Month: September 2009

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Nostalgia Minute: Rebellious Robot Turns 30

rebrobotIf you were a kid when A New Hope was first released (we’re talking ol’ fart fans), then chances are that The Mystery of the Rebellious Robot holds a tender place in your heart.

Writer John Booth tracked down one of its creators, Mark Corcoran, for an interview on its 25th anniversary.  He has updated it for the 30th.  An interesting look at what was going on during that era. (via)

This makes me want to dig out all of my old kids’ books and relive the joy.

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One to chew on: A recovered message from the Purge

We’ve just received something rather odd… Thoughts?

NOTE: The following messages were recovered from the Imperial Prison Barge Purge, after its discovery in the Unknown Regions.

With the exception of certain elements that have been redacted upon the request of specific parties or individuals, these letters and notations are presented here unedited, with their original spelling and syntax intact, in the interest of galactic scholarship.

The messages have been distributed to the following sites: www.deathtroopers.com, www.starwars.com, www.swactionnews.com, www.njoe.com, www.rebelscum.com, www.theforce.net, www.clubjade.net

Letter from Dr. Zahara Cody, Chief Medical Officer, to her father, Teef Lan Cody:

Dear Dad:

I’m writing to you instead of Mother because I hope you’ll understand what I’m about to say in the context that it’s intended. I’ve given a lot of thought to what you said and I’ve reluctantly come to the conclusion that you’re right.

Consequently I’m resigning my post here after this mission is complete and will be coming back to (REDACTED) to take my place in the (REDACTED) organization.

I certainly don’t regret the choices that brought me this far. Working for Imperial Corrections, I’ve gained invaluable life experiences and learned more about myself than I’d ever imagined. But events have unfolded here aboard the Purge in the past few weeks that have forced me to reevaluate my priorities.

So I will see you and Mom soon. I hope to be back aboard a transport headed to the Core Worlds by next week’s end. It may take a bit longer. There’s something wrong with our engines. But I’m sure it will be fixed soon enough.

Love,
Zahara

And something familiar…

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Movie news: Tolkien heirs settle with New Line

hobbit-book-coverTolkien lawsuit settled. The trustees of J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate have settled their lawsuit with New Line over the profits from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings adaptations. Terms were not disclosed, but that’s certainly one less roadblock to The Hobbit adaption.

  • Industry. Warner Bros. is reorganizing DC Comics, relaunching it as DC Entertainment. Diane Nelson, who has overseen the Harry Potter movies, will run it.
  • Disney. There’s a new full-length trailer for The Princess and the Frog, awakening more than a bit of controversy. Meanwhile, the documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty, about Disney’s last return to traditional animation, sounds very interesting.
  • More, uh, Disney. Pixar folks deny that the Marvel project they’re “excited about” is not, as Entertainment Weekly reported, Ant-Man. I say Pixar is the only studio who could make me consider seeing an Ant-Man movie, and that barely.
  • He-Man. At least one property of my childhood is safe (for now:) Warner Brothers is dropping their option on Masters of the Universe. My embarrassment squick thanks them.
  • The Road. This years’ Viggo Mortensen genre fix has been pushed back to Thanksgiving.
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Gate Geek: io9 has seen Universe and it is good….

And lo,  io9 got to see the first three hours of Stargate Universe.  And it was good.  They even managed to write a spoiler-free review about it.

In a nutshell, it’s not your regular Stargate, but it still has it as its core.  And they ask you to give it at least until the end of the third hour until you decide for yourself.  Plenty of stuff for “Gaters” to get riled about; which “Gaters” love to do.  (Can I be not a fan of the whole “Gaters” designation, though?)

At Dragon*Con, I got the chance to speak briefly with Gary Jones (aka Walter “Chevron Counting Guy” Harriman) who has been there during production and even saw some preliminary cuts.  He thinks we’re going to love it if we give it a chance.

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The Star Wars costumes of Dragon*Con

If the reports are anything to go on, there was no missing the many steampunk-themed costumes at Dragon*Con this weekend; No surprise that there were several Star Wars variations. Not surprisingly there were a lot of stormtroopers, bounty hunters and your other standards, but Cardinal Vader may be a new one. (Though one must admit it isn’t much of a logical leap.) Or we can just go straight for the crossdressers. Or the ever-popular Spaceballs. (Photo at right by Ryan James.)

And this adorable no-frills two-person AT-AT costume was a big hit with the #dragoncon tweeters. How about them boxes? But for sheer ‘ah, screw it’ daring, my vote goes to these guys.

And in conclusion, baby.