Tagged: Star Wars

The Point Radio: Hello ‘Scrubs’, Goodbye ‘Monk’ – We Talk To The Stars

The Point Radio: Hello ‘Scrubs’, Goodbye ‘Monk’ – We Talk To The Stars

This week not only saw the return of SCRUBS to ABC primetime, but tonight marks the end of an eight season run for MONK on the USA Network. Donald ‘Turk” Faison tells us how SCRUBS came back from the dead, while MONK himself, Tony Shalhoub, shares what it’s like to end a 120+ run of episodes. Plus Dynamite gobbles up Dabel and STAR WARS parties it up big next summer.

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Review: ‘Logan’s Run’ on Blu-ray

Review: ‘Logan’s Run’ on Blu-ray

What a difference a year makes. In 1976, MGM released a film based on William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson’s 1967 novel [[[Logan’s Run]]]. Generally lambasted by the press, it may have been a nadir in science fiction films putting studios off the genre until the following May, when 20th Century Fox looked forward with [[[Star Wars]]].

Warner Home Video has just released Logan’s Run
on Blu-ray and it finally gave me a chance to see the movie, something that somehow eluded me back in High School. It has most certainly not aged well and I can see why Roger Ebert called it a “vast, silly extravaganza”, which changed the novel in some ways for the better but failed to visually interest us in the society.

In the film, directed by Michael Anderson, the biggest change was in the location of society: domed and hermetically sealed as compared with the book’s newly formed surface cities. The book also has people voluntarily ending their lives at age 21 which probably meant the culture could not be sustained because no sooner did people learn a trade, they had to die. Instead, the film changed the age to 30 at a time when people still spouted “Never trust anyone over 30” (while forgetting the second half: “Or under, either”).

The hedonistic society is said to be devoted to pleasure until the glowing crystal in palm denoted your time to enter an arena and become the night’s entertainment. Everyone else gathers in a stadium to watch you and others born on that date, float upwards towards an energy field that kills them. There’s a rumor that selected people can be “renewed” so people come back night after night to see if someone will be lucky enough.

Those who eschew this lifestyle, those who question the unseen authority that governs the domed world, are known as runners who flee in search of a place known only as Sanctuary. Law enforcement officers, known as Sandmen, are charged with stopping the runners, usually by killing them. And the film follows one such Sandman, Logan 5 (Michael York), as the Artificial Intelligence in charge asks him to go undercover as a runner and find Sanctuary.

Fortunately, he’s found a potential runner to follow in Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter), whom he met only a night or two earlier. Her very questioning society got Logan to thinking so when the opportunity presented itself; he joined her in the escape. What complicates the assignment and spoils the film is Logan not confiding in his best friend, fellow Sandman Francis 7 (Richard Jordan), so Francis chases them, thinking he’s doing the right thing.

Along the way, our heroes are told by a recording to keep following the trail down but at one point they wind up on a platform taking them up. As a result, the movie starts going off the rails when no one ever questions what was “down there”. When they reach the surface, they find an ice cave (prompting them to strip down and wrap themselves in convenient bearskins) and a berserk robot, Box, who has decided freezing runners for eventual consumption made sense.

Escaping Box leads Logan and Jessica to a surface world they never knew existed and there they find the Old Man (Peter Ustinov), who shows them that aging isn’t all that bad. Unfortunately, setting this sequence in a vine-covered Washington, D.C. adds an unnecessary layer of subtext at a time when the country was already question the Federal Government.

Anderson, who did a far better job with George Orwell’s 1984, and screenwriter David Zelag Goodman completely failed to present a comprehensible society or characterization beyond two-dimensional surface traits for the three stars. York and Agutter are easy to watch but have little emotional range in this whereas Jordan’s pop-eyed style seems to come from some other film. Ustinov’s character is about the only one you care about.

A year later, the nature of science fiction film was turned on its head George Lucas’ Star Wars arrived, washing out the distaste left by this mess. Interestingly, Anderson’s earlier film, [[[The Dam Busters]]], has been credited as inspiration for the Death Star battle at the end of Lucas’ film.

The Blu-ray edition looks like a basic transfer without digital enhancements or attempt to clean it up. The extras contain commentary from the DVD edition and a featurette produced back in the 1970s. There’s little to recommend adding this your growing Blu-ray library.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review: ‘Lego Star Wars the Visual Dictionary’

Review: ‘Lego Star Wars the Visual Dictionary’

Lego Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary
By Simon Beecroft
96 pages, $21.99, DK Publishing

It used to be that Lego would never feature licensed characters. Instead, you could construct moon bases or pirate ships and make up your own characters to tell tales plucked straight from your imagination. Then came the first license, [[[Star Wars]]], which proved so successful that there is now an entire line of licensed Lego toys which in turn have spawned video games and related merchandise.

Now, DK Publishing this week provides readers [[[Lego Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary]]] which breaks George Lucas’ universe into sections: the Movie Saga, The Clone Wars, Specialist Sets, and Beyond the Brick. A handy timeline upfront shows you the explosive growth of the line with every set properly displayed and identified for completists.

Each section properly displays each figure or vehicle with a handy guide to the number of pieces, their set number and which film the construct relates to. Along the way, the capsule descriptions provide information not only about the figure or vehicle but about their construction and history. You learn some interesting facts and I discovered to my surprise and delight that set 7163 features a Jedi Bob (must find!).

This is a treasure trove of information for the diehard Lego collector but written for those 7 years old and up, it also is engaging and entertaining with information about the characters and their adventures.

The book, as is typical of DK’s output, is a visual treat and the bottom corners feature, respectively, storm troopers and Luke Skywalker so flipping through the pages you get a sense of animation.

Not being a kid anymore, I found the Beyond the Brick section the most fascinating to see the level of detail that went into their construction as Jens Kronvold Frederiksen, Design Manager, has a nice interview about the entire Star Wars line for Lego.  There’s even a final spread about the Lego Star Wars merchandising which is a growing subset of the overall Star Wars phenomenon.

As with any Lego line, there’s something special here. The book comes complete with an exclusive Luke Skywalker minifigure which begs the question if the book is ruined by taking out the toy to play with his compatriots.

High school cosplay, ‘Venom’ movie, and the rest of the ComicMix Quick Picks

High school cosplay, ‘Venom’ movie, and the rest of the ComicMix Quick Picks

They’re quick, they’re…picked, they’re the stuff we didn’t get to today:

As always, this is an open thread. What did we miss?

Eating Your Favorite Film in Brooklyn

Eating Your Favorite Film in Brooklyn

If you’ve ever craved cupcakes while watching your favorite movie or set out a themed feast for an afternoon with friends, or just happen to be in Brooklyn for today’s Brooklyn Book Festival, you should meet Daniellan Louie. She got her start baking confections for her friends and family and, in 2006, she opened Ivy Bakery. Now she has a menu with over 300 items, which she makes from scratch herself, specializes in custom orders, and has a list of many impressive clients including Marvel Comics, Columbia Pictures, and the Tribeca Film Festival.

I first ran across mention of Ivy Bakery on Twitter when some friends were tweeting about Princess Bride-themed cupcakes. Since then, I have been following the bakery on Twitter for daily updates on what she is baking ( today’s offerings include: “Red Velvet Cake with Vanilla Buttercream shaped like Kingdom of Hearts Key” ). I know that many people in fandom have dietary restrictions, and may be lamenting the lack of cupcakes in their lives, but Ivy Bakery also has many gluten-free, dairy free, vegan, and sugar free items as well as the traditional ones. I recently had a chance to ask Daniellan Louie a few questions about Ivy Bakery, and especially about her awesome movie-themed cupcakes – which she decorates by hand!

What movie-themed cupcakes have you made in the past?
I
just started making the movie-themed cupcakes this summer, but have
made many cakes related to movie/tv characters. The movie cupcake
collection currently consists of The Breakfast Club, Twilight, and The
Princess Bride, the next set coming in the fall will be The Little
Mermaid. I put a pause on the work because it’s been a very slow and
rough summer. I’ve also done characters like Yoda from Star Wars and
would definitely like to do several sets on popular Sci-Fi movies like
Back To The Future, Ghostbusters, Harry Potter.

If you were to make movie themed cupcakes just for yourself, what movie would you choose?
Hmmm,
one of them would be The Princess Bride, but I already made that. For
myself I’d actually be more interested in doing Mario Brothers theme or
classic video games from the past.

If you haven’t yet, would you ever do a Lord of the Rings trilogy triple batch of themed cupcakes?
Definitely,
I haven’t made them yet, but it’s on the to do list, along with Star
Wars, Twilight Series & the Harry Potter Series

Of all the themed items you have made, what was your favorite?
It
would probably be the first Twilight movie. I think the cupcakes came
out very well, I did a double batch with 24 cupcakes since there were
so many characters.

I saw on your site that you had a Pac-Man themed cake. Do you get a lot of 80’s pop-culture nostalgia orders?

I
do, the Pac-Man cake was one of my favorites to make. I’ve also done
Mario Brothers, Sesame Street and a few others that I can’t quite
remember off the top of my head.

 Anime and Manga are very big right now. Have you ever made a cake based on one?
I
haven’t yet, but it’s only a matter of time. I have a friend who
actually draws a lot of Anime and I’m always saying how we should get
together and do cupcakes or cake designs. It would be fun to do a
Sailor Moon cupcake set, I’m not sure if that’s cool or in, but I
remember watching that when I was younger.

Your client list
is impressive! I’m sure our readers are most interested in the fact
that you have baked for Marvel. Can you tell us what you made for them?

Ahh,
Marvel, I’ve never done any custom designs for them, it was all just
corporate orders, cupcakes, cookies, brownies for the office. But if I
was ever approached to do something I would love to. My friend who used
to work at Marvel suggested I do a set of Marvel/DC Logos for the
different heros and villians.

Have you ever catered for a Science Fiction convention?
No, I haven’t, but I would love to, it would be a lot of fun I bet.

I love following your Twitter feed of what you are baking throughout
the day! Most bakeries don’t seem to be online.  Has your internet
presence made a difference for your business?

Definitely, I like
to keep up to date with what’s going on with pop culture in terms of
technology and the net. If everyone is on Facebook, Ivy Bakery has to
be on Facebook, same with Twitter and all the other networking sites.
Twitter has gotten me a number of new customers and exposure throughout
the country. I have so many people asking about my sweets from other
states and wishing that I was closer to them that I would love to go on
a baking tour and bake for anyone who wanted me to. All I need now is a
sponsor.

If you didn’t have someone getting you freebies at San Diego Comic-Con…

If you didn’t have someone getting you freebies at San Diego Comic-Con…

…the nice folks at Random House & Suvudu have set aside a few things for you:

Mark of the Demon signed by author Diana Rowland
Child of Fire signed by author Harry Connolly
Luck in the Shadows signed by author Lynn Flewelling
Black and White signed by authors Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge
G.I. Joe vs. Cobra signed by author Pablo Hidalgo
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi/Death Troopers Double-sided Promotional Posters signed by authors Aaron Allston, Christie Golden and Troy Denning
Star Wars-The Essential Atlas signed by authors Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry
G.I. Joe Above and Beyond signed by author Max Allan Collins
• The Comic-Con Exclusive: Talisman Issue #0 signed by colorist Nei Ruffino
Mirrored Heavens signed by author David J. Williams

All you have to do is submit your name, email
address, mailing address and which prize you would like to win to info@suvudu.com between 12:00 AM on August 10, 2009 and 12:00 AM on August 21, 2009.

Review: ‘Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II’ on DVD

Review: ‘Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II’ on DVD

Robot Chicken has been satirizing popular culture with tremendous success since its debut on Cartoon Network’s [adult swim] in 2005. The brainchild of executive producers Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, the show has skewered all manner of films, television series, and celebrities.

Their most successful outing was the [[[Star Wars]]] Special, first aired in June 2007. The wild success in terms of ratings, critical commentary, and DVD sales meant a sequel was inevitable. The [[[Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II]]] special aired last November and was recently released on DVD by Warner Home Video. It was also nominated for a 2009 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour).

Amazingly, the 22-minute special has been expanded and extended so the disc is filled with 93 minutes of material. You have the original broadcast version, plus the 38 minute extended versions and then 33 minutes of extras.  That’s pretty impressive.

The special is also pretty damned funny. The short sketches plays with most of the six films, mainly [[[A New Hope]]] although the AT-AT race is inspired from [[[The Empire Strikes Back]]]. All you favorite characters are represented with original performers Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams and Ahmed Best reprising their film roles. As a result, it sounds and feels right.

Highlights include a Stormtrooper bringing his daughter to work and involving her in the fight with the rebels at the opening of the fourth film. The Geico commercials having people interpret real life incidents gets a once over with Jar-Jar Binks, in his best role yet, trying to help a woman. Throughout the special, there are great sight gags and one-liners. Obviously, not every joke or sketch is brilliant, but they never fail to amuse.

Clearly, the extended version gives you more to enjoy and plays better than the truncated broadcast edition. The tons of extras show you how the stories were conceived, from Green acting out a sketch for the animators, to a look at the production designs and set construction. A feature on the stop-motion process shows how much time goes into shooting these figures and gives you new appreciation for the art form.

A short shows the cast and crew trekking to Skywalker Ranch, now in the Presidio, to screen the finished show for the staff, including George Lucas, who at least gets the joke. Another short features the 501st Legion presenting awards to Green and Senreich.

Finally, there’s a ton of commentary, as amusing as the shorts themselves, from a ton of folk including Best, Williams, and unexpected folk such as Frank Oz.