Movie & TV News: RONIN, V: The Second Generation, TV DVD News, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jonah Hex, Comic Previews

RONIN
Dark Hroizons has reported here that Joby Harold will adapt Frank Miller's "RONIN" for the screen. RONIN is discribed as the story of "a masterless samurai who is reincarnated in a dystopic near-future New York populated by squatters, factions and mutants. The ronin must try to destroy a demon with a mystic sword, which also is found in New York." the film will be directed by Sylvain White. *Just as a personal point, does anybody write about a non-dystopian future anymore? Guess not.*

V: The Second Generation
Kenneth Johnson who created the 1983 SF miniseries V and the follow ups, was interviewed by SCI FI Wire about the new miniseries based on his sequel novel. The novel, from Tor Books picks up 20 years later after the original miniseries, after the Visitors have drained the Earth's oceans. Johnson said: "A number of the major studios have approached me, very interested, about turning it into a movie. We're exploring all of those possibilities. Certainly the fact that the second generation novel is currently in bookstores has had an impact on people who are interested in V as a movie, because it not only indicates there's an audience for more V, it's [also] lovely to be able to place a hardcover novel on a desk of a studio executive. That has its own weight. I have two 4-inch binders completely filled [of fan e-mails], and those are just the ones I've printed up. If I'd printed all I received I'd have about 10 such binders. The feedback that I've gotten from fans has been extraordinarily positive. I must say that almost every [comment] I've gotten has wonderful things to say about the novel. And that's very, very rewarding. I'm pleased the book sales are going quite well. That's naturally what every author wants to hear."

TV DVD News
TVShowsOnDVD.com has posted info about "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" (Lip Synchin' in the Rain) here, "American Idol" (Season 6) here, "Garfield and Friends" (A Cat and his Nerd) here, "Kenny the Shark" (3rd Collection) here, "The Naked Brothers Band" (Polar Bears) here, "Inspector Gadget" (Big Little Problems) here, "Pushing Daisies" (Season 1) here, "Walker, Texas Ranger" (Season 5) here and "Ruth Rendell Mysteries" (Vol. 3) here.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
When asked about future Buffy TV or film projects, Joss Whedon said, "My answer would be, like, there are so many stars that would have to align [for them to happen]. But, you know, there's a reason I worked all of these people for so long. They're enormously talented. And clearly, from the comic, it's a story that I can't let go of. I think it would be really cool." At the William S. Paley Television Festival March 20 in Hollywood Whedon and his reunited Buffy cast members Sarah Michelle Gellar, Nicholas Brendon, James Marsters, Emma Caulfield, Michelle Trachtenberg, Charisma Carpenter, Seth Green and Amber Benson plus fellow producers Marti Noxon and David Greenwalt all answered questions. While, so far, none of the spin off movies have come to pass, Whedon and several of his writers and artists have picked up the storyline in a series of comics for Dark Horse, called "season eight" of the TV show. Whedon did say that Green's character, the werewolf Oz, will appear in a future issue of the comic. TV Guide's Matt Roush, who moderated the reunion panel discussion, asked whether the comic would affect any Buffy spinoff TV shows or films. Whedon said: "Hypothetically, if you could make things align, that would be fun. And it would be lovely to make it all tie in. But if I had to shoot down everything I'm doing in the comics because we were doing a project [and] I was filming with these actual people, I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep." Before the panel discussion there was a screening of the musical episode "Once More With Feeling." Whedon admitted: "I literally drove here from wrapping the shooting on a little independent short of my own called Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, my next musical, starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. And it's going to come out somewhere, at some point, possibly on a computer. We haven't figure that out yet. And it's awesome. I would love to take a Buffy to Broadway. It would not be this ['Once More With Feeling']. This is an episode of television. You would have to start from scratch. I've spent some time daydreaming about it, because I'm me." Would the Buffy cast be on board? Most raised their hands but Gellar, who smiled, shook her head and said, "I'm out."

Jonah Hex
Collider spoke here with film maker Mark Neveldine who said: "We're going to be doing a thing at Comic-Con this summer for a lot of movies ... one is a movie that we wrote called 'Jonah Hex.' It's a DC Comic called 'Jonah Hex.' It's gonna be the movie we're directing after 'Crank.[2]'" "Jonah Hex" has a 2010 release expectation.

Comic Previews
Comics Continuum has posted preview pages of
New Exiles #4,