Just a heads-up… I appeared in a couple recent episodes of The Unique Geek podcast.
The Unique Geek Issue #70 features the usual gang as we discuss the latest mediocre offerings from Lucas as well as the lackluster summer movie season. Really we are just a bunch of grumpy guys with nothing better to do.
The Unique Geek Issue #71 features the usual gang as we discuss the new Incredible Hulk film. Well… we try to discuss the film, but as usual we wander off topic a bit.
Other than the Doctor Who dynasty of shows, I don’t watch much television. However, there is one new show that I have totally fallen for in the past year… “Chuck” on NBC. The show is about a computer geek who is catapulted into a new career as the government’s most vital secret. With the government’s most precious secrets in Chuck’s head, NSA’s John Casey and CIA’s Sarah Walker assume the responsibility of protecting him. The show is a mixture of action/adventure and sitcom, with just a dash of angsty romance. Somehow they’ve hit upon a magical formula that just works.
If you haven’t seen the series, you can watch a few episodes (including the pilot) at the official NBC web site for Chuck. The series features the hilarious and brilliant Zachary Levi as Chuck. Sara Walker is played by one of the hottest women to come out of Australia, Yvonne Strahovski. John Casey is played by fantastic Adam Baldwin. The supporting characters are also awesome (pun intended, if you watch the show)!
Recently Wildstorm comics started a six-issue mini-series based upon the show. It’s being written by series co-executive producer Peter Johnson and series writer Zev Borow, so it’s not just some lousy throwaway spin-off. The first issue came out last month (hopefully you can still find it in stores), while the second issue is slated to come out this week. I felt that Issue #1 was well done. Since its being written by people from the actual show, you get the sense that they got the characters “voices” right. I love the homage to Gilligan’s Island in the beginning where Chuck plays Gilligan and his boss plays Skipper. Funny stuff! Also, some former Chuck adversaries make appearances in the comic, so that was fun. Finally, there is a one-page back-up called “Captain Awesome’s Tips for Being Awesome!!” That was great… or dare I say AWESOME! All told, I think the comic mini-series is off to a good start.
While the reviews have been somewhat mixed, I personally enjoyed the new movie “Hancock“. I felt the movie delivered on what was promised in the trailers (a down-and-out superhero mends his ways to become a hero). There were fun displays of superpowers, such as the way Hancock does super-jumps and his landings. They also did an excellent job showing the collateral damage caused by superheroes. It makes you think how dangerous it would really be to have super-powered beings running around.
Surprisingly, there is a whole other plot that takes place on the back-end of the movie that was not featured in the trailers. I won’t spoil it for you, but I imagine that is what most people are fussing about. The expectation nowadays is that every major plot thread should be featured in the trailer. When something hits you during the film you weren’t expecting, you should rejoice! Wow, a genuine surprise during a movie! When was the last time that happened? We’ve all become so used to knowing in advance what is going to happen, we’ve forgotten how much fun it is to be surprised. Good job Hancock!
Finally, there were some concerns early on about the similarities between the Hancock plot of a down-and-out/alcoholic superhero and the potential “Demon in a Bottle” plot for Iron Man 2. In fact, the director of Iron Man 2 suggested they may have to drop the entire Tony Stark alcoholic storyline if it would be too repetitious of Hancock. After seeing Hancock, I don’t think they have anything to worry about. I think the storyline of Tony Stark spiraling into self-destructive alcoholism could still be done quite well without concern for plot repetition. Just my two cents.
The name “B-Wing” has always bothered me. I believe I can safely say that some of you are thinking, “hell ya, that’s always bugged the crap out of me too!” While another percentage of you are thinking, “what the frig is a B-Wing, and why do I care?”
The B-Wing is a spaceship from the movie “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” (don’t you dare refer to it as “Episode 6″ around me). However, unlike all the other letter-named ships in the series (i.e. X-Wing, Y-Wing, and A-Wing), the ship design doesn’t resemble the letter of the alphabet.
Here are some images to demonstrate my point. First row (l-to-r): X-Wing and Y-Wing. Second row (l-to-r): A-Wing and B-Wing.
Clearly the B-Wing name doesn’t match its body design. It doesn’t look anything like a “B”! In fact, the B-Wing sure looks a lot like the lower case letter “t”. You’d think it would be called the “T-Wing”. I suspect someone at ILM had their radio up too loud listening to “Maneater” by Daryl Hall and John Oates. Because of the noise, they simply misheard “bee” in place of ”tee” and it stuck. Once Kenner started making the toys, they realized they couldn’t go back and change it to “T-Wing” (especially after the whole 4-LOM/Zuckuss debacle from “Empire Strikes Back”).
Now before you go believing that crap about “B-Wing” being named for the Nebulon-B frigate, you gotta realize that’s a “expanded universe” retcon. So I don’t believe for a second that was the plan back in 1983.
I finally saw “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. I liked it. Yup, I’m one of the few geeks I know that actually enjoyed the movie.
Now, I have to admit that I was probably not impartial going in. I’d read quite a bit of spoilers, so I was much better prepared for the controversial parts as compared to most people. I think knowing about those parts in advance (and already personally working through the surprise and disappointment) allowed me to enjoy the film more. It’s sort of like having surgery. Prior to the surgery, the doctor explains in gory detail what they are going to do to you. So when its time for the actual procedure, you aren’t really surprised or upset by the painful bits.
I enjoyed the second Act that took place back at the University. I felt like they introduced a nice subplot about a hero getting older. Loved the line, “We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away.” I liked that they lingered on the photo of Indy’s dad.
Indy gaining a son was a perfect counterpoint to the earlier scene about getting older. Here Indy is given something new (a son he never knew he had). Well structured.
I enjoyed hearing Harrison Ford’s famous Star Wars line, “I got a bad feeling about this.”
I thought the use of the army ants was really cool! Very unexpected but fitting for Indiana Jones. I’m going to have the creepy crawlies for days.
Throughout the movie I was waiting for the moment, and dreading the thought of, when Indy would put the hat on Mutt as sort of a passing of the torch. I was happy to see that moment was stolen from Mutt. It symbolically said that Mutt wasn’t picking up Indy’s mantle and that Indy was still around. Nice.
I liked that the his son was called Mutt. Given that Indiana chose his name because of their dog, Mutt was a funny choice and seemed to fit with the 1950’s era. I’m sure some people thought it was a silly homage to how Indiana chose his name, but I liked it (especially because they didn’t actually come out and remind us during the film).
Things I struggled with…
I’m all about Indiana action being over the top. However, even I had a hard time overlooking some of the ridiculous stunts, such as the atomic refrigerator & Mutt on the vines. Additionally, as it did with Ravenface, the bad stunt stand-ins during the motorcycle chase really took me out of the film.
I could have done without the majority of the sci-fi stuff. I think they could have still done a Crystal Skull plot (but more based upon the Mitchell-Hedges skull and myth), included Area 51, but only hinted at and left the audience wondering about the alien stuff.
General missives…
I thought I’d heard during pre-production that John Hurt was playing Abner Ravenwood. I wonder what happened there.
Why did the aliens need to be from another dimension? Was outer space just to simple of a concept? Given the homage to the 1950’s alien invasion movies, I would have thought simply making them from outer space would have made more sense.
In regard to the sci-fi elements, I understand where the filmmakers were coming from. I think their hearts were in the right place and they were in a Catch-22 situation. If they simply made another archeological adventure movie, fans would have griped that there was nothing new and they failed to live up to the old films. By going in a different direction, they risked alienating fans with the psychic/dimensional subplot. Either way, the fan base was going to doom the movie. So I think trying something different was probably the best approach (even though I personally didn’t like some of the elements).
Again, overall I enjoyed the movie. I may not have agreed with some elements, but overall it was a fun adventure romp with a hero from my childhood. I probably won’t see it in the theater again, but I’m sure I’ll buy the DVD.
We decided to have a family movie night last Saturday. After being exposed to all the hype surrounding Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, my eight-year old step-son wanted to watch some of the original Indiana Jones films. He’d never seen them before, so we started with “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.
Interestingly enough, I was the exact same age my step-son is now when I first saw this movie. My dad, my brother, and I got to see a free sneak preview a few days before the regular release (so this would be early June 1981). At this point, there was very little known about the film other than it was by the creators of Star Wars and Jaws. In the car on the way to the theater, my eight-year old self decided that the film must be about finding Noah’s Ark. Needless to say I wasn’t disappointed that I was wrong after seeing this awesome film. Going to see movies with my dad growing up was a special treat, so I have fond memories of that night.
Fast forward to the present. It was really fun watching “Raiders of the Lost Ark” through my step-son’s eyes. He was excited in all the right places, loved the action, got scared at the end and peeked through his fingers while covering his eyes. We even dug out my old brown fedora for him to wear during the movie. He said it made him feel safer. It’s nice to see that classic high adventure movies such as “Raiders of the Lost Ark” can still thrill children today.
Afterwards, we watched one of the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles stories - “Treasure of the Peacock’s Eye”. Truthfully, this was just a re-edit of a few of the weekly episodes. Regardless, my step-son really enjoyed the story. I think he connected with young Indy and enjoyed seeing Indy learn the skills he would go on to use later in life.
Later at the grocery store, he asked my wife to buy him a box of Corn Pops cereal. Being a kind mother, she bought the cereal for him. It just so happened that this box of Corn Pops contained an Indiana Jones toy. What my wife didn’t know is that he hates Corn Pops and it was simply a ruse to get the Indy toy. Pretty clever kid.
It’s a big year for the continuing saga of Star Wars. This year will see the new “The Clone Wars” cartoon and the new multimedia event “The Force Unleashed”. Even though I know better, I’m finding myself interested in these items.
Click here to view for the new “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” trailer. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this new animation style, but I’m more impressed than I expected to be. I really expected to hate this look after falling in love with the original Cartoon Network version of Clone Wars. Lucas says the new style was inspired by the look of the old Thunderbirds TV series. That interview can be found here.
This new Clone Wars premiers first as a theatrical movie on August 15, 2008. Then it will be followed up with a television series starting in the fall on Cartoon Network. This series takes place between Episodes II and III. Looks like Anakin has a padawan of his own this time, Ahsoka Tano. On the down side, that’s not Frank Oz doing the voice of Yoda.
Interestingly enough, Star Wars has another major project this year also. It’s called “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed“. It was original supposed to launch in Spring 2008, but now it’s been postponed until September. I gotta think the postponement has something to do with the new Clone Wars cartoon.
This multimedia event will have numerous products that tie-in. The centerpiece is a new video game, but there will also be a tie-in novel, a graphic novel, action figures, a reference book, and a role-playing supplement. This event is being marketed somewhat like “Shadows of the Empire” was back in the 1990’s. I personally find myself more excited about “The Force Unleashed” than the new “Clone Wars”.
This story takes place during the large gap between Episodes III and IV. It follows Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice as he hunts down the few remaining Jedi. Apparently the story will also explain key plot points that directly lead into the events of Star Wars Episode IV.
You can watch the amazing trailer for the video game below. It takes a little while to load, so I would load the whole file first, just so it plays smoothly. It’s worth the wait.
Even though I’ve been let down by Star Wars over the past several years, I’m looking forward to seeing some new adventures. I’ve got my fingers crossed that they will be enjoyable.
If you’re like me, you’re getting anxious for the new Indiana Jones movie - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. However, I thought it worth pointing out another cool Indiana Jones item on the horizon. On June 11th, Dark Horse Comics will be publishing Indiana Jones Adventures Vol. 1. This is a pocket-sized 80-page comic that is kid-friendly and should be fun for adults and children. The cost is only $6.95, which is a bargain for an 80-page comic!
Dark Horse describes it as “a story for anyone looking for stunning visuals, thrill-a-minute storytelling, and one unmistakable archaeologist!” Dark Horse is following the same model they used for their Star Wars Clone Wars Adventure series (based upon the popular cartoon mini-series). That model being cartoon-style art, digest format publication, and targeting the book for adults and children.
I realize some of you will automatically dismiss this as “kid’s comics”. However, I gotta tell you some of the most fun comics being published today are these kid-friendly books. Many really convey the excitement of comics, capture the colorful dynamic action, and have straight-forward plots without talking down to the reader. As a comic reader, I find these types of books fun, refreshing, and adventurous. Just a few examples of great kid-friendly comics on the market today include Power Pack, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, and Franklin Richards. Just remember how much you loved “Batman: The Animated Series”. That’s a good example of an action-oriented series targeted at adults and children.
Fanboys the movie looks as if it could be the quintessential geek movie of all time. Production has been delayed a whole bunch, but the trailer makes it look to be worth the wait.
It’s got a great bunch of supporting actors, including Kristen Bell, Ray Park, William Shatner, Billy Dee Williams, and Jaime King.
A place for all things geek... Primarily I focus on some of my favorite topics including comic books, Doctor Who, Star Wars (classic and legacy characters), role-playing, 80’s TV shows, and science fiction in general. However, any topic is really fair game. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think. I hope you enjoy!
About Shag
By day, The Irredeemable Shag plays the part of a wealthy industrialist, playboy, and philanthropist. By night, he is a frightening creature that strikes terror into the hearts of criminals! ... or ... maybe he's just this really vocal geek who is part of THE UNIQUE GEEK and a semi-regular on the VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX podcast. You decide...
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