That Geek Podcast Episode 13: The One With Luke And Chris

Yes, we skipped Episodes 11 and 12, they're forthcoming. Why? They're currently on the backup drive, and we're in the process of rebuilding the studio in a new room, so it'll be a couple days before I can edit and release those.

Luke Alberton from an Axe To Grind and his friend Chris recorded an extra news episode after helping me clear everything out of the studio, which had to be abandoned when the foundation began to leak. We talk about that mini-flood, Google's move to enforce safe image search, new news from the next Star Wars movie, and season 6 of Sons of Anarchy.

We round the episode out by reviewing the new Simcity. It's an episode with a different tone and some lively conversation.

Sylvie, Stephanie and Andy return next week with our Time Travel episode.

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That Geek Podcast Episode 10: Kevin Smith, Yoda, And Other News

This is our first real geek news episode, and it begins with a segment I (Randy) would like to call; "Leave It All In" or, "They Had No Idea I Was Rolling," or something like that. For the first time in studio, Sylvie, Stephanie and Randy are joined by Andy, a time-travelling, kick-ass commenter who happens to be anchored in our time thanks to our limited technology.

We wanted to talk about time travel, but there was so much important news to share instead, so you get the play by play of an interesting month in excellent Geek Entertainment news and all the round table commentary that comes with it. Actually, our table is square, but since there's no video for this, or any episode, I hope you won't notice the difference. We also take a moment to talk about how our media is packaged these days: Are the super-pack DVD+Blu-Ray+Digital+Special Features discs and their variations worth it?

I (Randy), begin with an apology to Stephanie, and we launch into news topics ranging from Star Wars, Disneyland, Clerks 3, Kevin Smith, Game of Thrones, a quick look at Geek-worthy new releases in Blu-Ray/digital/DVD, and a couple other topics. 

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That Geek Podcast Episode 8: What We're Looking Forward To In 2013

This episode is all about the glorious entertainment coming in 2013. We discuss things we're looking forward to this year in entertainment and share the dates of notable movie and television premieres, so if you don't have the time to go in search of entertainment in 2013, let us do the work for you!

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That Geek Podcast Episode 6: The Return Of The Geeks

We catch up wish Sylvie, Stephanie and Randy as they recover from the various ailments that kept us away from our microphones for so long. We start by talking about what we plugged in to while we were immobilised, and move on to some big news in Geekdom that we missed such as…

 

The Blu-Ray version of Season 1 and 2 of Star Trek The Next Generation, Sherlock BBC season 2 on Blu-Ray and Netflix, The Young Indiana Jones and why you should get your set NOW if you want one.

 

We go into the big shifts in the Science Fiction world recently, like Disney purchasing Lucasfilm (Star Wars, Indiana Jones). We take positive and negative sides of the issue and discuss good and bad points of one of the biggest franchises of all time being bought by the largest children entertainment company in history.

 

Other side-topics include: Geriatric Indiana Jones, errors in Star Wars past (including the 'Han Shot First' issue), ET, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I Dark Overlord, and much more…

 

Oh, and here's that link to the mind-cleansing video we talked about at the end!

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John Carter: Science Fiction Adventure Lives?

When George Lucas made Star Wars: A New Hope, he was partially motivated by a void in the entertainment industry. Those high flying Science Fiction adventures from his childhood had failed to evolve into something that matched what was in his mind's eye. Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and other icons from early movie making were long gone, or had suffered bad remakes.

Star Wars brought about a short-lived era during the late 70's and early 80's that featured a glut of Science Fiction adventure films that attempted to imitate the energy and spirit of George Lucas' vision. Everyone from Sean Connery to David Hasselhoff starred in films that studios hoped would capture the imaginations of audiences like Star Wars did. A few efforts did lead to some good entertainment (example: Battlestar Galactica), but that wasn't the norm.

When I saw previews for John Carter (of Mars), I was hoping that it would be successful, and infuse television and movie studios with the desire to start making more science fiction adventure movies. The critics and many loud-mouths of the Internet gleefully attacked the film based on the trailer alone, which is common these days, I realize. Normally that sort of thing doesn't hurt a film very much, people aren't stupid, most of us pan pre-emptive negativity.

The over-zealous critics and eager social media mavens of the Internet did do some damage in this case, however. John Carter suffered from ineffective advertising, and it's been released in the action movie dead season, too far before the summer blockbuster window. The guerrilla marketing was mismanaged as well. You can find it if you look for it, but that's not the point of guerrilla marketing, it should be everywhere, and people should be talking about it in a positive sense before the movie arrives. People should be excited, even if they're not entirely sure why yet. That didn't happen. The razzle dazzle fizzled in grand fashion, especially after one or more name changes.

I've seen the film, and I can tell you that it's a great adventure movie. The special effects are spectacular, the story is solid, and there are some interesting twists. The book will be better for some, but if you're looking to have a fun, adventure filled night out at the movies, it's a great flick. I really did feel like I was watching an old 1936 episode of Flash Gordon with new special effects, a more sophisticated story and slightly better acting. The high-flying-adventure feeling was there for long stretches.

I forgot it was in 3D by the end, but that's my average experience with 3D films. It's a good adventure romp with or without it.

It seems that, between Disney's poor advertising effort and misrepresenting this film, perhaps event trying to sell it to the wrong audience, John Carter (of Mars) won't even earn it's budget back. $250,000,000.00 is a lot to gamble on anything. I suppose John Carter may earn its cost back after Blu-Ray and PPV release, but studios don't consider that a success. A loss like that will most likely discourage other film makers and studios from investing in Science Fiction Adventure films.

That's the opposite of the effect Star Wars had in 1977, and there was a time when I would say the glut of SciFi B-Movies was a bad thing, but these days I find myself in the opposite camp. Special effects and movie making isn't as expensive as it once was. Serenity (Joss Whedon, based on the Firefly television series), cost $35,000,000.00 and, while it didn't have as many special effect shots as John Carter, it certainly was enjoyable. I would put it above John Carter or Avatar any day in terms of how much I enjoyed the movie.

In fact, I would rather see seven $35,000,000.00 Science Fiction Adventure movies in the place of one $250,000,000.00 any time. Some may say that the comparison between films like Serenity and Avatar is unfair, but I believe the days of depending on special effects selling a movie instead of story craft and great filmmaking are coming to a close.

Perhaps the failure of John Carter will lead studios to the same conclusion, and we'll see better writing combined with an appropriate budget for special effects. Someone get Joss Whedon on the phone, I hear he's finished making that Avenger movie.

RL

[What did you think of John Carter?]

Yes, It's True: I'm still a gamer.

With summer coming to an end, and a few things calming down around my office, I once again find myself with some free time. Even with my writing schedule, which is finally back on track now that I've figured a few important plot details out, I still need to come up for air.

Since I sat down in front of the Commodore 64 and loaded my first games from tape, I've been a gamer. Since then I'm sure I've played thousands of games, but the ones that really stuck were the massively multiplayer online sort. Starting with Everquest and going on to many others, this is my favourite digital hobby other than creating my own content. I can escape into an immersive world for hours at a time. I come back with a clear head, a bag of new experiences, and sometimes new friends.

Writing takes priority, don't get me wrong. I wake up every morning and my first cohesive thought is about what I'm planning to write that day. I get whatever I can down, and on a good day brain fatigue doesn't set in until about 1pm. Usually there's some office work to do, calls to make, and that takes up the rest of my day. Then I'm left to pursue hobbies, which include guitar, drums, and other things. Gaming has been sorely missing from my list of pursuits, however, since I've been busy, and I haven't been excited about a game in quite some time.

Then Star Wars: The Old Republic comes along. I've known about this game for years (literally), but recently a few people have been asking me if they'd see me around in that gaming world when it launches, and my answer was invariably yes. I even bought a cheapo PC laptop so I would be all ready to play (there's no PC version, and I'm not willing to install BootCamp on my Macs anymore, they're for writing and other creative pursuits). The next question that comes from readers and friends (often they're the same people), is if I'll be starting a guild, or if I'm already a member of one. Until today I've offered a blank expression as a response - which doesn't come across as well over the Internet.

Let's touch on another point before I follow that up though...

Over the years I've made a lot of friends through online gaming. I've learned a lot from them, had some fantastic times, and still speak to many of these long-range buddies. For some people Facebook or Myspace was their big first experience with social networking and having a large network of online friends. For me it was the Massively Multiplayer Online gaming space, mostly Everquest and World of Warcraft. Even though I enjoy going off on my own often in games, I find it's still better if there's a social aspect. The possibility of meeting new people online (in a game), and taking on a challenge with friends adds a whole new dimension of excitement to gaming.

So, when a couple readers asked me if I'd be forming a guild in The Old Republic today, I couldn't help but think of the fantastic folks on the Spinward Fringe Facebook Page, and wonder what that kind of environment would be like in game when it goes online later this year. I enjoy hobnobbing with the Facebook crowd and check in whenever I can. Imagine interacting with like minded people in an online game? Knowing that I'd download a lot of responsibility to officers in the Guild (much as I have with the Facebook Page), I decided that, yes, I'd create a guild. If there's something I've discovered I like doing, it's giving people who enjoy my company or my writing a place to hang out.

So, it is with no shame that I admit: Yes, I'm a huge [nerd] gamer, and I've created a guild called the Freeground Nation. If you're looking to play Star Wars: The Old Republic later this year and don't have a guild yet, go ahead and check it out. I'm sure I'll spend a great deal of my winter playing this game. Whenever I'm not writing, that is.

RL

[Updates on the Expendable Few, Broadcast 7 and other stuff coming early next week. The work goes well.]

Watching Part Threes: Skipping To The End

This weekend is probably the last quiet summer house sitting weekend of the summer. House sitting all summer has been like a long writer's retreat. I get to be alone with my thoughts, hammer out plot points out loud and Mystery Theatre 3000 my way through films both good and bad.

Writing has been the focus of my time here, and I've gotten a lot done. Some of Broadcast 7 has already been scrapped, but that happens when you're writing off the map. There's always waste in experimentation. Most of what I've written is being kept, so it's going well. My white board tells me that I have one chapter to draft this weekend, so I'll be finishing that and then having a "Part Three Marathon" where I watch the final parts of trilogies.

On the list so far I have Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (I liked part 4, but I see it as a glorious addendum, and the word quadrilogy isn't in my vocabulary), Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, The Matrix Revolutions, Return of the Jedi, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and maybe something else if there's time. Why these films? Well, they're on hand, I saw each of them in the theatre, and they're different kinds of adventure films that sum up their stories pretty well.

When I was in the middle of Broadcast 6 I did the same thing, only with middle movies, or part twos of trilogies, and a funny thing happened. I realized that nothing I saw reminded me of what I was writing, but it gave my brain a nice long break. That break led to the Wheeler appearance, and for those of you who have read Broadcast 6, you know how important that was. Sadly, watching middle movies didn't accomplish what I was hoping for: a kind of calibration or certainty in how I wanted to handle the ending. My editor had to step in and work with me on that, and things worked out fairly well as far as I'm concerned.

I'd like to say that I'm looking for some kind of calibration while watching the endings of all these trilogies, but that's just not the case. While writing Broadcast 7 I have such a distinct feeling of being way off the map, creating something I've never seen anywhere else on a big scale. I'm thinking that watching these films will most likely just be a brain break, and I'll probably be pretty fresh on Tuesday. The chapter my white board says I'll be writing then could be pretty entertaining, and I'm looking forward to digging in!

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and takes some time to relax!

RL

[Anyone care to name their favourite trilogy?]

Space: The Imagination Station - True SciFi

For some time I've been tracking new topics on the SyFy (formerly well known as the American SciFi network), bulletin boards. One third to one half of the new topics board wide are from users condemning and complaining about the new line up. It's true, they've been straying for years, adding wrestling, reality television, terrible ghost hunting shows and most recently a cooking program to their lineup. It's depressing watching the channel that brought us hits like Farscape, Stargate Atlantis, and Battlestar Galactica go straight down the crapper. Their heyday is over. Their core audience feels shunned.

All that has little to do with what's happening on our very own Canadian Imagination Station: Space. I love this channel. Any day of the week you'll find wall to wall Star Trek with shows like Lost, Smallville, V, and Doctor Who (yes, the new one!), sprinkled in. As my writing takes me stoically striding away from regular Space Opera convention (the Spinward Fringe series is taking a decidedly un-Star Trek / Star Wars turn), being able to flip to the Space station while I'm house sitting is a warm comfort.

That's why, when I was receiving yet another new topic notification from the SyFy bulletin boards entitled "Sci-Fi fans should fight back" a thought occurred to me. I'm in Canada, where we still have a science fiction themed channel that's true to itself, why not praise it for doing things the right way instead of attack a channel that has clearly lost its way?

Space: The Imagination Station doesn't have much original programming, and what little it has is pretty low budget, but it's not bad. They have a show called Inner Space that reports on science fiction and pop culture and the reruns they have are absolutely appropriate. They're the reruns we love, ranging from Star Trek to canceled shows like Defying Gravity and Flash Gordon. Most fans think these shows were canceled before their prime, and Space isn't afraid to pick up the completed episodes of these orphaned series. I appreciate a lot of the reruns because I can't afford to buy boxed sets of Star Trek: Generations, Deep Space 9, Voyager or Enterprise. I'm not alone, many of us science fiction fans can't afford to buy these huge collections.

Missing are the awful SyFy movies, made on a pauper's budget with screenplays that leave viewers choking on bad dialog and cliche. This week on the Space channel they're featuring Final Draft (B Grade starring James Van Der Beek), Hitcher (the A Grade Horror remake), The Mist (B Grade starring Marcia Gay Harden), The Fog (B-ish grade remake starring Tom Welling, Selma Blair), The Last Sect (B Grade vampire film starring David Carradine). They may not be top shelf, but every single one of those films beats the most recent SyFy films: Mega Piranha and Monster Ark. To me, it's better to pick from the B Movie shelf than to continually try to make a low budget scifi/horror film and fail every single time, at least in SyFy's case. I'm aware that many great directors started with B grade low budget film, but there's no spark in the SyFy drivel. I've never seen a quality film made exclusively by SyFy. Over the last year those films have been a continual source of complaints on the SyFy bulletin boards.

There are shows like Stargate: Universe, Caprica, Eureka, Sanctuary and Warehouse 13 that live on SyFy, but those few bright spots don't redeem the station. I hope the lower budget shows in that list have other buyers lined up, because I doubt the all new SyFy network will continue to carry them with the way they're going. The funny thing is that all those shows are filmed in Vancouver.

So, looking away from the tragic example the American SyFy network is setting and back to our own lower budget but higher quality Imagination Station, I'm compelled to say thank you. Thank you for being the home of beloved reruns, fantastic B and low A grade films, original programming that may be short in size and budget but big on ambition, and for staying true to your own name.

May you forever be absent of terrible reality television, wrestling and cooking shows.

RL

If I were offered a television deal from the SyFy station at a one million dollar budget per episode, and another deal from the Space Station at three hundred thousand an episode, I'd take the deal from the Space Station. It's better to be amongst respected reruns, instead of crammed into the embarrassingly bad SyFy schedule.

Creators Who Break Free From Market Direction

In 1977 there was a three year old boy in a movie theater who stood, yes, stood on the edge of his seat. A parental hand held the back of his jeans so he wouldn't slip and crack his head open since trying to get him to sit down had proven impossible.

What had him so excited? An over budget, late on delivery film that many called a "silly children's movie." It was Star Wars, which would later be called Star Wars: A New Hope due to the addition of two blockbuster sequels.

In a time when dark, anti-hero, and disaster films like Taxi Driver, Silent Running, Dirty Harry: The Enforcer (3rd film in the series), and Voyage of the Damned ruled the box office, George Lucas came along with a futuristic adventure romp that had delivered a message of hope. Even if you don't credit Star Wars with the message that a farm boy can rise up and, with the help of a few good friends, defeat a suppressive power, you have to admit it was a spectacular bit of entertainment, whether you were three or thirty. It was also drastically different. Not in line at all with the direction of the market at the time.

This isn't an article about Star Wars, so I'll give you another example.

In the middle of the 80's a Seattle Indie record label called Sub Pop signed a few bands that were known for rejecting theatrics, accused of ignoring hygiene by some early critics, and combined punk, metal and a little progressive (also known as Prog-Rock or Psychedelic rock), then taking it to the stage with wild abandon. At the time it seemed like everyone in the world was interested in shiny, well engineered pop music from artists like Rick Astley, Madonna (whose music was heavily engineered and pop, despite the risque message she conveyed), a-ha, and the Pet Shop Boys. That's what was selling by the millions, and that's what the market leaders wanted more of.

The bands Sub Pop signed included acts like Soundgarden, Nirvana and their first offering included tracks from Sonic Youth and other bands that are well known today. Industry critics panned and often attacked the early releases. When Soundgarden's first single landed, no one knew what hit them. Radio stations picked it up, and MTV, not quite sure where to put the new sound, gave Grunge time on metal shows as well as regular video flow. It took a while for the Seattle Sound to get to Canada, and when it did, it was Nirvana who was most popular, led by an apparently unwashed but undeniably passionate Kurt Cobain. Pearl Jam, Sonic Youth followed close behind with hit singles. Some of them had long, unrecorded back catalogs that had developed while they'd been roughing it on the road for a decade or more, so within a few years the Seattle sound was everywhere and for those who wanted to look, there was a lot of content available.

The market's direction changed fast, and as we entered the 90's Grunge bands invaded the radio after being picked up by major labels who couldn't pass up a new sound. The market was shown the way by small independents with new ideas that listeners didn't know they wanted until they heard them.

Fast forward to today. I'm not going to give you tons of modern stories about current trend starters, or little indies who are breaking from market direction, because you only have to examine the publishing, gadget or environmental blogosphere to pick up many examples of where companies as well as individuals think they're blazing new trails. In some cases, they really are, but in most they're just offering variations on a theme or propelling themselves further down an existing path to profit faster than anyone else to stay ahead. The iPhone 3G, 3GS, iPod Touch and iPad are a perfect examples of this. While those devices are fantastic, they're just variations on a product that was a break through years ago.

What brought on this train of thought? Well, it's been brewing for quite some time. Ever since I received a letter from someone claiming to be an editor from a major publishing house (which they never named), after they picked up the First Light Chronicles: Limbo from Mobipocket. In no uncertain terms I was told that no one would be interested in "another space opera series" and I was "damaging any hopes for a real writing career by self publishing." Yes, I still have the Email. While there was every chance they might have been right, I couldn't help but think that if it was true that no publishing house would take the First Light Chronicles Trilogy, and a few people found it entertaining, wasn't it worth sharing? No one would enjoy the manuscripts if they were sitting on the top shelf in my closet.

The First Light Chronicles is probably not the best example to use, since the whole trilogy was in need of a polish when that editor read Limbo, and space opera isn't everyone's cup of tea, but many very talented Indie authors are told similar things by industry professionals that pick up the occasional $0.99 Indie book for their Kindle. Authors who are better than I am at this with more well polished books in their back catalog. Many agents and editors still take every opportunity to voice a rallying cry against self-pubs and indies on blogs as well as printed periodicals, and the surprising thing is that, more than anyone else, the indies are listening.

Why?

Is it because the publishing industry has proven, without a doubt, that they're doing everything right? Is it because readers everywhere are more often than not overjoyed with the products they see and buy in book stores? Could it be because all the best books have come from the biggest segment of the market? Could it be because no one working independently can produce a book worth reading? An album worth hearing? A movie worth watching? You can answer those questions yourself, I'm sure.

Let's move on to the example of Independent film before I wrap this up. Let's look at a film maker who was astounded and changed by a movie called Slacker. Let's look at Kevin Smith and Clerks. His honest and comedic look at a lives in convenience store stasis was unlike anything anyone had seen before. He maxed out credit cards, sold prized possessions, drafted friends, family (I still love the scene where his mother is carefully examining the expiry dates on the milk), and traded every favor he could to get it made.

It took audiences at the Cannes Film Festival by storm and earned Kevin Smith the opportunities that he's enjoyed since. He maintains his independent spirit whenever he can, which shows in most of his films. Whether you enjoy his work or not, you have to admit his body of work stands apart from the norm. It's another flavor of film entirely and, regardless of the subject matter, demonstrates that movie goers can still see something that doesn't conform to the norms set by the movie industry without having to go to a film festival.

I've started most of my examples by describing the early stirrings of change because that's what this article is really about. It's about the gold we haven't discovered yet. Independent musicians, film makers and authors bring us an unsupervised look at our world, adventures into fiction, and show us that the direction the market is taking shouldn't determine what kind of entertainment we enjoy or limit our ideas about the world as a whole. Most times it's the independent that shows us the way, and it's their viewers, listeners and readers who discover them first. They are an important part of the change, armed with the power of word of mouth.

It may take a little more patience, but I promise you'll find something surprising, different, and new eventually if you start looking outside the box for your entertainment. Independents give their audiences the opportunity to discover them and it takes us back to our own beginnings, when we wanted to share new discoveries with the world. Just like that three year old boy who saw Star Wars and couldn't stop talking about it to everyone he met for months.

What are you waiting for? Go discover something new and share it.

A few places to start:
Smashwords
Indie-Music.com
Youtube (Film)
Youtube (Music)
Somacow (Independent Internet Radio)

Randolph Lalonde
Is the author of several independent novels, and is best known for his Spinward Fringe series.

Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis: Bridging the Gap

I don't write spoilers. Not for my own projects and not for anything else. Now that I've gotten that out of the way and you know that this little article is spoiler safe, let's get on with it.

Like a few other million people around the globe I eagerly await each and every episode of this little series called Battlestar Galactica. Producer / Writer Ronald D Moore has a talent for keeping us glued to the screen. The first time he did it for me was when he was working on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The only time he lost me was when Star Trek DS9 when he got all religious. That was so terrible that I didn't see the series finale until years later.

Let's let the past reside right where it belongs; way the frack behind. I say that because the new Battlestar Galactica uses all the classic elements of the original series and introduces important new factors. With a female president and Starbuck with along with few other transformed and invented elements the show feels new and shiny. Well, not quite, since they do such a great job of making everything look so used and dirty. The work they've done has been enough to carry this new show much further than the original.

Over the years since this show first started airing it has become a staple to science fiction fans, as much as the various Star Trek series were, as much as Buffy or Angel were. There's a certain group of core fans that need science fiction content on television, they're discriminating, they demand quality, but that doesn't mean that they won't watch bad science fiction. They watch it, and they tear it to pieces on the Internet. Other science fiction fans read the posts and blogs. The same happens when a show like Battlestar Galactica goes wrong, those core fans are the first to scream. Funny thing, we're seasons in and I don't hear much screaming yet, that's a good thing. A welcome change if you ask me. Battlestar Galactica has not reduced in quality at all as far as I'm concerned, and as we watch the last few episodes for the next several months, I'm looking forward to finding out where this wild ride goes. If you haven't seen this show yet, you should know it's available on iTunes and DVD, I highly recommend it.

There's one other point that I feel is really important to mention. Battlestar Galactica came just in time. Star Trek Enterprise flopped and disappeared, Stargate SG-1 came to an end after 10 seasons (watch out for the straight to DVD movies!), Firefly was slapped down fast by Fox (need a big damn sequel!), and most of the other shows weren't that great. Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis has bridged the hungry, lonely gap for us Science Fiction lovers. It has been a dark few years where deep space futuristic science fiction is concerned.

In about 10-12 episodes Battlestar Galactica ends for good, forever. This is a decision that I'll back all the way. I say it's better to call an end to something well before it ceases to be at it's best. That way, when I pop the DVD collection into my player I don't sit there thinking; too bad the last season sucked. We are left with a classic that may stand the test of time. Now THAT is rare in this environment where the big networks don't trust their showrunners unless their show is an instant hit and can draw massive advertising revenue. Something inside me will still miss awaiting new BSG episodes on Friday nights. I think it's my inner child.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, however! This September Caprica, a prequel series in the same universe as Battlestar Galactica, begins. In July Stargate Atlantis comes back with a new season and I can't wait. This summer the animated series; Star Wars: The Clone Wars launches with a major motion picture release. The rest of the series will air on the Cartoon Network in half hour episodes every week. George Lucas has informed the world that the new live action Star Wars series was in the works as of fall 2008 and we should see it sometime in 2009 or 2010. In May of 2009 the new Star Trek movie, a franchise reboot under the direction of J.J. Abrams of Lost fame, will premiere. That's just the stuff that's set in outer space, there's a lot more science fiction that's set on or near earth, in current day or not long from now.

The future of science fiction is looking a little brighter again, and I'd be remiss if I forgot to thank Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis for keeping us all entertained while we waited for it to happen. Here's to you!

Cheers!

RL

Hey, if science fiction gets really popular, maybe I could get my own little First Light show on television?

Yoda Says; "Come see animated feature or kick your ass I will!"

This is old news to some people, but just in case you didn't know; On August 15th, 2008 the Clone Wars Animated Film will be released in North American theaters. This is the big release that heralds a regular television series on The Cartoon Network that will go on for at least one year.

The film and animated series are set between Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Here's the quick and dirty version of the history behind this television series.

George Lucas decided that there was a lot more story to tell aside from the six movies and also had a very serious interest in building a state of the art animation studio. He promised the fans at least 60 episodes of an animated series set in the Clone Wars era, and the same number of episodes of a live action television series as well. Then he sort of disappeared.

He built is animation studio in the Orient, taking advantage of some of the greatest animation talent there and built another production unit in the US. He finished the first 60 episodes of his animated series (3D rendered this time, unlike the original Clone Wars cartoon), and shopped it around. Warner Brothers picked up the movie and television distribution rights, working with Disney to show episodes in their theme park at the same time.

Fast forward a bit and we find ourselves looking at a theatrical release date of August 15th, 2008 (See trailer below), with the television series to follow in the fall. This series includes very dynamic battles, a lot of Jedi action, a focus on the relationship between Skywalker and Kenobi, and the addition of a plucky female Padiwan character. She'll be the first female Jedi created by Lucas to get a lot of attention in one of his features or television series. I have to say, after looking into it a little and watching a few of the video clips on www.starwars.com I'm impressed with the animated style and I'll be in line to see the animated feature.

As a side note I'm looking forward to the live action television series a little more. According to information gained form www.starwars.com George Lucas has been working on it since fall, 2007. There are a lot of rumors floating around about it, so I'll only put forward what I've verified from at least three sources including www.starwars.com. George is footing the entire bill, so networks will not dictate how it's done. He's promised to write/direct the first season at least, if not more. He is planning for 100 episodes and would like to produce 60 before finding a home for the show. The live action series will focus on peripheral characters in the Star Wars universe and involve more of the seedy underbelly areas, like where Han Solo would hang out before joining the rebellion. We won't see any main characters from the Skywalker saga (Episodes I-VI) in this series. George Lucas has wanted to tell stories in this setting for a long time, and now that he's finished telling the Skywalker story it looks like he'll get a chance. The events of this show will take place between Episode III and Episode IV, providing a ton breathing room for the series since there's about 18 years or more between the two films.

I predict that we'll get to see some real concrete info on the live action series in the late spring of 2009, but until then I'm sure I'll enjoy the animated series.

See you there!

RL