Mark's Sci-Fi / Fantasy Blog

Despite being unable to reconcile having two entirely different heroes, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a visually strong and emotionally striking film that makes the most of its much-touted "darker Narnia."

For my review, click here. For an image gallery of scenes from the film, click here.

There's a slew of video clips for Prince Caspian, posted separately here.

There's a lot of video available for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, including trailers, clips, and interviews:

• The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian
• The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian - [Behind the scenes: Sword Fighting]
• The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian - [Clip: Castle Assault]
• The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian - [Clip: Drop Him!]
• The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian - [Clip: Flight Of The Gryphons]
• The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian - [Clip: You're Not What I Expected]
• The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian - [Interview: Anna Popplewell "On the expanded role for "Susan" in the film"]
• The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian - [Interview: Ben Barnes "On his role"]
• The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian - [Interview: William Moseley "On his character's growth from "The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe" to this film"]
• The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian - [Trailer 3]

Four of our series — Smallville, Supernatural, Moonlight, and Reaper — are airing their season finales in the next week, all but closing out a strange, frustrating, but ultimately encouraging 2007-08 season. Don’t miss these final episodes, which are likely to set up some serious jonesing for shows that won't return until the fall (or, in one case, ever).

The real bad news, though, is that after these four shows close for the season, the only ongoing sci-fi series showing new episodes will be Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who.

Details on the finales are below (may contain spoilers).
Read more...

Reaper, a good show that's always been the recipient of strong buzz and a forgiving attitude by its network, The CW, has been renewed for a second season – kind of.

Reaper will return next year as a 13-episode midseason replacement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Renewing Reaper was a nail-biter; anxious fans even launched a campaign to save the series by sending socks to the network, playing off the character of "Sock" (Tyler Labine).

The network attitude has been positive, but less-than-stellar viewing figures have regularly placed the show in jeopardy (recent episodes have pulled about a 1.1 rating). CW executives are fond of Reaper by all accounts. More than that, the CW is facing a recurring problem: scheduling. It's teen dramas like Gossip Girls don't play well with its fantasy hits Supernatural and Smallville; the network needs a suitable Thursday night partner for Supernatural (instead of replacing it, thankfully), especially if Smallville's eighth season is, as seems likely, its last. Reaper ratings also often climb a higher percentage than any other series when DVR use is factored in.

The improving focus of the show itself is probably the most important factor. Unlike Moonlight, which was canceled this week because the post-strike shows were both low-rated and uninspired (Mick facing off against tabloid shutterbugs? Really?), Reaper has developed and mined an ongoing storyline for both jokes and drama. Of course, it's hard to see how Sam could really be... But the point is that Reaper is a fighter, making the most of its opportunity and goodwill; and it's sharp enough to be worth watching.

In any event, the network's long-term considerations about Reaper as a partner for Supernatural post-Smallville strongly suggest that Reaper is expected to have a future after is half-sized second season, especially if it can get its ratings off the ground.

After the unpleasant losses of Journeyman and Jericho earlier in the season, the list of the fallen grew this week as the networks announced their plans for next season.

Neither Moonlight nor New Amsterdam will be returning in the fall, indicating that the "immortal detectives seeking love" trend noted last year was a very 2007 thing.

The news will of course upset to the very passionate contingent of Moonlight fans, who have organized a nationwide blood drive to rally viewer support for a renewal. To be honest I'm more upset about New Amsterdam. Moonlight had considerable appeal but was largely uneven, and especially early on was hamstrung by some very conventional P.I. plots. Alex O'Loughlin got the job done but never arrested me as the star of a drama, and Sophia Myles, whose been excellent elsewhere (including Doctor Who), was unable to raise her character above the banal but inevitable tension over whether and when she'll fall for Mick. On the plus side, Myles and O'Loughlin did have chemistry together, and with a new direction something could have been made of this; but the show failed to prove itself despite a rare second chance after the writers' strike.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, CBS was annoyed that Moonlight was failing to hold its (not huge in itself) Ghost Whisperer lead-in; rating dropped after Moonlight came back from the writers' strike, and that was a key test. Last Friday's episode garnered a 2.0 rating among adults 18 to 49. It could have been so much show, but in the behind-the-scenes turmoil that saw several key positions change hands (not to mention the pilot being rewritten and recast right before airing), Moonlight got jumbled and missed out on having the vision and focus it could have had.

But canceling New Amsterdam is an absolute crime. New Amsterdam had great potential to use its leisurely pace to develop its more complex characters, particularly John (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Omar (Stephen Henderson). Coster-Waldau is a striking series lead, able to convey geniality and the the discomfort and frustration that comes from pursuing a 400-year quest. New Amsterdam took the most welcome risk of establishing John as a deeply flawed character, having succumbed in the past to the temptations of immortality; even his present-day persona is still recovering from his sins and is driven partly by a need to compensate for them.

The show's main potential weakness was insisting on pairing every present-day case with a crisis in John's past life; that could eventually get old and formulaic (we should only see key crises in John's past life that inform the present); but no doubt the writers would have realized this as the show evolved.

New Amsterdam is a show that, like its central character, deserves to survive and find both love and redemption.

Missing Torchwood? Good news. The Doctor Who spin-off has joined the ranks of sci-fi / fantasy shows available in the U.S. on iTunes. And it's already doing well, dominating the downloads for sci-fi / fantasy and jumping into the top ten for TV shows overall – led by the season 1 premiere, "Everything Changes."

BBC America programming, including Torchwood, Robin Hood, Little Britain, and other BBC hits are now available for purchase and download on Apple's music and video service. It's the first time BBC material has been in the iTunes store in America – in fact, it's the first time for any U.K. broadcaster.

The BBC, which has existing deals with YouTube and MySpace and was the first UK broadcaster to offer shows on iTunes in the UK, now offers its programming in the U.S. for $1.99 per episode to watch on computers, video iPods and iPhones, and Apple TV.

For a direct link to the iTunes store (if you have iTunes on your computer), click for season 1 or season 2.

For those of you who don't already know, there's an extra scene all the way at the end of the closing credits of Iron Man. If you're stoked about the passing references to S.H.I.E.L.D. in the film, you need to see this scene.

For more, see my review and image gallery. For trailers, clips, and other video, see this post.

As was expected, Ian McKellen has agreed to be a part of the two-film Hobbit project, according to Empire magazine.

McKellen had said last year that he would not be involved in The Hobbit if Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson were excluded, which was possible because of since-resolved royalties disputes with New Line Cinema. Jackson will produce the two films being adapted from and adding to J.R.R. Tolkien's original novel, The Hobbit, Or There and Back Again (1937), slated for 2010 and 2011.

The second film will advance the story beyond the ending of the book, filling in gaps between the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and those of his heir, Frodo, as recounted in The Lord of the Rings. How exactly that will fall out and what material will be used in which film has yet to be decided.

This follows confirmation last week of a long-bruited rumor that Guillermo del Toro, currently polishing Hellboy 2, will direct the films.

"Yes, it's true," McKellen told the magazine. "I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role."

"It's not a part that you turn down. I loved playing Gandalf," he added.

Superhero movies lately have been either oppressively serious or brainlessly banal. But Iron Man is a film that's not just a blast to drive, but it's got something going on under the hood. While it's far from perfect, a combination of sharp writing, an even sharper performance by Robert Downey Jr., and excellent but unintrusive effects make Iron Man one of the best and most enjoyable superhero movies in years.

For more, read my review and the image gallery.

Then check out all the video. Here's links to trailers, clips, and behind the scenes video for Iron Man:

• 'Iron Man' Trailer
• Iron Man - [Behind the Scenes: Good Luck Keeping Up]
• Iron Man - [Behind the Scenes: Putting on the Iron Man suit]
• Iron Man - [Soundbites: Jon Favreau "On working with Robert Downey, Jr."]
• Iron Man - [Soundbites: Robert Downey, Jr."On the learning curve aspect"]
• Iron Man - [Soundbites: Gwyneth Paltrow "On her character, "Pepper Potts"]
• Iron Man - [Clip: Deploy Flaps]
• Iron Man - [Clip: Make Baby Bottles?]
• Iron Man - [Clip: Out of breath]
• Iron Man - [Clip: Interview]
• Iron Man - [Clip: Pepper's Birthday Gift]
• Iron Man - [Clip: "Let's See What This Thing Can Do"]

This is a big month for sci-fi and fantasy films, with four much-talked-about big-budget features scheduled for May release.

As a close follower of comic book adaptations I'm really looking forward to seeing how this weekend's Iron Man turns out. Robert Downey Jr. as the lead may not say "superhero" to you, but his ability to effortlessly convey intelligence and wit looks perfect for Tony Stark, who like the actor is smart, damaged, and abrasive.

Down the road is Prince Caspian (May 16), taking us to a darker Narnia, and the long-awaited fourth Indiana Jones adventure (May 22). It's going to be especially tough waiting for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – I can already hear the Indy theme music.

In addition to the overview, check out these trailers and clips:

• Iron Man Trailer
• Iron Man Clip
• Speed Racer Trailer
• Prince Caspian Trailer
• Indiana Jones Trailer