<![CDATA[io9: highlander]]> http://tags.lifehacker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/io9.com.png <![CDATA[io9: highlander]]> http://io9.com/tag/highlander http://io9.com/tag/highlander <![CDATA[The Secret Connection Between Highlander And Duran Duran]]> Long before directors like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry made the jump from music videos to movies, Russell Mulcahy innovated on MTV and directed Highlander. What would movies even look like without him?

Mulcahy is still around and still directing movies — he directed Resident Evil: Extinction, which was a much, much better film than it had any right to be. But his heyday was the 1980s, when he directed Razorback, the tale of a giant mutant pig attacking people in the Australian Outback. And of course, Highlander and the ill-fated Highlander II. (Cue legions of fans insisting that no such movie exists.)

Highlander contains so many beautiful images of the craggy landscape, and the roiling blue sky overhead, that it elevates the material and makes the swordplay and lightning-flashes seem that much more epic. It's Turner-esque. By the time he made his defining film, Mulcahy had already worked on tons of the most famous music videos of all time, and had crafted the art of the four minute image bomb, detonating with visuals and then disappearing.

Mulcahy deserves a place in the hall of fame just for his work on Highlander, but his music videos probably had more influence on cinema in the long term. I honestly was gobsmacked when I found out, from Wikipedia, that the same person had directed so many of the videos that saved MTV from being a wasteland. Those videos pioneered a whole new visual language. His seven-minute-plus version of Duran Duran's "Wild Boys" is one of the greatest dystopian (take a drink!) movies of all time:

Here's the music video he directed for Queen's "Princes Of The Universe," featuring scenes from Highlander. Look how easily some of these action sequences (in the second half of the video) lend themselves to the music-video format. I love it when Christopher Lambert steps out of the movie and onto the stage with Queen:

Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" video (directed by Mulcahy) has so many bizarre images, they had to create a "literal video version":

Berlin: Sex (I'm A...)

Duran Duran: Rio

Elton John: Fascist Faces

I could go on and on. Just check out the list over at Wikipedia. It's really amazing how many of his music videos are indelibly painted on my brain. And Resident Evil: Extinction was actually surprisingly great:

Highlander screencaps from Hundland.org.

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<![CDATA[There Should Only Be One: Highlander Reboot In The Works]]> Justin Lin, the director of Fast And Furious 4, is bringing his shiny fast paced style to the hills of Scotland to recapture a franchise we all thought long dead. Apparently, it's time to reboot the Highlander.

Summit Entertainment announced that Lin will re-imagine the franchise, and coming off the impressive box office that Fast & Furious 4 had, he will most likely get a lot of leeway. But on a happier note, Iron Man scribes Matt Holloway and Art Marcum are on the script, which will focus more on the backstory of the immortals. But the real question is, can you teach someone how to work the Christopher Lambert accent?


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<![CDATA[Jennifer's Body Gets Even Sleazier. And The Other Shoe Drops On Lost And Doctor Who]]> Start your week with spoilers! Including trashy Megan Fox pics and bi-curiosity. Set reports for Lost and Doctor Who hint at shocking confrontations. Plus Surrogates, New Moon, Fringe, FlashForward, Caprica, Supernatural, Dollhouse, Stargate, Heroes, True Blood, Chuck, Warehouse and Eureka.


Jennifer's Body:

Apparently when Megan Fox's character says she "goes both ways," she actually means it — she gets to kiss Amanda Seyfried in the movie, and Fox says it was a fun bit to film. [MTV]

And here are some pics that I think are new, including both Megan and Amanda covered with blood and stuff. [MTV]

Surrogates:

In this movie about a future where nobody leaves the house, and instead mentally connects to physically perfect cyber-avatars (who then start dying and triggering their owners' deaths) the structure of a detective story allows Bruce Willis' detective character to serve as a "surrogate" for the audience's curiosity. And the movie version of the story isn't as "luddite" as the comic — although it does comment on the dehumanizing effect of technology. [Sci Fi Wire]

New Moon:

Edi Gathegi, who plays Laurent, says he actually gets to wear shoes in the second movie, unlike the first. And he never gets to sparkle in the sun like a proper vampire. His character dies off in the second movie, just like in the books. [MTV]

Also, in the movie, the Volturi have specially crafted blood-red contact lenses to give their eyes a spooky look. They're thousands of years old, but look young and zippy. The most lethal of them maybe Jane (Dakota Fanning) who enjoys inflicting torture on her victims. And here are a couple pics I don't think we've shown you before. [People]

Doctor Who:

More details about what those Daleks are up to in World War II. Spectator Alun.Vega thinks the gist of the story so far is that a Professor (Bill Paterson) working for Winston Churchill has developed the Daleks as a weapon, but is a bit hazy on where he got the idea from. Churchill doesn't care as long as they destroy the Nazis. Leading to this bit of dialogue:

Churchill: Death to our enemies. Death to the Third Reich!
Doctor: Yes, yes, and death to everyone else too.

And as the Doctor tells the Daleks that he's the Doctor and they're the Daleks, he's partly trying to remind himself of who he is. Churchill and the Professor aren't taking the new Doctor seriously due to his extreme youth. The Professor does hit it off with new companion Amy Pond, and they bond over her Scottish background: "Are you from the islands?" he asks. But the happy relationship between Winston and the Daleks doesn't last, judging from this snatch of overheard dialogue:

CHURCHILL: "You are my ironsides!"
DALEK: "We are the Daleks."
PROFESSOR: "I created you!"
DALEK: "No, we created you."

As someone once said, "in the morning, I'll be sober. And you'll still be a mutant." [Gallifrey Base]

Lost:

So whether or not Juliet's bomb succeeded in resetting the timeline, we'll definitely see the continuation of the Faux Locke cliffhanger from the previous season. The show was filming a scene on the beach where we see a closeup of Locke's dead body. And then Faux Locke and Richard Alpert (shouldn't that be Ben?) descend from the temple. All of the Others point their guns at Faux Locke, suspicious for obvious reasons. Richard steps up to confront Faux Locke, who proceeds to beat the stuffing out of him in a really intense sequence. Then Faux Locke stands over Richard's battered body and wags his finger at the assembled Others, saying "I'm really disappointed in all of you." [Hawaii Weblog]

And here are some not-very-revealing set pics. More at the link. [The ODI]

Also, it sounds like they're setting up an airplane set at the studios. [The ODI]

Caprica:

Welsh actor Peter Wingfield (who played the immortal Methos in the Highlander TV series and the last two movies) announced on his website that he's joining this show as Gara Singh, director of the Global Defense Department — which makes him the boss of Jordan Duram, the GDD agent played by Brian Markinson. [Peter Wingfield via Battlestar_Blog]

Fringe:

Lance Reddick says we'll learn more about Broyles' background, and the reasons for his divorce, but it won't be through flashbacks. And he tells us what to expect in season two generally:

Olivia's reemergence back into this universe will be shocking. The developments with Charlie will be mind blowing. You'll find out just how deep my relationship with Nina goes.

[Hollywood the Write Way via Sci Fi Scoop]

And here's a new promo that also includes Bones:

Episode 2x08 will introduce us to Harry, who appears to be just a normal DMV employee, but has darker intentions. [SpoilerTV]

And here's a thrilling teaser:

And another one. [Fringe Television]

Supernatural:

The description for episode 5x02, "Good God, Y'All," sounds like the greatest thing ever:

Castiel (Misha Collins) tells Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) that he is going to search for God, who will be able to defeat Lucifer. Bobby's (Jim Beaver) old hunter friend, Rufus (guest star Steven Williams), is panicked about demons attacking his town, and begs Bobby for help. Sam and Dean arrive at the town and realize there is a spell over the townspeople, making them hallucinate that they are demons and causing them to kill one another. Phil Sgriccia directed the episode written by Sera Gamble

[Examiner]

And speaking of amazing-sounding episodes written by Sera Gamble, here's a casting call for "The Curious Case Of Dean Winchester," episode 5x07 (a Benjamin Button episode??):

[PATRICK] 30-40, charismatic, extremely likeable and charming, with a devil-may-care attitude and a twinkle in his eye. He is a well-dressed, expert card shark and poker player, with a wicked sense of humor and an unnerving ability to read people. A slick con man and thief who enjoys toying with everyone around him. However, he also is capable of genuine empathy for certain players, and he's deeply committed to Lia, the love of his life...GUEST STAR (15)

[OLDER DEAN WINCHESTER] Between 70-80 years old, he is Dean (JENSEN ACKLES) aged into an old man. He hasn't lost any of his verve, or edge, just his speed...GUEST STAR (20)

[LIA] 20s, she is a BEAUTIFUL, troubled woman in cahoots with her boyfriend, Patrick. Empathetic, but also eventually lonely....GUEST STAR (15)

[SpoilerTV]

And here's a promo I think we haven't featured before:

Dollhouse:

Want Dollhouse for dummies? Here it is:

Stargate Universe:

Pitch us this new spin-off, actor David Blue:

[It's about] scientists brought in to figure out this mythical ninth chevron address, ... a nine-digit phone number, and nobody knows where it goes. And through a course of events, [he] ends up having to pick up and go, and the right people who are supposed to go on this mission to explore don't necessarily end up going.

You end up with a group of people who weren't supposed to be there, ... counting on each other, who aren't necessarily the ones with the skill sets for survival ... on the far side of the universe, trying to figure out how to survive. How to not die. How to not kill each other. And genuinely having to deal and cope.

[Sci Fi Wire]

Heroes:

James Kyson Lee says Hiro and Ando start off the new season in Japan:

Ando is starting a new business with Hiro, which will thrust us into really unusual adventures. Also, Ando this season is going to be interlinked with somebody very unexpected, which is going to be a nice surprise for the audience.

[Winnipeg Sun via SpoilerTV]

And here's the description of the two-hour season opener:

"VOLUME FIVE: REDEMPTION" MAKES A SPECIAL TWO-HOUR DEBUT WITH THE INTRODUCTION OF A MYSTERIOUS CARNIVAL CLAN WHOSE INTENTIONS ARE UNKNOWN, WHILE FAMILIAR FACES ADJUST TO NEW STAGES OF THEIR LIVES THAT WILL CHALLENGE THEIR PERCEPTIONS OF THE WORLD AND THEIR ABILITIES. ROBERT KNEPPER JOINS THE CAST. RAY PARK, ZELJKO IVANEK, MADELINE ZIMA, AND DAWN OLIVIERI GUEST STAR — Claire (Hayden Panettiere) struggles with adjusting to her new life in college when a mysterious death thrusts her into the spotlight once again. Elsewhere, Hiro (Masi Oka) and Ando (James Kyson Lee) continue their noble quest to help people by promoting their abilities. Angela (Cristine Rose) fears Nathan (Adrian Pasdar) will soon discover his true identity; while Matt (Greg Grunberg) is haunted by an unexpected visitor seeking something he has lost. Tracy Strauss (Ali Larter) and H.R.G. (Jack Coleman) join forces, looking for the key to unlock the motive behind a horrific crime. Meanwhile, Peter (Milo Ventimiglia) uses his abilities for good, but he is soon called upon to aid an old friend. While the heroes adjust to their new surroundings, a mysterious carnival clan, led by ringleader Samuel (Robert Knepper), sets their sights on familiar faces.

[SpoilerTV]

So we already mentioned that Hiro's doomed love Charlie will be back. And it turns out her diner coworker Lynette (Sally Chaplin) will be in three episodes too — and there will be at least one scene which we saw back in season one, but we'll see it again from a different vantage point. [The ODI]

Chuck:

Season three, episode four, "Chuck Vs. Operation Awesome," will feature an old Thai woman who speaks both Thai and English. (And I'm betting there'll be some joke where people think she doesn't understand English, but then she does?) [SpoilerTV]

True Blood:

Sam makes the "ultimate sacrifice" in the season finale. And the bit about Eric dying is a joke — probably. [EW]

FlashForward:

Here's a promo that was blasting off a massive screen in Times Square. Not sure if there's any new footage there.

Plus a couple of other new promos:


One of the visions of the future involves a wife seeing a glimpse of her future lover — a man her husband walks past unknowing in a hospital corridor. In addition to the FBI agents played by Joseph Fiennes and John Cho, there's their boss, Stanford Wedick (Courtney B. Vance). And Fiennes' wife (Sonya Walger) is a surgeon. She saves a series regular who was injured in an attack that resulted from the FBI investigation.

We will get quick answers to some questions early on, and it's not the sort of show where you'll be lost if you don't watch every episode. But devoted fans will be rewarded with more easter eggs and stuff. All of the questions raised in the pilot will be answered by the end of the season. The show is planned for five seasons but could go longer and shorter. Not only do the producers know how it ends, they also know how the penultimate season ends. [USA Today]

Sonya Walger describes her character:

Olivia is a strong, complicated woman who's a working mother. She's a trauma surgeon and a loving wife. She's devoted to her work and trying to make time for her kid. Olivia's plate is full long before the flash forward happens I think.

[IGN]

And here are a ton of pics from the first episode, some of which we may have shown you before. [SpoilerTV]

Warehouse 13:

A couple of tiny pics showing Michael Hogan (Saul Tigh) and his wife Susan Hogan, playing Myka's parents in the upcoming episode "Nevermore." Myka's dad Warren Bering gets a mysterious object in the mail. And I guess maybe we'll find out more about why Myka's parents insisted on including "And Sons" in the name of their bookstore, despite having no sons. [Chicago Tribune via Battlestar Blog]

Eureka:

Here are descriptions of a couple upcoming episodes:

Episode 3.17 - Have an Ice Day. Tess hopes her first day in charge of Global will be uneventful; the arrival of an Arctic ice core brings a new Ice Age to Eureka.

Episode 3.18 - What Goes Around, Comes Around. Zoe prepares to leave for college; Tess receives a job offer in Australia; a magnetic disturbance hovers above Eureka.

[SpoilerTV]

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

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<![CDATA[The 10 Greatest Eternally Young Heroes (Who Aren't Vampires)]]> Everywhere you look nowadays, there are young, fresh-faced vampires. But they're not the only heroes out there who stay eternally young. Some of our favorite science-fiction heroes are blessed (cursed?) with Alphaville's reward. Here are the 10 greatest forever-young heroes.

Connor MacLeod from Highlander.

Born in 1518, he is an Immortal, doomed to walk the Earth and watch everyone he loves grow old and die — but eventually, he must battle the few other remaining Immortals for the Prize. And in the end, wait for it... there can be only one.

Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood.

He's just your average run-of-the-mill con man from the 51st century, until he dies, and the temporarily all-powerful Rose Tyler brings him back to life. Only now, he's a "fixed point in time and space," eternally young and invulnerable forever, no matter what. His wife dies of old age, his daughter is the same age as him, and eventually (maybe) he'll be just a head in a giant jar.

Jenny Sparks from Stormwatch and The Authority.

Born in 1900, she stops aging when she reaches her 20th birthday. Maybe its to do with the fact that she's a being of pure electricity. In any case, she befriends Hitler, visits an alternate universe where she marries an alien prince, and finally gets to join two of the Wildstorm Universe's biggest super-teams, until she finally dies at age 100.

Wolverine, from the X-Men.

Logan used to be just a guy with a tremendous healing ability, but recent comics (and his new movie) revealed that he's actually ageless, and fought in the Civil War and every big war since then. He can smoke as many cigars as he wants, and he never gets weird cigar-related wrinkles. Various comics have shown him surviving long past the end of the world, or at least vastly outliving all his compatriots.

Enoch Root in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle and Cryptonomicon.

One of the great mysteries of Cryptonomicon was how Enoch Root managed to show up, hale and hearty, 55 years after he dies in 1945. We eventually do learn that Root has the secret of rejuvenation, which he uses to keep himself (and sometimes others) alive.

John Carter of Mars, from the novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Even before he gets whisked off to Mars, aka Barsoom, he's mysteriously gifted with eternal youth. And no matter how many times they try to kill him, he always comes back. (Although sometimes, he comes back on Earth instead of Barsoom.)

Nick Fury and (maybe) his Howling Commandos, from Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury (the comics version, not the movie version played by Samuel L. Jackson) fought in World War II, where he gave his eye for his country. But he's miraculously still young and spry in the present day — and he didn't get frozen in an iceberg, like Captain America. Instead, Nick Fury got exposed to something called the "Infinity Formula," and (at least in some versions) so did his men, including "Dum Dum" Dugan — who's now been going by "Dum Dum" for 70 years.

Lazarus Long, from Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein.

Born in 1912, Lazarus Long is the third generation of a selective breeding experiment by the Ira Howard Foundaiton, so he lives for nearly two thousand years in good condition — with only the occasional rejuvenation treatment required. And he eventually finds out that he actually can't die.

Claire Bennet, from Heroes.

The cheerleader doesn't really seem to need saving — it turns out that even scooping her brains out can't kill her, and it's been hinted she'll stay young and healthy forever. At least, Sylar believes that hundreds of years from now, only he and Claire will still be running around, and eventually they'll fall in love. Or something.

Richard Alpert, from Lost.

Is he a hero? We're still not sure. He's definitely taken part in some questionable decisions, but who hasn't on this show? In any case, he's mysteriously ageless, whether we see him in 1954 or the present day. Here's hoping we find out his secret this coming season.

Runners up: Superman (who ages in some versions but not in others), Kane from the sword-and-sorcery novels by Karl Edward Wagner, Wonder Woman, Samantha from Bewitched, Dorian Grey, The Endless from Sandman, Thor, Takeshi Kovacs from Richard K. Morgan's novels, John Amsterdam in New Amsterdam, Peter Pan, Earthworm Jim, Aes Sedai from the Wheel Of Time, Kai on Lexx, and a host of robot/cyborg characters.

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown. Thanks also to Matt Jones, Ron Hogan, Ekaterina Sedia, Jason Shankel, Missy Feigum, Hiya Swanhuyser, Victor Infante, Jefferson Robbins, Jessy Randall, Stephen Tiano, Becka Robbins, Jennifer Brissett, Ashley Edward Miller, Andrew Liptak, Paul McEnery, Ryan Britt, Yoz Grahame, Shannon Rosa, Espana Sheriff, Lisa Heselton, Lane Kneedler, Naomi Alderman, Darren McKeeman, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, Shane O'Brien, Hanne Blank, Lucas Zen Hannon, Mariah Bear, Lun E'Sex, Micky Shirley, Swill Magazine, and anyone else I forgot!

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<![CDATA[50 Glorious Scifi Movie Intro Voiceovers]]> Any movie that starts with Morgan Freeman's cask-aged voice, telling us we're screwed, is off to a great start. Many science-fiction movies open with voiceovers, which prepare you for greatness... or bombard you with backstory. Here are 50 of our favorites.

Too bad War Of The Worlds goes downhill a bit after that amazingly portentous opening. No movie could live up to the promise of Morgan Freeman reading H.G. Wells, more or less verbatim, but it's still a sad thing.

The greatest voiceovers tell you what kind of movie you're in for, and also give you the information you need to hit the ground running. Take Sean Connery's iconic voiceover from Highlander, which is so awesome, you need it written out for you to appreciate its greatness:


Sadly, most voiceovers that launch movies either try to pack in way, way too much backstory ("And then there was a man named 92ZorkX, who built a mega-cube in his pants") or go way, way overboard with the cheese. Here are 48 more voiceovers that mostly go way over the top, sorted by type:

In The Year 2727, Some Messed Up Shit Happened!

Perhaps my favorite kind of opening voiceover is the kind where the narrator starts out by intoning, "In the year 2027, we realized we had gone out of the house without any lower garments, and the Earth was reduced to rubble as a result. The survivors lived in caves, eating scraps of jerky. Until one day, a new hope appeared." Here are ten of the most awesome voiceovers that begin with a date and end with a sad recitation.

Anything Sounds Cool If You Say It In A Creamy English Accent

It's really true. You can narrate anything in a smooth English accent, and it sounds awesome. It's like spreading brie all over your frontal cortex, eliminating all of your B.S.-detectors. Someone with an English accent is saying it, so it must be brilliant. Right?

What The Hell Are You Talking About, Crazy Announcer Guy?

You know a science fiction movie is going to be totally absurd when it starts off with a voiceover that just throws a giant ball of crazy at your head. Someone who is trying not to giggle gives a little speech about how there was a guy named Zaark 795, and he rose up against his brother, the Bishop of Pluto, because they both wanted the power of the Dodecahedron-o-gram. Yeah. Anyway, here are the nonsensical opening voiceovers that make us happy to be alive.

You Can't Have An Apocalypse Without A Gloomy Speech

It's just the law of apocalypses: You can't feature the destruction of all (or most) life on Earth, without throwing in a gloomy monologue explaining exactly how we blew it all to hell. It's the way things work around here. Typically, these monologues include scenes of devastation as well as a droning voice talking about viruses or bombs or people not washing their hands. Here are some of the greatest.

Science Fiction Movies That Start With Deep Personal Monologues

Some science fiction movies start out with a more personal touch — one character giving an internal monologue about their feelings. Either it's a character being introspective, or it's some kind of noir deal, where the person talks about their pain in a hardcore, tough-guy way. Here are some of our faves.

Voiceovers That Turn Into Conversations, And Weird Voiceover Spoofs

This is sort of a catch-all for two categories that didn't quite deserve their own pages: monologues that start out as a voiceover, and then turn into someone talking to the camera; and voiceovers that are just sort of demented, silly or satirical. They're both a bit different from your standard science fiction voiceover, in any case.

Additional reporting by Alexis Brown.

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<![CDATA[New Wave Highlander Gets Groovy with "Big Bill" in the Paris Subway]]> If you know Christopher Lambert for his fine work as a cross-temporal white ninja in Highlander — and who doesn't? — then you'll be thrilled to see him in his "new wave" incarnation. Luc "Fifth Element" Besson did a movie back in the 1980s called Subway, about futuristic hipsters living in (yes) the Paris subway. Basically it's a bunch of cute people in weird clothes talking in French and not having sword fights. Though this clip is hilariously dubbed into English, the hilarity is already in full effect as "Fred" (new wave Highlander) meets subway denizens "Big Bill" and rollerskating dude. Basically the entire point of this scene is to watch a man break handcuffs with his bare fists. Which is pretty much of the same awesomeness level as Highlander's perfect new wave puff of bleached blond. [Subway via IMDB]

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<![CDATA[What To Expect From Highlander, Dragonball And Star Trek]]> To create our most concentrated dose of spoilers yet, we've culled through news stories and interviews about Star Trek, Highlander, Descent 2 and Dragonball. We've dug up revealing new images about Fringe, City Of Ember, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Sarah Jane Adventures, Smallville and Heroes. We've pored over Lost set reports from Hawaii. We watched Chuck teasers. We read up on Next Avengers and Star Wars: Clone Wars. We even read a spoilery poem about Transformers: Animated. We scoured the entire Internet, and then squeezed it all down into one little vial of super-strong spoilers. Watch out!

Star Trek:

The J.J. Abrams-helmed Trek reboot will have all the gadgets you'd expect, including communicators, tricorders, warp speed, etc. It sounds like Uhura will still have the little earpiece in her ear, and all of the gadgets will be functional, with well-thought-out user interfaces. [MTV Movies]

Highlander:

UGO gathered some reports on the Highlander remake. Among the news: the film will be more "romantic" and include a subplot about Connor MacLeod falling in love with a mortal woman, and dealing with the fact that she's going to die. And it'll flesh out more of the backstory of the original film. [UGO]

City Of Ember:

Here are some new stills from October's subterranean dystopia film, which looks ridiculously exciting. [Movie Spoilers]

Dragonball:

The Dragonball movie features a character named Emi, who was invented just for the movie. And actor Shavon Kirksey says Emi is the queen of the social scene at her high school, along with best friend ChiChi. They're the "it girls." They only hang out with cool popular kids and jocks, but Emi is secretly smarter than she lets on. [DBtheMovie]

Descent 2:

The Crawlers are more scarred up and "bullish" with more deformities in the second Descent film. And there's a King Crawler, who's giant and scary. [Shocktillyoudrop]

Lost:

Lost has been filming some scenes involving Locke and Richard Alpert. In one scene, Locke and Alpert run across the island, to a rock formation with a square in it, which featured in a previous season. Alpert retrieves a device from somewhere and uses it, along with the rock formation, to find out what year it is. And then Locke and Alpert are being chased by men with guns. In another sequence, Locke is trying to climb a banyan tree, and he's shot in the thigh. These scenes were shot near the crashed Cessna plane we mentioned. [Sawyer840]

Heroes:

And here's a longer version of the promo you've seen a million times before. It includes a few new snippets, including Linderman murmuring about God's plan, and Claire's mom creating a ball of flame. [Heroes Spoilers]

And here's a quick snippet of behind-the-scenes footage of Peter confronting Sylar in his Company cell. [E! Online]

And here are some new posters, which have a common theme of shooting stars or something. (The Hiro poster was snapped by PreppiesOfTheApocalypse, who's been risking a bloody traffic death to take pics of the Heroes posters in L.A.) [PreppiesOfTheApocalypse and Heroes Spoilers and Watching Heroes and MySpace]

Sarah Jane Adventures:

Here's a new behind-the-scenes video and a trailer for the Sarah Jane Adventures season two, plus a new promo image. [Blogtor Who]


Fringe:

How obsessed with J.J. Abrams' Fringe are you? Obsessed enough to watch some "B-roll" of behind the scenes footage from the filming? (B-roll is usually the stuff news programs and featurettes run while someone is talking.) How about watching interviews with the show's cast and producers, where they talk about their creative process? (B-roll is below. Interviews are here.) [Fringe Television]

If you saw a whole bunch of gorgeous Fringe posters, would that make you more obsessed? Actual spoilers you can learn about Fringe from these posters: there are lots of equations, and funny symbols. Someone writes in French. There's an apple with babies inside. Anna Torv's hair is full of math! [Fringe Television again]

Sarah Connor Chronicles:

Some new stills from the second episode of the Terminator spinoff's new season reveal a few spoilers. Summer Glau's Terminator is obviously back on the team by the second episode, and she helps Sarah and Derek break into a power plant. And meanwhile, John has a new friend, who builds him a scary robot. Aww. [SpoilerTV]

Smallville:

Lana's reentry into Clark's life will cause some "heartache" for Lois, says actor Erica Durance. And it'll start the "whole triangle going again" in a way that's hard for her. [TV Guide]

Also, you may have your doubts about the apparently human Doomsday, but it turns out Smallville is going somewhere awesome with it, according to comics writer Geoff Johns, who's writing episode 11. Episode 10 will be a hard act to follow, full of twists and turns. And ep. 11, which introduces a faithful version of the Legion of Superheroes, also includes a classic Legion villain. [ComicBloc]

And here are some new stills from the first two episodes of the season. What is up with those weird jaggedy lines around Black Canary's eye-smudges? Also, is a threat to Metropolis' public transit system a major plot twist? [SpoilerTV-Smallville]

Chuck:

And here are a couple new Chuck teasers:

Star Wars: Clone Wars:

The one-hour premiere of Clone Wars, on Oct. 3, includes two episodes. "Ambush" is the one we mentioned about Yoda going to Toydaria, the fifth planet of the Action Figure system. And then "Rising Malevolence" is about a mysterious Separatist weapon that devastates the clones' fleet. Anakin and Ahsoka rush to save Master Plo Koon and his troopers before it's too late. Plo Kool! [Sci Fi Wire]

Next Avengers:

The direct-to-DVD animated movie is pretty faithful to the Marvel universe, except for a few details. Like, it says Tony Stark created the android Ultron, instead of Hank Pym. [UGO]

Transformers Animated:

There are some spoilers for the 30th episode of the animated Transformers spin-off, and for some reason they take the form of a poem:

Transformers Animated Season 3 rumor
Episode 30
Galvatron Team VS. Rodimus Prime Team
Galvatron very G1 looking ,transform into a jet
Rodimus Prime,Flame chest and pipes arms
Starscream and Megatron found some OmegaSupreme wreckages….
HotShot in Rodimus Prime Team
Female medic in Rodimus Prime Team
Some toad monster thing in Galvatron Team
no pics.

[Transformers Toys]

Additional reporting by Lauren Davis.

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<![CDATA[Who Will Replace The Immortal Highlander?]]> Apparently there can be more than one Highlander — In fact, there can be plenty. In the wake of rumors about the new possible Highlander film over at Summit, we've heard our first casting report for the all-important Connor MacLeod. Who's in the running to don the kilt and sword combo?

JoBlo points to Journeyman star Kevin McKidd as the immortal replacement for the past Christopher Lambert character. At least the Scottish actor won't have to fake the accent. Supposedly McKidd spilled the beans about his name getting tossed around to star in Highlander on an Irish radio show.

I was sad that Journeyman didn't do that well, because I loved McKidd as Lucius Vorenus in Rome, and he's definitely proved that the actor can pull off ancient garb and talk. McKidd would bring a much-needed sense of gritty reality to a Highlander remake. More information on the movie at the link. [JoBlo]

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<![CDATA[There Can Only Be One More, Thanks To Highlander Remake]]> Having conquered the world of science with Iron Man, screenwriters Art Marcum and Matt Holloway are moving into the world of... well, a kind of magic. Apparently feeling so confident that anything else will be easy after managing to make Tony Stark seem cool, the two writers are heading up a Highlander revival. Yes, their new project, announced yesterday, will be a new movie in the franchise about sword-wielding immortals in the city.


The new movie - being put together by Summit Entertainment, who're also working on time-travelling combat movie Arena - isn't going to be a continuation of the storyline that put lie to its own tagline "There can only be one" by running through five movies and a television series (Admittedly, "there can only be six" doesn't sound quite as impressive), but a JJ-Abrams-does-Star Trek-style reboot of the entire franchise, according to a report in the Hollywood Reporter.

No word as yet as to who's going to be considered for the main roles of the beheading-crazy immortals, but personally I'm hoping for a continuation of the international quality of the original that saw a Frenchman play a Scot and a Scot play an Egyptian, all without anyone attempting to change their natural accents. All I'm saying is let's think about Ewan McGregor to play a Russian this time around or something. He'd be perfect; he's got an unfortunate choice of movie roles and even has experience with (light)sabres and ill-chosen returns to once-popular movie franchises.

Summit takes on 'Highlander' redo [Hollywood Reporter]

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<![CDATA[What Franchise Should Joss Whedon Take Over?]]> We're still sad that we'll never get to see Joss Whedon's Wonder Woman movie. After all, he's created some of the most memorable science fiction universes, including the space-western Firefly and his forthcoming programmable-amnesiac show Dollhouse. We'd still like to see Joss put his auteur-mojo to work on someone else's universe. Which longstanding science fiction universe would you most love to see Joss writing, directing and composing the theme song for?

Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.

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