Sunday, December 23, 2007

Adultswim, STOP Complaining About The Anime

STOP, Stop right now. We are all tired of seeing the graphics that bad mouth the anime on your schedule. Maybe you want to try something different then, well here’s a thought, play some good anime.

Eureka 7, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Blue Gender to name a few were good anime to have been played. Maybe because they had either some sort of space or robot theme, these seemed to be the most enjoyable of your past schedule. Shows like Death Note (which is awesome), Trinity Blood, Samurai Champloo, and Fooly Cooly were good for things of change, but remember not everyone is into the vampires/demons (Blood+, InuYasha, Bleach) and series being rerun like six thousand times (Cowboy Bebop).


In my opinion maybe you should consider getting rid of all non-anime shows from your schedule. The only non-anime you’ve ever played that I liked is either going or has gone by the wayside anyways (Futurama, Sealab 2021, Mission Hill). Everything else is either poorly animated, or just absolutely disgusting, and in most cases both. Granted an episode of Family Guy once in a while is entertaining to watch but I could have lived happily if it was never picked up again.

So how about trying to find more space or giant robot themed anime to play, usually these are also a little bit more adult themed as well. I remember a couple years back Toonami did a Giant Robot week and they played three episode of a show called Martian Successor Nadesico, that was good, why not try that. There are also several Gundam series that have yet to make it to American airwaves so why not pick one of them?


You know what; why not try uncut, unedited Sailor Moon? Anything has to be better than Assy McGee, Saul Of The Mole Men, 12 oz. Mouse, The Boondocks, and Frisky Dingo.

So unless you make a better attempt at what’s on your schedule, quite displaying graphics about how bad your anime ratings are, because it’s no one’s fault but your own.

Spaceballs: The Animated Series


Really? Are you serious? Fall of 2007 on G4, no kidding?

So now that it’s past the fall of ’07, where in the world is this series? I personally never saw any of the promos, but they’re out there, just go to YouTube and type in Spaceballs the animated series and they’ll be there.

For those that seen the original Spaceballs movie, you know just as well as I do that we all wanted to see a sequel, but we could’ve all lived with an animated series. Spaceballs was an epic science fiction spoof movie poking fun at mostly Star Wars (force = Schwartz, Darth Vader = Dark Helmet), but was enjoyed by all.

The animated series was even overseen by the great Mel Brooks himself. So you know this series had to be worthwhile, and yet, we wonder about its existence.

Maybe G4 just couldn’t find a spot for it, you know they have all these great shows as it is; Arrested Development, Cops, Cheaters, Ninja Warrior. Okay so I’m being sarcastic, the shows I just listed I wish they would ditch altogether because they really just don’t belong. I understand Star Trek, Cinetech, Cheat, and X-Play, but how many channels do we really need to play Cops on? Don’t get me wrong I enjoy the show once in awhile because people are just dumb, but it already runs on like ten other channels.

So G4, I say get rid of the crap and give us the Spaceballs cartoon. It can’t be any worse then what is currently on your schedule.

The Machines From The Terminator Universe, Intelligent?

By now we have all seen the three Terminator movies and are anxiously awaiting the premier of the Sarah Connor Chronicles. Some maybe even ready for the fourth movie that is rumored to begin production soon.

But the question here has to be asked, are the machines actually all that intelligent? I mean they had a good concept in the first movie. They couldn't kill John Connor in the future so send a machine back in time to kill his mother, Sarah Connor.

Great idea, just one little problem. Sarah Connor has proven to be a tougher opponent than John Connor. In the first movie the terminator failed to kill Sarah Connor, in the second and even third it was the terminator’s job to kill John Connor as a teenager, but both times there was involvement from his mother that cost the terminator’s their lives and allowed the future to continue the way it was.



The new TV series the Sarah Connor Chronicles seems to most fans of this saga that it will be a great watch. It falls between movies two and three, so again John Connor is a teenager, but this time along with his mother he will have a new female protector played by Summer Glau (River Tam; Firefly, Serenity). This is where I feel the machines fail to show intelligence.

Why would you bother to keep making attempts on John Connor as a teenager when you know Sarah Connor will be getting involved? You already know that if you could successfully get rid of Sarah Connor like you attempted in the first Terminator movie, there would be no John Connor, so why not try killing Sarah Connor as a teenager, or take it one step farther, go kill Sarah Connor’s mother.

Maybe the machines shouldn’t even focus on the Connor family altogether. Why not eliminate other families that assist John Connor in the future. John Connor never made a stand by himself it was always as the leader of the human army, so if you take away his army, you take away his victory. And they say machines are smarter than man.

With all this said, I still plan on watching and enjoying the Sarah Connor Chronicles and who knows maybe the fourth movie won’t be as bad as the third.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles airs in January on FOX.

Codename: Kids Next Door

Though it is really nothing more than a children’s cartoon, as an adult I find it fascinating. It has good clean humor for the kids, but the creative imagination that is beyond most adults. Not to mention it has quality animation unlike most American made cartoons.

For those that have not seen the Kids Next Door (KND) you may want to make an attempt at seeing at least one episode, regardless of your age.

Here’s a very quick recap of the story. We follow a team of five kids somewhere around the age of ten in their quest to conquer adult suppression; be that from doing chores/homework to eating their vegetables.

So many people maybe wondering why I chose to blog about a children’s cartoon like KND. Well if you’d seen the show you would know. This cartoon is chalk full of science fiction goodness. There’s creative weaponry, vehicles, tree-houses and moon-base, the virtual reality machine that appeared in an episode, along with the incorporation of several big science fiction movies in the creation of episodes (the most dominant being Star Wars).

When you can make a snow day from school turn into the battle of Hoth in the Empire Strikes Back using school buses for AT-AT walkers, you have yourself something that many people will enjoy. Actually that entire episode was full of different Star Wars spoofs and is probably my personal favorite.

The conflict in this series is also not only between the kids and adults but teenagers as well. For most of the series it’s every organization for themselves, but there are times when the groups form short term treaties to put a stop to the opposition that may be gaining an advantage over the other two.

For a children’s cartoon, it’s very appealing to adults, just keep in mind, it’s a children’s cartoon and to gain access to doors and secret chambers the kids don’t use keys or passwords, but reach deep into their noses to pull out a booger or two.

Truly a must see, KND airs several different times a week on Cartoon Network.


Monday, December 17, 2007

Futurama – It’s Back Baby



Well kind of. With the release of Futurama: Bender’s Big Score, we finally get to see our favorite delivery crew in an all new adventure. Something we have all wanted for a long time.

For those that haven’t run right out to buy Bender’s Big Score yet (which we say shame on you), the movie will be broken down into four episodes and aired on Comedy Central sometime in the near future. Just keep in mind that some content will have to be deleted for the run time allotted.

Bender’s Big Score is just the first of four straight to DVD movies that we will be getting to see. We also have:

The Beast With A Billion Backs
Bender’s Game
The Wild Green Yonder

There is currently no scheduled release date for the next three films, but we do know that they will also be broken down into four episodes and aired on Comedy Central.

We can pray that if these DVDs have great sales, along with great ratings from when they’re aired on TV, added with the ratings from the series being run on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, we hope to get more new episodes. Hey if it can happen for Family Guy, it should happen for Futurama.

One disadvantage for Futurama is that as of January 1, 2008 the series will no longer be aired on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

But forget about the negative, because at least for a short time we have new Futurama. If you don’t like it Bender says “Bite my shiny metal @$$.”


Friday, December 14, 2007

Wanted: Science Fiction Movies

Here I am posting a list of science fiction movies that I would love to see hit theaters some time in the near future. Some of these are actually in production, and some are just going to be wishful thinking, but none the less, it makes for an interesting list.

Transformers 2 - A sequel to the biggest movie of the summer is a must. I don't care what any of the critics said, this was an awesome movie and deserves to have a sequel. Transformers 2 is tentatively set for release on June 26, 2009.

Serenity 2 - All brown coats know exactly what I'm talking about here. Serenity, based on the short lived but epic Firefly series, is one that should fly back on to the big screen in an all new feature film. Media sources state that this is one that is not likely going to happen anytime soon, but we can all hope for the best.

X-Men 4 - This one should happen, though it more than likely will happen after the X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, which is scheduled for a May 1, 2009 release. I want to see an X-Men 4 though if too much time passes, they will probably end up replacing most, if not all of the cast from the previous three films, and that will lead to the downfall of this film. If I don't see Gambit in four though, it won't matter how good the plot or cast is, I'm still going to be disappointed anyways.

Spider-man 4 - These movies have been getting better as the series moves forward. There are several concepts that are still available for exploration in this series, and we all look forward to seeing which avenue this next chapter will take. This is another candidate for a 2009 release.

Teen Titans - Okay so I fell in love with the cartoon series running on the Cartoon Network. This has been one of the better concepts for superheros of late and though it was designed as a children's cartoon it could be adapted quite well for adults. There is a more adult themed comic series based on the cartoon, but I hope they keep the characters and concepts from the cartoon, but give it that adult upgrade, for I wasn't all that fond of the few comics focusing on this series. We will all be spending a lot of time at the theaters in 2009, Teen Titans is another set for this particular year.

Batman Beyond - I hate the prequel Batman movies; Begins and Dark Knight (even if it's not out yet). This is another cartoon that hit the concept right and this was even discussed as being an option before they started with Begins. The only reason Begins was done instead of Beyond is because Beyond is set into the future where Gotham has had a classic Sci-Fi city upgrade, which means a lot more money would have had to been spent on graphics and apparently it was not worth the risk if the film was a flop. In my opinion Begins was differently not worth the money.

Gundam - A live action Gundam movie would be an enjoyable one for me. I have seen many of the Gundam series (Mobile Suit Gundam, 08th MS Team, Gundam Wing, Gundam Seed, G-Fighter, and two other series I can't remember the names too) and I can see anyone of these having a new story created for the big screen. Each series has seen different worlds and unique characters and this concept means a film could be entirely independent from the different anime series, so people would be familiar with the concept of Gundams but not expect a film to be true to any particular series. Since this would be based on an anime series the Japanese could do this film and I would still pay theater prices to see it here in the states.

Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy - Title alone says it all. I've read the Timothy Zahn books (which I love), and think every Star Wars fan would love to see these on the big screen. Plus more movies would bring more toys, and I'm a big dork who loves his toys. Oh yea, did I mention STAR WARS!!!!!!

God willing, we at least get half of these movies, though it would be fantastic to get all eight of these films. Here's hoping.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

My Favorite Sci-Fi TV Shows

Here are the shows that have made the greatest impact on my imagination and creativity. Again I know there will be arguments and complaints about this list, and again I say you will get over it.


Andromeda
Battlestar Galactica (Original)
Cowboy Bebop
Firefly
Futurama
Gundam Wing
Space Above and Beyond
Stargate SG-1
Star Trek – The Next Generation
The Jetsons

Sunday, December 9, 2007

My Favorite Science Fiction Movies

This is a list of my favorite Sci-Fi movies. I know people will disagree with this list but that's okay, we're all entitled to our opinions, even if they're wrong. These are movies I liked and that's all that truly matters. But feel free to express your thoughts on this list, or hey, create your own.

Alphabetical order.

Blade Runner
Chronicles of Reddick
Equilibrium
Fantastic Four
Fifth Element
Final Fantasy VII – Advent Children
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Independence Day
Men In Black
Minority Report
Serenity (Firefly)
Spaceballs
Spider-Man
Stargate
Starship Troopers
Star Wars – Complete Saga
The Matrix
Transformers
X-Men

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Battlestar Galactica - New vs Old

Most people will argue that new is always better than old, but in this case, I'm going to be going with the old, even though I wasn't born during the original airing of the first series.

The decision to stand by the old series is because I just can't stand the changes made for the new series.

The first and biggest thing that bothers me about the new series over the old is the changing of Starbuck from male to female. Starbuck was a womanizing, hot shot, who couldn't help but get into all kinds of trouble. The new female Starbuck, not the most attractive actress first of all, has only one characteristic in common with the original Starbuck and that's being a hot shot, and the whole love thing with Apollo is just kinda disturbing.

The difference between Apollo between series is also something that bugs me. The original Apollo was headstrong and near fearless, and was often competitive with Starbuck over women. New Apollo, a wuss who finds Starbuck attractive, and wants to do nothing but please his father, Admiral Adama (who was just a commander in the original series).

Next there's the problem with the cylons. Cylons were originally a robotic race, covered in armor, glowing red light running back and forth across the visor on their helmets, not human replicas like they are now. They were never suppose to blend in, granted it is a good concept, I think it just upsets me that almost all cylon human replicas resemble females.

Other problems with the new series is the fact that they have added to many characters, changed characteristics of those that we admired originally, and the fact that Boomer went from a black man to an asian female is just upsetting in its own right.

If this series was designed to follow another ship and crew from the same universe and state that it was inspired by Battlestar Galactica, this maybe would have had more of a fan base and been a more enjoyable series for all.



Sunday, December 2, 2007

Batman Beyond



What in the world was wrong with following this concept instead of that whole prequel Batman crap. Batman Begins was bad, but now there's the upcoming Dark Knight film; Please, someone make it stop. Seriously, would it have been so bad to move forward in time?

Batman Beyond is set approximately forty years into the future. Bruce Wayne has retired as Batman, but don't worry there's a new kid on the block, Terry McGinnis.

Terry is a high school student out for revenge, seeking his father's killer, when he happens to stumble upon the bat cave. Bruce Wayne throws him out, but being the resilient man he is, Terry just steals the bat suit. And history is made.

Gotham in forty years has seen an interesting upgrade. Everywhere you look you will find large skyscrapers, and tons of swarming flying vehicles. The residents of Gotham have changed a little as well. The most notable are splicers and the gang The Jokers.

The Jokers is a gang that has decided to build their appearance and lifestyle around the infamous Joker. Not the brightest people around, but are considerably dangerous due to their numbers. Terry however usually doesn't have too much trouble dispensing them.

Splicers are an interesting breed of people. They're mostly teenagers, all of whom have mixed their DNA with some sort of animal. Not only do they obtain the animals behavior but also some of their physical attributes as well. Like the Jokers, splicers tend to travel in groups, and can often be quite a handful for our Batman. But in the end, we all know who's going to win anyways.

This was a good series, though keep in mind it was a series for children. This series ran for three seasons, contains 46 episodes, several movies, and has numerous comics.