Live-Action Star Wars TV Show Enters Pre-Production Down Under

It’s certainly been a long time coming, but George Lucas’ live-action Star Wars television series is moving forward in Australia, according to SCI FI TV. The site notes that producer Rick McCallum has approached several well-known Australian writers to work on the project, which is still reportedly slated to begin airing in 2010 (although that seems unlikely at this point). The series will also be shot in Australia.

I know that it’s gotten pretty popular to rag on all things Lucasfilm post-Return of the Jedi (and even that has its fair share of critics), but I was pleasantly surprised by The Clone Wars when it began airing on Cartoon Network last fall. The computer-animated series is a lot more fun than the prequel films, and captures that swashbuckling space opera spirit that turned many of us into Star Wars geeks in the first place. Hopefully, this new live-action series will similarly expand on the best parts of the mythology.

Zack Attack!

Whether or not you approve of Jimmy Fallon as a talk show host (I honestly think he’s pretty good), it’s hard not to love his quest to stage a Saved by the Bell cast reunion. If the prospect of bringing Bayside High alumni together on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon isn’t exciting enough for you, children of the 80s and 90s, then how would you feel about Mark-Paul Gosselaar doing an entire interview on the show as Zack Morris, complete with his characteristically gargantuan cell phone, stonewashed jeans and time-stopping powers? Would you flip out if he proceeded to perform his (imaginary) Zack Attack hit “Friends Forever” with Fallon’s house band, the Roots? As crazy as it sounds, this happened on the June 8 show.

While Gosselaar was also busy promoting his new legal drama, Raising the Bar, he committed to Fallon’s cast reunion, joining Dennis Haskins, Mario Lopez, Lark Voorhies and, as apparently revealed during an in-show “phone call” on the aforementioned giant phone, Elizabeth Berkley. Tiffani Amber Thiessen and Dustin Diamond are the two remaining cast members who have yet to sign on…unless we’re really holding out for final season Kelly/Jessie stand-in Tori Scott (played by Leanna Creel). I don’t think we are.

Watch the clip below. I promise, it’s some of the most surreal television we’ve seen in quite some time.

Leonard Nimoy: Still Trekkin’

Leonard Nimoy will be reprising his role as Mr. Spock in director J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot, and the 78-year-old actor has already told The Associated Press that he’s not averse to donning his iconic pointy ears in the film’s inevitable sequel.

“If J.J. Abrams calls me, I answer the phone,” Nimoy said. “I don't say ‘never’ anymore.”

As most fans already know, the Abrams film—the 11th in the franchise—revolves heavily around time travel, with Nimoy playing an aged Spock while Heroes’ Zachary Quinto stars as a younger version of the half-human, half-Vulcan.

“The character is much more relaxed about who he is and what his life should be about whereas [Quinto’s Spock] is just beginning to find himself,” said Nimoy. “It works extremely well. The character I portray in this film is much more like who I am today, personally. I am as close as possible to the character as I could ever be.”

Star Trek hits theaters on May 7, and if you’re not the least bit interested in checking it out after seeing the trailers, you might be out of your Vulcan mind.

McG Talks Terminator Sequels

Terminator Salvation’s May 21 release date is still weeks away, but director McG is already prepping for a follow-up if the fourth installment of the blockbuster franchise is successful.

“I would never presume there would be another picture—that is up to the audience,” he told the MTV Movies Blog. “But if the audience jumps up and likes it and wants another one, Christian [Bale] and I have been talking about it and we’ll see what happens.”

Keeping in line with just about every science fiction or fantasy property these days, McG plans on turning his Terminator revival—depicting the post-Judgment Day struggle between man and machine—into a trilogy. Anyone hoping for this film to bring any semblance of closure to the 25-year-old series will likely wind up disappointed by the time the credits roll.

“The ending is indeed elliptical,” he said. “And it challenges the audience. It’s not a happy little bow of an ending at all. The ending is tough and requires reflection, and in some degrees it bifurcates the audience. You walk back to the car and one person thinks it means this, and the other person thinks it means that.”

In related killer robot (or cybernetic organism) news, it looks like Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles may be saying “hasta la vista, baby” to its dwindling viewership. Entertainment Weekly’s Michael Ausiello writes that a source close to the show told him that it has been unofficially canned. A Fox insider added, “Consider it canceled.” However, we won’t know whether or not to expect a third season of The Sarah Connor Chronicles until Fox announces its fall schedule on May 18.

So it looks like we might be getting more Terminator movies, which is great news. However, the surprisingly good Sarah Connor Chronicles—which, against all odds, turned Brian Austin Green into a total badass—could be on the chopping block. Is it possible to be excited and disappointed at the same time? Excitappointed?

Hey, if a Hollywood director can go by the name “McG,” then I'm officially allowed to make up words.

South Park Takes on Superheroes

If you're not watching the current season of South Park, you really should be tuning in. After spoofing the Jonas Brothers in “The Ring”—which kicked off the show’s 13th season with a hilarious jab at Mickey Mouse and the Disney empire—South Park takes aim at “dark and edgy” superhero films in “The Coon.”

Taking to the streets as masked crime-fighter “The Coon,” Eric Cartman is hell-bent on making a name for himself as the “symbol” South Park needs by dressing up as a raccoon themed (and offensively named) superhero. Speaking in a guttural rasp with a penchant for disappearing in the middle of conversations (sort of), The Coon is a blatant riff on Christian Bale’s Batman in The Dark Knight with just a pinch of Watchmen’s Rorschach thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, The Coon has competition in the form of “Mysterion,” another pint-sized vigilante with a similarly raspy voice and an affinity for monologues.

South Park is always right on the money when it’s focused on Cartman, particularly when his narcissistic nature gets the best of him. The show’s even better when Cartman teams with Butters who, in this episode, takes on his “Professor Chaos” supervillain persona alongside his henchman “General Disarray.” With another hero stealing The Coon’s publicity, Cartman hatches a plan with Butters to force Mysterion to unmask himself by threatening to blow up a hospital. Again, a great nod to The Dark Knight.

There’s a lot to love about this episode, including the South Park Police Department’s apparent fear of Professor Chaos, poor attendance at Coonicon ’09 and the big “reveal” of Mysterion’s identity at its conclusion. It’s not necessarily as laugh-out-loud funny as “The Ring,” but “The Coon” has a lot of fun at the expense of the current crop of superhero films.

Head over to South Park Studios to watch the episode in its entirety.

Joss Whedon Talks Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible at NYCC

In a February 8 panel discussion at New York Comic Con, Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) unveiled never-before-seen footage from his upcoming Fox series Dollhouse and alluded to a possible sequel to his acclaimed web-exclusive musical comedy, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku, revolves around an organization that removes the memories of certain people, called Actives, and replaces them with entirely new ones for the benefit of its high-paying clients. Echo, Dushku’s character is introduced as someone who has reluctantly entered the Dollhouse program— allegedly a volunteer decision—but is then shown in the next scene as a sexy biker at her wealthy boyfriend's birthday party. She’s escorted away for “treatment,” which turns out to be a procedure that eliminates her memories entirely, reverting her to a child-like state. If she says she didn’t want to enter into this program, then why is she putting herself through this?

Whedon told the crowd at the jam-packed IGN Theater that Dushku essentially plays a different character every week, as the Dollhouse assigns her to different clients who pay top dollar for her to be whatever they want her to be.

“Every episode is a pilot ...and she's working her ass off,” said Whedon, who was joined onstage by Dushku’s co-star, Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica), whose character was not featured in the footage. “The cast is phenomenal, and we really get to put them through their paces.”

While Dollhouse has been saddled with a Friday night timeslot, long considered to be a kiss of death for any fledgling series, Whedon assured fans that his partnership with Fox has improved significantly since his experience working on Firefly, which the network notoriously aired out of order and canceled after only eleven episodes.

“The relationship with the network has been completely different,” he said. “They’ve been completely honest, they’ve been totally supportive…it’s been a real collaboration and it’s been a much better experience in that sense.”

When asked about a possible follow-up to Dr. Horrible—which stars Neil Patrick Harris as the titular lovelorn supervillain, Whedon hinted that it’s not out of the question once he has some free time.

“I very much loved working on the Internet—it’s different,” he said. “I definitely intend to pursue both the idea of creating new Internet ventures and the idea of, ‘What’s up with Dr. Horrible?’”

However, for those craving more Whedonesque musical numbers right now, Dollhouse delivers fairly early on.

“Eliza sings in the third episode,” Whedon explained. “She’s actually the backup singer of a diva pop star [and] has a beautiful voice. Somewhere out there, she’s rockin’ ‘Suddenly Seymour’ [from Little Shop of Horrors] on karaoke."

Dollhouse premieres February 13 at 9 p.m.

Celebrating 30 Years of Life Day

It may have only aired once on Friday, November 17, 1978 on CBS, but The Star Wars Holiday Special has left an indelible mark on the history of George Lucas’ media juggernaut for better or for worse. Okay, it’s mostly for worse, but true fans owe it to themselves to track down a copy of this trainwreck and watch it in its two-hour entirety at least once. It's a geek rite of passage. Only those fans can safely say at cocktail parties that, yes, they have seen Bea Arthur sing to a giant, drunken rat. “Just one more round, friend.” You can’t make this stuff up, but 30 years ago, someone did. That same someone also thought it would be a good idea for Carrie Fisher—who looks like she's under an influence of some kind during the special—to put lyrics to the Star Wars theme to close the show. I’m still shuddering.

And before any of you hop on your George Lucas hatewagons, no, he had precious little to do with this abomination. However, the show did reunite the original Star Wars cast, including Fisher, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Peter Mayhew and Anthony Daniels, all of whom look like there’s something else they’d much rather be doing. Even guest stars such as Art Carney, Harvey Korman and the aforementioned Arthur have a certain despondent look on their faces, as if to say “I don’t know what an Internet is, but I have a feeling that people will one day use it to laugh at what I’m doing here.” Well, they’re right. But, then again, there’s a certain amount of self-awareness that one encounters while watching the Star Wars gang reunite Chewbacca with his family for a Wookiee holiday called Life Day. It’s difficult to laugh too hard at those involved when one finds themselves watching a dubbed copy of a terrible, 30-year-old Christmas special at 2 a.m. in their bedroom. As Obi-Wan Kenobi says, “Who’s the more foolish—the fool or the fool who follows him?”

Okay, so there’s a short animated segment of the special that’s pretty good, and actually gave fans a glimpse at notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett a year and a half prior to his live-action debut in The Empire Strikes Back, but there’s little else to defend. That’s probably why, when confronted about the holiday special, both Lucas and the cast like to pretend it never happened. Those hoping for The Star Wars Holiday Special: Special Edition (kinda redundant, especially since it’s not all that special) probably shouldn’t hold their breath, as an official version of the show has never been made available for sale and most likely never will. It’s a shame, since I’ve always thought that Chewbacca’s father Itchy (his full name is Attichitcuk, in case you didn’t know) would benefit from a CGI makeover. I hope I didn't give someone out there an idea.

For the most comprehensive information on all things related to The Star Wars Holiday Special—including behind-the-scenes photos, exclusive interviews and details on all aspects of the show’s production—visit the show’s unofficial site at starwarsholidayspecial.com.

Until next time, happy Life Day!

Images courtesy of starwarsholidayspecial.com

Guinea Pigs and Pan Flutes

I’m normally a hardcore South Park supporter. You know the type. The people who seem personally offended when you admit to them that you missed the latest episode. “Dude, you’ve gotta watch the encore tonight, man. It works on so many levels.” Yeah, I’m that douche. But mostly I’m right. South Park is one of the best-written shows on television today and its consistent blend of topicality, irreverence and absurdity keeps it interesting after being on the air for over a decade.

However, the recent two-part “Pandemic” episode has me a bit flustered. Well, more flustered than I usually am. Why? Because I don’t think I liked it very much. I can appreciate that it managed to tie a worldwide epidemic of pan flute bands (pandemic…get it?) to a Cloverfield parody in which giant guinea pigs ravage major cities around the globe. I even liked the inclusion of the boys’ classmate Craig, through which co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone seem to be mocking how absurd the show is getting in its twelfth season. A plot to raise money by forming a pan flute band leaves Craig, Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman lost in the Andes Mountains. Craig provides a running commentary.

“Do you know why nobody else at school likes hanging out with you? Because you're always doing stuff like this,” Craig says. “You're always coming up with some stupid idea to do something, and then it backfires, and then you end up in some foreign country or in outer space or something. That's why no one likes hanging out with you guys.”

Craig is awesome. The rest of “Pandemic” and “Pandemic 2: The Startling?” Not so much. South Park works best in the realm of the bizarre, but the giant guinea pig Cloverfield spoof just wasn’t funny enough to spread over two episodes. And the plot with the boys was pretty boring, all things considered. What would have been a fine 22-minute burst of insanity became an exercise in “how far can we take this premise” and it backfired, in my opinion.

But judge for yourself. Head to SouthParkStudios.com to watch the two-parter in its entirety.

Image Courtesy of Comedy Central

Cloning Around

Okay, I admit it. As a critical, long-time Star Wars fanatic, I find myself enjoying the computer-animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series on Cartoon Network. While it may be kid-friendly—as Star Wars always has been and should be—it has a lot of that “gee whiz” Star Wars magic that was sorely missing from the prequel films, which should delight older fans of the saga.

That said, I thought the Clone Wars film released theatrically in August of this year was pretty terrible—kids’ movie or not. The plot wasn’t all that engaging (rescuing Jabba the Hutt’s son?) and a movie theater screen was not the proper place to introduce the series’ puppet-like stylized animation, which bears more aesthetic similarities to Thunderbirds than Pixar's award-winning and more realistic work.


After three weeks and four installments, The Clone Wars shows tremendous promise. The October 17 episode in particular, “Destroy Malevolence,” was pure, unadulterated old-school Star Wars fun. Topping off a three-part story arc, the episode followed Anakin Skywalker, Ob-Wan Kenobi and Padmé Amidala as they infiltrate the villainous General Grievous’ super-powered warship (the Malevolence) and, as the title suggests, destroy it. There are shades of A New Hope throughout the episode as our heroes race through corridors dodging blaster fire, and, surprisingly, there is actual chemistry between Anakin and Padmé in this series. Star Wars fans have been waiting nearly ten years to see what that actually looks like.

Star Wars die-hards—myself included—were quick to pounce on series supervising director Dave Filoni’s animated take on George Lucas’ universe early on, but it’s clearly found an audience and seems likely to sustain it. Variety reports that the one-hour series premiere on October 3 pulled in 3.96 million viewers—a record-breaking number for a Cartoon Network series. I’ll refrain from saying that the Force is strong with The Clone Wars, but it’s clearly far better than most feared, and looks to introduce an entire new audience to these characters and stories. And who can honestly argue with that?

Cartman Gets His Ass Kicked

As a rule, cancer just isn’t funny. So when I learned that this week’s new episode of South Park was titled “Breast Cancer Show Ever,” I cringed just a little bit. Thankfully, there was a lot more to this episode than some off-color cancer humor.

When Cartman crudely interrupts Wendy’s presentation on breast cancer awareness, she vows to beat the hell out of him. Naturally, this gets all of their classmates amped to see the two face off after school while Cartman tries everything in his power to get out of fighting her, including intentionally getting detention by taking a crap on Mr. Garrison’s desk.

This episode was reminiscent of what South Park was in its early days. You won’t find much in the way of profound hidden meaning or layered political messaging in this fairly straightforward episode, but you will see Wendy beat the snot out of Cartman at its finale, something that he’s really had coming for the past few years. This wasn’t a great episode—the plot wore a bit thin halfway through—but there were plenty of great Cartman moments throughout, and it was nice to see Wendy featured so prominently. However, even an average episode of South Park is better than most comedies on television.

Head over to SouthParkStudios.com to watch this episode in its entirety.

Of Bloodlust, Bender and Shameless Self Promotion

It’s been one of those weeks for sure. With stress coming at me from all angles, I’ve been in need of some DVD therapy. Sure, unwinding with some good ol’ fashioned Grand Theft Auto usually does the trick, but when you’re coming home from work after 9 p.m., I dare you to have the energy to enter the weapons cheat and commit copious amounts of digital crime before passing out controller-in-hand. No, I needed some scripted, passive mayhem. I needed Rambo.

I don’t know if any of you have seen the awkwardly titled Rambo (it’s actually the fourth in the series following Rambo III, so mull over that for a while) but it’s 91 minutes of pure HGH-infused gore-porn awesomeness. Sly kicks a whole lot of ass, straight and simple.

So yeah, I got it into my shiny noggin that Rambo would do me good this week. I ventured into Best Buy and was surprised to learn that, earlier this week, the latest Futurama straight-to-DVD feature, The Beast with a Billion Backs had hit shelves. Funny, I thought, I really enjoy Futurama when I catch it on Comedy Central (and formerly on Cartoon Network), but I’d never purchased any of the boxed sets. But there they were at the reasonable price of $20 a pop. Naturally, I put my vicarious bloodlust on hold in favor of marathon sessions of Fry, Leela, Bender and the gang. It was the best $80 (plus tax) I’ve spent in a long while. Laughter trumps violence. Who knew?

Like Arrested Development, I’ve always thought of Futurama as one of those really intelligent shows that Fox saw fit to can after just a few seasons for no good reason. Perhaps they’re allergic to brilliance, or perhaps they thought we’d be more into dog shit like So You Think You Can Dance? in lieu of good writing.

Speaking of good writing (shameless plug) be sure to check out my Broken Frontier preview of the upcoming Warner Bros. straight-to-DVD feature Batman: Gotham Knight, which hits shelves and On Demand digital cable on July 8.

Catch Tonight's All-New South Park!

If you've been paying attention, South Park has been on a roll these past few weeks, and tonight's episode should be no different. Entitled "Super Fun Time," the episode takes the boys on a field trip to a pioneer village, replicating 1800s Colorado. Expect some jabs at the ongoing Texas polygamy saga that's been front-page news for the past few weeks.

Also in the episode, Cartman convinces Butters to abandon the field trip for an amusement center next door. Butters and Cartman? Comedy gold.

This is the last new episode of South Park until the fall, so be sure to check it out on Comedy Central at 10 p.m. For more info, visit SouthParkStudios.com.

South Park is Out of Internet!

Bravo to the South Park crew for yet another brilliant Season 12 episode. While the series has become known for taking timely stabs at pop culture and current events, this week's episode takes on a more evergreen topic: our over-reliance on technology.

Entitled "Over Logging," the episode poses the question—what would we all do without Internet access? In a fairly clever parody of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Stan and his family head out west to Silicon Valley so they can log on, uniting Shelley with her iChat boyfriend and Randy with his precious Internet porn.

Favorite moments? Randy's visit to an Internet porn simulator, his encounter with a "ghost" which leaves him covered in "ectoplasm" and...aw heck, just about every scene that Randy is in is gold. Is there any wonder why he's slowly becoming a fan favorite? He's responsible for some of the series' best moments throughout the last few seasons.

But in all honesty, the thought of losing Internet access is a scary one for a lot of us, and this episode truly highlighted how helpless we all would be if we couldn't log on to the Web.

To watch "Over Logging" and other episodes in their entirety, visit South Park Studios.

The End of an Unheroic Season

Season Two of Heroes may have been, without a doubt, some of the most disappointing television in recent years. After a stellar first season, Tim Kring and crew have succeeded in removing everything that actually worked last year and replaced it with characters and storylines that serve only to fill up space. And, due to the writer's strike, a shortened season means a lot of buildup and absolutely no payoff.

But does the blame fall squarely on the strike? Hardly. We accepted the slow build in Season One. It brought the characters together, explained their powers, developed relationhips and gave us everything we'd expect from an origin story. If Kring had read a comic book (he says he doesn't, and most fans now believe him), he'd realize that once you get past the origins, a superhero story generally moves forward. Not at all the case here. Instead, this season negated just about everything that was accomplished in Season One. Sylar is still alive, the characters are still angsty, Peter doesn't know who he is (can we please ditch amnesia storylines?), and Hiro is wandering around feudal Japan which in NO WAY looks like northern California. And it all comes smashing together like some sort of glorious superpowered trainwreck in the final episode of the season, which aired tonight. Yep, two heroes are killed off (you won't miss them), Sylar escapes (again), and everyone is still angsty. I kind of wish Spider-Man 2 didn't make superheroes so damned sensitive.

I will say, however, that Kristen Bell is a great addition to the show. Not only is she gorgeous (see right), but she's obviously having fun in the role of Elle, a repressed, electricity-charged, sexy sociopath. What a combo. I hope to see more of her in Season Three. Assuming there is one after the inevitable fan backlash of tonight's finale.