Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 27, 2010 in Star Trek, Tech
Apple has just filed a patent to make their logo on mobile devices double as an antenna — but what surprised me about this concept is that it’s taken directly from the Starfleet communicator badge that’s been around since Star Trek: The Next Generation in the 80s. I’m frankly surprised that Apple’s competition isn’t mining old sci fi series for other product development ideas like visors for the blind and holodeck theme parks. To be fair Apple is in a unique position to exploit these ideas because they really do a great job of combining hardware and software to create “magical devices”. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 26, 2010 in Star Trek
Look William Shatner survived the long lean years when nobody cared about Star Trek, so he’s entitled to do whatever he likes (including cash in) — because he’s earned the fanboy seal of approval. But as for you Scott Bakula: Shame on you! You sully your Starfleet rank when you engage in a comedy series about middle aged men who are search of their lost youth. Damn it man you should be out there flying starships instead of hanging out with a collection of antiques! Scott I beg of you — get your command back before you become an antique…Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 26, 2010 in Television
Is there anything more Christmasy than gingerbread spaceships? Probably. But for geeks? No way! This confectionary replica of Firefly’s signature starship, Serenity, is sure to put a smile on the face of any self-respecting sci-fi geek, and you have Kristoffer Gressil to thank for it. Check out more of his photos of the festive freighter on Kristoffer’s Facebook. Read more…
Venture Bros. is probably one of the best shows on television, animated or not, and I felt a little sad when its fourth-season finale aired. It felt like a series finale! And showrunners Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer have stated several times that creating seasons of the hit show is incredibly taxing, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume as much. But there’s good news! Publick announced on Christmas Eve via LiveJournal that the show would indeed be coming back, with more details forthcoming. Go Team Venture! Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 25, 2010 in Star Trek
Ah, Christmas. If you watched TV in the 90s, you probably remember Hallmark’s relentless commercials for new commemorative ornaments around this time of year. They had one for everything! I had a little light-up space shuttle ornament with opening loading bays, even. What space shuttles have to do with Christmas, I have no idea. Speaking of shuttles, though, check out this Christmas miracle — a video of Leonard Nimoy appearing in a 1992 Hallmark ad for a Star Trek shuttlecraft ornament. If you thought his trademark Vulcan greeting meant “live long and prosper,” well, you might learn a little something today. Read more…
Back when David Lynch released his film version of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi classic Dune, Marvel Comics adapted it in comic form. It was penned by Ralph Macchio (no, not that Ralph Macchio) and illustrated by Bill Sienkiewicz. And it was pretty cool! You can see for yourself by checking out Joe Bloke’s scanned edition of the whole darn thing, sprawling Arrakian vistas and gaping sandworm maws included. At least until it inevitably gets taken down, anyway. Read more…
2008 was a rough year for releasing a game based on an original IP — sorry, Mirror’s Edge — but EA took a big gamble on the excellent sci-fi horror excursion Dead Space. And it paid off! Dead Space sold pretty well for a new IP, and nowadays you can snag it for $20 as part of the Xbox 360 Platinum Hits collection, or get the spinoff Dead Space: Extraction for the Wii. Now, if you’re already familiar with how awesome the original was, you’ll probably be very interested to know that a playable demo of Dead Space 2 has just hit Xbox Live and PSN, letting you unleash Isaac’s mighty boot once again. So go get it! And if you haven’t played the original yet, go do that too! Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 23, 2010 in Videogames
You don’t have to be a card carrying member of the NRA to appreciate a wide selection of projectile weaponry. In fact, anyone who has spent enough time playing first-person shooters would tell you that nothing beats having options and that’s exactly what you get when you play Borderlands. The title reportedly contains close to 17,000,000 weapons — though, arguably they’re mostly variants. The game hit consoles late last year and garnered plenty of positive reviews, so I have to wonder why they’ve waited so long to make the game avaialble for download via PSN or Xbox Live!
I spend so much of my time online these days that it’s no wonder I’ve forgotten how much fun it can be to take a camping trip. While I have to admit the notion of being away from my precious array of electronic devices scares the hell out of me, it wouldn’t hurt to unplug every once in awhile. Though I wouldn’t be able to bring along my copy of Family Guy: It’s a Trap, or my new LED TV, I can keep the Star Wars spirit alive with this awesome Tauntaun sleeping bag. As you’ll note from the picture above, the bag itself features a Tauntaun-head for a pillow. It also comes with a lightsaber shaped zipper so you can attempt your best Han Solo impression. Don’t worry, it probably won’t smell as bad — that is, unless you refuse to bathe or you’re camping on Dagobah. They usually retail for $99, but you can snag one for 20% if you order yours from ThinkGeek today.
I hate to admit this as a long time anime fanboy, but the computer animators from Taiwan are doing some very timely funny work on a shoestring budget! Their latest epic is a recreation of the Spiderman disaster on Broadway — and the best thing about this clip is that it includes an appearance by Bono. The last time I’ve seen an animated show react this fast to events in the news is when South park was at the high point of their game. Read more…
The Warriors was a brilliant low budget sci fi horror film set in a future New York City dominated by gangs. Recently Tony Scott announced that he’d be doing a remake of the film, although it looks like Hello Kitty has beaten him to the punch with this t-shirt showing our cute feline armed with a baseball bat. Can you dig it?Read more…
I’m surprised we haven’t really brought this up yet, but I imagine some of you haven’t already heard about the upcoming Level-5/Studio Ghibli collaboration, Ni no Kuni. You can expect the classic art and animation we’ve come to expect from Ghibli, looking very much like your standard Miyazaki fare, and Level 5’s previous titles have proven the studios ability to seamlessly blend animation and 3D using beautifully rendered cell-shaded visuals.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 22, 2010 in Japanese TV
I adore Hikaru Utada. She’s perhaps the most recognizable Japanese pop icon in recent years. In fact, I’m pretty sure she still holds a record or two for selling over 8 million copies of her debut album in Japan alone. That’s a lot by our industry’s standards, and even moreso by their own. That aside, she’s got a lovely voice and a natrual beauty to compliment it, which is why I fall head over heels in love every time she does a commercial. This latest ad has her singing “Can’t Wait ‘Til Christmas,” which was included on the recently released Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol. 2 while leaning on a giant bottle of Pepsi Nex Zero — a drink I personally find delicious. It’s a shame you have to fly to the Japan to try it, though. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 21, 2010 in Animation, Tech
Everyone knows about Domo, but another famous mascot from Japanese television is Stray Sheep which was first spotted on Fuji TV in the mid 90s. Sadly Fuji TV has ignored poor Poe and Merry, however the folks at Robot Communications have given the woolies some love and created the interactive book Stray Sheep: Poe’s Christmas for the iPad:
I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with Bakugan. In fact, I wasn’t really aware of it myself until I asked my wife, who happens to work in retail, what had been selling really well. I half-expected her to say Pokemon but instead, she mentioned Bakugan Battle Brawlers. The title alone was very off-putting for me — I’m not fond of alliteration, you see — but I figured I should try to learn something about it, seeing as I moonlight as an anime journalist. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 21, 2010 in Videogames
Okay, so I’m not really sure it ever was a secret to begin with, but it sure seemed that way. Back in June, Square Enix showed off a small set of upcoming titles for Apple’s iOS devices and for whatever reason, almost nobody took note. It could be because, at the time, Apple had yet to make a signifigant impact in the portable gaming market. Regardless, that didn’t stop Square Enix from pushing forward with some notable classics. The first of which, Secret of Mana, finally hit the App store last week. The port largely stays true to the original, while featuring slightly updated graphics and new artwork. It’s currently priced at $8.99. The soundtrack is also available on iTunes for 25% off until January 5th. No word on when to expect any of the other titles they showed off at E3, but personally I’m still looking forward to their upcoming port of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.Read more…
This is one of the more interesting examples of K-On! merchandising that I’ve seen: They’ve created authentic scarfs based upon the ones that Yui Hirasawa wears in the series. Sadly it seems that one set is already sold out but the fish design still seems to be in stock:
This is a beautifully done series of art posters created for the collectible art house Mondo. Shown above is Star Wars by the artist Olly Moss — here are some other nice gems that are part of the series: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 20, 2010 in Animation
Studio Ghibli has picked the shojo manga Coquelicot saka kara to be their next film subject. I don’t have to see the film to know that they’ll do an amazing job with it — especially as the manga is reported to be very close to Miyazaki Hayao’s heart. Yet to me it’s sad that Miyazaki doesn’t seem to be taking any chances in his old age. Of course many of the great directors like Walt Disney or Howard Hawks seemed to make the same film again and again over their career; but to me it’s a sad reminder of someone like Tezuka who really experimented in his later years. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 19, 2010 in Comic Books
Just in time for the holidays, Noir Jewelry has released a line of accessories based on DC Comics properties. A lot of it is what you’d expect, like gleefully gaudy Wonder Woman and Supergirl stuff, but there are a few genuinely cool items in there, like the Gotham City ring, shown above. And all I’m saying is that there is an uncomfortably high number of Catwoman claws in that collection. Grievous bodily harm: the gift that keeps on giving. Read more…
So, the last entry into the Terminator film franchise wasn’t so great. And neither was the one before it. In fact, the only good entry into the series since 1991’s Terminator 2 was the woefully short-lived TV series The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Is there anything that can revive the franchise, or is it deader than most of humanity after Judgement Day? Maybe all hope isn’t lost. We can still get the gal that helped start the franchise to give it a shot in the arm! Gale Ann Hurd, who co-wrote and produced the original Terminator film, told Entertainment Weekly that she’d love to make another. Of course, right now she’s occupied with her gig as executive producer of the smash hit AMC series The Walking Dead, but we can hope that the powers that be (and the hedge fund group that currently owns the rights to the Terminator franchise) are listening. Read more…
Okay, so maybe Fanboy head honcho Michael Pinto didn’t particularly like Tron Legacy, but I did! And, at the very least, it’s captured the heart and mind of possibly the world’s biggest Tron fan. That’s right — Tron Costume Guy, who might himself qualify as a digital entity due to his status as a living meme, liked the heck out of Tron Legacy. He even got to review the film for Wired. He compliments the sequel’s logical extension of the plot from the first film, the great soundtrack and, of course, the visual effects. Now, before you say “Well of course he liked it! He’s Tron Costume Guy!”, remember that diehard fans are usually the hardest to please, not the easiest. At least that’s what I’m telling myself when reading a review of a movie from a guy dressed like the guy in the movie he’s reviewing. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 18, 2010 in Animation, Cinema
So as the end credits start to roll in the theater my friend turns to me and says “that sucked!” But my reaction was “Well they did about as good of a job that they could have…” The original Tron was an impressive film on a number of levels, but the heart of the film was that it represented a breakthrough of computer animation on the big screen — but as a film it was quite average. So the problem is that if you’re going to make a sequel over 25 years later everything that was great about the first film is going to be dated. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 17, 2010 in Television
For a while, it seemed like the cult favorite Stargate series refused to die; between SG-1’s long run, Atlantis, and the more recent Stargate Universe, it just kept chugging along. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to take a portal to another world if you want to see more Stargate Universe after the final set of this season’s episodes — SyFy has officially cancelled the series. This leaves the fate of the entire Stargate franchise in question. Read more…
