2017: Stuff To Get Excited About!

It’s the beginning of a new year, friends! And with a new year comes a whole bunch of new media to get excited about! For this post, I’m going to keep the positivity train rolling and run down some of the movies, television and books I’m looking forward to in 2017.

Television

We’re in a golden age of television right now. There’s so much content being released every year, and because so much of it is good, it’s hard to keep up. There are two new series debuting this year that I’m really excited about more than anything else:

Legion

A TV series about Charles Xavier’s schizophrenic telepath son sounds like it could be pretty wild, right?  

Fox’s treatment of the X-Men properties has been a mixed bag over the years. X-Men 2, Days of Future Past, and Deadpool were all great movies. X-Men 3, Apocalypse, and Wolverine Origins were all rancid turds smeared over film reels. Needless to say I’m a little apprehensive about the prospect of them bring the X-Universe to TV.

That said, FX has been producing some really smart and dynamic TV over the last couple years, including an adaption of Fargo by Noah Hawley, who is also the series creator on Legion. I think bringing the oddball charm and humor of Fargo to one of the stranger corners of the X-Men Universe could produce remarkable television.

I’ll also watch Aubrey Plaza in pretty much anything. As an aside, if you haven’t watched Parks and Recreation yet, stop reading now and go watch it. This blog post will still be here when you get done.

American Gods

I was late to the party on American Gods. I adore Neil Gaiman’s comics work, but hadn’t read any of his prose fiction until a few years ago. Shauna demanded I read American Gods and OMAG I couldn’t believe I had waited so long.

Now that story is coming to television and I’m thrilled.

There’s always pitfalls involved with adapting a book to film or television, especially one with the scope and style of American Gods. There’s a tone and tenor of this story that would be difficult to capture on film, a huge challenge to bring the vividness of the prose to life outside the reader’s mind.

Luckily, Bryan Fuller, one of TV’s most brilliant visual creators is helming this project. His work on Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls and Pushing Daisies were all inspiring, but his recent run on Hannibal was one of the most visually arresting pieces of television I’ve ever seen. If there’s anyone who can do Gaiman’s vision for these characters and world justice, it’s Fuller.

Movies

Pretty much every year from now until the End of Time we’re guaranteed a handful of superhero movies and a new Star Wars movie. 2016 brought us a really good superhero movie in Captain America: Civil War, a decent one in Doctor Strange and two dreadful ones in the form of Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad.

2017 will bring us one of the most important superhero movies ever and the next mainline Star Wars film and I am super excited for both.  

Wonder Woman

This actually happening.

Finally.

If you told me 20 years ago fricking Ant-Man would have a solo movie before Wonder Woman I wouldn’t have believed it, even if you were bound by the Lasso of Truth. Well it’s 2017 and Ant-Man had his movie two years ago, but now it’s Wondy’s turn.

I’m really excited for this movie, just because it’s Wonder Woman, but I do have some major reservations. On the positive side, Gal Gadot looks fierce as hell in the costume, and yeah she doesn’t have a huge acting range, but I think she’ll be fine. Look cool and kick ass. The trailers look great so far (happy to see my boy Chris Pine) and Wonder Woman was the best part of the otherwise abysmal Batman v. Superman.

That said, the trailers for the aforementioned Batman v Superman were also great. So were the ones for Suicide Squad. And Man of Steel. Those movies ranged from middling to absolutely dreadful. I fear this will be the case for Wonder Woman – awesome trailers that show what could be a good movie – by the final product ends up butchered by a bad script and executive meddling.

I’m going to be optimistic. This will finally be the good DCEU movie. One of them has to be.

Star Wars Episode VIII

The Force Awakens was everything I wanted in a new Star Wars.

Yeah, it was derivative of A New Hope, but it had everything that made me fall in love with Star Wars as a kid – great characters, a compelling villain, breathtaking action sequences, and quiet heartfelt moments. The nostalgia moments and callbacks were handled perfectly in Episode VII, whereas I thought they were a bit hamfisted in Rogue One.

Speaking of Rogue One – I didn’t love it (and you can hear me and Kristin talk about it on the last episode of our podcast). I was wary about the off-year Star Wars side stories between the mainline series, and Rogue One did little to satiate those fears.

I am, however, incredibly excited for Episode VIII. With director Rian Johnson at the helm – probably best know for 2012’s grim time travel flick Looper – I have a feeling this next episode will go the way of Empire Strikes Back. I foresee a darker tone, increasing danger for our heroes, more tragedy – but I’m also the Rey finding her way as a Jedi. Those Luke and Rey training sequences will be a-maz-ing!

I’m trying to keep the Hype Train in the station, but I know as soon as the first trailer drops, nothing’s going to hold it back.

Books

There’s a whole bunch of new books coming out this year that I’m sure are amazing, but I’ve got a ridiculous backlog, so this is the year I’m going to finally tackle my TBR pile! Well, a good portion of it at least. Here’s six of the books I’ve already picked out to start:

Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley

Updraft by Fran Wilde

The Fifth Season by N.K Jemisin

Every Mountain Made Low by Alex White

Counterpart by Haley Stone

The Providence of Fire by Brian Staveley

It’s a pretty eclectic mix of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I’d also like to read some nonfiction this year, I used to read books on politics and economics pretty regularly, but stopped a few years ago to focus on fiction.

That’s what I’m looking forward to in 2017, what about all of you?