Some of the latest releases from the BBC in their classic Doctor Who episodes are well timed, as they feature characters which made a reappearance this season. The Ice Warriors is a Troughton episode which feature the classic monster that made its return in Mark Gatiss‘ Cold War.
The Ice Warriors is one of the early adventures with missing episodes, specifically episodes two and three. In addition to the usual stellar job of restoring the existing episodes, the missing parts are here recreated with animated footage, tied to existing soundtracks. The restoration team provides alternative style commentary tracks for the animated episodes, presenting archival interviews with Bernard Bresslaw and writer Brian Hayles, and readings of transcribed interviews with other cast and crewmembers.
Extras include new two new mini-documentaries on both the making of the original adventure, and the new animated adventures. Commentary tracks are featured on the full episodes with with the cast and crew. For the completist, they’ve even included the original intro footage from the previous VHS release by Deborah Watfield and Frazer Hines, and the original restoration of the adventure, using photographs and a narration to explain the action, interspersed into the dialogue. A special set of Who-themed episode of children’s craft show Blue Peter are included, featuring presenter Peter Purves, who appeared on Doctor Who as astronaut companion Steven Taylor. Frazer Hines continues his personal reminiscences of the series which began on the release of The Krotons.
It’s a classic episode from the early run of the series, a first look at a popular villain.
I’m not a Communist. I’m not a Marxist, unless you count Groucho. And I’m certainly not a Maoist. However, I’ve always enjoyed quoting this passage from Mao’s Little Red Book: “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend.”
I’ve always heard that as a call for diversity, not only of opinion but of style, of subject matter, of voice and rhythm and flavor. It’s what I want not only in the market of public opinion, but even more in my popular culture.
Especially in comics.
For many years American comics came in only a few flavors. You had your superhero comics, and your underground comics. If you wanted something that wasn’t “Biff, Bam, Pow” or political satire, you had to look to Europe or Japan, and hope one of your friends could translate for you.
Luckily, that hasn’t been true for years. Yes, Marvel and DC continue to dominate the direct market, but there are many more outlets that sell graphic novels, including bookstores and the Internet. More publishers putting out more kinds of books meant there were more potential readers. The marketplace grew, and, as a result, not only are there massive, crowded events like last weekend’s New York Comic-Con, but best seller lists of graphic novels in the newspaper of record.
In the past couple of years, the market has opened even wider because of crowd-funding. People who are passionate about an idea for a book can raise the money themselves to put it together, and then either try to find a publisher or do it themselves. It’s the same spirit, but light years advanced technologically, from the zines I loved searching for in the 1970s and 1980s.
My pal, Bo Hampton, one of the finest artists working in comics, has a western super-natural horror story up on Kickstarter. It looks amazing, and it’s exactly the kind of book that neither DC nor Marvel would publish today. And even with so many mainstream publishers in the graphic novel business, there aren’t a lot of places that will do 80 pages of full color.
Dwayne McDuffie once said that the Internet is like a junior high school cafeteria but on a global scale. Even though there are billions of us here, we still find our own little cliques and nerd groupings.
And garden plots, where we plant a million flowers.
This week the Tweeks give us their take on the show they’ve been looking forward to this fall, as they fall down the rabbit hole and discuss Once Upon A Time In Wonderland, ABC’s new spin-off of the hit show (and Tweeks fave) Once Upon A Time.
Update: the little tech problem we had has been dealt with, and those who have screwed up have had their heads lopped off by the Red Queen. She’s tough that way.
Well, celebrities have certainly been in the news lately, haven’t they?
You might be expecting a reference to Miley Cyrus here, the pathetic child who cries for attention by participating in grotesque displays of herself. You might even expect a grumpy septuagenarian to wonder if the guardians of a child raised in the humid heart of show-biz, as poor Ms. Cyrus was, could not be accused of a form of child abuse. Don’t look at me. This is one of the many things that I’m not sure about.
I can’t be sure about the dealings of Bill O’Reilly and Michele Bachmann with the Almighty, either. Both these celebrities claim to have received direct communication from on high – on very high. Mr. O’Reilly, an opinion-offering stalwart who gets paid by Fox News, apparently believes that the Holy Spirit inspired him to write his latest book, Killing Jesus. (Earlier books include Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy. If you find something that works…)
As for Ms. Bachmann, the Republican congressperson from Minnesota, she thinks that same Holy Spirit wants her to ditch politics for a career in the private sector, wherein serious money can be made. But if Ms. Bachman is right about another matter, she’d better get started on that next career because the clock is ticking. Representative B has recently revealed that we’re living in the End Times – the big rock candy mountain is gnoing to crumble any nanosecond now and you and I can watch Michele and her posse ascend to eternal glory while we…gee, I don’t know. What are we sinners going to do? Miss our bus? Catch a really bad cold? Anyway, something.
Jesus got disrespected from another source last week. The Vatican misspelled his name on an issuance of a special medal commemorating Pope Francis’ taking over the big job. Ooops! Doesn’t say much for Catholic Education, but maybe we should blame, not the good sisters and brothers, but the devil, who still exists, but has gotten wilier, which explains why we don’t run into him much. This is the opinion of Supreme Court Justice Scalia, an eminent jurist who says that he gets most of his news from Bill Bennett, a conservative talk show host.
Note, please, that I’m not questioning the beliefs, just those who reap power and/or profit from them, or who may employ them inappropriately.
And all this snarkiness has what, exactly, to do with pop culture, our presumed subject?
Last week, in a Facebook posting, Larry Hama asked why we still call them comics conventions when they aren’t. Larry’s right, of course. These monster affairs aren’t about comics and haven’t been for a while now. They’re about selling stuff and the creatures mentioned way back in our first paragraph, celebrities. The celebs are rewarded for showing up while some of the comics folk must pay to get in and even those who get comped often get stuck with parking fees which, in someplace like Manhattan, aren’t exactly small items. In the end, most cons are mostly about money instead of promoting a quirky hobby.
The above is not a complaint, just an observation. Things are what they are. I might lament just a bit, but complain? No.
We should have seen this coming. Last fall, Warner Animation unleashed Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, adapting the first two issues of Frank Miller’s seminal prestige format miniseries. In January, we finally got Part 2, completing the story of 50 year old Bruce Wayne being forced to don the cape and cowl once more, to bring justice back to a crumbling Gotham City. Out now is Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Deluxe Edition, seamlessly editing the two sections into a 148-minute feature.
As previously reviewed, the adaptation is largely successful, recreating the bleak look and feel of a fascist world, protected by a Man of Steel working for a government Wayne no longer recognizes. The story is clearly Miller’s musing on the role of heroes in the time of Ronald Reagan but it is also a thrilling adventure, looking at a bitter, somewhat broken hero who has turned his back on the people he swore to protect. Events and destiny, though, have something to say about that choice.
So, the question becomes, is it worth buying the combined parts in a single disc? As a film, no, not really. Being a successful adaptation, it lays the ground work in the first half so things explode and rush along in the second., Splicing them together, it plays nicely and ramps things up and without waiting six months, delivers on the promised climax. It’s a satisfying adaptation from writer Bob Goodman and director Jay Oliva.
What you also get that’s new is a fun, interesting Audio Commentary track from Oliva, Goodman and voice director Andrea Romano and a second Blu-ray disc containing all the previous features plus a brand new lengthy documentary on Miller. Masterpiece: Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns (69 minutes), narrated by Malcolm McDowell, not only talks to Miller at length but includes colleagues including Jenette Kahn, Editor Denny O’Neil, collaborator Klaus Janson, admirers Grant Morrison, Michael Uslan, and Mike Carlin. We meet the Virginia fan boy who successfully found work as an artist at Marvel, getting noticed for his work on Daredevil, leading to coming over to DC for Ronin then Dark Knight, helping shape the next generation of storytelling. Unfortunately, we don’t see the remainder of his sporadic career in comics and Hollywood.
The documentary makes this worth owning while the combined feature is a more satisfying viewing experience.
Vikings Season 1 delivers a visceral journey to a thrilling ancient world in this epic new series about history’s bravest and most brutally fearsome warriors.
Vikings follows the adventures of the great hero Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel), a Viking chieftain seeking to fulfill his destiny as a conqueror, alongside his ambitious brother Rollo (Clive Standen) and loyal wife Lagertha (Katheryn Winnick). Throughout his quest, Ragnar faces a path of betrayals and temptations to protect his freedom, family, and life. When Ragnar teams up with his boat builder friend Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard) to craft a new generation of intrepid ships capable of conquering the rough northern seas, the stage is set for conflict.
Exclusively featured on the Blu-ray™ and DVD, “Birth of the Vikings” looks at the creator’s approach to, the series challenge in re-creating the period, and the wonders of shooting the series in Ireland’s beautiful, Wicklow mountains. “Birth of the Vikings,” is an all-access look at the creation of VIKINGS.
For a chance to win your copy of the Blu-ray just answer this question: Which Viking discovered North America before Columbus?
Have your answer posted by 11:59 p.m. Saturday, October 19. The decision of the ComicMix judges will be final and this contest is open only to readers in the United States and Canada.
I’ve been going to big-time national comic book conventions for 45 years. This amazes me because I can’t imagine doing anything for 45 years. I’ve got a very short attention span.
The first major shows were run here in New York by Phil Seuling, and they were wonderful. Just about everybody in the industry was there, surrounded by more fans than anybody thought existed. In 1968, attendance was around 300 people – 300 fanboys, virtually all fan boys, virtually all asking themselves the same question: “You mean, there are 299 others who are just like me?”
The following year, Seuling’s comic con grew to over a thousand, and many think twice that. Attendance continued to grow like Hank Pym on crack. Conventions proliferated to the point where, perhaps a decade ago, they started attracting extremely serious “support” from the sundry media industries and running a comic con became big-time business.
So this past weekend, 45 years and three months after Phil’s first, we had the New York Comic Con. Numbers are all over the place, but the show sold out some time ago. Evidently, some 135,000 people showed up – if true (and we’re not counting guests, pros, speakers, and press), then the New York Comic Con attracted a larger audience than the San Diego Comic Con, but, to be fair, both are severely limited by a lack of floor space and a lack of navigable aisles.
That’s not all NYCC has in common with SDCC. If you want to buy a Chevy, you could do it on the convention floor. If you want to insure your new car with Geico, you could do that as well. If you want to find out if you’ll get a parking space anywhere near the convention center the next day, there was a psychic there who might advise you accordingly.
Whereas NYCC had an enormous amount of media attractions and booths and panels, SDCC still has more because, essentially, Hollywood moves down to the border during Con week. Nonetheless, it is clear that NYCC shares at least two things with SDCC.
The first is that the aisles are clogged worse than Chris Christie’s arteries. If you’re trying to go from aisle 100 – where the ComicMix booth lived – to Artist’s Alley, it was a 20-minute walk, with the wind. If the Javits had decent taxi service, I would have considered using it. 135,000 people in the building built to comfortably house half that many at best means “you can’t get there from here.” There are lots of friends I wanted to see but couldn’t get to without borrowing vines from Tarzan.
The second is that neither show has all that much to do with comic books. NYCC still beats SDCC on that front, but only by a very narrow margin. It’s an autograph show, it’s a media frenzy, it’s a celebrity clusterfuck.
I believe I went to six major shows this year. Of those, I personally enjoyed only three, and those are the three I always enjoy. The MoCCA small-press show in Manhattan is always inspiring – it’s a two-day affair full of youth, creativity and energy, and it only requires one day of my life. The Heroes Con show in Charlotte North Carolina is truly about comic books. It’s large but it’s very well managed, and Reed Pop!, the people who put on both the NYCC and Chicago’s C2E2 (and who seem to know very little about comics and clearly care even less) should go out there and take notes.
My favorite show remains the September Baltimore Comic Con. It’s been growing steadily and attracting enough pros and decision-makers to sink the Titanic. It’s all about comics – strictly comics, to repeat myself for the sake of emphasis. The Harvey Awards dinner always is one of the highlights of my year, and it would be even if they didn’t hand out the best swag-bag that one can barely lift, let alone carry.
This year the Reed folks added something to their NYCC. They had chips on all the badges. You had to stand in line until a staffer scanned your badge with an iPad in order to verify your legitimacy. That’s annoying, but it’s even more annoying to leave the place. You had to stand in line for another chip scan in order to get out of the building. If you left at the end of the show day, it could take you a half hour to get from your last roosting place on the floor to the scanning line and then to the door.
I don’t know what would happen if your badge came up invalid when you were leaving. What would they do? Throw you out?
With nine sets of core games, six generations of characters, and eighteen years of history, one would think that Pokemon might be approaching the end of the tall grass. But with Pokemon X & Y selling over four million copies worldwide on its premiere weekend, the series show no weakness at all. The new game, the first to run exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS (and the new low-budget option for new gamers, the 2DS) adds a lot of new characters, new battle formats and a beautiful 3-D design to make it easily the most beautiful game in the series, as well as the busiest.
The basic gameplay remains unchanged – select one of three Pokemon to start your journey around the world, this time the lovely Kalos Region, a land based on the architecture and design of France. Use that Pokemon to catch other wild Pokemon, raise and train them to more powerful levels, allowing you to catch even more powerful creatures, lather, rinse, repeat. But as with each game, there’s a whole new set of interesting critters to catch and collect, and almost unlimited strategy potential as you choose the most powerful moves for your characters, as well as choosing the most versatile fighting types to meet the challenge of both wild monsters, but other trainers, both in the game and in the real world. The game is fully rendered in 3-D, taking advantage of the power of the 3Ds to deliver a new view of the characters, no longer the sinple top-down look of past games. Battles feature sweeping camera angles as the characters battle, much in the style of the Pokemon Coliseum games for the various console systems. There’s endless little details in the animation – your character drops to one knee when chatting to children, you see them actually pick up found items, and errant breezes make the trees sway and the grass rustle. For the first time, the circle pad lest you move in diagonals, not the simple four directions of the games with only a D-pad. Indeed, it’s so easy to move around, it takes some getting used to – you need to take an extra moment to make sure you’re actually lined up with items and characters you want to interact with.
Over and above the basic battle of the game, X & Y give you new ways to train and interact with your Pokemon. Minigames allow you increase your friendship with your little friends and raise their battle stats. Pokemon-Amie is a feature to the Nintendogs games, where you can pet your Pokemon, feed him treats and more, via the 3Ds touchpad. The system’s camera is used for basic facial recognition, allowing you to play “monkey-see monkey-do” with them. Super Training is a series of minigames designed to increase their battle stats like strength and speed.
About the only hardware feature of the 3DS that isn’t used to its fullest potential is Street and Spot Pass. The game will receive messages of game updates and promotions from Nintendo in the game via Spotpass through an in-game device called the Holo-Caster, but interaction with other players only happens while the game is in play. The Player Search Service allows you to interact with friends that you’ve met using friend codes, and if you connect to the Internet, any random players from around the world that are playing at the a moment. Trading is much faster now, and more flexible. An upcoming app release, Pokemon Bank, will allow you to store up to 3,000 characters on the Cloud, for a small monthly fee.
Each new Pokemon adventure brings new players and cartoon viewers to the series, and for long time players like me (seriously – the only thing I’ve done uninterrupted in my life that play Pokemon is be married), sparks the excitement of the series anew. X and Y are easily the best new addition to the franchise in years, and if you were looking for an excuse to pick up or upgrade to a 3DS, you’ve got your reason.
FX’s American Horror Story has helped change the way we consume terror tales on television. First of all, each season is self-contained and although some performers can be seen as different characters in each of the three seasons, they are entirely different stories. The limited nature of the premise allows the producers to nab major performers and it has worked with great success, judging by the Golden Globe and Emmy nominations it has been receiving. By having a strong story and an ensemble of repertory players, anchored by the amazing Jessica Lange, the series keeps you from ever getting bored.
With season three now airing, 20th Century Home Entertainment is releasing Asylum, the Complete Second Season. They share the umbrella title but have little to do with one another as Asylum focuses on the inhabitants of an institution for the criminally insane in 1964. Cocreators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, this is closer in spirit to their Nip/Tuck for FX than their Glee for Fox. I appreciate their ability to not repeat themselves and keep things interesting and fresh.
Asylum was written around Lange and then others from the first season came back in roles written around her Sister Jude. Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Lily Rabe, Frances Conroy, Zachary Quinto, and Dylan McDermott are all back for the ride. If the first season watched a family unravel in the traditional haunted house, setting the second tale in an asylum just begs for dysfunction and terror. The Briarcliff Mental Institution in Massachusetts is set in an era when caring for the mental ill was some limbo realm where treatment was sporadic, attempts at rehabilitation was nonexistent and patient care was little better than inmates at a penitentiary.
The season explores 1964, the year after JFK was assassinated and the birth of modern day pop culture (cue The Beatles on Ed Sullivan) and the present day. As a result, it’s interesting to see how the characters react to things such as homosexuality and changing mores. The institution was packed and functioning back in the day and now stands empty, haunted by those who dwelled and worked in its halls. Lange is tortured and hides behind her habit, avoiding coming anywhere close to the stereotype created by Nurse Ratchet. Instead, she is avoiding her past, much as Arthur Arden (James Cromwell) does leaving people to wonder if he was a Nazi torturer. Similar to Parminder Nagra’s psychiatrist set in the past portions of the failed Alcatraz, Quinto’s Dr. Oliver Thredson arrives with “progressive” approaches to treatment which he wants to apply to a serial killer.
But it’s not all psychological horror as Frances Conroy returns, this time as the literal Angel of Death. Let’s not forget the extraterrestrials, too. Of the thirteen episodes, contained on three Blu-ray discs, there are several self-contained bits while other threads spread across the entire season with Lana (Sarah Paulson) as the through-line involving her relationship with Sister Jude.
The filming is shadowy, moody, atmospheric in fresh ways, refusing to repeat the first season’s visual flair. Thankfully, the transfer to high definition is handled well so the overall visuals are strong, accompanied with good audio.
For a show packed with as much detail as there is, the paltry selection of extras is disappointing. You have deleted scenes on two of the three discs and then four short pieces. The Orderly (9:00) wastes space with an orderly being interviewed by an unseen woman, ending with a shock. What Is American Horror Story: Asylum? (21:55) is a collection of interviews from cast and crew, likely pulled from press materials. More interesting is Welcome to Briarcliff Manor (15:04), letting us look at the impressive production design. Finally, there is a look at the make-up and prosthetic work done on The Creatures (14:49).
I had every intention of attending the New York Comic Con. My plans were made months ago. I was looking forward to seeing friends and family; I am a New Yorker after all.
I’ve avoided the New York con over the last few years for a number of reasons, chief among them is they seem to have forgotten all the help I gave them some years ago when they were not as big as they are now.
I hate that shit.
I hate when people want something from you they treat you a certain way but when they don’t (think) they need you any more they treat you like they don’t know you.
Another reason I have avoided the NYC Con is the Javits Center where the event is held. The Javits staff has no respect for comics, geeks or those they consider crazy ass people in costume.
The last time I was there a few years ago (admittedly this may have changed) if you left the convention center and wanted to return you had to go to the back of the line of people who had yet to get in.
So if you waited 45 minutes to get in you would have had to wait on the very same line as if you had not already gained admission, paid your money, got your pass and considered yourself safe from the New York City cold ass weather.
No, you geeky nerd, get to the back of the line. The fans are not the priority at the NYC Con-not by a long shot at least they were not the last time I was there.
Like I said, that may have all changed and if it did-I could give a shit.
If the people at the NYC Con think I give a fuck about representing them in the best light they have another thing coming. The moment someone from the con picks up the phone and apologizes for treating me like shit after I hooked them up then I will more than happy to consider what my loud ass voice says about them.
Anywho, like I was saying I had every intention of going to the NYC Con. In fact I was to be part of a big announcement there. That announcement and seeing my friends and family were more than enough reason for me to brave the Javits Center and if not to forgive at least forget (for the moment) how the NYC Con has treated me.
As luck would have it the announcement was postponed and because it was raining it started to pour and I had to deal with a family issue. So the agonizing decision was made to skip the NYC show.
That unbearable choice was made in about 30 seconds. OK, it was made in about one second, if you don’t count the 29 seconds it took me wipe the silly grin off my face.
Yes, truth be told I still could have made it on Saturday. But since the con is over on Sunday that would have been not a lot of time so what’s the point?
But…
If the same scenario but instead of the NYC Con the venue was Dragon Con or the San Diego Comic Con International (you know, the real Comic Con) I most likely would have been in Atlanta or San Diego on that Saturday in a heartbeat.
Or maybe not.
I’ll tell you this. It would really have bothered me not to make either of those conventions even if it was only for one day. That’s what the NYC Con has yet to learn. How to get people to want to go not because it’s a comic book convention but because it’s the NYC Comic Book Convention.
Once they learn that, I’m in. Hell, if someone I know can tell me they have learned that or that they are treating fans better I’m in. It’s all about respect and it seems like they don’t have any.
Soooo until then I’ll just keep pointing stuff out like how fans and professionals alike were pissed when they found out the NYC Con hijacked Twitter accounts to post excited tweets about the convention – it included links to its official Facebook page.
With nine sets of core games, six generations of characters, and eighteen years of history, one would think that Pokemon might be approaching the end of the tall grass. But with 
