Question: I know it's only been a week, but any news on the Veronica Mars movie? -- Robin Ausiello: Actually, yes! Contrary to speculation, Mars 2.0 would likely find Veronica battling crime in college rather than on the government's payroll. "The FBI scenario was more of a 'What if...?' aimed at getting us a fourth season [before the show was canceled]," Mars boss Rob Thomas tells me. "I would want to bring back our key players, and it would be tough to believe that the FBI stationed Veronica in Neptune." No arguments on this end!
Question: With the recent news that Kristen Bell and Rob Thomas discussed a Veronica Mars movie (which would be great, but I'm not holding my breath), my question is do you think this would be a good idea creatively? I mostly agree with your opinion that the Sex and the City and X-Files movies both could have been much better and/or better off not being made. For the record, I am still a huge fan of both shows and couldn't wait to go see both movies when they came out. But those shows were able to tell their story during their TV run and had just about as much closure as one can expect to get from a TV series. But I feel that the fact that Rob Thomas decided to leave things open-ended so it would be "harder" for the network to cancel the show puts VM in a different situation. While I know I should just be happy we got three seasons of Veronica Mars, I can't help wanting to know what happened to Veronica, Keith, Logan, Wallace, etc. And as far as a recent movie based on a short-lived TV show goes, Serenity seemed to do well in Firefly's case. Do you think a movie could work in Veronica's? — Kathleen Matt Roush: This is clearly a story some people won't let die, and with all due respect, I wish they would. I'll be happy to eat my skeptical words, but in what universe could a Veronica Mars feature film fly? I'm not doubting the producer's and star's statements, but it sounds to me like hollow pandering to the fans. The show is over, and I still think Rob Thomas was nuts to leave unanswered questions in the finale since it was so obvious at the time that it wasn't going to be part of the CW's future. Serenity at least made sense (although the news of its resurrection took me by surprise) because it belongs to a genre, the action-oriented space opera, where a smartly budgeted movie can be guaranteed a decent amount of interest by sci-fi fans, even those who may not have seen the original series. And there was a justified feeling that Firefly never got its due during its truncated time on Fox, whereas Veronica Mars had three entire seasons to make its case. And its odd hybrid of coming-of-age drama with detective mystery makes it a bit of a hard sell for feature distribution, or even straight-to-DVD release. But if you're selling me the idea of a TV-movie (for the CW or elsewhere) in which Veronica finally makes it to the FBI, tying up loose ends while giving us a sense of her future, I'd buy that. I just wish the networks were in that business (see today's opening question).
I know that most people don't give a crap about AstroBoy, I'm looking forward to the CGI version and will still follow it up until its release. Last year we were one of the first to bring you an exclusive concept art photo (seen above) from the film. Now we have a few new photos courtesy of Astroboy Online that show a fully rendered AstroBoy and some additional never-before-seen concept art. The movie has gone through quite a bit of trouble, including switching directors to David Bowers, and recently just picked up Kristen Bell as one of the voice talents. Now we have our first fully-rendered look at the film and it doesn't seem half bad - enough to still keep me excited. Hopefully I'm not the only one looking forward to AstroBoy…
Set in futuristic Metro City, Imagi Studios' "AstroBoy" is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist to replace the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving father's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the man who had rejected him. For a recap on the history of AstroBoy and info on the character, head here.
AstroBoy is directed by ex-Disney animator David Bowers, of Flushed Away previously, with a screenplay written by Timothy Harris, of Brewster's Millions, Kindergarten Cop, and Space Jam previously. Imagi Animation, the studio behind TMNT last year, is developing this animated film which is based on Osamu Tezuka's manga series. AstroBoy will arrive in theaters sometime in 2009.
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