It’s been denied by everyone. It’s been speculated about and rumored. Oncers have been yanked around for months but finally there’s an answer. The Once Upon a Time Alice in Wonderland spinoff is real and we’ve got the trailer and pictures to prove it.
Written by Once creator Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland begins with Alice (Sophie Lowe) recounting her adventure in the strange new land she discovered through the rabbit hole and with the mysterious genie, Cyrus (Peter Gadiot) with whom she in love.
Alice’s doctors and her father think she’s gone insane but before they can give her a treatment to take away all of her memories she’s saved by the Knave of Hearts (Michael Socha) and the White Rabbit (John Lithgow). They tell her Cyrus, who she thought to be dead, is alive. Together they return to the incredible and impossible Wonderland to seek him and new adventures.
Wonderland also stars Emma Rigby as the Queen of Hearts. Fans of Once will know that Regina’s mother Cora was the Queen of Hearts in that show’s brief visits to Wonderland. How then will Riby’s Queen factor in? Is this a sign that Wonderland and Once won’t necessarily have the same mythology?
It’s the second season home stretch Oncers! Let’s dive in. We begin with our dear Captain Hook asking about the boy they fished out of the water. Smee says he’s fine and also smartly surmises that he was probably dropped by the Shadow. Smee recommends tossing the boy back ASAP. Below decks Hook and Bae have a heart to heart where within a minute the boy has told the Captain that his mother was killed by a pirate and his father abandoned him. Also, he hates magic.
Hook, proving to be more than a pretty face, puts two and two together and asks the boy his name. To my eternal disappointment he truthfully answers “Baelfire” instead of lying by saying “Peter Pan.” Hook is surprised by his good fortune and more than a bit pleased. He even hides the son of his dead lover from the creepy bounty hunters known as the Lost Ones (but really the Lost Boys) who come looking for him, presumably at the Shadow’s bidding. Hook hardly bats an eye when Head Lost Boy tells him the punishment for lying/disobedience is having your shadow riiiiiiipppped from your body. The band of not-so-merry ones departs and Hook’s impressed with Bae’s ability to stay hidden.
So if there was ever a reason to watch Once Upon a Time last night, we found it with the premiere trailer for the coming series, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. And look who is back… Coulson! The man who started out as an unknown supporting role and quickly drew his own cult following to the point where he became the spark that brought the Avengers together against Loki is headlining this upcoming series. While there are theories about how Coulson beat death (and sorry but this late in the game, you aren’t allowed to call spoiler on me for it), he will be heading up the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
From the look of it, this isn’t going to strictly be a super hero story as Coulson and his team aren’t powered up heroes. They are going to need to rely on their varied skill sets to take on the emerging metahuman threats in their world. From the trailer, you may spy a certain African American character with super strength (who speculation is already pointing to be the Marvel movie continuity first appearance of Luke Cage).
One great aspect to the show can be the introduction of such characters to the movie continuity without forcing too much of the film to revolve around their origin and instead focusing on the team dynamic or maybe even provide Easter eggs for characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy before their theatrical debut.
We open with young Bae going through the magic bean portal and dropping into a land without magic. He stares in wonder at old timey London. “What is this place?” he says. A whole new wooooorrrrrld! Credits.
Six months later and baby Bae is scrounging for food in the garbage. He uses an unattended ladder to sneak into a manor house through the window. Within a minute of scarfing down some tasty looking bread, he’s caught by a dog (Nana!) and a young girl. Taking in his street rat appearance and the stolen bread in his hands and pockets, she lowers her weapon (a candlestick) and offers Bae as much bread as he wants. We learn her name too: Wendy Darling.
In Storybrooke, grown up Bae awakens to find Tamara is getting ready for to workout. She’s training for a marathon (…of evil!). Neal says, “Come back to bed. I’ll give you a workout.” Ew. She declines, heads out, and meets up with Oweg in the, I’m assuming abandoned, canning factory. They’ve got Regina strapped to a table and at the moment Hook is talking with the subdued Queen. He tells her that Tamara and Oweg want him to kill Rumplestiltskin, which he’s pretty excited about it, but obviously not in any hurry to do. Regina questions why he trusts them and says he has no idea who they really are.
After weeks of focusing on the extended family of the Charmings, last week we got a great character study of Rumple/Gold. This Sunday we’re just a lucky to get a Regina centered episode.
We open with Hook tied up in the clock tower with Tamara and Owen/Greg (Oweg? Growen? Owengreg?). The charming swashbuckler is being offered a Bad Guy for Hire job. The pirate sees nothing in it for him saying smugly that he already killed Rumplestiltskin so his job’s done. Not so fast, they say. We get our one and only glimpse of the episode of Mr. Gold, looking very happy with racy Lacey on his arm.
Hook is less than pleased that his crocodile still lives and possibly that he’s now with a hot young woman who is turned on by his evilness. Oweg wants Hook to find his father, via Regina, and in return Hook will be given the duos power to defeat magical creatures. Do they mean the fancy TAZER? Whatever it is, Hook agrees.
Agree or disagree with their politics, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are just plain funny, no matter the situation. Recently, both men appeared on Jimmy Kimmel’s show, which is being taped in Brooklyn this week.
Back when the no brainer announcement of Joss Whedon signing on to direct The Avengers 2: Thanos’ Boogaloo hit the web, there was another minor news item attached that was less widely discussed. Joss Whedon would also lend his expert hand in crafting a Marvel universe live action TV series for ABC.
The cryptic announcement was met with some speculation about what exactly the new show would be about. Now Deadline has broken the news that a live action S.H.I.E.L.D. show has been officially green lit by ABC:
S.H.I.E.L.D. will be written by Whedon and frequent collaborators, his brother Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen. Joss Whedon also is set to direct the pilot, schedule permitting. Production on the pilot, which marks the first live-action Marvel TV project to get a green light, will start immediately.
The main focus of any Marvel TV series should be on expanding the total universe, and there is no better way to reach the widest corners of the Marvel cinematic universe than with a show based on S.H.I.E.L.D. So this announcement makes a ton of sense.
Take a look after the jump for the top three reasons why this is pretty stupendous news.
Yes, it may seem like a rather cumbersome title for a comic/graphic novel, but Marvel’s upcoming Castle: Richard Castle’s Storm Season still looks pretty cool.
Written by Brian Michael Bendis and Kelly Sue Deconick with art by Emanuela Lupacchino, the hardcover graphic novel is based on the best-selling novel by Richard Castle. Here’s more from Marvel:
In this “adaptation” of Derrick Storm’s second novel, the private investigator is hired to find a missing a woman—but what should have been a routine mission quickly spirals out of control when Storm overhears the woman’s terrifying scream on the wire. Plagued by the victim’s helpless cry, Storm—despite an ominous warning—investigates. Soon, he’ll discover an international conspiracy reaching further than he ever imagined—and perhaps the truth about Clara Strike, a CIA agent the world thinks is dead.
Look for Castle: Richard Castle’s Storm Season to hit comic shops, the Marvel Comics app, iBookstore, the Nook Bookstore and more on October 15th. Check out some preview pages after the break.
In the least surprising news of the day, Joss Whedon has just been confirmed as the writer and director of The Avengers 2. It was always said that Whedon had the open door to come back if he so chooses, and now we know he did indeed choose to do so.
The Avengers 2 will be the culmination of Marvel’s ‘phase 2′ which is the series of Marvel Studios films that are coming after the grand epic that was The Avengers. Each ‘phase’ sort of works like major comic book events, with lead ups in various solo titles/films and eventually one grand event book/movie.
The news of Whedon signing on to the second Avengers movie was not a shock, but today’s news isn’t entirely without a surprise. Whedon is also signed on to develop a Marvel themed TV show for ABC. That is right. a Whedon created Marvel themed TV show coming to prime-time broadcast television!
Obviously this comes with no further information as of yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do some rampant speculation. This new series is likely to exist in the Marvel cinematic universe if they are bringing in Whedon to create it, which begs the question of who the series will be about. Chances are slim the show will be about The Avengers but what about another Marvel super team that has been rumored from time to time for their own film, The Thunderbolts.
With The Dark Knight Rises heading to theaters next week the PR machine for the movie is in full swing. One big example of this is the interview Christopher Nolan did with ABC’s Nightline.
The interview will air tonight, but we’ve got a preview of it for you right now. Take a look.
It’s that time of year when thoughts turn to network schedules. This time around it’s ABC, which released its full Fall 2012 schedule this week.
The network is taking no prisoners this year and boldly launching 10 new series including 666 Park Avenue, The Family Tools, How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest Of Your Life), Last Resort, Malibu Country, Mistresses, Nashville, The Neighbors, Red Widow and Zero Hour. Five of the new series will bow in the fall, the rest in midseason.
Hey, we’re just happy Castle and Happy Endings are coming back. As for the new shows, we will have to wait and see. No point getting invested now, especially these days when networks kill shows after only a few episodes.
Full schedule followed by descriptions of the shows follows (thanks to the folks at Deadline for putting this together:
With the recent resurgence of fairy tale themed shows such as NBC’s Grimm and ABC’s own Once Upon a Time, the Disney-owned company is now prepared to launch their second fabled show in the form of a live-action retelling of the children’s classic Beauty and the Beast, originally written by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve.
The pilot will be written by Jonathan E. Steinberg (Human Target, Jericho with Steinberg acting as executive producer with Gary Fleder and Mary Beth Basile. It is also speculated that the series, if picked up, will air after the networks already highly successful Once Upon A Time. This version of the tale is intended as a period piece and will feature a hardboiled princess who develops a connection with a wild beast. No word yet on casting.
As if one Beauty and the Beast show wasn’t enough, the CW has also ordered a reboot of the CBS-produced version which ran on the network from 1987-1989. It starred Ron Pearlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy) as Vincent, a lion-faced creature who wanders the New York sewers and occasionally quotes Shakespeare.
For those who immediately tuned out the news about the 2012 Academy Awards after they heard that “retired” host Billy Crystal would be dusting off his tuxedo to get back up on stage, they had no idea what extents the Academy would go to in order to make you think that this isn’t your mom and dad’s Oscar show.
That’s why they pulled out the stops and collaborated with Funny or Die to put together this epic movie-style trailer featuring the likes of Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Josh Duhamel, Megan Fox, William Fichtner and Vinnie Jones.
That’s right. Some pretty big star power. And if that isn’t enough for you to get into the Oscar mood, the team has also put together a pretty extensive YouTube channel, with some of the best monologues, acceptance speeches, and overall best moments.
Take a look at the epic trailer after the jump and be sure to tune in to what should be an entertaining Oscars on February 26th, only on ABC.
Superheroes are huge now, incase you weren’t up to speed. With films like Dark Knight and Spider-Man making over a billion dollars in the worldwide box office, that means you’re going to see movie and TV studios make bolder decisions that lean towards comic book properties that could bring eyeballs (and dollar signs) to their company.
That’s just what Syfy is looking to do, as they have ordered a script from Greg Berlanti, who wrote Green Lantern, as well as helped shape the story of ABC’s Modern Family, which will focus on DC’s anti-hero from the future, Booster Gold. THR has the report.
The story will center on Booster Gold, a washed-up athlete from the future who travels back to the present in hopes of becoming the greatest super hero of all time. Instead of chasing criminals, however, his main priority is chasing fame and money. But Booster Gold discovers that being a hero takes more than just a megawatt smile, and that the future doesn’t happen without first protecting the present.