It’s just what fans of DC Comics have been begging for. Finally, a Batman portrayal worthy of Adam West and Michael Keaton. The complete membership of the classic Justice League as fun as we all remember them from the comic books. Homages to famous artists adapted to the big screen from the best of DC Comics, like cover artist Jock, plus throwbacks to the campy series of the 1960s. And more homages to the musical scores from the best of the DC Comics cinematic adaptations of the past, including callbacks to Danny Elfman’s score to the 1989 Batman movie and John Williams’ Superman theme.
What was your favorite DC Comics adaptation before 2017? How far back do you go? Most superhero movie fans seem to agree upon the original Superman starring Christopher Reeve as the modern rebirth of the superhero film, and count Reeve among the best embodiments of a superhero on film. But after Reeve, fans begin to disagree as movies based on DC Comics are concerned, and usually turn to the CW Network television series for the next best DC iterations of comic book adaptations.
So when all of it finally comes together, it finally comes together in 2017, after the likes of misfires including Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Suicide Squad, we finally have an exciting and worthy DC Comics outing that is fun for the entire family, and best of all, it is all heart.
And as a bonus, it features villains worthy of a movie from the DCU. Sure, you might expect a pantheon of villains like The Joker, Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Egghead, Scarecrow, Bane, Clayface, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Man-Bat, Captain Boomerang, Crazy Quilt, Eraser, Polka Dot Man, Mime, Tarantula, King Tut, Orca, Dr. Phosphorus, Killer Moth, Magpie, March Hare, Frank Miller’s Mutant Leader, Dr. Hugo Strange, Zodiac Master, Gentleman Ghost, Clock King, Red Hood, The Kabuki Twins, Calendar Man, Kite Man, Catman, Calculator, Zebra-Man, and Condiment King. But all in one movie? And battling some of fiction’s other greatest supervillains, like Dracula and the other Universal Monsters, The Daleks, Lord Voldemort, Jaws, King Kong, Gremlins, velociraptors, the Wicked Witch of the West, Agent Smith from The Matrix, and Sauron? Wait–was Darth Vader tied up in some other project?
In its fourth year operating across from San Diego Comic-Con, Nerd HQ will be streaming live panels on the Web with archived panels available for viewing after the panels each day as they have done for past years. Click here to see all of last year’s panels.
Nerd HQ offers an alternative to catch a few panels away from the SDCC venue, and is ideal for those who didn’t get tickets in time for the big show but will be in town this weekend, although tickets sold out quickly for Nerd HQ this year. Seeing several Nerd HQ panels will cost you lots more than a ticket to SDCC, so the online version is the next best thing, and for those not in San Diego this weekend, an easy way to share in the vibe going on right now in Southern California.
These are full panels, held in a small venue, which will give those who have not attended a big Con an idea of what they’re missing.
Here are some of the panels held so far this week at Nerd HQ:
A Conversation with Firefly’s Adam Baldwin
A Conversation with Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Seth Green
If you didn’t get to San Diego this year for the annual pilgrimage, or you just missed out on getting tickets to Nerd HQ, then borg.com will get you caught up right now. Nerd HQ Day One, held at San Diego’s Petco Park, opposite San Diego Comic-Con International today, offered up some fun panels and we’ve included each in full below. Note that you may want to skip ahead a few minutes on each video to get to the beginning of the panel.
Enjoy!
First up, the Psych panel including series creator Steve Franks, and stars James Roday and Dulé Hill:
Now that the major networks have revealed their new TV series for the Fall line-up, what of the new series is worth adding to your must-watch list? While we’re curious about the new offerings from the cable networks, we see many reasons to at least try out the pilot for several series, based on the genre, the subject, or the inclusion of some of our favorite actors. We previewed Marvel’s Agents of Shield last week from ABC, and no other series looks to have as much appeal for genre fans as more Joss Whedon and Marvel characters. But we’ve found 15 of the two dozen new series that have some reason to take notice, many with trailers that have been released with the announcements. But be warned, despite some great actors, many of these previews look pretty bad and we’re only posting the trailers for you to judge for yourself. if you want to save time, go directly to the previews for Almost Human, The Michael J. Fox Show, Dracula, and Sleepy Hollow, which look like the best of the new series the Fall has to offer–at least from the networks.
ABC
Moving past Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the reason you might give Back in the Game a try is because of the lead, Psych’s Maggie Lawson, as well as James Caan. It looks like a comedy version of Clint Eastwood’s Trouble with the Curve. As much as we like Lawson and Caan, we’ll probably skip this one. Check it out for yourself:
[removed from YouTube by network]
ABC also has a spinoff of its Once Upon a Time series, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. We gave Once Upon a Time a try in its first season and it held our interest for several episodes because of series lead Jennifer Morrison, but an Alice in Wonderland spinoff? The trailer makes this look better than Once upon a Time and it looks like more of a sequel than a real tie-in to Once Upon a Time. And it does have John Lithgow playing the White Rabbit. Check it out:
[removed from YouTube by network]
NBC
The only reason we’ll mention Welcome to the Familyis because of lead Mary McCormack, who we loved on In Plain Sight. Other than that it looks like just another Parenthood series with an overdone culture-clash theme. Here’s the trailer:
[removed from YouTube by network]
Michael J. Fox is returning to TV with The Michael J. Fox Show. On paper the description of this show looked almost cringe-worthy: a series about a celebrity named Mike returning to TV who left to deal with his Parkinson’s. But then you watch the trailer and only Michael J. Fox could make this look hilarious. This series may be a very big win:
Zachary Levi (Chuck on the TV series Chuck) took over Jolt’n Joe’s Restaurant in San Diego’s Gaslight District and during Comic-Con weekend he sold tickets to the public to benefit Operation Smile, a charity that helps children born with cleft palates. Ultimately his “Nerd HQ,” along with selling nerd merchandising for Levi’s new enterprise, was able to collect more than $40,000 for the charity. Nice work!
Over the weekend, the small venue of about 250 seats hosted members of the casts of Chuck, Psych, and Firefly, including Dule Hill and Adam Baldwin, and chats with Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings, Lost), Scott Bakula, Zachary Quinto (Star Trek 2009, Heroes), and members of his new company, Seth Green (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Jared Padalecki (Supernatural), as well as video game companies who co-marketed the event.
We attended the conversation with Scott Bakula and with maybe half the room filled, the intimate setting allowed for a lot of interaction. Unlike a lot of other panels with celebrities, Bakula was just plain fun. You could see that Scott was an actor who doesn’t take himself too seriously, yet he is serious about his craft.
Scott discussed his first major hit, Quantum Leap, and described the changes in special effects technology in that series versus today. Back then he said he would literally have to freeze in place while his co-star Dean Stockwell would run into place–all to create the image of Stockwell’s character seeming to beam into the frame from the future. Today, Bakula said that the director would film straight through and add the effects in later. He said for fun, if you watch old Quantum Leap episodes pay attention to the extras in the background and you will notice they also jerk to a stop as part of the then “cutting edge” special effects. The greatest challenge (and joy) of the show for Scott was working with an entirely new crew each week (since only he and Stockwell had a recurring role)–including literally thousands of actors–that appeared over the course of the series.
Bakula said he was proud of Quantum Leap and is glad a new generation can watch the series through technologies like DVDs and streaming media. His favorite episode? When he just played himself, going back and forth in time, including meeting his own father.
Similarly, Bakula said he enjoyed making the Star Trek series Enterprise. He said he believed that in any other franchise five seasons would be a successful series, but for some reason in the Star Trek franchise you’re not considered a success if you don’t make it seven seasons. He said part of the reason could be attributed to the tenor of the show in light of the post-9-11 landscape. Originally sold as a light-hearted exploration show, the producers did not believe the audience at the time wanted to see escapist entertainment. Instead the series became darker with more conflict. While it worked and was more appropriate to the mood of the country, Bakula believe it led to the cancellation of the series. He said ultimately “it hurt us” in terms of the longevity of the show.
Bakula appeared earlier in the day on a panel with William Shatner and other former Star Trek captains at a Comic-Con panel about Shatner’s new documentary, where each captain is interviewed about his or her experiences. Bakula said it’s a little hard not to pick up Shatner’s unique, abrupt dialogue timing after speaking with Shatner for an hour and answered the next question in Shatnerspeak.
Both Bakula and the audience had only just received word that Scott’s current series, Men of a Certain Age (co-starring Ray Romano and Andre Braugher) was cancelled by TNT. It was clear that even this audience of genre fans followed Bakula in his new series and were disappointed in the news. Bakula briefly explained how new criteria govern whether a show stays or goes, and that the days of following just one set of Nielsen’s ratings is long past. With the advent of DVRs and similar technologies, where viewers may not watch a current program for 7 or 14 days out, the calculation of a show’s success is more difficult and arbitrary and ultimately each network has its own criteria. He said for example, had Men of a Certain Age have aired on the AMC channel, it would probably have been renewed for another season. He said Men of a Certain Age was TNT’s first in-house drama, and that may have played a factor in the show’s cancellation.
When Zack Levi introduced Bakula, he mentioned Bakula’s most recent genre role, that of his father on the TV series Chuck. Levi noted the oddity of Bakula standing in the back of the room with Levi’s real dad, Daryl. This all led later on to a duet from the stage show Godspell (which both had previously appeared in) by Bakula and Levi, both hamming it up in stage show style.
Bakula noted that his first love was the stage, and stage acting was preferable to him over TV and movie work, and his favorite work was any role where he gets to sing.
Bakula’s advice for everyone, actors or not, was far-reaching: It’s important to stay passionate in your craft, even when your TV show gets cancelled. Find what you love about acting or what you do and concentrate on that–that the only part you can control is the performance.
