Tag Archive: Alex Kingston
Doctor Who and Sherlock in theaters–Is the BBC taking over the holidays?
Filed under: Backstage Pass, Fantasy Realms, Retro Fix, Superheroes, TV — Leave a comment
Forget about parades and bowl games. The BBC has taken over your television set for the holidays in the U.S.A. For the past few years Americans have been treated to the British tradition of gathering the family round for a Doctor Who Christmas special on the evening of Christmas day. This year was no exception with one of the best Doctor Who Christmas specials so far, and our favorite recurring character across the Doctors–Alex Kingston's River Song–in "The Husbands of River Song."
If you missed "The Husbands of River Song" on TV last week and can't find it on your OnDemand channel, tonight you have another chance to see it but on the big screen courtesy of the Fathom Event series. Check out the Fathom Events website here for theater locations and tickets. Here's a preview for the show:
But it's not just Christmas Day getting the BBC treatment this year. On New Year's Day Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman return for their only 2016 appearance as Holmes and Watson in the Sherlock New Year's Day special "The Abominable Bride."
This special finds the duo back in the 19th century past of Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories. Here's a preview:
Tags: Alex Kingston, BBC, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christmas 2015, Doctor Who, Doctor Who The Abominable Bride preview, Fathom Events, Fathom Events Doctor Who, Fathom Events Sherlock, Mark Gatiss, Martin Freeman, New Year's Day 2016, PBS Masterpiece, Sherlock BBC series, Steven Moffat
Wizard World Des Moines–what makes a great Comic Con
Filed under: Backstage Pass, Comics & Books, Con Culture, Fantasy Realms, Movies, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, Superheroes, TV — Leave a comment
What makes a great Comic Con?
Wizard World Des Moines combined all the right elements this past weekend to create a new annual Midwest destination tradition. A mix of big name celebrities, comic book creator icons, fanboys and fangirls attending in costume, a variety of vendors, gaming opportunities, current genre properties, the unexpected, taking along family and friends (and meeting new ones and catching up with old ones) and taking in some good food. And thanks to the success of its first effort, Wizard World will be back again next year at the Iowa Events Center, May 13-15, 2016.
If you missed it, check out our coverage at borg.com yesterday here.
A comic and pop culture convention is even better when your own favorite character seems to have his own theme at the show. Take our own favorite, Green Arrow, for instance. This weekend you could have met the artists for the three best Green Arrow series ever produced, including artist/writer Mike Grell:
Artists Milton Bunce and Mike Grell at Wizard World Des Moines 2015 Sunday.
And as luck would have it, Mike found a lost piece of original art he brought to the show, a cover prelim/rough for a 24-year old annual issue he created:
There's no place better to pick up original comic book art than a Comic Con, whether it's a sketch commission or original pages that artists bring to the show to gawk at or even purchase. (Thanks for bringing this one, Mike!).
And there's one of the other of the three major artists known for his Green Arrow work (he's done Batman and a ton of other characters, too), Neal Adams:
Tags: Alex Kingston, Ant Lucia, Billy Dee Williams, Brandon Routh, Comic-Con, Dumb and Dumber car, Grail Knight cosplay, Green Arrow, Greg Horn, Indiana Jones cosplay, Jai Nitz, Lou Ferrigno Wizard World, Mike Grell, Milton Bunce, Mutt Cutts car, Neal Adams, original comic art, original cover art, Phil Hester, Star Wars cosplay, William Shatner, Wizard World, Wizard World Des Moines, Wizard World Des Moines 2015, Wizard World Des Moines 2016, Zorro cosplay
Wizard World takes Midwest by storm with new annual Comic Con event
Filed under: Backstage Pass, Comics & Books, Con Culture, Fantasy Realms, Movies, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, Superheroes, TV — 2 Comments
It must be one of the best-attended Comic Cons for a first-time event: More than 25,000 fans of print and film superheroes and celebrities attended this weekend's Wizard World Des Moines comic book and pop culture convention at the Iowa Events Center in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. And the show's management believes the attendance assures Wizard World will return to Des Moines next summer, establishing the next major annual Midwest comic book fan convention.
Fans from Iowa and neighboring states toured the halls and giant celebrity autograph and photo op room, many in cosplay garb. The highlights include a premiere slate of comic book creators in Artists Alley and celebrity appearances that gave everyone something to be excited about.
Star Trek fans barely had to wait in line to meet sci-fi icon William Shatner, who also spoke to a crowded house of fans Saturday afternoon. If you like superheroes, you could meet the two most popular Green Arrow creators of all time: artist Neal Adams and writer/artist Mike Grell, Superman actors Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) and Dean Cain (The Adventures of Lois and Clark) (Routh also appears as The Atom on CW's The Flash), DC Bombshells creator Ant Lucia, Rogue creator and long-time Marvel artist Michael Golden (above), and Mike Zeck, artist for Marvel Comics classics like the Marvel Superheroes Secret Wars series:
The Walking Dead fans met series star Michael Cudlitz, and received an exclusive variant Issue #1 from the comic book series, drawn by Iowa artist Phil Hester. And horror fans got to cross off their list one of the modern Big 3 of horror icons, Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger himself Robert Englund. Fans of the cult film Boondock Saints met up with star Sean Patrick Flannery.
Tags: Alex Kingston, Alex Kingston Wizard World Des Moines, Amanda Lynn Chainmaille Creations, Ant Lucia, Ant Lucia Wizard World Des Moines, Boondock Saints, Brandon Routh, cosplay, DC Bombshells, Dean Cain, Doctor Who cosplay, Lou Ferrigno, Merida Brave cosplay, Mike Grell, Mike Grell Wizard World Des Moines, Mike Zeck, Mike Zeck Wizard World Des Moines, Robert Englund, Sean Patrick Flanery, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cosplay, William Shatner, William Shatner Wizard World Des Moines, Wizard World, Wizard World Des Moines, Wizard World Des Moines 2015, Wizard World Des Moines 2016, X-Men Quicksilver cosplay
Don't miss it–Wizard World Des Moines begins tomorrow
Convention planner Wizard World is holding its first pop culture convention in Iowa this weekend, introducing Midwest genre fans to sci-fi icon William Shatner (Star Trek), horror icon Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Billy Dee Williams (The Empire Strikes Back), Alex Kingston (Doctor Who, Arrow), and Jewel Staite (Firefly), plus Emily Kinney and Michael Cudlitz (The Walking Dead), comic book writer/artist Mike Grell (Green Arrow), Iowa's own Brandon Routh (Superman Returns, The Flash) and a giant roster of other celebrity guests from film and TV, past and present.
Brandon Routh as The Atom and Superman
Other familiar genre actors scheduled to attend include Manu Bennett (Arrow, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), Dean Cain (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman), J. August Richards (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Angel), Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville), Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk), Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters, Psych), Cassandra Peterson (Elvira, Mistress of the Dark), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), and both Sean Patrick Flanery and David Della Rocco from Boondock Saints.
Alex Kingston, River Song from Doctor Who, and Dinah Lance from CW's Arrow.
Several well-known comic book writers and artists will be featured in Wizard World's Artist Alley in addition to Mr. Grell: Des Moines's own Ant Lucia (DC Comics "Bombshell" covers and posters), Neal Adams (Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow), Mike Zeck (Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars), Iowa-based artist Phil Hester (Green Arrow, The Flash), Michael Golden (Star Wars, The 'Nam), our pal Jai Nitz (Dream Thief, Tron: Betrayal, El Diablo), and many others.
Tags: Alex Kingston, Ant Lucia, Billy Dee Williams, Brandon Routh, Cassandra Peterson, David Della Rocco, Dean Cain, Emily Kinney, Ernie Hudson, Giancarlo Esposito, J August Richards, Jai Nitz, Jewel Staite, Lou Ferrigno, Manu Bennett, Michael Cudlitz, Michael Golden, Mike Grell, Mike Zeck, Neal Adams, Phil Hester, Robert Englund, Sean Patrick Flanery, William Shatner, Wizard World, Wizard World Des Moines
Four British series that outshine "Broadchurch"
Filed under: TV — Leave a comment
By Elizabeth C. Bunce
Two episodes down and we at borg seem to be the only viewers utterly underwhelmed by BBC America's hotly-anticipated new import, Broadchurch. Lured in by trailers featuring some of our genre favorites, including Jodie Whittaker (Attack the Block), David Tennant, and Arthur Darvill (both, Doctor Who), we eagerly cleared our schedule and tuned in, expecting the sort of dazzling drama that series like The Hour and Life on Mars have led us to expect from BBC. We won't tell you what happened next (it makes borg.com reviewer Elizabeth C. Bunce seem soulless), and we won't waste the bandwidth trying to shout over the accolades. Instead we're putting our energy into giving other disappointed viewers what they really wanted from the eight-part series. Unfortunately for many American viewers, several of these shows have not yet made it to Region 1 (U.S.) DVD, but they are well worth tracking down.
If you tuned in to see…
Jodie Whittaker as a grieving mum, try Marchlands (reviewed earlier this year here at borg.com)
The luminous Jodie Whittaker gives a haunting, nuanced performance as a young mother trying to come to terms with the disappearance of her daughter, while stifled by life at her in-laws' home and the judgement of local villagers. Also starring Denis Lawson (Bleak House, Star Wars) and Doctor Who's own River Song, Alex Kingston (Arrow), Marchlands is a complex look at the lingering resonance of one family's tragedy. Plus there are ghosts, which in borg.com's opinion is always a bonus. (And if you love Marchlands then you'll want to see the follow-on series Lightfields we also reviewed here).
David Tennant investigating a murder in an idyllic seaside village, check out Viva Blackpool (just Blackpool in the UK)
Tags: Alex Kingston, Amanda Abbington, Arthur Darvill, Ashes to Ashes, Ashley Pharoah, BBC, BBC America, Bill Nighy, Blackpool, Broadchurch, Case Histories, David Morrissey, David Tennant, Denis Lawson, Doctor Who, Elizabeth C. Bunce, James McAvoy, Jason Isaacs, Jodie Whittaker, John Simm, Kelly MacDonald, Life on Mars, Lightfields, Marc Warren, Marchlands, Mr Selfridge, Olivia Coleman, Philip Glenister, Polly Walker, Viva Blackpool
Review–UK series Marchlands merges three worlds into a satisfying ghost story
Filed under: Fantasy Realms, TV — Leave a comment
With a television series featuring Doctor Who and Arrow's Alex Kingston, Life on Mars's Dean Andrews, Luke Skywalker's pal Wedge Antilles, and the lead actress from Attack the Block, you just can't go wrong. And it's really hard to beat an old British cottage near the woods as the setting when you're creating a ghost story. Add to it one of borg.com's most discussed subjects: a movie about a creepy little girl, and you're in for a good show. That could not be more true than with the UK mini-series Marchlands. UK production company ITV and 20th Century Fox created an expertly constructed five-part, supernatural drama mini-series that traverses three families living in different eras in the same British house.
Marchlands first aired in the UK in 2010, but it hasn't been released in the States yet. In fact the only way to view it is to buy it from a British online retailer along with a DVD player that will play DVDs from Europe. Along with watching all the other series from the UK long before they cross the lake to America, going the extra mile to get access to these series is well worth the effort.
Tags: 20th Century Fox, Alex Kingston, Arrow, BBC America, Dakota Blue Richards, Dean Andrews, Denis Lawson, Dinah Lance, Doctor Who, ITV, Jamie Thomas King, Jodie Whittaker, Life on Mars, Lightfields, Lucy Cohu, Marchlands, Michael Byrne, public television, Shelley Conn, Tessa Peake-Hodge, The Golden Compass, The Others, The Secret of Crickley Hall, Watcher in the Woods, Woman in Black