I got quite a quick of this TV Asahi report on the Japan Expo which is being held this weekend in Paris, France.

Sky Doll Space Ship isn’t actually a new series — it was first published in France. And it looks like Marvel is set to release this three part series by Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa starting in May. I’d encourage everyone who loves comics to spread the word about this series for two reasons: Firstly I’d love to see more international comics imported into America, and secondly it’s refreshing to see comics escape from the typical superhero clichés that dominate the market. I’m glad that Marvel is getting behind this — it’s also nice to see that they got Pierre-Mony Chan to do a variant cover:

Here’s the official plot description:

Exceptional beings exist who possess the ability to take on any identity. Among them is Noa, the most famous last generation synthetic doll. Sky Doll Spaceship lifts the veil on some of her often very extravagant past experiences: call girl in the middle of the desert, sexy comic book heroin, limo driver, and finally, the normal (ironic, funny, sometimes melancholic) life of a doll on planet Papathea… Discover through new exciting tales of Sky Doll by Canepa & Barbucci featuring art by European superstars Matteo De Longis, Claudio Acciari and Pierre-Mony Chan (Spin Angels)!

On this day in 1968 the French erotic science fiction film Barbarella was released in the United States. The film failed on pretty much every level as the critics hated it and it made no money at the box office, however thanks to the wonders of home video Barbarella became a cult hit in 1977 when it was re-released.

What makes the film unique to me is that it’s the first film that tries to put together sex with science fiction, and while it fails on a number of levels (like the flat attempt at humor in the film) the campy awkward quality of it makes it somehow endearing and even charming. I think it’s for that reason that there has been talk of remaking it in recent years, and in a post-modern cinematic era we seem to appreciate camp just a little bit more as an art form.

Although I think the core magic of the film owes a great deal to the innovative French comic book by the same name. Created by Jean-Claude Forest Barbarella first got started in 1962 which all ready makes it very ahead of its time as it pre-dated the sexual revolution.

Of course just six years later when the film came out the world had changed, or at least on the surface it seemed to have changed. It’s important to keep in mind that while a small group of hippies was rediscovering “free love” in the 60s that America was still quite a conservative country which was best represented by the notorious Nixon phrase “the silent majority” which captured the other side of the era. However by the disco days of 1977 that initial splash from the 60s had rippled out into every corner of suburbia.

In my own humble opinion in the right hands a remake of Barbarella could be an amazing film. Imagine if you would an an animated anime film from Japan based upon a French comic book? Or think of the fun that a director like Luc Besson (who did The Fifth Element) might have with a classic story like Barbarella. Of course this is best case thinking, the sad reality is that in the wrong hands Hollywood could easily ruin what might make a remake so cool by playing it too safe. If that’s the case I’ll gladly cherish the 1968 campy original:

We like to think of sci fi films as something new, but the fact of the matter is that the genre is now over a century old. On this day in 1909 the French film Le Voyage sur Jupiter opened in the United States. Directed by Spanish filmmaker Segundo de Chomón in 1907 the movie is quite similar to Le voyage dans la lune from 1902 by Georges Méliès. Although to his credit Chomón was very good at special effects and shows off a few new tricks here.

To his credit Chomón had a long career in the new medium which lasted from 1902 until 1927. In that time he directed, wrote, edited and did cinematography for dozens of films. Perhaps his high point comes at the end of his career when he got to work on the epic 1927 film Napoléonon which he contributed special effects. You can tell that Chomón had a love for science fiction because several of his films deal with that theme — here’s a film he did a bit later called Excursion en La Luna:

I love the hand coloring and little dance scene around the five and a half minute mark. An earlier film he worked on was El Hotel Electrico which has all sorts of cute stop motion animation effects, of course these are crude by the standards of today but you’re looking at cutting edge effects from a century ago:

My favorite shot in that film is where he animated the hand brush combing the hair of the young lady and shows the gentleman getting a stop motion shave.

The Aérotrain sounds like a plot device from a steampunk novel — a rocket powered railroad car designed to travel on a monorail. This amazing retro tech project was lead by engineer Jean Bertin in France from 1965 until 1977. Sadly Bertin passed away in 1975, and his technology was passed over in favor of high speed trains that used high-powered electrical motors. Shown above is a working prototype from 1967 that was powered by Pratt & Whitney JT12 engine. Below is an early concept model which was created in 1962 which used compressed air:

While the Aérotrain looks like a bit of a historical curiosity today, it does show that France was very focused on spending serious research and development funds in the 60s which has give them a very useful high speed railway system today. This never happened in the United states because 20th Century America had a deep love affair with the automobile — starting with Robert Moses with the New York parkway system in the 30s and reaching a high point with Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System of the 50s. However I wonder with the current green movement if we’ll see a return to high speed rail over here.

If you think about it an American high speed railway system could eliminate a great deal of domestic airplane travel which consumes a great deal of fuel and is hub based anyway. Such a project could also be a very positive job creation program from the federal government. Also if we look back to France in the 60s we should be inspired to see that it might be a good idea to not just take what already exists — but put some real effort into innovation.

Maybe this might mean creating single user (or family sized) railway vehicles? Or perhaps we might see a return to something like trolley cars inside of urban settings which could replace buses. When you look at the video footage below of Mr. Bertin’s handy work from 1969 you start to realize that even though we may hit some dead ends, that it’s never too late to rethink a basic mode of transportation: