Last year when we heard that a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot was a strong possibility, it sounded as if even then, creator Joss Whedon‘s involvement was quite doubtful. Recently it was revealed that the reboot was now under the wing of Warner Brothers, and that newcomer Whit Anderson had been hired to write the script.

Whedon responded to the news with humorous words that we all got a chuckle out of, but as it turns out, he may have had the opportunity to work on the movie after all, and chose to turn it down.

According to reports, Whedon was offered the chance to take part in the reboot — possibly as a writer, one would speculate, but most likely as just a producer — last year when we first heard of it. This was when the rights to Buffy were owned by Fran Rubel Kuzui and Kaz Kuzui, who have since sold them to WB, and Whedon decided that he would rather work on other projects. With Joss currently directing Marvel’s juggernaut, The Avengers, you have to assume that he might have been in the midst of trying to score that job when the new Buffy was presented. [...]

While speaking to IGN at an event for the upcoming episode of USA’s Pysch, which will be dedicated to Twin Peaks, actor Ray Wise shared that he had been cast in Matthew Vaughn‘s Marvel comic book movie, X-Men: First Class.

Wise states “I’m playing the Secretary of State of the United States. I’ll be going over there in the next couple of weeks,” and touched on working with Vaugh and others as well, saying “I love Matthew. And Bryan Singer‘s producing it and [it's got] a great cast – James McAvoy, January Jones, Oliver Platt.”

Wise played Leland Palmer in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks TV series, as well as the feature film that followed, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. He’s also played one of the vicious criminals who took out Peter Weller in RoboCop, right before he was turned into the powerful cyborg and came back for vengeance, and the Devil on the prematurely canceled TV series, Reaper. [...]

Witchblade
Volume 8: War of the Witchblades
Written By Ron Marz
Art by Stjepan Sejic
Top Cow Productions
Release Date: September 14, 2010

I have been reading Witchblade on and off for the last 2 years now. Although all of it has been in trade format, it would be hard to find at least over 130 single issues. But that would be crazy, unless you had the time, money, and resources to make it happen. But believe me, trades are the way to go for catching up on almost anything if possible. Witchblade is a unique idea that I first learned about a couple of years ago when I saw the TV show. Later on I then discovered it was based on a comic book series, and it made me want to pick it up to see what it was like. And I was not disappointed.

Witchblade Volume 8 is called “War of the Witchblades” and it means just that. Sara Pezzini at one point was the sole bearer of the Witchblade, which is a powerful and ancient weapon in the form of a gauntlet which balances the forces between light and darkness. Dani Baptiste became the new bearer of the Witchblade when Sara discovered she was pregnant a couple trades ago. She decided the only way to keep her baby safe was to let go of the mystical weapon. But since the events of “First Born,” Sara and Dani decided to each share a half of the Witchblade and its powers [...]

Welcome once again to our annual Holiday Geek Gift Guide bonanza. Hopefully we’ve been and will continue to point you to some of the more entertaining and popular gift ideas for your friends and family this holiday season!

Here we have the always-exciting video game gift guide, where you can read our suggestions for some of the best video games of the past year and immediate future, and figure out which of them will be the best to give as a gift. This year we have some of the biggest and best titles to be released on all platforms, including Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 game consoles, and even downloadable titles and add-ons.

Nothing quite brings a smile to the face of someone as getting a good video game for Christmas, and few gifts give you your money’s worth quite like some of these titles, which are very likely to consume much of whomever you present them to’s time.

All that needs to be done now is click away to continue on to our Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2010 and find the games you’re looking for! You can also click the link with each game to go check out its trailer, in case you’ve never seen what it looks like [...]

Artist Steve Dressler has created a new Back To The Future-theme piece of artwork called Hill Valley Hover Society.

The artwork has Marty’s futuristic bright pink hoverboard from Back To The Future II against the backdrop of the clock tower; underneath it reads “HILL VALLEY HOVER SOCIETY – ESTABLISHED 2015.”

See the image here at right (click for larger, full view).

About the artwork, Dressler said:

Less than 5 years away!

I always loved the colors of Marty’s board. [...]

The Gold Box deal of the day over at Amazon today is Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series box set on DVD and Blu-ray for 60% off.

Note, this sale is valid only for today, Tuesday November 30, until midnight PST while supplies last.

The DVD is discounted to $80.99 (down from the list price of $199.98), while the Blu-ray set is $119.99 (down from the list price of $299.98).

Also, for today only, buy either BSG set along with Caprica: Season 1.0 DVD, which is $32.99, and you will save an additional $8 off the entire cost. (Savings will be reflected when you add both items to your Shopping Cart.)

Both the BSG Blu-ray and DVD box sets contain all four seasons of the television series, as well as television movie Battlestar Galactica – The Plan, and include a host of bonus materials [...]

Call of Duty: Black Ops
PLATFORMS: PS3/Xbox 360/Wii/PC
DEVELOPER: Treyarch
PUBLISHER: Activision
RELEASE DATE: November 9, 2010

When reviewing a game like Call of Duty: Black Ops, one would assume the reviewer has probably played other Call of Duty games into the ground, but this is not the case at all.

I entered Black Ops as a complete noob, really. I’ve toyed around with previous installments — mostly playing with family in co-op modes — and even have Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare waiting for me to finally try it out. But technically, I’ve never really taken one of these games head-on.

This, I would have to say, was a good thing. I entered the game knowing what to expect but not exactly how well I would do or progress — especially when it comes to online multiplayer matches, which I’ve always been undeniably bad at and wanted to see if with enough practice and virtual death, this humble gamer could eventually hang with the big boys.

We’ll start with the game itself, which is a decent campaign, spanning about 7-8 hours long if you’re not playing on the easiest difficulty setting. [...]

The t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel today mashes up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with pirates in “Pizza or Death.”

The tee, by artist Andy Hunt, is on sale at RIPT only for today, Tuesday, November 30, 2010 until tomorrow at 1AM EST.

The t-shirt is available in both men’s and women’s sizes for $10. Kids sizes are $15; Onesies are $18. You can also get the design on a Hoodie for $38 (in Men/Unisex sizes).

The shirt’s image takes the likeness of Raphael, one of the four Ninja Turtles, along with his weapon of choice, the twin sai, and makes them into a skull and crossbones pirate theme. Raphael’s red ninja mask flows behind the skull and twin sai image, and the words “Pizza or Death” are around it. If you’re a TMNT fan, then you understand the importance of pizza [...]

Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour
Scott Pilgrim: Volume 6
Written and Drawn by Byran Lee O’Malley
Oni Press
Release date: July 20, 2010

This sixth book in the series has already been out for a while now, but with the movie version of Scott Pilgrim out on DVD now, we’re back to take a look at the final volume in the comic book series. I’m happy to say that Scott Pilgrim’s Finest Hour is very good, and it brings the series to a close in a very satisfying way. Yes, this is a great series that you owe it to yourself to read if you haven’t yet. It’s a modern classic that will hopefully get a whole new generation excited about comics.

Here is your official spoiler warning: I will be discussing events that happen not only in this volume, but any other volume in the series that I feel the need to reference. If you have not read Scott Pilgrim before, know that this is a very good series with a sense of humor deeply immersed in video game and music, but at its soul it is the story of two young people trying to make the switch from youthful lust into an adult relationship. The art borrows a lot from manga but is distinctly its own, and part of the joy is seeing writer/artist Bryan Lee O’Malley style evolve and mature over the course of all six volumes. It is very, very good and well worth your time and money. Okay, for the rest of you who have read the series, here are my thoughts [...]

Here at Geeks of Doom we know how hard it can be to wade through those frenzied crowds at the department stores during the holidays. We also know that the Christmas season is a time where, let’s face it, we’re all spending tons of money on our friends, family, and colleagues. That’s why every day, we post about great sales on Blu-ray/DVDs, music, video games, and more to help our readers save a buck, especially during this bank-breaking season.

Hopefully, our daily Deal posts have helped you get a lot of holiday shopping done, but there’s still plenty of days left to look for gifts before the holidays begin, so we Geeks have compiled some of our favorite items to help you finish up your holiday shopping. If you plan to buy these items online, we’ve also included the shipping deadlines to ensure that you get your stuff on or before Christmas Eve.

Check out our handy Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2010: DVDs & Blu-rays Edition below for all the coolest items this season has to offer in DVDs and Blu-rays for some great movies and television series. And be on the lookout this week for our other Gift Guides for Books, Comics, Video Games, Specialty Items, and much more! {…]

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science made an interesting announcement today, sharing who will be the host(s) of this year’s 83rd annual Academy Awards ceremony.

The quintessential Oscar host is someone with a comedy background that we rarely ever see getting nominated for the awards themselves. Previous hosts like Billy Crystal, John Stewart, and Steve Martin fit this mold, and for the most part, the formula has worked perfectly fine. Recently, however, the Academy has decided to shake things up a bit in hopes of attracting younger audiences. First they hired Hugh Jackman to bring a little flash to the show with more of a song and dance flare, and then semi-retracted to traditional hosts with Steve Martin, though this time he was paired up with Alec Baldwin.

Today it was announced that for the upcoming ceremony, the plan is to really step outside of the box. Superstars Anne Hathaway and James Franco will be teaming up to co-host the show together, effectively making them the youngest to host (Hathaway will be youngest to have taken the job) and likely winning the eyes of said younger audience the Academy so desires. [...]

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, the Broadway musical set to officially open on January 11, 2011, has been in the news a lot lately, and not because the buzz for the show has been spectacular. No, it’s been quite the opposite. In fact, news about this musical has been nothing short of disastrous from the beginning.

The Spider-Man musical, based on the famous webslinging Marvel Comics character, was written by Julie Taymor (who also directs) and Glen Berger, with music and lyrics by U2′s Bono and The Edge, and is currently in previews at the Foxwoods Theatre on Broadway in New York City. While the musical has been long in the works, the production has been fraught with delays and budgets problems, first running out of money last year, and now soaring up to $65 million, making it the most expensive Broadway musical ever.

Then there’s the much-talked about technical difficulties, as the daring aerial stunts to be performed have proven to be not practical or even safe for live theater. Back in October, two actors from the musical came forward, revealing that they sustained injuries during rehearsals [...]

Check out Episode 22 of the Flix of Doom podcast, the official movie podcast of Geeks of Doom, with hosts Empress Eve and Justin Vactor.

This week, we discuss Disney’s 50th animated feature Tangled, as well as the latest movie news and box office results.

Click HERE to open the podcast player in a new window.

Full Episode Guide is here below, along with player.

Listen now!

E-mail us at flixofdoom [at] gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter – @FlixOfDoom
Subscribe to the Podcast: RSS | iTunes | Zune [...]

YouTube user Eyspire put together a video, called Ultimate Retro Running Race, of several classic video game characters having a race.

Watch the video here below.

The video clocks in just under 2 minutes, and shows some of our favorite video game characters racing against each other within several gaming scenarios with different gaming landscapes, all set to classic video game music. You’ll recognize Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario, as well as characters from Disney animation and Back To The Future, and many more.

This fan-made video, which Eyspire animated frame by frame, is a segmented portion of a larger satire series he says he’s working on.

Can you pick out all the video game characters in this video? [...]

Director Irvin Kershner, best known for helming The Empire Strikes Back, died today at his home in Los Angeles. He was 87 years old.

Kershner’s goddaughter Adriana Santini, who resides in France, told French news agency AFP that Kershner died after a long illness. No other details about his death were given.

Born in Philadelphia on April 29, 1923, Kershner also directed the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again and 1990′s RoboCop 2.

It’s well known in the Star Wars fan community that Kershner, an unlikely choice to direct the sequel, was a major part of why The Empire Strikes Back turned out to be such a great film (many would say the best movie of the franchise), and one of the greatest sequels of all time.

In the recently released book The Making Of The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars creator George Lucas talks about his reasoning behind choosing Kershner to direct the film; there’s also behind-the-scenes photos of Kershner with the cast, as well as transcripts of Kershner’s on-set discussions with the cast and crew [...]