Tagged: small

Quest of Drawers: How to be a convention sketch collector

  • News
  • October 8, 2012

The New York Comic-Con is just a few days away, and I’m packing up my necessities in my bag, along with my towel, and preparing for the show. Above all else, above my new Nintendo 3DS XL to score more SpotPass friends, above the mobile hotspot so I can post all those awesome cosplay pics,  above it all, is Norbert and my sketchbook. I’m a convention sketch collector.

Norbert at the Green Lantern Convention by Romeo Tanghal

Under the name The International Norbert Conspiracy, I’ve been collecting sketches of my mascot for over twenty years now, and I’m approaching five hundred sketches. The question I get asked the most often (aside from the obvious “What is WRONG with you?”) is “How do you get so many?”

There’s always someone heading to their first convention, and keen on scoring sketches. And they ask the hive mind where to start, who’s the best, how much do they cost, all the standard questions. And since I’ve been meaning to do this for some time now, here’s a run-down of some basic tips to get started.

First, a few basics. There’s a few ground rules you’ll need to keep in mind when you’re trying to get sketches from the happy helpful people at a convention. Even if it looks like OTHERS aren’t following those rules, follow them anyway. Usually, the artist will recognize it, and appreciate it, hopefully lighten their mood, and you may get a better sketch out of it.

BE PATIENT – The larger a con, the longer the lines. People are getting books signed, some others are also getting sketches, and some just want to get a minute or so to talk with someone whose art they like so much. And if they got on the line before you did, they get to go FIRST. And they get to take as long as the want. Usually, the artist will grasp there’s a line, and try to keep such interactions brief; not because he’s rude, but because he wants to make sure he gets to everybody. But if he doesn’t, don’t remind him. Don’t sigh, don’t make a show of looking at your watch, and don’t do that “wind it up” thing with your fingers. You will get there when you get there.

BE POLITE – OK, you’re talking with the artist now. Remember how much you hated that guy who was taking All That Goddamn Time with the artist? That’s YOU now, to the guy behind you, and so on. So even though it seemed like everybody else was taking forever, that does not give you license to do the same, and maybe a little more. If everyone followed that rule, the last person in line would be able to go full-term in a pregnancy by the time they get to the front of the line. If EVERYbody’s just a LITTLE polite, things go faster.

BE REASONABLE – Again, bear in mind there are people behind you. If you ask for a drawing of the entire Justice League, from every iteration, fighting the total population of Topeka, be prepared to hear there’s not enough time to do so. Be prepared to be happy with a headsketch, or a simple figure.

BE PREPARED TO PAY – This is something which has become more commonplace in recent years, for a number of reasons. First off, the vast majority of artists pay their own way to come to the show, and hope to make enough money at their table to cover their expenses, and then some in a perfect world. Hard to deny them that.

In the case of more popular or “Hot” artists, there is more than a small chance that the sketches they’re doing will end up on eBay as early as that night, making the seller quite a pretty penny. There’s nary an artist who hasn’t got a story of doing a piece for someone who swore it was for their kid, who was either sick, couldn’t make the show or some sob story, only to see the art up for auction before the weekend is out. So the prevailing mindset has become similar to that of the sports memorabilia business; “this guy’s probably gonna sell this, so I might as well get my cut”. And again, it’s a hard argument to dispute, as sadly, the odds are in greed’s favor. So in the case of more and more of the bigger artists, free sketches are harder to come by. They’re not impossible (tips to follow), but if you really want a piece by your favorite artist, assume it will cost you some money.

There’s an upside to this as well, If you’re paying, you have a bit more say in what he will draw for you, and you almost certainly will get a more detailed drawing than if you just got a quickie “con-sketch”. Some artists have started taking orders for commissions BEFORE major conventions as well. Check their Facebook, Twitter or other social network feeds and see; don’t be afraid to ask, either. That’s often a win-win situation as well – the artist can see some money before the show, can complete the piece more at hie leisure, and you’ll get it as soon as you walk up to him. Likewise, some will arrange to ship you the piece after the show. If you’re asking for a very intricate piece, don’t rule that out either.

Once you’ve gotten those rules memorized, here’s a few advanced tips…

Check the publishers’ signing schedules. At a big show, the publishers will have a steady stream of creators at their booths, signing and almost always sketching. While the artist is on his own at his table, he’s on the company’s clock at the booth. They’ll certainly be quick little pieces, but if that’s all you’re looking for, that’s perfect.

Get a sketchbook. A sketch on a piece of comic art board is easy to turn over to another person. But a bound sketchbook is a subtle sign that this is a piece you intend to keep. While it may not melt the creator’s heart, at least he won’t be grumbling to himself how much he thinks you’ll get for the drawing.

Bring reference. If you want a piece of Batman or Superman, odds are peple know how to draw them. But if your favorite character is less off the A-list…well, don’t be offended if they don’t remember how many frogs and buttons are on Sonar’s jacket (it’s four). Bring a couple pictures they can use as reference.

Try a theme sketchbook – The more fun you can make your collection, the more interested you’ll get the artist. Ive seem books with just drawings of one character, some with them all doing something in particular, and one wonderful collection of heroes draw in the style of Fisher-Price Little People. Make it something they’ve never drawn before, something that’l; interest them, get the creative juices flowing.

Troll artists’ alley. No, don’t go up and insult everyone, slow down and look at all those up-and-coming creators who are pushing their self-produced books. Say hi to the guys and gals who did one issue of a DC or Marvel title a year or two ago. There’s a lot of talent there and you’ve got no way of knowing who the fickle finger of fandom will touch next. A year later, they might have a line across the floor, and you’ll be kicking yourself for not getting them when you coulda.

Try, try again. Aside from a handful of artists who have simply been too busy to do a sketch, I’ve got a few who have actively refused to draw Norbert. In the first case, the time will come that they WILL have time; if not at this show, then another one. In the second case, unless there’s some specific reason they don’t want to deal with you, like you threw up on their shoes or something, there’s no harm in asking again another time. Maybe they were tired, or in a rotten mood. Give it another shot. If you need to, buy them new shoes.

As with everything at a convention, the goal is to have fun, without in some way ruining someone else’s. A bit of patience and decorum, matched with a good attitude, and you can have a nice time and get a fun new hobby started.

Words and Art: Finding the Right Blend in Comic Book Scriptwriting

  • News
  • October 4, 2012

This week’s roundtable at New Pulp Author Sean Taylor’s Bad Girls, Good Guys, and Two-Fisted Action Blog focuses specifically on comic book scriptwriting. Sean posted the top three questions he hears often at conventions or from those wanting to start writing comics or looking to turn an indie movie or small press novel into a graphic novel.

Sean assembled a collection of comic book writers (many familiar to New Pulp readers) together to find out what they had to say. The writers include:
Jim Beard (Ghostbusters Con-Volution, Star Wars Tales, Hawkman Secret Files)
Mike Bullock (Lions, Tigers, and Bears, The Phantom)
Erik Burnham (Ghostbusters, TMNT Splinter, A-Team)
Percival Constantine (Femforce, Kagemono, All-Star Pulp Comics)
Ron Fortier (The Green Hornet, Popeye, Street Fighter)
Dan Jurgens (Superman, Booster Gold, Teen Titans, Captain America)
Roland Mann (Cat and Mouse, Ex-Mutants, Switchblade)
John Jackson Miller (Star Wars Knight Errant, Iron Man, Mass Effect)
Michael Avon Oeming (The Victories, Powers, Thor, Red Sonja)
Bobby Nash (Lance Star: Sky Ranger, Fuzzy Bunnies from Hell, Domino Lady vs. The Mummy)
Jenny Reed (Around the World in 80 Days, Charles Darwin)
Janet Stone Wade (Jetta: Tales of the Toshigawa)

You can read their answers now at http://seanhtaylor.blogspot.com/2012/10/words-and-art-finding-right-blend-in.html

Renew at Ralphs and Help the Hero Initiative!

  • News
  • September 27, 2012

The Hero Intitiative

Y’know what goes great with easy fundraising? Pie!

On September 1, Ralphs grocery stores wipes the slate clean on their “Community Contribution” program, and we need to build back from Square One!

The Ralphs Rewards card is your standard grocery store “club card” that gets you discounts and whatnot. But you can ALSO register it with a Ralphs-approved charity, and EVERY time you shop and use the card, Ralphs will kick in a small percentage to the charity of your choice. It costs you, the consumer, NOTHING. It’s just Ralphs kicking in a couple bucks to good causes.

And yes, The Hero Initiative is one of those Ralphs-approved charities, and yes, we need YOU to re-register your card for Hero, which is easy as pie (tho’ not quite as tasty):

1) Sign in to Ralphs.com with your email and password
1a) If you have not created an account, create one now! Takes about 60 seconds!

2) Click on “Ralphs Rewards” in the upper right corner

3) Click on “Community Contribution.” It’s in the left-side menu under “My Ralphs”
3a) Hit “enroll” at the bottom.

4) Now enroll! When signing up, our NPO # (non-profit organization #) is: 80680, and we’re under our corporate name, “A Commitment To Our Roots.” Don’t let it throw ya!
4a) Click “Save Changes” at bottom

5) Now go get a pie.

Seriously, folks, if you do this once, we get a few nickels every time you shop, and multiplied by a San Diego Comic-Con full of people, it’s the best, easiest way we’ve found to raise funds. Totally painless. And hot dammit, you need bologna and Q-Tips anyway!

This applies to Ralphs, Foods Co. and Food 4 Less stores in Southern California, Nevada, Illinois, and Indiana. So if you’re in those necks of those woods, hop to it. I thank you kindly.

AND if you’re in Los Angeles, check out Golden Apple Comics on Wednesday, Sep. 26 from 6-9 PM! We’ll be signing people up for Ralphs on the spot, and if you sign up your card, you’ll get a FREE limited edition Happy! print autographed by BOTH Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson as Darick is in attendance for the release of Image Comics’ Happy #1!

FORTIER TAKES ON ‘HAWK:HAND OF THE MACHINE!

  • News
  • September 23, 2012

ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier
HAWK
Hand of the Machine
By Van Allen Plexico
White Rocket Books
350 pages
Space Operas have been around since Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers first burst forth in America’s funny pages. They certainly had their pulp counterparts from E.E. Smith’s Lensmen series to Edmond Hamilton’s Captain Future series and many others.  Then with the advent of television American children were inundated with such TV series as Tom Corbett – Space Cadet, Space Patrol and dozens of others all culminating in the 1960s with Gene Roddenberry’s “wagon train in space,” Star Trek.  Of course the eventual jump to the big screen was never far off.  Sci-fi space operas had been around since the serials but none were so audacious and clearly proud of their comic and pulp roots as George Lucas’ Star Wars franchise.
Which brings us full circle to the advent of New Pulp Fiction and a classic genre that never really went away thanks to likes of Frank Hebert, Jack Vance and E.C. Tubb.  Now you can add another name to that list of extraordinary space opera creators in Van Allen Plexico.  From his ground breaking comic inspired Sentinels series to the Vance inspired, “Lucian – The Dark God’s Homecoming,” this writer has jumped into the deep end of the imagination pool with no hesitation as this new novel proves.
Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away (sorry, I just couldn’t stop myself) the known universe was looked after by a computer intellect that spanned space and was called The Machine.  To enforce justice and order it created, via cloning, a small group of unique warriors to command its military forces.  They were known as the Hands and chief amongst these were Eagle, Falcon, Condor, Raven and Hawk.  When an insidious evil appeared from nowhere to threaten the peace and security of the universe, the Hands were deployed to battle this mysterious foe known simply as the Adversary. Although the Hands were successful in thwarting their enemy, they did so at a tremendous cost none of them could have foreseen.  One day The Machine suddenly went silent and the elite members of the Hand were found cut off and isolated for the first time in their existence.  Some were betrayed, captured and destroyed while others vanished without a trace.
The universal empires began to collapse and a new Dark Ages descended throughout the realms of mankind.  Thus it would remain for nearly a thousand years until one day, on a distant space station, a new Hawk was awakened.  Unfortunately the process was interrupted before all memories could be downloaded and the revived warrior found himself suffering from amnesia while at the same time thrust into combat on a space station combating bug-like alien invaders.
Hawk manages to escape aboard a small space programmed to respond to his commands and during his flight the craft’s artificial intelligence attempts to fill-in the missing gaps to his actual identity.  As if doesn’t wasn’t trouble enough, Hawk’s travels soon bring him to the aid of yet another awakened Hand; this one a Falcon whose damaged body has been augmented with cybernetic parts.  Upon being rescued by Hawk, Falcon is at first suspicious of his savior unwilling to believe a “new” Hawk has been allowed to be cloned.  This particular attitude only piques Hawk’s curiosity all the more and he begins to pester his former ally about his mysterious past.
Soon the two become aware that Hawk’s rebirth is tied to various alien confrontations throughout this sector of the space all indicative that the once defeated Adversary is back and once again and eager to pick up with his quest for domination.  Mysteries continue to pile on while our duo attempt to piece together the secrets of the past in hopes they will somehow provide a solution to the threats now facing them.
Plexico’s ability to drive a narrative at light-speeds is unquestioned and even though the book comes in at a whopping page count, its pacing moves the reader along fluidly with each new chapter adding to both the plot and its inherent suspense all leading to a very satisfying climax.  An ending, by the way, with ample potential for sequels starring this great cast of characters. 
Still, the amnesia-plagued-hero seeking his identity is a plot Plexico has now used in several of his titles and is quite frankly becoming a bit too familiar.  As much as I admire his work and look forward to each new book, it is this reviewer’s hope that his next protagonist won’t be saddled with this same repetitive ploy.  That would be a real misstep in a stellar writing career thus far.  That said, “HAWK – Hand of the Machine,” is a solid space opera that is guaranteed to entertain you.

Is the world ready for a female Doctor (Who)?

As far back as when Tom Baker announced he was leaving the title role of Doctor Who, and at every period of transference since, tabloids would float the “rumor” (a word which here means “collection of words concocted out of thin air”) that the new Doctor might be a woman.  And with it would come the requisite shaking of heads and rending of garments, not to mention the follow-up news articles with headlines that all circled around “Nurse Who?” and the like.  People associated with the show, if ever actually asked, would rarely deny such stories, because as soon as you do that, the publicity train stops, and who wants that?  So we get an infuriating round of winks and “You never know”s and another cycle of articles from people on both sides explaining why either it could or should never happen, or that not only should it happen, but the time is right.

It’s a question that couldn’t be rationally asked about almost any other fictional character.  You can swap stars and characters out of a show – the longer a show goes, the easier it becomes.  M*A*S*H, CSI, the list goes on. You can even re-cast main characters; James Bond has gone through a half-dozen changes already. But to suddenly turn a well-known male character for a female (or vice-versa) would normally be ridiculous.  But in the world of science-fiction, anything can happen.

One of the sublime wonders of The Doctor is his ability to regenerate – to completely change his form, his personality, and most importantly, the actor playing him.  It’s what’s allowed the show to continue for going on fifty years, changing tone and direction with each change of main actor.  And with each change, a growing part of the audience asks the question that Chris Claremont used to ask so often when creating comic characters; “Is there any reason this character can’t be a woman?”

The simple answer is no.  When Matt Smith took the role, as the Doctor did a quick anatomical inventory, he felt his long hair and thought for a moment he’d regenerated into a female.  A couple years later, Neil Gaiman set the concept in stone – he created The Corsair, another renegade Time Lord whom The Doctor knew very well.  He described him as a “A good man… a couple of times a good woman”. So there it is, a Time Lord can change their gender during regeneration. You gonna argue with Neil Gaiman, cause I’m not.

The current Doctor, Matt Smith, while assuring us that’s he’s not going anywhere anytime soon (and quite right too, IMHO) has gone on record that he thinks there’s any number of actresses who would make a fine Doctor.  In an interview with The Mary Sue, he named Charlize Theron specifically.  Late last year, Helen Mirren famously announced that she’d love to play the role as well.

Some people forget that showrunner and Twitter-bailer Steven Moffat has ALREADY brought us a female Doctor.  In his Comic Relief story The Curse of Fatal Death, after burning through a staggering number of regenerations, The Doctor finally stands as Joanna Lumley, co-star of Absolutely Fabulous (and for those of us who care to show their age, Sapphire and Steel and The New Avengers). Yes, it was a comedy adventure, and out of continuity (I assume), but the moon did not fall from the sky when it happened.

So we’ve got the “can” out of the way.  We now advance to the more complicated question…should he? The show has been amazingly good about representing same-sex relationships.  From the beginning of the new series we’ve seen numerous characters in various “non-traditional” pairings, all portrayed as being spectacularly unimportant to the plot.  The underlying message, if one had to spell it out is “There are a lot of the people in the universe, and some of the like men, and some of them like women, and it doesn’t make them any more good or bad as people.”  So surely making the main character a woman would make that message even more powerful – it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman, you can still make an amazing difference in the world.

Of the people who argue against such a change, the arguments tend to circle around a small number of talking points.

YOU’RE JUST TRYING TO MAKE A STATEMENT Sadly, no matter how good an actress they would find, no matter how good the stories, there would absolutely be a part of the audience who would insist that the only reason the change was done for some socially-motivated reason, likely involving the phrase “Political Correctness.”  It’s the same argument made in comics when a character is brought back as a new gender, ethnicity, lifestyle, etc.  The argument seems to rule out the idea that the new/changed character could possibly be good, based on that ulterior motive.  Any storyline or even dramatic moment that involves something unique about being that type of person is quickly pointed at as “proof” that the character exists solely to further the various agandae of that group, and any other group they can associate them to.

There’s an inherent issue with this argument, in that it suggests an attempt to diversify the types of characters out there must by definition be based on “cramming them down our throats” and not simply an attempt to show that there are more types of people out there, some bumpier than others. It can be tempting to make those characters ciphers for getting a writer’s pet viewpoints across, yes, and when proselytizing takes precedence over entertainment, the show can suffer. But considering how well the show has already brought alternate partnerships in with no massive shift in tone, I suspect this issue would not be a problem.

THAT’S NOT WHO HE IS The character has been a man for almost five decades – he sees himself as male, his friends, the universe in general see him as such.  For him to become female is too large and fundamental change to the character, one that the characters in the narrative world, and certain the ones in the real world, could not accept.  This is more an argument based on tradition than anything else, a general sense of what the character “is”, and an attempt to change that is more than they wish to stand.

It’s rather like “New Coke Syndrome” – when the soda chose to change its recipe, they experienced a pushback from the public far more than they’d expected.  It wasn’t a problem with the taste – indeed the new formula tested better than the original.  It was a basic resistance to a change to something people knew, and simply expected to be there.  People who hadn’t drunk Coke in years were coming out against it.  They realized it wasn’t the soda people were coming out for, but the memory of it, the way it affected their lives.

The people who make this point would likely be as against the idea of making The Doctor an American, or if they chose to change the look of the TARDIS.  It’s BEEN that particular thing for so long, that to suggest it be changed is simply unthinkable.

IT’D CHANGE TOO MUCH Smith very cogently pointed out in the aforementioned interview that a female Doctor would result in a dynamic change in how he (she) interacts with the world.  “It would change the role,” he explains, “because she would be a woman so when you put her in a room full of men, it’s a different scenario than if you put a man in a room full of men, because she’s a different sex.”  This is not, I believe, necessarily a bad thing.  It could very definitely challenge the writers to find ways to combat that mindset with the people she meets, or result in creating a character so strong and forceful that she just takes control of a room so quickly, the question of “who the heck are you?” tends to get forgotten. Indeed, that’s exactly how the character works now.

BOYS DON’T WATCH SHOWS WITH GIRLS IN It’s an old chestnut, but it’s been stated as gospel since time immemorial, and no matter how many examples disprove it (where my bronies at?) it’s seen as an inarguable fact by marketing and programming executives alike. The idea is that young boys (the primary audience of the series) will “only” watch a show with a male lead, in the same way girls “only” watch shows with a girl lead, preferably wearing a tutu, and with a talking lhasa apso as a sidekick.  Of course the problem is, Doctor Who is a show with very strong female characters, sometimes stronger than the male ones, and it doesn’t seem to have affected the audience much at all.

From a narrative and social point of view, there’s very little that seems to be stopping such a move.  Sadly, the real reason we likely won’t see such a change is based simply in money.  Change is risky, and the larger the change, the greater the risk.  Switching to a female lead would be quite risky indeed.  No matter how questionably valid each of the above arguments are, they are all held by some people, and likely Auntie Beeb have a better idea of how many than anyone outside of Television centre ever could.  And they likely have good estimates on what sort of an effect such a change could have on the audience, and until their research shows it’ll have almost no negative effect at al, we’ll not see such a dramatic move made.

Odds are it’ll happen someday, if the show stays on long enough.  And odds are there will be a hue and cry, and everyone will tune in, just to see what happens.  And in a perfect world, they’ll be so impressed that they’ll be back the next week.  And who knows, someday we might be reading articles on whether or not it’ll make sense to to switch back to a male character.

REVIEW: Terra Nova

Any time Steven Spielberg comes to television, it’s always with something different. He honored the anthology series of his youth with Amazing Stories and lent his storytelling expertise to get ER launched, making that into a smash hit for NBC. So, when Fox heard of a series about humans and dinosaurs and Spielberg, it seemed like a no brainer. If anyone could get dinosaurs to work convincingly on the small screen, it was the director of Jurassic Park. What the network couldn’t count on was the full extent of Spielberg’s involvement and in time the series was placed under showrunner Brannon Braga’s control. Braga cut his teeth on Star Trek: The Next Generation and has gone on to do other genre fare, but he can’t seem to repeatedly sacrifice characterization in favor of conspiracy and that’s where Terra Nova fell off the rails.

Delayed by schedule issues as the massive CGI prehistoric creatures proved more difficult to execute on a budget, the series debuted last fall and for 14 episodes, we were treated to a series with tremendous potential, most of it wasted.

In 2149, mankind has choked the world so badly that time travel to resettle humanity in the past was the best hope for survival. A colony was established and those fortunate enough to be picked were sent in waves, controlling the impact of man altering the past. We follow the Shannon family from this wretched dystopia to the clean air of the past and see if people can do better when given a better chance. Jim Shannon (Jason O’Mara) is in jail for violating population laws and conceiving a third child but is broken free and joins his wife, Dr. Elisabeth Shannon (Shelley Conn), 17 year old son Josh (Landon Liboiron), 16 year old daughter Maddy (Naomi Scott), and five year old Zoe (Alana Mansour), as they join the Tenth Pilgrimage 85 Million years back in time.

Terra Nova is a thriving colony under the command of Commander Nathaniel Taylor (Stephen Lang) and contains enough raw power to protect the populace from the mammoth critters that wander the jungles just beyond their walls. While the thrust of the stories should have been the struggle to adapt to the environment and its deadly inhabitants, Braga had other ideas. Apparently, The Others, I mean the Sixers split back during the sixth pilgrimage and are working with unknown forces back in the future to seize the pristine world’s resources. Then there’s the mystery of Taylor’s son, a genius who was either part of the conspiracy or its pawn. Add in a blackmarketeer, a teen turned traitor to save her ill mother, young romance, and a few other threads, you get a crazy quilt of plots that could actually be told in any other environment.

The show failed to be different from its genre competitors because it avoided the most unique element going for it: dinosaurs! Man versus nature! How do the people adapt to diseases, microbes, and minerals they never encountered before? How do they ensure each step they take beyond the colony does not in some way create a vastly different tomorrow? Nope, the show skips all of those possibilities for conspiracies and soap operas.

The appealing cast does its best with weak material but by the end of the series, it was clear that there would be little progress in solving these dilemmas and when the plug was mercifully pulled in March, it vanished without much of an imprint in the genre or prime time television.

The complete series is presented on four standard definition discs from 20th Century Home Entertainment. In addition to fourteen hours of drama, the set comes with complete with some vaguely interesting deleted scenes and an extended version of “Occupation/Resistance”, the two-part finale (there’s also an audio commentary from Stephen Lang, Brannon Braga and Rene Echevarria). There are a handful of somewhat interesting “Director’s Diaries – Making the Pilot” with comments from Alex Graves, whose work I have generally admired. Finally, there is a brief look at “Cretaceous Life: The Dinosaurs of Terra Nova”, which should enlighten younger viewers who can’t get enough dinosaurs, and “Mysteries Explored”, delving into the less interest aspects of this failed series. Rounding things out is a gag reel.

A series with potential like this is all the more disappointing when it does not embrace its strengths in favor of a creator’s personal interests. Had Spielberg been more hands on, things might have turned out differently, but as it stands, the show is a mildly engaging misfire.

New Who Review: Dinosaurs on a Spaceship

The Doctor attempts to help the Indian Space Agency about a runaway spaceship of Canadian size headed for Earth.  Promising to stop it before it needs to be blown up, he picks up a few friends – Rory and Amy (and Rory’s dad, accidentally) big game hunter John Riddell, and already in his company, Queen Nefertiti of Egypt.  They find the ship is a derelict space ark, originally from Earth, created by the Silurians.  But where are they, and how did a mysterious and heartless trader named Solomon get control of the ship?

Arthur Darvill had it exactly right when he discusses the latest episode of Doctor Who in a promotional video – “It does what it says on the tin”.  The Doctor’s got a gang, Amy has her own companions, Rory’s got his dad, Rory’s dad’s got balls in his pants, the ship’s got a surprising builder, you’ve got your spoiler warnings, and did I mention there are…

DINOSAURS ON A SPACESHIP
by Chris Chibnall
directed by Saul Metzstein

Doctor Who is no stranger to funny episodes, but in the new series, they usually occupy a different spot in the series.  They’ve most often come near the end of the series, almost as a buffer to the rollicking action and drama of the series’ finale.  But this one is the second of the series, and is certainly one of the more barking mad ones to come along.  It may be a perfect episode for that friend you’ve been trying to get into the series – lost of humor, great adventure, and a good look at what can happen in a DW story; namely, anything.

GUEST STAR REPORT

Rupert Graves (John Riddell) Has been on British screens for over thirty years, but he’s best known to Who-fen as Inspector Lestrade on Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ adaptation of Sherlock. He appeared in V for Vendetta and a wide array of TV series, from modern to historic.

Mark Williams (Brian Williams) has a lot of quality work in both comedy and genre work under his belt.  He played the patriarch of the Weasley clan in the Harry Potter films, appeared in the recent Gormenghast, and played Cadet Flynn in Rob Grant’s Red Dwarf followup, the why-haven’t-you-seen-it-yet series The Strangerers. In Britain, he’s certainly best known for being a castmember of long-running sketch program The Fast Show.  Up next, he’ll be portraying G. K. Chesterton’s detective Father Brown in a new adaptation for British TV.

David Bradley (Solomon) is another alumnus of the Harry Potter films, in the role of Mr. Filch he’s enjoyed over forty years of acting, mostly on British television, in series of all shape and size.  He voiced one of the Shansheeth in the Sarah Jane Adventures episode The Death of the Doctor. He’s next appearing in a TV adaptation of the Ken Follett novel World Without End.

David Mitchell and Robert Webb (robot voices) Can best be described as being World Famous In Britain.  Stars of the sketch comedy series That Mitchell and Webb Look, they’re also popular on the chat and game show circuit, always able to come up with wit on the fly. As an example of their brand of humor, here’s a classic about a pair of introspective Nazis.
The team are the latest in the trend of big stars making voiceover cameos on Doctor Who.  Last year Michael Sheen voiced House in The Doctor’s Wife, and Imelda Staunton was the voice of the Apulapuchian Kindness Facility in The Girl Who Waited.

Richard Hope (Bleytal) is now one of a growing group of “go-to” actors who have played multiple members of the same alien race for the series.  He’s played two alternate-timeline versions of the Silurian doctor Malokeh (in The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood, and The Wedding of River Song), and now plays the scientist of the same race, keeping track of their ark.  He joins Neve McIntosh, who played two Silurians in the aforementioned two-parter, as well as the Victorian adventurer Madam Vastra (who is rumored to be returning Quite Soon Now) and Dan Starkey, who’s played several Sontarans on DW, as well as voiced them in a few audio adventures and the videogame The Gunpowder Plot.

Riann Steele (Nefertiti) got her first screen credit in David Tennant’s version of Hamlet, and has been making appearances in TV shows and films ever since.

Chris Chibnall (writer) made his first appearance connected to Doctor Who back in the original series.  He appeared with a number of other fans on a BBC talk show reviewing the 1986 series (Trial of a Time Lord) and was…not entirely satisfied with it. In the years between, like so many of the current writers, he became a screenwriter, and was brought on board by Russell T. Davies, not at first for Who, but its anagrammatic spinoff, Torchwood.  He was listed as co-producer, but was effectively the head writer of the series.  After a year or two writing for Law and Order U.K. (starring Freema Agyeman) he was brought back on Who, where he wrote 42 and the Silurian two-parter from last series. In addition to this episode, he also scripted the prequel series Pond Life, furthering the backstory of the Ponds’ life when The Doctor isn’t around.

Saul Metzstein (Director) is new to the series, but is coming on with a bang – he’s also doing the next episode, two on the back end of the season, and also directed Pond Life. He’s done a number of documentaries, including The Name of This Film is Dogme95, about the popular “back to basics” style of filmmaking spearheaded by Lars Von Trier and his contemporaries.  In accordance with the rules of the movement, he was not credited for his work on the film.

There were some dinosaurs down in the Silurians‘ cave in their first appearance Doctor Who and the Silurians. The race of Homo Reptilia ruled the earth millions of years ago, but a massive asteroid heading for Earth convinced them they needed to hide underground in hibernation (and, as we now know, built at least one ark) to avoid what would certainly be a world-killing event.  Their numbers were off by just a hair – the asteroid missed, was grabbed by Earth’s gravitational field, and became our moon.  They’ve slept beneath the Earth for millennia, only awaking when accidentally disturbed by humans, who evolved to the dominant lifeform of the planet in their stead.  Along with their close relations the Sea Devils, they’ve fought The Doctor on several occasions on screen, and quite a few more times in the other media.THE MONSTER FILES – For a show about time travel, you’d think The Doctor would have come across dinosaurs every other week, but in fact they’ve barely bee seen at all.  Jon Pertwee fought The Dinosaur Invasion when Operation Golden Age sent time all funky and brought dinosaurs to modern London. The Rani tried twice to use dinosaurs in her plots, in Time and the Rani and The Mark of the Rani.  And there were pterodactyls (that should not be fed) in the parks of London in The Wedding of River Song.

BACKGROUND BITS AND BOBS – Trivia and production details

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION – Everyone’s heart leapt when there were rumors that Doctor Who was returning to film at Southerndown Beach, which was used as Bad Wolf Bay for Rose’s departure.  But it stood in for the engine room in this episode.  It was also the surface of Alfava Metraxis in Time of the Angels / Flesh and Stone.

WHEN WE LAST LEFT OUR FRIENDS… – In an earlier draft of his Doctor Who episode, Neil Gaiman had a sequence that would show the middle  of a previous adventure, effectively interrupted to lead in to the new one, almost interrupting it.  He discusses the scene here. It’s effectively the structure used here with Nefertiti, tho this seems to be much more the end of the other adventure.  But both get across the point that The Doctor has many adventures, large and small, that we don’t get to see. As was touched on in last season’s A Good Man Goes To War, The Doctor has met many people, some who owe him a debt, and some (Winston Churchill, for example) who just call him friend. Both Nefertiti and John Riddell are examples of the latter.

Nefertiti is not the first member of Egyptian royalty to travel in the TARDIS.  Princess Erimemushinteperem (Erimem for short) traveled with the Fifth Doctor in several audio adventures from Big Finish Productions.  After meeting one of the Osirans (seen on screen in The Pyramids of Mars), she accepted the proposal of the newly-crowned king of Peladon and left The Doctor’s company.

SO THAT’S HOW JEFF BROKE HIS LEG – Slow down the playback as the dinosaurs as they tromp towards the screen just before the credits – a crack appears at the last instant, presumably as the glass of the “camera” shatters under the foot of a rampaging ankyosaur.

THE PUNCHLINE IS, “AND THEY WORK FOR SCALE” – As mentioned last week, the Doctor Who logo will be changing each week, covered with  a new “skin” connected to the episode.  This week it’s covered in dinosaur hide.  It’s a cute idea, trying to give the opening a little Simpsons-esque little update each week, but I’m not sure the

show logo is the thing to be changing.  Also, I think it’s a bit too small on the screen – perhaps making it a bit larger might help.

WELCOME…TO JURA—SORRY? – The dinosaur effects in this episode are a seamless mix of physical effects and CGI.  In the case of the triceratops The Doctor and the Williams Boys ride, it’s a mix on the one moveable beast.  The head and torso are a physical prop, moved along by stagehands, while the back feet and tail are CGI.  Solomon’s robots are funny physical effects as well – those nearly ten foot tall suits were worn by members of the show’s team of monster players.

HI HO TRICEY! – There’s been a bit of discussion in the archeological community over whether or not the triceratops actually exists.  There’s a very similar breed, the torosaurus, and there’s a theory that indeed they are the same species; what we know as the triceratops is a young torosaurus, which underwent a bit or a metamorphosis as it grew.  The theory was tabled a couple years ago, but recent studies have come to the agreement that it’s in error. Just as well – I still haven’t gotten over Pluto and the Brontosaurus – I don’t think I could take losing the Triceratops.

“I’ve got it set to temporal news view” Apparently The Doctor’s psychic paper has another function.  It was introduced in the new series as a device able to appear as any form of documentation he needs to get out of any situation, from a ticket to view the end of the Planet Earth, to ID backing up his claim that he represents Q

ueen and Country.  Some people are able to contact him via the paper, wither by being a close friend (AKA River Song) or by having emotions so strong and powerful the reach across space and time (Young George in Night Terrors). Apparently it also has the ability to pick up news of events he may be able to help with, like a four-dimensional police scanner.

“You don’t normally get spiders in space” – Oh, I don’t know about that.  Aside from the dominant life of Metebelis III, AKA Planet of the Spiders, there’s the Racnoss from The Runaway Bride, the Alzarian Spiders from Full Circle, and lots of other examples from the other media.

“Hydro-generators!” We’ve seen a number of “hybrid” power systems in the new series, like the treeborgs on the Byzantium in Flesh and Stone, which converted photosynthesis to electricity, and provided oxygen to boot.

“I will not have flirting companions” Effectively, Amy has take the role of being in charge here, and is the one figuring things out. Rory is helping his father cope with what he’s seeing, and later, fixing him up when he’s hurt.  He also lies. It’s another sign of how far the Ponds have come in their time with The Doctor, and possibly, why they need to move on.

“I don’t respond well to violence” Of all the events of the episode, it’s The Doctor’s decision of what to do with Solomon that has sparked the most debate.  It’s far from the first time he’s killed – he’s ever talked about the blood on my hands.  Indeed, one could argue that he’s killed more by his inaction.  He chose not to destroy the Daleks at their start in Genesis of the Daleks, as he realized that in some cases, races who were at war would unite to fight them, ending wars that could cause more deaths.  But by doing so, he effectively sentenced all who would die at the Daleks to those deaths.  In The Vampires of Venice, he doomed an entire race to extinction, the amphibious Saturnyne, all because their queen didn’t know the name of one of the girls they killed.  His choices seem based mainly on how cruel the being are acting towards others, and how much potential the have of being rehabilitated.  He chose to help Kazran Sardick and not just push him out of the way (with authority) all because he chose not to strike a child.  But even then, he gives Solomon a chance – he warns him that the ship is under attack, and tells him to leave.  Solomon’s fate is based entirely on his own choices.  He is clearly and irretrievably evil, and none of The Doctor’s companions seem distraught with the choice.

“A monkey could do it…oh look, they’re going to” The Silurians referred to the humans as “apes”, as when they were on the surface, that’s all humans were.

“Try not to bump into the Moon, otherwise the races that live there will be livid” at the time of this episode (2367 AD) there are human colonies on the moon, and presuming the Selenites are not part of the show’s continuity (Considering Mark Gatiss recently produced and starred in a remake of First Men In The Moon, I’d make no such assumptions) there have been no indigenous races reported on the moon.  So he may just have been being funny, but surely the humans on the moon would be annoyed by a fender-bender.

“Daisy, Daisy…” rather an obvious one here – Hal 9000’s last words, a repeat of his first, at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Also makes the earlier reference to Arthur C. Clarke by Brian a nice callback. But not everybody knows the etymology of that choice of song.  A programming team taught an IBM 7094 to sing back in 1961, and this was the song it sang.

“Can I ask a favor? There’s something I want to see” As The Doctor has said many times, traveling with him changes people; usually for the better, if they survive.  In The Sarah Jane Adventures, she explains that she did a bit of research and found a bunch of people who traveled with The Doctor, all of whom have dedicated their lives to helping others in big ways and small, including, of course, herself.  Brian’s transformation from someone who “hates to travel” is a more personal type of transformation, but one no less dramatic.  Considering all the places he’s been in those postcards, it’s assumed that once again, quite some time will have passed until the next time The Doctor visits the Ponds.

“Siluria!” According to the events of The Hungry Earth / Cold Blood, in 1,000 years’ time, the Silurians will emerge from their cryo-chambers and negotiate a peace with the humans of earth. That’s still several centuries away from the events of this adventure.  One wonders how much the flora and fauna of the Silurian Ark will be able to thrive in that time, and whether or not it will make a good world for homo reptilia upon their return?

BIG BAD WOLF REPORT

“Are they the new us?” In School Reunion Rose faced the idea that The Doctor’s Companions come and go, that he has had friends before she came along, and will have some when she leaves.  Amy has known The Doctor literally as long as he’s been in this incarnation, and with Rory, have been traveling with him for most of that time.  The idea that he might stop seeing them and start traveling with other people is clearly something that has crossed their minds.  This carries throughout the episode, and is a theme through much of this semi-season.  His relationship with the Ponds is quite different than other companions – he’s keeping in touch, and even though he’s set them home safe more than once, he’s drawn back to them.  One reason for that is he’s family. He’s married (or will be, or will someday more officially be) to their daughter River Song, and that really needs much more explanation, but wait a couple weeks and I’ll be able to get into get in detail.

“How’s the Job?” It’s a bit of a throwaway line, but Amy has been unable to keep a job, for fear of missing The Doctor.  This whole scene is choked with portent, and is very revealing of the very unique these three have.  It’s been said that Amy and Rory have almost adopted The Doctor;Amy is speaking like a mother who’s afraid to have a life, lest her child need her. She ever expecting a call, asking that she pick him up.

Since we already know that the Ponds will be leaving The Doctor’s company at the end of episode five (tho we of course know in what way, or position), it’s tempting and worrying to hear anything being said about them parting.

“That’s me…worthless” Once again, parts of the universe has forgotten about The Doctor, which was, of course, his plan.  Some are suggesting the capable hands of Oswin Oswald are at it again, but let’s not forget that in the first episode of the new series, The Doctor produced a program that would erase all records of him off the Internet.  No mean feat, to say the least.  He could have easily done the same for this value indexing system…or could do so retroactively at his next opportunity.

NEXT TIME ON DOCTOR WHO – A western, filmed in Spain, with an alien.  THAT’S multiculturalism. A Town Called Mercy, just a week away

Dennis O’Neil: We Can Be Heroes

In my moment, it’s Labor Day. (In your moment…watch me shrug.) That being so – that Labor Day reality – it seems appropriate to think of unions and a cause dear to my heart.

Unions have not been consistent, not in my limited experience. An anecdote? Right after graduating from college, my friend Don Tonelli and I went to San Francisco. No agenda, just a long ramble to somewhere we’d never been. While in the Bay Area we visited my uncle Oscar, whom I’d seen once very briefly when I was a tot, and who was the subject of a bemused mention at clan gatherings. Oscar was a marvelous old man who kept us entertained and fascinated for most of a week. Among his entertainments were stories of the early days of the unions, when he and other skilled craftsmen went to meetings in large groups, armed with rifles, defying the fat cat bosses and their goons, demanding decent wages and working conditions. Back then, unions were the good guys.

But by the time Don and I shared wonderful hours with Oscar, unions had changed. Not for the better. The story went like this: unions had been infiltrated by criminals and had becomes nests of bullies and mobsters. Pretty damn shady enterprises, all in all. We baby blue staters grouped them with society’s ills. We didn’t consider that they provided insurance plans and pension plans and sundry other benefits, including a sense of the pride in working for a living. We were young. We were slow to look at both ends of a question. And, besides, it felt righteous to be pissed off.

Lately, I’ve grouped unions with the good guys again. They are among the few sources of campaign financing that can compete in fund raising with the billionaire-favored superPACs, and so they help blue collar voices to be heard. And they still provide those benefits. Those benefits are important.

We comics guys have never had unions. The closest thing to a union in our world was the Academy of Comic Book Arts, created by a motley crew of freelancers in 1970. ACBA, as we fondly called it, didn’t attempt to negotiate with the publishers, though that was discussed at early meetings, and in the end, did little to provide those important benefits. What it did do was present yearly awards for exemplary work, and that is no small task. But those awards weren’t of much use if your kid was sick or the rent needed paying.

No unions, no benefits. Good luck.

And this brings us to my heart’s dear cause: The Hero Intiative. Which is what, exactly? Here’s a paragraph from the organization’s website:

The Hero Initiative is the first-ever federally chartered not-for-profit corporation dedicated strictly to helping comic book creators in need. Hero creates a financial safety net for yesterdays’ creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It’s a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.

If you get a chance to help H.I., you should take it.

FRIDAY: Martha Thomases Goes Gangnam Style

 

Everything you wanted to know about the “Pond Life” prequel to new Doctor Who season 7

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It’s all fun and games until someone loses a…well, anyway.

This week, as a run-up to the season premiere of Doctor Who, a mini web-series titled “Pond Life”, intended to share a look at the Ponds’ home life in between visits by The Doctor. It was four episodes of entertaining fun, right up until the moment Steven Moffat and writer Chris Chibnall seized our hearts, turned them sideways, and made a tasty broth from our tears.

Each episode summarizes a month between April and August, leading into the events of the first episode, Asylum of the Daleks. All five episodes of “Pond Life” are available on the BBC YouTube channel, mirrored on numerous websites, and is written into the sullen expressions of Who-fen everywhere. Take a look, then we’ll discuss:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMdBsc5pQ1k[/youtube]

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikv0QbubV7Y[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPECCBoCn9o[/youtube]

In April we get the distinct impression that The Doctor has been keeping in touch quite closely with the Ponds via a series of phone messages. He relates a few of his solo adventures, including surfing the Fire Falls of Florial 9 to escape a cohort of his old enemies the Sontarans. He also met “Good little dancer, terrible spy” Mata Hari, and performed backing tracks for one of those hip-hop songs the kids seem to like.

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May is in fact the only time The Doctor and The Ponds directly meet in all five episodes. He bursts into their bedroom, begging them to get dressed, only to realize he’s arrived earlier than he expected, and they’ve no idea what he’s talking about. As flashes of the events to come in the series flash across the screen, he assures them that all is well, the future is “really, really…fine”, and bids them return to sleep.

June and July is a bit of a two-part story – The Doctor has picked up a stray Ood who is still under his conditioning as a servant. Apparently wandering off the TARDIS during a stop at their apartment, and sits waiting in their bathroom for orders. The Doctor assures them the best thing to do is let him follow his conditioning, resulting in the Ponds getting a butler for a brief time.

The Doctor’s popped by to pick the Ood up and return him to Ood-Sphere in between July and the final chapter, assumed to be August, though the date is not specifically mentioned. It’s clearly a bit longer than that, as quite a bit has happened to Amy and Rory. Unaware to The Doctor, Amy and Rory have had a falling out, and we see Rory leaving their home carrying his belongings in a trash bag. And is you look at Amy’s lips, she’s NOT saying “Come back”.

So, quite a bit going on here, lots of fun, some tears and worry – in short, a solid Doctor Who episode.

THE MONSTER FILES –

The Sontarans were introduced in the Jon Pertwee adventures The Time Warrior. A militaristic clone race, they’ve cut swaths across the galaxy, either via simple conquering raids, or as part of their protracted war with their enemy, the Rutans. They were the race behind the invasion of Gallifrey in The Invasion of Time, and almost converted the Earth’s atmosphere to suit them on The Sontaran Stratagem. Christopher Ryan, best known to Americans as Mike “The Cool person” from the punk Britcom classic The Young Ones has appeared twice as two different Sontaran leaders.

The Ood first appeared more recently, in the Tennant adventures The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit. They were portrayed as a servant race, seemingly low in intelligence, communicating via an implanted communication device. In their next appearance Planet of the Ood, it was revealed their situation was far more insidious. Ood are indeed sentient and intelligent, and are born with a second, exterior brain that they use to communicate telepathically to each other, selected people outside their race, and the physical Ood hive mind. This second brain is amputated as part of their “conditioning” process, which severs their link to the hive mind, and effectively lobotomizes them. The Doctor is horrified at the news, and helps to free them from their captivity. Their de facto leader, Ood Sigma, the first conditioned Ood to re-connect to the hive mind, returns to guide The Doctor through his final adventures before his regeneration. An Ood was found on The Junkyard at the End of the Universe in Neil Gaiman’s The Doctor’s Wife, but only because there wasn’t enough in the budget to created the alien Neil had written into the script.

The Ood bear more then a small resemblance to the Hartnell-era aliens The Sensorites, from an adventure of the same name. show runner Russell T. Davies noticed that, and as a tip of the hat, placed their homewold, Ood-Sphere in the same star system as Sense-Sphere, homeworld of the first race.

BACKGROUND BITS AND BOBS – Trivia and production details

ANY LANDING YOU CAN WALK AWAY FROM IS A GOOD ONE – The Helmic Regulator is a recurring issue in the mini-adventure. The Helmic Regulator helps control the precision of the landing of a TARDIS. If not correctly calibrated, the landing point can vary in either space or time.

When Harry Sullivan (accidentally) touched the Helmic Regulator, the TARDIS landed on Nerva Beacon instead of the moon, back in The Ark In Space.

The Doctor made special mention of it again when showing Martha Jones how he prepared the TARDIS for takeoff in Smith and Jones. In the new design (desktop setting) of that console, it resembles a bicycle pump. He was also able to use it, in concert with the thermo-buffer and the zeiton crystals, to prevent a two-Doctor paradox from blowing a hole in the universe the size of Belgium in the mini-adventure Time Crash.

While the Helmic regulator still exists on the new design of the TARDIS, it’s not yet been pointed out specifically on the show.

Interesting fact – the TARDIS console on the set has a user’s manual. The controls on each panel are specifically named, and each has a specific function. Matt Smith was given the manual and had to learn it. He had to learn a precise series of actions to launch or pilot the capsule “properly”. He’s not just making it up.

Doctor Who premieres September 1st on the BBC and BBC America.

Mike Gold: Passion and Wonder

Astronaut Neil Armstrong’s death last week at 82 brings to mind… well, an awful lot of stuff. If I were to put it all in one folder, I would name that folder “Passion and Wonder.”

Passion is the binding force of our lives. Wonder is what keeps us moving forward, what propels us into the future. Passion and wonder combine to create the most vital force in nature.

Passion plus wonder is a formula. Passion plus wonder equals H.G. Wells. Passion plus wonder equals Alice Guy-Blaché. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Nicola Tesla. Bessie Coleman. George Washington Carver. Ray Bradbury. Jack Kirby. Terry Gilliam. Michael Jordan. Sinead O’Conner. Alan Moore. Passion plus wonder equals Harlan Ellison. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Passion plus wonder equals Neil Armstrong.

If not for passion and wonder, our 21st Century would look exactly like Galileo’s father’s 16th Century. Most of us would be living in small villages, never venturing more than 25 miles from the place of our birth. Not that it would be boring; avoiding boredom requires a sense of wonder.

Our culture tends to encourage and, upon occasion, even honor creativity. We are very lucky – previous generations received less support… if any. If you have the passion and the sense of wonder to go out there and create, you have the obligation to do so – both to yourself and to society.

Pursue your passion and create.

It does not take courage. Courage is a retroactive designation for the act of putting one foot in front of the other and finishing something. It’s not up to you to determine its ultimate value. Your job is to pursue your passion, employing your sense of wonder. Posterity is in the eye of the next generation.

Neil Armstrong already stepped on the Moon. You must step into the future.

THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil – You Don’t Exist

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