Posted by Lee MacOdrum | September 2, 2010, 10:25 (EST) | 15 Comments
Category: TV Series

Countdown to The Return is a series of guest posts by Vampire Diaries fans on topics they’re pondering as we head into Season 2. Blogger Lee MacOdrum looks at the history of werewolves in folklore and pop culture and ponders how Vampire Diaries will make its mark in lycanthrope legend.

In folklore, we know him as vaukalak, hombre lobo, lupo mannaro, loup-garou, lycanthropos. In pop culture, we know him as Lawrence Talbot, David Kessler, Will Randall, Lucian, Jacob Black, Alcide, George Sands. He is the lukos anthropos: the werewolf. And in a few short days, the names of Mason and Tyler Lockwood will be added to his legend. I can’t wait! Ever since Tyler’s wolf-tastic yellow eye peered up at that perplexed paramedic, this particular arc has had me on the edge of my seat in anticipation for Season Two to begin.

One of the things that initially drew me to The Vampire Diaries was the way in which the show’s writers cleverly combined traditional folklore and pop culture perceptions with a pinch of their own original spin to create the show’s vampire lore. Now they have the same opportunity with werewolves and I am stoked.

To date, we know our Lockwood lycanthropes will shift into “real wolf” forms (nod to folklore) and their change will be dependent on the full moon (nod to pop culture), but if the residents of Mystic Falls are going to make it out of this one alive (well, some of them anyway), two vital questions still need answering: How does one become a werewolf? And how does one kill a werewolf?

While we wait in fevered anticipation for The Vampire Diaries reveal, I thought it might be fun to take a quick look at how folklore and pop culture werewolf mythology has answered these questions before.

CLICK TO CONTINUE READING “LOCKWOODS, LEGENDS & LYCANTHROPES – OH MY!”

Posted by Vee | September 1, 2010, 13:07 (EST) | 23 Comments
Category: TV Series

Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker has seen The Return – the premiere episode of Vampire Diaries Season 2 – and his score is a solid B+, with a special comment on Taylor Kinney’s Mason Lockwood. WARNING: Vague spoilers, but spoilers just the same! You have been warned.

But the throbbing red heart of The Vampire Diaries remains the tension between Damon and Paul Wesley’s Stefan, and their mutual attraction to whomever Dobrev is embodying at the time. ”She’s Katherine! She loves to play games!” splutters Damon in the season opener. It’s not long after this that she plays a romantic game with him that will doubtless have reverberations throughout the season. As Katherine says: ”Game on.”

READ THE ENTIRE REVIEW OVER AT ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY.

Also, as a side comment: SpikeTV’s Scream Awards 2010 nominees have been announced and not a single nomination for The Vampire Diaries? LAME.

Posted by Erin Brown | August 31, 2010, 21:22 (EST) | 37 Comments
Category: TV Series

Countdown to The Return is a series of guest posts by Vampire Diaries fans on topics they’re pondering as we head into Season 2. Blogger Erin Brown is having a fangirl crisis and a certain Lockwood’s animal magnetism is to blame.

For the record, I’m a Stefan girl; I’ve always been a Stefan girl.

I’d like to blame David Boreanaz for all of this, of course – Angel/Angelus, aka the Original Captain Brood – for instilling my love of a tortured expression on a handsome face, but in truth, I’ve always loved a good moper with supernatural abilities and chiseled features; one who is ever-searching for his redemption by playing the good guy and being the better man…or at least an undead version of.

Paul Wesley, playing Stefan Salvatore, of course filled all of these expectations. The eyes, the abs, the forehead that has more acting skills than all the Baldwin brothers put together (what are there, like a million? Forgive me, but I lost count at William) and the smouldering, bruised expression? If we were going on stereotypes, it made more sense than chocolate and peanut butter: Stefan Salvatore had me well before hello.

But as the premiere of the next chapter in Mystic Falls history draws nigh, I find myself needing to make a confession.

It’s the eve of a new season and I am being seriously courted by another team.

Yes.

I’m looking at YOU, Tyler Lockwood. With your cougar-loving, bad boy, my-daddy-issues-have-issues ways, and anti-emo-Jeremyness…ness.

CLICK TO CONTINUE READING “WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG, BAD WOLF?”

Posted by Red | August 24, 2010, 17:23 (EST) | 16 Comments
Category: TV Series

Zap2It’s Carina MacKenzie is teasing us with another sneak peek at her Vampire Diaries interview videos. This time it’s the turn of Nina Dobrev, and to make a nice change, the conversation is focusing on Elena rather than the return of Katherine to Mystic Falls. Head on over to the Zap2It website to watch the video and read the article.

The titles for episodes 2, 3 and 4 of the Vampire Diaries have been announced: Brave New World, Bad Moon Rising, and Memory Lane (no prizes for guessing what that episode will involve…). And speaking of Brave New World, we have a couple of episode stills from that episode – and more from The Return – for you courtesy of the lovely people at Vampire Diaries Web.

Brave New World

The Return

Posted by Red | August 23, 2010, 15:13 (EST) | 9 Comments
Category: TV Series

To mark the return of the Vampire Diaries to our screens in September, the CW and Ford have teamed up with a doozy of a giveaway for fans. Fancy a chance at winning a vamped-out 2011 Ford Fiesta? Then read on. You need to be a member of Twitter or Facebook to participate in the contest, as you enter it via one of those websites.

Head on over to the CW’s contest site to find out how to enter exactly, and read the contest rules here. The closing date is Friday, September 3, 2010, at 5pm PT. Entrants must be over 18 and a resident of the USA.

GOOD LUCK!

We’re pretty sure they’ll be wiping the blood stains off before the lucky winner gets it. It’s best not to ask what Damon was up to before it was photographed, though.

(With thanks to I Heart Vampire Diaries for giving us the heads up.)

Posted by Dianne Sylvan | August 23, 2010, 13:39 (EST) | 23 Comments
Category: TV Series

Countdown to The Return is a series of guest posts by Vampire Diaries fans on topics they’re pondering as we head into Season 2. First up, author Dianne Sylvan examines why the relationship between Stefan and Damon is so compelling and why she hopes the tension will continue throughout the new season.

Vampire romances these days are less than a dime a dozen – they’re becoming almost a parody of themselves. Take one misunderstood teen girl, one immortal hottie, add a quirky best friend. Add clueless adults, a heaping helping of angst, some kind of bad guy to cause the couple problems (preferably bad vampires or, better yet, werewolves), and stir.

What, then, sets The Vampire Diaries apart from the rest? Why does it have us all salivating over the upcoming season…even jaded old ladies like myself, who cheerfully admits she avoids most vampire fiction like the plague (even though I write it myself)?

I think we all know the answer to that one…and no, it’s not Damon…or, not just Damon. As much as we all love a bad boy like Damon (Okay, “bad boy” doesn’t quite cover it, given that he’s a murdering sociopath), or a redeemed (sort of) bad boy like Stefan (who, let’s not forget, has killed at least one person that we know of, and probably more before he had whatever Great Revelation that made him give up the people-juice), both character types are hardly unique these days.

Yes, I’m dying to see the havoc Katherine wreaks on Mystic Falls…in fact I’m hoping she’ll blow the place apart and get away scot free, just to shake up the idea that the powerful female character always has to get it in the end. (Please note Exhibits A-E: Lexi, Bree, Grams, Pearl, Anna.) Yes, I’m looking forward to learning more about Tyler’s…um, animal control issues. And yes, I’m eager to see the development of Damon as an individual, and worried, I admit, that he might get a little too human, too soon. But what I’m really looking forward to is that very thing that makes TVD so fascinating: the relationship between the brothers Salvatore.

CLICK TO CONTINUE READING “THE SALVATORE BROTHERS & THE TIES THAT BIND.”

Posted by Vee | August 23, 2010, 10:09 (EST) | 23 Comments
Category: TV Series

TV Guide Magazine’s William Keck has a brief chat with Taylor Kinney about his role as Mason Lockwood, Tyler’s uncle, on Vampire Diaries. They also have the first official promo shot of this much-anticipated new character. Kinney discusses the effect Mason’s return will have on the various residents of Mystic Falls, particularly Tyler and a certain pair of vampire brothers, special effects, and more.

“Mason has learned to harness his rage and is going to serve as a mentor to Tyler,” says Taylor. “I’ve come to teach Tyler that there are choices he can make to control his destiny as a human…or otherwise.”

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT TV GUIDE.

Posted by Red | August 20, 2010, 15:08 (EST) | 26 Comments
Category: TV Series

We’ve got a full episode synopsis for The Return courtesy of Vampire Diaries Source and an episode still featuring Katherine from Nina Dobrev Network. Gotta say, with Katherine looking like this you’re not going to confuse Elena and Katherine, even if Nina is playing them both!

KATHERINE HAS RETURNED WITH A VENGEANCE — Picking up on the same night as last season’s finale, Elena arrives home to a nightmare as she discovers Uncle John’s and Jeremy’s fate. At the hospital, Sheriff Forbes is comforted by Matt, Bonnie and Damon while she waits to hear if Caroline will survive the car accident. After a confusing conversation with Elena about the night’s events, Damon is the first to realize that Katherine has returned. Katherine’s arrival sends Stefan and Damon on a path to find out what she wants, why she’s back, and how much of a threat she is to the people they love. Meanwhile, still reeling from his father’s death, Tyler is surprised when his charming and mysterious uncle, Mason Lockwood, arrives to console the family.