The Yip-Yips meet the Computer

This is a classic clip of the Yip-Yipsfrom Sesame Street discovering an old school computer in 1987:

Pretz Commercials

Like their chocolate flavored cousins Pocky, Pretz are long and thin breadstick-like snacks that have the same kind of crunch as a pretzel stick. Here’s a pretty happening Marilyn Monroe inspired commercial for them which stars J-Pop idol singerAyaya:

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Michael J. Nelson’s RiffTrax

Mystery Science Theater 3000 fansboys should check out RiffTrax, from MST3 head writer Michael J. Nelson. His site allows you to buy a MST3esque mp3 files that you can play along while you’re watching a movie. The tracks are pretty cheap and so far he’s covered the Matrix and has plans to cover the first Star Wars movie:

Michael J. Nelson’s RiffTrax.com

“Do you feel that some of the movies coming out of Hollywood are just, well, missing something? At RiffTrax, you can download Mike’s running commentaries and listen to them along with your favorite, and not so favorite DVDs. It’s like watching a movie with your funniest friend. And it’s easy to do. Don’t just sit back and take whatever Hollywood throws at you. Transform the DVD experience with RiffTrax. It’s the most fun you’ll ever have at the movies.”

Nodame Cantabile

Episodes of the Japanese comedy/drama Nodame Cantabile (のだめカンタービレ) are now up on YouTube:

Some background info from Wikipedia:

Nodame Cantabile

“Shinichi Chiaki is the top piano student at his university and an excellent violinist, but Chiaki doesn’t care about playing these instruments as much as he dreams of someday being a conductor. Chiaki, however, has several deeply rooted fears about traveling, and so finds himself “trapped” in Japan. Because he’s trapped, Chiaki starts to question exactly how far he can possibly go in music, especially when he’s passed over again and again for others he thinks are less worthy of musical scholarship and fame.”

Here in the states Del Rey has also come out with the manga version which inspired the tv show:

Nodame Cantabile 1
Written by Tomoko Ninomiya

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The Film Crew

If you loved Mystery Science Theater 3000 you’ll like this:

The Film Crew

“Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 rejoice! Three of MST3K’s writer/characters — Mike Nelson, Bill Corbett, and Kevin Murphy — have started a new venture: The Film Crew. The Film Crew has been entrusted with a very important mission: providing commentary tracks for every movie that doesn’t have one. Typically, they’ve chosen to start at the bottom of the barrel, and now you get to vote on which B-movie will get the Film Crew treatment on DVD first.”

The Bionic Woman Returns: Why?

A remake of a spinoff? Is there a law in Hollywood against doing something new? And I bet those bastards don’t even let poor Lindsay Wagner get a cameo role, thus forcing her to do more matress commercials:

Eick Reimagining Bionic

“David Eick, executive producer of SCI FI Channel’s original series Battlestar Galactica, will reinvent another 1970s SF show: The Bionic Woman, which he will executive-produce with film writer Laeta Kalogridis for SCI FI’s parent TV network, NBC, Variety reported. The original spinoff of The Six Million Dollar Man starred Lindsay Wagner as tennis-pro-turned-superwoman Jamie Sommers; it aired for two seasons on ABC before shifting to NBC in 1977 for its final year.”

We found the above Bionic Woman lunchbox photo at Eric Neely’s website.

He discovered ‘Lost’, and then lost his job…

Lloyd Braun gave the go ahead for ‘Lost’ and then lost his job:

The man who discovered ‘Lost’ – and found himself out of a job

“The discovery could not have come at a better time. ABC had dropped to fourth in the ratings after NBC, CBS and Fox, and had not posted a profit for seven years. There was just one stumbling block. Braun’s bosses were unconvinced. While he, swept along on a tidal wave of enthusiasm, commissioned JJ Abrams, the award-winning scriptwriter of the hit series Alias, to write an initial episode and lavished £7 million on what was to become the most expensive television pilot in history, his bosses at Walt Disney, which owns ABC, looked on in horror.

“A crazy project that’s never going to work” was how Michael Eisner, the chairman and chief executive of Disney, described it. “This is a waste of time,” said Bob Iger, his deputy. They could not have been more wrong.”

The Lostpedia

A wikipedia for Lost with over 1,400 articles:

The Lost Encyclopedia

Shakespeare meets Dr. Who

This beats all the Gilbert and Sullivan references on Star Trek:

Shakespeare To Appear On Who

“Russell T. Davies, executive producer of the BBC’s hit SF drama Doctor Who, told SCI FI Wire that the show’s upcoming third season will again introduce a famous character from British history, in this case the author of Hamlet and King Lear. “William Shakespeare [played by Dean Lennox Kelly] is going to be in one of the episodes,” Davies revealed in an interview in London.”

2nd Generation Saint?

I always liked Moore as the Saint, he was much more fun on that show than in his James Bond roles, I think his son deserves a shot at the role:

Who will be the next Saint? Geoffrey Moore, Roger Moore’s son?

“ROGER MOORE’s son is set to reprise his father’s role in hit 1960s TV series THE SAINT. The former JAMES BOND star told producers GEOFFREY MOORE would be a perfect replacement for PIERCE BROSNAN as 007, but they decided to cast gritty British actor DANIEL CRAIG instead. And 40-year-old Geoffrey is now in the running to play SIMON TEMPLAR, and is “much more talented than me”, according to his dad. Roger says, “The rights have been optioned by various companies and are now with Geoffrey and his business partner. Watch this space”.”

Lost: The Ultimate Viewers Guide

Entertainment Weekly offers an in-depth profiles of 12 major characters from Lost:

Lost: The Ultimate Viewers Guide

GWAR vs. Joan Rivers

Now this is some real entertainment from sometime in the early 90s:

Doctor Who Standed on Earth

The new producers of the show are shying away from episodes that take place on alien planets due to budget concerns. They just don’t get the true spirit of the show! What makes Dr, Who special is that the special effects are suppose to look low budget, and the quality of the acting and writing is what makes it all work:

Cost ‘keeps Doctor Who on earth’

“Budget constraints mean the new series of Doctor Who is largely earthbound, says writer Russell T Davies. In the most recent series of Doctor Who, only two programmes were set on other worlds. “People will say, ‘Why doesn’t he visit alien planets more often?'” he said. “But that’s because they are expensive. They’re hugely expensive.” Davies also told Doctor Who magazine that these episodes gained the lowest viewing figures of the series.”

Action Figures from Season 1 of Lost

Some really well-done figurines from different seasons in season 1 of Lost:

Lost Series 1

“McFarlane Toys’ Lost Series 1 captures six fan-favorite characters from the series’ first season. Each 6-inch Lost figure comes with a detailed base and photographic backdrop, capturing an episode-specific moment in the character’s story. In addition, each package includes a detailed prop reproduction central to the character’s story, enabling fans to “own” a piece of the show’s mythology.”

Doctor Who Spinoff set for BBC

I was hearing that this project might have been dead, but it’s pretty neat to see it back on track:

Doctor Who spin-off set for CBBC

“Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies is to bring back one of the Doctor’s most famous companions for a new children’s TV series. The Sarah Jane Adventures on CBBC will star Elisabeth Sladen, who played Sarah Jane Smith opposite Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker between 1973 and 1976. ”

Elisabeth Sladen and Jon Pertwee:

The Supersonic Future

This is a 1975 commercial for Braniff Airways showing the future of supersonic air travel, keep in mind during that era everyone was pretty darn sure that the SST would replace those ugly looking 747 aircraft. It’s sort of ironic that the Concorde has gone the way of history and there are more 747 looking airplanes than ever before. And other sad footnote is that Braniff Airways wouldn’t last past 1982:

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I Want My Terminator TV!

It looks like there’s going to be a TV series based on the Terminator movies, maybe Gov. Arnold will take a guest spot:

‘Terminator’ retools
Fox TV series will breathe life back into Connor family

“The “Terminator” franchise is rising again, this time as a Fox TV series. Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar’s C2 Pictures, which produced the most recent “Terminator” feature, has pacted with Warner Bros. TV and scribe Josh Friedman (“War of the Worlds”) for the tentatively titled “The Sarah Connor Chronicles.” Skein will focus on robo-warrior Sarah Connor and her savior son John Connor.”

Babylon 5 Returns

It seems that there will be new episodes of Babylon 5 on the way:

New Babylon 5 coming

“As many of you may already know, a few days ago as I write this, I canceled all of my convention appearances through February of next year due to the press of work, both in terms of finishing up work on my script for Ron Howard, and in order to free up room to begin the process of writing, producing, and directing the first in what we hope will be a series of new Babylon 5 anthology episodes for DVD.

The other result of this is that we are going to push back volume nine just far enough to make room for me to get these projects up and on the rails. It will not be much of a delay, it will be a September release, but the Babylon 5 scripts team and I wanted to make sure everyone knew about the delay, and that it is only a delay.

The good thing is that the delay is caused primarily by the creation of new Babylon 5 episodes, to be produced with the original cast, which is a cause for celebration on every level imaginable. We hope to follow up this with another announcement with the September publication date for volume nine as quickly as possible, so stay tuned, for as they say in the television business…there is more to come.”

The Battlestar Galactica Wiki

Alright I admit it, I’m not the biggest fan in the world of the new Galactica series. I watched the show when it was first on the air, and my final memories of the series was that bad spin off Galactica 1980 which was bad, really really bad! In fact it was so bad that one episode featured a baseball game ala the Bad News Bears. So no matter how cool the new show is, I always be haunted by memories of that damn space dog robot and the phrase “Starbucking!”

But anyway on the bright side if you are a fan of the show and not haunted by visions of that brat Boxey (God I hated that brat!) then you’ll love this very cool website which is a wiki on Battlestar Galactica:

battlestarwiki.org

Song Hye Kyo Sells Ice Cream

Song Hye Kyo is a Korean actress whose nickname is “woodpecker” because she talks so fast. Her first big break came when Song co-starred in the KBS drama Autumn Fairy Tale in 2000 with Song Seung-hun and Won Bin. The show quickly became popular as a tragic love story.

Here is an ultra cute ad she recently did for McDonalds in Korea which is pushing ice cream:

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Stargate SG-1 Cancelled

I always thought that Stargate was alright, but to be honest I was never blown away by the show. Every episode seemed alike after a while, although MacGyver in the laed role made it interesting to catch from time to time. But anyway after a long run it looks like they’ve pulled the plug, but on the sad side they’ve renewed the spinsoff show Atlantis:

Sci Fi’s Stargate SG-1 Said to Be Axed

“People close to the production of Stargate SG-1 said Sci Fi Channel canceled the series on the eve of its 200th episode, which aired last Friday night, making the show the first cable scripted series to reach such a milestone. The announcement came in sometime before cast, crew and executives gathered to celebrate the historic airing at a Saturday-evening bash held at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver, British Columbia, where the series is shot. Spinoff series Stargate Atlantis — which also airs Friday nights on Sci Fi and shares producers and production facilities with the older SG-1 — was said to be unaffected by the cancellation. Atlantis is currently in its third season.”

Christopher Nolan set to direct Prisoner movie

It seems like a Prisoner movie is getting close to reality. Christopher Nolan is slated to direct – I hope he does a better job than the Batman series – but then again I wonder if anyone could do a good job of making such a classic series into a movie:

Movie in the making?

“Following hot on the heels of rumours of a proposed TV re-make of “The Prisoner”, news has reached TUW that a possible movie adaptation is rumoured to be in the works. According to “Variety”, Christopher Nolan (“Memento”, “Batman Begins”, “Insomnia”, pictured left) is ‘near a deal’ with Universal to direct a Prisoner movie, written by David and Janet Webb Peoples. What this means for the mooted Sky TV re-make is not clear. Universal have held movie rights to the series for some years, would they exert pressure on Granada/SKY not to move forward?. As always, we will be first to bring you more details if and when they appear.”

…and of course don’t forget to visit this cool Prisoner website:

http://www.theunmutual.co.uk/

Monkey Heaven

This is a fun website devoted to the cult classic live action Japanese TV series Monkey (sometimes known as Monkey Magic), made by NTV in the late 1970s:

http://www.monkeyheaven.com

Monkey Heaven is based on one of the great quest stories, a 16th century Chinese epic called Hsi Yu Chi (= Journey to the West). The title Monkey is probably from Arthur Waley’s English translation. The tales, set in 630 AD, describe the demons and monsters who try to stop the Tang Priest Hs’an Tsang (Tripitaka) from reaching a Buddhist monastery in India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures.

The whole series recounts the exploits of the resourceful, brave, and humorous Monkey, the real hero of the fantasy, as he escorts Tripitaka, the pig monster Pigsy, and the water monster Sandy, on their perilous mission.

Sarah Jane: Doctor Who Spinoff in the Works

Rumored for many months, there is now confirmation that a new Doctor Who spinoff series starring Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith, from the Tom Baker era) will be put into production:

Sarah Jane Investigates
The BBC’s in-house newsletter Ariel today released information suggesting the identity of the second Doctor Who spinoff series that has bee rumored for the past several months, one that will bring back Elisabeth Sladen, who appeared last season in the episode “School Reunion”. Says the item, “CBBC is developing a spin-off series from Doctor Who based on the adventures of investigative journalist Sarah Jane, played by Elizabeth Sladen, and to be written by Russell T Davies. Sladen, who originally played the Doctor’s assistant in 1973, returned for the last series where she was seen vying with young Rose Tyler for the Doctor’s affections.”