Sam Christopher's Quick Hits

By Sam Christopher

A rather abbreviated QH this time, as Santa brought me the flu for Christmas (a lump of coal would have sufficed, I hate it when they get creative). This kept me from seeing The Spirit this weekend, but at least I got to have a nice visit with my family on Christmas Day, something I almost never do due to work schedules. Anyway…

Army of Darkness: Ash’s Christmas Horror- Ash finds out he has a Wonderful Life—so long as he gets a promotion out of the deal. Much better than the Halloween Special.

Brave and the Bold #20- Green Lantern and The Phantom Stranger are apparently powerless against The Purge… so next ish they’ll send for Green Arrow to save the day? Green… Arrow?!?

Hulk #9- Both stories in the split-book format end here—sort of. The first, Hulk vs. Ms. Marvel, The Sentry, and Moon Knight in Las Vegas, ends like a tv show. The second, Rulk vs. “The Mighty Marvel Man-Haters”, ends like a soap opera. Next ish, though, looks very, very good.

New Avengers #48- Writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Billy Tan craft an excellent story of desperate parents and caring friends, individuals innocent and not, caught in the middle of the passions to which war can give rise… only to completely ruin it with a stupid and pointless final four pages. I ripped the comic in half and threw it across the room; it was that lame.

Skaar: Son of the Hulk #6- Old Sam reveals the mystery of the old legends—and it’s not something anyone wants to hear. Skaar proves to be his father’s son—which is good and bad, but mostly good. The Red King reappears—and it’s just weird. And a chrome-looking guy with a surfboard shows up at the end.

Spirit Special #1- I didn’t get to see the film but I did get to read these four classic tales from the Golden Age. Highly recommended.

Thor #12- Loki goes back in time to make his life the way it is. Hela figures out the mystery of Loki’s new feminine form (and you will, too, if you just think about it a little). Only thing that would have been better is if Loki had been shown to make what appeared to be a rather insignificant mistake, only to find that in the present it made his life intolerable.

Ultimatum #2- I don’t generally read the Ultimate line, other than FF and a few of the minis here and there (Card’s Ult. Iron Man being one of my absolute favorites). I thought this looked interesting, so… this 2nd ish is full of shocks and wildness, several deaths and a Death Goddess (two appearances by Hela in the same week may just be a portent). Jeph Loeb and David Finch tell the tale.

Vigilante #1- I loved the original Vig series, have every issue and most other appearances of the character. Not sure yet what I think about this new character who bears the name, but I’ll give original character creator Marv Wolfman the benefit of any doubt for now—the man’s earned that much at least. This first ish was a good setup.

Wonder Woman #27- Part two of “Rise of the Olympian” brings us the apparent death of Athena—turns out Star Trek had it fairly close—and the unveiling of Zeus’ master plan for the reward of all Amazon sacrifices through the centuries. Genocide has Wonder Woman’s lasso integrated into “her” body, and WW herself is far too battered to do anything about it.

Prognosis for Spring 2009 Science Fiction and Fantasy Television Shows

By John J. Joex

(Click on the Series Links to see the full preview entry for each show)

The second half of the 2008-09 season will kick off in January as shows start to thaw from their Winter hibernation and the new / returning shows make their current season debuts. Three new shows are on the schedule: Dollhouse, Kings, and Cupid (NBC’s joint venture with the BBC to air Merlin is currently in limbo). And five returning shows will bow during the second half of the season: Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Reaper, Kyle XY, and Medium.

Currently, I am looking forward to several of the returning shows more so than the new ones. Lost tops my list as it has maintained a consistently high level of quality through its first four seasons and shows no signs of slowing down. This series re-invents itself every season and manages to stay fresh and relevant. Oh sure, it has strayed a bit from time to time (I found last season’s finale a bit of a letdown), but for the most part it continues to deliver well-crafted, engaging stories.

Battlestar Galactica should also soar during its ten episode swansong. Over its final episodes, we will find out what happened to Earth and the identity of the last of the Final Five. And while BSG has had its share of erratic episodes, when it hits it has few equals. I expect this one to go out with a strong finish.

Reaper’s return should provide some good fun to offset the intensity of Lost and BSG. While this one quickly descended into formulaic episodes during its first season, it ended strong as it began to expand beyond its routine. I only hope that it can build its audience, especially considering the fact that it will have some tough competition in its timeslot on Tuesdays at 9 PM with CBS’s juggernaut The Mentalist and FOX’s Fringe.

Among the new shows, I want to get excited about Dollhouse because the premise sounds interesting and because it comes from the always reliable Joss Whedon. However, I’m hesitant to get attached to it because I have doubts about its chances of surviving. Word is that FOX has already shown concern about the direction and tone of the series prompting some behind the scenes scrambling. And Whedon fans have already geared up a Save Dollhouse campaign which can’t be a good sign for the show’s future.

NBC’s Kings, which provides a modern take on the biblical David and Goliath story, sounds interesting but also kind of far-fetched for Prime Time audiences. This is another one that I will be tentative about committing to because I wonder if it could pull enough viewers to survive (especially considering the fact that NBC is handing five hours a week of Prime Time real estate a week to Jay Leno in the 2009-10 season). But then again, this is one of those that could turn into a Lost-like unexpected hit.

As far as ABC’s Cupid, I could really care less. Why they would spend money to remake a failed decade-old series then shove it into an iffy mid-season timeslot completely evades me. Instead, they could have picked up another network’s cancelled show from last season with a built in audience like Jericho or Moonlight (or even go back further and bring back Firefly). Or they could have given more support Pushing Daisies. Don’t know but this one seems like a lost cause.

NBC has taken Merlin off its schedule, so I am unsure if it will make it to Prime Time. The series sounds somewhat intriguing, and those of us who would like to check it out need not fret too much. Should NBC back out of its joint venture with the BBC, I’m sure this one will air at some point on BBC America. And a second season is already in the works (the first season aired in Britain this Fall), so we will have plenty of episodes to come.

In addition to these, NBC's Da Vinci Code-like mini-series The Last Templar will air on January 25th and 26th and should be worth a look. On the other hand, FOX's pilot Virtuality from BSG co-creator Ronald Moore looks like it could experience further delays and may undergo some retooling before it makes it to the small screen (if it ever does).

As for the returning shows from Fall, I am really hoping that Heroes gets back on track, Fringe continues to improve, and Life on Mars holds its course. I have just about given up on The Sarah Connor Chronicles, though I will still tune in when it first returns in February. Supernatural has become appointment TV, but the rest I may watch from time to time with none particularly high on my must-see list.

I also expect the executioner to stay busy as the 2008-09 season wraps up. Following are the ones that I consider most likely to get the axe by season end:

Chuck – This one has some friends in high places at NBC, but I can’t believe that will last long if its numbers don’t improve. It has trended slightly upward in the latter half of Fall, so it has a chance.

Cupid – The Tuesday 10 PM deathslot did in Eli Stone (and Jericho on CBS during the 2007-08 season), so expect this one to follow.

Dollhouse – Too much negative press already. It’s on Friday night. It’s on FOX. Let’s hope I’m wrong.

The Eleventh Hour – Doesn’t seem to make sense based on the numbers its pulled so far, but CBS does not seem committed to this one.

Kings - From what I have heard about this one so far I just feel like it may have a hard time registering with Prime Time viewers.

Knight Rider – Good riddance.

Life on Mars – Its numbers went steadily downward after it premiered in Fall. Its Lost lead-in will help for a while, but I believe it will have to show some serious improvement to get a second season.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles – The quality of writing is down and the ratings are nothing short of abysmal. And a move to Friday night will most likely only bring them down further.

Reaper – Barely received a renewal for a second season and now it has some extremely tough competition in the Tuesday 9 PM slot.

Check back as we continue to monitor the progress of all these shows for the rest of the current season. And keep up to date with the schedule for the current season: www.axiomsedge-scifi.com/scifi_tv_2008_09.htm

See also my Mid-Season Wrap Up for the Fall 2008 shows.

2008-09 Mid-Season Wrap-up

By John J. Joex

Pretty much all of the shows that bowed this Fall have wrapped up the first half of their seasons and are headed into their Winter hiatuses (or oblivion for a few). While this was the most active season yet on the small screen for shows in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre, I can’t rank it among the best because the quality of programming was just not up to par. Oh we had a few standouts, but more shows than not just seemed to amble along or tread water during the fall season.

Consider the new shows:

J. J. Abrams’ Fringe had the most pre-season buzz, but it didn’t really live up to its hype. The show has covered some well-trodden ground without adding too much to distinguish itself from its forbearers. It did start to find itself toward the end of its Fall run and could really take off when it returns in Spring, though.

CBS’s entry The Eleventh Hour covers some of the same ground as Fringe, but it sticks closer to plausible scientific explanations. This however, has made the series seem like yet another CSI-clone with scientific buzzwords thrown in to capture genre interest. Rufus Sewell does a good job with the Jason Hood character (taking up the mantle from Patrick Stewart who played Hood in the original British version), and provides some incentive to check out the show from time to time.

CBS’s other entry, The Mentalist, has delivered some decent episodes, but it is really doesn’t belong in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre. Patrick Jane admits right off the bat that he was a fake psychic and nothing more has been done with the potential supernatural elements. Not a bad show, but it’s nothing more than a crime drama.

NBC’s My Own Worst Enemy did nothing more than waste the talent of Christian Slater. It threw a contrived and highly improbable concept at us and followed it up with confusing and hackneyed scripts. The show deserved its early death, though Slater deserved better.

NBC’s other new entry, Knight Rider, was even worse. The sad fact is that hodge-podge of espionage and fast-moving cars could have registered high on the guilty pleasure scale if they had writers maybe one notch up in talent. Instead, apparently the majority of the budget went to fancy vehicles and explosions.

The CW’s Valentine took a quick exit after the network’s failed attempt to outsource Sunday nights ended in disaster. This series about Greek gods living in Hollywood and trying to bring some love to the world found itself awash in mediocrity and never registered with viewers.

On the Sci Fi Channel, the web-series convert Sanctuary got off to a good start, then seemed to descend into a monster-of-the-week formula. Much like the Stargate series that it shares creative talent with, it has some interesting story ideas, but never really delves into them.

The Cartoon Network’s two new entries Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Batman: The Brave and the Bold were mildly interesting but nothing spectacular. Clone Wars started out strong, but before you knew it Jar Jar Binks showed up to ruin the day. And Batman provides a bit of a throwback to the earlier days of the comic book but seems primarily aimed at a pre-teen audience.

The syndicated Legend of the Seeker seems determined to cover every Fantasy / Sword and Sorcery cliché within its first dozen episodes and it is definitely on track to do just that. Still, Bruce Spence is great as Zed and this show scores some points in the guilty pleasure category.

ABC’s Life on Mars (yet another remake of a British show), has shown promise as it follows detective Sam Tyler trying to figure out why he traveled back to 1973. It’s more than just a crime drama with a twist, though it did tend to meander a bit before it wrapped up its Fall run.

HBO’s True Blood also seemed to really catch on after getting off to a pretty slow start. While the vampire series made me nostalgic for the much-missed Moonlight, it started to develop its own place in the toothy sub-genre as it wrapped up its first season.

Then there were the returning shows:

Heroes was tops on my list of returning shows in the Fall and even though it got off to a pretty strong start, it really went astray as the season progressed. How many times can a character die only to return in the next (or same) episode and how often can you rely on the time travelling device to change past/future events? The series experienced some behind the scenes shake-ups, apparently NBC’s way of telling the creative team to get things back on track, so we can only hope for better things when the series returns in February (when Bryan Fuller could be back on board).

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles also lost its way this season. Its first season showed real promise, but during its sophomore year the show got of course with uneven and at times confusing episodes. And Shirley Manson’s Catherine Weaver character added nothing to the show. With its abysmal ratings, this one had better get on track soon or the battle for the future will come to a quick end.

Defying expectations, Pushing Daisies managed hold up the quality of its first season as it returned from the extended hiatus caused by the writer’s strike. Unfortunately, viewers had moved on and too few chose to return to the Pie-Hole leading ABC to pull the plug on this delightful series despite a significant fan effort to keep it on the air.

Supernatural has really soared this season and taking its viewers on quite a rollercoaster ride. It has to hope that the CW will stay viable, though, to continue its run. If the network does fold, expect another provider to show some interest in picking it up.

Chuck seemed to keep up the same quality of light fun that it had in its first season, though its viewership has definitely taken a hit in its second season. The Ghost Whisperer and Smallville have remained on track with the quality and ratings from their prior seasons.

Final thoughts on Fall 2008:

I definitely feel a bit of a letdown at this point with the cancellation of Pushing Daisies, the drop ing quality of Heroes and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, along with the underwhelming starts for shows I had high expectations from like Fringe and Legend of the Seeker. On the other hand, I feel I shouldn’t complain too much because we have so many options within the genre. Still, I will take just a handful of really good shows over a plethora of mediocre ones. Remember back to the 2006-07 when we didn’t have a whole lot to chose from, but we did have the first seasons of Heroes and Jericho along with Lost and Battlestar Galactica (and Supernatural to boot)? Those were good times.

See also my prognosis for the upcoming Spring 2009 shows.

Sam Christopher's Quick Hits

By Sam Christopher

Two anthologies lead off this edition:

Marvel’s Dark Rein: New Nation One-Shot is basically five lead-ins by five creative teams to five comics that Marvel is hoping to entice you to buy. The first, Secret Warriors: Declaration has a Nick Fury-led team attempting to “change the world”. Brian Michael Bendis and Jonathan Hickman write while Stefano Caselli draws this interesting story. Agents of Atlas: The Heist, by Jeff Parker and Carlo Pagulayan, makes me wish I’d read the A of A mini. Cool little story about the theft of a rather large amount of gold from a rather large holder of gold. War Machine: Crossing the Line was all right but I never really cared very much for this character. But writer Greg Pak and artist Leonardo Manco made this interesting; maybe I’ll try the series. Adam Felber and Paulo Siquiera bring us Skrull Kill Krew: Breakfast in America. They should have kept it. Lastly, Jim McCann and David Lopez tell us about the reunion of husband and wife Hawkeye and Mockingbird in New Avengers: The Reunion: Suspicion. Okay, I guess. All in all this was much, much better than last week’s Dark Reign One-Shot.

Next, the DC Universe Holiday Special is chock-full of super-powered Christmas cheer. First, Matt Cherniss and Peter Johnson tell, while Ivan Reiss and Joe Prado illustrate, “The Man in Red”, an origin re-told—sort of. An excellent story. Second, “Somewhere Beyond the Sea”, by Dan Didio and Ian Churchill, relates the meeting of two kings—sort of—and is a solid Silver Age-style Aquaman story. “Good King Wenceslas” is up next. Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen relate a non-super, very sweet, medieval tale of warriors and kings. Then, Batman and Jim Gordon live through the wonderful quiet of “A Day without Sirens”, with special thanks to The Birds of Prey, in a tale told by Joe Kelly and Mick Bertilorenzi. “It’s a Wonderful Night”—written by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani and drawn by Tim Levins—is a nice little story about family. Although it would have been nicer if Nightwing could learn that Christmas presents should be accompanied by a boisterous “Merry Christmas”. The JC Vaughn and Lee Garbett production of “Christmas with the Beetles” was okay, nothing special. Then the Huntress plays nice in “An Angel Told Me”, a sappy but fitting story by Amanda McMurray and Rafael Albuquerque. Good story, a little rich cause-to-narrative ratio, though. “The Night Before Christmas” stars the Teen Titans in a story by Rex Ogle and Mike Dimotta that vies with “…Beetles” for the worst in this book but still not bad. “Party Animal”, by Alan Burnett and Kevin Maguire, starts out pretty lame but comes back with a strong finish. And, speaking of a strong finish, Adam Schlagman and Rodolfo Migliari end this volume with an excellent story starring Dr. Light, fittingly titled “Let There Be Light”. All of these stories are sandwiched between a one page opener and closer by Sterling Gates and Karl Kerschl. A special, special book.

Other comics:
Age of the Sentry #4- More Silver Age-style goodness with just a hint of darker reality around.

Angel: After the Fall #15- Angel fights both his nature and destiny as Gunn and Illyria try to destroy the world, bringing about the death of… but that would be telling.

Birds of Prey #125- Kind of a letdown for a “milestone” issue, but not bad. Anytime you have Black Canary and Oracle together it’s a good time.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #20- Writer Jeph Loeb and artist Georges Jeanty bring us a transitional tale that takes us back to Buffy’s freshman year in high school. A dream sequence glimpse of what they had in mind for the Buffy Animated Series they worked up a few years back. Great story, great fun.

Mighty Avengers #20- Funeral for a Wasp. Thor makes a magical, heart-felt appearance. My question: How and why did Norman Osborne become Marvel’s answer to Lex Luthor? I just can’t see all these heroes—especially people like Tony Stark—bowing down to this clown no matter what pull he has in the government. I just don’t get it.

Spiderman: Noir #1- Starts off looking, very, very good… then quickly collapses into garbage. I’ll check out the second ish but I’m not very hopeful for this series now. I just hope things change.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Last Generation#2- Why am I not surprised that Wesley Crusher would do the wrong thing?

Stephen J. Cannell’s The Greatest American Hero #1- A fantastic, fun re-telling of the early days of this classic tv show in comics form. Publisher Arcana Studios promises original stories are forthcoming. If they’re told in the same vein as this one we can look forward to a laugh-riot. It’s rare that I laugh out loud while reading a comic—Ambush Bug accomplishes this with regularity—but this book had me guffawing every couple of pages.

Supergirl #36- Kara tries to deal with her father’s death and her mother’s descent into madness. Kandorians Nightwing and Flamebird (y’know, I’m not even sure that’s what they’re called but that is the costuming for them), along with the mysterious Superwoman, make an appearance.

Terminator: Revolution #1- Are all the women at the end of the world this incredibly hot? Sarah and Tara Connor—not making that up—are just astonishingly well put-together. Is this an evolutionary imperative, a “survival of the fittest” thing? Just curious.

Thor: God-Sized One Shot- This tells the tale of Skurge the Executioner and why the gods have conflicting memories of him. Great story! Just a great story.

War of the Elementals #2- Finally got this! And I don’t really know what to say about it. And in this case that is a compliment. I think I know where the story is going but I don’t want to say but that makes it concrete in my mind and I would just as soon be wrong. Meeting Kazar was a bit much at first but it seemed to fit in all right. I imagine #3 is out by now—maybe I can get it in the next few months. (I have no idea how this happens. Same thing happened with Epilogue #2)

Video Game Review - Neverwinter Nights

Guest Contributor: Rich L. (aka gamerdude)

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Neverwinter Nights is a computer roleplaying game set in the Forgotten Realms using the Dungeon and Dragons 3rd edition rules. Concerning 3rd edition rules, love it or hate it, in my opinion Neverwinter Nights was ahead of its time when it was released on June 18, 2002 (North America) and July 3,2002 (European Union and Australia). The main game consists of 4 chapters and a prologue that propels the story forward. The plot concerns a plague called The Wailing Death that has hit Neverwinter, and the race to find the cure and who may have started it. Besides the main game, BioWare, the publisher of NWN, released two expansions and five premium modules and the game doesn’t end there! Neverwinter Nights 2 Vault (http://nwvault.ign.com/) has tons, that’s right, tons of fan created material using NWN’s toolset. Not only can you play the game, but you can create a module and then host it on the net via one of Gamespy’s network or upload it to Neverwinter Nights 2 Vault for the whole community to play.

The recommended requirements is 256MB ram, 8x cd drive, DirectX 8.1 or later, 2.0 GB of hard disk space (that’s only the main game folks, not counting any expansions, updates, or fan created material), and a DirectX sound card. It will run on almost any system from WIN 98 through XP. With Vista I’m not sure about the compatibility, so I can’t comment there. By the way, all the system requirements were found at BioWare’s website (http://nwn.bioware.com/about/requirements.html).

Graphics are pretty good, not the state of the art you might expect in new game, but for a 6 year old game, not bad. There’s some voice acting, but you’re going to read the majority of the dialogue, and it can get pretty repetitive. You will find yourself talking to some of the same characters and fast forwarding through their dialogue. I know I do. Background music and sounds are excellent. Sometimes I hear a cat, and I’m wondering, “Is it the game, a cat outside, or one of my cats?” (I have two). Gameplay, like I mentioned before, is really unlimited. You could play the same scenerio several times with two or three different characters and chances are you might not get the same gameplay due to the characters’ skills, special abilities, or spells, not to mention all the fan created material. BioWare really does a top notch job with NWN also, with regular updates that gives the player/creator more content to play around with (their last update was 1.69).

So the question is “Is it worth it?” and I will tell you if love computer rpg’s like I do, “YES!!!”. I snagged NWN up about two years ago for $6 and never regretted it. I have a folder on my pc that’s devoted to nothing but fan created NWN material, that I’ve downloaded from Neverwinter Nights 2 Vault, and it weighs in at a whopping 3.10 GB! I didn’t hardly play any of my other pc games for about a year and a half, until I just got burned out (hey it happens!). All this and not to mention all the modules that you can play online. Out of a 10, I’d give NWN a 8.5 (the dialogue kills the score a little).

Buy Neverwinter Nights from Amazon.com:

Book Review - The Kolchak Papers: The Original Novels

By Sam Christopher

Rating: 4.5 stars for the first novel, 4 for the second

The Kolchak Papers, put out in 2007 by Moonstone Press (which also holds the rights to comics adaptations of The Night Stalker), is a new printing of the two seminal stories that launched the Kolchak: The Night Stalker tv series of the ‘70s. These novels, written by Jeff Rice, are interesting simply in their creation. The first, The Night Stalker, is an original novel that inspired the highest rated telefilm of all time, starring Darren McGavin as the quintessential newsman, skeptical of everything and everyone around him yet enough of an empiricist to believe what he himself sees no matter how fantastic it seems (take that, Scully). The second book, The Night Strangler, is the novelization of an original script by the great Richard Matheson (I am Legend, Stir of Echoes, television credits too numerous to mention) based on Rice’s original novel. So the first book is a novel they made into a movie, and the second is a movie they made into a novel. Also, as a technical note, there are quite a few typos in this book, more than most professional works I’ve seen. It’s not that big a deal, really, just a little annoying at times.

The Night Stalker begins with a letter from the fictional character Carl Kolchak to writer Jeff Rice, telling Mr. Rice about the story that led to Kolchak’s being run out of Las Vegas on a rail and effectively ended his newspaper career. Kolchak is now working as a PR man in Hollywood and drinking to forget. The story centers on a series of murders of young women that took place in Vegas between 25 April and 15 May 1970. The murders all happened at night—not very unusual—and they all involved the loss of large amounts of blood by the victims—slightly more unusual—and they all involved the discovery of saliva and puncture marks on the victims’ necks, marks apparently made by “teeth such as the incisors of a medium to large-size dog”—very unusual, especially given that the saliva was found to be human. This leads Kolchak to investigate into the most logical conclusion that the killer at least believes himself to be a vampire, which leads him to ask all kinds of strange questions to people all over town. Which leads to the local authorities, fueled by old money and strong desire to maintain the tourist trade, to move to shut him down. The rest of the novel is a factual record of all that transpires, as befits the dictation of a newsman. The authorities, of course, prove to one and all in the end why they should always be questioned and never fully trusted. Which is how Carl ends up in Los Angeles. This novel also introduces us to another wonderful character who would be forever tied to Kolchak: the bellowing editor Tony Vincenzo. Tony (played by the wonderful actor Simon Oakland in every ‘70s screen version of the story) is described in this novel as “a small, dried-out Brooklyn-born Sicilian of such commanding presence and warmth that for years he has been totally disregarded by the Cosa Nostra, the Knights of Columbus, and the Italian-American club.

The Night Strangler was a telefilm made in 1973. Richard Matheson was commissioned to write this script for a follow-up film after the tremendous success of The Night Stalker. In this story, Kolchak has moved on to Seattle and the beginning finds him drinking in a bar, trying to interest someone in his “Vegas vampire” story. Tony Vincenzo, having a drink in the same watering hole, hears Kolchak’s voice and, against his better judgment, walks over to Carl’s table and the two reacquaint. Tony is now the editor of the Seattle Daily Chronicle and hires Kolchak (he feels badly about the way Carl was run out of Vegas). From there the story begins to become familiar: series of murders, all women, all evincing a loss of blood—albeit a much smaller loss this time. This time the trail leads not to a vampire but an alchemist living in the lost world of Underground Seattle, ostensibly trying to find “the elixir of life”, a serum which will prolong human life indefinitely. I have always thought that maybe they asked Matheson to do a Jack the Ripper story here (at the end of The Night Stalker novel Rice had included some “research” on the part of Kolchak detailing the Ripper case as “one of history’s most fascinating villains”) and he was creative enough to come up with something new while hewing close enough to the Ripper theme to satisfy the suits at the network. This novelization does a very good job of fleshing out the telefilm, although the film itself is not to be missed, containing great performances by Richard Anderson (The Six Million Dollar Man) as the unbalanced killer and John Carradine as the newspaper publisher.

I have purposely left the actual stories to these two novels vague because this is a book that should be read. Even if you have seen these two telefilms these two stories should be read. If you haven’t seen the films and have never read these novels I envy you your voyage of discovery. These stories, and the teleseries, hearken back to a time and style of storytelling where quick cuts and shock value were considered far less important than eccentricity of character and fun interaction. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a perfect marriage of these two principles. I used to wish there would be an episode where she had to fight something and was sent to interview the last “monster hunter” who fought it. She walks up to the door, knocks… and Carl Kolchak, long-since retired from both the newspaper and monster killing businesses, invites her in. Carl Kolchak is the American Van Helsing; he should not be forgotten.


Buy The Kolchak Papers from Amazon.com:



Buy Kolchak: The Night Stalker on DVD from the Axiom's Edge Webstore

Television Review - Batman: The Brave and the Bold

By Sam Christopher

Carton Network, Fridays, 8 PM EST

Rating (after four episodes): 3 out of 5 Stars

I am not as into animation as many of my fellow comics fans. By that I mean that I don’t know who all the animators are, or what great anime creator they were influenced by, and I’m not really into all the voice actors—unless I just happen to recognize them, like Robert Picardo doing the voice of the android Amazo in the Justice League Unlimited series. I like watching animation if it’s done well and the stories are worth following, it’s just that, as with Godzilla films, I’m more of a fan than a fanboy. I enjoyed the Bruce Timm Batman series, as well as the Superman and the Batman Beyond, although I didn’t follow them regularly; I just know that every time I caught one of the episodes it was always good, and the movies they did, like Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, were just excellent. This most recent series, though, didn’t look like the others from the ads. It looked more like a ‘40s-‘50s style Batman, and the premise of teaming him with a bunch of second-stringers from the DCU seemed contrived to me. I thought this was going to be a very dumb show. I was wrong.

One of the things I like most about this show is the beginning of every episode, where the viewer is thrown into the action by showing what appears to be the end of a different adventure. The beginning of the first episode, which features a team-up of Batman with the latest incarnation of Blue Beetle, this one a teenager given semi-control of an alien suit of armor—it’s all very Iron Man meets the Greatest American Hero—shows The Caped Crusader and a clean-shaven Green Arrow escaping a devious deathtrap set for them by The Clock King. Then the opening credits roll before the main action of Batman and Blue Beetle saving an alien planet from Kanjar Ro starts. The second episode is a bit of a departure, though, in that, while the beginning shows the end of another adventure, both this frontispiece and the main story involve the former criminal Plastic Man, first against The Gentleman Ghost then Gorilla Grodd. But this style can be a problem at times. The start of the third episode, with Batman and The Atom battling the magical villain Faust, seems far more interesting than the main story with Aquaman and The Dark Knight saving Atlantis from the team of Ocean Master and Black Manta. The latest episode is a Christmas story with Batman and the android Red Tornado battling Fun Haus (the only villain thus far in the series I’ve never heard of), with Bats and Blue Beetle providing the early action against Sportsmaster and his crew.

Another thing I really like is the characterization of the different heroes. Blue Beetle, the teenager with the supersuit, acts like a teenager, questioning himself at every turn, trying very hard to do the right thing in the eyes of his hero, The Batman. And when Beetle does something right it immediately goes to his head and Bats has to help save his bacon. Plastic Man is the light-hearted ex-crook whose greed and money hunger come to the fore again and again as he tries to steal both money and gold in very creative ways. Red Tornado is the machine trying to understand and “catch” the Christmas Spirit—he even reads a book written by “Stuart Martha”—while trying to help Batman find his own. The only episode that fell flat for me in this regard was the Aquaman story, maybe because the writers made The King of Atlantis into a blustering egomaniac along the lines of Marvel’s Hercules. I just didn’t care that much for this characterization. I would rather he be the haughty king than the court jester, I guess. Just seems to suit him better for me.

And the selection of the heroes and villains themselves has been very good, helped I’m sure by the aforementioned characterizations. Green Arrow was reminiscent of the JLU version of The Flash, while Plastic Man brought the JLU Booster Gold to mind, although Plas was funnier. Aquaman is pretty standard fare for superhero shows, but Plastic Man, The Red Tornado and this latest version of Blue Beetle are seldom seen, even in the comics really. I know many will say this is just a new way to milk money out of the current high water mark the Batman franchise is currently enjoying but, as this takes us back to the older days— comic, after its initial run as an adventure anthology title, The Brave and the Bold was a Batman team-up comic—and even the slam-bang action calls to mind the old Saturday serials of the ‘30s and ’40, I tend to look at it more favorably as a softer introduction to the Batman character for kids. It’s far too easy to forget nowadays that the gritty adventures of The Dark Knight only really began in the ‘70s (in The Brave and the Bold, ironically enough) with Neal Adams. For all the complaining about the camp of the ‘60s tv show, all they were doing was following the lead of the comics.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold is a fun series, filled with the kind of A-Team style “everything blows up and no one gets hurt” action that kids of all ages can get into. The stories are light and easily accessible, with no continuations or intricate subplots one must watch every episode to understand. As I said, this is the perfect vehicle for children to be introed to Batman—there’s always time later to show them the murder and mayhem that accompany the darker side of Gotham’s Arkham Asylum villains. It’s also the perfect show for those of us raised on the ever more intricate plots and more realistic violence that permeates the comics of today who’d rather take some time off and relax a little with the characters we love. Sometimes it’s just good to take a break from reality—even comic book reality.

Weekly Update – Stargate: Universe Gets First Cast; Virtuality Delayed Again., Heroes/Battlestar Galactica Online; Ratings Update

Stargate Universe Gets First Cast: The third series entry in the Stargate franchise has announced that Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty) will take up the lead role. The series, targeted for a Summer 2009 premiere, will follow a group travelling through the far reaches of space after they must escape through a Stargate.

Virtuality Still Not on Schedule: The completed Science Fiction pilot Virtuality from Battlestar Galactica co-creator Ronald Moore has yet to receive a green-light. FOX executives have viewed it, but may delay it further and ask for some re-tooling. The pilot had originally been hinted to air late Fall 2008 / early Spring 2009. They did like what they saw in the Science Fiction comedy Boldly Going Nowhere, though, and may move forward with it.

Heroes Webseries: To fill the gap during the hiatus between the end of Volume 3: Villains and the beginning of Volume 4: Fugitives (which starts February 2nd), a web series will run on NBC.com called Heroes: The Recruit. The first episode is now available and can be viewed at this link: www.nbc.com/Heroes/The-Recruit/
Battlestar Galactica Recap/Preview: As fans get ready for BSG’s return on January 16th, they can watch the online preview for Season 4.5 and get up to date with the thirteen minute recap video. Both videos as well as the "The Face of the Enemy” web-series are available at the BSG website: www.scifi.com/battlestar/

Ratings Update: Probably the biggest ratings news from the week of December 7th is the performance of both of CBS’s genre teasing procedurals. The Mentalist pulled 13.65 million total viewers for a repeat airing and is the undisputed hit among new series for the season. It is even pushing its timeslot competitor Fringe in the 18-49 demographic now. Previously the FOX show had won in that demographic while The Mentalist took honors in total viewers each week. Fringe will definitely have to gear up for the race when it returns from its hiatus in February if it doesn’t want to fade behind The Mentalist’s momentum. On Thursday, CBS’s The Eleventh Hour pulled its highest numbers for the season so far with 13.43 million viewers. The eye network seemed to be losing patience with the series because it regularly lost a fair amount of its CSI lead-in audience, a fact which possibly prompted the truncated back-half order of five instead of nine episodes. But this series falls only behind their other hit on Tuesday nights in total viewers for a new show, so it seems like they should stick with it a bit longer. Meanwhile, on FOX, The Sarah Connor Chronicles fell to a season low when it only pulled half the viewers in the 18-49 demographic that a 35 year old Charlie Brown repeat enjoyed. Seems very likely that this series will not see life beyond its back-nine episodes which will begin airing in February. Keep up with the weekly ratings with our Network Ratings Tracker as well as the likelihood of cancellation with the Renew/Cancel Index at TV by Numbers.

Hulu Awards Week 8: Sam Christopher's List

This week we’ll start off with the categories in Finals…

Best Dramatic TV Series:
I didn’t really care very much for any of these. There was only one I ever really watched, although, as previously stated, I can understand the attraction of House. My choice here:

Bones

Best Dramatic Movie:
I really wanted to pick something else. I really wanted there to be something here I could hang my hat on and say, “This is an excellent film.” But, really, any list with Sleepless in Seattle on it is inherently flawed and devoid of any real value. I know, I know, I should just put down Of Mice and Men or Sense and Sensibility—we won’t even discuss Lost in Translation—but somehow I just can’t. I don’t know, maybe cynicism is becoming my natural state. Sleepless…? Next they’ll be feeding us Home Fries. I always liked Rocky, and I like old cars, and I wish I had a teenager to paint my fence and wax all the old cars I have that I never drive. Especially if he’s got a hot girlfriend who’ll take a little girl to meet Thor and help Nick Cage drink himself to death. I choose:

The Karate Kid

Best Short Format Comedy:
As far as I’m concerned this choice was all alone on this list:

Carpet Bros.

Best Family Movie:
If Dragonheart wasn’t just clips I would’ve chosen it. If Jumanji didn’t have Robin Williams I would’ve chosen it—although that would never disqualify the wonderful drama Dead Poet’s Society from any list. For these reasons, and the ones stated in the Best Dramatic Movie section:

The Karate Kid


And now for the semifinals…

Best Anime:
My two choices from the first round are here, and I threw in a couple that looked good from what I saw:

1. Speed Racer
2. Astro Boy
3. Naruto
4. Bleach
5. Xxxholic

Best Cartoon Series (non-anime):
All four of my first rounders are here, and the one I had to add was a fine choice as well:

1. Casper the Friendly Ghost
2. Futurama
3. The Simpson
4. Pink Panther
5. King of the Hill

Best Animated Short:
These were a little tougher:

1. Carnivore Reflux
2. Poor God - The only reason this wasn’t chosen in the first round was because it seemed kind of pedestrian to me. Not bad, just nothing special.
3. Nun Fight Club - Don’t know how I missed this in the first round. Title says it all.
4. Born to be Alive - Imagine Wiley Coyote trying to get himself. Even in death he finds he can’t die.
5. Far West - Starts out as a guy showing you how to make animation, turns into something totally different.

Round 1 Nominations:

Best Travel / Leisure Show:
Not my cup of tea (although a cup of hot tea sounds good right about now):

1. Destination Truth
2. Bikini Destinations - Do you need a diagram?

Best Cooking/Food Show:
I know John really gets into these but I don’t watch them really:

1. Kitchen Nightmares - Mildly interesting.

Worst Reality Show:
There are good reality shows?!? This is like picking Most Dishonest Politician, or Worst BCS Scenario, or Least Talented Baldwin Brother. John had the right idea here but I chose to go with taking two picks from each of the three categories, and I’m staking a claim right now for hazardous duty pay because I actually watched some of everything on this list:

1. 30 Days - The more operative timespan here is 15 Minutes. And it’s up. Long past up.
2. Jackass - This is one of those shows that I find hard to believe anyone’s ever watched.
3. Denise Richards: It’s Complicated - No, it’s not, Denise. You’re an incredibly beautiful woman whose life simply isn’t interesting enough to film, but who is so hungry for attention you’ll do anything—as evidenced by this God-awful spectacle—to make people notice you.
4. Hey, Paula - Hey, Paula, how does it feel to know you reached your creative peak as a Laker Girl?
5. Battle of the Bods - Don’t. Even. Get. Me. Started.
6. Make Me a Supermodel - One of the Seven Signs of the Apocalypse.

The Hulu Awards will be on break for the holidays and will return in mid-January.

(Editor's Note: The general public can participate in the nominations as well. Go to the links above for any or all of the categories you are interested in and cast your vote for the shows you think should win. All of the general votes will be tallied up and count as one panelist in deciding the final winners. PSW)

Spring 2009 Science Fiction and Fantasy Television Preview

Most of the shows that premiered in Fall are now winding down for their Winter hiatuses, while the networks are busy preparing their schedules to round out the rest of the 2008-09 season. Eight series in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre will bow in the 2009 half of the season which includes five returning series and three new ones. In addition, NBC’s The Last Templar mini-series will air in January and at some point FOX will role out its pilot Virtuality. A few of series will get shuffled as FOX’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles will move to Fridays at 8 PM EST to act as the lead-in to freshman series Dollhouse and Life on Mars will journey to Wednesdays at 10 PM to lead-out Lost’s fifth season return. NBC had planned a Sunday night fantasy block which would have had new shows Merlin and Kings sandwiching returning series Medium, but they have since scrapped this plan. Medium goes back to the Monday 10 PM slot it had last year, while Kings gets shifted to Thursday at 10 PM and Merlin gets left in the cold for the time being.

Below is the list of series that will premiere in 2009. Click on the series link to read our full preview entry for each show. Also below, is the schedule for next year as it currently stands. Go to our 2008-09 Season site for more information on the schedule and for updates on all of the shows from the current season. And come back next week for Johnny Jay’s Mid-Season wrap up and thoughts on the upcoming Spring 2009 shows.

Spring 2009 New Series (click on link for preview entry):
Dollhouse
Cupid
Kings

Spring 2009 Returning Series (click on link for preview entry):
Battlestar Galactica
Kyle XY
Lost
Medium
Reaper

Spring 2009 Mini-Series / Pilots (click on link for preview entry):
The Last Templar
Virtuality


Spring 2009 Schedule:

Sundays

7:00 PM
CW – Jericho (Repeats)

Mondays

8:00 PM
NBC – Chuck (Returns February 2nd)
ABC Family – Kyle XY (Returns January 12th)

9:00 PM
NBC – Heroes (Returns February 2nd)

10:00 PM
NBC – Medium (Returns February 2nd)

Tuesdays

9:00 PM
CBS – The Mentalist
CW – Reaper (Returns March 17th)
FOX – Fringe (Returns January)
Sci Fi – Eureka (Return tbd)

10:00 PM
ABC – Cupid (Premieres March 24th)

Wednesdays

8:00 PM
NBC – Knight Rider (Returns February)

9:00 PM
ABC – Lost (Returns January 21st)

10:00 PM
ABC – Life on Mars (Returns January 28th)

Thursdays

8:00 PM
CW – Smallville (Returns January 15th)

9:00 PM – Supernatural (Returns January 15th)

10:00 PM
CBS – The Eleventh Hour (Returns February)
NBC – Kings (Premieres March 19th)

Fridays

8:00 PM
CBS – The Ghost Whisperer
FOX – The Sarah Connor Chronicles (Returns February)
Cartoon – Batman: The Brave and the Bold

9:00 PM
FOX – Dollhouse (Premieres February 13th)
Cartoon – Star Wars: The Clone Wars

10:00 PM
Sci Fi – Battlestar Galactica (Premieres January 16th)

Cancelled:
Eli Stone (ABC)
My Own Worst Enemy (NBC)
Pushing Daisies (ABC)
Valentine (CW)

In Limbo:
Merlin (NBC)
99 Stories (AMC)

Hulu Awards Week 8: John J. Joex’s List

Round 1 Nominations:
This is the last set of Round 1 nominations until January, so I’ll make the best of it.

Best Travel / Leisure Show:
I’ll avoid the Fashion shows for now, because I am no expert there. And for the Travel shows, I gravitated to those with culinary themes (as I say, when in doubt go with food).

1. Three Sheets – What is it with shows about comedians travelling around drinking? I may not be a comedian, but I’ll act pretty funny if I can get this gig too.
2. After hours with Daniel – At least this time it’s a chef traveling around drinking and eating.
3. Uncorked – Already gave this one a nod in the Non-Competitive Reality Show category, but I will recognize it here as well.
4. Destination Truth – Can be worth a look at times.

Best Cooking/Food Show:
Now we’re talking! I can sink my teeth into some of these shows even if Hulu does have a fair number second-tier entries among their selections. Unfortunately, many of the better choices only have clips available, but then again that’s not too bad if you are trying to figure out how to prepare a dish. I would have included 30 Minute Meals, but it seems to have been removed from the site (and I'm suffering from Rachael Ray burnout anyway). Also, I will avoid duplicating the entries I already including in the Travel / Leisure category as several of the same shows made it here as well.

1. Good Eats – Alton Brown is the ultimate food nerd. You know that you’re not going to buy all of the gadgets he has or put as much effort into each dish, but he definitely provides some good information and I have picked up more than a few helpful hints from him.
2. Great Cocktails – Some good info on how to mix up a variety of drinks.
3. Everyday Italian – Giada whips up some pretty tasty recipes.
4. Healthy Appetite With Ellie Krieger – Provides some decent tips on healthy-leaning dishes.
5. Chef’s Kitchen – Good instructions on some pretty high-class dishes from famous chefs.

Worst Reality Show:
Don’t get me started here. The easy answer is all of them. Of course then you have to really look at what counts as a reality show, and quite a number on this list don’t fall under what I consider the reality show umbrella. Many steer closer to the documentary genre or travelogue or cooking show or instructional series. A true reality series to me means an unscripted show where people are put together in a situation and the camera captures their actions and interactions. Shows like The Real World and Survivor. Then there is the offshoot of this where the cameras follow around one or more celebrities either during their normal routine or through situations contrived based on the series premise. The latter being the group that gravitate to the top of my worst of list because of their gratuitous voyeurism taken to the nth level. My list is below, but I am withholding comments on the individual entries because this is a family site.

1. Living Lohan
2. Pam: Girl on the Loose
3. The Girls Next Door
4. Rob and Amber: Against the Odds
5. Snoop Dogg's Father Hood
6. Hey Paula
7. Temptation Island
8. Paradise Hotel 2
9. Celebrity Apprentice
10. Gimme My Reality Show
11. Make Me A Supermodel
12. Mad Mad House
13. Rob and Amber: Against the Odds
14. Snoop Dogg's Father Hood
15. Deion and Pilar: Prime Time Love
16. Denise Richards: It's Complicated
17. Dr. 90210
18. ---Oh wait, sorry. I was supposed to stop at six. I told you not to get me started. Just go with the top six above.

Round 2 Nominations:

Best Animated Short:
Poor God and Nun Fight Club made it to this round which is enough for me. The other three I am somewhat ambivalent about, but they will do.

1. Poor God
2. Nun Fight Club
3. Crooked Mick
4. Carnivore Reflux
5. Metro

Best Cartoon Series (non-anime):
All four of my Round 1 picks made it through and I will tack on the always enjoyable Wallace and Gromit to round out the five.

1. The Pink Panther
2. Exosquad
3. The Simpsons
4. Futurama
5. Wallace and Gromit

Best Anime:
My three Round 1 noms made it through, and I will throw in Speed Racer as a guilty pleasure. The others I am mostly neutral toward, but I will go ahead and tack on Naruto.

1. Death Note
2. Mushi-shi
3. Astro Boy
4. Speed Racer
5. Naruto

Round 3 Nominations:

Best Dramatic TV Series:

ER - Agh!!! I can’t stand it!!! Picket Fences didn’t make it to the finals. I don’t know that I even care, now. I guess I will go ahead and go with this medical drama mainstay.

Best Dramatic Movie:

Of Mice and Men – Another loss! How could In the Heat of the Night not make it to the finals? I’m giving Karate Kid the nod in the best family movie category, so I will go with this one here.

Best Short Format Comedy:

Carpet Bros. – At least this one made it through to the finals. Really, if you are a Tarantino fan, check this one out.

Best Family Movie:

The Karate Kid – Definitely worthy of the nomination. If you haven’t seen it in a while, set aside the time to revisit it.

The Hulu Awards will be on break for the holidays and will return in mid-January.

(Editor's Note: The general public can participate in the nominations as well. Go to the links above for any or all of the categories you are interested in and cast your vote for the shows you think should win. All of the general votes will be tallied up and count as one panelist in deciding the final winners. PSW)

Sam Christopher's Quick Hits

Before we enter the world of comics, I’d like to say a word about Eli Stone: AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!! Thank you.

Now let’s start off with Action Comics #872, which is Chapter 7 in the New Krypton serial. Geoff Johns (The Flash, 52) is a great writer. The characterization of Alura, Supergirl’s mother, as a villainess while Zor-El plays the good guy ruler who’s kept out of the loop about all the machinations going on in the shadows around him is just spot-on, and logical given the circumstance they’re presented with. The Pete Woods (Catwoman, Robin) art, though, just needs to go. Not saying Woods is a bad artist, just that this style of drawing doesn’t fit The Man of Steel. This was a major drawback in the preceding Legion of Superheroes and Brainiac storylines, which were great stories that the art only detracted from. Could be worse, now that I think of it; Woods could be drawing Wonder Woman or the soon to be departed Birds of Prey. I really think he’d be better on something gritty like a new Question series. Or maybe they’ll give him a new Creature Commandos series, now that they’ve brought them back to the DCU.

And we fall right back to the depths with Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #2 (of 5). Delving perilously close to Marvel Apes territory (which came out with a #0 this week, by the way, in response, no doubt, to the multitude of fans who wrote in begging for reprints of Gibbon-centric stories). This second issue is absolutely awful. Tony Stark digs deeper and finds that a cabal of JFK, Trask (whose first name I can never remember but it’s the guy who created the Sentinels to kill the X-Men), and The Joint Chiefs got together in the bowels of the Pentagon (at midnight most likely) to implement “Project: Wide Awake, which Tony refers to as “a whisper in the dark by men who were afraid of what they didn’t understand. A policy of fear and repression.” The main thrust of this insidious scheme was apparently to wait until the Earth is about to be attacked by “a scout for a hostile armada”, a creature “powerful beyond belief”, then send the most powerful hero on the planet, the only man with even a chance of stopping this threat, to fight it. All of this only because the Blue Marvel is black. I mean, we all know the government would never think of asking the Fantastic Four or Thor or Captain America or Iron Man to investigate any threat to all life on the planet because they’re all white (well, the Thing’s orange but he used to be white so I guess they figure that’s close enough). Just a dumb, dumb story.

Other Comics:
Amazing Spidergirl #27- May’s travails continue as she goes in search of her own body, Peter’s destiny—in Norman Osborne’s eyes—is apparently achieved, and Li’l Benjy teaches us a new dirty word.

Ambush Bug: Year None #5 (of 6)- I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that if you journey far enough you’ll meet yourself, but did you also know you’ll steal your girlfriend? Seasoned Tater Tots Earth will never be the same. Just an amazing book.

Final Crisis: Revelations #4 (of 5)- Still an excellent read. By far the best of the FC X-overs. Much better than…

Final Crisis #5 (of 7)- As usual, not so much, although it was a trifle more coherent this time.

Justice League of America #27- The return of the Milestone Heroes to the DCU, and they’re after the retired Dr. Light for some reason. A battle royal coming next ish, I think.

Secret Invasion: Dark Reign One-Shot- Horrible artwork—I have never seen Namor look worse, and Loki was fairly awful, too—and a nonsensical story add up to rank garbage. Hard to decide which was worse this week, this or Adam. This may have been worse, to me, because I have really come to hate what they’ve done with Norman Osborne. That character is just… Anyway.

Sam Christopher's DVD Picks - Night of the Living Dead

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

In my freshman year of high school, my homeroom teacher was an art instructor named B. Davis. I never took a class of his—he taught art, and I can’t draw blood with a syringe—and I think this was his only year of teaching there, but right before Halloween that year he got a print of and permission to show Night of the Living Dead. Now this was just as videotapes were about to come into vogue (my family was the first I knew of that had a VCR, a monstrous machine I could barely lift on my own), so the print we saw was a reel-to-reel, maybe 16-mm print that was projected onto as big a screen as an old high school had and the several of us who had stayed after school that day huddled on the floor of the old rec room and watched. Watched the horror unfold as something unlike anything before came across the screen. A couple years before I had been snuck into a theater to see the original Dawn of the Dead, ostensibly the sequel to NotLD, so I knew a little of what to expect. But this was somehow the scarier of the two for me. Whereas Dawn had the gore and the cannibalism was right in your face, there was something even more unsettling about watching this all in black-and-white. It seemed to lend the production an authenticity that no other horror film I had seen before had. Even today, this film has a power for me in which the whole transcends the sum of its parts.

The film begins with a brother and sister driving down a lonely road to a cemetery to visit the grave of their mother. Johnny (Russ Streiner) and Barbra (Judith O’Dea) are arguing over the drive, Johnny complaining about their mother being buried this far out and them having to blow their whole day on the trip, Barbra trying to be reasonably tolerant of his whining. As Barbra places the flowers on the grave, Johnny slips into an old habit he has of teasing her for being scared of the cemetery. “They’re coming to get you, Barbra,” he says in an approximation of Boris Karloff. Then, seeing a gaunt man walking through the tombstones a little ways off, Johnny says, “Look! There comes one of them now!” How right he is. The Cemetery Zombie (Bill Hinzeman) attacks Barbra and, when Johnny comes to her defense, ends up killing Johnny. Barbra runs back to the car only to find that Johnny took the keys. She pulls the parking brake and the car rolls downhill away from her attacker, who has already smashed out a window. She rolls into a tree (which became necessary when the car, borrowed for the production from Streiner’s mother, was damaged in an accident away from the set) and sets off on foot, running until she finds a seemingly abandoned old house to hide out in. She finds a woman upstairs dead, with part of her face missing. Scared beyond reason, Barbra runs out the front door, where we’ve already seen that a couple other “walkers” have joined Hinzeman, right into the headlights of a truck.

Ben (Duane Jones), the driver of the truck, hustles Barbra back into the house and then goes back out to beat down the couple of attackers walking around. He comes back in to find that she is threatened by a zombie (co-scripter John Russo) that came in through the back door, a would-be assassin Ben beats down and destroys with a tire iron through the forehead. Ben begins to get things organized. He builds a fire, having seen the attackers are afraid of it, and begins boarding up the doors and windows. (There’s a very famous scene where Ben tells Barbra that everything is pretty secure but behind him in plain sight is a completely undefended window. This is explained in commentaries that that window was about fifteen feet off the ground, but there’s no way for the viewer to know that.) He then goes upstairs to see what else he can find, leaving Barbra alone until the people from the basement come out. Two couples, Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (Judith Ridley), last names unknown, and Harry (Karl Hardman) and Helen (Marilyn Eastman) Cooper, along with the latter’s young daughter, Karen (Kyra Schon), it turns out, have been holed up in the cellar. The Coopers, we’re told, had car trouble and were attacked by several zombies who turned over their car and bit their daughter on the arm. Tom and Judy are a young boyfriend-girlfriend from the area who heard about the trouble and ran to the old house they knew was there. Friction immediately develops between Harry, who is an irascible villain, and the more reasonable but strong-willed Ben, which is usually attributed to the difference in color (Ben is black), but I always saw Harry as just an irritant; he doesn’t get along with his wife either.

Through the course of the rest of the film, our protagonists watch newscasts and listen to radio reports that flesh out the over-arching story of the dead rising to devour the living. They try and escape using the truck, only to end up killing Tom and Judy and watching by firelight as the two are devoured in the yard outside. Barbra saves Helen, only to have Johnny return to drag her outside. Karen, in one of the single most horrific scenes ever filmed, murders her mother with a trowel and feeds on both her, and, finally, her father after Harry and Ben shoot it out. Ben hides out in the cellar when all the defenses break down and the undead take over the house. In the morning, no longer hearing the rummaging, staggering dead stomping above him, Ben comes out and peers through a window outside, only to be shot dead by one of the organized hunting parties sent out to clear the countryside.

There are so many stories around this film. Stories such as the now-preeminent master of makeup effects Tom Savini being asked to work on this film (as he would later work on the follow-ups Dawn and Day of the Dead) but being drafted and sent to Vietnam instead. Stories such as director George Romero and John Russo “throwing the film into the trunk” of their car and driving around to find someone to show it on April 4, 1968, the night Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. It was made at a time when the world was changing, and it was about a drastic change. I’ve always looked at this as the definitive adaptation of Richard Matheson’s I am Legend to screen, even though that’s not what it is. That’s the great thing about great film and stories, though, we each bring our own realities to the party. We shape them every bit as much as they shape us.

-Sam Christopher

Buy Night of the Living Dead from Amazon.com:

Sam Christopher's DVD Picks - The Planet of the Apes (1968)

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars (Highest Rating)

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Full disclosure: I love the Planet of the Apes. As Bill Miller of Still Standing once said, “People running—boring; people running from talking apes—fantastic!” But more than that, it’s also nostalgia on my part, as PotA is the first film I have a clear memory of watching. It was on television, and I’m pretty sure it was at my Grandmother’s house, probably on a holiday when the whole family was there. I watched and was mesmerized by what I was seeing. I didn’t know then that I was watching great actors like Charlton Heston or Roddy McDowell, or Kim Hunter, or Maurice Evans—the latter three I wouldn’t have recognized at any rate—and I didn’t realize I was watching a story conceived by the great Pierre Boulle, who had also written The Bridge on the River Kwai, and first adapted for the screen by Rod Serling, whose work I had seen and knew even the (the very first thing I remember watching ever on tv was an episode of The Twilight Zone, "Stopover in a Quiet Town"). I just knew it was cool, and the ending threw me even then. Even though I didn’t really get the full importance of it.

The story in the film begins with a monologue by Taylor (Charlton Heston), the somewhat misanthropic commander of the first Earth expedition into deep space. They are traveling at relativistic speeds such that time slows down for those aboard the spacecraft—in accordance, we’re told, with “Haslein’s theory”—although they do have a handy-dandy clock which can pierce that veil and give them “real” time. This is a lonely speech, all about the magnificence and wonder of space “squashing a man’s ego” and a thought that there has to be something better than Man in all of this. Taylor then joins his fellow astronauts, Landon (Robert Gunner), Dodge (Jeff Burton), and Stewart (Dianne Stanley), in a cryogenic stasis for the rest of the trip. They ostensibly sleep peacefully until the ship crashes into a lake and begins to sink. The three men awaken to find that an air leak in Stewart’s stasis tube has left her by all appearances long dead. They escape in a raft and paddle to the shore only to find themselves in the middle of a seemingly uninhabitable desert. Landon, by far the most soldierly and patriotic of the trio—Dodge is a scientist who cares only for knowledge-- , takes the time to plant a US Flag in the sand, causing Taylor to laugh derisively at the futility of the gesture. The trio begin to walk, wondering where they are, and when; Taylor estimates they are somewhere in the constellation of Orion and says the clock put the year at around 3900 AD. The three men hike until they come upon a plant, the first sign of any life they’ve found, and then, a little later, they see what appear to be scarecrows on the mountains around them. They find a lush oasis and strip off their clothes to take a rejuvenating swim, only to find that their clothes have been stolen. They then find people dressed in animal skins, people who appear to be mute. Just then a horn sounds and the others begin to run.

Following the lead of their “hosts”, Taylor and crew also attempt to evade the riders on horseback who have arrived and are shooting at the humans on foot. Dodge is killed while Landon is captured in a net. Then Taylor sees something that makes him stop in his tracks. The riders are apes! Apes wearing military uniforms, riding horses, and shooting guns! Taylor runs and falls into a pit with several other humans and upon climbing out he is shot in the throat and captured. Later, he awakens in a cage, having been saved by the veterinarian Dr. Zira (Kim Hunter), a female chimpanzee whose kindly nature and unrelenting thirst for scientific knowledge is shared by her archaeologist husband Cornelius (Roddy McDowell). Finding that the apes speak English, Taylor tries to communicate, but he can’t speak and his efforts to write something out are at first foiled by his fellow inmates, most notably a very beautiful young woman who will later be called Nova (Linda Harrison). There is also the Minister of Science, who doubles as The Defender of the Faith in this basically theocratic society, a orangutan named Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans), who appears to know more than he’s telling. Eventually, Taylor convinces Zira he’s intelligent, leading to a hearing before the ape’s tribunal and subsequent finding by Taylor that Landon has been lobotomized by Zaius and that Taylor is slated for the same fate. But Zira and Cornelius have other plans.

Enlisting their nephew, Lucius (Lou Wagner), Zira and Cornelius break Taylor and Nova out of the zoo and they all head off to The Forbidden Zone, the stretch of desert that the astronauts landed in and a place that is forbidden to apes by The Sacred Scrolls except through special permission of the leadership. Cornelius has been here once before and found strange things that seemed to contradict the Scrolls but Dr. Zaius refused to allow the publication of his findings. They are chased by a military contingent of gorillas—orangutans are the administrators, chimpanzees the intellectuals, and gorillas the military—led by Zaius, who is subsequently captured by Taylor and taken into the cave where Cornelius found the artifacts of a civilization that appears to be older than the Sacred Scrolls. Taylor finds false teeth, eyeglasses, a human doll, all of which Zaius dismisses, until it’s found that the doll speaks. This proves that Man had a civilization before the apes, and we are then told by Zaius that there are secret Scrolls that speak of this, saying that Man should never be allowed to breed in large numbers “for he will make a desert of his lands and yours.” Taylor and Nova are allowed to ride off down the shoreline while Zaius goes back on his word and destroys the cave, saying that he “takes no pleasure in this” but that it must be done for the preservation of the society. Later, Taylor and Nova come upon a decayed piece of the Statue of Liberty, proving that Taylor has arrived not on another planet but on Earth some 2,000 years hence.

This ending was a twist on the novel. In Boulle’s book, the astronauts are on another planet and the lone survivor, a French journalist name Ulysse Merou, escaped from that world to travel back to Earth, arriving roughly 70,000 years after he left. He lands to find that apes have evolved into the masters of this world as well. The funny thing about sf to me, and this story in particular, is that I always read that the creators are commenting on our world. The less-intelligent gorillas running the military is a comment on military men being limited, that the stuffy orangutans in charge are an analog to our own government and societal leaders, etc. The funny thing is that, while I see the artists’ point, it also shows us in a strange way that this world, as screwed up as it is, is just as good as any other. In other words, it doesn’t really matter what species is in charge, or, in other venues, how much technology they have, they’re going to be just as bad as we are. Not a very cheery end to a review, but there it is.

-Sam Christopher

Buy The Planet of the Apes on DVD from Amazon.com:

Hulu Awards Week 7: Sam Christopher's List

Another week of busy, busy, busy. Christmas parties to plan, family to see and management to throttle. Anyway, on with the picks for this week…

Round 3 Nominations:

Best Movie Comedy:
This was not a difficult choice at all, given these competitors. Raising Arizona was okay, but Three Amigos, for me, is easily the worst film these three people ever made. Men in Black was just silly and Eddie Murphy: Raw had all the nasty of Richard Pryor with none of the insight (other than the gay Honeymooners bit which was only funny because it was so nasty). All of this left me with my original choice. “Who ya gonna call?”:

Ghostbusters!

Best Comedy TV Show:
Another pretty easy choice, although I can see how someone could have a problem with it. 30 Rock is an immediate non-starter for me due to the presence of Alec Baldwin, who I cannot look at anymore without thinking of his appearance on the short-lived Whoopie Goldberg interview show in which he came off sounding like Alex Jones (excepting, of course, the stellar Ghosts of Mississippi, which should be seen by everyone). Arrested Development and The Office are all right, but nothing special. SNL hasn’t been relevant since the ‘70s as far as I’m concerned; I understand they do funny bits on occasion but clips don’t generally beat shows, in my opinion. If you vote for The Simpsons I can see that; I don’t really think much of the last few seasons but it has been a stellar sitcom for two decades now. But my choice for Best TV Comedy might be my choice for best tv show of the last couple decades. I don’t understand it being in comedy—I would’ve put it in drama—but I’ll roll with it:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Best Comedic Short:
How does Stricteternum not make this finals list?!? The ones that made it were all right but I really thought S was the cream of this entire crop. I let it go with The Search for the Next Elvira but I am very tempted to cast a protest vote here. Very tempted. However, three others that I really liked made the finals. Dentally Disturbed is the first to go; I liked it but it doesn’t measure up to the final two. So I’m left with Kurt Cobain dead and wandering around town or Kurt hiring the ninja—one of Ra’s al Ghul’s finest, we can be sure. “And if you wouldn’t mind I would like it Blew, And if you wouldn’t mind I would like to Lose, And if you wouldn’t care I would like to Leave, And if you wouldn’t mind I would like to Breathe” (Nirvana, Blew, from Bleach). Dead people walking around always make the best horror movies but ninjas are better comedy (excepting Shaun of the Dead, and, maybe, Return of the Living Dead). My choice:

How to Cope with Rejection

Best Short Format Series (Non Comedy):
I really wanted Satacracy 88 to be here, although I don’t feel as strongly about it as Stricteternum or TSftNE; I just really liked it. I’m not a big 30 Days of Night guy, although I will admit that Niles’ take on vamps suits me very well. Gemini Division is very well done but when I watch it it looks as though it was made by NBC so I wonder why they didn’t make it into a regular show to compete with Fringe. My choice here was fairly easy as I have a soft spot for female assassins—I liked Elektra, unlike virtually everyone I know—so:

Pink: The Series


Some of these non-finals categories will be made without comment.

Round 2 Nominations:

Best Dramatic TV Series:

1. Bones
2. K-Ville
3. Picket Fences - I was never really into this but it was a good show.
4. House - Another show I rarely watch but it’s always good when I do.
5. Chicago Hope - Never an ER fan, this was the show that reminded me of St. Elsewhere.

Best Dramatic Movie:

1. Deathwish
2. In the Heat of the Night
3. Lost Highway
4. The Great Train Robbery
5. Moby Dick- The only reason this wasn’t on my original list is because I really would rather read the book.

Best Short Format Comedy Series:
I still don’t understand the omission of Back on Topps.

1. Mister Justice and Powerful Girl
2. Gaytown
3. The Writers Room
4. My Long Distance Relationship - The kind of sappy thing I usually hate but this was all right.
5. Carpet Bros. - I loved this! “Rugs, not Drugs”

Round 1 Nominations:

Best Family Movie:

1. Hercules in New York - If you haven’t watched this, you really should. Set the stage for all the bad but cool acting we’d get from Arnold later.
2. Speed Racer: The Movie - A favorite ‘toon from my youth (as you’ll see later in this column).
3. The Karate Kid Movie - Because nothing else grabbed me.

Best Anime Series:

1. Speed Racer - What’d I tell you? The adventures of Speed, Trixie, Spritle and Chim-Chim were a staple of my childhood. Still fun to watch now.
2. Astro Boy - Cool, more modern anime.

Best Cartoon Series (non-anime):

1. Casper the Friendly Ghost - Harvey made some really cool comics and toons, from Richie Rich to Wendy the Good Little Witch to this piece of classic Americana.
2. Pink Panther - The smoothest mute on the planet.
3. The Simpsons - 20 years. I don’t know what else to say.
4. Futurama - Just don’t understand the thinking at Fox in not giving this creation of their single greatest creator every chance to succeed. Kind of like what WB did to Joss Whedon’s Angel after BtVS migrated to UPN. Just dumb.

Best Animated Short:

1. Kontrol-Eskape - Really cool little short in the Metropolis vein.
2. Carnivore Reflux - Interesting short that was funny and mildly thought-provoking at the same time.

(Editor's Note: The general public can participate in the nominations as well. Go to the links above for any or all of the categories you are interested in and cast your vote for the shows you think should win. All of the general votes will be tallied up and count as one panelist in deciding the final winners. PSW)

Weekly Update – Eleventh Hour gets five; Knight Rider loses five; Caprica Goes to Series; Reaper Returns; Ratings Update

Eleventh Hour Gets Four More Episodes: CBS has announced an order of five more episodes for the Jerry Bruckheimer produced series The Eleventh Hour. The show has performed quite well in total viewers this season averaging close to twelve million per week and coming in just behind bonafide hit The Mentalist in shows of interest to Science Fiction and Fantasy fans. However, it has continually lost as much as fifty percent of its lead-in audience from CSI which seems to have CBS executives a bit irked. Apparently it will be given five more outings in the same timeslot (which will begin airing in Spring after its winter hiatus), before the network makes a final decision on its fate. After those five episodes, new series Harper’s Island will take over its timeslot for the remainder of the season (and may be of some interest to genre fans with its horror elements).

NBC Cuts Knight Rider Order: This revival series which has seen its ratings spiraling down has received more bad news that its back-nine order of episode has been cut to four. NBC had given the series a full season order despite its poor numbers but had also announced a retooling that would move away from the espionage aspects it has focused on so far and closer to the feel of the original series. Apparently we will only see four episodes of the make-over version though as NBC seems to have lost faith in it. The last four episodes will begin airing in February after the show’s winter break, and it seems unlikely at this point that the show will see life beyond that.

Caprica Gets Series Order: The Sci Fi channel has given a series order to its Battlestar Galactica prequel Caprica. After seeing the completed pilot, networks felt strong enough about the project to greenlight a series. The series is scheduled to bow in 2010 and there is no word on whether they will air the completed pilot prior to that (it was previously scheduled to air this month).

Reaper Return Date: The CW has announced March 17th as the date that devilish series Reaper returns to the schedule for its second season. It will air in the already crowded timeslot of Tuesdays at 9 PM. Currently CBS’s The Mentalist and FOX’s Fringe duke it out during that hour for genre fans, and The Sci Fi Channel’s Eureka is scheduled to return to that slot in Spring with the back half of its third season. Reaper, which just barely received a renewal for a second season, could find itself squeezed out by the competition. In any case, DVR’s will be quite busy during that hour.

Ratings Update: There were few surprises from this past week’s ratings as most shows prepare for their winter hibernation. Heroes continues to hold steady having fended off viewer attrition for a second week. Fringe seems to be losing some ground to The Mentalist as this past week the CBS procedural beat it in the 18-49 demographic. Previously Fringe had regularly won with the younger demographic while The Mentalist won in total viewers, but now the latter holds honors in both. Not certain if viewers started to lose patience with the Abrams series as it wrapped up its fall episodes, but I found the series much more interesting in recent weeks than during its early episodes. CBS’s The Eleventh Hour continues to see a slight erosion of viewers, especially in the younger demographic, which may have influenced the network’s decision to give it only a five episode back-half order instead of nine. Keep up with the weekly ratings with our Network Ratings Tracker as well as the likelihood of cancellation with the Renew/Cancel Index at TV by Numbers.

Hulu Awards Week 7: John J. Joex’s List

Round 1 Nominations:

Best Family Movie:
This category had a limited number of choices, but it had enough good ones to pick from. I resisted the urge to nominate Arnold Schwarzenegger’s feature film debut, Hercules in New York (which the Academy Awards ingloriously snubbed in 1970), and went with these instead:

1. The Karate Kid – It has become an iconic movie, and for good reason. Younger and older viewers can enjoy it and it delivered lines that have become part of our culture like “wax on, wax off”.
2. Jumanji – A fun little romp through the imagination with Robin Williams in tow.
3. Dragonheart – Not a great movie, but not bad either. Dennis Quaid and Sean Connery help raise it up a notch.

Best Anime Series:
Oddly enough, I have never been a huge follower of the anime genre. Oh, I have seen many of the pivotal works of the genre, but I have not delved too much further than that. This category gave me the chance to explore further into the offerings, and I liked what I saw.

1. Death Note – This one is right up my ally. A teenager finds a notebook that will kill anybody whose name is written in it and decides to use it to kill evil people. The episodes I have seen so far are very well done.
2. Mushi-shi – This is an interesting and beautifully illustrated tale about a man who seeks out the supernatural creatures known as Mushi and helps people who they have brought misfortune to.
3. Astro Boy – Have to include this one in here. It is mostly geared for children, but it includes themes you don’t often see in kid’s programming such as discrimination and responsibility of actions. It looks like the episodes on Hulu are from the 2003 incarnation, but I would swear this is the 1980 version.

Best Cartoon Series (non-anime):
This category had a rather wide range of choices from the older-skewed Simpsons and Dilbert to the kid-friendly Casper.

1. The Pink Panther – Unfortunately, Hulu only has nine of the Pink Panther shorts available. Still, this is an all-time classic that can be enjoyed by young and old alike (and admit it, just reading this entry you now have the Henry Mancini in your head).
2. Exosquad – Billed as an “American Anime”, this series has unfortunately never received the recognition it deserves. Sadly, Hulu only has 12 of the 52 total episodes available and skips from episode ten to twelve.
3. The Simpsons – A true cultural phenomena. I have not followed this series as closely as others I know, but every time I do tune in, it makes me laugh.
4. Futurama – Another Matt Groening entry. Not quite at the level of The Simpsons, but it still has its moments.

Best Animated Short:
Ah, I remember well the days when each year I would head to the local art-house with friends to see the latest International Tournee of Animation release. The early ones I saw provided a cornucopia of animated shorts including some of the earliest experiments with CGI animation. Alas, later entries in the film series proved much more tedious, and I eventually lost interest. So as I approached this category, I had hopes of finding entries that harkened back to those early, more exciting days of the Tournee. Unfortunately, I found much more of the tedious variety in the selections available.

1. Poor God – There are several world leaders who should be locked up in a room and forced to watch this repeatedly until they finally get it.
2. Nun Fight Club – The name says it all. A hilarious piece.
3. Leviathan – This surreal and visually stunning piece claims to be based on Thomas Hobbes’ book of the same name. It appears the creators of this short take a dim view of his subject.
4. Vaudeville – Don’t let the name fool you. This is a somber piece about loss of cultural identity.

Round 2 Nominations:

Best Dramatic TV Series:

1. Picket Fences – Want proof that this series deserves the nod for best Dramatic series? Watch the Season 2 episode Cross Examination. A powerful question of faith episode that provides a true challenge to the viewers by presenting multiple perspectives instead of simply skewing to one side. An all-time high point for television. And while not every episode rose to this level, many came close through the first two seasons.
2. Raines – Glad to see this one made to Round 2. Somebody else must have discovered this gem as well.
3. ER – I liked it early on, but lost interest in later seasons.
4. John Doe – Kind of an interesting series, though it never met up to its potential.
5. House – Can provide some engaging drama at times.

Best Dramatic Movie:
Four of my Round 1 nominations advanced and I will throw Death Wish in there to round out the five for this round.

1. In the Heat of the Night
2. Kagemusha
3. Moby Dick
4. The Great Train Robbery
5. Death Wish

Best Short Format Comedy Series:
My three Round 1 nominations made it through. The next two were tolerable.

1. Carpet Bros
2. The Writer’s Room
3. Mr. Justice and Powerful Girl
4. Gaytown
5. Dorm Life

Round 3 Nominations:

Best Movie Comedy:

Men in Black – An easy choice. The best among Hulu’s offerings and a great movie period.

Best Comedy TV Show:

The Simpsons – I’m giving this the nod over Buffy because I consider that more of a fantasy/supernatural series that just happened to have some really funny moments. The Simpsons definitely has earned its mark among comedy shows.

Best Comedic Short:

Shaolin Delivery Boy – Glad this made it to the final round. It was definitely the best among the choices available.

Best Short Format Series (Non Comedy):

Gemini Division – I was sorry that Devil’s Trade did not make it through to the end, but this is a decent enough second choice.

(Editor's Note: The general public can participate in the nominations as well. Go to the links above for any or all of the categories you are interested in and cast your vote for the shows you think should win. All of the general votes will be tallied up and count as one panelist in deciding the final winners. PSW)

Sam Christopher's Quick Hits

The Comics Column read by Thousands!

(That’s Sam Thousands, the guy that runs the corner deli.) {If you’re going to steal, steal from the Master, Stan Lee.}

First up this week is a title I have anticipated. Haunted Tank #1 is the first in a five-issue mini from DC’s Vertigo imprint and written by Frank Marrafinno and drawn by Henry Flint. For those not familiar with the story, General JEB Stuart was the greatest cavalry commander of the Civil War, or, as the general himself would call it, “The Northern War of Aggression”. Even in death, his devotion to duty and family leads him to return to aid any of his bloodline sent into harm’s way for God and Country, in this case a young tank commander named Jamal Stuart. Who’s also black. Ghost of a Confederate war hero helping his black descendents in a Middle Eastern desert. Cool, huh? Like I said, I really looked forward to this, but after the first installment I just have a headache. I will check out the second ish, though, if only to see if Jamal will be brought face to face with the petty bigotries he projects so readily onto others. That actually may be the point of the story, we’ll see.

In New Avengers #47 we have a Secret Invasion crossover that is very much worth reading. Mmmm... I love Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. Not necessarily in that order, of course. In this flashback story, bringing home even further the tragedy of Jessica handing her and Luke’s baby to the Avengers’ butler, Jarvis, who then turned out to be a Skrull, we’re shown a happier time for the couple, in their home, the behemoth Cage bonding with their daughter by telling her of the first time he ever hired Jessica—she was a private eye after ending her superhero career, as detailed in the wonderful series Alias (no relation to the tv show of the same name)—to find his father for him. A touching story which really makes me long for not only Alias but even its offspring, The Pulse.

Dark Horse brings us two marvelous Robert E. Howard creations this week. Kull #2 is just excellent, continuing the first issue’s palace intrigues as the newly crowned King of Valusia deals with matters of State, treachery, and vague warnings from an unlikely ally. Then we have Solomon Kane #3, and, yeah, I’m going to slobber all over this like I do every month. Feudal intrigue and Knights Templar, pagan rituals and mail-order brides, human sacrifices for power. And a laconic Christian to set things right with his sword. What’s not to like?

Other comics:
Justice Society of America #21- The penultimate chapter in the “One World under Gog” storyline. I wonder if it’s even possible that Alex Ross doesn’t see the irony in his co-plotting this story. I doubt he does, with his purported ego (although I don’t know him so I can’t say first-hand), but it is funny. Great story, as I’ve said—repeatedly—just ironic coming from him.

Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Shadow: Battleschool #1 (of 5)- A Mike Carey-Sebastian Fiumara adaptation of the Card novel of the same name, telling the story of Ender’s most trusted lieutenant at Battleschool. Very well adapted, really made me think of the novel, which should also be read.

Marvel Zombies 3 #3 (of 4)- Almost there. This ish lays out the MZ plan for their invasion of the accepted Marvel Universe and gives a “sort of” explanation for the stealth-mode operation I complained about in issue #1. Looks like the plan has hit a snag, though—never trust a voracious appetite to procure your lunch.

Secret Invasion #8- The end of this story is dumber than I thought possible for this title. It is “Lex Luthor as President” dumb, Spidey “Clone Saga” dumb. Not quite Marvel Apes dumb, but I think that’s a once a generation thing.

Xena: Warrior Princess-Army of Darkness #2 (of 4)- “What—Again!?” moves along, not quite as engaging at this point as it’s predecessor “Why Not!?” Still a fun read that I have high hopes for.

Sci Fi TV Blast from the Past: The Mysterious Cities of Gold

Back in the mid-1980’s, Anime was just starting to make inroads into American television as the Robotech saga unfolded in syndication and opened the eyes of many people stateside to the potential of the genre. Right about this time, the French/Japanese joint venture The Mysterious Cities of Gold premiered on the upstart Nickelodeon cable channel. The series takes place during the early 16th century and tells the story of a young boy named Esteban who joins a Spanish voyage to the New World in search of the legendary cities of the title in hopes of finding his father. This mixture of history, action-adventure, and science fiction presented an enjoyable tale that unfolded across 39 episodes with a final conclusion. While definitely aimed at younger viewers, all ages can find something to like in this well done family adventure. And while it may not challenge many of the stronger Anime entries, it definitely made its mark early on and provides a good selection to introduce younger viewers to this style of animation. The entire series has been released on DVD as a warm-up for an upcoming movie version and a sequel series set to air sometime in the next couple of years.

-Paul S. White

Buy the DVD set now from the Axiom's Edge Webstore

Other Sci Fi TV Blasts from the Past:
Quark
The Starlost

Television Review - Legend of the Seeker

Syndicated (Times and air dates will vary, airing on Saturdays in most markets)

Rating (after 5 episodes): 2.5 our of 5 Stars

Fantasy shows of the Sword and Sorcery bent are a rare find in the medium of series television. In fact, glancing over our list of Science Fiction and Fantasy television shows, I see no more than a dozen which would come close to qualifying in this sub-genre. This is unfortunate as Sword and Sorcery presents a wealth of story-telling potential. Even more unfortunate is the fact that when we do see it emerge on the small screen, too often it descends into formula and cliché.

And sadly, I must report that Legend of the Seeker does nothing to break this pattern, as this syndicated series explores very familiar ground. Stop me if you experience déjà vu: the dark lord Darken Rahl threatens the realm, the Seeker is the chosen one who has been prophesized to defeat him, the wizard Zed acts as a mentor to this chosen one, a female warrior who kicks and sports ample cleavage tags along to help, they set out on a quest to find the true path to defeating the dark lord while at the same time they help the down-trodden people of the land on their way. Throw in the fact that entire sections of dialogue through the episodes I have viewed so far seem as if they could have been lifted unaltered from other sources, and you have a series driven by connect-the-dot plots and hackneyed scripts.

I have not read the Terry Goodkind Sword of Truth series of books that Legend of the Seeker is based upon, so I do not know if the fault lies with the source material or the translation, but I can say that I find little in the television series that I have not already seen in books, comics, movies, television, Dungeons and Dragons campaigns, etc. Not that the series is altogether bad, it just has a strong air of “been there, done that” about it. Executive producers Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert are no rookies to the subject as they shepherded powerhouses Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: The Warrior Princess through multiple years of syndication success. With their newest entry, they steer away from the humor of the previous two series and go for a more straight-forward action-adventure approach. Unfortunately, they have done little so far to make the series seem like more than just a rehash of Fantasy and action-adventure formulas.

The series does find strength in its cast, though, whose presence and chemistry help to keep it from fading into the television landscape. Craig Horner takes center stage as the woodsman Richard Cypher who finds that he is the prophesized “Seeker” who will slay the evil Darken Rahl. Richard is a bit too goody-goody and head strong (again throwing the genre clichés at us), but Horner is an appealing actor and definitely steps up for the role. Bridget Regan also shines as Kahlan Amnell the priestess/warrior “Confessor” who can compel others to her will, though the series producers and wardrobe department do not skip out on the opportunity to highlight her plentiful bosom. But most of all, it is Bruce Spence as the wizard Zed (this entry’s Gandalf/Obi-Wan Kenobi) who helps the cast gel and propels them from good to great. He provides a commanding presence and manages to offer just enough of a twist on the eccentric wizard character to rise above stereotype.

A second strength comes from the beautiful cinematography that highlights the gorgeous landscapes of the location shooting (courtesy of the show’s New Zealand setting, and yes you may very well recognize some of those locales from the Lord of the Rings movies, Hercules, and/or Xena). This helps provide a fully realized world for the series as opposed to gussied up television studios. The scenery along with the cast provide the show’s saving grace and make it at least enjoyable to watch on a weekly basis even if we feel rather unsatiated by each episode’s end.

Legend of the Seeker has pulled good ratings so far for a syndicated series and likely will continue to thrive in that market. The first season will run twenty two episodes with a good bet that more seasons will follow. Fans of the Sword and Sorcery genre will find enough to keep them coming back, and perhaps as the series develops it will start to find the confidence to steer away from the formulas of the genre and to create its own unique mark on Science Fiction and Fantasy television.

Buy the Terry Goodkind Sword of Truth books from Amazon.com:

Weekly Update – Ratings Update; Helfer to Guest on Chuck, BSG Season 4.5 Trailer; New Doctor Who; Batman to Die

Ratings Update: As expected, Thanksgiving week saw slow ratings returns with several preemptions and repeat airings. The good news for Heroes is that the audience attrition halted at least for one week. The bad news for Pushing Daisies is that people seem to be tuning out in droves. True it aired on the typically slow night before Turkey Day, but those hoping that ABC might change its mind on the cancellation or that another network might show interest in the show are getting no help from these numbers. Keep up with the weekly ratings with our Network Ratings Tracker as well as the likelihood of cancellation with the Renew/Cancel Index at TV by Numbers.

BSG’s Tricia Helfer Guests on Chuck: Battlestar Galactica’s super-sexy cylon, Tricia Helfer, will make a guest appearance on NBC’s nerd-meets-spies series Chuck. Helfer will play a CIA agent looking to replace Yvonne Strahovski’s character Sarah Walker. But don’t expect any cast shakeups yet as Helfer is only scheduled for the one episode.

BSG Season 4.5 Trailer: Speaking of Battlestar Galactica, the trailer for the second half of Season 4 is now available online at SciFi.com. The final ten episodes of the series will begin airing January 16th.

New Doctor Who: Rumors are flying about that Paterson Joseph will succeed David Tennant as the next Doctor Who. Joseph recently starred in the remake of Terry Nation’s post-apocalyptic series Survivors and would be the first black act to portray the Doctor.

Last Templar Mini-Series: NBC’s has announced the air dates for its mini-series The Last Templar. The Da Vinci Code-like feature which delves into the mysterious Knights Templar will air on January 25th and 26th.

DC to Kill Batman: DC Comics plans to kill off Batman in an upcoming issue of the comic book series. Word is that his demise will be ugly, but no further details have emerged. Seeing as flagship characters like Superman and Captain America have died in comic book pages previously only to return shortly after, it is highly unlikely that DC will keep Batman in the grave for long.

Hulu Awards Week 6: Sam Christopher's List

This will be a slightly abbreviated list as Thanksgiving has really knocked me down this year—and I didn’t even go anywhere. Hope everyone else has had a safe and happy holiday. Here goes…

Round 3 Nominations:

Best Competitive Reality Show:
I didn’t like any of these final nominees, but, seriously, Project Runway? Make me a Supermodel? That these show have any audience whatever explains so much about America today. While toying with the idea of casting this vote for The Search for the Next Elvira in protest, my final choice:

Last Comic Standing

Best Non-Competitive Reality Show:
Again, meh. I know I nominated Ghost Hunters and Queer Eye but none of these others have ever caught my eye. At least I have my original first choice to fall back on:

America’s Most Wanted

Best Celebrity Reality Show:
I think I’ve made my feelings clear here. My niece, Samantha—who is named for Elizabeth Montgomery’s character on Bewitched (and I had nothing to do with that)—has chosen well enough that a couple of her picks have made it. Her first choice, in fact, is still here, the one I bumped for Work Out:

Kitchen Nightmares


Round 2 Nominations:

Best Comedy TV Series:

1. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
2. King of the Hill
3. The Tick
4. The Simpsons
5. Monk

Best Comedy Movie:
This was hard for me, as none of these were very good for me after Ghostbusters, but…

1. Ghostbusters
2. Bring It On
3. Men in Black
4. Jerry Maguire
5. Bedazzled

Best Comedy Short:
These were a little better, as this was a much more manageable list for me than the original.

1. Stricteternum - Amazing short. Very strange, cute story that, like the stellar dramatic short Save the Children, just stays with me.
2. Laid Off - Dark humor, deliberately underplayed.
3. How to Cope with Rejection - The story: Kurt Cobain hires a ninja to beat up Dave Murray’s gay son for stealing Misty Mundae’s sister away from him. What’s not to like?
4. Silencer - A live-action Ambush Bug story. Need I say more?
5. Dentally Disturbed - What’s a tampon? Reminiscent in an odd way of the old radio show Tunnel Under the World.

Round 1 Nominations:

Best Drama TV Series:

1. Hart to Hart - Just a cool little Nick and Nora Charles riff. Even brought in the Wonder Twins, Max and Freeway, to “help out”.
2. Bones - I loved the first season of this better than anything after it, especially… well, never mind. It annoys me too much to talk about it.
3. K-Ville - I liked this okay. A cop show in New Orleans. I thought it had some interesting stories.

Best Dramatic Movie:

1. Death Wish - Just a damn good vigilante movie from the early ‘70s. I always loved this film.
2. Lost Highway - I don’t understand why this wasn’t in horror, really, but either way a strange film that leaves you with an oddly unsettled feeling after watching it. So unlike Lynch’s other work ;).
3. In the Heat of the Night - There’s not much with Sidney Poitier I won’t watch, but this film didn’t even need his presence to be great. Just an excellent story with fine direction.

Short Format Comedy:
This wasn’t that great a category for me. I don’t understand why Back on Topps wasn’t here, but most of what I saw just wasn’t very good.

1. Mr. Justice and Powerful Girl - I guess they couldn’t get the rights to The Tick. Cute.

Short Format Non-Comedy:

1. Satacracy 88 - I really dug this. Soon as I get the chance I’ll be watching the rest of the series. Really cool, Buffy kind of story with a little more of a horror bent.
2. Devil’ Trade - If you saw Friday the 13th The Series, you’ve kind of got the idea, although just as Life on Mars is a kind of giant, superlong episode of Quantum Leap, so it is with this.
3. Pink: The Series - Another nugget. I really enjoyed this although it’s almost too short.
4. Gemini Division - Kind of like Fringe, which I’m really getting into lately.

That’s it for no, folks. Hopefully next week will be a little easier on me and things can get back to abnormal around here.

(Editor's Note: The general public can participate in the nominations as well. Go to the links above for any or all of the categories you are interested in and cast your vote for the shows you think should win. All of the general votes will be tallied up and count as one panelist in deciding the final winners. PSW)