Games

Today is (disturbingly, as I still think of it as a newish series) the tenth anniversary of the airing of the first episode of Firefly in the USA. Though not actually the first episode, since Fox TV in their infinite wisdom decided to delay showing the pilot until later in the run and instead aired the second episode, The Train Job , first. The series only ran for thirteen episodes, but has since become a cult phenomenon, selling millions of DVDs and Blu-Rays and spawning a spin-off film, Serenity . Here's the 10th anniversary Comic-Con panel reuniting Joss Whedon, Tim Minear and many of the cast (not to mention 'The Hat') at San Diego this year:

A powerful device called the Tesseract has been studied by the American intelligence organisation SHIELD for the past few decades, who believe it can be used to unlock the secret of creating infinitely renewable energy sources. Loki, a powerful entity from the world of Asgard, steals the cube and plans to use it to open a dimensional portal to allow an alien race to invade the planet. SHIELD calls in its top agents (including Clint 'Hawkeye' Barton and Natasha 'Black Widow' Romanoff) and most powerful allies to answer the threat. Leading the fight are the recently-revived Steve Rogers (Captain America), the billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (Iron Man) and the mild-mannered Bruce Banner (the Hulk). The Asgardians, aware of the extent of Loki's threat, also dispatch Thor to aid in his containment. The result is mayhem as the two sides clash in the streets of New York City, with the fate of the Earth (and potentially many other worlds) at stake. The Avengers is the...

2012 marks two anniversaries for Joss Whedon's signature creation, Buffy the Vampire Slayer . July marks the 20th anniversary of the release of the original 1992 movie starring Kristy Swanson and Donald Sutherland. More notably, however, Saturday was the 15th anniversary of the TV series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. Joss Whedon created the character for a spec script he shopped around Hollywood in the early 1990s. He was inspired by the idea of inverting the traditional horror movie open with a monster chasing a girl and killing her. Instead, the girl fights back and kills the monster, because that's her job. Whilst the 1992 movie (directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui) was a modest success, Whedon was unhappy with the degree to which his script was messed around with. In 1996 he was offered the chance to helm a TV spin-off and seized the opporunity with enthusiasm. Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered on 10 March 1997 and ran for seven seasons, concluding in 2003. It also spawned an ...