Questions will now be raised as to how this will effect the future of all Marvel comics, movies, and video games, amongst other potential properties such as television shows. This now makes Marvel part of one of the biggest media conglomerations around, competing on a similar level to the Warner Bros. owned DC Comics. There is no doubt that this comes with some inherent bonuses. The ability for product placement in movies and TV shows could be a huge advertisement stream for the comic giant, for instant.

However, it’s clear that the DC Comics/Warner Bros. merger of the past hasn’t always worked out in the favor of DC Comics. Being restricted to only having your movies produced by Warner Bros. has in recent years led the DC movies to be of a lower quality level than the Marvel properties. For every Batman Begins and The Dark Knight that the company has released, there have been equally troubling decisions such as Catwoman and the Joel Schumacher Batman films. In addition, it has been at times puzzling as to why Warner Bros. has failed to take advantage of the Super Hero movie boom of sorts that we had been witnessing in recent years.

However, for better or worse, this move is the future of Marvel Comics. You certainly have to give credit to Disney for recognizing good opertunities to grow their company. In 1995, Disney picked up a majority stake in ABC and ESPN. Disney followed up in 2006 with the purchase of Pixar Studios. Amongst a handful of other properties, Disney is certainly creating a strong family of companies to compete in the modern media market. Time will tell which of the two parties, if not both, will benefit from this arrangement. But it’s needless to say that the game has changed.

With a few exceptions, BBC television imports really work when they are retooled for American television. I was a fan of the original BBC show, Life on Mars, starring John Simm (the Master from the seires three Doctor Who finale) as desperate detective Sam Tyler and the fabulously grumpy Philip Glenister as the horribly comical DCI Gene Hunt. When I heard it was being done for ABC television, I thought there was no way this wonderful and intriguing show would work for American audiences.

And I was almost right. Originally the first Life on Mars pilot was filmed in cheesy 70’s style in bright and sunny L.A. And it was horrid. So show runners re-cast some of the major characters and transferred the location to New York City.

And much to my amazement, it actually worked.

So what is Life on Mars? On the surface it’s a weekly crime serial set in 1973. Detective Sam Tyler (Jason O’Mara for the US version) and the 125th precinct, led by Lieutenant Gene Hunt (Mr. White himself, Harvey Keitel) solve a crime-of-the week (murder, mobsters, general mayhem) with a few over arching character plots that tie the episodes together.

“But that doesn’t sound very sci-fi” you say. And here is where I say, “Now here is where it gets interesting.”

In the pilot, Detective Sam Tyler is a NY city detective breaking a major case, in 2008. As he heads back to his car and radios in his location, an oncoming vehicle mows him down. When he comes to, it is 1973, and he walks into a life that has been set up for him: A job transfer to the 125th and a tiny apartment in the East Village. Sam has no idea how he has gotten there and no idea how to get back home. And now he’s a modern cop having to make-do with archaic equipment and pre-politically correct mentalities.

Now let me add in here that the US show has gone in a completely different direction than its BBC predecessor. Which is ideal. While the BBC series ending was by far one of the most amazing I’ve seen, if the show runners want the series to last longer than one season, things were going to have to change.

And the change has been for the better. O’Mara, who I was highly skeptical of from the first images I saw of him, dives right into the role of Sam Tyler. He plays Tyler’s confused and obsessive personality with realism and without being melodramatic, rarely seen in major network prime time these days. He pulls off drugged, insane, devastated and desperate in such a convincing way, it’s hard not to root for him.

Even Keitel, not usually one of my favorite actors, brings a vulnerability to Hunt that was never seen in the BBC series. Part of that is the different writing staff, but also, part of that is Keitel. Though he does bring a brash sense of humor to the show, he still can’t beat Gleister’s wonderfully brutuish version of Hunt.

In the episode, “Home is Where You Hang Your Holster,” we begin to see that Sam is not the only time-traveler around. When he captures a Councilman during a prostitution sting, the Councilman confesses that he’s not even supposed to be here, that he’s from 2009. Once he convinces Sam that he is from the future, the Councilman also reveals that he’s found a way home. Of course he dies before Sam can find out how, but it’s opened up the mystery even further behind Sam’s predicament.

The best thing I can tell you about Life on Mars is the fact that every week after watching this show I always have to say, “I can’t believe how GOOD this show is!” I am endlessly surprised not only that a BBC show is really working over here, but that even with the re-tooling of the show, it is still so well done.

ABC has handed out a put pilot commitment to Fables, based on the comic book created by Bill Willingham and published by DC’s Vertigo imprint.

Six Degrees creators/executive producers Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner are penning the script for the hourlong drama set at Warner Bros. TV. David Semel whose credits include such series as Heroes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, House and Dawson’s Creek, has come on board to direct the pilot.

Zicherman and Metzner wouldn’t elaborate which fairy tale characters will be featured in the TV series, but noted that Big Bad Wolf and Snow White, who are central to the comics, will have a similar role on the show.

“We set up a structure to allow any fairy tale character to show up in any one episode,” Metzner said.

The fairy tale characters will keep some of their trademark characteristics. For instance, Prince Charming will be handsome, while Big Bad Wolf will have to shave a four-day shadow from growing back every day.

But overall, “they are just like real people in the real world who live and breathe and look just like you and me,” Metzner said.

Describing themselves as “lifetime comic book fans,” Zicherman and Metzner fell in love with Fables when they read the series’ first issue in 2002.

Created and written by Bill Willingham in 2002, Fables has won fourteen Eisner Awards. Based in a world where fairy tale characters have been forced out of their homes by a mysterious enemy known as the Adversary, and now live in a hidden community in New York City known as Fabletown. The series’ first storyline followed Fabletown’s sheriff, a reformed and pardoned Big Bad Wolf, who investigates the murder of Snow White’s party-girl sister, Rose Red.

(THR)

Money and Eli are still in production (on their 12th and 13th episodes, respectively) and will finish shooting their current order, while Daisies finished production on its final episode last week.

Bryan Fuller, creator of Pushing Daisies, still seems hopeful about his series’ future.

“I can’t help but feel immense pride when it comes to ‘Pushing Daisies.’ I’m grateful TO everyone and FOR everyone who brought the show to life and for the very loyal audience that embraced us.  If we are indeed dead on ABC, we now have to convince DC Comics to let us tell the rest of the  season’s story lines out in comic book form and convince Warner Bros. features to let ‘Pushing Daisies’ live again as a movie.”

Looks like Fuller’s heading to Heroes afterall. Depending on which you prefer, this is either good news or bad.

Lost premieres January 21, 8/7c on ABC

The series is about a man named Dr. Claire Allen (Paulson), a Chicago psychologist, who is given charge of a man named Trevor Hale(Cannavale) who claims to be Cupid sent to Earth as a punishment. To earn his place back on Mount Olympus, he must connect a hundred couples without the use of magic. He has been stripped of his powers and has become a normal human being for the length of his stay among us.

Another pilot picked up for series was the Nathan Fillion starring Castle, about a famous mystery novelist (Fillion) who helps the NYPD homicide department solve crimes.

Both series are set tp air midseason 2009.

If you have not watched Lost all the way through, this is probably not the episode for you. We free ourselves to discuss spoilers until our hearts are content. And spoilers there are. A large number of characters are discussed in detail, including their motivations, their character arcs, their relationships, and even their deaths.

The end result is an episode that could’ve went on much longer. But the content and discussion we did get was fantastic. Thanks again to everyone that tuned in. If you still haven’t caught one of these shows, you are running out of opportunities. Next week is the E3/Video Game discussion, followed the next week by Comic Book Films. Join us!

*edit* New version of the episode is up, with hopefully improved audio levels.