Wallace and Gromit
The cheese-loving inventor and his loyal dog will return to television in a half hour episode to be shown on BBC One in late 2008. It's been a long time since Wallace and Gromit's last television appearance, The Wrong Trousers, in 1993. On the big screen, Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit earned an Oscar for Best Animated Film of the Year in 2006. This time, creator Nick Park says he's relieved to be making a new work for himself and the fans without the pressures of motion pictures. The new episode, Trouble At' Mill, finds Wallace and Gromit running a bakery business but the plot thickens as local bakers begin disappearing. Shooting starts at Aardman Animators in January.
Source: BBC News
Related: Wallace and Gromit
Batman: The Dark Knight
To correspond with the opening of the movie The Dark Knight, July 18, 2008, Six Flags will unleash The Dark Knight Coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure (Jackson, New Jersey), Six Flags Great America (Chicago, Illinois) and Six Flags New England (Springfield, Massachusetts). The new indoor coaster places riders in the middle of Gotham city which is under siege from The Joker. Anticipate hairpin turns, unexpected drops and lots of darkness.
Source: Ultimate Rollercoaster, Coaster-Net
Flintstones
Randy Van Horne, who's troupe of singers can be heard on the themes songs for The Flintstones and The Jetsons, has died at the age of 83.
James Bond
Actress Lois Maxwell, who starred as the first Miss Moneypenny in James Bond movies, has died at aged 80. She appeared alongside Sean Connery in Dr. No (1962) and continued in the role through A View to a Kill (1979). Shortly after moving to Hollywood to begin her acting career, Lois received a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer in 1947's That Hagen Girl, starring Ronald Reagan, Shirley Temple and Rory Calhoun. She also appear in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962), and television classics such as The Avengers, The Saint, and UFO.
Star Trek
Star Trek XI
This week brings a flood of cast announcements to round out the crew in the next Star Trek film, directed by J. J. Abrams. Eric Bana (Munich, Troy, Hulk) will be playing a new villian called "Nero". Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) will play Scotty. John Cho (Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, MILF lover in American Pie) takes the role of Sulu. Chris Pine is in talks to fill the coveted role of Captain James T. Kirk. These actors are joined by Zachary Quinto as young Spock, Anton Yelchin as Chekov, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, and Leonard Nimoy as himself. It was previously reported James McAvoy would be filling the role of Scotty but no casting has been set in stone. The film opens on the big screen Christmas Day, 2008.
Sources: STARTREK.COM : Bana Cast as Villain, STARTREK.COM : Pegg Beamed In For Scotty, Trek Movie : John Cho
- John Cho at IMDb | Wikipedia
- Eric Bana at IMDb | Wikipedia
- Simon Pegg at IMDb | Wikipedia
- Chris Pine at IMDb | Wikipedia
Takei Gets An Asteroid
The Committee on Small Body Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union has designated "1994 GT9" as "7307 Takei" in honor of George Takei, known best for his work as Sulu on the original Star Trek and now seen on Heroes. 7307 Takei joins 4659 Roddenberry (named after the Star Trek's creator Gene Roddenberry) and 68410 Nichols (for Lt. Uhura's Nichelle Nichols).
Source: STARTREK.COM
Special Event: Remastered "Menagerie" in Theaters
On Tuesday, November 13, 2007, the two-part remastered version of Star Trek's "Menagerie" will air in selected theaters in high-definition and Cinema Surround Sound.
Source: STARTREK.COM
Star Wars
Master Replicas
Beginning in 2008, Master Replicas will no longer produce Star Wars collectibles.
Source: Master Replicas
Rocket Powered X-Wing
On October 6, 2007 an X-Wing Fighter took flight to menace the Empire. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars, the Tripoli San Diego rocket club decided to build a model X-Wing Fighter complete with locking 21 foot wings and light-and-sound R2D2. You can read all about their design and construction but we know what you really want to see is the red burn from the four solid rocket engines propelling the craft skywards. In the video, there's a little bit of that just before the ship becomes one of the less fortunate members of the Red 5 team.
Source: Star Wars X-Wing Fighter, Gizmodo Interview, Gizmodo
Rocket Powered Y-Wing
Not to be outdone by those showy X-Wing guys, the Punk Rocket Science team built a 1/4 scale Y-Wing Fighter for flight, at Plaster Blaster VI (2007), along side it's X-Wing counterpart. While the red quadron was larger, the gold squadron flew much further, much higher, with less debris... until the nose cone parachute deployed while the rockets were still burning and it tore itself apart. "Step 1: Get it in the air. Step 2: Come back. We got one out of two."
Source: Gizmodo
