• Steven Moffat will be writing the Doctor Who Christmas special as well as five episodes next season
• Russell T Davies says “the series is going very dark places” much like Children of Earth and that is working with an American style writing room
• Stargate Universe season 2 starts September 28th
• The Walking Dead – Second season and B&W version on DVD releases confirmed

• JJ Abrams and Bad Robots to produce “Boilerplate”, a graphical novel adaptation
• Del Toro’s next project “At the Mountains of Madness”? James Cameron’s involvement to get the studio moving?
• Robert Rodriguez in negotiations for the Deadpool movie? Next movie is Spy Kids 4. Deadpool will break the fourth wall
• Matt Reeves says Let Me In will be a “closer tonal match to the book” than the Swedish version of the movie was; may direct Wolverine 2
• Joss Whedon wanted Mark Ruffalo because he reminds him of a personal quality not seen in Bruce Banner since Bill Bixby
• Liam Neeson no longer attached to Spielberg’s Lincoln biopic.
• Disney sells Miramax for $660 Million
• Edgar Wright says one of the reasons Ant Man isn’t in The Avengers is because he is writing an origin story, which doesn’t fit in chronologically with The Avengers
• In addition to scoring Tron Legacy, Daft Punk will appear in the movie. Several of their tracks have leaked
• Damon Lindelof rewriting Alien prequel for Ridley Scott
• Mad Men star Jon Hamm being “seriously considered” for the Superman role
• Zack Snyder is working on his adaptation of Frank Miller’s 300 follow-Up “Xerxes” as fast as Miller can write it
• Green Lantern character posters gives first look at Sinestro

• Josh Hutcherson made his own Spider-Man audition tape
• Microsoft develops software algorithm to remove motion blur from photographs taken with shaky hands using accelerometers and gyroscopes

Geek Jerk Reaction: The Other Guys, Step Up 3D, Flipped, Middle Men

• The Walking Dead begins shooting and the first images arrive
• New Thundercats cartoon in 2011
• Green Lantern CG-animated series to air on Cartoon Network Fall 2011
• Torchwood US moves to and greenlit on Starz – 10 episode series in Summer 2011

• Captain America & Thor official costume concept art released
• Jeremy Renner to debut as Hawkeye in Thor cameo, then a full co-starring role in The Avengers
• No Joker in Batman 3 according to Nolan
• Green Lantern movie logo and tagline
• Brett Ratner to produce and possibly direct a 3D edgy reimagining of Snow White

• DCU Online sets November release date
• Nintendo 3DS has “processing powers that far exceed the Wii” and “are close to the HD consoles” according to developers

• iPhone 4 announced officially
• Geek By Night Season Two premieres August 18!

Geek Jerk Reaction: The A-Team, The Karate Kid

FOX has decided not to pursue an American version of the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood. “BBC Worldwide Productions and the FOX Broadcasting Company have mutually agreed not to progress together with a 13-episode serialized ‘Torchwood’ format. We are currently in discussion with several interested networks,” said BBC Worldwide executive vp of programming and production Jane Tranter. “It’s very much ongoing and very much alive.”

I think we can expect an announcement from SyFy very soon.

Also, that American Doctor Who conclusion that most people jumped to when an American Torchwood was first announced? According to Tranter, that is definitely not the case.

“It may well be confusing to have a British Doctor and an American Doctor at the same time,” she said. “There is only one Doctor, so I don’t see that happening.”

Next Week: Regenerations Part 2 (for real this time)

Apparently, Fox has made the move to secure the rights to re-make Torchwood for American audiences. In addition to to picking up the rights to the show, Fox has also hired the original Torchwood’s writer/producer Russell T. Davies to write the script for the pilot. It’s also possible that some of the original series’ actors may make the trek over to the US version of the show. The most likely star to make the conversion would be John Barrowman, who plays the lead character, Captain Jack Harkness. While other actors are possible, few of them would work out on American television.

The plot of the new show is supposed to take a more global approach to the same story. Perhaps we will see an American wing of the Torchwood institute. This begs the question of whether or not the series will exist in the same continuity as the other Torchwood. If so, perhaps it would be best if the show got a rename along with it’s new story.

As much trouble as Fox has had with genre shows, I can’t see the show lasting long on their network, assuming it makes it past the pilot phase. Perhaps it will take a slightly more X-Files approach, and that is the potential that Fox likes in it. Either way, I wouldn’t bother getting too attached to the series.

Hello fellow TV fans. Sorry for the delayed absence. Some real world issues got in the way for a few months, but the worst seems to have passed. So now it’s time to talk television. And just when we thought the summer had nothing to offer us, along comes the good ol’ BBC.

Torchwood: Children of Earth (henceforth, T:COE), was a week long event that basically crammed the entire third series (season) into five nights. And they were some brilliant nights of television to be sure. I could sum up the plot, but at this point, I’m sure you’ve seen it and already know all of the heartbreaking details.

So let’s talk about some of the incidentals. First, let’s discuss the pacing. Trying to cram what would typically be a season long arc into 5 nights could make the viewer feel like things were rushed. I never got that impression with T:COE. As a matter of fact, each hour or so long episode moved with such grace that they felt much more fulfilling than a mere hour. I never felt shortchanged by the end of the hour.

Ok, plot. Here’s where some of the flaws sink in to T:COE. Overall, it is an amazing idea, and a classic tale re-told with some amazing panache. The deal with the devil that proves to never really be over. And in Torchwood, the devil is instead a race of drug-trafficking aliens known only to us by a frequency: The 456. It’s the brazenness of Torchwood that confounded me in this story though. Jack and Ianto bursting into Thames House all John Wayne-like to save the day. Is this surprising for Jack? No. Captain Jack Harkness is confidence and brazenness personified. It’s Ianto’s presence that confused me. We all know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jack cannot die. But bringing Ianto on what is sure to be a suicide mission? I know it was a plot device to bring Jack down a few hundred notches. Does it make it any less meaningless? No, I don’t really think it does.

That being said, the performances of T:COE were up to and probably over par of anything we’ll see coming from the Emmys and Oscars this year. Ianto’s (Gareth David-Lloyd) death scene was one of the most tragic and heartbreaking moments on television this year. And that was only the first of many to come. Eve Myles, probably one of my favorite actresses today, gave Gwen a new depth of pain and humanity that I didn’t think was possible. Gwen has always been one of my favorite characters, but the moment she stares into a camera and says, “I want to know about that Doctor of his. The man who shows up and saves the world. Only sometimes he doesn’t . . . Sometimes the Doctor must look at this planet and turn away in shame,” you can’t help but feel the complete and utter hopelessness that this finale is going to offer.

The series’ regulars were not the only performances that were astounding. Peter Capaldi plays middle-man John Frobisher who is asked the un-askable after 30 years of service to his country, and who is left to make the only choice he feels he has left: to keep his family safe, he must remove them from the equation. The sheer horror of knowing what was coming, yet watching his resolution as his the room to his daughter’s door slowly swung closed was nearly unbearable.

Undoubtedly the acting in T:COE was remarkable; however those performances wouldn’t have been much without the writing. While there were indeed some awkward moments and obvious plot devices, the sheer scale of the writing left the viewer emotionally drained by the end of the finale. The realization of what the Prime Minister is going to ask of Frobisher, to the council’s meeting to decide how the sacrificial children should be chosen, to the understanding that Jack has had to sacrifice his lover and his family to save the world, to the final realization that The 456 didn’t need the children to survive, but rather just to get high. The writing was compelling, powerful and emotional.

And I loved it. Was it hard to watch at times? Yes. Am I upset at how Ianto was killed? Yes. Do I want to punch Jack in the face for running away from all of it? Yes. But is it all true to character? Absolutely. Is it what we’ve come to know and love about Torchwood? Without a doubt. Jack makes the hard choices (remember “Small Worlds” from series one when he sacrifices a child to save the world against the rest of the group’s wishes?). This idea is not new to Torchwood. It’s why we love Torchwood.

Now we are just left to hope that they…are…coming. Back.

He smiled and said that he’d love to play the character and that Captain America has always been his favorite comic book superhero. But, notion did not seem to take him by surprise and he ended up admitting there had been discussions with his agents and meetings on that very issue.

The First Avenger: Captain America is currently scheduled for a May 6, 2011 release.