The Disgruntled Individual

I completely misunderstood, apparently, the point of these webisodes. I thought they were a Pond specific look at the daily life of a companion when they aren't involved in TARDIS-related adventures. Like popping down to the post, and becoming convinced that the fellow behind the counter is an alien, or some such thing. You know, how the mundane existence we all are forced to live through is next to impossible to adjust to after you've seen wonder...

Turns out, no, they are just excuses for little jokes. And while I like jokes (big fan of jokes, me), part of me is a little disappointed that they didn't reach for something a big more... substantial. This isn't so much Pond Life, as it is Pond Punchlines.

Hit the jump for the remainder of the episodes, which lead quite nicely into tomorrow's episode. Additionally, Ood!

An actual Sonic screwdriver, much like a working phaser, or a tricorder, is one of those things that nerds would love to wake up one morning, and find that some scientist has invented it. And while this product isn't actually sonic, and it's not at all a screwdriver, it still sounds really cool. So, I think the Doctor would approve.

Chris Barnardo and Richard Blakesley, inventors of this device, initially appeared on the UK version of Dragon's Den, and netted a £200,000 investment to create their Kymera Wand. The Wand is basically a universal remote, able to have 37 separate commands programmed for any devices that uses a remote. What makes it unique is that it uses motion to activate the command. So, pointing the Wand at the TV and moving it up might increase the volume, while flicking it to the side might cycle through channels.

After their appearance on Dragon's Den, the duo were approached by the BBC to make a licenced version of their device for Doctor Who fans, based on the current sonic design from the series. It makes a variety of sounds rom the series, as well as looking damned neat. It will be available this fall for around $100, or £60.


Chris Barnardo, with his creation

Via Daily Mail.

Very Hammer Films

Steven Moffat, in explaining why there won't be any two-parters this series, has said his aim was to make a short film with every episode. So that every Saturday, it was as if you were sitting down to watch a brand new movie, both in scope and (limited) budget. No small stories, is what he's saying.

And to bring home the point all the more, the BBC has released a movie style poster for each episode of this 2012 run. Which also means we have final confirmation on the episode titles for the 4th and 5th shows, The Power of Three, and The Angels Take Manhattan, respectively.

I've already said that this season feels like, instead of making direct references to the show's past, it homaging the past. Dinosaurs, the Wild West, the Angels (and Manhatten, regretably), and Daleks have all been on the show before. No idea about those cubes, though. Have to wait and see.



Courtesy of the BBC. All of them.

Doctor Who returns tomorrow, to start off the 50th anniversary celebrations. And you can't celebrate 50 years of Who without also celebrating 50 years of Daleks.

Featured in the second ever serial, and fifth ever episode of the show, their appearance and subsequent fame, known as Dalekmania, dramatically changed the direction of the show. Originally designed as a children's educational history programme, the addition of the Daleks marked the transition into full on science fiction.

Current showrunner Steven Moffat describes them thusly: "They are the most famous of the Doctor's adversaries and the most frequent, which means they are the most reliably defeatable enemies in the universe." Which is true. Not only does the Doctor ward them off at the end of every encounter, the Daleks rarely come out of an encounter having accomplished their intention. Their greatest victory, the ultimate destruction of the Time Lords, happened off screen. Most tellingly, no Dalek has been responsible for a regeneration. Even the TARDIS herself can make a claim on that.

So, hit the jump to look back at the best serials, and the worst, featuring everybody's favourite mutants.

September 28th is the day Fringe returns, and I'm excited. A horrible future, ruled by Observers, Leonard Nemoy frozen in amber, trying to learn the definition to the word 'retired', everyone in old person make up. And, with the writers fully aware that these thirteen episodes are the absolute last, they can crank the crazy up to eleven. Up to eleven, people! This is a show that featured a man turning into a giant flying porcupine! They had an entire episode take place within an animated LSD dream scape! Peter Weller took his shirt off! All while trying to get renewed and draw in an audience. What will they come up with when they don't have to be responsible to anyone anymore?

This is going to be awesome.

Via Topless Robot.

A bit of background on this one. Nearly twenty years ago, the Tesla Science Centre formed with the goal of raising enough money to transform Nikola Tesla's former Shoreham lab into a museum about the inventor, something of which does not exist in the United States. Jane Alcorn, the president of the Centre, was concerned that the dream of the museum might never happen, as another developer had expressed interest in purchasing the property and turning it into... eghh, shops (a similar reality effected the once home of Michael Faraday in London, which I believe is now an ASDA, or some damned thing). New York State had pledged to pay for half of the purchase cost, should the Centre raise the other half. And in nearly twenty years, they didn't.

This is a crime. Nikola Tesla is perhaps the most important unknown person of the past two hundred years, and luckily, his name is becoming more and more familiar, and not just with people who think it's a brand of car. Aside from the fact that he was completely mad, he was also completely brilliant (and, asexual, for anyone looking for a idol in that department). He invented alternating current, radio, the spark plug, experimented with X-rays, and famously claimed to have invented death rays and (mythbusted) vibration-based weapons of mass destruction.

Enter Matthew Inman, cartoonist of The Oatmeal. He urged people to fund the project through IndieGoGo, to keep the lab available for the museum. They needed to raise $850,000. They've raised, with 31 days left in the campaign, $1.16 million.

That is half a million less then the Centre would need to buy the whole property outright, with no assistance from the State of New York. Internet, give yourself a slow clap on this one, you have done good. And there is still a month left in the fund raising. Head over to their page, and give what you can, as little as $3 even. I think I'll be aiming for the bumper sticker. That way, not only will motorists know my feelings about that villain Edison, but I'll have helped make something needed and necessary happen.

Donate here.

Via ComicsAlliance.

I can't say I'm disappointed in this first episode of the bizarrely named Pond Life (because companions are of course analogise to midges and toads). It's short, less then a minute, and barely features the Ponds at all. But, we do get 50 solid seconds of the Doctor being ridiculous.

And I'm fine with that.

You know what a good day looks like? Pretty much like this.

Because Joss Whedon, and the rest of the creative team behind Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, are returning to television. Here is the announcement:

ABC has ordered a pilot for S.H.I.E.L.D, a live-action series from The Avengers writer-director Joss Whedon, Marvel TV and ABC Studios. The project is based on Marvel's peacekeeping organization S.H.I.E.L.D (which stands for Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate) found in both the Marvel comic book and feature film universes, including the blockbuster 2012 movie The Avengers, in which S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury, recruits Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, and Thor to stop Thor's adoptive brother Loki from subjugating Earth.

S.H.I.E.L.D. will be written by Whedon, his bother Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. Joss Whedon also is set to direct the pilot, schedule permitting. Production on the pilot, which marks the first live-action Marvel TV project to get a green light, will start immediately. Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon and Tancharoen executive produce with Jeffrey Bell and Marvel TV's Jeph Loeb.

Let me be clear about a couple things included up there. First, Loeb's name is included just because he is head of Marvel TV development as a division of Marvel, not because he'll have his cold hand around this thing's throat, like he did with Smallville or Heroes.

Second, this is awesome. Like, completely, utterly, fantastically awesome. You know why? Oh, so many very nice reasons why. A, SHIELD is the perfect thing to set a TV show up around. Think 24, or Alias, or, and probably a better comparison, X-Files or Fringe. Spy espionage is a genre TV knows how to do, and how to do cheap, though it's not like this thing isn't going to have money thrown at it like Scrooge McDuck.

B, TV is where Whedon has done his best work. So, he's back in his element. Please, stock the writer's room with all your best former writers, and stock the cast with as many of your regulars as you can get away with. If Amy Acker isn't a lead cast member on this thing, a serious crime has been committed. Beyond that, think of the guest stars he could role out. Nathan Fillion is already a star on the same network, I can't see why Castle couldn't loan him out for a week. He could even play against type, and be a bad guy.

C, it allows the movie universe to grow and expand without having to fall back on the films for support. I expect Samuel L. Jackson to appear in the pilot, and maybe at the end of the season, but the Director doesn't have to be a presence. In the same way that we can see Stark Industries written on everything without every having to actually see Tony Stark on the show. More then that, the show will be able to tell stories the movies will never be able to make time for. I'm saying right now, at some point during it's run, we'll see a version of Secret Invasion. But Iron Man 3 will also be setting up AIM as a thing, having already introduced Hammer Industries. Roxxon exists, as A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To Thor's Hammer established, but hasn't been elaborated on.

D, everyone in the fandom is going to want Phil Coulson to be the star, and that includes me. Really, really includes me. BUT, imagine a world where Coulson isn't on the show. Titus Welliver, late of LOST, will be playing a SHIELD agent in the short film Item 47, and I imagine he was cast with this series in mind. Cobie Smulders only has one year left on How I Met Your Mother, and is already established, putting her in the perfect position to assume a lead role on the show by the time it appears a year from now.

E, this is just a stupidly good piece of news. Yes, it probably puts the nail in the coffin of a SHIELD film, but I'd rather have Whedon on TV then a one off, Bourne style film any day of the week.

In other news, FOX has already expressed a desire to cancel SHIELD. In responce, Whedon said this:


You don't see James Cameron wearing a cowboy hat on the internet, do you?

Via Topless Robot.

Animation is my favourite medium. It always has been. Up until recently, it was the only way to achieve certain visions in TV and film. And actually, it still is the only way to achieve those things. CG is just another form of animation, the latest in a long line of advances that continues to innovate.

Animation is not for children, which is a terrible falsehood that Hollywood does now, and has often, believed in. But all you need to do is look at the output of Adult Swim, or Pixar, or a hundred other examples of cartoons, motion capture, and stop frame films that don't have children in mind.

PBS has released their Off Book segment exploring the evolution of the art. Watch it, and be happy for the rest of the day.

Via Uproxx.

There is a difference between being religious, and believing in biblical literalism. One is an opinion of moral beliefs, or a philosophical comfort system to ease the mind about the big questions. The other is believing that every detail and word of a thousands year old document is absolute truth, flying it the face of even the most basic scientific fact, easily refutable evidence and many times, those same moral beliefs that are others hold so dear.

While I personally believe that you don't need a book to tell you right from wrong, and that any philosophical system that purports to give you a definite answer on the greater questions of life, the universe and everything is perpetrating a fraud, and that science, a repeatable, evidence based systematic method, does provide actual answers, and often times uncovers more beauty and depth that actually exists then any fable could ever create.

Creationism is a horrid beast of ignorance. Luckily, it's not that big a problem outside of the United States. It exists, but rarely do you see entire news networks devoted to it. Faith is a private matter, it has to be if it is effecting a person on such a deep, personal level. I have no problem with people of any faith, so long as they don't push it in my face. In the same way that I don't flaunt my atheism (despite having written this post). Creationist flaunt their beliefs. They push it in everyone's face, and yell at us when we disagree with them. It is a terrible thing, and one that has far too much momentum in the US modern culture. That needs to stop.

You want to be a creationist, fine. You go right ahead, if that works for you. Just shut up about it.

Via Uproxx.

Courtesy of NBCUniversal

This is what I've been saying. This is how you make an episode of TV. A strong story that supports all of the characters, in which each character has something to contribute and doesn't feel forced into the narrative, that furthers the over all arc while not making it the focus, and includes character development that doesn't feel hamfisted. It is, of course, a pipe dream to hope that the rest of the season will follow the example of the last two weeks, but at least it's picking up.

Hit the jump to read the review, which contains spoilers that have escaped for their own nefarious reasons.

It is a booming time to be in the small, painful to step on, toy brick business. The resurgence in popularity in Lego bricks among those adults that still very much like to play with toys, has created a growing industry of off brand groups making Lego compatible sets, unlike the old days, when all you had were those hateful Mega-blocks, which were just slightly off of the size of a Lego brick, so everything seemed fine until you were half way done building your castle, notice that one wall has all the structural integrity of a US State Senatorial candidate, and realise a fecking Mega-block ended up in the pile...

Any way, these side firms are snatching up the licenses for products you might not expect anyone to ever actually want. And for every Character Building Doctor Who (which, to my mind, equal or surpass any license Lego has ever had in terms of quality), you get a KRE-O Battleship set, which is a real thing, and a toy no one will ever want.

Add to this pile of mystery, Best-Lock Construction Toys Lego compatible Stargate SG-1 sets, made with all kinds of relevancy five years after the series went off air, and two years after the franchise itself ended with SGU. And, as if that wasn't bizarre enough, they are only available from Sears Canada, a store which has kind of prided itself in being irrelevant for a number of years. Seriously though, it seems like Sears is the only place they exist. They don't even appear on Best-Lock's website.

There are fours sets available. The picture above is included on the SG-1 Earth set, though it depicts what is included in the SG-1 vs. Jaffa set, so I expect that to be an error, and have no idea what the SG-1 Earth set includes (my guess would be the Gate room, though). Also available are a scaled down model of the Daedalus, and a mini set called Guilder Attack, which includes a single guilder and a couple camo-soldiers.

Despite the fact that nothing about this makes any sort of damned sense, I have ordered myself an SG-1 Earth (sight unseen) and a SG-1 vs Jaffa set, and expect them to arrive later this week, if I don't get a message from Sears informing me rather politely that these do not, in fact, actually exist. Once they arrive, you can look forward to my first, and possibly only, toy review. That should be something...

Oh, and to take things up one additional level of crazy, they have a single Terminator set too, featuring Hunter-Killers, T-800's and resistance fighters. Yeah.

Via Topless Robot.

There is a point in every... thing, where the popularity of the thing forces it one of two ways. One, it can continue to take itself seriously despite a decline in quality, leading to the ruination of the thing. Or, it can embrace the idea that it was taking itself too seriously, make fun of itself, and maybe get enough points that it can circle back around and take itself seriously again.

Examples, you say? OK. Indiana Jones for the former, with each instalment getting sillier and sillier, but taking itself pretty seriously the entire time. And I'd say, the character of Sherlock Holmes for the latter. It went through that period where the best stuff coming out with the character were movies like Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, until eventually you cycle back around to the current environment of the BBC's Sherlock and Guy Richie's films.

Star Wars exists in both worlds simultaneously. The prequels were the former, as I expect, will the live action series they keep promising but will probably never happen. So too are the novels, the games, the whole expanded universe. The latter is the stuff that George Lucas tends not to have a hand in directly. The Clone Wars series. The Robot Chicken Specials. And now, something called Detour, a CG series from Robot Chicken's Stoopid Monkey. It is hard to tell if there is a narrative, or if it's a series of Robot Chicken style sketches. It's also hard to tell, because characters from the prequels and the Holy Trilogy are present, some are old, and some are young. It mostly looks to be set New Hopeish.

But Seth McFarlane plays the Emperor, and that's all I need to know.

Via Topless Robot.

Courtesy of Shaw Media

Good news, everyone. By everyone, I of course mean, the million or so viewers that made Continuum Showcase's most successful original series to date. The network, already flush after the success of Lost Girl, have renewed the sci-fi series that saw Rachel Nichols thrown 70 years into the past to stop a terrorist group from changing the future, for a second series of 10 episodes, matching the first year's run.

The second season is expected to air in the spring. Also, rumour has it that a major US network has picked up the broadcast right, and will air them in the spring along with season two, as one long series. I would have guessed Sy-Fy, expect the rumours clearly state "major US network", not patchwork incompetents.

I thoroughly enjoyed season one, was excited about what they did with the concept, appreciated that they tried to steer clear on time travel cliches, or at least averted those tropes they did fall into, and am looking forward to season two.

Via Gateworld.

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Television

When Walt says "everybody wins", he doesn't mean everybody else.

Hit the jump for the review, which contains spoilers that acted rashly, and will come to regret it.

Rule one: Steven Moffat lies.
Rule two: when telling us important information, he will be as cryptic and unhelpful as possible.
Rule three: I'm alright with that.

And so, with Doctor Who returning at the end of this week, we can turn our attentions to his other piece of beauty, series 3 of Sherlock. What with principle photography out of the way on the Hobbit, one might assume that the film's stars, Martin Freeman (Bilbo Baggins) and Benedict Cumberbatch (Smaug, the Necromancer) will be returning to their roles of Watson and Holmes respectively, and soon.

And what awaits the duo this series, other then an expected resurrection? Says Moffat:

"Bow, Wedding, and Rat"

While this seems horribly unhelpful, remember that before last series, his clue was "Woman, Hound, Fall." So, in retrospect, quite obvious. Den of Geek has a good pile of guesses as to what "Bow, Wedding, and Rat" mean, and I suggest you check it out. I, for one, agree that "Bow" probably means His Last Bow, the only Holmes story never told from Watson's perspective (or Holmes' either), though I'd want to know if Moffat pronounced it bow, as in "take a...", or bow, as in "... and arrow".

"Wedding", I would hope to mean the introduction of Mary, Watson's canonal wife. Since Sherlock's reappearance in the stories was years after his 'death', I expect the show to do the same. And what better way for Watson to have moved on with his post-Holmes life, then to end his already humourously highlighted bachelor days, and settle down with a safe, secure woman who maybe pales a little in comparison once Holmes returns. Or alternatively, not. I thought that the Guy Richie version of Mary was strong enough to warrant a promotion to the female lead in the third of that series if they make it, I can't see why Moffat and Gatiss can't outdo him, as they have in every other respect.

I have no idea what "Rat" means, except that an adaption of my favourite Holmes story, The Speckled Band, won't be forth coming this series. Whatever they mean, if last year is any indication, they are at least in order, and that "Rat" has some very big shoes to fill in the "grand finale" department.

Via Den of Geek.



Courtesy of Open Road Films

It's a brilliant plan: say you're an actor, tired of getting cast in nothing but terrible romantic or buddy comedies, and you want to be in something with a touch of substance, but also is a lot of fun. If you've got the resources, and you've got enough friends, why not just make the movie yourself?

Such was the path that real life couple Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell took to bring Hit and Run (originally titled the much more relevant Outrun) to the screen. It's marketed as a romantic comedy, but much like the title change, it just goes to show that marketing is very rarely right about how they describe something unconventional. I would describe it as a crime-character study, or a road-caper, but neither of those really works either. The only thing that describes it well is to say that it is very Elmore Leonard-esque, so much so that I assumed it was an adaption until the credits rolled.

Hit the jump for the review, which contains spoilers that have been hiding for years under an assumed name.

Dammit to hell...

If Disney Animation has the Nine Old Men, then the Muppets had the Five First Voices; the men who did voices right from the start. Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Richard Hunt and Jerry Nelson. Before replacements, or backups, or proteges, these were the guys that gave life to a collection of characters as wonderful and insane and hilarious as the world has known. And now there is one less.

Jerry Nelson, was the original voice of Muppets Sgt. Floyd Pepper, Dr. Julius Strangepork, Fozzie's Mom, Camillia, J.P. Grosse, Lew Zealand, Pops the Doorman, Uncle Deadly and perhaps most prominently, Robin the Frog, Kermit's Nephew. On the Street, he performed Count von Count, The Amazing Mumford, Harry Monster and the Two Headed Monster. And on Fraggle Rock, he was Gobo, Pa Gorg, and the Trash Heap, and the only one of the original Muppet performers to work full time on the Rock. He was the original voice of Statler, and returned to the role after frequent partner Richard Hunt's death, and originated the role of Snuffleupagus. He also often played the role of 'announcer' on the various shows. And, for those that remember it fondly, he voiced Emmett Otter in that character's Christmas special.

Looking at that list, and seeing so many of my favourite characters, it's a startling reminder of what these men accomplished, and how honestly good they were at what they did. So much came from so few, and though the men may not remain, their characters have taken on a life of their own, and have ensured their legacy.

Though he stopped performing his Muppet characters in 2004, Jerry kept up his Sesame Street characters right up to his death last Friday, from complications from cancer.

The above video is Nelson performing When The River Meets The Sea at Jim Henson's Memorial in 1990.

Hit the jump for a collection of Nelson's work. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I've got something in my eye.

There isn't really a need for an explanation as to who this man was, or what he did. Or that he was a hero, for making the journey in the first place. That he was the first is significant, but not all. He is equalled by those that came after him, and by those that his actions inspired. That he stepped back, out of focus and let the moment be his statement was noble and a better thing then most would do.
It is hard sometimes, especially these days when NASA is seeing massive cuts to important programs despite there not being a logical reason to do so, to remember that there was a time not long ago when the entire world - not a country, or a people, but the entire world, was inspired by a single event. That an accomplishment changed us on a human level. That as a species we were elevated to something else. It is our shame and our doom if we squander that.

Neil Armstrong wasn't an American hero. He was a human hero.

My bad. You see, I didn't see Total Recall when it came out because if I wanted to waste ten bucks and two hours of my life, I'd flush dimes down the toilet. So, I didn't see the new, full length and plot revealing trailer for James Bond's newest adventure, Skyfall.

And somehow, I completely missed it on the internet. Thinking back now, that must have been the week I was on vacation. Well, bully for me...

From the looks of the trailer, this might be a return to form for 007. With huge action sequences, ridiculously superhuman stunts, banter between agent and quartermaster, and an over the top villain, this might conform more to the idea of a Bond movie then either Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace. Whether this is a good thing or not, we'll have to wait and see.

At two and a half series, the time the Ponds have spent in the TARDIS isn't ground breaking. In fact, it's practically average. But never before on the show has a relationship been so thoroughly represented, analysed and evolved as Amy and Rory. Not even the Doctor, with the obvious exception of the TARDIS herself, has had a relationship that has seemed so honest and natural as the one between the Ponds.

So, it is only natural that as they prepare to depart, they would get some extra attention. Cue the original webseries, premiering on YouTube on Monday, following the slower moments between the Ponds when they aren't travelling with the Doctor, which also separates them into another class of companion (which I believe only Tegan, Sarah Jane, and Martha belong to) that have stopped travelling with the Doctor, and then taken up with him again.

The webseries will run the lengh of this half of series seven, and dovetail nicely into the premier episode, Asylum of the Daleks.

Via Topless Robot.

The Tragically Hip are something of a Canadian institution, having spent the last thirty years cementing their place as one of the premier Canadian rock groups. Their music is some of the best you'll find, from any period, and if you catch them live, there is an excellent chance lead singer, Gord Downie, will just start going on about whales for an extended period of time.

Communityis a ridicouslously funny comedy on NBC, which the network hates the living bejesus out of, having fired the creator and moved it to the Friday night death slot for their upcoming fourth season.

What do these two things have in common? On the surface, nothing. But the Hip realese their new album, Now For Plan A, on October 2nd, and have released their new single in anticipation of the release. The single's name?

Streets Ahead.

Until I have confirmation that this wasn't intentional, I'm going to assume that at least one of the band mates is a Communityfan. And my respect for the band just increased.