Intro of the Week #18 - Godzilla: The Series

And after this poster of the week...



I just love the music with the Goddzilla sound effect!
The show was a continuation of the 1998 American Godzilla interpretation (later called just Zilla in "Godzilla: Final Wars", to be distinguished from its Japanese cousin) and I find it quite enjoyable. The show starts right after the movie, the little Zilla that hatches from the egg at the very end of the movie grows up and Nick takes care of it and tries to protect it from the military, and as the same time try to help other people around the world, battling against all sorts of mutations and giant monsters.

Poster of the Week #18

Godzilla (1984)
Simply awesome!

Terminator 4 Trailer and Terminator 3 - Sgt. Candy (Deleted Scene)

The horror, the horror...
The very fact that this was written as part of the script for T3 is disturbing... But FILMING IT and intending to PUT IT IN THE MOVIE is simply unbelievable. I'm really happy that this didn't make it to the final cut.

I'm really a huge fan of the Terminator franchise. And I'm really worried about the upcoming T4.

I admit, I kinda liked T3 Rise of the Machines. I definitely didn't hate it, as many people did. I love the Dr. Silberman cameo, the story (once you get it, with the Skynet being a software, developed by Kate's father, who John never met because of the T2 events and by postponding the Judgement Day back then they actually created another oportunity for Skynet to be created...) works and the ending is cool.

But what the hell are they going to do with T4?! Like T3 didn't have enough plot holes, like the TV series didn't ruin the timeline enough (I absolutely ignore the whole alternate reality crap they try to push on us, I gave this show a chance and watched it half was season 2, but what can I do - it just blows!)...

Now, in T3 it is said that in the future Kate is John's wife, John is killed by the same Terminator that saves him and Kate, and actually it is Kate who sent it back in time. It is also said that in the future kate and John's children are also important. Now, let alone that Batman is now John Connor too, where the heck is kate and how they are going to explain it this time?!

We'll have to wait and see... or maybe we'd better not?

Release Date: May 22, 2009

Terminator 4: Salvation (Trailer #3)
aka Mad Max meets Transformers

Alive in Joburg - Short of the Week #18

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_9

More Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neill_Blomkamp

District 9 - Trailer

The most promising trailer I have seen in a long time!
Based on the original short by Neill Blomkamp.

Short of the Week #17

I watched "Fanboys" today and what can I say? It's not as good as I hoped it will be. It's definitely worth watching, but after seeing most of the funny moments in the trailer and they toned down the drama element and added extra profanity I feel like they wasted a great idea. I was waiting for it for like 3 years and what I got is just another geek comedy with neat cameo-s and tons of references. I have to admidt though, I absolutely loved the THX-1138 metalhead cops as guards in the Skywalker Ranch, and Ray Park being one of them :)

Anyway, it's a good oportunity to remember about the 1st "Fanboys" film, the 2003 fan-film sharing a similar idea.

In the year 1999, a group of rebels enlists the aid of a young Star Wars fan to steal a copy of The Phantom Menace to aid their cause. But are their motives as noble as they appear?

I love the idea and it's original and enjoyable little Star Wars fan-film :) Check it out on TheForce.net: http://theforce.net/fanfilms/shortfilms/fanboys

Intro of the Week #17

The opening of the fisrt "Wild Arms" PS game, anime spaghetti western RPG with several sequels and TV series spin-off. I absolutely love the Morricone-like music composed by Michiko Naruke!

Wanna know more? Wiki :)

Poster of the Week #17

After I've been disappointed by most of the movies that come out lately (unfortunately including the much anticipated "Fanboys"), I decided to watch something really classy :) - "America 3000"
Canon Films / Golan-Globus production - this is enough to get my attention, but when we're talkin' 80s postapocalyptic B-movie - it's simply a must!
The poster as usual looks way better than the movie itself, and the Yeti thing with the boombox is the best thing in there, surely made me laugh :)

IMDbigbrother is Watching You!

I was quite unpleasantly surprised when IMDb refused to accept my Star Trek comment and I had to edit and re-edit it several times. First of all they now have a 1000 words limit. And second - you can't use "inappropriate words and phrases" and it doesn't even tell you WHAT is inappropriate! OK, I removed "Spock, you lucky bastard", and it still told me I'm being rude or something. Finally I fugured out that it's because of the "pissed off Romulans"... Like 3 days after the comment was finally published it got deleted. This time you do not get an e-mail notification. You see it yourself if you care to browse through your comment history.

The excuse: none!
Just some general note they post above every deleted comment:

Deleted Comments

This is a list of the comments that you've either deleted yourself, or have been deleted by us (since 2004). This does not include comments which were rejected without ever being published on the site. All comments must comply with the guidelines and the listing here is not an invitation for you to repost a deleted comment again. Please consider why any comments may have been deleted by IMDb and modify them accordingly if you wish to resubmit them to the site.

Please note in some cases, owing system glitches, comments can be accidentally published two or more times. When these duplicates are deleted, they will still show up here so not all comments listed below necessarily break the guidelines. Please check to see whether another copy of the same comment is still live.

Interesting... Seems I'm not teh only one complaining... On the IMDb borads there's a topic:

All BAD REVIEWS of This Movie DELETED? Why? Censorship?

You can follow the topic here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796366/board/thread/136867071?p=1

And my unedited Star Trek review is here:

http://nsg1138.blogspot.com/2009/04/movies-24-star-trek.html

Jo Jo in the Stars - Short of the Week #16

Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Jo_in_the_Stars

The Pirates of Dark Water - Intro of the Week #16

Watch the episodes here - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TheDML&view=videos&start=40

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_Dark_Water

Androus' Pirates of Dark Water website - the best PoDW place there is!!

Actually, I've already talked about the show a bit, way back when I started my blog :)

And now something greatly outdated, written back in 2001, it was the 10th anniversary of the show and I wrote a tribute article for the "Fantasy Factor" magazine :)

Има някои неща, които всеки от нас иска да вземе със себе си от миналото. Неща ,като комиксите от списание “ДЪГА”, бозата и бутер-баничките в стола или играта на “Cadillacs and Dinosaurus” в някой задимен гараж след училище. Едно от тези неща за мен винаги ще си остане тясната видеотека на село, пълна с лошоозвучени филми, от която с братовчед ми взимахме касети и гледахме през дъждовните следобеди. Повечето от тези филми вече не се намират. Филми като “Eуоките: Битка за Ендор” , “Котаракът Феликс в друго измерение” и “Мишоци-Рокери от Марс”.

Сред касетите по прашните рафтове беше и заглавие, което може би много от вас също си спомнят -“Пиратите от Тъмната Вода” ( или както бе преведено “Пиратите от Тъмния Пролив”). На 25 февруари тази година (2001, LOL) поредицата навърши 10 години, хубав случай да си спомним за нея.

ТЪМНАТА ВОДА ПОГЛЪЩА ИЗВЪНЗЕМНИЯ СВЯТ НА МЕР. САМО РЕН, МЛАД ПРИНЦ, МОЖЕ ДА Я СПРЕ - КАТО НАМЕРИ ТРИНАЙСЕТТЕ ИЗГУБЕНИ СЪКРОВИЩА НА РУЛ. НА НЕГОВА СТРАНА Е МАЛКОНАДЕЖДНИЯТ, НО ЛОЯЛЕН ЕКИПАЖ ОТ СТРАННИЦИ. СРЕЩУ НЕГО Е ЗЛИЯТ ПИРАТ ЛОРД БЛОТ, КОЙТО НЕ БИ СЕ СПРЯЛ ПРЕД НИЩО, ЗА ДА СИ ПРИСВОИ СЪКРОВИЩАТА. ТОВА Е БУРНО ПРИКЛЮЧЕНИЕ С ПИРАТИТЕ ОТ ТЪМНАТА ВОДА!*
_______________________________________________________________________________________________ *Б.А. Оригиналният текст е “THE ALIEN WORLD OF MER IS BEING DEVOURED BY DARK WATER. ONLY REN, A YOUNG PRINCE, CAN STOP IT – BY FINDING THE LOST THIRTEEN TREASURES OF RUL. AT HIS SIDE IS AN UNLIKELY, BUT LOYAL CREW OF MISFITS. AT HIS BACK, THE EVIL PIRATE LORD BLOTH, WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO GET THE TREASURES FOR HIMSELF. IT’S HIGH ADVENTURE WITH THE PIRATES OF DARK WATER! “.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Така започват епизодите на прекрасната анимационна поредица на Hanna-Barbera (след закупуването на компанията, правата вече са на новия собственик – Warner Bros). Още в самото начало сериите се радват на небивал интерес от всякаква публика. Действието се развива на огромната планета Мер, свят необятен и покрит с океани, населяван както от хора, така и от фантастичнии раси и същества. Мер е невероятна кръстоска на оригинално фентъзи с пиратска епопея. Светът е разгърнат и обрисуван мащабно, давайки на зрителя усещане за правдоподобност, което може да се сравни дори с това на “Междузвездни Войни” или Толкиновата земя. Такива мащабни фантастични светове в анимацията до този момент са характерни най-вече за японската манга (така де, АНИМЕ!), въпреки че се срещат, макар и доста по-рядко, сред американските и френските продукции (като пример мога да посоча “Огън и Лед”, ”Легендата за Орин: Преследвач между звездите”, ”Флаш Гордън” или сериите на Transformers, които отново са дело на Hanna-Barbera). Светът на “Пиратите от Тъмната Вода” постепенно се откъсва от епохата на магията, въпреки че тя все още заема значителна част от бита, развива се корабплаването и корабостроенето, типични са причудливите “оръжия-животни”.

Историята накратко - Рен отрасва във фар на брега на морето, отгледан от Джена. Една нощ той забелязва старец, чиято лодка е люшката от бурята и скоро се разбива в скалите. Рен се втурва да помогне. А старецът се оказва не друг, а собственият му баща - Праймъс, кралят на легендарното, но изгубено кралство Октопон. В сетния си час Праймъс дава на сина си напътствия за откриването на магически медальон-компас. Старецът издъхва и вълните го отнасят, преди още младият Рен да осъзнае какво се случва. Джена споделя истината с Рен - той е принцът на Октопон, който трябва да намери 13те съкровища на Рул, за да върне славата на кралството си и да спре загадъчната Тъмна Вода, която поглъща всичко по пътя си, обричайки света на гибел. Почти веднага Рен е отвлечен от Нидлър, симпатичен крилат мутант, и скоро се запознава отблизо с виновника за участта на баща му - лорда на пиратите Блот, който дълги години е държал Праймъс в плен, искайки да заграби съкровищата на Рул. Рен се измъква от Водовъртеж, гигантския галеон на пирата, сприятелявайки се с Нидлър. След куп премеждия принцът се сдобива с компаса - единственият ключ към откриването на скритите артефакти. Към екипажа му се присъединяват самоувереният Айоз и хитрата Тула - и двамата пирати. Започва търсенето на съкровищата, а заедно с него и приключенията на Пиратите от Тъмната Вода.
И така 22 епизода…

Поредицата така и не бива завършена – Рен открива едва 8 от 13-те съкровища, а зрителят никога не вижда как Октопон възвръща славата си. Първите 13 епизода излизат през 1991. Следват по още 4 през 1992 и 1993. Уви, на видео излизат само 4 от епизодите, а като цяло всички биват излъчени по телевизията разделени на по 5 серии всеки. Дали за десетия си рожден ден поредицата няма да получи своя следващ сезон? Да се надяваме! (Е, не стана, така че освен да чакаме покрай 20-годишнината някой да се сети?)

“Пиратите от Тъмната Вода” добива широка популярност. Още през 1991 Marvel Comics пускат серията “Pirates Of The Dark Water”, а Наsbro се заемат с играчките (така наречените на запад action figures). Излиза и видеоигра за SEGA. (има и игра за SNES, известно време след като писах статията ги намерих из нета и изпратих ROM-овете на Androus заедно с подходящите емулатори, хостнати са на сайта и можете да си ги дръпнете от там и да поджиткате :))

А когато става въпрос за такъв необикновен и изпълнен с приключения свят как да не се появи и ролева игра? И тя се появява - за основа й служи небезизвестната система “Advanced Dungeons&Dragons”. Всичко необходимо, за да играете, можете да откриете на адрес: www.deathstar.org/~krlipka/pirates/index.html

Но безспорно най-добрият сайт, на който съм попадал е www.ecomancer.net/podw/index.html. (Това е стария адрес на сайта на Androus) Сайтът е направен от фенове на сериала и наистина си заслужава да се види. Тук можете да намерите както новини, така и историята на всеки един епизод. Има също така и красиви уолпейпъри и иконки, извадки от комиксите, откъси, музика и говор от филмите, както и обширна галерия с рисунки на фенове и художници.

Какво друго ни остава да кажем, освен ЧЕСТИТ ЮБИЛЕЙ НА ПИРАТИТЕ И ПОПЪТЕН ВЯТЪР!

Poster of the Week #16 + Art #5

I suddenly realized that my Art rubric has been greatly neglected... I realize that all the stuff I post, like comics, posters, shorts, animation and so on IS art, but this rubric was meant for VISUAL stuff, STILL images, like graphics and paintings and concept thingies... The idea was to tell a few words about some artist in each issue. So...

Eric Tan - the guy responsible for the neat retro poster campaigns for Pixar's "The Incredibles", "Ratatouile" and "Wall-E" :) You can check out his artwork at - http://erictanart.blogspot.com/

And one of his latest creations is a Beastie Boys poster, inspired by the "Intergalactic" video :)

Movies #24 - Star Trek

I got an invitation for the Bulgarian (pre)premiere of the new Star Trek and I saw it on April 27. MY feelings are mixed. I didn't expect a masterpiece, and I wasn't all hyped and stuff, but still I was expecting something a bit better. It is an OK movie, but I feel that Star Trek and its fans deserve more.

The movie starts with a kick. Some huge and really advanced Romulan ship ncounters a federation ship. The Romilan captain Nero is searching for Spock, but nobody has ever heard of him, and the Romulans lose their temper right away and kill the captain. The new captain is Kirk Sr. who takes control over the Federation vehicle and sacrificing both the ship and his life rams himself into the Romulans, saving the lives of thousands of people, including his wife and newborn son - James Tiberius Kirk. Kirk the father flying towards his certain but
heroic death while listening to his wife giving birth to his son, now this was some epic drama.

We see James T. Kirk racing down a country road in a stolen retro car, listening to the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" while being chased by some flying traffic cop, which was a cool scene, though completely irrelevant for the story.

We see young Spock teased and picked on in Vulcan school (I didn't know the vulcans have bullies at school as well) and having troubles because of having a human mother.

Then as expected Kirk has grown into a rebellious teen/young adult, and he is trying to use his charm on Uhura at a bar, in the process finds himself in a fight with four Federation cadets, and after being badly beaten is recruited by his father's old friend Captain Christopher Pike.

Little by little we see all the rest of the familiar crew - Dr. McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, Scotty and so on, and I admit that it's really fun to see them while they take their first steps towards the final frontier.

And from this point on the movie is quite predictable, there are no serious plot twists (but there are a number of plot holes). It took them some time to (re)introduce the characters and the whole thing feels like a pilot for new TV series (but really expencive though).

Comes out that the Romulans are some pissed off miners from the future who are after Spock who didn't save their planet from annihilation. After seeing the end of their world they came back in time to get their hands on Spock, planning to destroy Vulcan and make him watch. Spock on the other hand came back in time hoping to make things right somehow. But the Romulans came like 25 years before Spock and when hey didn't find him it all ended with the death of Kirk's father.

Now the Romulans are here again, 25 years later, back in tie with a vengeance, creating a black whole that engulfs Vulcan among with Syler's... pardon me, Spock's mother. Captain Christopher Pike is captured, they want him to give them some security codes so they can do to Earth the same they did to Vulcan, and it is up to Spock and Kirk to stop them. I mean... it is up to Spock, Kirk and Spock to stop them.

The old Spock from the future is here now, helping Kirk to become a captain of the Enterprise, telling Scotty the beaming formula he is supposed to discover himself some years later, and telling the young Spock that he is actually Spock too...

And guess what? All this creates an alternative universe. That's the excuse they came up with for the reboot.

All in all, it is a good way to waste two hours, but it is nothing memorable. The main flaw is the unnecessary use of shaky camera and unstable frames. I know they use it all the time nowadays and we see it in like every action movie, but still it is not an excuse. I guess this is the way they want to create pace and make it more dynamic, but actually when you walk out of the cinema I wouldn't be surprised if you have a headache. The constant twitches are really annoying, and they were used even in simple dialog scenes. I really can't understand why they shake the camera so much and in some scenes it just made absolutely no sense. I mean, come on, you spent millions of dollars on sets and CGI, give me some static shot, stand still for a while and let us enjoy the view! Otherwise we have to wait for the DVD and push the Pause button, hoping that the creature or the spaceship will be on focus and we will be able to see some more details.

Speaking of CGI for millions of dollars... Man, they created black wholes engulfing planets and giant alien monsters chasing Kirk through a snowy wasteland, but they didn't add steam coming out of their mouths. When it's cold and you breathe there is usually steam coming out of your mouth I wonder why there wasn't any while Kirk and Spock were in an ice cave... It's not the only movie where they make this mistake, but it's really annoying when you notice it and makes the whole snowy set look fake.

Another thing I didn't like is that they reinvented the warp and the beam special effects and I like the classic version better and I think the old thing was working perfectly fine. I can't understand what's the point, it's like changing the lightsaber sound effect in Star Wars!

But let's point out some good things as well - fan service! The short skirt uniforms, Uhura is hot (Spock, you lucky bastard!), and there is a green-skinned Orion slave girl! Well, it's not like a blue Twilek babe, but after all it's only Star Trek ;)

The best is that Leonard Nimoy is Spock again and the ending of the movie pays homage to the original series and they finally play a motif from the Star Trek theme. I have absolutely no idea why they didn't use it throughout the whole movie, the old Star Trek soundtracks have brilliant themes and I think they should have used them more if you ask me.

I give it 6.5/10. It's your average sci-fi summer movie with a so-so directing, too simple story and nothing really remarkable as special effects. It doesn't meet my expectations, even if they weren't super-high. I'm curious what will be the global reception of the movie after the world release and if the Trekkies will enjoy it more than I did or just the opposite.

Books #4

А ето поледната придобивка преди Sci-Fi Art...


COMICS, COMIX & GRAPHIC NOVELS. HB, “Phaidon“

Цена: 55.00лв.

Издателство: PHAIDON
Година: 2008
Език: английски
Страници: 238
ISBN: 9780714839936
ID код: 22413993

Заглавието може да намерите и в книжарници "Книгомания":
- Park Mall Стара Загора

Описание
Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels is the first fully documented study to explore the graphic qualities of the comic book, and the development of the genre into a sophisticated and culturally revealing popular art form. The book traces the history of the comic from early cartoon-like woodcuts through to the graphic strips of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Organized thematically it explores the various genres of the comic book, including humour, adventure, girls' comics, underground and alternative. The careers of the creators of the best-known characters -- from Superman and Tintin to Tank Girl -- are revealed, as are the stories behind the much-loved comics such as The Beano and The Incredible Hulk.

Много ценно четиво, обхващащо доста добре историята на комиксите от тяхното зараждане до ден днешен. Ако някой също иска да прежали 55 лева и да се сдобие с енциклопедията ето линкче за поръчка: http://www.knigomania.bg/product_info.php?products_id=869865

А ето и следващото заглавие на което съм хвърлил око - "Comic Art Now": http://www.knigomania.bg/product_info.php?products_id=868305

Conan The Adventurer - Intro of the Week #15 + Animation #29

Since this week I seem to be dealing mostly with Robert E. Howard and Conan stuff...



I watched the classic animated series on our national TV something like 13 years ago, but they bought them as usual from CFI (Canal France International) and they were translated from French. Here is the French version of the Intro, which I enjoy more (probably pout of nostalgia, and because the translated lyrics were quite tragic and added atmosphere to the story about his parents turned into stones and so on), but the rest of the world seems to hate:



Watch all the episodes on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=BleeeK79&view=videos&start=160

Hollywood is on a roll with Robert E. Howard - Poster of the Week #15 + Animation #27 + Movies #23

After last week's "Solomon Kane" I decided to go on with another character from Robert E. Howard's universe, the she-devil with a sword, Red Sonja. There are several teaser posters out there, but so far this one is my favourite. 15 years after Brigitte Nielsen, Rose McGowan is about to step into Red Sonja's shoes... or should we say bra?

And if you wanna spoil yourself, you can read the plot outline here

Besides, the long anticipated and delayede animated feature "Conan: Red Nails" is scheduled to premiere in December, hopefully it will be worth waiting for! I'm always eager to get some more mature oriented animated story, especially when we're talking one of my favourite characters here. Ron Pearlman will provide Conan's voice and Mark Hamill, as usual, the bad guy Tolkemec. Visit the official website http://www.conanrednails.com/ for concept art, wallpapers and other eye-candy stuff.

And if you still can't get enough of Robert E. Howar's characters on screen, Hancock's director, Peter Berg will be responsible for the adaptation of Bran Mak Morn (and a DUNE remake by the way! both) scheduled for 2010.

by the way, Bran Mak Morn has absolutely nothing to do with our "Bran" project, which i s a sci-fi story intertwined with an ancient Celtic legend - www.futureblaze.com

Short of the Week #15

I saw "The Cat Came Back" some years ago, it was featured on a compilation of award-winning animated shorts called "The World's Greatest Animation". I've seen it like a dozen of times and I still find it hilarious :)