After making such a big deal about my made-up holiday Mayfairstivus, I felt bad when my Mexican girlfriend reminded me that as I type this, December 28th is "el Día de los Inocentes." The Day of the Innocents is a sober remembrance of the children massacred under order of Herod the Great, as recounted in the gospel of Matthew. My best wishes to all observant readers.
Curiously enough, this segues into a report posted today at the noted movie site Latino Review, under the heading DC & WB Horribly Hiding Their Plans, involving a series of leaks related to an upcoming Smallville spin-off. Set to run on the CW, this is not the previously announced Raven TV series from writer/executive producer Diego Gutierrez. While I personally never cared for Smallville, its fans might be pleased to learn that the series' original writer/producer team of Alfred Gough and Miles Millar will be on board for the spin-off.
Details are sketchy, but what is known is that additional filming has been scheduled in the coming months involving the Smallville cast and crew for use in the new Fall 2011 series. Cast members who will take part in this filming include Justin "Green Arrow" Hartley, Alan "Aquaman" Ritchson, Alaina "Black Canary" Huffman, and Kyle "Impulse" Gallner. Superman himself, Tom Welling, and the motherlovin' Manhunter from Mars, Phil Morris, are also confirmed. However, to throw a wet blanket on speculation, sources have stated that this will definitely not be a Justice League show, but will instead use the team in a cameo fashion to help ground the new series as an extention of Smallville continuity.
The most fascinating element in these reports is the inclusion of one all new performer in the cast sheet currently circulating, character actor Andrew Robinson in the role of Despero! Robinson's big break came in 1971 as the "Scorpio Killer" in the original Dirty Harry film. Genre fans may remember him for guest starring turns in the 1970s The Incredible Hulk and The Amazing Spider-Man TV shows, not to mention The X-Files and the first Hellraiser film. Perhaps most memorably for the geeks, Robinson played Elim Garak for six seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Whether this would see the actor return to latex in the make-up chair (he seems a bit old for that at nearly 70) or CGI hasn't come up.
If these reports prove to be more than dubious rumor mongering, I'd be very happy to see Robinson in the role. As I noted, I think these shows are pretty crappy, but the Silver/Bronze Age Despero has often reminded me of wily Andrew Robinson, so at least the casting is inspired. It's probably too much to ask, but a live action face-off with J'Onn J'Onzz would be pretty awesome, wouldn't it?
"It's probably too much to ask, but a live action face-off with J'Onn J'Onzz would be pretty awesome, wouldn't it?" I'm totally on board with that!
ReplyDeleteA long time ago Phil Morris stated that there'd be a Martian Manhunter spin-off, which sent my heart a-twitter. I'm pretty sure he was just being facetious, but that didn't stop the internet speculation mill from running with it.
I didn't like Smallville when it started becuase it broke with continuity and it was geared towards teens and all that, but it's grown on me over the past few years, if only becuase my best friend is so genuinely in love with that show and it's the one comic-related thing we can enjoy together. She's gotten to know my favorite DC characters so well now that it's come down to her calling me up once from her job at an archives to tell me she processed a capital punishment record about a "John Jones" who was sent to the electric chair. Now every time she sees the name "John Jones" she thinks of me.
I will be happy to continue that groundless speculation in due time...
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