Castle TV Show, Books, Graphic Novels, and Videos

“There are two kinds of folks who sit around thinking about how to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers.  I’m the kind that pays better.” – Richard Castle, Castle

Back in March of 2011 I wrote a series of posts about the TV show Castle, which was then part way through its third season, as well as the two books that had been published at that point.  I even included some videos of the cast together at Comic Con 2010 to show how much fun they have with each other.  It is now time for an update. 

In the time that has passed since I did my posts the show has completed four seasons, with the fifth having just aired its first episode.  There have also been two more Richard Castle novels published, as well as a graphic novel “adaptation” of his first Derrick Storm novel.  Another adaptation is on the way next month.

The ideal way to experience all sets of media is to watch Castle Season 1, then read the book Heat Wave, then watch Castle Season 2, then read the book Naked Heat, then watch Castle Season 3, etc.  Rather than make you search for my original posts, I am re-doing them now in order to better present a flow or sequence to follow.  I will separate each season into its own post, as well as tweak the text to improve it a little.  The first two books already were separate entries, so I will not re-post those.  I will have links to them, in the correct sequence, below.

TV Show Intro and Season 1

Book - Heat Wave (posted March 10, 2011)

TV Show Season 2

Castle Cast at Comic Con 2010 (posted March 10, 2011)

Book - Naked Heat (posted March 10, 2011)

TV Show Season 3

Castle Cast at Comic Con 2011

Book - Heat Rises

Book - Richard Castle's Deadly Storm

TV Show Season 4
(The Castle cast did not have a panel at Comic Con 2012)

Stana Katic Singing at a European Film Festival

Book - Frozen Heat
Book - Richard Castle's Storm Season
TV Show Season 5
Book - Deadly Heat
Book - Richard Castle's A Calm Before Storm
Book - Storm Front
The Castle Cast at the Paley Center
(The Castle cast did not have a panel at Comic Con 2013)
Book - Wild Storm
Book - Richard Castle's Unholy Storm - No full review for this one because I cannot recommend it.  Both the story line (voodoo instead of spy craft) and the shoddy artwork are a disappointment.

TV Show Season 6
Book - Raging Heat
TV Show Season 7
Book - Driving Heat

On to the reviews…

There Will Be No New Posts for a Little While

I’m going to be away from my computer for a little while, so there will be no new posts for a week to ten days.

For those wondering where my Dark Shadows post is, I did not like the film enough to recommend it to others.  I wrote some short comments in the main 2012 Big Summer movies post.

In the meantime, some of you have been reading my recommendations for quite some time, while others have found this site only recently.  To tide you over until I get back here are the categories I did in 2011.  You may find something among them to interest you.

Movie Categories:

Won all five major Oscars
Great child performances
Narrated by dead people
Musical numbers for no apparent reason
Gwyneth Paltrow is British
Serious badasses
Everyday heroes
My top 10 of 2010
Before Star Wars
The Millenium Trilogy
Zack Snyder movies
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost movies
Commentaries done in character
All things Joss Whedon - this is the man who just wrote and directed The Avengers
2011 Big Summer Movies
Sexy moments that are not sex scenes
After Star Wars
Pretending to play themselves
Women with big guns
Movies by the numbers
Five best non-traditional Christmas movies
Harry Potter books and movies

I’ve also done some non-movie categories:

Castle TV show and books
Uncommon teen musicians

Whistling While I Work

I’ve spent the last couple of days making some changes to the posts here on the blog. 

1.  All hiking videos have had their hosts changed from the blog itself to Youtube.  I was never happy with what the blog did to the quality of the videos when I uploaded them.  I originally avoided Youtube since some places (such as my last employer) block their videos, but I finally decided that the quality of the videos had to be improved.  You will now be able to watch them full screen to get a much better view of these locations.

2.  I added links among posts on this blog to make it more understandable how to get to related posts.  It turns out that the Labels I have been creating are not being used by everyone because they don’t understand what they are there for.  People also don’t notice the Search box in the upper right, either.

To try to make it easier, I have added links to the related, individual posts in the Category Intro posts.  The Labels will still be there, so if you are used to using those, nothing will change.

3.  Another thing that has been happening is some people have been reading this blog from newest posts to older posts, which means the Category Intros are not being seen until after the movie posts related to them have been seen.  In the future I will post so that the Category Intros show up above the movie posts.  Please note that this will not always be possible, though.  Situations like my reviews of the 2011 Summer movies will require me to continue to post in the order I have been doing.

For those who have not noticed the Labels, or not known what they were for, here are all of the Categories I have posted about.  Clicking on the links will take you to posts describing them and within them will be links to the movies that fall into those Categories.

Movie Categories:

Won All Five Major Oscars

Great Child Performances

Narrated By Dead People

Musical Numbers for No Reason

2011 Oscar Nominees  [Note - search results list, not individual post]

Gwyneth Paltrow is British

Serious Badasses

Everyday Heroes

My Top 10 of 2010

Before Star Wars

The Millenium Trilogy

Zack Snyder

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost

Commentaries Done in Character

2011 Big Summer Movies
Sexy Moments
After Star Wars
Pretending to Play Themselves
Women with Big Guns

Other Categories:

All Things Castle

All Things Joss Whedon

Uncommon Teen Musicians

Note:  I also have Labels for movies by decade, by my star rating, and by foreign language to make it easier to find them.  Those links, and others, are over on the right.

All Things Joss Whedon

“If somebody comes up to me, it's because they're moved by something I'm moved by. I've never taken a job I didn't love ... So when somebody's coming up to me, or they're writing, they're in the same space I am in. I write for fanboy moments. I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I'm afraid of. I write to do all the things the viewers want to. So the intensity of the fan response is enormously gratifying. It means I hit a nerve.” – Joss Whedon being serious

“Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck.” – Joss Whedon being funny

So who is Joss Whedon and why should you care about anything he has done?  Well, he is a writer, director, producer, composer, lyricist, script doctor, humorist, and even occasional actor, among other things.  He has worked in all the major media, including movies, television, stage, music, comics, and even the internet.

Joss is known for his strong female characters, witty dialogue, characters that grow and change, and for not shying away from taking risks with his plots.

Writing is definitely in his blood.  He is the grandson of John Whedon, who wrote in the 1950s and 1960s for The Donna Reed Show and Leave It to Beaver, and the son of Tom Whedon, who wrote in the 1960s and 1970s for The Dick Cavett Show, Alice, and Benson.  His brothers Jed and Zack are also writers, although not as prolific.

Joss started out writing for the TV shows Roseanne and Parenthood.  Since then he has gathered a large fan following as the creator of such shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse.  He also created the internet serial Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. 

He was one of the writers of the original Toy Story (1995) and was nominated for an Academy Award because of it.  He has written the screenplays for Serenity (2005), Titan A.E. (2000), and Alien: Resurrection (1997.)  As a script doctor he has provided uncredited re-writes for Speed (1994), Twister (1996), and many other movies. 

As a composer he wrote an entire musical episode (all original songs) for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which was later turned into a stage production and a hit album.  He also wrote the opening song for his show Firefly, and has songs in other TV episodes, as well as in the movie Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (1998.)  He co-wrote the songs for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, as well as Commentary: the Musical on the Dr. Horrible DVD release.

In the comic book arena he has written many different books, most notably Astonishing X-Men and Buffy Season 8 – the official continuation of the seven season TV show.

He first acted on his show Angel.  There was a new comical character that was supposed to do a funny dance.  Joss’ vision was very particular and his partner on the show told him that if it was that important then he should play the part himself.  He did.  He spent hours in makeup in order to do a comical dance for several seconds on that episode.  Years later he was a huge fan of the TV show Veronica Mars (so was I) and he appeared in an episode to bring his fans’ attention to the series.

As a director, he has done many episodes of his own shows, of course, but he has also directed episodes of other shows that he likes a lot, such as Glee and The Office.  He directed the theatrical movie Serenity (2005), which was based on his TV show Firefly.

Finally, he was chosen to be the writer and director of the Avengers movie, which is coming in 2012.  It will combine all the Marvel characters from Iron Man, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, and Captain America, as well as some new characters.  This is the major culmination of what Marvel Studios has been working towards since the first Iron Man movie came out and there is a lot riding on it.

Joss Whedon has had a hand in many things, most of which are ones that I would recommend.  In the coming days I will be making many posts on those.

You can find my posts for his works here:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight
Angel
Firefly
Joss Introducing Serenity
Serenity
Done the Impossible
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
Dr. Horrible at the Emmy's
Dollhouse
Veronica Mars
Toy Story
Speed
Twister
Titan A.E.
The Avengers (2012)
Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Much Ado About Nothing (2013)

On to the reviews…

Castle TV Show and Books

"There are two kinds of folks who sit around thinking about how to kill people: psychopaths and mystery writers.  I’m the kind that pays better." – Richard Castle, Castle

I’m going to do something a little different this week.  Instead of a set of movies that all have something in common, I am going to write about one of the most entertaining shows on TV today, along with the books that are an integral part of it.

The ideal way to experience both sets of media is to watch Castle Season 1, then read the book Heat Wave, then watch Castle Season 2, then read the book Naked Heat, then watch Castle Season 3 (the current season.)

Because of the intertwining of the TV show with the books, I will write up a post for the TV show and I will have links in it to the posts on the books, so that you can easily go to them, then come back to read about the next season of Castle.

I am also going to include some videos.  The first has the two stars of the show reading an excerpt from the book Heat Wave.  It does a great job of showing the chemistry the leads have with each other.  I will embed this video in the post for the book Heat Wave.

I will then have a separate video post with the complete set of footage of this panel that shows that the entire cast and creative team have great chemistry.  It’s a really entertaining 50 minutes.

You can find my posts for these here:

Castle
Heat Wave
Naked Heat
Castle at Comic-Con 2010

On to the reviews…