Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno played Bruce Banner and his musclebound alter ego, respectively, in the 70s television version of classic comic book series The Incredible Hulk. It ran for a good while, and was probably the most well-known and successful comic book-related TV series ever made. It looks like Marvel is hoping lightning will strike twice — they’ve announced plans to bring the green giant back to television. Stan Lee is excited, and you should be too, because guess who’s thrown his hat into the ring as a possible show runner? None either than Hellboy director and visionary filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. We figure if there’s anybody who knows how to humanize monsters, it’s that guy. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 17, 2010 in Star Trek
Apparently this couple loves Picard as much as they love each other (and that’s fine; there’s room for a little Jean-Luc in any relationship). Their friend made them this edible cake bust of the Enterprise’s venerable captain; additionally, he made you jealous that you didn’t have this as your wedding cake. First pizza cutters, now this? What’s the next piece of food-related Star Trek paraphernalia we’ll see? A jello mold of Deanna Troi?
NASA, in conjunction with Etsy, is running a contest. The parameters: make something really cool by hand, and theme it around space exploration! There are already some really neat entries, like the above necktie based on the recently-declassified Apollo lander manual. The winner gets a $500 Etsy shopping spree and, presumably, the brag-worthy title of Artisan NASA Thought Was The Best.
Official rules are here — you have until November 2nd to turn in your entry. If you’re not the crafty type, you can always just keep an eye on the page and see what awesome space-y stuff the Etsians have come up with. Read more…
Bilbo Baggins famously said “Not all who wander are lost,” and the axiom appears to be true even where movies are concerned. The two films based on The Hobbit, considered to be the prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, are now finally greenlit despite what appeared to be insurmountable issues with nearly every facet of production. Peter Jackson is set to direct both films (replacing a frustrated Guillermo Del Toro), which will start preliminary filming back-to-back in February of 2011.
As for casting, Ian McKellen is set to return as the wizard Gandalf, and Martin Freeman is rumored to be playing Bilbo Baggins. We should expect to hear more casting news now that the film finally has its greenlight. Read more…
Sillof & Glorbes, makers of countless other incredible custom action figures, did this awesome WWII-themed Star Wars reimagining! There’s a lot to love here, from Darth Vader’s technological downgrade to Han Solo’s Millenium Falcon bomber jacket. The Stormtrooper figure above is “the most literal fusion of WWII and Star Wars imagery,” but other characters deviate a bit. Boba Fett, for example, now has a flamethrower arm. Can’t really argue with that. Read more…
Sony is officially rebooting the Spiderman franchise, and they have their Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and their Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). But the question on everyone’s mind isn’t who Spiderman is smoochin’ on, it’s who he’s swingin’ at! And it looks like we may finally have our answer. Actor Rhys Ifans was recently added to the cast in the role of the film’s villain, but we didn’t have any idea as to who he was playing until now. The Wrap reports that Ifans, a Welsh actor perhaps best known in America for his role in Notting Hill, will be playing classic Spidey villain The Lizard, a.k.a. Doc Connors. We haven’t heard anything from Sony yet, so take the news with a grain of salt, but it does seem like a pretty good fit. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Oct 14, 2010 in Videogames
With Halloween creeping up on us, many of you probably have your costumes already picked out. Some of us, on the other hand, like to procrastinate till the last minute. Well, here’s your chance to be proactive and hilarious at the same time without having to rely on your wit. That’s right, not only does this awesome Pac-Man costume look fantastic, but I’m pretty sure everyone in your office will find it hilarious to some degree. Of course, if you’d rather go as something lame like a ghost, you may as well make it oneofthese. It’s way better than a bed sheet — just don’t get mad if someone tries to eat you.
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Oct 14, 2010 in Videogames
BDA Gamer recently teamed up with Lego to produce a line of customizable Wiimotes for the ever-so popular Nintendo Wii. It’s a shame that these controllers are being released now as I imagine they probably would have sold far more during the launch craze a few years back. If it weren’t for the fact that my Wii collects more dust than a swiffer, I might have even considered picking up a pair of them myself. Of course, I’m sure there are still plenty of gamers out there who will want one, even if the only thing they’ll ever be playing on that console are titles developed by Nintendo themselves. If you’re in the market for one, you can order them through Toys’R’Us and you’ll receive a free Lego Halloween bucket as well.
I had written that I wasn’t entirely sure how they’d go about creating a sequel to Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, but after viewing the trailer, I had a basic grasp of the premise. You play a clone of the previous hero who scrafices himself to save the rebellion. Subsequently, this extended production dairy delves a little deeper, giving us a better understanding of exactly what they have in mind for this upcoming sequel, from introducing narrative to characters we’ve seen before, such as Yoda and Boba Fett. If this piques your interest, the demo is now available for download on both Xbox Live! and Playstation Network.
There are those of us out there who can’t get enough Star Trek. We’ve seen every episode and own every film — even the director’s cut of The Motion Picture, don’t ask why — and yet we crave more. With J.J. Abrams running the show, god only knows how long it’ll be until we see the next film hit the big screen. On top of that, many of us, myself included are still coming to terms with his alternate universe and what that means for the future of the series we’ve all known and loved. Thankfully, a place still exists where we can hide from the changes that have warped our precious universe — the novels. Read more…
At first, I found myself wondering how they managed to create a sequel seeing as the first Star Wars: The Force Unleashed had such a definitive pair of endings. Not to spoil anything — Episode IV pretty much does that for you, seeing as it takes place between episodes III and IV — but it’s either you or Vader at the end, and we all know how that turns out. So, naturally you’d think the game would be a sequel in name only — guess again. The game apparently takes place after the first, and as this trailer reveals, you play a clone of the previous hero. Again, you can probably guess the ending, but on the bright side, you’ll get more of that over-the-top gameplay we experienced the first time around. Of course, I don’t think anything is as over the top as using the force to crash a Star Destroyer, but who am I to judge.
Ever since the latest episode of The Simpsons aired this past Sunday, the Internet has been abuzz about British political activist and graffiti king Banksy’s contribution to the opening sequence — most notably its extended couch-gag. While I’m not able to actually post the couch-gag here, I can link to Fox who currently has the episode in question available for streaming free of charge.
Sadly New York Comic Con 2010 has come to an end — but what impressed me is that I think in the long term this may turn out to be the one show that can rival the San Diego Comic Con. Part of my evidence for this was the sheer scale of the number of quality cosplayers that could be spotted at the con. Here is our collection of our top 100 photos that we captured this past weekend:
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 10, 2010 in Star Wars
Franco Bambrilla has this great image, titled “Imperial Minigolf Final Exam,” available in giclee print form. I’m trying to figure out what exactly’s going on. Maybe that stormtrooper’s about to make a free throw. I can’t see the hoop, but I imagine that armor has to augment you somehow, right? It’s probably just off-camera. That would probably be a three-pointer, though. Wait, no, this is mini-golf, not basketball. Maybe you have to make a putt through a two-meter exhaust vent? Read more…
Bucking the trend completely, Warner Bros. has officially backed out of plans to release Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One in 3D, citing that time constraints wouldn’t allow for a quality conversion. Believe it or not, this actually bodes well for 3D cinema on the whole — it’s the first time a studio has come out in favor of quality over quantity where 3D is concerned. However, Warner Bros. still plans to release the second Deathly Hallows film in 3D, so I’m not sure if we can chalk this up as a win for 3D cinema just yet. Read more…
I see it time after time again: A new film opens packed with hype, does poor box office and then fades away within a week. A good pulse check of this is if you see any cosplay related to said property even a month after the film is heading to video — so I was very pleased to see the above Scott Pilgrim cosplayer at New York Comic Con on Friday. I think too many reviewer got lost with the videogame story telling style and lost fact that Pilgrim is really an A+ geeky romance film that speaks to a generation (or two).
I’ve got to say that I’m very impressed at how in a short amount of time that Reni Mimur has really perfected her Japanese maid show act — and has won over so many fans in the process. This year Reni returned to the New York Comic Con and I think what’s great is that this will give her an opportunity to win over non-anime fanboys while warming the hearts of the local otaku community. Read more…
Our fear that with New York Comic Con being kitbashed with the New York Anime Festival that the anime aspect of the show would be swallowed up by the comic book aspect of the show — however the high quality of anime cosplay and lolita fashionistas proved otherwise:
With the addition of the New York Anime Festival to the New York Comic Con non-anime cosplayers have been forced to step up their game to gain attention — and from the looks of these photos competition can be a very good thing!
New York Comic Con opened up today and this year since it’s been combined with the New York Anime Festival it’s bigger than ever. Here are a few shots from the showroom floor to give to a taste of the show:
These awesome photos from the Moscow Aviation Institute depict the aborted Soviet moon lander project. The US ended up winning the space race in the 60s, just as Kennedy promised, but the Soviets weren’t too far behind, as these devices show. Also in this gallery are photos of the Soyuz landing capsule, the docking station for the Internation Space Station, and more marvels of the Soviet space program. Even amidst the metal plating and plexiglass you can see the fragility of it all, the myriad of things that could go wrong in space. It’s a wonder that we ever got to space at all, much less in machines like this, but we did it. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 8, 2010 in Animation
For the honor of Greyskull! He-Man’s female counterpart, She-Ra, just celebrated her 25th anniversary. The Princess of Power, whose first adventure aired in 1985, was one of the first animated female superheroes, and the first real role model for girls amidst the male-dominated 80s cartoonscape. Mattel and Filmation have been celebrating Adora’s anniversary all year by releasing new toys based on characters from her adventures, and there’s a new collection of animated episodes available now on Hulu, iTunes, and regular old DVD. Read more…
