gagglefrak - comic books, science fiction, faux profanity

There’s a great interview with Joss Whedon in the L.A. Times about his latest TV project, due out in January — Dollhouse — which he will be writing, directing, and producing, at least at first.

Dollhouse will star Eliza Dushku (Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and FOX has apparently guaranteed Whedon seven episodes. Of course, we’ve all been burnt by FOX before, many times over, so it’s probably not a good idea to hope for much. But seven hours of Whedon (4.5 after commercials) is a nice treat in and of itself, so I’ll take what I can get. Who knows, maybe we’ll get lucky this time. Continue Reading »

Here’s an early sneak peek at Caprica, the Battlestar Galactica prequel series, due to launch in December 2008. Eric Stoltz has signed on to play “Daniel Graystone, a wealthy computer engineer who, after an emotionally crippling family tragedy, uses his technological wizardry to forever change the future of Caprica.”

In other words, you’re looking at the father of the Cylons.

Hop over to Wikipedia for more detailed info about the new series.

I saw an odd parallel between the two major plot lines in this week’s episode of Battlestar Galactica. The title is “Faith,” but I almost feel like it should have been “The Crossing.” Allow me to explain …

Roslin hears a fellow cancer patient (Nana Visitor of Deep Space Nine) recount a dream about crossing “The River” into the land of the dead. It’s all very Charon & the River Styx. Anyway, this metaphorical dream seems to be the result of listening to one too many Gaius Christ sermons … and it’s apparently contagious. By the end of the episode, Roslin herself is having the same dream, and the implication is that she’s starting to buy into Baltar’s “One God” brand of spirituality. And after she talks to Adama, we get the impression he might be too. Continue Reading »

Apparently, the past isn’t all that important. It’s all about the future, baby! At least, that’s what I took away from this week’s episode of Battlestar Galactica.

For instance, Gaius Christ is helping his followers dismiss the past by convincing them that the twelve gods of the colonies that everybody’s been praying to for thousands of years never really existed. What’s more, worshiping the wrong god can lead to bad things happening — you know, like Cylons killing your entire family. (”And the correct answer was … Mooormon. Mormon. Everyone else goes to Hell. Sorry.” - South Park) But if you worship Baltar’s One True God, who as we learned last week loves you because you’re perfect, then all will be well. Be sure to grab yourself a complimentary cup of Kool-Aid on the way out, courtesy of God. Continue Reading »

In honor of the smoking hot new Iron Man movie hitting the theaters this weekend, I decided to visit YouTube and dig up 20 examples of how Hollywood has attempted to bring comic book superheroes to life over the years.

Some of these you may be familiar with already. Some may be gems from your childhood that you’ve long since forgotten. And some I’m certain will thrill you for the very first time. I’ve broken them out into four classes: The Good, The Bad, The Campy, and the Kind of Interesting.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, and most of these are TV shows — but my goal here wasn’t to find the best examples, just the most entertaining ones, either from a nostalgia or a cringe-worthy perspective. I’ve red-starred a few of my favorite clips. Please to enjoy …

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