In 2015 Cartoon Network Games and developer Grumpyface Studios released Steven Universe: Attack the Light, one of the best mobile role-playing games ever. This summer they’re back and on game consoles with Steven Universe: Save the Light.
Cartoon Network Games has produced some very good mobile games and some not-so-great console games. Getting Attack the Light, Teeny Titans and Powerpuff Girls: Flipped Out developer Grumpyface to start making console titles sounds like an excellent solution.
Steven Universe: Save the Light is a sequel to the hit 2015 turn-based mobile RPG Attack the Light. The first game saw Steven acting as a cheerleader of sort for his three core gem companions, Amethyst, Pearl and Garnet. Steven would dole out power-ups, items and buffs while the girls attacked enemies directly, using a timing mechanic to block incoming attacks.
Judging by the first three screens from Save the Light, Steven plays a more active role this time around, and the Crystal Gems will be joined by supporting characters like Greg Universe and Connie. Series creator Rebecca Sugar contributed to an original story for the game.
Steven Universe: Save the Light’s gameplay debut will take place this weekend at PAX East. It’s sharing a Cartoon Network Games panel on Saturday with OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes, a console game based on the upcoming show, featuring the work of artist Ian Jones-Quartey and developed by Capybara Games of Super Time Force and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP fame.
Disney is also making a live-action version of The Little Mermaid, but this one comes from Conglomerate Media and Kingsway Productions and is, somehow, even less like the Hans Christian Andersen tale than the Disney one.
This trailer premiered on Deadline, and I don’t even know what’s happening here. There are British people in Mississippi and a mermaid in a tank and a creepy child whom I think I’m supposed to find darling but makes me want to die a little. And there appears to be a Princess Bride-style framing device where Shirley MacLaine (who is either the little girl grown-up or the mermaid) tells this bad story years later.
I guess the girl and the blandest-faced Brit I have ever seen go to Mississippi to find out if there is a real “little mermaid,” and there is, and adventure follows.
I have honestly never wanted to see anything less and been more sure someone is going to make me watch it while laughing at my reactions. There’s no date for this yet, but we’re supposed to expect it some time later this year.
During the International Women’s Day strike, Margaret Atwood was working hard to share her thoughts about feminism.
To promote Hulu’s imminent release of The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood participated in a Reddit AMA on Wednesday that was sprinkled with some very funny and scary observations about feminism and our current descent into dystopia. The good news is, she doesn’t seem to have given up hope—though she does recommend women take self defense classes. In response to a question about feminism has changed since she was a young woman, Atwood self-deprecatingly wrote:
I am so shrieking old that my formative years (the ‘40s and ‘50s) took place before 2nd wave late-’60s feminist/women’s movement. But since I grew up largely in the backwoods and had strong female relatives and parents who read a lot and never told me I couldn’t do such and such because of being a girl, I avoided the agit-prop of the ‘50s that said women should be in bungalows with washing machines to make room for men coming back from the war. So I was always just very puzzled by some of the stuff said and done by/around women. I was probably a danger to myself and others!
She adds that we are now “seeing a lot of pushback against women, and also a lot of women pushing back in their turn” and is especially shocked by the war on women’s health. “Childbirth care, pre-natal care, early childhood care—many people will not even be able to afford any of it,” Atwood wrote. “Dead bodies on the floor will result. It is frightful. Then there is the whole issue of sexual violence being used as control—it is such an old motif.”
She recommended young women take Wen-Do, saying she experimented with Judo during the days of the Boston Strangler, though she said the self-defense they taught women was too “lady-like” at the time. While doing her AMA, photos from Atwood’s collection were being shared on the TV series’ Instagram account, like this one of her beginning to work on a novel that would become required high school reading (and possibly the future):
When asked, “How does it feel knowing America is basically on the road to becoming Gilead?” Atwood responded with something a bit more hopeful than you might expect.
“I cannot tell you how strange this feels. I wrote the book hoping to fend it off, and I believe it will be fended off: America is very diverse, a lot of people have been jolted out of political slumber and are paying attention, and the Constitution still stands,” she said.
“Support your leaders who are standing against unconstitutional laws,” Atwood continued. “Keep informed, as best as possible. Everything is ‘as best as possible’ right now.”
Lightspeed, the short story publication that’s featured works from the likes of George R.R. Martin and Octavia E. Butler, knows how addicted we are to new and interesting science fiction and fantasy. So, they’re offering free three-month subscriptions for fans, which is pretty damn cool.
The online publication has always been a great place to discover what’s new and interesting in scifi and fantasy, hence why io9 has featured monthly stories from the magazine on our site. Lightspeed prioritizes new and unique works, and often works to promote writers from underrepresented groups, like women, queer creators, and people of color.
Right now, Lightspeed has two finalists for this year’s Nebula Awards (“Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea” by Sarah Pinsker and “Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station│Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0” by Caroline M. Yoachim).
Lightspeed is always free to read online, but it also offers ebook subscriptions. They normally cost about $3 per month, but Lightspeed is offering one free for the first three months. Plus, anyone who’s a current subscriber will get an extra three months if they sign up too. Time to get reading.
Charles Roven says the DCEU will lean on flashbacks and flashfowards in future films. Oliver dons his original costume for some reason in new Arrow photos. Get another look at the Predator cast. Plus, mysterious casting for Preacher season two, and one final look at the last episode of The Vampire Diaries. The spoilers, they’re calling to you!
Danny Devito is in talks to play the circus owner, Medici, whose business is taken over by the film’s villain, a richer and more corrupt circus owner named Vandemere. [Deadline]
Aladdin
A casting call for Aladdin and Jasmine has been released for Guy Ritchie’s live-action adaptation—calling for Middle Eastern-descent actors who can sing and dance.
James Bond 25
According to the Daily Mail’s Baz Bamigboye, longtime franchise writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have once again been hired to write the script.—which isn’t too surprising, as Bond 25 will be their seventh script in a row since The World is Not Enough.
Jason Bourne
Matt Damon told the Toronto Sun, “it would have to be a pretty incredible story to get us all back on the horse” when it comes to another entry in the franchise:
This last one didn’t do as well as the one we did 10 years ago, so maybe people are done with the character. Look we all love working together and those movies are a lot of fun to make so we sure would be happy to do it. If we can figure out a good story.
Justice League
Producer Charles Roven says the DCEU will rely heavily on flashbacks and flash-forwards to feel earned, going forward.
For example, the Justice League movie will take place in a universe that’s post-Batman v Superman, just like Batman v Superman takes place in a universe that’s post-Man of Steel. When we’re dealing with either The Flash or Aquaman, since they will take place in a universe that has happened after Justice League, the characters and the world will be informed by the movies that preceded them, except that there’s flashbacks or whatever within those particular movies, [and] flashforwards within those particular movies.
When we talk about who Arthur Curry is, and we talk about the universe when that movie starts in terms of him and where he is, obviously Atlantis exists and has existed before the timeline of his movie, but both [Justice League director] Zack [Snyder] and [Aquaman director] James [Wan] collaborate on what the look of both movies will be.
A new Walter-centric TV spot asks, “How dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge?” Given the events of Prometheus, I would suspect the answer is “very.”
The Predator
A new cast photo gives us our first look at the film’s team of “stone killers,” and a first look at Alfie Allen’s character. [Coming Soon]
Preacher
Noah Taylor, Pip Torrens, and Julie Ann Emery have been cast in undisclosed roles, but will become series regulars in season two. Malcolm Barrett, Ronald Guttman, and Justin Prentice are set for currently undisclosed but recurring roles as well. [Deadline]
Powerless
Powerless is on the bubble, according to NBC Entertainment’s Jennifer Salke at a recent INTV conference:
[Powerless] did not open to the most exciting numbers which was OK because we thought it would be viewed by a digital audience really strongly. We’re still looking at it. I just wish it was performing better, but we haven’t made decisions. We’re going to continue to air it and we’re behind it.
The Flash/Supergirl
Entertainment Weekly has some incredible details on the musical crossover, “Duet”—mainly, what songs we can expect to see in the episode. Firstly, Melissa Benoist will perform a solo rendition of Moon River, while Jeremy Jordan, Carlos Valdes, and John Barrowman will perform a cover of Jackie DeShannon’s Put a Little Love in Your Heart with choreography from Glee’s Zachary Woodlee.
While the episode is mostly comprised of cover songs, two original numbers have been written—the previously reported Running Home to You, to beperformed by Grant Gustin, and a tap dance duet called Super Friends, written by Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s Rachel Bloom.
Once Upon a Time
Regina’s evil doppelganger is set for a massive comeback, according to actress Lana Parilla:
Right now she’s a snake, but she’s not a snake for long. She comes back, and Episode 14 (airing March 26) is a big Evil Queen/Regina episode. There’s a big standoff between them, and there are a lot of words exchanged. A lot of words are exchanged! It was quite challenging, and also a lot of fun.
According to TV Guide, the love triangle between Peyton, Ravi, and Blaine will not be permanently resolved this season—but instead, because it’s a television show on The CW, there will be drama, because “One of them does something so shocking that [Peyton] may never be able to look at him the same way again.”
Arrow
Pictures from the seemingly flashback-heavy “Kapiushon” have been released, and—oh god, no, sorry. I can’t carry on. Look how pointy his hood looks. Head on over to the link to see more. [Coming Soon]
The Vampire Diaries
Finally, here’s an extended trailer for the series finale, “I Was Feeling Epic.”
Additional reporting by Gordon Jackson. Banner art by Jim Cooke.
The original Ghost in the Shell voice actors will be once again reprising their roles in the upcoming Hollywood film’s Japanese language dub.
According to Natalie, Akio Otsuka will be voicing Batou as did in the 1995 Ghost in the Shell anime feature, its 2004 sequel Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence and Stand Alone complex. (Otsuka has also been the Japanese voice of Metal Gear’s Snake.)
Likewise, Koichi Yamadera will be returning as the voice of Togusa, while Atsuko Tanaka will voice Scarlett Johansson’s character.
Tanaka, of course, voiced Motoko Kusanagi in the 1995 anime feature as well as through Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Since Johansson’s character is apparently named “Mira,” Tanaka’s performance might cause confusion? Maybe not.
“It’s been a while since they’ve played these characters,” says Mamoru Oshii, director of the 1995 anime film. “I definitely want them to deliver performances they see fit. They’re all pros, so there’s nothing to worry about, and I can only say that this is something to look forward to.”
Movies get both dubbed and subtitled releases in Japan. But in the past few years, Japanese moviegoers have been increasingly complaining about the folks movie studios have brought in for dubs. Instead of hiring proper voice actors and actresses, distributors have brought in whichever celebrity is currently popular.
Because of this, the Japanese dub releases of some movies have suffered (The Avengers, for example), which is explains why Oshii says there is nothing to worry about and mentions how Otsuka, Yamadera, and Tanaka are all pros. That they are.
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
When Steve Rogers makes his allegiance to Hydra public at the start of Secret Empire, the superhero community is naturally going to be pretty shocked. But before he can enact his crazy plan to rule the Earth, Natasha Romanov is going to try and stop him, and she’s recruiting a few friends to help her resistance.
Revealed by Comic Book Resources this morning, Natasha’s plight to stop Steve and the rise of Hydra will unfold in a special one-shot comic from Derek Landy and J. Cassara, Secret Empire: Uprising. But not even the best superspy in the Marvel Universe can bring down Hydra on her own, so Widow will recruit Riri Williams, the Invincible Ironheart,; Nadia Pym, the Unstoppable Wasp; Joaquin Torres, the latest Falcon,; and a few members of the Champions—Miles Morales, Amadeus Cho, and Viv Vision—to her cause.
It’s pretty much Marvel’s youngest and brightest taking on the original Captain America... with a little help in subterfuge training from Natasha. That sounds pretty damn fantastic, if you ask me. Uprising will drop in June, to coincide with events in the third issue of Secret Empire’s ongoing saga.
One of the things we know about Alien: Covenant is that Michael Fassbender is pulling double-duty in it. He’ll be playing David, the android from the last film, and Walter, another android from the same assembly line... or so we thought. The latest, utterly bizarre Alien: Covenant promojust ruined a bit of that theory.
The David from Prometheus is technically a David from the David 8 line, a series of androids given the name that Sir Peter Weyland (or, as we all remember him better, Guy Pearce in bad old man make-up) originally wanted to give his real, flesh and blood son. The video Fox put out last night is a fake (obviously) ad for the new Walter line of androids, who are apparently hand-assembled by very strange women in very creepy masks:
It’s interesting that Weyland-Yutani is somehow using the same body and face model for their androids, but that this isn’t the David 10 series or whatever. I mean, for the sake of the movie, it’s to distinguish them. But it actually would be more logical for the androids to all have the same base unit name. However, part of David’s deal in Prometheus was that he had a special, separate set of instructions from Sir Peter that warranted having his son’s name. I wonder what Walter’s name means (if anything).
The end of the video—which includes the making of Walter in a way that is both very-Westworld and not as stylish as that show does it—directs you to meetwalter.com, where you can learn all about Walter’s features. There are things like “let him observe, analyze, and predict so you can avoid trouble before it starts” and him having “no emotional needs, but he’s been engineered to perceive a full spectrum of feelings.” Most unsettlingly, given the old David’s special programming that his crew didn’t know about, is the information that Walter is run on “automatic updates” and is a “hassle-free” companion. I sincerely doubt the crew of the Covenant is going to find that to be true.
If there isn’t a part of this film where David pretends to be Walter or vice versa, I will eat my hat. Alien: Covenant comes out May 19.
Nobody ever said finding a home for an arc full of cryo-frozen people was going to be easy, right?
A new clip teases out more of the stakes that will propel the next installment of Bioware’s space action RPG series. Judging by those tanks at o:56, it seems like some of the bad guys might be undertaking some sort of specimen collection for different races. A ship crammed with mint-condition humans could be a tempting target if that was your fetish. We’ll learn more about it all when Mass Effect: Andromeda hits in two weeks.
James Cameron’s Avatar, the highest grossing film of all time, opened in 2009. Its first sequel was originally scheduled to be released five years later, but Cameron has never been one to rush. So 2014 became 2015, then 2016, 2017, and most recently 2018. Well, like clockwork, it now seems the four Avatar sequels will be delayed for a fifth time.
Speaking to The Toronto Star, Cameron said the following when asked if 2018 was still the target for the release of Avatar 2:
Well, 2018 is not happening. We haven’t announced a firm release date. What people have to understand is that this is a cadence of releases. So we’re not making Avatar 2. We’re making Avatar 2, 3, 4 and 5. It’s an epic undertaking. It’s not unlike building the Three Gorges dam. (Laughs) So I know where I’m going to be for the next eight years of my life. It’s not an unreasonable time frame if you think about it. It took us four-and-a-half years to make one movie and now we’re making four. We’re full tilt boogie right now. This is my day job and pretty soon we’ll be 24-7. We’re pretty well designed on all our creatures and sets. It’s pretty exciting stuff. I wish I could share with the world. But we have to preserve a certain amount of showmanship and we’re going to draw that curtain when the time is right.
We’ve contacted 20th Century Fox for comment or clarification and will update if we get a response.
Cameron’s math kind of makes sense. If it took them four and a half years to make one movie, it would take 18 years to make four, and it’s only been eight years. Plus, Cameron then says it’s going to take him eight years to finish the four films so that puts us at 16. By my calculations, that suggests we won’t get Avatar 2 until 2020.
There’s one problem with that, however. I totally get, respect, and frankly admire the necessity to have all the scripts up to Cameron’s high standards before shooting. This is a huge undertaking: four movies shot at the same time that’ll probably end up costing a billion dollars. Those stories better be really good. Still, the four and a half years on the first movie was largely technological development. Performance capture, virtual cameras, all of that. Without that obstacle this time (at least that we know of), it really does feel frustrating for these films to be delayed yet again.
And yet, the first Avatar and Titanic were both delayed and scrutinized—and those turned out pretty well for everyone involved. It’s hard not to trust Cameron, except when he gives you a release date.
Plus, if you want to know how the sequels ends, you can always go to Disney World.
The Avatar sequels were originally set for release Christmas 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2023. There are a few years to be skipped in there so, maybe, you can lock part five in for 2023.
Get ready for your collective nostalgia monocles to pop, because the soundtrack for the new Beauty and the Beast is finally here.
Disney has released the full soundtrack on YouTube and Spotify, giving us a peek at how the live-action reboot has interpreted the iconic music of the original film. There are some definite stand-out performances. “Belle” is big and fun, “The Mob Song” really conveys Gaston’s menace, and “Gaston” is set to be one of the movie’s crowning moments, with some bright and engaging performances. Honestly, any song with Luke Evans is immediately improved by his presence. There’s also a new song by Céline Dion called “How Does A Moment Last Forever.” It’s great, of course, because Céline is great.
That said, I personally have my reservations, and not just because of my own nostalgia monocle (Belle is my princess). Emma Watson, while an okay singer, sounds a bit disconnected from the heart and spirit of the songs. It sounds more like she’s singing in church than whole-heartedly belting on a mountaintop about her hopes and dreams. Plus, Emma Thompson’s accent sounds really weird (and Ewan McGregor’s doesn’t sound weird enough!)
Of course, as Belle herself has taught us many times, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Any musical soundtrack is going to suffer from lack of visuals, so I’m going to wait and see (and listen) for myself when Beauty and the Beast comes out March 17. In the meantime, take an audible gander for yourself. “Gaston” has a pretty hilarious line from LeFou about his reading comprehension skills.
Do you have 17 entire days worth of free time on your hands? Well boy howdy, do I have a binge-watching suggestion for you.
Livestreaming service Twitch has just announced that, to celebrate the impending release of the Power Rangers movie, it’ll be streaming all 23 complete seasons of the show, from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers to Power Rangers Dino Supercharge. That’s 831 episodes of giant robots and even giant-er pyrotechnics going off at an alarming rate. The stream will start at 11am PDT March 14 on the Twitch Presents channel, before coming to an end some time on March 30.
God bless anyone who tries to stick through the whole thing without going insane, but next week we’ll be bringing you a guide of the episodes you should keep an eye out for, should you just want to dip in here and there over the whole thing. Because io9's nice like that!
In 2015, Matt Damon reprised his role of “confused Boston actor” in the sci-fi filmThe Martian. The We Bought a Zoo star was able to survive for months on the Red Planet thanks to his ingenious decision to grow potatoes for food. Now, a NASA-backed project wants to see if Matt Damon’s potato scheme could actually work on Mars. And the early results are promising.
In February 2016, the International Potato Center (CIP)—which is a real place—began its second phase of a project to grow potatoes using the driest soils from the Peruvian desert. The team surmised that if the project was successful, the findings could help astronauts master the art of growing potatoes on Mars. After all, the soil used was imported back to the CIP’s lab in Lima, Peru precisely for its Mars-like aridity and high salt content. The project was aptly named “Potatoes on Mars.”
Now, the CIP has released video footage showing that the team has indeed grown potatoes using this Mars-like soil. By planting a tuber in a CubeSat designed by engineers from University of Engineering and Technology (UTEC) in Lima, the team was able to create a hermetically sealed environment for the potatoes to grow in—and they did.
“Growing crops under Mars-like conditions is an important phase of this experiment,” Julio Valdivia-Silva, a research associate with the SETI Institute involved with the project, said in a statement. “If the crops can tolerate the extreme conditions that we are exposing them to in our CubeSat, they have a good chance to grow on Mars. We will do several rounds of experiments to find out which potato varieties do best.”
It’s important to note that the experiment spiked the dry desert soil with fertilized soil, similar to how Matt Damon used his own shit to add nutrients to his Martian soil. The experiment claims to have emulated Mars’s atmosphere, by creating a low pressure environment with high CO2 levels within the CubeSat. That said, the actual air pressure on Mars is roughly 0.6% that found at mean sea level on Earth, and it’s hard to imagine plants evolved to our atmospheric pressure growing under such conditions. Obviously, the experiment did not try to simulate Mars’ surface temperatures. Gizmodo has reached out to the International Potato Center for more information on growing conditions inside the simulated Mars environment, and we will update this post if and when we hear back.
Whether or not the experiment was truly able to replicate farming conditions on Mars, these results are certainly exciting. Potatoes have been a staple of the human diet for thousands of years, and with all this talk of a human colony on Mars, they might be more critical than ever. The question now is, is Elon Musk prepared to become a potato farmer?
He (and you) can check out the potato growing live stream here.
Some conservatives and Donald Trump supporters are freaking out online because there’s a new pirate station called Resistance Radio, dedicated to fighting fascism and Nazi propaganda. Only one problem: It’s fake.
Amazon announced this week that it was launching Resistance Radio as a companion program for The Man in the High Castle, an alt-history drama loosely adapted from the Philip K. Dick novel. The pre-recorded radio program is basically a bunch of people talking about how the Third Reich is bad and does bad things. For some, they thought that applied to America’s current president (and/or they didn’t bother actually listening to it). In response, several irate opposers flocked to Amazon’s sponsored #ResistanceRadio hashtag to complain about the station’s “liberal agenda.”
Now, there are two possible explanations for this. The far more likely one is they didn’t bother researching the website before deciding a radio station about “the Resistance” was against President Trump, essentially creating a modern-day War of the Worlds where panic was quicker than fact-checking. However, it is also unfortunately plausible that a few people heard about a radio show bashing Nazis and thought, “Hey, maybe I shouldn’t like that, because Trump and stuff.” Guys, listen, if Captain America’s Marvel Comics’ various Hydra debacles have taught us anything... it’s don’t defend Nazis. Real or fake, they’re still fucking Nazis.
No word whether this was just a case of mistaken Twitter-identity, or whether Amazon had an idea that this could happen (thus getting more eyes on the show). I’m giving Amazon the benefit of the doubt, but this wouldn’t be the first time it has drummed up controversy for The Man in the High Castle with a public display. We’ve reached out to Amazon for a response. In the meantime, anyone at SXSW can visit Amazon’s Resistance Radio Headquarters at the Market and Tap Room in Austin— clearly the perfect front for anti-Trump propaganda. Also craft cocktails.
Hollywood has a history of animating kids in ways that are supposed to be adorable, but end up giving us night terrors. The Boss Baby, out March 31, will be the latest offender; it’s about an infant voiced by Alec Baldwin who’s somehow secretly a corporate executive. Insane plot aside, that beligerent, giant -headed baby is creepy as hell.
Here are some of his siblings—and note that in keeping with the theme, we deliberately avoided listing any horror movie characters, who are purposefully designed to freak you out... unlike these inadvertantly sinister darlings.
1) Billy in Tin Toy
Way back in 1988, a fledgling company called Pixar made this short about a tot who plays awfully rough with his toys. Now, Billy the baby’s actions are supposed to be scary, from the point of view of the tin soldier who sizes him up with wide-eyed horror. But the unattended, dead-eyed tyke is unnerving in another way that Pixar didn’t intend. Granted, this is a very early CGI cartoon, and it broke a lot of technological boundaries, even picking up an Oscar for best animated short. But... jeez, man. Just look at that evil face!
Another twinkly holiday tale from Zemeckis, The Polar Express is based on author-illustrator Chris Van Allsburg’s Caldecott Medal-winning children’s book about a boy whose love of Christmas earns him a magical meeting with Santa Claus. But the lovely source material and the folksy charms of star Tom Hanks can’t save The Polar Express from the most terifying motion-capture nightmare child-thing that 2004 could offer.
4) Milo in Mars Needs Moms
As if this 2011 Disney misfire wasn’t already unnerving enough, what with its plot about Martians kidnapping the mothers of small children, the mo-cap animation proves that the uncanny valley also exists in outer space. Milo here looks like he’s wearing another child’s skin over his own.
5) Renesmee in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part 2
Bella and Edward’s magical vampire baby required some high-tech help to do things like age rapidly and—even before that—solemnly grasp her mother’s cheek and share a memory with her, as seen above. But while CG Renesmee is certainly unintentionally frightening, it’s actually preferable to the animatronic puppet that was considered—but ultimately rejected for being so grotesque it earned the on-set nickname “Chuckesmee,” after Chucky in Child’s Play.
6) Sandy Crood in The Croods
In a family of cave people who otherwise look and act more or less like the humans of today, only the baby is a snarling, feral beast. This is clearly meant to be comic relief. It isn’t. This thing has chased me in my nightmares.
7) Sunny Baudelaire in A Series of Unfortunate Events
As my colleague Katharine Trendacosta pointed out in January, Netflix’s Lemony Snicket series is propelled by a lot of eerie special effects—but absolutely none are as scary as Sunny the baby, probably the one effect that isn’t supposed to make viewers shriek in fear. Obviously, the character is put into perilous situations that a real infant couldn’t possibly (or legally) be subjected to, but that’s not nearly as upsetting as watching the infant carve things with her teeth, befriend giant (CG) snakes, and deal cards with her teeny baby hands, each time moving just unnaturally enough that it’s impossible not to believe it’s same baby from Trainspotting that crawled inexorably on the ceiling before launching itself at Ewan McGregor’s face. Noooooooooo!
Think Batman: Year One, but with more heavy breathing and red lightsaber action.
IGN has announced that Marvel is unleashing a followup to its sublime Darth Vader comic series—except this time, it’ll be a prequel, beginning literally moments after the very end of Revenge of the Sith. Written by Charles Soule and with art from Giuseppe Camuncoli, Darth Vader (yes, it’ll share the same name as the previous series, with a new numbering order)will chart Anakin’s horrifying realization of the cyborg monster he’s become, while also exploring his earliest days as the Emperor’s fist across the galaxy. And his first task? Building the iconic red lightsaber, according to Soule:
The first arc is going to revolve around Vader’s construction of his red lightsaber, because at the end of Revenge of the Sith, he obviously loses his blue saber when he gets all chopped up and Obi-Wan takes it to eventually give to Luke down the road. So we end up with a character who is known as having this iconic sword, like his magical red sword, but he doesn’t have it yet. So what better way to start a big huge series than with a quest for a magic sword? We’re going to explore the mythology around lightsabers to some degree, which will be very fun. I’m really lucky that I get to tell that story. Seems like a big piece of the puzzle for him.
We actually already know a little bit about the construction of Sith lightsabers in Disney’s new canon, courtesy of the Ahsoka novel, which revealed that red is not a natural color of the kyber crystals that power lightsabers—it comes from channelling Dark Side energy into them, which causes the crystal to “bleed” and create a red blade color. But still, while we’re still in these relatively early stages of Disney’s wider Star Wars canon, it’ll be interesting to see this story get officially told.
Cassidy, Jesse and Tulip have a big task ahead of them in Preacher season 2. All Images: Susan Morelock/AMC
They’ve finally hit the road and we’ll see how it all unfolds this summer.
AMC just announced that Preacher season two will premiere on June 19. It will see Jesse (Dominic Cooper), Tulip (recent Oscar nominee Ruth Negga), and Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun) on the road, looking for God, with the Saint of Killers on their tail. This is more or less how Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s original comic series, which ran from 1995-2000, begins, and it’s the setting that inspired executive producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg to transform the books into a show.
In addition to the series regulars (those that survived the first season, at least), season two will add actors Noah Taylor, Pip Torrens, Julie Ann Emery, Malcolm Barrett, Justin Prentice, and Ronald Guttman.
Along with the premiere date, AMC released these photos from season two.
Obviously, those images don’t reveal much. But it’s nice to see the gang back together. Preacher will have a panel at SXSW this weekend, so we may get more season two details then.
If you, like me, obsess over Riverdale, you may have seen a spate of tweeting from the show’s stars that revealed that there was going to be a scene that referenced the old Archie comics in the most direct way the show has ever done. It was an unrelenting parade of misery, but for me it was absolutely delightful.
Behold:
The second we saw these images, every single member of the io9 staff had them pegged as coming from a dream sequence (although I held out some hope that it was a spell of Sabrina’s that had gone awry—that would have been a great entrance for that character).
But no, of course it was a nightmare dredged up by Jughead’s troubled conscience over his newfound romantic feelings for Betty.
You have to admire Riverdale’s commitment to avoiding the classic Archie-Betty-Veronica triangle by any means necessary. We had the Archie-Ms. Grundy-Betty-Veronica plot; and we had Archie kissing Josie and the Pussycats member Valerie, which, honestly, I think is the best endgame this show could hope for (along with Betty and Veronica partnering up). Jughead and Betty is the latest piece of spaghetti the writers have thrown against the wall in order to not do Betty vs. Veronica. And it’s not great.
I really, really hope that this thing ends with Jughead on the path to recognizing his asexuality, which was a great addition to his character in the comics and is 100 percent more interesting than all these teens playing musical love chairs. And would be a wonderful contrast to how terrifyingly sexualized teens in most teen dramas usually are.
Jughead’s nightmare isn’t just reflective of his conflicted feelings about Betty in regards to his friendship with Archie; it’s reflective of how deeply uncomfortable Jughead is in anything resembling a normal family, given how supremely fucked up his family is.
Jughead’s life is, even by Riverdale’s standards, the worst. Last night, we found out that after the last place he was squatting in was destroyed, he started living in the school. Also, his mom left with his sister (who is still somehow named Jellybean in this show). His dad is a gang member, a drunk, and very bitter about what he sees as his misuse at the hands of Archie’s dad. who fired him some time ago. And then Jughead becomes a suspect in the death of Jason Blossom for no reason. Later, Jughead’s dad decides to go punch the sheriff because... he thinks that helps?
Anyway, there was a ton of other stuff this week, because Riverdale is basically the turducken of TV shows, but the show really belonged to Jughead this week. It felt like he was being punished for not having suffered more in previous episodes. Honestly, living in vintage Archie-land would be a major improvement for Jughead.
Welcome back to the Toy Aisle, io9's new weekly collection of the best toys around. This week, we’ve got dancing Gremlins, blocky Marvel superheroes, teddy bears with adorable attitude, and merchandise based on the Darth Vader comic’s best and most murderous stars.
Gremlins Dancing Gizmo Plush
It’s a mystery why the Gremlins movies, one of the most memorable Hollywood franchises of the ‘80s, hasn’t been rebooted yet. It’s got a cute lead character plus hideous monsters—both of which lend themselves to another lucrative toy line. Just look at this dancing Gizmo toy that ThinkGeek’s got for $30. It also sings a soothing Mogwai song that will help you drift off to sleep at night, just remember to avoid all snacks after midnight. [ThinkGeek]
Build-a-Bear Power Rangers
Build-a-Bear’s latest licensed line is an adorably fuzzy set of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers bears. Meant to tie into the upcoming movie, the line actually uses the costumes from the classic show instead (presumably because they look better). The Pink and Red Rangers get their own special bears that’ll set you back $25 each), but if you want the rest of the team, there are costumes for all five Rangers and accessories to go with them than can be used on any of the standard bears from Build-a-Bear Workshop. [Comicbook.com]
Nimuno Loops Lego Compatible Adhesive Tape
We’ve been burned by Kickstarter and Indiegogo crowdfunding projects in the past that don’t deliver as promised, so buyer beware. But that doesn’t make us any less excited about these rolls of flexible rubber tape that add Lego-compatible studs to almost any surface. Eight bucks gets you almost seven feet of Nimuno Loops adhesive tape, which can be cut to size with scissors, and re-stuck again and again. [Indiegogo]
Marvel Wood Warriors
What makes wooden toys so appealing? Is it because plastic figures often feel so cold and mass-produced? These adorable Marvel Wood Warriors from PPW Toys don’t come anywhere close to being as detailed as action figures from companies like Hot Toys are, but through a clever use of elastic joints, they still manage to be almost as articulated and posable. And at $20 each, when available come June, they might be the ideal first action figure for toddlers. [PPW Toys]
Kotobukiya Triple-Zero and BT Figurines
The most hilarious additions to Disney’s Star Wars canon, Triple-Zero and BT were the secret stars of Marvel’s first Darth Vader comic, and are basically a sadistic, killer version of C-3PO and R2-D2. Now you can get awesome figurine versions of them from Kotobukiya, their first appearance in Star Wars merchandise. They’ll first be available at this April’s Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, where they’ll come with a special commemorative coin, but if you want to wait until after the con, Kotobukiya has them up for preorder for the $80 set. [Toyark]
littleBits Code Kit
You can’t shake a stick in a toy store without hitting at least one toy that claims to promote science, technology, and education. But the folks at littleBits have been creating kid-friendly, accessible electronics kits for years now, and their latest set includes an LED display letting kids design, build, and program their own video games. The $300 Code Kit comes with four projects kids can build right out of the box, but like Lego, they’re also free to let their imaginations, and newfound coding skills, run wild to build anything they want. [littleBits]
Super Mario Piranha Plant Hand Puppet
You can apparently add March 10 to the long list of made-up corporate holidays on your calendar. According to Nintendo, it’s unofficially Mario day (Mar10) but instead of buying yet another iteration of Mario Kart, we’re more interested in celebrating/passively acknowledging the festivities with this $20 Piranha Plant puppet from ThinkGeek. It stands 14 inches tall when brought to life with a hand inside, but the flower can also hide away inside the pipe in order to surprise unsuspecting plumbers. [ThinkGeek]
Darth Maul finally gets his chance at revenge in next week’s Star Wars Rebels. All Images: Disney XD
This week’s Star Wars Rebels is a cool episode that features Wedge. And it’s great. But before that episode has even aired, Disney has released a teaser for the March 18 episode. They never do that and there’s a reason. It’s that good.
Yup, turns out this is the episode where we’re going to see the Obi-Wan Kenobi-Darth Maul feud that began in The Phantom Menace finally come to its conclusion. On Tatooine no less. Plus, it looks like Ezra will be there too. Check out these images.
We’ll have more on “Twin Suns” when it airs March 18. For now, check out some of the below links.
