Nerdy News
Believe it or not, The Greatest American Hero is back. Just not exactly how you’d imagined.
William Katt, star of the 1980’s TV show, will be guest-starring on Heroes this coming season. Katt joins the ranks of other cult stars to appear on the hit show; George Takei and Nichelle Nichols of Star Trek fame and Joanna Cassidy from Bladerunner.
“I just filmed it last week,” Katt told Newsarama. “I play a really, really wonderful, seedy, smarmy-mouthed reporter that goes after [blank].” I was spoiled by the name he gave and didn’t want to do the same to you. You can click the Newsarama link you really want to know.
Adding to his superhero cred Katt has voiced characters on the animated Batman and Justice League series and is co-owner of a new comic book publisher called Catastrophic Comics.
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In other related news, Heroes own Hiro, Masi Oka will be starring along side Steve Carell in the film version of Get Smart in theaters this Friday. He’ll also be continuing his Get Smart role in GS: Get Bruce and Lloyd, a direct-to-dvd spin-off which supposedly runs parallel to the film.
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April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008
Sadly I must report the passing of a movie legend. The gifted Stan Winston died yesterday in his home surrounded by family after a seven year battle with multiple myeloma.
I don’t use the term legend lightly here. His career in the field of special effects, make-up, animatronics and creature effects spans decades. He began his behind-the-scenes career at a make-up apprenticeship program at Walt Disney Studios in 1972 and eventually went on to create his own Stan Winston Studio for effects.
It’s hard to decide what Winston was most famous for because he had such a vast array of classic and successful films. He was responsible for all of the Terminator films including the forth-coming Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins, which were groundbreaking in their time and continue to impress. He won his first of many Oscars for his work on James Cameron’s Aliens. With the cult classic Monster Squad he brought us five iconic youth-chasing monsters to fear for life. Edward Scissorhands wouldn’t have been the memorable character we love today without Winston. Another cult favorite, Galaxy Quest, made us feel even better about being nerds. Then of course there was his work on the Jurassic Park films which made dinosaurs truly real to us for the first time.
More recently Winston worked on two comic book films, Constantine and this years Iron Man. Besides the new Terminator film he was linked to several other future releases like Shutter Island, Avatar, G.I. Joe and a possible fourth Jurassic Park film. Stan and his innate talent will be sorely missed but he left us a lifetime of memories.
Hey Jon, no I don’t mind at all. That’s pretty awesome.
Hey Nerdy, I had to post this in here so you could see TGAH in his full glory now a days! Please don’t mind the posted link…but you have to see this picture…
The Average American Hero
We’re all really feeling the loss.
I’ve long believed that the Greatest American Hero was ahead of its time. There weren’t any other shows or movies quite like it.
We comics fans had read many a story about heroes with real problems on top of crime-fighting, but that was rare for outside that realm back in the 80s.
As far as the death of Stan Winston…that’s a @#$% shame. I’m still mourning the death of Harvey Korman. And now this?? Plus finding out that my favorite uncle, who helped encourage my comic book buying habit, may soon need a heart transplant, I don’t think I’ll be leaving the house today.
Sorry, didn’t mean to get so maudlin there, but it’s always the great ones. You know??
Hmmm.. forgot to post my name about…D’oh!
-superduperman
OMG! I loved THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO when I was kid and that theme song… believe it or not… pure bliss! This was from a less cynical age before music and pop culture turned to crap!
R.I.P. Stan Winston. The man was a legend and the best at what he did.. bringing to life these wonderful characters that delighted enchanted and scared us. Predators, Aliens, Terminators, Iron Man and so many. You will be missed greatly.
The best tribute we can make to him now is… put a end to these gawd awful AVP movies!