Yes, it is true. BBC America will be hosting a special TV presentation of NPR favorite Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me on Friday, December 23rd. Neil Gaiman will be playing their quiz game Not My Job, while Paula Poundstone, Alonzo Bodden and Phill Jupitus will be on the panel looking back at the years top stories from both a British and American perspective. The program will also be broadcast on NPR that weekend, so those of you reading this on the radio will not be left out. Had I been able to find a trailer, it would have been posted here.
The Black Mirror Trilogy is a trio of stories put together in a twilight zone kind of way, coming to BBC4 beginning this Sunday, the 4th. It is pretty twisted; in the first episode kidnappers grab a princess and put their demands on YouTube where the government can’t block them, involving the Prime Minister and some barnyard animals. I am hoping BBC America will be kind enough to pick it up, so we can watch it on this side of the pond.
The trailer for the new Doctor Who Christmas Special, The Doctor, The Widow and The Wardrobe. They ran the trailer this weekend as part of the Children In Need special, and as of this posting, there are still just over 3 days left to enter your bid for the Doctor’s clothing and a signed script.
Anime News Network is now streaming Phi-Brain: Kami No Puzzle, or Puzzle of God if you prefer. What makes this show different from others is that each episode our protagonists have to solve problems and logic puzzles to survive rather than fight anyone. And the fact that you can legally watch it streaming online is always a plus.
The TV show Misfits has run for two seasons in the UK with the third under way now, but hasn’t appeared on traditional TV over here yet. You can buy it from iTunes or watch it on Hulu Plus, however, and now you can download and play the Misfits Community Service Game App for free. They have versions available for both the iDevices and the Android OS, you can use the links on their page or search the appropriate marketplace directly. In the game, you are on the community service team performing tasks and are looking to make money and win popularity points. If you play well enough, you will be invited to cash them in for a new superpower and a fresh mission. At the whopping cost of free, I recommend any fan of the show tries this one out.
The good news is that the shared universe multi-author ongoing masterpiece Wild Cards is going to be made into a film of some flavor, and original authors George R. R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass are both involved. In fact, Melinda Snodgrass will be writing the screenplay for the production, according to the Hollywood Reporter. I would be a bit concerned about this since the project belongs to the Syfy Channel, who has made consistently excellent miniseries and consistently dreadful TV Movies. But this is the very first project for the new Syfy Films (a new joint venture between Syfy and Universal Pictures), so there is hope this could be treated as it deserves. If you are not familiar with the series, do yourself a favor and go out and buy the first 10 books in the series now, and read them in one non-stop marathon. The story opens not long after WWII, when an alien spaceship comes to use a biologic weapon to eradicate the human race, but is engaged in aerial combat by Jetboy, who defeats them to the point where only a single bomb goes off. That bomb impacts on New York City, where the virus kills 99% of everyone it touches. Of those who survive, 99% have bizarre physical and mental modifications, sometimes with a power to counteract their loss: the Jokers. The one percent of one percent who are left are the Aces, blessed with superhuman powers. This series has been going on since its inception in 1987, with some of the best science fiction authors on the planet contributing characters and stories. It treats its superheroes and villains even more like real people than the graphic novels do, although there are graphic novel versions available as well. I can’t wait to see how they do with this one!