Posted in: Recent Updates | Tagged: avatar, bbc, doctor who, grant morrison, warren ellis

Avatar Star Sam Worthington Is… Dan Dare?

Published Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:09:44 -0600

Last updated Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:45:29 -0600

Look, he may be Australian, but he was born in the UK, okay? That makes him one of ours and perfectly eligible to play Britain's iconic military spacefarer, Dan Dare: Pilot Of The Future.

Pajaba are reporting that Sam Worthington, star of Avatar and the upcoming Clash Of The Titans, will be taking the role in a new movie featuring the 1950's comic book character who first appeared in the incredibly popular Eagle comic of the day. Created by Frank Hampson, each strip in the weekly anthology was intricately researched, actors were hired to pose for the panels and it remains a highpoint in the combination of draftsmanship and comic book illustration.

Adventures were generally spaced based and often revolved around the invasion threat from Venus and the Treen race, led by the merciless Mekon.

There have been many revivals since, including the recent Virgin series by Garth Ennis and Gary Erskine, a politically satirical version by Grant Morrison and Rian Hughes, and a live TV pilot was partially filmed and unofficially shown at comic book conventions in the nineties, starring Robert Bathurst, and more recently a CGI TV Series achieved some success.

Dan Dare has been cited by many scientists as their childhood inspiration, and was the direct ancestor of the likes of Doctor Who, Quatermass, Blake's Seven and much more. Warren Ellis and Chris Weston's Ministry Of Space is a clear reimagining of the concepts around Dan Dare in light of modern sensibilities.

I do hope they give him a prosthetic chin. And CGI eyebrows.