On April 1, Twitch streamer and content creator MeltIsLIVE, aka Melt, was involved in a car crash while driving and using his phone during an “in real life” (IRL) stream. While it appears nobody was seriously injured, Melt was seemingly banned from Twitch due to his behavior.
On April 1, Twitch streamer and content creator MeltIsLIVE, aka Melt, was involved in a car crash while driving and using his phone during an “in real life” (IRL) stream. While it appears nobody was seriously injured, Melt was seemingly banned from Twitch due to his behavior.
The Fraggles are back! This past weekend, Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock returned to Apple TV+ for its second season. Red, Mokey, Gobo, Wembley, Boober, and all the wonderful little – and not-so-little – creatures have returned to entertain the young and old. Fraggles have long since been a part of many a fan’s lives. And with the new series, delightfully cheery creatures are brought back for some music and magic. As an old-school fan, seeing that the Fraggles have returned to bring joy to a new generation’s hearts is fantastic.
For this fan, I had the privilege of speaking to “Mokey” and “Red” and meeting a few of these adorable creatures in person. First, I had a fun little conversation with Mokey (puppeteered by Donna Kimbal) and Red (puppeteered by Karen Prell). Sometimes, an “interview” can be a lot of fun. And chatting with Fraggles is about as enjoyable as you can get. And while it brought a massive smile to my face chatting with Fraggles, there was much more in store. We also enjoyed speaking with actual humans, including Executive producers John Tartaglia, Halle Stanford, and Matt Fusfeld.
However, with the interviews on Zoom, we were still working on discovering more about the Fraggles. The following week, I joined other fellow Fraggle lovers for a journey to Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in Burbank, California (where we’ve been before). While the magic wasn’t evident from outside the building, the second you walked in, all the Fraggle love was on full display.
During our visit, live displays of how the talented performers create the magic. When we arrived, EP John Tartaglia led us humans through the adventure. The afternoon began with the “Fabrication Room,” where we looked at the creation of Fraggles. Scott Johnson and Alex “Jurgen” Ferguson gave us insight into how complex of a job it was to bring the Fraggles to life. And yes, we could see these beautiful creatures up close and personal. As a long-time muppet fan, it makes me happy to see the imaginative world from its early stages.
Fraggle Rock also gives us the tiny and adorable “Doozers.” And yes, Bobby Bennett gave us a look at these cute and cuddly little fellas. And we even had the chance to do a little puppeteering ourselves. It takes serious talent to do what these incredible individuals do every week. And to see the craft firsthand, the painstaking work that goes into every element of this creation is truly awe-inspiring.
Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock continues to bring these incredible creatures to life. I fell in love with these characters in my youth. And now, it’s fantastic to see new fans embracing the lovable Fraggles. Thank you to everyone at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and, of course, everyone who took the time to re-introduce us to the delightful Fraggle Rock. Check out Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock Season 2, which is currently on Apple TV+. Check out more pics from our visit:
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A decade ago, director David Bruckner made a valiant attempt to get a new Friday the 13th film into production… it just didn’t happen. Years later, he did manage to reboot the Hellraiser franchise, with his version of Hellraiser getting released through the Hulu streaming service back in October of 2022. Surprisingly, a year and a half has gone by since that release and we haven’t heard anything about the possibility of a follow-up – until now. During a chat with ComicBook.com, producer Keith Levine (who is currently doing the press rounds for The First Omen, a prequel to the 1976 classic The Omen) confirmed that they are having conversations about making a Hellraiser sequel.
Levine said, “We are trying to do a follow-up and there have been conversations. I can’t exactly say where we’re at in those conversations, but Bruckner is involved in those conversations and we spent a lot of time and energy, I think relaunching that world. A lot of brainpower going into crafting the Cenobite design, figuring out how we’re going to pull them off, and we learned so much. And I think moving forward, we love that all that knowledge is sort of banked and that time has been spent. So we think that moving forward and going into another movie is just going to be even crazier and even more awesome. So yeah, that’s something we’re definitely hard at work on, and hope we will have more news soon.“
Levine’s fellow producer David S. Goyer came up with the story for the Hellraiser reboot, and the screenplay was written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski (Super Dark Times). Inspired by Clive Barker’s novella The Hellbound Heart, the film has the following synopsis: A young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension.
The film starred Odessa A’zion, Goran Visnjic, Adam Faison, Drew Starkey, Brandon Flynn, Aoife Hinds, Jason Liles, Yinka Olorunnife, Selina Lo, Zachary Hing, Kit Clarke, Hiam Abbass, and Vukašin Jovanović, with Jamie Clayton as Pinhead.
A Hulu Original, in association with Spyglass Media Group, the Hellraiser reboot was produced by Goyer, Barker, Levine, and Marc Toberoff. Gary Barber, Peter Oillataguerre, and Todd Williams serve as executive producers, with Chris Stone and Gracie Wheelan co-producing.
While we wait to see if and when a sequel to the Hellraiser reboot is going to be made, Bruckner is working on a new remake of The Blob.
Would you like to see a sequel to the Hellraiser reboot? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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Between farming crops and picking up random doodads you find around the titular village in Stardew Valley, there are a lot of possible ingredients you can use to craft and cook new items. With this in mind, one modder has decided to challenge players of ConcernedApe’s farming sim RPG to create a bagel with everything…
Between farming crops and picking up random doodads you find around the titular village in Stardew Valley, there are a lot of possible ingredients you can use to craft and cook new items. With this in mind, one modder has decided to challenge players of ConcernedApe’s farming sim RPG to create a bagel with everything…
Recently, we had the chance to sit down with Michael Keaton and chat about his new movie, Knox Goes Away, which he also directs. Keaton is still out there promoting the film and recently ran down some of his best roles with GQ, including Batman. In the interview, which is really fascinating, Keaton remembers the controversy that surrounded his casting initially by director Tim Burton, which he calls a “ballsy move.”
For those who may not have been around in 1988, when Keaton’s casting was first announced, may fans hated him getting the role as his career up to that point had largely been focused on comedy roles. Indeed, he had many comedy hits in the 80s, including Night Shift, Johnny Dangerously, Gung Ho, The Dream Team, and Beetlejuice. In fact, it was his work on that last movie that directly led to his casting, as him and Burton had a great working relationship on it. In 1988, he had started to dip his toe into more dramatic fare, with him earning raves for his portrayal of a drug addict in the drama Clean and Sober. In fact, it was an early screening of that film that sold the producer, Jon Peters, on him playing the Caped Crusader.
However, once he was finally cast, there were many other challenges ahead of him. If you think about it, the only big superhero in movies at the time was Christopher Reeve in the Superman films, and he wasn’t saddled with as cumbersome an outfit. Keaton really had no idea how to even move as Batman, with him calling the suit a “deep lonely thing.” But, in the end, Keaton said the key was just to “work the suit baby; that thing will get you three-quarters of the way there.”
One notable thing he mentioned, as far as his approach went was that he never thought about Batman. “It was ALWAYS Bruce Wayne,” he says, “you start with that.” He adds, “he witnessed the murder of his parents; that’s a lot to start with, especially if you take the Frank Miller approach, which was what we took.” Indeed, Keaton would notoriously play the screen’s deadliest Batman.
One thing he also notes is how physically challenging it was. He remembers working out to try and be fit to play the role, which he says was exactly the wrong approach. He remembers Jack Nicholson, who was playing Joker walking up to him and simply asking, “What are you doing that for?” “I didn’t have an answer for him; he just walked off,” he remembers, laughing. “I approached it totally wrong. It’s better to be real, small, little and thin inside, so there’s room to breathe.
He also looks back at the movie fondly, remembering how much of a phenomenon it was. “I was part of something that was a friggin game changer in terms of how they make those movies. That changed everything.”
Knox Goes Away is currently out. Read my review here!
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The comedy realm is dealt another big blow as the world says goodbye to Joe Flaherty. According to Exclaim, the SCTV legend had been dealing with a sickness and was said to be “very ill.” In late February, Flaherty’s Second City brother, Martin Short, sent a message to their SCTV peers to fundraise for his home care in his last days, which amounted to $20K a month. Short had said that they had been made aware of the gravity of his condition and Flaherty chose to spend the rest of his life at home with his daughter rather than at a facility. The message would hit social media.
In Short’s fundraising message, he says, “We are writing to our friends because we believe SCTV meant something to you, and that would not be the case if it were not for Joe Flaherty. He was a mentor, a director, and an inspiring improviser who gave us many of the tools we are still using in the careers he helped kickstart. And he made us all laugh!”
Flaherty is a veteran of Canada’s answer to Saturday Night Live, the sketch comedy show SCTV, which also gave us stars like John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Andrea Martin and Rick Moranis. His notable sketch characters included Big Jim McBob, Guy Cabellero, Vic Arpeggio, and Count Floyd/Floyd Robertson. While Flaherty never quite reached the stardom of his cast mates, he was a successful character actor and had appeared in some of the most beloved projects in the comedy community. Flaherty would be best known for his turn as Harold Weir, the father of the two main characters in Freaks and Geeks. He would also appear in a famous turning point in Back to the Future Part II. As well as the scene-stealing heckler to Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore.
According to TV Insider, Joel Murray of Mad Men, and brother to the comedy world’s Bill Murray and Brian-Doyle Murray, took to social media to tweet, “We’ve lost another of my idols. RIP Joe Flaherty 1941-2024.” Actress Jennifer Tilly would respond with her own message as she tweets, “Joe Flaherty played my dad in ‘The Wrong Guy.’ I was so thrilled to be able to work with him. His performance was pitch perfect. A great comedian. Gone too soon.” And an account based on Christopher McDonald’s villainous character from Happy Gilmore, Shooter McGavin, would post, “No one could have played the role of Donald like Joe Flaherty did. His comedic delivery was perfect and his role alone made Happy Gilmore the classic it is today. He will be missed. Rest easy Joe.”
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Ever wondered how pro gamers get so, well, pro? Sure, it’s the hours of grinding and practicing, mastering a game’s systems and applying them in competitive situations. And yeah, it’s the hours of learning and studying, returning to a game’s roots and watching the players that came before. But also, it may just be…
Ever wondered how pro gamers get so, well, pro? Sure, it’s the hours of grinding and practicing, mastering a game’s systems and applying them in competitive situations. And yeah, it’s the hours of learning and studying, returning to a game’s roots and watching the players that came before. But also, it may just be…