Random Intelligence Dispatches For Thursday, August 23, 2007

Young Indy Cover Art

TVShowsOnDVD has scored the disappointingly underwhelming artwork for the first volume of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, due October 23 from Lucasfilm and CBS/Paramount. They've also got information on some of the discs' massive amounts of bonus content. As for the cover, I like the color and the braided edges, but I hate the photoshop artwork. I also miss the series' original logo, which looked better than simply adding a "Young" to the regular Indiana Jones logo. Still, with the fourth movie on its way, I supposed brand recognition is very important. But when it comes down to it, they could package this set in blank cardboard and I'd still buy it!

Sam Jackson On Nick Fury

Perhaps Samuel L. Jackson won't be playing one-eyed superspy Nick Fury in Iron Man after all? In an interview with AintItCoolNews, who first broke the story that he would be donning the eye patch, Jackson seems to have no idea what the interviewer is talking about when asked about the role. Is he serious, or is he dodging the question, as the AICN interviewer speculates? Jackson acts like he thinks he's being asked about the long-in-development Nick Fury movie, and not about a cameo in Iron Man. He does confirm that he's at least had talks about such a movie: "[Marvel] keep saying it and I keep looking forward to that happening and I keep running into [former Marvel honcho] Avi [Arad] and asking him, 'Is it going to happen?' He keeps saying, 'Well, we hope so… we hope so…' So that’s all I can do too."

Long Lost Avengers Reunion Discovered

It's long been reported that The New Avengers (the Seventies incarnation of the Sixties classic) came about because of a French champagne ad that reunited Patrick Macnee and his final partner Linda Thorson. But there didn't seem to be any copies of the commercial in existence, so some doubted that claim. I had always heard that it was a print ad, and not a TV ad. Recently there has been some very exciting activity on The Avengers.TV International Forum, and an Super8 film print of the commercial has been found, thus proving its existence! (Credit for the discovery must go to a Yahoo SecretAvengers Group member named "avengersteed" who contacted the champagne company, Laurent-Perrier.) David K. Smith has put together a comprehensive page on the subject on his excellent The Avengers Forever website, complete with a screen capture. The clip was briefly available on YouTube, but has since been removed. Hopefully it will one day find official release on a future DVD!