Tagged: Star Wars

New ‘Star Wars’ Series To Screen at Star Wars Celebration V?

lando-calrissian-2482344Fans in attendance at the fifth annual Star Wars Celebration got a sweet and soulful treat, when George Jefferson Lucas debuted the upcoming BET series, BlackStar Warriors. The series, which follows the misadventures of Lando Calrissian and his honky partner Han Solo (and some tall whiny dog-man) as they (mainly Lando) deal with ‘the Man”.

After the series trailer debuted to a packed audience, the fans erupted in acceptance. “Finally, a brother gets the spotlight!” acclaimed one fan, known to many as ‘Hooper X’. Others in attendance had chimed in as well. “It’s good to know, in this era of new equality, that the Black Man can finally get his geek on.” said the Reverend Al Sharpton, who showed up for the even shortly after hearing of its existence. He went on to say “…While I don’t know what this ‘Star Wars’ hoopla is about, I’m personally taking credit for the expansion of this once all white universe to better include the Black Man.” Later, the Reverend was screened the original trilogy, and has since taken back his comments.

While we know all of you around the country may not have been able to make it out to Celebration V, we here at ComicMix wanted to treat you to the trailer anyways. So, lean your chair back real low… pour yourself some Courvoisier and enjoy the (space)funk.

Editor’s note: No, this didn’t happen at Celebration today, it’s not a real show, and we’re amazed you thought so. Sheeeesh.

#SDCC: Scribe Awards/Media Tie-in Writers Panel

  • News
  • July 24, 2010

iamtw-9891659The International
Association of Media-Tie-in Writers presented the fourth annual “Scribe” awards,
honoring such notable franchises as CSI, Criminal Minds, The X-Files, Star
Trek, Stargate, Star Wars, and Dr. Who. Nominees on hand include Alina Adams
(As the World Turns), Max Allan Collins (G.I. Joe), Keith R. A. DeCandido
(Star Trek), Stacia Deutsch (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs), Jeff
Mariotte (CSI), Nathan Long (Warhammer), and Dayton Ward (Star Trek). The event was hosted by
moderator Collins and awards presenter Lee Goldberg (Monk).

Following are the nominated works. Winners are highlighted in bold.

BEST NOVEL (GENERAL FICTION) 

As The World Turns: The Man From Oakdale by “Henry Coleman” & Alina Adams
CSI: Brass In Pocket by Jeff Mariotte
Psych: A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Read by William Rabkin

BEST ORIGINAL NOVEL (SPECULATIVE FICTION) 

Star Trek Vanguard: Open Secrets by Dayton Ward
Star Trek: A Singular Destiny by Keith R.A. Decandido
Warhammer: Shamanslayer—A Gotrek and Felix Novel by Nathan Long
Terminator Salvation: Cold War by Greg Cox (Tie)
Enemies & Allies by Kevin J. Anderson (Tie)

BEST ADAPTATION (GENERAL & SPECULATIVE) 

Countdown by Greg Cox
GI Joe: Rise Of The Cobra by Max Allan Collins
The Tudors: Thy Will Be Done by Elizabeth Massie

BEST YOUNG ADULT (ORIGINAL & ADAPTED) 

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs by Stacia Deutsch And Rhody Cohon
Bandslam: The Novel by Aaron Rosenberg 
Thunderbirds: Deadly Danger by Joan Marie Verba 

GRANDMASTER: WILLIAM JOHNSTON

Congratulations to all the winners, including ComicMix’s own Aaron Rosenberg!

Review: ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia’

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia
DK Publishing, 208 pages, $16.99

clone-wars-encyclopedia1-3120930Ever since it was mentioned in the original [[[Star Wars]]], fans have always been curious about the events of the Clone Wars. It was a never a factor in the original film trilogy, just a nifty throwaway line to add depth to George Lucas’ mythology. Then we got to finally learn of the wars’ origins in [[[Attack of the Clones]]] (2002) and [[[Revenge of the Sith]]] (2005).

But people wanted to learn more and Lucasfilm happily obliged, first with Genndy Tartakovsky’s marvelous animated series, which ran from 2003–2005 and then the more recent 3D CGI series which has been running since 2008. Character designer Kilian Plunkett referred to the imaginative work of Tartakovsky when creating the look of this series and it visually is a good fit with the live-action films.

With a sprawling cast and campaigns occurring throughout the Galactic Empire, fans, casual and diehard alike, could benefit from a scorecard. DK comes to the rescue this month with [[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars Character Encyclopedia]]]. Measuring 9.25 x 6.25 inches, its at a smaller trim size than the more recent pop culture offerings.

There are 204 character profiles, a page apiece, covering the events of the first two seasons, all 44 episodes inclusive. Each page has a full-figure shot, vital statistics, some call outs to denote details and short paragraphs placing the character into context. Apparently, the content does not reflect events or characteristics from the first animated series.

Yes, the series airs on the Cartoon Network which has a younger audience, but since the book is described as being aimed for 8-17 years old, it also offers far too little in the way of detail. The uncredited writers should have given us some overview of the era, a brief timeline for events, and maybe a clue as to where each character made a first appearance.

Instead, we get surface details offering no greater understanding of the people and their place in the wars. Padme Amidala’s page, for example, tell us she is secretly married to Anakin and likes to look for the good in people. Nothing about her upbringing, her evolving relationship with Ani and other details to make her a more interesting and better understood character.

The CGI frame captures from episodes along with selected poses are a little too dark so details and expressions are needlessly obscured.

Much as we expected better from Lucas’ more recent efforts, so too have I come to expect more from DK. This book is pleasant to skim through but makes you want far more than is offered.

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Judd Winick Talks Adapting ‘Batman: Under the Red Hood’

  • News
  • June 11, 2010

Judd Winick has returned to Gotham City with a vengeance. The award-winning cartoonist has  transitioned one of his benchmark storylines from comic book pages to animated film with the upcoming release of Batman: Under the Red Hood, the latest entry in the popular series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies.

Born and raised on Long Island, New York, the University of Michigan graduate gained national fame as a cast member of MTV’s The Real World, San Francisco in 1994. In the wake of the death of his Real World roommate and friend, AIDS activist Pedro Zamora, Winick embarked on a national AIDS education lecture tour. Later, the lecture and his friendship with Zamora was documented in his award-winning graphic novel Pedro And Me.

Winick next created his original comic book series, Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius, and then began a long running stint as one of the top writers on mainstream super hero comics. Winick has scripted such titles as Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Trials Shazam, Green Arrow and Outsiders (for DC Comics), Exiles (for Marvel) and Star Wars (for Dark Horse). He also was the creator and executive producer of Cartoon Network’s animated series, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee.

joker-crowbar-3891312He is currently developing live action television and animation, writing the new bi-weekly comic title for DC Comics Justice League: Generation Lost, as well as the monthly Power Girl.

In 2005, Winick presented his Red Hood storyline in the Batman comics and it was met with tremendous sales alongside powerful waves of controversy. He has evolved that story into the script for the all-new DC Universe film, Batman: Under the Red Hood. In celebration of the film’s July 27 street date, DC Comics will distribute a six-issue mini-series, Red Hood: The Lost Days. Written by Winick and drawn by Pablo Raimondi, the mini-series offers greater insight into the back story of the title character.

Batman: Under the Red Hood will be distributed by Warner Home Video as a Special Edition version on Blu-Ray™ and 2-disc DVD, as well as being available on single disc DVD, On Demand and for Download. (more…)

Exclusive: Hallmark Ornaments to debut at SDCC 2010

Hallmark will return to Comic-Con this summer with a line up of exclusive DC Comics, Star Wars, and Simpsons products for the event to introduce enthusiastic collectors (that’s you,
fanboys…) to the world of “Keepsake Ornaments”. Just in case your calendar isn’t marked yet, Comic-Con
International falls on July 21-25 this year, at the San Diego Convention Center in California. Here’s the run-down:

75 Years of DC Comics features the publisher’s three most iconic heroes bursting into action from the very comic books in which they made their first cover appearances—Wonder Woman in Sensation Comics No. 1 (January 1942), Superman in Action Comics No. 1 (June 1938) and Batman in Detective Comics No. 27 (May 1939). Limited run of 750. (more…)

Review: ‘Lord of the Rings Original Animated Classic’

Ralph Bakshi has been a visionary filmmaker and animator, whose ambitions always seemed larger than his talent. After cutting his teeth at Terry Toons, he talked his way into running Paramount’s dying animation arm before moving on to work such as the ABC Saturday morning [[[Spider-Man]]] series. He finally gained recognition when he set out to make feature-length films, beginning with the X-rated [[[Fritz the Cat]]].

Bakshi’s tastes have always run towards edgy fare and he’s produced animated film son subjects Walt Disney or Don Bluth would never have approached, such as [[[American Pop]]] and [[[Hey Good Lookin]]]’ and for that he deserves credit. Unfortunately, in just about every case, the projects have been flawed, largely because not enough money was spent on the animation or the story so they never felt finished.

In the 1970s Bakshi was in the right place at the right time when he managed to get the rights to adapt J.R.R. Tolkien’s [[[Lord of the Rings]]], a project that had previously stymied filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick and John Boorman. He set about to create a new look for Middle-earth by using the rotoscope technique, to shoot large portions of the film as live-action and then provide the footage to his animators to essentially trace.

The results arrive Tuesday as Warner Home Video releases a combo pack edition containing Blu-ray, DVD and digital copy discs, the same day it also debuts the Peter Jackson trilogy on Blu-ray.

Tolkien fan Chris Conkling was first hired to do research then was given a shot at writing the first screenplay which oddly decided to tell most of the story in flashback from Merry’s point of view. Bakshi wisely shelved it and brought in fantasy master Peter S. Beagle to rewrite the script. Beagle, of [[[The Last Unicorn]]] fame, followed Bakshi’s instructions to preserve as much of Tolkien as was possible.

What’s interesting is how Beagle and Jackson made many of the same decisions regarding what to drop or change. While there was a huge cry about the absence of Tom Bombadil in the live-action film, he’s also gone in Bakshi’s film and no one screamed in those pre-Internet days. They also both chose to have the Ringwraiths themselves seen attacking the seemingly slumbering hobbits at Bree.

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Review: ‘Clash of the Titans’ on Blu-ray

clash-of-the-titans-3249994

Filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and George Lucas grew up fascinated by the amazing stop-motion magic from model maker Ray Harryhausen. His films were cutting edge forays into the realms of monsters, science fiction, and fantasy for decades. His Jason and the Argonauts remains one of the best Greek myths brought to film and his work only got better through his Sinbad films.

By 1981, though, Lucas rewrote the special effects rulebook with [[[Star Wars]]] followed soon after by Spielberg’s [[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]]. The effects were aided by computers, the model makers improved the technology and the scripts grew stronger and more sophisticated.

As a result, when Harryhausen unleashed Clash Of The Titans in the summer of 1981, it was not well received by an audience who considered his work a thing of the past. Despite its all-star cast, the movie featured a then unknown Harry Hamlin in the lead and the sum of the parts proved disappointing despite it finishing the year 11th at the box office. It would prove to be Harryhausen’s final feature film and a disappointment way to say farewell to his fans.

The movie has served as fodder for the 3-D remake coming this spring so Warner Home Video has dusted off the movie and is releasing it in Blu-ray on Tuesday.

Harryhausen eschewed the computer technologies available to him and did it the old fashioned way so while his creatures were interesting to look at, their stilted movements looked terrible and worse, dated. Similarly, at a time when Industrial Light & Magic showed what can be done on film, Harryhausen and director Desmond Davis chose to use substandard blue screen, double-exposure and poor matte paintings to achieve the effects. The entire film looked cheap and frankly, something that would have been more engaging a decade previous.

These are the Greek gods playing games with mortals. The politics of the gods is fascinating subject matter and in strong hands, can be compelling. Instead, screenwriter Beverly Cross served up a rehashed story that never delved into the character or their motivations. They were like Zeus’ clay pawns, moved on a chess board to advance the story.

Davis was clearly not a good director as he got wooden performances from a cast that included such heavyweights as Maggie Smith. Claire Bloom, Burgess Meredith, and Sir Laurence Olivier. Nor could he get anything subtle from Hamlin, who developed far better acting skills on television soon after. He also settled for horrible sets so Mount Olympus looked like a schoolhouse production, lacking grandeur and scale. Thankfully, the location shooting around Europe made Earth seem a far more interesting place.

And while Harryhausen swears the mechanical owl Bubo was conceived long before R2D2, it is hard to believe. Once that droid rolled across the screen, most genre productions had cute robotic companions much to the detriment of the stories. It’s no different here and a real let down from someone far more imaginative as was Harryhausen.

The Blu-ray edition is lackluster in that the original film seems to have been barely touched for the upgrade. Inconsistent film stocks look worse in h-def and the transfer is competent at best. The audio is fine although it shows us how dated even Laurence Rosenthal’s score was, shamed by John Williams and a new generation of composers.

The disc comes with two extras culled from the 2002 DVD release so if you have that edition, you can skip this one. The disc comes with an extended look at the new film and while the effects and creatures look impressive, and it has a nicely pedigreed cast, it also looks to lack the same depth of character that helped spoil this film.

The packaging is nice, though. Similar to the recent [[[North by Northwest]]], the disc is contained in a bookcase, with a 48-page booklet containing actor bios and a short article on Harryhausen’s amazing career. The package also contains a discount movie ticket for the remake.

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Review: ‘Robot Chicken Season 4’ on DVD

robot-chicken-s41-9662355I don’t know how I missed [[[Robot Chicken]]] when it debuted several years back. I heard the buzz, I saw the ads in the comics and still, I somehow never got around to watching. When the Cartoon Network sent over their second [[[Star Wars Special]]] for review, I finally indulged and was delighted.

Now, they sent over the two-disc set collecting the complete fourth season, which goes on sale Tuesday, and watched with great delight. The season, which ran from December 7, 2008 through December 6 (last week!), has 20 episodes and the set also includes [[[The Robot Chicken Full-Assed Christmas Special]]].

The show is a riotous tour through the pop culture zeitgeist, presuming the viewers know the players from Tila Tequila to the torturous relationship between Thor and Loki. Many of the episodes are loosely connected vignettes while others feel entirely like a collection of whatever was finished in time got included. When handling a single theme, such as Christmas or [[[[Star Wars]]], they manage to make that work as well, with a broad array of talents coming together to keep things loose and very, very funny.

To me, many of the funniest bits shows the before or after events from favorite scenes such as the natives building the temple deathtraps we saw Indiana Jones avoid in [[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]] or the day in the life of Jason Voorhees.

Seth Green and Matthew Senreich have certainly developed an eclectic following which has allowed them to bring onboard writers and performers to work with them. In fact, one of the best Video Blogs included in the Extras shows the range of actors who come in and let loose. I can’t decide who was having more fun, Billy Dee Williams or Katee Sackhoff. Among the writers to contribute, beyond the usual suspects from previous seasons is comic book darling Geoff Johns.

Back during [[[Star Trek]]]’s 20th Anniversary, there was talk of an Opera which was partially written before wiser heads canceled the project. But, thanks to one bit, we have a good idea of what it would have sounded like. The hysterical [[[Star Trek II: The Opera]]] is one of the highlights.

No, not every bit works and some episodes feel wildly uneven, but in
each episode I find myself laughing out loud at the absurd
juxtaposition of elements or seeing revered icons poke fun at
themselves.

No one and nothing is sacred to these creators so[[[ Babar]]], [[[Hannah Montana]]], [[[James Bond]]] and just about everyone else you’ve grown up with is fair game. The DVD presents the episodes without censorship so there’s additional graphic violence, nudity and many instances of foul language.

In addition to the 21 episodes, there are Chicken Nuggets (the creators offer commentary), appearances at 2008’s Comic-Con International and 2009’s New York Comic-Con plus when the team promoted the show across Australia. There are way-too-brief Day in the Life glimpses at the many talented technicians who take the wacky scripts and bring them to life. There are a handful of deleted scenes with introductory material to explain how anything manages to get cut plus deleted animatics, early tests showing how a script might look. If you like, the show, these Extras continue the entertainment and are commended to your attention.

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.

Review: ‘The Good Neighbors – Book Two: Kith’

]]]The Good Neighbors, Book Two: Kith]]]
By Holly Black and Ted Naifeh
Scholastic/Graphix, October 2009, $16.99

Trilogies can be tricky things to pull off successfully. Quite often, a single event is a surprise success and suddenly gets expanded into a trilogy. Why? Because it feels like an expanded version of the three-act structure that has a stranglehold on popular storytelling these days. Some trilogies should have remained a single event ([[[The Matrix]]]) while others have proven more successful (the original [[[Star Wars]]] trilogy).

Holly Black knows how to structure a trilogy. With artist Ted Naifeh, she returns to her original graphic novel series, [[[The Good Neighbors]]], and shows how to properly structure a three-part tale. In the course of 115 pages, we rejoin our characters but learn much more about their interrelationships and the world of magic that now threatens the modern world. The story continues, grows, and leaves you anxiously awaiting the final chapter.

Rue Silver learned in the first book that she was not really an ordinary teen but the product of a truly mixed marriage between her human father and her faerie mother. In book one, which we adored, we discovered that her mother was not really dead, but had returned to the faerie realm at the behest of Rue’s grandfather. Grandpa wants the town for himself and has been setting things in motion so after a key ceremony; the university town would be walled off from mortals and become a home to the faerie folk.

The stakes have grown in this book and a major sequence comes when Rue agrees to spend the night with her mother and grandfather in their realm. She learns of her heritage and discovers how similar and dissimilar the faerie are from humans. Her mother is far from warm, but wants Rue to stay with her, abandoning Thaddeus. Dad, meanwhile, learns his wife is not dead and breaks the news to the woman he had begun a romance with; a woman who has long loved Thaddeus and was Rue’s one true adult friend.

Rue’s circle of friends has come to accept the wild magic and existence of faeries, coming to Rue’s support. Throughout this chapter, though, new strains are placed on the bonds of friendship and some may not be emotionally strong enough to help when they’re needed the most.

Black’s writing is solid with the story being exceptionally well-paced. The characters have distinctive voices and personalities, which helps a lot. Naifeh’s art mixes fantasy and Goth in nice gray tones, helping differentiate the two worlds. On occasion some of the characters are hard to distinguish from one another but overall, his art goes a long way to enhance the story and keep readers turning the pages.

This all wraps up in the final volume, due next year, and one can hope it ends as strongly as it has started.

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