Ian’s Roving Editorial: Things To Come In 2009

Written by Ian Cullen on December 31, 2008 – 10:08 am -

By Ian M. Cullen

With only a day to go before 2009. I thought why not have one last editorial looking to genre entertainment for the year ahead, because whether it be video games, television series, movies or comics. We have a lot to look forward too and we here at SciFi Pulse will likely report on many of these things as and when they come round.

To make this easier on myself. I’m going to give my top three choices on what some people, myself included are looking forward to in the coming year.

Top Three Most Anticipated UK Television Shows For 2009

First of all. Lets get the obvious choice of Doctor Who out of the way. Though we will only have four television specials this year, it will have to be a case of less is more, and I can’t help but feel that the BBC will likely have a pretty impressive budget for all four of them. However the one thing that all Doctor Who fans look forward to knowing, with both a sense of anticipation and sorrow, is the departure of David Tennant as the tenth Doctor. Which leaves us all with the question of who exactly will take over from David Tennant and become the eleventh Doctor, and what circumstances will lead to his regeneration this time round. At present little is known about what these four specials will be about. Other than all will see the Doctor travelling through time and space on his own.

Second on the list of UK based shows has to be Torchwood :Children Of Earth. Just how much will the format have changed in order to make it suitable for BBC Ones audience? Who exactly are the new members joining the team at Torchwood, and what does this new Alien threat have to do with the five episode story arc, which will hit the BBC in the summer of 2009. The BBC hasn’t given a specific airdate as yet for the series but our best guess is that it will show during the summer of 2009.

Third has to be the remake of The Prisoner, which is a joint production between ITV and AMC. This remake has much to live up too, and it will have to succeed or fail on it’s own. However the strong cast certainly can’t hurt.

Also returning for a second season will be Merlin, which will likely show towards the end of 2009. Though there is no news of a second season for Survivors yet, which concluded its first season during Christmas Week and left us all hanging with a whopper of a cliffhanger.

Top Three Most Anticipated US Television Shows For 2009

First off I’d have to say that Joss Whedon’s new series Dollhouse, is perhaps going to be the most anticipated series of this year. Ever since it was announced early last year Whedon’s fan base has been gathering, and the excitement has been building. However is the series going to suffer the same fate as Firefly. Lets hope not. The main question to UK fans is when exactly will this series make it onto British Television.

My second choice is Battlestar Galactica. As many folks already know. I’m not a fan of this series. Tried to get into it. But was just too dark for me, and I never took to how the premise was reworked by Ron D. Moore. That said, this list is as much a guide to what folks are watching, and is not necessarily a list of my favourite series, but the one big story in Galactica is who is the final Cylon. And to be fair whether you’re a fan of the series or not, the media buzz and the fan speculation about the identity of the final Cylon is the one big selling point for the second half of the fourth season. Which is why I’ve chosen it.

The third and final choice is the return of Lost. We had the return of Heroes last year to much fanfare and the series didn’t do as well as we’d hoped. Lost on the other hand has had a relatively modest amount of media coverage over the last year, and very few promises have been made by producers about where it is going to go this season. We last saw our favourite characters on Lost in May of this year, and at that time Jack was trying to persuade the others to return to the island, just months after them having arrived back home. So I for one am looking forward to getting lost in Lost for it’s fifth season.

Most Anticipated Movies For 2009

This category is a tough one, given that we have so many movies due out this year. My original first choice for this was going to be Watchmen, but given that the future of that movie is uncertain at present. I’ve had to re – think the list somewhat.

My first choice is J.J. Abrams Star Trek. As a life long fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Star Trek and Doctor Who, were the two series that gave me a gateway into the many worlds of science fiction, and I find the story of how Kirk and Spock first met to be an interesting idea, and I’m really hoping that this new movie lives up to everyone’s expectations and performs well at the US and International Box Office.

The second choice is Terminater Salvation. I think it is long overdue for us to see a story based in the future, where we see first hand the war between humans and the machines, as was often referenced in the original movies, but never actually seen that much. And Christian Bale taking on the lead as John Connor can only help the movie’s credibility.

The third and final movie choice is X – Men Origins: Wolverine. Like many people who have read the X – Men comics, and seen the recent movies. Wolverine has always been the most interesting character, and to me Hugh Jackman who plays the role in the movies has pretty much nailed it. Perhaps one of the biggest sells of this movie for me is the inclusion of Gambit, who was another character that always interested me in both the comics and the cartoon series of the 1990′s.

The Most Anticipated Comics For 2009

As you all know from having read my articles in the past. I’m relatively new to the world of comics. I dipped in and out as a kid, but was never hooked on anything for any length of time, due to the fact that money was scarce during my childhood so we tended to make do with what we had. As a teen I did glimpse a few comics, and tended to lean more to buying trades as apposed to comics, and truth be told have only delved into the world of comics proper in this past year. Anyway below are my top three picks for 2009.

First and foremost, I’ve taken action to make sure that League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Vol III) Century by Alan Moore is top of my list of comics/trades to read in 2009. I recently picked up the trades of the first few stories, which Moore did, and have to admit that I enjoy the idea of some of fictions greatest creations working together, and it all makes for some great stories.

What’s sold me on this new story is the fact that it’s set in a 100 year period and leads into the 21st century.

My second choice is Flash Gordon, which as you know launched in 2008. I’ve been told that the current storyline may well run to 24 issues, which makes for one hell of a lot of story. If you haven’t checked it out already, do so. It’s well worth a look. The art is outstanding and the story by Brendan Deneen does what the Sci-Fi Channels television adaptation couldn’t manage. It updates the story, without taking anything away from what made the characters so great to begin with.

My third choice is also a comic, which is continuing on from last year, and takes the form of Paul Cornels Captain Britain and MI13. The current storyline is Hell Comes To Birmingham, and is a natural progression from Cornels contribution to The Secret Invasion, though for some reason I’m enjoying Hell Comes To Birmingham slightly more, in spite of the fact that we haven’t seen a traffic jam outside of the RAC building yet. Am sure we’ll get to that eventually though. Well worth checking out for the humour, use of magic and funny banter between characters, and the artwork is good too.

My Top Video Games For 2009

Last but not least, we come to the video games section. Obviously with the site being more of a TV and Comics site, we don’t do too much in the way of video games, but we do try to do our fair share of coverage. However with us being a Science Fiction and Fantasy website. I tend to only cover games that fall into that bracket. So you’ll never see to much on Fifa 2009 or Call Of Duty: World At War here. That said though, I do own both those games and have hours of fun with them when not writing for the site.

My first choice is a game, which was supposed to come out this year, but was held back. One thing have come to enjoy a lot of late with regards to my Playstation 3, is playing online. Sure I could have always done that with the PC and have done in the past. But I prefer the immediacy of the Playstation Network. So my first choice is DC Universe Online. I ask you, who wouldn’t love to create their own superhero or super villain and bring them to life in a live real time virtual online version of Gotham City. I can’t wait for this game to come out, and will be all over it like a rash when it does.

Second on the list is Assassins Creed 2, which is the sequel to 2007′s stab and slash historical science fiction title. I personally didn’t like the control interface for this, but my 14 – year old nephew loved the game, and is thrilled to bits that a sequel is in the works.

My third and final choice is a bit of a shot in the dark if I’m honest. To be truthful, I don’t think this particular game will be a major hit, or a major miss. It may just be one of those media tie – ins that slips under the radar of many gamers. Which is one of the reasons it’s third on this list. Again this game has been held back, and was supposed to be released back in November. The game in question is Highlander, which takes from the premise of the movies and television series, and has you play Owen MacCleod who is 2000 years old.

Those are my top picks for 2009. If you have anything you’d like to add of your own to this list. Feel free to do so in our comments section. I’d be most interested to see what you guys are looking forward to for 2009.

In closing, I hope you all have a great celebration tonight, and that 2009 comes in with a bang for all.


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Fast Pulses: 30 December 2008

Written by Ian Cullen on December 30, 2008 – 4:48 pm -

By Ian M. Cullen

  • The Mark Gatiss Christmas Ghost story Crooked House was success the BBC 4 last week. According to Digital Spy the three part story, which centred on strange events relating to a mysterious door knocker, started with an impressive 517k (3.3%) for the channel at 10.30pm last Monday, December 22.Crooked House was the fifth most-watched Multichannel programme and the most popular original Multichannel programme of the day.
  • SyFy Portal is hosting a competition exclusively for their UK readers. The prize is a copy of the SciFi movie Babylon A.D, which stars Vin Diesel. To enter this competition you will need to click here to access the entry form at SyFy Portal.
  • According to a report over at Coming Soon actor Bruce Boxleitner will likely join Jeff Bridges and reprise his role in the long awaited Tron 2.0 sequel to the classic 1982 Disney movie. Boxleitner played the duel role of Alan Bradley and Tron in the original movie.
  • According to a report from the Associated Press, Twentieth Century Fox having won their case against Warner, which pertains to who owns the distribution rights for Watchmen, are still looking to prevent Warner Bros March 6 release date for the movie.

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LaBeouf Under The Gun In Transformers II

Written by Ian Cullen on December 30, 2008 – 11:00 am -

By Ian M. Cullen

2009 is looking to be another big year for movies, and one film many will be waiting with baited breath to see is the second Transformers movie, which is titled Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen.

The movie sees the return of Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox who reprise their roles of Sam and Mikaela, who know the secrets of the heroic Autobots (led by good-guy leader Optimus Prime).

The December 29 issue of USA Today included a fairly big report on the movie, which included some miner spoilers for the film.

The story finds Sam and Mikaela under attack by the evil Decepticons because of something Sam has learned about the origins of the Transformers and their ancient history on Earth.

Coming across this knowledge puts Sam in grave danger, and the Decepticons hatch a plan to capture Sam alive, so they can extract this knowledge, which they feel may give them a tactical advantage over Optimus Prime and the Autobots.

Both the US Military and the Autobots learn of this plan and launch a counter attack against the Decepticons, in order to put a stop to their plans.

Some of the most important newcomers are in the robot cast: Decepticons Soundwave, a fearsome communications expert, and Devastator, whose arms and legs are built out of other Transformers. And on the Autobots’ side is Jetfire, a villain whose age and broken-down physicality leads him to help the Autobots.

LaBeouf points out that Transformers 2 is not Shakespeare, and rightly so. What Transformers 2 will be, is a summer blockbuster action movie, designed to put lots of bums in seats, and give fans an exciting action adventure movie.

Megan Fox and LaBeouf reference one scene in particular, which sees them running toward a line of tanks and solders firing their guns. The guns being fired are real, and so are the solders. However the wall of flame, which erupts behind the two, leads as they run is CGI, and both actors revealed that the motivation to portray the fear in this scene was real easy to come by.

“It makes you run fast because you are genuinely terrified,” Fox says, looking sun-baked and weary. “And you still feel blanks. With that many guns going off, you don’t really know.”

It also required a bit of faith on the actors part in the troops, who were firing weapons at them.

“I’ve got 75 military officers firing at me, and I have shrapnel falling on my head that’s bigger than my arms. It’s hard to be normal,” LaBeouf says, sweating after several hours of running and diving in the sand.

Transformers 2 rolls out in UK Cinemas on 22, June 2009.


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