Friday, October 25, 2002

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER UPDATE

GIVE'EM A CLICK

Musical artist Aimee Mann appears as herself in "Sleeper," the Nov. 19 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on UPN.

Mann will perform the song "Pavlov's Bell." In the episode, Buffy discovers that Spike is up to his old vampirey ways.

Above are three photos from the episode, including two of Spike, played by James Marsters, and one of Mann. Click on the thumbnails for larger and fuller images.

In addition to releasing the photos, UPN also announced The Breeders will be a musical guest for the Nov. 5 episode, "Him."

Look for more Buffy news soon here in The Continuum.

MARVEL COMICS FIRST LOOKS

For covers and four-page previews of Marvel Comics titles arriving in stores on Wednesday, CLICK HERE.

Titles include Avengers #59, Paradise X #6, Spider-Man's Tangled Web #19, The Ultimates #7, Wolverine #182, Agent X #4 and The Call of Duty: The Brotherhood #5.

NIGHT THRASHER TELEVISION SERIES

Marvel Studios is taking its next step into live-action television with Night Thrasher.

UPN has picked up a one-hour drama based on the character from Marvel and Ben Silverman's Universal-based production company, Reveille. Michael Elliot, whose credits include Like Mike and Brown Sugar, is writing a script.

Night Thrasher was one of the original New Warriors characters in the early 1990s. He was featured in a mini-series and a 21-issue regular series run, with many of the issues written by Fabian Nicieza.

"Night Thrasher is a perfect character for a one-hour drama for network TV," Marvel Studios' Rick Ungar told The Continuum. "A hero who doesn't need to take on the responsibilities of being a superhero - considering he's a millionaire with a fantastic life - but chooses to do so.

"Set against the backdrop of the glamorous parts of New York City life that most of us never get to see, Night Thrasher should prove to be a compelling drama for television."

Ungar will executive produce, along with Silverman, Elliot and Marvel's Avi Arad.

Producing for Reveille is Matt Edelman, who previously worked at Marvel Studios in the late 1990s and then was a senior vice-president for Eruptor.com.

The television series will feature Dwayne Taylor, a 25-year-old millionaire owner of a hip-hop clothing line, with a penthouse apartment overlooking Central Park. He lends his services to the CIA, having been raised by his uncle, who is a CIA agent.

X-MEN SEQUEL UPDATE

Magneto's plastic prison, shown at the end of the X-Men movie, will return in the sequel and will also be featured in the upcoming trailer.

"We had to create a whole new environment that surrounded the plastic prison," said X² production designer Guy Dyas during a press tour last weekend in Vancouver, British Columbia.

"In the first film, we're basically confined to Magneto's cell and something of a sort of a crude series of almost curtain rings which attach to the front of the plastic prison. Well, this time around we actually made a suspension bridge that worked and expanded across to the plastic prison from a clean room, where people were checked for metal objects and passed through metal detectors before they were even allowed on the catwalk.

"The design of that set has an almost 2001 (A Spacy Odyssey) type feel to it, a very sort of clean, simplistic, '60s plastic type molding shapes."

The trailer, with the expanded look at Magneto's plastic prison, will arrive in theaters on Nov. 27.

GIVE'EM A CLICK

In other X-Men movie news:

* For the two parts of The Continuum's transcription of last Friday's X² press conference with director Bryan Singer and the actors, CLICK HERE and CLICK HERE.

And for a look at the new X-Jet, including comments from production designer Guy Dyas, CLICK HERE.

* Look for more X-Men movie news on Saturday.

DAREDEVIL MOVIE GAME

Encore announced on Thursday that it will publish a Game Boy Advance version of Marvel's Daredevil that will release in conjunction with the February premiere of the Daredevil film.

The sidescrolling action game will incorporate many elements of the feature film, including its characters, costumes and Hell's Kitchen, New York setting.

The Game Boy Advance version of Daredevil will be followed by next-generation console versions of the game in the fall of 2003. The shipment of these console versions will coincide with the movie's home video release. While the GBA version will take its artistic cues from the movie, the console versions will follow the more classic Marvel Comics style.

Said Michael Bell, Encore's CEO, "Next February's movie release, the increasing popularity of the comic books, and our upcoming game will propel Daredevil into mainstream popular culture. He is an intriguing character who is well-suited to the GBA platform."

In the game, players get to be Daredevil as he fights his way through the underbelly of New York's Hell's Kitchen to defeat multiple boss characters including the all-powerful Kingpin. Daredevil will run, jump, fight, use his billy club and perform acrobatic maneuvers as he battles with the Kingpin, Elektra, Bullseye, Turk and the Sewer King, as well as numerous ninjas and mafia thugs.

A unique feature of the game will be Radar Sense, an alternative view where Daredevil can see hidden enemies, react faster to his opponents, and read sonar waves that point to locked doors and secrets. The game will also feature 23 levels; gritty New York settings from the movie; and lots of tokens, power-ups, hidden items and game secrets based on movie details such as Ben Affleck's and Jennifer Garner's costumes.

BRIEFLY