Star Trek + Potatoes = Awesome

Wow, I can't type at all today, so I'll keep this short & sweet. Saw this throw away post on io9 and was mesmerized. The good people over at PPW Toys are making, get this, Star Trek Mr. Potato Heads. The first set will feature Captain Kirk and Klingon nemesis, Kor.

Of course, I'll be holding out for the Mr. Spock. And perhaps a whole STNG set (pretty please with sugar on top!). I am already seeing a display shelf full of Mr. Potato Heads with Worf, Picard, Geordi, and Data.

Anyway, look for the first set of Star Trek Mr. Potato Heads later this summer! Just in time for another adventure with Portland's "Star Trek in the Park!"

Holy Carp - There's a Wonder Woman TV Show in Production??

In one of the more surprising new tidbits over the weekend, NBC has greenlit a David E. Kelley Wonder Woman TV pilot. This is the movie that cannot be made, but somehow they pulled out a TV show possibility? Wow. I don't even know what to say.

I'd love to be more excited about this show -- my admiration of Wonder Woman is right behind my love of Catwoman. But I have to say, I'm worried. As described on Comics Alliance:

Wonder Woman -- AKA Diana Prince -- is a vigilante crime fighter in L.A. but also a successful corporate executive and a modern woman trying to balance all of the elements of her extraordinary life.

I'm hearing a little too much "hero Ally McBeal" in this paragraph for my liking. I'm not sure I can stand a whiny, self-effacing, damaged heroine. She's an Amazon for goddess sake. And LA? Really? Because there aren't nearly enough shows set in LA. Why can't it be set in a DC-created city like Metropolis? (Though h/t to Clark for suggesting that the Invisible Jet be parked behind the Hollywood sign!) However, I think we (and by "we" I mean Rich & myself) can all agree that, if nothing else, Lynda Carter must play Queen Hipployta, Diana's mother.

There will likely be much debate over who should play WW. My feeling is that it cannot/should not/please god don't let it be Megan Fox. Rumor has it that Eliza Dushku is interested in the role as well. Meh. I like Dushku, but not sure this is a great fit for her. There must be another brunette in LA who can play this role. Let's go for an unknown!

Final suggestion (for now; might be more as more details are released): please use the original costume, not this new costume bulls**t.

It's one thing to create new costumes for the comics books for hype value and to get some media attention, but I think a Wonder Woman TV show will get plenty of attention on it's own.

I'll watch the pilot because I want to support comic book TV & movies. But I'm not dedicated enough to watch badly-made programming, so fingers crossed that this will not suck. It would be great to see an inspiring female character on TV, but here I am getting all optimistic.

Batman Would be the Thing to Pull Me Back In

It's been awhile, I know. I'd like to say I haven't been around because of the holidays, and while that's true, it's not the whole story. In early November, I became one of "those" people, one of the 12 million who plays World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online role playing game (or MMORPG for those few of you who don't know already). I'd like to talk more about my experience as a newbie in the WoW universe, since it's about all I've done with my free time these last few months, but this post is really about the newsy bit that brought me BACK to the blog in over 8 weeks.

And that news is the announcement of the two stars added to Christopher Nolan's next Batman installation, The Dark Knight Rises (**snicker** at that title). If your Twitter stream isn't already full of this news, then let me share with you that, drum roll.....

--Anne Hathway will star at Catwoman

--Tom Hardy will star as Bane

You may recall Tom Hardy from Nolan's most recent film, Inception, in which he was awesome.

So let me get my most major complaint out of the way first: The inclusion of Catwoman in the movie in the first place. Now I love Catwoman. I collected Catwoman comic books, toys, and other ephemera for years. I've dressed up as Catwoman for Halloween (years ago, sigh). So trust me, I'm a big fan of Catwoman. But I feel like we've done the Catwoman story already in the Tim Burton movies. Michelle Pfeiffer was a great Catwoman. Remember this scene??

Then, we had that horrible Halle Barry movie, that we shall not speak of again. My point is that Catwoman isn't covering new ground in the Bat-verse. There are other female characters who could be interesting to include, my favorite being Harley Quinn. With Joker's demise in the 2nd movie, seems like an opportune time to bring in his just-as-crazy girlfriend for revenge.

Here's my other problem with Catwoman....Anne Hathaway. I feel bad about this, because I actually like Anne Hathaway, but visually, she seems too pretty, too nice, too clean to be a great Catwoman. I think she is cute & funny, and great on SNL and in romantic comedies. I hear she was great in that drama (Rachel Getting Married? Not totally sure...), but I'm not sure she can play the bitchy, gritty, wrong-side-of-the-tracks version of Catwoman that I grew to love.

Catwoman comes in so many versions, there certainly is room for variation from what I typically consider. And if anyone can do it, Nolan is that guy. So dude, impress me. I really want to be excited about this.

Whew. Catwoman went on longer than I expected. Let's turn to Bane.

The last movie to (briefly) feature Bane, Joel Schumacher's hot mess, Batman and Robin, barely got to Bane at all. He was sidelined as one of Poison Ivy's henchman. A total waste of an otherwise formerly decent villain. In the comics, the guy is a brute, a monster.

I'd like to see a well-developed Bane character in the next movie. He's not a well known enemy, but that also means he hasn't been totally overdone. I was initially doubtful of Tom Hardy in this role based on Inception, but then I came across this:

It's hard for me to even tell that is the same guy! I guess if he can pump up, he's got a shot at a convincing Bane.

My hope is that there is at least a short trailer ready for Comic-Con in July. I'd like to be convinced about the inclusion of Hathaway/Catwoman. I liked the first 2 Nolan Batman's a lot, so, you know, no pressure.