Just Another Muppet Monday

Good morning everyone,

  

I'd like to apologize for the lack of new posts recently.  Things at my work have gotten a bit busy and I haven't had as much time to devote to finding you awesome geek-worthy news to post about.  Things will probably continue the same for the next day or two, but after that it should get better.

 

Also, I've been informed that we may possibly have some small hosting issues over the next few days or so.  Therefore, if you are unable to access the site at any point, don't panic.  We're not dead (yet), we're just experiencing technical difficulties.  Hopefully though, problems won't crop up and things will go along just fine.  Let's keep our fingers crossed.

 

And now, on to the new Monday Muppets post.  In this hard economic time we find ourselves in, one must sometimes be forced to lower their working standards and take on a job just to earn enough to get by.  The same is true for some of the members of the Electric Mayhem.  It's a rough life, being a musician.

 

Enjoy!

The Week In Geek

This week on Geek-tastic, we learned the following:

 

• The new Spirit trailer still makes the film look goofy as hell.


• Kenneth Branagh may or may not be directing the new Thor movie.


• The folks of Battlestar Galactica sure do love to Frak!


• I really really want to play Street Wars.


• The new movie versions of Jason Vorhees and Alice from Alice In Wonderland don't look half bad.


• The Dark Knight is coming out on DVD on December 9th.


• SpaceX has made history!


• Tron's light cycles are now a reality.

Geek Item Of The Week

 

Radio Controlled Zombie

 

We all love zombies.  It's ok to admit it.  The shambling undead can be downright adorable sometimes, what with their limping and their vacant stares and their constantly repeating the word Braaaaiiiiinnnnssss!!!  So it's no wonder people would eventually want one as a pet.

 

The only problem with that though is that the zombie is always trying to eat its owner.  In order to be good pets, zombies need to be controllable.  Hence the above item, a fully radio controlled little Zombie for you to love.

 

The zombie comes complete with shambling and groaning action.  He's got a moving next, arms and legs.  And his remote control is a tiny brain, how rad is that?  Just find people for him to attack, point him in the right direction, push the button on the brain, and away he goes.  Enjoy the beautiful sight of your mini-zombie as he chases down and devours your enemies.

Damn You Richie Rich

 

 

We all remember the crazy ads that used to be found either inside of, or on the back page of comic books, right?  They offered things like X-Ray specs, or silly puddy.  All you had to do was mail off a few bucks and in 6 to 8 weeks, you'd get your item in the mail.

 

Did you ever try to mail away for any of those things though?  If you ever did, I'm sure you were pretty disappointed when it showed up.  Usually, the items that arrived were nowhere near as cool as they sounded in the ad.  In fact, they were pretty crappy.

 

The above story is about one such item.  It was found on the back of an issue of Richie Rich.  Which makes me wonder if this was how Richie became so Rich.  Did he defraud a generation of children in order to earn his fortune?  I bet he did.  I never liked that Richie Rich, and now I know why.

The Top 9 Things I Hope Will Be In The Clone Wars Series (But I doubt we'll get to see)

 



 

Tonight the new Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series debuts on the Cartoon Network.  This marks the first time since 1987 that a weekly Star Wars TV series has been on the air.  The the original two animated show, of course, were the atrocious Droids animated series than ran from 1985 to 1986 and the even worse Ewoks series that ran from 1985 to 1987.  On the plus side, the new Clone Wars series doesn't have very high standards to live up to in regards to previous Star Wars TV shows.  However, that also means bitter Star Wars fans like myself are expecting this show to continue the tradition of crappy Star Wars animated series.

 

I could be wrong though.  The Clone Wars movie was enjoyable.  And the trailer Cartoon Network has put out for the new series looks really good.  So there's hope the show may actually be good.  As a lifelong Star Wars fan though, and having been raised always wondering what these mysterious "Clone Wars" were that Leia's hologram mentioned in Episode IV, the show has a lot of expectations to live up to.  And I doubt the series will feature everything I'd like to see in it.

 

In honor of tonight's debut broadcast, I've put together a list of The Top 9 Things I Hope Will Be In The Clone Wars Series (But I douby we'll get to see).  Here we go:

 



 

9.  Delta or Omega squads

The Clone Wars have already been covered a lot in books and video games, and one of the really enjoyable things to come from those materials were the men of Delta and Omega Squads.  The squads are commando squads of specially trained republic clones that go on suicide missions all the time and do some really cool stuff. Omega squad starred in the Republic Commando novels that were written by Karen Travis.  Delta squad starred in the Republic commando videogame for the original X-Box system. 

 

Both the books and the game deal with the squads' actions during the Clone Wars, and they'd be the perfect subjects for episodes of the TV series.  They're elite units of badass commandos who could work closely with the Jedi on very dangerous missions.  Plus, having them in would be a nice nod to the expanded universe in general.

 

Odds we'll get to see this:  40 to 1

 



 

8.  Quinlan Vos

Quinal Vos was a Jedi Master and General during the Clone Wars.  Thus far, he's only appeared in comic books, but he's a huge fan favorite, and for good reason.  First, he looks like a badass.  He's got dreadlocks and a cool costume.  Plus, in the comics he has a tendency to walk the edge of dark and light sides of the force.  Both Darth Tyrannus and The Emperor have expressed an interest in him before.

 

He'd be a great new character to introduce in the Clone Wars series.  He could be sort of an Anti-hero Jedi.  Someone who's constantly battling with himself and with the darkness within.  Stories with this character would be a lot of fun.  And I get the feeling he and Anakin would have some very interesting conversations indeed.

 

Odds we'll get to see this:  100 to 1

 



 

7.  Mace Windu Being A Bad Ass Motherfucker

My favorite episodes from the first Clone Wars animated series was the two-part series that focused on Mace Windu.  In it, we got to see Mace Windu singlehandedly wipe out an entire droid army.  He even took down a massive superweapon all on his own.  He truly is the most badass of the Jedi.  So it would be with much joy if we were to be able to see more of this. 

 

What I'd like to see is one whole Episode devoted to Mace Windu.  I want to see him go off on some mission alone somewhere where he's forced to whup more droid ass than you'd see in any 3 other episodes of the show combined.  This man has a purple lightsaber, and he's not afraid to use it.  He needs to be given armies to lay waste to. 

 

Odds we'll get to see this:  2 to 1

 



 

6.  General Greivous Earning His Reputation As A Jedi Killer

 

The differences between the General Grevious we saw in the original Clone Wars series and the one we saw in Episode III are staggering.  The one in the original Clone Wars was a major force to be reckoned with.  He easily stood his ground while fighting multiple Jedi masters at once.  He was seen dispatching Jedi without a thought and collecting their lightsabers as trophies.  His very presence was frightening to the Jedi.  He even had a menacing voice.

 

In stark contrast to that though, the Grevious we saw in Ep III was a joke.  He sounded silly, he had an annoying cough (thanks to Mace Windu from the Original Clone Wars series) and he spent most of the film acting like a bitch before he was killed off by Obi-Wan.  He didn't kill a single Jedi in the film, and thus failed to establish himself as a major threat.  And then, to top it off, he wasn't even killed in a cool fashion.  He got taken down by a couple of well placed blaster shots.  How lame.

 

The new Clone Wars series can make up for this though.  It can re-establish Grevious as a major threat to the Jedi.  Have him be a badass again and let him kill a few Jedi.  It'll go a long way towards redeeming him as a villain.

 

Odds we'll see this happen: 10 to 1

 



 

5.  Some Sort of Super Weapon

 

It's not really a Star Wars story if it doesn't have a super weapon in it somewhere.  Death Stars, Super Star Destroyers, you name it.  Star Wars has always been about stupendously large machines that deal out death on a massive scale.  And the Clone Wars series needs to be no different.

 

The separatist army should design some end-all-be-all uber weapon at some point in the series.  Something that can kill an entire planet's population, or that can make stars go out or go nova or something.  There needs to be an episode where a team of Jedi have to infiltrate and destroy the superweapon.  It would fit well into the Star Wars galaxy to have such a thing happen.  And that's the kind of story you can make last a whole season.  Have rumors of a deadly new weapon start up.  The Jedi have to investigate.  They find out about it, then they have to find it and destroy it.  That's epic sci-fi drama right there.

 

Odds we'll get to see this happen: 6 to 1

 



 

4.  Mark Hamill Be The Voice For Anyone

Since starring in the original Star Wars saga, Mark Hamill has established himself as an incredible voiceover talent for animated TV shows.  He was the Joker on the Batman Animated Series, he was Fire Lord Ozai on Avatar: The Last Airbender.  He's been on shows like Robot Chicken and Futurama and Justice League.  This man's geek cred is through the frakking roof. 

 

Fans would go crazy if Mark Hamill were to make a return to Star Wars.  It would be a perfect media event too.  Lucas could market the hell out of Mark Hamill, Luke Skywalker himself, returning to the Star Wars fold.  He could play a leader of the Sepatatist leader, or a new Jedi character that gets introduced.  It doesn't matter.  Just put him somewhere.  He deserves to be added.  And you know he'd totally love to do it too.

 

Odds we'll get to see this happen:  100 to 1

 



 

3.  See Anakin Get His Facial Scar

 

Ever since we saw the first posters for Episode III, and we got to see Anakin with his new facial scar, the question has been asked by fans everywhere...how did he get it?  Sure, they answered this in the comics.  Asajj Ventress gave it to him in a fight on Coruscant.  But I know I'm not alone when I say that seeing Anakin get his scar in comics form is not enough.

 

Something that big needs to be seen in a video media format.  At some point during the series, we need to see Anakin get his scar.  Have it be in a big, epic battle in a season finale episode.  Make it happen at some huge dramatic point in the series where it looks like the Republic might actually lose the war.  And when he gets scarred, we need to see Anakin go ape shit.  He just needs to go super angry dark jedi for a bit after that and wipe out some huge Separatist force.  Make him getting that scar mean something.  Make the scar be a symbol of his progression towards the dark side.  Make it matter.

 

Odds we'll get to see this happen:  20 to 1

 



 

2.  Anakin be the Jedi we've all been told he was

 

The first real clue we had of Anakin's awesomeness was the comments Obi-wan made to luke in Episode 4.  "He was the greatest starfighter pilot in the galaxy.  And he was a good friend."  From that point on we've been told all sorts of stuff about how powerful Anakin was.  How strong he was with the force.  Yet we've only seen little bits of this strength and greatness in the movies.  Sure, he won the pordace.  And yeah, he killed Count Dooku.  But we haven't really seen Anakin go off in any major form.  We have yet to see why he's considered the greatest pilot in the galaxy.  We haven't seen Anakin single-handedly take out an Army.

 

Anakin spent most of the films pouting and being an all around whiny bitch.   We need to see Anakin be the true hero we've all been told he was.  He needs to do something truly self sacrificing.  He needs to lead his forces to victory.  He needs to lead by example and be an inspiration to his troops.  He needs to show himself to be the most powerful Jedi of his time.  Less whining...more badass.

 

Odds we'll get to see this happen:  3 to 1

 



 

1. The Death of Ahsoka Tano

 

Anakin's spunky little Padawan needs to die.  Not right away, mind you.  She's one of the stars of the new series, so she's going to be in it for the long haul.  But where is she by Episode III?  Nowhere.  She's not around anymore, she's never referred to by other characters.  She never makes another appearance after the Clone Wars.  So where does she go?

 

In my opinion, she dies.  It makes the most sense.  It's a war.  People die in wars all the time.  Regardless of age or gender or status as a Jedi, if you fight in a war you could possibly die.  I think it would be a brilliant move to let us watch as this scrappy young kid goes through the war, grows up, becomes a Jedi, and then dies in battle near the end of the series.  Think of the affect it would have on Anakin to lose his former Padawan after he becomes so close with her through years of fighting side by side.  It could be yet one more thing used to push him on the path to the dark side. 

 

I highly doubt we're going to se Ahsoka die during the series though.  The series is being aimed at kids, so the it's pretty much guaranteed that they're not going to deal with something so dark and heavy during the show.  But one can dream, right?  If anything, she needs to die just for calling Anakin Sky Guy.  In fact, Anakin should be the one to kill her during one of his fits of dark side rage.  That would be awesome.

 

Odds We'll see this happen:  A Million to one

Odds We';; see Anakin kill her:  A Billion to one

A New Punch-Out Game Is Super Rad

 

Little Mac is back!!!  At yesterday's Nintendo press conference, a whole slew of new Wii games were announced.  Those games are:

 

Punch-Out. Another Code (a Wii version of the DS adventure game). Dynasty Warriors, which will be making its debut Wii appearance. And, finally, Sin & Punishment 2.

 

That's right folks.  A brand new Punch-Out game.  It has been far too long since a new Punch-Out game has come out.  I'm super excited to see this on the list.  It can't come out soon enough.

 

Word has not been released yet as to whether Mike Tyson will be in the game or not.  I highly doubt he will, but they really should include him in it.  Afterall, the original game was about him.  At the very least he should be an unlockable character or something.  To not have hime somewhere in the game would be a travesty.

The New Gameboy Looks A Lot Like The Old One

 

During a press conference yesterday, Nintendo announced the upcoming release of the next generation Gameboy system.  The Nintendo DSi.

 

On the plus side, the new DSi has the following features over the old DS:

 

• It has a built in .3 megapixel (640x480) webcam.


• It has an SD memory card slot.


• It's slightly thinner.


• The screens are 17% larger.


• It has improved audio capababilities


• It will come with a built in Browser.


• You can download games and save them on the DSi.

 

On the downside, the GBA gameslot has been removed, so it won't be backwards compatible with GBA games anymore.  To that I say BOOOOOO!!!!!  Backwards compatability is one of the things that made the DS so great.  Shame on them for removing it.

 

In regards to the ability to download games to the DSi:

 

For digital delivery purchases, there is a DSi Shop, from which users can download DSiWare from. Pricing categories for the DSiWare are: Free, 200 points, 500 points and "Premium" or 800 points. Customers will get 1000 free points to spend at the DSi Shop that are good until March 2010.

 

One more downside, while the system comes out in Japan on November 1st, we won't be seeing them in the US until sometime next year.  And I'm willing to bet that Nintendo is going to have issues keeping these in stock too, just like the Wii and the Wii Fit.  So, good luck trying to find one when they do come out.

 

No price point has been set for the system yet.  However, you can go see a video of the DSi in action here.