Tagged: British

Prince Caspian Photos and Interview Hit the ‘Net

Prince Caspian Photos and Interview Hit the ‘Net

  • News
  • January 21, 2008

USA Today has posted an interview and gallery of photos from the set of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, set to hit theaters May 16. The photos feature the returning cast from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as well as many of the second installment’s new characters. The interview focuses on how filmmakers conquered one of the series’ most frustrating obstacles: how to "bring the sexy back" to Narnia.

… But with a quartet of mostly unseasoned child actors as the Pevensie kids, the 2005 release was severely lacking in an elixir that fuels many fantasy epics: sex appeal.

But that was then. This is wow. Ben Barnes, 26, the British newcomer who plays the title role in Prince Caspian, has visitors to the film’s Internet Movie Database message board virtually drooling.

What, putting Warwick Davis in a lead role wasn’t sexy enough? Come on, people!

 

Doctor Who Turns 100

Doctor Who Turns 100

  • News
  • January 8, 2008

Not to encroach on Glenn Hauman’s turf, but, hey, happy 100th birthday, William Hartnell!

The man who created the role of Doctor Who – his first broadcast was transmitted immediately after the BBC announced the death of President Kennedy – and stayed with the role for three years had been performing on stage and in movies for 40 years by the time he was cast, including the classic British comedy Carry On Sergeant.  

Retiring due to ill health, Hartnell returned to the role to film a few scenes in the groundbreaking 10th anniversary episode "The Three Doctors." His role, in which he helped save the Doctor’s next two incarnations, was curtailed somewhat due to his poor health. It was Hartnell’s final performance; he died two years after the show was broadcast.

Law and Order Over There

Law and Order Over There

  • News
  • January 3, 2008

Just when you thought Law and Order was wearing out its welcome, it turns out there are plans for a fourth – no, make it fifth (one flopped) series. But, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it ain’t gonna be set or filmed in New York City.

Kudos Film and Television, producers of the brilliant British shows Hustle and Life On Mars, is in negotiations with NBC Universal and Wolf Films to do a series presently called Law & Order: London. It would emulate the format employed by all those NBC shows.
 
This wouldn’t be a first for Dick Wolf. There are Russian versions of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (a.k.a. The Sex Show) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. The latter program also appears in its own unique French version.

Manga Friday: Look! A Mammoth!

Manga Friday: Look! A Mammoth!

  • News
  • December 28, 2007

I’ve long harbored a suspicion about the “Mammoth Books” – you’re familiar with them, right? Big fat reprint anthologies, on a wide range of subjects (fiction and nonfiction, photographic and comics) published by Constable and Robinson in the UK and imported to this side of the pond by the now-defunct Carroll & Graf? – were put together somewhat on the cheap. (This was based on my encounters with their historical reprints, which I kept thinking should be called things like The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories That Are Out of Copyright.)

But this book, I hasten to say, is made up of new material, as far as I can tell. All of the works are copyrighted 2007, though the book doesn’t say where, if anywhere, any of this appeared before. Come to think of it, that’s a bit of a problem – if this is the Best New Manga, surely that’s in comparison with other manga, and implies that this stuff was previously published?

These are the kind of problems I always have with the Mammoth Books — they’re generally nice anthologies, but aren’t quite what it says they are on the tin.

OK, so here’s what I think this book is: a collection of all-new stories, in a mostly manga manner, by creators primarily from the UK. It doesn’t actually say that – the introduction, by one-named editor “Ilya,” spends most of its time burbling about how cool manga is and how wonderful the world will be once we can all manage to sell more and more copies of more manga books – but it’s the most likely scenario. (If this really is an anthology of previously published works, and those works are “manga,” then the fact that they’re nearly all British and that none of them are, oh, Japanese, becomes much more puzzling.)

(more…)

Well, Not Quite Like A Virgin, a review by Mike Gold

Well, Not Quite Like A Virgin, a review by Mike Gold

  • News
  • December 8, 2007

If I were to tell you that a major British icon has returned, and you hadn’t read the headline above, what image would first pop into your head? Winston Churchill? The Union Jack? Pete Townshend?

Well, all those icons are still around, but I’ll admit that if I weren’t a comics fan, Pete jumping in his jump suit would certainly come to mind. But I am a comics fan, so that space in my filing lobe belongs to Dan Dare.

In case you didn’t know, Dan Dare was to the Brits what Superman is to Americans: their seminal comics hero. This makes Judge Dredd the Brits’ Spider-Man, which, to me, is a funny image. Sadly, Dan hasn’t fared quite as well as the Man of Steel, and he’s suffered through almost as many “reboots.” Created in 1950 by Frank Hampson, who drew most of the stories in that decade. A number of artists succeeded him, first and foremost the astonishingly talented Frank Bellamy. Since the Brits tend to favor (okay; favour) the anthology format, Dan Dare appeared in Eagle (after which the awards were named) and later in may different titles, including the birthplace of the “modern” British comics movement, 2000 A.D.; Dave Gibbons was among the artists on that venture. Much of his career has been chronicled in album reprints and he’s had his share of video games, audio dramas and spud guns.

Dare was a science fiction hero in the classic sense: perhaps more like Buck Rogers than Flash Gordon, but with the requisite sexless British stiff-upper lip. He’s been referenced in rock songs, and a band named itself after his Doctor Doom, a little green tyrant named The Mekon.

Okay. That’s the backstory. The new story is, Virgin Comics has leased the rights and relaunched the series, the first issue of which is on sale now. And it’s damn good.

This is no surprise. Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine are the creative team, under alternate covers by Bryan Talbot (pictured) and Greg Horn. Virgin honcho Richard Branson is a long-time fan and has also glommed onto film, television and video game rights.

(more…)

Who’s Who for Hallowe’en

Who’s Who for Hallowe’en

  • News
  • October 15, 2007

The Guardian reports on a "must-have" item among British children for the upcoming holiday season: a mask modelled on the Dalek-human hybrid which appeared in the Doctor Who episode "Daleks in Manhattan" and which "changes the voice of the wearer to the metallic scream of the doctor’s mortal enemies."  Parents everywhere will no doubt be thrilled.

The mask featuress two play buttons; the first activates a Dalek question, followed by Dalek Sec Hybrid’s reply, and the second activates the Dalek Voice Changer Function.  The product was mentioned in the context of many other TV-based toys available for Christmas which are expected to be best-sellers, but what about those who need to have it for Hallowe’en?

Never fear, it’s available now, at least in the UK.  Sure beats "Anna Rexia," if you ask me!

ELAYNE RIGGS: Nothing common about it

ELAYNE RIGGS: Nothing common about it

  • News
  • July 18, 2007

The older I get, the more Einsteinian I become in my concept of time. It’s like I’m watching a vehicle moving at light-speed, Dopplering like crazy, when it’s all I can do sometimes to make it from point A to point B. I’m just a 20th century gal in a 21st century world.

Which isn’t always a bad thing. I retain a viewpoint that I honestly think is foreign to many around me, one that relies greatly on the ideas of common sense and common courtesy. Don’t spend more on your credit card than you have money to pay it off. When you’re out to dinner, stack your plates in a way that makes them easier for the server to handle. If you’re responsible for someone who can’t care for themselves, their needs supercede yours. Behind the wheel, do everything you can to facilitate traffic flow, don’t do anything that distracts you from driving, and always let aggressive drivers pass you so you’re well rid of them. Don’t do anything in public that will cause discomfort to others around you, unless they’re more politically powerful and intending you physical harm. Listening is more important than talking. (Okay, I don’t have that last one down quite yet, but I’m working on it!)

Two of my conclusions after almost fifty years on this planet come down to "sex is private" and "violence is abhorrent." I don’t know why people who wish to regulate media keep pairing the two, as the former affirms life while the latter negates it. And to tell you the truth, while I’m not that big on regulation myself, sometimes I think it may just be needed in certain circumstances. Because, once again, I see so few people around me any more exercising common sense and common courtesy.

While it’s true that societal mores, like language, are an ever-evolving phenomenon, it’s not that difficult to suss out what might discomfit the majority those around them — if they cared to. But selfishness often wins out over courtesy. So while a kiss on the lips may be quite continental, no matter who’s kissing whom, when that public kiss turns into major gropage or heavy petting it’s time for the participants to think about getting a room. As my mom is fond if saying regarding the romance novels she reads, "I prefer the ones that stop at the bedroom door."

Or the bathroom door, for that matter. Bodily functions are nothing of which to be ashamed; neither are they anything to show off. If you’re planning to go beyond a simple exchange of saliva, do consider a more intimate and less public venue, one with doors between you and the general public. That goes for feeding your baby straight from the source as well. But hey, maybe that’s just me. I see enough fluids around me as it is, I don’t really want to deal with other people’s. It’s beautiful, it’s natural… it’s private, mmmkay?

(more…)

Dennis Hopper Is Doing What?

Dennis Hopper Is Doing What?

Approximately several hundred websites are reporting Dennis Hopper might be guest-villaining in Doctor Who next season. ComicMix is now officially number several hundred and one. It’s also being reported by the London Sun and the British magazine TV Times.

Evidently, the one-time Easy Rider star and two-time G. W. Bush supporter is a big Whoer. When the BBC discovered this, they moved with uncommon speed to get at least a cameo out of the noted actor.

Alan Moore, Melinda Gebbie wed

Alan Moore, Melinda Gebbie wed

This photograph, shamelessly ripped off of Neil Gaiman‘s website, provides illustrative proof that yesterday afternoon (as the British reckon afternoon) noted comics couple Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie created the sequel to their mega-graphic novel Lost Girls: they, indeed, got married.

ComicMix congratulates Alan and Melinda and wishes them a long and happy life together.

For more pics, check out Neil‘s site, and, maybe, eventually, the Alan Moore Fan Site.

Superman’s birthmom to Who

Superman’s birthmom to Who

Susannah York, the honored British actress who played Lara in Superman The Movie and Superman II (not to mention such classy movies as They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? and The Killing of Sister George), is a featured player in Big Finish’s 96th regular monthly Doctor Who full-cast drama.

Named "Valhalla", the two-hour original full-cast audio drama is another high-energy science-fiction thriller about a planet that is, well, anything but Valhalla. York joins Sylvester McCoy, who of course is playing the seventh Doctor – the last from the original series.

For more information about this and the approximately 150 original Doctor Who audio adventures, check out Big Finish Productions.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks