Whispers, Spoilers & Speculation Corner: 01/30/13

This week, we have more news and spoilers about upcoming books, Doctor Who, Once Upon a Time, returning sci-fi shows, and Supernatural. You can access previous spoilers columns here.

Horrific Reads, Bloody Off the Press
By Nathaniel Katz

Fans of Weird Fiction may want to turn their attentions this week to D.P. Watt’s new collection, An Emporium of Automata. Watt has earned comparisons to Nabokov, Hoffman and Ligotti. These stories are littered with classic genre imagery and bizarre inventions, a mixture of puppets and human strivings.

If you find yourself in need of a break after such a maddening voyage as Watt’s, the week also does provide some rest and relaxation. Sal Griglio tries to get away from it all in Mike Catalano’s Dead at the Jersey Shore and finds, instead, a mixture of ghosts, witches and reality TV. Meanwhile, in Ty Schwamberger’s Last Night Out, a trio of college students go to the Torchlight Inn for drinks and find rather more beneath the floorboards than they bargained for. And if those last two books have put you off vacations and inns, you should probably know that nowhere in all of Britain is safe, for, as the tagline of Lex Sinclair’s Killer Spiders informs us, “An invasion of venomous spiders has hit the country!”

One hotel, though, will always be worth any horror fan’s time. I am speaking, of course, about the Overlook Hotel and about Stephen King’s classic The Shining. Subterranean Press is putting out a new edition of that hallowed work, one replete with illustrations and all of the other deluxe hallmarks that the publisher is known for. Though the limited and lettered editions have sold out, the gift edition is still available for preorder.

Doctor Who (Saturday nights, 9pm, BBC America)
By Heather S. Vina

It’s been announced that the show will be returning to the airwaves on March 30, for a run of eight original episodes. And alas, so far, apart from the 50th Anniversary special, it sounds like those will be the last new episodes until the year 2014. No word yet on whether or not there will be a Christmas special.

There’s a rumor out there that they are going to “bring back” all of the Doctor’s previous incarnations for the 50th Anniversary special. How, when William Hartnell, Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee are all dead? Video trickery. Hey, it’s worked for other shows/movies. Why not this one?

The last hold-out of the still-living Doctors was Christopher Eccleston, who didn’t seem to want anything to do with the show before, but now seems to be easing up on that stance.

As for the Companions, according to what I’ve been seeing on the net and the above report, the only one who might be appearing (other than Jenna-Louise Coleman) is Alex Kingston’s River Song.

Once Upon a Time (Sunday nights, 8pm, ABC)
By Heather S. Vina

ABC has released the official synopsis for the episode “Manhattan”:

“WHILE MR. GOLD GOES IN SEARCH OF SON BAE IN NEW YORK, CORA ATTEMPTS TO TRACK DOWN ONE OF RUMPELSTILTSKIN’S MOST TREASURED POSSESSIONS, ON ABC’S ONCE UPON A TIME

“‘Manhattan’ – While Mr. Gold, Emma and Henry go in search of Gold’s son Bae in New York, Cora, Regina and Hook attempt to track down one of Rumpelstiltskin’s most treasured possessions. Meanwhile, in the fairytale land that was, Rumpelstiltskin realizes his destiny while fighting in the Ogres War, on Once Upon a Time, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

“Once Upon a Time stars Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret, Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan, Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen/Regina, Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/David, Emilie de Ravin as Belle, Colin O’Donoghue as Hook, Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills, Meghan Ory as Red Riding Hood/Ruby, and Robert Carlyle as Rumpelstiltskin/Mr. Gold.

“Guest starring are Barbara Hershey as Cora, Michael Raymond-James as Neal Cassidy, Rachel Shelley as Milah, Ethan Embry as Greg Mendell, Spencer Drever as Boy, Brighid Fleming as Little Girl, Shannon Lucio as Seer, David Quinlan as Father, Primo Allon as Gadling, Mackenzie Gray as Hob, Toby Levins as Sergeant and Aaron Brooks as Soldier.

“‘Manhattan’ was written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz and directed by Dean White.”

SpoilerTV has up the promotional photos for the episode, “Tiny” on their site.

They also are reporting that there is a new role being cast: “For episode #218 of Once Upon a Time, a guest role (preferably with an Asian accent) is being cast: The Healer. He’s 60, mystical, powerful, helpful to those in trouble, and makes predictions that can be difficult to understand.”

Vancity has up some set-side pictures on their site. You can see ones of Barbara Hershey here, arriving on set. Looks like Cora is now wearing modern-day clothes! You can see more pictures of Cora and Regina trying to break down Gold’s shop door here. Seems Lana Parrilla is holding Rumpelstiltskin’s dagger in her hand. I’d like to think that Rump/Gold wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave it handy. Maybe he has a decoy.

Actor John Pyper-Ferguson (Alphas, Caprica) has been cast as Ben, a “widower who wants nothing more than to help his young son heal from the loss of his mother.” Young actor Benjamin Stockham (1600 Penn) has been cast as Ben’s young son, “Owen, a precocious, strong-willed kid who isn’t afraid to speak his mind – but his free-spirited, lively personality is all a facade, as he’s secretly dealing with the tragic death of his mother.”

TV Guide‘s Mega Buzz had up a little spoiler last week:

“When are we finally going to see the Land of Oz on Once Upon a Time? - Charlie”

“NATALIE: Sorry, Charlie: Executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz broke the news to me that we’ll have to wait until at least next season before we see Oz. However, a trip to Neverland may soon be in the cards. ‘We do know Hook spent some time there,’ Kitsis says. ‘I will be interested to see what it looks like.’”

David Anders tweeted that he will be making another appearance on the show soon: “Before my return 2 #OnceUponaTime I’ll be on #Arrow in an ep titled “Betrayal” airing February 6th. I play a dude who bleeds evil. Tune in!”

And finally, the show was a repeat this past week and won’t return until February 10, with the Giant-themed episode, “Tiny.”

Sci-Fi Spoilerpalooza

By Heather S. Vina

The trailer for season 5 of the British version of Being Human is up on YouTube. Captain Hatch looks like he’s going to be very bad news! Crumb doesn’t look too far off.

The magazine, SFX, has up a bunch of pictures for season five, ranging from spoilery to not-so-spoilery. They also have up some interesting interviews with the cast and an introduction to the new season with Toby Whithouse, the creator of the show.

Supernatural (Wednesday nights, 9pm, CW)
By Paula R. Stiles

The episode tonight is 8.12, “As Time Goes By.” In addition to the official press release and official photos, we have the CW promo, a Producer’s Preview, a preview review, a sneak peek, and the Canadian promo.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one. On the one hand, most of what the writers and producers are telling us about how Henry Winchester is the Second Coming to the show gives me hives. And the way they have him handcuff the brothers to a chair on their first meeting, and later call Hunters “apes,” is annoying as all get-out. My God, he sounds just like Bela Talbot.

Please, show, can’t you find any other way for the brothers to meet new characters besides writing the brothers stupid and having the new characters meet them cute by getting one over on them? It’s boring. It’s predictable. And it immediately makes me wish that new character dead. Nor am I wild that Sam, in the promos, appears to have been hit by the “But it’s family” Stupid Stick. I hope that won’t mean Dean gets punished for ducking said stick.

On the other hand, what I see of the clips, I generally like, and I like the actor who plays Henry. I also like the idea of opening up the verse mythology for both magic-workers and demons (though I worry that Adam “Never Met a Good Plot He Didn’t Retcon into Garbage” Glass is writing this one) and Abaddon looks rather fun. I just wish the show would stop manufacturing conflict and crappy angst with every single new character they introduce. It makes me want to hurl.

The showrunners also insist that this episode will be a game-changer. Heard that one before. Still got the t-shirt, show.

Executive Producer Bob Singer did a Q&A at a press screening of “Trial and Error,” in which he stated that Benny would be back, that Charlie would return in a case where she actually sought out the brothers (Do you promise to kill her off this time, show?), and that Amelia might return (in the episode, “Goodbye, Stranger,” I bet). He also briefly discussed Kevin (who is returning in “Trial and Error”) and Castiel’s return down the road. Apparently, Naomi is pretty angry with Castiel right now, which can’t be good.

I laughed at the “instant classic” kak about “LARP and the Real Girl” and how popular Charlie is as a character. Keep telling yourself that, show. As for Benny, I bet he’s coming back because of actual fan love and for no other reason. We’ll see if he gets summarily killed off or permanently written out the way every other mature and non-Village Idiot guest character seems to be getting written out this season.

I’ve also grown heartily sick and tired of all this paternalistic guff from male showrunners of genre shows about how female fans don’t like their female characters because the fans (yes, the fans) hate women. Listen, you sexist old goats, I’m reasonably sure that possessing “lady parts” makes me far more qualified than you will ever be to gauge whether your female characters are well-written and sympathetic. So, why don’t you stop ramming your tarsals and metatarsals down your own esophagi long enough to listen to those self-same female fans instead of insulting them? We ladies would be ever so grateful.

You can find more previews of the screening here, as well as a not-very-spoilery interview with Ty Olsson. The final previewer, from Zap2it, doesn’t seem to know her Bible very well, assuming that “Abbadon” is something Arabic, rather than the infamous demon/angel/whateveritwas from The Book of Revelation. Also, Henry is supposedly part of another group that aren’t Hunters. Like that demon cult they hinted at last fall? Gee, are we finally going a little Occult here, show? Do tell.

Speaking of executive producer interviews, show creator Eric Kripke gave a group one in which he said pretty much what he’s been saying since he left the show.

Official photos for 8.13 are up. The Golem looks scary, though they appear to have forgotten the symbol of the Holy Name on its forehead (unless they’re making it invisible for some reason). Not sure if that’s Sam lying on the steps or not, but Dean seems pretty active, at least in the photos.

The highly controversial and divisive official synopsis for 8.14 is up (Official photos are here):

“8×14 Trial and Error: KEVIN DECIPHERS THE TABLET – Kevin (guest star Osric Chau) deciphers the tablet and figures out how to close the gates of Hell. He tells Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) that according to the tablet one person must face a series of three tests designed by God. The first one – kill a hellhound. Sam and Dean argue over who should complete the trials. Kevin Parks directed the episode written by Andrew Dabb.”

Well, it’s nice to see that they’re not waiting much past the halfway point in the season for that plot advancement. In the old days, they’d have pushed that one until the 20th episode, at least (By the way, Kevin Parks is the producer  all the writers consult about canon, so here’s hoping he rides herd on that in this episode).

A lot of fans are assuming that Dean will not be the brother to complete the trials, that it will be either Sam or a guest character (like Kevin), and they’re not very happy about it. Ironically, that’s because, if Dean is the one to complete these trials, it could be the beginning of an actual mytharc plot for him – a big one. But fans have been down this road before and they’ve grown cynical, believing that it will simply be turned back in some way, either to be All About Sam or All About Random Guest Star.

It’s hard to say how that will go. I’m not too sure it is a great idea to continue all this conflict between the brothers (Okay, I don’t think it’s a good idea, period). It’s created a lot of sourness and bad feeling in the audience. But that hasn’t stopped the writers from going on with it full steam ahead. I suppose the one thing that could be argued is that if Dean ends up doing the trials, Sam’s jealousy is likely to come romping back, without even the Benny Excuse, and we might finally get some advancement on that front.

It looks as though former showrunner Sera Gamble really, really, really won’t be coming back to the show, since she has a script going to pilot with the CW, a Navy soap entitled ‘Company Town‘.

For those of you who lost the CW in New York during the big cable dispute a month ago, the network is returning to the Tri-State area on Channel 7. It comes back starting February 1.

Tim Waggoner, who is doing a tie-in novel for the show this year, Carved in Flesh, is also writing a pick-your-own-adventure book, Supernatural, the Television Series: The Roads Not Taken that comes out on September 1, 2013. Also, at least one of the 2014 calendars is currently scheduled to come out on August 6.

Finally, ratings for “LARP and the Real Girl” had another 0.9/2 and 2.01 million in audience, putting the show once again at third on the network. It was a steady rating, but neither the demo nor the audience showed any bump due to the guest star, so I guess no extra Felicia Day fans sampled the episode live. This is usually the case with stunt-casting on the show, though that hasn’t ever stopped them from doing it, anyway.

We’ll be back next week with more spoilers. Stay tuned and check out our reviews of Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Torchwood, The Event, Once Upon a Time, Grimm and Supernatural.

If you like these spoilers, please help continue our site by making a donation, buying one of our fiction issues, or buying one of our books: Fraterfamilias, Historical Lovecraft, Future Lovecraft, and our Gothic horror anthology, Candle in the Attic Window. You can also buy Paula’s non-fiction book on medieval Spanish history, Templar Convivencia.