Category Everything Else

Jan 13 2012

Fringe Nears Its End

Fringe ends its mid-season break when it airs a new episode “Back To Where You’ve Never Been” on Friday the 13th (!) on Fox.

Sadly, this may be the swan song for the show being that its ratings have been terrible. Fox president Kevin Reilly said recently that the show isn’t profitable which most likely means that it’s on the chopping block. A shame really. Fringe (about federal investigations into incidents dealing with fringe science) is the best science fiction show currently airing and credit has to go to the producers (Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and J.J. Abrams) for throwing caution into the wind and running full steam with the show’s complex mythology in this season.

Last time on Fringe, Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson) returned from limbo into our universe much to the chagrin of the enigmatic Observers (who seem to be trying to maintain the dimensional and temporal cohesion of the multiverse). Unfortunately, Peter concludes that the universe he returned to is not his own because no one, not even his father Water Bishop (John Noble) or lover FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) have any memory of him since he was erased from our  timeline.

Yes it’s a bit complicated, but here goes: throughout the show’s run there has been an impending war brewing between our universe and another parallel universe due to an incursion made by Walter back in the 1980s to a parallel world (where the World Trade Center is intact and airships dot the skies) to save Peter’s life and winds up bringing him to live in our universe.

All the interdimensional traveling is causing wormholes to appear that threaten to destroy the fabric of reality in both universes. At the end of the third season, the show jumps forward to 2026 where the parallel world is destroyed and ours face the same fate. Then there’s Olivia’s death at the hands of the evil alternate version of Walter. To reverse this, Peter Bishop uses a giant machine placed in the ancient past to change history in 2011. He creates an interdimensional bridge between the two universes so that both sides can work together and resolve their differences. It works, though it leaves an uneasy truce between the two factions and with Peter erased from the proper timeline.

For the most part the changes to the timeline have been very minor apart from Peter’s absence. The characters have changed subtly and only dedicated fans could spot the differences. This could be what disappointed some who expected wilder changes but it probably was an attempt by the show makers not to turn off casual viewers (not that it mattered since ratings plummeted anyway). At the end of the mid-season finale “Wallflower”, Peter was still trying to find his way back to his proper universe with the Observers on his tail.  Meanwhile it’s reveled that Olivia is an unsuspecting test subject of Massive Dynamic (one of those giant technological companies that are behind many fringe events). Click onto their official site: www.massivedynamic.com   

Obviously it helps if one has a good basic knowledge of the characters. Well that’s why DVDs exist. Being that it’s only three and a half seasons, it’s fairly easy to catch up to date. And it’s worth a rental or download. The show may have turned some off with its superficial similarities to The X-Files and the first few episodes of season one reinforce this notion. But this show isn’t about convoluted conspiracies that don’t make any sense and UFOs.  One could tell that the producers (responsible for LOST and the upcoming Alcatraz) have a game plan that rewards patient viewing. More or less all the weird stuff going on in this show (such as an invisible ex-soldier, a desperate scientist who mutilates his body in order to time travel and save his wife, or children who are born and rapidly mature into adulthood) that the standalone episodes are part of a larger tapestry where Walter Bishop is in the center of, thanks to his scientific brilliance. And his same brilliance research and theories in the past have also cost him dearly in terms of his sanity and relationship with Peter.

Fringe faces an uphill battle to get a fifth season greenlit. On Fox there are a three other genre shows vying for airtime. They include Terra Nova, Alcatraz and Touch. Add to that those moronic singing competition shows that eat up entire programming slots and there’s only so many shows the network will keep on the air.

What’s distressing is that the show more or less has a five-year story plan, meaning they only need a couple dozen episodes to bring the show to a proper conclusion. Fox could do the producers a favor and either renew the show for a final year perhaps with only thirteen episodes to conclude it, or give them enough notice that Fringe will be canceled this season so they can try to wrap up the series. If the second option happens then hopefully the show won’t feel truncated like season four of Babylon 5. That show suffered when it was forced to conclude its main storyline in the fourth season only to find out that a fifth season was greenlit. This led to a listless final season that didn’t seem to go anywhere in terms of story.

Of course, the worst fate is an outright cancellation that doesn’t give the producers time to conclude the show. This leaves fans with unanswered questions like who are the Observers and what is their agenda? Then there is the other terrible fate: a show that ends on a cliffhanger. Reassurances from the producers that they are seeking other venues to finish the show don’t help. It’s a rarity that another network picks up a canceled show and seriously, who wants to read a comic book or novel that finishes a live action story? It won’t feel complete and only serves to remind fans over how they were denied a proper ending. In the meantime, fans can enjoy the new slate of episodes that will be airing over the next few weeks.

José Soto

Check out this clip from the latest episode and groove to the psychedelic background music from Tommy James and the Shondells!

Jan 9 2012

One Man Star Wars Trilogy

 

“The Force is strong with this one” I’m not talking about Luke Skywalker, I’m talking about One Man Star Wars writer and actor, Charles Ross. One Man Star Wars is a hysterical show where Ross singlehandedly performs highlights from the George Lucas’ original Star Wars trilogy.  Not only does he play the roles of the characters, he also acts out the parts of many of the ships suchs as the X-Wing fighters, TIE fighters and Imperial Walkers. One of the highlights includes Luke Skywalker’s reaction to Darth Vader when he has his helmet and mask removed, it was hysterical! Ross started touring this theatrical oddity in 2002, he has performed the show over 1,200 times in more than 180 cities across four continents and still finds a way to keep it fresh. 

Ross takes a few breaks between each movie and asks the audiences questions such as “Has anyone here watched all six Star Wars Movies in One day?” He answers the cheers with “You’re in the right place.” He said he started the show as a comedy act where he performed highlights of the first movie. The act was a huge hit and prompted him to expand the act to a full show that covered the complete trilogy. He had performed the show for a few years and came home one day to an email from Lucasfilm. The subject line said “Future project”  When he opened it the message said “We know about you, please contact us” He then realized he had never contacted Lucasfilm to ask for their permission to perform the show. He thought Boba Fett was going to show up and take him away. He sent a tape of the show but was asked to see them in CA. When he got there he was asked to perform the show at a Star Wars convention in front of thousands of die-hard fans. The fans loved it and Lucasfilm worked out a deal that allowed Ross to keep performing the show.

After the success of his Star Wars show, Ross left outer space and traveled to Middle Earth to write and perform One Man Lord of the Rings. “One ring to rule them all” or as he puts it, “One nerd to perform the whole trilogy” based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and Return of the King. This show has also been a huge hit for Charles. Sir Ian McKellan (Gandalf) himself said “If you liked Lord of the Rings, You’ll love Charlie Ross’ version.”

The Force is strong with this one, my Precious. You shall not pass… the chance to see these shows so check out www.OneManStarWars.com  and www.OneManLordoftheRings.com to see tours dates for Charles Ross’ performances.

Jim McLernon

Visit Jim McLernon’s website: http://www.leopardmanstudios.com/

Jan 5 2012

2012 Hallmark Ornament Highlights

Sure it’s after Christmas, but for us fans of Hallmark ornaments it’s a fun or frustrating time (depending on how successful you are in hunting) for bargains as genre-based ornaments go on sale for half off or more.

As we’re busy gobbling up 2011’s ornaments, let’s look ahead to this year’s ornaments. Most of them will go on sale sometime in July with the rest coming out in October. Incidentally, the full lineup of Hallmark ornaments won’t be officially revealed until this spring. But for now here are the known 2012 ornaments based on cool stuff we like. In other words, this ain’t about fuzzy elves or reindeer!

Star Trek

U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Hallmark is releasing this replica of Captain Picard’s Enterprise. Collectors will know that this ship was produced in 1993. The difference between these two is that this one can be displayed on a stand (similar to Hallmark’s 2006 version of the original Enterprise) and is battery operated. Presumably it will feature lights and sounds; hopefully Jerry Goldsmith’s majestic score will also play when a button is pushed.

Dr. McCoy

The third in the Legends of Star Trek series. This figure of everyone’s favorite Starfleet doctor is a companion piece to the other entries in the series, Kirk and Spock.

Two Spocks Meet

Not sure what is the official title of this diorama. It’s a recreation of sorts (without the Star Trek delta shield logo in the background) of that scene near the end of the 2009 Star Trek film where the old Spock from the real universe meets his younger alternate self.

Star Wars

If you’re a Star Wars fan then this is your year. Without contemplating any convention exclusives, a total of five ornaments will be released by Hallmark. They include:

TIE Interceptor

Barely glimpsed in Return of the Jedi (but that’s nothing new when it comes to Star Wars merchandise), nonetheless it will be beautifully detailed as are most Hallmark ship ornaments.

Han Solo on a Tauntaun

From The Empire Strikes Back, Han sporting his winter duds on his soon-to-be doomed riding animal. For any non-fan, the animal is a tauntaun used as beasts of burden by rebel soldiers and personnel on the frozen world of Hoth. Han took this animal out at night to look for his friend Luke who…oh never mind, it looks neat! Trust me it will make a solid gift for a Star Wars fan and it won’t cost a lot either, probably selling for less than $20. Then again from looking at the fact that the ornament has a base which would fit batteries it could mean the price could be jacked up. But it’s still a good gift!

General Grievous

As a fan of this character from Revenge of the Sith and The Clone Wars cartoon, I’ve been hoping they would release this Jedi slayer, which if you’re into the villains of the movies, make a great addition to that collection or on your tree. (A fan can geek out by putting all the Star Wars villains together in one spot!) The cape and lightsabre are a nice touch. Too bad they didn’t have him with all four arms extended, but that would probably make the ornament even more fragile. Future editions can feature his raspy voice.

Darth Maul

This is Maul’s second ornament, the first one was released in 2000 a year after The Phantom Menace came out. Fortunately, the pose is different in this year’s model and not a re-issue with a new paint job. Those kinds of ornaments are reserved for convention to go on sale in the secondary markets for obscene amounts of money.

Lego Stormtrooper

Hot on the heels of the successful Lego Darth Vader ornament comes this one of the white-clad cannon fodder. Perhaps Lego droids or Yoda are up for 2013.

Waldermann Rivera

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Dec 26 2011

Star Trek Ornaments Wish List

One thing that was noticed while scavenging Hallmark stores for discounted ornaments were the abundance of Star Trek ornaments. This was unusual, most of the time a fan was lucky to find a spaceship ornament the day after Christmas.

Well there are plenty of Romulan Bird-of-Prey spaceships available in several stores. Meanwhile Boba Fett’s Slave I spaceship from Star Wars is impossible to find. That is surprising given that a version of Slave I was released in 2002. The original was heavy and hard to put up on the Christmas tree since its weight pulled down branches. It was painted in blue to reflect that it was the one seen in Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones and it didn’t have sounds or lights. This year’s model was painted green as seen in The Empire Strikes Back and had sound.

Regarding the characters this year, Star Trek couldn’t even compete. Hallmark released two separate ornaments: one of Spock, the second in their Legends of Star Trek series, and a diorama featuring a scene out of the classic episode “Mirror, Mirror.” With Star Wars, three ornaments were produced, one of Yoda that has sound, a limited edition of Bossk that sold out quickly when released earlier this year and a diorama featuring Han Solo’s confrontation with Greedo. The only one still seen in stores was the diorama and that was in small quantities.

So is this further proof that Star Wars is clearly edging out Star Trek in popularity at least when it comes to ornaments? There was a time when Trek ornaments were highly sought after items. The very first Hallmark ornament of the original Enterprise still commands a high price in secondary markets as does practically any Enterprise ornament. Yet some character ornaments and ships are duds.

But this year’s plethora of Romulan ships is startling given that even in years when clunkers were released (namely the Borg cube, the Rio Grande runabout, the Scorpion fighter ship and the Vulcan command ship) they were hard to come by after Christmas.

The glut of character ornaments isn’t that surprising. spockWhen it comes down to it, the Star Wars character ornaments are almost always more interesting and dynamic. Whereas the Trek ornaments feature basically humans in drab poses, the Star Wars characters are very colorful and larger than life. This isn’t meant to revive the old Trek vs. Wars debate, it’s just to point out that there is a disparity between the two franchises lately when it comes to ornaments. The first Trek character ornaments looked more interesting and featured them in various poses. Like this Spock ornament released in1996.

Compare this 2005 Khan ornament:

With this one of Chewbacca:

Now ask yourself which makes a better ornament? A better looking gift for collectors?

Let’s be clear, Star Trek ornaments are not doomed. It is possible to put out ornaments that capture the fans’ eye. The ship ornaments from the past three years (the Reliant, a Klingon battle cruiser and 2009’s Enterprise) looked fantastic and were difficult to obtain after the holidays. And by looking at older diorama scenes and characters anyone can tell that Trek has plenty of life left in it when it comes to ornaments. Trek has a vast library and history with viable subjects. Star Trek: The Experience in Las Vegas used to sell ornaments featuring aliens from the shows, Hallmark should consider that at least trying the aliens or obscure ships as a limited edition trial balloons or convention exclusives.

Here is a list of what Hallmark could produce in the next few years. Add to the list any ship or character introduced in any upcoming film or show.

Spaceships:

  • The U.S.S. Kelvin seen from the 2009 Star Trek movie, that’s the ship that Kirk’s father died in by ramming it with the Narada. NOTE: This will be an ornament for 2013.
  • The shuttle crafts and pods seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  • The NX-01 Enterprise, yes they made a metal-plated ornament back in 2002 but it wasn’t lit and too heavy to put on a tree.
  • From Star Trek: Voyager how about Chakotay’s Maquis ship or the Equinox? Tie it in with the anniversary of the show for relevance.
  • For Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Hallmark could put out the Jem’ Hadar fighter ship or a Cardassian Galor-class ship.
  • The shuttlepod used by Kirk and Scotty to inspect the Enterprise refit back in the first Trek film. The characters should be clearly visible.
  • The Excelsior or Enterprise B, like the Miranda-class ship (most famously represented by the Reliant) this class of ship was often seen in the movies and shows.
  • Other possibilities include Picard’s first command the Stargazer, the Narada, future Spock’s jellyfish-shaped ship from 2009’s Star Trek, a Borg Sphere, the Phoenix from Star Trek: First Contact and even do a mini-ornament set featuring all the known Enterprise ships.

Characters and Dioramas:

  • Kirk wearing the spacesuit seen in “The Tholian Web.”
  • A diorama with Spock and his parents from “Journey to Babel” and aliens like Andorians are a must.
  • Harry Mudd or Cyrano Jones (the latter should have a tribble in his hand).
  • A pre-Starfleet Kirk on his motorbike from 2009’s Trek film.
  • Hallmark could consider releasing the original Trek characters like Kirk and Spock wearing their red uniforms from the movies. The red will contrast nicely on trees.
  • Major characters like Spock or Picard wearing those white spacesuits.
  • A Gorn (or a Gorn vs. Kirk diorama by those famous outcroppings), Gul Dukat, a Jem’ Hadar, or a Borg drone.
  • A view from a runabout or the Defiant bridge with the Bajoran Wormhole on the viewscreen. Lights and sound are mandatory.
  • A diorama depicting the fight on the Narada’s drilling platform where Kirk and Sulu face off against the Romulans from 2009’s Trek.
  • Some kind of diorama featuring the Klingons during one of their ceremonies, there are many to choose from.
  • The first meeting between humans and Vulcans from Star Trek: First Contact.

Jose Soto

Dec 19 2011

‘Tis The Week For Trailers!

As this year winds to a close and the anticipation rises for next year’s film offerings one thing to whet our collective appetites are the trailers. This week it seems as if Hollywood as decided to send some gifts to us fans by releasing trailers for some of the most anticipated flicks for 2012.

Moviegoers who watch The Adventures of Tintin on Wednesday will be able to see a trailer for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which will be enough to fill the seats the same way those Star Wars: Episode I trailers filled then emptied movie houses once those trailers ended. In the same fantasy genre, there is another new trailer for Wrath Of The Titans the followup to Clash Of The Titans.

Released this week exclusively on iTunes and certain to be embedded soon is the official trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, and it looks just as badassery as the previous Batman film.

In addition to a new German trailer for The Avengers, a trailer was released today for another trailer due in three days: Ridley Scott’s supposed Alien prequel Prometheus. (Technically it isn’t a prequel since Ridley Scott just confirmed the Xenomorphs don’t appear in this film but it supposedly takes place in the same universe.) It sounds absurd, a trailer for a trailer, but after such a long wait and with so little to go on, it’s a terrific appetizer for the main course! And it’s really great hearing that eerie Alien music last heard waaaay back in 1979 during previews for the first Alien.

Waldermann Rivera

UPDATE: Well, here it is, the official trailer for Prometheus, and it’s pretty obvious that it’s a prequel to Alien. Frankly, the countdown teasers for this has been worth the wait!