Chuck vs. Downton Abbey

Throwing timeliness to the wind, I'm here to talk about the series finale of Chuck and the Season 2 finale of Downton Abbey. If you're as behind as I was and don't want to hear about them, you won't hurt my feelings by skipping this post. But if you're into it, I'd love to hear your thoughts on either or both.

Obviously, SPOILERS FOLLOW. First for Chuck, then - following the picture of Mary and Matthew - for Downton Abbey.

So, Chuck. Shame on you. Not the character. He remained affable and charming right up to the end. It's the last season of the show that was disappointing.

One of the coolest things about the series is how it took the constant threat of cancellation and turned it into a strength. Every season - heck, every half a season - the show would wrap itself up in a way that was emotionally satisfying (in case that was the last episode) while leaving just enough hook to hang another season on if it was granted. It was genius how the writers kept doing that. It kept the show constantly evolving; always changing directions and moving forward in unexpected ways.

So what went wrong in the last season when the writers knew they needed to wrap things up? Instead of building to a satisfying conclusion, they brought the show to an end about five episodes too early and then spun their wheels for the last month by dragging out the One Last Mission, culminating in an ambiguous ending that undermines the central relationship that's driven the show from the beginning.

The end doesn't destroy that relationship. There's still hope that the kiss will magically restore Sarah's memories, and even if it doesn't, it sure looks like she's open to falling in love with him all over again. But seriously? Why do I want to leave this show - that's worked so hard to get me invested in this couple - with the feeling that Chuck and Sarah have to start over? That Chuck's going to have to continue with the frustration of emotionally being five years ahead of his... What is she? Is she even really his wife anymore?

The reason ambiguous endings sometimes work is that it forces the audience to bring their own ideas to the story; to think about the story's themes and how they connect with the viewer. What kind of ideas are we supposed to bring to the Chuck finale? Am I way off base in thinking that every single Chuck fan was rooting for Chuck and Sarah to end Happily Ever After? Did anyone watch the finale and decide that the best ending is for Sarah not to regain her memory? And if not, why is that even an option? Why not just show Sarah remembering? How is it better or more thought-provoking to leave it ambiguous? Seriously, what the hell?



It's not fair to contrast the series finale of Chuck with Downton Abbey, a show that's not done yet and could conceivably - at some future point - go off the rails as much as Chuck ultimately did. It's just coincidence that I caught up with both shows around the same time and that the final scene in Downton Abbey's second season finale gave me everything that Chuck failed to.

For me, Downton Abbey begins and ends with Mary. Yes, yes, I love Bates and hate how life conspires against him and Anna. I admire the Earl and hated when he stumbled. I hiss at Thomas and am appropriately dumbfounded by O'Brien. I laugh every time Maggie Smith opens her mouth or gives a look and I'm heavily invested in Daisy's character development. But Mary has my heart completely.

Maybe it's an Oldest Child thing and I just relate to her on that level. Lord knows I began the first season thinking that she was a selfish witch, but I quickly and irrevocably got on board with wanting to see her happy. That's what the show's about for me; everything else is absolutely gorgeous and impeccably acted window-dressing. So at the last scene of the season finale, I literally, audibly cheered and tried not to cry in front of my wife. I'm not sure how successful I was at that second part.

TV News: Hawaii Five-OMG

The new Hawaii Five-O theme and trailer



I don't know whose job it was to tell me that Grace Park was also in this thing back when she was first cast, but man that person dropped the ball. This is now the best show in the history of the world. I don't like that they've shortened the theme, but that's almost made up for by using many of the same landmarks from the original theme sequence and even that same zoom-in shot of McGarrett on the balcony. And when I say "almost made up for," keep in mind that I'd be perfectly happy with the entire show being nothing but a video for an hour-long version of that theme. [Brother Cal]

Oh, and here's look at the show with quotes from some of the stars and some shots from the pilot. It does nothing to contradict my "best show in the history of the world" prediction. It'll be on Monday's at 10:00 (Eastern Time).



(Unless something's changed in Blogger's technology in the last day or so, I'm guessing that some of you can't see one or both of those videos above. Try reading the post without the page break and you should be okay.)

After the break: Katee Sackhoff, Nikita, Chuck sings, The Colorado Kid, Looney Tunes, and Keri Russell.

TV News: Islands, Spies, and Single Ladies

Hawaii Five-O Theme

For no other reason than that Cal reminded me about it, here's one of the five greatest TV show themes of all time. (For some reason, it doesn't show up on my browser when I'm looking at the blog's front page, but it does when you open the post itself. Just in case you can't see it either.)



For all its Daniel Dae Kimness, if the new version doesn't have some variation of this music, it will have utterly failed.

Off the Map picked up



This was probably a no-brainer, but ABC has agreed to air Shonda Rhimes' (Grey's Anatomy) new tropical-island-doctors show Off the Map starring one of my favorite actors, Jason George (Eli Stone, Eastwick, Grey's Anatomy). [The Ausiello Files]

No Handsome Man for Terra Nova



Well, I'm sure it'll have a handsome man in it, but it won't have the Handsome Man, Kyle Chandler. He's apparently passed. [Hollywood Insider]

Chuck, Undercovers, a buttload of other new shows, and Captain Jack dances for "all the single ladies" after the break.

TV Tuesday: House, Chuck, Grey's Anatomy, and Burn Notice

If you're further behind on TV-watching than I am then a) God bless you, and b) SPOILER WARNINGS
 
House – “5 to 9”

I never doubted for a second that Cuddy would pull that off, but otherwise, a fun episode. I liked the one that focused on Wilson too, so this was a great follow-up to that.

Chuck – “Chuck vs. the Mask”

Now that I’ve seen the episode, it makes this whole brouhaha look even more ridiculous. Forgetting the fan-entitlement angle, it’s just stupid TV-watching. Do these people really think that Chuck and Sarah aren’t eventually going to end up together? That’s not the only part of the show, but it is a big part. I’m as impatient as the next person to see it happen, but geez… let the people tell their story.

And if we’ve got to see Chuck and Sarah with other people for a while, they could be with much more annoying choices than Brandon Routh and Kristen Kreuk. I’ve always been fond of Kreuk and it’s great to finally watch her without the obnoxious plot-lines Smallville kept giving her. 

Grey's Anatomy – “State of Love and Trust”

I try not to talk about Grey’s Anatomy here, but I just can’t help it sometimes. When it’s doing its thing, there’s nothing better on television.

So, at the risk of sounding like a ‘shipper, I need to talk about Lexie and Sloan for a minute. I wasn’t that invested in them, but I did like them together and it’s annoying that they’ve broken up. Especially since Sloan’s daughter shows up just long enough to drive a wedge between him and Lexie, spark a Private Practice crossover, and then disappear. In the meanwhile, Lexie and Sloan both make mistakes so that even when the daughter leaves they still can’t get back together. I don’t know where it’s headed and I tend to trust the Grey’s writers, but it’s frustrating.

I do like the hint though that Sloan’s loneliness is going to affect Callie and Arizona. First of all, that makes total sense, but more than that, I love those two – especially Arizona – so I’m all for spending more time on them.

Nice moments in this episode with Christina; especially the debrief on her relationship with Burke and how that’s affecting her current relationship with Hunt. That’s what I mean about trusting these writers. The characters may not talk about Burke much, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t make an impact on their lives or that they’re not thinking about him. He mattered. Still matters. And that’s very cool.

But the coolest thing in this episode was Jason Winston George’s showing up as an anesthesiologist. I love that dude. He was one of the best parts of both Eli Stone and Eastwick, so it’s about time he got some time on a show that’s going to be around for a while. I’m hoping they let him stay and become a possible love interest for Bailey. Not that Bailey needs a love interest, but if she’s going to get one – and if it can’t be Taye Diggs – it might as well be Jason Winston George.

Burn Notice – “Noble Causes”

I actually wasn’t looking forward to this one because the client was that annoying drug dealer from the pilot. But damn if it didn’t turn out to be really touching.

Chuck Versus Last Season's Finale

I've been trying to decide what to say about the new season of Chuck, already three episodes along in its first week. Mostly I love it. Monday night's episode was one of the best ever, due partly to its focus on Captain Awesome and how he's dealing with his knowledge about Chuck's spy career. I love the dynamic between Chuck and Awesome now.

But I had a problem with the season premiere and the ham-fisted way it undid a lot of changes made in last season's finale. I don't have strong feelings about the specific plot points (in fact, I'm glad that Morgan and Big Mike will be around more this season) and I don't know how the writers could have reversed everything that they did with more finesse; I just wish that they had.

Welcome Back, TV!

It's almost January, which means that TV is coming back after the holiday dry-spell. Here are the good shows (ie, the ones I watch) and when they're returning.

Wednesday, Jan. 6
Modern Family (ABC), 9 PM
Cougar Town* (ABC), 9:30 PM

Sunday, Jan. 10
Chuck premiere (NBC), 9 PM

Monday, Jan. 11
Chuck regular time (NBC), 8 pm
House (FOX), 8 pm
The Big Bang Theory (CBS), 9:30 PM
Castle (ABC), 10 pm

Thursday, Jan. 14
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), 9 PM
Private Practice (ABC), 10 PM
The Mentalist (CBS), 10 PM

Tuesday, Jan. 19
White Collar (USA), 10 PM

Thursday, Jan. 21
The Office (NBC), 9 PM
Burn Notice (USA), 10 PM

Wednesday, Jan. 27
Psych (USA), 10 PM

Tuesday, Feb. 2
Lost (ABC), 9 PM

Friday, Feb 5
Smallville: Absolute Justice** (CW), 8 PM

Tuesday, April 13
Glee*** (FOX), 9 PM

Thanks to the Ever-Useful Michael Ausiello for the info.

*I've gotten sucked into Cougar Town. I didn't expect to like it, but as a few of my friends told me, it's not entirely about Courtney Cox's trying to make it with guys in their 20s. In fact, it's really not about that at all. Some of that occasionally goes on, but the theme of the show is about adjusting to middle-age. There are several characters - of both genders and of various ages - that help explore that from various angles. It's quite well done and very funny in the process.

**Not a Smallville fan anymore, but the costumes for the Justice Society characters in this look fantastic and amazingly faithful to the comics versions. I'm curious to see how this works.

***I'm very on-the-fence about Glee, but haven't completely given up on it yet. The ludicrous storylines are offset by Jane Lynch and some of the other characters (Kurt, Puck, and - surprisingly - Quinn).

And Now the News: One of these things is not like the others

Chuck and Lost premieres



Chuck gets going again on January 10. The final season of Lost kicks off February 2.

Burn Notice renewed

In related news, the sun will also come up tomorrow.

Gilmore Girls movie still possible



Not likely, necessarily, but it's still on everyone's wish list, including the series' creator and stars. I know this falls far outside the field of what this blog's about, but I can't help it. I loved that show.

And Now the News: A Ship of Doom!

Tales of the Gold Monkey on DVD



Back in the '80s, shortly after Raiders of the Lost Ark became a big hit, there were lots of similarly themed movies and TV shows that tried to cash in. My recollection is that this was one of the better ones.

Guess who's going to be on Chuck?



John Doggett. That's who.

Just when I thought the show couldn't get more perfect. (Yes, I realize it's only for one episode, but let's just dream big and call that "for starters.")

Random TV News: Chuck, Cougar Town, and El Zorro

Chuck vs. NBC's Crappy Season



Chuck wins.

Michael vs. Cougar Town



Cougar Town wins. As much as I hate the title of the series, if you put Dreamy Noel from Felicity in anything, I will watch it. So, well played, Cougar Town. You have three episodes to convince me you're as good and non-pathetic as people say.

Zorro on DVD



Not too much to say about this other than: WANT!

TV Tuesday: House, Chuck, and Castle

Could be some SPOILERS BELOW if you're not caught up on your TV.

House

I just today realized why it is that I've been cold towards Thirteen. It's not because she's a rather cold character herself. It's because she's not Cameron.



Chuck



NBC's suffering is my good news. They're doing so crappy in the ratings that they may be forced not only to air this season of Chuck earlier than originally planned, but to order more episodes as well.

Castle



More good news! Castle's been picked up for the full season.

I've totally been sucked into this show. In last night's episode, when Castle was trying to decide whether to keep his current gig or run off to write James Bond novels, I was so into it that I temporarily, but completely forgot that one of those choices would end the show and so was never a real option. I was a little disappointed at the agent ex machina resolution to the dilemma, but really... whatever keeps Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic doing scenes together.

Also, have you seen Castle's Halloween costume for next week? Yet more proof that Nathan Fillion is the Most Awesome Man Alive.

As if this picture wasn't enough:

Friday Night Art Show: The Tale of A Thousand Thrills

Strategically Placed Fish



By R. Conrad.

Tiki Stitch



By Eric Tan.

Elephank



Not sure who did this one.

The "J" stands for "Jungle"



By J. Bone, but thanks to Brother Cal for finding it.

The White Goddess



By HJ Ward.

Ooze. Now with suction cups!



By RR Epperly. (Incidentally, this was the debut issue of Weird Tales.)

Chuck Season Three



No one's saying who made this (and if there's a signature, it's hiding from me), but it's debuting at San Diego Media-Con right now.

Alpha Flight



Another awesome J Bone drawing found by Cal! (Not the last J Bone Alpha Flight drawing I'll share either. I found another one myself, but that'll wait till next week.)

Jess' Mugg



StarWars.com is auctioning off some customized Mighty Muggs to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation. That's Cownt artist Jessica Hickman's Slave Leia right there in front. And here it is on display in San Diego right now.

Action Girl News: Scarlett Johansson Amazon movie, Middleman RIP?, Burn Notice novel, the insanity of ELA, and more.

Lorna the Jungle Girl vs. a giant cobra



Pappy's Golden Age Comics has the whole racist, only-slightly-less-sexist story.

Amazon

The guys who are writing the new Conan movie are also working on an action-adventure movie called Amazon that will apparently star Scarlett Johansson.

Can I just say that I'm about twelve times more excited about seeing Scarlett Johansson play an Amazon than I am to see someone besides Arnold Schwarzenegger play Conan?

Middleman RIP?

It could be too early to pronounce it dead, but I guess Middleman isn't doing very well and we should be prepared for the possibility that it won't be renewed. Which is really too bad because I started off being fond of the show and ended up falling in love with it. My fingers are crossed that - if it's not picked up again by ABC Family (which was always a weird fit anyway) - it'll find a home somewhere else with the exact same cast. Of course, I hoped that about Firefly too, but I'd rather be optimistic.

Honey West on DVD

Christopher Mills is always adding to my list of stuff to see and read. This time it's something new for the Netflix queue: a '60s private eye series about a martial arts-using action girl. Here's the show's intro:



Chuck's back



Speaking of martial arts-using action girls, Chuck should be back soon and you know what that means...



Hello, Sarah!

Burn Notice novel



Author Tod Goldberg talks about writing the first Burn Notice novel. He focuses mostly on his attitude-change towards tie-in novels in general, but he also talks about his love for the show and how writing the novel increased that.

Bookgasm reviews the book and says, "The highest praise one could give it would be to say it’d make a terrific episode. And it would. The worst thing is that’s not already an episode, but hey, it’s the next best thing."

I respectfully think Rod achieves even higher praise though when he says, "You can hear the actor (Jeffrey Donovan) speaking every word in your head, and Goldberg doesn’t miss a beat. The turns of phrase, the sarcasm, the devil-may-care attitude — he has it all nailed. Someone needs to put him on the writing staff, unless it means he wouldn’t have the time to crank out a couple more of these."

ELA

I have to end with this because I sure can't top it.

Adventureblog Theater: Hellboy

Batman vs. Hellboy



And now, a very special message...



Audition



Inside the Actors Studio







Hellboy vs. Ghost Hunters



Hellboy vs. Chuck

Awesome List: Indiana Grimm, new Flash Gordon comics, Chuck, Keira, and ever so much more

Ben Grimm loves Indiana Jones

Bully's got the story.

Siskoid's got cool stuff too

Namely: write ups on underappreciated DC characters like the Grim Ghost (who'd be much more interesting if he still called himself the Gay Ghost), G.I. Robot (it's all there in the name, pal), and the dino-kicking, poison-blooded Green Man. Gorilla Grodd's there too, making me fantasize about what a cool comic it would be to have him fight the Green Man, G.I. Robot, and the Gay Ghost.

Did Millar bait-and-switch the Wanted movie?

Trying to head off potential complaints that Wanted is no longer a superhero story like the comic it's supposedly based on, Top Cow spokesman Mel Caylo explains that the movie is actually based on Wanted's original concept; not the comic that was produced from it.

"What many people don't know is that Wanted was optioned before the series was concluded ... At that time, Mark had an idea based around a society of assassins that worked underground or behind the scenes, and that's what the producers bought. Mark then decided to go in the direction that Earth was once populated by superheroes, but they have been vanquished, ... and supervillains now run the Earth [in] five major cabals that run the whole world."

Before the series was "concluded?" It sounds to me like it was optioned before the series was started. I'm not saying that Millar was necessarily unethical because I don't know what kind of communication went on with the filmmakers as he was changing his mind. I am saying though that I'm way more excited about the movie than I am about ever reading the comic.

Billy Batson and the Legend of Shazam

Speaking of movies' being faithful to comics, Peter Segal (Get Smart) reassures fans that he's going to keep the Shazam movie as faithful to the original comics as he can.

"You have to please the original fans, but also make it survive on its own for people who might not be familiar with the series," Segal said. "So we try to do both, and that's constantly the balancing act. But I think the underlying similarity between adapting Shazam and adapting Get Smart is you have to love the source material, you have to embrace it. You can't look at it as a fixer-upper."

You know, the way DC has.

Flash Gordon comic

You know, I'm way more optimistic about this than I am about the potential for a new movie. The Sci Fi Channel series pretty much killed my desire to see Flash Gordon done in live action for a while.

Grant Gould and Jessica Hickman interview

I talk about 'em every time the word "convention" gets brought up. Now you can get to know them a bit yourself thanks to this Comics Bulletin interview.

Chuck news

Tony Hale (Buster from Arrested Development) will be joining the cast of Chuck next season as a Buy More efficiency expert. That promises some really funny moments, but in the meantime, you can catch up on Season 1 when it's released on DVD September 16.

Kiera?

The Keira Knightley 2009 Calendar is already available for pre-order. I wonder if misspelling her name will cost them any sales.

Awesome List: Spy news (and Christopher Columbus)

James Bond will return



Lots of Bond news lately.

Penguin Books has a whole site devoted to the various Bond novels they're releasing and re-releasing this year for Ian Fleming's 100th birthday.

London's Imperial War Museum is currently running an Ian Fleming exhibit.

USA Today did a feature on Quantum of Solace that I'm not going to read for fear of spoilers. There are a lot of cool pictures there though.

And there are even more cool Quantum pics at Slashfilm.

I didn't even know there'd been an alternate theme song to Never Say Never Again considered, but Christopher Mills has the link to prove it. I have to respectfully disagree with Chris though: I think I prefer the version that made it into the movie. It's definitely not one of my favorite Bond themes, but it's grown on me.

Chuck will return too



When Chuck returns in the fall, it'll be part of a three-hour genre block on Monday nights with Heroes and Medium. Not that I'll be watching Heroes or Medium.

And if you don't want to wait that long (I sure don't), there will be some short webisodes in July.

Codex 632



Bookgasm has the skinny on a novel about a history professor/cryptographer who begins to investigate a murder and ends up learning some secrets about Christopher Columbus. It sounds very Da Vinci Codey, but the Columbus angle intrigues me.

Man Hunt DVD

Fritz Lang's WWII spy movie Man Hunt is coming to DVD. Just knowing it's a WWII spy movie is enough to catch my interest, but having George Sanders in it makes it a Must See.

More Ludlum movies

Denzel Washington is all set to play the spy in the next Robert Ludlum series to hit the screen, starting with The Matarese Circle.

DC Comics in June

Here's some new stuff that looks good from DC in June.

Trinity #1



I'm not completely sold on this yet. One the one hand, I'm not a big fan of the art there and I didn't enjoy Countdown as much as I wanted to. On the other, it's effectively a new, weekly Wonder Woman series co-starring Superman and Batman and written by Kurt Busiek. Gotta at least try it out.

Birds of Prey #119



Even if it's just for one issue, Black Canary's returning to Birds of Prey makes me want to read it. And look! Manhunter!

Speaking of which...

Manhunter #31



FINALLY!

Chuck #1



Are you kidding me? The only thing that would make me more excited is a Burn Notice comic.

Awesome Stuff: Galactica cast, buy Ming's cape, new pulp scifi, new Jack Ryan movies, Steam Wars, Chuck and Lost news, Caprica, and more

Battlestar Galactica at SCI FI's upfront



Tons of pictures and a brief report of the event at the Battlestar Blog.

Huge Sci Fi live auction on the Ebay

Includes Charles Middleton's Ming cape from Flash Gordon (1936), a hydraulic velociraptor from Jurassic Park, Michael Keaton's Batman costume, an original King Kong poster, and more. SCI FI Wire has the details.

Didn't like the ending to Cloverfield?

Pick another.

Wonder Woman statue



I'm not enough of a fan to fork out 300 bucks for it, but dang that's a nice statue. Real leather and fabric on the costume and everything. Not sure what the lasso's made of, but it looks real too.

Scifi is dead; long live the Kings

One of the reasons io9 cites critics as saying why the science fiction genre is dead is that "SF is now real life." To which I say, "Fine." I've always been more interested in the fantasy elements of it anyway. Hard scifi bores the crap out of me. Hard scifi is inexcusably deficient in Wookiees, ray guns, and space princesses.

Fortunately though, not all modern scifi authors feel like they have to realistically portray or predict the science. Maybe it's not real scifi, but I'll take S.M. Stirling's version any day. He describes his novel In the Courts of the Crimson Kings this way:

"In [the book's] timeline, we discover in the course of the 20th century that Mars (and Venus) are living worlds, with strangely humanoid inhabitants--[which is] confirmed by Soviet and American space probes in the early 1960s... The Mars of Crimson Kings is a dying but still habitable world, with the wreck of an ancient civilization that once ruled the entire planet under the Tollamune dynasty, when Earthlings were still cracking flints and fighting off cave bears."

New Jack Ryan movies?

Not interested. The franchise has already been killed by the Affleck reboot. Trying to start over yet again is like making a copy of a copy, even if Sam Raimi is directing. Unless of course they get someone really cool to play Ryan, in which case I don't care what the character's name is, I'll see it because it's a spy movie with a cool actor.

But honestly, if they want to just toss a Tom Clancy name on their non-Clancy movies to increase audience recognition, they should make them Mr. Clark movies and let Ryan appear as a recurring, supporting character.

Steam Wars and Undead Backbrain



Robert Hood's Undead Backbrain blog is fricking Awesome and you should be reading it. It would save me having to link to him every single day if you did, which is what it looks like I'll be doing if his content stays as consistent as it has so far. He's the one who turned me on to Automatons and that viking vs. aliens film.

Now though, it's all about Steam Wars, a steampunk giant-monster project by the guy who did The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. Even if the film never gets made, it's worth the post just to see the concept art.

Chuck news (and a little bit of Lost)

The writers of Chuck are taking advantage of their strike hiatus to tweak the show a little. According to TV Guide's Michael Ausiello who attended the Chuck panel at Paley Fest, "'The idea is to own the fact that we've been off the air for several months, so there's a reset that's going to happen,' said (co-creator Josh) Schwartz of the second-season premiere, slated for September. 'We're going to bring in some fresh new characters, some new villains.'"

Lost producer Damon Lindelof moderated the panel and snuck in a bit of Lost news "by revealing the real reason the four-toed statue has yet to be seen again. After the monument first appeared 'we got a note back from the network that said, "This is too weird,"' he explained. 'I was like, "Do you watch the show? This is too weird?" Essentially, they said, "Could it be a six-toed statue?" I was like, "Someone explain to me why a six-toed statue is less weird than a four-toed statue?" And they're still noodling on that.'"

Caprica

I might change my mind once Battlestar comes back on and I start getting into it again, but right this second I need some convincing that the Caprica prequel series is going to be worth watching. It sort of sounds like Dynasty in space.

The Awesome List: Burn Notice DVD, cute Indiana Jones, Adam Baldwin in Seattle, Sinbad (the cool one), US comics scenes, and robots vs. animals

It's getting late, so I'm gonna skip the Day Watch review until tomorrow. Here's your Awesome List.

It's true!



As if there was any doubt. June 17. Write it down.

Cute Indy

This may be cuter than I want Indiana Jones to be. Except for that Marion with the monkey. That I want. (Via.)

The hero of Seattle, the man they call Jayne

Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Chuck) will be at Emerald City Comicon. I've never wanted to go to Seattle as badly as I do right now. (Via.)

Dan Wickline's Sinbad



Dan's a pal of mine and Sinbad's a hero I have a lot of affection for, so this is an easy sell. Especially when Dan describes his series this way:

"Sinbad was by far, the world’s worst sailor. He went on seven voyages and never once came home on the same ship ... To me, I don’t think he was Sinbad the Sailor until after the voyages. He learned who he was and what he can do through those journeys. The Sinbad we have here is at his confident, charismatic and creative peak. Why just save the girl when you can do it with style? Why retreat when you can charge? And he will always have a plan, even if it’s made up as he goes along."

Comics scenes

Tom Spurgeon is collating a list of US cities and their comics scenes. "Kind of a first stop on who to contact if you were planning to relocate," Tom says, "or where to go if you were planning a visit, or who to invite if you were having a show, or who you might profile if you were writing a feature article." I've always known the Twin Cities has a great comics scene and now it's documented.

He's also soliciting updates to the list.

Robots vs. crocodiles and gorillas

Lady, That's My Skull has scans from "My Brother Was a Robot," a story in My Greatest Adventure #42. As Sleestak says, "I'm presenting 'My Brother Was A Robot' here not because it is particularly good, the plot is pretty dull actually and is an otherwise forgettable entry into the annals of comic history. What makes this story worth noting at all is that it features a robot beating the crap out of some crocodiles and a gorilla. Sometimes comics just don't get any better than that." Amen, my reptilian brother.

The Awesome List: Indiana Jones, Giant Monsters, Albert Einstein’s secret doomsday device, and the Return of TV

Indy's hat and jacket

IndianaJones.com has a new featurette about Indy's iconic look and trying to recreate it for the new movie.

Indy's trailer

Apparently, the teaser trailer for Indy and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be attached to The Spiderwick Chronicles when it hits theaters on Thursday. I also saw something on IndianaJones.com earlier today about the trailer's TV and 'net debuts, but I can't find it now. Either I've gone stupid (entirely possible) or the info was released prematurely or is being changed. I'll let you know which once I know.

Giant Robots are stupid.

According to TechRepublic.

Oh, wait. No, they're not.

Says Jeremiah Tolbert.

Three Days to Never

According to Bookgasm, Tim Powers' Three Days to Never contains all of my favorite things: "hidden histories ... spirits, spies, talking disembodied heads, dybbuks, time travel, Charlie Chaplin’s quest for magical power, Albert Einstein’s secret doomsday device, and about a million other awesome things." So totally sold.

Welcome back, TV.

With the WGA strike all but officially over, TV Guide has a new strike chart up predicting when we'll start seeing new episodes of our favorite shows. Here are the ones that interest me:

Battlestar Galactica: Returns April 4 with first half of 20-episode final season. Production on second half could start as early as March. Airdate for those TBD.

The Big Bang Theory: Expected to shoot 5 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May.

Burn Notice: Production on Season 2 expected to get underway in late April. New episodes could start airing as early as July.

Chuck: No new episodes until fall.

Grey's Anatomy: Expected to shoot 4 to 7 new episodes to air in April/May

House: Expected to shoot 4 to 6 new episodes to air in April/May.

Jericho: Seven episodes remain. No additional episodes expected for this season.

Lost: Six pre-strike episodes remain. Six additional episodes could air this season.

Men in Trees: Eleven pre-strike episodes remain. No additional episodes expected this season.

The Office: Expected to shoot 5 to 10 new episodes to air in April/May.

Private Practice: Slim chance it could return with 4 or 5 new episodes this season. Either way, it'll be back in the fall.

Pushing Daisies: No new episodes until fall.

Scrubs: Four pre-strike episodes remain. Four additional episodes will likely be shot; unclear whether they'll air on NBC or go straight to DVD.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Five pre-strike episodes remain. Future beyond that TBD.

The Awesome List: Bond hardcover art, Pirate's Lair, Project Pterosaur, new Chuck, and Sumuru

Bond Hardcover Covers

Remember those Bond hardcovers I mentioned earlier? The cover art for them is pretty darn sweet. I'm so getting these.

Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island

Disneyland has converted Tom Sawyer Island to a Pirate's Lair and Daddy B has the photo tour.

Project Pterosaur

Some folks do their best to make it embarassing to be a Christian. I shouldn't even link to this, but it's too much like a real life Professor Challenger not to.

"The goal of Project Pterosaur is to mount an expedition to locate and bring back to the United States living specimens of pterosaurs or their fertile eggs, which will be displayed in a Pterosaur Rookery... Furthermore, the rookery facility will establish a breeding colony of pterosaurs..."

All right, I don't care how nuts these guys are. That's just cool.

Chuck Returns... for a Bit.

NBC's announced the air dates for the last couple of episodes of Chuck this season, making me even more ticked that TV producers can't see reason and negotiate an end for the strike.

The Million Eyes of Sumuru

Lady, That's My Skull profiles Sax Rohmer's other Chinese villain, Sumuru. I can't find Million Eyes of Sumuru on DVD, but it's so going on my TiVo search. I might get the books too, but really it's Shirley Eaton as Sumuru that's driving my interest.