, fire bolts, create forcefields, and also levitate objects.
Dr. Mid-Nite
Imagine a character somewhere between Daredevil and Riddick. All three Doctors have been actual medical doctors who turned to crime-fighting after accidents granted them night vision at the cost of near-blindness in normal light conditions. Hence, the goggles. For all doctors, the preferred tool is the noxious “black out” smoke bomb, and the preferred assistant is a deadly, trained owl.
Obsidian
The mutant son of the first Green Lantern (not Hal Jordan!), he’s born with powers that ironically invert the mighty light of his father. Obsidian can turn into a living shadow and gain all the associated qualities, like flight and intangibility. He can even sometimes build objects out of darkness, much like GL’s constructs.
Vixen
A bit like the Beastmaster, this heroine can tap into a primordial force called “the Red” which allows her to possess the abilities of any animal. This power comes from the mystical Tantu Totem, which is passed down through generations. And in fact, this Vixen is not the same one who’s previously been seen on Arrow. She’s her grandmother.
Commander Steel
A bit like Captain America, this star-spangled hero is a military man who’s granted super strength and invulnerability after a top secret experiment. (In this case, it’s meant to restore his damaged body.) Steel fights in World War II, and he makes life-long enemies with Nazi super-villains who come back to bedevil the grandsons who eventually take up his mantle.
There was even a reference to Gotham on Supergirl last week, even if not the Gotham of the Fox television show. This DC-based show also got off to a good start this season. Their election for mayor was settled far more quickly than our presidential election. Oswald Cobblepot might be as disgusting a figure in many ways as Donald Trump, and as crooked as Hillary Clinton, but if he was in a three-way race for president, I would be tempted to vote for him over our current awful choices.
Just after I finished one show dropped on Netflix (Luke Cage), they are releasing another genre series on Friday. After two seasons of Dark Mirror on Channel 4 in the U.K., Netflix will be releasing a third season. TV Guide looks at the previous episodes to watch before the third season begins. The first two seasons are also available on Netflix. The New York Times spoke with the show’s creator, Charlie Brooker, and his collaborator Annabel Jones.
While I will hold off on discussing Luke Cage until a later date, of the Netflix Marvel series, I’d rank it just a bit behind Daredevil season 1, and above Daredevil season 2. Jessica Jones remains the best of the series. While there are some overlaps, and Luke Cage did have a role in Jessica Jones, each series can be watched independently without having seen the others.
Nerdist looks at how Doctor Strange fits into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I was disappointed when I found that HBO was not streaming the third episode of Westworld early like they did with the first two, and I will have to wait until later tonight to watch. While I have not seen all of the new series which have premiered this season, so far it is the one I am most interested in. Assignment X has an interview with Jonathan Nolan. Here is a portion, which also compares it to Nolan’s previous series, Person of Interest:
AX: You spent five years dealing with A.I. on PERSON OF INTEREST …
NOLAN: I think I found my subject.
AX: Did you come to any conclusions about artificial intelligence while doing PERSON OF INTEREST that have been useful in WESTWORLD?
NOLAN: It’s funny, because it’s really looking at the subject from a different perspective. PERSON OF INTEREST was relentlessly non-anthropomorphic A.I. was really the godhead, it was A.I. as a pure intelligence, not tethered to the mortal coil, an A.I. that was developed in secret. With WESTWORLD, you have really the opposite. You have A.I. that, if you consider the consciousness aspect of it, it’s almost an accident that these creatures – they’ve been programmed merely to be as lifelike as necessary for their job, and their job is to satisfy, as Lisa said, our most noble or most base desires. So they’re not supposed to be smarter than us. That’s the last thing [their makers] want.
AX: What are the WESTWORLD park’s customers like?
NOLAN: Well, the guest experience is the third point of view of the show, but it’s very much unlike the original film. We really wanted to start with the hosts, start with their limited understanding of what this world is. But there is that great point of entry. You want to know, how does this place work? As Lisa said earlier, the show is really an examination of human nature, from two different directions. From the perspective of synthetic humans, or synthetic beings, who have been coded to resemble human nature as closely as possible, and who are beginning the question, in the first season, just how worthy a model that is to follow. Every perspective of human beings, and this is the delicious part of the premise, who have been invited or made their way into a space in which they’ve been told that they have free rein. They can take their id on vacation. They can indulge in any whim, no matter how noble or dark that they want, and apparently without consequence. And so that’s a fascinating premise as well. You know, who are we when the lights are off? Who are we when we don’t think anyone’s keeping score? And then in between these worlds [of the synthetic hosts and the human guests], you have the programmers, writers, technicians, the Promethean characters who are responsible for mediating those two worlds.
AX: It seems like Ed Harris’ Man in Black gunslinger/marauder character is a guest who is indulging real darkness in himself …
NOLAN: Ed’s character features as the “ne plus ultra” guest. This is an expert-level player, someone who has been coming to the park, as he says in the second episode, for thirty years. He knows everything about [the park].
When Crichton wrote the original film, the state of the videogame business was Pong. In the forty years since then, that entire industry has grown up and evolved into this monster that’s bigger than the film business, bigger than the TV business. So our narrative had to account for that more sophisticated understanding that we have of gaming. We call them “guests,” but there is also a gaming aspect to what they do in the park. It is not just a leisurely resort. They’re here to engage in the narratives, and the narratives are increasingly sophisticated.
AX: We see that the guests can shoot the android hosts, and the hosts can’t shoot each other, but theoretically, the guests can’t shoot each other and the hosts can’t shoot the guests. Are the guns built so that they can detect human physiology as opposed to android physiology, or how does that work?
NOLAN: It’s not the guns. It’s the bullets. We thought a lot about this. In the original film, the guns won’t operate guest on guest. But we felt like the guests would want to have a more visceral experience here. So when they’re shot and it has an impact, they’re called “simunitions.” The U.S. military trains with rounds like the ones we’re talking about. There’s a bit of an impact, a bit of a sting. So it’s not entirely consequence-free for the guests.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_HPP9HpBtw
There has been a steady stream of news, such as this casting news, to keep alive interest in Outlander until it returns, probably in April. The season two gag real was also released–audio not safe for work.
I haven’t had a chance to watch Falling Water yet, but have a few links for those who are interested. The New York Times has a review. Buddy TV has videos of interviews with cast and crew, followed by summaries of key points, here and here.
Den of Geek looks at the possibility of Jenna Coleman returning to Doctor Who.
While there are no firm plans yet, Steven Moffat has stated that Benedict Cumberbatch is interested in continuing with Sherlock after the fourth season. He is obviously quite busy on other projects, including Doctor Strange. Moffat also states that Peter Capaldi will be remaining on Doctor Who after he leaves as show runner.
Donald Trump is not happy with how Saturday Night Live has portrayed him. Video of their parody of the second presidential debate above, with Alec Baldwin portraying Donald Trump. Trump says that the media is rigging the election that Baldwin’s portrayal stinks. He also tweeted that it is “Time to retire the boring and unfunny show.”
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4m7qvtKtZA
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.
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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FLbV3Kjf_E
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.”
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.
Digital Spy reports on the threat which brings together the heroes of the four Berlantiverse DC shows on CW. Trailer above.
There’s only one army in the DC Comics universe terrifying enough to unite Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
Turns out that the threat of meta-humans running wild has raised the ire of planets across the galaxy, causing an alien race to form its own coalition in order to conquer and subjugate earth’s superheroes.
“This year, for our mega Arrowverse crossover, we’re taking inspiration from a DC crossover from the late 1980s known as Invasion!, which featured an alien race called the Dominators, who’d previously vexed the Legion of Superheroes,” Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow producer Marc Guggenheim revealed in a statement.
“We’re using cutting edge prosthetics and computer effects to achieve a feature film-quality look which is faithful to Invasion! artist Todd McFarlane’s interpretation of the characters.”
The Dominators made their first appearance in the pages of DC Comics all the way back in 1967, and have continued to cause trouble for the Legion of Super-Heroes and others within the DC Universe ever since.
This autumn’s four-night event will be the first of two major DC crossovers. Supergirl and The Flash will also be meeting up for a musical episode that’s sure to be interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzcUrc529Po
Supergirl also teams up with her cousin in the above trailer.
The Mary Sue reports that Lynda Carter Used Hillary Clinton As Inspiration For Her Upcoming Role on Supergirl. Hopefully this doesn’t mean that the president on Supergirl will engage in regime change in other countries based upon dubious arguments and sell influence from the White House.
Related story at Paste: Whitewashing Hillary: When Lena Dunham and Her Celebrity Ilk Become Dangerous. Obviously celebrities are hardly the people who we should trust with political analysis, but of course they are going to give their opinion. J.J. Abrams and many a long list of people involved in Star Trek have taken a stand against Donald Trump in a long open letter on Facebook. Unfortunately they also have fallen for the whitewashing of Hillary, and fail to recognize the importance of third party options. Trump is a celebrity in his own right, including The Apprentice and the recent revelation of his appearance in a softcore pornPlayboy video.
Netflix has released Luke Cage. There is some background information in the Marvel 101 video above. I haven’t had time to watch it yet and hope to start next weekend. Speakeasy has some information on the series:
Showrunner and writer Cheo Hodari Coker (“Ray Donovan,”“Southland”) talked to Speakeasy about the show and shared some key details that will make “Luke Cage” different than “Daredevil” and “Jessica Jones,” its Marvel predecessors on Netflix.
It takes place after “Jessica Jones,” but it’s all about Luke’s perspective.
The super-strong, nearly indestructible Luke Cage showed up as a butt-kicker and love interest during the first season of “Jessica Jones,” alongside series star Krysten Ritter. Yet, while “Luke Cage” will build on that foundation, it will be told through his perspective. “It doesn’t take away from the Luke you meet in Jessica Jones, but we’re telling a different story,” Coker says. “At the same time, I’m hoping people who see the show that like Luke from ‘Jessica Jones’ like what we’ve done in expanding the character.”
It aims to be the Tribe Called Quest of superhero shows.
The show’s cast is mostly made up of black actors, but Coker, who is also black, wanted to make sure it’s also representative of black culture, while keeping it relatable to all audiences. “I wanted to show it was possible that it had a deeply African-American context but do it in such a way that people who weren’t necessarily from hip-hop culture, or from black culture, and watch the show feel as though they’re part of the conversation,” he says. Coker points to A Tribe Called Quest’s albums as examples of art that both maintained its integrity within the context of black culture and still registered crossover success.
It draws on all sorts of Marvel Comics traditions.
Coker says Brian Michael Bendis‘s “Alias” comics have inspired the look of this Luke Cage, while much of the character’s origin story on the show comes directly from the 1972 comic “Luke Cage, Hero for Hire” No. 1. The showrunner, though, says a variety of Marvel Comics — from Chris Claremont and Frank Miller‘s Wolverine to X-Men comics in general — helped him develop his skills as a writer and dramatist in the televsion world. He says the issue-by-issue run in a comic book story line works well for TV. “That’s kind of the way you structure the season,” Coker says.
More information at TV Guide for before viewing. This article at TV Guide looks like it will be of interest after viewing.
Amazon recently began showing a pilot for The Tick, which started as a comic and was also briefly on television in the past. It has been picked up for to start as a series in 2017. CBR,com interviewed creator Ben Edlund:
CBR News: Ben, the new “Tick” pilot is something of an outlier as it’s rare for creator-owned comics to get a second big media adaptation let alone a third one. And I know this particular project took a long time to come together and had many twists and turns along the way. What was it like for you to go through that process of bringing the character to TV over a decade since the last go round?
Ben Edlund: It was, I would say, some of the scarier work I’ve done recently. [Laughs] This is a very specific character for me. I have a lifelong relationship with this creature, and so to engage with another expression of it and take the chances of messing it up or what have you, it makes you feel like it’d be pretty nice to just let it sit there. This is something I take very seriously, and I didn’t want to do this if it didn’t have a new reason for being and if it wasn’t something that wasn’t its own new thing on top of being another respectful chapter in the existence of this blue creature.
So that put the stakes up pretty high for me. And working with Amazon, we kind of started in a place that was quite distant from where we ended up. There was a lot of growth over the drafts we did, and I had to take time to figure out how to engineer a superhero live-action comedy in a way that would not be immediately ephemeral. It had to be something you could care about. So it was a very daunting bit of work for me.
I was very much the beneficiary of the 13 years I’ve spent working in live-action television. When I first did this, I had no experience other than some film school experience and cartoon experience. Now I’ve been doing this for a long time and working almost exclusively in this hybrid between drama and comedy. That started with “Firefly” and “Angel,” but with “Supernatural” and even “Gotham” and “Powers” – all of them incorporate elements of other things. That’s been a craft I’ve been drawing from and trying to learn about because I did actually feel like eventually it would be appropriate to look at Tick again and try to do something new with it.
And I didn’t know where that would be or when it would take shape. I didn’t even initiate the first ripple that led to this series. That was actually Patrick Warburton and Barry Josephson and others. It just kind of encompassed me, and it was time. It was ready to happen again. So when they came to me and asked if how I could conceive of it being doable in live-action, it took a long time to get my head around it.
Aside from your place as the creator coming back to his creation, the really interesting thing about the new Tick is that the superhero media landscape is vastly different than it was 15 years ago. For a long time, comics was the landscape where you could do anything and get deeper and weirder, while TV was much more restrictive. Now mass superhero media is bigger and weirder than it’s ever been. How has that changed your approach?
I think #1 right now is we’re at a point of superhero saturation. No one could have predicted how comprehensive it would be and how pervasive it would be. And so the level of education per capita [that the audience has] on the minutia of a superhero universe offers a lot more latitude in terms of joke material – because there’s just more to reference. That’s one part of it. The other part is that we’re the beneficiaries of technology. Big effects are a lot more achievable now, and so our vision is wider. That’s a great tool to have.
But I think the thing that’s most intriguing and interesting is that the whole complexion of television has changed. It’s gone from where we sort of anti-serialized stories and promoted the stand-alone ones to where things are completely engaged with the experience of serialization. People want that from these “binge vehicles.” What they want is a novel in televised form which is shaped and conceived as novels are. Those are not things that are free jazz improvisations as a general rule. They’re stories. It’s a demand that’s increasing with our appetite, and I’m happy about that because that’s the thing I want to do. I don’t want it to just be jokes. And nobody else wants that either, which is weird. The conventional wisdom of almost any other era of television was that we’d reduce things to just jokes. But this is a very different organism, and I’m intrigued by the experiment.
Nerdist has a video report providing information on the television adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods. Screenrant summarized some of the key points, including:
Nerdist News went deep with the cast and crew of American Gods and discovered that the series will follow a path somewhat different from the novel that inspired it. Far from being a true diverging, however, Nerdist reports that the series will not only cull from the near 600-page edition of Gaiman’s text, but also from the author’s character and plot notes, many of which either didn’t make it in, or were merely alluded, to in the novel.
According to Nerdist, much of the expanded story will follow the tales of how the Old Gods came to dwell on American soil. While the novel does tell the stories of how gods like Kristin Chenowith’s Easter and Orlando Jones’ Mr. Nancy left their original homes for our shores, the series is expected to dive even deeper into these character backstories to create a richer, more full universe.
Considering how well Bryan Fuller re-imagined the Hannibal books and movies, I am optimistic he will do a good job with American Gods, especially he will be working with ideas also created by Neil Gaiman.
NBC has picked up This is US for a full eighteen-episode season.
FX reports that The Strain will conclude with season four. FXX has renewed You’re The Worst for a fourth season.
There reportedly will be a a superhero character appearing in this year’s Doctor Who Christmas Special.
DigitalSpy held a contest in which David Tennant’s 10th Doctor was voted the best TV character of the 21st century
ScreenRant has some videos to introduce the Doctor Who spinoff Class.
George Takei discussed Star Trek with Stephen Colbert. Video above. Nerdist reports:
Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the debut of the original Star Trek (well, in America at least: sorry to Canada that we didn’t do this two days earlier), so fittingly the tributes and odes were pouring in from fans around the globe. However, it was George Takei who best summed up what the franchise is really all about, and in doing so explained why it is so beloved and has endured for so long.
The O.G. Sulu was a guest of super nerd and Trekkie Stephen Colbert on The Late Show last night, and Takei shared his memories of the “very special” first time he went to work on the series, where franchise creator Gene Roddenberry described to him and the rest of the cast at their first table read what story the space adventure show was really telling.
“Gene explained to us what Star Trek was all about,” said Takei, “He said that the Starship Enterprise was a metaphor for Starship Earth, and the strength of this starship lay in its diversity coming together.” Roddenbery then explained that the possibilities of “infinity diversity in infinite combinations” (IDIC) would force the crew, representing the many people of the planet, to combine their abilities to solve problems as one.
Majel Barrett has had both on-screen roles and has been on multiple versions of Star Trek as the voice of the ship’s computer. Her voice was recorded phonetically before she died and there is talk of using her voice on Star Trek: Discovery, along with using it Siri-like virtual assistants. I want my Amazon Echo to use her voice!
Bryan Fuller continues to slowly provide hints about other aspects of Star Trek: Discovery. He tweeted than an episode from The Original Series, Balance of Terror, is a “touchstone” for Discovery’s story arc. The episode introduced the Romulans, and TrekMovie.com speculates on what this might mean.
Greg Berlanti is working on yet another superhero show, now Black Lightning for Fox.
IndieWire has interviewed Gregg Berlanti about his multiple superhero shows. He has news on several of them, including the cross-over episodes:
As “Supergirl” leaps to The CW, how has the network move – and the relocation to Vancouver – been going?
I just saw the director’s cut of the first episode, and I’m in as much love with the show as ever. It’s been challenging to figure out all the moving parts, moving the show across cities and across networks. But the reality is, I think the show is as strong as ever and it feels really seamless. People will not be able to tell that it’s not L.A. It feels like National City still. There are some new enhancements to the set that we were going to do anyway. Obviously some new characters are coming to the show that we would have brought in anyway to the second season. And so I’m really pleased. CBS in their own wisdom recognized it, there’s no part of the show that’s fighting itself anymore. It has a youthfulness and appeal because of the age of the leading lady, and it gets to embrace that a touch more.
What more can you tell us how often we’ll see Calista Flockhart’s character, Cat Grant?
She’s recurring. We’re trying to get her for at least six episodes this year, and she’s in the first two episodes. We’re just trying to see when she can come back now.
And will we see her interact with Superman?
I don’t want to give it away, but she has a special kind of dynamic with Clark Kent.
How far along is the “Supergirl”/”The Flash” musical crossover?
We just finished writing the fall crossovers. And now we’re trying to figure out how to produce them. That’s probably the most challenging thing we do all year. And now we’re doing it across three shows! But next week we’ll have to start talking about clearing music. I have a few ideas for tone and style in my head but we’re just starting to talk about what that can be. I do want to try and get an original piece of music written. As we make a deal on that we’ll probably make some announcements on the original songs.
Perhaps written by, I don’t know, Lin-Manuel Miranda?
[laughs] I would say, pretty close. I can’t say yet because we don’t have a deal yet, but I did speak to someone we’re really excited about. There are some writers I’m incredibly excited to work with.
Back to the big CW series crossover, how difficult is that to pull off across so many series?
You really are trying to run a single production across three different productions. But they’re run as three separate entities. We have to figure out when we’re borrowing one actor from where. We’re telling one cohesive story; “Supergirl” will participate, but the storyline doesn’t actively begin there. There are some characters who show up in her episode, but the story begins with “The Flash” episode and goes to “Arrow” and “Legends of Tomorrow.” We’re just getting into designing the bad guy for it, and we start now but it doesn’t air until the end of November. We will put a lot of time between now and then figuring out visual effects sequences. Just today I was holding the three scripts back-to-back – that’s 180 pages of material. It’s a three-hour story, almost a miniseries.
And when you place all three scripts together, it unlocks some sort of fortune.
[laughs] It’s very daunting when you hold them all together like that. Each one of these pages is 10 hours of shooting and a visual effects extravaganza. But hopefully it feels like a great kind of crossover comic book sell.
The Spoiler Room at Entertainment Weekly has news on several genre shows, including this about Felicity on Arrow:
Emily Bett Rickards has been training a lot lately. Does it mean Felicity will be involved in more action scenes in Arrow season 5? — Itakha
At first, Felicity will be dealing with the fallout of Havenrock’s destruction. “In the first five episodes, we face head-on the decision that Felicity made,” EP Marc Guggenheim says. “We are most definitely not ignoring it.” Following that, though, Guggenheim cryptically teases what could be Felicity jumping in on the action. “We’re positioning her to do something in the second half of the year that is really, really key, and that isn’t about her relationship with Oliver or even necessarily her father or her mother. It’s really new territory for her, and we’ve very excited about it. Some big things are going to happen with Felicity.”
I was pleasantly surprised to see Emily Bett Richards while watching Brooklyn last weekend. (Sorry, it was not a major role, and the movie, while excellent, is totally non-genre).
Agents of SHIELD has a promo for Ghost Rider. More at Screen Rant.
Hulu has picked up a sci-fi comedy entitled Future Man from Seth Rogen.
Vince Gilligan is producing a limited series for HBO on Jim Jones for HBO entitled Raven. My bet is that he will do a good job of showing Jones’ life, but after Breaking Bad I would prefer to see him invent more flawed characters of his own.
Netflix has renewed Narcos for season 3 and 4.
It appears that the next season of Doctor Who will start in April based upon reports in Radio Times and a comment from Peter Capaldi. Before that, there will also be the Christmas episode. Plus in November there will be an animated version of a lost story:
It’s one of the Doctor’s most celebrated adventures and yet no complete film recordings of The Power of the Daleks are known to have survived. The master negatives were destroyed in an archive purge in 1974.
BBC Worldwide has announced that a brand new black and white animation based on audio recordings of the programme using the original cast, surviving photographs and film clips will be released 50 years to the minute after its only UK broadcast on BBC One.
The six half hour episodes feature the regeneration, or as it was then called ‘renewal’, of First Doctor William Hartnell into Second Doctor Patrick Troughton, as the Time Lord and his companions Polly (Anneke Wills) and Ben (Michael Craze) do battle with the Daleks on the planet Vulcan.
Anne Hathaway told Variety she would live to play Catwoman again. That might be difficult as the Christopher Nolan Batman stories, where she appeared, have concluded, but that doesn’t entirely rule out her reprising the role in a future movie.
A few genre shows have already won awards last night at the Creative Arts Emmys. Winners included Jessica Jones (Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music), Mr. Robot (Outstanding Music Composition For A Series), and Man In The High Castle (Outstanding Main Title Design and Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series). Hopefully some of these series will also win some of the more major Emmy awards.
Bryan Fuller has explained the name Discovery was chosen for the upcoming Star Trek series:
“This ship is called the Discovery for a few reasons,” Fuller explained. “Not the least of which is Stanley Kubrick’s contribution to the Discovery on 2001: A Space Odyssey, NASA’s vessel the Discovery, and also the sense of discovery.” He added that the title of Star Trek: Discovery was also about “what the word ‘discovery’ means to Star Trek audiences who have been promised a future by Gene Roddenberry where we come together as a planet and seek new worlds and new alien races to explore and understand and collaborate with.” Fuller went on to say that sense of discovering would manifest as the show reintroduces new and familiar aliens, ships, and technology to the Star Trek universe.
TV Guide reports that there will be more than just a television series:
Star Trek: Discoveryis going really, really big when it debuts on CBS — before moving to CBS’ All Access portal in January of 2017: not just with a new ship, new aliens and new planets; but a novel and comic book series, too.
Kristen Beyer, who’s overseeing a line ofStar Trek novels, announced the big plans for the series at the Star Trek: Mission New York convention this weekend, where she and Nicholas Meyer, writer and director of the acclaimed movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, celebrated the franchise’s 50-year milestone.
At the gathering, Beyer said that longtime Star Trek author David Mack will write the Discovery tie-in novel, while writer Mike Johnson will have a hand in developing the comic series. “We’re creating these in real time [with the show],” Beyer said, according to a report from Yahoo. “They’re going to support the story in a way we don’t normally have the chance to do.”
HBO has a new trailer for Westworld.
Westworld looks quite promising but looking at the trailer, I have my doubts about Aftermath. It looks like they tried to throw in far too much, but we won’t know until actual episodes are on, and perhaps others will find this above trailer more compelling than I did.
Netflix has picked up season two of Stranger Things. The second season will contain nine episodes and take place in 1984. That is not the only Netflix series to take place in the 1980’s. Netflix has also picked up G.L.O.W., a ten-episode comedy by Jenji Kohan of Orange Is The New Black. The series about a 1980s female wrestling league is primarily of interest as it will star Alison Brie of Community and Mad Men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bDhkrYcO40
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow fortunately is being largely redone for the second season. Trailer above. The addition of the Justice Society of America gives another reason to give the series a second chance.
Supergirl will finally show Superman on screen second season. The first set pictures of Superman (played by Tyler Hoechlin ) with Supergirl have been posted this week.
Among the changes on Agents of SHIELD include the addition of Ghost Rider. More at The Hollywood Reporter.
Radio Times reports that Doctor Who has had a huge influence on names in England and Wales:
Amelia – the dearly departed Amelia Pond of course – is the most popular girls’ name in England and Wales for 2015. Even more significantly, Clara entered the top 100 for the very first time in 2015 – the same year as Clara Oswald’s final moments in the Tardis.
Rose (Tyler), Martha (Jones), Sarah (Jane), Victoria (Waterfield – an assistant to the second Doctor) and Grace (Holloway – pal to the eighth Doctor) all feature in the top 100 names for girls.
In fact, according to our calculations, 3 per cent of all girls born in 2015 were named after Doctor Who companions.
And the boys? Well, Rory (Williams) and Michael (‘Mickey’ Smith) both have a place in the top 100. Jack (Captain Harkness) meanwhile, is the second most popular name for boys in 2015.
I’m not so sure that we can attribute the Michaels and Jacks to Doctor Who, but is is far more likely that others such as Clara, Amelia, and Rory were influenced by the show.
Amelia Pond is also quite busy in new roles. Karen Gillan has been cast in the remake of Jumanji. This is among other upcoming roles including returning as Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and a role in the movie version of The Circle.
When word came out that Star Trek Discovery (officially abbreviated DSC, not STD) would take place about ten years before the original show, and it would feature a female lead who is not the Captain, many fans realized that this would put it around the era of The Cage (the original pilot which was re-cut into flashbacks on The Menagerie). Some also speculated that the female lead could be Number One from that episode if she transferred to a new ship. Bryan Fuller has told Ain’t It Cool News that the female lead will be know as Number One. It was not stated whether this will be the same character, or perhaps another character is being referred to in this manner (as Riker was on The Next Generation).
As for the other project upcoming from Bryan Fuller, I09 discussed plans for digital erections in American Gods.
Collider interviewed producer Andrew Kreisberg regarding plans for Supergirl’s second season:
With all of the great things that come with getting to continue the show on The CW, one of the things you lost was the ability to have Calista Flockhart on as a regular cast member. How often can we expect to see her?
KREISBERG: Well, she’s in the first two episodes and we’re talking to her about doing more. It’s funny because, from our perspective, we thought she wouldn’t do any. And it’s not because she doesn’t love the show. She’s such a huge fan of the show, but moving to Vancouver, we assumed that we would part as friends. But she’s so into the show and feels such an allegiance and a responsibility to it that she’s agreed to come back, so we’re very happy. We’re not focusing on what we don’t have. We’re focusing on what we do have, and it’s allowed us to have Ian Gomez, who’s playing Snapper Carr, come in, in a more supervisory capacity, which is fun. Kara has spent two years of her life learning to deal with Cat Grant’s idiosyncracies, foibles, short temper and mixed signals, and just when she finally got that down, she’s now introduced to a new boss who’s very different, has his own thing, and isn’t quite as impressed by her spunk as Cat always was, even if Cat wouldn’t admit it. It’s a journey, like any of us go on. We’ve all had different bosses, over the course of our careers. Just when you finally feel like you’ve nailed your job, you get promoted and you’re suddenly like, “I don’t know what I’m doing anymore!” That’s what’s going to happen to Kara this season…
What can you say about the addition of Christopher Wood and how his character will fit in with things?
KREISBERG: We don’t want to say too much because we’re doing our own version of Mon-El. Obviously, he’s a character from the comic books and he’s much beloved, and we’re putting our own spin on it. What’s interesting about Mon-El joining the show, from Kara’s perspective, is that Kara has spent her whole life as someone who’s been mentored, first by her mother, and then by the Danvers and Superman and Cat. She’s always been somebody who’s been taken care of, in a way. Now, with Mon-El, he’s fresh off the boat. As far as he’s concerned, living on another planet happened yesterday, and suddenly, he’s on Earth and everything he knew was lost, just the way it was for Kara, but she’s had 12 years to process it and he’s struggling with it. So, Kara is now the one in the mentor position. Ironically, she even says in an episode, “I was sent to Earth not to be a hero. I wasn’t sent here to be Supergirl. I was sent here to protect Clark and take care of Clark. Now, in an odd way, with Mon-El here, I’m getting to fulfill that original mission that I had.” So, it’s a big change and a big growing experience for Kara, this season.
How daunting was it to figure out how you wanted to portray Superman, what you wanted the dynamic between Clark and Kara to be, and finding the right actor to take all of that on?
KREISBERG: I think our take on him is probably something a little bit more traditional. There’s certainly a little bit of the “Aw shucks” about him, but he’s been Superman for awhile, so there’s a savviness about him as Superman and as Clark. If he’s been Superman for 12 years, that also means that he’s been Clark Kent for 12 years. He knows how to interview somebody. He knows how to get a story out of someone. As always, with any of these things, we’re never doing a direct adaptation of a specific comic book. We cherry pick the best parts and things that we love. So, there’s a little bit of the Christopher Reeve Superman in there, a healthy dose of the Superman animated series, which we’re huge fans of, a little bit of Lois & Clark, a little George Reeves, and a little Super Friends. And as far as finding the right guy, as soon as we said we were going to do Superman, Greg [Berlanti] mentioned Tyler [Hoechlin]. We’ve been fans of his for years, and when we sat down with him, he is Superman. Not just with the looks, but he’s such a good guy, such a nice guy, and he’s so open and forthright and brimming with life. You just feel better when you’re around him, which I think is part of the secret of Superman. He is that ideal, but not in an unattainable way. Superman should make you feel like you can do anything, even though he’s the one that can do anything. And Tyler just had all that in spades. So, it was less a question of us reaching out. It was more a question of hoping he would say yes. After Tyler, I’m not sure what we would have done…
What’s in store for J’onn J’onzz?
KREISBERG: Part of the reason we’re bringing on Miss Martian is to give J’onn his own story this year and his own emotional ride, meeting her and having this tie to his home world that he thought he would never have again. As he has to keep reminding people, he’s been here for 300 years and isolated for most of it. Last year, with his relationship with Alex and his relationship with Kara, he started to come out of his shell a little bit and wasn’t quite so afraid to show who he really was. So, in getting to interact with M’gann, he’s going to have a whole new person with which to share his martian experience. We think it’s going to be a great story.
On the weekends I often wear somewhat subtle genre t-shirts such as Stark Expo, Wayne Enterprises, or Nelson and Murdock, Avocados At Law. I have a lot of ties with hidden, and in some cases not so hidden Mickeys (and one with both Mickey and Goofy). Now it is possible to go all out with superhero themed suits. Fun Suits has put out a line of discrete Marvel and DC based suits. The Mary Sue provides a description. The downsides are that they are polyester, and won’t be available until November.
In other Marvel news, Marvel has revealed what Thor was busy doing during the events of Captain America: Civil War in the above video, which was shown at San Diego Comic Con.
Variety reports on Ron Moore’s comments about season 3 of Outlander:
“Outlander” showrunner Ronald D. Moore told an audience at the Edinburgh Intl. Television Festival on Thursday that in Season 3 the show would start in Scotland but would then be making a sea voyage in the 18th century.
“There’s an extended journey across the Atlantic and then the story eventually goes to Jamaica, the Caribbean and ending up in the New World,” he said. “Season 3 will be as different to Season 2 as Season 2 was to Season 1.”
These dramatic shifts threw up challenges for Moore, who said: “It’s exciting creatively; it’s very hard in terms of the production… You are doing a whole new series with every season. So that’s very difficult. Scouting new locations, building new sets, bringing in new cast members, new costumes, different eras. It increases the expense, it increases the time necessary to prep everything, to shoot everything… So it makes it more difficult and it also takes more mental energy having to crack new problems.”
…Moore underscored the differences between the novel and the show. “You are not capturing Diana’s voice in the show, so much as you are capturing her world and her story. Diana’s voice is there for you on the page. When you read the book, or any book, the author is speaking to you directly,” he said. “The TV show has a vision, feeling and vibe that is an entity unto itself. All these component pieces then combine into our voice.”
Ingrid Oliver says she knows the difference between the human and Zygon version of Osgood:
Discussing last year’s last year’s ‘The Zygon Invasion’ and ‘The Zygon Inversion’ episodes, Oliver told Doctor Who: The Fan Show: “In the script it simply said Osgood 1 and Osgood 2. Steven [Moffat] never said explicitly ‘This is Zygon Osgood and this is not Zygon Osgood – or Hybrid Osgood’, so I sort of made a choice, but I don’t know if it’s right!”
Asked if there were any tells to signify which Osgood is which, she revealed: “Yes, in my head there are some very small tells. But, having said that, it’s sort of open to interpretation – because I guess that’s the point of the episode. In my head, inevitably there are a couple of little things that I did.”
Oliver joked: “I don’t know if people have noticed it – probably not… the Zygon one strokes her chin a lot!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EurfvJ2z3gM
You’re the Worst returns on Wednesday. Season three trailer above. I hear the first episode is rather Not Safe For Work, and the season also includes an episode entitled The Last Sunday Funday. TV Line has more on the season.
I am waiting to see what happens next on tonight’s episode of The Last Ship. Last week’s episode felt like a look at Donald Trump’s America with that wall going up.
Unlike the first season, we didn’t have to wait until the end of the season for the big reveal. (That should be a clue that a major spoiler is coming for those behind). Fans have speculated since the first episode that Eliot was really in prison or a psychiatric institution rather than living with his mother to provide more structure. This week, his psychiatrist asked Eliot where he believed he was. His mother’s townhouse faded away and he admitted to us that he had been suppressing the fact that he was in prison.
Alan Sepinwall interviewed Sam Esmail about this development:
Where did the idea come from that you were going to disguise Elliot’s surroundings in this way?
Sam Esmail: It came from a two-prong approach. We knew exactly what the fate of Elliot was at the end of the last season, and we started breaking this season’s storyline. We’re always trying to stay as authentic to Elliot as possible, what he’s going through. Knowing Elliot, from the very first episode, he definitely has interesting coping mechanisms. Even from the pilot, he has this ability to reprogram his life: E Corp was turned into Evil Corp. When we thought about him being in prison, what would be that coping mechanism, this came to mind. The other approach was his relationship to us — to his “friend” — and how we left him at the end of the first season. He basically didn’t trust us anymore, he felt we were keeping things from him. So we wanted to develop that relationship as well. That was the one approach of, “This is what Elliot would do in this situation, to cope with being in prison,” and then the other of keeping it from us because he felt betrayed by us from the first season.
When we spoke at the end of season 1 about the Mr. Robot revelation, you said you would be hesitant in the future to do things that would leave people questioning the reality of the show. Did you have any concerns about doing another big, “This is what it really is!” reveal in that way?
Sam Esmail: I did. I remember bringing it up to the room. The one thing I also told you is I wanted to stay as authentic to Elliot as possible. And the truth of the matter is, the show is about mystery, and there will always be questions and we won’t actually see the full picture all of the time. Having said that, if we can’t invest in what is happening and what is going on, that would become very frustrating, to the point where you wouldn’t feel any stakes. That was the test we ran through with this idea: is this actually happening to him? Is what he’s experiencing still real? And can the audience still buy into this after the reveal? Those answers were obviously yes: the events that we saw were still very much real, and the consequences of them are real, and what Elliot went through is real. It’s just the coping mechanism he used was not exactly what he saw. To me, it was definitely one of those things that prompted a real conversation. Like I think I told you last year, we’re not in it for gotcha moments or shocking the audience, but we’re in it for interesting reveals and deepening and enriching Elliot’s experience. We felt that him going through his prison sentence in this way was more true to life to Elliot than actually having seen it as a prison.
But you understand how fandom works. Having done this two years in a row, you’ve now conditioned them to, whatever you do next, the fans will pick it apart frame-by-frame to explain what’s actually happening.
Sam Esmail: Yeah, well, truth be told, don’t you feel like it’s already happening this season?
True. How did you feel about people having this exact theory of prison after only the season premiere had aired?
Sam Esmail: It was weird. One thing that we always do is we never want to cheat the audience. We never want it to be some extraordinarily contrived thing where we’re basically lying to the audience and what they’re seeing isn’t actually happening, and we’re fooling them. In doing that, and being honest with what is going on, even though the surroundings aren’t actually what they are, we didn’t really hide it that well, right? I didn’t expect people to catch on from the very first episode, but I thought people would start to theorize and catch on. Look, a reveal is great when it’s surprising, but it’s terrible when it feels like a cheat. To me, the fact that some people who guessed it may not be surprised, it verifies that we didn’t cheat anybody, because it adds up and makes sense to them still.
I’m sure much of this will be explained in future episodes, in terms of why Elliot was in prison to begin with, but was Ray a guard in the prison? How much of Ray’s business involved prisoners versus the outside world?
Sam Esmail: That’s going to get revealed in a couple of episodes.
By sending Elliot to prison, you also spend the first half of the season with him physically separate from the other characters, give or take a brief visit by Gideon or Darlene. What did you see as the advantages and disadvantages of having him apart from the rest of the ensemble, other than Mr. Robot?
Sam Esmail: I’m glad you asked that question. Obviously, knowing we were doing this, it was very important for Elliot to address this incredibly internal conflict that sprung on him at the end of the first season: that he has an alter ego that he can’t control. That was the first and foremost issue that I wanted to tackle with Elliot. So of course the isolation of him being in prison really helped that. It meant that we get to basically do this deep dive into his internal battle with his demons. There is not much else for him to do. He couldn’t escape it. So it was great on that level. I knew it was going to be a polarizing choice to go in this direction with Elliot, but for whatever reason, it felt organic and natural. But when I took a step back and looked at the whole season, I realized that, when I think about the sequels that I really love, or second acts of movies or larger stories, they tend to do this: to go into this inward battle after accomplishing this big Herculean hero’s journey. The one uncanny similarity — which I only realized in hindsight — is Empire Strikes Back. At the end of the first movie, you take down the big band, the revolutionaries kind of win, but the second movie opens, they’re still battling, they’re still struggling, the Empire is rebuilding, and literally Luke goes off to another planet for most of that movie to learn to become a Jedi, while his sister is still out there fighting the good fight. This wasn’t something planned, but I looked at it and realized we were literally following that same pattern. And it’s not just with Empire Strikes Back. It’s Godfather Part II. There’s a lot of introspection that happens. That’s often the next stage after this huge external conflict comes to an end. Then it’s, “Well, then what?” It’s a hangover moment, of reflection and going inward. So that direction made sense for our story.
News also came out during the past week that Mr. Robot has been renewed for a third season.
In other genre news, Henry Cavill has teased what will happen to Superman when he returns for the Justice League movie, in light of what happened at the end of Batman v. Superman.
Agents of SHIELDwill be edgier with its move to 10 pm. It is a safe bet it will still be much tamer than the far better Marvel television adaptations on Netflix (one of which won a Hugo Award).
The 2016 Hugo Awards winners have been announced. The award for Best Novel went to The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. The Martian won for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Jessica Jones: A.K.A. Smile won for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Unfortunately the awards continued to be tainted by conservative politics.
BBC America has announced that Doctor Who and other genre shows will be represented at New York Comic Con:
Mark your calendars: BBC AMERICA is coming to New York Comic Con in a big way this year. On Friday, October 7, the network will present a block of star-studded panels at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, featuring Doctor Who, with Peter Capaldi making his NYCC debut alongside new companion Pearl Mackie at her first-ever fan appearance. Ahead of its October 22, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency will launch a world premiere screening followed by a panel with cast, showrunner, writer and executive producer. And the Doctor Who spinoff Class will have its first-ever U.S. panel with cast, executive producer, and creator of the series.
They included more on the panels including Doctor Who:
BBC AMERICA’s Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi will make his New York Comic Con debut along with the first ever fan appearance by new co-star Pearl Mackie, who joins the series as Bill, the Doctor’s new companion. When Pearl joined the cast, Emmy-winning lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat teased “a new voyage is about to begin” and “this is where the story really starts.” Fans will get a sneak peek of what’s ahead including the upcoming Christmas Special this December on BBC AMERICA and hints on what’s in store for Steven Moffat’s final season as showrunner. The panel includes stars Peter Capaldi (The Thick of It) and Pearl Mackie (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time), as well as Steven Moffat (Sherlock) and executive producer Brian Minchin (Class, Torchwood). Doctor Who is a BBC Cymru Wales production for BBC One and a BBC AMERICA co-production.
The second season of 12 Monkeys concluded last week. The series demonstrated a problem with many series which start out with a good story which can be told in a season or two, but the economics of American television demand that they try to find a way to extend the series longer. The initial story line of going back in time to stop the plague would have made a great story if it could have been concluded over one or two years, but it could not be dragged out indefinitely. Continuum had a similar structure with characters who went back in time to change their future, but managed to keep it fresh every season while sticking to the same overall structure. 12 Monkeys instead changed the focus of the series.
While there were good moments, I just could not find the story this season to be as compelling as the first season. The finale did wrap up some of the events of the season, while leaving other matters open. After seeing such division between the main characters over two different strategies, both failed leaiving most of the characters either dead or stranded in the past going into the finale. It took another means of traveling through time to repair the damage, followed by the revelation of the identity of The Witness. It was also fun to see Madeline Stowe, who was in the movie version, have a significant role in the finale.
Show runner Terry Matalas discussed the finale with Blastr. Here is the start of the interview, which begins with a major spoiler if you anyone intends to watch this in the future:
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: We now know the identity of The Witness, and it’s the child of Cole and Cassie. What can you tell us about the big reveal?
Matalas: I knew from the outset that this is where our characters were heading – that the reveal of The Witness shouldn’t be just a surprising narrative revelation, but a hugely emotional one. We easily could have put a familiar face behind that mask and the moment might’ve been shocking – maybe even satisfying – but it ultimately would’ve felt like plot. Mind-blowing is fantastic, but it also needed to be heart-breaking; it needed to really challenge Cassie and Cole and pose these massive, emotional questions for Season 3.
How long have you been setting up this Witness reveal, and what hints might we have missed along the way? Was this the plan all along from the start of Season 1?
Matalas: Yes. In many ways, the biggest hint from the start is that Cassie and Cole are continually left alive. The Army of the 12 Monkeys – Pallid Man, Olivia, The Messengers –they’ve made no secret that these two characters are important in the grander cycle. Time and again, they’ve opted not to kill them – even when the opportunity was painfully clear.
Speaking a bit more thematically, if you look closely at Season One, it’s very much about fatherhood. Season Two is equally about motherhood. Season Three, it stands to reason, will focus on the children.
You obviously can’t give us the play-by-play for Season 3, but what can you tell us about how this reveal will inform the next chapter of the series for Cole and Cassie?
Matalas: If you knew that your child was destined to become the Destroyer of Worlds – that the gentle, loving child in your arms would one day murder billions – what would you really do? Or not do? The “Kill Hitler” scenario becomes much more complicated when you’re Hitler’s mom or dad. So a major part of Season Three for Cassie and Cole is that central question, the weight and responsibility of it all.
But Season 3 will also be a “Sympathy for the Devil” tale. What if you met The Witness, heard his story and actually understood why he’s done what he’s done? Maybe even agreed with it?
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you feel when you found out that Cassie was not only pregnant, but their child was the Witness? AMANDA SCHULL: [Executive producer Terry Matalas] told me fairly early on. I hadn’t had all of the moments with the Witness — understanding the gravity of how upset and just how violated she feels by the Witness — so it didn’t have the gravitas when he told me initially. Then, as we progressed throughout the season, every single interaction with the Witness, realizing how much she despises and how much it makes her despise herself for what she’s done and everything about it, that’s what is upsetting. It’s much more impactful knowing later on after having been able to reenact those scenarios from the page.
Then [with] the pregnancy [reveal], I don’t have a child, I’ve never been pregnant and I really loved being able to have the moment. We don’t say it, it’s all done through looks. I really liked the challenge. I really like having that interaction with Aaron. I work really comfortably with Aaron. I really enjoy everything that we get to do together. We shot those moments the final week of season 2, and it was just us in this tiny little set and we kind of had a skeleton crew. It was really special and I think they chose an even less emotional take of mine, because we did his coverage first and I just kept crying every time he opened the card. I’ve never told anybody that I’m pregnant, so I’ve never had that opportunity to tell somebody that. And his reaction, just everything that they’ve gone through up until that point really moved me.
What do you think that internal struggle will be like for Cassie between wanting to protect her child and considering other possibilities?
My initial reaction to that when we were talking about it was very un-[politically correct]. It was basically, “Get it out of me at any cost.” But then in thinking about that, it becomes a question of nature versus nurture: Is there a possibility that she could change it? She could rewrite history if she were able to undo this. If she’s never going to see Cole again, is she going to hang on to the very last bits of his DNA that she has and try to salvage the upbringing of this child in a way that isn’t destructive to all human kind? It is really a fascinating battle and I think will largely have to do with the certain circumstances in which she is being kept in the future with the Army.
We know that Cole is headed toward the future to try and save Cassie. With the concept of nature versus nurture in mind, do you think her choices about the Witness might put her at odds with Cole?
I think it will be really interesting and I think that it could perhaps put them at odds, but the fact is they seem to end up coming around to the same page. Of anyone’s partnership on this show, they seem to have the understanding of one another for whatever reason. They were sort of meant for each other. I think they would have an understanding. They might be at odds at first, but I have no idea how Terry and his evil genius brain wants to play that out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LGQRbPERaU
There was a tremendous amount of news out of San Diego Comic Con over the past weekend. The above trailer both gives a better idea of how Flashpoint will be handled on The Flash and confirms earlier reports that Wally West will be seen as Kid Flash.
In other DC news, despite her character getting killed on Arrow, Katie Cassidy has become the latest to be made a regular across the entire line of DC shows on the CW Network.
Also on CW, there was news on the upcoming season of The 100:
“The Earth strikes back in season four—it is an unbeatable foe,” creator Jason Rothenberg teased regarding next season. “It quickly becomes about not how to stop it, because stopping it is not possible, but about: How do we survive? There aren’t enough lifeboats, so who gets to choose who lives?”
With total nuclear destruction on the way, getting her people to safety is something Clarke (Eliza Taylor) will have to deal with. In the exclusive clip shown off during the panel, we hear Clarke’s ominous narration: “Our enemy isn’t something that can be fought. It can’t be reasoned with. It can’t be killed. When all is lost, can hope survive? can we survive? After everything we’ve done, do we deserve to?”
After losing major characters like Lexa, Lincoln, and Pike last season, facing the impending apocalypse will be difficult for everyone. Octavia, for instance, will be traveling down a much darker road, channeling her inner assassin. She explained, “Octavia will take a really dark turn. She’s going to do what she does best, which is killing people. She really found her home within herself in becoming a warrior, and that’s thanks to Lincoln and Indra.”
More was seen of the future of DC’s cinematic universe with the above trailers for Wonder Woman and Justice League.
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice came out on Blu-ray and DVD last week, also making this a good time for the above video of Easter Eggs in the movie.
An Honest Trailer was also released for Comic Con.
In other news, it has been confirmed thatDaredevilwill be back for a third season. While it was a complete story, a lot of personal matters for the characters were left hanging at the end of the second season.
Star Trek Beyond came out Friday and there was news at Comic Con on the upcoming television series. While the movie still had some of the flaws seen since revived by J.J. Abrams, it did feel the most like true Star Trek. I discuss both the movie and what we know about the television show together, and will hold off until next week to give more people a chance to see the movie.
Benedict Cumberbatch of Sherlock is involved in yet another franchise. A trailer for Doctor Strange is above.
In other potential big news in the Doctor Who universe, John Barrowman said he is working hard to bring Torchwood back, and he has a big telephone call related to this scheduled for Monday. Hopefully we will have some real news afterwards.
