Fanboys Anonymous

Want to know what happened in nerd culture over the past few days? WEEK IN GEEK is your quick fix to catch up with the rest of the Fanboys and Fangirls out there.


MOVIES

Indiana Jones could be a serial.

My take: "Who's your favorite Indiana Jones?" is already a pretentious question to ask. Though I love the character, can he go on forever? I'm a fan of name-drops like Bradley Cooper, but Ford made Jones what he is and I don't see that changing.

Terminator 5 time-jumping?

My take: Arnie is working out to play the Terminator again so he can shoot footage taking place during T1, T2, and so on. It sounds like the movie is taking a Back to the Future II approach. I don't get why they can't just start from scratch. Does today's moviegoing audience need to see a 66-year-old Terminator or an 80-year-old Indiana Jones? Overall, I'm fine with reboots if they're done well.

Divergent #1 beats Muppets by almost $40 million.

My take: How easy are audiences to please these days? The Vampire Diaries and True Blood are both being powerhouse TV shows, which shows how little variety it takes to make fans happy. I am a fan of the Muppets and, no, I wasn't blown away by the first film. But to have such a large number of people go to "check something out" in high numbers—rather than support something more deserving—makes the old man in me frustrated. The Lego Movie still being in the top ten makes up for it, though. That was a fun film.

TELEVISION

Michael C. Hall as Daredevil?

My take: Fancast? Rumor? Most likely, but it certainly has people's eyebrows going up and their heads nodding while their vocal chords create and audible "huh…" Not a bad idea, and it would be great if the series chose the "fun" Waid version of DD. It would be nice to see Hall get the opportunity to play a role that's allowed to have some fun every now and again.

Gotham's proactive leakage.

My take: Fox's Gotham seems to come out with new images and plot points every other day. It feels like too much information, especially when it's handed to us rather than "scooped." Do we have a preference on how we get this information? Personally, I'm leaning more and more toward "just surprise me," but that goes against why I write on this site, I suppose!

24 returns on May 5.

My take: A new trailer reveals a similar plot and pace to the original series, which is good. Sutherland seems only to have aged about a day since we saw him last, which is good. This miniseries takes place over 12 hours instead of 24… which makes no sense. But that's fine. After the last few seasons of the show, I'm looking forward to giving them a chance to knock this out of the park.

COMIC BOOKS

"Spider-Verse" teaser poster.

My take: After Spider Island and Superior Spider-Man, are we ready for another Spidey event? I'm not. It's one of the few books I'm still subscribed to, plus I get the trades when they come out. I would be happy to get a good year of standalone stories, especially with Peter finally returning. Can we just enjoy it before things get crazy again?

Caliber Comics to return… so is print dead?

My take: At a time when comics sales are all over the map, do we have room for another company? Caliber started up in 1989 and closed in 2001. Though I see the industry gaining ground on independent writers and stories, I see another contender chiming in now to be too little, too late. That being said, I wish them luck.

TECHNOLOGY

German company creates "Doc Ock" arms.

My take: Back in the '60s, this design may have seemed revolutionary, but there's only so much a giant claw hand can do. However, this is a first try that's bound to be improved upon, so I think this is pretty awesome. I'm sure the intention wasn't to create (or emulate) a supervillain, but it's pretty cool for us to see this in real life and not as a movie prop.

Facebook buys Oculus VR.

My take: I don't get it. Unless Facebook is getting into porn? They say they want to innovate and that they see it as a new communication platform for schoolwork, entertainment, and even health (allowing you to "visit" your doctor from home). I just saw the VR going straight to Sony or Microsoft, and maybe that's Zuckerberg's plan? Cash in? Like he needs the money. I just can't imagine playing Candy Crush in VR, I guess.