Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 15, 2008 in Japanese TV
The above video is from a Japanese game show called TV Champion. It’s very strange yet surrealistic watching all of these oversized mascots playing a game of soccer. My favorite part is when one character can’t lift his oversized head off the ground in front of the goal post! Apparently in other episodes the oversized mascots engage in other sporting activities (although there are other episodes that feature boring normal people who aren’t in mascot costumes).
At heart I’m still an old school Galactica fanboy — and to be honest I only watched the show back in the day because there wasn’t much of anything else on except for Star Trek re-runs from the 60s. But you lucky new school fanboys get to have all the fun:
“Cylon Centurions are just about the meanest thing in the galaxy. They cheat at cards, they frequently punch puppies, and they never, NEVER wash their hands after going to the toilet. Oh, and they have armor-piercing projectile weapons built into each arm; that’s pretty mean, too. And these New Caprica Cylons are even meaner – you can tell by their darker color scheme. The darker color separates them from their less meaner (but still pretty ornery) cousins. It also makes this one awesome ThinkGeek exclusive action figure if you’re trying to “collect them all”.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 7, 2008 in Japanese TV
I just love the low budget look of Kamen Rider you can just tell from looking at the show that they were having fun filming it back in the day (and what’s shown above is from the original series which ran from 1971 until 1973).
If you look at the 2nd part of the video below what’s interesting is that they show a short clip stage play that was based on the series — and not only is the audience packed but they’re eating up every moment of the characters showing off their moves in from a sparsely decorated tin foil decorated set:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 7, 2008 in Japanese TV
I can’t get that annoying Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea song out of my head! So to cure myself I found the above silly music video (don’t you just love that fuzzy dog character?) is from the NHK show Kids World. And if that wasn’t cute enough for you here’s a little dance number with a kitty theme:
Obviously this show is aimed at very young kids, but what impressed me is the quality of design in the series (so much cooler than say something like Barney). Check out this nice animation which is a segment from the show:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 3, 2008 in Japanese TV
Shown above is J-pop diva and actress Kaela Kimura (木村カエラ) in an advert for Lucido-L which is a line of hair care products. Kaela was born in Tokyo and her mom is Japanese and her dad is British and she started modeling back in 2002 for the the Japanese idol magazine Seventeen. I really like her swinging 60s look in this ad and the nice use of color. Below is a “making of” spot on the commercial:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 28, 2008 in Television
A few days ago I noticed that there was a film being shot in my neighborhood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The first clue was that there was quite a few retro cars and a storefront on my block was redecorated to look like a bad check cashing establishment. So a friend found my story and blogged it herself trying to identify the mystery film. Well a few friends solved the riddle online and it turns out that what’s being shot is in fact a TV show called Life on Mars which is a remake of an award winning BBC science fiction show! The show is suppose to air on ABC on October 9th so I’ll have to look for scenes featuring my apartment building! Here’s the opening titles from the BBC show to give you a taste of the show:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 26, 2008 in Japanese TV
Yeah it’s just me and my penguin pal hanging out, going to the mall and doing lunch. That’s perfectly normal — hey why are you looking at me like that? The above cute commercials are for Suica which is a smart card used in Japan. Here are a few more cute penguin spots that they’ve done:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 21, 2008 in Television
Most fanboys tend to associate the 70s with space opera titles like Star Wars or Space: 1999 but many people tend to forget that a big craze at the time was anything inspired by “the unknown”. The show that kicked off this trend was In Search of… which covered all sorts on odd phenomena from the Loch Ness monster to Big Foot and was hosted by Mr. Spock, errr Leonard Nimoy. Also part of this trend was a best selling book The Bermuda Triangle by Charles Berlitz.
The Fantastic Journey was built upon all of this interest in the Bermuda Triangle, and in many ways one suspects the show also owed a great deal in some way to Land of the Lost from 1974. But unlike Land of the Lost what made this show cool was that the characters weren’t from one background — the lead character was Varian (played by Jared Martin) who was from the 23rd Century and the rest of the cast included “daughter of an Atlantean father and an extraterrestrial mother”, a “rebel scientist from the 1960s” and of course a 13 year old kid who was “the son of a famous scientist”. Oh and by the way did I mention that Roddy McDowall was the rebel scientist?
The one thing I remember the most about The Fantastic Journey was that it was in my personal category of “must watch TV” from that year — looking back at the episodes I can see why: Every episode featured themes like time travel and telepathy. Also reading up on the show it seems that some A+ writing talent was involved, most notably D.C. Fontana who made the original Star Trek one of my favorite TV shows.
As much as I’d hate to see Hollywood ruin this series by remaking it, looking at the above titles I’d love to see someone like a Quentin Tarantino take a stab at it. I’d also wouldn’t mind seeing a Japanese film studio turn it into an anime series — in fact the 80s series The Super Dimension Century Orguss serves as a good proof of concept that it can be done right.
On a last note I wish there was a legit release of the series out on DVD. I did find a copy of it here, but it looks a tad “gray market” to me.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 15, 2008 in Dr. Who
Until I watched this video I had no idea that there was an entire genre of songs inspired by Harry Potter — in this video our friend from England Nerimon takes this concept to the next level with Trock which stands for Time Lord Rock. By the way the idea of writing science fiction folk songs has been around for eons — it’s called filk singing. Any way Nerimon’s work reminds be a slight bit of Perl Jam, just without the guitars and a bit of geek thrown in.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 10, 2008 in Japanese TV
The Japanese obsession with Ronald McDonald in fan videos is so strange! The above video is a reference to to the song Beware the Forest’s Mushrooms from the Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars game.
Do you know why Star Trek the Next Generation was so lame? It’s because the coolest thing that they ever came up for the series was the Borg — and that was just a lame second hand copy of the Daleks (well with a little bit of Blade Runner thrown in for fun, but you get the idea). Well now you can celebrate the superior bad guys with your very own Dalek Voice Changer Helmet:
Long before the web the best way to hear about a film for a cinema fanboy was to watch Siskel and Ebert — and even though Gene Siskel passed away his co-host Roger Ebert has kept the flame going all of these years. What made the show so good was that Siskel and Ebert were themselves true cinema fanboys: Watching them argue the finer points of a film was like hanging out with friends at a diner. Also you got the feeling that the two of them were there not for the money (the series got started on PBS after all) but because they were there to talk about what they loved. So I was upset when I heard that Walt Disney had decided to keep the show running without our beloved Roger Ebert:
“Over the years, TV’s best-known movie review show has gone from hosts Siskel and Ebert to Ebert and Roeper to Roeper and guest critics — and now it’s Lyons and Mankiewicz. Ben Lyons, a Hollywood reporter and film critic for ”E! News” and others, and Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz will take over ”At the Movies” when its new season begins in September, Disney-ABC Domestic Television said Tuesday.”
Posted by Guest Author on Jul 23, 2008 in Japanese TV
Some years after Star Wars, but 24 years before a very similar looking robot from Pixar came along, a pair of Japanese robots named Apogee & Perigee released an album of songs that tell their story. Entitled “Chojiku Korodasutan Ryokoki” it was released in fairly small quantities as an LP and soon became a sought after though obscure rarity.
Unfortunately, in 1984 YMO had retired and the small label was running on a shoestring. Aside from this promotional video I don’t think the release got much publicity. A CD reissue from the 90s exists but it was only sold part of a high priced 18 album set.
Though I don’t think it’s a big surprise, in reality really it wasn’t a pair of robots making the album, it was semi-anonymously made by the short lived band Testpattern (Masao Himura and Fumio Ichimura), who were signed to Yellow Magic Orchestra’s ¥EN Records label. For this, their second project, they made a concept album billed to a pair of robots. On it they recruited many labelmates to contribute songs and perform more or less uncredited.
It’s kind of sad that maybe with a bit more publicity and spinoff media they could have had more success with a fun concept like this. This track is sung by Jun Togawa. She began her career as an actress in the early 1980s and soon found many singing opportunities. She was able bridge the gap between performance art and rock. She often appears but not exclusively with her band the Yapoos.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 22, 2008 in Dr. Who
I recently came across a video (see below) which was reacting to an interview with a former writer from Dr, Who who was claiming that Amy Winehouse would make a great Time Lord. While the video blogger in question hated the idea of his beloved character being turned into a mere singer, as a longtime fanboy I approve of the idea with all my heart. Here’s why Amy Winehouse needs to be the next Dr. Who:
1. Tom Baker proved that Dr. Who is about being eccentric: Who else besides Amy has any personality these days in the entire UK?
2. Dr. Who has turned into yet another brand of sci-fi dog food and something needs to be done to reinvent the series. This isn’t about having slick special effects — that was never the point of the show! Only Amy can jump start the show into something interesting.
3. The entire point of Dr. Who is that he isn’t a he! A Time Lord isn’t a human but an alien after all — the next shape that the good Doctor takes on should be a surprise. In fact expecting Dr. Who to be yet another guy is in itself sexist. In fact while we’re on the subject why is Dr. Who always a white dude?
4. While it’s true that Amy lacks any formal acting skills I think a good writer could work with that. It comes down to can she make the character believable? I think given the right scripts and proper straight-man sidekicks that she could pull it off.
5. Some fans may object to Amy’s speaking voice which is seen as “working class” — again this is classic British snobbery! What rule is there at Dr. Who has a degree from Cambridge and goes fox hunting on weekends? First knowing Amy’s vocal range I think she could do anything with that amazing voice — but why not have the character sound street smart for a change? And again I believe that a good script writer could make this work.
6. Some parents might be concerned that Amy is the wrong sort of role model for youth. But when has Dr. Who even been about being a role model? The entire idea behind his character is that he is a non-conformist that does things his own way. You’re talking about a character who travels around in a telephone box — this isn’t about being a role model.
7. Amy has the best facial expressions! In his heart of hearts Tom Baker always had that element of being a silent screen actor, so much of his acting was physical — his facial expressions were always amazing. We already know that Amy can pull this off from her music videos — there some dangerous about her eyes that would work very well with the character.
8. Being a Time Lord is about dealing with stress! Amy knows this scene first hand, for she has lived it. Amy’s own struggle is to keep her world in balance — I thinks he can bring this energy to the small screen.
9. Back in the day you could tell who Dr. Who was by what he was wearing, this character was never about slick raincoats or looking dashing but standing out and being different. Amy has a sense of fashion and knows how to wear clothing — in that way she’s iconic. I think even if you took away her beehive hairstyle that her strong individuality would come through with the right wardrobe.
10. Amy is already an international star and that would help open up the audience of the show. Dr. Who doesn’t have to be a show stuck on the Sci Fi channel — it can be a series worthy of being on HBO or Showtime.
In fact I’ll go on record to state the following: Without Amy being the next Dr. Who you can shove the show into the rubbish heap of mediocrity. And here’s the video that inspired me:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 26, 2008 in Dr. Who
It’s funny how all fanboys think alike! In the 70s before I had a VCR I recorded tons of audio tapes of TV show (anything that was science fiction from Twilight Zone episodes to Space:1999). Well it seems some Dr. Who fanboys in England are now using their audio tapes to bring back to life the early lost episodes of the series:
Regenerate! Fans revive 60s Doctor Who An army of enthusiasts is recreating lost instalments of the Doctor’s adventures with hand-drawn and computer animations
“The BBC lists 108 episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s as officially “missing” from its archive. That’s because the original videotapes were either erased or destroyed by the BBC in the 1970s, to make shelf space for newer programming. A catastrophe for fans. But Doctor Who – as fans of the show will know – is luckier than most.
The programme has always had a very loyal, and often talented, fanbase. It was its dedicated fans who in the 1960s weren’t hiding behind the sofa, but holding microphones up to their televisions week after week, that meant that all of the missing 108 instalments still exist as audio recordings; and it has been today’s fans who have, over the past few years, been working on bringing these “lost” recordings back to life through animation.”
I’ll be honest: I’m not a big fan when it comes to the new Galactica, but I did get a kick out of the old show (well until it jumped the shark with Galactica: 1980). So I got a kick out of seeing this worn looking viper from the old show:
“This eight-inch statue features the classic Mark II Viper design complete with display base and removable cockpit shield! Based on the original digital effects files taken right from the hit series, each interstellar ship is limited to 2,007 pieces and features a hand-numbered base with matching box and Certificate of Authenticity.”
It’s very strange seeing Billy Connolly in a serious role! Here’s the tease copy from Fox Movies:
“In grand “X-Files” manner, the film’s storyline is being kept under wraps. This much can be revealed: It is a stand-alone story in the tradition of some of the show’s most acclaimed and beloved episodes, and takes the complicated relationship between Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson) in unexpected directions. Mulder continues his unshakable quest for the truth, and Scully, the passionate, ferociously intelligent physician, remains inextricably tied to Mulder’s pursuits. In theaters July 25.”
I always wondered why the cast of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy never rescued a fanboy living in Mom’s basement? Although this Dr. Who cartoon by Darryl Cunningham shows what the results may have looked like.
In August of this year Buck Rogers will be 80 years old! The franchise which takes place in the year 2419 first started life as a short story in the pulp magazine Amazing Stories has has spawned comic books, novels, toys, serialized movies and two TV series (first in 1950 on ABC and then the disco version in 1979). Now it looks like Nu Image/Millennium Films has acquired film rights to the property and will create a live action film:
“Nu Image/Millennium’s Avi Lerner got the rights from the Dille Trust, which is run by the surviving family of series originator Frank Dille. Those rights had once been with Disney, but the Dille family was attracted to moving them to a small movie and gaining more control over the direction of the film. Despite web reports that Frank Miller had boarded the project, sources at Millennium disputed than any creatives had yet aligned to the project.”
It looks like Land of the Lost is in production in Hollywood. The key thing that made this old series great was that they had some A+ science fictions writers doing the scripting, I hope the powers that be keep in mind that it’s going to take more than slicker Sleestaks to keep us fanboys happy:
“The Land of the Lost film is now shooting on multiple sound stages at Universal Studios, and the Sleestak surface in a temple where Ferrell’s character and his two companions (comedian Danny McBride, Pushing Daisies’ Anna Friel) are hoping a giant crystal will return them to their own dimension.
The plot involves three adults (not a dad and two kids as on TV) accidentally thrust into a realm ruled by dinosaurs, monkey-men called Pakuni and the murderous Sleestak. Director Brad Silberling (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events) says he fought to keep the human shape of the Sleestak from Sid & Marty Krofft’s original production, and not give into the urge to render them as spindly computerized beings.”
