We've got spoilers galore for True Blood and Doctor Who. Posters and logos have surfaced for Captain America, Thor, Transformers 3, and The Green Hornet. Reports of Indy 5's existence were greatly exaggerated. Sorcerer's Apprentice gets a trailer. Spoiler overload!
Captain America and Thor:
The next two Marvel movies have official posters. Take a look:
Also, Captain America has flipped its full title around, so now it's Captain America: The First Avenger. [CinemaBlend]
Finally, Neal McDonough is definitely playing Dum Dum Dugan, and he's already started growing the trademark mustache. [SpoilerTV]
Transformers 3:
The Licensing International Expo at Las Vegas revealed glimpses of both the first poster for the movie (although it's likely just a mock-up) and the full-size Bumblebee prop. [Comic Book Movie]
The Green Hornet:
Also seen at the Expo, this poster for The Green Hornet:
Indiana Jones 5:
We can all breathe a collective sigh of relief, at least for now. Apparently the Indiana Jones 5 rumors are totally false, says producer Frank Marshall. [Cinematical]
Sorcerer's Apprentice:
A new, full-length trailer is out. We're inching ever closer to the glorious day when Balthazar Blake can take his rightful place next to the rest of the all-time great batshit insane Nic Cage characters, alongside Lieutenant Terence McDonough, Edward Malus from The Wicker Man, Castor Troy, and Peter Loew from Vampire's Kiss. (Especially Peter Loew from Vampire's Kiss.)
Twilight Eclipse:
Jacob brings Bella back to his house, and we learn if there are two things werewolves just aren't good at, it's wearing shirts and making fun of people. Also, we see a female werewolf, but I'm going to make a crazy guess here and assume she doesn't share the male werewolf predilection for constant shirtlessness.
True Blood:
There's a metric shitload (which is about 1.5 times bigger than an imperial shitload) of True Blood news, so let's get right to it. First, three new videos!
Next up, we've got thirty (30!) new promo pics for the upcoming season.
Pretty much everyone associated with the show is giving nonstop interviews, so let's see if we can't consolidate things a bit. Creator Alan Ball gave an extensive interview where he laid out where this new season is going. Here are the bullet points, along with other comments made by the actors elsewhere.
Bill and Sookie's relationship is put under tremendous strain not only by Bill's kidnapping but also by the entrance of the sexy werewolf Alcide.
Bill wasn't necessarily kidnapped by the obvious suspect, and we may have to wait until the end of the season to find out exactly what's going on there.
We meet Lafayette's mother, and he finds someone who is actually able to break through his defenses and build a relationship with him. This new boyfriend is Kevin Alejandro's Jesus.
Tara considers the meaningless of life after losing Eggs, and her next relationship is going to be an epic journey for her. (Whether that's emotionally or geographically he doesn't say, so...why not both?)
Sam is going to regret finding his family.
Jason realizes he has to grow up and stop acting liking a teenager, particularly after all he's been through. He has a most unexpected romantic interest, but first he has dalliances with multiple women. Ryan Kwanten, who plays Jason, adds:
"Yeah, he's not too happy that Andy is taking the glory for shooting Eggs, and while he's getting the glory, I'm trying to deal with the fact that I've killed a man," Kwanten reports. "Jason's not one to let anyone have glory other than him. So, he doesn't take it too well. Jason is [also] trying to wing his way into the cop force, so that's sort of a bit of a tease for the new season."
Eric has a "primal" encounter with someone he's been seeking for centuries. Alexander Sarsgaard expanded on this at the premiere, saying Eric lost someone a long time ago and now has a chance to avenge that loss.
Jessica and Hoyt are broken up, but they're going to still be pining for each other. Living without her maker is a big adjustment for Jessica, while Hoyt tries to make a new relationship work.
The vampire government is a sham! There's actually a shadow government that props up the kings and queens that is far more bloodthirsty and evil than the supposed rulers. Ball says he thinks, "that's a great metaphor for the fact that corporations run our own country and are willing to poison the planet for profits," which I think is a pretty good encapsulation of why True Blood works a hell of a lot better when it just sticks to the craziness and/or the sexiness.
Other random tidbits from the actors: Bill has a sex scene at the end of the third episode that's apparently unlike anything in the history of television. Stephen Moyer says, "It's a watercooler moment, I think, possibly for the next 20 years!" Sam Trammell noted that Sam may have some hookups here and there, but his relationship with Sookie isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and there don't seem to be any new loves on the horizon for him. Anna Paquin said a big part of Sookie's interest in Eric is trying to figure out just what he wants from her. Oh, and the werewolves are played by real wolves. (But only when they've morphed into their wolf form, as she helpfully explained.)
Amazingly, we have even more True Blood news coming later today.
Doctor Who:
Anyone else a bit exhausted after all that? I know I am, so I'll leave you with four minutes of previews from "The Lodger" while I go chug some Red Bull or something.
And now, some teasers for the episode:
1. The first line is very funny
2. A guest character from last week's episode shows up a few times
3. There's the first gay allusion this series (sort of)
4. The Doctor has more interesting adventures with food and drink
5. Matt Smith fans will be freeze-framing one particular revealing moment
6. A can of beer is opened at an important moment
7. The Doctor commits an act of physical violence, sort of…
8. A certain face shows up for the fourth time this series; another for a third; and others for a second time
9. There's lots of witty dialogue
10. A regal couple put in an appearance
11. Amy discovers something
12. One of the most uttered phrases of series five comes up again
13. It's the most unusual ever episode of Doctor Who Confidential!
14. It's back
15. Someone says the G-word
16. There's a monster's hand in a drawer
17. The psychic paper serves several purposes
18. It's rather a sweet love story and James Corden is actually quite likeable
19. Someone says, "I love you"
20. The Doctor is helped by some feline intuition
I'm not quite sure how the "I love you" thing even counts as a misdirection, since James Corden said it thrice (thrice, I say!) in the Next Time trailer. I'd guess that guest character really has to be Vincent Van Gogh, at least in the form of his paintings (maybe his self-portraits?). That's unless Bill Nighy is back for more uncredited fun, which I'd hardly be against.
Since multi-Doctor stuff is sort of my specialty subject, I'll tell you the familiar faces will be the former Doctors, with the first Doctor being the four-timer, the second Doctor the three-timer, and (hopefully) everyone else showing up for the second time. Are all these appearances just a fun Easter egg for longtime fans, or could this all actually be building to something in the finale that depends on everyone recognizing the Doctor's old incarnations? Either way, I'm pretty sure I can prove it all really means we're headed to a "Four Doctors" special with Matt Smith, David Tennant, Christopher Eccleston, and Paul McGann. But then, I think everything proves we're headed to that.
Also, I hope what Amy discovers is that she's actually in this episode, because I still haven't seen any sign of her in the previews.
[SFX, thanks to bluehinter for the tip!]
The Walking Dead:
Writer, director, and executive producer Frank Darabont spoke to AMC about the show that's he apparently doing everything for short of catering it. He discussed what attracted him to the original comic as source material:
"One of the things I found most intriguing about [Robert Kirkman's comic] The Walking Dead was that it was so focused on the characters. Within the context of the cool zombie apocalypse, there was this very serious character drama. I thought, this is a great opportunity to satisfy not only zombie fans, but bring in an audience that wouldn't normally, necessarily, seek out a zombie film to watch."
He also dropped some pretty specific details about the scene he's currently shooting:
Right now we're filming the shootout that kicks things off for the series. It's the kind of thing I haven't had a chance to do that often in my career. Most of my movies tend to be very sweet, talking dramas. I haven't had a chance to do that much action. So I'm actually getting a lot of my desire for that sort of thing out right now, and expressing my desire to roll a car six times. Yeah baby, I'm there! Let's load those guns with more blanks, absolutely. The first zombie is up tomorrow. It's going to be the very first scene of the entire series - a good, gut-punch of a scene right off the bat.
[AMC]
Also, for all our international readers, fear not! Darabont and company haven't forgotten about you, as the show has been picked up for global distribution. [Comic Book Resources]
Eureka:
We've entered the Syfy portion of Morning Spoilers. Make yourself comfy, as we'll be here for a little while. Let's start with this, a new promo for the upcoming season of Eureka:
Stargate Universe:
Here are six new photos for the season finale, "Incursion." [SpoilerTV]
The Phantom:
The upcoming TV movie about comic strips' most famous superhero also has a promo:
Warehouse 13:
And finally, a new promo that, among other things, features a super-quick glimpse of everyone's favorite ship's engineer, Jewel Staite. At times like this, there's only really one thing to say. Shiny!
The Cape:
The upcoming NBC series about a cop who dons a powered suit to fight crime just got proper harder by a factor of about ten million, as Vinnie Jones has joined the cast as a regular. He plays Scales, a man with a skin condition that gives him the appearance of...well, you can probably guess. The role was originally just a guest spot in the pilot, but now he's coming on board full time. [CapeSite]
Men In Black III
Famed makeup artist Rick Baker, whose most recent work was in effects work for Wolfman and who has done the makeup work on science fiction classics from Star Wars to Cocoon, is returning to his original calling for the third entry in the series. He also did the makeup on the first two Men In Black movies. [Fangoria]
Additional reporting by Kelly Faircloth and Charlie Jane Anders.