A lot happens in geek culture on any given day. Here is the daily round up of what happened this week in geek.
This Week in Geek
Alex Kingston, who played River Song on the British television series Doctor Who, has written a River Song novel called The Ruby’s Curse. The book will be available May 2021.
Alex Kingston has played the character of River Song on the television series as well as starring in her own Big Finish Doctor Who audio dramas. Her character has been featured in comic book series as well as in previous Doctor Who novels. This is the first novel written by Kingston herself.
A spokesperson for Lucasfilm announced, “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.” The actress played character Cara Dune on the hit Disney+ television series The Mandalorian. Gina Carano responded the next day by announcing that she will be working on a movie project with Ben Shapiro and the conservative website The Daily Wire.
Joss Whedon was once again called out on his toxic on-set behaviors. This time, it was by Buffy the Vampire and Angel actor Charisma Carpenter. In a statement on her social media, Charisma recounts the toxic work environment that she endured for several years and gives reasons as to why it took her so long to speak out.
Pedro Pascal will star as Joel in The Last of Us series for HBO. The Last of Us is a popular video game series developed by Naughty Dog and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The writer and creative director of the game, Neil Druckmann, will be working with Craig Mazin to bring this adaption to life. Mazin previously created Chernobyl for HBO.
In the latest teaser trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League we get a look of the black Superman suit and Jared Leto’s Joker. The Warner Bros. Pictures and DC full-length Max Original feature film will premiere on the platform on Thursday, March 18th.
“The bell’s been rung.” #SnyderCut pic.twitter.com/B9hT2veXFs
— Zack Snyder's Justice League (@snydercut) February 11, 2021
Conventions and Events
Due to the global pandemic, fans of Doctor Who were not able to make their annual pilgrimage to Gallifrey One. Gallifrey One is the world’s largest and longest-running annual Doctor Who fan convention, a tradition in North American Doctor Who fandom since 1990. It takes place on President’s Day weekend each year in Los Angeles, CA.
This was the first time the convention has not happened annually. However, fans found plenty of ways to celebrate. Through the sharing of photographs and videos on social media, fans were able to pay homage to a beloved geeky convention.
In a delightful tribute to the convention, fans danced to the “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” song by The Proclaimers in a video created by Lady of Time Cosplay. The video is inspired by an end of season wrap video created during the David Tennant Era of the show, which included cast and crew.
In a statement on February 11th, Comic-Con International announced that they would not be holding an in person event for WonderCon 2021. They hoped that the COVID-19 pandemic might have subsided enough to hold an in-person convention. Unfortunately, that does not seem the be the case.
“The challenges of this past year and the postponement of our two largest events have left us with limited financial resources, therefore WonderCon@Home will be a two-day celebration instead of the usual three days as we continue to marshal our resources for Comic-Con this summer.While we may be limited in days, we will not be limited in scope. We are currently in the process of lining up great programming, amazing exhibitors, terrific gaming, and all of the many aspects that make WonderCon a fan-favorite event. We sincerely hope that you will join us for the WonderCon@Home celebration on Friday and Saturday, March 26 and 27, 2021.”
Love Story actors Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal were honored with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the first virtual double-star ceremony in history on February 12, 2021. O’Neal’s star is between MacGraw’s and his real-life love, Farrah Fawcett. O’Neal and MacGraw both received Oscar® nominations for their starring roles in Love Story, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards®, including Best Picture. In 2002, the AFI named it as #9 on its list of the 100 greatest love stories of all time.
Love Story is about the highs and lows of young love. Newly restored for its anniversary, Love Story is available in a limited-edition Blu-ray™ with collectible packaging, commentary by director Arthur Hiller, a look at the film’s impact, and more.
New at Temple of Geek
Aaron Carnes joins our host Aaron Powell on the Temple of Geek Podcast to talk about his new book “In defense of Ska.” It is a historic and deep dive into the history of Ska music.
This week on our gaming podcast, Retro Rebel Podcast, Stacy and Amanda discuss how to pick the best sidekick for your playstyle and the types of NPCs that might work for you.
