SUPERGIRL Casts Former Supergirl Laura Vandervoort as Indigo

The Supergirl collection is now complete.

ComicBookMovie has word the CBS series Supergirl has cast former Supergirl Laura Vandervoort in the recurring role of DC Comics superhero turned supervillain Indigo.  During the Television Critics Association press your earlier today, the producers revealed that Indigo will first appear in Episode 15, and is described as "a living, strong-willed supercomputer that was sentenced to Fort Rozz after turning against the people of Krypton. Now on Earth, Indigo will let nothing stand in her way."

Vandevoort, 31, is a Canadian actress who played Kara Zor-El on the CW series Smallville.  She also starred Elena Michaels on Bitten and as Lisa on the 2009 remake of V.  Her other television appearances include Haven, The Dresden Files, Family Guy, CSI: NY, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, White Collar, Instant Star, Mutant X, and Goosebumps.

According to Entertainment Weekly, original Supergirl Helen Slater, who has appeared in two episodes so far as Kara and Alex’s mother Eliza Danvers, will join Vandevoort and star Melissa Benoist in an episode later this season.

Created in 2003 by Judd Winick and Alé Garza, Indigo first appeared in Titans/Young Justice: Graduation Day #1 as a female android who comes to the 21st century badly damaged, and desperately looking for a cybernetic or mechanical organism capable of repairing her.  In the process, she tries to install her self-repairing routines into the Metal Men, but they're incapable of assisting her in maintenance.  She then turns to Cyborg, but in the process, she damages him.

Attacked by the combined forces of Young Justice and the Titans, she retreats, switching into an offensive mode. Although the combined forces of the young superheroes best her, adding further damage, she's able to activate a dormant Superman Android before shutting down for repairs. However, when the android comes after the young heroes (killing Lilith and Troia), Arsenal briefly reactivates the female android and sends her to stop the Superman Android before shutting her down again.  When Arsenal reforms the Outsiders, he claims the female android, now called Indigo, as a team member.

In Teen Titans (vol. 3) #24, it was revealed that Indigo is actually Brainiac 8, and just as ruthless and dangerous as the previous Brainiacs.  Indigo, as the Outsiders knew her, was essentially a subprogram, designed by Brainiac 8's "grandfather", Brainiac 6, to endear her to the superhero community.  Brainiac 8 had been sent back in time to kill Donna Troy, because Donna would negate Coluan domination over the "organics" after the events in Infinite Crisis.  After a beating by the combined forces of Teen Titans and Outsiders, the Indigo persona wrests control from Brainiac 8, and reveals herself to be a genuine personality.  Weeping, she begs the Metamorpho fragment called Shift to kill her before the Brainiac 8 persona could harm the people she loves.  Shift, in tears, transforms her molecular structure into flesh, killing her in the process.

Supergirl airs Monday nights on CBS at 8 p.m. EST.

Ridley Scott in Talks for THE PRISONER Film Adaptation

What do we want?  Information.  By hook or by crook.

Deadline has revealed that legendary director Sir Ridley Scott is in early negotiations to direct The Prisoner, a movie adaptation based on the original 1967-68 British TV series starring Patrick McGoohan.

According to the article, the project has been with Universal for some time, with numerous A-list screenwriters including Christopher McQuarrie writing drafts.  The most recent version is from The Departed writer William Monahan, and the film is produced by Bluegrass Films' Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark.  The article also claims that Scott’s Scott Free team will likely become involved after they receive script that pleases Scott.  Numerous writers are now circling the project, as are several top actors, now that word is getting around that Scott is coming aboard.

Scott has directed a number of groundbreaking films over the decades, including Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Hannibal, and The Martian.  His other notable films include Legend, Thelma & Louise, G.I. Jane, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, American Gangster, Robin Hood (2010), Prometheus, and Exodus: Gods and Kings.

The television series, which ran for a single season of 17 episodes, followed an unnamed British agent (played by McGoohan) who, after abruptly and angrily resigning his job, apparently prepares to make a hurried departure from the country.  While packing his luggage, he is rendered unconscious by knockout gas in his flat.  When he awakes, he finds himself held captive in a mysterious seaside "village" isolated from the mainland by mountains and sea.  The Village is further secured by numerous monitoring systems and security forces, including a sinister balloon-like device called Rover that recaptures – or kills – those who attempt escape.  The agent encounters the Village's population, which include hundreds of people from all walks of life and cultures, all seeming to be tranquilly living out their lives.  They do not use names but instead are assigned numbers, which give no clue as to any person's status (prisoner or warder).  Potential escapees therefore have no idea whom they can and cannot trust.  The protagonist is assigned the designation Number Six, but he repeatedly refuses the pretense of his new identity.

Number Six is monitored heavily by Number Two, the Village administrator acting as an agent for an unseen "Number One".  A variety of techniques are used by Number Two to try to extract information from Number Six, including hallucinogenic drug experiences, identity theft, mind control, dream manipulation, and various forms of social indoctrination.  All of these are employed not only to find out why Number Six resigned as an agent, but also to extract other purportedly dangerous information he gained as a spy.

Number Six, distrustful of anyone involved with the Village, refuses to co-operate or provide answers.  Alone, he struggles with various goals, such as determining for which side of the iron curtain the Village works if, indeed, it works for any at all, remaining defiant to its imposed authority, concocting his own plans for escape, learning all he can about the Village, and subverting its operation.  His schemes lead to the dismissals of the incumbent Number Two on two occasions, although he never successfully escapes.  By the end of the series, the administration, becoming desperate for Number Six's knowledge and fearful of his growing influence in the Village, takes drastic measures that threaten the lives of Number Six, Number Two, and the rest of the Village.

This will be the first time The Prisoner has been adapted for film.  In 2009, the series was remade as a rather disappointing 6-episode AMC miniseries starring Jim Caviezel as Number Six and Sir Ian McKellen as Number Two.

Be seeing you!

TITANS TV Series Dead at TNT

Titans...not together.  (Sigh...)

Deadline has word that the proposed TV adaptation of DC Comics superteam the Teen Titans announced in September 2014 is now dead at TNT.  

Speaking at the Television Critics Association, TNT president Kevin Reilly said, "We decided it wasn’t where we wanted to go."  According to the article, Reilly initially left Titans in development after he took over TNT and TBS, and had conversations with the project’s co-creator, Akiva Goldsman.  "I think it’s going to end up being a very, very interesting offering.  I think it’s going to be excellent," he was quoted last May.

Written by Oscar winner Akiva Goldsman and Marc Haimes,Titans was to revolve around Dick Grayson, who emerges from the shadow of Batman to become Nightwing, the leader of a group of superheroes reported to include Raven, Starfire, Oracle, Hawk and Dove. Goldsman executive produced, with Haimes serving as co-executive producer for WBTV’s cable division Warner Horizon.

First appearing in DC Comics Presents #26 in 1980, the New Teen Titans were a new team of Teen Titans featuring original members Robin (who later becomes Nightwing), Wonder Girl (who later becomes Troia) and Kid Flash, along with former Doom Patrol member Beast Boy as Changeling and new characters Cyborg, Raven and Starfire.  Brought together by Raven to fight her demonic father Trigon, the seven teenaged heroes continued as a team to fight such notable villains as Deathstroke the Terminator, the Fearsome Five, Brother Blood, Blackfire, the H.I.V.E., the Brotherhood of Evil and more.

THE FANDOM ZONE 040: "AKA Top Shelf Perverts" is Up!

"You were the first person I ever wanted that walked away from me.  You made me feel something I never felt before -- Yearning.  I actually missed you."

-- Kevin Kilgrave (The Purple Man), Jessica Jones: "AKA Top Shelf Perverts"

With the holidays over, Karen Lindsay and I are back with our first 2016 episode of The Fandom Zone Podcast!  

This week's reviews of comics on television include:

Jessica Jones 1x07 -- "AKA Top Shelf Perverts"
Jessica Jones 1x08 -- "AKA WWJD?"

This time, we talk about things like fun with a lightsaber, Karen's appearance on the 50th episode of Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast, Karen being schlubby, wanting Reuben's sister to be killed off instead of Reuben, Jessica's terrible plan to imprison herself in supermax, Jessica as Jewel getting the crap kicked out of her by the Avengers, Trish's horrible stage mom, The Naked Gun, more on the Door Metaphor, how Jessica Jones got her powers, Kilgrave totally mind f#@%ing Jessica, creepy episodes of Doctor Who, Jessica's old neighbor Mrs. Kravitz from Bewitched, why it's hard to watch David Tennant on Doctor Who after seeing him as Kilgrave, some new Justina feedback, Karen mogging on World of Warcraft, Spaceballs, and more!

You can check out the episode HERE and for those of you who use iTunes, we're already available HERE, so please subscribe and rate us! If direct download MP3s are more your thing, you can find those HERE as well. In addition, we have The Fandom Zone show page on Facebook, which you can check out HERE. And we're also on Twitter using the account @FandomZoneCast.

And hey, if you're interested in an officially official Fandom Zone Podcast t-shirt, you can get those on TeePublic HERE as well!

Be sure to come back next week as we review a new episode of Supergirl, and the ninth and tenth episodes of Jessica Jones, right here on The Fandom Zone Podcast!

NEXT STOP EVERYWHERE 050: "The Day of the Doctor" is Up!

"Clara sometimes asks me if I dream.  'Of course I dream', I tell her.  'Everybody dreams.' 'But what do you dream about?', she'll ask.  'The same thing everybody dreams about,' I tell her.  'I dream about where I'm going.'  She always laughs at that.  'But you're not going anywhere, you're just wandering about.'  That's not true.  Not anymore.  I have a new destination.  My journey is the same as yours, the same as anyone's.  It's taken me so many years, so many lifetimes, but at last I know where I'm going.  Where I've always been going...Home.  The long way round."

-- The Eleventh Doctor, Doctor Who: "The Day of the Doctor"

Returning from our Christmas Invasion vacation, my good friend and co-host Jesse Jackson and I are back with our first 2016 episode of Next Stop Everywhere: The Doctor Who Podcast!  And this one is a big one, our fiftieth episode, with returning Special Guest Companions Karen Lindsay and Ken Schaefer!

This time, yours truly is piloting the TARDIS at last, as Jesse, Karen, Ken and I discuss things like whether John Hurt replacing Christopher Eccleston as Steven Moffat's backup plan was a good move, our favorite nods to classic Doctor Who stories, the return of the Zygons, whether Billie Piper should've played Rose Tyler once again instead of The Moment, Kate Stewart's nuclear countdown overreaction, whether Moffat's reversal of Russell T. Davies' destruction of Gallifrey was a good creative decision, the welcome return of Tom Baker as The Curator, whether we should've seen more Doctors, not one but two Reverse the Polarity segments, and more!

And for those who still aren't aware of this yet, we're available on iTunes RIGHT HERE as well as Stitcher RIGHT HERE, so please subscribe and tell your friends about us. If you're looking for direct MP3 downloads, you can find them RIGHT HERE as well. Oh, and don't forget we have an officially official Next Stop Everywhere Facebook page and Twitter account, so be sure to Like and/or Follow us, okay?

And hey, if you'd like to pick up the officially official Next Stop Everywhere t-shirt, you can find it on TeePublic right HERE!  Help support the show!

Be sure to come back soon for our review of the David Tennant classic "School Reunion," and look for more of Next Stop Everywhere on iTunes, Libsyn, Soundcloud, Sticher, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

ARROW's Merlyn Gets DC Comics Series Co-Written by John Barrowman

Malcolm Merlyn's shady past is about to be revealed.  Just not on the TV show.

TV Insider has word Arrow recurring villain Malcolm Merlyn will be getting his own DC Comics digital series called Arrow: The Dark Archer, which will be written by John Barrowman (who plays Merlyn) and his sister Carole.

According to the article, Arrow: The Dark Archer is set between the third and fourth seasons of the TV series, and reveals what Malcolm was up to before he became the Dark Archer, the nemesis to Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) early in the series. Twelve chapters will be released bi-weekly starting Wednesday, January 13th (available via the DC Comics App, readdcentertainment.com, iBooks, comixology.com, Google Play, Kindle Store, Nook Store, and iVerse ComicsPlus).  The entire story will later be collected in single print trade paperback similar to previous Arrow digital comics.

TV Insider also posted a Q&A interview with the Barrowmans about the digital comic series, where they discuss Merlyn's fortune, who he was before meeting his late wife Rebecca, and even Merlyn's sexual exploits.  Here are some of the highlights...


TV Insider: How did you get involved with this project?

John Barrowman: Arrow: The Dark Archer began with a pitch for an entirely different comic. My sister and I are both comic fans and a couple of years ago we came across a description of a team of DC superheroes from the 1950s that have been lost to history. We came up with a story to update them into a contemporary series. I went to Geoff Johns, chief creative officer at DC Comics, and pitched the idea to his team. While we were chatting, I mentioned Carole and I would love to write Malcolm’s backstory too. Geoff knew Carole and I had written a number of things together…

Carole Barrowman: Six books, a couple of screenplays, but who’s counting?

John Barrowman: Obviously you are.

Carole Barrowman: Oh, shut up.

John Barrowman: After we got the go ahead from Geoff, we researched what had already been written about Malcolm Merlyn.

Carole Barrowman: And there wasn’t very much. We discovered he didn’t have much of a backstory except for a couple of intriguing details. Like the fact that…

John Barrowman: Don’t say it!

Carole Barrowman: Let’s just say that Malcolm has had at least one other identity and his slightly vague and sinister past gave us lots of creative room to play around in.

John Barrowman: Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg, Arrow’s executive producers, got involved at that point to make sure our ideas would work within the series’ canon. We’ve kept it all in the family.

Carole Barrowman: Actually, the real truth is that we wanted to be DC writers so badly that John begged and begged and whined and whined until Geoff, Marc and Andrew broke down and said yes.

John Barrowman: I also now carry all their coffees when they’re on set…

TV Insider: What is the story you are telling in this series?

John Barrowman: It’s Malcolm’s backstory. It opens between Seasons 3 and 4 of the TV show and then we flashback. Readers will learn about a younger Malcolm and how his past is… well, killing him.

Carole Barrowman: It’s set in places familiar to Arrow and DC fans like Corto Maltese and Nanda Parbat, but readers will see those places from quite different perspectives. Fans will also learn who Malcolm was before he met Rebecca, the love of his life.

John Barrowman: Since the show started, I’ve always been curious how Malcolm made his fortune. Where did his wealth come from? How did he finance his Merlyn Global Group? The answer to those questions shapes the main narrative in the story.

Carole Barrowman: But more personal events shape the secondary arcs.

John Barrowman: And Malcolm has sex!

Carole Barrowman: Ha, yes he does!

TV Insider: Some actors talk about creating their own backstory for their characters in their head, beyond what’s in the script. John, did you ever do that with Malcolm and, if so, does any of that find it's way into this comic?

John Barrowman: I’ve had a backstory in my head for Malcolm from the beginning and a lot of it has made its way into our comic and onto the screen. I think it’s always been my job to help the audience relate to Malcolm in some way despite his questionable morals and evil ways.

Carole Barrowman: You’ve always been heavily involved with fleshing out parts of Malcolm’s backstory on screen. Think about Thea.

John Barrowman: That’s right! During a lunch with Andrew before filming Season 2, I mentioned that Scott, my husband, and I thought that one of the reasons Malcolm has such an affection for Oliver and his team is because Malcolm is actually Thea’s father. Sometimes when I’m on screen and any of the other characters are in the background, I like to think I’m sharing a kind of “nod and a wink” with the audience, that they know some things about Malcolm that the rest of the team do not.

Carole Barrowman: I think The Dark Archer honors that relationship with the audience. We’ve also been able to let Malcolm’s snarky sense of humor come through much more in our story.

John Barrowman: And Malcolm has sex!

TV Insider: What can we expect from this series on the art side?

Carole Barrowman: Daniel Sampere is leading our artistic team and has been amazing. Daniel has captured John’s likeness as Malcolm right down to John’s cleft chin. The action scenes—

John Barrowman: There are a lot of them!

Carole Barrowman: —have so much energy and movement.

John Barrowman: There’s also a mystery unfolding across both narratives that meant the background detail needed to be precise from the first chapter. So pay attention! Also because of the nature of the settings in present day and in the flashbacks, particular tone and hues were critical.

Carole Barrowman: The first page alone is a stunning splash panel of Malcolm getting…

John Barrowman: Shush!

Carole Barrowman: You shush… Let’s just say that we took Malcolm’s classic line to Thea that “pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional” and gave it a new twist.

John Barrowman: Ouch!

Lost STAR TREK Data Recovered from Gene Roddenberry's Old Disks

And to think, all they needed to do was speak into the mouse...

TheWrap revealed yesterday that documents written by the late Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry were recovered from two hundred 5 1/4" floppy disks that belonged to him. DriveSavers and eDiscovery announced that after months of work, they were able to pull data from the disks that Roddenberry used to store information while working on Star Trek.

According to the article, Mike Cobb, DriveSavers' director of engineering, wouldn't reveal the contents of the disks, but said in a press release there were "Lots of documents" and "2016 just happens to be the 50th anniversary of the original ‘Star Trek,’ anything could happen, the world will have to wait and see."

During the original show's run from 1966 to 1969, Roddenberry created scripts for the science fiction series on a typewriter before using a pair of custom-built computers to record story ideas, scripts and notes.  Over time, the author moved on to work with more mainstream computers, but kept the custom-built pair in his possession.

Roddenberry passed in 1991, but it wasn’t until much later that his estate discovered nearly two hundred 5 1/4" floppy disks.  One of his custom-built computers had long since been auctioned and the remaining device was no longer functional.  The custom-built computers had also used custom-built operating systems and special word processing software that prevented any modern method of reading what was on the disks.

The article claims DriveSavers engineers were given the computer and the specially formatted floppy disks, then developed a method of extracting the data.  There was no user manual for the computer, nor was there any technical documentation to help guide them.  It apparently took over three months for the DriveSavers engineering team to develop software that could read the disks.  Even though the engineers were able to crack the unusual formatting, reading the nearly two hundred disks took the better part of a year to finish.

Paramount Pictures will release Star Trek Beyond, the latest entry in the rebooted Star Trek film franchise, on July 22, 2016.  Last November, CBS announced plans to launch a new Star Trek series on CBS All Access in 2017.