Major 2012 franchise films

Sort of a follow-up to my other posts. Although 2012 is a bit of a way off, thought I’d put up an advance look at what’s coming out next year sequel-wise:

 

JANUARY:

 

Underworld IV- Apparentally the horror action franchise will return, in 3D and with Kate Beckinsdale.

FEBRUARY:

Ghost Rider II-Spirit of Vengeance-Sequel to the original Ghost Rider, with Nicholas Cage in the role.

MARCH

Clash of the Titans II-Sequel to the remake of the 1980’s movie.

MAY

The Avengers-The film the Marvel movies have been building up too, this features Captain America (Chris Evans) Thor (Chris Helmworth) The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and of course Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) with some other heroes as they band together against some unrevealed villain.

Madagascar III-Another in the CG series.

Men In Black III-Although this might be delayed. Stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones along with some newcomers. This franchise kind of fizzled with MIB II (or MIIB?) but the original film was OK so maybe this’ll make up for it.

 

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D-George Lucas releases the much-maligned Star Wars movie in 3D. Not sure how this will do, since the film will already be on blu-ray by the time (Although not in 3D). Wonder if he’ll add new FX like he’s done before.

JUNE

Prometheus. This one’s a bit confusing. Directed by Ridley Scott, it’s suppossed to sort of take place in the ALIEN/PREDATOR universe, but is not an actual Alien prequel. Weird. Charlize Theron and Michael Fassbender will star.

Star Trek II/XII-Probably won’t be numbered like that. The new adventures of Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachery Quinto) as reimagined by J. J Abrahms.

JULY

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises-Batman (Christian Bale) deals with Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) and Bane (Tom Hardy) while evading the Gotham police, led by commishiner Gordon (Gary Oldman).

The Amazing Spider-Man: Reboot to the comics franchise will feature a new Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) with Gwen Stacy (Emma stone) against supervillain the Lizard. Also will be in 3D.

Ice Age IV-Sequel to the CG series of prehistoric comedies.

AUGUST

The Bourne Legacy-Apparentally this film  won’t have the title character at all. Strange.

Total Recall-Remake of the 1990 Arnold film.
NOVEMBER

James Bond 23. Daniel Craig returns for his third outing as James Bond after a four-year hiatus due to MGM’s problems. Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes and Kevin Spacey have been approached to play the villain.

 

Twilight-Breaking Dawn II-latest adaptation of the popular book series.

DECEMBER

The Hobbit- This film, which sets up the Lord of the Rings saga, has Martin Freeman as Bilbo, the Hobbit (Played by Ian Holm in the other films). Ian Mckellan reprises his role as Gandalf, and other LOTR characters are rumored to be making cameos.

Superman-Henry Cavill plays the Man of Steel in this reboot of the series which will feature more action and adventure than the somewhat dull Superman Returns did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doctor Who an Intro part II

Travelling through time and space can be lonely, but thankfully the Doctor often has company. The show’s supporting players are the companions, and they often identify with us, the audience, in that they’re mostly normal people (Although the Doctor has travelled with aliens and robots as well). Here’s a run-through of several important companions:

Susan (Carole Ann Ford)-Susan was the Doctor’s granddaughter and presumabely left Gallifrey-the Time lord’s home planet-with him, and wound up on Earth. Susan’s odd behavior caught the attention of her high school teachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara wright, who followed her to the TARDIS (Which was-and is-stuck in the shape of a Police telephone box-forgot to put that in the last post).

Jaime (Frazier Hines) The second Doctor’s longest-running companion, Jaime was a Scottish highlander who wasn’t always the brightest guy but was a fun character who was very loyal to the Doctor. Frazier Hines also reprised the role twice, in “The Five Doctors” (Although he was an illusion in that) and “The Two Doctors”.

Brigadier Alistar Gordon Lethbridge Stuart (Nicholas Courtney) The Doctor’s main military ally, the Brigadier ran the British division of UNIT, a military organization tasked with fighting alien incursions. Unfortunately actor Nicholas Courtney, who would reprise the role of the Brigadier many times, passed away recently.

 

Jo Grant (Katy Manning) The Third Doctor’s main companion, Jo Grant was the replacement assistant to the Doctor when he was exiled to Earth by the time lords.  Jo Grant recently returned in an episode of the Sarah Jane Adventures, a Doctor who spin-off show.

Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen) A companion of both the third and fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane was probably one of the longest-running companions in the classic show. A journalist and a bit of a feminist, she recently appeared in the new series, which led to her own show-The Sarah Jane Adventures.

K-9-A robotic dog, K-9 is actually four different robot dogs who have often accompanied the Doctor and/or his companions.

 

Tegan Jovanka  (Janet Felding) Tegan was the often outspoken companion of the Fifth Doctor, an air hostess. She left the Doctor after getting tired of the frequent death she encountered in her travels.

Peri Brown (Nicola Bryant) The Doctor’s first “American” companion, actually played by British actress Nicola Bryant with a fake accent. Peri transitioned from the kind and self-sacrificing fifth Doctor to the selfish, arroagant and at times unstable Sixth.

Dorothy “Ace” Mcshane (Sophie Aldred)-A rebellious 80’s teen, Ace traveled with the Seventh Doctor for a brief time.

 

Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) The closest thing to a romantic relationship the Doctor has had, probably.  The Doctor first encountered Rose in his Ninth incarnation, after the time war. She helped him get out of his survivor’s guilt. She continued to travel with him when he regenerated, and their bond grew closer. Unfortunately Rose got trapped in another dimension, eventually. The  Doctor didn’t get over her loss completely until his recent regeneration into the Eleventh Doctor.

Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) A companion of the Ninth and Tenth Doctors, former con-man and time agent Captain Jack now leads the Torchwood organization in the spin-off series, “Torchwood”.

Amy Pond (Karen Gillian) The Doctor’s current companion, a Scottish woman whose life was affected by strange cracks in time.

 

Next up: The monsters!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doctor Who: An Intro part 1

Just thought I’d update with some info on my favorite TV show: BBC’s Doctor Who. This series has run-on and off-for nearly fifty years, with a few hiatuses (The longest being from 1989-2005, where only a TV movie was made before the series was properly brought back).

Anyway, Doctor Who’s premise is basically this: “The Doctor” (Not “Doctor Who”-the title of the series is in the form of a question and is not really the name of the character) is a humanoid alien from a race known as the Time Lords. Basically Time Lords have mastery over time and space travel but unfortunately have a mostly stagnant society, where they choose only to study and not to interfere. The Doctor grew tired of this, so he decided to steal a TARDIS (Time and Revelative Dimensions In Space-the Time Lord’s primary vehichles for time/space travel) and have adventures through all of time and space.

There have been some recent modifications to the premise since the series 2005 revival-The Doctor had recently fought in a war with the Daleks, a species of genetically modified octopus-like creatures encased in bionic battle tanks and with a hatred for all life except for themselves. The War ended with the destruction of the Doctor’s own people and the Daleks (Well, sort of). The Doctor’s survivors guilt over this “time war” is one of the major themes of the new series.

The Doctor’s character is often witty, odd and whimsical-although there are more serious elements to his character, and ocassionally we do get some glimpses into his darker side. He’s basically a travelling hero, who rights wrongs across all of time and space. The character of the Doctor is also very flexible-The Doctor has the ability to regenerate when he is mortally wounded into pretty much a new man, one that has the Doctor’s basic do-gooder/witty persona but has changed appearence and other aspects of his persona. The eleven Doctor actors are the following:

1: William Hartnell (1963-1965) The originator of the role, he basically started playing a grumpy old man but softened later on.

2. Patrick Troughton (1965-1969) A shorter, younger man with a Moe Howard esque haircut. A more comedy-oriented Doctor, sort of a ‘galactic hobo’

3-Jon Pertwee (1970-1974) Appeared as a man in his fifties/sixties. His era put more emphasis on gadgets and actions, and often is compared to the James Bond films.

4. Tom baker (1974-1981) Had the role for the longest. The most popular Doctor and still the iconic Doctor to many people. He had a wide-eyed, often goofy but also often brooding persona, curly hair, big teeth and of course, a giant scarf.

5-Peter Davison (1981-1984) A much younger incarnation, with fair, blond hair and a passion for cricket. Probably the most vulnerable of the Doctors.

6-Colin Baker (1984-1986) An attempt to return to Tom’s eccentricity and Hartnell’s mean-spiritedness but badly done, unfortunately :(. This Doctor sported an ugly, multi-colored coat and a mean streak. Colin didn’t last too long in the role.

7-Sylvestor McCoy (1989-1996) A less temperamental, shorter and older-looking incarnation than Colin, but also one with a darker side. However his era was uneven and the show was temporarily canceled.

8-Paul Mcgann (1996) Paul only played the Doctor on-screen in one TV movie, unfortunately. His Doctor had a lust for life, but unfortunately the TV movie was not enough to warrant a series.

9-Christopher Eccleston (2005) Eccleston only played the Doctor for one season, but he insured the then-revived show’s future with a strong performance as the post-Time War Doctor. His incarnation was more moody and often less eccentric than previous ones-most prominent in his choice of costume, a leather jacket and jumper.

10-David Tennant (2005-2010) The most popular so far of the modern incarnations, David’s Doctor was more fun-loving than Eccleston’s and was more open to romance than his previous incarnations. His fun-loving attitude often hid the continuing trauma of the time war and a sometimes selfish attitude.

11-Matt Smith (2010-now) The current Doctor, he is younger than pretty much all previous Doctors but is more mature in an emotional sense. He has a sort of ‘befuddled’ look and nature similar to Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow. He also has far less survivor’s guilt than his two predecessors.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Next, I’ll talk about more of the villains and the Doctor’s sidekicks/friends: companions!