Mark Gatiss Confirmed Writer For Dr Who Series 7

According to a Doctor Who Magazine Mark Gatiss has been confirmed as a writer for the next series of Doctor Who.  In fact he confirmed it himself when he filled in for Steven Moffat this month in Production Notes.   He also gave us three hints about his story and they are Meat, Klaxon, and Vienna.  He joins Steven Moffat, obviously, and John Fay as the only confirmed writers for series 7.

Tom Bakers Big Finish Dr Who Adventures Released

For fans of the 4th Doctor will be happy to learn that he has finally arrived in a Big Finish Audio Adventure.  The first of Tom Bakers stories have been released in the story Destination: Nerva.  Also available is a box set of Lost Stories.  A six disk collection that has two stories The Foe From The Future and The Valley of Death.  Tom Baker will be accompanied by Louise Jameson who played Leela in the classic series.   Should be good to hear The Doctor and Leela back together again so search them out and give them a listen.

New Hobbit Photo With Bilbo and Sting (Not The Rock Star)

Here is a cool photo of Bilbo with his sword Sting.  Can't wait for December to see this movie.

Sherlock Series 3 Confirmed

For those of you that are worrying about Sherlock Series 3 not happening you can rest easy.  Last night after the airing The Reichenbach Fall Steven Moffat was on Twitter and tweeted this great piece of news.

@steven_moffat: #sherlock Yes of course there's going to be a third series - it was commissioned at the same time as the second. Gotcha!"

So there will be a third series and the world of Sherlock fandom can breath easier now.  So bring on the adaptation of The Empty House (die hard fans will know what I mean).

Check Out Pioneer One

Here is something worth checking out.  An independant series about the return of a lone Soviet survivor from a mission to Mars.  Of course this ignites cold war tensions and such plus a lot more.  What is cool about this scifi series is that it is shown on exclusively on the internet.  Another thing that is neat about it is that they get their funding by fans who donate money to them if they like what they see.  For more info about Pioneer One check out their site.  Plus you can also meet them at this years ICON convention.

http://www.pioneerone.tv/

http://www.iconsf.org/

My Top 25 Sci-Fi Movies of all Time - #24

My Top 25 Sci-Fi Movies of all Time - #24

by Ken Parker

This could be a controversial pick or perhaps more accurately, a controversial omission. The following film is often placed in the horror category but because of the amount of sci-fi elements, I felt it belonged here.

Before I continue I want to mention something about my estimates on how many times I have seen a movie. First off, the number of times someone has seen a film doesn't dictate how much they may like a it. Sometimes one may be content in only seeing the movie a few times or even once. People generally do see a movie more often when they like it but that is not always the case. Concerning my amounts – to the best of my knowledge they are rough estimates that are relatively close but you may notice the numbers may be low compared to other people who claim to have seen certain movies hundreds of times. My estimates are based on the number of years the film has been out and how familiar I am with the movie. Some movies I see every couple of years while others rarely. These numbers are watching the movie completely and not just watching a few minutes here and there. Oh, and very few of these have I seen in the theater, most have been on TV.

Now for #24

Is Sophia Myles The New Companion?????

Well she could be. Since this is the time of speculation and another of Steven Moffat's cryptic tweets she just very might will be.  Steven Moffat mentioned the former Spooks, Underworld, and Doctor Who guest star in one of his tweets this week saying

Right EVERYBODY who follows me, go and follow @SophiaMyles - spin that fireplace. NOW. I'll explain later. Or not.
Of course @SophiaMyles = Madame De Pompadour from Who, and IS Lady Penelope from Thunderbirds.

Well this is idle speculation and could mean nothing.  In fact it could not even be Doctor Who related but for another project that Steven Moffat could be working on.  In any sense this is pretty exciting times trying to guess who might be joining Matt Smith for his travels in the TARDIS.

Finally A Cool Idea From Marvel. Marvel To Release Captain America and Hawkeye As The Beginning Of A New Team Up Book!!!

Finally something that I can get excited about from Marvel Comics.  They are doing a monthly ongoing pairing Captain America with Hawkeye. CBR has the full story and is reporting that this book will continue with the numbering of Captain America and Bucky when the Bucky storyline finishes up.  This is pretty cool as these two characters are a couple of my favorite Marvel characters.  The book will be written by Cully Bunn and the artist will be Alessandro Vitti.  The Hawkeye arc will begin in April and when that finishes up someone else will team with Captain America. So in essence it will be a Captain America Team Up Book.  Full story here.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36364

DCnU 52 Cancels 6 and Adds 6 New Titles

Cover for Dial H one of the new titles

The first casualties of the new DCnU New 52 relaunch have been revealed and they are Blackhawks, Hawk and Dove, Men of War, Mister Terrific, O.M.A.C. and Static Shock.  They will be replaced by six new titles and two of them are not really a big surprise as they have been rumored for months.  The new titles arriving in May are:

BATMAN INCORPORATED – Writer: Grant Morrison. Artist: Chris Burnham. The acclaimed ongoing writer of ACTION COMICS, Grant Morrison, presents a fresh take on BATMAN INCORPORATED, in which the Batman brand is franchised globally in preparation for a major international threat

EARTH 2 – Writer: James Robinson. Artist: Nicola Scott. The greatest heroes on a parallel Earth, the Justice Society combats threats that will set them on a collision course with other worlds.

WORLDS’ FINEST – Writer: Paul Levitz. Artists: George Perez and Kevin Maguire. Stranded on our world from a parallel reality, Huntress and Power Girl struggle to find their way back to Earth 2. Perez and Maguire will be the artists on alternating story arcs.

DIAL H – Writer: China Miéville. Artist: Mateus Santoluoco. The first ongoing series from acclaimed novelist China Miéville, this is a bold new take on a cult classic concept about the psychological effects on an everyman who accidentally gains powers to become a hero.

G.I. COMBAT – Writer: J.T. Krul. Artist: Ariel Olivetti. Featuring the return of a classic DC Comics series, THE WAR THAT TIME FORGOT, along with rotating back-up stories and creative teams – including THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER, with writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti and artist Dan Panosian; and THE HAUNTED TANK, with writer John Arcudi and artist Scott Kolins.

THE RAVAGERS – Writer: Howard Mackie. Artist: Ian Churchill. Spinning off from TEEN TITANS and SUPERBOY, this series finds four superpowered teens on the run and fighting against the organization that wants to turn them into supervillains.

I'm looking forward to a couple of the titles but some of them I don't have an interest in.  I will miss Blackhawks and Hawk and Dove as I was enjoying those books.  I guess I was the only one enjoying them as they got shoved to the scrap heap.  You can read the full DC Comics press release here.

http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2012/01/12/dc-comics-in-2012-%e2%80%93-introducing-the-%e2%80%9csecond-wave%e2%80%9d-of-dc-comics-the-new-52/

Sherlock Series 3 "If He Survives." Says Steven Moffat

Hoping for Sherlock Series 3.  I am.  But it all depends on what happens Sunday Night in The Reichenbach Fall.  For those not familiar with the story The Final Problem for which The Reichenbach Fall is based on then (Spoilers after the jump )

Dr Who Invasion of the Dinosaurs and The Android Invasion Out Now In North America

Two new Doctor Who stories get the DVD treatment this month.  We have the Jon Pertwee story The Invasion of the Dinosaurs which is haunted by bad dinosaur images but is a decent story. Then we have the classic Tom Baker story The Android Invasion which co stars the great Elizabeth Sladen.

Two Covers For Doctor Who Magazine 443

Doctor Who Magazine 443 has two covers for you to choose from this month.  So decisions decisions. Or you can buy both.

Sherlock "The Hounds of Baskerville" Review (Spoilers)

Sherlock
The Hounds of Baskerville
By Mark Gatiss

"Mr Holmes they were the footprints of a gigantic hound."

When Sherlock Holmes is mentioned a few things come to mind.  Like Dr. Watson, World Famous Detective, Prof. Moriarty and of course The Hound of the Baskervilles. Well now the brilliant updated Sherlock tackles what is probably the most read and adapted for TV or Movies.  Since the Hound of the Baskervilles is the most famous Sherlock Holmes story does this new updated version cut the mustard per say?

Possible Classic Dr Who Villian Returning???

It is possible that two classic villians could be returning to Dr Who in series 7.  Marcus Wilson has been quoted in Dr Who Magazine about this and if it turns out to be true it would be pretty cool news.  I'm willing to bet that one of the classic villians returning will be the Daleks but it is being rumored that the Yeti will be making a return.  The Yeti are robotic creatures controlled by the Great Intelligence.  They were mainly a Second Doctor Villian and footage of them survive in a few episodes.  If true it would be pretty cool to see the Yeti get a modern day makeover.

My Top 25 Sci-Fi Movies of all Time – #25

My Top 25 Sci-Fi Movies of all Time

by Ken Parker

If anyone followed my top Sci-Fi TV series of each decade article series, you may know that I put perhaps too much thought into coming up with these lists and like television, these rankings change constantly depending on how I am feeling at the time.

I elected to go after Sci-Fi movies only and not include Fantasy only because Fantasy opens so many avenues including most super hero movies and so forth. Obviously some of the movies listed here can be considered Fantasy but my goal is to keep movies that at least have some basis in science. The Lord of the Rings films, for example would dominate my Fantasy list and are not included here.

In judging this list I factored in the importance of the film in both film history as well as my own experience and perceptions. Star Wars had a huge influence on me and my interests and so I kept this in mind. There are probably a few films that you won't see on too many people's lists but for the most part these are very classic choices common on many lists.

Later I will also have some honorable mentions and discuss why some films are not on this list. Feel free to provide feedback and feel free to include more than “That movie sucks.”

Now for #25...