It’s Doctor Who Week of Geek here at Geeks of Doom, where we’re counting down to the launch of Doctor Who Series 6!

Joining us for our preview of Series 6 episode of the TARDISblend is Andy Sorcini aka MrBabyMan, co-host of The Drill Down. We kick off the show speculating on what can be expected in the opening episode of the season, The Impossible Astronaut, directed by Toby Haynes and written by showrunner Steven Moffat.

The first episode is part one of a two-part adventure, which concludes in episode 2 entitled Day of the Moon. The adventure sees Matt Smith‘s Eleventh Doctor facing new villains The Silents, who are tied into the “Silence/Silents Will Fall” meme from last season. It also sees the return of Alex Kingston as River Song, and of course Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill reprising their companion roles as Amy Pond and Rory Williams respectively.

We also discuss how much attention the new season is getting, and the amazing promotion BBC and BBC America are pushing behind the show. The level of anticipation among fans is at an all-time high. Additionally, we talk of new fans coming to the show, and debate what Classic Doctor Who episodes they should consider checking out.

We run through the episode list for the season, and also briefly touch on Torchwood: Miracle Day. All this and more on the latest TARDISblend! [...]

Marvel has released the first image of the character who will be taking over for Peter Parker after his “death” in Ultimate Spider-Man #160. The image shows a decidedly different costume for Spider-Man, and it looks like Marvel is putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to the “Death of Spider-Man” event currently running in Ultimate Comics Spider-Man and Ultimate Comics Avengers vs New Ultimates.

“We called this story ‘Death of Spider-Man’ for a reason. This is a huge story that will have fans around the world talking for a long time as we set the stage for the debut of our new Spider-Man,” Marvel Editor In Chief Axel Alonso said in a statement released by the publisher. Alonso also said via the New York Post, “That’s not Peter Parker. There’s going to be someone new wearing the costume.”

See the new image here [...]

The movie adaptation of author Seth Grahame-Smith‘s strange combination of zombies and Jane Austen‘s classic, Pride and Prejudice, has faced a few complications on its road to the silver screen…specifically when it came to finding a director for the job, which has failed twice now.

Perhaps a third time will be the charm; it’s being reported that Craig Gillespie has now been hired to direct Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Gillespie has previously directed Lars and the Real Girl, Mr. Woodcock, and episodes of The United States of Tara. His next movie will be the upcoming remake of the 1985 horror favorite, Fright Night, which stars Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, and Toni Collette.

Initially David O. Russell (The Fighter) was in line to direct the movie, titled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but he stepped away after some scheduling conflicts. After that, Mike White (School of Rock) was brought in to replace Russell but he also dropped out pretty quickly after that, which has now led to the hiring of Gillespie. [...]

Things are going well for metal band Anvil right now. Since the documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil reintroduced the once-forgotten band to the world, fans (including those famous ones) have been eager to hear more from the Canadian metal heroes. May 10, 2011 will prove that since their initial fame in the early 80s, Anvil has continued to rock as they release album number 14: Juggernaut of Justice.

I couldn’t wait to talk with legendary Anvil drummer Robb Reiner and excitedly made the call from my house in England to his studio in Ontario, Canada. A very engaging and openly honest man, Reiner was happy and eager to talk about his beloved band and music that he has been devoted to for over 30 years. With the new album, a Canadian tour on the way, plans to tour Europe this summer, and having been part of “the biggest rock movie ever,” we had plenty to discuss. He also talked with great enthusiasm about the future of metal music, being on tour, starting a revolution, and something called “metal jazz.” [...]

With the new season of Doctor Who coming up on us quickly on April 23, there’s a level of anticipation and excitement among fans online I’ve not seen for quite some time. What’s interesting is I continually find myself running into new fans who have only ever seen the new Doctor Who series that has been going since 2005.

Indeed, to a generation of Doctor Who fans, there have been only three Doctors since they discovered the adventures of the Time Lord: Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, and Matt Smith. And inevitably, many of these fans find themselves wanting to dive deeper into the mythos and legend of the good Doctor.

And why shouldn’t they? The series has had a legacy spanning close to half a century, with some amazing stories being created from some of the greatest creative minds including Terrence Dicks, Douglas Adams, Terry Nation, and so many more [...]

HBO’s new series Game Of Thrones premiered last night and this epic fantasy contains all new lands and regions to learn about. The show’s beautiful opening credits attempt to familiarize us with the areas most shown in this first season: Winterfell, lorded over by the house of Stark; The Wall, the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros guarded by the Night Watch; King’s Landing, home of rotund King Robert Baratheon and his conniving Queen Cersei Lannister; and Pentos, the Free City where the rightful heirs to the Seven Kingdoms, Viserys Targaryen and his sister Daenerys, have formed an alliance with the barbaric Dothraki horse warriors in an attempt to win back the throne.

But the Game Of Thrones universe is much larger than what we’ve been shown so far. With any good fantasy tale, you have to have a map, so HBO has created an official interactive Viewer’s Guide to the world which includes a detailed map, along with family histories and backgrounds [...]

ComiXology is running a sale today on Astonishing X-Men issues #1-12 by Joss Whedon for only 99 cents each.

Note, the sale is only for today, Monday, April 18, 2011 and ends at 11pm EST in North America.

You can download the digital versions for the iPad or iPhone of issues #1-12 of the Marvel comic book series for only $.99 each at the ComiXology App.

Also, it looks like the Astonishing X-Men Omnibus hardcover, which collects the entire Whedon run (#1-24 and Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1), is on sale at amazon.com for $47.25 (that’s 63% off the list price of $75) [...]

The promotion by BBC for the upcoming series of Doctor Who is continuing in high gear, as they have released yet another video, this time an episode-specific trailer. The opening episode of Doctor Who Series 6 is called The Impossible Astronaut, and is the first part of an adventure that will conclude in the second episode of the season, Day of the Moon. You can see the trailer, and another clip with Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith, at the bottom of this post.

The Impossible Astronaut kicks off the season with a reunion between The Doctor and his companions Amy Pond (Karen Gillan), Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill), and the mysterious River Song (Alex Kingston). The group is soon pulled into an adventure that begins with deadly consequences, and pits them against the new villains known only as The Silents [...]

Tonight, the first episode of the anticipated television series Game of Thrones premieres on HBO at 9pm, with encore showings at 10pm and 11pm.

The first season is based on A Game of Thrones, the first novel in George R.R. Martin‘s book series, A Song of Ice and Fire. I know a lot of people wanted to read the book before they watch the show, and though the series is just hours away, there’s still time to get prepared before tonight’s episode, thanks to a free ebook excerpt from A Game of Thrones, which covers the events and story from Episode 1.

Check out the 70-page excerpt from Random House here [...]

Coming this May to the UK will be a new 2-CD Deluxe Edition of Black Sabbath‘s 1983 album Born Again, the only album they recorded with Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan. The upcoming release, which will be a remastered expanded edition, will contain the original album, along with a second disc containing 2 bonus tracks, including “The Fallen,” a previously unreleased studio outtake recorded during the original album session. The album will also have 9 tracks from the BBC Friday Rock Show broadcast of Sabbath’s August 1983 appearance at the Reading Rock Festival where they performed Deep Purple’s “Smoke On The Water.” See full track listing here below.

Unfortunately, the 2-DC Deluxe Edition will only be released in the UK, not in the United States (the original album has never been released on CD in the U.S., though it is available on mp3). The release is set for May 30, 2011 and is available now for pre-order for £13.42 through Amazon UK. For those of us in the States, we can get an import copy through Amazon.com for the hefty price of $39.89 [...]

Author George R.R. Martin‘s book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, has an incredible fan following and is considered one of the top fantasy series ever written. A TV adaptation of the stories is set to begin airing on HBO tomorrow night, with the first season based on the first book, A Game of Thrones.

But did you ever wonder what Martin himself considers some of the top fantasy stories ever told? The author wrote a special list up for The Daily Beast running down his personal all-time favorite fantasy movies.

You can find out what he chose by heading on over to the other side now!

For every pick Martin made he also explained why, but instead of pasting the whole thing we’ll just rank off the bottom ones and then look at the top five.

Here’s what the bottom half of George R.R. Martin’s top ten fantasy movies looks like. You can read what Martin had to say about his numbers 10-6 and why he picked them by clicking the link above. [...]

A few years ago, you couldn’t go into a bookstore without running into an aisle of kids in the manga section, and odds are, they were reading a series published by TokyoPop. Unfortunately, the last few years have not been kind to the company, and TokyoPop has announced this week that they are closing their North American publishing division as of May 31, 2011. They will maintain their film and television operations, as well as their European offices. The news was first reported on The Beat and the Anime News Network and then TokyoPop CEO and founder Stu Levy also confirmed the move on the company’s webpage.

TokyoPop was one of the major publishers of manga boom of the early and mid 2000s. Over its lifetime, the company has released hundreds of volumes of manga, video game and anime soundtracks, magazines, and DVDs. Even more surprising is the timing of the move, as it comes just before the release of the first film produced by TokyoPop, Priest. Priest is based on a Korean Manhwa by Min-Woo Hyung, and was released in the U.S. by TokyoPop, and is reaching the big screen on May 13th, and stars Paul Bettany. Apparently, even the potential money the movie could have made would not have been able to change this decision [...]

Hanna
Directed by Joe Wright
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hollander
Release Date: April 8, 2011

Hanna is an unabashed action picture that is immediately striking and bold and extremely outlandish in its material. But let us get introduced to director Joe Wright. He knows how to fill his screen with dazzlingly poetic images that have the tendency to make our hearts melt. Just reference his previous films, Pride and Prejudice and Atonement. Completely removed from the conditions in which he feels most comfortable, Wright’s departure for action and brutal violence may seem like an awkward position for him after his pleasantly romantic films. But in his newest feature, Hanna, written by Seth Lochhead and David Farr, Wright shows a significant increase in ability when he laces the beautiful with shuddering images of viciousness. Instead of trivializing violence with imprecise material and ineffective scenes, the film expresses all of its complexities, mechanisms, and emotions in a rock-n-roll kind of way (thanks to a hypnotic score by The Chemical Brothers) through exotic and bizarre locales.

In a way Wright personifies violence. Of course this kind of attachment to violence is constantly reproached in cinema. Only a few films find it ripe for artistic exhibition (No Country for Old Men and A Clockwork Orange). And instead of these rare movies leaving us with painful memories, they blissfully torment us because behind all the carnage they present to us (and it is a lot of carnage), after looking past it, there remains a lesson to be learned, one that weighs on us like a nightmare [...]

Now that Showtime and Starz are really establishing themselves in the original series department, HBO is on a mission to remain the king of that domain. They saw the potential for TV without restriction a long time ago — which is constantly proving to be better than almost all other content you’ll find on the regular channels — and now they just need to keep finding the biggest and best properties to turn into the next big thing.

Top titles HBO produces include True Blood and Boardwalk Empire, and they’re next sure hit, Game of Thrones, begins this Sunday. So where do they go next? Somewhere strange and unique and unlike anything we’ve ever seen…that’s where.

It’s being reported that HBO is now developing a potential new series based on geek god and author Neil Gaiman‘s acclaimed New York Times bestseller, American Gods. Nothing is etched in stone yet, but anyone who’s read the book will surely agree that if this happens it would be a wild ride indeed. [...]

The first trailer we saw for Cowboys & Aliens, the new comic book movie from Iron Man director Jon Favreau, was pretty impressive and had most buzzing with excitement for the flick.

That was just a taste. Universal Pictures has now released the new theatrical trailer for the movie and…wow. There’s a lot of big movies coming out this summer, but you would not be out of line to say that this looks like one of the most fun and exciting titles on the way.

The movie stars Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown, and Paul Dano, and it’s written by Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Damon Lindelof.

You can read a detailed synopsis and check out the trailer below right now. Cowboys & Aliens will hit theaters on July 29, 2011.

SYNOPSIS
1873. Arizona Territory. A stranger (Craig) with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution. The only hint to his history is a mysterious shackle that encircles one wrist. What he discovers is that the people of Absolution don’t welcome strangers, and nobody makes a move on its streets unless ordered to do so by the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde (Ford). It’s a town that lives in fear. [...]

Amazon is currently running a sale on LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 for Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.

Nintendo Wii – $19.99 (33% off the list price of $39.99).

Nintendo DS – $10.99 (45% off the list price of $19.99).

There’s no indication as to when this sale ends, so grab it now if you want it.

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 brings the action, adventure and fun of the first 4 stories in the Harry Potter catalog to the video game screen in the way only the LEGO franchise can. Featuring all your favorite characters and story environments, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 lets players play as the wizard of their choice, combining them piece by piece as is only possible in the LEGO franchise of games. Play options include single player story mode, free-play and two-player co-op online and offline. [...]

Today marks a decade since the death of an icon from the most infamous genre in music history — 10 years ago today, The Ramones lead singer and punk rock legend Joey Ramone passed away.

The punk scene exploded into life in the late 1970s and Joey Ramone was key to this underground music scene gaining global popularity and notoriety. The UK had Johnny Rotten, the sneering, snarling, spitting hurricane of anger and energy. But in the U.S., Joey Ramone controlled the stage and his audience with a more laid-back attitude, which although appearing less volatile, called out to a generation as loud as any of his contemporaries — of which there were very few. The band never achieved the commercial success that bands like the Sex Pistols and The Clash did, but The Ramones are often regarded as one of the most influential bands in both punk and rock, thanks in no small part to their iconic front man [...]

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Blu-ray Combo | DVD | On Demand
Directed by David Yates
Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
Warner Home Video
Release date: April 15, 2011

The tale of the wizard Harry Potter and his struggle against the evil Lord Voldemort has nearly reached its end in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 1, the first of a two-part finale for the film franchise. The Harry Potter movies have come a long way in the 10 years since the first offering, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, when Harry was just a little boy and Voldemort was merely a named to be feared and never spoken. As Harry and his loyal friends grew older, the franchise got darker, with this latest one being the darkest and most frightening one of all.

Voldemort’s (Ralph Fiennes) power has grown strong and, as always, his one focus in life is to kill Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), the boy who lived, the Chosen One, the one destined to bring about his downfall. Thanks to his friends and powerful allies, Harry has managed to either stay hidden from the dark lord or escape his clutches whenever they’ve battled. But unlike the previous installments, in The Deathly Hallows: Part 1, the wizard world itself has grown dark, too. Voldemort’s Death Eaters and other minions and loyal subjects have taken over the government with a mission to rule over the Muggle — non-magical — world and subjugate all Muggles and Muggle-born wizards and witches. No one is safe under this regime, so Harry and his friends Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron (Rupert Grint) are forced to go underground on their own while searching for the hidden Horcruxes, the magical artifacts that house pieces of Voldemort’s soul that the trio must figure out how to destroy [...]

The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is the Kindle DX wireless e-reader device for only $299 (that’s 21% off the list price of $379).

Note, this sale is only for today, Friday, April 15, 2011, until midnight PST, while supplies last.

There are several Kindle devices; the Kindle DX has the largest screen with a 9.7-inch display (full size of device is 10.4″ x 7.2″ x 0.38″), which uses the E Ink Pearl Technology. It has FREE 3G wireless and works globally (not all of them do) and comes in Graphite. The DX can hold 3,500 ebooks, each that download to the device in only 60 seconds; the battery life on a single charge lasts 2-3 weeks when wireless is turned off (a week when wireless is left on); and it works in 100 countries and territories.

Also, though this is sold through Amazon.com (for U.S. residents), the Kindle DX can now be shipped to customers outside the U.S. (see the list on the product page to see if it can be shipped to your country) [...]

Win Win
Directed by Tom McCarthy
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, Melanie Lynskey, Alex Shaffer
Release: March 18, 2011

Reciprocity is what we find in all of director Tom McCarthy’s films and very rarely found in others’ films. He is a filmmaker who recognizes and spotlights individuals who are of two molds: caretakers and people who need taken care of. What defines a film by McCarthy, though, is his ability to make a character both caretaker and one who needs to be taken care of. His two previous films, The Station Agent and The Visitor, displayed individuals who were emotionally destroyed and in shameful situations. But yet there still remained in them a spark of life that has the ability to make the necessary preparations for getting themselves and others whose lives have been stifling out of a grievous situation. Win Win is no different. The film doesn’t see the human spirit as triumphant, and while that may sound bleak it is the foundation in which McCarthy constructs his films on. He evaluates his characters in a burdensome state only to find in them qualities that may allow them to rise against adversity.

Win Win, a comedy-drama that takes into consideration the fragility of the human spirit, is a small film with, sad to say, small ambitions. It plays it safe with the material it has while room for expansion is evident and much encouraged. McCarthy doesn’t magnify his material but rather keeps it subdued while we want more emotion, especially when we have actors capable of exploiting their internal and external frustrations [...]