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Shown above is a TV commercial for the Magnavox Star System color television set. Below is a 1981 spot for the Magnavox Odyssey which features the voice of Mr. Spock:

Currently one of the hottest selling home robots is the WowWee Robotics Roboquad. The design reminds me a bit of a dog, although it's legs remind me quite a bit of a crab. The unit comes with a remote control device that allows you to set the personality for your mecha pet. Although I think the main selling point right now is that they're selling for around $80 which makes them a pretty cheap entertainment accessory for any nerd themed party or work place.

What I think is interesting is that while this first generation of robots are very much novelty devices or toys, I could see a day in the not too far future where they turn into every day devices. For now these robots seem to be a solution in search of a problem, but there may come a day where they can take on the role of a seeing eye dog. Here's an official demo from WowWee to give you a taste:

Shown above is an education film from 1966 which was the high point of the space race between the US and the USSR. My favorite part of the film is the spaceship animation before the title sequence, I'd love to know who did the illustrations. Sadly the only credits on the film are for the production company which is credited as "a Dr Douglass Film" and my Google search produced no results when looking this up...

Found via film archivist Ira H. Gallen.

Shown above is a new Mobile Suit Gundam themed cell phone from Softbank in Japan that's based on the high-performance version of the Zaku II robot from the classic anime series from the 80s. The phone comes packaged in a Zaku head, and when you lift it open your Gundam cell phone is inside:

Ebiten was a Japanese TV show from the early 90s that featured a contest for amateur short movie directors. Shown above is the stop motion film Pulsar (1990) by Katushi Bowda, below is the film Power (1991) by Yoshinao Sato which was created with a copy machine technique.

It's the perfect lighting fixture for any Star Wars fanboy! Shown above is a Japanese Star Wars Lightsaber Desk Lamp from ThinkGeek. You can either pick the red Darth Vader lightsaber or the blue Luke Skywalker one...

Our Top Indie Cartoonists to Watch For in 2008: Keeping true to our "Anti-Superheroes in Tights" mood at fanboy, we took a look back at the comic books and graphic novels that caught our eye:

Red Eye, Black Eye, by K. Thor Jensen

Still rounding up the graphic novels that impressed me in 2007, I bring you a tale set in 2001. Suddenly one September, prolific cartoonist and Portal of Evil founder Thor finds himself getting fired from his job. And then his girlfriend dumps him over the phone. And then he gets evicted. And then his Grandmother dies. And then terrorists in planes attack the city. And this all happens in the first two pages. So by page three, where a lesser man may have crumbled, Thor resolves to buy a 60 day bus pass and see America.

For yours truly the best part about the upcoming Speed Racer film will be the toys! Shown above is the Speed Racer Battle Morph Mach 5 Vehicle & Figure from Mattel. As you can see the Mach 5 is packed with all sorts of cool weaponry like saw blades and the well documented “jump-jacks” to bust a move on bad guys.

Found via Toy News International.

Playing with a flip book gives you that primordial joy that goes to the heart of not just what animation is, but perhaps cinema itself. Shown above are but a few samples (click on the image to see it at full size) from the amazing website flipbook.info:

"Welcome to FLIPBOOK.info, a website entirely devoted to an art form half way between book and movie. We have a collection of 4420 flip books (also called flick books or folioscopes) from 1882 to nowadays with a great diversity of topics."

Here are the latest promos for the latest season of Battlestar Galactica, first it's Baltar:

I love industrial design of the above Etch-A-Sketch based on Homer Simpson’s head, it shows some clever thinking on the part of the toy designers. Here's the product description:

Simpson's Etch-A-Sketch

"D’oh! This hilarious Simpson’s Etch-A-Sketch is shaped like the top of Homer’s head. Turn the pupils of his eyes to draw your masterpiece. Homer’s hair forms a handy plastic handle. Shake well and start over with a new, clean screen."

I thought that the Chinese New Year (February 7th) was the start of the year of the rat, but perhaps I'm wrong! According to Hot Toys of Hong Kong it's the year of the mouse — Mickey Mouse that is! And you can purchase two sets of Disney figures to bring you good fanboy luck in the year to come — the first set are 11" high Mickey and Mini Mouse figures and the second set are 3" high Cosbaby Disney figures featuring Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy Dog, Donald Duck, and Daisy Duck (shown above are Mickey and Mini Mouse).

Found via Action Figures Hub and ToysBlog.it.

Tomorrow marks the start of the Chinese New Year, so we're exploring fanboy themes relating the Year of the Rat. Our pulp fiction pick to celebrate the new year is the series of science fiction books on the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison.

If you like anti-heroes you'll love the Stainless Steel Rat .The series features James Bolivar diGriz a futuristic con man who is an expert in the martial arts and a master of disguise. He many aliases including "Slippery Jim" and "The Stainless Steel Rat" and has an odd code of ethics, for example he'll be more than glad to steal but will never kill anyone. He justifies his crimes by arguing that he is providing society with entertainment.

The character of the Stainless Steel Rat first got his start in the 1957 issue of the science fiction pulp magazine Astounding. The first novel was then published in 1961 and today there are over ten books in series including spin-offs like choose your own adventure books and a board game. There was talk of a movie but it hasn't happened yet...

Tomorrow marks the start of the Chinese New Year, so we're exploring fanboy themes relating the Year of the Rat. Shown above is an urban toy themed photograph by Flickr community member ecpica who is based out of Singapore.

Tomorrow marks the start of the Chinese New Year, so we're exploring fanboy themes relating the Year of the Rat. Rat Patrol was a TV series that ran from 1966 until 1968 which featured the exploits of four Allied soldiers (three American and one Brit) during World War II whose mission was "to attack, harass and wreak havoc on Field Marshal Rommel's vaunted Afrika Korps".

Today marks the start of the Chinese New Year, so we're exploring fanboy themes relating the Year of the Rat. Shown above is the cover to the book Rat Fink: The Art of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. The character of Rat Fink was created back in 1963 by Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (1932 - 2001). Roth popularized the genre of "Monster Hot Rod" drawings inspired from the Kustom Kulture movement in California during the 60s. The popularity of his artwork lead Revell to create a series of plastic model kits based on his work. He was also a cool guy because he would always encourage fans to get in touch with him, even going as far to make sure his phone number was publicly published — which earns him the respect of this fanboy.

Here's a trailer for the film Tales of the Rat Finkwhich is focused on the life of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth:

Celebrating the Chinese New Year (year of the rat) in fanboy style with Monty Python!

Today marks the start of the Chinese New Year, so we're exploring fanboy themes relating the Year of the Rat. Shown above is Roland Rat Superstar, a British puppet character from the 80s. Roland was first conceived and voiced by David Claridge in 1983. The show would become so popular that it would inspire three UK chart hit singles and a video game. Here are some clips from the show:

Today marks the start of the Chinese New Year, so we're exploring fanboy themes relating the Year of the Rat. Shown above is Dougal and the Rat a short animated film directed by Morgan Williams of Club Cocoanut Animation (which also features the work of illustrator/designer Julie Williams).

Today marks the start of the Chinese New Year, so we're exploring fanboy themes relating the Year of the Rat. Shown above is The Rat on Chaos a clever short animated film I found on YouTube from sanewave. Warning: This film contains some profanity and an animated rat going to the bathroom. Although no rats were harmed in the production...

If you're an animation fanboy (or fangurl) who owns a Nintendo DS you should check out the the American website for Professor Layton and the Curious Village which just launched (nicely designed by POP Multimedia in Seattle). A friend showed me the Japanese version of the game a few months ago which features Hayao Miyazaki inspired animation set in a charming Victorian world. The gameplay features characters that you would find in a Charles Dickens novel solving a Sherlock Holmes mystery. Here's the game trailer to give you a taste:

When ever I think of Fritz Lang the film Metropolis comes to mind, but often folks forget that he did a nice body of film noir projects in the 40s and 50s. It seems that RKO hasn't forgotten this and is now in the process of putting together a remake of the 1956 Lang film Beyond a Reasonable Doubt with Michael Douglas:

Michael Douglas to Remake '50s Legal Drama Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

"The movie in question is a film noir by Fritz Lang, who made such unquestionable classics as M and Metropolis. Beyond a Reasonable Doubt was a sturdy flick starring the underrated Dana Andrews (Laura, The Best Years of Our Lives) as a writer who pins a murder on himself to prove the folly of circumstantial evidence. Heady stuff.

Variety tells us that this time around, Michael Douglas, Amber Tamblyn and Jesse Metcalfe will star in a contemporary remake of the film to be written and directed by Peter Hyams (who's a far cry from Timecop here), and production is expected to begin next month. Having adored the noir touches of Hollywoodland a couple years ago, I wish they'd kept it in the period. I guess with the litigous nature of modern America, it makes sense to skewer the judicial system in the here and now, but I can't help thinking it would be more special as a traditional film noir."

Here's a clip from the film:

Lost fanboys (and fangurls) should check out Sawyer's Nickname Generator — my nickname is Freebird...

Found via zaeega.com.

From "Custard Productions" a clan of fanboys from Australia.

Shown above (click on the image to see at full size) are two pages from the 1988 Sears catalog, which featured quite a bit of Mickey Mouse merchandise. At this point in Disney history Michael Eisner was busy turning the company around, with the Great Mouse Detective (a good but under appreciated film) having come out in 1986 however they were still working on the Little Mermaid which didn't come out until 1989 and put the studio back on the map. But in the meantime the studio did quite a few merchandising deals — some of the goodies shown above include a Mickey Mouse necktie, 101 Dalmations sweat suit, a tacky 80s black satin jacket, a Mickey phone, matching his and hers nightshirts (tacky!), underwear and yes an ultra light weight Minnie-Vac!

Found via Alan and Jason of WishbookWeb.com.

The folks behind the lolcat website I Can Has Cheezburger? now have a site for dogs! Being a Star trek fan I loved the loldog shot above from the episode The Enemy Within from 1966. As you'll recall the poor horned space puppy went red shirt in the episode when used for unethical transporter testing, causing Dr. McCoy to comment "It's dead, Jim". Arf! Arf!

The above film was produced by 18 animators living in St. Petersburg, Russia. I love how the entire film was created by drawing on Post-It Notes. The song featured is by Oppa Novy God.

Found via MetaFilter.

Shown above are just two examples from an amazing collection of Atari game manuals and other associated items collected by designer Joe Kral. I have to say that I was blown away with the quality of the print design work associated with Atari in the 80s, I tend to associate good taste from that era with IBM and Apple but their taste wasn't too shabby.

Talented Teresa of Sewing Stars created the wonderful hand crafted UFO above. I just love how she managed to make the space aliens look ever so cute!

Chris is a videogame fanboy who made the above documentary on The Top Ten Worst Mistakes by Sega, even though the production values are crude his insights into the game industry of the 90s are great. I found myself laughing a few times watching this, it's amazing to think how many times Sega would become their own worst enemy. Part two is below:

This latest trailer for Kung Fu Panda doesn't look too bad, although to be honest I've always preferred Pixar to Dreamworks. I think it's that Dreamworks always relies upon sitcom jokes with well known actors while Pixar films are always about the story itself with the humor playing a supporting role. Also Pixar uses animation to tell the story while with Dreamworks you might as well use puppets.

Some more details on the upcoming The Clone Wars film and TV series for Star Wars fanboys:

Star Wars: The Clone Wars In Theaters and on Television in 2008

"A new era of Star Wars entertainment begins in 2008 when Star Wars: The Clone Wars, from creator George Lucas, premieres as an all-new feature film in August, followed by the television series debut in the fall, in a partnership announced today between Lucasfilm Ltd., Warner Bros. Pictures and Turner Broadcasting System Inc.

Produced by Lucasfilm Animation, Star Wars: The Clone Wars takes audiences on incredible new Star Wars adventures, combining the legendary storytelling of Lucasfilm with an eye-popping, signature animation style. Star Wars: The Clone Wars will open in North American theaters Friday, August 15. International release dates will be announced soon."

It's amazing to think to think that the creature above isn't a space alien but once upon time was flying around China:

Tiny perching pterosaur discovered

"A beautifully preserved fossil of a tiny pterosaur suggests that the giant pterodactyls that roamed the skies during the late Cretaceous period may have come from much smaller, tree-dwelling ancestors. The new fossil, which was discovered in 2004 in western Liaoning province, China, is about 120 million years old.

"This is a very, very complete specimen of an unusual little pterodactyl," says Michael Caldwell, a vertebrate palaeontologist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. The new fossil also sheds some light on another mystery of pterosaur evolution – whether pterosaurs began to fly upwards from the ground, or whether they first climbed into trees and then began to glide downwards."

Illustration by Chuang Zhao, found via Neatorama.

If you think that MySpace and Facebook have jumped the shark well perhaps it's time to try social networking with the kitty? Hello Kitty Online is the new community site from Sanrio and it's now accepting players for closed beta.

Found via ValleyWag.

Shown above is the 3D work of talented interactive media pioneer Larry Rosenthal. Larry has just opened his own 3C Skybase (shown above) and Star Trek Tribute Lounge in Second Life:

Cube3 Opens New C3 Skybase and Star Trek Tribute Lounge with the SFCSLQ

"Second Life, Jan 21, 2008: Cube3 the creators of the Starbase C3 Online World and RPG, has created with the sponsorship of the StarFleet Command Second Life Quadrant Roleplayers ( SFCSLQ) a new multilevel floating outpost at the groups sim at Sovereign. The Outpost , named the C3 Skybase Sovereign is now open and all aliens, avatars , etc, are welcome to attend.

I got a good laugh after watching the above trailer for the upcoming Ninjatown game on the Nintendo DS.

I hare to admit it, but this looks pretty darn good! I know I made all of those jokes about Geriatric Jones but come May 22nd I get the feeling that this old dorky fanboy is standing on line waiting all day.

When I first read the The Pentagon is going to shoot down an ailing US spy satellite, my first thought was "I want that job!" But sadly instead of sending up fanboys on the space shuttle armed with ray guns (like the Japanese Tin Space Gun pictured above) the Pentagon will just do the conventional solution of firing a missile from boat:

'Jury-rigged' missile to destroy falling spysat

Eric Powell covers always feel more like a good old fashioned pulp fiction magazine rather than showing super heros covers which always feature guys running around in their underwear — shown above is a detail from the cover of The Goon #24 which will be out on May 14th at a creepy comic book shop near you.

H.G. Wells was wrong! It wasn't the germs that killed the poor martians but too much salt:

Early Mars 'too salty' for life

"The Red Planet was too salty to sustain life for much of its history, according to the latest evidence gathered by one of the US rovers on Mars' surface. High concentration of minerals in water on early Mars would have made it inhospitable to even the toughest microbes, a leading NASA expert says.

Clues preserved in rocks that were once awash with water suggest the environment was both acidic and briny. The observations were made by the US space agency's Opportunity rover. It has spent months examining rocks on an ancient Martian plain."

Sure it wasn't a Sean Connery picture but The Spy Who Loved Me was one of my favorite films back in 1977. I think every fanboy back then would have loved to go on a dream date with Barbara Bach while driving underwater in a Lotus Esprit:

Swiss create Bond-like underwater car
‘sQuba’ concept set to make a splash at Geneva Auto Show

"OK, so the Swiss have invented a car that runs on land and underwater. But did they REALLY have to make it a convertible? It’s called the “sQuba,” and conjures up memories of James Bond’s amphibious Lotus Esprit from “The Spy Who Loved Me.” That fictional vehicle traveled on land and, when chased by bad guys in a helicopter, plunged into the water and became an airtight submarine — complete with “torpedoes” and “depth charges".”