Chillaxin' With Bobby Drake

 

Over at the Marvel Comics website, they've started up a new little thing that I can't help but find thoroughly amusing.  It's called "Marvel Superheroes: What The--?!" and it's basically a video series of stop-motion animated shorts that are made using Marvel Comics action figures.

 

The first episode just premiered, and I have to say it's pretty funny stuff.  The first ep is called Chillaxin' With Bobby Drake, and in it a newly powerless Iceman becomes a late night talk show host.  Even though the show is about Iceman, it's really poor old Beast that makes the thing great.  Oh poor Hank McCoy.  One day you'll get your ladies back.  I know you will.

A Star Trek Sequel Is Already In The Works

 

Paramount must be pretty sure of themselves.  A full month before their new franchise reboot to Star Trek opens in theaters, they have already green lit the sequel to the film.

 

As Paramount Pictures readies the May 8 release of its "Star Trek" franchise relaunch, the studio is moving forward with a sequel, and has hired Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof to pen the screenplay.

 

J.J. Abrams, who directed and produced the latest chapter, is onboard to produce the follow-up alongside his Bad Robot partner Bryan Burk. No decision has been made yet on whether Abrams will return behind the camera for the sequel.

 

Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof also are receiving producing credit on the sequel.

 

The story is still in the embryonic stage, but the trio are aiming to deliver their script to the Melrose studio by Christmas for what would likely be a summer 2011 release.

 

Hells yeah!  More Star Trek is ALWAYS a good thing as far as I'm concerned.  There's no word yet on whether the cast members from the first film will be back for the sequel yet, but I'd be shocked if they weren't.  Paramount would have been stupid not to sign all of the principal actors to multi-film contracts.  The real question is, what will the sequel be about.

 

As for potential storylines, Kurtzman stressed that the writing team will wait to take a cue from fan reaction about which direction to go.

 

"Obviously we discussed ideas, but we are waiting to see how audiences respond next month," he said. "With a franchise rebirth, the first movie has to be about origin. But with a second, you have the opportunity to explore incredibly exciting things. We'll be ambitious about what we'll do."

 

So where they go with it will depends on how the fans react to the first one, eh?  Well that's good to hear at least.  It means they aren't going to just do whatever the hell they want, regardless of whether people hate what they do in the first film or not.  Let's just hope the film is as awesome as it looks, and then we'll be in for some even cooler sequels.

New Geek DVD Day - 03/31/09

 

The Good:  The Matrix - 10th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray

 

Why It's Good:  Happy 10th birthday to The Matrix!  It was exactly a decade ago today that we were all introduced to Neo, Morpheus, Agent Smith, bullet time, 360 degree camera spinning battles and the woman in the red dress.  I spoke about this yesterday at length, but I wanted to take this opportunity as well to recognize everything this film accomplished for science fiction and for cinema in general.

 

Now available on BLu-ray in a swanky 10th anniversary collectors edition, you can watch Neo fight the machines in super shiny high definition.  This is an absolute "must own" for all sci-fi fans.  You can ignore the sequels if you want, but the first film truly was a masterpiece.

 



 

The Badass: The Real Ghostbusters - Volume One

 

Why It's Badass:  Finally, after waiting what felt like forever, the Real Ghostbusters animated series is being released on DVD.  It's about damn time.  Now we can sit back and relax in the comfort of our own homes as we watch Peter, Ray, Egon and Winston (and Slimer of course) as they battle all sorts of goulish baddies.

 

This collection is the first season of the show.  The set comes with five, count 'em 5, discs of ghostbusting goodness.  Personally, I can't wait to see the halloween episode with Samhain.  That one was always my favorite.

 



 

The Awesome:  The IT Crowd - The Complete Season One

 

Why It's Awesome:  A lot of you out there may never have heard about the IT Crowd.  It's a british TV series that has only aired in the US on the Independent Film Channel (IFC) at odd hours.  Just trust me when I tell you that this show is truly worthy of being given the awesome spot in this week's DVD listings.

 

The show itself is a sitcom about three people who work in the IT department of a big corporation.  That's IT as in Information Technology.  Computers.  The main male characters are Moss and Roy.  They're two big computer geeks who are running things fine on their own until one day they get a new boss.  Her name is Jen.  She's a great people person, but she doesn't know anything about computers.  After a small period of akwardness between them, Jen and the boys become friends and work together.  During it all though, they get themselves into some incredibly funny situations.

 

Aside from having one of the coolest opening credit sequences ever, the show is filled with great geek humor and computer references.  It will be thoroughly entertaining to a lot of you out there.  I desperately plead with you to give the show a chance.  Rent it, netflix it, whatever.  Just watch it.  You'll be entertained.  I promise.  To prove it to you, here's the first part of the first episode of the show.

The Matrix Turns 10 Years Old

 

Woah!

 

I can't believe it.  Tomorrow (March 31st, 2009) marks the Ten year anniversary of the first Matrix film.  Time really does fly as one gets older.  It really doesn't feel like it was that long ago.  A whole decade has passed since we were all first introduced to Neo and Morpheus and Trinity and Agent Smith.  It seems like it was just yesterday, doesn't it?

 

Ten years.  It feels so strange to think about.  Ten years ago, I was a young and idealistic 21 year old who was floundering around in college and didn't know what he wanted to major in.  I hadn't even started drinking yet.  And I was wrapped up at the time in the huge hype that was the forthcoming release of Star Wars Episode One, which was only two months away at that point.  They were simpler times then.  Happy times filled with good friends and playing games like Mario Kart and Goldeneye on the N64.

 

I didn't see The Matrix on the day it came out.  To be honest, I had barely noticed its release.  I hadn't really seen any trailers or advertisements for the film either.  I had no clue what it was about, but a few of my friends had gone to see it and swore to me up and down it was one of the best sci-fi films of all time.  They thankfully didn't spoil anything for me.  They just said repeatedly that I had to go see it, and I had to see it now.

 

I finally got around to seeing The Matrix about a month after it came out.  I'm still amazed that I had somehow gone to see the film so late and had managed not to know anything about what the film was about.  Today, that would be an impossible feat.  With the amount of time I spend on the internet, scouring for cool things to post here to Geek-tastic, there's no way a major sci-fi film like The Matrix would escape my notice.  But this was 1999, I barely used the internet for anything other than music downloading on Napster and talking with friends on AOL Instant Messenger.  I only had dial up, after all.  It was just too slow to go wandering around looking up cool movie stuffs.

 

I still have a vividly clear recollection of watching the film for the first time.  I remember liking how dark and industrial it looked in the first 30 minutes or so.  It looked sort of like a Nine Inch Nails video, all grays and pale greens and dark brooding shadows.  Then Neo took the red pill, and suddenly I'm watching a completely shaved and naked Keanu Reeves waking up in a goo bath pulling wires out of the back of his head.  It was a completely unexpected transition and it left me dumbfounded and thinking "What The Fuck!!!"

 

Then came the explanations.  The training programs with Morpheus.  The woman in the red dress, the explanation of the agents, the realizition of what the Matrix itself actually was.  What I thought had been the film's reality for the first 30 or so minutes had in fact all taken place inside a computer program, and that almost every single person on earth lived in this artificial fantasy world created by machines that ruled over us.  I was absolutely floored.  No film I have ever seen, before or since, has ever taken me by suprise as much as The Matrix did.  I think I was actually sitting in the theater with my jaw dropped, open mouthed in amazement as Morpheus told Neo, "What is the Matrix?  Control. The Matrix is a computer generated dreamworld, built to keep us under control.  In order to change a human being . . . into this."  At which point, of course, Morpheus holds up a Duracell battery.

 



 

I remember actually muttering under my breath, "Oh my god." as he held up the battery.  It's one of my all time favorite movie moments from my life.  I had just had my mind officially blown.  What I thought was going to just be another sci-fi action film had taken me places no other film ever had.  It explored the nature of reality as well as our own perceptions of that reality.  It had taken the age old sci-fi concept of man vs. machine and had turned it on its head.  The war of man vs. machine had already been fought long before the film had began.  Man had lost, and the worst part was the vast majority of the population didn't even know that the war had been fought in the first place.  The machines were in charge, and we were nothing more than an energy source to them. 

 

Of course, nowadays the Matrix films are sort of seen as cliched and out of date, but that's only because just about every single action or sci-fi or even comic book film that has come out since then has stolen from the first Matrix film in some way, shape or form.  Slow motion action scenes, bullet time, all of it was done first in The Matrix.  In the present state of things where the Watchmen's failure at the box office has everyone in Hollywood spelling doom for all future Rated R comic book or sci-films, I'd like to point out that The Matrix was Rated R, and its success is what really paved the way for a lot of the films that have come out in the last decade.  Even PG-13 films like The Dark Knight, I would argue, owe part of their existence to the success of The Matrix.  Do you honestly think that Warner Brothers would have green lit a really dark and brutal reboot of the Batman franchise if there hadn't been a slew of successful dark films like The Matrix before it.  Just look at that interrogation scene between Batman and the Joker in Dark Knight and tell me you don't see shades of The Matrix in the lighting of that scene.  The bare tile walls, the washed out hallogen lights. 

 

Yes, the sequels sucked.  Yes, the videogame based on the sequels sucked.  Yes, the film spawned a lot of knock offs and wannabes that all sucked.  I freely admit that the Matrix franchise became bloated and a bit too self important in my opinion, but that doesn't detract from the sheer achievement that was the first film.  Both technologically and socially, The Matrix changed things.  It changed how films are made.  It changed how people saw rated R blockbusters.  It drastically increased the kinds of heavy topics that are covered in big summer films.  And the references people make to the film happen a lot more often than you probably realize.  Even today, whenever anyone says the words Deja Vu, I still respond with, "Don't worry, that's just a glitch in the Matrix."

 

Tomorrow, in honor of the film's 10th birthday, I'm going to sit down and watch it on DVD.  I havne't actually seen the film in years.  It'll be good to see it again.  As overused as the effects became later, I still remember being awed by the fight scenes and their use of martial arts and people flying on wires.  The first time I saw Neo dodge bullets I nearly crapped my pants.  And then there was that phone call at the end.  The shot of Neo putting on his glasses, looking up . . . and then flying away.  Cut to a badass Rage Against The Machine song, and I was cheering and screaming and thinking I had just seen one of the greatest films of all time. 

 

I still think that. 

 

P.S.  I really hope Duracell payed a fortune for that product placement when Morpheus held up that battery.  I still associate their batteries with that scene.  Whenever I see one in stores I still think, "That's what the Matrix turns us all into."

Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds

 

Quentin Tarantino has been talking about his idea for a war movie, which he called Inglourious Basterds, for years now.  He first mentioned his idea for the film back in 2001, saying if the film that it was, "my bunch-of-guys-on-a-mission film. My Dirty Dozen or Where Eagles Dare or Guns of Navarone kind of thing.

 

Now I know that typically, war films (especially WWII films) are not considered geeky.  But this is Quentin Tarantino, whom I think we can all agree has made a number of geek loved films.  So I feel like this film should be mentioned here.

 

Also, while the film may in fact be a WWII film, it is supposed to be heavily influenced by classic spaghetti western films such as the old Clint Eastwood Man With No Name films and is actually shot in that style.  The premise and the concept sound interesting to me.  And the above trailer certainly does look like it will be an interesting film.  The only thing I'm really not liking right now is Brad Pitt's really bad accent.  Hopefully, it won't distract too much from the rest of the film.

The New Star Trek Poster Is (Sadly) Kind Of Lame

 

Of all of the summer blockbusters we will be seeing this year, the one I am by far the most excited about is Star Trek.  Sure, the Wolverine film looks really cool, and Terminator: Salvation looks a lot better than expected, and there's the new Harry Potter film to look forward to as well.  But as far as I'm concerned, they all pale in comparison to the awesomeness that is the Star Trek franchise. 

 

Which is why I'm kind of sad to show you this, the new theatrical poster for Star Trek.  It's just a blurry image of the Enterprise, which appears to either be going through Warp or is falling backwards into the heart of a sun.  I can't really tell which.

 

Of all of the possible poster designs, this is the one they went with?  Who the hell is in charge of the marketing department over at Paramount?  I'm seriously thinking they may need to be replaced.  Why didn't they include a clear shot of the ship in the poster?  Why are there no cast members shown?  Why are there no space fights or explosions shown?  Do I need to remind the people at Paramount what a good Star Trek movie poster should look like?  Ok, fine.  Take a look at this:

 



 

Now this is what I call a damn fine poster.  You have the Klingon moon Praxis exploding in the bottom right corner.  That's right, you see a full on moon explosion in this poster.  In the light from the explosion you see the image of the film's lead characters Kirk, Spock and McCoy.  There's also a wicked looking space battle going on where the Enterprise is getting its ass kicked by two Klingon ships.  And in the background, looking out over everything in a dark and menacing way is the film's main villain, the eye patch wearing, bald Klingon warrior General Chang.

 

That's how a good Star Trek poster should be done.  The new poster just looks too much like a project from an art student who is still learning to play with shadows.  It's bleak, it's boring.  It doesn't deliver any of the excitement a proper theatrical poster should for a summer blockbuster film.  I find it overall disappointing. 

 

Oh well, at least we have this new, extended TV spot for the film to keep us entertained in the meantime.

 

Join The Dharma Initiative Today (And By Today I mean 1974)

 

Flickr user Hot Meteor must be a big fan of the TY show Lost because they have created a set of really funny retro recruitment ads for the Dharma Initiative.

 

You can see all of the ads here.  There are six total.  My favorite one though is the one posted above.  I don't even smoke anymore, but I would love to get my hands on a pack of Dharma Initiative Cigarettes.

New Geek-tastic Web Comic: A Zombie By Any Other Name

 

Hey there folks,

 

I know it's been a little while, but a new Geek-tastic Web Comic has finally been posted.  We apologize for the delay, but what with the trip to Wonder Con and some of that annoying "real life" stuff we all have to deal with from time to time, this comic just took a little while to get done.

 

On the plus side though, the new comic is more than just three panels.  It's a full comic page, and it even stars Geek-tastic contributor Wes and the comic artist himself . . . Matt.  As usual, be sure to click on the above image to see the complete image in its full size.  Or you can also click here.

 

This comic represents an argument Matt and I have been getting into with people a lot lately.  Exactly what is and isn't a zombie.  Different people have different views.  What do you think?  This will probably get covered in more detail on the Halloween episode of the Geek-tastic web comic later this year, but for now we hope you enjoy this comic.

Two Bits Of Batman Goodness

 

I think the universe is trying to be good to me right now to make up for the crappiness thay was the revelation of Cobra Commander's movie appearance that was revealed earlier in the week.  After such a soul crushing moment, one needs as much good news as possible to help lift one's spirits.  Which is why I'm happy to pass on to you, faithful readers, not one but two really cool bits of Batman news. 

 

First is this:

 

Comic book writer Judd Winick will be taking over the Batman series this summer, and he plans on taking the character back to his basic crime fighting roots, with the emphasis here on the fighting.

 

We're talking three-issue arcs, four-issue arcs where it's Batman whooping it up, kicking ass, getting his ass kicked and coming back and kicking some more ass. This is a superhero book and it's one of the things that I enjoy. I mean, I do enjoy Batman as a masked detective but I myself enjoy Batman beating the living hell out of people in various ways, shapes and forms... This is a "Batman" title. And I don't think it will have any of the social commentary, which I've done maybe five or six times out of 10 years I've written comics. Which apparently, everybody thinks I do in every single issue or something... There's going to be nothing viewed as an after school special in this run of "Batman." There's lots of touchy-feely shit along with the beating up of bad guys. And explosions and dangling from sides of buildings and what not because I like writing humanistic characters but all that crap that everyone usually whines about that I do, I obviously won't be that doing here.

 

I've got two words for this, "Hells" and "Yeah"!  I'm really happy to hear something like this because it means that DC isn't letting the heavy social commentary of Dark Knight go to their heads.  Yes, Batman can be a very deep character with a bunch of different levels to him.  But he can also be a straightforward ass kicker, and sometimes it seems that comic writers forget this and will have Bats go for issue after issue without fighting and will have books filled with nothing but overly long winded dialogue. 

 

Yes, Batman is smart.  Yes, he's the world's greatest detective.  But he's also a black belt in like a thousand different martial arts styles, and we don't get to see him cut loose often enough.  Hearing Winick say that his Batman is going to be more of an ass kicker than a detective will be a welcome reprieve from the overly talky and short on action Batman titles that tend to dominate the store shelves lately.

 

And now for the second bit of news.  Just watch this:

 



 

Holy hell!!!  A Batman game where you not only have to beat the living shit out of every thug around, but you actually have to use your brains while doing it?  Oh my god, I think I just had a nerd orgasm.

 

If the rest of this game plays only half as good as this demo makes it look, this will still be the single best Batman game of all time.  You have to use stealth and your wits to take down criminals one at a time.  You can use sneak attacks to cause thugs to get scared.  You get to full on act like Batman.  Wow.  I really hope this game doesn't disappoint, because all the videos I've seen of it keep raising my expectations for it higher and higher.

 

(Via IO9 and ToplessRobot)

Cartoon Network Makes Me Want To Cry (But At Least It's Not All Bad News)

 



 

This has been a bad month for Geek-centric television.  First off, there was the announcement that the Sci-Fi Channel was renaming itself and will now be called the incredly dumb name SyFy.  Now comes news from Cartoon Network that their 2009-2010 season will be featuring a number of new shows and a few of them are not Cartoons!

 

Maybe it's just me, but I'd expect a TV station called Cartoon Network to only feature . . . you know . . . cartoons.  But there I go again trying to apply perfectly good logic to corporate thinking.  Here's a summary of what to expect from the new Not All Cartoon Network next season.

 

Highlights include entering into the reality TV genre, creating a new sports-centric programming block, and introducing 19 new programs, pilots, and movies, including six that are live-action (umm...) as well as 164 episodes of returning series. In doing so, Cartoon Network stepped out on its evolutionary path to become what it described as a "dominant youth culture brand," that not only understands boys, including boys 6-11, but girls and older kids too, while creating "un-sanitized" "TV for kids, not kids TV".

 

Good god.  Where do I even start?  A reality show?  Six live action shows? The network trying to define itself as the "dominant youth culture brand"?  No.  I know where I'll start.  I'll start with the bit about the sports-centric programming.  That is, afterall, the most egregious sin mentioned in that paragraph.

 

Cartoon Network is creating a new Saturday afternoon sports focused programming block titled CN AMPT, underscoring its new deal with the NBA and relationship with Turner Sports. NBA commissioner David Stern, who discussed Cartoon Network's new partnership with the NBA announced earlier in the week, revealed that Boston Celtic Eddie House and his 7-year-old son Jaelen will be the stars of the first project together, the short-form series My Dad's a Pro. So pleased with the NBA's new relationship with the network, Stern quipped to those assembled, "If I were a buyer, I would buy."

 

If I were a buyer, I'd be selling like there's no tomorrow.  My Dad's A Pro?  Are you kidding me!?!  This sounds like the same kinds of backwards thinking that ruled animated shows throughout most of the 90's.  Remember all of those really bad cartoons that tried so hard to be "extreme" in the 90's?  Yeah, neither do I.  Wanna know why?  They were crap and we've forgotten about them already.  They were so bad we blocked them from memory. 

 

At least I can take comfort though in the thought that CN AMPT probably won't last for more than a season or two before they realize that the ratings are crap and they cancel the shows in the block and send them to the unmourned cartoon hell they belong.  Cartoons and sports do not mix.  There are only two exceptions to this rule.

 

• 1.  If Goofy is learning to play a new sport, that's ok.  His old sports cartoons were great.  Like the time he learned to water ski and accidentally entered a race, and the announcer called him Racer X.  Classic!

 

• 2.  If it's the Scooby Doo team meeting the Harlem Globetrotters.

 

Other than those two examples, sports and cartoons should never ever merge.  The results are usually a craptastic show that kids will summarily ignore.

 

At least it wasn't all bad news though.  There were a few bright gems to be found amongst all of the bad stuff.  Batman: Brave and the Bold has been renewed for a second season, which is awesome!  Clone Wars will be coming back for a second season as well, and the popular new version of Ben 10 where he's a 16 year old is coming back too.

 

The best news though, as far as I'm concerned, is that Genndy Tartakovsky has a new show coming out.  You may remember Genndy from some of the amazingly awesome shows he's created such as Samurai Jack, Dexter's Lab, and the first and coolest Clone Wars animated series.  His new show is called Sym-Bionic Titan, and it looks like this:

 



 

You can always tell the mark of an amazing show when even one photo from it makes you want to run out and pre-order a copy of the entire first season box set right now.  That's what this does to me.  A Giant see-through robot wrestling a dinosaur in the middle of a downtown area???

 

Sold!!!

 

Why isn't this show on TV right now?  I don't want to wait for the fall!  I need to see it now, now, now!!!

 

God bless you Genndy Tartakovsky.  At least you still understand what people want to see in a cartoon series.

The Next Generation Crew Is Together Again

 

I'm admittedly not the biggest fan of Family Guy.  While I'll admit that they do some hilarious things sometimes, for the most part the show tends to use the same formulaic joke over and over where someone will say something along the lines of "Hey (insert character name), that reminds me of the time you (insert activity) with (insert celebrity or pop culture figure)." Followed by a cut/flashback to whatever it was that they were referring to.

 

Here's some examples I'm making up off the top of my head:

 

• "Hey Peter, that reminds me of the time you went deep sea fishing with Gary Coleman." 

 

• "Hey Lois, this reminds me of that time I played twister with the Spice Girls."

 

• "Hey Stewie, this reminds me of that time we played basketball with Tattoo from Fantasy Island."

 

Get my point yet?  The show tends to be very repetitive and unoriginal, and I'd generally just rather watch South Park.

 

However, I must say that I am actually very excited about this weekend's episode of Family Guy.  This week's episode sees something truly historic happening.  For the first time since the show went off the air, the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation are reuniting and will appear together (in animated form) for Family Guy.  And I mean everyone.  Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, Denise Crosby, and even everyone's favorite geek Wil Wheaton have all taken part in this and have recorded dialogue for the show.

 

Being the absolutely huge Star Trek Geek that I am, this has me super excited.  In fact, I'd even go so far as to say I'm almost giddy.  The above video is a preview of this week's episode, and if its any indication, then the rest of this show is going to be pure comic gold.

 

I'll hand it to the Family Guy staff, they did good with this.

Heroes Only Wishes It Was This Good

 

As I've mentioned before, I am officially boycotting the show Heroes from now on due to its overall crappiness mixed with its tendency to insult its fans.  This has left me though with a need for good superhero stories that needs filling.  It was during my search for such entertainment that I found this awesome little short film.

 

It's a Dutch made film called Nemesis, and its about a million times cooler than Heroes could ever hope to be.

 

Since the film is Dutch made, it is subtitled.  I know that's a problem with some people, but please don't let that deter you from this.  It's a great film that all comic book fans should see.  The story centers around a character who has spent his whole life wishing for superpowers.  One day, he decides to post up an ad seeking a nemesis that he can have a feud with.  A man calls him back and offers his services, and from there the story goes on.

 

What I love about this film is how genuine it is.  You can honestly feel that this was made by fans of comics.  And in only 8 minutes this little film produced characters that are more likeable, a story more imaginative, situations that are more relatable to the viewer, and a viewing experience that is generally more enjoyable than anything Heroes has produced in three whole seasons of television.

 

And when it was over, I didn't feel like I had just wasted my time, which has been a nagging feeling I've had after every episode of Heroes I've watched since the start of season two (and even sometimes in season one).

 

Maybe NBC should hire the writers of this and let them write the next season of Heroes.  Afterall, there's no way they could do a worse job than the people who are currently writing that show.

The Most Pimping-est Thing You'll See Today

 

This has got to be the coolest damn thing I'll see all day today.  I may as well just go back to bed at this point.  The rest of this day is all downhill from here.

 

This absolutely insanely cool painting of the galaxy's smoothest ladies man was created by an artist by the name of Alex Leighton.  It's part of a series of small sized paintings about different pop culture characters that the artist is selling online.  This paintings are currently selling for $45 each and there are a bunch of amazing pieces to see. 

 

You can see all of the pictures here.

 

Aside from slew of great Star Wars paintings (including such characterss as Grand Moff Tarkin and Admiral "It's a Trap" Ackbar), Mr. Leighton also paints other such great geek properties as TMNT, He-Man, Transformers, and even some old-school WWF Wrestlers.

 

The paintings are all so brightly colored and cartoony and cute that I can't help but want to own them all.  I wish I had a ton of spare cash lying around that I could just plop down to claim these beautiful little gems of geekyness.  At the very least, to own the full set of four Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles paintings would be awesome.  But alas, that requires spending $180...and while I may be rich with love in my life, I am definitely not rich with cash.

 

Of course, we here at  Geek-tastic are always willing to accept donations towards the "Get Patrick Some Kickass Schwag" fund.

 

(Via GeekDad)

Geek Item Of The Week - 03/25/09

 

Fertility Idol Piggy Bank

 

If you don't instantly recognize where this fertility idol comes from, I am officially docking you geek points. Now go and re-watch Raiders of the Lost Ark and don't come back here until you've done so.

 

For those of you who do recognize where this comes from, you're probably just as excited as I am.  How awesome is this?  The tiny idol Indiana Jones went through so much hell for at the beginning of his first film is now yours to own for only $19.99.  Plus, it's a piggy bank, so you can fill it with actual money and thus turn it into an actual treasure.

 

Now go forth and build a giant booby trapped lair to house it in and laugh as one adventurer after another falls victim to your temple of doom.

My Worst Fears Realized

 

Oh dear God No!

 

I really wish I could say to you right now that this is a joke.  If this were only a funny photoshop job someone had put together to scare us all.  That would make it alright.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  As horribly mind bogglingly awful it is to tell you this, I must be honest.

 

This is what Cobra Commander looks like in the new live-action GI Joe movie.

 

It even pains me just looking at it.  Good god how could the filmmakers do this?  It's so completely wrong on so many levels.  Is it any wonder now why we haven't seen Cobra Commander in any of the ads or trailers or posters for the movie?  I'm pretty sure someone, somewhere at the movie studio that has produced this crime against nature has realized what they've done and have been trying to hide this atrocity from the fans.

 

It's a sad, sad day indeed when cosplayers that go to comic conventions make better costumes than a big budget hollywood costume shop can come up with.  In case I need to remind you, this is what a live action Cobra Commander should look like.

 



 

Really, how hard is that to do.  This guy made his costume at home, with time and effort and love.  It looks like the GI Joe movie made theirs out of stupidity, hatred and a desire to spit on the fans of the franchise.

 

Every single person who worked on this film...everyone from the director and the studio executives all the way down to the craft services people and the coffee getters...should be ashamed of themselves for the horror they have wrought upon this world. 

 

Shamed!  Shamed I say!!! 

 

You'll have to excuse me for a bit.  I just died a little inside.  I'm going to go drown my sorrows in a bottle or two of Jameson.  Maybe that will help to drown out the sound of my soul screaming.

 

(Via ToplessRobot)

Want To Know What Makes Me Excited?

 

 

This trailer right here.

 

I'm often skeptical of movies before seeing them or suppress excitement at the trailer of a summer blockbuster, too many times I have been burned. Every once and a great while though, the recipe for a film sounds too perfect to be true. The concept for a film makes it's way to the hands of a director you know is unflinching in his storytelling and can really make magic. A lot of people felt that Zack Snyder was that man for Watchmen, but I don't like Snyder, so to me it was like parmesian cheese on pancakes, I guess if that's what you like, more power to you.

 

Spike Jonze and "Where the Wild Things Are" .  Wow, I'm so excited.

War.......It's Fantastic!!!

 

The above video is one of the new TV commercials for the upcoming Wolverine film.  It's notable for the cool bit of history that is shown in it as we see both Wolverine and Sabretooth fighting in multiple wars during their long lives.  These wars are the Civil War, WWI, WWII and Vietnam.  If the Wolverine film is even only half as action packed as this commercial is, then we're going to be in for a real treat when we go see it.

 

Also, bonus points go to anyone who can tell me from which film the above headline is a quote from.  It's one of my favorite quotes, which is kind of funny considering I'm pretty much a pacifist.

The New Trek Movie Is As Much A Prequel As It Is A Reboot

 

I've been a big fan of Star Trek since I was about six years old.  I was raised on the classic series and I watched The Next Generation episodes as they originally aired.  I've loved pretty much every Star Trek show except Voyager.  Hell, I even liked Enterprise. 

 

So to me, having the new Star Trek movie being billed as a "franchise reboot" has had me a little worried.  Exactly how much of my beloved Trek would be changing?  Would everything suddenly become all super fast and shiny for the kids of the 21st century and thus lose everything that made classic Trek great?  Would the characters appearing on the screen be vastly different than their original counterparts? 

 

The trailers that have been released thus far have done a lot to ease some of these fears.  They seem to show a film that, on the surface at least, still feels like Star Trek...just jazzed up a bit for modern audiences.  And attending JJ Abrams' Star Trek panel at Wonder Con back in February helped a bit too.  It was reassuring to hear him as well as the films writers and actors discuss how much the original show meant to them and how much they are trying to stay loyal to the original series while at the same time trying to broaden Trek's appeal to new audiences.

 

Then came this interview with the film's writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, in which they discussed some of the classic things this film absolutely needed in order to be a Star Trek film.  It's a good interview and it now has me super jazzed to be looking for nods to the original series and movies that are going to be included in the film.  There are some major storyline points that are going to be included too.  Here's what we're going to get to see, according to the writers.

 

• At some point, Bones will say something along the lines of "Damnit Jim, I'm a doctor not a _____!"

 

• Scotty will have to work a miracle and get the ship to break the laws of physics and will probably say something along the lines of, "I'm giving it all I've got Captain!"

 

• Spock and McCoy will get into at least one verbal spat during the film in which they basically get into an insult fight.

 

And here's the real kicker for me.  I absolutely didn't expect to get to see this in the new Trek movie, but they swear it's in there.

 

• We'll get to see James T. Kirk cheat as he takes the Kobayashi Maru test.

 

How fucking phenomenal is that?  We get to see Kirk cheat at the Kobayashi Maru!!!  The test that was featured so prominently at the beginning of Star Trek II.  The test that has become such a defining character moment of James Kirk's.  It's the perfect example of Kirk's philosophy of not believing in an unbeatable situation. 

 

Also mentioned during the interview was something that the writers very much wanted to include, but couldn't due to time and story concerns.  That is the early foundations of the relationship betweek James Kirk and Doctor Carol Marcus.  Dr. Marcus, if you'll remember, was also a huge part of Star Trek II as she's the developer of the Genesis project and is also the mother of Kirk's son David.

 

The very fact that the writers were trying to include her into the story gives me a lot of confidence that as much as this new film is a reboot to the franchise, it is also very much going to be a prequel to the original films.  The writers have very obviously not given up on paying attention to at least some of the original Trek canon.  They're going out of their way to include elements that will set up future Trek storylines. 

 

I can't tell you how happy this makes me.  I am really stoked now.  I can't wait to finally get to see Kirk take the Kobayashi Maru test.  For a lifelong fan like I am, a moment like this has been a long time coming.

Stamp Collecting Just Got Nerdier (And Cooler)

 

There are many, many different nerdy kinds of hobbies out there to enjoy.  One of the oldest, however, is stamp collecting.  Beginning in the mid 1800's shortly after stamps themselves first appeared in england, collectors have been nerding it up ever since in their quest to acquire as many cool looking stamps as possible. 

 

Now, stamp collecting just got a whole lot nerdier while at the same time getting a whole lot cooler.

 

Pictured above are a new line of stamps set to debut in England this summer.  The new line of stamps features a cast of mythological creatures including (from top left) a unicorn, a dragon, a giant, a pixie riding a snail, a mermaid and a fairy queen in a chariot.  Adding to the stamps already high level of coolness is the fact that the images themselves were drawn by the incredibly fantasy artist Dave McKean who has worked on such projects as the Harry Potter films and (my personal favorite) the film Mirror Mask in which he worked with Neil Gaiman.

 

The stamps will be available for purchase on June 16th and I'm sure even us poor souls here in the US will be able to find a way to get them.  Thank god for the internet.

 

It's probably just the old D&D player in me, but I would absolutely love a full sheet set of just the Dragon stamp.  I wouldn't keep them forever as a collector or anything, but I would totally love to send out to all my friends on special event cards like christmas cards or wedding invitations.  How rad would that be?

 

(Via GeekDad)

The world needs more Geek-Tastic Smut.

 

 

Note: The above video is NSFW for adult language.  There is no nudity, but you may want to have headphones on if you're watching this at work or anywhere there may be children present.

 

So I think there are about five of the Sex Trek movies, but really porn industry, you need to step it up.

 

I saw the Pirate themed one Pat posted a while back and since then my gears have been turning.  Adult movies are made constantly themed as parodies of blockbuster movies, and major industries (like the adult film industry) are constantly mocking the average geeks inability to engage in ponn farr.  Add to that the average geeks consumption of adult material and you have a recipe for making nothing short of a piece of pure genius. In an effort to be honest, I own the second Sex Trek movie, and I purchased it for two reasons;

 

1.  It was 3 DVDs for 20$ at that particular booth on the Con floor and I was already holding a Star Wars rarities DVD and a copy of good fan-films

 

2.  I could not help but be insanely curious.

 

Really, I'm saying the market is out there waiting to be catered to. The major motion picture companies all recognized it.  When will this finally trickle down to some really bad comic book adult films?

I Wonder What The US Exchange Rate Is For Imperial Credits

 

Why is it fake money always looks about a million times cooler than real money?  Seriously, is it just me or does this look a hell of a lot cooler than the usual United States one dollar bill (which looks like this)?

 

I don't know about you, but I personally would much rather have a Death Star, Star Destoryer and Tie Fighters on the back of my greenbacks that a stupid pyramid with an eye in it and an Eagle.  And while George Washington may have been cool and all, he couldn't kill people with the force like Darth Vader can.  If I was in charge of the US mint, I would seriously consider replacing Mr. Washington with someone who is a much more accurate symbol of our country's core beliefs.  Vader is a perfect symbol of the American dream.  He was born a slave but earned his freedom through talent and perseverence and eventually went on to become the second most politically powerful person in the galaxy.

 

I bet that if there was a poll taken to see who American citizens wanted more on their money, Washington or Vader, Vader would win in a landslide victory. 

 

Oh, as for who made these.  The images were created by a deviantart user by the name of Diablo2003 for Disney Star Wars fan days back in 2007.

The Evolution Of The Bat Symbol

 

The character of Batman has been around for a long, long time.  Created by Bob Kane in 1939, Batman has appeared in many different forms over the years.  Sometimes he's been silly, sometimes he's been dark and gritty, but each and everytime he's always appeared with his signature Bat Symbol on his chest.

 

That symbol though has seen just as many changes as Batman himself has.  And in the above video, we are taken through each and every one of them in chronological order from Batman's firs appearance all the way up to today.  I had never really noticed how much that logo changed over the years, and watching it morph from one version that I recognized to another was fascinating. 

 

I hope you like this as much as I did.

A Guy Dressed As Spider-Man Saves A Kid In Thailand

 

This is a great little news story that made me happy when I read it.  I wish we saw more stuff like this in the news.  Thanks go to my good friend Billie Galvan for pointing this out to me.

 

A firefighter in Thailand recently saved a frightened autistic 8 year old from a third floor balcony by dressing up as everyone's favorite web-slinger, your friendly neighborhood Spider-man.

 

Teachers at a special needs school in Bangkok alerted authorities on Monday when an autistic pupil, scared of attending his first day at school, sat out on the third-floor ledge and refused to come inside, a police sergeant told AFP.

 

Despite teachers' efforts to beckon the boy inside, he refused to budge until his mother mentioned her son's love of superheroes, prompting fireman Sonchai Yoosabai to take a novel approach to the problem.

 

The rescuer dashed back to his fire station and made a quick change into a Spider-Man costume before returning to the boy, he said.

 

"I told him Spider-Man is here to rescue you, no monsters are going to attack you and I told him to walk slowly towards me as running could be dangerous," Somchai told local television.

 

The young boy immediately stood up and walked into his rescuer's arms, police said.

 

This is so awesome.  I would like to send out a heartfelt thanks to Mr. Sonchai Yoosabai.  He's a true hero and he should be commended for his quick thinking to save this kid.  And if you're curious as to why he has a Spider-man costume just hanging out at the fire station, here's your answer.

 

Sonchai said he keeps the Spider-Man costume and an outfit of Japanese television character Ultraman at the station in order to liven up school fire drills.

 

So double props go to this guy.  Not only is he a hero for saving the kid, but he's also really cool at his job and goes out of his way to make it fun for kids to learn about fire safety.  My hat goes off to you sir.  You have done honor to the name of Spider-man.  I just hope other fire stations out there are listening.  This is an incredibly ingenious way to save little kids who are in danger.  Who else are little kids going to turn to in a disaster but a guy dressed up as Superman or Spider-man or Batman? 

 

The world needs more news stories like this.  I feel all happy inside now.

New Geek DVD Day - 03/24/09

 You may notice that conspicuously missing from today's Geek DVD list is Star Wars: Clone Wars - A Galaxy Divided.  Yes, I'm aware it came out today but I am morally opposed to its existence and refuse to list it along with other cool DVD's.  It's not that I don't like the Clone Wars series.  Far from it.  I actually really like the Clone Wars series.  The problem though is that this first "DVD set" that Lucas has released is only a collection of the first four episodes. 

 

That's it.  Only four episodes.  And for this they are charging you $12.99.  This probably means that Lucas plans to release the entire season in four episode installments over the next few months, which will create five separate DVD sets you have to buy just to collect the first season.  It's a completely shameless attempt to grab the fans hard earned dollars, and I find it morally reprehensible.  And in the end it's pointless anyways because you know that eventually they will put out a complete Season One box set. 

 

So until such time as a whole season box set comes out, I will be intentionally excluding these mini DVD from the New Geek DVD Day lists.  Ok, with that said let's look at what cool stuff came out today.

 



 

The Good:  Quantum of Solace

 

Why It's Good:  It's Daniel Craig's second outing as James Bond in the newly rebooted superspy franchise.  While nowhere near as amazing as Casino Royale was, Quantum is still an enjoyable action film with some spy stuffs going on.  Plus, it's Bond...James Bond.  He never really disappoints (the George Lazenby film aside) and is always fun to watch.  If you're in the mood for some great fight scenes or car chases, this should fit the bill nicely.

 



 

The Badass:  Watchmen - Tales of the Black Freighter & Under The Hood

 

Why It's Badass:  If there was any doubt that Zack Snyder wasn't trying his absolute best to try to stay as faithful as the original Watchmen comics as possible...look no further than this Tales of the Black Freighter DVD. 

 

Knowing that there would be no way to include the Black Freighter story into the feature film due to time constraints, Snyder got Warner Brothers to agree to make this as a separate animated short film which will eventually be edited back into a DVD release of the film later this year.  Until that time though, you can check out the Black Freighter on its own in this DVD release.

 

I watched the Black Freighter short last night.  It's about 25 minutes long.  The animation is decent (nothing amazing though), but Gerard Butler is a great cast as the doomed hero of the story.  I haven't seen the Under the Hood stuff yet, but I'm personally thinking that I'll pass on buying this separately and will just wait until its all edited back into the film.  It's worth renting, but as a stand-alone story, the Black Freighter doesn't really work.  It'll be great as a companion piece/subplot though. 

 



 

The Awesome:  Venture Brothers - Season 3

 

Why It's Awesome:  The Venture Brothers have been consistently awesome for three straight seasons now.  Sure, some moments may have been better than others, but overall the show has been solidly entertaining each and every time I've ever sat down to watch it.  As a huge Patrick Wardburton fan I totally admit that I'm biased here as I think that Brock Samson is one of the greatest animated characters of all time, but he's not the only truly awesome thing about the show.  With amazing characters like The Monarch, Doctor Girlfriend, Henchmen 24 (RIP), Baron Underbite and many more, the show has a great depth to it.

 

Plus, the cover of this DVD set alone is worthy enough to earn it the top spot on this list today.  Just look at it.  It's glorious.  It looks like the cover to an old Atari 2600 adventure game.  This is one of the best DVD packages I've seen in a long, long time.

 

And last, but certainly not least: Season three of the Venture Brothers gave us what is by far and away the single greatest GI Joe parody of all time.  Don't believe me?  Just watch:

 

The Holy Hand Grenade Of Antioch Causes A Bomb Scare

 

Part of a neighborhood in London was evacuated over the weekend due to a bomb scare.  The bomb that caused the scare?  The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, as seen in the film Monty Python And The Holy Grail.

 

Water company engineers spotted the object when they lifted up a fire hydrant cover during work on a street in Shoreditch, east London.

 

The road was cordoned off and a nearby pub was evacuated amid fears that the "grenade" could explode.

 

But after nearly an hour of analysis bomb experts realised that the cause of the scare was in fact a copy of the "Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch" used by Eric Idle to slaughter a killer rabbit in the 1975 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail.

 

What amazes me about this story are two different things.  One, it took the bomb squad almost an hour to realize that what they had was a stuffed toy replica.  Two, the fact that this took place in England, the home of Monty Python.  How could every memeber of the police who saw the "bomb" not realize it was the Holy Hand Grenade?  Do none of the cops in England watch Monthy Python?  Are they really only watched by American college kids now?

Battlestar Galactica Isn't Quite Over Yet

 

If you're a huge Battlestar fan like I am, then chances are you too are still recovering from last Friday's series finale.  A whole helluva lot went down in the last two hour episode.  Questions were answered, people died, a home was found.  But now comes the sad realization that we all have to face. 

 

There's not going to be any more BSG.

 

As cool as it was to see the show come to an end on Friday, now we fans find ourselves facing monday morning with the reality setting in that there will be no more BSG to ever see again.  No vipers, now drunken Saul Tigh moment, no Helo being a badass, no one saying the word "Frak".  It's all gone.  All of it.

 

Well, not quite yet. 

 

There's still The Plan.  Of all the questions answered during the finale, one glaring question was not answered.  All this time we've been told again and again that the Cylons had a plan when they attacked humanity, but we've never learned what that plan was.  Well coming this fall we're going to find out what it was.  There's one last little bit of BSG left, and it will be aired in the fall as a one-shot 2 hour TV movie called The Plan, and it will detail the attack on the colonies and the subsequent chasing of the fleet from the Cylon point of view.

 

I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see it.  Yes, it will officially be the last bit of BSG ever, which is sad, but at this point I'll be happy just to get whatever little bit of the show that I can.

Bruce Lee Vs. Iron Man

 

Bruce Lee was basically the baddest person who ever lived.  No one, and I mean NO ONE could beat him in a fight.  However, he's never fought a superhero before.  Now we know what the fight between him and Iron Man would look like.

 

Also, be prepared for a twist ending.  Just like M. Knight Shyamalan always says..."What a twist!!!"

We Haven't Seen The Last Of Rose Tyler Yet

 

It looks like actress Billie Piper will be donning the role of Rose Tyler one last time to help out David Tennant's Doctor Who.  According to The Sun newspaper in England, all of the Doctor's former companions will be guesting starring with him one last time in what will be David Tennant's last adventure as the Doctor before Matt Smith comes in and takes over the role from him.

 

Billie, 26, will again play Rose Tyler and teams up with other sidekicks Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) and Martha Jones (Freema Agyeman).

 

The trio will join forces to take on the Doctor’s revived arch-enemy The Master, played again by John Simm.

 

The episode sees the Timelord regenerate into the new Doctor (Matt Smith).

 

“This will be the most exciting episode Doctor Who have ever done. We really wanted to get all the companions back on board as a fitting send-off to David.

 

“And of all the enemies for him to face in his final episode it makes sense for The Master to be the main one. Getting Billie to agree is a real coup, but she loved working on the show so much it didn’t take much convincing.”

 

The last time we saw Rose, of course, she was left in a parallell dimension with a half human duplicate of The Doctor.  As to whether we'll be seeing that Doctor or not remains to be seen, nor is it explained how Rose will get pulled out of the parallell dimension.  But then again, this is Doctor Who, and just about anything and everything can and frequently does happen on that show.

 

While it'll be nice to see Rose again, I really hope that her appearance here doesn't screw up things with her and her Doctor copy.  I really liked how they closed out Rose's story and don't want to see that awesome ending ruined.  I'm going to have faith though and will hope that whatever happens will only add to that solid sense of closure that her ending had left us with.

The Ghostbusters vs. Jesus Christ

 

I found this lovely little painting while wandering around over at /film and got a good laugh out of it, so I had to share with you.  Here we see Egon, Ray and Venkman as they try to capture the spirit of good ol' JC as he attempts to ascend up up heaven.  Apparently, this is an adaptation of an earlier photoshop work that was posted online a few years ago, but which I had never seen before today.  Here's that original piece.

 



 

I'm not sure which piece I like more.  While I love the colors and the vertical layout of the first painting, there's just something about the second piece that I really l0ve a lot.  Maybe it's just the idea of the ghostbusters trying to trap Jesus in plain view of a bunch of his followers that makes the whole thing that much funnier in my opinion.

 

Which one do you like more?  Or, do you just think I'm going to hell for finding these funny in the first place?

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs! Yay!

 

This is so cool.  When I was a little, little kid the book Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs was one of my absolute favorites.  I used to read it over and over when I was 5 or 6 or so.  The book was about an odd town named Chewandswallow in which the weather changed three times a day, right around breakfast lunch and dinner...and it always rained food and beverages.  However, the weather started getting out of control and the town was suddenly in danger of getting destroyed by giant pancakes and ketchup tornados.

 

Now, Sony pictures has created a CG animated film adaptation of the book, and it's even in 3D.  According to Wikipedia, the film will explain the origins of the town's odd weather patterns and will be a spoof of disaster films like Twister and Armageddon.

 

The film has a great cast too with such names as  Bill Hader, Bruce Campbell, Anna Farris, Tracey Morgan and James Caan providing their voices.  The best part though is none other than Mr. T himself will also be adding his voice to the film.  As far as I can recall, this is the first time Mr. T has done voiceover work for a major motion picture.  I hadn't really thought of it before, but I'm now suddenly shocked that Mr. T hasn't been doing voice work for films for years now.  He has an incredible, instantly recognizable voice that would work well with a ton of different kinds of characters.  He should have been doing this long ago, and I'm really looking forward to getting to listen to him in this film.

 

Plus, the trailer makes the film look like it's going to be a lot of fun.  It looks really pretty, and the 3D is just going to make it that much better.  The film is set to come out on September 18th, 2009.  I can't wait.

Those Robots Really Know How To Party

 

What happens when the Shredder throws a party at the Technodrome?  Well, just about every robot ever shows up and partys down...that's what.

 

This here is a rap video about said party, and it sounds like it was pretty damned epic.  Be warned though, this is a little NSFW due to language, so be sure to not go blasting it if you're at work or if there are any little kids around.

 

All I know is, I'm never going to look at the Jetson's maid the same way ever again.  Who knew she could be so dirty?

Speaking Of Caprica

 

With Battlestar Galactica coming to an end tonight, many fans are looking forward to the spinoff show Caprica that premieres next year on the Sci-fi channel.  Sort of a prequel series, Caprica takes place 60 years or so before the events of BSG.  It's about the creation of the Cylons and how the AI of them began and adapted and grew.

 

In this clip from the Sci-Fi Wire, the cast and crew discuss the show and a bunch of clips from the first episode are shown.  It's going to be a very different show from BSG, but it does look like it's going to be really good.

 

The first episode will actually be coming out on DVD on April 21st of this year, so be sure to look for that next month.

The End Of An Era

 

Tonight, the greatest show on Television (as far as I'm concerned) comes to an end.  After four amazing seasons, Battlestar Galactica will be airing its series finale this evening.  The build up to the end has been wild.  All season long there has been wild speculation amongst fans as to how things will wind up.  And then there's been the never ending set of questions we've been forced to deal with.  What exactly is Kara Thrace?  What's up with that opera house thing?  Will Baltar ever stop being a douche?  Will the human race ever find a happy home?  What the hell is going on with Anders?  Why won't Rosalin die already?

 

Ok, so that last one is only something that's been bugging me.  But still, there's a lot of unanswered questions that the writers of BSG still need to resolve and there's only tonight's two hour series finale episode to answer it all in.  That's a lot of resolution that needs to get fit into one double sized episode.  Will we get all of our answers?  Will we get to see a happy ending, or will the series end as it has spent the last four years and make us all thoroughly depressed as we watch everyone die?

 

I wouldn't put it past the writers of BSG to have everyone go out in a wild blaze of glory.  It would be sad, but it would also be a fitting end to a show that has been about constant struggle and fighting to survive and running for humanity's collective lives.  I don't think that's where they're going though, but I'm just saying I wouldn't be suprised.

 

Personally, I'm both really excited and really sad by the prospects of tonights finale.  I'm excited because hopefully "All will be revealed" as we've been promised for the longest time.  We'll finally get to see how things end for the last surviving bits of humanity, and that closure will be good to see.  I'm really sad though because this marks the end of an era of amazing television.  BSG pushed every conventional boundary of what a televised sci-fi series could do.  They reinvented serialized sci-fi storytelling and created a show that was both pure science fiction and fantasy sci/fi.

 

The show was a reflection of the culture in which it was made.  Many analogies can be made to the post September 11th world in which we live. The occupation of Caprica as an analogy of the Iraq war is the easiest example to point to.  Occupation forces being attacked by a small rebel/terrorist force (depending on your point of view) which employed dirty tactics such as suicide bombers was something we were reading about every day in the newspapers, but we were also seeing played out on TV which made us look at the situation very differently.  The fact that the heroes of the show (the human resistence) were the rebel/terrorist force and that the evil robots were the the occupation forces turned the Iraq war on its head for western viewers.

 

This is what great science fiction does.  It takes a giant mirror and holds it up to society and makes us take a long, hard look at ourselves.  This is what BSG has done again and again so beautifully.  The series has covered many topics over its run including things like politics, religion, human nature, fate and destiny, women's rights and racism.

 

Hell, this week the writers of BSG as well as some of the cast were even invited to speak in front of the United Nations to discuss how they handled some of these topics on their show.  If that isn't a show having a profound effect on the world, I don't know what is.

 

I will admit though, I do miss the days when BSG was all about the viper pilots.  The fighter jockeys, much like a sort of Top Gun in space, were the heart of the series during its first two seasons and those shows are still my favorites.  I recognize the show needed to grow beyond that or it would have gotten stale, and I am glad that it did grow beyond showing dogfight after dogfight.  At the same time though, I really do miss seeing Apollo and Starbuck whooping some Cylon ass every other episode.

 

What makes me the most sad though is that there's nothing, and I mean nothing, currently on TV that I can watch which will fill the hole that the departure of BSG will leave.  There's nothing else like Battlestar out there.  Sure, there's tons of other sci-fi shows, and while many of them are good, none of them come close to the excitement or complexity that episodes of BSG delivered week after week.

 

So long Battlestar Galactica.  You will be missed.  But you will never be forgotten.  You gave us so many things over the last few years, including the word Frak, which I will probably use in my regular vernacular from now until the day I die.  We can only hope that the spinoff show Caprica will be anywhere near as good, although I doubt it ever will be.

 

Personally, I want to see a spinoff show about the first Cylon war.  But that's just me.

The Good, The Bad, And The Duros

 

Meet Cad Bane.  He's a new bounty hunter character that will be making his first appearance in the Star Wars universe in this Friday's episode of the Clone Wars.  This is the same trailer that was shown to fans at the Star Wars panel at Wonder Con a few weeks ago.  It's a teaser for the season finale of Clone Wars, in which Count Dooku hires Bane to free a Separatist prisoner being held on Coruscant.

 

Obviously, the character is modeled heavily after a western gunslinger from such films as Clint Eastwood's  Man With No Name trilogy, and personally I'm totally ok with that.  Do you know which other Star Wars Character was modeled heavily on western gunslingers?  I'm sure you've heard of him before.  His name is Han Solo. 

 

So having a bit of a spaghetti western character in the Star Wars Universe makes sense as far as I'm concerned.  Plus he's a bounty hunter, so it fits his character.  Add on top of that the fact that he's a Duros, one of the alien races from Star Wars that I love but which we never get to see enough of, and I'm a happy camper. 

 

My only concern are the sort of lame looking metal tubes going into his face.  What the hell are those for?

Green Lantern Movie To Begin Filming This Fall

 

Warner Brothers has announced this week that they are scheduled to begin filming of the live-action Green Lantern movie this fall.  Filming will start in mid-september and will be shot on location in Australia.  The film's expected release date is December 17th, 2010.

 

Directing the picture will be Martin Campbell who has directed such other notable geek films as the James Bond movies Goldeneye and Casino Royale (my two favorite Bond movies ever) and the Mask of Zorro.  Unfortunately, he also directed the crappy Zorro sequel The Legend of Zorro.  I guess no one is perfect, right?

 

No casting choices have been announced yet, so we don't know who will be playing the titled hero.  Also, no story notes have been released either, so we're not even sure which Lantern we'll be seeing, or who they'll be fighting.  It would be stupid though for the WB to make a film about any other Lantern than the classic version of Hal Jordan.  Then again, this is Hollywood and dumber things have definitely happened before.  They could totally annoy fans everywhere and make a film about the original Green Lantern Alan Scott.

Eddie Izzard + LEGOS + Star Wars = Geeky Greatness

 

Eddie Izzard is an incredibly funny British comedian.  He once did a bit about the cafeteria on the Death Star that I loved.  Now, someone has taken the audio of that bit and made a stop-motion LEGO movie to go along with it.  The result is something beautiful.

Pat's First Online Rant: I Am Officially Done With Heroes (aka F This Show)

 



 

That's it, I'm done.  I can't take it anymore.  I've given up.  I am never watching NBC's show Heroes again.  Ever. 

 

They had finally done it.  They've gotten me to swear off the show.  It's an amazing accomplishment for a show about superheroes to get a lifelong comic book and superhero fan to stop watching their program, but after seasons of bad stories, horrible plot twists and bad acting the show has finally done something truly unforgivable. 

 

They have insulted and mocked their core audience.

 

For those of you who don't watch the show, or who haven't been keeping up with this season, let me explain.  In one of the show's many boring sub-plots, the character of Claire (a young attractive blonde cheerleader) decides to try to get a job at, of all places, a comic book store.  She doesn't actually read comics mind you, she just plans on using the job to help her smuggle fugitive superheroes to safety.  It's sort of a cover.

 

Anyways, in one of the scenes from the show, she goes in to interview with a manager at the store.  He talks to her a little bit about comics, asks her if she can work Wednesdays because that's when the new comics come out and then he asks her "Invisibility or flight"?  Claire is obviously confused and doesn't know the answer.  Basically, she has a really crappy interview.  She knows she's failed and turns to walk away when the store manager tells her she has the job.  Perplexed, she asks why and he whispers to her, "Every guy in here has been staring at you since you walked in.  You will definitely sell comic books."  We are then shown shots of  a number of the stores patrons, all of whom are either staring at or are blatantly leering at Claire through the comic racks or over the comics they're pretending to read.

 

The comic book fans are portrayed as pimply faced geeks who gawk at the sight of a pretty girl and they become lusty creeps in the process.  This angers me for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, I am so annoyed that this image of the comic geek still exists in today's culture.  The socially outcast nerd who have never even talked to a pretty girl, let alone ever had sex.  It's a negative stereotype that the media seems to love to push.  Everytime some big geek event happens, there's always some jackass media reporter who will find people standing in line waiting for the event who will ask them something along the lines of, "Have you ever seen a woman naked?"

 

Case in point.

 

In an era where comic book movies are topping the box office and the Dark Knight can take in a half a billion dollars, the fans who actually read the comic books these successful films are based on (which millions of people have seen) are summarily mocked time and time again for being social freaks and outcasts.  Meanwhile, comic books, science fiction and other typically "nerdy" things continue to become the mainstream forms of entertainment.  Look at things like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings or even TV shows like Lost or Chuck or Big Bang Theory.  Geek stuff is in.  Geeks are everywhere, and we're taking over the world.

 

Yet again and again we stuff like this.  There's also the stereotype being portrayed here that women, especially attractive women, never ever read comic books.  The stereotype that a woman in a comic book shop is a more rare occurance than a bigfoot sighting is as old as time itself.  Yet the truth is so far away from that.  It makes the writers of scenes like this look like out of touch leftovers from the 1960's.  Today's comic audiences have a huge female population.  There are just as many geek girls out there as there are geek guys, yet the perception remains that geeks as a whole are a bunch of loser guys who never have dates.

 

Matt and I ran into this during the impromptu Geek-tastic panel at Wonder Con too.  One of the guys in the audience had made a comment about the exhibit hall floor being filled with nothing but geeky fat guys, with nary a woman to be seen.  Matt was quick to retort though and asked the guy to look around him.  The room was about a 50/50 split of men and women.  Matt challenged the guy to walke the exhibit hall floor for a while.  There were just as many women down there as there were men.  When I go to comic conventions, you see tons of women. 

 

Geek isn't an entirely male thing, and I'm sick and tired of it being portrayed as such.  Whenever I see something like this it just reminds me of the old shows I used to watch growing up that mocked and ridiculed me for watching cartoons and reading comic books and sci-fi novels.  I would have thought that by now in the 21st centure we had moved past such outdated views, but apparently I was wrong.

 

What makes this a truly horrible slight though was that this came from a show about superheroes.  It's a show about comic books.  It's watched by millions of comic book fans, and in one fell swoop the writers of the show have gone and openly insulted their fans right to their faces.

 

I don't know about you, but I refuse to take that from a show.  I've been on the fence about Heroes for a while now anyways, and this just seems to be the last straw with me.  The show had a great first season.  Sure, it was all a blatant ripoff of the X-Men, but that was ok because the show was good and entertaining.  But since the end of the first season we've had to suffer through absolutely horrible seasons of television filled with atrocious writing, plots that went nowhere, one plot that was given up entirely without any resolution whatsoever (Peter's Irish Girlfriend who got trapped in the future), annoying characters who die only to be replaced by their even more annoying twin sister, weak villains, lots of time travel insanity and a general lack of direction or purpose. 

 

I've put up with all of that because I had hope the show would get better.  But it hasn't.  It just gets worse and worse and worse.  And now they've even sunk so low as to insult their fans, the ones who have made it so that the show hasn't gotten cancelled long ago like it should have.

 

I refuse to watch agood TV show which insults me or my intelligence, so you can rest assured I'll be god damned if I'm going to let a crappy show insult me like Heroes has.  I have watched my last episode of Heroes.  They have lost a viewer due to their old fashioned and stereotyped sensibilities.  May the show rot in ratings hell and get the early cancellation it so richly deserves.

 

My only hope at this point is that there is a panel for Heroes this year at the San Diego Comic Con.  If there is, I'm going to try my best to get in line to ask a question of the writers during the usual Q&A portion of the show.  If I can manage this, I will ask them something along the lines of the following:

 

"How dare you show yourselves here?  How do you have the audacity to show your faces here at a convention about comic books, that is attended by comic book fans, when you have so blatantly insulted us in your show?  The scene in which Claire interviewed for the job in the comic book shop was disgraceful.  You portrayed every man in this room as a pimply faced social reject who becomes a leering sexual deviant simply at the sight of a pretty girl, and you insulted every woman in this room by perpetuation the false belief that women do not read comic books or enjoy other geeky pursuits.  Look around you, please.  And tell me if the fine folks you see around you are the same type of people you have shown us to be on your pathetic excuse for an X-Men ripoff TV show?"

Geek Item Of The Week - 03/18/09

 

Pac-Man Energy Drink

 

If ever there was a videogame character who personified chemical dependence, it's Pac-Man.  The pill chomping, fruit eating, ghost killing menace is a glutton who gorges himself on everything in sight.  And you know those power pellets have got to have some crazy strong uppers in them.

 

So it's no suprise then that Pac-Man would get his own energy drink.  The amount of drugs going through Pac-Man's system at any given moment is probably enough to kill a herd of elephants, so it makes sense his likeness would be used to sell massive amounts of caffiene to consumers.

 

You can pick up a can of Pac-Man's drug fueled insanity over at Amazon for only $2.99 a can too, so how can you go wrong.  Just don't start blaming me if you find yourself awake at 3am wandering your house looking for pills to eat.