SWAMP THING Reportedly Casts Derek Mears as...Swamp Thing

Do not bring your evil here.

Splash Report has revealed that the upcoming DC Universe series Swamp Thing, based on the DC Comics elemental creature, is considering Derek Mears for the title role.  It remains unclear, however, who will be playing Dr. Alec Holland, the scientist whose consciousness and memories form the basis for Swamp Thing.

Swamp Thing follows Abby Arcane (Crystal Reed) as she investigates what seems to be a deadly swamp-born virus in a small town in Louisiana but soon discovers that the swamp holds mystical and terrifying secrets.  When unexplainable and chilling horrors emerge from the murky marsh, no one is safe.

The live-action DC Universe adaptation will be executive produced by Len Wiseman (Sleepy Hollow) who will also direct the pilot. Mark Verheiden (Battlestar Galactica, Netflix’s Daredevil) and Gary Dauberman (It) are attached to co-write the series and act as showrunners, with James Wan (Aquaman) set to executive produce the series alongside Verheiden, Dauberman, and Michael Clear.  The series is set to start filming this fall in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Mears, 46, is best known as Jason Vorhees in the 2009 reboot of Friday the 13th, the supervillain Dwarfstar on The CW's The Flash, and as Renzo in the 2017 revival of Twin Peaks.  He's also appeared in the movies Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014), Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, and Predators.  His other television appearances include episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Comedy Bang! Bang!, Community, E.R., and The Shield.

Created in 1971 by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, Swamp Thing first appeared in House of Secrets #92 as Alex Olsen, a talented young scientist in early 1900's Louisiana, who was married to a woman named Linda.  Alex's assistant, Damian Ridge, was secretly in love with Linda and plotted the death of his friend.  He tampered with Olsen's chemicals, killing him in the explosion and dumped his body in the nearby swamp. Ridge used Linda's grief to convince her to marry him, only to one day become confronted with Alex Olsen again, now a risen humanoid pile of vegetable matter.  Olsen killed Ridge, but Linda did not recognize him and ran away leaving Olsen to wander the swamps alone as a monster.

The character was reinvented by Wein and Wrightson a year in Swamp Thing (vol.1) #1 as Dr. Alec Holland, a scientist who worked in a secret facility located in the Louisiana swamplands with his wife, Linda.  Together, they invented a bio-restorative formula that could solve any nations' food shortage problems.  Two thugs working for Nathan Ellery, head of the criminal organization The Conclave, barged into Alec's lab, knocked him out, and planted a bomb in the facility.  Alec woke up as the bomb exploded, and in flames, he ran into the swamp.  His body was drenched in the bio-restorative formula, and this affected the plant life of the swamp, imbuing it with Alec's consciousness and memories.  The newly conscious plant life formed a semblance of a human and rose up from the bog as the Swamp Thing, the latest in a long line of Earth elementals created when The Green is in need of protection.

The Swamp Thing originally thought that he was Alec Holland, transformed by the freak accident into a monster.  He sought to regain his human body, but often met opposition in the form of Anton Arcane and his ever-growing legion of "Un-Men".  After finally defeating Arcane, Swamp Thing was set upon by General Sunderland's men in a covert military operation.  The resulting attack blastws a hole in Swamp Thing's head and destroyed the lives of many of his friends.  Sunderland brought the Swamp Thing's body back to Sunderland Corporation to study and unlock the secret of the Bio-Restorative Formula.

Sunderland hired Jason Woodrue, the Floronic Man, to study Swamp Thing's body, which he stored in a cryochest.  Over the course of his research, Floronic Man deduced that Swamp Thing is a plant that thinks it's Alec Holland, while the real Alec Holland died in the explosion.  Sunderland and Floronic Man parted on bad terms, so the scientist used Sunderland's automated computer systems to raise the thermostat in Swamp Thing's cryochest.  This allowed Swamp Thing's body to regenerate, and in his search for Sunderland, he stumbled across the Floronic Man's report, which sent him into a mindless rage.  He killed Sunderland and set off for the swamps.

Later on, Swamp Thing formed a close friendship with Anton Arcane's niece, Abby Cable. Her husband Matthew grew resentful of her disinterest in sex and turned to alcohol, further pushing her toward the Swamp Thing.  She asks for his help when her autistic students at Elysium Lawns are tormented by Kamara, the Monkey-King, and on the same night the demon attacked, Matthew left to help Abby.  However, his alcoholism caused him to crash his car, mortally wounding him.  To stay alive, he made a pact with the spirit of Anton Arcane, who possessed his body.  After weeks, Abby realized that the man she thought was her husband was actually her uncle Anton.  Her feeling of disgust sent her into a horrible shock.  Swamp Thing confronted the possessed Matthew, and with the guidance of the monster, discovered Abby's body.  

Enraged that Arcane sent the "soul" of his niece to Hell, Swamp Thing beat Arcane to a pulp, allowing Matthew's trapped spirit to cast the soul of the sorcerer out of his body and back to the netherworld.  This returned Matthew's control of his body, but left him comatose.  To set things right, Swamp Thing traveled into The Green, the Spirit World, and Hell, all to reclaim Abby's soul.  He was forced to fight off a legion of the damned, including Anton Arcane, but he prevailed again with the help of Etrigan the Demon.  After Abby returned to life, Swamp Thing and Abby confessed their love for each other.  To celebrate the beginning of their relationship, Swamp Thing grew hallucinogenic tubers for Abby to eat, enabling her to see the world as he does.

Mears will be the second actor to portray Swamp Thing in live action, after Dick Durock in the films Swamp Thing and The Return of Swamp Thing, and the 1990 Swamp Thing TV series.  The character has also appeared in various animated projects, including the Swamp Thing animated series (voiced by Len Carlson), Justice League Dark (voiced by Roger R. Cross), Batman and Harley Quinn (voiced by John DiMaggio), and Justice League Action (voiced by Mark Hamill).

Swamp Thing is expected to debut on DC Universe sometime in 2019.

BLACK LIGHTNING Casts Sofia Vassilieva as Looker

Let's see who gets to love her more.

TVLine has revealed that the CW series Black Lightning has cast Sofia Vassilieva as Emily "Lia" Briggs, better known to DC Comics fans as the superhero (and occasional vampire) Looker.

Looker will appear in the show's upcoming second season and is the fourth member of DC Comics superteam The Outsiders to appear, after Black Lightning, Thunder and Grace.

Black Lightning showrunner Salim Akil remarked, "It’s really going to be interesting, the way we approach that story…I think people will enjoy it, but also be challenged by it."

Vassilieva, 25, is probably best known as Ariel DuBois on the NBC series Medium and recently appeared as Worldkiller cult member Olivia on The CW's Supergirl.  In addition, she's appeared in the movie My Sister's Keeper and in episodes of Lucifer, Timeless, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, Training Day, Notorious, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and The Agency.

Created in 1985 by Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo, Looker first appeared in Batman and the Outsiders (vol.1) #25 as Emily Briggs, a mousy bank teller who lived a quiet life with her husband in Gotham City.  That all changed when she was kidnapped by people from the underground civilization known as Abyssia.  The Outsiders set out to rescue Emily and after a battle with the people of Abyssia, Emily's heritage was revealed to her.  As Halley's Comet passed by the Earth, Emily underwent a metahuman transformation, as well as becoming more conventionally attractive.

She learned she possessed the full spectrum of psionic abilities: telepathy, telekinesis, psychometry, enhanced metabolism, mind-control, psionic energy blasts, levitation, the creation of force shields, remote vision, and enhanced healing.  After leaving Abyssia to its people, Emily returned with the Outsiders and her astonished husband, Gregg.  She soon took on the name "Lia" as well as a more confident, yet self-centered, personality.  Emily's debut as Looker occurred after the Outsiders had been captured by the Masters of Disaster. After defeating the Masters of Disaster, she freed the Outsiders and was welcomed into their ranks.

Looker soon became somewhat of an outsider among Outsiders, which worsened when Windfall, a former Master of Disaster and peer of Halo, joined and the two were constantly involved in a rivalry of sorts.  In addition, Looker began a short affair with team leader Geo-Force during a time when they were stranded on an island but continued when they returned.  Eventually though, there was a mutual decision to call it quits, with the affair being unfair to Gregg and Geo-Force's girlfriend, Denise.

Some time later, Looker received a call for help from Abyssia.  Traveling to the underground city, Looker discovered that Abyssia had been taken over by a despot.  Looker invoked a challenge, and in the course of the battle, she was stripped of her beauty and much of her power.  Shortly afterwards, Geo-Force disbanded the Outsiders, and Lia returned to her previous life in Gotham City.  Through unknown circumstances, Looker regained her powers and was targeted by the Mud Pack, a group of various villains using the Clayface name, including Lady Clayface, whom Looker fought while a member of the Outsiders.  Lady Clayface duplicated Looker's form and powers in order to attempt to drive Batman insane,  but Looker was able to undo the damage, seeing into Bruce's mind and learning of his inner turmoil.  She ultimately helped Batman defeat the group and parted ways again.

When Geo-Force's homeland Markovia was overrun with vampires, Looker returned to action alongside the Outsiders.  An attempt by Queen Ilona to kill Geo-Force led to Looker running into their leader, Roderick.  Instantly enamored by her, Roderick transformed Lia into a vampire in the hopes of making her his bride.  After the transformation, Looker's existing powers were joined by some new abilities.  Due to previously being a metahuman, Emily was able to bypass some of the traditional vampiric weaknesses, such as vulnerability to sunlight.  The Outsiders are forced to become fugitives, due to Roderick having framed Geo-Force for the murder of Queen Ilona.  Once the vampires were defeated and the Outsiders' reputation was restored, the team unofficially disbanded.  Served with divorce papers and living under the vampiric curse, Lia broke all ties with her past life.

Black Lightning returns for Season 2 on Tuesday, October 9th.

TITANTALK 007: "F#@% Batman" is Up!

"You don't know what I've become."
-- Dick Grayson, Titans

That's right, my fellow TitanTalker Jesse Jackson and I are back with another new episode of TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast!  This time, we discuss the DC Universe and Titans premiere dates, the controversial first Titans trailer, and more casting news for Titans and Doom Patrol!

TITANS TOGETHER!

In this seventh episode, Jesse and I discuss things like the neverending DC Daily livestream hosted by Kevin Smith, the launch date for the DC Universe digital service, Titans debuting at the 2018 New York Comic Con before its official premiere date, DC Universe following the Hulu model of releasing new episodes, Jesse figuring out his Chromecast hookup, my surprise at the trailer not being more mainstream accessible, Cloak & Dagger and Runaways featuring teenagers dealing with more mature themes, the large negative-to-mixed reaction to the first trailer, DC Universe not paying enough attention to the tone-deafness of Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman, our full breakdown of the first Titans trailer, wanting an explanation for how Dick Grayson became a police detective so young, Dick Grayson acting like Jason Todd, context being everything, Dove being uncharacteristically brutal instead of pacifistic, more Titans and Doom Patrol casting news, Doom Patrol villain Mr. Nobody, and more!

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Be sure to come back later this month for Episode 008 as Jesse and I get ready for the premiere of Titans and share more casting news from the upcoming Doom Patrol spinoff!  Look for more of TitanTalk: The Titans Podcast on iTunes, Google Play Music, YouTube, Libsyn, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

GHOSTWOOD 040: "Realization Time" is Up!

"Harry, I’m going to let you in on a little secret.  Every day, once a day, give yourself a present.  Don’t plan it, don’t wait for it, just let it happen.  It could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee.  Like this."

"A present.  Like Christmas."

"Ah, man, that hits the spot.  Nothing like a great cup of black coffee."
-- Dale Cooper and Harry S. Truman, Twin Peaks: "Realization Time"

It is happening again...My co-host with the most Xan Sprouse and I are back with a new episode of Ghostwood: The Twin Peaks Podcast!  This time, we continue our commentary tracks as we watch "Realization Time," the seventh episode from Twin Peaks Season One, featuring Cooper and Big Ed going undercover, Audrey's cherry stem trick, and the introduction of Victoria Catlin as Blackie O'Reilly!

LET'S ROCK!

In our latest episode, Xan and I discuss things like MC Chris' song "Twin Peaks", a health update on Xan's new cat, Zoey and Emily's Deschanel relationship to Eileen Hayward, the deleted scene with Johnny Horne, sending our best wishes to Al Strobel, the new Twin Peaks 2019 calendar, the 2018 Twin Peaks trading cards, a deleted scene from The Goonies, Cooper raising the bar by offering friendship to Audrey, more cold shoulders from Lucy to Andy, a special cameo from Xan's cat, Shelly freaking the hell out over shooting Leo, Audrey working the perfume counter, Emory Battis recruiting a new "Hospitality Girl", more words of wisdom from Dale Cooper, old console TVs, my sympathy for Nadine's rejection letter, Big Ed disguised as Ron Jeremy, that awkward moment when Catherine learns Ben Horne and Josie have taken out a life insurance policy on her, Leo shooting Waldo and ruining a huge spread of doughnuts, Kyle MacLachlan as Cary Grant, Donna's stealth cap, the Icelanders singing "99 Bottles of Beer", Audrey trying to fool Blackie with a Nathaniel Hawthorne reference, Audrey's cherry stem audition, Sheryl Lee's distinction between Laura and Maddy voices, the 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility, Catherine being a total sociopath, wondering who would attending our new convention Antarcticon, and more!

If you'd like to check out our latest episode, you can find us on...

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Be sure to come back in two weeks as Xan and I continue our commentary tracks as we watch "The Last Evening," the Twin Peaks Season One finale, featuring the arrest and murder of Jacques Renault, the Packard Sawmill going up in flames, and the cliffhanger shooting of Special Agent Dale Cooper!  Look for more of Ghostwood: The Twin Peaks Podcast on iTunes, YouTube, Libsyn, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

Posted by Charles Skaggs

DOOM PATROL Casts Timothy Dalton as The Chief

The Doom Patrol has a leader.

Deadline has word that the upcoming DC Universe digital series Doom Patrol has cast Timothy Dalton as Dr. Niles Caulder, better known to DC Comics fans as The Chief, leader of the team of strange superheroes known as The Doom Patrol.

According to the article, The Chief is described as "a pioneer in medical science, searching the world over for those on the edge of death in need of a miracle.  Brilliant but controversial, Dr. Caulder will stop at nothing to help those he believes are in need, including his collection of strange heroes known as The Doom Patrol."

Doom Patrol is a spinoff from the DC Universe series Titans and is a reimagining of one of DC’s strangest group of outcasts: Robotman (Brendan Fraser), Negative Man, Elasti-Woman (April Bowlby) and Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero).  Led by the mysterious Dr. Niles Caulder, they’re called into action by the ultimate hero for the digital age, Cyborg (Joivan Wade).  Banding together, these rejects find themselves on a mission that will take them to the weirdest and most unexpected corners of the DC universe.

Dalton, 72, is a Welsh-born English actor best known as British secret agent James Bond in the films The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.  He's also known as Lord President Rassilon in the 2009 Doctor Who story "The End of Time", Sir Malcolm Murray in the Showtime series Penny Dreadful, Simon Skinner in the movie Hot Fuzz, Neville Sinclair in The Rocketeer, and Prince Barin in Flash Gordon (1980).  In addition, he's appeared in the films The Lion in Winter, Brenda Starr, Toy Story 3, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action.  

Created in 1963 by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani, The Chief first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 as Dr. Niles Caulder, a paraplegic gifted with a genius-level intellect.  At a young age, Caulder developed an interest in creating better life, proving to be both a brilliant inventor and engineer.  He received funding from a mysterious benefactor, which allowed him to succeed in creating a chemical capable of prolonging life.  Ultimately, it was revealed that the benefactor was a man called General Immortus, who hired Caulder to create a chemical to replace the one that had been prolonging his life for centuries but was now failing.  When the young scientist discovered the truth about his employer, he refused to continue the work.  Immortus responded by implanting an explosive device in Caulder's upper torso, which he could set off remotely, and any attempt to remove it while Niles lived would also detonate it.  Caulder eventually devised a plan to get the bomb out, but it cost him his ability to walk.

Caulder used his scientific knowledge to develop numerous inventions and innovations that made him wealthy.  He later founded and organized the team called the Doom Patrol to protect the innocent and fight crime, and to teach humanity to accept others who live as ostracized "freaks," who have been radically transformed from terrible accidents.  It was Caulder's genius that allowed the team's members to survive their various accidents, such as Caulder designing Robotman's android body and devising Negative Man's medicated bandages).

In a later incarnation of the Doom Patrol, Caulder was discovered working on a nanotechnology bomb that would destroy half the world and replace it with humans transformed into freaks of nature, under his theory that a better human race would rise from the destruction.  He murdered the original Tempest, Joshua Clay, to protect his secret but the Doom Patrol succeeded in stopping his plans.  During these events, he was decapitated by a creation of Dorothy Spinner's known as the Candlemaker.  Doctor Will Magnus, creator of the Metal Men, built a new body for the Chief, telling him that he should try helping the Patrol to make up for what he did.  Becoming suicidal with guilt, the Chief stated that he could never do enough to make up for his actions, and used his new body to rip off his head.  Magnus wa able to save the Chief by getting the head to a cryogenic chamber, but after this, the Chief existed solely as a severed head in a bucket of ice, subsisting on milkshakes.  He expressed remorse at his actions and rebuilt the Doom Patrol to continue their efforts in the war against weird crime.

In the current DC Comics continuity known as "The New 52", a young and healthy Niles Caulder was introduced in 2011's The Ravagers #4.  Operating a deep underground science and engineering facility located beneath Los Angeles, Caulder provided a headquarters and combat training for the team in their campaign against the organization of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Infiltrating the compound, Caulder was captured along with the rest of the Ravagers by Deathstroke on the behest of Harvest.  During the events of Forever Evil, it was revealed that Caulder had created the Doom Patrol and seemed to be free from Harvest, but this Doom Patrol was unfortunately killed by Crime Syndicate of America members Johnny Quick and Atomica, except for Celsius and Tempest who, according to Lex Luthor, faked their deaths to escape him, prompting Caulder to make plans to "start over".

Dalton will be the second actor to portray The Chief in live-action, after Bruno Bichir in the DC Universe series Titans.  The character has also appeared in the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold (voiced by Richard McGonagle) and various DC Nation shorts (voiced by Jeffrey Combs).

Doom Patrol is scheduled to debut on the DC Universe digital service later in 2019.

DOOM PATROL Casts Alan Tudyk as Mr. Nobody

He's a real nowhere man, sitting in his nowhere land...

Deadline has revealed that the upcoming DC Universe series Doom Patrol has cast Alan Tudyk as Eric Morden, better known to DC Comics fans as the supervillain Mr. Nobody.

According to the article, Mr. Nobody is described as "After exposure to unknown experiments by ex-Nazis in post-war Paraguay, the man formerly known as Eric Morden emerges as a living shadow able to drain the sanity of others as the enigmatic, and totally insane, Mr. Nobody."

Doom Patrol is a spinoff from the DC Universe series Titans and is a reimagining of one of DC’s strangest group of outcasts: Robotman (Brendan Fraser), Negative Man, Elasti-Woman (April Bowlby) and Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero).  Led by the mysterious Dr. Niles Caulder, they’re called into action by the ultimate hero for the digital age, Cyborg (Joivan Wade).  Banding together, these rejects find themselves on a mission that will take them to the weirdest and most unexpected corners of the DC universe.

Tudyk, 47, is best known as Hoban "Wash" Washburne in the Fox series Firefly and its film sequel, Serenity, and as the voice of the droid K-2SO in the film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  His other films include Deadpool 2, Justice League: War, 3:10 to Yuma (2007), A Knight's Tale, Moana, Zootopia, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, Big Hero 6, Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Astro Boy, Ice Age, I Robot, and Patch Adams.  In addition, he's appeared on episodes of the TV series The Tick (2017), Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Powerless, Rick and Morty, Adventure Time, NTSF:SD:SUV::, Napoleon Dynamite, Suburgatory, Family Guy, Young Justice, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Dollhouse, V (2009), Arrested Development, and Frasier.

Created in 1964 by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premani, Mr. Nobody first appeared in Doom Patrol (vol.1) #86 as Eric Morden, a master criminal who once stole one of the Chief's lunar exploration droids, Rog, to impress the Brain in hopes of joining the Brotherhood of Evil. 

The character was reinvented in 1986's Doom Patrol (vol.2) #26 by Grant Morrison and Richard Case as Mr. Nobody.  Morden's former teammates the Brain and Monsieur Mallah had a fallout with him and promised to kill him returned.  Morden preferred to flee rather than face their wrath, so he hid for years in Paraguay.  Morden was already somewhat unstable, and allowed a Nazi scientist to expose him to a device called the White Room, which drove him irredeemably insane and converted his body into a mass of living virtuality that could drain the sanity from other humans.  He now looked like a two-dimensional artistic representation of a shadow and had an empty space on his chest in the shape of a heart.  The experience also convinced him the universe was "a drooling idiot with no fashion sense".  Calling himself the man of the twenty-first century, the first true virtual man, he rechristened himself Mister Nobody and organized the rebirth of a Brotherhood that shared his ideals.  Because of this, he chose not to reform the Brotherhood of Evil and instead initiated the Brotherhood of Dada, a group of lunatics that followed Morden's ideas to change the world.

Mr. Nobody recruited several bizarrely-powered individuals to form the first Brotherhood of Dada, including Sleepwalk, who has vast strength only when sleepwalking; Frenzy, a large, garishly-dressed dyslexic Jamaican man who can transform into a whirling cyclone; Fog, who can absorb humans into his being when in his gaseous form; and the Quiz, a Japanese woman with "every super-power you've never thought of."  The Brotherhood stole a psychoactive painting and used it to absorb the city of Paris, France, along with several members of the Doom Patrol.  They also unwittingly unleashed "the fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse" from the painting.  Forced to help the Doom Patrol stop it, Patrol member Crazy Jane harnessed the power of the painting to transform the Horseman into a hobby-horse, releasing her teammates and the city of Paris, and trapping Mr. Nobody and his Brotherhood within the painting.

Mr. Nobody later escaped from the painting with the help of four members of his new Brotherhood of Dada -- Agent "!", Alias the Blur, the Love Glove, and Number None.  They stole the bicycle of Swiss scientist Albert Hofmann, and used its lysergic resonance to power Mr. Nobody's presidential campaign.  The US Government, unwilling to let Mr. Nobody become president, sent a super-powered agent named John Dandy after him, a man whose face is blank but has six other faces floating around him.  Dandy killed almost every member of the Brotherhood, including Mr. Nobody.  He threw one of his faces at Nobody, rendering the latter powerless and defenseless.  Dandy then impaled the now-human Mr. Nobody on a broken pole and removed what was revealed to be a mask.  Cliff Steele attempted to place the semiconscious Mr. Nobody back inside the painting, but it was apparently destroyed by gunfire from government agents before Steele could do so.  Mr Nobody then seemed to disintegrate.

Doom Patrol is expected to debut on DC Universe sometime in 2019.

GHOSTWOOD 039: "Cooper's Dreams" is Up!

"What did you see that night?  The night Laura Palmer was killed."
"Shhhh, (pats the log) I'll do the talking.  Dark.  Laughing.  The owls were flying.  Many things were blocked.  Laughing.  Two men, two girls.  Flashlights pass by in the woods over the ridge.  The owls were near.  The dark was--was pressing in on her.  Quiet then.  Later, footsteps.  One man passes by.  Screams far away.  Terrible, terrible.  One voice."
"Man or girl?"
"Girl.  Further up, over the ridge.  The owls were silent."
-- Dale Cooper and Margaret "The Log Lady" Lanterman, Twin Peaks: "Cooper's Dreams"

It is happening again...My co-host with the most Xan Sprouse and I are back with a new episode of Ghostwood: The Twin Peaks Podcast!  This time, we continue our commentary tracks as we watch "Cooper's Dreams," the sixth episode from Twin Peaks Season One, featuring Jacques Renault's cabin in the woods, Julee Cruise music in the air, and introducing Don Amendolia as Emory Battis!

LET'S ROCK!

In our latest episode, Xan and I discuss things like my being able to breathe again, Emory Battis' vacuum fetish, David Patrick Kelly in The Crow, Cooper learning that Audrey is 18, Xan getting Dunkin' Donuts, the sticky copy of Flesh World magazine, nobody being able to decorate in Twin Peaks, Ed and Norma not getting what they want, James cutting his own hair, Maddy not drinking the Cherry Coke James bought her, Norma and Shelly's Day of Beauty, Dr. Jacoby dressing like Dougie dresses, Basement Five-O, Bobby's attitude being a facade, Jacques Renault's cabin being a time share, the Log Lady's tea party, wondering who put the poker chip in the cuckoo clock, the Icelanders singing "Home on the Range", another round of "Bob or Leland?", Jerry and Nadine being a good match if she wasn't into Dr. Amp, Shelly dropping out of high school, some Twitter feedback from Sebastian, Ghostwood being "hilarious as fuck", Xan's shitpost curation, and more!

If you'd like to check out our latest episode, you can find us on...

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Be sure to come back in two weeks as Xan and I continue our commentary tracks as we watch "Realization Time," the seventh episode from Twin Peaks Season One, featuring Cooper and Big Ed going undercover, Audrey's cherry stem trick, and the introduction of Victoria Catlin as Blackie O'Reilly!  Look for more of Ghostwood: The Twin Peaks Podcast on iTunes, YouTube, Libsyn, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

NEXT STOP EVERYWHERE 116: "The Twin Dilemma" is Up!

"I would suggest, Peri, that you wait a little before criticizing my new persona.  You may well find it isn't quite as disagreeable as you think."
"Well, I hope so."
"Whatever else happens, I am... the Doctor.  Whether you like it...or not."

-- The Sixth Doctor and Perpugilliam "Peri" Brown, Doctor Who: "The Twin Dilemma"

Back in the TARDIS once again, my partner in time Jesse Jackson and I have returned with a new episode of Next Stop Everywhere!  This time, we review "The Twin Dilemma", the seventh serial of Doctor Who Season 21 in 1984, featuring Colin Baker's controversial first story as the Sixth Doctor and Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown!

In this episode, Jesse and I discuss things like Jesse not missing me, "The Twin Dilemma" being the epitome of bad decision making, wondering why the hell producer John Nathan-Turner thought making a new Doctor intentionally unlikable was a good idea, needing a Venn diagram of Doctor Who and James Bond film connections, the Sixth Doctor's facepalming penchant for strangling people, Colin Baker salvaging the Sixth Doctor in Big Finish audio adventures, JNT's love of press attention, the Sixth Doctor and Peri finally getting their chemistry right in Season 23, the need for balance against the Sixth Doctor's "alienness", changes to Peter Capaldi's Twelfth Doctor, the Sixth Doctor not caring if fans like him or not, Mestor the Gastropod being cross-eyed, wondering how the slug-like Gastropods turned Jaconda into a wasteland, Mestor's ridiculous plan to launch Gastropod eggs across the universe using an exploding sun, Azmael getting drunk by the fountain with the Fourth Doctor, Romulus and Remus' game of Space Backgammon, my Reverse the Reverse the Polarity segment, new listener feedback from Paul from Australia David K. Proctor, and Holly from Wisconsin, the new Series 11 writers and directors, the leaked new TARDIS console room, and more!

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And hey, if you'd like to pick up the officially official Next Stop Everywhere t-shirt, you can find it on TeePublic right HERE!  Help support the show and feel free to post pictures on our Facebook page of you or some other cool person you know wearing the shirt!

Be sure to come back in two weeks as Jesse and I go back into the TARDIS and review "Time and the Rani", the first serial of Doctor Who Season 24 in 1987, featuring Sylvester McCoy's first story as the Seventh Doctor, Bonnie Langford as Melanie "Mel" Bush, and Kate O'Mara as The Rani!  Look for more of Next Stop Everywhere on iTunes, Google Play Music, YouTube, Libsyn, Soundcloud, Stitcher, and the official Southgate Media Group website!

JOKER Casts Alec Baldwin as Batman's Father, Thomas Wayne

Remember that brief time in the '90s when Alec Baldwin could've been Batman and he became The Shadow instead?  Well, as it turns out...

The Hollywood Reporter has word that Todd Phillips' upcoming Joker origin movie starring Joaquin Phoenix has cast Alec Baldwin as DC Comics character Dr. Thomas Wayne, the father of Batman himself, Bruce Wayne.  In addition to Phoenix, Baldwin joins a cast that includes Robery De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Marc Maron, and Frances Conroy.

According to their sources, this version of Thomas Wayne will depict him as "a cheesy and tanned businessman who is more in the mold of a 1980s Donald Trump."

Baldwin, 60, is currently best known for his recurring impersonation of Donald Trump on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live and for his appearances Alan Hunley in the action movies MIssion: Impossible--Rogue Nation and Mission: Impossible--Fallout.  Some of his other notable films include Beetlejuice, The Shadow, The Hunt for Red October, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Cooler, Ghosts of Mississippi, Pearl Harbor, The Aviator, The Departed, and The Good Shepherd.  In addition, he's known for playing Jack Donaghy on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock, and has appeared in episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Will & Grace, Johnny Bravo, Friends, Clerks: The Animated Series, The Simpsons, and Knots Landing.

Created in 1939 by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, Thomas Wayne first appeared in Detective Comics (vol.1) #33 as a gifted physician and philanthropist to Gotham City, who inherited the Wayne family fortune after Patrick Wayne.  In the maxi-series Batman: The Long Halloween, a flashback revealed that Thomas Wayne saved the life of gangster Carmine Falcone.  Falcone's father, Vincent Falcone, came to Wayne Manor and begged Thomas to save his dying son, who had been shot by rival gangster Luigi Maroni.  Thomas wanted to take the younger Falcone to the hospital, but Vincent insisted that nobody know about the shooting.  After saving Carmine's life, he was offered a reward or favor, but refused to accept any form of payment.

One night, when exiting a movie theatre, Thomas and his wife Martha Wayne were murdered by a mugger named Joe Chill, right in front of their son Bruce. This tragedy shocked Gotham and led to Park Row, the street where the murders occurred, being labeled Crime Alley.  The Wayne murders were the main cause of much of the corruption and crime in Gotham City.  Once it became clear that even wealthy, important people could be murdered so easily, citizens began to lose faith in the police, and the police themselves started to lose faith in their importance, leading to corruption within the force.  More importantly, however, the murders deeply affected Bruce as a child, later serving as the motivation for Bruce to eventually to fight crime as the superhero Batman.

Baldwin will be the sixth actor to portray Thomas Wayne on screen, after David Baxt in the 1989 film Batman, Michael Scranton in the film Batman Forever, Linus Roache in the film Batman Begins, Grayson McCouch in the Fox series Gotham, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in the movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Joker is currently expected to arrive in theaters on October 4, 2019.

THE FLASH Casts Troy James as Rag Doll

Yeah, getting a contortionist to play a contortionist supervillain sounds like a good idea.

TV Insider has revealed that The CW series The Flash has cast Troy James as Peter Merkel, better known to DC Comics fans as the creepy supervillain Rag Doll.  James will appear in the fifth episode of the show's upcoming fifth season.

Rag Doll was previously described for the series as "an incredibly emotional damaged criminal who has the power to bend out of shape and fit his whole body into small spaces. As he is enjoying his criminal activities, Team Flash will be challenged by the Rag Doll in shocking ways as his sick plan is revealed."

James is a contortionist and best known as a contestant on NBC's talent competition series America's Got Talent.  In addition, he's appeared in episodes of The Strain, Channel Zero, and Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments.

Created in 1942 by Gardner Fox and Lou Ferstadt, Rag Doll first appeared in Flash Comics #36 as Peter Merkel, a native of the Midwestern United States, who was born with a unique condition called "Triple-jointedness".  Like the more common "double-jointedness", Merkel's condition was characterized by extremely extensible ligaments and tendons, though to a significantly extended degree.  The son of a side-show barker, Merkel found work in a small local carnival as a contortionist and eccentric dancer.  In the early 1940s, the carnival fell on hard times and Merkel found himself out of work.  Wandering the streets, Merkel despaired of having money.  Seeing large boxes of toys being loaded into a department store, Merkel hit on the idea of hiding himself in one of the large rag dolls and then robbing the store after closing. Going unnoticed among the toys, Merkel carried his idea one step further and decided he would rob while still hidden in the Rag Doll suit.  In these earliest days of costumed villains, the idea seemed novel and Merkel decided that no one would believe that a Rag Doll could commit crime.

In 1943, the Rag Doll moved his operation to Keystone City and had his thugs deliver him as a gift to a young heiress named Geralda Cummins.  The young girl was holding a much-touted party for her circle of socialites and the Rag Doll aimed to take advantage of the situation.  To coordinate the event, Cummins had selected Joan Williams, who had recently begun a party and festival business.  It was decided that each of the wealthy guests would donate $10,000 in defense bonds to serve as a prize in a treasure hunt.  Whoever solved the hunt first, won the prize.  As the guests departed, the Rag Doll signaled his thugs to follow them to the museum while he stayed to interrogate Joan Williams.  His ploy was delayed however, by the untimely arrival of Williams' beau Jay Garrick, the superhero known as The Flash.  While the Rag Doll remained in hiding, Williams and the Flash departed for the museum to provide the next clue.  On their arrival, they were attacked by the Rag Doll's thugs.  While the Flash made short work of the henchmen, the Rag Doll himself drugged Joan with chloroform and stole the remaining clue, allowing him find the treasure himself.  With the henchmen wrapped up, The Flash returned to find Joan amnesiac from the chloroform and with no recollection as to the location of the bonds.  Taking the first clue, the Flash then began to solve the puzzle at super-speed and intercepted the Rag Doll on the fourth clue, at a local aquarium.  The Rag Doll got the jump on Garrick with a swift blow to the skull and dumped the hero into an aquarium containing a giant octopus.  He then raced quickly back to the Cummins estate to solve the treasure hunt with the fifth clue.  The Flash came to and after a tussle with the octopus, hotly pursued Rag Doll.  He arrived just in time to see the Rag Doll pull the defense bonds out of their hiding place in the Cummins' grand piano.  Quickly, and literally, tying the villain in knots, the Flash returned the gift and carted the outlandish criminal off to the Keystone City Jail.

By the late 1980s, the Rag Doll was well into his sixties and hyper-elastic ligaments had begun to collapse and over-extend, causing the villain great pain.  He was no longer able to even affect the lifestyle of the minor criminal and soon became senile and raving.  As he did, the lost, the homeless and the disenfranchised gravitated toward him, soaking up his words and in time, became a cult of followers blind to his every indulgence and desire.  And, after a life of defeat and despair, what the Rag Doll desired was revenge.  He rallied around him a cult that took over the streets of Opal City, which ran red with blood.  The original Starman, Ted Knight, was unable to stop the madman, so Justice Society of America members Green Lantern, Flash, Hourman, and Dr. Mid-Nite joined the hunt.  Eventually, the heroes thwarted Rag Doll's plans and captured the villain.  Restrained, Rag Doll taunted the heroes, telling him that he would command his horde from prison.  He threatened the lives of the JSA's families.  While the JSA listened to the Rag Doll's discourse, the villain strained his limbs to slip free of his bonds and made a quick break for the door.  The aftermath was never officially recorded, but in an explosion of cosmic energy, the Rag Doll was found blasted to a painful death.  It has since been largely concluded that Starman, fearing for the safety of his sons, had slain the villain, a fact disputed by witnesses Flash and Green Lantern.  The next afternoon, Rag Doll's body disappeared from the morgue.

Exactly how the Rag Doll survived is unknown, but his body was retrieved by his followers. Some years later, Rag Doll was approached by Neron and in exchange for Rag Doll's soul, Neron restored the villain's youth.  He also instructed Rag Doll to remain hidden until approached by a man named Simon Culp.  Years later, Culp came looking for Rag Doll's help. Ted confronted Doctor Phosphorus in the streets of Opal and defeated his radioactive foe, but was soon ambushed by the Rag Doll.  Ted turned to face Rag Doll, challenging the villain to kill him, sparing him a suffering death from Phosphorus' radiation poisoning.  Rag Doll then turned and left.  He later rejoined a reformed version of the Secret Society.  During an assault against the Secret Six, he battled his son Peter Merkel, Jr., who had taken over the Rag Doll name and identity. Their battle was cut short by other attacking villains.

Soon afterward, Merkel died while in mission with the reformed Injustice Society. The team was attempting to retrieve the Cosmic Key, which would return Johnny Sorrow, but they were betrayed by The Society.  In the midst of the battle, it appeared as if that Rag Doll and the Gentleman Ghost betrayed their comrades and ran away with the Key.  However, Tigress witnessed the return of Johnny Sorrow, whose sudden emergence killed Rag Doll. Sorrow and the rest of the Injustice Society escaped to safety in the Crooked House, the former abode of Prometheus.  It was then revealed that Gentleman Ghost, Wizard and Icicle were expecting Rag Doll to turn on them, so they set him up to die.

This will be the first time Rag Doll will appear in live-action, although the character has appeared in the animated series The Batman, voiced by Jeff Bennett.

The Flash returns to The CW for Season 5 on October 9, 2018.

DOOM PATROL Casts Brendan Fraser as Robotman

The World's Strangest Heroes have a new robot, man.

Deadline has revealed that the upcoming DC Universe series Doom Patrol has cast Brendan Fraser as Cliff Steele, better known to DC Comics fans as the superhero android with a human brain, Robotman.

According to the article, Fraser will provide the voice for Robotman and will appear in flashback scenes as Cliff Steele.  Riley Shanahan will provide the physical performance of the character in full body costume.

Robotman is described as "A former race car driver, Cliff Steele was in a horrific accident that left his body uninhabitable.  Cliff’s brain was saved by the mysterious Dr. Niles Caulder and he lives on in a powerful robotic body."

Doom Patrol is a spinoff from the DC Universe series Titans and is a reimagining of one of DC’s strangest group of outcasts: Robotman (Fraser), Negative Man, Elasti-Woman (April Bowlby) and Crazy Jane (Diane Guerrero).  Led by the mysterious Dr. Niles Caulder, they’re called into action by the ultimate hero for the digital age, Cyborg (Joivan Wade).  Banding together, these rejects find themselves on a mission that will take them to the weirdest and most unexpected corners of the DC universe.

Fraser, 49, is best known as Rick O'Connell in The Mummy trilogy, and has appeared in the movies Encino Man, School Ties, George of the Jungle, Dudley Do-Right, Gods and Monsters, Monkeybone, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Crash, Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and The Nut Job.  In addition, he's appeared in episodes of such TV series as The Simpsons, King of the Hill, Scrubs, Texas Rising, The Affair, Trust, and Condor.

Created in 1963 by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani, Robotman first appeared in My Greatest Adventure #80 as Clifford "Cliff" Steele, a race car driver who had an accident that destroyed his body (a later retcon had the accident intentionally caused by Niles Caulder).  Caulder subsequently placed Cliff's intact brain into a robotic body which had superhuman strength, speed and endurance. After the operation, Cliff suffered from frequent depression because he viewed himself as less than human.

Cliff was approached by Caulder, who offered him a place among fellow "freaks" attempting to use their powers for good.  As Robotman, he joined Caulder's team, the Doom Patrol.  Eventually, tragedy struck when the Doom Patrol's enemies, the Brotherhood of Evil, threatened a small New England fishing village.  The Patrol members opted to sacrifice themselves to save the innocents, and were killed in an explosion.

Although initially believed to have been killed by Madame Rouge, Cliff's brain had survived. Will Magnus, the robotics expert who created the Metal Men, recovered Cliff's brain and built him a new body.  Cliff then joined a new Doom Patrol headed by a woman claiming to be Caulder's wife, Arani.  Refusing to believe that Niles was dead, she formed this new team to search for him and took his place as leader, calling herself Celsius, due to her heat-and-cold-based powers.  This new Doom Patrol was eventually almost all killed in action, with the exceptions of Cliff, Tempest, Negative Woman, and Rhea Jones (who remained comatose).  Caulder had turned up alive by this time, and denied having been married to Arani, although he admitted having known her.

Cliff voluntarily committed himself to an asylum, having fallen into a state of depression due to his condition and the loss of his teammates.  In particular, he was angry about being in a metal body and unable to enjoy the feeling and senses that humans take for granted. Caulder sent Magnus to try to help Cliff, and he introduced Cliff to a person with "worse problems than [his]", a woman called Crazy Jane.  Forming a new incarnation of the Doom Patrol, Cliff became Jane's guardian, and eventually fell in love with her.  Later, his human brain was revealed to have been replaced with a Central Processing Unit (CPU), making him a robot in reality.

In the current DC Comics continuity known as "The New 52", Cliff Steele is an adventurer and daredevil who agrees to be injected with experimental nanomachines designed to improve and repair his body.  After he's involved in a fatal car crash during a high-speed race, the nanomachines respond by creating a robotic body in order to encase and protect his still living brain.  Though initially distraught over his condition, the nanomachines prevent Cliff from being able to kill himself.  After coming to terms with his new body, he becomes a freelance hero, later joining the latest incarnation of the Doom Patrol.

Fraser will be the second actor to portray the character in live-action, after Jake Michaels in the upcoming DC Universe series Titans.  In addition, Robotman has appeared in various animation projects, including Teen Titans (voiced by Peter Onorati), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (voiced by Henry Rollins), and in the DC Nation Doom Patrol shorts (voiced by David Kaye).

Doom Patrol is expected to debut on DC Universe sometime in 2019.

WATCHMEN TV Drama Gets Series Order from HBO

Who watches the Watchmen?  HBO says you will.

Deadline has word that HBO has given a series order to Watchmen, showrunner Damon Lindelof's drama series based on the classic DC Comics maxi-series by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

According to the article, Watchmen is "set in an alternate history where “superheroes” are treated as outlaws", and "embraces the nostalgia of the original groundbreaking graphic novel while attempting to break new ground of its own."  In a letter to fans, Lindelof revealed the series isn't an adaptation of the comic series, but an original story set in its fictional world.

The cast will include Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Tim Blake Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr., Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Adelaide Clemens, Andrew Howard, Tom Mison, Frances Fisher, Jacob Ming-Trent, Sara Vickers, Dylan Schombing, Lily Rose Smith and Adelynn Spoon.  It's not yet known which characters they will be playing.

Lindelof will serve as executive producer with Nicole Kassell, who directed the pilot episode, and Tom Spezialy.  Stephen Williams will serve as director and executive producer.  Watchmen is produced for HBO by White Rabbit in association with Warner Bros Television.

HBO also released the below teaser graphic for the series, using a quote from the comic series where Doctor Manhattan tells Ozymandias, "In the end?  Nothing ends, Adrian.  Nothing ever ends."

Created in 1986 by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Watchmen was a 12-issue maxi-series set in an alternate reality that closely mirrors the contemporary world of the 1980s, but with the presence of superheroes that has altered the outcome of real-world events.  In keeping with the realism of the series, the costumed crimefighters of Watchmen are commonly called "superheroes", but only one, Doctor Manhattan, possesses superhuman powers. The war in Vietnam ends with a U.S. victory in 1971 and Richard Nixon is still president as of October 1985.  When the story begins, the existence of Doctor Manhattan has given the U.S. a strategic advantage over the Soviet Union, which has increased tensions between the two nations. Eventually, superheroes grow unpopular among the police and the public, leading to the passage of legislation, the Keene Act, in 1977 to outlaw them.  While many of the heroes retired, Doctor Manhattan and a veteran superhero known as The Comedian operate as government-sanctioned agents.  Another, Rorschach, continues to operate outside the law as a vigilante.

In October 1985, New York City police investigate the murder of a man named Edward Blake.  With the police having no leads, Rorschach decides to probe further.  Discovering Blake to be the face behind The Comedian, Rorschach believes he has discovered a plot to terminate costumed adventurers and sets about warning four of his retired comrades -- Dan Dreiberg (formerly the second Nite Owl), the emotionally detached Doctor Manhattan and his lover Laurie Juspeczyk (the second Silk Spectre), and Adrian Veidt (once the hero Ozymandias), a successful businessman.

After Blake's funeral, Manhattan is accused on national television of being the cause of cancer in friends and former colleagues.  When the U.S. government takes the accusations seriously, Manhattan exiles himself to Mars.  As Manhattan is one of the United States' greatest military powers, his departure throws humanity into political turmoil, with the Soviet Union invading Afghanistan to capitalize on the perceived American weakness. Rorschach's concerns appear vindicated when Adrian Veidt narrowly survives an assassination attempt, and Rorschach himself is framed for murdering Moloch, a former supervillain, and imprisoned.  Nite Owl and Rorschach work to uncover the conspiracy surrounding the death of The Comedian and the accusations that drove Manhattan into exile.

Watchmen is expected to debut on HBO sometime in 2019.