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Enter the Dragon gets 40th Anniversary Edition

enter-the-dragon-lee-e1362428731218-5750150Every now and then you can tell someone is special. Every now and then you know just when something becomes an event, a trend-setter. That’s exactly who Bruce Lee was and his Enter the Dragon remains. All marital arts films are measured against this one and now Warner Home Video is giving us a 40th anniversary edition. Here are the details:

Burbank, Calif., March 4, 2013 – Enter the Dragon, one of martial arts icon Bruce Lee’s last films, will debut June 11 on Blu-ray™ in the Enter the Dragon 40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition giftset from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. The film, which helped bring interest in the Asian martial arts genre to mainstream Western cinema, has been re-mastered for its 40th anniversary, and will now feature new bonus materials, such as the featurette, No Way as Way, on the legacy of Bruce Lee, plus other featurettes and commentary. Memorabilia — which includes collectible art cards, lenticular card and an embroidered patch –are also part of the giftset.

Bruce Lee was an incredible athlete and mixed martial artist who, despite making a limited number of movies during his short life, became a charismatic megastar and left a permanent mark on cinema and popular culture. Even Time Magazine agreed. They included Lee in the “100 Most Important People of the 20th century” issue (Heroes and Icons 1999*).  Enter the Dragon continues to resonate with today’s audiences. It was a major theatrical hit 40 years ago, grossing approximately $25 million domestically – the equivalent of almost $180 million in today’s box-office. Enter the Dragon has sold more than 450,000 units on DVD and Blu-ray since 2004. In 2004, Enter the Dragon was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” It also received a 95% positive rating on the critics’ review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes.

Lee was born in San Francisco on November 27, 1940. As a young boy in Hong Kong, he acted in some 20 films there and first became known in the U.S. in 1966 for his role as sidekick Kato in TV’s “The Green Hornet.” He also appeared in TV shows like “Ironside” and “Longstreet,” with his most notable American role coming in the 1969 movie, Marlowe, starring James Garner. Returning to Hong Kong, Lee starred in a number of successful films for Raymond Chow’s Golden Harvest Productions and soon became a superstar in China. His enormous overseas success ultimately reached Hollywood and the attention of filmmaker Fred Weintraub and Warner Bros., who produced Enter the Dragon and tapped the actor to star. Lee died suddenly in Hong Kong, at the age of 32, of a cerebral edema. That was on July 20, 1973, less than a month before the film’s August 17 U.S. premiere. Posthumously, Enter the Dragon rocketed him to international superstardom.

enter-the-dragon-special-edition-20040524022006215-e1362428794687-2960337Enter the Dragon producer Fred Weintraub, who also wrote the book Bruce Lee, Woodstock, and Me said: “If fans want to hail Bruce as the greatest and most influential martial artist who ever lived, you’ll get no argument from me. He was a shining star who streaked across the night sky of our collective awareness in a flash of white hot unsustainable intensity only to burn up in the atmosphere of fame, wealth, and worldwide adulation. Watching him again (this time even better on Blu-ray), you can see why he became the first international superstar from a third world country.

The plot of the Enter the Dragon revolves around outstanding martial arts student Lee (Bruce Lee), who is recruited by an intelligence agency and then uncovers the evil Han’s (Kien Shih) white slavery and drug trafficking ring located on a secret island fortress. Along with martial arts champions Roper (John Saxon) and Williams (Jim Kelly), Lee infiltrates the stronghold and enters Han’s brutal tournament. Lee and his partners fuse skills in Karate, Judo, Tae Kwon Do, T’ai chi ch’uan and Hapkido, in a now classic fight-to-the-death epic battle, all staged by Lee himself.

Bruce Lee, John Saxon, and Ahna Capri star in Enter the Dragon, which co-stars Bob Wall, and Shih Kien and introduces Jim Kelly. Music is by Lalo Schifrin. Written by Michael Allen, the film was produced by Fred Weintraub and Paul Heller in association with Raymond Chow. Robert Clouse directed.

Special Features:

  • Commentary by producer Paul Heller
  • New Featurette No Way As Way
  • New Featurette The Return to Han’s Island
  • New Featurette Wing Chun: The Art that Introduced Kung Fu to Bruce Lee
  • Interview Gallery featuring Lee’s wife, Linda Lee Caldwell
  • Vintage pieces
    • Backyard Workout with Bruce Lee
    • Curse of the Dragon
    • Location: Hong Kong with Enter the Dragon
    • Blood and Steel: The Making of Enter the Dragon
    • Personal Profile Bruce Lee: In His Own Words
  •  Five trailers
  • Seven TV spots

ENTER THE DRAGON 40TH ANNIVERSARY BLU-RAY DISC™ AND DVD

Street Date: June 11, 2013

Order Due Date: May 17, 2013

Run Time: 98 minutes

Rating: R

Pricing: $49.99 SRP

Catalog# / UPC: 1000351089 / 883929285693

 

Note: All enhanced content and memorabilia listed above is subject to change.

ALL PULP’S NEW PULP BEST SELLER LIST – MARCH 4, 2013!

  • Uncategorized
  • March 4, 2013

finns_golem-0x200-5756436
Welcome to the March 4, 2013 installment of All Pulp’s New Pulp Best Seller List, originally created by Barry Reese! Before we get to what you’re all waiting for, here are the rules by which this little list comes together.

1) This list only tracks sales through AMAZON. It does not keep track of sales through Barnes and Noble, face-to-face or anything else!

2)   
This list only tracks PRINT sales. Exactly how Amazon calculates these things is mostly a trade secret and they vary wildly from day to day. If we checked this tomorrow, thelist could be very different. This list reflects sales ranks as of Monday morning March 4, 2013.


3) In order to keep the focus on new releases, eligible works must have been published within the last three months. So, since this list is being done on March 4, 2013, we are only looking at books published since December 4, 2012. Please keep that in mind before complaining that Title X is not listed. Also, keep in mind that for the most part, we are tracking sales from smaller and mid level press publishers who actively publish New Pulp material. We won’t generally track sales from Simon and Schuster or places like that — they have the New York Times Bestseller List for that. If one of the major publishers starts doing The Shadow or something, we’ll track that, but some publishers will not be listed here in order to keep the focus on the publishers actively working to produce and promote New Pulp.

4)   
Like the name suggests, we’re tracking “New” pulp —not sales rankings for reprints of classic material. In order for something to qualify for this list, it has to be at least 50% new material that has not been printed in book form before.


5) We are human. If you are aware of a title that should be listed below (keeping in mind all the rules above), please let us know and we will make sure to remedy the situation.


6)    This information is garnered mostly from All Pulp, New Pulp, the Pulp Factory mailing list and a few other sites. If you think we might miss your release, let us know inadvance — drop All Pulp a line and tell us when it’s being released.

Without further ado, here’s the completely and totally unofficial New Pulp bestseller list as of right now (title, then publisher, then release date, then sales rank):

1) Sherlock Holmes and Young Winston: The Deadwood Stage by Mike Hogan (MX Publishing, December 10, 2012) – 130,060

2) Finn’s Golem by Gregg Taylor (Autogyro, January 10, 2013) – 256,806

3) Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective, Volume 4 by Various (Airship 27, January 19, 2012) – 269,344

4) The Detective, The Woman, and the Winking Tree byAmy Thomas (MX Publishing, January 22, 2013) – 296,811

5) Monster Earth by Various (Mechanoid Press, January 18, 2013) -390,625

6) Fourteen Western Stories by Lloyd Fonvielle (Lloyd Fonvielle, January 23, 2013) – 391,536

7) Prohibition by Terrence McCauley (Airship 27 Productions, December 15, 2012) 417,280

8) Sherlock Holmes and Young Winston: The Jubilee Plot by Mike Hogan (MX Publishing, February 18, 2013) – 434,151

9) The City of Smoke and Mirrors by Nick C. Piers (Pro Se Productions, February 22, 2013 ) 514,277

10) Ghost Boy by Various (Airship 27 Productions,) -765265

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Although there’s a few changes in positions, no real movement in a list that is a bit softer than last week.  Greg Taylor’s ‘Finn’s Golem’ plants itself firmly back in the top ten at #2 and Monster Earth finds its way back to the list. Holmes still rules with four titles on the list.   There’s rumor of a few new releases coming this week, so we’ll see if things get shaken up at all next week.  


This week MX Publishing and Airship 27 lead the pack with three titles, followed by Lloyd Fonvielle, Pro Se, Autogyro, and Mechanoid Press each with one! Until then, take your list and a grain of salt and we’ll see you next week.

Mindy Newell: Take A Lesson

  • Uncategorized
  • March 4, 2013

newell-art-130304-3338141Are you sick and tired of all the crap that’s going on down in D.C?  As in Washington, D.C., not DC Comics.

Believe it or not, me, too. Here is a breakdown of the last 4½ years of political discourse between our political leaders:

“You did it.”

“No, you did it.”

“I’m telling.”

“No, I’m telling.”

“That’s my ball.”

“No, it’s not, it’s my ball.”

“You cheated.”

“So did you.”

“I dare you.”

“I double-dare you.”

For Christ’s sake, grow the fuck up, children!!!!! Or take a lesson from The Avengers – beat the shit out of each other a la Iron Man and Thor, then realize you made a mistake and come together as a team to fight the real bad guy!

I missed the Oscars this year because I watched Tootsie and Kramer Vs. Kramer on Turner Classic Movies, part of their “31 Days of Oscar” routine. I did read and hear about them, though, especially McFarlane’s performance as host, and watched YouTube to form my own opinion. McFarlane’s comments about Jews really offended me. In fact, most of his spiel offended me. Although I do think he’s very smart, and I tend to agree with him when he’s on Bill Maher…to tell you the truth, I’d rather he’d stick to political commentary – I just don’t find him funny.

Reading Lawrence Wright’s latest book, which is about Scientology (Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & The Prison Of Belief). Picked it up because I was so impressed with Wright’s The Looming Tower, which is about the radicalization of Bin Laden, the birth and growth of Al Quada, and 9/11. The later is highly recommended to understand what happened and to help put today’s politics in context – I believe we are still politically paying for the attack on the World Trade Center, and in that way, Bin Laden – may he roast in hellfire for eternity – was successful. The former book, however, is not as eye opening for me; I’ve always known that Scientology is nothing but a big scam set up by a hack science fiction writer who wanted to “get rich quick.”

Scientology is L. Ron Hubbard’s definition of “there’s a sucker born every minute.”  Scientology is a Seduction Of The Innocents and its victims need a good lawyer. Matt Murdock, where are you? Take these Kingpins on. Challenge the organization’s “church” status in court and get their tax-exempt status revoked. That would help a lot of the poor schnooks who have been taken in by the scam.

The Who have it right. Hope I die before I get old.

Wolverine is lucky to have an adamantium skeleton and regenerative powers…my dad had another seizure/stroke a month ago. He’s not coming back from this one. Not really. My mother is physically and emotionally a wreck, on the verge of stroking out herself. The delivery of health care in this country is a disgrace. It’s in the control of the banksters and the insurance companies and price gougers, who get rich off of the sick while reimbursements from Medicare are being cut down to nothing, and since staffing is the biggest expense that medical organizations face, hospitals and nursing homes are forced to use the axe, the result being that patient care is dangerously compromised.

I can’t think of a super-hero from whom we can take a lesson on this one, who can fight this.

Can you?

TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten

TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Michael Davis

 

Announcing Mix March Madness 2013 Seeding Round!

  • News
  • March 4, 2013

UPDATE: This round is closed. Vote in Round #1 now!comicmixmarchmadnesssquare2013nom-4832837

Yes, it’s that time of year again, the time where bracketology reigns supreme and the cry around the nation is “Win or Go Home!” Last year’s Mix March Madness Webcomics Tournament was incredibly popular, and so we’re doing it all over again– and raising money for the Hero Initiative in the process! Find out how…

(more…)

REVIEW: Schindler’s List

Schindler's ListHistory is far more than facts and figures, especially since the text books tend to get watered down by committee or skew to a particular point of view. Instead, history is really the stories of mankind. Who did what, and what drove them to commit those acts? Every era has its known heroes and as historians do their work, it’s also clear there are the lesser known players whose efforts remain equally valuable and their stories worthy of being told.

Few events have spawned more tales of heroism than perhaps World War II. We know of the Axis and Allied generals who made bold moves to change the tide of the conflict and of the American scientists who raced their German counterparts to split the atom and harness their power. Since the 1970s or so, more and more stories have been discovered and told, many about those who endured the war and survived to tell their stories. There’s Elie Weisel and Night, Anne Frank and her diary, and Oskar Schindler and his list. The latter’s story didn’t really come out until Australian writer Thomas Keneally released Schindler’s Ark in 1982 (retitled List for America). Almost immediately, Steven Spielberg snapped up the rights and then spent a decade trying to find the time and approach to honor the work and the man that inspired it.

Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since we sat mesmerized for three hours and sixteen, watching this black and white drama, which won numerous accolades, earning Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards. Now Universal is releasing Schindler’s List a 20th Anniversary Limited Edition which comes in a combo slipcase with Blu-ray, DVD, Ultraviolet digital. Right up front, it should be noted that Spielberg wanted little attention drawn to the film and it’s making so the special features here are the same ones from the DVD release. But, the director oversaw the high definition transfer and did a masterful job so the film, with Janusz Kaminski’s cinematography, looks wonderful and John Williams’ score sounds even better. It’s nice to have the movie on a single disc so it can be enjoyed uninterrupted.

The story of German industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) and his efforts to rescue one thousand Jews from death in a concentration camp run by the cruel and psychotic Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes). Yes, Schindler made a profit and could be considered a war profiteer but he did use that money and influence wealth provided him to see to it that people did not die. He worked closely with accountant Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley) in crafting the typewritten list of names that became the symbol of survival.

The special features that do reappear here are worthwhile, starting with Voices From the List (77 minutes) as Spielberg hosts a series of interviews with Holocaust survivors and witnesses; USC Shoah Foundation Story with Steven Spielberg (5 minutes); About IWitness (4 minutes), an online application allowing educators and students to access more than 1,000 video testimonies of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses.

Time has not diminished the film’s power nor has its message been obscured by the director and performers’ other works. Nor has the deluge of Holocaust and WW II memoirs changed that each is a piece of a tapestry telling a story of when a world teetered on the tip of a pyramid, plunging one way towards peace and another towards unspeakable horror. While the stakes were never higher, the stories of people from both sides need to be heard and understood, seeing who had the courage of their convictions to do what was right despite the odds and personal dangers. Oskar Schindler wasn’t the only one, but saving some 1200 people is an accomplishment few other German civilians could claim.

For those who saw it when they were younger should see it again. For those with children in the intervening 20 years, should show it to them to understand what it means to be a Good Person. Its important film making and a powerful testament to the global outreach of the movies.

 

John Ostrander: Revamp, Reinterpret, Regenerate, Reinvigorate

  • Uncategorized
  • March 3, 2013

ostrander-art-130303-9715833There’s been a lot of pushing the reset button in pop culture recently and I find the results interesting. J.J. Abrams rebooted the Star Trek franchise a few years back and, while some fans complained, I think it was successful. Certainly it was financially successful, which is what the Hollywood moguls really care about.

At the start of Daniel Craig’s run, the James Bond movies were also rebooted, culminating in the recent spectacular Skyfall, which – again this may be heresy to some – was the best Bond film ever. It’s visually stunning and takes Bond himself to greater depths and heights than I’ve seen up until now.

Sherlock Holmes has been reinterpreted into the modern age with two versions, the BBC’s magnificent Sherlock and Elementary on CBS. Both are true to the basics and it’s amazing how well the classic fictional detective gibes with modern times.

Of course, we’ve witnessed DC’s rebirth with the New 52. Again, you can argue as to whether it is artistically successful but I don’t think you can argue that it hasn’t been financially successful thus far. This summer will see a movie rebooting of Superman with Man of Steel. The Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy rebooted that cinematic history as The Amazing Spider-man did with that character’s movie version. X-Men: First Class reimagined Marvel’s mutants and so on. The next Star Wars chapter and the announced Star Wars solo films, while they will undoubtedly respect the previous movies, will probably play hob with what is known as the Extended Universe, the complex continuity that has sprung up around the films via novels, comics, games and more. Depending on how they turn out, that may not be a bad idea.

All my professional comic book writing career, I’ve played with and enjoyed continuity. I respect it but I don’t worship it and I don’t think it is cast in stone. Sometimes, continuity becomes like barnacles on the bottom of a boat and need to be scraped off in order to make the boat (or the franchise) sea/see worthy again.

One of the most successful franchises is the BBC’s Doctor Who and part of its longevity (it celebrates 50 years this year) is its ability to change the actor who is playing the Doctor. It’s built into the series; the Doctor is an alien being who regenerates from time to time into virtually a new character, played by a different actor. The new Doctor doesn’t look, act, dress or sound like any of the other incarnations. The re-invention is a part of the continuity and that’s very clever.

I think this is very healthy; characters and concepts can and should be re-examined and re-imagined for the times in which they appear. They have to speak to and reflect concerns that its current public has if they are going to remain vital and alive.

Can it be overdone or badly done? Absolutely. Some remakes get so far from what the character is about that they might as well be a different character altogether. You want to take a look at the essence of the character, what defines them, and then see how you get back to that, interpreting it for current audiences. Some folks revamp something for the sake of revamping or to put their stamp on the character. I don’t think that usually works very well. Change what needs changing, certainly, but be true to the essentials of the character or concept.

Have I always done that? I don’t think so; when I was given Suicide Squad, I didn’t go back to the few stories that were originally published and work from that. I created a new concept for the title. However, I did reference the old stories and kept them a part of continuity, albeit re-interpreting them. I think we played fair with the old stories.

On The Spectre, Tom Mandrake and I took elements from as many past versions of the character as we could while getting down to what we felt were the essentials. Really, our biggest change was not the Spectre himself but his alter-ego, Jim Corrigan. Originally, he was plainclothes detective in the 30s and our version reflected that. I think that was a key to our success.

Even with my own character GrimJack, after a certain point I drop kicked the character at least 100 years down his own timeline into (shades of the Doctor) a new incarnation. I gave him a new supporting cast and the setting changed as well. It made the book and the character fresh again and made me look at it with new eyes.

The old stories will continue to exist somewhere; they just won’t be part of the new continuity. At some point, that new continuity will be changed as well as the concepts and characters are re-interpreted for a newer audience. That way they’ll remain fresh and alive. Otherwise, they’ll just become fossilized and dead. Who wants that?

MONDAY MORNING: Mindy Newell

TUESDAY MORNING: Emily S. Whitten

 

From The Muppets to Richard Parker, Animated Animals in Film

  • Uncategorized
  • March 2, 2013

life-of-pi-tiger-4355061It’s been a very good week for Ang Lee and novelist Yann Martel. Lee, of course, won the Best Director Oscar for The Life of Pi, adapting Martel’s magical novel. The film itself was warmly received, earning it admiration from the Academy. The film is being released by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD on March 12.

Based on the acclaimed best-selling novel from Yann Martel that has been published in 40 languages, and brought to life by visionary Academy Award winning director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), this magical adventure of hope, wonder, survival, and the power of the human spirit has been celebrated by critics all over the world.

Much was made of the animals brought to life through digital legerdemain but the film was far from the first to bring artificial animals to the screen, dating all the way back to Windsor McCay’s Gertie the Dinosaur. In more recent times, puppetry was the way to go, pioneered in numerous ways. The first commercially successful film to use puppets, of course, was from Jim Henson.

THE MUPPETS

The Muppets castThe first Muppet movie came to our screens in 1979 and these lovable characters were created without the use of CGI. Each Muppet character was carved out of various types of foam, and then covered with fleece, fur, or other felt-like material. Muppets represented a multitude of species including animals, humans and aliens. Even in this modern age, when interacting with Muppets, children still tend to act as though the Muppets were living creatures, even when they can see the puppeteers.

STAR WARS

The original Star Wars trilogy contained over 100 alien animals spanning a multitude of planets without using CGI. The first film in this epic saga provided audiences with a multitude of film-firsts, including the first ever animated 3D wireframe graphic. Star Wars: A New Hope was made with a relatively small budget by today’s standards and many of the animals and aliens looked surprisingly familiar, check out the very Wolfman-like alien from the iconic Mos Eisley Cantina scene below. This character was changed using CGI for the special edition re-release in 1997.

LABRYNTH

Blink and you will miss the first use of a realistic CGI animal in a feature film.  The 1986 fantasy film Labyrinth showed off a flying digital owl in the opening credits. The opening sequence of Labyrinth was created by animators Laryy Yaeger and Bill Kroyer and won its animators the NCGA Best Computer Animation award of 1986.

JURASSIC PARK

the-lost-world-the-lost-world-jurassic-park-32533948-1800-1013-300x168Lucasfilm’s ILM division provided the Oscar-winning visual effects wizardry in this classic film. The studio used CGI along with animatronics and stop-motion miniatures to create the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. The iconic first glimpse of those Brachiosauri was voted in the top 30 most magical moments in film by Empire magazine and broke new ground in CGI animation of animals on the big screen.

RISE OF PLANET OF THE APES

Rise of the Planet of the ApesThe latest addition to the Planet of the Apes franchise did not use a single real-life ape during filming. Working with WETA Digital the studio created lifelike apes through revolutionary motion-capture technology and visual effects. The film highlights the journey of an ape named Caesar, a fully CGI creation realized through a brilliant motion-capture performance by Andy Serkis, who used body suits and cameras to create the realistic movement we see in the film. This is the same technology Serkis used to play Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

LIFE OF PI

Ang Lee’s award winning adaptation Life of Pi relied on the use of CGI to create the Bengal tiger “Richard Parker” which shares the lifeboat with Pi. This was a tough task and so Lee brought in James Cameron and his team from the blockbuster Avatar to make sure that the CGI was the best it could be. To put this into context, the production team employed 15 artists to work only on Richard Parker’s fur, combing and placing all 10 million hairs on the tiger’s body to create the beautiful creature pacing across the screen.

Marc Alan Fishman: The Tabernacle of Technobabble

  • News
  • March 2, 2013

fishman-art-130302-8158124I love psuedo-science. More than anything else, the “how” of super-heroes and science fiction is what initially draws me in. My first real memories of my impending nerd-dom stemmed from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; where I learned that radioactive interplanetary ooze, when liberally applied to animals, created anthropomorphic heroes and villains. And where most of my friends were just happy to have new action figures, I was always perplexed as to how a rhino and warthog, when exposed to said ooze, ended up a mutated state of similar weight and stature. But I digress.

When my attention made way towards comic books, the same curiosity drew me first towards the Marvel universe. Taken against the “crap fell outta the sky, and now you’re super-powered” methodology so many of the DC heroes, Marvel seemed to celebrate the polar opposite. Hulk, Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man… all products of science. And let us never forget those pesky mutants. Stan Lee, in the multitude of interviews he’s given over the years always laughed off his choices in the origins of his characters. I’d like to believe though, that there was a bit more to it than he’d let on. The majority of his heroes and villains share science as a passion, and profession. Their powers, results of experiments gone awry. Taken in context of the age in which they were born? It’s fairly easy to see the dots connecting; in the age of the atom, of course scientists would end up mutating themselves and the world at large!

After my recent converting toward Trekdom, I can now say without a shred of sarcasm that I hold Trek above Wars because of the technical bedrock beneath the naked green chicks. At their cores, both universes celebrate journeys. But only Trek dares to boldly go where no man has gone before. Not that Star Wars is without some awesome psuedo-science of its own… but in my mind, it came well after Lucas opened his universe to other collaborators. Men and women who sought to better the mythos with a little less Kurosawa, and a bit more Kelvin.

But what is it that appeals to me so? It’s that shred of plausibility that helps endear me towards creations that embrace it. In contrast, those worlds made of pure fantasy never caught my heart. Where my wife can’t wait for the next Hobbit or Harry Potter, I could honestly care less. Sure, I appreciate the characters themselves, and the plot and structure presented in their various forms. But at their core? They celebrate worlds without reason. Where a kid can ride a broom not because he’s found a way to displace gravity fields, but because his parents loved him a whole ton. Meh.

A cursory look at my bookshelf shows a plethora of writers whose work encompasses these similar feelings. Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Jonathan Hickman, Warren Ellis, and the like all celebrate the art of technobabble. Their stories, as grand as they may become, still root themselves in panes of logic and reason. Their heroes and villains operate less on threads of sheer will, hope, or love. While their ultimate deus ex machinas may very well encompass those indefinable qualities in order to reach catharsis or conclusion… the worlds built around them all contain some form of believability that allows me to enjoy the work just a bit more than those who simply “wish hard”.

Remember when [[[The Matrix]]] first came about? Long before Neo was wearing his digital crown of thorns, the Wachowski brothers first tried to provide a foundation with which to build upon. And by the end of their first flick, I could enjoy Neo’s triumph over the machines not because of his amazing will to win the day, but because of his understanding of the laws of the program he was an avatar of. His triumph was one of science, not faith.

In Geoff Johns’s expansion of the Green Lantern universe, I celebrated the psuedo-science of the emotional spectrum. Certainly if we could believe that will was somehow a measurable source of energy, so too could be anger, avarice, love, compassion, hope, and fear.

But when Kronos, back with a vengeance, waged war on the Guardians who banished him so very long ago… what defeated him? A big Photoshopped beam from Hal Jordan. Sheer will. Used against a guy who had the weight of the entire emotional spectrum behind him. The scientist inside me screamed with righteous indignation. Based on even small amounts of actual logic, I was left aghast. One emotion, no matter how large (and Photoshoppy), should trump seven. Especially when the shooter of said super beam is merely a mortal man, and his opponent a crazy-assed demi-god. Johns failed to follow the laws of science he himself previously designed (so-to-speak). Simply put? Geoff wrote himself into a corner, and asked for a pass out of it. He flunked the exam. Of course given his captain of the football team status at DC, he slid right past the failing grade. Psuedo-science be damned.

In the universes we fictioneers build, there is an understanding between our words and our audience. To each creation comes a set of laws we play in and around. Those who do it best, gain my attention, respect, and money. Those who disregard it get my furrowed eyebrow and shaking fist. Consider this experiment open-ended. Where there is plausibility, there’s potential. And where there is potential… there’s the possibility of endless wonder. And where there is no need for that? Well, fuck it. Let it fall out of the sky. I mean, why not?

SUNDAY: John Ostrander

MONDAY: Mindy Newell

 

Richard E. Grant returning to Doctor Who in second half of seventh season

  • News
  • March 1, 2013

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In BBC America’s press release discussing the second half of the seventh season of Doctor Who (premiering March 30th), a number of guest stars were listed, including Dougray Scott, Warwick Davis, Dame Diana Rigg and her daughter Rachel Stirling. But one name listed may be a big clue to the season’s Big Bad.

Richard E. Grant, who appeared in the Christmas episode, The Snowmen, will be returning in the season’s eight episode run.  Grant played Dr. Walter Simeon, head of the Great Intelligence Institute and mastermind behind a plan to take over the world with an army of animated ice creatures.  The Great Intelligence, the disembodied life force  who allied with Simeon (and voiced by Sir Ian McKellen), was a Who villain from the Troughton days, with appearances in many of the other media adventures, and a cameo in the 20th anniversary adventure The Five Doctors.

BBC America would not confirm the character Grant will play in his return, but the rumors that the Great Intelligence would make a further appearance in the series certainly gives one reason to suspect that we’ve not seen the last of Dr. Simeon.

dw_spoonheads-4817526The Teaser photo, released yesterday by the BBC, offers numerous teasers about the new series, including our first look at The Spoonheads, the monster from the premiere episode, The Bells of St John, the first to be broadcast in 3-D.. Also featured are the Ice Warriors, returning via a story by Mark Gatiss, and the redesigned Cybermen from Neil Gaiman’s second DW adventure.

The series will also feature Jenna-Louise Coleman, and hopefully provide more information how the same woman with the same name could appear in three different times; the far future of Asylum of the Daleks, the Victorian age in The Snowmen, and modern day Britain.

Doctor Who premieres March 30th on the BBC, and on BBC America, as part of their “Supernatural Saturday” lineup.

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