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The Point Radio: ‘Big Bang’ gang on being Chic Geek, and who was that caped guy on ‘Smallville’?

  • News
  • November 23, 2009

How can we not love a show where the characters wear Flash t-shirts and love comics as much as we do. For the cast of THE BIG BANG THEORY, being a true geek is hard work and we talk to them about how they prepare for the parts, plus TWILIGHT breaks the BO and is that really a Green Lantern in SMALLVILLE?

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Review: ‘Superman: The Complete Animated Series’ on DVD

  • News
  • November 22, 2009

Once Batman the Animated Series became a huge success, a follow-up featuring the Man of Steel seemed inevitable. That it took until 1996, four years later, was the only crime in the process. The equally successful adaptation from the comics lasted four seasons and 54 episodes, helping set the stage for the bets adaptation yet: Justice League/JL Unlimited.

On Tuesday, Warner Home Video releases a seven-disc Superman: The Complete Animated Series
. Much like the just-released complete JLU series, this merely takes the existing season set discs and repackages them in a nice foil box along with a bonus seventh disc. The companion booklet, therefore, makes the same numbering error by not reflecting the actual discs.

All the love and attention lavished on the Dark Knight was poured into this show, which was brighter and shinier, the villains larger in scope and giving the animators a chance to bust loose. Superman works great in animation and after the lackluster efforts from Filmation, Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears, this one clearly shows the potential fulfilled.

As usual, the voice casting is fairly top-notch with Tim Daly alternating nicely between Superman and Clark Kent, sparring playfully with Dana Delany’s Lois Lane. Clancy Brown is wonderfully malevolent as Luthor and his ever-present menace is well handled, matching the reboot version launched a decade earlier.

The series winks at the fans in many, many ways which shows the love and affection they hold for the source material and their core audience. The largest change they made to the mythos was inserting Brainiac into Kal-El’s origins and it just doesn’t work for me. In fact, the use of Brainiac here may be a weak spot throughout the series, only paying off at the conclusion of the Project Cadmus arc in JLU season one.

Yes, the continuity links between the series also rewards fans and allows the production team the opportunity to plant seeds or wrap up threads they could do otherwise. It’s a shame, therefore, that the Superman appearances in Static Shock are not included here.

Wisely, the series got pretty cosmic pretty quickly and the first season ends with the introduction of Darkseid.  By bringing in the Fourth World characters, the show takes on a scope befitting the World’s Greatest Super-Hero and giving him a host of new opponents that would truly tax him. The seventh disc has some trailers but the highlight is “The Despot Darkseid: A Villain Worthy of Superman” which gathers the producers to reflect on how this really opened things up for them. The 17 minute discussion is filled with tributes to creator Jack Kirby and shows how important he became to the series.

Darkseid wasn’t the only threat and the Man of Steel’s rogues ‘ galleries is nicely introduced one at a time and then recur, varying the tone of the show. And was there any villain better suited to animation than Mr. Mxyzptlk, whose arrival always meant a nice change of pace episode was in the offing.

The stories hold up nicely, the animation fluid and the affection for the hero that started it all is clear in every frame.

‘Twilight Saga: New Moon’ takes opening day gross record from ‘Dark Knight’, midnight record from ‘Harry Potter 6’

  • News
  • November 21, 2009

Apparently, some people like people who dress up as bats less than people who should be turning into bats (if they were real vampires).

Taking the record for the biggest one-day and opening gross, The Twilight Saga: New Moon raked in an estimated $72.7 million on approximately 8,500 screens at 4,024 sites, according to BoxOfficeMojo. The Dark Knight was the previous title holder with $67.2 million on around 9,300 screens at 4,366 sites. New Moon also took the midnight opening record, taking in an estimated $26.27 million at 3,514 sites showing the movie starting at 12:01 a.m. Friday. The previous benchmark was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which conjured $22.2 million at 3,003 sites for its midnight opening.

At $158.4 million, The Dark Knight still holds the record for biggest weekend (Friday-Saturday-Sunday) ever… so far.

The Point Radio: ‘Twilight New Moon’ Exclusives

  • Uncategorized
  • November 20, 2009

Love it or hate it, this weekend TWILIGHT NEW MOON dominates pop culture. We’ve got an exclusive visit from stars Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner direct from this week’s whirlwind red carpet premieres, plus new air dates for LOST and CHUCK and it’s true, a Whedon will be writing TERMINATOR.

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And be sure to stay on The Point via iTunes - ComicMix, RSS, MyPodcast.Com or Podbean!

Follow us now on and !

Don’t forget that you can now enjoy THE POINT 24 hours a Day – 7 Days a week!. Updates on all parts of pop culture, special programming by some of your favorite personalities and the biggest variety of contemporary music on the net – plus there is a great round of new programs on the air including classic radio each night at 12mid (Eastern) on RETRO RADIO and COMICMIX’s Mark Wheatley hit the FREQUENCY every Saturday ay 9pm.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE FOR FREE or go to GetThePointRadio for more including a connection for mobile phones including iPhone & Blackberrys



Review: ‘Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Two’

  • Uncategorized
  • November 20, 2009

Saga of the Swamp Thing Book Two

By Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette, John Totleben
DC Comics, 224 pages, $24.99

DC’s hardcover collections of Alan Moore’s run on [[[Swamp Thing]]] continues with the release of the second volume next Wednesday. The nicest thing about these releases is that it prompts us to go back and reread the stories to conjure up memories of what it was like the first time we encountered these tales.

By the time these eight stories saw print in 1984 and 1985, the buzz had grown deafening and clearly this was the most talked about series and set of creators at the time. What Alan did was bring fresh thinking to American comic book concepts and played with the readers’ expectations for mainstream storytelling and horror.

Moore’s gift for words crowded the pages with allusions and imagery previously unseen and when we could look at the artwork, it was stunning. Stephen Bissette and John Totleben were ideally suited for the material and they were given free rein by both Moore and their editor, Karen Berger. The critical success encouraged the creators to take more risks and the company wisely backed them, letting [[[Saga of the Swamp Thing]]] be the first series to hit newsstands each month without the Comics Code. Instead, the covers proclaimed the series to be “Sophisticated Suspense”, a gesture to warn potentially offended readers.

Having reimagined Swamp Thing’s origins and exploring the dynamics between the shambling creature and the humans Abigail Arcane and Matt Cable, the stage was set for the return of an old foe. Anton Arcane, Abby’s uncle, was back and the slow realization that he had possessed Matt and therefore committed a form of incest with her was shocking, cold and chilling because we hadn’t conceived of anything so horrible. The trilogy that kicks off the volume is creepy and holds up.

The coda to the tale first saw print in an annual, allowing extra pages and giving Moore a chance to play with the other occult players in the DC Universe: Etrigan, the Spectre, Phantom Stranger and Deadman. All felt fresh and part of some other reality as Swamp Thing traveled to Hell to rescue Abby.

The artists, while incredibly talented, were not speed demons and 22 pages a month was a tough pace for them. The annual, therefore, meant they needed fill-in help. Chapter 2 of the Arcane trilogy was inked by Alfredo Alcala and Chapter 3 was pencilled by Rick Veitch, but at no time is the quality suffering. But they needed a break and Shawn McManus, who already drew the opening story in this wonderful collection, is back for the acclaimed “Pog”. Moore’s tribute to Walt Kelly’s [[[Pogo]]] is a challenging read and still packs an emotional wallop.

The book ends with the award-winning “[[[Rites of Spring]]]” wherein Abby confesses her love to the creature and he offers her a piece of himself as communion, letting her see the world the way he does. It’s touching and once more gives us a new look at the characters while advancing the storylines.

On a personal note, there are two pages that cutaway to the events being watched by the enigmatic Monitor and his aide Lyla. At the time, all of DC’s titles were featuring these teasers setting up [[[Crisis on Infinite Earths.]]] Alan and Karen could have argued against it or thumbed their noses the demand the way Mike Barr did in [[[Outsiders]]]. Instead, Alan complied without complaint and actually made the appearances work, maintaining the eerie feel of the moment. I was always grateful he was willing to play along and rereading them here, does in no way take away from the stories’ impact.

Why continuity matters, dammit

  • News
  • November 20, 2009

Doris Egan, former producer on Smallville and current producer on House, sums up why fans care about continuity:

I’ve never forgotten when I was a kid, watching a show called It Takes a Thief. Throughout the series, the hero would say, “I’m a thief, like my father and my grandfather before me.” Then suddenly there was an episode where a woman asked him why he became a thief, and he told a story about having been a geologist and getting into thievery almost accidentally. And this wasn’t presented as a lie. You can tell the difference; even as a kid, I could tell the difference. They expected you to accept this – for this episode. A few episodes later we’d go back to the previous story.

I’ll never forget how betrayed I felt, because I loved that series with a love only a pre-teen can feel. And I thought, “Someone had to have noticed that. If nobody else, the star must have noticed. And yet nobody fixed it. Which means… I care more than they do.” It was disillusioning and depressing.

Which is why I’m a continuity believer.

Certain franchises should have that printed in giant signs over the doors to their offices. The fact that their audience cares more about the story and characters they are making than they do should shame them. They care more for free than you do getting paid for it.

And when the franchise holders take money from you for it, it’s even more deplorable. How many times have you bought a comic book or novel tie-in that said “This is the real backstory! This is what really happened in the missing year between these two events!” only to have it waved away later by management fiat?

We hear people say, “oh, it’s a tie in, it doesn’t count” and I call shenanigins. You sold it with the franchise trademark on it. You have a reasonable expectation that it ties in with the story. It’s particularly annoying in the case of tie-ins, because the folks who follow them often spend a LOT of money on them. And you know what? It actually benefits the franchise holder if it all ties in well. Look at Dark Horse’s sales figures on Buffy The Vampire Slayer before Joss Whedon was closely involved and after, and see the sales spik– er, skyrocket. By not having a strict continuity between properties, the franchises are leaving money on the table.

What say you?

Capcom Announces ‘Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition’

  • News
  • November 19, 2009

This morning, Capcom announced that new DLC (that’s Downloadable Content to the layman) for Resident Evil 5 would be hitting not just Xbox Live and Playstation Network, but also be released on a standalone disc with the full game.  The content includes two new episodic chapters, as well as an update of an older multiplayer mode. 

The game was released earlier this year to critical acclaim, and one pack of DLC was announced at the Tokyo Game show about a month ago, so the additional DLC comes as a pleasant surprise.  Fans voted on the Capcom website to have the new content only as DLC (rather than buying the game again with the content included therin) but Capcom also seems to be offering it on disc as an incentive for people who didn’t pick it up the first time.  You can see the new full press release with details on all the DLC after the jump. (more…)

ComicMix Six: Best Geek-Themed Games for the Holidays

  • Uncategorized
  • November 19, 2009

With the holidays fast approaching, the question becomes: what do you get for the comic-loving gamer in your household?  Well, here are some of the best releases from this year to satiate their comic-gaming lust and keep you looking like the know-it-all Santa.  From purely comic-related titles to one of the year’s best surprises for film-fans, this is the collection to make your gamer happy.

1: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (DS, PS3, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii)

Playing the previous title in this series isn’t necessary, as the events that unfold herein are actually the video game adaptation of Marvel’s ‘Civil War” event from a few years ago.  As players traverse the games environments, you’re tasked with choosing Pro- or Anti-Registration stance as you recruit new team members for your cause.  Gameplay is multiplayer-centric, as 4 players can team up together to take on all foes in this combat rich title.  As players pair up different members of their teams, stat bonuses reward the player for pre-existing groups (like having all the members of the Fantastic Four as a team, for example).  The control is refined from the previous title, so those who ARE familiar with the series will notice tighter control of their teams, as well ease in combining powers, one of the games newer features.  Here, timed special attacks can be joined with a selected partner for a larger attack, and bigger damage results.  While the ending won’t match the comic’s storyline, players will certainly enjoy all the Marvel references and characters throughout the title, and Xbox 360 and PS3 owners actually can download MORE characters to increase their player rosters.

(more…)

Review: ‘Logan’s Run’ on Blu-ray

What a difference a year makes. In 1976, MGM released a film based on William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson’s 1967 novel [[[Logan’s Run]]]. Generally lambasted by the press, it may have been a nadir in science fiction films putting studios off the genre until the following May, when 20th Century Fox looked forward with [[[Star Wars]]].

Warner Home Video has just released Logan’s Run
on Blu-ray and it finally gave me a chance to see the movie, something that somehow eluded me back in High School. It has most certainly not aged well and I can see why Roger Ebert called it a “vast, silly extravaganza”, which changed the novel in some ways for the better but failed to visually interest us in the society.

In the film, directed by Michael Anderson, the biggest change was in the location of society: domed and hermetically sealed as compared with the book’s newly formed surface cities. The book also has people voluntarily ending their lives at age 21 which probably meant the culture could not be sustained because no sooner did people learn a trade, they had to die. Instead, the film changed the age to 30 at a time when people still spouted “Never trust anyone over 30” (while forgetting the second half: “Or under, either”).

The hedonistic society is said to be devoted to pleasure until the glowing crystal in palm denoted your time to enter an arena and become the night’s entertainment. Everyone else gathers in a stadium to watch you and others born on that date, float upwards towards an energy field that kills them. There’s a rumor that selected people can be “renewed” so people come back night after night to see if someone will be lucky enough.

Those who eschew this lifestyle, those who question the unseen authority that governs the domed world, are known as runners who flee in search of a place known only as Sanctuary. Law enforcement officers, known as Sandmen, are charged with stopping the runners, usually by killing them. And the film follows one such Sandman, Logan 5 (Michael York), as the Artificial Intelligence in charge asks him to go undercover as a runner and find Sanctuary.

Fortunately, he’s found a potential runner to follow in Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter), whom he met only a night or two earlier. Her very questioning society got Logan to thinking so when the opportunity presented itself; he joined her in the escape. What complicates the assignment and spoils the film is Logan not confiding in his best friend, fellow Sandman Francis 7 (Richard Jordan), so Francis chases them, thinking he’s doing the right thing.

Along the way, our heroes are told by a recording to keep following the trail down but at one point they wind up on a platform taking them up. As a result, the movie starts going off the rails when no one ever questions what was “down there”. When they reach the surface, they find an ice cave (prompting them to strip down and wrap themselves in convenient bearskins) and a berserk robot, Box, who has decided freezing runners for eventual consumption made sense.

Escaping Box leads Logan and Jessica to a surface world they never knew existed and there they find the Old Man (Peter Ustinov), who shows them that aging isn’t all that bad. Unfortunately, setting this sequence in a vine-covered Washington, D.C. adds an unnecessary layer of subtext at a time when the country was already question the Federal Government.

Anderson, who did a far better job with George Orwell’s 1984, and screenwriter David Zelag Goodman completely failed to present a comprehensible society or characterization beyond two-dimensional surface traits for the three stars. York and Agutter are easy to watch but have little emotional range in this whereas Jordan’s pop-eyed style seems to come from some other film. Ustinov’s character is about the only one you care about.

A year later, the nature of science fiction film was turned on its head George Lucas’ Star Wars arrived, washing out the distaste left by this mess. Interestingly, Anderson’s earlier film, [[[The Dam Busters]]], has been credited as inspiration for the Death Star battle at the end of Lucas’ film.

The Blu-ray edition looks like a basic transfer without digital enhancements or attempt to clean it up. The extras contain commentary from the DVD edition and a featurette produced back in the 1970s. There’s little to recommend adding this your growing Blu-ray library.

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