Last week, Doctor Who fans were buzzing with rumors that a cache of lost classic episodes had been recovered.

Many fans took the news with a huge grain of salt and it turns out it’s a good thing.

The rumor appears to be a hoax.

One of the sources cited in the rumors was former script-editor Andrew Cartmel.  When asked about the news via Twitter, Cartmel denied knowledge adding that he hoped the lost episodes would soon be found.

Allegedly there was one man in particular making all these rather bold claims regarding lost BBC episodes. For whatever reason, many higher-ups at the BBC and within the crew of Doctor Who felt this individual was on the level. This seems to be at least partly true, as former Who script consultant Ian Levine made the truth very clear on Twitter.

Levine denied that the episodes were found and it likely that the 106 missing episodes would remain that way.

We were promised lots for the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who. But half a season made last year, a one off special and the Christmas special have left some fans annoyed, disappointed and wanting more.

Well, there’s a big rumour that they are getting it.

And no, not just the Adventure In Time And Space making-of-the-first-episode drama. Nor the 50th Anniversary Convention. Nor the 50th Anniversary party hats.

At least I think there will be hats. There should be hats.

I’ve been hearing chatter about this particular rumour for some time. But it’s started to coalesce a little recently so I now feel more comfortable at least reporting on the rumour. I’m still missing anything remotely resembling proper details, such as a conformation from an official source, but still.

And the rumour is that we may be getting a whole host of Doctor Who episodes.

Not new ones, but episodes not seen anywhere since they were first broadcast.

We all know that through a series of cock ups, incompetence and lack of forethought,  swathes of episodes of Doctor Who from the sixties were wiped by the BBC. Some episodes were found again, some were sold to other countries, some kept in people’s loft space, but over a hundred episodes of the show were missing, along with episodes, entire series even, of many other BBC shows.

What I’ve been hearing, and some of it is attributed to an eccentric engineer who worked for broadcasters across Africa with a taste for science fiction and a habit of taking things for “safe keeping”, is that the BBC have secured a large number of presumed-wiped episodes of early Doctor Who.

And there are lots. Lots and lots. Completed serials that we’ve only had incomplete before, full series that nothing existed of. Not everything. But heaps and heaps. Possibly even The Full Hartnell.

And come November, or before, we’ll get to see them.

Now promises of this kind have been made many times before. Sometimes they’ve come true, sometimes they have now. But I’m told to expect, among others, a full Evil Of The Daleks from 1967. Up till now, the BBC only had the second of seven episodes, after that film was found in a car boot sale.

There’s even the rumour that the much touted DVD set Regenerations out this month, with its previewed animation clip of the regeneration between the first and second Doctors is a bluff, and they now have the full The Tenth Planet in which the Doctor regenerated for the first time which will be released in this set. But that strikes me as wish-fulfillment too far. Would be very clever though.

I’m going to cross my fingers for the next five months. You just never know.

UPDATE: Shortly after posting, I received further confirmation of the details listed above from another, better connected source. I don’t think I need to cross my fingers quite so hard any more.

(bleedingcool.com)

The later part of Marvel’s Phase Two seems to be coming together. With more than half of the slate in some state of production already (besides ‘Iron Man 3’, which is out in theaters already), we’ve finally got the spotlight on the last two films rounding out this chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been getting an idea of who will be appearing in the upcoming Marvel Phase Two film ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. Many big names like Karen Gillan, Glenn Close, and Benicio Del Toro have all become attached to James Gunn’s next film. And more recently, we’ve been hearing that a pair of classic Avengers may be joining the team in ‘The Avengers 2’ (despite also appearing in Fox’s ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’). However, the latest reports seem to indicate that Joss Whedon may not have the two films crossover in his follow up to his 2012 record-breaking blockbuster.

According to Bleeding Cool, who caught up with the filmmaker at a screening of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ in London, Whedon currently has no plans for Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, or the rest of the team to appear alongside Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor in the next adventure for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. While revealing when he and his crew would be starting up, an interesting note about the intergalactic peacekeeping team came up:

“We’re following ‘Guardians’ at Shepperton [Studios, with ‘Avengers 2’] but we won’t be swapping cast members. Every movie is its own thing and has to be. Unless I take a lot of peyote and write a very different draft… and I’m not ruling that out.”

By the sounds of that statement, it really sounds like the Guardians won’t be appearing in the next Avengers movie because they’re not in the current draft of the script. However, that could change between now and the time they start shooting. That Joss Whedon is a tricky one, after all. He probably knows what we’re all expecting and assuming about the climax of Phase Two, so he needs to do his best to appease the rabid fan base while creating something fresh, new, and original that no one sees coming.

On the flipside, does this mean that no Avengers will appear in the Guardians’ movie? There was a rumor going around that Tony Stark might venture into the depths of space to meet up with the team, similar to what’s going on in the Marvel NOW title by Brian Michael Bendis, but seeing as the post-credits scene of ‘Iron Man 3’ went in an entirely different direction, that outcome seemed unlikely. Marvel isn’t going to play things safe and it’s already been hinted that the cosmic side of things may spill into Phase Three, so Whedon and company could be saving the Avengers/Guardians combo for later on.

 

 

 

British newspapers are reporting that a replacement for the Matt Smith has already been found and his name is Rory Kinnear! “He has been offered the part and we are waiting to hear if he will accept,” states a TV insider.  “He is the perfect choice.”

Kinnear is familiar to American audiences for his role as MI6 officer Bill Tanner in the Bond films ‘Quantum of Solace’ and ‘Skyfall’ and while he has appeared in several television shows in the UK, he is still a “relative unknown” and not yet a household name – something that apparently appeals to the BBC as he isn’t yet instantly recognizable.

Another source stated:

“Playing Doctor Who is a big deal and there are some big names being talked about, but producers worry about bringing in a well-known star because viewers may struggle to see past their previous roles. Matt Smith proved that choosing a lesser-known talent can really work, and he’s been a big hit with viewers. It’s essential to get this decision right for the future of the series.”

All bets on Ladbrokes (an online betting site) have been suspended with the news of Kinnear being offered the role. The actor has been an odds on favorite being in third since Smith’s departure announcement , garnering a 5/1 odds which then backed into 2/1 after the announcement of his offer. He was behind Ben Daniels (‘Jack the Giant Slayer’, ‘Merlin’) who at the time was 2/1. Some of the long shots for the role included Miranda Hart, Hugh Laurie (‘House’), Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey and James Corden.

While no official word has been given by the BBC who, by the way is still insisting that no actor has been found, it is now a waiting game to see if Kinnear will take the alleged offer and will indeed be the next Doctor. What we do know for certain is that the Christmas episode is slated to begin filming near the end of the month and an announcement will definitely be made by then.

(sciencefiction.com)

Han Solo paints a happy little Millennium Falcon

Once again, I've taken a novella which was just collecting dust on my hard drive and self published it via Kindle. This one is called Voyage of The Mule, a science fiction story of the near future, where science and technology have been repressed by a tyrannical world government. Opposing them is a small group of freedom fighters, operating from the world's only remaining space station. This is a story that is all too possible, unfortunately. Anyway, here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/Voyage-of-The-Mule-ebook/dp/B00D7OSYM2/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_2_HMNN

I hope you buy it, read it, enjoy it, and make me rich, LOL!

Melinda May is introduced to us in the Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. when a hardened, cynical Agent Ward says “Is that who I think it is?” and refuses to believe that she’s “just the pilot.” But while her reputation precedes her on the show, actress Ming Na Wen explains that the viewers might have to wait a little longer to hear her whole story.

 

From IGN:

What can I say? I think what’s going to be interesting with her character is you discover her slowly. She’s a bit of a mystery, she’s a bit damaged, she doesn’t say very much. She’s slowly revealed — which means I don’t know who she is yet!

This last seems like the actress was simply being circumspect in what she’d tell IGN: she says she couldn’t even elaborate on how her character gets along with her superior, Agent Coulson, or whether they knew each other better than any other two folks who shared a break room while “cleaning their weapons.” But she could be upfront about being a geek girl who got to work with Joss Whedon:

I have pure adulation for him. When you go from being a geek girl, loving someone’s work, and then you actually get a chance to work with that person and to find out that he is beyond all your expectations… He’s truly not just the most genuine, grounded human being, but he really cares, and he’s so passionate and gifted about all the stuff that he does. So to work with him is just a dream.

It’s a long wait until September, when we’ll finally get to see the whole show and maybe get a little more information on the mysterious soldier Melinda May.

(themarysue.com)

31 years ago today, William Shatner yelled "Khaaaannnn!" for the first time in theaters. Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan was so popular it had the biggest weekend opening in movie history!

It’s only been three days since the BBC confirmed that actor Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who at year’s end.

But it only took three seconds after the news broke for the rumor mill to begin churning out potential replacements for Smith in the iconic role.

In the press release, producer Steven Moffat said that the search has begun for the new Doctor.  But is it already over?

Bleeding Cool and several other on-line sources speculate that the role has already been cast and that it’s been cast since January.

No word yet on who will take over the mantle of the Doctor, but we’ve heard some interesting rumors.   Those include the one that springs up every time the role is open that the Doctor could be female for the upcoming regeneration.

Among the more absurd rumors we’ve heard is that Billie Piper could take over as the Doctor. (We’re hoping it doesn’t happen!)

There are odds on who the next Doctor could be but nothing is confirmed yet.

(sliceofscifi.com)

Browncoats have continually held out hope they would get more of their beloved Firefly. Is it time to let go? See what Joss Whedon and Nathan Fillion recently had to say on the subject and decide for yourself.

As much as I love Firefly, I never actually believed we’d see more of it after Serenity hit theaters but some fans are relentless. Even though many of the actors have moved onto other, steady gigs, they think getting the band back together is not just feasible, but a great idea.

Whedon did an interview with Coming Soon, recently in which he discussed the reality of it all from his perspective:

Right now I’m happy to say everybody is working doing good jobs. There’s a real fear of ‘The Monkey’s Paw,’ you know? You bring it back to life and it isn’t the same. Even if it’s GREAT and it isn’t the same. I’m dying to get on a ship with those guys again, but I’m also doing yet another goddamn huge ensemble movie ['The Avengers 2']. Why can’t I do a movie about just one guy? So right now I can’t even access that part of my brain. If all the planets align that would be great, but I’m not going to do what I did the first time and move heaven and earth to make it happen.

And then Fillion spoke to HitFix about it during press for Monsters University. “You know, that was a project that…it lived for so short a time and such a long time ago, I would look at that as an impossibility,” he said. “Joss Whedon made a movie of it, something I also considered an impossibility, so I look at that and say, ‘Where is the hope?’ But knowing Joss Whedon…I try not to underestimate that man.”

If you watch the video of that interview, you can tell Fillion is trying to leave it open for fans to hope but doesn’t really have any himself. We’ve seen the fans’ passion over and over, but passion only goes so far when it comes to actors’ and creators’ lives.

When a Kickstarter notion came up a while back, Whedon said, “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.”

I know a lot of you will never, ever give up hope. But don’t forget, if you need a Firefly fix, Dark Horse Comics puts out some really great Serenity titles.

(themarysue.com)

Nothing goes better with pizza, steak or gagh than a good bottle of red wine. And soon, thanks Votto Vines, Star Trek fans will be able to pair their meals with Star Trek, the wine, available exclusively through www.vinport.com. Star Trek, the wine, is a medium-bodied blend of Merlot, Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, Dolcetto, Tinta Cao and Tempranillo that’s sourced from Viansa Winery in Sonoma, California.

Star Trek, the wine, has been produced in a limited production of 1701 cases and the bottles feature one of three labels, each displaying the handiwork of Juan Ortiz, the man responsible for the monthly quartet of Star Trek: The Original Series Art Prints. The three labels on Star Trek, the wine, are “The City on the Edge of Forever,” “The Trouble with Tribbles” and “Mirror, Mirror.” 

Each bottle of Star Trek, the wine, costs $24.99. Click HERE for additional details and to pre-order the wines, which will ship in approximately eight weeks.

 

Just want to let you all know that Spruz has been 'updating' things again (argh) so that has resulted in a number of glitches around our clubhouse.  Especially in the new text boxes.  Please report problems as you find them and I'll do my best to get it all worked out.

Should be all back to normal soon....I hope. 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2334427/My-time-Dr-Who-Matt-Smith-quits-hit-new-film--So-Time-Lord.html

Since Phase Two started earlier this month with the release of ‘Iron Man 3’, news about the rest of Marvel’s next step for their cinematic universe has been pouring out. But recently, it seems like things are moving right on past ‘Thor: The Dark World’, ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ and immediately to the next crown jewel of the franchise, ‘The Avengers 2’. All over the press, director Joss Whedon has been briefly speaking about what fans can expect in the follow-up to his massive 2012 hit that brought all of Marvel Studios’ heroes together in one live-action film for the first time ever.

Months after the first draft of the film was submitted, information began to be revealed about the sequel, including the addition of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch to the cast. However, a few weeks after that announcement was made, ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ director Bryan Singer revealed that the silver-haired speedster would be in his movie as well, which is something that he can do legally albiet the shadiness of the timing of his announcement. Despite the somewhat-kick in the face, the ever-gracious Whedon appeared on ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’ to talk about why he included the siblings in the first place.

http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/joss-whedon-on-the-avengers-and-much-ado-about-nothing/n37370

Then, in a recent interview with Empire Magazine (courtesy of Screenrant), the ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ executive producer shared that he’s not going to do what many filmmakers do in sequels where they focus on the new villain as opposed to the core cast of characters:

“Yes, that always makes me cranky. I’m very excited about the villain, and have a lot to say about him. But if you watch my shows, the one thing I’ve never been very good at is guest stars, because I’ve always been so interested in the ensemble. With the Avengers, I’m still most fascinated by them. How do these guys feel, and what’s the way they conflict, and what’s the unexpected way they connect? Forming a team is one story; being a team is a very different story. The other thing is, you don’t try to top it. I know I will never make as pleasing a moment in a film as Hulk and Loki. You can’t chase that dragon. If you try to do exactly the same thing, the chances you’re going to do it better are very slim, and the only reason for me to devote three years to making another Avengers movie is the hope of making a better one.”

Whedon certainly has some big plans that he hopes to set in motion with ‘The Avengers 2’ and seems to be incredibly enthused about the new threat his team must face. Sure, there’s still all the talk about Thanos and his role in all of this, but everyone appears to be more curious to know how he’ll address the Maximoffs in his film without making reference to their mutant abilities or their lineage these days. (Or maybe the curiosity level is about the same depending on who you ask.) Regardless, as he continues to talk about what’s in store for the 2015 film, one can’t help but get excited for what’s in the future of Marvel Studios.

(Ben Silverio themarysue.com)

Of all things to find at the bottom of a pond, a Doctor Who Dalek probably is the last thing one would expect.

While volunteers were cleaning up a pond in England, 42-year-old Marc Oakland made a most unusual find when he fished out one of those beloved space pepperpots as he was poking around the bottom of the shallow pond with a rake.

“I’d just shifted a tree branch with my foot when I noticed something dark and round slowly coming up to the surface. I got the shock of my life when a Dalek head bobbed up right in front of me.”

Oakland then proceeded to examine the surprising and potentially alarming find, because, you know, there's that whole chilling “exterminate” thing.

“One of the dome lights was smashed. But the eye-stalk was intact and the head and neck stayed in one piece as I carefully lifted it out.”

Under the supervision of “pond warden” Tony Brown, the volunteers explored the rest of the pond just in case more alien threats could be looming, but, alas, nothing more alarming was to be found. “There were definitely no alien remnants lurking,” Brown told The Telegraph.

Still, Brown said he wanted to keep the location of that pond secret to prevent UNIT, Torchwood, a Time Lord or regular people descending on the town in order to try and scavenge more Daleks from that pond.

So why was the Dalek left behind there? Brown recalled that Doctor Who had once filmed in the area way back when in the 1980s while Colin Baker played the Sixth Doctor, but has no frakking clue in the Time Vortex as to WHY exactly that Dalek ended up in the pond in the first place. That's a mystery the Doctor himself would sure love to investigate.

Now you can finally get drunk like a true Trekkie.

Star Trek merchandising is a massive field of products ranging from action figures to bathrobes to pizza cutters, but until now the (mostly) family-friendly franchise had steered away from adult beverages. Not anymore. Courtesy of Canadian beer importer Delancey Direct and the Harvest Moon Brewing Company, we've now got Vulcan Ale. 

Originally conceived to celebrate the centennial of Canadian town (and Trekkie pilgrimage site) Vulcan, Alberta, the 5.4 ABV Irish Red Ale is now the first in a planned series of Trek-themed beers Delancey is planning in partnership with CBS Studios.

“In Star Trek mythology, the planet Vulcan is a red planet,” Delancey project manager Richard Weger said. “Thus, an Irish Red would be the logical choice.”

According to Weger, the company is planning various "seasons" of Star Trek beer releases, with each production year representing a "season" and every beer produced in that season representing an "episode," with three to five episodes planned for each season.

“Vulcan Ale is Episode One, a Klingon beer will be Episode Two, and a third beer yet to be announced will be Episode Three," Weger said about the first season of beers. 

“We also hope to release a series of limited beers throughout the seasons as well. It will all fall under the ‘Federation of Beers’ banner. Romulan Ale, for example, will likely be released next year as part of the ‘Season Two’ production,”

Unfortunately, Vulcan Ale and the other forthcoming Federation of Beers brews are only available in Canada at the moment. But if you're an American Trekkie, just be patient. Weger said Vulcan Ale and the other Trek beers should be in the States by next year, "if the stars align."