I spent three days basking in the sensory overload that is the New York Comic Con. The exhibit hall was bursting at the seems with booths, people, video games, people, comics and did I mention people? Lots of fun costumes too. The normal stormtroopers and other star wars characters, several Supermans (I saw three Supermans and a Supergirl getting their picture taken together), a Dark Phoenix, a dog dressed as Krypto, the Brothers Grimm fairy tale princesses, Blue Beatle, Mirror Master and of course the overweight Skeletor are a few that come to mind. The one that took balls to pull off was a girl dressed as Leeloo from Fifth Element when she was only wearing white strips of material to cover her girly parts.
I would have some awesome pictures, but I somehow managed to forget my camera three days in a row. All these pictues I scavenged from the web.
There are a lot of stories on Newsarama and CBR covering all the big events and the big plans revealed for the coming year. I don’t talk about any of those. This is just my experience at the Comic Con and what I learned. Enjoy.
I know everyone watching the 79th Oscars last night was probably talking about the Dreamgirls performance. While that was certainly impressive, I thought these other singers really stole the show early on.
According to an article in Variety, a Justice League live action movie is in the works with writers already hired to pen the script.
Whoa. There are so many questions here and so little news.
Would the new Batman and Superman (Brandon Routh and Christian Bale) be tied with the story? What about Wonder Woman since her current movie seems to be on thin ice at the moment? What characters will be involved? What menace or villian would do well on screen to fight the JL?
Alas, I have no answers except the news that Hollywood execs are trying to make it happen. I know our esteemed writer the Real Joe Ben would love to see the movie parallel the tone of Ghost Rider (insert sarcasm here).
But what would this movie be like? I think it could be extremely confusing and pointless or be the coolest comic book movie in years.
If you consider aintitcoolnews as a definitive news source, popular director JJ Abrams, who recently took a turn in an exciting (though deemed disappointing at the box office) Mission Impossible installment, will be taking on the Star Trek reboot that Chris reported here a while back. For those of you that don't know or don't care, the Star Trek franchise has been stumbling to a stand still creatively and financially. The last few movies were not what one would call blockbuster sci-fi adventures, although the last movie Nemesis had incredible promise. Seems the powers that be are going the route of so many franchises--the reboot (read: prequel).
Yes, that's right. We will be able to see a young Kirk and Spock hanging out and doing shots at Starbase 12. Well, not really (I hope). But someone else will wear the shoes of James T. Kirk and Spock. And Abrams will direct.
What I'm wondering is how far they will take this? If successful, will it mean an entire new series of these guys hanging out. I'm not really a Trekkie, but how many years had Kirk been in Starfleet before he took over the Enterprise? Will the storylines overlap? Will they destroy the continuity of what came before?
Who knows? All that we know now is that this project is moving forward. Look for Star Trek: Episode One to hit movie screens in the next couple years or so. We'll keep a look out on what poor actor will take the reigns of Captain Kirk and Spock, two icons of American 20th Century pop culture. I do not envy these guys.
And we’re back with another weird old cartoon, this time with a little outside help.
As we’ve discovered already, not all the shows from our generation revolved around epic battles between good and evil. Some were just your average feel-good shows. Such was Noozles, the tale of a girl and her magic koala bears.
Noozles was geared more towards girls for sure, but when you’re a kid and it’s raining outside and the only other thing on TV is The Young and the Restless, you’ll pretty much watch anything. Even girlie shows. That said, I figured the best way to get a general feel for this gem was to go with the female perspective, so here to offer her take on Noozles, is the lovely Tiffany. But first, let's check out the opening:
And with that we now hand things over to Tiffany:
Okay, so this was SO not my idea, but Chris wanted me to write about a cartoon that I thought had been completely erased from my memory, but alas thanks to youtube I took a nice stroll down memory lane and re-discovered my disdain for the Noozles.
I know what you're thinking – this was a girlie show. And yes, it was. And I wasn't a terribly girly girl but I still watched it. One thing in particular that I remember about Nickelodeon was how much I hated the shows (all of them) but how I couldn't seem to change the channel because, well, they were all so damn weird. And I was an only child who didn't really have shit else to do.
So back to the topic at hand – Noozles. The premise of the show was that there was this little girl named Sandy who was given a stuffed koala bear as a gift. So she rubbed her nose against its nose (I usually just threw my new ones on the bed with the mound of others, and when I got bored would throw them into the fan), and when she did this, the little fucker ("Blinky") came to life. But Blinky wasn’t alone. When he came to life, another magic koala shows up, only this one is pink and can fly. This would be Pinky, who's apparently his crazed, egotistical sister.
Now you would think my problem with this show would be the high "freak factor" (you know, stuffed animals coming to life and floating and stuff), but that wasn’t it, because it turns out that Blinky is pretty cool. I mean, he's cute in his overalls and with his squeaky little voice. Even the psychotic Pinky's kinda cute and endearing. After all, whenever the trio want to go on adventures to Koala Walla Land (Blinky and Pinky's homeland that’s a cross between "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Care-a-Lot) or wherever, Pinky pulls magic lipstick from her purse and draws portals on the wall. In the end, Pinky and Blinky were alright in my book.
No, my biggest problem with this show is the little girl Sandy. I remember thinking, “damn that girl does not deserve what she got!” I think her father had died or something and she just lived with her mother, whom she constantly mouthed off to. No, her mother wasn’t perfect, but she was a single parent trying to make the best for her daughter. Reason to be a total bitch to your mom? Hell no. Yet Sandy had no respect for her mother – none. And her mother was cool, too. But that kid was always copping an attitude, and it really pissed me off, even as a seven-year-old. And not only was she disrespectful, but she was whiney. It really took away from the whole magic factor of Blinky and Pinky and Koala Walla Land. I was a good girl. Where were my magic koala bears to take me on adventures?
Anyway, that's all I got.
So there you have it. Everything you ever wanted to know about Noozles but were afraid to ask. Thanks to Tiffany again for the assist.
Reports are all over the internet right now about the next Indiana Jones movie that's coming out next summer.
Anyway, the latest rumors are showing Doctor Jones will have a son in the next movie played by Shia LaBeouf. So that means (if the truth about Sean Connery returning is true) we'll have three generations of Jones going after ... whatever.
So I noticed no one has said anything about Ghost Rider. It was number one at the box office last week and I have no freakin clue how that was possible. This movie made 45 million dollars and it doesn’t deserve a penny. Okay, the special effects team deserves all the credit. The special effects are pretty cool. Everything else about the movie might make you want to puke.
Let me start by summing up the director. Most movies end and the credits follow. Ghost Rider ended and I’m thinking, “I can’t believe how awful that was,” and then, to make sure you know who’s responsible, we don’t get the credits, no no, we get a few seconds of “Directed by Mark Steven Johnson.” Whoa, is he a little arrogant? I thought he wrote this to? He did, that got its on few seconds on the screen next. “Screen story and Screenplay by Mark Steven Johnson.” Wow. Either he’s arrogant or no one else wants to take any credit for this total waste of movie.
Nicolas Cage is Nicolas Cage. He was awesome in Adaptation. Now he’s back to being Nicolas Cage.
I can only imagine the director’s input for this movie, “Yo Nick! Do something with your hands, not the same thing you always do, mix it up a little, you know, your heads on fire, go with it.”
Eva Mendes is hot! No really, in every scene she is glistening. I guess being close to Ghost Rider would make anyone sweat.
It’s hard to believe some one actually read this script and thought it was good. Watch the trailer to see some of the special effects, all the good shots are there and as a bonus you get to see the over weight gothic chick for free! The villains are pretty awful. I like Mephisto and Blackheart in the comics, but in this movie you kinda get the idea that they are bad guys because of some really bad jump cuts that shows their mouths full of sharp teeth. Then there are Blackhearts soldiers that, um, don’t pose a threat to Ghost Rider whatsoever and don’t really put up a fight. The fights were all pretty dull. The demon shows up and does something threatening to Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider is not impressed. Ghost Rider destroys demon by wrapping his chain around said demon or by squeezing him in a bear hug. On to the next irrelevant ill-conceived plot point.
Blackheart and a couple of his demon buddies
Ghost Rider had no real motivation to do anything, but golly, did he cause mass amounts of destruction when he was just riding his bike! For no reason I can imagine, he drives down the street and completely destroys it; cars blow up all the windows break and the pavement buckles. Oh wait, it gets the policemen to chase him around. I see, another well thought out plot point.
And then there was Sam Elliot. I really like Sam Elliot. He did a bang up job in Road House, but he couldn’t save Ghost Rider. I even got excited for a moment when he became the cowboy Ghost Rider and rode with Ghost Rider to face Blackheart for the final battle, but then they got there and he said good luck and left.
Just a couple of ghost riders taking a 500 mile joyride. Yes, they actually cover 500 miles this way in about 30 seconds.
I hope this movie does super poor this weekend. I really wish there was a way I could warn everyone about this movie so it made no more money. I’m so annoyed by this movie I don’t want Mark Steven Johnson to make another movie. Ever.
(Sorry for all the comas, I threw a semi-colon in one or two places to kinda mix things up a bit.)
Boba Fett is the man, according to Nerduary voters. Fett took out Firefly's Jubal Early in a clean sweep, making him the most talented and feared bounty hunter in the galaxy. Thanks to all that voted.
In the spirit of weird old cartoon week, this week should be a showdown of the greats. To narrow it down a bit, which cartoon team would triumph over all the others? If they were on a level playing field and forced to fight one another, every kid from the 80s wondered what team would come out on top. To further narrow the field of teams down, we will concentrate on just the good guys. Bad guys might be a future showdown ...
Now is your chance to vote for the team you think would become The Nerduary's Lord of the Cartoon. On to the contendas ...
1. G.I.JOE
2. Autobots
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
4. Thundercats
5. Voltron
6. Silverhawks
7. M.A.S.K (For Derek)
I admit, I do not know my 80s cartoons well enough to develop an all encompassing list. You pissed I didn't include your favorite end all, best of the best good guy team? Write 'em in your post. Votes will be tallied up next Thursday morning.
When I first came across this show I really had no idea what to make of it. It looked like Star Wars and Buck Rogers, but the people running the space ships were and shooting the lasers were… animals?
Such was Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Menace. The story has your basic sci-fi set-up: the bad guys, in the case the fascist Toad Empire, are at war with the galaxy’s mammals in a winner-takes-all battle royale. Only with… animals?
Pretty much. See, the war is taking place in a universe parallel to our own. Cleverly called the “aniverse”, every living thing appears to be a humanoid version of critters found on Earth. We not only have rabbits, but also ducks, pandas, mice, cats and any number of other animals. There’s also a human kid, but more on him in a moment.
Captain of the Righteous Indignation (cool name for a ship in my opinion), Bucky O’Hare zips all over space thwarting the evil Toads (amphibious Nazis), who, as the series opens, have captured O’Hare’s home planet. While most of his crew is composed of animals, we shouldn’t forget Willy, a human boy from “our” universe. Willy is a smart kid and when he gets pulled into the aniverse, he soon finds himself working as the engineer of the Righteous Indignation. How cool is that kid? Not only does he get to live out every 12-year-old’s fantasy of taking part in intergalactic warfare, but he also gets to hang with space faring violence-addicted animals? Hell, I’m still jealous.
The best thing this show had going for it was the opening sequence. It just rocked harder than most other shows’ openings ever could. Not only does it do a pretty damn good job of summing up the premise, but it’s got an edge to it too. There’s a certain tongue-in-cheek tone to it that, while managing to keep sounding badass and dire, acknowledges that, yes, what you’re about to see might be a little silly, but not to worry, it kicks ass nonetheless. Plus it’s pretty damn catchy. I just rewatched the intro and still have it stuck in my head. Check it out real quick:
See? That intro alone sells the series. It makes you want to go out and kick some ass and buy some toys. I’m even going to go out on a limb here and say it’s up there with the intro to G.I. Joe.
I never got to watch this show regularly as my parents seemed to always have something for me to do when it came on (probably because their wallets were already screaming because it knew how inevitable it was for a young Chris to demand all the appropriate Bucky O’Hare swag), but I did know it was cool.
Space ships? Check.
Violence? Check.
Cool characters? Check.
What’s even cooler is that the show was based on a comic created by Larry Hama, Mr. G.I. Joe himself, the comic book writer who made Snake-Eyes a household name. That, my friends, is the kind of street cred money just can’t buy.
The show only lasted for a about 13 episodes, but it sure left an impact on young Chris. To this day, I still get images from time to time of an anthropomorphic green rabbit sending evil toads to Hell.
And I definitely catch myself humming the theme song.
The Little Prince, which aired on Nickelodeon, could have been cool. After all, it’s about a young monarch from a distant world who travels the galaxy in search of adventure. When put like that, it kind of has a Star Wars feel to it, you know? But while that is the basic premise of the show, it was nowhere near being that cool.
The Little Prince was this naïve effeminate kid from outer space. He lived all by himself on a tiny little planet where his only company was a naked girl that was part flower and complete bitch, and some bird who would occasionally fly in from space. Yes, space is filled with migratory birds evidently. And they can talk.
Anyway, the Little Prince got awfully lonely on his tiny little planet all by himself so he would often venture out into space to meet new people. However, there was one problem. Being the sole inhabitant of his planet, the Little Prince could hardly mount a space program. No worries, though. The talking space bird taught him how to get around that little problem.
He used a net to catch comets and ride them through space.
Even as a child, once I learned that this was the way he traveled through space I instantly screamed “BULLSHIT!” at the TV. Yes, I was something like 8-years-old yelling obscenities at a TV. What of it? My point is that even as a child I just could not believe that the writers of this show either, A) thought children were just retarded, or B) were themselves stupid. Really, someone can actually catch a comet with a butterfly net and then travel thousands of light years through the vacuum of space with no environmental suit or any other kind of protection? How does the kid breath? What shields him from all the radiation in space? How does he not decompress as soon as he leaves his little planet’s atmosphere? How the fuck does any of this make sense?
But I digress. He would typically follow the comets to Earth where he would meet other kids or weird Frenchmen who were obsessed with narrating the story of his life. The adventures were fairly uninspired, usually involving family spats and the like that the Little Prince would help resolve. And sometimes there was child nudity. Then he would head back into space.
That’s really all there is to this show. I know it’s based on a French novel and there’s a live action movie out there somewhere. If you don’t remember this cartoon, don’t worry. The more I think about it, the more I realize it wasn’t that spectacular. Check out the intro right here:
Wow. You know what? I’m actually issuing an apology to everyone right now for having to sit through that. That was just damned annoying and I don’t feel as manly as I should. I’m going to cleanse my palate with a Charles Bronson movie. See you tomorrow.
When I was a lad, summer time was a weird thing when it came to TV viewing. Sure it meant more time to watch cartoons, but I soon realized that there was no channel that showed The Transformers or G.I. Joe in non-stop rotation. So when outdoor activities got old, I had to find something on TV to watch.
And that’s how I found The Mysterious Cities of Gold on Nickelodeon.
The series was set in the glamorous world of Spanish controlled South America in the 1500’s, a time when anyone with a galleon and some guns (and a dose of small pox) could sail to the New World and really fuck with some natives. Back then men were men and genocide was a spectator sport. Seriously, I read once that when Spanish nobility got bored they would just walk through the jungle until they found some hapless civilization to eradicate. Or maybe Logan told me this, I don’t know. It was all good. Add to that how the Spanish loved torturing the Hell out of the natives to learn the secret location of El Dorado, the city of gold, and all of a sudden South America becomes the tourist hot-spot of the 16th Century!
Anyway, The Mysterious Cities of Gold took place in this romantic world, and followed the adventures of a kid named Esteban. Esteban was an orphan of sorts and really wanted to find his father, whom we would later learn lived in one of the cities of gold. Esteban wanted to strike out into the jungles to achieve his objective, but of course, he needed some help.
That help came in many forms. First up, there was the conquistador Mendoza, a take no bullshit kind of guy who was questing to find the city of gold, and his two half-witted helpers, Pedro and Sanchez. I don’t remember much about the hired help save that I always wondered why in God’s name and otherwise capable man like Mendoza would even keep them around, let alone pay them for their services. If memory serves, they screwed up quite a bit. And Pedro had a face that looked like a scrotum. But Mendoza? Ah, there was a hero in the most classic sense. Dark and mysterious with chiseled good looks, what wasn’t to like about that guy? Not only was he a hard-ass, but he wore a cape, and young Chris thought anyone in a cape was instantly cool. Mendoza was no different. I bet he also killed lots of heathen, idol-worshiping natives too, though censors being what they are, the kids never got to see that. Ah, well…
Esteban then got some help in the form of a couple of native kids. One was this cute little Incan or Mayan (I can’t remember) girl named Zia and an Incan or Mayan (I can’t remember) boy named Tao. Zia had some power to read knots or something else way too specialized while Tao was just fucking annoying (but he did live in a sweet tree house).
Then, my friends, there was the golden condor. What, pray tell, is the golden condor, you ask? A bird perhaps? WRONG! The golden condor was a frick’n jet! Yes, back in the 1500’s, the native peoples of South America had managed to build a jet airplane made of gold in the shape of a giant golden condor. Not only that, but it was much easier to fly than any modern jet. Don’t believe me? Well how do you explain how kids with no working knowledge of aeronautics could figure out the controls in about five minutes? I rest my case.
Oh, and least I forget, there were also NUCLEAR DEVICES made by ancient South American civilizations. Yeah, that’s kind of hard to swallow, but keep in mind they had help from Atlantis. And as everyone knows, Atlantis wasn’t exactly populated by a bunch of stooges.
To wrap this up, suffice it to say that the kids eventually do make it to one of the cities of gold (of which there are seven and validating all that genocide the Europeans were so good at) and Esteban meets back up with his dad. But then a volcano erupts and covers the whole damned thing in molten lava. The end. I think the kids survive, but I don’t remember that much.
Ah, yes. I have such fond memories of this show, but the pain is that only three people I’ve ever met know exactly what I’m talking about whenever I reference this show. My wife and a cop in Statesboro, GA. That’s it. Everyone else treats me like some kind of ass whenever I bring it up.
In all seriousness though, I do recall that this show was pretty cool. It was different that other cartoons and I don’t ever recall feeling like I was being talked down to. Even as a kid you can tell when writers think kids are idiots, and I never got that feeling from this show. Looking back, it did some cool stuff with out-there ideas of ancient cultures with powerful technologies that may well outstrip what the modern world has. And it looked pretty, which when you’re a kid, goes a long way.
Transformers. G.I. Joe. Thundercats. Silverhawks. There are some cartoons that have attained the special place not only in our hearts, but in pop culture as well.
But there are other cartoons from the days of yore that we all sat around watching, but for some reason or another, we just forgot about them over the years. Oh, we may remember snippets from their theme songs from time to time, but for the most part we’ve filed them away in the farthest recesses of our memories.
Well, it’s time to break out the mining equipment, because this week, we’re digging some of these fossils back up. A crack Nerduary team has spent the last few days scouring the globe (okay, the Internet) for those shows that time forgot. Not only are we going to talk about them, but we’ve also got some video compliments of Youtube to jog your memory.
And don’t think these cartoons are kick-ass either. No sir, some of them are downright… well, you’ll see. Want a hint? Think magic koala bears, golden condors, and French people that really hate dogs. So get ready for a week of nostalgia.
We here at The Nerduary have been keeping a very loose eye on the developments of a Dragonlance movie for some time now. It's been a very interesting situation.
For those of you unfamiliar with Dragonlance, the fantasy books chronicle the adventures of heroes in a land similar to Middle Earth in the Lord of the Rings. All the similar elements were there including wizards, warriors, dragons and elves. If Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien provided most fantasy readers around the world their first experience in fantasy in the 20th Century, I would be willing to say Dragonlance comes in second (unless, of course, we're including Harry Potter, which a little different than these two franchises).
Information regarding the movie based on the works of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman (the Dragonlance fantasy books heralded by a critic as "something to read after the Ring books") has been slim to none. With the exception of some very early renditions of principal characteres, all info released on the movie has ranged from "it's an animated feature" to "it will follow the original plot" to "it will be released Autumn 2007." For a movie coming out in a little over six months, according to the calendar as to when Autumn begins, the lack of information has been puzzling at best.
The movie's co-executive producer, Cindi Rice, has mentioned the film is aiming for a theatrical release with the sequels of the story's trilogy on hold to see how the first fares at the box office. Great news, right?
Now, director Will Meugniot changed that with his journal entry on www.dragonlance-movie.com when he wrote:
"Dragonlance production is in full swing and everyone's working hard to make an on time delivery. Even though the DVD won't go on sale until Fall, we need to be finished in the Spring to allow time for mastering, pressing and distribution."
Sounds like a direct to DVD move to me.
All of that wouldn't affect the enjoyability of the movie, however. These books had a huge impact on me as a kid. I loved reading something that seemed, to a younger reader, easier to read than the Lord of the Rings books, which I enjoyed as a kid but also had trouble with some of the heavy lifting required in the beginning of the work.
Still, I would prefer to see the movie on the big screen. The DVD release would mean I would have to buy the DVD to watch it since it might be hard to find at some rental chains. Of course, it's possible Blockbuster, Netflix or some other chain might actually carry the movie.
Regardless of what the director said, the movie is still being described as a theatrical release by numerous sites. Maybe they just aren't sure what the distributor is willing to risk until they have seen a finished product.
Time will tell. The Nerduary will continue to keep all eyes on this interesting development.
Seems they had a display of about 25 minutes of the upcoming Transformers movie up in NYC. The event was apparently for the benefit of Hasbro executives and other fat cats. They showed four separate scenes that seemed to start with the best gee wiz moments to the absolute scariest news for fanboys since Jar-Jar was heard on an Episode One trailer asking, "you saying peoples gonna die?"
To start, it sounds like any rumors of Michael Bay being true to the material was a load of donkey crap, as if we didn't really deep down see that coming. The movie clips they played were laced with tons of "humor." Do you want an example? I mean, do you really want an example?
Fine. Read at your own risk.
Seems there is a scene with a dog hiking his leg on an autobot. Yes, it's true. Apparently shocked at canine urine (hilarious!), the autobot takes aim to blow the little fleabag into tiny pieces. However, a nice person stops the autobot and begs for the dog's life. Wow, thrilling. The little mutt should have pissed on the screenwriter's laptop.
That's right, folks, the Transformers from your childhood are turned into walking punchlines. The review on aintitcoolnews describes the Transformers as loveable buffoons and compares them to Pete's Dragon. Yes, the Disney movie.
There are some other things that diehards will be disappointed with. Optimus Prime's mouth does move during his speech, rather than sport the covered face plate from the 80s. Peter Cullen provides the voice (as only he can), however, the reviewer said you definitely can tell Father Time has taken his toll on the actor.
There was some interesting info on Bay originally refusing to take the movie. But then he had his Wonder Years moment and remembered way back in 1980 how he saw production drawings of Indiana Jones while working at Lucasfilm and went home telling his friends how much the movie would "suck." Good call there, dumb ass. Yeah, that Indiana Jones movie sure blew at the box office.
I know there are some of you still looking forward to the movie. Who knows? I might even see it. I just didn't have the heart to post all the information on these scenes on The Nerduary. If you really want to read it, visit http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31595.
With the creators of Battlestar Galactica promising that a major character will be revealed as a Cylon by the end of the current season, fans are speculating as to who it will be. Let’s take a look at the candidates and try and get to the bottom of this mystery (if we can at least).
William Adama
Evidence For: The man loves his fellow crewmen, but that could all be a ruse or just part of his programming. There have been times when he makes an abrupt about-face in his strategies based on hunches, and he did recover from Boomer’s assassination attempt rather quickly. Add to that the fact that he was the last in the military to stick to the old ways of avoiding networks, Adama’s hunch may have been his Cylon subconscious winning out. Oh, and he was quite willing to make Sharon an officer in the fleet again. Hmmm….
Evidence Against: Come on, could Commander Adama really be a Cylon? The guy has found more ways to frak Cylon’s than anyone else in the fleet. Then there’s the real kicker: he has two biological sons. Sharon Agathon aside, this is something of an impossibility for Cylons.
Gaius Baltar
Evidence For: Ever since he miraculously survived the holocaust of Caprica, Baltar has been plagued by visions of a mental Number 6. For most of three season, it’s been told that Baltar is fated for something great, even being called “The Chosen One” by Number 6. He’s been something of a Cylon sympathizer (although to be fair, that’s only because of the circumstances he found himself in). His trial starts soon, and this cockroach of space may well find himself in an airlock by the season’s end. But if he dies, will we see him return in a new body?
Evidence Against: Well, his mental Number 6 has pretty much told him that he’s not a Cylon. That’s a hell of an argument against, plus it would be too obvious a choice to be Baltar. But maybe that’s all just a red herring.
Tom Zarek
Evidence For: The guy has been anti-establishment from the start and has worked to undermine both Adama’s and Roslin’s authority at every turn. A master at subversion, he has worked from the inside to establish his own agenda. Now as vice president of the colonies, Zarek has attained more power than he’s ever had and could just be biding his time until the right moment. And just what’s he afraid that will come to light should Baltar’s trial go through anyway?
Evidence Against: History. Zarek has been a very public figure for almost 40 years. There’s a record of his coming and goings, and a good portion of that time was spent sitting in prison. No, it seems Zarek is just out for Zarek and will use any ideology he can to make sure he has as much power as he can attain.
Anastasia Dualla
Evidence For: She’s been romantically linked to powerful people in both the military and the government and is known for being the quiet one. People confide in her and she is privy to a lot of secrets. When Cylon Centurions got abord the Galactica, she was the only survivor in her particular corridor, suffering only a concussion. Luck or good cover story?
Evidence Against: Dee is often the voice of reason to whomever talks to her. She also has a pretty well established history and talks of family and the like. We've seen her ill and we've seen her get fatigued like regular soldiers after prolonged physical activity.
Felix Gaeta
Evidence For: In “33”, Gaeta noticed a strange device attached to the DRADIS and didn’t tell anyone about it, a device that was later revealed to allow Cylons to track the Galactica. He also worked closely with Dr. Baltar when the Cylon detector was being developed (not to mention Baltar neglected to tell Boomer she was a Cylon out of fear). Then there was Gaeta’s attempt to kill Baltar recently after Baltar whispered something into his ear. Wonder what was said?
Evidence Against: Gaeta has been working with Adama since before the Cylon’s infiltrated human society and even worked with the resistance on New Caprica to thwart Cylon plans.
Kara “Starbuck” Thrace
Evidence For: A lot actually. She learned to fly the Cylon Raider when no one else could and could almost communicate with it. She did all those funky paintings of the Eye of Jupiter back on Caprica without knowing what it was she was painting and Leoban is way into her. Don’t forget also that when she returned to Caprica, while all the other women capable of bearing children were hooked up to insemination machines, she was oddly kept away from that. Then, on New Caprica, her ovaries were removed. That’s just weird and smacks of the Cylon’s knowing something they haven’t let onto yet. Not to mention that when D’Anna saw the face of one the final five Cylons, she apologized. Now what would she do that?
Evidence Against: Starbuck has memories of a mother and a very fundamentalist upbringing. When she was a prisoner on Caprica, Simon mentioned that her fingers had all been broken when she was a child. Like Zarek, she has a history that may preclude her from being one of the toasters. Could be her mother was just a religious nut with access to lost scripture. Or her mother could have the Cylon. Huh…
President Laura Roslin
Evidence For: Everyone in the fleet thought it was odd that the only surviving member of the president’s cabinet was a glorified school teacher. Roslin is a strong will woman though and will do her damndest to make sure her will is done, even if that means going up against Adama. The most condemning piece of evidence is her miraculous recovery from terminal breast cancer. Baby Cylon blood? Hardly. Most likely the injection jump-started her Cylon immune system and purged the disease. Not to mention that we really haven’t seen much of her history. By all accounts, she was a very obscure member of the president’s cabinet who no one really knows that much about. And like Number 6, she was in the process of having an affair with a very powerful and influential man (the president himself) when everything went to Hell.
Evidence Against: This woman hates her some Cylon. In fact, she’s yet to meet one she hasn’t wanted to initially toss out the airlock. She also wanted to use the biological weapon the fleet found to eradicate the entire Cylon race. That’s just hardcore.
* * *
So there you have it. Could be someone on the list or could be someone none of us has thought of. But this is just what I’ve come up with. What do you think?
It seems the overwhelming favorite Batman wasn't even on last week's list. Kevin Conroy took the Battle of the Bats in an easy victory with Adam West coming in a distant second. For those of you asking "who the hell is Kevin Conroy?" He is the voice of the popular Batman animated series that debuted in the 90s. Michael Keaton and Christian Bale didn't receive one vote. Wow.
On to number 30.
***
This guy knew what he was doing. The length of the hunt told him that much. Boba Fett took Slave I slowly around a tumbling asteroid, making sure to keep one eye on the scopes and one on the hundreds of other rocks in the black space around him. It hadn't happened much in his career, but it wasn't unheard of. A bounty hunter targeting another. Some guilds had rules against such things. This was different. The target was different.
Fett glanced down at the image of his target: Jubal Early. He had never heard of the man. That didn't matter. Fett had killed or captured plenty of targets he had never heard of. The outcome was always the same.
The scope pinged and Fett saw another ship coming around the corner.
"You've been following me," Early said over the mic.
Fett smiled. "Make this easy. Stand down, power down your ship, and you'll be towed to the nearest port."
"Confident, aren't you?" Early laughed. "Well, that's not part of my plan." Fett's grin vanished. "It's part of mine."
***
Firefly's bounty hunter, Jubal Early, versus Star Wars bounty hunter Boba Fett. I'd say this showdown could be either ship to ship action or on the ground. Either would make for a tough showdown. Voting will continue until next Thursday. May the best bounty hunter win.
As most fans know, the show went from The Sci-Fi Channel’s most popular show to taking a literal beat down in the ratings this year. The network even moved it from Friday nights, sort of a death slot on TV, to Sunday nights. Yet the show continued to decline.
So basically the show has been on death-watch for a few months now, with everyone wondering what was going to happen. Producers had already teased that season three would end in such a way that everything you had come to expect would change greatly (ala the end of season four of Angel) and that another TV movie was planned between season’s three and four.
Now we get an initial order of 13 episodes for season four, and if the one true God is willing, that will lead to yet another full season.
Oh, and according to the article linked above to tvguide.com, before the season is through a major character will be revealed as a Cylon. I wonder who it will be…
Things aren't looking good right now for the Luke Cage movie. Director John Singleton talks here about the hardships he's coming up against to get Marvel's "Hero for Hire" to the big screen.
Sucks too, considering that according to the article Singleton knows exactly what to do with the character and how to make it a great movie. Hopefully it'll all get cleared up and we can finally get to hear Luke Cage yell that famous catchphrase of his: "Sweet Christmas!"
For me, part of the fun of being a fan of anything is finding out all the really cool stuff that goes on behind the scenes. Whether it's memorizinfg football stats or devouring People Magazine, people like dirt. Being a huge comic book fan, I'm no different, and love anything that gives fresh insight into the medium. And when it comes to comics, for me there is no greater love of mine than X-Men, so it's no wonder I tore through the book Comics Creators On X-Men in record time.
Published last year by Titan Books, Comics Creators On X-Men is a question and answer session with the men and women who made this little nothing of a book an international franchise and comics powerhouse. Put together by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco, the book is a series of conversations with various writers and artists.
Things kicks off with a talk with X-Men co-creator Stan Lee and not only do we learn about the inception of the book and how the team came to consist of mutants (Lee says he was running out of ways to explain why people had powers so he hit upon the idea people being mutants) but his thoughts as to how and why the book was among Marvel’s lowest sellers for a while. From there DeFalco talks to everyone from Chris Claremont and John Byrne to Scott Lobdell to Grant Morrison.
While a lot of hardcore fans will already know a lot of what gets revealed in this book (like how superstar artist Neal Adams asked for the next Marvel comic slated to get canceled thus ensuring creative freedom or how Jean Grey was originally supposed to live at the end of the whole Phoenix affair) there are also tidbits that, for me at least, were new. For example, the idea for the new international X-Men team came about because Marvel wanted to appeal to its readers in other countries. Or how the classic Days of Future Past story was an accidental rip-off of a Doctor Who episode.
However, the best part of the book is getting to look behind the curtain of the Marvel Comics of yesteryear. Not only are old story elements delved into, but the writers and artists go into detail about the climate of Marvel Comics decades ago. Chris Claremont talks about having to work with the notorious Jim Shooter and Scott Lobdell tells horror stories of having to work on X-Men as it was becoming even more of a cash cow for Marvel (basically he lost a lot of freedom in his stories). Former X-editor Louise Simonson talks about what it was like to work with the legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont back when it seemed like all of his ideas were golden. She also gives some insight into Stan Lee’s creative process (and the kind of man he is) with the following passage:
… I suspect the Holocaust- such a seminal, terrible event for the entire world – impacted on Stan’s sensibilities, his themes, the things that were important to him and the things he needed to tell stories about. I think he disguised it all as mutants. The urge to eradicate those who are different – and the utter wrongness of this urge – is one of the central themes of X-Men.
Another fun bit about Comics Creators On X-Men is the different perspectives we get on how things played out in the past. Take John Byrne, the artist that did such legendary X-tales as The Dark Phoenix Saga and Days of Futures Past. Byrne will tell anyone who will listen that he was the driving force behind the book, yet here we get testimonials from folks who were around at the time who swear that Claremont was the primary creative force behind the book. Then Roy Thomas, a Marvel muckity-muck of yore, shoots practically shoots down the story mentioned earlier of Neal Adams wanting X-Men becuase it was to be canceled by saying it was impossible to tell at the time if the comic was going to get canceled or not. Still, though, half the fun of the book is in hearing old legends get nostalgic.
I do have a couple of issues with the book, though. While it is fun to read the creators thoughts on X-Men, sometimes DeFalco doesn’t follow up when you really want him to. John Byrne talks more crap about other creators, yet DeFalco never puts Byrne on the spot or have him elaborate. Byrne rakes Claremont's reputation across the coals about his portrayal of Magneto, his take on Wolverine and even goes as far as to imply Claremont is a hack. Yet DeFalco never puts him on the spot or has any hard follow-up questions. The quotes just lie there as DeFalco moves to the next “what was it like” question.
There are also some creators left out of the book that were instrumental to the series over the years. Len Wein, the creator of Wolverine and writer of Giant Size X-Men #1, writes the introduction, but isn’t featured anywhere else in the book. Uber-artist Jim Lee had one of the most influential runs on the book this side of Byrne and Jack Kirby, yet there’s no interview with him. Hell, his art is even featured on the cover! Writers Steven Seagle and Joe Kelly aren’t here nor is 90’s writer Fabian Nicieza or current X-god Joss Whedon. This book would have been a whole lot more comprehensive had these folks been included.
But, all things considered, I’m thankful for the product that was put out. If you ever wanted to learn about went into the making of a franchise, then you can’t go wrong with this book. If you’re even a casual fan of X-Men comics, then this book is not only a must, it's required reading.
It always makes me giggle whenever I see a comic book reach issue number “666.” I can’t help it. What with Americans typically having something of a fear of the mark of the beast and mainstream companies wanting to steer clear of controversy, you never see anything really mentioned about an issue hitting that (although, in most companies defense, most haven’t reached any where near that number).
But, leave it Grant Morrison to bush the issue. Here’s the solicitation for May’s Batman #666:
BATMAN #666 Written by Grant Morrison Art by Andy Kubert & Jesse Delperdang Cover by Andy Kubert Meet Damian Wayne, the Batman of Tomorrow in this special issue set 15 years from now in a nightmarish future Gotham! In a world torn apart by terrorism, plagues, rogue weather and bizarre super-crime, only 24 hours are left before the climactic battle of Armageddon — and only one man who might be able to stop it. But will he? The Son of the Bat meets the Prince of Darkness and the stage is set for the ultimate battle between evil and moral ambiguity. Can Damian make peace with his heritage to save the world? Find out in BATMAN #666, “Numbers of the Beast.” On sale May 30 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
That, to me at least, is just awesome. I’m giggling even as we speak, especially that it’s DC that’s doing it, a Time-Warner owned company. I say good job in having a good time with a number that causes a lot of people to panic for no good reason.
Ah, I just wish Dr. Wertham were alive to see this…
Tuesday saw the release of the Dragonball Z Season One box set from FUNimation. And this geek is just in heaven. For $30, fans can now get the first 39 episodes on DVD, the entirety of the Vegeta Saga and the first few episodes of the Namek arc.
However, there are some hardcore fans out there that are acting like this set is the end of the world.
See, for years, Dragonball Z has kind of been a mistreated property. It’s first few forays onto American TV screens saw heavy editing of both dialogue and content, with references to things like death, Hell and light sexuality removed. On top of that, English dubs were often so different that the original Japanese scenes, they often played out quite differently over here, and characterizations dramatically changed. However, in recent years, fans have been given uncut versions of the show where most of the content has been shifted back. But, when DVDs cost about $20 a pop and you only get three episodes per DVD for a series that ran 291 episodes, to say you’re not getting the bang for your buck is an understatement.
So you'd think fans would be have Earth shattering orgasms over this new set, right?
Well, some are. However, the source of recent fan anger over the new box set stem from the series now being presented in widescreen. The problem though is that the series was not animated in widescreen. It was animated for TV. So to get the widescreen effect, scenes have been cropped and you lose a few inches from the top.
To me, this ain’t a deal breaker. In fact, I’ve watched about ten of the episodes so far and you barely notice it (and the only reason I did was because I was aware of the cropping before hand). Sure there are a couple of places where you can see where the awkward cropping was done, but beyond that it’s still DBZ. Yet purists are calling this a slap in the face to fans and on message boards fans that have broken down and bought the set are being called out and labeled as being traitors. I love the melodrama of fandom, don’t you?
Here’s what I know for a fact. Sitting on my DVD shelf is a box filled with 6 discs that I got for under $30 and since I’m a die-hard DBZ fan, this is a big deal. In college my brother and I dropped some big money on VHS fan-subs of the series. It was fun and we spent a couple of weeks eating and breathing DBZ. Now, I have the first 39 episodes on DVD and got them for cheap. The picture looks pretty and I can pop a disc in any time I want now and enjoy one of my favorite shows. No content has been changed and nothing has been added. Does the cropping suck? Sure, but not so much that I can’t enjoy the show (and oh, how I enjoy this show).
I guess my point is that fandom is tricky place to live and there’s a fine line we all walk between playful arguing and becoming truly enraged over the properties that we love. However, I think sometimes be become too wrapped up in our little microcosm that we lose site of the big picture, that being that we were all attracted to this stuff because it was cool and fun. When people started taking these things so seriously to the point that they begin publicly berating others and calling for the death of companies for minor transgressions, then it’s time to step back into the real world and take a deep breath.
Hate to break it to Firefly fans, but it seems that Han and Chewie in the Millennium Falcon just slipped by to beat Mal and crew in the Serenity. It was a close one, though, almost too close to call. In the end, the Falcon simply was too fast. Thanks to all that voted.
On to number #29: In this weird world of the Nerduary, what if all the Batmans were put into a warehouse and told the only way out would be by defeating the other opponents? Who would win? Who was the best Batman? The toughest? Quickest? Smartest? Now is your chance to vote on the best Batman in TV and movie history.
1. Adam West
2. Michael Keaton
3. Val Kilmer
4. George Clooney
5. Christian Bale
Voting will end next Thursday. Simply vote with a post and add a story if you wish. May the best Batman win.
I picked this up at a thing I had to do for work today. I looked at the cover and just laughed, but then stopped and said “Hey… haven’t I read this before?”
Yeah, turns out I had. This one was actually an updated version of a much older issue with basically the same story, characters and everything; but just newer artwork.
They maybe couldn’t have updated this with a new group of heroes? What kid today wouldn’t want to see Moon Knight beating the ever-living dog shit out of this 2 bit jack ass? Or maybe having The Punisher blow him away and then deliver an uplifting moral of “Smoke, and I’ll smoke you!” Or at least add a little levity at the end with Wolverine smokin’ a stogey on the last page and getting caught by the others only to respond with “What? Not like I gotta worry about cancer. Sucks to be you.”
But I guess they think that these “timeless” tales of triumph of the human spirit, or whatever the hell they are, still work. They work all right. They work as good rolling papers when those junkie kids run out of their regular ones.
I implore you Marvel and The American Cancer Society, please inject your PSA propaganda comics with something that’ll really scare those damned kids straight. I’m tellin’ you, give a ten year old a copy that shows The Punisher hunting down and murdering kids that smoke; and that kid will cry his brains out every time he even hears the word cigarette again.
Sandman. It’s one of the few comic book series that ever reached the level of being considered actual literature. Over the course of 75 issues, Neil Gaiman constructed one of the most beautiful, heartfelt and fantastic stories ever put to print. On the surface, the story of Morpheus, the king of dreams seems like the stuff of fantasy fluff, but what readers got was a powerful story about change, the role of mythology in every day life and the eternal search for personal connections we all go through.
There’s been talk of a Sandman movie for years, but nothing has ever come of it. There were even rumors that Gaiman has been working on a screenplay for a while. However, most that have read the series in its entirety would agree that condensing such a rich, fully realized work into 2-hour motion picture would not only dilute the impact of the series but would come out as something completely removed from what it was intended to be.
But, as I’ve said before, make what movie you want, you can’t change the source material.
All that said I have to wonder what makes Joel Schumacher think he’s the man for the job, let alone any studio executive. Not only were fans of Batman extremely turned off by his Dark Knight outings, but he’s considered by everyone as the man who single handedly killed one of the most lucrative film franchises to date.
Here’s the thing; Schumacher fumbled Batman. While the character may be the one of the coolest super hero out there, there’s really no way you can go wrong with him as long as you stick to a few basics. He’s driven. He’s focused. He’s street level. He’s psychologically conflicted. When he’s in the Batsuit, Bruce Wayne is gone. In fact, Bruce Wayne may just be an act all together. All you have to do to make a decent Batman movie is remember those things. However, Schumacher so misunderstood the character, a pop culture icon, that he presented something on screen that only shared a name with the source. Nothing about his films was Batman beyond the pointy ears.
I don’t want to be that fanboy, but here it comes. Schumacher on Sandman is beyond a mistake. He has already had two comic-based movies, and both times he displayed a basic misconception about the character as well as what comic books were. He was quoted as saying he wanted his Batman to reflect the comic books. Well, what comic books was he reading? Not since the 1950’s and early 60’s has Batman been as goofy as what he portrayed. His sets reflected nothing from any Batman comic and I have to wonder if he even bothered to get someone to explain what Gotham City actually was like to him.
The Sandman deserves better than Joel Schumacher. Period. If anyone has the chops to pull of something as stylized as Sandman I would nominate Guillermo del Toro, director of Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy, Peter Jackson, or Sam Raimi. You need someone who understands how to meld the subtleties of comic art and story telling with film mechanics.
I don’t mean to have a “Joel Shumacher sucks fest” because the man has more than proven to be a talented director over the years. Hell, Lost Boys is still one of my favorite horror movies of all time. However, especially when it comes to Sandman, you don’t need a guy who thinks comics are still BIFF! BOOM! POW!
Lost returns tonight after a four month hiatus in which the creators started discussing the end of the show.
Lost is still one of ABC’s most watched shows, but with season 3 viewers began to drop off. The initial six episodes of season three were very different than the previous two season, focusing on Jack, Sawyer, and Kate being prisoners of the Others and leaving little time for the rest of the group. (And did it seem like a Kate and Sawyer clone showed up to go hunting for Eko with Locke?)
Executive producers Carlton Cuse AND Damon Lindelof discussed setting an end date recently at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena. They feel that by announcing an end date for the show, it will give the fans a better idea of where they are in the story and allow the creative team to write towards an ending.
"It's always been discussed that the show would have a beginning, middle and end.” Said Cuse. “Once we do that [announce an end point] a lot of the anxiety and a lot of these questions, like, ‘We’re not getting answers,’ a lot of those will go away. They really represent an underlying anxiety that this is not going to go well or that we don’t know what we’re doing.
"[Author] J. K. Rowling has announced that there’s going to be seven Harry Potter books, and it gives everyone a feeling of certainty that the story is driving to a conclusion. It’s time for us now to find an end point for the show.”
Cuse compared the show to X-Files, “'The X-Files' was a cautionary tale for us. It was a great show that ran two seasons too long. 'Lost' has a short-half life."
Lindelof said about the ending of the show, “it’s always felt to me like the story is going to last about 100 episodes.”
The hundred episode would come around the beginning of season five, although no ending of the series has yet been announce and in reality it is all up to ABC whether they want to continue the show beyond the current creative team or not. Lindelof said ABC was open to the idea of ending the show, “We were surprised when we went to ABC and started having that conversation. As opposed to them saying, ‘Fine, we’ll bring on new people,’ they said, ‘Well, when do you think it should end?’ And the conversations began.”
Something I’ve enjoyed with the show is how with each season opener, the scope of the island changed in the first few minutes of the episode. Both season openers started in a scene that could have been mistaken for a flashback, and then revealed it was still on the island. Season two revealed the interior of the Hatch and Desmond. Season three revealed the seemingly quaint neighborhood life of the others that was interrupted by the plane crash. But how much larger can the island become before it starts to seem absurd?
I’m still on board with the show and looking forward to the 16 new episodes, but truth be told, I’m new to the Lost show. I only started watching it in January on dvd. Thanks to the season sets of one and two and ABC.com I’ve been able to catch up with the show, I really enjoyed watching blocks of the show. I’m really going to hate waiting a week between episodes.
I do fear the show spinning out of control with mysteries and unexplained phenomenon. I think an ending would be a good idea. It’s worked in comic books quite well. Vertigo is perfected the extended story line with successful comics that have a definitive ending and don’t go on only because sales are high, a practice that has produced some of the best comics of the modern age as shown by the likes of Sandman, Preacher, Transmetropolitan, and Y the Last Man.
Lost has always had similarities to comic books, not only in its serialized story telling, but also with its storytellers. Paul Dini and Jeph Loeb have worked on the show in the past and Brian K. Vaughan (Y the Last Man) has recently joined the writing staff.
All and all, I’m quite excited about the return of Lost and not all together disappointed that there may be an end in sight.
