March 2009 Archives

SOLVEJ SCHOU
Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Andy Hallett, who made his mark playing green-skinned, good-guy demon Lorne on the TV series "Angel," has died of congestive heart disease. Hallett was 33.

Hallett was taken by ambulance to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after having problems breathing and died there Sunday, following a five-year battle with the heart condition, his agent Pat Brady said Tuesday.

His father, Dave Hallett, was by his side.

"Andy was the all-American boy from Massachusetts," Brady said. "He was a hoot. He was comfortable wherever he went. Girls loved him. He was a very gregarious, happy young man."

Born and raised in Osterville, Massachusetts, Hallett moved out to Los Angeles when he was 23 and worked as a messenger at a talent agency, said Brady.

He went on to become an assistant to Joss Whedon's wife, Brady said. It was when Whedon saw the lanky Hallett perform karaoke that he had him audition for "Angel," a spinoff of Whedon's hit series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Hallett snagged the part of Lorne.

Hallett proved himself a fan favorite on "Angel" as the show tune loving, red horned demon seer who runs the karaoke club Caritas and can read a person's aura when they sing, revealing their problems and futures.

The series, starring David Boreanaz as the brooding vampire Angel, ran for five seasons on the WB network before it was canceled, ending in 2004.

Hallett was diagnosed with his heart condition at the end of the show, said Brady, and had been in and out of hospitals for the past five years. He decided to concentrate on his own music, stepping away from acting.

Hallett, an only child, is survived by his father Dave Hallett and mother Lori Hallett.

TED ANTHONY
AP National Writer

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) -- "The better the villain," Alfred Hitchcock said, "the better the movie." And in the epic production that is the United States of America, we have followed that advice since the earliest settlers landed. For every hero the American story factory produces, a vivid new villain comes off the assembly line in short order.

We love bad guys in America -- even when they're not really bad. Demonizing helps define the best in us. Here's an incomplete list from the history books: Indians, Quakers, witches, Englishmen, the federal government, Southerners and Northerners, Chinese "Celestials," Tammany Hall Democrats, Germans, Jews, Japanese, North Koreans, communists, socialists, Vietnamese, liberals, conservatives, gays, lesbians and Muslims. The Evil Empire and the Axis of Evil.

Now, a fresh group has been dropped into the cultural dunk tank. Bin Laden? Back-burnered, at least for now. Saddam? Gone and forgotten. Instead, in these jumbled days of economic uncertainty, fairly or unfairly, America's newest Snidely Whiplashes bear faces like those of Bernie Madoff, AIG executives and the private jet-flying heads of the Big Three automakers.

Just look at the March 2 cover of New York magazine, which doctored a picture of Madoff into the grinning, bloodshot-eyed Joker, the diabolical supervillain who delights in terrorizing Batman's Gotham City. "Bernie Madoff, Monster," it says. Or consider General Motors Corp. Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner, eviscerated by a congressional committee in November and lampooned on "Saturday Night Live" before he was forced out by the Obama administration over the weekend.

And in October, when the former CEO of the freshly bankrupted Lehman Bros., Richard Fuld, sat down before Congress, he was promptly informed by Florida Rep. John Mica: "If you haven't discovered your role, you're the villain today."

By David Germain
The Associated Press

Movie beasts from old-time Hollywood got a makeover as heroes and conquered the weekend box office.

DreamWorks Animation's action comedy "Monsters vs. Aliens," which features creatures from 1950s flicks in a showdown with invading extraterrestrials, launched itself into the No. 1 spot with a $58.2million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

It was the biggest debut so far in 2009, topping the $55.2million first weekend of "Watchmen" in early March.

Opening in second place was Lionsgate's ghost story "The Haunting in Connecticut" with $23 million in ticket sales.

The previous weekend's top movie, Summit Entertainment's apocalyptic thriller "Knowing," slipped to third with $14.7 million, raising its 10-day total to $46.2 million.

The big opening for "Monsters vs. Aliens" boosted Hollywood revenues after a couple of down weekends. Movies overall pulled in about $148 million, up 39 percent from the same weekend a year ago, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

For the year, revenues have reached $2.38 billion, up 12 percent from 2008's, according to Media By Numbers.

Accounting for this year's higher ticket prices, movie attendance is up 10.4 percent. 

James T. Rasmussen

Contributor

Busty babes, giant robots, and manly fighting spirit is what Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is all about. This Gainax science-fiction anime came out two years ago in Japan, and aired on America's Sci Fi Channel last July through October 2008.

The basic plot behind Gurren Lagann is Simon, a driller, works to expand his underground village and his big bro Kamina, dreams of getting out of the village and to the surface he saw with his father as a child. One day while Simon is drilling he comes across a core drill which is used as a key to a robot face he finds later which Kamina brilliantly names Lagann (face in Japanese).

One day an earthquake shakes the village and a giant robot, or gunmen, tumbles down on top of the villagers. The two brothers along with Yoko, a girl from a neighboring village, manage to start Lagann and defeat the gunmen on their way to the surface.

The trio find some help on the surface in the form of human rebels, and Kamina manages to steal his own gunmen which he calls Gurren (Crimson in Japanese), for obvious reasons.

The two brothers find out they can combine mechas to create the indomitable Gurren Lagann. They use this new unified power to combat the leagues of beastmen who are trying to oppress the humans and keep them underground.

Gainax is best known for creating the anime which needs no introduction, Neon Genesis Evangelion. Gurren Lagann is their recent effort in the giant robot, sci-fi, action anime department. The series has received critical acclaim all over the world, and I urge anyone who

hasn't seen this anime to go out now and buy yourself a copy.

The English dubbed DVDs just hit the market, and fans who snatch one of these up will be treated to a light-up core drill which is a definite plus.

If you haven't seen it yet, G4's Blair Butler of "Fresh Ink" introduces a new creative team for Marvel Comics' "Runaways" series and gives her take on classic graphic novel reprints of "Wolverine: Origin," "The New Mutants" and another "Starman" Omnibus."

As far as calling these works classics, I'll say I especially agree with Butler about the work of writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz on "The New Mutants" from the 80s.

Yes, it may only be those of us who read the graphic novel that noticed or even cared that "Tales of the Black Freighter" -- the comic within the comic --  wasn't included as part of "Watchmen" the feature film.

No matter what you think of "Watchmen," the word around the net-o-sphere is that the animated adaptation of the Freighter story isn't bad (see this review at Robot 6).  The featurette above, courtesy of Empire, offers background on the creation of the animated project and its relation to the overall "Watchmen" universe.

Freighter features the vocal talents of Gerard Butler from "300" and will be released on DVD April 6.

Drop me a comment and let me know what you think.  Are you as interested in this as I am?  

By CHRISTY LEMIRE
AP Movie Critic

Classic creatures from the 1950s get a high-tech makeover, with a healthy amount of attitude, in the 3-D animated "Monsters vs. Aliens."

The Blob, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Fly -- they're are all here, led by The 50-Foot Woman, who's now 49 feet, 11 inches as voiced by the diminutive Reese Witherspoon. (Animation, by the way, is a great fit for her, and for both the crispness and sweetness in her voice.)

Far from being menacing, they're optimistic misfits who just want to be loved and understood. Rather than destroying each other, they're loyal friends who've been trapped together as government test subjects, only to be unleashed on the world when an alien invasion requires their unique powers.

It's an enormously clever concept -- no pun intended -- with a choice voice cast. Who else but Seth Rogen could play a lovable blue blob named B.O.B., who always has a smile on his gelatinous face? Will Arnett essentially revives his hilariously cocky-but-clueless "Arrested Development" character, Gob Bluth II, as the half-fish, half-ape Missing Link, and Hugh Laurie lends his rich voice to the British mad scientist Dr. Cockroach.

Just seeing the words "And Stephen Colbert as The President" during the opening titles is good for a laugh, especially given the comic's faux run for The White House from his home state of South Carolina.

And the laughs keep coming steadily from there. Directors Rob Letterman ("Shark Tale") and Conrad Vernon ("Shrek 2"), working from a script from about a half-dozen people, maintains a high energy throughout, although the explosive climax feels bombastic and repetitive. Far more effective is the way this motley crew comes together.

The supernatural thriller "Knowing," which stars Nicolas Cage as an astrophysics professor who figures out how to predict monumental catastrophes, was No. 1 at the box office.

By Derrik J. Lang
The Associated Press

Audiences knew what they wanted this weekend: Nicolas Cage and the apocalypse.

Summit Entertainment's supernatural thriller "Knowing," which stars Cage as an astrophysics professor who figures out how to predict monumental catastrophes, debuted as the No. 1 movie at the weekend box office with $24.8 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"Knowing" easily foiled "I Love You, Man" and "Duplicity," the other films opening in wide release. "I Love You, Man" was second with $18 million and "Duplicity" was third at $14.4 million.

The victory was another affirmation for Summit Entertainment, the small studio behind the vampire saga "Twilight," which opened last year with more than $69 million and went on sale Saturday on DVD after fans lined up at midnight.

Richie Fay, the studio's president of domestic distribution, said there are several reasons for the studio's successes.

By RANDALL CHASE
AP Business Writer

DOVER, Delaware (AP) -- Attorneys for the Tribune Co. have asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to declare the company owns the television and movie rights to comic book character Dick Tracy.

Tribune Media Services, a Tribune subsidiary, has been battling for years with actor Warren Beatty over rights to the cartoon icon, which Tribune says represent tens of millions of dollars in potential income to the bankruptcy estate.

"Mr. Beatty's conduct and wrongful claims have effectively locked away certain motion picture and television rights to the Dick Tracy Property from such productive and profitable uses, to the tremendous detriment of the debtor, its estate and its creditors," attorneys for Tribune wrote in a filing submitted Thursday to the bankruptcy court in Wilmington.

Bertram Fields, an attorney representing Beatty in a federal lawsuit against Tribune in California, described the bankruptcy filing as "hogwash."

"It's a nuisance lawsuit by a bankrupt company and they should be ashamed of themselves," he said.

Tribune's filing related to its Chapter 11 bankruptcy automatically stayed the California lawsuit, which Beatty filed in November in response to Tribune's assertion that, because he had reneged on a 1985 agreement, the rights had reverted back to Tribune. Fields said he would seek a waiver of the stay so that the California action can proceed, but that he also was prepared to battle Tribune in bankruptcy court.

By Ryan Riley, Contributor

*Note: This article discusses plot events that take place throughout the run of "Battlestar Galactica". Stop reading now if you are not caught up and don't want to read any spoilers.

The final episode of the SciFi Network's "Battlestar Galactica" is just about here. I'm fairly disheartened to see it end, because I think they could have easily kept this exceptional series going for at least one more season. The show, which was a reimagining of the original series produced by Glen A. Larson in the late 1970's/early 1980's, could not have been more different in tone than its predecessor. Sure, the basic premise was the same. Humankind has their planets ravaged by mechanical antagonists called Cylons, and the survivors of the assault form a "ragtag, fugitive fleet" with the purpose of finding a planet known as Earth. But the revamp of the concept took on a life of its own.

Much like "Lost" & "Heroes", the producers of "Battlestar Galactica" set out to make a well-written dramatic action series that happened to have a sci-fi/fantasy setting. They succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations, often employing plot threads that were both topical and thought provoking. For example, when the Cylons occupied New Caprica, the humans (ostensibly the protagonists of the series) employed morally reprehensible tactics like suicide bombings that targeted both Cylons and human sympathizers. Sure, the Cylons rained nuclear devastation on the humans, but the way the situation was written made one think twice about who the heroes of the series were supposed to be. And that's the type of thing that most television shows wouldn't have the courage to do.

But the aspect of the show that really puts it over the top with its fans are the multiple plot twists that you just don't see coming, or as I like to call them, the "Holy Frak!" moments. Over the four seasons "Battlestar Galactica" has been on the air, it has managed to keep its viewers guessing as to what will happen next. I've compiled a list of what I thought were the most memorable "Holy Frak!" moments of the show's excellent run.

Writer Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse, is slated for a "special musical performance" in This American Life - Live! --  to be broadcast to 400 movie theaters nationwide and 17 theaters locally in April, it was announced.

The stage show will be simulcast April 23 from the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University and is based on Chicago Public Radio's weekly hour-long radio show This American Life.  Host Ira Glass will be joined by Whedon, Dan Savage, Starlee Kine and cartoonist Chris Ware for the two-hour show.  The show's theme is "Return to the Scene of the Crime."

From the press release:

This American Life - Live! is presented for the second consecutive year in theaters by NCM Fathom, produced by Chicago Public Radio and BY Experience, Inc. in collaboration with Public Radio International (PRI). Tens of thousands of fans across the country attended the first TAL cinema event in 2008.  

 "Our listeners enjoyed getting together in their own communities to experience our show in a new way," said host Ira Glass.  "The live cinema transmission was surprisingly effective.  We were flooded with emails asking for us to do it again.  Last year was mostly a sneak preview of stories from our television show. This year we're excited to do a full-on stage performance of the radio show."

Organizers listed 17 Los Angeles area movie theaters to carry This American Life - Live!.  Among the local theaters listed are: Long Beach 26 on Carson Blvd., Century City 15, Irvine Spectrum 20 and The Bridge. 

A complete list of the 17 scheduled movie theaters can be found here.

Tickets to see the simulcast performance on April 23 are available at the theaters listed or www.FathomEvents.com.


Photo By Michael Buckner/Getty Images

James T. Rasmussen
Contributor

HOLLYWOOD - Capcom partnered with Red Cross to promote their much-anticipated video game Resident Evil 5, and gave people an opportunity to save lives by giving blood at the World of Wonder Gallery in Hollywood, Friday March, 13th.

The event "Give Resident Evil 5 a Shot" was a chance for neighbors and fans to give back to the community while also getting a hands-on look at Resident Evil 5, said Capcom Senior PR Manager Melody Pfeiffer.

Red Cross received an overwhelming 150 pledges to give blood, and another 70 to 80 people lined up around the building waiting for their chance as well.

Richard, a young man near the front of the line, said this event wasn't even about the game coming out, and he had been meaning to give blood for the longest time. The only downside was that the wait for a walk-in donation was about two hours.

The idea for a blood drive made sense since there is a ton of blood in Resident Evil 5, said Pfeiffer. "This is a cool community event and it gives fans the opportunity to snag up special Resident Evil giveaways that can't be found anywhere else," she said.

There were posters, buttons, bumper-stickers, chances to win the game, and one lucky person won a raffle for a limited edition Resident Evil 5 red XBOX 360.


Photos By James T. Rasmussen/Modern Mythology

Nope. Not missing this one -- and neither should you.  The two-hour "Battlestar Galactica" series finale "Daybreak Pt. 2" airs Friday at 9 p.m. on Sci Fi.    

It's always nice to catch Stephen Colbert talking with comics folks. Of course, this isn't about the comics work of writer Neil Gaiman, it's about his young readers novel The Graveyard Book, winner of the 2009 Newbery Medal.

As for comics, Gaiman's work can be seen in Batman with his Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader storyline illustrated by Andy Kubert.

The YouTube link via Robot6.

Carla Gugino, AnnaSophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig and Dwayne Johnson from Disney's "Race to Witch Mountain." (AP Photo/Disney, Ron Phillips)

Movies: 'Watchmen' is No. 2, `Last House' is at No. 3 and `Miss March' is No. 10.

By Derrik J. Lang
Associated Press

Disney's "Race to Witch Mountain" rushed to No.1 at the weekend box office, bypassing expectations with $25 million in ticket sales.

The PG-rated sci-fi flick starring Dwayne Johnson as a cab driver with a pair of alien teenagers along for the ride topped the R-rated superhero epic "Watchmen," which earned $18.1 million in its second week.

Mark Zoradi, president of Disney's motion-picture group, said analysts had predicted that "Race to Witch Mountain," director Andy Fickman's re-imagination of the 1975 live-action film "Escape to Witch Mountain," would fly away with $20 million or less. Now he expects this "Witch Mountain" to maintain a high orbit in theaters with kids on spring break.

"I think audiences this weekend were really drawn to the action adventure of `Race to Witch Mountain,"' said Zoradi. "There was also this element of parents over 30 who remembered the original and were drawn to this one, so I think that combination is what helped us exceed what folks in the industry thought this movie was going to do."

Ticket sales for "Watchmen" plummeted 67 percent from last weekend's $55.2 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday. Jeff Goldstein with Warner Bros. said the studio anticipated the big dip for director Zack Snyder's comic book adaptation about a team of subversive superheroes.

"It's very common with higher profile, highly anticipated movies," said Goldstein.

Also opening this weekend in wide release was "The Last House on the Left," the Universal horror remake, which turned up at No. 3 with $14.7 million in ticket sales, and "Miss March," the Fox Atomic comedy in the No. 10 spot with $2.4 million. 20th Century Fox's thriller "Taken" remained at No. 4 with $6.7 million in its seventh weekend in theaters.

Factoring in 2009's higher admission prices, the weekend box office total was down 16 percent compared with last year, making it the first down weekend in six weeks.

BOX OFFICE TOP 10

1. "Race to Witch Mountain," $25 million.

2. "Watchmen," $18.1million.

3. "The Last House on the Left," $14.7 million.

4. "Taken," $6.7 million.

5. "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail," $5.1 million.

6. "Slumdog Millionaire," $5 million.

7. "Paul Blart: Mall Cop," $3.1 million.

8. "He's Just Not That Into You," $2.9 million.

9. "Coraline," $2.7 million.

10. "Miss March," $2.4 million.

By DAVID B. CARUSO
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- A rare copy of the first comic book featuring Superman has sold for $317,200 in an Internet auction. The previous owner had bought it for less than a buck.

It's one of the highest prices ever paid for a comic book, a likely testament to the volume's rarity and its excellent condition, said Stephen Fishler, co-owner of the auction site ComicConnect.com and its sister dealership, Metropolis Collectibles.

The winning bid for the 1938 edition of Action Comics No. 1, which features Superman lifting a car on its cover, was submitted Friday evening by John Dolmayan, drummer for the rock band System of a Down, according to managers at ComicConnect.com.

Dolmayan, who is also a dealer of rare comic books, said he acquired the Superman comic on behalf of a client he declined to identify.

"This is one of the premier books you could collect," he said in a telephone interview. "It's considered the Holy Grail of comic books. I talked to my client, and we made the move."

Dolmayan said the client has "a small collection, but everything he has is incredible."

Only about 100 copies of Action Comics No. 1 are known to exist and they seldom come up for sale.

"Maybe in a booming economy, it would have done a hundred grand more, but in this economy, I think the price is great," Fishler said.

The man who had previously owned the book purchased it in a secondhand store in the early 1950s when he was nine years old.

He paid 35 cents.

____

Associated Press writer Adam Goldman in New York contributed to this report.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

Kristen Stewart, left, and Robert Pattinson, of "Twilight," appear on the NBC "Today" television program in New York, Thursday Nov. 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) -- Robert Pattinson says he wasn't prepared to film his first sex scenes for the upcoming period drama "Little Ashes."

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.

This one gives some game story background and shows Batman in action.  The clip is from MTV Splashpage and you may have to put up with a commercial before the good times roll.

BY APRILL BRANDON
Associated Press/Victoria Advocate

VICTORIA, Texas (AP) -- Meet Doug Hazlewood. Living in a cozy home in Victoria, he is simply a mild-mannered collector by day. Surrounded by his virtual museum of comic book memorabilia, he is the ultimate fanboy of superheroes.

But at night, this regular family man turns into The Inker. Sitting in his home office, he lives out the fantasy of millions of kids as he helps bring to life Superman, The Flash and Animal Man.

Hazlewood is living out his ultimate dream. As a kid, he'd ride his bike all over Victoria buying comic books. Now he spends his days inking comic books -- filling in the details, depth and shadows of a pencil-drawn image -- for DC Comics. He even got to work on his favorite childhood superhero The Flash.

"The Flash is actually what got me interested in comic books in the first place," Hazlewood, now 54, said. "So being able to work on a Flash series is a source of pride for me. It started out I was only getting paid $25 per page, which even for back then was very little. But eventually you keep working, you get better books, send off better samples, get even better books and then you get a raise."

Although he graduated from college with a degree in commercial art and ended up working in a print shop, his heart always lay with the comic book industry. He managed to get his foot in the door after winning the inking category in the Official Marvel Comics Tryout Contest.

Work came little by little and by 1986, he was working full time as an inker.

His resume is impressive. He's worked on the Adventures of Superman, one of the highest-selling comics of all time. Other titles with his name on them include Superboy, Doom Patrol, Birds of Prey and Animal Man. He is currently working on Secret Six. The pages are shipped right to his door, proving that you don't have to live in New York to make it in the industry.

"I learned as I went. When I was doing my amateur work, I did it in ball point pen because I had never heard of India ink," he said. "Back then, there wasn't a school you could go to to learn this stuff."

It's not always an easy road. Just one page takes him an entire day and with comic book readership down and technology replacing some inking jobs, Hazlewood jokes that he does worry he may have to get a job as a greeter at Wal-Mart. But even though the future of the industry is on shaky ground right now, that doesn't change the fact that he got to eat dinner with Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of Superman. Or that he was an extra in an episode of "Lois and Clark." Or that he has worked with some of the biggest names in comic books.

Luckily, Hazlewood does think that the blockbuster movies coming out that are based on comic books, such as the highly anticipated "Watchmen," have helped the industry a little. And as a fanboy, he loves the fact that he can see his heroes finally coming to life.

"I had always hoped technology would catch up to where it could do superheroes justice and now with (computer-generated images), it has," he said. "If you really love the fantasy part of (comics) and want to see them brought to life well, it's exciting. It's something I never thought I would see."

Note to Mr. Lex Luthor:
Convincing congress to go for this will be tougher than beating Superman.

Enjoy the video clip above courtesy of "Funny Or Die."

The anxiety the headline may have caused you is justified but unnecessary... sorry.

This YouTube viral spoof featuring the opening of a "Watchmen" Saturday morning cartoon is hilarious and so spot on.  If you have NOT READ THE BOOK OR SEEN THE MOVIE then you may wanna come check this out later. If you are familiar with "Watchmen" and don't mind an inside joke or two, then check this out!

This is a joke... right?

By RENE A. GUZMAN
San Antonio Express-News

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The Force is definitely in the cards for local artist Cat Staggs.

Besides wielding pencils and markers the way most Jedi wield lightsabers, Staggs wields quite a reputation as a "Star Wars" artist, illustrating numerous trading cards and other works for the sci-fi franchise.

Staggs channels the Force of her talents yet again with 75 original sketch cards and a full-painted base card for the new "Star Wars" Galaxy set, a trading card series now in stores.

For Staggs, 36, that galaxy far, far away has been one she's drawn from since she was a kid. "As soon as that Star Destroyer flew over my head. ..," Staggs says of the opening to "Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope."

That passion shows in her many "Star Wars" sketch cards, each an original work of art she crafts right on the card.

A sketch card is a very rare and therefore very collectible hand-illustrated card, a one-of-a-kind catch in the sea of mass-produced trading cards for a series. Prices vary on the secondary market, though some sketch cards sell on eBay for hundreds of dollars apiece.

Of Staggs' 75 Galaxy sketch cards done in marker, 25 of them are in packs exclusive to Target stores. (The Target exclusive sketch cards are all red and all bad guys such as Darth Vader and Darth Maul.) The other sketch cards, which feature "Star Wars" heroes such as Han Solo and Luke Skywalker, are in packs you'd find in comic and hobby shops.

James T. Rasmussen,
Contributor

With only two episodes left in Battlestar Galactica's final season, Ron Moore and David Eick still have a lot of explaining to do. Since we're huge fans of the show here at Modern Mythology this post is to help people catch up if they missed an episode as well as discuss possible theories to questions still unanswered.

What they've covered so far: SPOILERS (So don't carry on if you are not caught up - more after the supper picture).



The end is here

Earth is a joke. The first couple episodes in season 4.5 were about how people would react when you rip away their hopes and dreams. When they finally reach nuked earth the fleet hit a brick wall and people were forced to deal with the situation.

I believe Anastasia "Dee" Dualla's reaction best illustrated the feelings of the fleet since finding Earth was the only thing she had left going for her. She had two relationships that didn't work out, and Earth was her last glimmering hope. She couldn't handle having that taken away.  The normally regimented Dee couldn't even get through her daily routine anymore. After a last date with Lee Adama -- she wanted to feel happy one last time -- she shockingly ended her life.

Ellen Tigh was revealed as the final cylon. It wasn't a shocking feeling when this was announced, compared to ground breaking moments like when they found earth, or when Boomer shot Admiral William Adama. But with Col. Saul Tigh being a cylon this seemed like another piece to the  puzzle that finally fell into place. Tigh and Ellen's relationship always seemed to have more to it than what has been shown, and early in the first and second season everyone's gut instincts screamed cylon when it came to Ellen.

We also finally get an idea about what Starbuck is now after the episode, "Someone To Watch Over Me." It is all but said that Daniel, the missing number in the cylon lineup, is her father, Dreilede Thrace and that Kara is either the first or known first human/cylon offspring. Her father taught her the song, "All Along the Watchtower" which is the same song the final five have heard in their heads on multiple occasions. Now Anders says he wrote the song. So could Anders have taught the song to Daniel who then taught it to Starbuck? They also have to fill in the gaps on how Hera knows the notes to the song.

What still needs to be explained and predictions:

Why "All Along the Watchtower, and what is its meaning?" I've read multiple blogs and forum posts about people trying to link the lyrics of "All Along the Watchtower" to what is happening in the show right now. But I think Moore felt that the song's harmony fit well in the BSG universe, not to mention he is completely in love with that song as he says here in this interview with the Chicago Tribune:

Ron Moore: I had personally been obsessed with the song for a while. So, I just thought it was a fascinating song and the lyrics.
I had wanted to work it into a project of mine since, for the last several years. In fact I wanted to do a whole Roswell episode about it.

It was just sort of always in the back of my mind. And as we started talking about music and using music as a trigger, I just immediately said oh and it has to be "All Along the Watchtower".

And everybody kind of laughed. Then I just was very much, dogged about it. And kept going and made, and then we got the rights. And that became the song.

Read more: "Interview: Ron Moore and David Eick of Battlestar Galactica."

In "Someone to Watch Over Me" which aired the week before, the President Laura Roslin collapsed after Boomer took Hera. In last week's "Islanded in a Stream of Stars," The Galactica and President Roslin continues to deteriorate and the Admiral has to make a decision that will affect the welfare of his crew. He tells Tigh that the ship's vital resources (people in particular) need to move to their allied cylon basestar. And next week's preview of "Daybreak, Part 1" has Adama asking for volunteers to take on a final deadly mission on the old vessel that will finally (and likely) pit Admiral Adama against Cavil.

The episode this weekend will be the first of what looks to be an intense two-part finale.

Other fan theories about this can be found at the BSG SciFi forum.

This leads us into the next question. Where is the thirteenth colony that Cavil said Ellen's lab is on? Is this planet Earth? Or is the planet Galactica and the fleet found the real earth? Are there two different Earth planets? A cylon Earth and a human Earth?

Ron Moore said in an interview regarding nuked Earth, "They have found Earth. This is the Earth that the 13th Colony discovered, they christened it Earth. They found Earth."

Since they have already found Earth then we need an explanation of what the thirteenth colony is and who inhabits that planet. As well as a decent timeline explanation for Earth, Kobol and the colonies cataclysms that happened simultaneously 2,000 years ago.

What is Cavil's plan and why does he need Hera? This has to lead into the Opera House vision, and I hope this is where Baltar comes into play.

There is going to have to be a confrontation with Cavil and the other cylons to get Hera back now thanks to Boomer. I'm a fan of Boomer's character, but sadly she has sealed her fate. There is going to be no mercy on her when she crosses  paths with Galactica again. Here's hoping that Tyrol gets to pull the trigger for how she used him last episode. Athena would also be a solid choice for revenge after all the fraking she did with Helo last episode.

After part one of "Daybreak" airs on March 13th, we'll get a reaction up as soon as we can. There are only a two weeks left of BSG so enjoy it while it lasts.

Editor's note: Several plot points in the film are discussed in this review of "Watchmen"

By Ryan Riley, Contributor

I've been a comic book fan since I was a small child, but it wasn't until my teenage years that I discovered their full storytelling potential. The books that opened my eyes were The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Back then I was mainly into the X-Men titles from Marvel and the Batman books from DC. I didn't really care to try out new books. It was my friends Mike and Aaron that convinced me to give both books a try, and the stories blew my mind. So besides my appreciation for the obvious brilliance of Watchmen, the book also reminds me of the friends that initially exposed me to it. When I heard about the "Watchmen" movie last year, the fond memories associated with the book heightened my anticipation of its release. Now that the movie is released, it's time to see if it lives up to its source material.

What the movie got right

The overall plot of the book remains intact in the movie, you'll be happy to know. In fact, the more memorable scenes in the comic book were translated (mostly) faithfully in the film. In particular, the flashback scenes of each character remembering their encounters with the Comedian over the years (including Dr. Manhattan's at the close of the Vietnam War and Nite Owl II's during riots in 1977) play mostly beat-for-beat like they did in the pages of the comic.

Don't panic, but there were some changes made to the movie. Some of them detract from the movie, but some of them actually worked out well. Instead of beginning the movie with the police investigating the Comedian's apartment after his murder, it shows the entire altercation leading up to his defenestration. Other scenes fleshed out the history and political climate of the world that the Watchmen inhabit. After the Comedian is thrown out his window the opening credits begin, featuring the history of costumed heroes from the beginning of World War II to present day and their impact on the world. Some of the backstory that the movie just didn't have time for, such as the history of the Minutemen, were touched upon there, and other than the blazing of the guns in the still-shot montage it was very well done. And there was a nice topical touch thrown into the Ozymandias assassination scene with his dressing down of oil and auto industry bigwigs threatening to strongarm him into giving up his pursuit of alternative energy.

The casting of the major characters in the movie was simply spot-on. Malin Ackerman (Silk Spectre II), Patrick Wilson (Nite Owl II), Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Comedian) and Matthew Goode (Ozymandias) did well in their respective roles. But it was Jackie Earle Haley and Billy Crudup that stood out the most as Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan respectively. Haley disappears into the role of Rorschach, keeping much of his psychopathic edge while still keeping him human. And Crudup effectively portrays Dr. Manhattan as a godlike being that can control everything in his world but is unable to comprehend the human condition.

Where it went wrong

The main drawback to trying to put Watchmen on film is that it is so large in scope that it is inevitable that some scenes and plot points just weren't going to make the cut. For example, the subplot featuring the death of Hollis Mason (Nite Owl I) at the hands of a gang of Knot-Tops in retribution for Nite Owl II breaking Rorschach out of prison. What I enjoyed even less were scenes that were deemed worthy of filming but ended up condensed, such as Rorschach's psychological sessions in prison and the conversation between Dr. Manhattan & Silk Spectre II on Mars. Also, the reduced scene time of bit-players such as the newsvendor and the crew at the New Frontiersman, while streamlining the film, also took away a valuable tool that offered insight as to how the common man feels about the goings on in this world.

Another thing that bothered me about the film was that it made a violent story even more violent, which I didn't think was possible. But in the scene where Silk Spectre II & Nite Owl II take out a group of Knot-Tops in an alleyway, the scene went out of its way to show you every broken bone that they dole out in as graphic a fashion as possible. Slightly less gore would have worked out better, as it took over what looked to be a masterfully choreographed fight scene. And they got a little slo-mo happy during the fight scenes. That works for "The Matrix", but "Watchmen" should have taken a cue from the fights from "The Dark Knight". The fights would have been more effective at normal speed.

Something that bothered me about the opening credit montage was that it showed the Comedian firing the fatal shot that killed JFK in 1963, which deviated slightly from the book where he was just watching over Richard Nixon.

The bottom line

While there were admittedly some things that this movie did not do all that well (including the slight tweak on the ending), I have to give major props to director Zack Snyder. He had the courage to at least attempt to make a faithful adaptation of Watchmen. Hearing him speak so reverentially about the book in interviews makes me think that any cuts and changes he made were done so with the greatest of reluctance. We could have ended up with another "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" had anyone but a fan of Watchmen been tapped to direct. That wouldn't have been pretty. Also, I'm sure that having Dave Gibbons involved as a consultant helped tremendously.

In short, "Watchmen" isn't as faithful to its source material as "Sin City" was, but it's as close as any filmmaker working under the auspices of Warner Bros. can get. When you take that and the fact that other films based on Alan Moore's work ("League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" anyone?) bore little resemblance to their source material, what Snyder accomplished was nothing short of miraculous. And it's definitely worth catching in IMAX to enjoy the visual effects all the more.

By DERRIK J. LANG
AP Entertainment Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Fans should plan to savor every visual morsel when "Watchmen" swoops into movie theaters Friday because the subversive superheroes of the landmark comic book series may never return to the big screen.

"There's no way I would be involved in a sequel or prequel," said director Zack Snyder, who turned the graphic novel "300" into a 2007 blockbuster.

"Will they make one? I have no idea how you would. The work is the work. This movie is about ideas. Anything else you would do, if you did a sequel to it, misses the point entirely of what 'Watchmen' is," he said.

It's unclear whether Warner Bros. would ever take a cue from Dr. Manhattan, the blue-hued superbeing played by Billy Crudup who smoothly proclaims in the comic and the movie that "nothing ever ends." Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Bros. production, declined to be interviewed for this story.

"Contractually, we are obligated," Crudup said. "I will do it. I just don't know what it is we would do."

Unlike superheroes with superhistories like "Batman" or "Spider-Man," decades worth of "Watchmen" source material doesn't exist.

In the 1980s, illustrator Dave Gibbons and writer Alan Moore (who has said he doesn't want to be associated with a "Watchmen" film) crafted only 12 chapters of the comic book-turned-graphic novel.

The nearly three-hour R-rated movie is faithful to the original novel, leaving almost nothing on the cutting room floor except "Tales of the Black Freighter," a comic-within-the-comic woven throughout "Watchmen." It will be released March 24 on DVD as an animated short film along with "Under the Hood," the tell-all memoir from "Watchmen."

Beyond that, Snyder can't envision any cinematic additions to the mythos.

So there was a little tirade or two on the set by the star --  If you're familiar with Terminator mythology you know it's an intense fictional world these characters inhabit and maybe it bled too far into the real one.

Let's hope all is forgiven so we can move on to what we really wanna see... more scenes from "Terminator Salvation."

This trailer not only gives us a look at the action and effects, we get a hint of the plot.

Check it out and tell me what you think.  The flick opens May 21.

For an HD trailer go to Yahoo Movies.

By MARK KENNEDY
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- Lynda Carter peers at the ultrasleek stereo in her hotel room, trying to find the right button -- any button, really -- that will get it to accept her CD.

"Now, where would Play be?" she asks.

"Is it Enter?" she wonders. "That's not it."

"CD? Does that say CD?"

Carter played Wonder Woman on television, someone who stopped bullets with her bracelets or hopped in an invisible plane. On this day, she's more human -- more alter ego Diana Prince -- stumped by an unfamiliar stereo.

But not for long.

"OK!" she says with delight as the right button is pressed and the squeal of a saxophone signals the beginning of Sam Cooke's torch song "You Send Me."

The voice that emerges, though, isn't Cooke's. It's Carter's. And, while walking over to a sofa, she can't help but sing along with herself, a grin plastered to her face.

"I didn't realize how much I missed music until I came back," she says, her tall frame swaying. "It's just a blast. It's so much fun."

That's right: Long before she donned her famous star-spangled one-piece, Carter was a singer. She's getting back to it now with a new CD and a cabaret tour, proving that the 57-year-old is still something of a wonder woman.

"She's really a very incredibly talented singer," says drummer Paul Leim, the leader of her band who has worked with Carter since her "Wonder Woman" days and also with the likes of Lionel Richie, Dolly Parton, Randy Travis, Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers and Faith Hill.

"Hopefully, everybody will get a chance to experience the real Lynda Carter instead of the actress from the cartoon," says Leim by phone from Nashville, Tenn.