The Week In Geek: Dune Remake Dead, New Dark Knight Casting, Star Trek 2 & More!

Dune Relaunch Stalled; The Sleeper Has Not Awakened

Frank Herbert’s Dune is to science fiction novels what The Lord of the Rings is to fantasy novels. But where The Lord of the Rings movie series was the pitch perfect way of taking a complex narrative and making it accessible to a wide audience (not to mention cohesive as a film) David Lynch’s 1984 adaptation of Dune however is the textbook example of how not to film these kinds of epic, otherworldly novels. And I say this as a gigantic David Lynch fan…but even Lynch himself disowns his own version of Dune. I certainly enjoy portions of the film, but even the movie’s biggest fans will admit the whole thing is kind of a hot mess.The Sci Fi Channel did a mini series version back in 2001, and although better received, It still wasn’t exactly what fans of the book were hoping for.

Despite the previous lackluster attempts, Paramount Pictures has spent the last several years trying to do their own version of the Herbert classic. A couple of years ago director Peter Berg was attached direct, and that ended up falling through and leading to his directing of Battleship for Paramount instead (because why tackle a beloved novel when you can adapt a Milton/Bradley game?) Then director Pierre Morel (Taken) came on board in 2010, but apparently nothing ever came of that either. Now, three years later, Paramount has let the rights to Dune lapse with nothing to show for it, and the rights owners can shop the property around again.  Will Dune ever find it’s own Peter Jackson? I imagine one day it will, but it looks like it won’t be any time soon.

The Dark Knight Rises Officially Adds Joseph Gordon Levitt, Juno Temple

It has been known now for a few months that Joseph Gordon Levitt would follow his Inception director Christopher Nolan to the sequel to Dark Knight. Well this week it was announced that he was officially part of the cast by the Hollywood trades, and playing the role of Alberto Falcone, son of crime boss Carmine Falcone (played in Batman Begins by Tom Wilkinson ) Alberto Falcone is most famous for his role in the classic Batman graphic novel The Long Halloween. But Wait! Not so fast…no sooner was that reported as fact, that Entertainment Weekly said the part JGL is playing is not Falcone…but someone else entirely. Why believe EW over magazines like Variety and such? Warners owns that magazine, so there is more than a little connection there. Some fans have him pegged as Deadshot, the sniper character that has been a somewhat minor part of the Batman mythos for several decades, and even more fans seem intent on his playing Black Mask.  At this point we might not even know until the actual movie opens.

Also confirmed for The Dark Knight Rises this week was 21 year old British actress Juno Temple, best known for her role in Atonement. Some people have suspected she is playing the young female Robin from Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, but I highly doubt that; Christopher Nolan has repeatedly said that he didn’t want to do a Robin in his Batman movie series, and if he were to do one, he’d probably stick to tradition and use Dick Grayson. More likely Nolan is going to that other Frank Miller Batman opus (no, fuck you, not All Star Batman.) I refer instead to Batman: Year One.  In that story, which re-introduced Selina Kyle/Catwoman to modern DC continuity, she had a young streetwise hooker/sidekick named Holly Robinson, or “Holly Gonightly.” I would say it is far more likely Juno Temple is playing Holly, but then sometimes I’m dead wrong when it comes to these things. But were I a betting man, I’d bet on Juno playing Holly.

Chris Pine Talks Star Trek 2

Chris Pine this week confirmed that the upcoming Star Trek sequel, set to start filming later this upcoming summer, finally has a script. And in this script, according to Pine, Captain James T. Kirk will indeed have a love interest this time. I’m assuming that he means an actual love story, and not just Kirk bangs a green chick or flirts with a pretty girl, because that’s pretty much in every episode or movie of Star Trek. If that is this case, I’m hoping they use the character of Carol Marcus from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  Not only is she the mother of Kirk’s son David, but their “backstory” is one that was never seen on the old tv series.  A new movie would be the perfect opportunity to tell the Jim Kirk/Carol Marcus love story in detail, as well as just what went wrong between them. Of course, this being a new continuity/timeline, maybe things will be different this time; instead of having Kirk’s kid she’ll just have his abortion…save Kirk the trouble of having a kid with a cheesy perm who gets stabbed to death by Klingons like a punk later on.

DC Nation Comes to Cartoon Network; See Corporate Synergy In Action

According to DC Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns, “If you’re a DC Comics fan this is the best news of all time,” Johns was at Cartoon Network’s upfront presentation in New York City this week to talk about “DC Nation,” a programming initiative that will showcase DC’s expansive library of characters. Warner Brothers of course own DC Entertainment, and Warners also owns Cartoon Network, and although almost all DC Universe animated properties have aired on CN for the past decade or so, they have never really capitalized on their DC connection as well as maybe they should have. Well, no more…starting in early 2012, Cartoon Network is launching a two hour block based on DC Comics properties called DC Nation. The flagship shows will be Green Lantern, the all-new Bruce Timm CGI animated series as well as the new hit series Young Justice. Batman: The Brave and the Bold will finish out it’s run as part of this block (rumored to be replaced with a new CGI animated Batman show later on) and an as yet un announced show. Test footage that was done last year for a live action Blue Beetle series was shown at the presentation , which heavily suggests that might fill in that final half hour slot. (yeah, Cartoon Network shows live action shows now too. I don’t get it either) DC Nation is also being described as a “multi platform franchise” which suggests an large online component as well. Maybe episodes of the now classic DC animated series like Batman, Batman Beyond, Superman, Justice League, Teen Titans and campy older shows like Super Friends will be available at the click of a mouse.

Wonder Hooker Costume Fallout

Last week Warner Brothers debuted their first image of Adrainne Palicki as Wonder Woman. People on message boards everywhere echoed the same sentiments… phrases like “Party City” “Cheap Hooker” and “Wal Mart Halloween Costume” were bandied about. And those are the nicer insults. What’s most sad is that almost everyone agrees that the basic design is decent enough, but the execution is totally atrocious. Within 24 hours, fans created better versions in photoshop, two of which I post below. Why am I posting these? Just to prove a point…sometimes, the fans know best. Hopefully some of these get around to the halls of Warner Brothers, if only to shame them into making something better. It probably won’t happen, but it should.