Trek Remastered -- "Arena"

This isn't turning into "The Trek Blog", honest. I'll have other things to comment on soon, I'm sure.

"Arena" is the Trek episode that aired late last Sunday night. That night's ep has typically been rerun on the following Saturday, so you can check it out later if you miss it. I had forgotten some of the events that happened when the crew was attacked at the outpost, including the mortar they use against the Gorn. Check out screenshots and video here.

This weekend's show is the Halloween episode, "Catspaw". Sneak peek here and video preview here. It's another favorite of mine, so I can't wait!

Incident at Blood Pass (1970)

Last night I went over to DVO's house to watch Incident at Blood Pass (1970). We hadn't seen it before, and we were very happy to finally have the chance to view it. It's a excellent samurai film with plenty of twists and double-crosses, starring the great actors Toshiro Mifune and Shintaro Katsu. There's a not-so-subtle insinuation that Mifune's nameless samurai in this movie is the same character from Yojimbo and Sanjuro. The other product of Mifune and Katsu's 1970 collaboration is Zatoichi meets Yojimbo.

I love Katsu's Zatoichi movies, but Toshiro Mifune is The Man.

Trek Remastered -- "City on the Edge of Forever"

Last weekend's ep was "City on the Edge of Forever", one of the best of The Original Series. Updates on this episode included a beautiful panning flyby shot of the Enterprise in orbit. Maybe if the studio wasn't under such a time crunch, they could have included more establishing shots of the planet. It might not even be something they were looking at, but I hoped that they would have added in some of the scenes that were in Harlan Ellison's original script showing the epic grandeur of the ruins on the planet. Maybe I'll talk about that in another post.

This past weekend's episode should have been "I, Mudd", but there wasn't an ep on Saturday night (baseball playoffs), and in the Sunday night/Monday morning slot was a rerun of "City...". That's disappointing. We'll see what's on the lineup for next weekend, as the newspaper TV guide says that there should be a Saturday ep then. According to the schedule, it should be "Arena", the one with the Gorn and Kirk's makeshift gunpowder cannon.

Christie's Auction of Trek Memorabilia

You may have heard on the news that there is currently an huge auction of Trek props and costumes from CBS/Paramount's storage, including items across its 40 year lifespan. Unfortunately, the only thing I could afford is the auction catalog (Woo-hoo! It's discounted down to 60 bucks now!).

The news coverage of the event has triggered one of my pet peeves. Every reporter who ends a Star Trek news segment by "beaming up" owes me a dollar.

More Trek Remastered -- "The Naked Time"

Last weekend's episode were a repeat of "The Devil in the Dark" on Saturday night and "The Naked Time" on Sunday night/Monday morning. The only real updates to "The Naked Time" were a new establishing shot of the planet and new viewscreen effects.

I'm not sure what the schedule will be this weekend. The Major League Baseball playoffs begin this week and one of the games is on Fox during the Saturday night Star Trek slot. This weekend's scheduled episode is the great Harlan Ellison-penned "The City on the Edge of Forever". I assume (and you know what that means) that "City..." will air early Monday morning.

'Til then, go easy on the cordrazine.

Test

testing, testing.

Edit: Hey, that worked.

The (many) Rules of the Game

I mentioned here before that I have been looking at Green Ronin's True20 RPG rules. In addition to True20, I'm reading the rules for Pinnacle's Savage Worlds (which will also power their upcoming Solomon Kane RPG) and Politically Incorrect Games' Iron Gauntlets. Each of these have huge followings of fans on the internets. I'm trying to get the gist of each and determine if they might be a good fit for the playing styles of our groups. Have a look at the sample rules here and here (haven't found a free sample for IG). Sometime soon, when I get my basement cleaned up, I'd like to playtest these rules and put them through some goober stress testing.

Edit: Forgot to mention Mongoose Publishing's RuneQuest 4th Ed. The SRD and Developer's Kit is available here.

Thoughts on Trek Remastered

This past weekend, Fox showed "Balance of Terror" in the 6pm Saturday slot and "The Devil in the Dark" in the 1am Sunday night/Monday morning slot. I don't know if "Miri" was shown at all. Our local Fox station was behind one week, then, but now seems to have caught up -- unless the Saturday night showing is a re-run of the previous week.

If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend that you check it out.

***

Fandom has a way of often jumping the gun on things, especially now in the age of instant Internet communication. There are plenty of reviews that went up right away after just the first episode. I agree somewhat that there are some missed opportunities, but I'll reserve final judgment until they get some more episodes in the can. From what I've read, the studio seems to be on a tight schedule cranking the Hi-def episodes out as fast as they can. I hope, with more practice, that they get better and better at it. Since I don't have a HDTV, the episodes look good but not astounding. I would guess on a better TV there would be more of a difference.

The point of contention with the reviewers is the updated FX. I agree that the CBS/Paramount seems to be "too respectful" to the original material. Many of the new visual effects are duplicates of the original shots, including camera angles and model movement that was a result of effects technology of the time. The new inserted effects could be so much more dynamic and interesting. There are hints, like the three-quarters view over the top of the Warbird in "Balance...", or the emergence of the Horta from the cave wall in "Devil...", that really show what the new CGI can do. The closing flyby of the Enterprise in "Devil.." is particularly nice. I think there will be more of this as time and the episodes go on.

In my opinion, the best thing about Trek Remastered is that it has people talking and excited about Trek again. Especially, for me, because the Original Series has always been my favorite.

Trek Original Series clarification

OK, Fox showed an episode of Enterprise on Sunday night instead of the enhanced Original Series. However, I saw a commercial that gave the day and time for TOS as Saturday at 6pm. Next week's ep is "The Devil in the Dark". If you don't recall, that's the one with the Horta.

Star Trek: The Original Series digital remasters in syndication!

I first learned about this project from some links that Edige passed along to me, showing some CGI effects test footage. This was some kind of well-kept secret in the entertainment community, because the news has just been breaking in the past few weeks.

CBS/Paramount has been remastering episodes of TOS for syndication (and possibly later DVD issue). They will take the place of Star Trek: Enterprise, which now moves to the Sci-Fi Channel. Stations that had been airing Enterprise will now be showing the updated TOS episodes (which includes, locally, Fox on late Sunday nights).

So what is new about them? The image quality gets an upgrade, so they should look better than ever. Plus, many of the visual effects are getting CG makeovers. This could be as little as extra moving images in the static matte painting backgrounds to completely new CG starship exteriors. The opening credits are supposed to be new as well.

From the little I've read about it, they are still in the works, so they literally are getting them done week to week. The proposed schedule is on the offical site, and some of the backstory on what is being done can be found at The Digital Bits, here, here, here and here.

The first week's ep is "Balance of Terror", although the Tribune's TV Guide says "Miri" is on instead. We'll see in just about an hour from this posting. If you don't remember, "Balance..." is one of the better eps, very much like The Enemy Below but set in space.

High Tech Noon

I'm glad I watched High Noon during my attempt at 100 Films in 100 Days. Not only for the obvious reason, that it's a great film, but so that I'd get the jokes in this parody. Although parody isn't the right word for it. Maybe a..."re-imagining"?

I like the mix of sci-fi and western tropes, Firefly being the most obvious example. Take a look at the movie (4 min. YouTube video), it's really well done!

Speaking of Firefly, the complete series DVD set is on sale this week at Target for $18.99.

Flyboys and other movie surprises

I haven't been keeping up on new movie releases the way I normally would. I need to do better to retain "movie guru" status. Several late summer films have taken me completely by surprise -- De Palma's adaptation of James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia; the story of George Reeves' suicide (murder?), Hollywoodland; and Ong Bak 2 (a.k.a. The Protector) -- and these are movies that I should have known all about long ago.

Here's another one that came out of nowhere: Flyboys. I saw a preview of it that makes it seem like a WWI twentysomething "buddy" movie, but the CGI visual effects in the commercial were great! If there's just ten total minutes of aerial battle scenes like those, including the strafing of a zeppelin, then I'll be satisfied. It's out September 22nd.

Steve Irwin, R.I.P.

CNN - Irwin's last moments caught on videotape

Yahoo - Steve Irwin - Main News Page

CNN - Irwin died 'doing what he loved'

Not much I can add to what's already been said. I didn't watch all of his shows but I always enjoyed whatever I saw, and tried to catch his appearances on other shows like Jay Leno and Conan O'Brian.

I feel a little guilty for going as the Crocodile Hunter for Halloween once. It wasn't malicious mocking, but heartfelt respect, at least I hope it came across that way.

I think he'll be remembered as someone who who used his energy and enthusiasm to entertain and to share his care and concern for the natural world with others. He will be missed.

Gen Con 2006

I'm sorry about not writing my con report before now, but I've had severe writer's block this week.

Last weekend was Gen Con 2006. Brian, DVO and I drove down to the show Friday morning. We went to the hotel, checked in and dropped off our bags, then we went on to the show. The dealer's hall had already opened so we missed the crush of goobers. We stopped for a quick snack from the concession stand and then pressed on through our dealer's hall trek. I tried to call John B. but the cell phone reception in the convention center was lousy (it's partially my phone provider's fault too, I'm sure).

We met up with Bob along the way, then we had the annual on-the-dealer's-floor meetup with Mr. H.G. Walls. Gen Con is usually the only time that I run into him, although I also saw him at the local Game Con this spring.

The four of us (Bob, DVO, Brian and myself) had our customary dinner at Alcatraz, then I went on to the ENnie Awards Ceremony. DVO went to a poker tournament while Brian stayed back at the room to relax. We all met up later and had drinks in the hotel bar before calling it a night.

After breakfast at the Red Eye Saturday morning, we went back to the con. I met up with the 20b20l crew and went back into the dealers room. DVO got to play in a really great game of 40K while Brian went to a seminar by Golden Daemon award-winning miniature painter Jennifer Haley on basing figures. I went to the seminar Mastering Your GM-Fu and after that went to a seminar on Robert E. Howard game licenses and creators. Shortly after that the three of us met up in the dealer's room and stayed until they closed it up. We left right after and headed for home.

The freebie goodie bag was really great this year -- the customary d6 from Crystal Caste, a d6 from customdice.com, a pack of Pirates of the Revolution, a free CD of City of Heroes, a Guild Wars trial CD, a metal Deck Vault from Ultra-Pro, the Orcs of the High Mountains module for Legends of the Ancient World, and Inquest Gamer #137. I got three more Pirates packs from the guys, along with an extra Deck Vault from Bob.

Here's the rest of my swag:

A factory-second Chessex MegaMat
Film Frenzy: Action Movie Edition card game ($2 from Comic Images)
A Green Ronin t-shirt
Six loose D&D minis for $5 and two loose Mage Knight minis for $1
Free Exalted 2nd Edition quick-start rules, adventure and map
Two Reaper Dark Heaven minis for $2.50 in the Auction Shop
Free Sir Hawthorne Heroscape promo figure
GURPS Egypt, Age of Napoleon, and Low-Tech (seems like there's a Rosetta Stone adventure in there somewhere... SJG 3 for $10 rack)
Conan RPG: Pirate Isles (50% off)
Nyambe: African Adventures (finally!), Rune: Enter the Viking, Kingdoms of Kalamar Villain Design Handbook, and a Starship Troopers Mobile Infantry squad box (Titan Games Buy 1, Get 3 Free table)
The Fantasy Role Playing Game: A New Performing Art (50% off from McFarland Publishing)

Again this year I didn't have much time to explore the Forge booth, although I did get a look at Burning Empires. Wow, is that a gorgeous little book! Incredibly well done for a small-press RPG.

The show didn't seem as crowded on Saturday as it has been in past years, but I heard that the other days, even Sunday, were very strong for sales and traffic. Maybe it seemed less crowded because things were more spread out. It will be interesting to see how things go in the next few years when the Convention Center is under renovation and the new stadium is under construction. We'll have to see.

I got to meet several industry folks whose work I admire -- Martin Ralya from treasuretables.org, Robin Laws, Matt Forbeck, Mike Stackpole, and Shane Lacy Hensley (Solomon Kane RPG...oh yeah!). Too bad Ken Hite wasn't there this year...

The big news, at least for me, is that next year's show will have a Robert E. Howard Day. The creative panel this year was a precursor for that. According to the on-site program guide, REH Day will include a museum, special guests, panels, seminars, film screenings, and of course, games. I can't wait to see Two-Gun Bob get the recognition due to him from the gaming community.

Dreamblade was possibly the big mainstream release of the show, with RuneQuest 4th Edition close behind. We'll be discussing the new releases, the ENnie Awards and other things, including interviews, on the 20b20l podcast over the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Getting ready for Gen Con

Sorry about the long pause here. The last few weeks have just flown by.

This week is Gen Con prep. It's not so much that I have to prep something to bring to Gen Con, but "prep" as in information gathering. I try to find all the press releases about new games, con exclusives and other swag.

There are only a few things I am planning to get while I'm there -- a discount factory-second Chessex mat, a coffee cup of cheap random Chessex dice, at least one indie RPG from The Forge, goodies from Titan's Buy One Get Three Free table...I'm sure I am forgetting something. Mostly I like to flip through books and look at minis that I can't see in the local shops.

I also want to look through the OOP and used bins for discounted minis and RPG products. I wonder if the availability of OOP materials in PDF format has done anything to the used gaming market. I know Titan Games is doing more business in used video games, and it appears (on the floorplan, anyway) that Crazy Egor's booth is smaller this year...

This might be my last post before Gen Con...if so, see you next week for the wrap-up!

Update: I just read that Green Ronin will have several discount bundles at their Gen Con booth, including:

"Ancient World Campaign Bundle: You get Testament, Trojan War, and Eternal Rome for only $30."

I bought Testament from them last year for $10, but getting the other two for $30 is still a deal.

Putin quizzed on robots, octopus and that kiss

Oh, yes, beware of "the Cthulhu"...

It was not clear what had prompted 8,600 Russians to ask Putin if he planned to employ "giant, humanoid war robots" or why 7,300 people were interested in the Cthulhu, a cosmic cephalopod invented by novelist H. P. Lovecraft which is said to be sleeping beneath the Pacific Ocean.

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2006-07-04T144843Z_01_L04260058_RTRUKOC_0_US-RUSSIA-INTERNET.xml&src=rss

"Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?"

I'm more familiar with the Dave Gilmour-era Pink Floyd than the early days, but I had always heard stories about Syd Barrett, one of the original "eccentrics" of rock music. Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Pink Floyd legend Syd Barrett dies

The Old Car Manual Project

If you're like me, and you love old advertising, old cars, and old car advertising, then you need to check out The Old Car Manual Project.

Declaration of Independence

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton

Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton

Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton

Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean

Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark

Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration.html

Quick test

Just disregard this post. Testing.