Author: Vinnie Bartilucci

Maisie Williams to guest star on Doctor Who

Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams was announced as one of the guest stars on the new series of Doctor Who, filming now in Wales.

MaiseWhoWhile her exact role has not been revealed, Steven Moffat, lead writer and Executive Producer, added:

“We’re thrilled to have Maisie Williams joining us on Doctor Who. It’s not possible to say too much about who or what she’s playing, but she is going to challenge the Doctor in very unexpected ways. This time he might just be out of his depth, and we know Maisie is going to give him exactly the right sort of hell.”

The announcement also revealed two more episode titles for the new series, ‘The Girl Who Died’ written by Jamie Mathieson and Steven Moffat, and ‘The Woman Who Lived’ by Catherine Tregenna.  Tregenna has written several episodes of Torchwood, including “Captain Jack Harkness”, for which she received a Hugo nomination. She’s the first female writer on the show since 2008.

The titles seem thematically linked, sparking thought that they may be another two-parter, following the opening episodes “The Magician’s Apprentice” and “The Witch’s Familiar” which feature the return of Michelle Gomez as Missy, AKA the regenerated Master.

Other guest actors confirmed to appear in the new series are comedian Rufus Hound, Shakespearean actor Barnaby Kay and fellow GoT actor Paul Kaye.

Doctor Who is set to return this fall, “with further casting to be announced in due course”.

How much to build the Millennium Falcon?

“Well, more wealth  than YOU could imagine!”

DeAgostini Model Space makes incredibly detailed model kits, and in celebration of the release of their Millennium Falcon model they’ve estimated the total cost of building your own Corellian YT-1300 light freighter.  One must assume Han Solo’s special modifications would be extra.

How-Much-Would-It-Cost-to-Build-the-Millennium-Falcon-The model is billed as ” 1:1 scale” which makes me think there are some punctuation marks missing.

 

 

DeNA scores Final Fantasy license, releasing Final Fantasy Record Keeper in the US

With five million downloads in Japan already, mobile game developer DeNA and Square Enix announced a US release for FINAL FANTASY: Record Keeper this spring. It’s touted as “the only game to let players relive favorite moments across all past FINAL FANTASY installments and build a team of classic characters. ”

FINAL FANTASY Record Keeper - Google Play Icon

16-bit style art is So Hot Right Now.

Featuring an all-star cast of characters including Tidus, Lightning, and Cloud, players recruit their favorite heroes from across the entire FINAL FANTASY franchise to form the most dynamic team of all time. With a massive roster of characters, the possibilities are endless! Characters can each be completely customized and equipped to the fullest with iconic gear, powerful spells, summons, and hundreds of weapons to choose from.

This game joins a number of mobile games that have attempted to bring the franchise to the mobile medium.  Unlike games like FF: All The Bravest , the game appears to more closely mimic the classic “Active Time Battle” interface of the early games of the series.

“FINAL FANTASY: Record Keeper delivers the ultimate FINAL FANTASY experience for the dedicated and passionate fans of this franchise and we are excited to work with SQUARE ENIX to bring it to players worldwide this spring,” said Shintaro Asako, CEO of DeNA West.

Square Enix has also released many of their original games for mobile platforms, including several of the FF and Dragon Quest series, as well as classics like Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana.

FINAL FANTASY: Record Keeper will be available in spring 2015 as a free download in the AppStore and Google Play. Fans can pre-register at FinalFantasyRecordKeeper.com for updates, and unlock powerful in-game content at launch.

Legendary Pictures announces Electra Woman and Dyna Girl remake

Legendary Digital Media and Fullscreen have partnered with YouTube phenoms Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart in an updated version of Sid & Marty Krofft‘s classic 70’s TV series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, bringing the property to a new generation of viewers. Fullscreen will debut and exhibit Electra Woman and Dyna Girl in the U.S. with Legendary Television Distribution overseeing global distribution. Sid & Marty Krofft will executive produce the project.

The reboot will start internet superstars Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart as the seventies icons (shut up, this is my article).  The series, comes on the heels of Helbig’s crossover from YouTube fame to television as the host of a late night talk show for E! which premieres in April. Both Helbig and Hart have large social media followings with a combined total of over 10 million subscribers and followers over all of their YouTube and social media platforms. This series also follows Helbig’s and Hart’s recent digital feature film success, Camp Takota, which was executive produced by Helbig and Hart and produced by Fullscreen’s Chief Content Officer Michael Goldfine, and picked up by Netflix last year.

Electra Woman and Dyna Girl was one of the tentpole shows of The Krofft Supershow, which also featured Wonderbug, Magic Mongo and Dr. Shrinker. (and if you’ve got the theme for the last one in your head now, you’re welcome.) Deidre Hall (Days of our Lives) and Judy Strangis (Room 222) played the title characters as well as their secret identities as reporters for NewsMakers magazine.  With the assistance of technical genius Professor Frank Heflin (Norman Alden) they fought “Electra-Villains” like Glitter Rock, The Pharaoh and the Spider-Lady.

Am I gonna insert the theme? Oh you KNOW I’m gonna insert the theme…

Of course, the synopsis of the new series certainly suggests that we may not see the same level of action and special effects as the original…

Electra Woman and Dyna Girl follows two superheroes as they move from Akron to Los Angeles in hopes of making it big in the crime fighting world, only to find competition with other vigilantes and infighting amongst themselves.

So there’s that.

Sid and Marty Krofft are responsible for some of the most memorable children’s entertainment of the seventies, and some of the most over the top variety programming in the years to follow. Starting off with classics like H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville and The Bugaloos, the Kroffts ruled the roost of Saturday mornings.  Breaking into prime time programming, they produced the Donny and Marie variety show, as well as ones for the Brady Bunch, the Mandrell Sisters, and God help us, Pink Lady (and Jeff).

We’ve seen a number of remakes of their shows over the years – ABC presented a new version of the Land of the Lost, which Marty Krofft, in an interview with yours truly, suggested was indeed connected in some way to the land as seen in the original series.  There was a pilot for a new version of Electra Woman in 2001 with Markie Post and Anne Stedman.  Several years ago they announced that Dreamworks had obtained the right to Lidsville to produce an animated feature, a project still in development, if it hasn’t already fallen into the Shampoo River.

For more information on the new series, sign up for updates at www.ElectraWomanDynaGirl.com,  follow their twitter, @ElectraDyna, or just follow me around, cause I’m not gonna stop talking about this, ever.

The Inevitable Return – Missy Stars In Doctor Who Premiere

We knew she’d be back – Michelle Gomez said she’d be back, we just didn’t know how soon she’d be back.  Well, now we know – Missy (AKA The Master) will make her return in the series premiere of Doctor Who later in 2015.DWDeathSquee

The two-part episode, The Magician’s Apprentice and The Witch’s Familiar, is written by the show’s lead writer Steven Moffat, produced by Peter Bennett and directed by Hettie Macdonald (Blink, the Hugo Award-winning Doctor Who episode).

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REVIEW – Kingsman: The Secret Service

The rule of thumb in screenwriting is never to directly reference, even whimsically, a film which you are attempting to tribute or homage, for fear the comparison will leave your film lacking.  Kingsman: the Secret Service makes numerous references to Bond and classic-era spy films, and not only holds its own against them, but could inspire a resurgence of the bigger than life style of espionage films

kingsman-the-secret-service-official-trailer-000Kingsman: The Secret Service
Directed by Matthew Vaughan
Script by Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughan, from the comic by Mark Millar, Matthew Vaughan and Dave Gibbons
Starring Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Samuel L. Jackson

Mark Millar is doing a damn fine job of creating brilliant little stand-alone comic mini-series that tell a coherent story, and are at the same time far from the standard fare of superhero titles.  They are also almost tailor-made for adaptation into films for those very reasons.  His high-action spy tale The Secret Service got a new main title and a solid cast when Millar’s co-plotter Matthew Vaughan (X-Men First Class) adapted it into Kingsman: The Secret Service. (more…)

Halfway across you’ll turn off the light: An analysis of the Sony/Marvel Spider-partnership

And so another of the items on the world’s “This will never happen” list can be crossed off. Sony and Marvel Studios have come to an accord on the use of Spider-Man in proper Marvel films, and of other Marvel characters in upcoming Spider-movies.

While this initially sounds like a stellar win, I can see a number of ways that it won’t live up to the expectations of the fans.

Marvel hasn’t “gotten Spider-Man back” – This is very much a “two guys with half the map” scenario. A great deal of cooperation will have to occur between the companies, with permitted uses and appearances strictly defined. It seems much like the partnership between the various studios in the Lord of the Rings / Hobbit franchise, each hanging on to their piece for dear life to score a taste of that sweet profit stream.

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