Trek Remastered -- "Operation -- Annihilate!"

"Captain’s log, stardate 3289.8. I am faced with one of the most difficult decision of my life, unless we find a way to destroy the creatures without killing their human hosts, my command responsibilities will force me to kill over a million people."

"Operation -- Annihilate!" is this week's new Remastered episode, the one with the flying parasites that take control of the colonists on Deneva. It was the last episode of ST's first season.

It's notable for several reasons, the most obvious of which is the location shooting for the outdoor scenes. This was done at the futuristic-looking campus of the TRW Corporation in Redondo Beach, California, and was one of Trek's most striking "sets".

You can see some Remastered images and read an interview with the producers here, and more Remastered screenshots and FX video at this page. In this version, we finally get to see the ultraviolet light satellites being launched.

Free Trek episodes online

CBS has started a new "network" of streaming video sites that are allowed to show episodes from the CBS library. In their "Classics" collection you can watch episodes of shows like MacGyver, The Twilight Zone, and.... all three seasons of Original Series Star Trek!

These are not the Remastered versions but the original broadcast episodes, without the syndication cuts. The streaming is a little choppy. Even so, it's a great thing to be able to watch any show, anytime, and for free -- after watching an ad or two.

I've got a best-of DVD set of TZ, but there are plenty of other terrific episodes that I don't have and would like to watch. I hope they put up more than just the first two seasons available now.
And I've been wanting to see Hawaii Five-O for a long time now. I only remember seeing one or two of those, a long time ago. I remember the Sanford and Son parody more than the original Five-O.

New Trek movie pushed back to May '09

Bummer. The movie is on schedule but The Powers That Be at Paramount think it could be a summer blockbuster (and make more money for them), so they've pushed it back from this Christmas to next May. It's good that they will have more time to work on it, but it's five more months for us to wait.

Trek Remastered -- "The Ultimate Computer"

This weekend is the premiere of "The Ultimate Computer". In this Second Season episode, a new computer system is tested aboard the Enterprise during a Starfleet wargame, with disastrous results.

Fans have been waiting for this one because it's the only Original Series episode where we see several Constitution-class starships on the screen at the same time. The dialogue and storyline suggest a space battle but the limits of time and money didn't allow for the special effects that you would expect. The CBS-Digital team gets to create all the action that should have been there in the original.

Trekmovie.com has a couple of articles up showing the first preview image from the new effects and a short interview with TOS-R producers Mike and Denise Okuda and Dave Rossi about their work, including more new photos. It should be great!

"It appears, Captain, we've been doing what used to be called 'pursuing a wild goose'."
- Spock

Why not a Queen rock opera/musical?

Earlier this week, I heard two Queen songs on the radio in the same day, then the next day I saw two commercials in a row that used Queen music. The idea popped into my head:

"Why hasn't there been a musical -- or "rock opera" -- using Queen's music?"

Their music was huge in scope, and Freddie Mercury was a big fan of opera, anyway. It's a natural. If they could make a musical out of Abba songs (which was good, by the way), or Billy Joel (blah...), then where's the love for Queen?

Well, someone else already had my bright idea. Evidently there has been a musical produced and performed all over the world. It played in Vegas in 2006 and ran in Chicago in April-May of '07. I had no idea.

But I suppose I can pat myself on the back because they used my idea for "Bohemian Rhapsody" as the finale. What else?

Speaking of Queen, about ten years ago I heard that (soon-to-be-Dr.)Brian May was a big Warhammer 40,000 fan. He'd play with his kids. Same with Robin Williams, too -- he had an Eldar army at that time. Looks like he's switched to online gaming.

Trek Remastered -- "The Changeling"

This week is a great Second Season episode, "The Changeling". The Enterprise finds a 200-year old interstellar probe from Earth which has somehow gained intelligence and incredible power, threatening the ship and all life it encounters.

It's another of the Kirk-vs.-computer stories, and the general idea was revisited in Star Trek: The Motion Picture as V'Ger. Look for the director, Marc Daniels, as Nomad inventor Jackson Roykirk in an on-screen photograph.

One more week until "The Ultimate Computer"...

"Congratulations, Captain; a dazzling display of logic."

"Didn't think I had it in me, did you?"

"No, sir."
- Spock and Kirk

Trek Remastered -- "The Enemy Within"

"I'm Captainnn Kirrrrk!!!"

This weekend's episode is an early First Season effort, "The Enemy Within". A transporter accident splits Captain Kirk into a good half and an evil half. Scotty must repair the malfunction before the rest of the landing party freezes on the surface of planet Alfa 177!

This is a great episode with many interesting trivia bits to it. It's the prototype of the "evil twin" stories that would show up in Trek and elsewhere, and the script was written by Richard Matheson.

In two weeks we get the Remastered episode that all the fans have been waiting for: "The Ultimate Computer". Keep watching!

UPDATE: screenshots.

Happy Birthday, Two-Gun Bob!

Today is the 102nd anniversary of the birth of pulp writer Robert E. Howard. It has become a tradition on this date for Howard fans to read a favorite story and toast to his shade with a favorite beverage. My usual choice is "Worms of the Earth" and a bottle of Sapporo -- a blend of East and West, as it were.

For more information on his life and career, start with the following sites:

• Robert E. Howard United Press Association
• The Robert E. Howard Foundation
• Howard Works bibliographic database
• The Cimmerian (journal)

I also emphatically recommend Mark Finn's Howard biography, the Locus and World Fantasy Award-nominated Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard.

Cloverfield and Star Trek Teaser Trailer

I saw Cloverfield on Friday. I can't really give it a proper review without giving too much away. I will say that I thought it was good. I also found it very intense in the same way as The Blair Witch. I know that the shaky-cam style can make some people sick. I have a sensitive stomach but I was fine with both movies -- it wasn't the camerawork that made me uncomfortable.

For a lower-budget film ("only" $30 million), I thought the cast did a fine, believable job. Most of that money must have gone to the special effects budget.

The POV "you are there" style of shooting is really one of the best ways to do a giant monster movie like this. It's easy to incorporate those half-glances where you're not sure what you saw (possible spoiler below). Maybe when Toho goes back to producing Godzilla films they will use this method.

Like most of J.J. Abrams' work, there is a rich and ongoing viral marketing campaign on-line. Check out the fan-site Cloverfield Clues for more. You can follow the rabbit hole as deep as you want to go. I'll take a pass on drinking the Slusho, thanks.

About 50% of my excitement and reason for seeing this in the theater was about Cloverfield itself. The other 50% was about the teaser for Abrams' Star Trek film. This was our first look at the new Enterprise. As you can see from the offical photo, it is just a tease. Not enough to see it fully but enough to get your attention.

As each little bit of news is revealed, I'm more confident that this will be truly spectacular. The franchise is in good hands. What I'm most surprised about is how good a match they made by casting Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy. At first I didn't think it would work, but now that shooting has started he really looks like a young DeForest Kelly.

[Cloverfield spoiler?]




We do see some full shots of the monster. I didn't expect the filmmakers to go that far. I'm not sure if I liked the effect of seeing it fully. I'd prefer more mystery.




[End possible spoiler]

Trek Remastered -- "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield"

"It is obvious to the most simpleminded that Lokai is of an inferior breed....Lokai is white on the right side. All of his people are white on the right side."

This week's episode is "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", the Original Series' most direct look at race hatred. Frank Gorshin, who played The Riddler on the Batman TV series, is one of the guest stars (pictured above, on the left).

I seem to remember reading that there were some problems in production on this episode -- that may be why this was Gene L. Coon's last script for the series and credited to a pseudonym. Although it has an important message, it's not one of the better episodes. It does have some bits that make it worth watching, however. As mentioned in its Memory Alpha entry, it's the only ep where we see the transporter room from the POV of the transporter pad. There are some unique close-up exteriors of the Enterprise found only in this one. I'm curious to see if CBS Digital changes those shots or recreates them.

Also, Captain Kirk, Scotty and Chekov set the self-destruct sequence for the first and only time in the series -- which was duplicated in Star Trek III.

Just a reminder: In the Michiana area, new episodes are on Sunday night/Monday morning at 1am EST on The CW, and a repeat of the last week's ep is on Saturday night/Sunday morning at 1am on My Michiana. For everyone else, "check your local listings"...

"There was persecution on Earth once; I remember reading about it in my history texts."
"Yes, but that was back in the 20th century -- there's no such primitive thinking today."

UPDATE: screenshots and FX video.

Trek Remastered -- "Who Mourns for Adonais?"

This week is the Second Season episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?". In this one, the crew meets a powerful alien who claims to be the Greek god Apollo. Gene Roddenberry's hand was used for the special effect shown above.

Poor Scotty. He's always having trouble with women. They either get attacked and/or killed by energy creatures, cause accidents in Engineering, or fall in love with a Greek god.

UPDATE: screenshots and FX video.

Trek Remastered -- "Day of the Dove" review, screenshots and FX video

Click on the link.

Trek Remastered -- "Day of the Dove"

Welcome to 2008! First post of the year!

This week's Trek episode is "Day of the Dove". This is the one where a mysterious energy being that feeds on anger traps a group of Klingons on the Enterprise to fight the crew. Serious injuries are healed by the creature so the conflict can continue. Only a truce with the Klingons can break the cycle.

Michael Ansara is The Man.

This one has that same feeling that most of the 3rd Season episodes do: that the show is coming to an end but there are still some interesting stories to tell. This is a good story and the conflicts between the Enterprise officers under the influence of the alien entity show some different sides to their characters -- particularly the words between Scotty and Spock.

Spock is not amused by Kang and Kirk's "good spirits".

I Am Legend opens today

This is a movie I've been anticipating for a long, long time.

I'm a fan of Richard Matheson's original novel, the 1964 Vincent Price adaptation The Last Man on Earth, and the 1971 Charlton Heston re-adaptation The Omega Man. Each one has various bits that I enjoy, and each in their own way speak as much about their times as they do about the original story.

About 8 years ago I heard some buzz about another remake. Ridley Scott was rumored to be directing and the leading actor under consideration at the time was Arnold Schwarzenegger. A script, written by Mark Protosevich, was floating around on the Internet so I found a copy and gave it a read.

I was impressed by the script and the way the action was updated. I thought it would make a decent version of the story. My other conclusion was that Arnold wouldn't be right for it -- my choice would have been Kurt Russell.

Then a couple of years ago, the remake was being talked about again with Will Smith in the lead -- and it actually got produced! I see that Protosevich is still listed as a writer, but now Akiva Goldsman is sharing that title. My guess is that he was called in to do some polishing and update it with Will Smith in mind. I wonder how much of Protosevich's original is still left?

You can read Protosevich's original script for yourself and compare it to the movie. I also see now that there is a John Logan version out there too, but I haven't read it. Both Logan and Protosevich are from Chicago. Coincidence?

In a later post I'll discuss other post-apocalyptic and dystopian movies.

Bonus link: A page showing other posters for the I Am Legend ad campaign. They are shots of various world cities after the disaster. I haven't seen these anywhere else. Scary stuff but well done!

Trek Remastered -- "A Taste of Armageddon"

This weekend's new Remastered episode is "A Taste of Armageddon". This is the one where the crew finds themselves caught between two warring planets. It's not technically a Kirk-vs.-computer story, but there are computers involved, and then... no, I don't want to ruin the denouement for you.

This is a classic episode, with has all the best bits that you love about The Original Series: Kirk has a great passionate speech, Spock gets in some good lines, there's several fights using Kirk-fu... even Scotty has good scenes.

I fondly remember it running often in the syndication rotation when I was growing up. This is one of my favorites. I even have a copy of the script (geek check, I know...). Check it out!

An extra treat: This is the original establishing shot matte, followed by the new CGI version. Yes, those are moving monorails in the background.

More climate news to worry about

Remember what I said about a tipping point?

Scientists take 2007's temperature

Scientist: 'Arctic is screaming'

Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts

Can the Planet Be Saved in Bali?

EU Threatens to Boycott US Climate Talks

EU gives U.S. ultimatum on climate

2008 may be another 1982 for genre movies

I knew there were some big movies planned for next year, but it wasn't until I read something that Bill Hunt said over at The Digital Bits that it sunk in. Next year is shaping up to be another 1982 -- Cloverfield, The Spiderwick Chronicles, 10,000 B.C., Stargate SG-1, The Forbidden Kingdom, Iron Man, Speed Racer, Prince Caspian, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Incredible Hulk, Get Smart, Wall-E, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Hellboy II, The Dark Knight, The X-Files 2, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Dragonball, Death Race, Where the Wild Things Are, Bond 22, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Star Trek.

Trek Remastered -- "The Return of the Archons"

"It's almost the red hour!"

The episode for this upcoming weekend is "The Return of the Archons". It's not quite in the same league as "City on the Edge of Forever", but it's still a great fan-favorite.

One of the best Kirk-vs.-Computer stories, it's also a really creepy episode. With the period sets and costumes, it almost has the look of a Hammer film. The anti-authority, anti-Communist theme still resonates. It scared the heck out of a lot of people at the time. Recommended!

The 30-second preview is here. "Are you of the body?"

Update: Remastered screenshots and video here.

Trek Remastered -- "The Alternative Factor"

This weekend's episode is "The Alternative Factor". It's an ambitious first season episode about a person caught between two parallel universes. If they didn't have the production and editing problems, this could have been really terrific.

Click on the link above for the spooky trailer.

Trek Remastered -- rerun of "Space Seed"

This weekend is a rerun of "Space Seed", where the Enterprise finds Khan and his followers. Coincidentally (or maybe not), today is Ricardo Montalban's birthday.

Trek Remastered -- "The Doomsday Machine" re-run

This weekend is an encore presentation (that is, a rerun) of "The Doomsday Machine", originally shown as a remastered episode this February.

I won't repeat my introduction to it (with photos), but if you haven't seen it yet try to catch it this time. It is by far the best of the remastered eps so far. It has the benefit of being one of the Original Series episodes with the most "space" scenes, so there was a lot that CBS Digital could do with it.

I had seen the original "Doomsday..." about a half-dozen times, but the remastered version really was like seeing it for the first time. The new effects help crank up the tension quite a bit, and I was literally on the edge of my seat watching it.

Well, yes, I just repeated myself. But it's that good.

Hollywood, the Writers Guild strike, and me

I've been reading bits and pieces on comic book/TV/animation writer Mark Evanier's blog for months now about the possibility of a strike, and now that it's happened I think I understand the issues fairly well. If you're not certain what it's all about, take three minutes to watch Why We Fight, a video overview of the current situation and how we got here.

It's very encouraging to see that the Screen Actors Guild is supporting the WGA so strongly. They, and the Directors Guild of America, will be negotiating next year as their current contracts come to an end, and it's likely that they will be looking for the same agreements.

My plan of support is based on some things I've read here and there on the 'net. I will watch the new episodes of my favorite shows, but once they run out and go into rerun mode, I'm done. I'll also send letters to the local affiliates and the corporate offices to explain why. That's really the only way to show support: hit the studios in the pocketbook and let them know that you are. It's the same as when you write to support a cancelled show or if you see something you object to on TV. I have stacks of DVDs, books, and other responsibilities to keep me occupied while this gets hashed out.

A great place for more news and information about this topic from the inside is United Hollywood, and check out Fans4Writers for the fan perspective.

Trek Remastered -- "The Deadly Years"

"When Enterprise discovers a colony full of rapidly-aging scientists, whatever caused the rapid aging inflicts them as well." And then the Romulans attack!

The 30-second preview and a couple of new Romulan ship photos are here. I'm staying up late to watch this tomorrow night...I hope I don't fall asleep like Old Captain Kirk.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

I've really been out of the loop lately. In another case of "where have I been?", I just found about this from a pulp-themed post on the Evil DM's blog.

Michelle Yeoh plays an ancient sorceress. Jet Li is the mummy of the Emperor in the title. Wow! And the photo of Brendan Fraser in character embodies the essence of "pulp". This could be amazing...

More info on the director's site and tons of production photos on a Michelle Yeoh fansite.

Trek Remastered -- "Metamorphosis"

"Metamorphosis" is this weekend's episode. I always look forward to seeing the show, but I'm especially interested in this particular one. It's been literally years since I've seen it, and I'm sure I'll react to its themes of love and loss differently now as an adult than I did as a kid. Take a look for yourself and see what you think. This is one of several episodes of the Original Series that have fine acting and an emotional punch that many people seem to have forgotten about.

Check out the 30-second preview here.

Star Trek movie teaser in the works

It shouldn't be any surprise that it's being worked on now, but the rumor mill is buzzing about the production of a teaser for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie. The juicy detail is that part of it will show the Enterprise under construction. It seems logical, as a metaphor for the rebirth of the franchise.

Trek Remastered -- "Catspaw" rerun for Halloween

This weekend is a rerun of the Halloween episode "Catspaw". This page has the official preview, the FX reel, and a high resolution screencap of the new CG castle background.

Trek Remastered -- "The Gamesters of Triskelion"

"Three disembodied beings wager on fights staged by prisoners abducted from around the galaxy."

This isn't one of the best episodes of the series, but it's a fun guilty pleasure. It's probably the episode most responsible for Kirk's reputation for hitting on alien space babes. Chekov and Uhura get some screen time, and there's good Spock/McCoy banter.

Check out the preview. I bet 100 quatloos that you'll enjoy it!

Environmental blog roundup

I neglected to post anything for Blog Action Day on Monday, so I'll link to this list of environmental blogs on buzz.blogger.com. Take a look.

Trek Remastered -- "Dagger of the Mind"

This weekend's episode is "Dagger of the Mind", the one where the Enterprise visits the Tantalus Penal Colony. Of course, trouble ensues.

There aren't many special effect shots in this episode to update, but the CBS Digital team corrected a big problem with the original. The matte painting used for the elevator entrance to the facility was reused from the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". CBS-D has taken this opportunity to change this by creating the outstanding digital matte seen above. It's very much in the mold of the best 50s/60s sci-fi art. Excellent work!

The 30-second preview is here.

Trek Remastered -- "What Are Little Girls Made Of?"

This weekend's episode is a excellent First Season entry, the one with Dr. Roger Korby, the androids in the underground complex, and the android duplicate Kirk. It's also notable for guest-starring Ted Cassidy ("Lurch" from "The Addams Family") and Sherry Jackson.

You can watch the 30-second preview here.

Swarm of insects disrupt late innings

CLEVELAND (AP) -- This will forever be known as the Bug Game.

A swarm of insects descended on Jacobs Field in the eighth inning of the Cleveland Indians' 2-1 playoff victory over the New York Yankees on Friday night, leading to a bizarre scene featuring players waving their arms and gloves in an attempt to keep the pesky bugs away.

The teams kept playing into extra innings as millions of bugs nagged players on the field and in the dugouts.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/baseball/mlb/specials/playoffs/2007/10/05/yankees.indians.bugs.ap/index.html

How bizarre is that? The only thing more crazy would be giant insects.

See also: http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/eh/12.2/tsutsui.html

Star Trek: The Next Generation -- 20 Years

Today's date is generally acknowledged as the airdate of "Encounter at Farpoint", the first episode of The Next Generation. It's hard to believe that it has been 20 years. Besides being a continuation of the franchise, it started the boom in syndicated programming that continues on today (although not like the heyday of the '90s).

Trekmovie.com put up a link to the first TNG preview from 1987, and they will be posting more tributes over the next few days.

There's a very insightful post on that preview page linked above that says TNG is still too close in time to judge properly -- not "period" like the Original Series, but recent enough that the flaws are too apparent and it looked "dated". I'd have to agree, and further state that after the first two seasons the effects got much better and hold up to today's standards. The third season is probably the sweet spot, especially what is still the best TV cliffhanger to date, "The Best of Both Worlds, part I".

"Mr. Worf....fire!"

Trek Remastered -- "The Man Trap"

This weekend's episode is "The Man Trap", the one with the salt vampire. This has always been a favorite of mine. Little bit of trivia: although it was sixth episode filmed, it was the very first one aired. Take a look at the 30 second preview at trekmovie.com.

Another game blog

You may remember a great gaming blog I mentioned here before titled Deep in the Game. The author took down the site. Now he's back with Deeper in the Game.

Many of the posts on the new blog are about the design and playtest of a game he's working on, but there are also some posts with the same clever creativity as the old site.

3 new gaming blogs

Over the past few months three new gaming blogs popped up and became very popular. My own guess is that their respective authors were inspired by two other popular sites, Treasure Tables and Jeff's Gameblog. I haven't read a lot on any of these new blogs but what I've seen and read about elsewhere has been pretty good. They are generally about D&D but the ideas presented can be used in any RPG. Check them out:

• Stupid Ranger
• Dungeon Mastering
• Musings of the chatty DM

Latitude Zero on DVD in December!

In a previous DVD update, I mentioned that Media Blasters was working on this title for eventual release. Sci-fi Japan recently posted an update on MB's upcoming Japanese titles including LZ. They are going all out by releasing a two-disc set on December 11th.

The Japanese version is about 15 minutes shorter than the English international release, which seems unusual. It will be interesting to see what they cut. The English-speaking actors spoke their lines in English, of course, so I wonder if their voices were dubbed into Japanese or if subtitles were used.

A minor film in the Japanese monster/sci-fi genre, Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds, is out from Media Blasters the following week. I'm curious about it since I've never seen it -- not even the MST3K version.

Trek Remastered -- I missed it

I tried to stay up and watch the 1am showing of "The Galileo Seven". I fell asleep. I woke up, saw about 40 seconds of it before a commercial break, then fell asleep again during the commercial. I guess I'll have to record it.

Click on that link above for video of the new FX shots.

Trek Remastered -- A new season starts

This weekend is the start of the new season for The Original Series Remastered, and the kick-off episode is a great one -- "The Galileo Seven". The shots of the new effects are just astounding and I can't wait to see it.

Now here's the problem. No, not really a problem but an annoyance. The local Fox station aired the first season and did a nice job with it. Lots of commercials (at the beginning) and two airtimes, once on Saturday evening and a rerun of last week's ep late Sunday night/Monday morning at 1am. The Saturday slot would move to 2pm during baseball season, but still they made an effort to run it in a decent time slot.

This season it appears that the local affiliate is now the CW station, and from what I can discover the only time Trek airs is the late Sunday/early Monday slot. Most of the weekend lineup consists of sci-fi and horror movies, which could be good. I admit I got spoiled with two chances to watch Trek each weekend, but come on... are three hours a day of court shows necessary?

Too many movies

It has been a long time since there were so many movies out in the theater that I wanted to see at one time: The Simpsons Movie, Stardust, 3:10 to Yuma, Shoot 'Em Up, Balls of Fury, War, and Superbad. I guess I'll be renting a bunch of DVDs in about 6 months or so when they are released...

The Return of the RPGBlog

Zachary Houghton had ceased updating his RPGBlog site for a short time, but now he's back with Version 2. Although the old site was mostly news and reviews, the new blog will focus (for now) on his experiences as a newly-elected ENnies judge for the '08 awards.

I've updated the link in the sidebar with the new address.

Gen Con 2007, Part 1

A very brief overview with more later:

The swag bag was good again like last year. An Axis and Allies booster, A World of Warcraft CCG starter, a Star Wars mini, and a sample pack of Tokkens (I want to pronounce that like "Dokken"). When we found out that the GAMA booth was handing out Origins '07 goodie bags, we all picked one up. I got some of the items that the others didn't want, so more Pirates boosters and Cineplexity samples for me!

I didn't bring as much spending cash as I had hoped to, so I limited my purchases. Most often I try to pick up only those things that I can't easily get through a shop. My big purchases included:

• Savage World of Solomon Kane rulebook with T-shirt, GM screen and art prints
• Bawidamann Cosmonaut T-shirt
• 40 Years of Gen Con book
• AT-43 Gen Con exclusive figure
• Robert E. Howard Blbliography from McFarland (out-of-stock but ordered at 30% off)

My brushes with greatness:

• Rode in the hotel elevator with Chris Pramas
• (Almost literally) bumped into Ken Hite in one of the dealer's room aisles
• Got an autograph from Frank Mentzer
• Spoke with artist Wayne Reynolds at the Paizo booth for about 15 minutes. I, and another really nice guy who's a regular on Paizo's board, had his full attention as he talked about where he finds his inspiration -- from English seaside towns to Turkish riveted armor.
• Met and had books signed by noted Robert E. Howard scholars Paul Herman and Dale Rippke.

In another post I'll have some photos I took at the show.

Prepping for Gen Con 40

As I've said before, it's not so much that I have to prepare anything to take to Gen Con -- I'm not playing, running, or setting up a table -- but I like to do the research about new releases, show specials and any freebie swag to be had. I haven't done that as much this year. The time just slipped away and the con rushed up on me too soon. I've seen a few things here and there but I'll have to keep my eyes open for more stuff at the show.

A few random thoughts:

• Green Ronin is announcing a new license on Friday and releasing a ton of new product including a bunch of Freeport items and the retrospective Hobby Games: the 100 Best.
• 200 copies of Pinnacle's Savage World of Solomon Kane will be available.
• 4 seminars are scheduled for Robert E. Howard Day(s), but I've heard little about what else might be planned.
• The Diana Jones Award and the ENnies will be handed out.
• Q-Workshop is releasing a special set of Cthulhu dice.

This year should be bigger than ever as it's the 40th anniversary of the show. Robin Laws wrote the book on the history of Gen Con, so that's something I'd like to pick up at the show (though it should be available in stores, too).

A watched pot never boils

I was offline most of last week for vacation, and since I wasn't watching all the usual news sites, all hell breaks loose:

• Conan comic cancelled at #50, relaunches with issue #1
• Laszlo Kovacs, Ingmar Bergman, Tom Snyder, and Michelangelo Antonioni all passed away.
• Zachary Quinto ("Sylar" on the TV series "Heroes") has been cast as Spock in the new Star Trek movie.
• WizKids announces Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean PocketModel Game.

Savage Sword of Conan reprints!

There's been talk in comics circles for a couple of years now concerning Dark Horse Comics and their possible reprints of the classic Marvel magazine Savage Sword of Conan. It wasn't a secret, but the chatter was all about how it would be done -- straight reprints of the original black-and-white artwork or newly-added color.

Much of this was because of the "remastered" coloring on Dark Horse's Chronicles of Conan, the reprints of the Marvel Conan comic book. Like most things, some fans loved it and some hated it.

Now that the advance solicitation information is out there, it's clear that these will be black-and-white art. No word yet if any of the covers will be reproduced and if so, in color or black-and-white. I don't care so much about the Boris covers, but reprints of the Earl Norem and Neal Adams covers would be appreciated (and the very pulp Tarzan-esque cover for issue 3 by Michael Kaluta). It seems that these volumes will be much like the Marvel Essentials line of reprint trade paperbacks. And since the blurb mentions "Savage Sword Conan stories", I guess we can assume that they do not have the rights to reproduce stories of the other characters that appeared in those pages, most notably Kull and Solomon Kane.

Here is what's known so far. It should appear in the August issue of Previews:

The Savage Sword of Conan

Written by Roy Thomas, art by Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, Pablo Marcos and others.

In the mid 1970s following the colossal success of Conan the Barbarian, Roy Thomas helped expand the universe of Conan to showcase further stories and the talents of some of the comics industry's best with the equally popular Savage Sword of Conan magazine. Now, for the first time in over thirty years, these primal tales, featuring Robert E. Howard's most popular character, are available in this, the first in a series of massive trade paperbacks, collecting all Savage Sword Conan stories beginning with issue one.

Included in this volume are tales by Roy Thomas, featuring the breathtaking art of such legends as Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, Jim Starlin, Al Milgrom, Pablo Marcos, Walter Simonson, and more.

Also included in this tome are Conan's few appearances in the title Savage Tales -- for the complete Conan collection!

* Reprinting Savage Sword of Conan for the first time since its original publication. This is the first volume in the series.

* Launching Dark Horse's black-and-white Dark Horse Presents omnibus format. 500+ pages for the value price of $17.95!!!

542 pages, black and white, $17.95, in stores on Dec. 19.

I in ur computur...

...stealin' ur Internetz.

Here's an article from Time Magazine about the "lolcats" phenomenon. As my brother-in-law says, they're about a year too late.

Dragon Dynasty DVDs

It wasn't so long ago -- just about three or four years, in fact -- that Bob and Harvey Weinstein were despised, hated even, by the Hong Kong action/kung fu movie fan community. When they were still with Miramax and Disney, they purchased the rights to many classic and new HK action movies and either released shoddy versions to the screen or DVD, or they sat on them and withheld them from the market. Fans were livid and put together petitions and letter campaigns. I failed to keep up with the latest news in that realm so I lost track of what was happening on that front.

Fast forward to 2006: The Weinsteins, having left Miramax the previous year to form their own company, set up a label called Dragon Dynasty to release some of their HK films. They appear to have a deal with Shaw Brothers because Dragon Dynasty is offering several Shaw classics. Most of the DD line are Fortune Star releases, including a couple of Jackie Chan's best movies. Others titles include the Chow Yun-Fat classic Hard Boiled and all three Infernal Affairs films.

So far I've picked up two of the four available Shaw Brothers titles, My Young Auntie and The One-Armed Swordsman (which hasn't been released on legal home video in this country until now). Those are acknowledged classics but the other two Shaws are huge: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (aka Shaolin Master Killer) and King Boxer (aka Five Fingers of Death)! I need to do some checking of reviews and so forth, but these look fairly complete. If so, it's very good to have these finally available on DVD in wide release.

In a later post I'll cover the Shaw Brothers films being released by Image Entertainment in Region 1, and then maybe as complete a listing as I can make of all the R1/R3 Shaw discs.

Trek Remastered -- earlier episodes and "The Omega Glory"

"No – no! Only the eyes of a chief may see the E Plebmnista!"
"This was not written for chiefs."
- Yang Scholar and Kirk

I missed "Spock's Brain" on its initial showing a few weeks back and it wasn't shown in the normal rerun slot the next week. I'll have to wait for the DVD.

However, I did catch "Plato's Stepchildren". I know this is one of the least-favorite for many fans, but to me it is underrated. Maybe nothing happens except the humiliation of the crew, but as I've said before, even bad Original Series Trek is better than nothing. There's still some good points in that script even if the execution is flawed.

This weekend's episode, in time for Independence Day, is "The Omega Glory". You might remember this as the Cold War analogy with the Yangs and the Kohms, and Kirk reminding them that the words apply to all people. I brought the videotape of "Omega..." in to my high school U.S. History class during our unit on the Constitution -- major geek check, there.

...and we're back!

Wow. Has it really been three weeks since the last post? Oops. I've been very distracted lately. More real posting starting tomorrow.

The replacement driver

This sounds like it's either the premise of a Hong Kong or Korean action movie, or a Cyberpunk RPG scenario:

Cityscape: Seoul: Taking the wheel for a drunken stranger

"Speed is money in this business," said Hur, 43, who received 15,000 won, or $16, for driving his customer to his destination.

"You want to get as many orders as possible before dawn breaks," he said, after making the drive of 20 kilometers, or 12 miles. "I sleep in the day, work at night, six days a week."

Hur is a "replacement driver" who makes his living by delivering inebriated people and their cars home. There are tens of thousands of them operating in this hard-drinking metropolis of 10 million people. They go to work when Seoul streets blossom with neon signs and thoroughfares fill up with streams of cars returning home. They end their shifts well after the last neon lights blink out in the early morning mist curling up from the Han River.

Trek Remastered -- catching up

I haven't posted anything about recent Trek episodes in quite some time. Here's a list of them:

• "Errand of Mercy" - 05/12 - The Organians impose peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
• "Patterns of Force" - 05/19 - The Nazi episode.
• "Shore Leave" - 05/26 - Be careful what you think of...it comes to life.
• "Bread and Circuses" - 06/02 - The Roman Empire episode.

It's interesting that the "costume" episodes were all bunched together: "A Piece of the Action", the Chicago gangster ep, was on the last weekend of April.

I was pleasantly surprised by a couple of these shows. I forgot how good they are. "Errand..." and "Patterns..." have some good Kirk and Spock dialogue, and "Bread..." has great Spock and McCoy scenes that highlight their grudging friendship. And regardless of how preposterous the setup may be, "Patterns..." and "Bread..." are great stories.

This weekend: "Spock's Brain".

30 years of Star Wars

Update: I changed the title of this post because Dr. Rotwang used it first. I should have know I wasn't that clever...

Last Friday was the 3oth anniversary of the release of Star Wars. It's difficult to describe just how ground-breaking the film was and how inspiring it continues to be for legions of fans around the world. Maybe I'll write about it later, because I was there from the very beginning to see it all. Hard to believe there are people watching the new trilogy who weren't even alive when Jedi was released...

Here are a few links to stories about the anniversary and the phenomonon:

Star Wars Rewired: Interviews, Galleries and More http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2007/05/lucas

Thirty years later, 'Star Wars' force still being felt
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/23/star.wars.30/index.html

How Star Wars Changed Everything
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1625074_1625073,00.html

The Science of Star Wars
http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/24/star-wars-science-tech-cx_mh_0524magic.html

(Since this one is from Forbes Magazine, it's a bit more conservative on the prospects of Star Wars Science, especially on lightsabers. Hey, guys, it's a movie...relax. Anyway, you can read more than you ever wanted to know about lightsabers at Wikipedia.)

Star Wars Celebration IV
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/10656.html

RPG setting ideas -- Dungeon Crawl Classics

Time for another installment of "RPG settings I'm thinking about". The one I mentioned previously was the updated Freeport setting. Most of my thoughts about these things are tinted by a heavy dose of gaming nostalgia, and this installment finds me still in the throes of it.

Goodman Games started producing their Dungeon Crawl Classics modules shortly after the release of D&D 3.0. The main appeal of the line is nostalgia -- 1st Edition-style adventures, blue ink maps and new art by artists whose work appeared in the original D&D modules.

This is their first attempt at a DCC campaign, and also the first DCC boxed set. Look at the cover and the intent is obvious. It's a clear homage to the "Red Box" Basic Set and other TSR boxed sets from that era. Doesn't that just say "gaming goodness" to you? Good times...

DCC adventures are designed for D&D3.x/d20, but I think this one calls for a return to the '80s Basic Rules -- at least in spirit.

Stephen King's 24 Greatest Rock Songs Ever

Stephen King writes a column for Entertainment Weekly in which he gives his opinion on all things media-related -- movies, books, TV, music, whatever. In this article/photo gallery, King counts down the best rock songs of all time.

I can't fault him on some of his choices. I'd rate "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida" higher, and "Ain't No Fun (Waiting Round to be a Millionaire)" is a solid choice for the obligatory AC/DC list entry. As much as I like Elvis, I'm not sure a list like this needs three of his songs, squeezing out many other worthy entries. Where's "Turn Up the Radio"?

King qualifies his list by mentioning his criteria at the beginning. By including purely "rock" songs only, many of the songs I'd include would be disqualified for being in a different category, such as the "power ballad".

Oh, and of course see the comments on the list.

First shots of Reaper plastic minis

Jeff's Gameblog has some photos of prototypes for Reaper's pre-painted non-collectable minis due later this summer. These were taken at the recent ReaperCon event. Click on the photo and then view the full-size image for a closer look. The orcs and skeletons are passable but the larger monsters are pretty good!

A shake of the gods

I like fast food milkshakes in general, especially McDonald's Arctic Orange, but Arby's orange cream shake is my new mistress. That's a tasty beverage!

Pirates of the Spanish Main: The RPG

I flipped through a copy of this game on Friday. Nice hefty hardcover, full color, glossy...very very nice. It's based on the WizKids ship minis game. I'll pick it up sometime. If the design of this book is any indication, Pinnacle's Solomon Kane RPG will be very sharp, too. At least I hope so.

Trek Remastered -- "Errand of Mercy"

I missed it yesterday, so screenshots like this will have to suffice until the rerun next week.

Flash! Ah-ahhh!!

Universal is, at last, releasing a Region 1 DVD of the fan-favorite movie Flash Gordon on August 7th. The cover art by Alex Ross is really great, but it turns out that the extras appearing on the European release will not be on the US version...that's a shame.

Trek Remastered -- "Tomorrow is Yesterday" in review

The Enterprise over 20th century Nebraska.

I discovered something this past weekend. Trek Remastered has been pre-empted in its usual timeslot on the local Fox station because of baseball. I hadn't bothered to check the listings for a different slot. Well, I did this weekend, and I found out that it was moved up to 2pm. Luckily I read that in time for me to check out this week's regularly scheduled episode, "Tomorrow is Yesterday".

This is the ep where the Enterprise finds itself trapped in 1968 and they bring aboard the fighter pilot who is sent to intercept it. Fine work again by CBS Digital on the Enterprise in the lower atmosphere, and the timewarp slingshot around the sun. The aerial shot over Nebraska and Earth as seen from orbit are both real NASA photos used as backgrounds.

This Saturday: "Errand of Mercy". Bring on the Klingons!

A new edition of Delta Green

An advance review was posted on RPG.net. So, it exists!

Or maybe that's just what They want you to think.

If I had know the original was selling for upwards of 400 bucks on eBay, I might have sold it.

Alien foliage could be yellow or red

So it seems that all the gamers who used fluorescent aquarium plants for terrain in 40K were not so far off the mark, after all.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/04/12/alienfoliage_spa.html

Apply for Mike Mearls' old job

He moved from the WotC development team to the mechanics design team, and the ad for his old job is here.

Trek Remastered -- "All Our Yesterdays" and "A Piece of the Action"

Because of the baseball season, we're behind a week on the new episodes. However, you can get a taste of what to expect in the upcoming weeks. The official previews for "All Our Yesterdays" and "A Piece of the Action" are available.

RPG setting ideas -- Freeport

I have been thinking about several different campaign ideas lately. Reading many forum posts and blog entries has inspired me, especially Jeff's Gameblog and the sensationally-titled I Waste the Buddha with My Crossbow by Dr. Rotwang. The love and the joy of gaming ooze out of their postings. You can tell that they are very enthusiastic about their prep and their gameplay, and they recall the sort of wide-eyed idealistic play that you remember in the early days of RPGs, when everything was new and awesome.

So this post is the first in a series about the ideas that have been churning around in my brain lately. I'm just throwing these out here without much structure.

I knew about Freeport only as one of the first third-party products for d20, when D&D 3.0 was released, but I never looked at any of the items or read any reviews. My introduction to it was one year ago when the True20 conversion of the module "Death in Freeport" was released as a free PDF.

Imagine this inner monologue:

"So, it's a fantasy setting, with elves, and dwarves, and orcs, sure..."

"Oh, but there's pirates, too... and Freeport is a pirate city like Tortuga...that's cool!"

"What? Lovecraftian cults, Mythos monsters and conspiracies too...what the..?"

How did I not know about this for 5 years?!

The setting is due for a re-boot with new books forthcoming. The Pirate's Guide to Freeport is all background material without system-specific stats and should be out any time now. Arrrr, matey!

Trek Remastered -- recent episodes

As I mentioned in my last post, the local Fox station has been showing baseball at the normal Saturday Trek time, with that week's episode being shown in the following week's re-run slot. This past weekend's episode should have been "And the Children Shall Lead". It's a poor Third Season episode, most notable for an appearance by Melvin Belli, but to me poor Original Series Trek is better than no Trek at all. It should be the Sunday night re-run this weekend.

In contrast to "AtCSL", then, was "The Immunity Syndrome". That was an excellent episode with great new CG effects that match the original 1960s look but are still eye-popping. Nicely done, CBS!

Trek Remastered -- last week and this weekend

Sorry about not writing anything over the past week. Busy, busy.

We didn't see last week's Trek episode "The Tholian Web". Instead, the local Fox station showed a magic special titled "Masters of Illusion XX". Then this weekend's episode, "The Immunity Syndrome", wasn't on because of baseball.

My guess, then, is that "...Web" will be on during the repeat timeslot tonight and "Immunity..." will be shown in next week's Sunday repeat slot.

Screenshots, video and review of "...Web" at Trekmovie.com.

Trek: Impossible

A really cute fan-video of the opening titles; the joke being that both of these series were produced by Desilu on the Paramount lot at the same time.

One thing I love in movies and TV is that "Paramount look", from Trek and M:I through Grease, Happy Days, Airplane, and Police Squad. I can't adequately describe it, but I think you know what I mean.

Grindhouse

Saw this with Edige on Saturday. I might write about it here later, but I'll probably comment on the boards first.

If there is any movie that cranks it up to 11, it's this one.

Trek Remastered -- "The Tholian Web"

A new remastered episode this weekend, "The Tholian Web". This one has quite a few visual effects for the CBS-Digital team to work on. See a preview on the official Trek site.

Upcoming DVD News

Some notes on upcoming DVD releases:

Warner Brothers is releasing 12 cult classics on DVD in four themed sets of three (also available individually). This appears to be their version of MGM's Midnite Movies line. The Sci-fi set is OK. The historical epics set is good. It might be a must-buy, but I hoped that there would be more Greco-Roman sword-and-sandal movies like Colossus of Rhodes. The real gem is the Terrorized Travellers set which includes Hot Rods to Hell, the Charlton Heston disaster film Skyjacked, and... Zero Hour! On DVD at last!

A word of explanation: This is the '50s movie that inspired Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Brothers to create the immortal comedy Airplane! They purchased the rights to ZH! and many of the lines in Airplane! are from it. Ever since I learned about ZH! in the late Eighties I've been trying to see it. ZH! popped up on cable TV once or twice around that time but I never caught it and it never saw a home video release. It's been on my Most Wanted DVDs list since the beginning and I'm very excited about finally having a copy. There was talk early on that it would show up as an extra on the DVD of Airplane! (both of them), but that didn't happen.

So far the only listed extra is the trailer, which is a shame. WB is missing a golden opportunity to get some perspective from the ZAZ team, either in a commentary track or a mini-documentary... something. I should be grateful they are releasing it from the vault, I suppose.

WB's Cult Camp Classics are due on June 26th.

***

Classic Media postponed their release of Godzilla Raids Again and Mothra vs. Godzilla from Nov. '06 to April 3rd.

The next two in the series are Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster and Invasion of Astro-Monster (G vs. Monster Zero), two of my faves. These are on the schedule for June 5th. If you've seen their disc of the original Gojira, you know what to expect. I'm still amazed, considering Toho's history of video releases in the US. Original Japanese versions and the original AIP English dubs we grew up with. These are true gems that any self-respecting monster fan will want to check out.

***

Media Blasters keeps up the good work on their kaiju film offerings by releasing Frankenstein Conquers the World on June 26th. Like the Classic Media/Toho releases, this is a 2-disc set with Japanese and English versions -- again, the AIP theatrical release.

I'll pick it up, but the one I'm really waiting for is their release of Latitude Zero. It's still in production so there isn't a release date yet. Scratch another off my Most Wanted list...

***

June is going to be an expensive month. : (

All the gaming intelligentsia in one place

Mike Sugarbaker of Ogre Cave has set up a blog of blogs. The Planet Story Games site checks the RSS feeds from the blogs belonging to a who's who of indie games (or story games, as they're calling them these days) and aggregates the latest posts on the main page. It's a great idea... pretty clever. Take a look if you're interested in what's on the minds of this generation of designers and don't want to dig through various layers of forums.

Trek Remastered -- another rerun

"The Naked Time" is being rerun this weekend. The next "new" episode is the effects-heavy "The Tholian Web" one week from now.

Mars Caves Revealed in Images

This might be where the spiders from Mars are hiding.

What kind of RPG gamer am I?

According to the categories discussed in Robin's Laws:

You scored as Storyteller. The Storyteller is in it for the plot: the sense of mystery and the fun of participating in a narrative that has the satisfying arc of a good book or movie. He enjoys interacting with well-defined NPCs, even preferring antagonists who have genuine motivations and personality to mere monsters. To the Storyteller, the greatest reward of the game is participating in a compelling story with interesting and unpredictable plot threads, in which his actions and those of his fellow characters determine the resolution. With apologies to Robin Laws. Storyteller 75% Casual Gamer 65% Character Player 45% Weekend Warrior 45% Tactician 40% Specialist 25% Power Gamer 10%

Trek Remastered -- Repeat of "I, Mudd"

This weekend is a repeat of "I, Mudd". It's a fun episode, and the remastered version has an absolutely gorgeous shot of the Enterprise in orbit around the robot planet, where glowing rings cast a reflection against the hull. A screen cap of that has been my desktop wallpaper since December.

300: Today is the day

The long wait is over. 300 opens today. Most of the people I know are seeing it today...even taking off work to do so.

Mrs. Kaiju and I are seeing it Saturday night. Don't spoil it for me!

Trek Remastered -- "Wolf in the Fold"

This weekend's episode is "Wolf in the Fold". This is one where Scotty is accused of...murder! Scary! It's another fun show; not many special effects to redo. We'll see what they change or enhance.

The Oscars

Mark Evanier on a good way to watch the Oscars, plus some ways to spruce up the show.

Mrs. Kaiju and I make it a point to watch all the awards shows in general, but the big one, the Super Bowl of awards shows, is the Oscars. I have a soft spot in my heart for it. Even though it hardly seems that there is much connection to Old Hollywood anymore, it feels for me like the only real way to be a part of the magic of Hollywood for us normal people -- that is, short of hanging out on Hollywood and Vine. You have a much better chance of seeing movie stars at the Oscars, at least.

The Perils of the Warp...I mean, Web.

This is a cautionary tale about the ephemeral nature of the internets. In the grand scheme of things it's not really important, but this story does speak to several issues that we will all need to come to terms with now and in the future.

So, there was this good gaming blog titled "Deep in the Game", in which the author expounded on current gaming theory and various ways to incorporate some new thinking into your own games. This particular blog was nice because, along with the theory, it gave practical advice anybody could use. And going by the chatter on several message boards, plenty of people did.

I had the site linked in the list over there on the right side of the page. I checked in on what was new every so often, but the best articles concerned flag framing and what the author named a "conflict web".

I just happened to click on my link to the site last night and got a generic host page instead. From there it was on to the forums at Rpg.net to see if there was any news about a site migration or whatever else might have happened. With a quick search I found this thread from the day before. I won't go into details; check the posts if you want to know more. Basically, he had written all that he wanted, and felt that many new games already incorporate the things he was talking about, so he took down the blog.

The moral of the story is this: If you see something you're interested in, or find useful while surfing, save a local copy. You could go back to see it the next day and it could be gone. While the interweb is perhaps the greatest collaborative communication device ever invented, its strengths are also weaknesses. It's all bits and bytes existing in nebulous space out there, not fixed in print. Something that exists today could be deleted (or re-written) tomorrow.

Of course like any creative author, this person can do with the data whatever he pleases. I think that's part of the original point of copyright. However, it's not like it was published and out-of-print copies still exist (well, there are partial archives in search caches, but that's another story) in the real world. It's just gone. That's something to consider as more and more content goes electronic and stays in that form.