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alt title(s): And The Fandom Rejoices
I remember watching the announcement going out on the net, was a real big day for us, and was I think the point where people started to really get excited about the game! - Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Executive Producer Steve Lycett on the announcement of Ryo Hazuki as a playable character.
So they're finally making The Movie of your favorite franchise (probably from The Eighties). And you hate it. They're doing the casting wrong, they have the wrong director, they're raping your childhood and so on.
And then they bring out the one thing that makes you go, " Holy crap, this is going to be awesome."
The reasons for this can vary depending on the individual production and the individual fan. It seems that the most common instance of this happening is getting someone involved with the original to come back either in a major role or at least give their approval of the new direction. Other times it may be an actor or director who has proven themselves as a Promoted Fanboy. Or it isn't until a real demonstration of costumes or a performance that the fans gain respect. Probably the rarest is when the fans petition for a certain individual and actually get them.
This trope is named for Peter Cullen, the voice actor for Optimus Prime in the Transformers Generation 1 cartoon. When it was announced that he would play Optimus Prime in the 2007 film, the Transformers Wiki put it best: " And there was much rejoicing. (One person started complaining. He was torn limb from limb, skewered and eaten.)"
Of course, it didn't silence all of them—we're talking about fanboys here—but it did get the fandom to rally behind the movie and arguably make it the success that it was. Another big rally cry here was the very impressive trailers that showcased brief images of the actual robots, including Optimus Prime transforming with the classic sound effect.
Images, trailers, concept designs and set reveals all count in this regard, any pre-release material that causes this reaction. This trope will be a real case of Your Mileage May Vary, but if there is a near universal agreement on whatever was revealed, then it counts.
Please note that for an announcement to count, either:
- The fanbase has to be indifferent to the project beforehand, at best.
- If the rest of the fandom was already happy before the announcement, then a good deal of the Fan Dumb stops raging and shuts up upon the reveal (in that situation, the reactions of the others are negligible).
- In the case of initial announcements, previous lackluster track records are accounted for.
- In the case of the project being a brand new intellectual property, people are subsequently frothing with demand for it following the news.
(Personal Cue Cullens - as in, a Cue Cullen that may happen individually and not to the entire fanbase - go to the Troper Tales page.)
As a side note, this is a term describing a reaction. In a surprising inversion of Sturgeon's Law, most of the time this is a very good omen as to the quality of the production. But there are always those productions that screw it up even after such a moment. That is not this trope; see They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot, One Scene Wonder and Adaptation Decay for more on that.
Contrast Tainted By The Preview.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Lucky Star's getting dubbed? Oooookay... Wait, dubbed by the same people who brought us Haruhi Suzumiya? DARLING DARLING PLEASE!
- When Batman: Gotham Knight was announced, fans were unsure about whether or not a Batman anime was a good idea... until they learned that Kevin Conroy was gonna play Batman again.
- Wow, the Devil May Cry anime is licensed in America. Let's hope FUNimation knows what they're- hold up, Reuben Langdon as Dante?! This party's gettin' crazy!
- Sengoku Basara had an animation series, and then FUNimation picks it up for dubbing. We know the disaster of Devil Kings so I guess they will dub them as Devil Ki—HOLD UP, THEY ARE DUBBING IT AS THE ORIGINAL SOURCE OF SENGOKU BASARA!?!? LET'S PARTY!!!
- Season two of Haruhi Suzumiya was such a let down... we didn't get any Vanishment episodes... wait, a movie... BASED ON THAT NOVEL?!!!! "Endless Eight", you are officially forgotten.
- Not to mention the movie appears to have art close to Season 1, as opposed to the low-quality "K-Onification" of Season 2.
- The Legend Of Zelda Phantom Hourglass Manga. Akira Himekawa, what have you done to Astrid?! Linebeck?! Or, Link and Tetra, for that matter?! OK, this is, offically, the worst Manga adaption since Oracle of— Princess Zelda goes badass spirit-form?! Screw the DS game, this should have been in Brawl!
- Black Lagoon dubbed by Canadians? Oh crap, not another disastrous dub...WOAH! They had more fucks than the Japanese original!? In good English!? With actual, believable accents!? This is going to be fun!
- Johnny Yong Bosch as Lelouch? Boy, talk about bad casting...Wow, he actually pulled it off! With an even better evil laugh!
- Another Full Metal Alchemist anime? Sigh, you know what they did the last time....Hey, isn't that Ling Yao and Lan Fan!?
- Wait a sec... Vic Mignona and Travis Willingham are back?! The (almost) original cast? Cue fangasm! Oh, the Risembool Rangers and the Miniskirt Army are gonna be all over this!
- So far, only two or three characters needed replacements (the choice of Maxey Whitehead as Al has been quite well recieved so far) and while not confirmed, recent events hint towards Scott McNeil retaining his role as Hohenheim.
- Rumors that Adult Swim had 3 new anime? Eh, it's probably gonna be an attempt to troll us with more Tim & Er-- Wait, it's confirmed that one of them's the new Full Metal Alchemist? YES!!!
- Bah! They'll just shove it into 2 AM with no advertising-Wait, it's at 12 AM? And there are actual ads? Hey, AS cares about anime after all!
- The English dub of Hellsing Ultimate got this when it was announced that pretty much all of the English cast for the TV series, including Crispin Freeman, would be returning. Rightly so, considering that, if anything, the dub of Ultimate is even better than the original series' dub.
- The new seasons of Slayers are being dubbed by Funimation? Oh, great, they'll probably just end up getting ADV's cast from the movies and-WHAT? They're bringing back the voice actors from the first three TV series?! OUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!
- The Pretty Cure fandom has a bad habit of declaring the franchise Ruined FOREVER upon the announcement of every new season. Usually, it takes a few weeks of the season actually being on the air for things to settle down. When Heartcatch Pretty Cure was announced, everything began as normal. Then Nana Mizuki, best known for her roles as either adorable love interests, Dark Magical Girls or both, was cast as the lead. A good number of arms were laid down that day.
Comic Books
- Gail Simone being named as the writer for Wonder Woman.
- When Brian K. Vaughan announced his departure from Runaways, there was much speculation as to who the "worthy replacement" he promised could possibly be. It turned out to be Joss Whedon. Unfortunately, Whedon's Runaways arc was not terribly popular with fans. But at the time, it sure shut up complaints. His replacment Terry Moore on the other hand was more of a WTH Casting Agency moment, though.
- and yet again with Kathryn Immonen (writer of the Hellcat mini)
- The entire existence of Jason Rusch run of Firestorm was full of these, having reappearances by the supporting cast of the Ronnie Raymond days, including: Firehawk, Pohzar/Mikhail Arkadin, and several of the original Firestorm villains (Killer Frost, Multiplex, Typhoon, even Cliff "Thinker" Carmichael). Raymond even came back from the dead in a story arc, and eventually Rusch would be joined by Martin Stein himself to form Firestorm. In one issue, Rusch even makes a veiled fourth wall reference to the Cue Cullening in his book, as he comments about how he fashioned his costume to look more like the "classic" Firestorm design.
- The disastrous Ultimatum event caused many fans to quit Ultimate Marvel until Marvel announced an Ultimate Iron Man miniseries, written by Warren Ellis and an Ultimate Avengers series written by Mark Millar.
- Amazing Spider-Man #611 will feature a showdown between Spider-Man and Deadpool. A showdown that will, apparently, degrade into an insult battle. And it's being written by Joe Kelly.
- For X-Men fans upset by the recent direction the books have taken, the release of the Reboot series X-Men Forever, written by Chris Claremont himself has been a bit of a Cullen (Cue Claremont?).
Film
- Perhaps the original example of this trope is with the first Tim Burton Batman film and the decision to cast Michael Keaton in the title role. Batman fandom did a collective, Michael Keaton?!?!? and complained so loud and so furiously that Warner Brothers decided to take action with some emergency marketing. The centerpiece was a quick teaser that proved so popular that it silenced many fan complaints with the hope that Burton and Keaton were right after all. People were attending theaters just to watch the trailer and walking out when it was over, not even seeing the movie they paid for.
- Probably the ultimate trump card to play when someone complains that "X is going to be Y" and they don't think it'll work out. Just tell them, "Mr. Mom was Batman? REALLY?" We can argue ad infinitum as to whether Keaton was the "real" Batman or Tim Burton's Batman. The point is, he did something no one expected he could do.
- There had been doubts in the fandom over Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Cue the awesome, awesome trailer.
- Also the announcement of the return of Karen Allen as Marion, reuniting the OTP for just about everybody.
- Just about any casting decision and armor image for the Iron Man movie, which proved to be very good omens.
- Marvel has also cast BRIAN BLESSED as Odin in The Mighty Thor!
- Aaaaaaaaaaand slapped down by Anthony Hopkins, who is also a decent casting choice.
- For Australian fans, the casting of Chris Hemsworth as Thor. The casting of Natalie Portman as Jane Foster is also a bright spot in the cast.
- And directed by Kenneth Brannagh.
- The trailer for Watchmen. The fact that they salvaged a good song from Batman And Robin and made it even more awesome really says a lot.
- Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach, who heard about it thanks to a fan petition to get him the role.
- And after downright stealing that movie out from under everyone else involved who isn't named Dave Gibbons, he was able to succeed Robert Englund as Freddy Kruger and be met not with fan dumb outcry, but universal acceptance.
- The casting of Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. There was wank over Helena Bonham Carter and the script and that kiss... then the fans saw their Luna and promptly shut up.
- In a similar vein, the casting of Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge. Which turned out to be a good omen for her performance in the film.
- Bill Nighy as Scrimgeour in the Deathly Hallows films. Is it possible to read the books and not immediately picture Nighy as Scrimgeour?
- One example that almost doesn't count, in a weird way: as soon as the book Half-Blood Prince came out, a good many fans read the character Horace Slughorn and simply said, "Well, that's Jim Broadbent". Throughout the casting period these same people were just wondering when they would announce that the role had gone to Jim Broadbent. Then they announced that Slughorn was going to be played by Jim Broadbent. Perfect casting, but nobody was really excited because the casting was so perfect it was obvious.
- Those of us who pictured Terry Jones in the role instead were just a tiny little bit disappointed, however... ;)
- Also, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. "Meh, they changed the director, Dumbledore's actor is dead and...wait...Gary Oldman will be cast as Sirius? And David Thewlis will be Lupin? Count me in, when it'll be released?!"
- In order to mitigate the fact that it's a sequel to T3, the first thing we get to know about the fourth Terminator movie is that John Connor is played by Christian "Batman" Bale.
- The makers of the new GI Joe movie may have pulled this off by releasing The first pictures of Snake-Eyes.
- Christopher Eccleston playing the villain Destro◊ is enough to make fans yell, "Fantastic!!"
- They hired Larry Hama, author of the long-running comic book and shaper of the franchise, as creative consultant, and they appear to have listened to his advice.
- That's the big one. Let's just say that the Joe fanbase would be perfectly fine with GI Joe being turned into a yaoi storyline as long as they were assured Hama was involved somehow.
- Sean Connery being cast as Alan Quatermain in the film adaptation of The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen!? Fuck the rest of the movie....he's the reason I'm watching this!
- And that, my Troping Friend is what is known as the Sean Connery Principle- any movie is automatically cooler because it is Sean F*cking Connery!
- "They're making an X-Men movie? I don't know... What? Patrick Stewart as Professor X? OH HELL YES!"
- Snikt. As soon as the audience heard Wolverine popping his claws at the end of the first trailer, they started to believe...
- What brought up some people's interest was the fact was that the screenplay was done by David "Solid Snake" Hayter (who notably didn't do the screenplay for the third film).
- The Last Stand ended up with mixed reviews, but quite a few people's expectations were raised when it was leaked that the film would feature a certain mutant announcing himself with a quote from a popular internet X-Men gag dub, to wit: I'M THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH!!
- Though people had been decrying X-Men Origins: Wolverine as just more over-exposure for the most popular X-Man and the "fourth Wolverine movie", the trailer at Comic-Con convinced some people that it could actually be a good movie in its own right.
- Deadpool movie? Oh man, it's just going to suck cause it's going to be based on the Wolverine movie...oh wait, they put him in the uniform? And they're ignoring the last movie in favor of a reboot? He broke the fourth wall? Hooray for Ryan Reynolds! And the script is going to be written by the guys who did Zombieland? WE WANT!
- When they announced that there was going to be an Avatar The Last Airbender Live Action Adaptation directed by M Night Shyamalan, fans were worried. These fears were calmed somewhat when it they found out that Shyamalan was chosen because he was a fan of the show, and that the shows creators would be very much involved with the production.
- Unfortunately, as it turns out, the creators don't have any say in how the casting or script was handled and were only allowed to assist with things like storyboarding, so they aren't that involved with the production after all.
- Jesse McCartney was announced as being a prime candidate for Zuko, which set the fandom ablaze. Then came another one saying Zuko would instead be played by Dev Patel. Reactions are mixed (many saying the roles for Zuko and Sokka are backwards), but it's generally seen as an improvement. Sort of.
- Music by James Newton Howard, anyone?
- On a completely unrelated note, many took interest in the upcoming Avatar Nick comic when they found out it would be drawn by Gurihiru Studios.
- For This Troper, it was Aasif Mandvi as Zhao, a seemingly mindboggling instance of WTH Casting Agency that should nevertheless be tremendous fun to watch.
- Currently, there's a big controversy regarding the casting of this movie that has fans divided on both sides. Before Dev Patel replaced Jesse McCartney, the lead stars were all white, making it a Monochrome Casting. Now the argument is that all the lead "heroes" remain white, while the originally pale Fire Nation "villains" are now all brown.
- The first pictures of Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight silenced those who thought he'd just be a pretty boy in facepaint. He went on to win an Academy Award for the role, and the movie grossed over $1 billion worldwide. To just about everybody he was the best part of the movie.
- Those pictures may have dumped the pretty boy fears, but they split the fanbase. The arrival of the trailer showed off the performance and made almost everyone a believer.
- Alice In Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton and with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter.
- Then again, many fans were turned off by the fact that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were collaborating again. Then it was announced that Alan Rickman and Crispin Glover would be in the movie and there was much rejoicing.
- "Burton's doing Alice in Wonderland? Feh." "Stephen Fry is the Cheshire Cat? When do tickets go on sale?"
- Star Trek's fanbase may waver between unpleasable and near-catastrophically broken — especially when it comes to the eleventh movie — but there isn't a Trekkie alive who doesn't think Michael Giacchino's score is going to be awesome.
- Having Zachary "Sylar" Quinto as Spock also helped. Cue "Spock's Brain" joke.
- If that doesn't do it for you, try Simon Pegg as Scotty on for size.
- Harold joining Starfleet Academy? Sweet!
- JJ Abrams as director!? DO WANT!
- Not to mention the fact that they're bringing back Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, aka the First Lady of Trek, to play the Enterprise computer voice again. WIN. Unfortunately, it was her last role before her death.
- Michael Giacchino, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, John Cho, JJ Abrams, even Majel Barrett... all pale in comparison to the fact that Leonard Nimoy is returning to play Future Spock. Nimoy being thrilled with the film is what actually brought over most of the fanbase.
- For some Trek fandom circles, this trope might as well be called Cue Nimoy. This troper in particular was terrified of what Abrams would do to it until Nimoy appeared on the scene.
- And for you technical geeks, the fact that Ben Burtt did the sound design. For those of you who are unaware, this is the guy who invented the lightsaber noises, the TIE Fighter scream, Huttese and Vader Breath. Oh, and the voice of WALL-E too. Sweeeeet.
- Hoo, what do those have to do with trek..... :)
- It means he's very, very good at his job, which is making Most Wonderful Sounds.
- Speaking of JJ Abrams, back in 2006, news that the very creator of Alias and Lost is going to direct the third Mission Impossible movie received lots of praise. And Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the villain, using his actual voice, not his squeaky "Capote" one.
- Going back even further, "Another Mission Impossible movie? Damn, we cannot forget how the lead from the original series became evil in the fir...wait, JOHN WOO!? RELEASE THE DOVES!
- Limp Bizkit's doing the theme song! LIMP BIZKIT'S DOING THE THEME SONG!
- Peter Jackson. Guillermo del Toro. The Hobbit.
- Guillermo is also really in touch with the fanbase- he actually posts on theonering.net message boards.
- And who's playing Thorin? Ron Fucking Perlman!
- You're joking. When do tickets go on sell? WHEN? WHEEEEEEEEEEEEN?????
- A Tron sequel movie? What's the catch? ...Jeff Bridges is coming back to play Kevin Flynn? NIIIIIICE....
- And Bruce Boxleitner as the program himself? REALLY NIIIIIICE....
- Though Boxleitner was a given considering the fact that he reprised his Tron roles twice in Tron 2.0 and Kingdom Hearts II.
- And Daft Punk is doing the score. No, seriously!
- When the cast for the film of Twilight was announced, to say that fans went into an uproar would be an understatement. From complaints that Robert "Cedric Diggory" Pattinson wasn't good looking enough to play Edward, to people whining that Bella was not being played by Emily "Violet Baudelaire" Browning, there was Internet Backdraft to be seen miles away. And then promotional pictures, trailers and behind-the-scenes stories came out, winning back the fandom's support. Even so, there remained a small, but nonetheless vocal, faction still complaining about anything they could think of. All of them still went and saw the movie on the day it came out.
- I guess that would make this a literal Cullen Cue. YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH
- As for the sequel, New Moon, another was pulled off when Dakota Fanning was cast as Creepy Child vampire Jane.
- Until fans saw her performance and were again reminded why the movie is nothing like the book. It's okay as a vampire movie but it's getting too much hate for the series based on the movie when the book is far better. Having Michael Sheen as Ado did not help and this troper still believes the movies are terrible. Less screaming girls over shirtlessness too.
- Genndy Tartakovsky is going to direct that Dark Crystal sequel? Sweet!
- Will Ferrell in a Land Of The Lost movie? I'll watch the trailer... lame... lame... lame... lame... SLEESTAK! Okay, you sold me.
- Way back in 1982, many fans of The Last Unicorn couldn't believe that any animated film adaptation could possibly capture the magic of the original... until they saw that the original author, Peter S. Beagle, was writing the screenplay.
- Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Michael Cera as the titular Scott Pilgrim, yawn. Mary Elizabeth Winstead playing Ramona Flowers, could be interesting. Edgar Fucking Wright directing the film, SCORE!
- The live-action adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are. Hmmm, not really feeling it...wait, you said Spike Jonze is directing this? And Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is writing the score? And the teaser trailer uses a rare acoustic version of Arcade Fire's Wake Up?!? Two tickets, please!
- Then there's the promo video in which the book's author Maurice Sendak gushes over how great the film is.
- For many, the Cue Cullen moment came when they saw the first trailer and saw, holy crap, real puppets instead of 100% CG.
- The World Of Warcraft movie will be directed by Sam Raimi, of Evil Dead, Spider-Man and Xena fame. HELL YES.
- And they explicitly told Uwe Boll to go fuck himself when he expressed interest in it. DOUBLE HELL YES.
- The Edge Of Darkness film adaptation. For some it was Mel Gibson and Robert De Niro (later replaced by Ray Winstone). For some it was Martin Campbell, director of GoldenEye, Casino Royale and the original miniseries. For others, it was that Andrew "Lantana" Bovell was writing the screenplay.
- It's recently been confirmed by Fox that there will be another Alien film. "Ugh, you got to be kidding me, another Alien movie? It better not be another crappy AVP movie... HOLY SHIT!! Ridley Scott is directing! And it's a prequel! Redemption is at hand!"
- Okay, there's The Princess And The Frog, with one group of people complaining that Disney's going to screw up and make it all racist and another group whining how Disney's caving in and making it too politically correct. Out comes the second trailer... Whoops, everyone's busy squealing with excitement now!
- And Keith David gets a villain song?!
- With composing god Randy Newman doing both the score and the songs, who can't be excited to listen?
- While we are talking about Disney, The Great Mouse Detective is also a great example: "Oh...Sherlock Holmes. With mice. How original. Thanks for killing another classi... hey, is that Vincent Price? As the main villain? It must be awesome."
- Speaking of Sherlock Holmes... "They're making a Sherlock Holmes film? Man, I bet you it's gonna su-is that Robert Downey Jr!?"
- It may be premature, but Muse wants to do the next James Bond theme. Yes, that Muse. Can someone make this happen? Please? Like, now??
- They're making a movie out of Mamma Mia? Oh God, musicals have just hit a new lo- wait. Did you just say they cast Meryl Streep as Donna? Fuck yes!
- Interest in a fourth Pirates Of The Caribbean movie was fairly low until it was revealed it would be a new story ejecting pretty much everything apart from Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush, whose awesome-cred had survived even the third movie intact. The departure of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley was much-welcomed, but not as much as the news that movie would be based on Tim Powers' book On Stranger Tides which had inspired both the first Pirates movie and also The Secret Of Monkey Island, which is often heralded as also inspiring the series. There is now much greater interest in the project.
- A Doctor Strange movie? Yeah, cause it worked SO well before... Guillermo del Toro you say? Well, I suppose it might be at least watchable - hold the phone, Neil Gaiman? ... I think I wet myself.
- Dear God, I need a new change of pants. For all possible reasons.
- People were uneasy about the Prince Of Persia: The Sands of Time movie adaptation, admittedly with good reason. Details trickled out such as the casting of Jake Gyllenhaal as Prince... Dastan, giving a name to the previously nameless Prince. Then Jordan Mechner, the man behind the original game, was revealed to be involved very heavily with the project, and photos trickled out, mostly of shirtless-Gyllenhaal. No one seemed to be willing to commit to a strong opinion either way even after these revelations, though. It was the trailer, which contained intense action sequences containing Le Parkour that was so emblematic of the Prince, as well as his trademark snark, that had people saying "holy crap, this might actually be the greatest video game movie ever!"
- When Games Workshop announced the much-awaited {{Warhammer 40000}} movie, the fan reaction was generally like "Meh, Ultramarines again...", but then the people heard that DAN ABNETT is going to write the script — and there was much rejoicing.
- A-Team movie? Meh. Imagined they'd get around to it sooner or later, they're doing all the other 80's TV shows, and like the rest of them it'll probably be sh-Liam Neeson is Hannibal?? I love it when an adaptation comes together! (On the other hand, no Mr T.)
- [Two Years Ago] "The Wachowski Brothers are doing a live-action version of Speed Racer? This is gonna be tricky... Wait What!? John Goodman will play Pops?? This is gonna be awesome!!" It was.
- From the start, it was blatantly obvious that the Sorcerer's Apprentice movie would be In Name Only. The trailer reveals that brooms are still going to come alive!
- When Quantum Of Solace showed that Bond went back to the iconic PPK, the fans went wild. The P99 was never really liked in the fan community at all.
- Richard Coyle is Moist Von Lipwig in Sky One's Going Postal. HELL YES!!!
- Robert Rodriguez. Predators. This may just make the AvP movies worth the trouble.
- After being in Development Hell for nearly 20 years, Bryan Singer being announced as the director of what became Superman Returns was seen as one of the best omens any fan could hope for. And Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor was some nice icing on the cake.
- From Paris With Love: Oh look, another film where John Travolta continues to ruin his career. Man he was so good in his early da...DID HE JUST HAND SOMEONE A ROYALE WITH CHEESE!?
Literature
- A new The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy book? You're kidding... Eoin Colfer is writing it?... Okay, while the torches and pitchforks remain on stand-by, the frenzied mob invitations have not yet been sent out.
- I'd be sending those invitations out right about now.
- Black Library's new Eldar trilogy. "Man, this is going to be bad, usual Black Library stuff. Eldar dying, all the time. Just like G- wait, what? GAV THORPE is writing it? AWESOME!"
- Inversion. After Frank Herbert's death, the Dune series ended on what could be interpreted as a massive cliffhanger, so fans were reasonably interested when it was announced his own son, Brian Herbert, would be collaborating with another author to fill out the story with several prequels and sequels. While many fans were apprehensive or mildly curious, a good portion were eagerly anticipating how it would hold up... Until it was announced the writer Brian would be collaborating with was none other than Kevin J Anderson, a writer most known for writing some of the most hated entries in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, X-Files, Starcraft, and countless other universes' expanded universes. All interest immediately dropped, and not even the claim that the new books were based on "lost notes" could save them, since everything points to milking the cash cow and nothing else.
- A book of secrets sold on thinkgeek? Meh who cares. WAIT, ITS GOT THE COLONEL'S SECRET RECIPE IN IT?!? One please!
- After the clusterkark that was Legacy Of The Force, it's hard to get interested in the newest part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. You just know the author who hates Jedi and loves Mandalorians is going to derail the entire plot and idiotize all other characters to make Boba Fett look good. Again. Wait - Traviss isn't on it? Aaron Allston said "Well, no one on the writing team is absolutely in love with Boba Fett this time around"? ...Okay, Fate Of The Jedi, you could be worth reading.
Live Action TV
- The news that Christopher Eccleston, a high-profile "serious" actor, had been cast as the Doctor for the new Doctor Who series — prior to this it was worried that the new series would merely be a campy, slightly snide over-parody, and previous casting rumors hadn't helped matters. So much so that when it was announced that he was quitting after one season, many fans didn't take it at all well.
- And then cue his successor, David Tennant, to much the same effect. Including the fans not taking his departure at all well.
- And HIS successor, Matt Smith, has already won over most of the western hemisphere with his wiggly hand movements in an interview. Only time will tell...
- Preceding the announcement of Smith as the new Doctor was the absolute shitstorm of win kicked up by Steven Moffat accepting the job of showrunner. There will be much awesome and subsequent hiding behind couches.
- No, no, Moffat has taken to scaring children out from behind the couch. Too many shadows back there
- When Karen Gillan was announced as the new companion, the fan base were very happy. Think about it...
- This trailer seems to be swinging quite a few of the unconvinced into Eleven's corner. The WEEPING MOTHERFUCKING ANGELS probably didn't hurt. Is it possible to be both a Cue Cullen and High Octane Nightmare Fuel at the same time? On the other hand, there was that one shot of the Doctor firing a gun, but that will probably turn out to be not what it seems.
- And now the 2011 season has a Cue Cullen moment: Neil Gaiman has confirmed having written an episode for said season.
- Law And Order Criminal Intent had two. After it was decided to bring in a second pair of detectives (due to D'Onofrio becoming clinically exhausted), it was announced that the second pair would have Chris Noth, reprising his role as Mike Logan from the original series. And recent trailers have revealed that the next detective on the show, the one replacing Logan, would be played by Jeff Goldblum.
- The new Knight Rider show has a fair share of haters, especially fans of the old series. But it seems like the producers were paying attention to the Transformers fandom and they have revealed an episode where a villain from the old series returns, KITT's Evil Counterpart KARR. To top it off, they also brought back the original voice actor for KARR, who is... yes, Peter Cullen. The show is still hated, but no one can argue that bit of casting.
- Given that the new KARR looks more like Optimus Prime than the old KARR, one wonders if this isn't just a happy coincidence.
- Power Rangers RPM? Oh joy. Huh? What's this? WHOA! THAT was POWER RANGERS!? AWESOME!!!
- The fact that "Venjix" was the name of the Big Bad in the (in)famous episode "Forever Red" also helps.
- Not to mention the return of long-time PR writer and story editor Judd Lynn.
- After Eddie Guzelian was ousted...Or So I Heard.
- Power Rangers Dino Thunder? Wait... did I just see a Red T-Rex Zord? What is this...? IS THAT TOMMY?!
- Family Feud, in the first John O'Hurley season, fashioned the set into an updated version of the classic Richard Dawson/Ray Combs set.
- What's this? Million Dollar Password? Oh, they're just twisting the classic to fit in with today's big money shows. It's actually more like Pyramid and...
- Oh, Betty White is going to be on an episode? When's it on????
- They're making The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a TV show based on the Terminator franchise, WITHOUT Arnold Schwarzenegger? - Hold on - they're replacing him with RIVER TAM!!!
- The New York television station WPIX 11 is known for doing this a lot. Even as they became an affiliate of The WB and later The CW (obviously having to use their programming as well as others that appeal to modern audiences; i.e. Jerry Springer, Friends reruns, etc.), they would often present nods to their past, especially for those who grew up with the station in the '70s and '80s. Among them have been: Honeymooners marathons on New Year's Day; a retrospective on The Magic Garden; the Halloween 2008 return of Chiller Theatre; and one of the most popular, the return of the Christmas Day Yule Log since 2001. For a time they used to have a prime time block of '70s sitcoms on Saturdays, and for their 60th anniversary, a marathon was dedicated to classic programs that used to be seen on WPIX.
- Of course the most visible Cue Cullen now would be the fact that the station has stripped itself of the "CW" initials and goes by "PIX 11" (complete with slightly updated version of the "Circle 11" logo it used in its heyday.
- With Season 2 gone and done, and Season 3 scripts about three-quarters of the way through, Heroes was looking less and less like must-see TV. And then they rehired Bryan Fuller of Pushing Daisies as Writing Counselor. Yes, the guy who wrote the episode "Company Man".
- Kamen Rider Decade worried the fans with the cherry red, plastic-looking costume for the eponymous hero. Then came the trailers showing practically every Rider from the 2000s involved in a single, gigantic battle against an unseen foe (It was the very virst scene of the series). Not to mention the Samurai Sentai Shinkenger crossover and the Kamen Rider Black RX arc (the latter complete with Tetsuo Kurata reprising the role of Kotaro Minami).
- Five words: All Riders vs. Great Shocker. The Cullens continue to pile up with each new bit of news, including the fact that Black and Agito will be played by their original actors (Note that the former was before the Black RX arc was announced). Those appearances ultimately amounted to nothing more that ending cameos.
- Just recently it was announced that pop singer Gackt will be playing Riderman, whose original actor has passed on. It may sound like a YMMV situation, but the fact that Gackt is One Of Us and has healthy respect for Kamen Rider means it counts as a Cullen.
- Kamen Rider Double recieved a similar treatment. Many made gay jokes over the Fusion Dance aspect. But then they revealed a single detail about the suit that made the fans want in at the press meeting. A silver bifurcated scarf, just like the Showa era Riders.
- With George R.R. Martin being personally involved, fans were quietly optimistic about the adaptation of A Song Of Ice And Fire. The first bit of casting news, Peter Dinklage as Tyrion, was widely accepted as a perfect bit of dream casting. Then we get Sean Bean as Ned Stark. Yeah. It's perfectly OK to be excited now.
- Then one of the last decisions to be announced: Ronon as Khal Drogo. Best. Casting decision. Ever.
- A remake of The Prisoner? Oh man, it's gonna be a lame Americanized hack job, etcetera... But then, Ian McKellen said... "Be seeing you". And there was much rejoicing.
- So we all thought for a while that Walking With Dinosaurs was just a documentary done in a Follow The Leader to Jurassic Park... until the GIANT DINO-DOLPHIN BURSTS OUT OF THE SEA AND EATS A LAND-WALKING DINO.
Music
- Michael Jackson dies before his upcoming comeback tour!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Wait, AEG will compile all his rehearsals from that concert tour, and make it into a documentary? After showing that awesome clip from CNN? Two tickets please!
- And then there's this.
- Son of a Bitch, Metallica are making -another- albu...Wait, Rick Rubin AKA the guy that did Reign in Blood for Slayer is on board? They are going back to their 80's trademark sound!? *Headbang* The album rebuked all faith in half the Metallica fanbase.
Tabletop Games
- Exalted's fanbase had been somewhat divided about the idea of including the Infernal Exalted in Second Edition. Not so much about the Green Sun Princes existing, as about just what the hell they were supposed to be like. When it was announced that Michael Goodwin, the writer for Manual of Exalted Power: The Abyssals, was going to be doing the Infernals, all the backdraft shut up and we're waiting to see what he'll come up with.
- Wait's over. It turned out pretty damn good.
- The spoiled plane cards in Magic The Gathering's Planechase box set surprised quite a few fans when some older planes were announced. Who woud have thought they'd bring back Segovia, which was mentioned on only one card (Segovian Leviathan) and created entirely to explain that card's abnormally small power/toughness? Who would have thought they'd bring back Moag, which appeared only in one of the books? Who would have thought they'd bring back Shandalar from the 90's Card Battle Game? Needless to say, many old-school fans were happy.
- And then they went and upstaged even those. I mean, Bolas's Meditation Realm?
- The return of Nicky B. himself during Time Spiral and the Alara block was a pretty good shout out to the fans, and got a few people I know back into the game. Time Spiral itself was a brilliant love-letter to the fans.
- Ugh, Synchro after Synchro after Synchro... When will Konami stop pandering to the hardcore Yu-Gi-Oh gamers and ignoring their casual plyaers? Wait...is that what I think it is? Guardian Eatos? Orichalcos Shunoros?! Playable Egyptian God Cards with artwork done by Kazuki Takahashi himself?! New support for Gravkeeper's, Spirits, and Daedalus decks?! Konami, you are forgiven. This time...
Theatre
- The Royal Shakespeare Company are still trying to develop that stage musical of Roald Dahl's Matilda they've been working on for years? Pff, when are they going to learn ... wait, what? They've asked Tim Minchin to write the score?! When do tickets go on sale?!
- A musical of Little Miss Sunshine? I don't know. The score's being written by William Finn? Yep, that'll work!
Video Games
Western Animation
- This trailer for Batman The Brave And The Bold.
- Bringing lesser-known characters like Blue Beetle and Plastic Man for the first time in animation is also good news for those who doubt that this will be Justice League 2.
- Plastic Man DID appear in animation before. He even had his own TV series.
- A musical episode? Don't tell me it's another generic one like any other...hold on, Neil Patrick Harris as the villain!?
- The Super Hero Squad Show? Yawn...must be Marvel Comics' attempt to cash in like The Brave And The Bold...WOAH! Look at who's voicing who!
- Another Spider-Man cartoon? After that Conspicuous CG mess on MTV— What? It's being supervised by Greg Weisman? Oh hell yes!
- Godzilla The Series: "What? A cartoon version of the American Godzilla movie? This is going to su-Is he fighting other monsters? Atomic breath?! Holy crap, this is gonna be awesome!"
- Transformers Animated? Looks rather half-assed if you ask me and— wait, David Kaye as OPTIMUS PRIME?! Yeeessss...
- Still images of the character designs showed up on the internet long before it premiered, which was met with near universal disdain. Then at Comic-Con they showed the opening sequence (later cut down in length) that showed those designs in motion along with a cool updating of the original theme. What was proven is that this show has people Running The Asylum, with more Mythology Gags than can barely be contained on one location.
- "Turtles Forever? Sounds like it's gonna be a bad mo- Wait a second, are those the 1987 Turtles? Awesome!" is probably what many a fan said when they found out it's a crossover.
- And the fact movie favorites Tokka and Rahzar are also making an appearance as well.
- The original Mirage Turtles.
- Ben 10 Alien Force. Boy, so far, no one seems to care about the continuity of the original series... WAIT! Vilgax's back! They do remember! (Though his supposed Character Derailment makes this YMMV)
- While we're on the topic of Ben 10, Lee Majors as Grandpa Max in the live-action movie!
- "Cartoon Network has sucked lately, they aren't doing anything good anymore, is it even worth watching any- Wait! A Looney Tunes marathon! There's hope!" And to a lesser extent, this article.
- Speaking of Cartoon Network, the news that Samurai Jack will finally see a proper ending in the form of a theatrical film after CN left it lying in the dust. The movie will be produced by JJ Abrams.
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