RIP George A. Romero

I was a horror fan pretty much from birth.

Some of my earliest memories (we're talking kindergarten, here) involve getting up extra early on Saturday mornings to watch the tail-end of the late-late-late horror movie that went off just before cartoons started, along with trying to catch Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Night Gallery every chance I could. So NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD had been on my radar all my life as something I needed to see.

In middle school/junior high we had a teacher that collected movies. I know, now days, 'collected movies' doesn't sound like a big deal. Heck, I have a couple thousand myself. But he collected actual, real, honest-to-god film prints. And he regularly brought them in to school and ran them before first bell and during his home room. Just enough time to usually watch a whole movie a week. I had him for two years, so I got to see a bunch of stuff in his class.

Since it was a school setting, most of what we watched were pretty tame fare. A lot of serials from the 30s and 40s - Nyoka, The Tiger Woman, Captain Marvel - that sort of thing. But sometimes, mainly around Halloween, he expanded the selection some. We watched the Roger Corman FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, and the killer-worm flick SQUIRM (he had to hold his hand in front of the project lens during the shower scene - we were, after all, kids).

He had a poster frame by his desk and would swap out movie posters every week or so and one week he put up the poster for NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. It took some cajoling, but finally he relented and so my first viewing of this groundbreaking, classic horror film was sitting in a darkened classroom in one of those uncomfortable school desks along with my classmates with the teacher trying to keep us quiet as kids screamed during the scariest bits.

I never had the chance to tell Romero this story, but I like to think he'd be amused at traumatizing a classroom full of kids. I mean, who wouldn't?

The Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention

Okay.

First, I'm not even going to try and act like I'll be getting back to regular posting any time soon. Every time I do that it seems to pretty much guarantee I'll disappear and now we're coming up on our busiest time of the year at work, so let's just forget that noise and I'll do what I can when I can.

Right now, I want to give a quick recap of my weekend at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.

Back in the saddle...I hope.

 

So...been awhile. Again.

While the work weirdness has wound down (at least as far as hours go - how much longer I actually have a job...different story) the computer decided it was as good a time as any to start giving me fits. 

After dealing with it for a couple of weeks - running every virus/malware scan I could and even re-installing Windows - I think I finally hit upon the root cause of my problems when my hard drive up and died.

I've had computers for a long time. I've never EVER had a hard drive fail, which I guess is why it never occurred to me that it was dying, especially since it's still a fairly young machine. I was even trying to figure out if my new graphics card was causing the problems.

Anyway...new drive, yet another Win8 installation, and I'm slowly getting my old stuff reloaded so things seem to be working fine now. And my Skyrim has never looked better. 

I'll try to get back to semi-regular postings but I wanted to get something out there sooner rather than later so I figured I'd plug a couple of things.

First, there's the trade paperback collection of the rather fun THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN series from Dynamite. Most of my postings last year were of this series as the individual issues came out and I dug every one of them, so it's nice to have everything all in one handy package. Plus, I figure every copy bought is another vote for James Kuhoric getting to continue the title. 

Also up is the ATHENA VOLTAIRE COMPENDIUM, a hardback collection of the excellent web-comic-turned-paper-comic adventures of a high-flying, monster-hunting, Nazi-fighting aviatrix in the 1930s. I'm a big fan of pulp adventures and I'm a big fan of this series. Can't wait to see what Steve Bryant has in store next for Athena.

Both are available at Amazon and other fine retailers.

Rocket Ranger Reloaded

http://rocketrangerreloaded.com/

Work has been its usual insane self these last few weeks, which explains why I pretty much go missing this time of year, every year.

BUT...I had to poke my head out for this.

Way back in the day when I was just a baby ArcLight, I had a Commodore Amiga computer. Fantastic little machine, complete with a Buckaroo Banzai reference in the manual.

Without a doubt, the coolest games I had for it all came from Cinemaware; the World War I flight game WINGS, the 50s-movie style giant ant game IT CAME FROM THE DESERT, and the pulp serial inspired ROCKET RANGER.

Cinemaware is back. They've released Amiga-emulated versions of WINGS and ROCKET RANGER already. They have a great, updated version of WINGS out, and now they're working on supercharging ROCKET RANGER. 

That's where this post (and the above graphic) come in. The Kickstarter campaign is almost over and they still need some help. Hit the link, download the demo, and toss some spare coin their way so they can continue bringing back the old school games in new school style (and releasing emulated versions of the originals for nostalgic types like me).

I know only about four people actually read this (Hi, Mom!) but I figured I'd do what I could to help them out since I love their stuff so much.

Kickstarter link:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/850516062/rocket-ranger-reloaded

THE BIONIC WOMAN: SEASON FOUR #2

THE BIONIC WOMAN: SEASON FOUR #2

Writer: Brandon Jerwa

Artist: David T. Cabrera

Colors: Sandra Molina

Letters: Joshua Cozine

Publication Date: October 2014

Published by Dynamite Entertainment

Well, the real life stuff has been kicking up lately (tis the season and all that claptrap) so I'm behind on blathering on about stuff, but here we go with issue two of Dynamite's Bionic Woman revival.

As you may recall, the first issue had some stuff I wasn't all that thrilled with. Let's see what happens next....

EXISTS

EXISTS (2014)

Directed by Eduardo Sanchez

Written by Jamie Nash

Starring Chris Osborn, Roger Edwards, and Brian Steele

Rated R

So, another week, another bigfoot movie.

Yeah, it's another 'found-footage' movie, and I've already mentioned how tired I am of those, but as long as they keep making them about bigfoot and aliens and the like I guess I'll keep watching.

Luckily, third time seems to be the charm with this run of sasquatch-themed movies.

There are issues, of course. One problem it can't help is that I've seen THE CABIN IN THE WOODS (multiple times) so a group of five twenty-somethings going off to, yes, a cabin in the woods, is always going to remind me of that film and make me wonder who bet on 'sasquatch/wendigo/yeti.'

The other big problem is how much of a cookie-cutter plot most of these movies tend to have. 

This one, however, manages to play with the formula a tiny bit and that really elevates it in my opinion. It's also possible that I wouldn't have liked it so much if I hadn't just sat thru BIGFOOT WARS and WILLOW CREEK recently but I have and by comparison, EXISTS is a big(foot) step up.

Director Eduardo Sanchez - of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT - gives us a group that includes Brian, played by Chris Osborn, who tags along with the specific intent of shooting video of the trip to post on YouTube. As such, he's prepared with multiple cameras, including a handful of GoPros, to capture the guys doing things like making stunt jumps with their mountain bikes into the local lake and stuff like that. This gives the audience a variety of viewpoints on the events and cuts down a little on the 'why is he still filming/how is he managing to keep things in frame?' issues. 

Another thing that gave this monster-fan a thrill - you get to see the creature! In broad daylight, even! Considering that ninety-nine percent of these movies cut to black just before we ever get a look at whatever is going on, this is a huge and welcome change. The bigfoot outfit was designed by Spectral Motion of the HELLBOY movies and other top films. It was worn by Brian Steele, doing quite the 180 from his turn as Harry in the HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS TV series.

If you're interested in either bigfoot or found-footage films, I'd say give this one a rental.

WILLOW CREEK

WILLOW CREEK (2013)

Written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait

Starring Bryce Johnson and Alexie Gilmore

Not rated

Netflix got around to sending me Bobcat Goldthwait's WILLOW CREEK.

On the plus side, it was made loads better than BIGFOOT WARS.

On the minus side...it follows the 'found footage' formula to the letter. Lots of setup. Some tension. Some panic. End credits.

And remember how the preview and poster for QUARANTINE (the 2008 US-made remake of REC) ended up showing the final scene of the film?

Don't watch the preview for WILLOW CREEK. Or if you do, cut it off when the title comes up on screen. 

Or watch the whole thing and see a nice, condensed version of the film in two minutes and save yourself the other seventy-five minutes.

Man, that makes it sound like the whole thing sucks. It's really not that bad, it's just nothing particularly special and I had some hopes for this one.

It comes down to weighing how you feel about bigfoot movies versus how you feel about found footage films. I'm about sick to death of found footage films but I keep watching them. They keep coming up with ideas I'm interested in, but without fail they pretty much end right when they get interesting and leave me annoyed more than anything else.

  

BIGFOOT WARS

BIGFOOT WARS

Directed by Brian T. Jaynes

Written by Andrea Doss, Frederic Doss, and Jacob Mauldin

Based on the books by Eric S. Brown

Starring Holt Boggs and C. Thomas Howell

Not rated

So I had nothing else going on the other night and decided to rent BIGFOOT WARS (after seeing that Netflix could send me WILLOW CREEK on disc).

Bad decision.

Aside from kinda-okay-looking-in-a-70s-movie-style sasquatches and C. Thomas Howell chewing scenery as a pot smoking hillbilly survivalist  there's pretty much nothing to recommend this film. (Judd Nelson got roped into it too, somehow.) Okay, there's some decent gore, too, I guess.

If you must see this one, at least try to catch it for free so you only lose five hours of your time. (No, the movie isn't five hours long. IMDb claims it's only 75 minutes. It just seems *much* longer.)

Looking around, I've seen where C. Thomas Howell and one or two others involved in the movie took to Twitter to basically apologize for how it turned out. And Howell has been in Asylum movies, so....

The movie is supposed to be based on a series of novels by Eric S. Brown. I've yet to read any of Brown's original work, so I don't have any idea how close it may have gotten.

The director, Brian T. Jaynes, also directed 2010's BOGGY CREEK, which kinda covered the same territory (and for which Brown wrote the novelization). They could easily be connected. It's also a little bit better. 

NAKED ZOMBIE GIRL

NAKED ZOMBIE GIRL

Written and Directed by Rickey Bird
Starring Meghan Chadeayne
Not Rated

With a title and poster like that, it's pretty easy to get an idea what Naked Zombie Girl (NZG going forward 'cause I'm lazy) from Hectic Films is about. Just to clarify - the 'Girl' of the film is not a 'Zombie' (this isn't another Dawna the Dead), but never fear, she does end up quite 'Naked' before too long.

This short film clocks in at just over twenty-five minutes long. It's been making the rounds at horror conventions and film festivals and as I was settling down to write this, the NZG facebook page announced they'd won Best Horror Short at the Austin Indie Flix Festival. Go, team!

As the film starts, three people are in a car, apparently fleeing from...something. News reports on the radio, as well as one of the car's occupants suffering from a bite wound, make it clear the zombie apocalypse is upon us. In short order, the car craps out and the bitten dude decides to end things by way of a gun in his mouth. The two remaining girls barely have time to react to this before the car is surrounded by zombies.

Our heroine, played by Meghan Chadeayne, escapes, losing her dress in the process (and that's where the 'Naked' part comes in at). She quickly finds her courage and a chainsaw and proceeds to go to town on the zombies.

Overall, the thing is very well done and looks better than a lot of full-length b-movies I've seen. Decent zombies and a fair amount of practical gore effects. There's also some computer generated gore but I'm far more forgiving of CGI in a low budget short that was filmed over the course of just a couple of nights than I am in a big budget feature. And, it's hard to deny the appeal of Meghan Chadeayne kicking zombie butt while baring her own for much of the running time.

NZG is part of the new wave of 'grindhouse' inspired films that have come out lately, so there are film scratches and other grunge effects applied to make it look like a '70s drive-in movie. Personally, I could've done without most of that but better that than the jumpy 'found footage' style that hasn't gone away yet.

I don't know if they're even considering filming a feature-length version of the story, perhaps showing how the characters ended up where the short starts and of course continuing on past the end, but I'd be all for it if they are.

If you get a chance to see a screening, I'd say go. The website for the film indicates that it will be for sale at some point, but if you live in a cultural wasteland and are impatient like myself, there's a GoFundMe campaign for a Naked Zombie Girl comic book that can get you a download of the film for a fifteen-dollar donation. That's how I got to see it. As of this writing, there are still four downloads available.


Naked Zombie Girl website
Hectic Films website
NZG comic GoFundMe page
NZG facebook page

THE BIONIC WOMAN: SEASON FOUR #1

THE BIONIC WOMAN: SEASON FOUR #1

Writer: Brandon Jerwa

Artist: David T. Cabrera

Colors: Sandra Molina

Letters: Joshua Cozine

Publication Date: September 2014

Published by Dynamite Entertainment

Well, after a fantastic, way-too-short run of THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN: SEASON SIX, the fine folks at Dynamite now bring us their continuation of THE BIONIC WOMAN.

I've already praised James Kuhoric's work on the SEASON SIX series. It set a mighty high bar for pretty much any other tie-in/continuation/reboot anyone might attempt. Perhaps inevitably, the new Bionic Woman series doesn't quite reach those heights (but hey, it's a first issue so I'm willing to cut a little slack while everyone is warming up).

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN: SEASON SIX #6

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN: SEASON SIX #6


Writer: James Kuhoric
Art: David T. Cabrera
Colors: Fran Gamboa
Letters: Joshua Cozine
Publication Date: September 2014
Published by Dynamite Entertainment

The story so far....

Steve's bionics have been severely damaged by Maskatron, leaving Jaime to go alone to Kennedy Space Center and investigate the alien presence taking over the workers there. Oliver Spencer has given Oscar the means to rebuild Steve despite the Bionics program being shut down, and has a plan to regain control of Maskatron at the risk of his own mind. And the Soviets plan to do some rebuilding of their own with a soldier who was injured during Steve's fight with the B-YAGA armored tank suit.

Now....

ORBIT: ALICE COOPER

ORBIT: ALICE COOPER

Pre-order: 9/10/2014

Writer: Michael L. Frizell

Artist: Jayfri Hashim & D.A Frizell

3 covers: Cover A: $3.99, Cover B $5.99 and cover C $9.99

Digital Price: $3.99

BIASAC: CGN008000, BIO022000,JNF007000, CGN007000, BIO005000,  BIO004001

Alice Cooper is a man, a band, and an idea that took on a life of its own, a voice for shock and glitter rockers whose influence created stars like Marilyn Manson and KISS. Behind the paint, the boa constrictors, and the staged executions is a man whose creative energies gave rise to a legend. Half truth, half fiction, Alice Cooper defines fame.

KISS may have entered my young consciousness first but Alice Cooper wasn't far behind. As much as I'll always be a member of the KISS Army (no matter how much of an ass Gene Simmons continues to make of himself) there's no doubt that Alice Cooper is indeed The Master. His headlining Theatre of Death tour in 2009/2010 was easily the best concert I've ever attended.

Mostly he's been doing opening shots on tours lately (with Iron Maiden in 2012 and currently with Motley Crue on their last tour) which is kind-of unfortunate...for the bands that have to follow him.

I had the great good fortune to catch him yet again just this last week, and the show was as fun as ever. I always say, if you only see one rock concert, it should be KISS, but don't you dare turn down a chance to see The Coop.

Next month, Dynamite should have the first issue of their new Alice Cooper comic out, along with a reprint of 1994's Neil Gaiman written adaption of Cooper's album The Last Temptation.

Along with that, we get Bluewater Comics's biographical comic and in one of the rare instances of fortune smiling on me, they've provided me with a preview PDF. It's part of their Orbit series of biographies. From their site: "Orbit is a line of biographies with a skew towards a more male demographic." Other celebs in the orbit line include Howard Stern, Stephen King, and Keith Richards.

On the surface, it reminds me of the old Rock N' Roll Comics of the early nineties, but with much better production values.

The story opens as a group of children, led by Rhiannon, gather at night around a Ouija board to summon Steven, Cooper's alter-ego from Welcome To My Nightmare (and Goes To Hell, The Last Temptation, and Welcome 2 My Nightmare, I suppose) to help protect her little brother, Drew, from a supernatural evil he's accidentally summoned. But in the group is Suze, a girl with a rather impressive knowledge of the real Vincent Furnier and his journey to become the character of Alice Cooper.

This framing story allows Suze to correct some of the incorrect info that's been spread about (and often by) Cooper over the years. Starting with how the original band didn't really use an Ouija board to conjure up, and eventually take the name of, a witch named Alice Cooper. Along the way, Suze recounts the stories of the band's first meeting with Frank Zappa, the infamous chicken incident, and we even get a bit of his views on family life (he's a romantic who still dates his wife) and religion (he is a minister's son, after all).

As it's just a short comic book, there's no way to get into the details of Cooper's life and career but it is a pretty good overview of the man who wanted to drive "a stake through the heart of the Love Generation."

If you're a fan, I'd say check it out....

SHERWOOD, TX #2 (of 5)

OFFICIAL SOLICITATION:

SHERWOOD, TX #2 (of 5)

Written By: Shane Berryhill
Artist: Daniel Hillyard
Colors: Charlie Kirchoff
Cover: Andrew Robinson

ROB HOOD, shot and left for dead by members of the Nobles Motorcycle Club, has miraculously survived. After a year in hiding, Hood assumes the identity of a mysterious new member of the Jesters MC known only as "Loxley." As 'Bike Week' begins in Nottingham, Texas, the disguised Hood puts his plans for revenge into motion. 

12 Gauge Comics continues their re-imagining of the Robin Hood story in issue two of SHERWOOD, TX.

Rob has survived being shot by the Nobles and has remained in hiding while he recuperated, picking up his father's bow along the way.

Now Bike Week is here and Rob starts his quest for revenge. He helps Much infiltrate the Nobles and steals a truck with supplies the Nobles had brought in for Bike Week, taking it to Padre Tuck at the Sherwood Mission to give back to the people the Nobles have been victimizing. Meanwhile, the Nobles have rounded up another group of young girls to serve as Bike Week 'entertainment.'

I'm really enjoying the twists to the Robin Hood legend here, turning it into a gritty, 70's-esque biker film while keeping the familiar set-pieces from the legends. In this issue, instead of donning a disguise and competing in an archery contest, Rob dons Much's gear to participate in a bike jousting tournament, ensuring Much's place in the Nobles gang.

With the the setup out of the way, things are already kicking in to high gear as we're now two issues in to a five issue mini-series.

I'm generally a fan of more realistic art, but the clean, slightly exaggerated style is working for me on this title; stylized enough to tell the mythic tale of Robin Hood but realistic enough to portray the world of outlaw biker gangs involved in sexual slavery and murder. (Okay, you can tell I'm no art expert, yes?)

Take a look at the nifty motion-comic trailer for a better idea....

Sherwood, Texas : Trailer featuring ‘Answer to No One’ by Colt Ford from M2 on Vimeo.

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA #3

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA #3

Story: John Carpenter and Eric Powell
Writer: Eric Powell
Art: Brian Churilla
Colors: Michael Garland
Letters: Ed Dukeshire
Publication Date: August 2014
Published by BOOM! Studios

"Hey! Relax! I'm an expert at not listening to anybody."

                                                                              - Jack Burton 

 

Just a quickie 'cause I'm late on this one....

Eric Powell's BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA series continues, as Jack and Egg arrive at the House of the Seven-Faced Widow to try and retrieve the souls of the three Storms in their effort to save Wang Chi from Qiang Lu.

This series continues the fun of our hero Jack being entirely too dense to realize just how out of his element he really is. Along the way, we get a look at both another ex-wife, and another example of just how oblivious Jack can be about things going on around him. While the events of the film might've been the first time Jack knew he was up against supernatural evil, it looks more and more like it was around him all the time and he was too self-centered to see it.

The series continues to get the feel of the film pretty much dead-on, with a lot of the humor coming from Jack's non-stop commentary and way of twisting everything into some story about him. Watching the villians trying to deal with this guy who isn't giving them anything like the respect/fear they're accustomed to is one of favorite aspects of the book.

If you enjoyed the movie, or even just like your Chinese mysticism served up with a healthy portion of comic irreverence, you should give this book a shot.

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN: SEASON SIX #5

THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN: SEASON SIX #5


Writer: James Kuhoric
Art: Juan Antonio Ramirez
Colors: Fran Gamboa
Letters: Joshua Cozine
Publication Date: August 2014
Published by Dynamite Entertainment

The story so far….

Oliver Spencer's Maskatron has been a resounding failure - the out of control robot has savagely repossessed Barney 'The Seven Million Dollar Man' Hiller's bionics and is now working on doing the same to Steve Austin. Meanwhile, an alien organism is transforming the NASA crew at the Kennedy Space Center.

Now....

BATMAN BEGINS again

**** NOTE: This post has been pulled back out of the mists of time. Originally posted Saturday, June 18, 2005. ****

Okay...went to see "Batman Begins" today, finally. Work has been an overtime-filled bear lately, so that's what took me so long to get to it.

It was....really, really cool. It was Batman, all the way. I remember going to see the Tim Burton/Michael Keaton "Batman" at a midnight premiere when it first came out. I remember the rush when it started and Batman appeared on screen, scaring the heck out of the baddie. I remember thinking "this is *my* Batman." I also remember, thinking back on it later, that it wasn't such a hot movie. Style over substance and all that. "Batman Returns" was in many ways a better movie, and then...well, the less said about the other two, the better. (except I still think Clooney was a great choice - he just had the misfortune to be in the worst movie of the bunch)

Since then, I've decided that the best Batman movie of them all was "Batman: Mask Of the Phantasm." Yeah, the animated film.

Now, I think it might be the second best.

And now that the setup is largely out of the way, if they make another film (which seems pretty likely) it can be even better.

Random comments - Would've liked less frenzied editing in most of the fights, tho it was perfect for the first full-on Batman fight. Still think the cowl needs work. The score, I'm mixed on. In many ways it was just serviceable...no stirring themes to hum on the way out but at the same time, it served the action perfectly. Adding to, not distracting from the film. The Batmobile didn't thrill me when it was first unveiled months ago. Having seen it in action now, I gotta get me one of those. The casting and performances were nearly perfect.

Yep...this was a good movie. Go see it.

And the preview for "Sky High" looks pretty fun, too.

Original post: http://www.worldwatchonline.com/blog/2005/06/batman-begins-again.htm

Sith Happens. (or "The Sith Hits the Fans" or "What is this Sith?")

**** NOTE: This post has been pulled back out of the mists of time. Originally posted Friday, May 27, 2005. ****

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Way back in May of 1977 some friends of my dad were going to a movie and asked if I wanted to tag along.

I think maybe I'd seen a preview or two for this "Star Wars" thing on TV, but there wasn't a lot of hype about it. For the next several years, 'Star Wars' was constantly in my life. No...I wasn't anywhere near as big of a geek as some people, but I saw them all (by all, I mean the original trilogy, of course) multiple times in the theater. Living on an Air Force base had some advantages. Star Wars didn't hit the base theaters until Empire did, which was probably a year or two after Empire's release. They brought them both in together and ran double-bills for several days, maybe a week. I pretty much lived at the theater then, spending all my allowance to see these films over and over again.

That was then.

Now, nearly 30 years later the 'last' film has come out and, much like with the previous two of this modern trilogy, I'm wondering what the heck happened to my Star Wars.

Once upon a time, George Lucas stated that special effects shouldn't be the story, but rather just one more tool to use to tell a story. That Lucas doesn't exist anymore. 'Sith' continues the lifelessness of the modern trilogy, under-powered by actors who are obviously more concerned with hitting their marks so the special effects crew can do their thing than they are with bringing any sort of personality to their characters. It's so dead that those rare instances when acting or character sneak out, it's jarring to watch.

Sure, they've had some nice lightsaber battles, and 'Sith' takes that and amps it up even more. And after three decades of wondering about the 'final battle' between Obi-Wan and Darth it was nice to see it. But beyond admiring the moves (those that weren't enhanced or faked with CGI) I just didn't care about the outcome. Ewan MacGregor delivers probably the single best bit of acting in the entire prequel trilogy here, and it's one of those jarring moments I mentioned earlier. It not only made me feel what Obi-Wan was feeling, it made me wish I'd felt something during the rest of the movies.

It looked great. The effects team are really gettting it right by now. But Lucas fills the screen with so much junk during the film that I wonder if he's doing it on purpose to distract from the lack of anything of substance in the movies.

So...it was pretty, but dull.

Pretty dull.

(for what it's worth, I saw it several times with three delightful young ladies and despite my lack of enthusiasm for the film I enjoyed their company immensely so if they're reading this - I had fun being with you regardless of my thoughts on the film itself. and they seemed to like it.)

Original post URL: http://www.worldwatchonline.com/blog/2005/05/sith-happens-or-sith-hits-fans-or-what.htm

"Can you imagine what it must have been like then... then... then... then... then... then... then..."

The 10th of August, 1984.

That's when it happened.

That's when THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI: ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION was originally released (limited - it would go wide - at least, as wide as it got, on the 15th).

I'd say that's the day that changed my life; that's the day I became a fan, but that's not right.

In a lot of ways, I'd become a fan some years earlier when I discovered Doc Savage (first via the Ron Ely film, then the Golden Press hard back reprints and finally the Bantam books reprints) in grade school.

Doc Savage was a physical and mental marvel, the perfect pulp hero of the 1930s, and a character who quickly influenced a few other heroes you may have heard of. Fortress of Solitude? Doc had it before Superman. (His first name was also 'Clark' and he was The Man of Bronze before anyone ever heard of a Man of Steel.) An independently wealthy man who was both a perfect physical specimen and an expert in many mental disciplines who used his fantastic gadgets and vehicles to fight crime? All Bruce Wayne did was add a bat suit to the mix.

Doc also had a crew of adventurers helping him in his quest. Five men, each experts in their own fields of study, who traveled the globe with him, righting wrongs and punishing evildoers.

So yes, by the time THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI (or TABB as it's affectionately known to fans) came out, I was ready for it.

Some seriously random musings on my history with Dr. Banzai follows. It's long and a bit rambly but there are some cool websites at the very end if  you want to skip down to those.

DOCTOR WHO: SHADA: The Lost Adventure by Douglas Adams

DOCTOR WHO: SHADA: The Lost Adventure by Douglas Adams

by Gareth Roberts

Ace Books

paperback / January 2014

Book description:

"From the unique mind of Douglas Adams, legendary author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, comes Shada, a story scripted for the television series Doctor Who but never produced—and now transformed into an original novel...

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Imagine how dangerous a LOT of knowledge is...

The Doctor’s old friend and fellow Time Lord, Professor Chronotis, has retired to Cambridge University, where among the other doddering old professors nobody will notice if he lives for centuries. He took with him a few little souvenirs—harmless things really. But among them, carelessly, he took The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey. Even more carelessly, he has loaned this immensely powerful book to clueless graduate student Chris Parsons, who intends to use it to impress girls. The Worshipful and Ancient Law is among the most dangerous artifacts in the universe; it cannot be allowed to fall into the wrong hands.

The hands of the sinister Skagra are unquestionably the wrongest ones possible. Skagra is a sadist and an egomaniac bent on universal domination. Having misguessed the state of fashion on Earth, he also wears terrible platform shoes. He is on his way to Cambridge. He wants the book. And he wants the Doctor..."

Just a quick round of random musings on the latest book I've finished.

DOCTOR WHO: SHADA: The Lost Adventure by Douglas Adams is apparently a novelization of a Doctor Who script originally written by Douglas Adams for the show during the run of Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor. I say apparently, because I'm far from a Who expert and am just going by the info in the book itself. It seems a strike resulted in the story never being completed, tho home video versions using storyboards and narrations to complete the tale have been released.

I picked this up far more for the 'Douglas Adams' part than the 'Doctor Who' part, even tho I have memories of watching some Tom Baker episodes on PBS when I was a kid and have been following the revival since it started.

Douglas Adams, if you don't know (and if you don't....you have my deepest condolences) wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy; the BBC radio series, the BBC television series, and the first five books in the trilogy. (Several years back, Eoin Colfer wrote And Another Thing..., the sixth book, which I just recently started on.) He also wrote two books featuring an eccentric detective named Dirk Gently and other works, all worth checking out. His death in 2001 was a great loss that still makes me sad to this day.

Gareth Roberts took on the unenviable task of transforming Adams's script to a novel and completing it in a way that Adams (who is said to have expressed his displeasure over how the whole affair turned out) maybe would've approved. 

I don't know how Adams would react, but I quite liked it. I don't know specifically which bits are Douglas Adams and which bits are Gareth Roberts and that's a good thing. The whole thing has the general sound of something Adams could've written, with plenty of phrases that definitely sound like the way he wrote, but the tone is consistent throughout. It doesn't come across like person A wrote this bit and person B wrote that bit. The story is a fun Doctor Who tale at its core, and the Adams touches are just icing on the cake. Nothing about it plays against my (hazy, to be sure) memories of Tom Baker's Doctor, and I could hear his voice and see his face while reading it. And K-9 is on the scene, too. K-9 rocks! 

If you're a fan of Adams or the Doctor, I'd say it's worth a read.

G.I .JOE: Luck Be A Lady by Carrie Vaughn

G.I .JOE: Luck Be A Lady 

by Carrie Vaughn

Amazon Kindle Worlds novella

Book description:

"In this episode, Lady Jaye and Cover Girl are in Las Vegas tracking down a secret Cobra bunker. But instead of a secret bunker, they find the Baroness and Dr. Mindbender on the verge of launching a nefarious experiment that could spell doom for the entire city. Parental advisory: this episode contains disguises, trick javelins, mad races across the desert, and explosions. Lots and lots of explosions."

I'm a fan of Carrie Vaughn's work. I found the first novel in her werewolf series, Kitty and the Midnight Hour, on the shelf at the local mallbox bookstore and have been hooked ever since.

G.I. JOE, I have to admit, I'm somewhat less familiar with. Read some of the comics back in the day, had a couple of figures (Snake Eyes and Scarlett), saw some of the cartoons and both the recent movies...that's about it. But I know Vaughn is a fan, so when the Joes were added to Amazon's "Kindle Worlds" program, I was one of the folks to casually point it out to her. Luckily, others did too, and now we have this.

It's a short, fun, action-packed story (with explosions, as noted in the description above) about two Joes in a mad scramble to save Las Vegas from the latest Cobra plot. It's full of self-aware humor but doesn't skimp on the action and, in my humble opinion, is more than worth the two buck asking price.

Pick it up, and if you like it, don't hesitate to check out her other works. I think you'll be glad you did.