Comfortably one of the films we’re most looking forward to next year is The LEGO Batman Movie, that sees Will Arnett lending his tones to the Caped Crusader again. The film is being directed by Chris McKay, with Christopher Miller and Phil Lord on producing duties (having introduced this particular take on Batman in The LEGO Movie).

Warner Bros is showcasing The LEGO Batman Movie at Comic-Con over the weekend, and we may even get a new trailer off the back of that. What we have right now, though, is a quartet of new images from the film, that have debuted over at USA Today. What’s more, they introduce Michael Cera’s Robin.

Click on the posh gallery thing to fire up the images. The LEGO Batman Movie arrives in cinemas on February 10th 2017.

USA Today.

Arriving in cinemas at the end of next week is the fifth film in the Bourne movie series, but crucially, the fourth to see Matt Damon play Jason Bourne. He returns to the series – along with director Paul Greengrass – after neither was involved in the underwhelming The Bourne Legacy. It would be fair to say that Universal has very high hopes for the reunion.

So much so, that plans are afoot for many further sequels. Universal chair Donna Langley was chatting to The New York Times about the future of the series, and she said that “here’s what I think the goal is: to keep Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass doing Bourne movies till they can’t do them anymore”.

She said this in the context of being asked about luring the pair back to the series (and perhaps just a little tongue in cheek), and it should be noted that neither Greengrass nor Damon has committed to a further Jason Bourne adventure. However, this time, neither of them has ruled it out this time.

It does appear that there are no plans for a The Bourne Legacy 2, following Jeremy Renner’s character, at least not for now. Universal had originally planned a further movie for him, but it’s not pursuing spin-offs just yet.

Jason Bourne slips into cinemas on July 29th.

The New York Times.

Ouch. The fourth and final film in the Divergent series, that’s now called The Divergent Series: Ascendant, will not now be getting a cinema release.

The Divergent movies got off to a decent start, but neither of films two and three – Insurgent and Allegiant– has managed to cross $300m at the global box office. As the films have been getting more expensive to make, so the reviews have been weakening. And in the case of Allegiant, the audience stayed away in droves. It’s taken $179.2m worldwide, over $100m down on the takings of Insurgent.

Lionsgate had already decided to cut the budget for the fourth film, Ascendant, and to delay it. It hired a different director, Lee Toland Krieger, to steer the last movie too. But it’s now going down a different path again, and the finale of the Divergent series will bypass cinemas altogether.

Instead, the plan now is for a television movie to wrap the films up, before launching a spin-off television series. It’s not even clear at this stage if the likes of Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Ansel Elgort will be returning.

No formal announcement has been made by Lionsgate as of yet, we should note.

But: ouch.

Variety.

Doing a junket in Australia one day and finding yourself at another junket in London the next can't be easy on the constitution, which explains why actor Zachary Quinto was clutching a can of Red Bull when we sat down with he and co-stars Sofia Boutella and Chris Pine a few days ago.

They're here, of course, to promote Star Trek Beyond, the third in the rebooted series which began in 2009 with JJ Abrams' Star Trek and continued with 2014's Star Trek Into Darkness. This time around, we're in for a more ensemble-y kind of adventure, with Ms Boutella joining the cast as a tough alien named Jaylah, a character who fits into the Star Trek universe so naturally that it feels as though she's always been there.

Ahead of Beyond's release in UK cinemas later this week, here's what Pine, Quinto and Boutella had to say about their experiences of making the film and the franchise's continued relevance.

Zachary Quinto: I'm Red Bulled u-u-up!

Chris Pine: Oh fuck. You're on another Red Bull? Holy shit.

Sofia Boutella: Maybe that's what I need. Does it work?

ZQ: It works like nothing else. I never drink it except on junkets. And also, sometimes other times.

But not on the Enterprise.

ZQ: When I'm doing a play. I'll drink it then.

That makes sense.

ZQ: So how are you?

I'm very well! Congratulations on the film. I enjoyed it.

ZQ: Did you? You enjoyed it?

One of the things I liked was that the way it opened, you're half-way through your five-year mission, and there's the grind of space exploration as well as the excitement. I thought that was an interesting way of jumping back in.

CP: Yeah, I really enjoyed that part of the film. I thought it was one of the funnier bits. With these big action films, people never take into account the times that aren't dramatic. That was indeed a funny way to start.

-I've been told there's a scene cut out where [Kirk] has a breakfast burrito.

CP: Yeah! We didn't really have much time for that preamble stuff, but we had a breakfast burrito version, a coffee version, which ended up staying in... I lobbied for the breakfast burrito moment, but it did not win out. I thought that would've been really funny. 

Your characters have evolved quite a lot from the young Star Fleet recruits of the first film. Did you have a say in the tone of your characters in this movie?

CP: Yeah, Simon [Pegg] actually called us up pretty early on and asked if there's anything we'd particularly like to do or see in your characters. And then on the day, whether he was in the scene or not, he'd be around for consultation, basically. He was very collaborative, and this felt like, the third one in, we have a better sense of who we are as characters. And Simon's worked with us twice before so he has a great sense of what we do and do well. So it was fun. It was a great collaboration.

Do you think it's more of an ensemble piece, this movie? Because for you, Sofia, there's obviously loads of action for you.

SB: Yeah, loads of action!

ZQ: I think what this does is it takes the crew and it fractures us. It splits us apart and it splits us into groupings that we wouldn't normally be in. And I think that's really exciting for the audience, because you have an experience of these characters as you wouldn't normally see them, and in relation to characters they might  not spend the majority of their time with. Certainly, in the case of Spock and Bones, who spend a lot of the film together. Sulu and Uhura spend a lot of time together in the movie. Kirk and Chekov and Scottie, and then Jaella added into the mix. So yeah, it's great to watch, and I think thematically, it says that a crew is never stronger than when they're together. And so through that fracturing we spend a long time finding our way back to one another, and learning a lot about ourselves in the process.

One of the themes in the film seems to be inclusivity. About the Federation bringing different races and cultures together. Do you think that's an important thing to express right now?

ZQ: I do, yeah. [Sighs] We're living in an increasingly nationalistic, xenophobic time, and you can see it reflected in societies all over the world - whether it's here in the UK with the whole Brexit debacle, or in Australia where we just came from, where their most recent elections were too close to call. The razor-sharp line of division that exists between political ideologies in our own country in the United States, I think it's clear that these movements are forming - and one is more forward thinking and more embracing and more inclusive. The other is less tolerant and more judgemental and more fear-driven and fear-based. I think, you know, over the next generation, we're going to see which way we turn as a civilisation.

While this remains a summer blockbuster, popcorn film, I think underneath that are some more resonant themes that are reflective of the times we're living in. 

[To Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto] Is that something you guys picked up in this?

CP: Uh, yeah. I like this film because there's a simplicity to the theme. It's essentially - the question that it asks - is, "Is the Federation good?" The good guys think it is and the bad guy does not, and the bad guy ends up alone, and the good guys end up with their family. Not to be super reductive about, that's what it feels like it's about, to me. Working together always works together better... it also appeals to a primal, animal thing, which is that humans are social creatures. No one can survive on their own. Thinking you can is ridiculous, especially going into the middle half of the 21st century. To think you can do it alone is just ridiculous.

SB: Aliens can!

Well, your character starts off alone, but becomes part of a family, so to speak. Is that how you saw Jaella, as someone self-sufficient, but also learns she can lean on other people too?

SB: Yeah, it's the same thing. It's difficult to survive on your own, but [Jaella] did it for a very long time, and had to get by in a very solitary way. But I think she found things within the ship that kept her going. She watched a lot of videos, and that's how she learned the [English] language. She kept busy by putting her outfit together, and finding pieces to build her defences and surviving. When she meets with them [the crew of the Enterprise] I think there is hope for her at some point. At first she's defensive and protective, and then there is hope for her to actually get out of there. Yeah, she's a really fun character.

It's the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. Roddenberry's TV series had the utopian sense that in time we'll become less warlike, more peaceful. That was back in the 60s. So in the 21st century, are we moving in the right direction?

ZQ: The advancement of technology has probably guided us more than anything else in one direction or another. I don't know, it's hard to say. We're so much more connected, but we've never been more fractured as a culture. I don't know. I feel like we're living in really precarious times, and I don't think we're any further along toward a utopian view of our culture than we were then. If anything, I think we're a little bit more astray, more far afield from true integration and true acceptance. I think the next 50 years are going to present the human race with challenges that so far exceed the limitations of geopolitical boundaries or nationalist identity. We're going to be up against challenges that we can barely fathom at this point. So how we embrace them and deal with them will define a great many things about where we go, but, you know, it's hard to say. We're teetering on the edge, I would say.

CP: I don't know. I think about Reagan's idea of the shining city on the hill.

ZQ:[Does uncanny Ronald Reagan impression] "The shining city on the hill!" [Laughs]

CP: [Seemingly ignoring it - he's clearly heard Zachary Quinto's Reagan impression before] ...this idea of "We were once great when..." I think the human race has always been pretty fucking abysmal to one another. We've always killed one another, tried to destroy each other. So maybe in the human... I feel so dumb for talking about these big ideas, but you know, maybe the realisation of the full human potential is the utopian thing. Maybe that is our collective struggle, is to find a way to get there. But right now it seems like we're duplicating what was written in the Bible, a millennium ago, which is "An eye for an eye." Revenge policy; "If you hit me, we'll hit you back worse"; ad infinitum.

SB: What they said!

Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine, Sofia Boutella - thank you very much.

Star Trek Beyond is out in UK cinemas on the 22nd July.

Warning: contains spoilers for Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars has always had a singular obsession with dead or missing blonde girls. It's iconic, after all – the all-American white girl from a wealthy family, someone who undoubtedly has secrets of her own, is made the victim of some terrible crime, leaving behind a slew of grieving family and friends eager to rewrite history.

For mystery narratives, it long-ago entered the deconstruction stage, from Gone Girl to Twin Peaks and tons of procedural dramas in-between.

Alison DiLaurentis, the OG missing blonde girl on Pretty Little Liars, played into this idea from the beginning of the show. Missing after the first scene of the pilot, dead by the end and immortalised in the opening credits for five and a half seasons, Alison was the catalyst for everything that touched our protagonists from day one. In those days the show was still finding its feet, and the missing girl was the best way for the writers to do that.

I remember watching Paper Towns, the vastly inferior John Green adaptation following The Fault in Our Stars, and thinking about this trope. While that film tries to subvert our expectations of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl from the perspective of the boy who loved her from afar, early seasons of PLL dived right into what that character can mean for the survivor girls left behind.

With her, Pretty Little Liars made a statement of intent. This was going to be a show about girls, the guys around them firmly sidelined and secondary, and Alison was going to be a part of that story even from beyond the grave.

There's a reason the inhabitant of the coffin in the show's credits is never shown in full. It's nails and lips and hair – superficial fragments of a girl who had become more myth than human being. Those that really knew her were left to tell her story to the audience through rose-tinted flashbacks and stolen moments.

It's the idea that the secret 'bad girl', the one hiding behind a pretty face and middle-class upbringing, has to die as a form of punishment. She'd seen the seedy underbelly of Rosewood and, as the show's theme tune continually attests, two can only keep a secret if one of them is dead.

The issue with a character like Alison is that, when she's been constructed from disparate parts recalled by all of those who knew her, it's hard for her to be a real character. That wouldn't have mattered if, like in Veronica Mars before it, she had just stayed dead. Alison was a spectre that hung over the Liars for four whole seasons and, when we learned she had not died at all, she suddenly had to be a real person again.

Season five struggled, but ultimately did a decent job, of presenting a broken, vulnerable, human girl to us. What might have happened to her in those missing years has always been left half-said, the horrors of which we can only assume aren't suitable for an ABC Family/Freeform audience.

This narrative doesn't ordinarily go so far as to reinsert the dead girl back into her own story, but it could have been one of the smartest things Pretty Little Liars ever did.

Since then her arbitrary role has been repeatedly inhabited by others – first by Bethany Young, who we discovered had been the real person in Alison's grave, then by Sara Harvey, then finally by Charlotte DiLaurentis. It's interesting to note that, though the image of the twenty-something year old Liars (now including Alison) has been updated, the footage of the dead blonde girl being prepared for her funeral hasn't changed at all.

But all of this has taken its toll on the character, and since the start of season six fans have noticed a significant shift in how Alison is written and portrayed. She instantly became meek, and sensible, and boring. She taddled on her friends, supervised girls' soccer clubs and married the world's most boring doctor.

The girl that had once faked her own death and survived for years on her own had essentially become a suburban housewife, and it didn't feel like natural character progression. It felt like she had been silenced all over again, and it felt like the writers were wasting the opportunity of having resurrected her at all.

Since the five-year time jump, the show has placed Alison very firmly in the victim role. That's Pretty Little Liars' bread and butter, condemning the stealing of young girls' agency and control, but for it to happen so overtly to Alison felt wrong. She became a prop, her personality bending to where the writers needed her to be.

When we left her after season six, she was strapped to a bed in a shady psychiatric hospital while her new husband pumped her with drugs that made her think she was crazy.

But this year feels like an apology. She was instrumental in getting Rollins killed and, in the latest episode, despite still reeling from her ordeal, she was suspicious of Mary Drake, on guard around former enemies and friends, and herself disbelieving that she had become so lost in the first place.

There's a sense now that the show has remembered who Alison was, and what she represented. Not likeable, or even redeemable in the traditional sense, but a strong enough personality to dig out of her own grave rather than be wrongly memoralised by those who had exploited her.

At the end of all this, Alison's story might make some kind of sense, and I'm glad. I don't believe the writers knew where they were headed all along, but there's a crumb of a good idea in making Alison the most settled of the Liars post-A. She'd lost her edge, and maybe her victimisation at the hands of another male in Rosewood can now be the driving force behind the character getting back to being the Alison we know and love.

From the set of Doctor Who series 10, Matt Lucas (who's set to return as Nardole, expanding his role from the 2016 Christmas special) has shared a selfie of himself, Peter Capaldi, the TARDIS and new companion actress Pearl Mackie. Here's the pic...

In other Doctor Who news, Peter Capaldi has appeared in a video lobbying for the BBC to reinstate the middle eight of the theme tune...

They should really just get Capaldi to sing the whole theme tune, shouldn't they?

Doctor Who series 10 start date

According to the Radio Times, work proper on Doctor Who series 10 began this May. Using some fag-packet maths then, a typical nine-month production run should take it all the way to early 2017. Perhaps this series will air in spring instead of the usual autumn slot, then.

More news as we hear it. And we've got loads of extra info on pages 2 and 3...

Doctor Who series 10 set video

Here's a first look video of Matt Lucas' time on location at Cardiff University for Doctor Who series 10. There's the briefest glimpse of the Doctor and young Bill to be had too...

Also, here's a candid snap of Mr Lucas on set (courtesy of @StreetwiseLee), where you'll notice that his character isn't trapped inside a giant robot suit anymore...

Is this Nardole from earlier on in his timeline? Or did he somehow escape the interior of Hydroflax? At the moment, we've no clue. But we'll keep bringing you interesting set pictures as they come to light. 

Doctor Who series 10 companion

Pearl Mackie's Bill is joining Peter Capaldi's Doctor as the new companion for Doctor Who series 10. Her work on the show began in June 2016.

Mackie has filmed this short video from set, and shared it online for all to see...

This Tweet from a fan near the set explains what the big building behind Pearl Mackie is. In real life, it's part of Cardiff University, but in Doctor Who land it's a Bristol campus instead...

Looks like Bill comes from Bristol... #DWSRpic.twitter.com/Ig9tnRbtfr

— %u24BF%u24D0%u24D2%u24DE%u24D1 (@Jacob_1191) June 23, 2016

The BBC shared this official photo of Mackie at this location, too...

It's not a massive leap of logic to assume that Bill is studying in Bristol when the Doctor meets her.

Series 10 episode 1 was written by Steven Moffat and is being directed by Lawrence Gough (whose previous work includes The Aliens, Misfits, Atlantis, and the Doctor Who promo clip that introduced Mackie's Bill).

Doctor Who series 10 trailer: first clip

We don't have a full trailer for Doctor Who series 10 yet, but here's a brief clip introducing Pearl Mackie's Bill...

Introducing%u2026
The #NewCompanion!!!#DoctorWhohttps://t.co/rkuSXbGbZb

— Doctor Who Official (@bbcdoctorwho) April 23, 2016

Doctor Who series 10 episodes: what we know about the structure

Doctor Who Magazine asked Steven Moffat a few months ago if he’ll present a plethora of two-parters again this time around, as served him pretty well in series 9. “Something else will happen [in series 10],” he said in response.

The Moff explained that “each year, we try to do something different – almost out of perversity, to make things more difficult for ourselves – so that we’re not getting into a groove, we’re not becomingly boringly expert at it, because there’s nothing so boring as when you get slick.”

“I was very happy to get rid of two-parters when I did, and [in series 9 I was] very happy to bring them back,” he added, leaving us to wonder what he’ll change this year.

Could it be another split series ‘movie of the week’ experiment like series 7, perhaps? Time will tell. In the meantime, you can find our speculation on what series 10 could hold in store by clicking here.

Doctor Who series 10 recap

You can prepare yourself for Doctor Who series 10 by reading our reviews of series 9 by way of a recap. They're all here, if you were wondering.

There's even more info on page 3...

Doctor Who series 10 cast

CultBox has caught wind of some very sneaky detective work, which has revealed some interesting casting information about Doctor Who series 10. Twitter user @fandomfan99 has spotted a collection of cast images on set, confirming three new additions to the show's roster.

Mina Anwar (pictured above left) has been cast as a character named Goodthing. Anwar previously played Gita in The Sarah Jane Adventures, but it's unclear if these characters are linked (we'd wager that they're not, though).

Ralf Little (centre) will play Steadfast. You'll recognise Little from The Royale Family, Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps and probably loads of other stuff.

And Kaizer Akhtar (right) is playing Praiseworthy. Akhtar has previously appeared in Tut, The Honourable Woman and Baby Jake.

If we had to guess, we'd say these three oddly-named characters make up a family. 

Despite becoming one of King Hydroflax's heads in The Husbands Of River Song, Matt Lucas' Nardole is set to come back for Doctor Who series 10.

He'll return in the first episode of series 10, which - as the official BBC press bumf tells us - began filming on Monday the 20th of June.

“I’m chuffed to bits that Nardole is returning to the TARDIS for some more adventures", Mr Lucas is quoted as saying. "I loved acting with Peter and I’m excited to work with Pearl [Mackie, who plays the new companion Bill].”

Steven Moffat had this to add:

“Delighted and slightly amazed to be welcoming Matt Lucas back on to the TARDIS - and this time it’s not just for Christmas, he’s sticking around. One of the greatest comedy talents on planet Earth is being unleashed on all of time and space.”

It sounds like Nardole could be something of a companion himself, doesn't it?

We've also learned that Stephanie Hyam (Jekyll & Hyde, Sherlock, Peaky Blinders) will play 'a guest cast role in the new series'. Peter Capaldi will return as The Doctor, and Pearl Mackie will be his new companion by the name of Bill.

Elsewhere in Doctor Who series 10 cast news, it's looking like Michelle Gomez will return as Missy once again.

CultBox noticed a Tweet from Doctor Who News, stating that Gomez broke the news herself at a MegaCon event in Orlando. There was no clip to go with the claim, though, so we'll have to wait for an official BBC announcement - or some hard evidence - before we can know for sure.

Doctor Who series 10 showrunner

CultBox has caught wind of a brief snippet from the next issue of Doctor Who Magazine, and it sounds like showrunner Steven Moffat wants to change things up significantly for Doctor Who series 10 (which will he be his final full season in charge).

“I want it to feel like Episode 1 of a brand new show”, The Moff explained. He then added, “I want to leave just as it’s all beginning…”

So far, we know that Pearl Mackie's Bill will make her debut in series 10 episode 1, and that Matt Lucas' Nardole will show up as well. Moffat scripted the episode, and Lawrence Gough of Misfits and The Aliens is directing. Peter Capaldi, of course, is the Doctor.

When more details from that Moffat interview come to light, we'll let you know.

Doctor Who series 10 directors

CultBox is reporting that Bill Anderson will direct at least one episode of Doctor Who series 10.

Mr Anderson has never worked on Who before, but his CV is stuffed with popular British TV shows. He's recently helmed episodes of Mr Selfridge, and previously worked on DCI Banks, Taggart, Lewis, Spooks and Silent Witness.

In other directorial news, rumours continue to float around suggesting that Peter Jackson could direct an episode of Doctor Who this year, thanks in no small part to this video...

Are we to take this skit as official confirmation that a Jackson-helmed Who episode is on its way for series 10? We'll keep you posted. 

We also know that Lawrence Gough of Misfits and The Aliens is directing Doctor Who series 10 episode 1, after helming the promo clip that introduced Pearl Mackie's Bill.

Doctor Who series 10 writers

Surprising no one, incumbent showrunner Steven Moffat has written the opening episode of Doctor Who series 10.

Outgoing showrunner Mr Moffat will remain in charge for fourteen more episodes of Doctor Who - overseeing the twelve episodes of season 10, and the 2016 and 2017 Christmas Specials - before new head honcho Chris Chibnall steps in in 2018. 

Frank Cottrell-Boyce - who brought us series 8's In The Forest Of The Night - has penned series 10's second episode.

Sarah Dollard (series 9's Face The Raven) and Mike Bartlett (BBC One's Doctor Foster) have also scripted episodes for series 10.

And - thanks to WhoSFX - we also know that Mark Gatiss is working on a new Doctor Who screenplay. You would assume that's for series 10. Maybe it's his mooted sequel to Sleep No More.

More Doctor Who news as it happens.

The Walking Dead season 6 images

AMC has released some 11 posters for The Walking Dead season 7, once again teasing the resolution to the 'Who did Negan kill?' mystery. 

You can find them all in the gallery above, along with an image of a chirpy-looking Negan played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and a couple of big group shots of all his potential victims.

“Yes, who was at the receiving end of Negan’s bat will be revealed in the first episode,” executive producer Greg Nicotero has confirmed to EW. And don't expect this to be the only time that Negan rants at the other characters.

Nicotero - who directed the season 6 finale and the season 7 premiere - explained that, “He’s the kind of guy who imagines himself on stage at a high school production and he loves every second of it. So, I don’t really see a lot of quiet contemplative moments with Negan. I feel like with Negan it’s really going to be about him gesticulating and him sort of relishing in the sound of his own voice while he commands the stage in front of whoever’s alive.”

The Walking Dead season 7 start date

If all goes to plan, the first 8 episodes of The Walking Dead season 7 will air October to late November/early December 2016, with the remaining 8 returning in February 2017 and running until late March. As ever, the series will air on AMC in the US and on FOX here in the UK.

We'll bring you more news as we hear it, and there's also lots of extra info on page 2 of this article...

The Walking Dead season 7: resolving the cliffhanger

Who did Negan kill? That's the question hanging over The Walking Dead as we wait for season 7. The Hollywood Reporter has published an article claiming that the team behind The Walking Dead have gone to extreme lengths to stop this spoiler from linking.

Apparently, they have filmed 11 different death scenes, one for each character that Negan could have murdered with his barbed baseball bat, so that fans lingering near the set cannot tell who the real victim is. Until the footage is edited behind closed doors, the identity of Negan's prey will remain unclear.

You've got to admire the effort that the cast and crew are going to here, just to stop a secret from getting out and spoiling the fun.

Speaking of that cliffhanger, Norman Reedus has also come out to defend it. He said this to Entertainment Weekly:

"The fact that people are still talking is a huge compliment to how that episode was executed and the acting in it and the writing of it. That’s a good thing [...] I like the controversy, to be honest. For that many people to be that invested in that show and freaking out, I think it’s great.”

Will fans be disappointed when the revelation of exactly who breathed their last as the blood ran down the screen finally arrives this October? Unsurprisingly, Reedus says no.

"They're earning it," he told EW Radio. "Trust me. I think probably the planet is going to explore. That's my feeling. It's so good. [...] It just continually reaches a new plateau every single time, and this is the highest plateau we’ve ever been. So just wait. It’s worth the wait, trust me.”

The series' co-creator and comic book writer Robert Kirkman has now come out with a statement about the cliffhanger, too, defending this storytelling decision whilst also saying sorry and hyping up season 7 at the same time. Here's what he said, courtesy of CBR...

The Walking Dead season 7 story

While we don't know who Negan killed, we do know a few things about The Walking Dead season 7. Recently, executive producer Greg Nicotero said this to IGN about the show's seventh run...

"The main thing about Season 7 is establishing that the world isn't what everybody thinks it is, the world out there. At the end of Season 6, Rick was so confident. 'We're just going to knock out that outpost, we're going to fuck these guys up before they fuck us up,' and it ends with him going, 'Heh, oh well, I had no idea. What I perceived as the world is not even close to what the reality of the world is,' and Negan's there to show him that."

The Walking Dead season 7 cast

The Walking Dead is promoting four of its cast members to 'series regular' status as the show careens into its seventh season. 

Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan), Tom Payne (Jesus), Austin Amelio (Dwight), and Xander Berkeley (Gregory) will all play larger roles this season than they did last year. 

The Walking Dead, of course, stars Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Lauren Cohan, Steven Yeun, Danai Gurira and Chandler Riggs. That being said, there's a chance Negan already killed off one of their characters at the end of season 6.

TV Line reported in late June that two new characters will join The Walking Dead for season 7. We'll let their report do the talking...

"Episode 6 will introduce two new characters who don't sound to me like anyone in particular from the comic-book series. (Correct me if I’m wrong -- and we both know you will.) Naomi is a grandmotherly type who, having lost so many loved ones, is now willing to do whatever it takes not to have to bury any more. (Maybe she's being introduced to counsel Carol about the awful necessities of the post-apocalyptic world… ) On the flip side is Jennie, a sunny-side-up kinda teenager -- oh, Caaarl! -- who sounds a lot like Beth 2.0, "kind, with a world-weary toughness."

Those descriptions aren't ringing any 'oh, they're so and so from the comics' bells at this end either. Pop your thoughts in the comments if you've got any theories.

While we're on the topic; one character from the comics that we would like to see is Ezekiel. The leader of The Kingdom, a large group settled in the grounds of a former high school, comic book character Ezekiel plays a key role in Rick's battle against the Saviors. Oh, and he keeps a tiger as a pet, so you know he'll be good value.

The Walking Dead season 7 trailers

Expect the first real glimpse of season 7 to arrive over the weekend of July the 21st to 24th 2016, when The Walking Dead panel at San Diego's Comic-Con will debut the season's first trailer. We'll share it with you just as soon as it's available.

The Walking Dead season 7: directors

Greg Nicotero has confirmed that he will be the one to direct the season 7 premiere.

Chris Wood is something of regular on The CW, having appeared in both The Vampire Diaries and Containment. We've now learned - thanks to TV Line - that Wood is set to join Supergirl as well, hitting his hat-trick of CW series.

"All that we know is that the actor will be playing a surprise DC Comics character," TV Line stated when breaking the news, "and that he’ll make his debut early into the series’ second season."

Guesses on the back of a postcard and/or down in the comments section, please!

Supergirl season 2 start date

Supergirl's second season - its first one on The CW - will premiere stateside on Monday the 10th of October. We'll let you know the UK start date when we hear it.

We'll bring you more news about Supergirl season 2 as it happens. In the meantime, there's loads of cast news on page 2 of this article...

Supergirl season 2 cast

Melissa Benoist will of course star in Supergirl season 2. Here's a snazzy new poster showing Benoist's Kara Zor-El suited up and surrounded by CW branding has been released online to prove it...

Floriana Lima (The Family, Allegiance) will play Maggie Sawyer in the second season of the superhero show. 

Maggie Sawyer is a familiar name to comic book fans. Within the pages of DC's print output, she was a Gotham City detective and sometime girlfriend to the female hero Batwoman. 

The Hollywood Reporter describes Lima's take on the character as “a detective for the National City Police Department who takes a special interest in the cases involving aliens.”

This is what Lima looks like, if you were wondering (she's the one on the left)...

Ian Gomez (above right) of Cougar Town and My Big Fat Greek Wedding will play Snapper Carr, another character ripped straight from the comics. Here's how Entertainment Weekly describes Gomez's take...

"Snapper Carr is a headstrong, sharp-witted newsman, hired by Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) to be the editor-in-chief of CatCo Magazine. Snapper’s commitment to hard-hitting journalism pushes CatCo reporters to dig deeper in the pursuit of excellence. He’s a man who tells people what he thinks of them, and his no-holds barred approach pushes Kara (Melissa Benoist) in unexpected ways. (In the comics, Snapper Carr was a supporting civilian Justice League character.)"

Lynda Carter - who played Wonder Woman across 60 TV episodes back in the 1970s - will play the President of the United States of America in the second season of Supergirl. It's believed she'll appear in several episodes, the first of which will be season 2 episode 3, according to CBR.

This isn't the first time that Supergirl has cast its characters in a geek-friendly way. Former Superman Dean Cain and former Supergirl Helen Slater play Kara's adoptive parents, the Danvers.

Teen Wolf’s Tyler Hoechlin is set to play Superman in the first two episodes of Supergirl season 2. An enthusiastic Andrew Kreisberg proclaimed that “Tyler is Superman. We are so thrilled and humbled to add another amazing actor to the legacy of this iconic character."

Mr Hoechlin himself has spoken about taking on DC’s utterly iconic Man Of Steel, too. "I never try to compare and contrast performances”, he told MailOnline when they asked how his Kal-El compares to Henry Cavill’s version, “because it's such an iconic character already [...] Superman is Superman so I'm just going to try to carry on the tradition of that and play that part”

"I think the fun is going to be finding where Clark Kent is in this world”, he added, confirming that we’ll get to see Superman in his civilian gear as well as his cape and exterior underpants. “I'm just excited to find out Clark's sense of humour." 

The Last Son Of Krypton will visit his cousin Kara (Melissa Benoist) in Supergirl season 2, but it seems plausible that there could there be a larger role for Kal-El/Clark Kent to play in The CW-verse beyond that.

TV Line broke the news a few months ago that The CW is looking to cast Lena Luthor, a sister of Lex Luthor who first debuted in the comics back in 1961.

Here's TV Line's description of the character...

"Lena Luthor, who will be in the 25-35 year old range, arrives in town to get out from under the shadow of her infamous brother. She’s described as sexy and smart and determined to get what she wants. But what does she want? That remains unclear."

We'll let you know when someone is cast in this role.

3. 2. 1. Activate!

In early February 1998 a new TV game show surfaced on BBC Two, one that was about as different as anything we'd ever seen. It didn't feature general knowledge questions or sprints around a super market, it was equal parts testosterone and techno-geek chic. It was, of course, Robot Wars and it would quickly become one of the most popular programmes on TV.

Before appearing on UK TV, Robot Wars was first dreamt up over the pond. The story goes that a Lucasfilm-employed toy designer by the name of Marc Thorpe came up with the idea in 1992 while failing to build a remote control vacuum cleaner. The results ended up being less about cleanliness, and more about carnage. This unexpected turn out made Thorpe realise that radio controlled robot fighting could be a big thing. The seed of Robot Wars was planted.

In 1994 Thorpe created the first incarnation of Robot Wars. Not a TV show, this was a live competition that featured a small number of robots doing battle in front of a 1,000 strong audience. It was successful, drawing in additional funding from a New York record label, Sm:)e Communications, and was followed by three even more impressive and successful wars until 1997.

During 1997, events took a turn for the worse for Marc Thorpe. The record company that helped him get Robot Wars off the ground, now called Profile Records, reportedly went behind his back, consulting with Mentorn Broadcasting to create a UK TV show based on Thorpe's ideas. The deal went through, and led to the creation of the Robot Wars we all know.

While this TV deal was being pursued by Profile Records and Mentorn Broadcasting, Thorpe was working on his fifth Robot Wars, scheduled for 1998. There was a major buzz around this, which was soon quashed when Profile Records issued a court order preventing Thorpe from holding any more Robot Wars competitions. Thorpe was effectively robbed of his own creation.

A former competitor of Thorpe's Robot Wars, Gary Cline got involved in the legal mess after Profile Records attempted to shut down a Robot Wars online discussion forum. He announced his intention to stage his own tournament fearing the cancellation of Robot Wars '98. This would be called Robotica and would take place on June 26 1998 in San Francisco.

In a move to seemingly scupper Robotica, Mentorn also announced Robot Wars for San Francisco on the very same weekend. However, the anticipation for Robotica was too high and Mentorn cancelled its tournament, but not without having the final say. With a capacity crowd and participation roster on the books, Cline's event was cancelled due to a court order filed against him by Profile Records. Both fans and competitors are understandably angry at this result, but Profile’s plans were unaffected, and the legal battles continued until March 1999 when the results of the legal case were revealed. Profile Records won the rights to Robot Wars, but Thorpe would remain involved in some capacity.

The Robot Wars legal debacle out of the way, attention eventually turn to more competitors, notably another US-based name, Battlebots. Profile Records also attempted to take this down in court, but failed. The following years saw various other legal shenanigans involving Robot Wars, Thorpe, and other events, and you can find out more about the specifics of these here. As you can see, the behind the scenes of Robot Wars was just as vicious as the action in the arena.

Low gear

The first series of Robot Wars was a typically low-key test bed for the BBC consisting of only six episodes. It was overseen by Jeremy Clarkson, who brought with him his familiar acerbic wit and characteristic disdain. He was accompanied by Philippa Forrester who served as the co-host in the pits, and on commentary was Jonathan Pearce, who would become the voice of Robot Wars, and was present for all series of the show, including the 2016 revival.

Clarkson wasn’t a great fit with the show, chiefly because of his lack of enthusiasm for robot action. His demeanour and tongue-in-cheek comments put across the sense that this was all childish guff, watched by nerds and geeks he couldn't bring himself to care about. It felt as though he'd much rather be sat behind the wheel of a big boy's toy talking to blokes he considered were on his level. In the pits, Forrester was a much better fit, and soon became a fan-favourite. She gelled with the competitors, and seemed to enjoy the whole experience.

Arguably even more important were the show's house robots, which benefitted from professional construction and no need to stick to competition weight rules. They were impressive, and clearly designed to wow kids and adults alike. Matilda, Sgt Bash, Shunt and Dead Metal were the series' team, and lurked in the arena's patrol zones for unlucky contestants, dubbed 'Roboteers'.

The format of the program was clearly a plan in flux. The heats consisted of the Gauntlet obstacle course, a trial, and one-on-one knockouts. On paper, the Gauntlet was interesting, with various routes for robots to take guarded by house robots, but the actual result was an often tepid event that had its moments, but never quite worked as well as it could have. The trials were more interesting and entertaining, consisting of different challenges each week, including sumo bouts, robot football, mazes, and British bulldog.

The real meat of the show, and the biggest draw were the actual fights, which were saved until the end of each episode. These saw the remaining robots duke it out to determine the eventual winner, who would go through to the final battle at the end of the sixth episode. This was a simple six-robot melee.

Despite the slow start and a somewhat flawed structure, Robot Wars' first series was a success, and was unlike anything the UK had seen before. Even at this early stage, the contestant robots were pretty impressive, with some clear highlights. The likes of the champion of series one, Roadblock and the insanely expensive, Oxford University-built Mortis (which was a clear favourite) painted a promising picture of what was to come, and the house robots always provided some satisfying action, even if the contestants failed to do so.

Awooga!

For the second series of Robot Wars, which started airing on the 6^th of November 1998, the BBC made some changes, including an increase in the size of the show to fifteen episodes, which meant more competitors. The second series also saw the departure of Clarkson, and the arrival of the most famous host of the show, the indomitable Craig Charles.

Charles brought undeniable energy and enthusiasm to the series, a whole league ahead of Clarkson's somewhat fed-up performance. Charles was a perfect fit for the show, and like Philippa Forrester, who also returned for series two, he got on with the competitors and was a great front man. He even managed to work in a few Red Dwarf references. Charles and Forrester would become the most popular and well-known presenting team, and rightly so.

Craig Charles wasn't the only new addition to the show's roster, and alongside the existing creations, the most famous house robot of them all was also wheeled out. Sir Killalot was a mammoth robot that towered over all others. Created for sheer spectacle, he certainly achieved this, and it was always exciting to see what he'd do to competing robots.

The actual format of the show didn't change much, although the Gauntlet was redesigned with different obstacles, including a giant mechanical arm. This time there was a semi-final where remaining competitors battled for a place in the final.

The major change in terms of the competition here came with the robots themselves. Series 2 was when we saw a lot of the most famous robots and teams appear, including Panic Attack, Cassius, Chaos, Behemoth, and the return of Mortis. The build quality of the robots was getting better, and we saw the first effective flippers. Previously, weapons were mostly rams and the odd hammer. Series 2 changed that. Perhaps the most notable moment of the entire series, and a classic highlight was Cassius' first use of its flipper as a 'self-righting mechanism', or 'SRIMECH', as it became known. Flipped upside down by Killalot during a trial, Rex Garrod's Cassius used its ram to perform a flip back onto its wheel. It was amazing to see.

Panic Attack emerged the winner here, making money for charity as it won each and every round, although Cassius was a worthy runner-up.

Chaos reigns

Series 3 was by far the biggest yet, spanning 19 episodes with even more teams competing. Finally, the producers acted on the wishes of fans, and the preamble of the gauntlet was ditched in favour of a structure that consisted of more actual fights in the form of knockout bouts. There was still a bit of filler in the form of mini tournaments for pinball, football, middleweight and walker robots, but these were often entertaining in their own right, and broke up the standard fights.

For me, this season was when Robot Wars really hit its stride, not only in terms of actual content, but also for participant quality. While series 2 saw a definite improvement in robots and introduced some familiar names, season 3 really packed them in, and we saw some amazing displays, not least the arrival of one of the greatest robots of all time, Chaos 2.

Flippers were the name of the game here after Cassius' success in the preceding series, and Chaos 2 undoubtedly had the best around, demonstrated perfectly by being the first ever robot to throw another out of the arena, which it did against Firestorm.

Flippers may have been where it was at, but we also saw some other big names and weapons appear, none more notable than two of the most feared robots in the entirety of Robot Wars – Razer and Hypno-Disc. The former of the two is often heralded as the best robot in all of Robot Wars, with its devastating break-shaped crusher, and Hypno-Disc was by far the most devastating, offering destruction on a large, entertaining spectacle. It's known to many as the best robot to never win the title.

Other notable entries included Cassius 2, Firestorm, Pussycat, The Big Cheese, and Killerhurtz. Mortis also returned, but again didn't perform well.

A great series, the third war was long and entertaining with far more highlights than previous wars thanks to the greatly improved robots. Chaos 2 ended up taking the prize, unsurprisingly as it was clearly one of the most well-built, but both Hypno-Disc and Firestorm were close behind.

Meow!

The fourth wars continued in much the same vein as the previous series. Philippa Forrester was absent, however, as she was pregnant. She was replaced for the series by Julia Reed. Everything else remained the same, save for a change to the opening heats, which were retooled into three-way fights. The series also featured the returning pinball warrior and sumo trials. A new house robot was introduced, although not as an antagonist. The Refbot was just that, a mechanised referee that could count out disabled 'bots and stop house robots who interfered when they shouldn't. In truth, it didn't do much, but it was a nice touch.

As for the robots, it was more of the same, with the expected updates to technology and some more inventiveness. Some competitors did little work, though, simply returning with the same machine. Chaos 2, for example, was identical to its previous incarnation save for a few tweaks, while others received more notable adjustments. Hypno-Disc now had a self-righter for example, and Pussycat had replaced its previous season's circular saw blade with a custom-designed one. The team was disqualified in the last war as their blade shattered dangerously in the arena during a bout. This kind of tempered blade was not allowed in the competition. The fourth war also saw the arrival of the team that would become quite controversial later on: team Tornado, which we’ll come to in a moment.

Once again, this war was quite the spectacle at times, and it saw Pussycat quickly become one of the crowd favourites. It was also the debut of the interesting 'cluster bot' Gemini, a robot that entered the arena as a single robot, but split into two during the fight. It was clear that innovation was growing in the pits, and there was more to the competition that the most powerful flipper.

That said, Chaos 2 and its powerful flipper successfully defended its title, becoming the first and only robot to win the title two years running. It beat Pussycat in the final.

Following the fourth wars the first of two Robot Wars Extreme series aired. This didn't follow the same format of the standard series, but instead focused on a range of special on-off titles and challenges. Each episode had a main event, usually for a challenge belt or title, and also had other battles such as vengeance grudge matches, all-star battles, and special events like special forces fights where various armed and emergency forces built their own robots.

The format was more in your face, with competitors often filming WWE-style interviews and taunts to their opponents. It was more than a little cringe-worthy most of the time, but Extreme did deliver much more action that fans wanted, and gave teams a chance to win other titles when they had failed to make it in the main tournament. Extreme also featured robots from around the world.

Controversy corner

The fifth and sixth wars continued with the same style, and there wasn't really much in the way of evolution. Losers in the initial heats were given the chance to fight for a place in the final in a three-way melee, and in the sixth wars, the first melee fights were changed to four-way bouts. Also new to the sixth war was the arrival of another couple of house robots, Mr. Psycho and his faithful mutt, Growler. They looked impressive, but didn't actually do all that much, and didn't make the same impact as the mighty Killalot.

The competition was, as always, even better, with more robots and more innovation. These two wars saw the once indomitable flipper lose its lustre, and the new wave of bots embraced the spinning disc weapon made famous in the competition by Hypno-Disc. Robots like S3, 13 Black impressed, although the eventual winner of the sixth wars would feature no elaborate weapons, but came with a lot of controversy.

The final saw the reigning champion, the deadly Razer, who won the fifth wars up against Tornado. It was the piercing beak versus what was little more than a hunk of metal on wheels (although it now had a scoop on the front). Tornado was very fast and hit hard, but Razer had the chance to easily damage it, or at least it would have if not for team Tornado's last minute addition of an 'anti-crusher web'. This was simply a large metal skirt around the robot designed to prevent Razer from getting close.

Cleared by the judges as the Tornado team had always declared their changeable weapon system, many felt the web itself was not part of the weapon, and was instead merely a cheap tactic. It prevented Razer from putting up any offence. That is, until the end of the bout when Razer managed to pierce Tornado and pick it up, before dumping it in the pit. Sadly for Razer, the web surrounding Tornado stopped them from fitting in the pit, and the bout went to perhaps the most controversial judges’ decision of the programme thus far. Tornado won, and although the Razer team were gracious in defeat, the controversy was there, and Tornado gained more than a few haters.

According to reports of some spectators at the live show, the match was blanketed with deafening boos from the audience, which were allegedly dubbed over with cheers by the TV show. Fans at the event were not happy at all. The disgruntlement carried on in forums and discussion everywhere, with some defending Tornado for using viable tactics, and others saying it was against the whole spirit of the show. Either way, it made for an interesting final, and showcased a new evolution of robots that could be altered for the match and opponent ahead.

Five alive

The seventh, and final wars of the initial run was not found on the BBC, but instead moved to Channel Five, likely due to ever-decreasing viewing figures, which dropped to around 1.2million for the sixth wars.

The move to Five brought many new changes, including the announcement of a £20,000 grand prize. The major changes, however, came with the competition rules, many of which were clear reactions to the controversy of the sixth wars. With input from previous roboteers George Francis (Chaos 2) and Kim Davies (Panic Attack) who now served as technical consultants, several new stipulations were added.

Robots above featherweight now had to sport an active (moving) weapon. This was a move to prevent 'boring rambots' like Tornado from becoming too prevalent. Interchangeable equipment also came with caveats. Teams could no longer change the robot's body panels and couldn't add more armour. This was a blatant response to Tornado's infamous win in the last series. Entrants were also prevented from using any barbed or snagging mesh, as this could greatly diminish the effectiveness of spinners. Even the PSI rating of pneumatics and hydraulics were limited. Some thought this simply neutered robots, but it was all done with a deliberate goal.

Clearly, the organisers wanted audience-pleasing bouts and spectacle, and changed the rules to ensure this would happen. Robot variety and innovation were paramount, and all breeds had to have a fair crack of the whip, something fans, and obviously event organisers thought didn't happen in the sixth wars final. These new rules, specifically the active weapon rule prevented some big names from entering, notably the veteran Stinger team.

There were a couple of other changes to the show too. Philippa Forrester didn't return, and was replaced by Jayne Middlemiss, and yet another new house robot appeared in the form of Cassius Clay. The format of the actual competition was the same, minus any semi-finals. The heats went straight to the final.

Some good robots appeared this season, but few were as clearly capable as the incredible RAF-built spinning top, Typhoon 2, and the very Tornado-like Storm II. The Tornado team obviously returned to defend their title. All three, along with X-terminator made it to the final.

Storm 2 versus Tornado, despite the new rules, was a full-on ramming match, albeit an entertaining one, which Storm II won, but the real fun started with Typhoon's first match of the final.

In the match, Typhoon was so devastating, it even destroyed part of the 'bomb-proof' arena wall, causing the bout to be stopped. The judges even stated that they thought Typhoon 2 was probably the single most dangerous robot ever seen in Robot Wars. If not for the surrounding cage protecting the audience, there could well have been spectator injuries. Needless to say, Typhoon 2 won.

The final was between Typhoon 2 and Storm II, and once again was a controversial affair. The actual match was very cat and mouse, with Storm II being by far the most aggressive, nearly flipping Typhoon 2 a few times. The match was halted after Typhoon once again smashed a side wall of the arena, and after the reset it was more can and mouse. Near the end of the bout, a large panel fell off Storm II, with no real clear indication of the cause.

This lead to another tough judges’ decision, and one that the audience really didn't like. Both robots  won two categories, but as Typhoon was deemed to have won the damage criteria due to Storm II's missing panel, it took the win. In truth Storm II was by far the better robot of the match, and should have won. That didn't happen, though, an Typhoon 2 was the last Robot Wars champion.

Cease!

And that was that. After seven main wars and two series of Extreme, the story of Robot Wars came to a close in 2004. Its speedy success and rise to the top of the ratings couldn’t last forever, and despite grabbing the rights and only airing one season, Five didn't produce any more. For all intents and purposes, the UK TV incarnation of Robot Wars was dead, and it stayed that way for 12 years, until now.

Back in the hands of the BBC, Robot Wars is back on BBC 2 for a limited six-part run, much to the joy of fans who miss the robotic combat. Series stalwarts Craig Charles and Philippa Forrester are not returning, however, even though Charles said he was more than happy to reprise his role. The new hosts of the show are Dara Ó Briain and Angela Scanlon.

Fans are looking forward to the kind of robots twelve years of technological advancement will bring, as well as the return of previous names, not to mention the mighty house robots.

Robot Wars returns to BBC Two at 8pm on Sunday the 24^th of July. 

Steve Coogan is back once again as Alan Partridge, to announce a new book called Nomad. It's the follow-up to 2011's I, Partridge: We Need To Talk About Alan, and a memoir that promises, in the words of Alan himself, to "shine a light on the nooks of the nation and the crannies of myself."

Here's the video clip of Mr Partridge announcing the book, where he also takes the time to slam modern TV detectives and Game Of Thrones, courtesy of The Independent... 

"Nomad brings you the story of a one man walk I undertook to try to learn about who I really am," Partridge explains in the video. "I was able to use transport when essential but I set myself one caveat: no unlicensed mini-cabs."

Here's what the cover looks like...

Nomad is released on Thursday 20th October.

More fictional-characters-writing-books news as we hear it.

Director Justin Lin has come a long way since his debut feature, Better Luck Tomorrow in 2002. Taking on the ailing Fast & Furious franchise with Tokyo Drift in 2006, he managed to transform it into an unlikely multiplex behemoth, with each sequel outperforming the last since Fast & Furious in 2009. Lin's reputation is such that he's been given the keys to the Star Trek franchise, taking over from Roberto Orci (who in turn took over from JJ Abrams) during Star Trek Beyond's turbulent pre-production.

We caught up with Mr Lin next to a bowl of fruit in a plush hotel room, where we picked his brains about gravity-defying cinematography, his thougths on the longevity of the Trek franchise, and why his career owes a debt to 90s pop sensation MC Hammer...

I sensed that going from the Fast franchise to this gave you a chance to give your imagination a workout when it came to the way you shot this. 

Yeah. In Fast, I tried to push physics, and here I get to have a lot more leeway!

There's a shot as the Enterprise launches, and it's as though the camera's mounted on the hull.

It's interesting, having grown up with Trek. [The Enterprise] has been in so many episodes and movies. That ship's been such a  part of my life. And I realised that it's been photographed beautifully from every angle. So I really wanted to explore the ship, because it's such a big part of the franchise, and it's also the home for the characters. It was really a lot of fun - I had a ship made up, so I was living with it, trying to find different ways of bringing its personality out. 

What's your approach, then, to designing some of these shots?

As a kid watching Star Trek, you always had these beautifully framed shots as they're going around planets and stuff, and when I got older I started thinking, "What's up, what's down, what's east, what's west?" In space, it's what you make of it. I really wanted to bring that direction. Especially thematically, with where Spock and Kirk are at this point in their lives, to try to find direction and balance. That was something I built in very early on. 

Of course, there was a very aggressive schedule but I wanted to make sure there was so much prep that you can have opportunities to be spontaneous. I think that was the goal going in.

There's an interesting use of digital editing in this, where your camera flowing seamlessly into another. What's your process of designing those?

I wanted this film to have much more of a tactile feel. I came from film school where, when we started, it was a camera on a tripod, and that's all you had. When we got our first dolly shot... [a knock on the door]

That must be your coffee! [Waitress comes in with a cup of coffee on an ornate tray]

...Um, so as technology has evolved, even the way aerial shots are done now, it's very gyro, very smooth. I miss the old aesthetics of filmmaking from the past, where you really get the sense of interaction between the characters, but also the sense of the camera operator and the crew, you know? So that was very much by design. This movie's very much harking back to the past; it's honoring that tripod I had. I feel it brings more humanity, in a very subtle way. We have more tools now than ever to capture an image, and I really didn't want to be greedy. It's to service every moment, and really be there with the characters.

There's a danger in the digital age that films can become too pristine, I guess.

Oh, yeah. That and also, in a CG environment, there's no right and wrong - it's very subjective. I had a really good time crafting this movie, trying to honour every character beat and tell the story subjectively - how the camera frames, how the camera moves. 

I read that you built parts of the Enterprise on a gimbal so you could move them around and shake them. So you don't have to do the classic TV series camera shake any more.

I'm proud of that! I couldn't believe that in 50 years, we're the first to do it. It must mean they did it [camera shake] very well in the past. But in this film, I wanted... the actors are great at their craft, but because of the technology, there's just staring at a green screen. Just nothing. So I wanted to go back to the tactile feel. It's amazing how, even on a ten degree tilt, the way your body moves is different. I could see it in the performance and how they interact with each other, and I felt it was important to do that for this movie. Especially with all the sequences in the Enterprise, and also the chase in the middle of the film. 

The whole Star Trek franchise has always been about unity and humanity, equality - all these positive themes. Do you think that's why it's endured so well for 50 years?

That was the first thing I thought about when the potential to take over came up. It became very interesting to me to try to deconstruct that. It's been around for 50 years and you see this crew, and you see the Federation - utopia. And sometimes that's assumed, you know? So I really wanted to deconstruct it, and hopefully at the end of the movie we can reaffirm why people have been passionate for so long. 

I grew up watching the original series on reruns, and it was very unique. I saw people from very diverse backgrounds together on a shared journey. That was my first sense that family doesn't have to be by blood; it's about a shared journey. I think that is very important, and that was part of the goal when I got together with Doug [Jung] and Simon [Pegg] was to really honour that, and challenge it with a new philosophy brought in by Krall [Idris Elba's villain] - literally deconstruct it by ripping away their home, and see if they find each other. Hopefully, again, it reaffirms [Star Trek] and propels it for another 50 years.

That's the useful thing about science fiction - it can explore those themes and sometimes push boundaries. Star Trek was the first American programme to show an interracial kiss, for example.

Yeah. I've never done anything sci-fi, but when we got together, Simon, Doug and I, we were very aware of that. And it comes with a responsibility, because it's there, and you have to be conscious of it. Great sci-fi, great Trek is always an allegory for something that's happening to us as a society. On every level, on every scene, we're conscious that we're exploring those things. Sometimes they're so subtle that you might not notice it, but hopefully you'll feel something. 

One of the things Star Trek brought with it 50 years ago was this utopian vision of the future. Do you think we're closer to that vision in the 21st century? 

I think we're closer than we were in 1966. But there are always going to be growing pains. Especially now, there's always stuff that's happening, but you have to have hope. I think that's what Star Trek has - at the end of the day, with all the adventures and all the conflict, what I love is the sense of hope. The fact that we're human beings, and we're flawed, but at the end of the day, we have to believe that we'll eventually make the right choices.

Some great character moments in this movie, too. We're seeing characters interacting in ways we haven't seen before. Is that something you discussed early on?

That was a personal goal. I started watching Star Trek with my family when I was eight, and it was a rerun. So if you imagine that you watch it for a year, you end up seeing the same episode maybe three times! It got to a point for me, as a kid, where I'd think about what happens off-screen. I see every episode where there's a huge challenge and the crew has to go through something intense. But then I'd think, "What happens when Sulu and Chekov leave the bridge? Do they hang out or do they go their separate ways because they can't stand each other?"

I love that. That's the relationship vibe I've had with these characters ever since I was a kid. Now there's the opportunity to contribute something to the legacy, I thought, that's something I'd love to do. Just to get to be with these characters in situations they're not used to. So a lot of the time, McCoy's standing next to Spock, but we really get to see them interact away from Kirk. So it was very special to be able to explore those situations, to create a scenario where we separate the characters and through their actions we get to know them more and more.  

The trajectory of your career so far has been amazing. Better Luck Tomorrow was the movie that got you noticed by critics. But I read that it was partly funded by MC Hammer; is that correct?

[Chuckles] It was a credit card movie. I had 10 credit cards, I was in crazy debt. I had a little bit of money saved up, and that wasn't enough - it was only something like $100,000. I got to the point where I hadn't got the minimum raised, and I didn't know anybody. 

I'd met MC Hammer a few years before, and he was just a nice guy. He gave me his number and said, "What do you do?" I said, "I hope to be a filmmaker one day." He said, "Call me if you need anything." So it got to a point where I was at the deadline and if I didn't hit the number I'd have to give all the investments back and I couldn't finish my movie. 

So I had [MC Hammer's] phone number, and I thought I'd call him. I'm pretty sure he didn't remember me, but we just talked and I think the passion in my voice somehow translated. He wired the money the next day and saved the movie, so I'm forever grateful to Hammer. Filmmaking is such a crazy journey. But some of the people who you meet along the way, like MC Hammer, are just guardian angels.

It's such a tough industry to break into. Sometimes you need people like that who can act as patrons.

Yeah. That's the thing I learned, especially coming from the independent scene. Money is currency - I get it. But really, when you make an indie movie, it's about passion. If you're really passionate, and other people are passionate, from the actors all the way down, that means you're doing it for the right reasons. So when I jumped to studio films, that was the biggest challenge; I wanted to remove the money. I acknowledge that it exists, but even though we're well compensated, I want us all to show up and be passionate. That was the biggest challenge for a while. In the 10, 14 years I've been a professional filmmaker, I've been able to work with some amazing people, and slowly, that family's building. That's something I'm very proud of.

How did you adapt to that world of big studio movies? How can a filmmaker adapt to it, psychologically? 

My approach is the same. When I got my chance, the studio gave me more leeway, because they hired me because I'm an indie guy. So with success, we had a partnership where if it worked once [it could work again]. All I can ask for as a filmmaker is accountability. I would hate to do a movie and you either like it or not like it, but I'm not accountable. That's not the way  I am, and it was a great way in for me, and it's worked out really well. I just want to be accountable. That's very important to me, because making films is a privilege. Even doing sequels - they're not a given, they're a privilege. It takes a lot of people make an even small idea come alive, so my approach has been the same - I learned it from the indie world, and that's what I've applied. I wouldn't want to work in any other way. 

Are you signed up to make another Star Trek?

No, we haven't talked about it. I signed up to do one, and I had a great time. But it was a detour in many ways. I didn't plan on doing it, and so I'm just kind of enjoying it. 

Do you think you'll do something smaller and more indie next?

That's what I was doing when JJ [Abrams] called me! It's become the greatest detour in my career. But I've been trying TV, all these different things I haven't done before. I'm ready to start doing that. 

Justin Lin, thank you very much.

Star Trek Beyond is out in UK cinemas now.

Not only is The BFG Steven Spielberg’s first firmly-aimed-at-families directorial project since his 2011 Tintin film, but it’s also an adaptation of a beloved Roald Dhal story, Spielberg’s final collaboration with his late E.T. screenwriter Melissa Mathison, and a reunion with Mark Rylance, who nabbed an Oscar for his previous Spielberg team-up, Bridge Of Spies.

So does The BFG live up to all those anticipation-inciting elements? Well, yes and no. One big positive is that there’s certainly a hefty heart here, as you’d expect from the writer/director duo that had audiences sobbing over a puppet alien back in 1982. 

From the minute that Rylance’s eponymous Big Friendly Giant plucks Ruby Barnhill’s insomniac orphan Sophie from her bed, a heart-warming friendship is born. What begins as prickly bantering develops into genuine affection, as the BFG shows Sophie the awe-inspiring world of dream creation and his sympathetic situation as a shorter giant who’s bullied by the bigger boys.

There are plenty of reasons to get emotionally invested in this film, and you’ll find yourself rooting for these characters as they journey through worlds both spectacular (certain sections of Giant Country look stunning) and mundane (the BFG hiding in plain sight within the streets of London is a great sequence). And there are a few really big laughs, too, particularly in the film’s final half-hour, which takes suitably giant-sized swerve.

But one thing this film lacks is tension. After making us care for its central characters, E.T. made us cry by suggesting that one of them was going die, for instance, even ahead of its infamous ending. Rather than pushing us to these heartstring-tugging emotional extremes, The BFG is more of an ambling-along-at-an-enjoyable-pace sort of experience.

For some, the use of computer generated effects here might be problematic as well. While the spot-on use of motion capture allows Rylance to give a wonderfully charming performance despite being caked in white dots (the BFG himself looks and sounds brilliant throughout), the way in which scenes are stitched together is often distracting. Using technical wizardry, Spielberg regularly zooms out of Sophie’s tiny viewpoint and up into the BFG’s taller perspective. 

This means that the transition between physical characters and CGI ones is often very noticeable, and resultantly you’ll sometimes find yourself looking for the seams and the cracks in the editing rather than suspending your disbelief and enjoying the wonderful performances on show. Even when there’s a lot to enjoy on screen, being taken out of a film is always jarring and detrimental.

Arguably, though, The BFG was never meant to be about nerve-shredding tension or immersive special effects. It’s meant to be about the friendship between a giant and a girl, and this new movie version succeeds in that regard. 

Ruby Barnhill was a great find, showing plenty of confidence, comic flair and emotional range as Sophie, despite this being her first ever screen role. And Rylance bounces off her wonderfully, bringing the BFG’s nervous disposition and quirky understanding of the English language to life in a way that’ll plaster a smile to your face for the duration of the film.

When other characters get involved (with the exception, perhaps, of a certain surprise guest), they don’t stand a chance of making an impact alongside this impeccable double act. The other giants seem very one-dimensional and uninteresting by comparison, especially when all they’re given to do is bully the BFG and lark around. A huge and kinetic CGI sequence where the BFG’s conflict with these bullies comes to a head is probably the low-point of the film.

Overall, this is a fun little film, bolstered by two great performances and some stellar mo-cap engineering, but marred by some distracting editing, less interesting side characters and a lack of tension. It’ll find a place in your heart, but it won’t trouble your tear glands.

A bit of a change for Geeks Vs Loneliness this week. I think it's a bit of an odd time in the world, and it seems right to talk about that, and if there's anything we can do.

The last four weeks, whichever side of the assorted big and small arguments that have been going on, have not really shown the world in a great light, I don’t think. Be it politics, blockbuster movies, cultural divisions or social media, it’s as if a big magnifying glass has been held up to human beings, and there’s been some realisation that we might all be different. As if that’s a threat or a problem.

Geekdom has long saluted and embraced differences, and part of the fun of the geek community has been the debates, the arguments, the passion, and the coming together for a pint of large/cup of coffee/nice slice of cheesecake/add your own afterwards. Appreciating that we’re different, but we still have lots of common.

I know I’m simplifying, and deliberately so. Some horrible stuff has been happening online and offline these past few weeks, and I know from the messages many of you have been sending that you are as sick to your stomach of it as me. At a point where the word is tough for so many people, the prevailing attitude is one that seems to lead to more loneliness, rather than more companionship.

I don’t think that’s what the geek community is about, and should be about. I’ll go further. I think it’s incumbent on anyone with any kind of platform – including a little website like this one – to do something. We can all, surely, change the world one person at a time.

Because the thing is, so many people each and every week are doing so many good things. It’s just nobody bothers to report that. It's the bad stuff, and the hate, that gets the headlines. And I want to do something about that.

I’m proposing, therefore, that next week’s Geeks Vs Loneliness is going to be dedicated to brilliant things that geeks have done in the past seven days. As simple as that. A great big feck-off clickbait-to-hell list of all the good things that people have been doing. And I need your help.

Has someone been kind to you? Have you lent a DVD to someone who was having a crap time? Have you bought an extra coffee for someone? Then tell us. Mail us at denofgeek@yahoo.com or leave a comment here. Even if you tend to be quite shy, and it all feels a bit humblebraggy, I think it’s very much worth it on this occasion. Please: let’s come up with a bumper list of positivity and goodness. Let’s just list a tiny snapshot of the small nuggets of goodness that human beings bring to the world.

As for this week, I want to hand the rest of Geeks Vs Loneliness over to Ted Theodore Logan and Bill S Preston. People sneer at films like Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, I hear. But heck: they’ve got far more wisdom in them than half of the Oscar-bait that I’ve sat through…

One Of The Three Most Important People in the World: It's you!

Ted: Yeah! It's us!
[to Bill]

Ted: Who are we?

Ted: Bill, I think they want us to say something.

Bill: What should I say?

Ted: [shrugs] Make something up.

Bill: Be excellent to each other.

Be excellent to each other, folks. And thanks, as always, for reading…