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Doux News: March 17, 2013


This Week: Cardinal Kyle Chandler -- Officer Karl Urban -- This Week in Moffat -- More Pilot News -- Big News in Neptune -- Nina Dobrev Beats Up Conan -- Random Recommendation -- This Week in Awesome



Cardinal Kyle Chandler

Showtime’s new drama series, The Vatican let the white smoke waft this week. In addition to casting Friday Night Lights fan-favorite Kyle Chandler as a cardinal, the Ridley Scott-penned modern-day series has cast Bruno Ganz as pontiff. No word yet on who will be playing the role of his hat.


Officer Karl Urban

Fox’s new JJ Abrams SF drama Human has some casting news as well: Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings, Star Trek) will play the human officer partnered with Michael Ealy’s crime-fighting android.

I wonder if this show will be good. On the JJ Abrams scale, with Lost as a ten and Undercovers as a one, I’m thinking this procedural/SF show will be about a 6.5—Alcatraz-level Abrams, not Person of Interest-level awesome.


This Week in Moffat

Jenna-Louise Coleman more or less confirmed that she will be in the eighth season of Doctor Who along with Matt Smith, which means she also more or less confirmed there will be an eighth season, and that it will include Matt Smith.

Benedict Cumberbatch, on the other hand, confirmed and then unconfirmed that there will be a fourth season of Sherlock, which I think means there will be a seventh season but not season 4-6, because [insert Sherlock, timey-wimey, puzzle-box, Moffat joke here].


More Pilot News

Former X-Files producer James Wong has paired with Michael Bay (?!) to create a new FBI/occult/Fringe show for A&E. The show will include mismatched partners with dark pasts; someone will struggle with an unfeeling and unsympathetic boss.


Big News in Neptune

The biggest TV news this week is also the most novel: after getting permission from the WB arm of Warner Brothers, Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas created a Kickstarter fund-raising effort to raise money for a Veronica Mars movie. And, boy, did they succeed: as of this writing, we’re past $3.5 million, way beyond the original goal of $2 million dollars within a month.

The success of the project has fueled massive speculation about what else we can Kickstart. Firefly? Chuck? My student loans? Joss Whedon chimed in to put those Firefly rumors to rest in an interview with Buzzfeed:

“I've said repeatedly that I would love to make another movie with these guys, and that remains the case. It also remains the case that I'm booked up by Marvel for the next three years, and that I haven't even been able to get Dr. Horrible 2 off the ground because of that. So I don't even entertain the notion of entertaining the notion of doing this, and won't. Couple years from now, when Nathan [Fillion]'s no longer [on] Castle and I'm no longer the Tom Hagen of the Marvel Universe and making a giant movie, we might look and see where the market is then. But right now, it's a complete non-Kickstarter for me.”


Nina Dobrev Beats Up Conan

Presented without comment:




Random Recommendation

I read Jo Walton's Among Others this week. Winner of both the Hugo and Nebula awards, Among Others is about fairies, and growing up, and Wales, and not fitting in, and--more than anything else--the power of books and talking about books. Although not much happens, it has a straightforward grace that makes it unputdownable, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who: at one point was a teenager, or is a teenager now, or likes books, or enjoys reading, or likes fairies, or is a little jealous they didn't get to grow up in Wales.


This Week In Awesome

MyStarTrekScrapbook uncovered a great bit of Spock memorabilia from the 1960s that Blastr brought to wider attention: a letter written by Leonard Nimoy (as Spock) to a young girl who felt out of place. The letter is worth reading in full, but I was particularly moved by the last few lines:

“[Spock] said to himself: ‘Not everyone will like me. But there will be those who will accept me just for what I am. I will develop myself to such a point of excellence, intelligence and brilliance that I can see through any problem and deal with any crisis. I will become such a master of my own abilities and career that there will always be a place for me. People of all races will need me and not be able to do it without me.’

“And that’s just what he did. And when I see him standing there on the bridge of the Enterprise, facing danger and life-and-death problems so cooly and with so much intelligence, I’m sure he made the right decision.”

12 comments:

  1. Josie -- I looked at Among Others a while ago. However, a lot of the reviews I read said that if I haven't read a lot of science fiction (which I haven't), this book loses a lot of its magic (pun intended). What would you say?

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  2. Not convinced about the officer : it has been done so often. But with JJ behind the wheels, anything is possible.

    Quoting you : "someone will struggle with an unfeeling and unsympathetic boss". This is the new universal reality of the 21st century.

    Nina can beat the crap out of me any day.

    Very nice response Mr Spock.

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  3. ChrisB, Walton refers to far, far more SF and fantasy than I have read (or, in some cases, heard of). But I still enjoyed it.

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  4. Leonard Nimoy is a cool guy. He's a terrific speaker (I went to see him speak at a university some years ago) and he's also a professional photographer. I know I've posted somewhere before that he gave a ton of money to the renovation of the Griffith Observatory, one of the most interesting spots in Los Angeles (and my favorite spot in Los Angeles) -- and he didn't tell them how to spend the money. Major donors aren't usually so unselfish. And he has wonderful Twitter exchanges with Zachary Quinto, who is playing Spock these days. Nimoy is what celebrities should be and rarely are. And I'll shut up now.

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  5. This has nothing to do with this week's news, but I just came across a picture of Ian Somerhalder holding Grumpy Cat on Hello Giggles - I think it needs shared :) http://hellogiggles.com/why-music-isnt-the-only-cool-thing-at-sxsw

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  6. Juliette, your hair looks awesome.

    Ian Somerhalder + cats = wonderful, all the time.

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  7. Thanks! It's grown out a bit again, but I'm gonna try to keep it around that length!

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  8. I'm growing my hair out. It's driving me crazy: just long enough to touch the back of my neck, but not long enough to go up in a real ponytail. (At home, I just create fabulous messes with bobby pins, but the result is sadly too ugly to wear in public.)

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  9. Billie,

    reading your comment made me love the man/actor even more. Wow. And even though I haven't had the chance, yet, to go to LA, the Griffith Observatory is indeed a fabulous place.

    Julitte,

    you're gorgeous !

    Josie,

    OHHHH, I'd love to see THAT !

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  10. Bizarrely, I just started reading 'Among Others' a few days ago. Glad someone is recommending it... I've had it lying around for a while.

    It better be good, Josie, or that fabulous hair of yours is going to get the ruffling of its life.

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  11. All finished, Josie, and your hair is quite safe. Excellent book. Nice recommendation -- although I think I enjoyed the scifi book discussions more than I did the story itself.

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  12. I have tears in my eyes from laughing so hard at that video, FUN!!!

    The book sounds intriguing, I'll definitely have to check it out!

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