More Aqualinks

The Aquaman Pilot is available on DVD from Best Buy stores if you buy a season of Smallville. I'm tempted. Very tempted. I'd get the season that included the Justice League episodes. The Aquaman Shrine has an ad for it.

More Hallowe'en costumes via the Aquaman Shrine.

More Tex Time Aquaman Cards from Nostalgia Manila.

Another report on Paul Norris at The Final Taxi.

The Aquaman Shrine has The History of the DC Universe Poster featuring Aquaman by Paul Norris.

While I'm a big Aquaman fan, I don't do tattoos. I like 'em, but I've never really found a design I want on me permanently. But Wil Whalen did, and it was Aquaman.

The Aquaman Shrine posts covers for Surf & Turf 4 & 5. Ah, sweet fantasy!

Links

Aquaman Goggles at the Aquaman Shrine lead to The Greatest Aquaman Collection In The World. Yikes.

Namor's First Story.

Fish Scales.

Artwork: Wonder Woman and Aquaman.

Aquaman rocks (YouTube vid).

Mercy Reef... um... fanfic? It's short. Very short.

Links

The Aquaman pilot is apparently available on AOL Television. If you haven't already seen it, go check it out. Thanks Joe!

Rob finds more evidence that someone on Entertainment Weekly's staff really likes Aquaman.

Sea Life to become foundation for new electronics. That's communication through sea life instead of with sea life.

Polar bears are not white.

Links

Aqualad & Robin = Goofus & Gallant?

Podcast of Denise Quinones, which includes some talk of her playing Rachel Torres in the Aquaman Pilot.

Sightings and Links

In the episode of Smallville "Labyrinth", Clark is in an asylum. Eventually, he learns that everyone he thinks he knows is related to the asylum somehow, including a fellow inmate who turns out to be named Arthur Curry. Blink and you miss it, but it's an Aquaman sighting in an otherwise aqua-less episode of Smallville.

Speaking of Smallville, iFMagazine has an interview with Alfred Gough which talks a bit about the ill-fated Aquaman pilot:

There were a lot of different stories to tell on land and sea. The mythology, Atlantis, would have been a small portion of it. Every fourth episode would have dealt with some of that mythology. I think it could have been very interesting that we’re destroying their society and Atlantis has sort of turned into eco-terrorists – sending back people they’ve sort of reprogrammed as suicide bombers. There was an environmental angle to it that was very interesting and you could talk about politics in the way that the best of sci-fi can talk about it -- the way that BATTLESTAR GALACTICA does. It was definitely a cool show, we had a lot of good ideas for, the cast was certainly great. It was probably a bigger, epic show than SMALLVILLE.

Electra Woman and DynaGirl 2001 pilot (YouTube). Aquaman cameos at about 2:39 in, "They're serving halibut at the luncheon!". Thanks to Wil Radcliffe for the report.

Dennis Doucette, who is a Prince of Weekiwachee, as seen in these images, has a couple of references for us.

First up is an episode of X-play on G4 TV. Here's a summary of the episode:

Memory Card: A psychotic serial killer who would conceal his identity by speaking through a modified R.O.B. robot. During the 2006 Halloween episode, Memory Card kidnapped a number of G4TV hosts and put them through a series of tortuous deaths. At the end of the episode, it was revealed that the person behind the "Memory Card" persona was actually Aquaman, who wanted revenge on X-Play for naming his Battle for Atlantis the worst game of all time.

Um. Ok.

The next one is a little more lighthearted... In the Jeopardy Teen Tournament on February 12th 2007, Aquaman was a clue. It was in the Jeopardy round, in the "Stamps" category. The first contestant to ring in got it wrong ("Who is Neptune?") but the second to ring in was correct.

Go check out The Aquaman Shrine for yet another unique collectible, this time an empty but sealed soda pop can featuring Aquaman artwork and lettering in Arabic script. Hey Rob, put up some better pictures and see if someone can translate that sucker! And if anyone else runs across a second example of this, please send it my way. I'd like one of these.

Justin Hartley's Photo Gallery

Justin Hartley himself has a nice personal promotion website, which is actually well-designed. He just added some pictures to his photo gallery of scenes from the Aquaman pilot, including (apparently) some stills from un"air"ed scenes.

Be sure to visit his site and check out the full size images. These are severely scaled-down and cropped versions of the images on Justin's website.

As of this posting, by the by, the Aquaman Pilot is at #27 in the video downloads on iTunes, which is impressive considering that it was released almost four weeks ago. There are over 850 reviews, still with an average rating of 4 stars out of five. And I continue to get e-mail asking when the show will be airing. *sigh*

Detroit News on Aquaman Pilot

'Aquaman' a hit at No. 5 on the Web:

Mekeisha Madden Toby / Detroit News Television Critic

It still amazes me what the Internet can do for a failed pilot.

The CW put its prematurely born series "Aquaman" up for sale on iTunes a couple of weeks ago and it debuted in the No. 1 spot.

As of Thursday, the 60-minute superhero drama had dropped to No. 5, but that's still impressive. (A spokeswoman for iTunes says Apple doesn't release how many downloads that equals.)

Could a certain hip HBO dramedy have something to do with the webbed Aquaman's success? No one knows for sure if "Entourage" played a part -- lead character Vince played Aquaman in a fictional movie and passed on the fictional sequel -- but it certainly didn't hurt. I'd like to think that in this cultural zeitgeist, where TV influences the Web, the Web influences TV and both influence movies, anything and everything is possible.

The unknown variable is what will happen to "Aquaman" now. People are clearly willing to pay $1.99 for it, which means they would probably be willing to watch it on television, too.

Al Gough, the show's co-creator, told "Entertainment Weekly" recently that he and his team would be willing to sell the show to another network if one were interested.

Gough, like most of the free world, is obviously familiar with the NBC/YouTube deal that breathed new life into a failed WB sitcom called "Nobody's Watching."

The TV gods could smile on "Aquaman," which starred Justin Hartley, even if no one has picked it up so far.

The CW didn't add the series to its upcoming lineup and says that it has no plans to do so.

The Aquaman Pilot is still getting downloads on iTunes, and is still in the top twenty as of this morning. Hopefully we'll hear more about it soon.

Aquaman Pilot Drops out of Top Ten

The Aquaman Pilot on iTunes is now out of the top ten. There are over 800 reviews, and the average rating is still four stars out of five. While I've heard a number of rumors, I don't believe there has been any real progress on getting a network to pick up the show. In addition, should the show be revived, it would likely get new cast members. We'd probably hear rumors of the re-casting about the same time rumors of the show being picked up would hit the 'net.

Again, if you want to keep up on the news, be sure to check AquamanTV.com regularly. They have much better sources than I do for the television side of things.

Aquaman Pilot Update

The Aquaman Pilot continues to linger in the top ten downloads at iTunes video, with over 780 reviews and an average of four stars. I'm getting lots of rumors right now, none from any sources I recognize or trust. As far as I know, the status of the show continues to be the same: canceled by the CW.

If you really want to keep up with the news, bookmark AquamanTV.com and visit it regularly. He's got much better sources than I do, and will no doubt have new information (if any appears) long before I even hear about it.

Rumor Control

There are rumors that the CW has decided to show the Aquaman pilot. As yet, I have not heard anything from a verified source about this, but I'm looking into it. Until I have verification, I'm putting this one in the "wishful thinking" column of my rumor list.

AquamanTV.com Updates

Go check out AquamanTV.com for a couple of updates on the status of the show. The Aquaman pilot was mentioned in both Entertainment Weekly and Variety (again). I particularly like that we've now got a number for the downloads on iTunes: "more than 15,000 copies of the pilot".

Regarding the Aquaman pilot on iTunes... over 700 reviews, still averaging four stars, and still in the top ten video downloads after nearly two weeks of being available.

Aquaman Pilot Not Number One Anymore!

The Aquaman Pilot has finally dropped a spot to number two on the video downloads on iTunes. The rating average is still four stars, and there are now over 600 reviews. Over a week as the number one download, still popular with its intended audience... I wonder if that slim hope for the series to get picked up is still holding out?

CBS Blog Report on Aquaman

CBS's Blogophile tackles the question of Aquaman, with quotes from various bloggers about the life imitating art aspect of the possible Aquaman movie.

I'd rather everyone picked up the comic book to check it out, personally.

And, yes, the Aquaman pilot is still the top video download on iTunes, with over 550 reviews now, still running an average of four stars. I think the show would've hit its intended audience perfectly.

One Week Later...

The Aquaman Pilot is still the top video download on iTunes, with over 500 reviews and an average rating of four stars. There's been a bit of backlash, but it's pretty much lost in the reams of lovin' for "Smallville with bikinis".

Perhaps I should just worry about reporting when the show drops out of the number one spot.

Updates...

AquamanTV.com has updated big time, and if you are looking for new information about the WB Pilot, that's the place to go. I'll gather what information I can find, but the scoops will be there.

And, oh yeah, Aquaman is still the number one video download on iTunes. And the average rating, with over 450 reviews, is still four stars.

IGN Interviews Justin Hartley

Justin Hartley Interview on IGN:

IGN TV: Can you talk about what the interpretation was of Aquaman and what the storyline was?

Hartley: It was at the point where he was beyond discovering his powers; he was [already] breathing underwater. The interesting thing about it was, he didn't keep it a secret. He kind of used it to get laid and stuff. This is what he did. He didn't keep it a secret, which is pretty atypical of superheroes; he just kind of flaunted it. In the story, he rescued this girl and he was at the point in his life where he was dealing with a love interest, wrestling with discovering what his destiny was and where he came from, and why he has these powers. What it all meant, what his job was and what his life was supposed to be like, because he was kind of slacking off until then. And then he learns in the pilot episode what his destiny is. And he kind of tries to reject it for a little bit, because that's a big load to drop on someone, who's just kind of a party animal. But then he finally comes to terms with it, and that's where it was going to begin.

IGN TV: Did it involve Atlantis? That he didn't know that was where he was from?

Hartley: Exactly. Then he got information that he's from Atlantis, and he laughed it off; "Okay, Atlantis. Great." But then he came to terms with it, and thought, "Maybe this does make sense." He knew he had these powers, and he knew something was up. I think this happens with a lot of people, when something happens and you really don't have an answer for it. If you're afraid of it, you might not look for the answer. And I think that's what it was for him.

And, yes, Aquaman is still the top video download on iTunes.

Sunday Question

Here's an obvious question for the day.

Have you seen the Aquaman Pilot (available on iTunes) and, if so, what did you think?

And yeah, it's still the number one download on iTunes video. I wonder if it will finish out the week at number one. And the average rating is still four stars.

Archive of Sunday Questions.

Aquaman Pilot Continues To Ride The Wave

The Aquaman Pilot is still the top video download on iTunes. There are now 244 reviews (as of this post) with an average rating of four stars. In addition, my sources tell me that at least four different pirated versions have shown up on torrents or usenet. As always, I urge folks who are able to get the legal version to buy it legally, as there is a very slim hope, as seen in this quote from the LA Times:

Gough says he is nevertheless pleased that Warners gave his and Millar's pilot to iTunes. In addition to generating thousands of downloads, the pilot also is attracting strong feedback within the industry, enough that Gough holds out slim hope that it could attract enough Internet interest to revive "Aquaman" as a TV series.

So if you can buy it, please do.

LA Times Claims Aquaman Movie is in Works

LA Times:

"Aquaman," one of Hollywood's hottest inside jokes, might make the move from fiction to reality. As a key plot line in HBO's "Entourage," the "movie" directed by James Cameron shattered box-office records (a feat that got it a real ad in Variety), turned an unknown actor into a $20-million movie star and sparked a fight over a sequel.

But now, informal talks have been launched about the feasibility of making a real Warner Bros. "Aquaman" movie. In one of the strangest twists of this life-imitating-art tale, the talent agent at the center of the emerging "Aquaman" deal is Ari Emanuel, the brassy Endeavor partner on whom "Entourage" agent Ari Gold is based.

Warner Bros. said Thursday that the studio "is not currently developing" an "Aquaman" project. But according to four people familiar with the idea, conversations already have been held about the character's film rights, controlled by DC Comics, itself a part of Time Warner Inc. One top filmmaker's name also has surfaced as a potential "Aquaman" director — "Charlie's Angels" alumnus McG. The director is finishing the football film "We Are Marshall"; his reps declined comment on the "Aquaman" prospects.

[...]

You can also see potential audience interest. When Aquaman made a cameo on "Smallville" last season, it was the season's highest-rated episode.

Gough says he is nevertheless pleased that Warners gave his and Millar's pilot to iTunes. In addition to generating thousands of downloads, the pilot also is attracting strong feedback within the industry, enough that Gough holds out slim hope that it could attract enough Internet interest to revive "Aquaman" as a TV series.

Aquaman Stays On Top

The Aquaman Pilot continues to be the top video download on iTunes. I'm wondering if the WB has made back the money spent on the pilot from the downloads? Since we don't have any actual numbers, we'll probably never know.

In other news, you can buy the Superhero Stamps, which feature two Aquaman stamps, at The Postal Store. You can also buy a book of postcards that features all twenty stamps as postage-paid postcards with a large version of the art on the front and a smaller stamp version of the art on the back.

When I bought my (first) set of stamps at the local post office, the clerk noted the words "Chapter One" at the bottom of the page and speculated that there might be more superhero stamps coming in future years.