popplers

Evil League of Evil

I just finished watching Act III. Go. Go now. Show Joss some love.

Submitted for your approval…

We watched the 1962 Twilight Zone episode Little Girl Lost. As the scene begins, Chris and Ruth Miller are awakened by their daughter calling to them. Chris enters her bedroom, only to find that she has seemingly disappeared. They can still hear her cries for help, and quickly seek their friend Bill's advice. Written by Richard Matheson, it features some of the best "science will save us" dialogue that I've heard in ages.

Chris: Bill's coming over, honey.
Ruth: Bill?
Chris: Well, he's a physicist. Maybe he can help us out. I don't know— I couldn't think of anything else.

Star Trek trifecta

• Parents name their son James Tiberius Kirk. (I wonder if they've already started a therapy fund.)
• Christie's will be holding a mega-auction in New York City: memorabilia, costumes, props, and more from the original series, Next Generation, and a bunch of the movies. Mark your calendars: October 5-7. More info available here: christies.com/startrek/.
• Patrick Stewart on Star Trek XI: "I just got a call from L.A. a few weeks ago saying, 'You're not going to believe this but the people at Paramount, the new people, are very interested in reviving the franchise.'"

Firefly quickies!

• Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in?
• Excellent fan-made t-shirts from Black Market Beagles: I love the Little Damn Heroes series.

Bonus items for Buffy Joss Whedon fans:

• If Joss Whedon directed Peanuts…
  
• Hilarious back-and-forth discussion between Joss and Warren Ellis re: Comicon (Nerd prom). Read through the comments for gems like this:

  Joss Whedon Says:
  February 16th, 2006 at 12:39 am
  

  Who is this Ellis guy anyway? He thinks he all that cuz he wroted "Planety". The facts is, KomiKon is AWESOME becuz people dress up like stuff — but nobody dresses like Warner Ellis, I guess, mister sour grapes. I talked to Sumner Glou and she said nobody ever mailed her body parts except for one time an arm and then a messenger brought her a thyroid gland but big deal, SERENDIPITY fans happen to be the most tastefullest fans who have extra or redundant body parts. […]

You can't take the sky from me

Build your own Firefly… out of Lego. (Also, don't miss the pix of the crew (see "Bag-O-Bricks #5 - The Shiny Set.")

[…] This is a bit of an unusual offering - I'm in the process of reworking my Mini-figure scale tribute to Serenity's Crew - so far I have everyone but Zoe and Book - and that's just due to LEGO's reluctance in releasing faces in the correct skin tones and expressions.

In the meantime, though, I wanted to offer the "Shiny Set" - all the parts to build a Stabilized Snack Size, a CD of the instructions, a display stand, and EIGHT MINIFIGURES (shown above)- almost everyone you need to recreate your favorite adventures. You even get the super-cheesy "Death of Wash Accessory Pack" (retail value: about a dollar) to get you started. […]

Posted by rv at 12:48 AM | Comments (0)

Serenity quickies

In celebration of the soon-to-be-released Serenity DVD (only 17 more days!), here are a some Firefly quickies. Some are well-aged, some are newer, but I only learned about them in the past week or so.

• CulturePulp Comic #28: 'SERENITY' NOW! (No spoilers.)
  
• The Hand Puppet Movie Theatre Presents: Serenity. (Contains many, many, many spoilers. It's the whole movie.)
  
• CulturePulp Q&A with Joss Whedon himself. Very interesting, looong interview, with lots of pix and links to cool Firefly sites.
  
• Spiff Serenity retro posters: Share and enjoy.
  
• Feel like spreadin' the word of Joss to the masses? Commandeer the copier at work, and print out some 'guerilla' Firefly poster art. Also good for decorating your office/ dorm room/ bulletin boards/ coffeeshop/ etc.

Whedon, you bastard!

Serenity (IMDB:8.4|Rot:81%)

If you haven't already, go see Serenity. Then read Ron Swartzendruber's extremely funny Serenity in 2000 Words or Less.

(No pullquote because there are so very many spoilers. Just go see the movie, okay?)

Countdown to Serenity

In preparation for Serenity's big screen debut (only 2 more weeks!), we've been watching all of the episodes of Firefly in order. The Firefly-Serenity Chinese Pinyinary has been quite useful for following all of the muttered curses and interesting comments.

Robert Sheckley

Via Neil Gaiman, I learned that Robert Sheckley is quite ill. I just read his short story, Protection, which I quite enjoyed.

Where no fan has gone before…

I just read this today, in the Globe: 'Star Trek' nears its final frontier as UPN cancels 'Enterprise'. My first thought was, Wow, it's still on?

Wow, what a week.

Things without which I could not have survived this week:

• Arisia, Shaolin Soccer, and Samurai Champloo
  
• Back-Saver snow shovel and studded Hakkapeliittas
  
• City of Heroes (yay, 60k debt! I *&^%ing hate Crey's Folly), the n00b l33tsp34k email thread, and P1r4t3s 0f Teh C4r1bb34n: Teh Curs3 0f teh Bl4ck P34rl
  
• lovely Christmas gift of a shopping bag filled with all kinds of goodies from Trader Joe's
  
• The Onion, mimi smartypants, and Spamusement!
  
• Waaay too much coffee, Pacific Soup at Yoong Tong, and Chris's special homemade macaroni & cheese
  Posted by rv at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)

Think back to when you were a young padawan

Hey, all you readers! (Yes, all 8 of you…) I'm guessing that it's a safe bet that most of you grew up reading science fiction, much, if not all, of the time. Farah Mendlesohn is an academic, an SF reader/ writer, and a vivacious redhead. She is also a really nice person, and she bought me a pint of cider when I was visiting London, despite the fact that she didn't know me from Eve. She is in the midst of writing another book, tentatively titled The Inter-Galactic Playground of Children's Science Fiction. Go take her SF reader survey and email your responses to sfquestions (at) gmail dot com. Thanks!

IBRTL: International Brotherhood of Renegade Time Lords

Doctor Who returns to TV! And guess who's rumored to be the new Doctor?

Tom Baker, the fourth man to play the Time Lord, told BBC Radio Five Live that the "mysterious and strange" Izzard had landed the part.
But the corporation says no final decision has been made on who will star in the TV show when it returns in 2005.
Jonathan Creek star Alan Davies and Richard E. Grant are the bookies' favourites to take the role.
In the interview on Thursday morning, Baker told presenter Julian Worricker that Izzard would bring an "alien quality" to the part.