Doctor Who Spinoff Class Is In Session Starting Saturday 22nd October

The official Class Snapchat held a live-stream with series creator Patrick Ness and Katherine Kelly (who plays a physics teacher called Miss Quill) today where it was confirmed that episodes one and two will be made available on BBC Three Online starting from Saturday 22nd October. The BBC1 broadcast dates have yet to be confirmed, although Patrick Ness stated on Twitter that it will follow the BBC Three Online stream: “Plan is, ‘Class’ airs on BBC3 online, then on BBC1, at which point the new episode of “Class” hits BBC3. It’s cool,”

As well as Katherine Kelly, Class also stars Greg Austin (Mr Selfridge) as Charlie, Sophie Hopkins (Dark Matters: Twisted But True) as April, Fady Elsayed (Citizen Khan) as Rham and Vivian Oparah (National Youth Theatre) as Tanya. Peter Capaldi will appear as The Doctor in episode one.

In a press release for the show, Peter Capaldi said ‘The Doctor Who family is growing, and it’s fantastic to be able to welcome the young new cast of Class in to the Whoniverse,”

Patrick Ness also teased “At last, we can tell you a little more about Class! Though there are still many, many secrets to come. Many. Like, a lot. But of COURSE, the Doctor is in episode one! That’s how these things are done. Truly, though, I can’t wait for everyone to see the show; we’ve worked so hard and I’m so proud of it. Soon, soon…”

Series regulars include Jordan Renzo (Troubled), Pooky Quesnel (The A Word) and Nigel Betts (reprising his role as Mr Armitage from the Doctor Who episode ‘The Caretaker‘). Ben Peel (The Fall), Anna Shaffer (Harry Potter), Paul Marc Davies (Doctor Who) and Shannon Murray (The Totally Senseless Gameshow) will make guest appearances in the show.

Damian Kavanagh, Controller, BBC Three, stated “We know lots of BBC Three fans are Doctor Who fans so Class on BBC Three is a perfect fit. It’s nice to be back as part of the Doctor Who family,”

Episode one is called For Tonight We Might Die and will be shown at the Class World Premiere in London on Thursday 20th October. Episode two is entitled The Coach With The Dragon Tattoo, although whether it has been inspired by the similarly titled The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo remains to be seen.

 

Melissa Rosenberg Suggests Jessica Jones Will Not Be ‘Fixed’

Jessica Jones will be back on our screens for a second season in 2018, after the release of Luke Cage in a couple of weeks, and Iron Fist and The Defenders in 2017. Even though there’s been a long break between seasons, showrunner Melissa Rosenberg has already started getting the show written and finalised. In fact, season 2 is already half written. Makes me think Rosenberg was never one to leave her homework until last thing on a Sunday night….

In an interview with Esquire magazine, Rosenberg explained that Jessica Jones (Krysten Ritter) would not be magically “cured” following the climax of series 1. “People don’t just heal, you don’t go through that just to say, ‘Oh, he got arrested, he’s in jail, I’m OK now.’ That trauma is a huge part of who she is now.” This is a huge relief to fans. Jessica Jones has become an important part of the media landscape, particularly for women. Jessica had lots of issues going on before she met Kilgrave (David Tennant), and even though Kilgrave is now out of the picture her remaining issues need to be addressed and worked through.

Rosenberg also said that she’d learned a lot about this type of character development through working on Dexter. “With Dexter, the moment he felt guilt or accepted that he was ‘bad,’ the show’s over. He’s no longer a sociopath. The equivalent for us would be if Jessica somehow recovered from the damage that had been done to her.” A Jessica that resembled Kimmy Schmidt might not sit well with the tone of the show!

The series will arrive after The Defenders, and although Melissa Rosenberg is not on the team leading that show, she’s aware of what’s going on so that she can seamlessly link the events in with season 2. Rumour has is that Luke Cage will take a back seat and Kilgrave is gone, so the friendship between Jessica and Trish (Rachael Taylor) will take more of a leading role for the show’s second outing. She did, however, play down the ‘shipping’ chat that has surrounded the two characters. “People would love that. I sometimes think there’s sort of a prurient interest in that, like, can’t women just be friends? I feel like for me that’s what is unique about the relationship, that they are such intimate friends, and I think they don’t have to become lovers—that being said, one never knows.”

Jessica Jones season 2 as yet has no release date. Marvel’s Luke Cage lands on Netflix 30th September.

Follow me on Twitter @pixiewose

Mr Sinister Mock Up Pic Released

So we found out a few months back that Richard E. Grant had signed on to play Mr Sinister in the new Wolverine 3 movie and Comicbookmovie.com enlisted the help of artist Hamza Javed (hjaved.art) to mock up what he may look like as Mr Sinister.

Lets me know what you think of the mock up image via my Twitter account @Deadpool_1984

What Are Ya Playin? LEGO Dimensions

Hello readers! I’ve decided to write my own entry for Skatronixxx’s ongoing game series What Are Ya Playin?.

Usually I am not a fan of the toys-to-life genre. Generally they tend to be quick cash grabs by gaming companies (I’m looking at you, Activision) by releasing what would usually be downloadable DLC content in the form of NFC figures. LEGO Dimensions, however, is different. Whilst the game (developed by Traveller’s Tales) does expect customers to buy NFC figures in order to access additional content, their packs provide a variety of new content for the game. Each pack not only comes with a LEGO minifigure and a vehicle and/or gadget mini build but also unlocks an Adventure World (basically a hub world) based on the license the minifigure originates from. The Level Packs in particular are great value for money: for £24 as well as a minifigure and vehicle and gadget minibuilds you get a whole new level to play in – the Doctor Who Level Pack even grants you access to all thirteen incarnations of The Doctor. 

For Year Two, Traveller’s Tales are adding packs based on a variety of franchises, such as Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, Gremlins and Sonic The Hedgehog. They’re even introducing a new type of pack: a Story Pack, where you play through LEGO recreations of recent and upcoming movies including Ghostbusters (2016) and The LEGO Batman Movie. I received the game as a Christmas present last year – nine months later and I still haven’t completed everything in the game.

I may have finished the story mode, for example, but there’s still dozens of quests in the Adventure Worlds to fulfil and minikits to discover. That’s basically what I’m doing now: going back to all the hub worlds I have unlocked and collecting every minikit I can find with my current roster of characters: Batman, Gandalf, Wyldstyle, Marty McFly, Doc Brown, The Doctor, Cyberman, Homer Simpson, Bart Simpson and Emmet from The LEGO Movie.

Piloting the TARDIS around Hill Valley never gets old and it’s great fun fighting Mad Dog Tannen in 1885. Unfortunately Tom Wilson was too busy to return to the role but Liam O’Brien is a good replacement. The other day I played through the Starter Pack Back to the Future level ‘Once Upon A Time Machine In The West‘ and noticed something I hadn’t spotted before: at the beginning of the level Doc’s girlfriend Clara Clayton can be seen crying for help on the top of a bucking horse. Further investigation showed that you needed Krusty The Clown to use his plant-growing ability to save her (quite how that works I’m not sure); you can use the Hire A Hero ability (at the cost of 50,000 studs) to use a character you don’t have for a short amount of time but I’m planning on getting Krusty anyway so I decided to leave it for now.

It highlights one of the reasons why LEGO Dimensions is so great though: there’s many hidden characters and references to the licenses featured, many nice little touches that you notice on subsequent replays. There’s always something new to discover, something you may have missed before…and even if there isn’t, who cares? It’s LEGO. LEGO is awesome.

It’s certainly a lot more preferable to buying multiple versions of Spyro The Dragon! 

‘One Is Most Amused…’ – Victoria Will Return For A Second Series

ITV have today announced that the popular period drama Victoria will return for a second series. Victoria stars Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who) as Queen Victoria and follows her early life from taking the throne at only eighteen years’ of age. Also starring in the series are Tommy Knight (The Sarah Jane Adventures) as Brodie, Eve Myles (Torchwood) as Mrs Jenkins, Rufus Sewell (Gods of Egypt)  as Lord Melbourne, Catherine Flemming (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’s  animatronic model designer) as the Queen’s mother the Duchess of Kent and Tom Hughes (Derek) as her husband Prince Albert. The series is written by Daisy Goodwin (Producer of The Apprentice UK), who will return as screenwriter for Series 2.

The show has been doing extremely well in the ratings, consistently beating BBC1’s Poldark in the ratings and averaging around 7.7 million viewers (29.7% viewing share), so it is no surprise that ITV have decided to recommission it. It is currently standing as ITV’s top-rated drama of the year.

Kevin Lygo, ITV’s Director of Television said of the renewal “Mammoth and Daisy Goodwin have brought the characters so vividly to life in this series, and we’re thrilled with the reception for Victoria. We’re pleased to be able to confirm that Jenna Coleman and Tom Hughes will return to continue the story on ITV.”

The next episode of Series 1 The Queen’s Husband airs at 9pm this Sunday on ITV.

The Walking Dead Season 7: Character Portraits And New Promo

‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7 premiere is just one month away, and AMC is marking the occasion with another huge marketing push. At this point I don’t know whether ‘The Walking Dead’ needs promoting, especially with attention at an all time high as people wait in anticipation to discover just who Negan killed.

Well with these new character portraits, you can have a quick refreshers course on just who’s left in the principle cast. Each character comes with a black and white portrait, as well as a stark red close-up. Some also have an additional image of the pictures imposed over one another. The red is very clearly hinting at the danger each character currently faces, whilst with Negan it’s just another way to show how crazy he is.

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The images were posted all over the internet, from IGN to Tumblr to who knows where, sending me on an hours long scavenger hunt to collate them all for you awesome Skatronixxx readers. As a result, links to only some of the original postings are listed below, but I’m unsure of where every image came from:

• EW
• Variety
• IGN
• TV Guide
• CBR
• Yahoo TV
• Comicbook

In addition to that enormous amount of images, AMC also released a new promo heavily featuring Ezekiel and The Kingdom. From what the trailer showed, it looks like all is not going to be straightforward there either, but when your leader is a self-proclaimed king with a pet Tiger, things are bound to be weird.

‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7 premieres Sunday, October 23rd 9pm on AMC in the US, and Monday, October 24th 9pm on Fox in the UK.

 

We Review Doctor Who ‘The Lost Episodes’

I just recently purchased the lost episodes of Doctor Who on DVD. Super excited to see what these lost episodes were. Hard to think there are ones out there that were never broadcast in the US. But there are 4 episodes that were never aired here… why? Well I don’t know but for whatever reason they weren’t. So here is my review of the first one, called The Crusade: The Lion.

(SPOILERS)

Now these episodes are still with the very first doctor, William Hartnell, with 3 companions, Barbara, Nicki and Ian. His granddaughter is not with him during these ones though. We find the Doctor in the past, a time with what looks like knights in a crusade. King Richard’s time I guess.  So they are attacked after appearing in the woods by some knights, and of course the battle is very corny. The fighting styles back then, well, they make you giggle that’s for sure. And during the process of the fight, Barbara is captured. She is taken to King Richard, where she gets to meet the man himself. (Or at least a guy pretending to be the King, as to protect his highness) The “king” is kind to her but questions her appearance. He then decides that she will have a different name and title, Sister Joanna to the King. They are interrupted by a jerk in a sultan clothing line who makes threats and leaves the screen.

Then the scenes cut to the Doctor in the market, “gathering” clothes to dress up in so they could blend in with the others. He is being crafty in his endeavors to achieve a new clothing line for his companions, which is cute and silly. Hiding under tables and taking the clothing on top while the shops keep is distracted by another.

The scenes go back to the sultan clothed dudes who bring the “king” and “princess Joanna” to the Sultan, who figures out that the imposters are the not king and his sister. He doesn’t seem to be so angry with this, but instead makes everyone leave as he questions Barbara and where she came from and what she is doing here.

Scene then goes back to the Doctor and the other two companions who are now trying to plead with the real king about getting some guys to help rescue their friend, which does not go to well. The king does not wish to do any trades or whatnot with the other lordly dude, considering he had killed the king’s friends (not cool) and will not have anything to do with this mission. He feels that Barbara can rot there with the Sultan guy before he considers doing business with him. The Doctor and companions now have to figure out what they can do next to get their friend and companion back.

Ok there was the first of the 4 episodes. Short and sweet, not sure why this was not released in the United States…. Seemed like the other episodes of this time. No idea. But the next one I will review is audio only so this may be a challenge trying to keep up with what is going on and just listen…. I have a hard time just listening  Hope you enjoyed this. ^_^

We Check Out The YouTube Channel ‘VSauce’

Ever wonder what would happen if Superman actually punched you, or if Godzilla could actually exist? How about warm holes, stopping earthquakes or if Mario is really a villain? Then I recommend checking out the YouTube channel Vsauce.

I came across this channel while browsing the wonderful world of Nerdy Nummies (I did an article on her channel and totally recommend checking her out if you haven’t already) and to my wonderful surprise, it had all this amazing information fit for those of us who ever wondered what would happen if Superman actually hit you. Spoiler alert, you would no longer exist, just so ya know.

Several people with so much information run this channel. My favorite person to watch is Jake Roper who runs the vsauce3 channel. He is the one who does the Superman and Godzilla info, as well as what would happen if you were hit by Captain America’s shield, or if you were a giant and so on. This young man is very animated when telling these hypothetical facts, which makes it very fun to watch.

I highly recommend checking out his as well as the other Vsauce channels. They are just really fun and wonderfully informative. Though some of the stuff they say may be a bit over my head it’s still really neat. ^_^

Capcom Monster Hunter To Hit The Big Screen

So I have yet to play this game myself, and seriously want to. After purchasing this for my brother a few Christmases ago, I have been wanting to get my hands on it for myself but been too busy to do so. L But I may have the push I need to get my bum in gear after seeing the movie. ^_^

That’s right, it seems they will be doing another video game to movie thing again. As they have in the past with movies like, Final Fantasy, Super Mario Brothers, the new Assassins Creed, Dead or Alive, Street Fighter (two movies here), Mortal Kombat, and others. Not sure if you could count Pixels here but it does have all the old school games from my generation…. O.o

Anywho, as mentioned above they are doing this again, but with the ‘bigger in Japan’ game of monster hunter. This was announced by producer Ryoso Tsujimoto during the Capcom’s Tokyo game show. The movie will be a live action (as it should be) though there are some speculation that it may not work for live action. Yet the producer said that the movie won’t be from the stories but its own mold of the game instead.

Well which ever way they go with this, I am sure this movie will be awesome to see. I mean I personally love movies with monsters, and the bigger the better. Which from what I gather of the game, you encounter a lot of different monsters and get to use fun weapons at that. It will be neat to see what they come up with for our viewing pleasure. ^_^

Black Widow Back-Story Was Cut From Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War has started the journey for the next few films to come out, leading up to the biggest war in superhero history. The directors did such a great job with the story that it left the fans pining for more and anticipating what we will see in the upcoming movies. Marvel and directors shared with us new faces, thicker plots, and origins so we don’t wonder how they started, but they left out someone….. Black Widow.

  

I know I was there with everyone else, just accepting that she was just there, no rhyme or reason behind how she became the Russian spy or what have you. Sure, they told us how she met Cap and the others, but no Widow history. (Avid fans of the Marvel and DC universes and readers of comic books my understand, but not everybody is into that.) Yet no one asked “where did she come from?” It was recently revealed recently that a conversation between the Cap and his red head Russian sweetie was cut from the original movie. (and no one is complaining about this or suing Marvel… just sayin’) the scene between the two should have gone something like this:

“Natasha studied Cap’s expression of resolve. Finally, she said, “In Russia, in the red room, there were dozens of us. All girls, all young. We lived together. They let us be friends. Then they dropped us in the tundra, two weeks’ walk from home, with just enough supplies for one of us to survive.”

The Cap looked at her, understanding her meaning.

“Don’t let them push us into the cold,” she said”

Hollywood makes its cuts in movies, as we all well know, and for whatever reasons they had, they felt Natasha was fine where she was and didn’t need further explaining. The movie rocked regardless and we are all waiting to see what new faces and stories we will have in future Avengers movies. ^_^