Mondo Announce New Series of DC Vinyl Releases

Mondo, the vinyl reissue label and purveyors of all things pop culturally cool, just announced a slew of soundtracks for various DC film and television projects, many of which are making their vinyl debuts. Starting it all off is a deluxe edition of Rupert Gregson-Williams’ score for the 2018 film, Aquaman, in conjunction with WaterTower Music, which will be available from MondoShop.com starting on Wednesday, January 6th.

The triple LP is pressed on 180-gram translucent coloured vinyl with splatter and is housed in a tri-fold jacket which features all-new, original artwork by Pascal Blanché. In addition to the complete Gregson-Williams score, there’s a disc of bonus tracks and remixes, and the soundtrack also includes the songs “Everything I Need,” performed by Skylar Grey, and “Ocean To Ocean,” performed by Pitbull featuring Rhea.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, however, as 2021 will also see the vinyl debuts of Benjamin Wallfisch’s score to 2019’s Shazam!, the Clint Mansell and Kevin Kiner music for DC Universe’s streaming series Doom Patrol (seasons one and two), and a re-issue of John Williams’ 1978 score for Superman. Whew. Start saving you pennies.

Barbara Shelley 1932 – 2021

shelley

STARBURST is saddened to hear that legendary British actor Barbara Shelley has died, aged 88.

A versatile actor, she was famous for her genre roles, appearing in several Hammer productions and other classic horror and sci-fi movies and TV shows.

From her work in low budget fare such as Cat Girl (1957) and Blood of the Vampire (1958) to higher profile films like Village of the Damned (1960) and her work with Hammer, which included The Gorgon (1964), Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966), and Quatermass and the Pit (1967), she became a cult icon and was a popular guest at conventions around the world.

On the small screen, she appeared in episodes of The Avengers, Blake’s 7, and Doctor Who.

STARBURST sends our thoughts and sympathy to her family and friends.

 

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA STARSHIP BATTLES CANCELLED

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA — STARSHIP BATTLES

Ares Games tabletop star-fighter simulator game  Battlestar Galactica – Starship Battles has been cancelled after license negotiations have failed. Sales of existing inventory will officailly  continue until June 30th, 2021.

The dog-fighting game launched back in 2018. Though similar to other popular starship miniatures game (such as Star Wars: X-Wing )  the game owed more to another Ares Game product, Wings of Glory as it featured tactical complexity and was more skill than luck focused.

It also featured a campaign mode that drew from the lore established in 2004’s BattleStar Galactica TV Show. A variant of the game inspired by the vintage 70’s era show was in development, alas it is unlikely we’ll ever get to see it.  Planned expansion Faster Than Light will be released via the Ares Games website and will be available until June 2021.

Get a Producer Credit on a New VIPCO Film

vipco producer

The recently relaunched video label VIPCO has announced that fans can become a producer on the upcoming VIPCO’s Vault of Terror Volume 1.

For only £25, you can have your name in the credits of the upcoming portmanteau film. The shorts have already been arranged, and it’s just the wraparound elements that need to be filmed (safely and dependant on COVID restrictions). As well as having your name on the actual film, you will be listed as a producer on IMDB.

This opportunity is open to fans worldwide and every producer will receive a copy of the movie once it has been released. The credit does not give you any say in production of the movie or how it is distributed, however.

If you are interested in getting involved, you can make a payment of £25 via PayPal (use the friends and family option) to: [email protected]

To stay up to date on the project and future projects you can give VIPCO a follow on the website http://www.vipcoltd.com/ and following social media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VIPCOfilm/ and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vipcofilm/

 

vipco producer

Watch THE EVIL DEAD with a Live Bruce Campbell Commentary!

dead campbell

All round groovy guy Bruce Campbell will be hosting a special virtual viewing of Sam Raimi’s 1981 seminal classic The Evil Dead and you can watch along with him and perhaps even ask a question! Find out more below:

Have you ever dreamed of watching your favourite movie with the star from that flick? Now is your chance to hand over the remote control to the stars and let them guide you through your faves like you have never experienced it before. Join the celebrity watch party and relive the movie through the eyes of the star – pausing the action to explain scenes, tell unknown stories about the action, or provide funny tidbits of trivia… straight from the source.

Bruce Campbell, legend, actor, producer, writer, director, best-selling author… cult hero.

Join us on Saturday, January 23rd at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST/2 AM GMT for a worldwide virtual viewing of the 1981 Sam Raimi classic The Evil Dead with live commentary throughout by Campbell himself. Watch the film with Campbell as he shares memories, stories, and anecdotes from the film, and for a few lucky viewers, Bruce will even answer questions from the chat.

$25 GEN Tickets include Livestream + Video On Demand
$50 VIP Tickets include Livestream + Video On Demand + a limited edition poster created just for this event. Posters will be mailed directly to your address provided.

Book your place for this once in a lifetime experience now: https://tinyurl.com/evildead-starburst.

Lucasfilm Clarifies on THE MANDALORIAN’s Post-Credits Tease

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE MANDALORIAN SEASON FINALE!

While many of us were left emotional wrecks after the exhilarating final scenes of The Mandalorian’s season finale, The Rescue, it soon turned out that creator Jon Favreau and his team had one last surprise up their sleeve in the form of a post-credits sting. Returning to Tatooine, we finally revisited Jabba’s Palace, not seen in live-action since 1983’s Return of the Jedi, where it was revealed that the Hutt’s right-hand Twi’lek Bib Fortuna had not only survived the destruction of The Khetanna at the Great Pit of Carkoon, but he’d actually also gone on to take over his former boss’s throne.  And, following in Jabba’s footsteps (so to speak), put on a few pounds in the process. Mere moments after our re-introduction and his reign came to an abrupt end at the hands of Boba Fett and his new partner Fennec Shand, who made short work of dispatching the boss and reclaiming the throne for themselves. Then, that title card…

‘Coming Christmas 2021… THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT.’

THE WHAT?! As exciting as this announcement was, a slight confusion accompanied it… With this sneaky Boba Fett project not part of Disney’s huge Star Wars reveal earlier this month, many quickly began to speculate that this would actually be The Mandalorian’s third season; a reasonable assumption given that the Christmas 2021 date was confirmed for the latter during the aforementioned Disney Investors showcase by Kathleen Kennedy herself. Was Din Djarin and Grogu’s journey really over as those final moments suggested? Would The Mandalorian now follow Boba Fett’s story instead, even though, y’know, he’s not technically a Mandalorian? Most importantly, will we ever see Grogu again?!?!

Lucasfilm smartly left fans to worry themselves silly all weekend, and today have clarified that, no, we’ll be getting both The Mandalorian Season 3 and The Book of Boba Fett (a limited series) in the holiday season of next year. In an interview with Good Morning America, Favreau promised that The Mandalorian series would continue “with the main character that we all know and love”, adding that it will start production immediately after Fett and will air in that order also, with both series debuting in December. (They do know that December only has four weeks in it, right?)

In an added bit of good news (now that’s a phrase that’s been in short supply this year!), fans of Chapter 14: The Tragedy’s action-packed 35-minutes will be happy to hear that director Robert Rodriguez is joining the Fett team fulltime as an Executive Producer, meaning he’ll most certainly be bringing his unique brand of cinematic bombast to our screens again by directing an episode or two also.

Thanks for the early Christmas present, Lucasfilm!

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To read our breakdown of all the other STAR WARS shows and films heading your way, click HERE. For a detailed look at everything we know about the other MANDALORIAN spin-off AHSOKA, head HERE.

Will Third Time be a Charm for FANTASY ISLAND Reboot?

fantasy island

Gene Levitt’s Fantasy Island, which originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984, is getting rebooted by Fox. From writers and executive producers Liz Craft and Sarah Fain, the Sony Pictures Television, Gemstone Studios, and Fox Entertainment co-production is slated for a summer 2021 debut. Best known for their collaborative work on The Shield, and Joss Whedon’s cult hits Angel and Dollhouse, Craft and Fain’s involvement in this latest project is cause for optimism.

Of course, this is far from the first time that the property has been given new life: ABC had aired a new version of Fantasy Island in 1998, cancelling it after just one season. Then again just last year, Blumhouse and Columbia Pictures released a prequel and horror reimagining of the show, which was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews.

This time however, the series is described as “a modern semi-anthology series that delves into the ‘what if’ questions, both big and small, that keep us awake at night. Each episode will tell emotional, provocative stories about people who walk in with a desire, but end up reborn to themselves through the magical realism of Fantasy Island,” according to Fox’s recent press release.

Will this soapy reimagining fulfil the network’s fantasy of cashing in on yet another rebooted property? Time will tell.

Lars von Trier Revives ‘90s Cult Series THE KINGDOM

the kingdom

Lars von Trier is set to revive his mid-90s cult TV show The Kingdom for a third and final season, retitled The Kingdom Exodus. The experimental filmmaker is best known for his acclaimed and often controversial body of work, from Nymphomaniac and Mother!, to The House That Jack Built and Melancholia.

Inspired by Twin Peaks and the 1965 French miniseries Belphegor, von Trier created a semi-surreal, stylised show which followed the neurosurgical staff of a Danish hospital in their many encounters of the unexplainable, both human and supernatural. The series, which in UK and US territories was released as a five-hour film, was due to receive a third season before being unexpectedly cancelled after 1997. This was due in part to the premature deaths of actors Ernst-Hugo Järegård and Kirsten Rolffes in 1998 and 2000, respectively.

As such, The Kingdom’s second season left fans with many unresolved plot lines and little promise of closure. However, over two decades later, von Trier has now announced that the show would receive a third and final season comprised of five hour-long episodes. Filming is planned for next year in anticipation of a 2022 release, with von Trier due to direct all five episodes. Little is known of the plot specifics, and the creator’s statement musings about borders and “lines drawn with rulers on white paper” certainly cleared nothing up. You can read the rest of Lars von Trier’s statement below:

“Borders come in many forms; they may be lines drawn with rulers on white paper (often invisible to whoever chances to visit the actual geographical locations). The lines of the borders may be illustrative, if not to say quite fictitious and downright mean; they may be drawn in a soft, red color, practically invisible, and perhaps even as a dotted line, almost as if indicating an apology or even–shame.

Nevertheless, the lines hang there in inconceivable numbers, and together they constitute those ‘territories’ that the inhabitants are strong enough to defend. Entering and leaving often entail violence, for, of course, any visitor is expected to return after ending his or her business.

On Earth, “the Machine that makes everything go round (all life, that is)” is dependent on the conflicts which the lines provoke, as if by design. Whether Exodus actually means “entering” or “leaving” depends on the angle from which the border is observed, but the word simply describes a large number of individuals crossing a pencil-drawn line together. Why?…..There is an imbalance between good and evil! The limit has been reached, at least at the Kingdom….But I cannot testify that it will be easy and bloodless to pick the seven astral locks of the world simultaneously with doctor’s blood.”

THE WALKING DEAD Getting Surprising Spin-Off…

The Walking Dead

Like its titular menace, The Walking Dead continues to shuffle on with no signs that it can ever be defeated. Since its introduction to audiences over ten years ago (good god), the show has undoubtedly helped change the television landscape, opening up executives’ eyes to the commerciality of adult horror content on the small screen. However, the rot eventually set in and audiences started to bleed out many years ago, exhausted by the endless treading of water, unwatchable performances, and repetitive nature. At 18-episodes per season, it’s also nearly double the length of many new shows, adding to contemporary viewer’s fatigue. A showrunner change (its fourth) in Season 9 reignited the narrative despite it facing its toughest challenge yet (i.e. lead Andrew Lincoln’s leaving), but in terms of audience figures it was too little too late. Well clearly those figures are still healthy enough for makers AMC, who continue to throw more money at the franchise, slowly building the universe with spin-offs Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, a future Carol & Daryl show, and a comedy series.

Wait, a what?

In the most unlikely news from the world of The Walking Dead we could imagine beyond a spin-off mystery thriller centred around Negan’s missing neckerchief, former showrunner turned franchise overseer Scott Gimple recently revealed that they are indeed in development on a comedy set in the TWD universe. Careful to point out that this was not a parody designed to mock the property (smart), Gimple said that this was “just a more comedic take on the world.” Given the unrelentingly bleak subject matter, it’s hardly surprising that the shows so far have been light on laughs, but since it’s been twelve-or-so years in the canon since the apocalypse broke and the world’s population (the lucky ones) have learnt to adapt, perhaps there actually is potential for different tones to be explored. Is it a risky move? Sure. Would we welcome any ideas, no matter how strange, that could breathe new life into the stagnant corpse of the zombie genre right now? Hell yes.

We’ll have more on this new show as it develops beyond this short tease, but to wrap things up we’ve also heard encouraging news that the long-announced Rick Grimes spin-off movie (detailing just where he disappeared to in that chopper years ago) is beginning to move again, and pandemic-pending (ours, not theirs) will finally go before cameras in 2021.

The newly extended Season 10 of THE WALKING DEAD returns to screens with episode 17 (of 22) on February 28th.

Jeremy Bulloch 1945 – 2020

bulloch

STARBURST is saddened to learn of the death of Jeremy Bulloch. The actor was famous for portraying Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The role made him a hugely popular guest at conventions and festivals, but he enjoyed a successful career in a variety of roles outside of the Star Wars universe.

Jeremy appeared in three James Bond films, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), For Your Eyes Only (1981), and Octopussy (1983), as well as acting in the popular children’s fantasy show Chocky (1984) and the follow-up Chocky’s Children (1985).

He began acting at an early age, with uncredited appearances in Violent Playground (1958) and A Night to Remember (1958), the film about the Titanic disaster directed by the legendary Roy Ward Baker. He later became a familiar face in TV dramas, with several recurring roles. He would appear in four separate Doctor Who stories, The Dimensions of Time, The Search, The Final Phase, and The Time Warrior. In 1974, he was the lead in the sex comedy Can You Keep It Up for a Week? The title referred to staying in paid employment, by the way.

Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, he once again appeared regularly in TV series, including playing Edward of Wickham in Robin Hood. He would return to Star Wars once more in 2005 to play Captain Colton in Revenge of the Sith.

Everyone who met Jeremy over the years, be it professionally or at a convention knows how warm and friendly he was; he always lived up to the love fans gave to the Boba Fett character and was admired as himself because of that. He will be sorely missed.

We send our thoughts to his family and friends.