The STARSTORE Blog...

TORCHWOOD: NEW AUDIO EPISODE TO AIR ON RADIO 4

It has been announced in Torchwood magazine and elsewhere that a new episode, in the form of an audio drama airing as part of BBC radio 4’s popular Afternoon Play series. The play has been written by Joseph Lidster and will feature the voices of John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness), Eve Miles (Gwen) and Freema Agyeman (Martha). Expected to air in June or July, the story is to take place in Switzerland and involves the CERN nuclear facility. As the story doesn’t feature Naoko Mori or Burn Gorman, we can assume the tale takes place after the events of series 2, but, according to Lidster, they will have at least a mention.

It does make me wonder if there is a possibility of further audio stories involving the Torchwood team. I mean, the series of Doctor Who original audio dramas from Big Finish have been popular for almost a decade now, and have fed the hunger for new stories very well. A set of new Torchwood stories would be great for fans to keep them going until we hear anything about series 3, and they wouldn’t have to feature everyone- some solo stories would be a superb chance to get inside the heads of the characters a bit more, and also check out how they have been dealing with things since the end of series 2.

BLAKES 7 TO RETURN TO TV

In the wake of the massively successful revivals of classic shows such as Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica, plans have now been announced to bring back another science fiction property from the past- this time its none other than BLAKES 7. Those of you that remember the show will remember the dark plots and compelling characters as much as the wobbly sets and shoddy effects. Created by the late Terry Nation, who also created Doctor Who’s infamous Daleks, the new version of Blakes 7 is to surface on Sky One.

The last time we saw Blake and his crew, they were being gunned down in a bloody massacre, and now those character and their famous ship are to return for a brand new six part series, packed with the latest in special effects technology and modern production values. Finally the stories will be the focal point, as opposed to the effects and sets as had become the norm in recent years. This new series is said to tell the tale of the group’s formation. This is great news for old fans, and also damn fine news for sci-fi fans yet to discover the show- you’re in for one hell of a ride…

FRIDAY THE 13TH: JASON VOORHEES ‘CINEMA OF FEAR’ STYLIZED FIGURE REVIEW

Mezco’s CINEMA OF FEAR range continues to make the hairs stand up on the backs of fans’ necks with this latest figure of the FRIDAY THE 13TH antihero Jason Voorhees. Presented in a stylized edition that is going to be a hit with long-time horror fans, this new large-scale Jason Voorhees action figure stands approximately 9 inches tall and comes with: Axe, machete, spear, severed head, removable mask and real clothing. Supplied in a FRIDAY THE 13TH movie themed window-fronted display box, he looks imposing enough in the packaging!

One he’s out and unleashed, you can really see the extent of the work that Mezco have put into the creation of the figure. This Jason Voorhees action figure depicts the hockey-masked psychopath sometime in the latter part of the series (the outfit he wears is reminiscent of the one worn in FREDDY VS JASON actually), and shows some bloodstains and rips and tears from his various killings and battles. I think the fact that Mezco have stylized the figure to look a bit more comic-bookish than previous Jason Voorhees figures works brilliantly- the look of the item separates it quite clearly from older, more regular figures, and the thing looks great. Jason is still as ugly as ever though…

THE SPIRIT: TEASER FOR FRANK MILLER’S EISNER ADAPTATION ONLINE NOW!

Watching this teaser for Frank Miller’s movie adaptation of Will Eisner’s classic comic character The Spirit, I remember those shivers I got when I first saw the trailers for the SIN CITY movie (Based on Frank Millers own' legendary Sin City graphic novels). That same unique visual style has been used in bringing this classic character to life, and it looks as though we’re going to be in for another movie that splits fan opinion down the middle. The method of turning footage into Frank Miller-style art has been a bit hard to swallow for some movie fans, who found the visual aspect of SIN CITY and 300 difficult to follow. Personally I think it is a great idea, putting films into their own self contained universe is a big part of the escapism that has recently started to reassert itself in movies. This is a good thing. You go to movies, especially film adaptations of comic books, with the desire to be entertained and taken away from boring day-to-day life for a couple of hours, and I’m all for films being visually entertaining as well as in terms of story or dialogue.
This teaser gives the film a feel more in keeping with films like the underrated SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. The grit is there, but it is so stylized that the thing ends up having something of a dreamlike quality. I particularly like the movements of the Spirit in the teaser- they are ridiculous, but they make sense in the setting of that strange monochrome world. Looks great, and I can’t wait to see the finished film. I'm also looking forward to the Spirit movie merchandise, as there were some superb SIN CITY figures and 300 merchandise released. Come on folks, trust in uncle Frank, after all, its been a hell of a long time since he made that stinker of a film known as Robocop 3.

BATMAN: ARTFX VINYL DARK KNIGHT FIGURE COMING!

DC Direct and Kotobukiya have teamed up once more to brings fans something incredible. Based on the brand new Batman DARK KNIGHT movie, starring Christian Bale as Batman and the late Heath Ledger as the Joker, this high quality vinyl figure is set to become one of the finest batman themed pieces of memorabilia to be released in years. Everyone here has let out some form of unprintable exclamation upon seeing the images of this awesome piece of work. Click on the picture for a larger version!

Depicting the Dark Knight in a dramatic pose stood atop the Bat signal, this high quality vinyl figure is set to stand approximately 12 inches tall. The costume has been modelled closely on the version that appears in the new feature film, and captures the character at his most iconic. He will come supplied in a Dark Knight movie themed window-display box, which, judging by Kotobukiya’s track record, is going to be sturdy and look great.

Unfortunately the piece is going to be strictly limited to 1,000 units, so keep an eye out for their arrival! I love the fact that there’s going to be some fantastic high-end merchandise available around the new Batman movie. I’d worried for a while that the range would be largely limited to kiddie-friendly action figures, as with Batman Begins, which, aside from a few nice items was limited to figures that didn’t have much, if anything,  to do with the movie. There are still going to be a slew of scarily unrelated figures available, but it’s great to see the serious stuff is going to be available too. The Dark Knight has never looked better. How about a Joker one too please?

IRON MAN MOVIE: NICK FURY CAMEO PULLED

Dammit, this is annoying. The forthcoming Iron Man feature film, which is looking like A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF FUN, has apparently had a major cameo removed from it- namely that of Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury. From what I hear, this also means that the crossover scene between the Iron Man and Incredible Hulk movies may not be in there either. This sounds like a huge mistake to me- something so momentous should stay in both films as it would cement the Marvel universe as a coherent entity, much like it is in the comics.

Marvel Comics are a law unto themselves- while the continuity is bogged down by years, nay, generations, of backstory and minutiae, they do still pull it off well. Sure, they did the whole Ultimates thing and rebooted a bunch of franchises (if not the whole shebang) but the ongoing, canon-heavy titles still manage to exist in something very close to a believable reality.

Leaving this out of the films is a mistake that has been made pretty much across the board so far. I’m sure its largely down to rights matters that we haven’t had mentions (or indeed cameos) by anyone linked to the Marvel Universe other than Stan ‘The Man’ Lee. The thing is, if an Avengers movie is ever going to happen, we will first need to ground the Marvel Movies universe in the same sort of manner as the comics.

How about a Secret Wars movie? No, maybe not. Still, Fox would no doubt love to get Spider-Man back into the black outfit…

SOLOMON KANE: The return of real adventure?

One project that I am keen to learn more about is the forthcoming SOLOMON KANE movie, to be directed by DEATHWATCH helmer Michael Basset. I’m excited that such a giant of classic adventure literature is making his way to the big screen at last for a no-holds-barred fantasy/SF action fest, but I do have my concerns. Are we in for another Van Helsing, or is this going to turn out to be a genre-defining moment for this media-swamped generation? I have a firm belief in the material and the director, I just pray that it comes off as something wonderful. There have been some terrible crimes in genre movies over the past few years, with aberrations like the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie (LXG? Pah!), but I think this one really has a chance of coming out as something that will be enjoyed for generations to come.

Its pedigree is undeniable- Robert E Howard created the character, and we all know what else he created! The books are classics of their time, and also classics of adventure/genre fiction, and they have enough of a loyal, generation-spanning audience that I think there is going to be a hell of a lot of people wanting to check this out when it hits the screens.

Michael Bassett has put up a cool page on his site with some thoughts on the movie, which bode well as there’s blatantly a love for the source material there. Plus, that teaser poster looks superb- kinda somewhere between Van Helsing and Vampire Hunter D.  I guess I’m just into the idea of classic literary icons coming into the current consciousness via the medium of film. I’d love to see a John Carter of Mars film done with today’s technology, but I fear that probably won’t happen unless they can make the stories a bit more politically correct for this age, which is a shame as those stories are great in their original form. There is a void in modern cinema where adventurers used to be. Sure, we have a new INDIANA JONES movie coming out this summer, but what then? We geeks need our fix of dashing heroes doing daring things! Anyway, one way or another, Solomon kane is going to prove to be a very interesting movie indeed.

DOCTOR WHO WRITER PENS FANTASTIC FOUR COMICS EXTRAVAGANZA FOR MARVEL

The acclaimed novelist, comics scribe and TV writer Paul Cornell, whose writing credits include the Doctor Who episodes Fathers Day, Human Nature and The Family of Blood (not to mention creating Bernice Summerfield, one of the most compelling spin-off characters ever devised in the science fiction medium), has revealed via his personal blog that he has written a four part Fantastic Four miniseries for Marvel Comics entitled True Story.

 

While some of you might not be that familiar with Mr Cornell’s name or work, I can vouch for the level of excellence that you are to expect when his name graces the cover or titles of whatever chunk of genre goodness surfaces. Well known throughout Doctor Who fandom as a writer for the New Adventures novels, the BBC range and Big Finish, as well as the TV series itself, Paul Cornell brings a very believable edge to the characters he writes, even when they are faced with incredibly strange situations. His Bernice Summerfield novels are essential for anyone who needs an intergalactic time-travelling lady archaeologist adventurer in their life. I can assure you that this Fantastic Four miniseries is going to be something special.

 

Featuring art by Horatio Dominguez, the four issue Fantastic Four: True Story miniseries commences in July from Marvel Comics.

JUSTIN MARKS- NEW FANBOY HERO?

You, me and every other fanboy/girl/biped out there in geekland should be very jealous of Justin Marks right now. The guy is living the dream of comic/sci-fi/movie geeks the world over and is racking up property after property on his screenwriting CV. Not only has he been given the tasks of writing brand new HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, and VOLTRON live action feature films, but his script for STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN LI is currently being lensed as I type feverishly and you fill your heads.

 

Now word spills out that he has been signed up to adapt DDP’s infamous Hack/Slash comics franchise into a feature film. Now, to be honest this is the one that is getting me excited more than the others (although the thought of Smallville’s Kristen Kreuk as Chun Li is pretty cool too), as quite frankly, that property is begging to be made into a movie. The characters and interplay are superb, the action is first rate, but it is the title’s ability to poke fun at itself without becoming a pastiche that has really got me hooked as a reader.

 

So what is it that has cemented Justin Marks as Hollywood’s first port of call for the writing of genre movies? I’m outing it down to his total appreciation for these titles and their history. I love the way he is approaching the Masters of the Universe script, for example, in that he is trying very hard to create a believable universe in which swords, sorcery and science fiction meld together in a cohesive whole, in essence bringing the MOTU mythos up to date without losing its strange, idiosyncratic nature.

 

That is a quality that many of today’s current crop of blockbuster writers lack- they include the necessary elements of famous genre properties and then proceed to ignore the fact that they need to put them together in a way that makes some dramatic sense. Thus, I’m all for Justin Marks getting hold of more decent titles to adapt into feature films. More power to the guy. Lets hope he does the rest of us proud.

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES: More movies like this please!

THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, LABYRINTH, THE DARK CRYSTAL et al... Keeping dreams alive

Every once in a while you get a movie that captures not only imaginations, but the spirit of an era. A memorable example of this would be the eighties, in which LABYRINTH and THE DARK CRYSTAL came along and defined the decade's fascination with off-kilter fantasy. Now here we are, in an age of CG-saturated films that on the whole lose a good deal of thge magic they portray in their over-reliance on effects in place of a GOOD STORY. Now we have THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, which, granted, is stuffed to the rafters with CG effects, but it carries a huge whacking great story at its heart.

Based on the best-selling series of children's books by Holly Black (which were illustrated superbly by Tony DiTerlizzi), the film follows the adventures of three kids who find themselves transported to a magical world full of bizarre creatures. It may come across as hopelessly twee to the more jaded amongst us, but I think its wonderful that we are now capable of bringing such well loved series to the screen with such impressive results. Another film that will hopefully do something similar is the (sadly troubled) WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, which is shaping up to be an incredibly moving film, if the thing manages to get released.

You see, the important thing here is the sense of wonder prevalent in children that many of us lose in later life. A sense of wonder is all important. Lose that, and you lose a huge chunk of yourself. Keep hold of it, and you'll never be short of things to appreciate. The Spiderwick Chronicles would be a great way to help kids maintain that sense of wonder. While you're at it, sit them in front of Labyrinth, which holds up to this day as a great piece of fantasy entertainment. Keep them dreaming, keep them believing, and keep them transfixed on the stories that will shape them in years to come.