Updates On Lensmen, Cowboy Bebop, Doctor Who, Fringe And Scott Pilgrim

Today's spoilers include film-makers talking about their adaptations of the classic Lensmen novels and the Cowboy Bebop anime series. Plus David Tennant talks Doctor Who, and there are new True Blood and Scott Pilgrim pics. Plus Impact and Virtuality spoilers.

Scott Pilgrim:

Director Edgar Wright posted another video diary during the filming, involving a rock concert. [Scott Pilgrim The Movie]

And Wright also posted a couple cryptic set pics. [Edgar Wright Here]

Cowboy Bebop:

A slight update on this live-action adaptation, starring Keanu Reeves as Spike. Writer Peter Craig is a huge fan of the original animated series, and he spent some quality time with the original studio, Sunrise, talking about their take on the show and how it might convert to live-action. He mentions that he's a fan of many of the minor characters from the original episodes, namechecks a lot of story elements he loves:

I've probably watched every episode at least three or four times now - and I really adore what a complete world Watanabe and Nobumoto created. I was also extremely drawn to all of the characters' backstories: Faye's amnesia after being taken out of cryogenic freeze, and the con played on her; Spike's history in the Syndicate and with Julia; Jet's days as a cop on Ganymede, and his run-in with Udai Taxim.

[AnimeVice News via Sci Fi Squad]

Lensman:

Remember this in-development movie adaptation? Writer J. Michael Straczynski says he's finished his second draft, and producer Ron Howard and Universal are happy with it. He says it'll be very character-based, typical of Howard's work, and yet the special effects will be cutting edge. And it'll keep the massive scale of the original novels, as much as possible:

I think it really does create that world and what's cool about it is all the character stuff that's in there now. It's just the sheer scope and scale of it, which is what the Doc Smith books were always about to me to a large extent; the scale was insane. We found ways to really dramatize that.

And he describes one crucial sequence:

Case in point, this is a very small example from the script, take this as being emblematic of the scale of the whole thing: you've got these two fleets battling it out, you've seen it a hundred times before. But now, within that massive fleet battle you have two ships locked on with gravity (lances?) firing at each other, they're linked together like scorpions in a bottle tied with a string, by the gravity beams. Inside that, you have the crew of one ship in EVA suits with armor coming out to try and board the other ship. They send their people out to stop them, so we have hand-to-hand combat.

[Babylon Podcast via Cinemablend]

Doctor Who:

David Tennant talks his final three "specials" as the Doctor, "The Waters Of Mars" and the final two-parter:

I think inevitably, because we all know the Tenth Doctor's days are numbered, the storm clouds hang over the last stories. "Planet of the Dead" [the special that airs July 26] is in some ways, the Doctor's last hurrah. He's clearly in a death-defying situation, but he's enjoying himself and having a blast.
By the time we come to "Waters of Mars," things start to happen that mean things can never be quite be the same again. Stuff occurs in "Waters of Mars" which leads directly into the final story, where the Doctor really is on the run from the inevitable, I think it's fair to say.

Mostly stuff Tennant has said before... except for the "on the run from the inevitable" part, which is intriguing.[Chicago Tribune]

Fringe:

Judging from a new casting call, season two episode two, "Night Of Desirable Objects," will be about a series of disappearances in Vermont, which our heroes arrive to investigate. There's a local sheriff, the fifty-something Sheriff Golightly, who meets a male and female FBI agent (Olivia and someone else?). And Golightly warms to the male agent — especially after they bond over fishing lures, but stays stand-offish towards the female agent. The chief suspect in the series of disappearances is the fiftyish Anton Hughes, a former doctor — who shoots himself in the head as soon as the agents come knocking on his door to interview him. [SpoilerTV]

Virtuality:

You're staying in and watching this TV movie tonight on Fox, right? In any case, Wired's review includes some details. It's six months into the ten-year mission, and the crew has already started bickering, much to the delight of the ship's reality TV producer. And after reality-TV host Billie has an especially nasty encounter in the virtual reality, it colors her real-world interactions with the crew, during a mission-critical crisis. The movie/pilot throws a lot of balls in the air, and most of them are still hovering at the end of the two hours — leaving you wishing for a continuation. [Wired]

Impact:

Are you stoked to see the final part of this two-part miniseries on Sunday? Of course you are. Here are some pics to help get you even more stoked.[Daemon's TV]