If Watchmen Was a Saturday Morning TV Show…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 6, 2009 in Comic Books
This Watchmen parody is a perfect tribute to bad 80s Saturday morning cartoons. My favorite reference is to Jem and the Holograms…
Third Trek Trailer: Kirk Takes the Helm of the Enterprise
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 6, 2009 in Star Trek
FIRE EVERYTHING! It’s hard to go wrong with a line like that? This latest trailer starts to flesh out the story — clearly it’s a coming of age tale ala the first Star Wars movie which would be an ironic but a good reboot for one of my favorite space opera franchises. This new trailer has all sorts of new footage that looks cool like bar fights (this brings me back to what made the original series cool — no drinking Earl Gray tea!) and some cooling looking Starfleet cadet training exercises that involve doing space jumps in orbit above Mars. But I’d say the most interesting thing is that we see Kirk taking the helm of the Enterprise. Read more…
Manga Guides for Geek Topics
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 6, 2009 in Comic Books
Back in the day the gold standard of computer programming books were the O’Reilly books which featured distinctive woodcuts of various animals on the covers — well look out O’Reilly because a publisher in Japan has introduced a series of of mangas on an entire range of geek topics! If you don’t speak Japanese No Starch Press is starting to translate this line of mangas into English. The first title in the series which is already out is The Manga Guide to Databases
“Princess Ruruna is stressed out. With the king and queen away, she has to manage the Kingdom of Kod’s humongous fruit-selling empire. Overseas departments, scads of inventory, conflicting prices, and so many customers! It’s all such a confusing mess. But a mysterious book and a helpful fairy promise to solve her organizational problems—with the practical magic of databases.”
If Gerry Anderson Directed Star Trek…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 5, 2009 in Star Trek
As both a fan of the original Star Trek and Space:1999 I love this re-edited opening title which was put together by Rick Kelvington.
Watch out, Watchmen! This Film is Fanboy Approved…
Posted by Guest Author on Mar 5, 2009 in Cinema, Comic Books
Editor’s Note: In this column animation critic Joe Strike gives us our first review of the Watchmen film.
They got it right – they didn’t fuck it up too bad.
That only begins to describe my reaction to Zack Snyder’s Watchmen. On the ‘faithful-to-the-source-material-in-terms-of-capturing-its spirit’ scale I give the film 4.95 stars out of five. I credit the film to Snyder because it’s definitely his version of A____ M____ and Dave Gibbons’ ‘unfilmable’ graphic novel. It’s also a paraphrase of what Snyder said back in 2007 when he was starting work on the project: “I hope some rainy afternoon in England A___ M____ will watch the movie and say ‘they didn’t fuck it up too bad.’”
Since you’re reading this on a site called fanboy.com, you know A___ M____ removed his name from the film (and turned down the zillions of $ of booty it will generate, handing it over to Gibbons) because of his distaste for what Hollywood’s done to his books; you also know the book inside-out, the way its themes echo through its huge cast and various subplots, or the counterpoint between the main story and the pirate comic ‘within the comic.’ (I don’t intend to review the movie here, plenty of people are already covering that end of it, but even so, plenty of spoilers ahead – you’ve been warned…) Read more…
Star Trek XI New Toys: Design Critique
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 4, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections, Star Trek
The new Star Trek film will be hitting theaters in May, but early signs of merchandising are already appearing. Playmates has just introduced a line of toys which will be hitting the streets this month. So far we’ve only seen a trailer for this film, but these toys give us a first real glimpse into the look-and-feel of the film. It’s important to remember that the original Star Trek series was a real breakthrough in terms of production art — a spacecraft no longer had to look like a rocket or a flying saucer, so there’s a real tradition that’s at stake here. That and frankly if Paramount wants to reinvent the franchise they’ll have to top the amazing work Lucas has been doing these past couple of years with Star Wars. Read more…
The Original Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 4, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections
This is a commercial for Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head from the early 60s or late 50s, you’ll notice that unlike later editions that the original toy kit assumed that you’d be playing with an actual live potato. The toy was invented in 1949 by George Lerner and early versions of the toy were controversial as people viewed it as wasting food (this was just after World War II when food rationing was common). The toy began life as a premium in breakfast cereal boxes, but in 1951 for a mere $5,000 Lerner sold the idea to the company that would later become Hasbro. By 1952 over a million kits were sold, in 1953 Mrs. Potato head was added who was later also joined by Brother Spud and Sister Yam. And alas sadly in 1964 the kit switched to plastic potatoes…
Found via vintagetvcommercials.com.
Relakkuma Embraces Solar Power
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 3, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections
At the recent Toy Fair in New York I was almost depressed at the sheer number of green themed toys that seemed to be destined for landfills. The trouble with most of these toys is that they were plain old plush dolls with some connection to an endangered animal — which on the surface isn’t bad but doesn’t really engage your imagination on any level. That’s why I’m drawn to this Japanese toy which is based on the popular bear mascot Relakkuma: This novelty item features Relakkuma (also known as Relaxuma) and his honey-colored friend Korilakkuma are enjoying the soothing effects of a faux hot tub. When you place the toy in sunlight their wobble as if they’re relaxing in the faux water. You can pre-order the Relakkuma Onsen Solar Mascot from National Console Support.
Ryu ga Gotoku 3: Never Mind the Yakuza, I Want to Go Shopping!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 3, 2009 in Videogames
This is the latest preview of Sega’s Ryu ga Gotoku 3 game for the Playstation 3: This series of games follows waring factions of Yakuza and this specific title is set in “the southern Okinawa Tokyo Kamuro town city that never sleeps”. What’s funny is that while the fighting action in the later part of the trailer looks average the footage of wandering around the shopping center of the city looks like much more fun: Read more…
Hollywood Hates Terry Gilliam (and Smart Moviegoers)
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 2, 2009 in Cinema
You’d think that the Hollywood distribution companies would kill to get their hands on The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus — you’ve got Terry Gilliam one of the best directors of all time, then you have the final performance of Oscar winning Heath Ledger and add to that additional performances by Jude Law, Colin Farrell and Johnny Depp. The film only cost $20 million to make, yet distribution companies are afraid to touch it because the plot is too complex. These industry types point to the complexity of recent Gilliam efforts like Tideland and The Brothers Grimm, but to be blunt about it the marketing campaigns on those films were pretty non-existent. Sadly if a deal can’t be reached it looks like the film will go to DVD — now perhaps it’s not ready for the cineplex at the mall, but you’d think that this film at least deserves an art house run.