Frame Rated: BATMAN v SUPERMAN & SUICIDE SQUAD trailers

Just recently, over at Frame Rated, I've passed judgement on two of the most buzzed about San Diego Comic-Con trailers: DC Comics' double-whammy of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad. Please, click through to read!

SDCC Trailers: ASH vs EVIL DEAD • FEAR THE WALKING DEAD • STAR WARS EPISODE VII • THE WALKING DEAD

ASH VS EVIL DEAD (Starz)

I'm a big fan of the Evil Dead franchise, but I've had my doubts about transplanting the idea to television. Bruce Campbell's much older now, and can such a simple idea sustain across multiple episodes? The jury's out on the latter, but this trailer suggests we're going to be highly entertained watching them try. There are some hilarious jokes and nods to Campbell's age, while returning director Sam Raimi has already put together some giddily kinetic action sequences. Maybe it'll peter out after a few episodes, but let's hope not, because this put a big childish smile on my face. "Yo granny -- let's go!"

Trailer: DOCTOR WHO - Series 9

The BBC released the official DOCTOR WHO trailer for Series 9 at San Diego Comic-Con today, but it was also made available online. I've embedded it above. Not bad, eh? At this stage in the show's history, it's harder for me to be blown away -- and this year doesn't have a new Doctor or companion to promote -- but the promo does have a different feel. Darker, a bit edgier. I'm sure there are lots for the eagle-eyed experts to spot, but obviously there's the return of Missy/The Master (Michelle Gomez), the shapeshifting Zygons, the faithful Daleks. And who is Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones playing? Could she be The Doctor's granddaughter? The twelve-part ninth series begins 19 September on BBC1/BBC America, which means it will end mere weeks before the Christmas Special airs.

Watch the entire DAREDEVIL panel from New York Comic Con!

Marvel's new Netflix series DAREDEVIL was a highlight of the recent New York Comic Con weekend, and they've kindly uploaded the entire panel (embedded above). It featured stars Charlie Cox (Matt Murdoch/Daredevil), Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page), Elden Henson (Foggy), Vincent D'Onofrio (Wilson Fisk/Kingpin), Bob Gunton (Leland Owlsley), and others.

SDCC 2014's Saturday panels: AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D, THE SIMPSONS, TRUE BLOOD + Bonus BATES MOTEL

Yesterday was the third day of San Diego Comic-Con, and below are fan-filmed videos of four panels for AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D, THE SIMPSONS, TRUE BLOOD, and (as a late bonus from Friday) BATES MOTEL.

Trailer: TRUE BLOOD – Season 7 Part 2 (SDCC 2014)

Due to when it's scheduled by HBO every summer, TRUE BLOOD has always been able to debut a trailer at San Diego Comic-Con covering the latter half of its current season. This has tended to be a very good thing, as it's helped get audiences stoked for what's still to come. And when you have a poor season on your hands (which is quite often with this show), you need all the help you can get in keeping people hooked.

Trailer: NBC's CONSTANTINE (SDCC 2014)

NBC revealed a fresh trailer for their upcoming supernatural drama CONSTANTINE at San Diego Comic-Con yesterday, and it's a big improvement on the others (which were already pretty cool). Of course, I've already seen the pilot, and thought it was distinctly average, but they've reworked it ahead of transmission in October.

SDCC 2014's Friday panels: ARROW, GAME OF THRONES & THE WALKING DEAD

Yesterday was the second day of San Diego Comic-Con, and below are fan-filmed videos of three panels for ARROW, GAME OF THRONES and THE WALKING DEAD. Friday also contained panels for Sleepy Hollow and BBC America's new sci-fi drama The Intruders, but those haven't sneaked online yet.

Trailer: ARROW – Season 3 (SDCC 2014)

ARROW debuted its third season trailer at San Diego Comic-Con yesterday, which gave fans their first look at new guest stars like Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) as Roy Palmer/The Atom, Karl Yune as Maseo Yamashiro, and Peter Stormare as Count Vertigo; plus the return of Caity Lotz as Sarah Lance/Black Canary, new flashback scenes with Oliver in China, and Roy in costume as sidekick Arsenal. Warning: contains spoilers for season 2 in the first minute's recap.

Updated with a longer version, previewing famous DC Comics villain Ra's Al Ghul.

Trailer: THE WALKING DEAD – Season 5 (SDCC 2014)

AMC's first trailer for the fifth season of survival horror hit THE WALKING DEAD was unveiled at San Diego Comic-Con yesterday, during the cast and crew's panel. If you're a fan of rotting zombies being stabbed in the head through chain-link fences, mark 12 October in your diary.

Video: GAME OF THRONES – Season 4 Gag Reel

Debuting at San Diego Comic-Con, here's a two-minute gag reel for GAME OF THRONES season 4, which primarily consists of the cast fluffing their lines and some set dressing failures.

SDCC 2014's Thursday panels: 24, COMMUNITY, HANNIBAL & PENNY DREADFUL

This year's San Diego Comic-Con is in full flow until Sunday, but chances are you're not there to enjoy it. But hey, the internet is your salvation! A lot of fans upload 'shaky-cam' videos of entire hour-long panels, so below are my pick of Thursday's events. (If you notice any of these embedded videos have been removed, or a better quality one becomes available, please let me know in the comments section below).

The panels I would attend at San Diego Comic-Con this year...

The geek mecca of San Diego Comic-Con opens its doors tomorrow morning, and I... won't be going. This will be the 35th SDCC I've missed in 35 years. I know, it's shameful. I just find it hard to justify the cost of international flights from the UK, and, frankly, queuing for six hours alongside a 42-year-old man dressed like Optimus Prime doesn't interest me. Neither does watching a few world premieres in that kind of cramped environment, even to see a table of distant celebrities answer questions.

Trailer: THE WALKING DEAD – Season 4

I've embedded the first trailer of The Walking Dead's fourth season above, which premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con last week. It looks like fun, but I'm a little surprised and slightly disappointed events don't seem to be moving on from the prison setting of last year. I'd like each season to find the characters setting up a different base, if only to keep things fresher. I have no idea if the comics move things on, but how long can you hang around a prison for?

The Walking Dead returns 13 October on AMC, and most likely within a week later on Fox in the UK.

Comic-Con's BREAKING BAD recap

I just had to share this epic recap of Breaking Bad's past four-and-a-half seasons, which was shown at the San Diego Comic-Con last week. It's a phenomenal piece of work and effortlessly condenses all of the show's best moments and overall trajectory. Please don't watch unless you're completely caught up with the show, because it's obviously crammed with extensive spoilers.

It's also worth mentioning that UK fans have a legal way to watch Breaking Bad's final eight episodes, as Netflix UK will have the remainder of season 5 available to stream a day after its US broadcast on AMC. The show returns 11 August in the US, 12 August in the UK.

Here are some of my favourite San Diego Comic-Con 2013 panels

The annual San Diego Comic Con is over for another year; so as the geek mecca goes quiet, I've compiled a run-down of my favourite panels from 2013:

Community, Dexter, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Hannibal, the Marvel Universe, and Sherlock.

Feel free to embed some of your own in the comments below. There's a chance I'll promote the best to include in this post.

Trailer: FRINGE, season 5

Here's another trailer from the San Diego Comic-Con, this one previewing the final season of Fringe. As expected, it looks like the show will be entirely set in the future glimpsed in season 4's "Letters of Transit", with Fringe Division trying to rid the world of the conquering Observers. One would assume this leaves little room for freak-of-the-week investigations, being more of a serialised action-adventure with freaky science as the freedom-fighter's weapon of choice. A change of pace, perhaps, but one that should be a great deal of fun. Much of this preview is comprised of footage from the previous seasons, but there's enough new material to raise eyebrows and anticipation levels—such as the apparent return of William Bell (again) to help Walter defeat The Observers.

As a fan of the show, it's just great to be reminded that we're lucky enough to be getting closure—although it could be argued season 4 already provided that. I just hope this final season won't feel like an unnecessary addendum, once it's over, but I have faith in the writers—despite some of last season's storytelling decisions splitting opinion amongst the fan-base.

FRINGE returns to Fox for a final season of 13 episodes on 28 September, taking the series to a grand total of 100. There's something very satisfying about that, isn't there.

Comic-Con 2012: DOCTOR WHO

Embedded above is the Doctor Who panel from Nerd HQ at San Diego's Comic-Con, where Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill addressed fans. Fun to see Chuck's Zachary Levi as their emcee, too. So check out the video, which is the entire 47-minute panel, available in 720P HD if you click through to YouTube. The gang discuss the possibility of a multi-Doctor special, a very leggy Karen Gillan does a Dalek impression, and there's an unlikely rendition of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". A lot of fun for Whovians, naturally. Thanks to Doctor Who Media for uploading this video for everyone.

Doctor Who returns for the first half of series 7 this year, most likely August.

As a bonus, here's John Barrowman interviewing the trio:

Trailer: TRUE BLOOD, season 5b

True Blood has this remarkable ability to create brilliant trailers, packed full of stunts, violence, sexiness, and moments to make fanboys yelp with joy. Regular as clockwork, they've been releasing a trailer for the remainder of the current season every year at San Diego's Comic-Con, perhaps to take the edge off everyone's disappointment so far. As usual, it's worked.

The embedded trailer looks like a huge amount of fun, but deep down I know that these are isolated moments taken out of context. Rather like The Walking Dead, it's a show that can be made to look insanely brilliant with its imagery, but has problems when it comes down to simple character and story. So I'm not going to get too excited about what I'm seeing here, but I'll admit it looks exhilarating and fun. I just have a feeling it'll be dumb and soulless as part of the narrative. But we live in hope.

True Blood continues every Sunday on HBO.

Trailer: THE WALKING DEAD, season 3

A trailer for The Walking Dead's third season premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con recently, which I've embedded above. It gives us a four-minute tease of the new season, and it all looks rather good. But this is a show that always looks really good when footage is shown out of context, because there's sun-baked scenery, rotting zombies, and hardcore violence to cut to. The show has always done an impressive job in that regard. It's the characters and storytelling I have problems with, although the final run of episodes in season 2 were good fun, and overall I thought the show improved on its first year.

For season 3, there are some notable developments that have my interest: the discovery of a maximum security prison (with an idyllic town community hidden behind it), and David Morrissey as a popular character known as The Governor (although he doesn't look close to as fearsome as his comic counterpart, which is very disappointing). Still, there's Michonne the sword-wielding bad-ass glimpsed in the finale, and an amusing confirmation of a season 1 character's long-overdue return... so, this looks promising. Maybe we'll come to see that Frank Darabont (the showrunner who was ousted by AMC halfway through season 2) just wasn't the best person to run a TV show, and his replacement Greg Mazzara can build on what he started at the tail-end of season 2.

Quietly excited for The Walking Dead's return, I guess. AMC will premiere season 3 on 14 October, so expect a UK premiere on FX around that time.