COMMUNITY's DOCTOR WHO Parody INSPECTOR SPACETIME Returns

The question isn't how old we are, but when old we are!

On last night's episode, "Advanced Gay," the NBC sitcom Community brought back their Doctor Who parody Inspector Spacetime that debuted on the show back in September.  The good Inspector and his companion Constable Reginald Wigglesworth, this time played by Community stars Danny Pudi and Donald Glover, once again faced their arch-enemies the Blogons in another short adventure that aired during the show's closing credits.

"I thought those Blogons had us dead to rights," begins the Inspector as he exits his British red telephone box onto another alien landscape.

Following close behind, Constable Reggie asks, "What on Beta-Earth do they want from us, Inspector?"

"The question isn't what they want from us, Constable...but when?"

"Inspector, look out!  Blogons!"

Once again, the Inspector and Constable Reggie fall under laser assault from the Blogons chanting "Eradicate!  Eradicate!," but this time they return fire with laser weapons of their own.  Not sure the Doctor would approve of that...

Earlier in the episode, the characters Abed Nadir and Troy Barnes refer to another Inspector Spacetime villain called the Anti-Inspector, who was apparently created when the Inspector's positrons were negatized.  According to Troy, the Anti-Inspector "had a funny moustache and was kinda rapey."

If you're interested in checking out the footage from last night's episode, you can view it below thanks to the kindness of YouTube user Raxacoricoo...

DAMN Good Comics -- FEAR ITSELF #7.1

With Marvel's 2011 Big Event series Fear Itself ending last month as little more than preview advertisements for upcoming spinoff and non-spinoff titles, it falls upon three one-shot epilogues to provide some semblance of closure for readers.  The Marvel marketing gurus decided to tack them onto the main Fear Itself mini-series, hoping that no one would mind that their 7-issue investment was now 10 issues and cost them another 12 bucks.

The first of these epilogues, spotlighting the characters found in Captain America, actually turns out to be a prologue for another upcoming series, but one Cap fans like myself are definitely going to want.  Ed Brubaker, longtime Captain America writer and writer of the upcoming series, reveals what happened after James Buchanan Barnes, a.k.a. Bucky, a.k.a. The Winter Soldier, a.k.a. Captain America, was apparently killed by the Red Skull's daughter Sin during the events of Fear Itself.

Without going into too spoilery specifics here, Brubaker shows the emotional toll Bucky's death has on his lover Black Widow, and stages a long-overdue brawl between Steve Rogers and Nick Fury.  Ultimately, a new secret pact emerges, one that sets up the upcoming ongoing series and also the potential for confrontations with Steve's fellow Avengers at some point down the road.  If Fear Itself #7.1 is essentially the comic book equivalent of a TV pilot episode, at least Brubaker makes it a pilot worth watching...errrrr, reading.

Working with Brubaker is artist Butch Guice, who not-so-coincidentally is also the artist on the upcoming ongoing series.  Guice typically has that typical Brubaker-era style similar to Steve Epting and Mike Perkins, but here he uses a variety of styles, most notably nods to former Captain America and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. artist Jack Kirby.  You would think the effect might be jarring to look at, but it feels more like Guice was trying to capture certain moods for certain scenes and for the most part, it works.

Bottom line, if you enjoy Brubaker and Guice's work on Captain America, you definitely want to pick this one up.  It feels like this story should've been released as the first issue of the upcoming ongoing series instead of just teasing it, but by releasing it as Fear Itself #7.1, it actually provides more of an ending than #7 gave us.  Here's hoping #7.2 and #7.3 do the same.

James Bond Will Officially Return in SKYFALL

At last, the 23rd James Bond film has been officially announced and yes, it will indeed be called Skyfall.  Daniel Craig returns for his third film as OO7 and Dame Judi Dench returns for her seventh (and possibly last?) film as Bond's MI-6 superior, M.  As rumored, Skyfall will be directed by Sam Mendes with a screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan.

The film's basic plot provided in the press release states that Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her.  As MI-6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

The rest of the principal cast includes Javier Bardem, already confirmed as the film's villain, Naomie Harris as a field agent called Eve, Albert Finney, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, and Bérénice Marlohe.

Skyfall is scheduled to begin production this Monday, November 7th, and will arrive in theaters in the U.K. and Ireland on October 26, 2012, then in North America on November 9, 2012.

Is TERRA NOVA Fun to Watch Because It's Terrible?

There's a new episode of FOX's incredibly-disappointing dinosaur sci-fi drama Terra Nova tonight and I couldn't be more pleased.  Oh, the show makes you want to reach for the remote control at times and find something more intellectually stimulating like The Jersey Shore or perhaps Ghost Hunters Academy, but maybe -- just maybe -- that's a good thing.

As many of you already know, this is a great time for fans of science-fiction, horror and fantasy TV shows.  Doctor Who, Fringe, the U.K. Being Human, Futurama, True Blood, American Horror Story, Game of Thrones and others give us quality entertainment on a regular basis, so with Terra Nova having such a huge production budget, it's not too much to ask for something along these lines, right?

Terra Nova works with the premise that sometime in the 22nd century, when the Earth is polluted beyond repair by us environmentally-uncaring humans, a time tunnel is discovered into the distant past.  Specifically, 85 million years ago, the peak of the time of the dinosaurs, but the tunnel is a one-way passage -- once you go back in time, there’s no coming back.  Human society decides to “start over” by sending groups of colonists selected as the best, brightest and presumably most useful, to create a brand-new society in this prehistoric age.

Now, that's not a bad premise, unless you start thinking about things like why these brilliant 22nd century scientists can invent a way to move large groups of people, machines and supplies across 85 million years but can't invent ways to clean up the pollluted atmosphere in their own time.  Or why having more than two kids is still considered a crime in the overpopulated 2149 when groups of humans are bailing on 2149 for the distant past.  Okay, okay, maybe things like this don't matter, especially considering this is supposed to be a show about humans interacting with dinosaurs.

Except they don't, not often anyway.  Most of the time, the focus is on members of the Shannon family and the most recently-aired episode, "The Runaway," didn't feature dinosaurs in the story until forty-five minutes into the hour.  Mostly, the episode was attempting to slowly build up tension between the Terra Nova camp and the Sixers, the mysterious group of humans living on their own that in no way whatsoever resemble The Others from Lost.  When lead character Jim Shannon, played by Jason O'Mara, is taken captive by Sixer leader Mira, she informs him that Terra Nova has an oh-so-secret purpose beyond what he's been told by Terra Nova leader Commander Nathaniel Taylor.  When Jim asks Mira what that purpose is, she merely replies "You'll see" in a smirky way that makes you think showrunner Brannon Braga hasn't actually thought up the real purpose yet or has watched too many episodes of Lost and the recent Battlestar Galactica and now expects you to watch Terra Nova for a few more seasons before getting any real answers.

If it sounds like the writing on this series is forced and by the numbers, that's because it is.  There's little sense of actual drama here, only that you're supposed to care about certain characters because you're supposed to care about them.  And when Braga starts recycling story ideas like the uber-cheesy "amnesia virus" that makes characters forget just enough to cause conflict with no lasting consequences, you have to wonder if you're watching a show called Terra Nova or Braga's previous series Star Trek: Voyager.

So why is Terra Nova's poor creative execution so fun?  Anyone who's watched an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 could tell you that cheesy movies and TV shows are made more entertaining when you make fun of them while watching.  My personal preference for MST3K-style Terra Nova smacktalk is Twitter, where I'm able to post my thoughts and reactions to whatever nonsense is going on (or not going on) using the searchable hashtag #TerraNova.  If you check it out, you'll see I'm not the only one who does engages in this bit of schadenfreude, which may help explain why the show's ratings have only gone down 0.3 points since the two-hour pilot aired a month ago.

Or maybe Terra Nova is far better than I think it is and I'm just being excessively hard on a series that hasn't yet finished its 13-episode first season.  Check it out and decide for yourselves if you haven't already, but in the meantime, I'll be waiting for you on Twitter...

DAMN Good Comics -- JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #2

Sure, Justice League Dark sounds way too much like a specific type of beer or chocolate, but if that's what it takes to get more people to buy this book then so be it.

Back in April, I posted my thoughts on rebooting John Constantine back from his current geriatric state in Hellblazer, blissfully unaware that DC Comics was already making plans to give us a young Constantine for their relaunched Post-Flashpoint "New 52" DC Universe.  Obviously, the Justice League Dark version was going to be sanitized, with no F-bomb dropping or middle-finger extending, but interestingly, the new DCU version was going to have the exact same writer, Peter Milligan.  Yes, the Peter Milligan made famous for his legendary 70-issue run of Shade, the Changing Man for DC's Vertigo line, and oh look -- Shade just happens to be in Justice League Dark as well.

Milligan emphasizes that this team -- which still isn't a team -- are "half-insane and damaged goods," setting the apparent tone for the series.  No character personifies that better in this issue than Deadman, who reveals all kinds of issues centered around his sexual frustration of being a ghost involved with Dove, a living woman.  When Geoff Johns first paired these two up in Brightest Day, it seemed as though their relationship was over when Boston Brand died and became Deadman once again.  However, Milligan seems interested in exploring the "dead and living couple" concept to its potential, toying with the idea of Deadman making love to Dove using a possessed male body.  Dove is understandably thrown by the suggestion, especially when Deadman accuses her of being "old-fashioned" and then caresses her cheek softly and tells her he loves her while using the body of June Moone.  It definitely gives the book more of a Vertigo-esque edge than your standard Justice League title and gives Dove far more depth as a character than she receives in the disappointing Hawk and Dove series.

Bringing this and other scenes involving Zatanna and Constantine to life is artist Mikel Janin, a newcomer most recently known for the Flashpoint mini-series Deadman and the Flying Graysons.  His figures are a bit stiff at times, but combined with some stellar coloring by Ulises Arreola, they become very visually bold and interesting to look at.  Simple scenes such as Dawn Granger transforming into Dove that look flat and lifeless in Hawk and Dove shine brightly and magically here, while John Constantine's spellcasting glows far more impressively than the standard dark and gloomy color palette found in Hellblazer.  There's some genuine talent here, and it's going to be interesting to see how this book grows and evolves in the months ahead.

As this issue ends, we get another glimpse of the growing threat from the Enchantress while an unexpected flip from one of the lead characters makes you wonder exactly how Justice League Vertigo Dark is going to coalesce into a full-fledged team.  Or maybe they won't, I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Fandom: The Next Generation

Generation X, this may be hard for some of you to accept, but it's time to step aside and make room for Generation Text.

I know, I know...As a comics and science-fiction fan of forty-two, I'm not overly fond of my increasing obsolescence but I like to think I'm secure enough to understand my reduced place in the rapidly-shifting landscape of fandom.  While attending the 2011 Mid-Ohio Comic Con as a guest this past weekend, I had several opportunities to engage in a writer's favorite pastime -- people watching.  (And no, not in a creepy, stalky way...)  Here's a little of what I observed:

• Those Damn Kids are just as passionate about stuff they like as you are, probably more so -- See those four guys in the photo above?  They spent a good ten minutes hanging out at my table, talking all kinds of fun, good-natured smack to me and to one another about who was better, Generator Rex or that nowhere-near-as-cool-as-Generator Rex Ben 10 guy.  They threw out each character's advantages, flaws, you name it, all with energy and true geek passion that used to fuel many a Kirk vs. Picard argument back in the day.  They love what they love, just as you geezers do, even if you have absolutely no clue why that is.
• Those Damn Kids aren't just fat white kids with bad skin anymore -- Ever since the Lord of the Rings movies and the Harry Potter films debuted, the traditional white, straight male geek demographic has been seemingly halved by a much more diversified and more importantly, female presence.  As a result, you can find things like Twilight memorabilia (shudder) and all kinds of custom jewelry mixed in with all those Japanese katanas and Klingon Bat'leths.  Some comics creators are wisely making specific efforts to reach out to those new types of fanbases, which only helps to grow them further.  If you're looking for real social progress, take a good look at a modern comics convention floor.
• Those Damn Kids love to cosplay -- Once upon a time, nerds with Spock ears and Batman masks roamed the convention floor in often cheesy homemade garb, but now you can find all kinds of elaborate costumes made by people talented enough to be working in film and television instead.  Oh, cheesy still has its place, as it always will, but you can find fans wearing quality costumes from just about every TV, movie, novel series and animation project you can think up.  With numerous comics and science-fiction sites posting cosplay photos these days, these younger fans know they need to come up with something attention-grabbing and they often do.  Young women have the advantage here, obviously, and are more than willing to wear the skimpiest of costumes whether they have a decent physique to pull them off or not.  Halloween costume shops seem to be big for those female fans who want to show off as Sexy Captain America, Sexy Robin or yes, even Sexy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.
• Those Damn Kids are The Future -- Just as our geezer generation replaced the Silver Age-obsessed Baby Boomers, this new generation is gradually replacing us.  Digital comics and e-books are rapidly becoming the norm, whether you like it or not, and we've just seen how accommodating these newer formats and technologies has helped companies such as DC Comics earn their best sales in years.  Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley have given way to Pine, Quinto and Urban, creating a new generation of Star Trek fans for decades to come.  One group's Star Wars is now another group's Clone Wars.  Tom Baker Doctor Who scarves have been replaced by Matt Smith bowties and fezzes.  The names and details may change, but the core of What We Love continues on in What They Love.  As it should be.

Mid-Ohio Comic Con 2011: Day Two Photos

Mid-Ohio Comic Con 2011 wrapped up today.  After meeting all kinds of people and signing and handing out at least thirty free copies of Cartoon Network Action Pack #61 over the weekend (over twice what I expected), I can easily say I had a full convention.  Hope everyone who attended enjoyed it as much as I did and let's do it all again next year, okay?

And as promised, some more photos...

Arthur Dent (A frood who knows where his towel is) and The Eleventh Doctor

Harry Dresden and Molly Carpenter from Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files

V from V for Vendetta (or a member of Anonymous, take your pick)

Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas

Flash Thompson as Venom

And just as before, you can find more photos at my Facebook account.

See you next year!