Bad geography in Warehouse 13 , Big Brother, and the strange rumours of Simon Pegg’s death
AMUSINGLY ANATOPISTIC STOCK FOOTAGE OF THE WEEK
Study the two screengrabs above, both from this week’s premiere episode of season two of the frankly bonkers Warehouse 13 on SyFy in the States. They’re two establishing shots, showing a character arrive in Switzerland by train. Fair enough, the first shot looks like Geneva to us (ah, it makes us nostalgic for The Champions ), but hang on… study that second shot closely. Now, we’re not sure what Geneva station looks like, but what’s the likelihood it would have a UK Lottery stand in the concourse? And that clock looks mightily familiar. Erm, isn’t that London Paddington? UPDATE: SDLRob on the SFD Tweeterfeed has also identified HG Wells’s home in the episode as the Mounties’ office from Due South .
FISCAL ILLITERACY OF THE WEEK
And while we’re on the subject of studying screengrabs from Warehouse 13 carefully, anything strike you as odd about the one above, considering it’s supposed to be from an antique BRITISH newspaper…? We’re not the 51st State yet! (And is Warehouse 13 turning into the new V as regards Spurious Award potential?)
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
Writer/producer Frank Darabont explaining why NBC passed on the chance of picking up The Walking Dead : "They were very excited about the idea of doing a zombie show until I handed them a zombie script where zombies were actually doing zombie shit."
UNLIKELY CROSSOVER OF THE WEEK
Spotted on set during the New York filming this week for the Russell Brand-starring remake of Arthur : the Batmobile, Batman Forever model. We certainly don’t remember that scene from the original. What’s the betting Brand (who plays the pissed-up Dudley Moore character) is arrested for drunk driving after a hilarious scene involving him careering around the streets knocking over vegetable stalls and mistakenly deploying the heat-seeking missiles. And odds on there’s a gag about how he wishes his butler was called Alfred.
BEST RUSSELL CROWE IMPRESSION OF THE WEEK
Was it just us or did anybody else expect Adrien Brody, who growls his way through the staccato dialogue in Predators , to suddenly burst into that whole, “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius… And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next” speech? Although, to be honest, there are no lines as long as that in Predators where the average uttered sentence must be barely three words long, two of those usually ending in “uck”.
SHOE-IN FOR NEXT BOND VILLAIN OF THE WEEK
We're relieved Germany got knocked out of the World Cup, because it means we can watch the final without being terrified by midfielder Mesut Özil. Those eyes! He looks like a man who'd happily eat your liver, raw.
COOLEST REALITY TV ROBOT OF THE WEEK
Goes to Titan , a radio-controlled bot who’s been taking on the Big Brother contestants in a set of “man vs machine” challenges this week. Thanks to him it’s come dangerously close to entertaining, if only because we keep hoping he might punch Benjamin's head clean off.
TERRIFYINGLY POWERFUL LASER OF THE WEEK
The Arctic Spyder III portable laser, a snip at $200. Looks a bit like a lightsaber – but isn’t, of course, George Lucas’s lawyers please take note – and is apparently powerful enough to blind or set skin on fire . Expect front page Daily Mail scare stories very soon.
