Category Everything Else

Dec 9 2011

Gift Ideas For Fans That Won’t Break Your Bank

The deadline for buying a decent gift is approaching fast. OK you’re on a budget, or the secret Santa list gave you someone you’re not close to but know that he or she is a genre fan. Sure you’d love to gift some kind of toiletry gift set or a desk calendar, but let’s be real here. He or she will really geek out for that super expensive Batman statue by Sideshow Collectibles or anything along that vein. But we’re on a budget here or you just don’t feel like breaking your bank and there’s no way you can reasonably afford to get the ultimate Jurassic Park trilogy Blu Ray gift set that comes with a T-Rex statue.

However, it’s not too hard to get by with gifts costing $25 or less. Here are some ideas. Ornaments Hallmark puts out the best ornaments and have catered to genre fans. This year has many offerings, but forget the spaceships, they cost more than $25 and aren’t very interesting except for die-hard collectors. (They consist of a little seen Romulan ship from the original Star Trek and a second version of Boba Fett’s Slave I ship.). So that leaves the character ornaments. Unfortunately the Star Trek ornaments aren’t too interesting (generic looking Spock ornaments, one that is out of the price range), while the Star Wars stuff aside from a LEGO Darth Vader seems repetitious (yet another Yoda ornament, and a costly Han Solo/Greedo diorama that doesn’t adequately answer the question of who shot first) Hallmark put out some reasonably priced cool stuff that could be collectible. First up is a Cylon ornament from the original Battlestar Galactica that features that infamous electronic speech pattern from the robots. There’s also the Nautilus submarine from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, a cute Gizmo wearing a Santa hat from Gremlins (already selling out so run out and get it, there are more fans of that film than you think), and a good selection of super hero figures. The Spider-Man and Batman ornaments are kind of bland but there are ornaments of Green Lantern and Thor that look good and the original Batmobile is a classic. If the person on your list is more of an animation fan, there are dozens of ornaments priced under $25 featuring characters from Disney, Pixar, Peanuts, Dreamworks, and the Rankin-Bass holiday classics like Rudolph and Frosty. If Hallmark doesn’t suit you, many companies put out their own ornaments themed after popular genre characters. Take Target or the Disney Store for example, they put out ornaments that are just as good as Hallmark. Blu Rays/DVDs This is easy, find out what his or her favorite film and see if they have it in their collection. If the film is not there, then voila! Run over to Best Buy or Wal-Mart and pick up the DVD or Blu Ray. DVDs priced from $5 and up are everywhere, while Blu Rays are starting to come down in price. If they just bought a Blu Ray player and need to upgrade then that’s a no-brainer. Practically all of this year’s genre offerings are available including Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, Super 8, Thor, Battle: Los Angeles, and even obscure fare like Another Earth. Statues and Figures It’s true that most statues are mega expensive, but a quick look at sites like eBay and Amazon will yield very good results. For instance if you’re not too discriminating just look at the clearances, Amazon has this bust of Venom from Spider-Man 3 for under $10. And if you’re intended is into anime then the sky’s the limit with the available choices. You also can’t fail with bobblehead figures and even action figures. DC Direct and Marvel put out some terrific well-detailed and affordable figures that don’t have to be played with, they look great just plastered up in their display boxes. Though that kind of defeats the purpose of a toy, then again these are intended for grownups, um, never mind. Books and Collections Good choices here, find out what author they enjoy and get them the latest work. Amazon had Stephen King’s 11/22/63 for under $20 and his other stuff on paperback for half that price. It’s best to get nice, thick novels that take a while to read. Better yet, if they have tablets, then get the digital versions, the prices are great. The same goes for comics. Graphic novels and collections of story arcs are perfect and usually affordable. A nifty trend tailor made for gifting are the Vault books. Part memorabilia collection, part coffee table book, they include looks at Star Trek, Batman, Spider-Man and more. Usually they’re called for example Alien Vault and are sealed. They run a bit high on price but if you have time, you can find some for the $25 range with some careful shopping. Gift Cards The ultimate fall back and in many ways the best gift. Get your in-law or co-worker or buddy who has everything a gift card from any merchant and let them run wild. Even the larger comic book stores will sell their own gift certificates. Just be a little creative in the wrapping to make the gift more memorable. No matter what, it is pretty easy to get a gift for a genre fan. Annette DeForester

Dec 3 2011

The Science Channel: A Successor To Syfy


Just look at the current schedules of both The Science Channel and Syfy. True most of the programs on The Science Channel are science based like How They Do That but any casual viewer will notice shows geared to sci-fi fans. The most recent example is a two-hour show called Trek Nation where Gene Roddenberry’s son examines the cultural impact that Star Trek has made. Other shows of note include Michio Kaku’s fascinating Sci-Fi Science, Mars Rising that explores how to get to the red planet and Prophets Of Science Fiction. Add to that the channel is also airing reruns of Firefly and ReGenesis.

Clearly there is an effort by the channel’s programmers to attract more serious sci-fi fans.

Now look at what plays on Syfy, a channel supposedly devoted to science fiction. What is found are wrestling shows and reality shows about a bunch of guys running around in the dark looking for ghosts. This is an exaggeration of course. Every Saturday night Syfy runs sic-Fi movies. Unfortunately they’re these zero budget craptaculars about giant mutant animals and disasters and feature actors whose fame are rapidly fading.

It seems that once the channel canceled more serious minded shows like Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, and Stargate: Universe it gave up. Most of their current actual genre shows are formulaic, lightweight affairs that aren’t engaging. Does anyone honestly think that Warehouse 13 will be highly regarded years from now?

There was a time that the average fan could look forward to running home and finding an oasis in the television wasteland.The channel actually catered to genre fans with fondly remembered programs like Farscape, MST3K and they commissioned new episodes of canceled shows like Sliders. Syfy or rather Sci-Fi, as it was called in it’s heyday, even had documentaries, reruns of classic shows, and making-of specials.

Well all of that is gone now. Sure they have those terrific Twilight Zone marathons and an occasional movie but it’s clear the channel is a shadow of it’s old self. It is evident that the channel will transition away from it’s original programming just like MTV. Syfy should just hurry up and do this. The way things are any real fan can find quality programming all over cable. BBC America has a Saturday night block devoted to genre programs like Doctor Who and there is The Science Channel.

With shows like Firefly on it’s schedule it won’t be long before more sci-fi shows will find a home in the channel. Don’t be surprised if Fringe or one of the Star Treks winds up on The Science Channel. And seriously they will nicely complement the thought-provoking shows like Prophets Of Science Fiction that examines the lives, inspirations and impact of giants like H.G. Wells, Philip K. Dick, and Mary Shelly. It’s very easy to imagine Michio Kaku hosting one of these sci-fi shows as he does with Firefly. This viewer cannot wait for that moment.

Lewis T. Grove

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Nov 29 2011

The Occupy Movement As Predicted By Star Trek

All the incarnations of Star Trek have been noted for helping to inspire new advances in technology like tablets, cell phones (which is funny since the original show’s communicators look so outdated to what we have today), scanners and so on. And Star Trek has paved the way for new ways of how we view ourselves, notably in terms of racial and sexual equality. But one thing lately has popped up that may be overlooked given all the tensions going on in this country lately.

Namely the entire Occupy insert a city or neighborhood Movement. No matter where one stands on the Movement, it has to be agreed that this phenomenon could easily foment and lead to ominous developments. This was seen in the two-part Star Trek: Deep Space NIne story “Past Tense” where Captain Ben Sisko and members of his crew are trapped in the early 21st century and are caught up in the so-called Bell Riots. Taking place in San Francisco in 2024, the Starfleet personnel are mistaken for being unemployed and disenfranchised and are placed in a ghetto-like “Sanctuary District” and inadvertantly change history.

As Ben Sisko and his crew try to correct the timeline by being active participants in the Bell Riots (chiefly by Ben Sisko assuming the identity of Gabriel Bell who was killed while defending him; Bell would become an important figure in helping to bring about social justice in the U.S.) the plight of the District residents are shown. For the most part, many of them have been unemployed for a long time and are unable to get any kind of support from the government. Just look at the latest news stories to get an idea of what the Bell Riots participants were protesting. It’s easy to see how today’s current protests, which are already becoming violent, could lead to those opposing the Occupy Movement for a severe government crackdown in order to restore order.

This isn’t meant to support one side or another, it’s just to point out how relevant Star Trek remains to this day and not just in terms of cool gadgets. Hopefully these Bell Riots that involved Ben Sisko and company won’t come to pass. Then the one thing the “Past Tense” episodes will get correct is the prediction that the Yankees won the ’99 World Series.

Lewis T. Grove

Nov 11 2011

Immortals Cursed With The Dumbest Trailers

Gotta say this. Immortals the new movie coming out this weekend looks very stupid. For that the blame falls on those terrible trailers for the movie that have plague coming attractions.

Seriously, look at how dumb the whole thing looks. Everything looks like a cross between a bad cologne commercial and a pretentious music video with non stop green screen shots. Toss into that some bad acting and scenes that make those old Steve Reeves sword and sandals outings  look like Spartacus. This isn’t to say that these kind of fantasy films are inferior. I loved last year’s remake of Clash of the Titans even though no one I know did. And while 300 was stupid it was at least entertaining. Actually the trailers make Immortals look like a cheap 300 knock-off and has actually made me appreciate Zack Snyder more as a filmmaker. See this kind of material is hard to pull off as Immortals shows me and Zack Snyder was able to sell 300 thanks to his skills.

What else is there to dislike about the Immortals trailer? The obvious CG effects, the overdone fight scenes that go into cliche slow motion and what is it with that opening shot that looks like a Renaissance painting? And the less said about those stupid gold outfits the better! Logically, this film will die a quick death in the box office, but being this is the modern world with sheeple that grovel over American Idol and Snookie this film will probably do well and we’ll have to suffer the inevitable sequels. If humanity redeems itself and avoids this turkey then the movie executives can blame the trailers. Just take a look if you want a quick laugh.

Waldermann Rivera

Nov 5 2011

Alternate History In Film and TV

Time travel films and TV shows are popular and well known to audiences. However one will find a lack of films and shows about alternate history and universes. Based on this inequality viewers  would think that alternate history is some minor niche sub-genre in science fiction. But sci-fi fans who actually read books and stories know that’s not the case. Just scroll through the Amazon or Barnes and Noble sites and one can find a multitude of books and story collections concerning alternate history. Many are very popular with readers such as the many multi-book series by Harry Turtledove (ex. the Worldwar books, the Great War trilogy, etc.), S.M. Stirling’s works and so on. Even comic books have notable alternate history works. These include Captain Confederacy, Storming Paradise, Marvel Comics’ What If? one shots, DC’s Elseworlds comic and most famously Alan Moore’s Watchmen. Then why so little films and TV shows?

The genre has been so poorly represented that one can easily count the amount of films and shows about this subject. Some of the best examples aren’t obvious alternate history but are well known. In fact, one film is considered one of the best films ever made. Which one? It’s A Wonderful Life. Many say it’s a fantasy but it’s also about alternate history. George Bailey wishes he was never born and is then shown a world where he never existed, one that is nightmarish. Viewers only see the butterfly effect on George’s hometown Bedford Falls (renamed Pottersville) but one can’t assume there weren’t other butterfly effects. Notably when his guardian angel points out to George Bailey that he never saved his brother and thus George’s brother never saved his fellow soldiers in World War II. Who knows what effect that would’ve done to the timestream? Also evil Mr. Potter became more powerful and corrupt without George Bailey to keep him check. There’s no telling what kind of influence Potter would’ve had in the darker world shown in It’s A Wonderful Life.

Other examples of alternate universes usually show a world that has been altered by time travel (and perhaps giving the impression that the genre is tied to time travel, which it isn’t). A good example of that is Back To The Future, Part II where Biff Tannen steals the time-traveling DeLorean and alters his past making him a rich and influential figure in history. Aside from the changes to his and Marty McFly’s hometown, viewers with good eyes will see that the world had been altered. Look at a newspaper that Doc Brown shows to Marty McFly. The altered timeline in Back To The Future, Part II takes place in 1985 and a feature article in that paper is one that shows that Richard Nixon is still president of the United States and that the country is still involved in the Vietnam War.

There have been other films that are more clearly about alternate history. Unfortunately many of them aren’t any good, and came and went in theaters without much notice. This could be why studios don’t greenlight more films in this genre. Such films include Jet Li’s action piece The One (which shows several alternate worlds including one with a President Gore), Southland Tales, C.S.A.: The Confederate States Of America, the 1995 version of Richard III (which takes place in a 1930s fascist Britain and stars Ian McKellan), Never Let Me Go, HBO’s adaptation of Fatherland (with the oft-used premise of Nazis winning World War II), It Happened Here, and White Man’s Burden (which has a world where racial roles are reversed between whites and blacks). Add to that list Zack Snyder’s Watchmen adaptation where frankly the best part of the film was the opening credits which showed how history was altered when superheroes came into existence in the 1940s and 1960s. A more recent film that has to be labeled alternate history is Inglourious Basterds. It’s more of a World War II action picture but the ending, without giving away spoilers, demonstrates that the film is about alternate history. Another recent example is District 9 wherein an alien craft becomes stranded in South Africa in the 1980s although it takes place in modern times.

Regarding the TV medium, the best examples of alternate history are Fringe (which has a major storyline about crossing over into a world where the World Trade Center is still intact, technology is about ten years advanced of ours, and where Bono isn’t a famous singer), an awful ’80s show called Otherworld about a family trapped in a parallel world and Sliders, of course. Despite its wildly varying quality, Sliders best exemplified the exploration of alternate worlds. Oftentimes, the creators went wild in presenting worlds that had living dinosaurs, an America ruled by Communists and other powers and different world threats. Sadly this also meant that Sliders had some truly dumb episodes that ripped off the plotlines of several sci-fi stories. Regardless, Sliders is probably the best TV example of alternate universes. Believe it or not The West Wing can also be considered to be about an alternate universe since it clearly shows that recent history has had a few fictional presidents (without a mention of the Bushes and Clinton) and events. Spike TV recently aired a half-hour program called Alternate History that examined what if the Nazis conquered America. It was blasted by fans of the genre for glossing over many repurcusions and it’s unknown at this time if more episodes will follow. Other genre shows like Star Trek and Doctor Who have had episodes dealing with alternate universes as well.

Some shows and films (and books too) are now considered alternate history because at the time they came out predictions were made that never came to be. They clearly point out that they took place in a certain time period and events happened that would radically change our history up to now. Look at Alien Nation (both the film and series). The storyline claims that the alien Newcomers came to Earth sometime in the late ’80s or early ’90s. Then there’s Strange Days (which takes place in late 1999 and has a world with advanced VR tech) and Red Dawn, where the U.S. is invaded by Soviet forces. One has to lump in 2001: A Space Odyssey and its sequel 2010 since we don’t have A.I.s or regular lunar transports (with Pan Am still in existence!) to bustling space stations. Some films will soon become alternate history presentations as dates stated in the films come to pass. That includes Blade Runner (L.A. has about eight years to keep from looking like that hellhole shown in that classic film) and Back To The Future, Part II. We’re about four years away from the film’s look at 2015 and there still aren’t any hoverboards, cool flying cars and self-lacing sneakers. There’s still time for the Cubs to win the World Series by then. 😀 With TV shows, the mini-series Amerika and The Day After have to be thrown into this lot (thankfully neither events depicted in them have come to pass).

 

Aside from poor reception by viewers one reason why there alternate history doesn’t have more of a presence in film and TV could be that they require extensive exposition to explain themselves. Look at Southland Tales; in that film several minutes in the beginning was used up to show that the U.S. diverged from our history when terrorists detonated two nukes in Texas. It was clumsily presented and frankly one didn’t care about how this impacted the dull characters.

Another reason for the lack of such films and shows is that alternate history can be complex, showcasing a broad range of characters affected by altered events. Aside from expensive production values, to really get audiences involved the productions  need to have well-developed characters like in many books. This logic of caring only about characters could be why some films are only about the altered lives of the characters such as It’s A Wonderful Life, Sliding Doors and The Family Man. It would help if people took more interest in history to better appreciate this genre. That is because alternate history offers us a way to reflect on how things might’ve been different and to enjoy what we have or strive for something that we don’t have yet.

José Soto