Who Wants To Go To Mars

For those of you wondering just how Russell T. Davies’ run in charge of Doctor Who will end, the penultimate special, The Waters Of Mars will be airing later this year. The first trailer didn’t really have me sold on watching it: after what could be considered an ongoing series of climaxes while the series aired regularly, the specials haven’t offered much in the way of interest, coming across with the same standard as the series’ standalone episodes rather than those that fit in with each season’s mythology.

That said, at least The Waters Of Mars looks like it might have a bit more meat to it, with the Doctor philosophising about not interfering with time at certain points (guaranteed death, methinks) and a promise of how David Tennant might leave the role. There’s a similar feel to this episode as with The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, against which I have judged all Doctor Who episodes since and, to be honest, few of them have ever lived up to my expectations.

Have I Ever Been Lost?

Yet another day, another SDCC post, only this one doesn’t involve comics or video games, but rather everyone’s favourite TV show, Lost.

With the cliffhanger ending of season five in The Incident, viewers are still unsure exactly what’s going to happen with season six. If we belive some of the cast, they’re not really sure either. Show-runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have already promised that we’ll see a lot of returning characters in season six, including Emilie de Ravin as Claire who hasn’t been seen since season four, but more importantly, rumours abound that “dead” characters will be returning to the series, with actors Dominic Monaghan, Ian Somerhalder and Maggie Grace being spotted around Hawaii or in talks with the production team. Of course, that doesn’t mean much with the show’s narrative structure so dependant on flashbacks and visions, so it could be something as simple as Michelle Rodriguez’s appearance as Ana-Lucia in season five.

The two videos below, however, lend some credence to those rumours, perhaps indicating that the “reset button” was indeed pressed with that fade-to-white the came at the end of The Incident and perhaps Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 successfully made it to Los Angeles. Otherwise, why would Oceanic be advertising their accident-free record or (under the link) how else would Hurley have bought a fried chicken restaurant?

Child Of Light, Darkness and Video Games

The SDCC news just keeps on coming, and this time, it’s a big one. For me, anyway.

You may have guessed by now that I’m a fan of all things X-Men, across all genres (well, maybe not movies anymore, to be honest.) The fandom extends to video games as well, and X-Men: Legends and its sequel have gone through more plays than any other game on any other console. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance may not have gotten the same amount of play, but as the spriritual successor to X-Men: Legends it’s only just a matter of time.

We’re still waiting for the full line-up of playable characters to be announced for Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 but one of the earliest videos from SDCC has me sufficiently excited about the game’s release to pre-order (maybe even on more than one platform…or would that be too much?) Jean Grey, perhaps my favourite X-Men character, is playable, a sure-fire way to mean that this disc won’t be leaving my console for a good few months.

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 is due for release September 15, 2009.