Giant Freakin Robot

As production gets closer and closer on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, there are still two remaining roles to cast — Rocket Raccoon and Groot — for the cosmic superhero flick. Now a very popular geek icon’s name is the latest to be rumored for the role of Rocket Raccoon — former Doctor Who lead David Tennant!

According to the Marvel Cinematic Universe Facebook fan-site, David Tennant has been “tapped” to voice the character of Rocket Raccoon in Marvel’s upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy for director James Gunn. So far this just a rumor, but the word is that Tennant is at the top of the list to play the role. At one point, both Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler were rumored for the role.

Tennant is best known for playing The Doctor, appearing as the 10th incarnation of the character from 2005 to 2010. He’s also returning to the iconic role for the upcoming 50th anniversary special in 2013. He later appeared in the movie remake of Fright Night in 2011, and recently did some voice work for Lucasfilm for the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series.

Rocket Raccoon is the “muscle” of the Guardians of the Galaxy team. He has a keen sense of smell, sight, and hearing, much like an Earth raccoon, but he’s also an expert marksman, master tactician, and an accomplished starship pilot. He also has an affinity for heavy artillery and weaponry.

As Star Wars: Episode VII starts pre-production, Disney and Lucasfilm still have not officially confirmed that the big three of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher will be returning, although it would be pretty stupefying at this point if they didn’t. That lack of comment from the Mouse House also hasn’t stopped the three actors from openly talking about the new film. According to IGN, during the 30th anniversary screening of Return of the Jedi at EW’s CapeTown Film Festival in Hollywood, Mark Hamill surprised the audience at the Egyptian Theatre. Hamill answered questions about the making of Return of the Jedi and also talked about what he would like to see in Star Wars: Episode VII.

The 61-year-old actor explained that he would like to see Luke Skywalker as a Jedi Master and play the Obi-Wan Kenobi role to a new generation of Jedi Knights. “Heavy on the Jedi mind tricks, less on the lightsaber duels,” says Hamill. “That one in Empire nearly killed me! Six weeks I’m being beaten within an inch of my life on a daily basis! It was awful! And then it’s cut down to like six minutes. ‘Eh, it’s no big deal.’” For sake of comparison, Sir Alec Guinness was 63 years old by the time the original Star Wars movie was released in 1977. If Mark Hamill would appear in Star Wars: Episode VII, he would be the same age by the time the new movie is released in 2015. So it’s clear that Hamill is the right age for a Jedi Master role.

“Prepare to get annihilated.” Edgar Wright is one of the most exciting directors working in genre movies these days. He has tackled the horror genre with Shaun of the Dead, the action genre with Hot Fuzz, and romantic comedies with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. With his new film The World’s End, Wright will re-team with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost to skewer science fiction. Although the film doesn’t come out in the States until August, it will be released a month earlier in England, and Universal Pictures released a new quad poster for The World’s End for the U.K. market.

The quad poster is a bit cheeky, but it does reveal asteroids and zombie-like people or space aliens with glowing blue eyes in the background. One of the first images released from The World’s End featured Gary King (Simon Pegg), Andy Knight (Nick Frost), and crew walking down the street as if they were in Michael Bay’s Armageddon, which would account for the asteroids.

But the blue-eyed critters in the background are a real head scratcher. Back in November 2012, actors Thomas Matthews and Courtney Cornfield tweeted about a possible zombie/alien dance sequence in The World’s End. Will the people in the background of the new quad poster be featured in a Gangnam Style-type choreographed dance sequence? Considering that it’s an Edgar Wright film, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Anything with the name “Neil Gaiman” attached is generally worth at least a curious glance, and when it’s in the context of the British writer penning his second episode of Doctor Who, there’s all the more reason to be excited. He won a friggin’ Hugo for his 2011 episode “The Doctor’s Wife,” and he’s back this Saturday night with “Nightmare in Silver,” and it will pit the Doctor and Clara against the Cybermen.

Gaiman always manages to put his own unique spin on existing universes, whether in Doctor Who or his 1998 Babylon 5 episode, “Day of the Dead,” so I can’t wait to see what he does with the Cybermen. Let’s face it, they’re second only to the Daleks when it comes to being overused in the show’s modern incarnation, so a Gaiman twist may be just what they need. The episode is also said to be trying to make them scary again, which is a worthy goal. “Nightmare in Silver” will find “The Doctor and Clara arrive at the dilapidated theme park Hedgewick’s World and are confronted by the Cybermen.” Sounds like a good time to me.

Elsewhere in the sci-fi landscape this week, we’ve got new Defiance, Revolution, Warehouse 13, and Orphan Black, as well as new books hitting the shelves from Andre Norton, David Weber, Jack Campbell, and Robert Silverberg!