Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Tuesday Odds & Ends: Avatar, more zombies, Caprica, Deathly Hallows and Matt Smith

Well looky here, it's 2010! Hope your holidays were happy and full of good times and good friends. As for me, I'm just happy to have rid our space-time continuum of that ass-hatted year known as 2009. Good riddance! And now, on to the newsy bits...

+ So I hear there's some movie out called "Avatar" and it's about super-thin Smurfs or something. (Okay, I'm trying to act casual about this movie, but I really do want to see it. It's just that the husband and I made a pact that we won't see it anywhere but in 3-D IMAX and the show's sold out all the time. Sigh.) Anywho, here's a website where you can learn how to speak Na'vi, which is apparently what the wafer thin Smurfs speak.

+ Oh man, they've created a monster. There's going to be a prequel to "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" called "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls." Maybe if they beat that dead horse enough it'll come back to life.

+ Io9 has seen the first few episodes of "Caprica," which debuts on SyFy on January 22, and they've got some spoiler free observations. I really liked the pilot, so I'm looking forward to the launch of this series.

+ I know I'm getting old when I can't remember if I've seen this "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" trailer yet. Cinema Blend says its new though, so let's all just trust them, eh?

+ I really enjoyed this list of the "12 Favorite Sci-Fi and Fantasy TV Moments of the Decade." I pretty much agree with all of them. Crazy!

+ I don't even really know what to say about this: a French artist is allowing a millionaire to film his every moment until he dies...all in an effort to prove he can outlive the millionaire's prediction. Who has enough time to come up with this stuff? Rich guys and artists, apparently.

+ Have you seen the trailer for the new season of "Doctor Who?" Even though I'm still rehydrating after watching "End of Time" (review to come later today), I am looking forward to Matt Smith's tenure. Anyway, here's the trailer. Enjoy!

6 comments:

Michele said...

That new bloke might be alright after all, despite still looking 12! :D

Happy New Year!

Liz said...

Yeah, I think I like him based on his brief appearance after the regeneration and these clips. He seems goofy, which I like. I'll definitely be tuning in to watch!

Beth said...

The artist and the millionaire thing is crazy and a little creepy.

I am still not sure about the new Doctor, but when he said "Trust me, I'm the Doctor" I completely want to trust him. It just might be alright.

Anonymous said...

In the words of Rose Tyler:
"You're not fooling me. I saw the doctor explode in a bright light and then you appeared."

Anonymous said...

I am prepared to give Matt Smith the benefit of the doubt after seeing the trailer and his brief performance at the end of the last episode, but I still think he's way too young to be the Doctor.

Some cynical part of me thinks the producers are trying to cast good looking young men as The Doctor in order to attract young women to their audience because they think only geeky boys watch Dr Who. Which proves they don't know their audience!

Perhaps Matt Smith will prove me wrong.

Anonymous said...

In defense of Matt Smith:

I've seen him in four productions: The Ruby in the Smoke/ Shadow in the North (both starring Billie Piper, both available on region one DVD for Stateside folks who'd like to check them out), Moses Jones (with Shawn Parkes, who's had supporting roles opposite David Tennant in both Casanova and Doctor Who), and Party Animals.

Matt's good. He's really good. He has wonderful range and an expressive face and voice and body language. He plays one of the leads in Party Animals, easily the most sympathetic character of the bunch, and he just rocks every scene he's in. The series is only available at the moment on region two DVD, so consider this a reason to buy that hackable Phillips DVD player you've been putting off (c'mon, people--$60, what are you waiting for?) and order the DVD set from amazon.uk.

Bottom line: change is part of the DW experience. The Doctors, the companions, the production staff and crew--all change, sometimes for the worse but very often for the better. Probably the worst years of the show were in the late 1980s when the Beeb was trying everything in its power to kill the series, but now it's their golden cash cow, and you can bet your booties they're going to take care with it. I have full faith in both the Moff and Matt Smith to make season five (or whatever they're calling it) nothing less than memorable. [Yes I know I could be singing a different story next summer, but that will be AFTER I've had a chance to watch the episodes and judge them on their own merit, not on my preconceptions and a brief trailer.]

As for young Doctors, it's a young man's role. The days of elderly Doctors are over. Modern Doctors have to run and jump around and fight aliens hand-to-hand and swing from harnesses and stand for endless stretches in front of green screens. DT played the role in his mid-thirties and still messed up his back enough to require surgery.

Anyway, it's not like Matt Smith is some kind of pretty-boy. Yes, he's young, but he's hardly Abercrombie-model handsome. Give the guy a chance! He's a terrific actor, and I can't wait to see his interpretation of the Doctor.