Tagged: Sci-Fi

Doctor Who 3 hits Sci-Fi this summer

  • News
  • April 24, 2007

The third season of the new Doctor Who series will hit the U.S. cable channels in July, starting with the 2006 Christmas Special, "The Runaway Bride".

The new series will run on the Sci-Fi Channel, home to the previous two seasons of shows. Ultimately, it will be syndicated and appear alongside its "adult" spin-off show Torchwood on BBC America.

The week following "The Runaway Bride" U.S. fans will meet the Doctor’s new companion Martha Jones in the season’s opening episode "Smith and Jones."

 

GLENN HAUMAN: Arguments should be good

  • News
  • April 15, 2007

CBRJoe Rice disgraces himself and Comic Book Resources with one of the worst cases of paralogia and argumentum ad hominem I’ve seen since the Peter David/Todd MacFarlane Great Debate. His argument can be reductiod to the following absurdum:

  1. I like Fantagraphics products.
  2. Harlan Ellison is suing Fantagraphics for reasons I don’t even pretend to address or understand.
  3. Therefore, Harlan Ellison is a "petty old sci-fi writer" and "a tired old hack" and he’s suing because "in truth, because his widdle feewings were hurt at how they descwibed him".

Yes, Joe, comics should be good– and so should your arguments. I didn’t think there could be a Rice who could make worse arguments than Condoleezza…

Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Again)

  • News
  • April 11, 2007

fg2-8270183The Sci-Fi Channel is going dipping into the golden age of comic strips and resurrecting Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon for a new television series.

Eric Johnson has been named as the latest actor to portray Flash in this radical reimagining of the series.  Johnson is best known to ComicMix fans as Smallville’s Whitney Fordman, quarterback and love interest for Lana Lang.

Dale Arden, Hans Zarkov and Ming the Merciless have yet to be cast with production of the 22 episodes set to begin in, where else, Vancouver on May 1.

The series will debut on the channel in August, date and time to be announced.  Rick Rosenthal, who worked with Johnson on Smallville, and has also handled Sci Fi’s The Dresden Files, will direct the first two episodes.  While the original strip featured the story of the planet Mongo threatening Earth and Flash journeying into space to save his planet, the television series will dramatically alter the premise.  Mongo will now be another dimension with Flash giving up his original polo in favor of other pursuits and being located in the pacific northwest.

The last time a live action Flash was on the small screen was in 1954 in an eight episode series starring Steve Holland, who later provided the visual look for James Bama’s Doc Savage paintings.

Flash Gordon has been previously portrayed by Larry “Buster” Crabbe in the three Universal movie serials from the 1930s and later, by Sam J. Jones, in the tongue-in-cheek Dino DeLaurentiss travesty from 1980.

MATT RAUB reveals: Bob Dylan is a Cylon!

  • News
  • April 5, 2007

desktop_seal_800-3751713

So it’s been about two weeks since the season 3 finale of Battlestar Galactica. “Crossroads Part 2” has aired, and I’m tired of sitting on what I have to say about it. If you’re one of the unfortunate one’s who have still yet to see the show, here’s the spoilers: Basically we learned: who the final four Cylons turn out to be, how everyone copes with the recently deceased Starbuck, the outcome of the Gaius Baltar trial, that President Rosaline’s cancer has returned and she’s back on the wacky drug that made her see snakes, and finally, that Bob Dylan is a Cylon!

Don’t worry; I know there is a lot here, so I’m going to break it down for those playing along at home.

Those of you who remember the set-up in “Crossroads Part 1” know that throughout the episode, Colonel Tigh, Sam, Chief Tyrol, and Press Secretary Tory Foster (played by Michael Hogan, Aaron Douglas, Michael Trucco, and Rheka Sharma, respectively) hear strange sitar music that draws them toward the center of the ship. We don’t know where it comes from, only that these four are the only ones that can hear this music. We find out in the finale that mysterious music is a cover of the Bob Dylan song “All Along the Watchtower” – and not Jimi Hendrix’s, either! Now, those of you who read my review for the film 300 know my feelings about switching from orchestral beats to heavy modern guitar, but that goes full force when it’s a sci-fi show that uses an actual song when the show takes place millions of years ago and/or galaxies away!

Either way, we discover that these people hearing the music are drawn together and discover that they are all Cylon sleeper agents. This is probably one of the biggest moments in the season, and I feel likeit  didn’t get the respect it deserved by clumping all of the Cylon-outings in one scene.

Moving on, we also get the verdict of the excruciatingly long trial of Giaus Baltar. The arc basically consisted of a whole lot of father/son Adama melodrama, cranky Rosaline explains how her cancer has returned (which should be a non-issue because we know that the bastard Cylon-baby is the cure) and some more mystifying lines from Batlar’s lawyer, Matt Murdock-lite Romo Lampkin (played by 24’s Mark Sheppard). After some deep prodding from the prosecution, a recently de-commissioned Apollo takes the stand and gives this entire speech on what he’s been feeling from day one. This was a great little monologue, because he talks about how the fleet has forgiven all of its past “crimes against humanity,” referencing a lot of the back story along the way. Essentially this is what persuades the tribunal of judges to give Baltar a verdict of not guilty.

(more…)

BBC America puts on weight

  • News
  • April 3, 2007

BBC America has announced a revamped schedule that will thrill many fans of different genres.  Beginning shortly, there will be themed blocks airing from 8 pm – 10 pm:

    * Murder Mondays – a night of scripted dramas including new seasons of Wire in the Blood starring Robson Green, and Murphy’s Law with James Nesbitt.

    * Tuesday Nitro – targeting male viewers with such shows as MI-5, which focuses on British intelligence battling international espionage and global terrorism, as well as the drama Ultimate Force about an elite army unit in dangerous situations.

    * Wicked Wednesday – aiming at female viewers with such dramas as Footballers Wive$ with Joan Collins joining for the new season; Hotel Babylon about the antics of an exclusive hotel; Goldplated, a comedy about a rich family who exists on credit cards; and Sinchronicity which follows three young party-goers who are looking for love.

    * Big Thursday – will feature new seasons of "larger-than-life" personalities such as Gordon Ramsay and his two shows: Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Gordon Ramsay’s F Word in addition to the celebrity gossip program The Graham Norton Show.

    * Crime Scene Friday – back-to-back crime shows including Whistleblower, The Innocence Project, Silent Witness and Waking the Dead.

    * Supernatural Saturday – enters the world of science fiction and the paranormal with such shows as Jekyll, Torchwood, Life on Mars, Hex and Doctor Who.

    * The Brit Movie – a different British movie each week on Sunday nights and prior to the movie presentation, the network will air Adventure Sundays starting at 7p with new seasons of Robin Hood and Wild at Heart set in the South African bush.

Fans hoping for Torchwood to follow Doctor Who at Sci-Fi Channel as well as those of us without BBC America (curse you, Cablevision!) will no doubt be disappointed.

MATT RAUB Reviews Doctor Who season 3 premiere

  • News
  • April 1, 2007

2007-01-12-9724203The Doctor is back, and not only does he get a new companion but a new Sonic Screwdriver to boot! I just set my peepers on a back-to-back marathon of last year’s “The Runaway Bride” and the brand-spanking-new season 3 premiere, “Smith and Jones”, and I figured I’d drop in to throw down my two cents on the episode. Be forewarned, there are some spoilerific parts to this review, so if you decide you want to wait until Sci-Fi finally airs the show in 2023, then I’d turn away now.

From the first episode in season 1, I was a huge fan of Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, I thought she was gorgeous, and had incredible range. Though there were a good 12 episodes or so where she cried through the majority of the program, I still couldn’t dislike her. With that said, I was pretty hesitant to like this new companion, the intelligent and attractive medical student Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman. We first get a taste of Agyeman in last season’s “Army of Ghosts” as she was one of first victim of the Cybermen. We now find out she was the cousin of Martha Jones, and that’s a clever touch.

Looking back, this episode can very easily be put in stark comparison to season 1’s opener, “Rose.” Much like in that episode, the majority of this episode is exposition on our new companion’s life, an unexpected conflict, and the random entrance of the Doctor to save the day. Also, there is a scene very reminiscent of “Rose” where the Doctor grabs Martha’s hand and tells her to run…sound familiar? Of course, the doctor is still pining over the loss of Rose, but as established in “Runaway Bride,” it was time to find someone new.

The concept: the hospital where Martha Jones works gets transported to the moon. The Doctor, posing as the meandering patient John Smith, discovers that the transportation as by an intergalactic rhino-police (that’s intergalactic police that look like rhinos, not intergalactic police that only police the rhino population). The transportation was to single out a fugitive that they believe is hiding out in the hospital. The Doctor and Martha jump on the case to find the criminal and get the inhabitants back to Earth before they all lose oxygen.

(more…)

MICHAEL DAVIS: The Davis List

  • News
  • March 30, 2007

michael-davis100-1542738There seems to be a whole lot of people who get to tell us what they think we should see, what they think we should buy what is the best, worst, the must haves and the stay away froms. Most of these experts put out a list so that we can revel in their genius. How many lists are we subjected to? Let’s see, off the top of my head…

David Letterman’s Top Ten List, the only list I pay any attention to

The Top Ten Movie List

The Hollywood Power List

The richest people in the world list

Blackwell’s worst dress list

The Sexiest Man List (I can’t believe that I have not made that one)

Joan Rivers best / worst dress list

The New York Times Best Seller list

AFI greatest movies of all time list

Rolling Stones greatest albums ever list

These are just the ones I can think of while waiting at LAX for a flight to Chicago. There are a multitude of lists out there. Everybody has a list, every magazine, every TV news show, every critic, every commentator, every Tom, Dick and Harry has a list. Well why can’t we have a list? You, me everybody? What makes Rex Reed’s list better than yours or mine?  With all due respect to Mr. Reed, I seem to remember he hated Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Need I remind everybody that that film is one of the greatest Sci-Fi films of all time. Well I think that it’s time we all have a list. Let’s start with mine.  My list will not be a Top Ten list. Nope. I’m twice as cool, so mine will be a top 20!

Comics:

1. The greatest comic book ever: Avengers #66 (My first comic!)

2. The greatest superhero ever: Batman

3. The second greatest superhero ever: Captain Marvel (Shazam!)

4. The greatest super team: 60’s Teen Titans

5. The greatest superhero fight ever: Hulk vs. Thing

6. The second greatest superhero fight ever: Hulk vs. Sub-Mariner

7. The greatest team up ever: Spider-Man and Superman (the first one)

8. The greatest graphic novel ever: Watchmen

9. The second greatest graphic novel ever: The Killing Joke

10. The third greatest graphic novel ever: The Death Of Captain Marvel

11. The fourth greatest graphic novel ever: Marvels

12. The saddest event in comic books: The death of Gwen Stacy

13. The saddest event in the comics industry: The death of Jack Kirby

14. The greatest writer in comics: Denny O’ Neal

15. The greatest artist in comics: Jack Kirby (DUH!)

16. The greatest publisher in comics: Milestone

17. The second greatest publisher in comics: DC (love them or hate them, they do great books)

18. The smartest man in comics: Mike Richardson

19. The guy with the best job in comics: Paul Levitz

20. The sexiest man in comics: Michael Davis (finally!)

Movies:

1. The greatest movie ever (Tie): My Best Friend’s Wedding / Team America (long story)

2. The greatest movie superhero ever: Batman

3. The second greatest movie superhero ever: Superman

4. The greatest movie team: The Magnificent 7

(more…)

USA Sci-Fi Summer

  • News
  • March 29, 2007

The USA Channel announced premiere dates this week for their returning sci-fi series to make summer television watching a little less boring.

The 4400 – fourth season debuts June 17 at 9pm

The Dead Zone – sixth season begins June 17 at 10pm

Monk – sixth season premieres July 13 at 9pm

Psych – returns July 13 at 10pm

MATT RAUB: The Last Mimzy

  • News
  • March 23, 2007

Greetings, movie geeks! Last we spoke, you were all on the receiving end of my 300 bash, and after a handful of death threats from the “Frank Miller is God Fan Club,” I’ve digressed. We’re moving on this week to a flick that I can relate to, in Robert Shaye’s The Last Mimzy.

Now for those of you who aren’t in the know on this latest adolescent epic, the premise is that a brother and sister come across a mysterious box on the beach. It’s explained to us that the box is from the future and is filled with all kinds of equally mysterious sci-fi gadgets, or as the kids so affectionately called them “toys.” Once they start to play with these toys, both the boy and girl begin to gain special powers. Now fans of the USA show The 4400 may be saying “hey, this sounds a little familiar.” And I agree with you. The concept of the future sending technology back in time to save the human existence does sound a bit familiar, but this is done entirely through the perspective of the two kids.

By doing the entire film through the point of view of our two tiny heroes, this flick brought me back to what it was like to be a geeky kid with superpowers given to me from the future… or something. The perspective stayed so far on course that we (the audience) begin to hate the parents of the main characters when they become frightened and angry with these new found “toys” and what they are doing to their children. This can best be described by remembering the point of view from a little movie from the 80s called E.T. Much like that film, we all felt like we were keeping the secret from kids’ parents as much as they were, and that was exciting.

(more…)

Delicious extermination!

  • News
  • March 5, 2007

chocodalek-8429416I know ComicMixers Martha and Glenn might disagree, but in my opinion knitted Daleks have nothing on chocolate ones!  Via BoingBoing, here’s how to make a chocolate Dalek.  Decadent and tasty!  I will be assimilated, gladly!

Meanwhile, Series 3 of the new Doctor Who programme is said to begin on the Beeb on March 31, start airing on Canada’s CBC in June, and debut in the US… Who knows when?  No announcements yet from Sci Fi, although they’ve posted a nice interview with star David Tennant.

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks