Solo vs. Reynolds

The Han Solo (Star Wars) vs Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly / Serenity) debate will be one that will go on until the end of time, and over on Squidoo we've gone ahead and created a lens to help sort out this debate.

Check Out Our Han / Reynolds Duel Lens

-GJ

Two By Two, Hands Of Blue

There was an argument several years ago about the men with hands of blue from the TV series Firefly and their fate in the Verse. What was argued was the fact that there just wasn't much explained about them and that it was a disappointment to many that they failed to appear in the movie Serenity.

Although many die hard fans do remember that prior to the release of Serenity, Dark Horse Comics had released a three comic series titled "Those Left Behind" that did feature the men with blue hands. In the third installment it is assumed that the two crisped bodies seen in one of the final panels are them, however, that is only an assumption that readers were able to make, there isn't anything set in stone that says that was them.

Many also point out that there have to be more than just two men in the entire Verse that have hands of blue, there has to be some sort of origin, and may be we would have been entitled to all of this if Joss Wheadon was allowed to finish his vision. -GJ

R2-D2 WTF??

This pic came up on Sci-Fi Wire over the weekend of 9/12/09 and I came to agree with them that this is a must see pic. Sci-Fi Wire found the pic over on Geekologie

No one is exactly sure where it originated from, but many assume somewhere out of Japan.

Oh and please feel free to insert your jokes in the comment section on this one. -GJ

Sci-Fi Now SyFy

On July 9, 2009 the Sci-Fi Channel changed its name to the SyFy Channel. What does this mean to the network's loyal viewers, well absolutely nothing. The change was made because the network wanted a more hip and up to date image. So they said.

What it really does is allow the network to justify its lack of true Science Fiction. Lets face it, over the last several years there has been a decline in the number of true Sci-Fi shows. Yes there are still some on, or soon to premiere, but if you break it down the network should have changed to the Horror Channel.

Granted Horror is a sub-genre to Sci-Fi, but it still should not completely dominate the schedule. The network also runs on a pinch of Fantasy with a dash of true Sci-Fi.

But with the name change they can now tell people "hey we're more than just starships and space aliens, we offer more to fans of the genre." In our opinion we need more starships and space aliens to restore the genre to its glory and to make the Sci-Fi, sorry, SyFy Channel a respectable network again. - GJ

GUNDAM 00 Season 2 - To Air

Gundam 00 Season 2 will begin airing on the Sci-Fi Channel starting on June 29, 2009

View the shows opening below.

Engine Repaired

So last week somebody on the staff managed to pick up a virus and pass it on to everyone else. Damage was kept to a minimum, we think. However, if anyone comes across any missing images or videos please let us know so we can correct it.

Bad news is we lost articles we were working on because stupid us, we hadn't wrote them on blogger.com but in Microsoft Word instead. So give us sometime and we'll get you some new content.




Back To Space We Go, Hope To See You There!

Economy May Hurt Sci-Fi Entertainment

Okay so let's cut the scope of this article down to futuristic space operas/dramas are in trouble. (Science Fiction as a whole will be fine, mostly because of the sub-genres Horror and Fantasy.)

We all know it is very expensive to produce a TV show; sets have to be built, writers and actors to be paid, and advertising to be performed to draw a crowd. Unfortunately it costs a lot more to do a Science Fiction show based in outer space or in the future, because besides the normal sets (which are more extensive in themselves), a lot of computer graphics also come into play and that's where a lot of money ends up being spent.

Even before the economy down slide studios were cutting these shows because of cost. Some prime examples are Dark Angel, Space Above And Beyond, Futurama, and our favorite show all time FIREFLY.


Now unfortunately even shows that have made it two, three, even five years are looking at an end. Battlestar Galactica is in its final season, there are currently no new Star Trek TV series, and though FOX hasn't admitted it just yet, we are probably seeing the final season of The Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

The only gleam of hope at the moment for this brand of entertainment is the upcoming Stargate Universe series that will be airing on the SciFi Channel.

The effects of the economy are not only affecting the small screen, but the silver screen as well. As studios look into what should be cut back it's almost a guarantee that space operas are to be dropped, just for the simple fact that they do not produce the same results stupid fart joke movies do.

The much anticipated Halo movie has already become one such casualty in this time of economic crisis, and thus lays the foundation of many other movies to be shelved.


But we can always hope for a huge economic surge towards the better, one that will allow studios to go ahead with plans to make those shelved movies, someday we may yet get our Halo, along with others like Gears of War, Robotech, or any other space opera our minds can imagine.

And here's hoping. -GJ

Money Waster

So for those that haven't heard, or haven't been to scifi.com this week, FOX has announced that they will be beaming their new movie "The Day The Earth Stood Still" into space on opening day, 12/12/08.

The transmission is set to be aimed towards Alpha Centauri. There's just one little problem with their aim; the time it takes to reach Alpha Centauri will actually put Alpha Centauri out of the transmissions range.

Everything in space is in constant motion, and since we're talking about FOX, we all know that they have not considered this.

And for those of you that are panicking that we are showing possible ways for an alien race to attack the Earth, take a deep breath, and remember, if they have the ability to space travel, they don't need our help in planning our destruction.

Read Sci-Fi.com's article Here.

Editor's Note

FOX can afford to beam a brand new movie into space, but claimed that it was just too expensive to produce an episode of FIREFLY, am I the only one who has a problem with this? - GJ

To 'B' Or Not To 'B'

In the film industry there are two types of movies; the standard theater blockbuster and the straight to DVD or TV movie. It's the latter that we focus on here.

These straight to DVD or TV movies are normally referred to as 'B' movies. These are movies that were made on a low budget, usually with actors just beginning or ending their careers, and involve a theme or story that nine out of ten times is mediocre at best.

The Science Fiction genre makes a very good living on these types of movies. In fact three to four of these such films can be seen on the Sci-Fi channel on any given day. These movies have ranged from good to bad, to what where they smoking when this seemed like a good idea.

Here is a very tiny list of some of our most memorable 'B' movies.

Equilibrium - released shorty after The Matrix, Equilibrium was one of the better films to start using the same type of choreography.


Starship Troopers 3: Marauder - Did somebody say "Franchise Savior." Casper Van Dien returns with Paul Verhoeven to save a stumbling franchise. Read our full review HERE

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation - Minus everyone from the original movie, add a decent storyline with some terrible acting and what we have here is a disappointment.

Recon 2022: The Mezzo Incident - remember this list is memorable movies, memorable does not mean good, or in this case, anywhere even close to decent. Full review available HERE

There are hundreds of others and we want to hear some of your most memorable, so drop us a comment and express yourself. - GJ

Sci-Fi Wire's Star Wars Spoof List - Reviewed

As much as the folks here at Imperial Post love Star Wars, we have to say we were quite disappointed with Sci-Fi Wire's Nine Best Star Wars Spoofs. (Their article can be read HERE). Let's break it down.

First and foremost, why in the world do you place Clerks at number 1? Yes, it was a good movie, but are you really going to place this over Spaceballs? We don't think so.


Spaceballs belongs at number 1 on everyone's list of best Star Wars Spoofs, there just can be no arguing this fact. Oh and Mr. Brook's, G4, we're still waiting for the release of Spaceballs The Animated Series.

Since we enjoy Family Guy and love Star Wars we feel that Family Guy Blue Harvest should so be near the top of this list. The only real complaint we had was one of our favorite scenes from the celebration trailer was left on the cutting room floor. We do however look forward to the parody of The Empire Strikes Back.

Robot Chicken was also placed on the Sci-Fi Wire list and given the number 9 position. If you haven't read their article yet, then you don't understand what an injustice this is. Robot Chicken was not great, especially since it spans through the entire saga and was hyped up so, but it in no way deserves to be number 9.

Two fan films also made the list; Troops, which will always be a classic, and The Original Gangsta Rap. These actually deserve to be on the list even thou there are now probably over some several thousand fan films, some even better than these; however if not for these two setting the standards for quality, we would have to endure a lot more junk films.


Chappelle's Show, The Colbert Report, and SNL were funny, however they don't really belong on this list. If you feel that they do then we'd like to argue that shows like the Simpons, South Park, and most certainly Futurama belong here as well.

So now go back and reread Sci-Fi Wire's post HERE. Then tell us what you think, because here at Imperial Post we love to hear your Science Fiction Opinions, especially when it involves Star Wars.

Col. O'Neil vs. Col. O'Neil

In the blue corner we have Colonel Jonathan "Jack" O'Neil from the original Stargate Movie (Kurt Russell).


And in the red corner his opponent for the evening Colonel Jonathan "Jack" O'Neil from the SG-1 Series (Richard Dean Anderson).


Everyone does realize that the Col. O'Neil from the movie is suppose to be the exact same person in the SG-1 series, right? Yet have you noticed that their characteristics are somewhat different from one another.

The Jack O'Neil portrayed by Russell in the movie is a serious, take charge, do it by the books kinda guy. He needed what we'll call "dummy speak*" on rare occasions.

Jack O'Neil of SG-1 however spent most of his time attempting to find humor in every situation possible, and was constantly spoken too using "dummy speak."

There are still some similarities between the Jack O'Neils. One being that no matter what happens during the mission, your top priority is bringing all your team members home, even if that means sacrificing yourself. The second and the one we enjoy most, is that they both love to take cheap shots at Dr. Daniel Jackson.



As far as the actors portraying Col. O'Neil, we'd like to give a pat on the back to both casting directors for the fine decisions that they made. For each Col. O'Neil the appropriate actor was hired, and we have no complaints here in this department.

If we really had to pick a Col. O'Neil, well we just couldn't do it. We liked both characters and actors. Our guess is that if you get down to the nuts and bolts of each man, you would have a hard time picking just one too.


Keep in mind that you have to base one Col. O'Neil from a single movie, and the other from several television seasons.

*Dummy Speak - To have something explained using small, simple, everyday words.

Gundam 00 To Air In US

The next great installment of the gundam universe, GUNDAM 00, is coming to the Sci-Fi channel in mid November.

View The Trailer Now

The Best Star Trek Series Is...

Your guess is a good as ours. Every person has their own opinion about which Trek series they feel is the best. For those of us stationed here at the post, we're kinda leaning towards the Next Generation series.

Don't get us wrong, we do enjoy several episodes from the different Trek series; well we have yet to find a single episode that we care for from the Enterprise series.

It just seems that the Next Generation series has better storylines and characters that we seem to be able to relate to. Plus Data keeps us laughing and we enjoy that.

So lets here your arguments for the best Trek series.

Interesting Sci-Fi Movie Fact #0001

Sticking with the Firefly / Serenity theme, here is the first of many interesting Sci-Fi movie facts that will be posted from time to time.

In the movie Serenity, during the Reaver chase scene, the stunt coordinator wanted to make the shot of Jayne having a harpoon shot through his leg look as realistic as possible. Well as luck would have it, Jayne's stunt double actually had a prosthetic leg, therefore they went ahead and shot the harpoon through the leg.


This has been an interesting Sci-Fi Movie fact.

Wash Reads His OWN Eulogy

This is one of the best interview sessions at a convention. Alan Tudyk, who played Wash in Firefly and Serenity, along with Summer Glau, River in Firefly and Serenity, are at DragonCon 2006 where a contest for who could write the best eulogy for Tudyk's character Wash was held. This is a video taken during that interview session.

Favorite Firefly / Serenity Character

If you've ever seen the television series Firefly or the hit movie Serenity then you know you have a tough choice to make.

If you're a shallow person where appearance is the only thing you worry about then your choice is almost impossible. I mean who can really make a choice between Kaylee, River, and Inara. Having all three is not an option, a great fantasy, but not an option.

Each character also renders an equal amount of humor, courage, and craziness throughout the series, so even trying to choose by personality is a tough situation.

But eventually everyone makes some kind of choice. My choice in this case is the one and only Jayne Cobb.


Jayne is the crew’s hired gun. He does everything for money, and when the price is right he may even turn against Mal and the rest of the crew. Jayne is not the brightest person in the universe, but he is one of the funniest. Most of the series memorable moments were provided by Jayne. He even has a song "Hero of Canton" which was wrote after a heist went sour. See even in failure he touches people's lives, which makes him great.





LISTEN TO HERO OF CANTON

Everyone should make a choice, so which character will you choose?

***Firefly can be seen on the Sci-Fi channel, check your local listings for dates and times***

UFO Hunters

"I don't believe in UFOs" - Dennis Anderson, NY SPI from Sci-Fi Channels new show UFO Hunters. Understand that this show is to follow the folks at NY SPI, who are skeptics, as they look to find evidence to disprove UFO sightings and alien abductions, but for the scholar of the group to make that statement is just baffling.

A UFO is an Unidentified Flying Object. If a blimp flies over a playground of children who have never seen one, is that not a UFO to them?

It's practical to assume that ninety-five percent of the world's population who hear the word UFO, will receive the image of silver circular metallic shapes floating in the sky long before anything else comes to mind.



Thousands of people a year claim to see some sort of UFO in the sky, most assuming it to have been a starship, and for those thousands, there are hundreds out there to prove or disprove their claims. These hunters, researchers, or the average joe looking to find something unique in this crazy world of ours, all have their own theories, thoughts and opinions on the subject, and nobody is afraid to express themselves.

The most important thing to remember is that everyone should keep their eyes to the sky, because you never know what you'll find, anything is possible.



*Special Note*
There are currently two unique shows on television running under the name UFO Hunters. One on the Sci-Fi channel, the other on the History channel. Check your local listings for showings.