MY RUSHMORE FOUR:

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers-  I know about 2/3’s of you just spit out whatever you were drinking when you saw that the LOTR movie I chose to run with was the second one. Most go with three, but I will go to the mat saying that Towers is the best in the trilogy!

Wizard of Oz- Judy Garland surrounded by a zoo of characters is still just as good today as it was when it first came out. Better even, since originally Oz was deemed a box office failure.

Princess Bride- One of the best movies ever! This is only possible, because it is based on one of the best books ever. In my opinion it is also one of the best book to movie translations! Oh so funny!

Big Fish- This is a sentimental pick. Anyone who understands the male tradition of telling stories will be able to relate to this movie. It is fantastic and magical.

Honorable Mention:

Field of Dreams- If you build it, they will come…If you make it, people will keep watching generation after generation. A true classic.

Bridge to Terabithia- This film is not as well-known as many of the others on this list, but it nearly made its way into my top four.  If I were writing this blog tomorrow, it might just sneak its way in still. If you have not seen this film-DO IT NOW!

Monty Python and the Holy Grail- “What are you going to do, bleed on me?” No more needs to be said.

From Beyond the Unknown #23, DC Comics, by Nick Cardy

Comic book covers and gorillas go hand in paw. I don’t know why. I understand there are blogs devoted to the subject and perhaps some college papers or something as well. But there are many gorillas in the mist of comic book history, so don’t be surprised if they show up here, featured as a cool comic cover, because, frankly, while I don’t know the “why”, I do know that gorillas do, in fact, make comic book covers cooler.

Case in point: From Beyond the Unknown #23. Let’s break it down:

A – Library scene in a comic book: not cool.

B – Someone robbing a library at gunpoint: not cool (I mean, why rob a library in the first place? You can check books out FOR FREE!)

C – Gorilla, robbing a library at gunpoint: COOL!

I don’t know how it works. Some sort of subconscious fear of the primal, naturalistic representation of our id?

Or, perhaps, it’s just the crazy thought that by reading Robinson Crusoe, Moby Dick, and Treasure Island will help a “man-ape” conquer the earth? (I really want to know how! i have all three of those books…) Besides, once it’s a GORILLA robbing the library, it all makes sense: whose going to give a gorilla a library card? He’s got to take extreme measures.

Strange Adventures #75, DC Comics, by Gil Kane

Note: This issue is actually a reprinting of another old comic, and the cover is a recreation of that old comic’s cover. It’s interesting to compare the two. Strange Adventures #75 is from the 50′s, while From Beyond the Unknown is from the 70′s. The newer cover has much more energy, while the 50′s cover feels static. The gorilla is far more threatening and the librarian is far more threatened in the 70′s, while the librarian from the 50′s seems mildly surprised that a gorilla has just strolled in. 70′s gorilla: ”Hand over those other two books!” 50′s gorilla is almost a gentleman: “You will now put those books inside this valise.”

Join us next Friday for another Cool Comic Cover! Also, do you have a favorite comic book cover? Share it with us! I just may be featured as a cool comic cover!

~ Ben

We are an affiliate of MyComicShop.com and will receive a percentage of the first order you place after clicking on the link! So if you plan to buy some back issues, please click on our link before you do! (And it helps that their prices are pretty good…)

The new Green Arrow, this fall on the CW

The fall 2012 season of the CW will still have a DC Comics superhero, just not Clark Kent. It’s Green Arrow.

Clark and Oliver from Smallville.

I thought it was going to be something just like Smallville. Green Arrow was a character ON Smallville for a number of years, after all. (Although whenever I watched, all I could think was that Green Arrow was just a stand in for Batman. Think about it. It all makes sense. They couldn’t get Bruce Wayne, so they went with Oliver Queen, but the relationship dynamic was what an early Batman/Superman relationship would have looked like . . . in Smallville-universe, anyway.)

I was cold on this Green Arrow show, but the feel for this promo makes it seem like it could be an exciting show. It seems to have the right elements in place. And the guy playing Green Arrow? He actually looks like a superhero. After watching the promo, let us know what YOU think. Will you be tuning in? Or tuning out?

~ Ben

Dr. Jayce’s Opinion-

WHO WOULD WIN? Hawkman

WHY?: Hawkman hits Wolverine with a weapon while he is out of his reach and then carries him away while dropping him in a valcano before he wakes up.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE OUTCOME: I love Wolverine, but unless Hawkman was glued to the ground, he would win 7 times out of 10.

Ben’s Opinion-

WHO WOULD WIN? Wolverine

WHY?: Hawkman has a cool arsenal of weapons. And with those weapons, I think he’d win against Wolverine because of his flight advantage, except for one thing: the advantage Wolverine’s healing factor gives him. Hawkman could only win if he stays airborne, but I don’t think he’d be able to overcome Wolverine’s healing if he did that. If he got within Wolvie’s reach, it’s over.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE OUTCOME: I wasn’t as sure about this one. It took some thought about how I would write this battle.

Steve’s Opinion-

WHO WOULD WIN?: Hawkman

WHY?: While in flight, safely out of Wolverine’s reach, Hawkman hits Wolverine with the Claw of Horus. Wolverine pudding.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE OUTCOME?: Matching flying heroes with non-flying heroes greatly favors the flying heroes.

Follower/Fan’s Opinion (Jeremy Z.)-

WHO WOULD WIN?: Wolverine

WHY?: Wolverine, courtesy of the healing factor. He’ll hack off the Thanagarian wings and finish him off in seconds.

Score: (2-2) tie. Both advance. (Note: Hawkman has been moved to a free spot to face off against another tie result.)

Superman vs. Thing

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Two weeks in a row, I managed to hear an episode, and then the comedy block thing got canceled or moved or whatever. I never found it again . . . until I happened across it in a search for sci-fi radio drams on iTunes.

As I listened to it, I realized I had heard it before, but I also realized it was pretty cool. It’s about a scientist, Dr. Floyd, who is chasing his archenemy, Dr. Steve, across time and space. Written in a tone reminiscent of Rocky and Bullwinkle, it’s a snappy and witty jaunt through history, and while it’s fun, you might even learn something!

The series ran weekly for a long while, and there are a large number of episodes. But, this is the one problem: they have stopped production. Fortunately, the series actually has an ending (a perfect ending, in my opinion — I love circular storytelling, and this time travel story has a perfectly appropriate circular story arc).

My whole family loves it. Well, my kids and I love it. My wife tolerates it. It’s just funny enough for her to not get annoyed.

Here’s the Dr. Floyd website: The Radio Adventures of Doctor Floyd

You can download all the episode in one chunk, or you can subscribe in iTunes, where they are releasing the episodes one at a time all over again. That’s how we’re doing it . . . but I just may lose patience and go ahead and download them all.

~ Ben

It’s tournament time! The greatest heroes of all-time battle each other in a drop down, drag out cage match. Who will win?

The three of us Sci-Fi guys each get one vote and the fans also get a vote (That equals 4 total votes)! THIS IS NOT WHO YOU WOULD WANT TO WIN, BUT WHO WOULD WIN. You can cast your vote and opinion and we might even give you a shout-out in one of our future posts!

This is a bracket tournament similar to March Madness. If your hero wins, they move on in the competition. If your hero loses, then they are out of the competition. However, if there is a tie, then both heroes advance and faceoff with a new hero in the next round. There are two brackets. One has the “god” like heroes (Like Superman & Thor), or the really strong guys (i.e. Thing & Hulk). The other bracket has the more regular guys who are aided by their skills, smarts, and technology (like Wolverine & Batman). The winner of these brackets will faceoff in the final bracket.

There are 24-28 first round battles.

Let the battles BEGIN…

SUPERMAN vs. THING

Dr. Jayce’s Opinion-

WHO WOULD WIN? Superman

WHY?: Because he’s stronger.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE OUTCOME: I like Thing, but Superman is the obvious choice.

Ben’s Opinion-

WHO WOULD WIN? Superman (did you have any doubt I’d say this?)

WHY?: One punch from Supes and Thing’s gonna haffta change his name to Pebbles.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE OUTCOME: I always loved seeing the Hulk/Thing throwdowns in my comics. Of course, the problem was always that Thing is a powerhouse, but not as much as Hulk. The fun was watching Aunt Pentunia’s nephew take his lumps. But as much as I love the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing, against Superman he’s just way outclassed.

Steve’s Opinion-

WHO WOULD WIN?: Superman

WHY?: The one power that Ben Grimm has is easily trumped by Superman, who has about a dozen more.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE OUTCOME?: An unfair matchup.

Listeners/Followers Opinions (Jeremy Z.)-

WHO WOULD WIN? Superman

WHY?: Superman. Heat Vision would trump rock any day of the week.

Score: 4 to 0 (Supes wins)

Famous Funnies #214

After Avengers Week, we’re getting away from superhero comics and getting back to some sci-fi comics.

Frank Frazetta is one of the giants of fantasy art, and did a number of comic books before he created the paintings he is known for.

For famous funnies, he drew covers featuring Buck Rogers. Now, I have no idea what the story is behind this cover, but this cool cover does the job a cover should do:

It makes you curious what is going on inside.

Also, it’s a very interesting cover with the planet taking up most of the space. It makes for a different feel. I don’t think this would be as captivating as it is if the background was all stars and nebulas or whatever.

I really want to know who that guy standing on the ship is, and what he’s doing. And how . . .

(He reminds me a bit of Aquaman, actually. From back in the “I’m such an angry king of the sea that I’m going to a rock a blonde pirate beard” phase.)

~ Ben

We are an affiliate of MyComicShop.com and will receive a percentage of the first order you place after clicking on the link! So if you plan to buy some back issues, please click on our link before you do! (And it helps that their prices are pretty good…)

Well, was it all it could be? Better than it could be? Or did it crash and burn? Steve’s answer may surprise you. And Ben and Dr. Jayce argue over a nit-pick, because a nit-pick was all they could find to disagree about.

We’d like to know what you thought about The Avengers, too. Send us your feedback for next episode’s mailbag. Even better, e-mail an MP3 to podcast@strangersandaliens.com — please try to keep it around or under three minutes — and we’ll play it for everyone.

This podcast is the culmination of our “Avengers Week” here at the Strangers and Aliens blog. Check out these other Avengers features:

Dr. Jayce’s Biggest Avengers Disappointment (from BEFORE he saw the movie)

Steve’s Onward Christian Super-Soliders (an interesting take on Captain America and the superhero metaphor)

Ben’s thoughts about the Superhero Cinema Cycle (and how The Avengers fits into it)

Cool Comic Covers (with some of the coolest imagery to feature these Avengers characters):
Iron Man
Hulk
Captain America
Thor

And finally, Ben’s series of reviews of the various Avengers movies, looking at them as single movies and also as part of an epic series . . . starting with Iron Man 1 and 2!

No movie lives up to the hype. But some come close. The Avengers comes very, very close.

It already has many difficulties to overcome: an ensemble cast; a couple years of build up and fan expectation; the enormous shadow of Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr. over the other characters and actors; a mix of genres (superhero monster, superhero god, wartime superhero, sci-fi superhero, and spy superheroes); and a story that can utilize everyone while still making sense and being satisfying.

Joss Whedon is the real hero here. He makes it all work. This isn’t a movie about five heroes doing their thing, and each of them getting a chance to shine. It’s a movie about five heroes learning to work together.

In my previous reviews this week, I had some hope for the characters as their stories moved forward in The Avengers, and I was surprised how much those character arcs actually were pushed forward, and considering the screen time that was shared, how well it worked.

This is not a perfect movie. The storyline, building on all those scenes from previous movies (like Loki’s lack of belonging in Thor, the tesseract in Captain America, and the “Avengers initiative” throughout the whole thing) works, mostly. There are some clunky places, that are either not explained well or contrived to move the story forward. Some of the questions of how something works, or why a character can do one thing to get out of one situation but can’t or won’t do the same thing to get out of a similar situation, go unanswered. But, again, considering how much story and how many characters are on screen here, plot holes and plot contrivances are to be expected; and given how much fun it is to see these actors become these character and do these things, the plot holes and plot contrivances are easy to forgive.

I was happy that The Avengers is not just Iron Man 3. I was pleasantly surprised that this is the best Hulk movie yet. I was glad to see that Captain America retained his sincere WWII era attitude and character. I was intrigued by Black Widow and Hawkeye’s backstory, and pleased that they did not expand on it too much. I was satisfied with Loki as a worthy adversary, especially when propped up by the macguffin.

I was confused by the Hulk at a couple plot points — he had a secret, and the reveal was pretty cool, but I have no idea what it means. The music felt pretty bland — not Star Trek The Next Generation bland, but it just felt like the same background music we’ve heard in every Marvel movie since Iron Man. And I do wish Captain America had been given more of a character arc — as in his movie, Captain America overcomes outside problems, not really any inside problems.

There are some interesting themes being batted around, but nothing really gets a real chance to breath. Loki’s rationalization for taking over the earth — that mankind’s desire for freedom is false and that man desires to be told what to do — has some interesting ramifications, but doesn’t go anywhere because there’s just no room. But it feeds into the movie’s strengths — letting the characters carry the two plus hours.

Overall, yes, it was very, very good. And I highly recommend it.

I did have one serious problem with it, which I will discuss below in a spoiler zone.

~ Ben

SPOILERS BELOW

(In the following paragraphs, I am going to vaguely discuss something spoiler-y. I do not reveal what it is, but do reveal that it exists, so ski it if you don’t want to know. And please, make sure if you mention it below in the comments, that you give warning.)

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

(That’s good enough warning, right?)

SPOILER BEGINS NOW . . .

I did not like that Whedon Washed a character. And then spent time having Nick Fury speak with Whedon’s voice, as if to say, “Well, this is why it had to be done.” Both felt untrue to the story, I think mainly because of the way it went down. I am all for letting a character go if the story and the character demand it. But to suggest that having that one character get Washed is the thing the other needed to motivate them rings false. No. New York is going to be leveled. That should be enough. This is Steve’s home. Tony’s new home. Thor’s home away from home. And an invasion force is descending on it. There’s your motivation, and if you need more, put people we, the audience, care about in their path.

I love you, Joss Whedon, not with the adoration of a Buffy or Angel fan, but with the admiration of a Firefly fan, and even moreso now, after you pulled off The Avengers. But this felt like storytelling by numbers, and is the weakest part of the movie.

1941. Animated shorts featuring Superman are seen in theaters. Since they were animated in a realistic style, they made a dynamic impression on young imaginations. Here was a brightly colored, fairly realistic looking character, flaying through the sky and bursting through walls. It was the beginning of the big screen hero. (I’m not discounting the effects of the serials during this time – Captain Marvel had a series of serials this year as well, and it is surprisingly well made, but I don’t consider that the game changer.)

1951. After a string of Superman serials, Superman and the Mole Men, staring George Reeves, hits theaters, acting as a pilot or sorts for the Superman TV series. The TV series puts Superman in the general public’s living rooms every week, and makes Superman a household word, and helps drive the popularity of superheroes in general.

1966. A big screen version of the Batman tv show is released – as the tv series is still going – bringing broader attention to the show, and helping cement the campy-ness of superheroes in popular consciousness.

1978. Superman was a superhero game changer, making something that should have been cheesy – a sincere hero in the cynical ‘70’s – into something fun. Something you could believe in, more than the fact that he was flying.

1989. Batman took the superhero genre, which by then was becoming stale, and made it dark and brooding and changed comic books and comic book inspired movies.

2000. X-Men again brought excitement to the ailing superhero genre, this time trying a different tactic: both dark and fun. And it made lots of money, setting off a series of franchises, some hits (Nolan’s Batman and Raimi’s Spider-Man, anyone?) and some misses (Fantastic Four and Green Lantern, looking at you!) but all of them making lots of money.

2012. The Avengers. In our “bigger and louder is better” culture, we have The Avengers. After the success of X-Men, which made a lot of money for a movie company that wasn’t Marvel, and Spider-Man, which made a lot of money for a movie company that wasn’t Marvel, and Batman Begins, which wasn’t Marvel’s to begin with, Marvel starting thinking that one way to help with their money problems might be to invest in making their own movies. And, if they controlled their own characters, they could roll them all into one film. One big, expensive money-maker of a film! And if it succeeds, watch for a Justice League of America to come within three years. And an Avengers 2.

~ Ben

Thor was a difficult movie to make. It’s about gods and men, some of whom speak like Shakespeare. Sort of. It might be difficult to relate to that. So Marvel thought, “You know who makes Shakespeare relatable? Kenneth Branagh. Let’s just hire him.”

So a Shakespearean actor and director. A superhero character. Humans on earth. Gods in the heavenly Asgard. It’s Superman in the Lord of the Rings with a little bit of a romantic comedy thrown in for good measure.

It could be a huge mess. But it’s not. Instead, it’s a small mess. But it works, mostly.

The Asgard scenes are beautifully designed. The battles are exciting and stylistic. The characters are likeable. Nick Fury doesn’t show up, but Agent Coulson does, just as he said he would back in Iron Man 2.

So the Lord of the Rings stuff works; the Superman stuff works. Just like peanut butter and chocolate, they go together just fine. But that’s mainly because this movie is a “fish out of water” story about a Norse god cast down to earth to learn a lesson. He fights against creatures from his realm and soldiers from ours. It doesn’t feel like it is  cut from the came cloth as the other Marvel movies.

But taking this movie on its own merits, for fans of superheroes, it is worth watching. Because of the mash-up of genres, it’s not for everyone, and if you don’t like Lord of the Rings or mythology, you won’t like it. But if you think Clash of the Titans would have been much better if only they’d have some fights in a small southwest town and some romantic comedy silliness, it’s perfect for you. And pretty good for everyone else.

THE AVENGERS PART FOUR: THOR (reviewed as part of a series)

Of all the movies, this one was needed the most when it came to setting up a character to let him interact with the universe they’d created. Iron Man is a genius in a high tech suit of armor. Captain America was turned into the perfect human specimen by Iron Man’s genius dad. Hulk is a scientist who unlocks the ultimate human potential, but also unlocks a petty bad downside.

Thor is a Norse god. His connection to science is that he has a crush on a cute scientist. “One of these things is not like the other.”

So, this chapter of the series comes along to set up a world where magic is actually super-science, and characters throw around sci-fi clichés about “to a primitive, science would seem like magic” and “what if gods actually were aliens?” and “everyone knows that rainbow bridges could actually be wormholes.”

But if they are going to use Thor in the line up for the Avengers team, then they have to figure out a way to make him fit. And so, this two hours of digital FX.

As far as moving the plot forward, it lets us in on where the tesseract comes from and shows us that Loki is interested in it (in the bonus scene). And Thor promises that if we should ever need him, he will help protect us.

Because of all this, this one is almost as easy as Iron Man to take out of the series and just watch it as its own thing. Yes, it does make references to the other movies (one scientist talks vaguely about Bruce Banner; Agent Coulson shows up and refers to some other events) and it introduces the final member of the Avengers team, Hawkeye, who makes his first appearance by talking about maybe shooting an arrow. This one walks to tightrope best between setting up a bigger movie, but also being a complete movie itself.

THOR CHARACTER ANALYSIS

The thing I like about this movie the most is that, honestly, this is the character who actually has some growth. Tony Stark has to overcome his selfishness, but doesn’t quite commit to the change in the movies. Bruce Banner has to overcome his anger issues, but doesn’t quite make it because conquering that problem could possibly mean the character becomes less interesting. Steve Rogers’ biggest problem was he wanted something that his body wouldn’t let him have, but he got the magic vita-rays to take care of that.

Thor’s story is all about being something better in a spiritual sense. He has power and skill and status, but also pride and arrogance and recklessness. So his father sends him down to earth to learn a lesson or two.

Now, the lesson, as it plays out, could have been more dramatic, but it is there. And if, as my friend Steve says in his thoughts about Captain America, Steve Rogers is an image of what the Christian life should be (somewhat) Thor becomes an image of what the Christian life IS. A struggle to overcome human foibles and to turn away from our inward selfishness and turn toward an outward focus. It is sacrifice and humility that he must learn, and only when he lets himself be struck down and, for all intents and purposes, be killed, does he finally earn the right to be worthy enough to wield the hammer.

Indeed, he illustrates the idea (if not the finality) we find in Jesus words that “greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” and in Jesus’ example when he actually “laid down his life for us” and then in the extortion to us that we follow his example and “lay down your life for your brothers.”

No, the character is not a perfect example, but for a secular film about Norse gods, it gives us a look at a vital Christian character trait through muddy waters.

UPDATE: The sibling rivalry is very present in The Avengers, and I was glad to see that Thor is still a bit impetuous. The only bad thing is that The Avengers sort of softens the implications of the ending of Thor. But that seems to be the only way it could be done. However, it was nice to see Thor really, truly caring about his brother. Even at the end, he sought some redemption for his brother, while the sky was almost literally falling around them because of Loki’s actions.

~ Ben

Next review: THE AVENGERS

As a Christian, I sometimes have trouble with the overt or covert humanism in fantasy stories (a term I use to cover SF and superhero stuff as well). So many heroes find the power inside themselves to solve their problems. It can be argued that the powers in many of these movies are not the actual solution, but even conceding that argument, I find that many movies still resolve on the hero digging just a little deeper to find that they can pretty much do anything.

Let’s look now at Steve Rogers. He is an unfit specimen for combat. In fact, his being so sickly makes him unfit for many things, but he is relentless. He knows where he needs to be, and will attempt anything to try to get there. Yoda was wrong; sometimes there is a ‘try’ preceding the ‘do not’, and sometimes all of our attempts are thwarted despite out best efforts. So his power must come from outside himself.

In effect, the resolution of this story is a sort of ‘deus ex machina’. Without Stark’s machine turning Rogers into a super-soldier there would be no movie, but almost every other solution comes from outside, not inside. Nevertheless, Cap continues his relentlessness even after he has been augmented, showing that his goal has not shifted, just his focus on the next step in attaining that goal. The whole movie shows how Cap always tries to do the right thing concerning the goal (sometimes defining the right thing personally, like lying on enlistment forms, but his goal is always clear) and is forced to accept that things are out of his control, but he still remains undeterred. His enlistment attempts, facing the Red Skull, losing Bucky, piloting the crashing plane, and being thrust into his future all show his incredible grace under pressure, and illustrate the mindset of his sort-of catchphrase, “I could do this all day.”

I’m glad that they ditched any reluctance on his part. I don’t know how you could make a movie with a reluctant Captain America. That wouldn’t be Captain America, just like having a story where Superman has a child out of wedlock and doesn’t care for it like a father should would undermine the whole truth (not being true to the responsibilities that those actions might demand), justice (denying his child of a father, and perhaps the child’s mother of a husband is not very just) and the American way thing (even though American society seems to be trending that way, these things are not what America is all about). Oops…they made that one, didn’t they?

Okay…how about a Spiderman movie where he lets the guy who had been playing the role of the villain defeat the big bad guy, sidestepping the whole “…great power…great responsibility” thing? Wait…that was Spiderman 2, wasn’t it? Hmmm…how about Batman relying on the innate goodness of the citizenry of Gotham city not to kill some criminals to save themselves…nope…that’s Dark Knight. Wow. I really am glad they kept him true to his roots.

Diatribes aside, this article isn’t intended to knock the other lead-in movies, but I hope that in the Avenges movie they keep him steadfast, dogged and relentless. I’d also like to dig into the histories of the Black Widow and Hawkeye, as they seem more like Cap than the others, but hopefully it doesn’t set the precedent that if you have REAL powers then you are reluctant, but if your powers are simply heightened or maximized human powers, you’re going to be doing most of the actual work while the big reluctant babies perseverate over whether or not they are going to use the 1% of their power needed to assure that you don’t get killed. Oops…diatribe again…sorry.

What I liked the most about Captain America was that it illustrated the Christian mindset (I’m not arguing that it was intentional, just that it did it better than most other movies). We are supposed to persevere for what we know is right (but, of course, we go by God’s standard, not ours), knowing that the goal is what we are striving for, not perceived results. And, most importantly, that true power comes from outside of ourselves, and, in truth, we have no actual power, just that which God has blessed us with at any given time.

The general public hasn’t seen the new film yet (unless you live overseas, which is a whole other issue), but before I ever step into the theatre I already have one major disappointment that distracts from my enjoyment of this film. I’m not even talking about the injustice that Jack Kirby and his family have endured, because we all know he’s been treated horribly and should reap the benefits of his enormous role in creating some of our favorite characters.

What I’m talking about is…

…that my favorite Avengers character isn’t even in the movie!!!

Vision should be in this film. If you know about Vision then you probably agree, but if you don’t then do some research here: VISION

They better get Vision into the next Avengers film or else: DR. JAYCE SMASH!!!

Thor!

Continuing Avengers Week here at Strangers and Aliens, it’s Thor’s-day. Yes, we had to do it. So even though Captain America was after Thor, we had to do do Thor today. And the character has some incredible comic covers . . .

Bizarre Adventures #32 -- by Joe Jusko. This magazine from the early '80's was an anthology magazine, featuring many different characters. This issue features Thor "and other gods." This inside, however, is nowhere near as good as the cover. Thor covers tend to be about POWER (he is the God of thunder, after all) and this one embodies that perfectly.

Giant-Size Thor -- This cover features what many Thor covers feature -- Thor, coming right toward you, hammer ready to fly. It also features the Warriors Three, some of the coolest supporting characters of comic-dom. This cover also promises that Hercules, a great foil for Thor, is inside . . .

Thor #126 -- by Jack Kirby. But THIS one delivers Hercules on the cover. This cover is by Jack "the King" Kirby, who we have featured in the past in Cool Comic Covers and will again. His energy and larger than life musculature suits Thor perfectly.

Thor #341 -- by Walt Simonson. All those earlier covers, emphasizing Thor's power and size, make give this cover even more impact. Because if Thor is as powerful as we've seen, what does that make this guy? This comes from what many people consider the best run of Thor. Walter Wimonson's story and art helped secure Thor's place as an icon in the Marvel universe.

Thor #195 -- by John Buscema. Again, with the Warriors Three. Buscema is a comic artist I associate with the Conan comics mostly, and this cover captures that pulp feel perfectly.

Thor #366 -- by Walter Simonson. Another classic cover from Simonson, and another iconic moment from his run. Yes, Thor was turned into a frog for a few issues . . .

Thor #340 -- by Walter Simonson. I didn't plan to spend so many entries with Simonson, but his covers are just. So. Awesome.

Tales to Astonish #16 -- cover by Jack Kirby. I like including those "curiosities", like yesterday's Captain America's Weird Tales. Here we have the first Marvel appearance of a character named "Thorr." Yes, extra "r" and yes, not the god of thunder, but it's still a pretty awesome cover by Kirby!

~ Ben

Captain America was better than I hoped it would be. It is not a perfect movie, but it is a fun movie, and an inspiring movie, and a sincere movie.

It is a period piece. The only way they could have done it, really. Captain America, if it was going to succeed, could only have been set during World War II, if it was going to be done straight. It could have been set during more recent wars, but it would have been a much darker and more cynical movie. Instead, what we get is a movie about a guy who wants to do the right thing, and won’t stand down when the right thing needs to be done.

It could be a terrible movie. It could play this sincere, courageous character as a joke, or at least with a wink and a nod. Instead, somehow, it manages to strike he perfect balance. Like Christopher Reeve, who played the “boy scout superhero” without any cynicism, you believe in this scrappy runt who just wants to do good.

And when the scrappy runt proves himself without powers, you’re excited to see what he does when he has powers.

The movie is brilliantly shot and the period feels perfect. The story does get clunky, and parts of the finale are confusing, but the characters carry you through. I may hate Superman III or Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, but I can still watch them because of Christopher Reeve; Captain America is far easier to forgive.

I highly recommend the movie. It is a movie about doing right. It is a movie about being a hero. In a genre dominated by brooding characters like Wolverine or Batman, and even Spider-Man and Iron Man, it is a breath of fresh air.

The bonus scene after the credits happens just before the credits roll. And the bonus-bonus scene after the credits is a trailer for The Avengers. That is the weakness of Captain America. It is all, really, a lead-in to a bigger movie. But, it is a ride worth taking, in spite of that weakness.

THE AVENGERS PART FIVE: CAPTAIN AMERICA – THE FIRST AVENGER (reviewed as part of a series)

This is probably the most important chapter in the Avengers mini-series. Its story is about Steve Rogers, who will (possibly) be the central member of the Avengers. Its story is about the beginnings of SHIELD (one constant thread in the series). Its story is about Howard Stark, Tony Stark’s father. Its story is about the tessaract, one of the macguffins of The Avengers movie.

Iron Man, the first chapter of this series, set things in motion. This chapter sets the stage for the finale. And with that view, it works better than it would when considering it as a stand-alone movie. If you watch this movie knowing that you are watching chapter five of a series, and that you are watching one more movie setting up a character so the finale doesn’t have to spend too much time giving you the backstory, it works better.

However, that storytelling risk may not have been worth taking, if The Avengers doesn’t follow through on the character. This is true, of course, with all of these Marvel movies.

STEVE ROGERS CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Steve Rogers is a hero before he has any powers. He is not driven by vengeance, like Batman. He is not driven by rage, like the Hulk. He is not driven by a sense of responsibility because of tragedy, like Spider-Man. He just wants to do right.

He is a victim of bullying who does not want to see anyone else get bullied. He is willing to sacrifice himself for others. He wants to be a part of something bigger than himself. He wants to do good.

And in our world, he would be an anachronism.

And for all these reasons, this is the first of the Marvel movies that, after watching, I couldn’t wait for my son to see. The only problem, and this is a flaw for the film, is that there was nowhere for the character to grow. Well, he grew physically. And since his next appearance is in an ensemble, there may not be much growth for him in The Avengers. For this movie, though, I’m okay with it. I enjoy seeing him struggle to overcome the dangers and evils in the world around him.

UPDATE: They keep both the good and the bad in The Avengers for Steve Rogers. He is earnest and sincere and heroic, and even shines more as a leader than in his own movie. But he also doesn’t have much of a character arc. He does get a great line about Thor when he finds out who/what Thor is. But it is hard to tell if it is inserted by the writers as a wink and a nod or to mock old fashioned ideals. Doesn’t matter. I laughed and found it funny.

~ Ben

Next Review: THOR

It’s Avengers week! Each day we are taking a look at the characters who will be featured in the upcoming (depending on when you are reading this) Avengers movie. First, Iron Man. Tuesday was Hulk. Today is Captain America. Thursday is no surprise to anyone. And Friday will be the team. The Avengers.

Normally, for Cool Comic Covers, we feature one comic cover. But for Avengers week, we’re going to give a handful of our favorite covers featuring the spotlighted characters.

Captain America #1 -- by Jack Kirby. Sometimes it's easy to forget that not only did Jack Kirby help create a ton of classic characters and draw in a dynamic style that can only be copied, he also created some of the most iconic images in comic book art. Stan Lee got a silly line in a cameo in the Captain America movie; this cover from Jack Kirby was featured front and center, and was far more important both in a story sense and in a metatextual sense.

Captain America#109 -- by Jack Kirby. Another iconic image of the character. One of Captain America's characteristics -- both a strength and a weakness -- is that he is a walking flag. He is meant to be a symbol of America. Here, that symbol of America is smashing through the pages of time, implying that the ideals and ideas of America that he embodies are timeless.

Captain America #250 -- by John Byrne. The fine line between inspiring and cheesy can be a hard one to walk, considering that Captain America isn't just a character. He's a metaphor. Metaphors are not easy, especially when not everyone can even agree on what the metaphor should mean or is intended to mean. But let's face facts: no matter which side of the political spectrum you fall on, wouldn't you vote for Captain America? I think he's the only independent who could actually win . . .

Captain America #280 -- by Mike Zeck. One thing I find interesting about Captain America covers is that they usually feature: 1. The shield, the icon for the character; 2. Some sort of action pose or some sort of "patriotic" pose; and/or 3. Captain America weak, beaten, or in bondage. This is true for many characters, I guess, but I think it is more striking and dramatic when that character is a metaphor for a whole country, or at least a metaphor for the ideals of a whole country. Also, when Mike Zeck draws it, it will be dramatic and dynamic.

Captain America #454 -- by Ron Garney. An iconic, patriotic illustration. Sometimes I'm surprised a character like this has survived so long.

Captain America Annual #8 -- by Mike Zeck. I think almost every character Marvel has published has gotten a cover like this, featuring the character fighting Wolverine. This one is perfectly composed, with so much raw emotion and energy. Wolverine, the unstoppable "animal," versus Captain America, the determined and unstopping man.

Captain America: White -- by Tim Sale. The symbol for truth, justice, and freedom casts his shadow over the symbol for humanity's worst characteristics . . . It's not a political idea that gives Captain America his power as an icon. It's the broader and bigger ideas that make something like this work. Yes, it is "rah, rah, rah, America." But the America he symbolizes is much more the America we SHOULD be, not the America we ARE; it pushes us to aspire higher, again, no matter what side you fall on.

Captain America #344 -- Ron Frenz. Okay, so sometimes specific political views DO make their way into the character, like this issue. This was the first Captain America comic I bought with my own money, and I followed the title for half a year. It was a great run, and this issue was cool to my junior high self. And the cover! How could I NOT buy this book when I saw it? But yes, that is President Reagan, who has been turned into a snake man. He is not the villain of the story, but when the story is over, and he has been cured, we see he still has a forked tongue and fangs. The personal views of the storyteller cannot help but leak into stories, and writers of Captain America do sometimes try to make a specific political point using the character, even if it is, ahem, tongue (the forked variety) in cheek.

Captain America's Weird Tales #74 -- Martin Nodell. I'm including these last two as something of a curiosity. After Captain America #73, Captain America's book was turned into a horror anthology. This first book did feature Captain America in a story in which he fights Red Skull in hell and wakes up to find it was only a dream (he fell asleep in a chair, in full costume, with his shield still on his arm, if I remember correctly) but was it really a dream? He still had, clutched in his hand, a piece of red cloth. And then, the next issue . . .

Captain America's Weird Tales #75 -- by Gene Colan. Captain America appears in one place in this comic. His name in the title. Too bad, considering the title of the book, I had hoped it would have Captain America hosting the horror stories, crypt-keeper style!

~ Ben

After Ang Lee’s Hulk movie* didn’t meet expectations . . . and after Iron Man surpassed expectations . . . and after it was realized The Avengers was going to be a reality . . . Marvel knew they had to get the character of the Hulk back in front of the public in a more successful movie, so that the line up of such an expensive movie isn’t dragged down by a loser.

So, exit everything that had to do with Ang Lee’s movie . . . and enter Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, and director Louis Leterrier.

Personally, I liked the film. It was okay. The Hulk scenes are fine. The special effects decent. The story a bit convoluted, but more appealing to the general public than Ang Lee’s Hulk. The actors all feel like they are all acting in their own movies, not reacting to each other with any kind of chemistry, but it does not distract from the huge green monsters fighting each other.

Not high praise, I guess. I did enjoy the multiple callbacks to The Incredible Hulk TV series. And honestly, the plot of this movie should have been the plot of the first movie, with Hulk fighting another hulk-ish monster, with a physical conflict we can understand instead of the metaphorical finale found in Ang Lee’s movie.

I didn’t connect with the character, though. Edward Norton is a great actor, and I expected him to be a perfect Bruce Banner. I never felt I was watching Bruce Banner. I felt I was watching Edward Norton ACTING! And the ending (not the bonus ending, which was funny, but the actual ending) was not true to the character arc, instead trying to copy Tony Stark’s “I am Iron Man” moment.

It made about $18 million more than Ang Lee’s movie, but cost $13 million more as well. It wasn’t the runaway success they hoped it would be as the follow up Iron Man. But it was serviceable.

In the library of superhero movies, it’s not one of the top movies. It’s not one of the worst. It just is. If someone had not seen it, I’d say go ahead. But it’s not one I intend to revisit. It’s not essential viewing.

THE AVENGERS PART TWO: THE INCREDIBLE HULK (reviewed as a part of a series)

The Incredible Hulk is essential viewing.

It gives the backstory to a character who looks to be a vital part of the Avengers team, setting up Bruce Banner the scientist, Hulk the monster, their relationship with the military, and their life on the run from those who want to catch them and use them. Using this set up, it would seem like in The Avengers, they will track down Bruce Banner the scientist because they need his intellectual help, but they will also summon Hulk the monster to because they need his physical help.

It’s the weakest chapter of the bunch, but each character needs their introduction, and this is Hulk’s. It’s ties to the other movies are also the weakest, mainly because at this point I still don’t think they knew what their big plan was going to be. From here, they could do a number of things, including (as i hoped) had the Hulk be the villain (at first, anyway) of The Avengers.

BRUCE BANNER CHARACTER ANALYSIS

The story of the Hulk is one of anger and emotion and out of control power, fueled and directed by anger.

In the film The Incredible Hulk, Bruce Banner struggles to control his rage, and blood pressure, through many different means, while also looking for a cure. By the end of the movie, the search for the cure has been largely abandoned, and the implication is that he has embraced the “curse.” My hope, however, is that as the character is used in The Avengers that it’s not someone who is learning to embrace the monster, but instead it’s someone who tries to focus the out of control anger and give it some restraint.

That was my primary problem with the character as portrayed in this movie. The ending is a very humanistic one. Embrace the physical and natural. Humans flaws are not flaws to overcome, rather they are just a natural part of life, so don’t just live with it, enjoy it.

Anger in and of itself is a useful tool. Its presence can often help identify injustices or wrongs and push individuals into action in correcting them. But it can also come from self-centeredness, selfish ambition, and perceived injustices or wrongs. When anger itself is the sole driving force, instead of pushing someone toward positive action, it becomes blinding.

Proverbs has some great wisdom about anger and rage, like Proverbs 30:33: “For as pressing cream produces butter,
 and as pressing the nose produces blood, so pressing anger produces strife.”

And Proverbs 15:18: “The hot-tempered stir up dissension, but those who are patient calm a quarrel.”

I’m curious where they take this character. They changed the actor, so it’s possible the arc he seemed to be on in this movie gives way to the arc I’d like to see him take. I would like to see a slightly intelligent Hulk, and his alter ego Bruce Banner, struggling to control the rage, not embracing it.

UPDATE: Of all the Hulk films, The Avengers is actually the best. In terms of acting, this is the bet of the three Bruce Banners. In terms of character arc, it feels like this is the most natural and realistic way for a character like this to go. However, in The Avengers, I honestly can’t tell (after one viewing) which of the paths they have taken Bruce Banner down. It seems like he has accepted his issues, but has worked on controlling it. I sort of like that. But I have no idea where they will take the character in the next Hulk film. And there will be another one. He is a stand out character in The Avengers, so there is no way they won’t try to make money off of that.

* HULK (bonus review)

While The Incredible Hulk is technically a “reboot”, was also sort of a sequel to Ang Lee’s movie. But it is not part of the tapestry Marvel used when building up to The Avengers.

Still, I like it. I think if you are going to choose between this Hulk movie and the other, this is the one to watch. It’s a movie about abuse, and the pattern of abuse, and Bruce Banner’s struggle against his anger is part of his struggle not to continue the cycle. His father was an abuser, and when Banner hulks out, he, too, becomes an abuser.

I do get that it doesn’t appeal to everyone, and I get why. It’s not an action adventure movie. It’s an indy film with a huge FX budget.

~ Ben

Next Review: CAPTAIN AMERICA

It’s Avengers week here at Strangers and Aliens! Each day we are going to take a look at the characters who will be featured in the upcoming (depending on when you are reading this) Avengers movie. Yesterday was Iron Man. Today is Hulk. Wednesday is Captain America. Thursday is no surprise to anyone. And Friday will be the team. The Avengers.

Normally, for Cool Comic Covers, we feature one comic cover. But for Avengers week, we’re going to give a handful of our favorite covers featuring the spotlighted characters.

The Incredible Hulk #223 -- by Ron Validar. This cover has it all. The rage and power of the Hulk and the tragedy of Bruce Banner.

The Incredible Hulk #151 -- by Herb Trimpe. I know some people don't like Herb Trimpe, but for me, even though I didn't read The Hulk very much as a kid, he defines the character. Again, this character is about anger and power, and it's too powerful in some ways to have an opponent that can provide a challenge. Because honestly, if Hulk IS challenged, he's just going to get angrier. And more powerful. And your opponent becomes less of a challenge, right?

The Incredible Hulk #140 -- by Herb Trimpe. Yes. THAT Harlan Ellison. The story here is great, but again we have some staples of Hulk comic covers. Anger. Power. Crumbling rock. And some sort of powerful opponent. This issue was collected into a graphic novel called "The Heart of the Atom," telling stories about Hulk's adventures in a subatomic world where, when he was shrunk down enough to go there, Hulk was also intelligent. He fell in love, but of course since this is Bruce Banner we're talking about, there's tragedy involved, too.

Tales to Astonish #75 -- by Jack Kirby. I said Herb Trimpe defined the character, but it was Jack Kirby that Trimpe was building on. In this cover, we get another Hulk staple: conflict with the military. Oh, and rage. And power. (Trivia: We always look for the Stan Lee cameo in Marvel movies these days, but when Jack Kirby was still alive, he cameoed as a police sketch artist in an episode of The Incredible Hulk!)

The Rampaging Hulk #7 -- by Jim Starlin. Because the Hulk is so powerful, often writers have to pit him against supernatural or otherworldly foes to give him a challenge. This give cover artists unique opportunities that they may not have in a more grounded hero to draw something with more bizarre or surreal elements. It could end up looking ridiculous. It could end up looking amazing. Or both, like this one.

World War Hulk Prologue -- by John Romita, Jr. Romita's World War Hulk covers are all amazing and worth looking at, but this one was the most iconic. Previous to this story, Hulk was again sent away from the planet to face foes who were more of a challenge. Bringing him back, he was challenged with the entire population of Marvel's earth. Also a challenge.

The Incredible Hulk #340 -- by Todd McFarlane. Hulk vs. Wolverine. It's an iconic cover, but it also illustrates something that very few characters get to do: come into conflict, on a regular basis, with other heroes. Because Hulk is not a hero. Not really. He's a monster, a force of nature, who becomes a challenge to the other heroes.

The Incredible Hulk #81 -- by Lee Weeks. Nothing says "POWER" like sitting on a horse with an ax and a mace and purple pants. I love this image, based on Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer.

The Incredible Hulk Megazine -- by Adam Kubert. All of these covers have incredible composition, but with this one I just see this as perfectly embodying the Hulk. What does Hulk do? Hulk smash. Even his own logo . . .

Captain America #110 -- by Jim Steranko. For fun, I thought I'd include some of the iconic covers featuring Hulk fighting his other Avengers cast mates. First, Captain America. Not much to say here. I just love looking at it.

Ultimate Human #1 -- by Cary Nord. Iron Man vs. Hulk. There were some other cool ones, but this one seemed the coolest. Of course, in the ultimate universe Hulk looks a Iron Man as canned food goods.

Thor #385 -- by Ron Frenz. There are other Thor vs. Hulk covers out there as well, but this one just struck me. Again, power and rage. And power and a hammer. Which will win?

The Incredible Hulk Versus Quasimodo -- by Sal Buscema. While we're doing some versus here . . . why not include this one? This one shot was based on an episode of the animated series from the early '80's, I guess. But I don't know why that merits a comic. It's a nice curiosity, though, and makes for a fun addition here . . .

~ Ben

Iron Man was the first movie that Marvel really took as its own. And it was amazing. A “game changer,” as people say. It was fun and loud and cocky and new. It set up a sequel, with the great press conference announcement at the end, and also promised a series, with Nick Fury showing up at the end and saying to Iron Man that he is part of a “bigger universe.” (Side note: sitting in the theater, after watching that after-the-credits-bonus-scene with Nick Fury, the guy right in front of me shouted “YAHTZEE” and raised his fist in triumph. “Do you know what this means?” he said to his girl-friend, who quietly replied, “No.” And he explained. Now, I was a little bit excited, too, to see it. But “yahtzee”? “Yahtzee”?)

When you walked out of the theater, you felt like you had just been to a party with a more cool friend, who introduced you to his cool friends and made you feel like you, too, were cool. You wanted that suit. When Tony Stark said, “I am Iron Man,” you wanted to be Iron Man, too.

But pretend that there was no sequel and the series never panned out. This movie was a very good comic book movie, and most comic book and superhero fans agree: it is a comic book movie done right. And people who are not comic book fans liked it too. It made a ton of money. So that “pretend” scenario? Didn’t happen.

Iron Man deserves to be placed right up there with Superman, Tim Burton’s Batman, X-Men 2, and Spider-Man as a classic movie for the genre.

IRON MAN 2 (reviewed as a single movie)

And if you liked Iron Man, it caused you to have enough goodwill to like Iron Man 2. Not quite as much, but sequels are never as good as the original, right?

But where Iron Man succeed by being a fresh movie that could be enjoyed just as a self-contained story that set up a sequel, Iron Man 2’s biggest failing was it was there to set up The Avengers. Released after The Incredible Hulk movie, but taking place at the same time (based on some background TV screens in Iron Man 2 that were reporting on events from the Hulk movie), Nick Fury doesn’t just cameo in the movie. He drops in, chews some scenery, and when he leaves he drops off the box that contains the solutions to all of Tony Stark/Iron Man’s problems.

It’s still a fun movie. There are cool battle scenes. There are big character moments. There are small character moments. But so much of Iron Man 2 feels like set up for The Avengers. Black Widow is introduced. Agent Coulson gets some screen time. Nick Fury drops off the magic item that will save Tony Stark.

And the “bonus scene” at the end of the movie? The thing that was so amazing in Iron Man when Nick Fury showed up (and that guy yelled “YAHTZEE!”)? It was a teaser. For the Thor movie. It had nothing to do with the characters from Iron Man 2, except that Agent Coulson mentions that he has to leave. And this is where he went. (No one shouted “yahtzee.”)

None of this is set up for Iron Man 3. So much of this movie felt like it was teasing The Avengers that it burned away some of the goodwill the first movie built up. It’s still fun and bombastic and energetic, but it feels like it is being pulled in three directions – trying to emulate the first Iron Man, trying to push forward a character, and trying to shoehorn studio required

AVENGERS PART ONE: IRON MAN and AVENGERS PART THREE: IRON MAN 2 (reviewed as part of a series)

But here’s how I’m approaching this now. When I watched this in the theater, two years had passed since the first movie. The Incredible Hulk had come out. (More on that tomorrow.) I was watching it as a movie.

But I should have been watching it as a chapter in a mini-series.

That’s how these movies were being built. A group of people sat in a room, figuring out how to tie all these movies together. And the writers and directors (part of the planning, to a point, I understand) were then set free to make the movie they envisioned, so long as they included these concepts.

It’s why Nick Fury shows up in Iron Man. It’s why Nick Fury plays a big part in Iron Man 2. To get to know the character. It’s why Black Widow plays a big part in Iron Man 2. It’s why Incredible Hulk is referenced in the background. It’s why the Thor teaser (which is actually a scene from the Thor movie) is the post-credits bonus scene.

And, if you watch it this way, it’s not as bad. That is, of course, assuming that The Avengers movie itself is good, and pays off. But the short scenes with Agent Coulson in these movies allow us to get to know him. He’s a bit of a dweeb, but he’s a likeable dweeb. Black Widow can show up in The Avengers with very little explanation. We already know she is from SHIELD and works with Nick Fury and Agent Coulson.

The question is this: will The Avengers work as the culmination to these things? As the final chapter to a mini-series?

Rewatching these movies with this in mind, I found myself being more forgiving. This is the way they intended us to watch it. Iron Man is a great first chapter. Iron Man 2 serves nicely to expand on some background characters and introduce some more, while still giving us some pretty fun battle scenes with men in metal suits fighting robot men.

TONY STARK CHARACTER ANALYSIS

Tony Stark/Iron Man is watchable and likeable because of his flaws. This causes a problem. Solve his flaws, declaw the character. He is arrogant. He is a womanizer. He is a pre-alcoholic. He is a hedonist.

But he is not a person you should want to be like. It makes for an interesting dynamic, for me, especially as a Christian. On one hand, I walked out of the theater wanting to be Iron Man. On the other hand, a lot of that came from the rock star quality of the character.

But fix the character, and what happens? We’ll see, because Iron Man 2 saw him sort of dedicate himself to one woman. Sort of. Pepper Potts, in the first Iron Man, was resigned to the fact that while she was the one woman he would emotionally commit to, he was physically committed to himself. Which meant a lot of women. But the end of Iron Man 2 sees a possible deeper and purer commitment to Pepper Potts. This is good for moral character development, but bad for PG-13 movie humor. I hope to see him struggling not to let his eye wander.

Iron Man 2 also saw some softening of his arrogance. Some. For The Avengers, I hope to see him continue to grow. Forcing him to work in a team actually could be an important step in his development. And for us, it is important to remember that “we are all one body.” Tony Stark/Iron Man is a reminder that, honestly, we work best when we are not so self-centered. It is better for ourselves, and better for the people around us.

UPDATE: Tony gets a pretty significant chance to change, sort of, in The Avengers, and I rather like where The Avengers takes the character, and where it leaves him. In becoming a little more selfless, he becomes a little more vulnerable. I hope they pick up on this in Iron Man 3.

~ Ben

Next review: THE INCREDIBLE HULK

Iron Man!

It’s Avengers week here at Strangers and Aliens! Each day we are going to take a look at the characters who will be featured in the upcoming (depending on when you are reading this) Avengers movie. Today is Iron Man. Tuesday will be Hulk. Wednesday is Captain America. Thursday is no surprise to anyone. And Friday will be the team. The Avengers.

Normally, for Cool Comic Covers, we feature one comic cover. But for Avengers week, we’re going to give a handful of our favorite covers featuring the spotlighted characters.

Iron Man #1 -- by Gene Colan. This is not Iron Man's first appearance, but it is the premiere issue for his self-titled series, and it's a perfect example of what makes Iron Man a great character. It's an armored man, and the suit gives him great, great power. Now, normally comic book covers feature poses by women that are impossible in real life. This one features a man in a posed that look painful. But I've never broken through chains in a powered suit of armor, so maybe that's what it looks like?

Iron Man #2 -- by Johnny Craig. Okay, this one was included because of the stark (ha-ha) contrast from the last one. Iron Man was knocked down by some other robotic guy -- who looks pretty silly, I should add. And his hand just happened to find the title box to rest on and help keep him steady. The poses are dynamic, and it features a D.i.D. (Damsel in Distress), but after that first cover, this was not the best follow up. Still, it's very interesting.

Iron Man: Enter the Manderin #4 -- by Eric Canete. I know nothing about this series, but the covers stood out to me when I saw them on the shelf. This stylistic interpretation of the character is what Iron Man is about. Technological power pushing man to be something more.

Iron Man: Enter the Manderin #1 -- by Eric Canete. The first issue of the Enter the Mandarin series reminds me of The Rocketeer, and that streamlined art deco style fits the Iron Man character nicely.

Invincible Iron Man #11 -- by Salvador Lorroca. You can hear the clanking of metal on metal and the crash of the thunder and the ping of the rain and the hum of energy, can't you? The comics had to play catch up after the Iron Man movie came out and the character was a hit. Both the visual and the attitude had to be adjusted. Tony Stark on the page was never as magnetic as Tony Stark on the silver screen.

Invincible Iron Man #1 -- by Joe Quesada. This book was the comic that went out to coincide with the release of the movie, and the design of the character looks like the movie version. To me, Iron Man was always about the armor. I liked Tony Stark in some of the stories I read, but generally "millionaire playboy" Tony Stark was NEVER as exciting to me as "man in the iron suit" Tony Stark.

Iron Man #80 -- by Jack Kirby. Jack's "the king" for a reason. He brings an unique energy to whatever he draws, and anyone who tries to imitate him can only do that: imitate. Here he draws out what I've been saying about the character.

Iron Man #96 -- by Al Milgrom. If those other covers illustrated technology giving man power, this cover illustrates the other part of the character. The man giving direction to the technology.

Iron Man #237 -- by Jackson Guice. I had three Iron Man comics when I was younger. One because Spider-Man was in it, and the other two because of the covers. This one was a story that I loved, though, because it was essentially Iron Man taking the place of Ripley in an Alien movie. In those other two, there was a lot of continuity stuff happening between the action stuff and it didn't make a very big impression. But this story was very self-contained, and I have a lot of fond memories reading it. I even used it as a springboard for a Marvel Superheroes Roleplaying adventure with my buddies. But it was the cover that drew me in. And the inside of this book delivered what the cover promised.

Iron Man #234 -- by Jackson Guice. I bought as much Spider-Man as I could when this comic came out. The Marvel guys were smart to have him guest star in this book, hoping that people would keep buying Iron Man. I did . . . two more issues, to be exact. It worked. It's a cool cover, but I'm only including it for nostalgia's sake . . .

Iron Man #238 -- by Jackson Guice. Another nostalgic cover, but one that almost could make the cut for Cool Comic Covers on its own. The flame and the colors and Iron Man holding Rhino in a headlock. Yes, this happened inside.

Tomorrow: Hulk!

~ Ben

The Avengers is a unique product in that instead of a movie studio taking a comic book franchise and twisting it for the silver screen to make it more cinematic, Marvel Studios has taken their comic book franchises back (collecting them as the rights became available) and turning these superhero movies back into a story telling format closer to a comic book series.

So, starting with Iron Man, when they tacked on a post-credits scene in which Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony Stark gets a visit from Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, the promise was given: the upcoming movies are linked. And the plan was laid out: the movies would lead into an ensemble team film, The Avengers.

It was the comic book movie version of Lord of the Rings-like world building. Or maybe the comic book movie version of having Kramer from Seinfeld and Pheobe from Friends show up in Mad About You. Or, perhaps it was just the comic book movie version of comic books.

It was also the movie studio version of making lots and lots of money.

We’re fans, here, though, and we’re eating up the hype. They brought in Joss Whedon to direct and write. I’m more of a fan of his writing than his directing, but he’s hopefully brought his A-game.

So all week here, we will be reminiscing about the movies that came before and looking forward to The Avengers, which is coming out on Friday. Each day we’ll feature mini-reviews of the movies and Cool Comic Covers that will put the spotlight on that day’s character . . .

Monday is Iron Man-day.

Tuesday is Hulk.

Wednesday is Captain America.

Thursday is Thor’s-day.

Friday is The Avengers.

And the weekend will see the release of our podcast – a weekend of release conversation about the movie.

We invite you to join the conversation. If you have anything to say about these characters or films, let us know. We will find a way to incorporate your thoughts into our Avengers week!

~ Ben

Dr. Jayce, Ben, and Steve continue their conversation about what they love (and hate) about Star Trek.

We’d love to hear from you about YOUR favorite captains, YOUR favorite series, YOUR favorite ships, YOUR favorite crew! E-mail us at podcast@strangersandaliens.com. If you’d like, you can even record a short MP3 (try to keep it around 3 minutes long). We’d love to use it in the show for our mailbag segment!

Next episode: a weekend of release episode about The Avengers movie!

~ Ben

Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction Giant Size Special by Marvel Comics magazine imprint Curtis. Art by Don Newton.

Unknown Worlds of Science Fiction Giant Size Special.

Next week we’ve got a lot of superhero things happening around here, so here’s an amazing sci-fi cover. It’s got bubble helmets. A rocket. A bug eyed monster. Intrepid heroes. A D.i.D. (Damsel in Distress). It’s classic sci-fi.

This was the finale of a series of black and white magazines that presented adaptations of classic science fiction and new works of science fiction. There were six issues of the regular magazine, and then this giant size special, which seems to have ben used to burn off the remaining stories that were produced for the magazine before it was cancelled.

~ Ben

Two different eras of television. Two different eras of Star Trek.

Two different command styles. Two different acting styles.

Two different crews. Two different ships.

Two different storylines. Two different hairlines. Two different waistlines.

And for fans of science fiction, two different opinions.

In this episode, we discuss . . . debate? . . . argue? . . . the different Star Trek series. But, let’s face it, most of the time is going to be spent on Captain Kirk and Captain Picard.

This is part one of the conversation — we talk about the acting styles of Shatner and Stewart (and the others) and Kirk and Picard’s crews (and some of the others) and out favorite ships in Trek.

Next episode, we will talk about the captains themselves, and also about why we like these guys so much.

Dr. Jayce wrote an article, tipping his hand, about his dream Trek crew. Ben tipped his hand by having his caricature dressed in command gold, below.

So sit back, listen, and if you have anything you’d like to add to the conversation you can e-mail us at podcast (at) strangersandaliens.com. Or, if you are so inclined, you could read your comments and record it as an MP#. We’d love for you to join the conversation!

Also, check out the results of our Star Trek Captain poll . . .

And our review of the documentary CAPTAINS, which has William Shatner interviewing all the other captains from Trek.

~ Ben

Fear #1, by Marvel Comics

I don’t know why I love swamp monsters. It has something to do with the primal idea of the very earth or soil coming alive beneath you, perhaps. Or the idea of “ashes to ashes, muck to muck”? Or maybe as horror stories go, generally speaking it’s gross, without being gory.

Regardless, swamp monsters are one horror trope that I gravitate to.

Anyway, i discovered this after a publisher asked me to write a story about a character named “Monstrom”. Now, the character called “Monstrom” has nothing to do with swamp monsters, and I doubt that the publisher had even heard of this obscure Marvel comic. But I was delighted to find it!

Drawn by Jack Kirby, he also drew the seven page short story featuring “Monstrom”. If collectibles like this weren’t so pricey (this issue runs about $70, from what I’ve found) I’d have this in my collection. It’s a great example of swamp monster-ness!

Later, much later, Marvel would debut Man-Thing and DC would debut Swamp Thing — two other swamp monsters I’m a fan of. But I also enjoy these one-off swamp monster stories, and Monstrom, to me, is a much truer example of what a swamp monster really should look like. I’m sure Man-Thing and Swamp Thing will show up later in a future Cool Comic Covers entry, of course.

~ Ben

Prometheus will be in theaters June 8. So will I . . .

If the movie Prometheus is just half as good as this “faux-commercial/short sci-fi film”, then I think sci-fi fans have something to look forward to.

What strikes me is that this little promotional video, intended to generate interest in Ridley Scott’s prequel/not-a-prequel to his Alien movie, has a bundle of interesting ideas. Watching it, I was reminded of the Outer Limits series from a few years back (not the Outer Limits series from a few decades back). For those who do not remember it, the series was a science fiction anthology that frequently tackled subjects like artificial intelligence and alien contact.

I’m also reminded of Ian Holmes’ character from Alien.

I know the movie will not have the tone of this video, considering the video is meant to be a commercial from within the world of the movie.

I’m curious what everyone else thinks about the video. And I’m curious what everyone else thinks about the movie. Will you be going to see it? Does this video make you more or less likely to see it?

Is it just me, or does it look like he was painting a Doctor Who figurine? Probably just me.

You can see a list of other movies we are interested in seeing this summer here.

~ Ben

They’ve recorded a few messages for us and beamed it to the Strangers and Aliens command center . . .

They also did a promo for us about our Hunger Games episode . . .

I’m feeling a bit hungry . . .

UPDATE: You can follow our YouTube feed here . . . and be the first on your block to see the next episode of Jerry and Al!

~ Ben

Ben has read the book and seen the movie. Dr. Jayce has seen the movie. And Steve hasn’t done either. So Steve picks Ben and Dr. Jayce’s brains about the themes, ideas, craft, and appropriateness of The Hunger Games.

Why is this book so popular? Why is it so controversial? Does it deserve either? The sci-fi guys wanted to find out . . .

The discussion is a bit spoiler-ish, although not much gets revealed that couldn’t be figured out from the press and commercials.

If you’ve read the book or seen the movie, we’d love to know what you thought of them . . . and what you think of our thoughts. And if you haven’t, we’d like to know why. Join the conversation!

Plus, a listener (and old friend of Ben’s) writes in to talk about Hunger Games and gives us his take on sci-fi vs. fantasy. We’re curious — what do you think of his thoughts about sci-fi and fantasy?

Whatever your thoughts, please, let us know what you think. Or, if you have another topic you’d like to discuss that we haven’t covered, send us an e-mail or record a message as an mp3. We love sharing what you have to say, because it really expands the discussion!

From Beyond the Unknown #12, DC Comics

Cavemen on dinosaurs vs. fighter jets. Drawn by Joe Kubert!

Does anything else need to be said?

~ Ben

So when Jayce threw out this idea (wait for it…) I felt as though I had my mission! He asked (something to the effect of) what biblical character(s) do you feel would be the most open to extraterrestrial life? Such a nice cross-pollenation of the spiritual and the nerdy could not go unexamined, so I immediately started picking potential candidates out of scripture – Ezekiel perhaps, with his “wheel in a wheel”? John the Revelator, with all of human (and, potentially, alien) history laid bare for his perusal? Perhaps even one of the pagans, with their experience with demons, might conjecture that they are from another planet? “Anakim” is a name in the Old Testament for a race (or ethnic branch of humanity) of giants, so maybe Anakin Sywalker is related to them? Okay, maybe that last one was a stretch, but after a good bit of thought, and working through a few different ways that I could phrase my fantasy based on the Bible, I came up with this free-form poem in the form of five questions. And I also thought of this challenge as well…

Since this is Poetry Month, my challenge to you is, in the spirit of Jayce’s suggestion, submit some poetry, original or otherwise (without violating any copyright laws!), that addresses both the biblical and the extraterrestrial (or at least the supernatural). This could also be a forum for discussing differing theories about, if there is life on other planets, what ways could that be true and still be consistent with the Bible.

And now, here is my poem. I’d appreciate your thoughts on it!

ABRAM’S STARS

Did Abram look up at that dark bright sky
And wonder if that promise to him
Stretched to those points of light?

Did he, an alien in a strange land
Think about what they could mean
Hanging suspended in the night sky?

Were they suns or stones to him
And could he anticipate that in truth
They were suns that indicated otherworldly stones?

Was he the originator of the Baptizer’s claim
That out of those stones
God could raise up children for him?

Could this earthly alien and stranger
Take an unearthly alien or stranger into his bosom
And call him “son”?

Action Comics #419, DC Comics

I’m not going to say too much about the covers that appear here. If I have some sort of historical tidbit to give, I may elaborate some. But often I’m just going to let the artwork speak for itself.

This is one of those times. You know who Superman is. You may not know who Neal Adams is, but he’s one of the all time greatest superstars of comic book artists.

Personally, what I love about this that here is Superman just enjoying flight, blasting upward. Of course, he is told to “wipe that smile off his face”, but for this image, out of context, it’s just a fun image to look at.

While searching for information about this cover (mostly to find out how old it was and who drew it — I already mentioned the artist, and it’s two years older than me, coming from 1972), I found someone who bought the original artwork on eBay. Here’s a link to that image, which gives insight into the way the artwork and the photo were merged. It’s old school photoshop: literally cut and paste!

~ Ben

Previous Cool Comic Covers:

#1 – “Weird Science-Fantasy” #27

IDW's "Harlon Ellison's Phoenix without Ashes"

This review of a graphic novel starts with a review of a TV series from 1973, so bear with me.

When I was but a lad, I went and saw Star Wars on the big screen and wanted more. On the small screen, in my very own home, I was able to watch Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers. And, living in Canada, I was able to watch, every once in a while, a TV show called The Starlost.

Even as a kid, watching these things I knew I was watching something that just didn’t have the same sheen and shine as Star Wars, but of course I knew nothing about budgets and the time it took for special effects to be made, which was why in Battlestar Galactica the same exact space scenes played out in slightly different orders in each episode.

But even as a kid, I knew that The Starlost was a special kind of bad sci-fi. The kind of sci-fi that was meant to be important, but that couldn’t overcome budget, effects limitations, and scripts. I didn’t know all of the reasons for the badness, just that it WAS bad. Over the years, I forgot the name of the show, but I never forgot the show, because in spite of its terrible execution, the concept is amazing.

"I'm Walter Koenig! I was on Star Trek! What am I doing here? In Canada?"

The concept is simple: some Amish-type people discover that their world is actually a part of a miles long spaceship, sent to space to escape a disaster on earth. This “generational ship” has dozens of domes, and each of these domes has another culture of people who also do not know they are actually on a ship. But the people who were running the ship are gone, and the ship is lost. The characters are shunned from their society because of their story about the ship, and so they wander the ship, discovering new societies around every bend.

It’s a great set up for exploration of different aspects of human nature, in the same way that Star Trek had a starship, Stargate had the stargate, etc. And as a writer, now, the idea really strikes me as the prefect vehicle to hang a sci-fi series on. The “generational ship” is a grand idea, and one I want to use someday soon (I have the idea, just need the venue). But if I could, I would love to revisit The Starlost, and actually do something with THAT idea. I know that chance will never come, of course. But this series had so much potential, taking one of the coolest sci-fi tropes out there — the generational ship — and organically turning it into an “exploration” show, visiting a new world and society with new themes and ideas to explore every week.

"I'm Walter Koenig! I came back for a second episode?"

The problem is that the production of the TV series was completely inept. They had Harlan Ellison, one of sci-fi’s genius-giants, create it and write the pilot. They had Douglas Trumbull, special effects guy for 2001: a Space Odyssey and Silent Running, two beautiful sci-fi movies. They had Ben Bova, another sci-fi author and a master of the genre, as an advisor. They had Keir Dullea, the star of 2001: A Space Odyssey. What could go wrong?

Just ask Cordwainer Bird — because he’s the person credited for Harlan Ellison’s work on the series. It’s also the name Ellison used when he worked on something he felt would not be up to his standards. He hated what they did with it. Budget caused huge corners to be cut, writers who had never written anything before were brought in, and the end result is something reminiscent of the worst of Doctor Who,

Harlan Ellison's novel, co-written with Edward Bryant, based on the award winning screenplay that sort of made it to the screen.

Ellison’s pilot script actually won a Writer’s Guild of America award, but it is nothing like what made it to the screen. He then had his screenplay turned into a novel, called Phoenix Without Ashes, which has a foreword in which he lays out pretty plainly what happened with the series and his involvement. Ben Bova was brought in as an advisor and he hated every second of it, and he wrote a novel about his experience called Starcrossed, a humorous book about a television production in the future. I’ve read Bova’s book, but haven’t been able to find a copy of Ellison’s. Bova’s book is funny, and he has a character who is meant to be Ellison, and it’s not too difficult to see through the metaphor and get a glimpse of what Bova and Ellison went through in their time on the series. (The book also has some adult situations, so reader discretion is advised.)

You have to love this cover, which features Harlan Ellison prominently.

This explains why, after all this time, the basic idea struck that seven year old me (in reruns, when CBC realized they actually had something that might get viewers who liked Star Wars) and stuck with the thirty-seven year old me. Even that I went back and rewatched the series. You know how sometimes something you cherished in your youth, when you become an adult, it just doesn’t hold up because it’s not very good? Well, in this case, it was just as bad as I remembered.

But the main idea. The Big Important Science Fiction Idea they were reaching for. You have to appreciate what they were trying to do, even if they couldn’t quite get there. (I mean, you have to unless you are Harlan Ellison, and they just took your great idea and turned it into a polished turd, and a badly polished one at that!) I recommend the series, by the way — you can get it pretty cheap over at Amazon: The Starlost – The Complete Series– but I recommend it as something that may inspire you, as an oddity of sci-fi history, or as unintentional camp in the vein of some Godzilla or Doctor Who films from the 70′s. But it always bothered me (not as much as Harlan Ellison, of course) that it never lived up to its potential.

A sample of the artwork by Alan Robinson

Bringing us to now, with the graphic novel “Harlan Ellison’s Phoenix Without Ashes”. And another disappointment.

Now, that’s not to say I don’t recommend the book. I do, especially if you’re going to watch the series. It’s, from what I can tell, a very true adaptation of Ellison’s original pilot script, and I find it very interesting to compare this graphic novel (especially since I haven’t read the novel version) with the pilot episode. Yes, it is plain to see why he was upset.

But it stands well on its own, even if you know nothing about that series. (The Starlost series is not mentioned anywhere between the covers of this book.) The art is strong and stylistic, and reminds me of something you’d find in Heavy Metal or one of the more professional looking webcomics, and solid, in that someone who was not familiar with reading comics would be able to follow it. The story is that story of discovery and the fallout of the discovery.

Yes, it does have the cliched “religious elders who aren’t willing to tolerate new ideas”, which as a Christian I see as a silly cliche, but I guess its how people see Christians because they don’t seem to see it as a cliche. And maybe, in later stories, there would be some subtleties to those intolerant religious people that would allow them to be seen as people, instead of angry, scowling cardboard cutouts.

A sample of the artwork by Alan Robinson

But it also has the high idea of something out there. Something just out of reach. Or at least it was. For the universe is so much bigger than even the dreamers could have known. And there is the wonder of having your eyes opened to the truth. To having the universe itself become revealed to you. That this world is not all there is. That there is so much more.

Ultimately, though, reads like a pilot. Like the first episode of a series. A series that is not, to my knowledge, going to materialize. I would LOVE to see where Harlan Ellison would take this premise, if it were up to him and not to Canadian TV executives.

So yes, it ends on a cliffhanger. But, it is worth reading if you are a fan of sci-fi, a fan of Mr. Ellison, a fan of comics that are not the usual “men in tights” genre, or a fan of thought-provoking fiction.

(It’s ALSO on sale over at Amazon — Phoenix Without Ashesis just $9 there right now. Between the two sales, you can have the graphic novel and the DVD for about $21! That’s how much I paid for the DVD a few years ago. But I got the graphic novel cheaper — I was at Barnes and Noble months ago, and saw a 50% off sticker on this sci-fi looking graphic novel. Not knowing what it was, I picked it up and flipped through it. I didn’t even know IDW was DOING this book. And when I realized what it was, I got very, very excited. I had no one to share my excitement with, because I know of no other fans of this series. Unlike Star Trek conventions, which sell out whole convention centers, the Starlost convention I went to only had one person come. And that was me. And even I came late and left early.)

~ Ben

For this episode, the strangers and aliens who host this podcast have a fun little competition: which comic book empire has had the best movies made for their characters. From the Superman series vs. the Spider-Man series, from best sequel to worst sequel, from the biggest missed opportunity to the most anticipated upcoming superhero movie, who will win?

Okay, it’s really just an excuse to geek out about some favorite movies. And geek out about some movies we think are terrible.

We also have the biggest mailbag ever, with listeners telling us what their favorite superhero movies are and why.

Let us know what YOU think! Agree? Disagree? There is a lot to agree or disagree with. Did we miss anything? Undoubtedly, so let us know! Find us on Facebook or e-mail us at podcast (at) strangersandaliens.com.

EDIT: Sorry, I posted this very late last night and forgot to include links for the two websites mentioned in the show!

First, Fans for Christ, a website for a group of Christian fans who have a lively message board and a convention ministry. http://www.fansforchrist.org/

Second, Clash Entertainment, for people interested in winning a copy of Ben’s graphic novel Book of God. It’s a site devoted to a Christian perspective on a wide variety of media. http://www.clashentertainment.com/ (Direct link to the contest: Win a Copy of “The Book of God”.)

~ Ben

And I have to say, in this geek’s opinion, it looks fantastic. Very, very different than the original, for sure. And yet, oddly the same.

Phillip K. Dick’s story was the basis for the Arnold movie back in the day, and Arnold’s movie, despite being an Arnold movie, kept a lot of the elements. The basic idea was: what is reality and what has been implanted? There are twists and turns along the way, as the main character makes discovery after discovery. Arnold’s movie also featured gore (surprisingly good, considering) and mutant prostitutes. It earned its R-rating. It’s basically your run of the mill 90′s action movie, with a little bit of sci-fi mind-bending thrown in.

This one seems to be a little more true to the original story. I am loving the vibe they are sending with this trailer.

After the trailer, some thoughts. And we’d love to hear your thoughts about this movie in the comments below!

Something tells me, after watching the trailer, there’s going to be a lot of twists and double twists. To borrow from Michael Caine’s line in The Prestige, there’s the “pledge”, where the magician shows you something ordinary. Colin Farrell, in this case. Next is the “turn”, where the magician takes the ordinary and makes it do something extraordinary. In this case, he becomes a super spy. But that’s not enough. According to Caine, you can;t just make it disappear, you have to make it appear again. That’s the “prestige.” I have a feeling that the movie is going to reveal that all the super spy stuff was not memory, but rather it is implanted memory. But THEN it will reveal that the memory was implanted because they were trying to get something from him, because he actually IS a spy. Maybe it won’t be that exact plot line, but I expect it to do a lot of flipping back and forth before we get to the “prestige” and it all comes around. I hope that it’s all natural, though, and doesn’t feel forced. I hope that it is the character taking us through these twists and turns, and not twists and turns that are serving the plot.

Some of it feels like Blade Runner (another movie inspired by Phillip K. Dick — I haven’t read the book, though). And Minority Report (another movie inspired by Phillip K. Dick’s work). The man whose face is changing at the end of the trailer seems like it is from another Phillip K. Dick story (can’t remember the name — might be wrong there). And are you wondering, like me, if the robots are going to be called “replicants”?

What do you think of the trailer? For me, it’s gone from “I’m interested” to “it’s got my attention.”

Look at the cover: does that say "this is actually a book based on a movie featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, which is based on a book by Phillip K. Dick" to you?

Side note: for years, I thought Arnold’s movie was based on a book by Piers Anthony, because I picked up the Piers Anthony adaptation of the MOVIE in a bargain bin at some bookstore. The book did not look like an adaptation at all, and as someone who liked some of Piers Anthony’s fantasy in high school, I bought it. I thought THIS was the original.

I’m curious what Mr. Anthony thought about doing it. Was it just a job? Did he have second thoughts about adapting the re-write of someone else’s book? I’ve looked around a bit, but I cannot find any actual thoughts from him about it.

Somehow, I’m not surprised.

~ Ben

Most will feature things like superheroes or sci-fi, although some will go beyond our usual genres and may feature war comics or westerns. But to start, I thought this awesome fantasy comic book would be a fun example of the pulp fantasy comics used to feature regularly.

Weird Science Fantasy #27, by EC

Weird Science-Fantasy was a pulp comic anthology series that featured sci-fi and fantasy stories, published by EC. This particular comic featured a Wally Wood cover.

Here is a energetic, bold take on a number of science fiction tropes: the BEM (bug eyed monster), the damsel in distress, and the stalwart hero. I can’t help appreciating the space suits — I’m a sucker for “past visions of the future”.

EC, Wally Wood, and Weird Science Fantasy will no doubt be featured again in this series.

~ Ben

I always told my wife that I think all new borns look a little like aliens. They are cute aliens, but aliens non-the-less. However, our newest bundle of joy does not look like an alien or a stranger. She looks like an angel. I know I’m biased, but oh well.

Serendipity Psalm O’Neal was born March 11th, 2012 at 6:03 am. My wife is my new favorite super hero as she endured a crazy long labor. Our little Seren is already a force to be reckoned with. During ultrasounds she punched back at the technician (we have it on video). She can already roll over too.  She looks like her mommy, but she might just have her father’s fight!!!

But 2012 is a BIG year, with some BIG speculative genre films coming our way. What are you looking forward to? Here’s a partial list for us . . .

The Avengers (May 4) if you are on this website and you don’t know why we are excited about this movie, then it most likely that you’re one of the spambots trying to leave a comment like “you are good writer and I bookmark teh blog often to get good tips on being better” and a link to your vacuum rating website.

Dark Shadows (May 11) Tim Burton? Johnny Depp? Forty year old horror soap opera? It’s a match made in . . . somewhere. The trailer makes it look like Burton is returning to Beetlejuice territory. You know, sometimes moving backward is actually moving forward. And sometimes, moving backward is actually moving backward. I don’t want to want to see this, but I sort of want to see this.

Battleship (May 18) Big, dumb, loud sci-fi action movie based on a fun and/or frustrating board game (depending on if you’re using more red pegs than white). It WILL be better than Transformers (because you would really have to work hard to make it worse). It doesn’t look like any variation of the game that I remember, but I’m sure there will be a version of the game that looks like the movie before May 18.

Men in Black III (May 25) That’s every weekend in May getting a movie that I’d actually pay to see in theaters. Assuming I have money. And time. Aside from those two things, that’s every week in May. As for Men in Black III, it’s got Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and time travel. If it can keep some of the “tongue-in-cheek-with-an-edge” vibe (that sounds painful), it could be a fun one.

Prometheus (June 8 ) Ridley Scott returns to the Alien universe, supposedly, unless you believe him when he says he is absolutely not, which you might be apt to do unless you actually have seen the trailer which seems pretty clear that he IS. Whatever. It looks like a great looking movie, and I’m hoping that it’s going to have some real meaty sci-fi elements and ideas. With this one, big explosions won’t be enough. I want story, I want character, I want atmosphere. I’ll settle for two of the three. And if there’s a xeno-morph, all the better!

Brave (June 22) PIXAR. Do I need to say anything else? How about this: it seems to be a fantasy, quest-y kind of thing.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (June 29) Big, dumb, loud . . . with ninjas. I’ll be renting this one, I think. But I’m looking forward to renting it!

The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3) Andrew Garfield plays high school era Peter Parker. (I think Garfield is like 40-something, but he’s a great actor — loved him in that one episode of Doctor Who.) I’m very curious about this one. As someone who liked all three Rami Spider-Man movies (and yes, I do defend Spider-Man 3) this reboot has potential. Garfield is perfect casting and the Lizard as the villain is something I’ve been waiting for. To me, Spider-Man’s primary metaphor is that all his friends, family, teachers, and co-workers are “super villains” — becoming a four-color slug-fest about dealing internal and interpersonal issues. My prediction (and this isn’t much of a stretch): this movie will set up a Green Goblin for the sequel; the next movie, battling Green Goblin will set up a Venom for the next sequel; and in the third movie, Venom will be done right (although I still defend Spider-Man 3, but only on the terms of the movie’s own internal logic.) (Yes, I know Spider-Man 3 is a seriously flawed movie, BUT because of those flaws, it gets more guff than it should.)

The Dark Knight Rises (July 20) What can be said about this movie? If you liked Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, then you are hoping (like us) for a movie that at least gives some closure to the character. if you didn’t like them you probably won’t like this one. At the very least, here is a trilogy of films, by the same “team”, exploring the character. Time will tell if the exploration will be satisfying, but right now two of the three of us have high expectations.

Total Recall (Aug 3) The original story by Phillip K. Dick seems to be the basis for this movie, but it looks like there is some influence from Schwartzeneger’s action movie. It looks like Mars may not be prominent in this version, but the sci-fi trappings will be. I’m interested in seeing where they take this.

Dredd (Sept. 21) Honestly, I know very little about this movie. It’s Judge Dredd (a character that I have some familiarity with, and that could be cool) and it’s Karl Urban (loved him in Star Trek and Lord of the Rings, but haven’t seen him in anything else). Still, I’m curious about the movie.

Looper (Sept. 28) A time traveling hit man gets sent back in time to kill . . . himself. Not sold yet? Well, the hit man from the future is Bruce Willis; his young self is Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Frankenweenie (Oct. 5) As a fan of Tim Burton when I was younger, I found his Frankenweenie short film that he did for Disney somewhere on VHS. It has all the flavors he would revisit in his movies after that. A love letter to Universal horror movies, it was a whole lot of fun. So here, not only is Tim Burton is returning to that “first” story, he’s also doing it in stop motion. Sometimes, moving backward is actually moving forward.

Skyfall (Nov. 9) The new James Bond movie. I keep going back and forth about if I actually want to see it.

Gravity (Nov. 21) This sounds like an interesting little movie, starring Sandra Bullock as an astronaut trapped in orbit and George Clooney as a handsome, interesting person (just guessing there, based on previous experience — I know nothing about his roll in this movie). The director did one of the Harry Potter movies and Children of Men, so I have hope that this might actually be good.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Dec. 14) Can. Not. Wait. Will be at the midnight show.

World War Z (Dec. 21) I didn’t read the book, I listened to a dramatized audio version of it. I liked it. I’m not sure how it will work as a two hour and some minutes PG-13 movie starring Brad Pitt. It’s about the zombie apocalypse, told through the oral testimony of the survivors. It’s horrifying, but mainly from the human perspective. And it’s global in scope, jumping from narrator to narrator, without a single “hero”, so I have no idea what the movie will look like. Me? I’d film it as a documentarian or historian going from person to person, turning it into an anthology as each person tells their story. But would Brad Pitt take the part of the guy who goes around talking to people? I think he’s playing someone who is actively trying to find a cure to the zombie virus or something, which will put him in the middle of the action.

What say you? Did we miss any? What are you MOST looking forward too? It seems like it could be a good year for sci-fi/fantasy films! Anything on our list you are NOT looking forward to? Let us know below!

~ Ben

"Yes. Yes I am that good."

Captain Picard won our poll, with over half of the votes! He’s the captain most of you would prefer as their commanding officer. So, okay Dr. Jayce, you’ve won this round…but not the war! Picard is an even handed leader who commands respect by how he carries himself, but also with proven results.

Dr. Jayce voted for Picard. i just know it. Savor your victory for now, Dr. Jayce.

Let's face it, this was only as funny as it was because he's so awesome.

Captain Kirk came in second, with a quarter of the vote. And lets face it, if you are going to go into battle, you want to go with someone who doesn’t believe in the “no win situation.” Unless you’re wearing a red shirt.

I’m surprised he didn’t have more votes, but this was for who you’d want to be your commanding officer. I’m not surprised Picard won that.

Although, this may be a surprise to some of you who know me: Kirk didn’t have MY vote. Not as far as the question goes: who do you want for your commanding officer.

Realized a couple seasons in that bald captains are better, but took it up a notch with the goatee.

Captain Sisko came in next, with a full 1/8 of the vote! I’m a little surprised he didn’t do better. I mean, he DID have a commanding position during the whole Dominion War! And he was the prophesied messiah for a whole race of people! And his birth was manipulated by wormhole aliens from beyond time . . . Maybe I’m surprised he got as many votes as he did.

Deep Space Nine is a favorite series among many Trek fans, because it is darker and grittier. I wonder if that is why he didn’t get more votes. A lot of episodes in later seasons had to do with looking at casualty lists!

"I was in this? Well, it's an honor just to be nominated..."

Captain Archer got two votes! And yes, technically, he was the first of the starship captains, truly going where no one had gone before.

I don’t have too much to add because I didn’t watch much of this series. He felt bland to me at first, although I’m sure he go much better.

Seems like the voters don’t have too much to add either . . .

Made admiral before Picard!!!

Finally, Captain Janeway got one vote. Mine. I’ll be the first to admit, her series Star Trek Voyager was not the best, and had some real problems (like the middle few seasons and the end of the series). But she took responsibility, was warm and witty, and she fought for her crew. Even if every plan to get them home failed miserably, she was going to the mat for you. And she inspired her crew to fight hard too! Even when they accidentally screwed up a plan to get home like Gilligan screwing up the professor’s bamboo inventions every week. Hm. On second thought, maybe I should change my vote.

No, Captain Kirk is my favorite captain. Captain Picard is an awesome guy with an impressive presence. Captain Sisko could be a little crazy, but got results. Captain Archer . . . was a captain. But if I had to choose my commanding officer, she’d be the one for me. (Even if I’m the one vote for her.)

And we don’t get paid to say this, but: all of these series are on Netflix in full. So you can watch Kirk get tribbles dumped on him . . . and then watch Sisko dump tribbles on Kirk . . . They are on some other online sites as well, like Amazon Prime and selected episodes on CBS.com.

What about you? What do you think of the results?

~ Ben

P.S. SOme other articles you might enjoy:

Dr. Jayce’s Dream crew
Our review of William Shatner’s documentary “The Captains”, which features “Captain Kirk” interviewing the other captains of the franchise (AND this poll!)
An audio documentary about Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek is copyright Paramount Pictures and CBS

If you are a Trekkie or married to one than you have heard the age-old debate: Kirk or Picard. Today I will add upon that debate by selecting my ELITE CREW. From Captain to Doctor I will pass along who I would prefer on my team.

Captain

1st Choice: Picard – He is the best Captain. He is diplomatic, but can throw down with the best of them. He is private but we feel that we know him better than we ever knew Kirk, because of his battle with the Borg.

Honorable Mention: Sisco - At first I didn’t like him if I were to be honest, but as the writing got better and as the stories on DS9 improved, Sisco’s awesome meter also grew. This also coincided with him shaving his head and growing his goatee. If I couldn’t have Picard, then I would love Sisco.

Last Choice - If we were playing basketball in the neighborhood and we were picking teams the last captain I would choose is Janeway. She’s not bad, but she had the worst series in the bunch, the worst crew, and the worst story lines…so due to guilt by association, Janeway loses.

1st Officer 

1st Choice: Spock- I really wanted to ignore Spock to totally tick off Ben, but I just couldn’t. How can you pass up the Vulcan Knock you out without even blinking death grip.

Honorable Mention: Riker – He is cool. He’s kind of like Kirk, but with a beard.

Last Choice: Chakotay – His character bores me.

Helmsman

1st Choice: Data – Under no circumstances would I NOT put Data on this list. I could put him anywhere, because he could do anything! He could be my doctor, security officer or my ensign if I so chose. He is invaluable.

Last Choice: Kim – Like many of the Voyager crew he was hindered by the weakest of the Treks.

Doctor

1st Choice: The Doctor – He’s a hologram! He won’t die if you shoot him. His bed side manner is weak, but he knows all things medical. And you could download a program that would make him look like any of the other docs if you wanted him to look or sound differently! On Mondays and Fridays he looks like: McCoy…every hour on the hour he recites “He’s dead Jim”!

Honorable Mention: Phlox – If you don’t have the drugs and technology he could whip up something from the green fungus that grows underneath Wesley Crusher’s Gym bag…if indeed Wesley was on board.

Last Choice: Bashir – His character bordered on annoying.

Chief of Security

1st Choice: Odo – The dude can shape shift. How do you get anything by him!?

Honorable Mention: Worf – More on him later.

Last Choice: The red shirted guys from TOS. Red shirt =’s death, so they weren’t very good at their job!

Chief Engineer 

1st Choice: Chief O’Brien – He’s fun, imperfect, and has a great underdog story. He went from acting extra to main character. He is one of the few married characters on Star Trek, so we got to know him in ways we never saw most of the others.

Honorable Mention: Trip – He is just downright cool. Had Enterprise gone on longer he may have topped this list. He is basically Enterprises’ McCoy/Scotty combo.

Science Officer

1st Choice: Seven of Nine -  She has the knowledge of thousands of alien races that Data and Spock have never heard of…WIN!

Honorable Mention: T’pol – She’s as smart as Spock, but yet a tad bit more edgy.

miscellaneous

1st Choice: Counselor Troy – She can read people’s emotions. This is very handy. Besides when you have a Vulcan, a Borg, an android, and a hologram on your crew you need some heart to go along with those brains.

Last Choice: Kes – Her ears were creepy and her relationship with Neelix was weird.

miscellaneous  2

1st Choice: Worf - Quark is a fun character, but he’d cause trouble all the time. Wesley Crusher is extremely smart, but he’d bail out halfway through the mission. Worf did so many things that he is valuable anywhere. If I were going into hand to hand combat I’d want him on my side. And the crew could always rub his forehead for good luck.

Last Choice: Travis Mayweather – He is easily the most forgettable character in all of Trek history. This is not his fault. The writers just didn’t get around to expounding upon his background.

Disappointing box office aside, was the movie itself a disappointment? Ben and Steve saw it this weekend and recorded this special, impromptu episode of Strangers and Aliens. Were they satisfied with the movie? Did it live up to their expectations? To their standards? Will you like it? Find out by listening to this mostly spoiler free episode.

(You’ll also find out why the third host, Dr. Jayce, couldn’t be bothered to see a movie this weekend!)

If you saw John Carter, we’d love to hear from you and have you join the conversation! You can record your comments into an MP3 file (send it to podcast (at) strangersandaliens (dot) com, using the “@” and “.” in place of those words), and we’ll use it in our next episode or you can contact us directly through the website or Facebook.

Do you agree? Did you like John Carter? Did you have no intention of seeing it? Let us know!

Thanks for listening, and godspeed!

John Carter is copyright Disney

The premise has a lot of promise, and could easily be something really fun and interesting or truly awful. Amazingly, though, in spite of having the Hollywood power of green (also known as money) it’s none of the above.

Here’s my review: you know that kid that was always in your class who just coasted through school and never went beyond what they had to do in order to get by, even though they were talented and intelligent and maybe good looking? Who could have really contributed to society or been very successful if only they had applied themselves? But who slid through and never really did anything to live up to their true potential?

That’s Green Lantern. Not the character, the movie. End of review.

But thinking about it, I had some more thoughts I’ve been trying to sort through. Green Lantern embodies something beyond a simple “good” or “bad” statement of opinion. (Don’t get me wrong — the following is still opinion. I’m fully aware of that.)

The movie itself is half-hearted and goes through all the motions that superhero movies are supposed to go through . . . and tries to be both Superman the Movie and Iron Man (the first one), but does so without really knowing what made either of those movies work. On a purely technical level, it works, and on a conceptual level, it works, but all the in between stuff — you know, scripting and acting and filming and effects and editing — just doesn’t gel.

An outline of the basic storyline would look good on paper. “A” happens, then “B”, then “C”, which was caused by “A”, and “B” and “C” together make “D” happen. But four people wrote the movie, and it feels like it has four different tones and four different characterizations for the main cast.

This bothers me. It doesn’t bother me as much as the kid I was talking about above (who I sometimes WAS when I was in school and who I came across many, many times when I was teaching school . . . and still do, even out of that setting). Because that kid is a living human being with a future and with a family and who is a part of society. No, Green Lantern is a story. A $200 million story. And if you’ve read my blog at all, you know that I believe that stories have power. Sadly, the power this story had was wasted.

That’s my general feeling about Green Lantern, and as I was thinking about it and all the wasted potential I started thinking about something more metaphorical. Green Lantern is a movie about itself. Green Lantern is about big, expensive, Hollywood movies.

Here is a character who has the power to create whatever he can imagine, and when he does imagine things it just lacks . . . imagination. I know that something like this runs the risk of looking like a Looney Toons cartoon, and we already have a superhero movie like that in The Mask.

And, going to that other power of green, the one that the movie’s producers have, they could have done anything their imaginations dreamed up as well. But I just found myself being underwhelmed by it all. Once or twice, I thought the things he was doing were clever. The other times, it just felt bland.

That’s when it struck me: Green Lantern, in all it’s mediocre blandness, is a movie ABOUT ITSELF! And, in a bigger picture sense, about Hollywood blockbusters.

I have a long list of things that should have been done differently to make Green Lantern better, but what scares me is that there are a LOT of people who are MUCH smarter than I am who worked on this movie . . . and this is still the end result.

So instead of Green Lantern, I recommend the follow movies that Green Lantern is trying to be:

Superman, which has the heart of heroism and all ages appeal . . .

Iron Man, which is edgy and has a strong, sarcastic, and confident “hero” at its core who has a lot of life lessons to learn.

The Mask, which has a more wacky, abut also more organic, variation on the superhero who can make anything he can imagine come into being.

Each of these films have flaws . . . but they also have a lot of heart.

~ Ben

No surprise there. It’s an ambitious, high concept sci-fi show about time travel and dinosaurs. It was a big budget version of Land of the Lost, or a family friendly hybrid of Jurassic Park and Lost in Space. And Fox is legendary among geeks for greenlighting interesting sci-fi and then canceling mid-story. Firefly and Dollhouse come to mind, but we also have to remember: Fox kept The X-Files going for nine years.

But here’s the news:

http://www.deadline.com/2012/03/netflix-eyes-cancelled-terra-nova/

Netflix is thinking about looking into the possibility of maybe producing Terra Nova as a series.

If it DOES happen, it will be the harbinger of a new era. Not that this hasn’t happened already. Netflix has a deal for a new mini-season of Arrested Development; Hulu has carried low budget web series for a long time; Yahoo is developing new programming; SyFy has  used webisodes as a way to try out potential new series; and many people watch TV on network websites because they don’t watch when the networks air them. But this is big budget TV, not a season of a couple five minute episodes or even a half-hour sitcom.

But something else to consider: viewers of sci-fi TV are users of technology, so it makes sense that content creators begin developing content FOR technology, instead of relying on outdated statistics that cannot account for new technology.

What do you think? “The future is now”, but are they finally starting to make it work?

~ Ben

Zombies (both classic and modern, and if you don’t know the difference, please listen to our show) can be seen as types of blasphemies. Think about it for a second: the one thing God made in His image* becoming soulless and dead, but animated as if they were alive, in direct mockery of His creation. Hence, blasphemy.

I realize that there are many definitions of blasphemy, but the one that makes the most sense to me is offering up something as if it were holy when it is expressly NOT holy**; conversely, treating something that IS holy (especially something that is supposed to represent God, such as His Name) as if it were NOT holy would also be considered blasphemy here as well.

And I also realize that there are more than one way of looking at the “…in the image of God…” portion of the text. To cut to the chase, I am assuming that anyone who agrees with that in any way would agree that, to some extent, humanity is the image-bearer of God, and as such represents Him, at least in a small degree. I realize that I am arguing that we all commit blasphemy any time we do not adequately represent Him, which is probably all the time, but at the very least it can be said that Christians at least attempt to do this. In Hebrew, the word ‘image’ (צלם tselem) means ‘a shadow, an outline or representation of the original’.

So, back to the zombie metaphor, we have human beings (who are still, to whatever little degree we can, bearing God’s image by being alive and having a soul) and zombies***. To me, zombies are reanimated corpses, and not the actual person (soul) who once inhabited that shell, but that shell is still in the form of the shadow/outline/representation, at least in a very basic sense, and needs to be addressed so that the blasphemous nature will go away.

Similarly, with ‘classic’ zombies, we have normal human beings (us, or, typically, the hero/protagonist) and ‘zombies’ (who are mindless – not soulless- slaves, or thralls). In this case, the drugs, or magic, or whatever needs to be taken away so that the mockery of life – the blasphemy – can be returned to a productive (‘image-bearing’) life. The mind-robbing influence needs to be addressed so that the blasphemous nature will go away. One might rightly argue that this is the greater blasphemy; one person enthralling another against his will as compared to a disease or whatever causing the zombie blight.

From a story standpoint, the reader/viewer should now be shown one of two things: either how we should deal with blasphemy (correcting it and putting it in its proper place) or how the world reacts to it (devolving to a mindless level and creating further blasphemy by committing violent acts against the zombies). I would argue that Christians can find food for thought in the former story type, while the latter would produce cautionary tales at best.

* Gen. 1:27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.

** one example would be using “holy -”, and following it up with something that is obviously not holy…REPENT Boy Wonder!

*** ‘modern zombies’, who mimic life, but only by being animated, and whose soul should have passed on at the time of death, assuming that you read 2 Corinthians 5:8 – “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” – to mean that there is no intermediate state between life and death.

My Mount Rushmore of Sci-fi TV celebrates the man himself, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, The Twilight Zone, X-Files,and the often overlooked Farscape.

MY RUSHMORE FOUR:

 Star Trek:The Next Generation- Picard rocks my face off! The Borg is scary as all get out. Data kicks tail. Worf makes me laugh. And the Holodeck makes my imagination go into fits with so many possibilities!

Twilight Zone- So many movie plots have been bootlegged from TZ that Rod Serling should be getting a googolplex worth of residuals. Twilight Zone isn’t just one of the best Sci-fi shows ever…it’s in the running for best TV show period! Original, poignant, thought-provoking, and it’s moral probing heart is just…well I’m going to watch another episode right now!

X-Files- The closest thing to Twilight Zone since the Twilight Zone. It scores higher on the creepy radar, but comes in just short of TZ on the moral probing scale. I would say that the movies need to get better, but the TZ movie wasn’t too hot either!

Farscape- I nearly turned off the first episode of this underrated show. But I gave it a full showing and I was hooked. The fresh take on space travel was a nice reprieve from Trekkie world and the puppets were downright enjoyable.

Honorable Mention:

Star Trek-The original, but not the best. No doubt that TNG built upon its stellar legacy, but in the end TNG proved the greater series with the better captain.

LOST-After seeing every episode, it is easy to concede, this show gave us some of the most memorable characters we’d ever seen. The first season was mind-blowing. The second season failed, but the third season got the show back on track. It was one twist and turn after another. It dealt with thought-provoking deep themes like good vs. evil, but the ending fell far short of expectations. Had it ended better this show would have been on my Mount Rushmore.

Quantum Leap- My favorite time traveling TV show. Great concept, but the ending here also tainted (just slightly) my overall view of the show. It was fun while it lasted. I hope they do a movie version soon!

SG1-Stargate SG1 was well on its way to my Mount Rushmore (and still just barely missed it), when Dean Anderson left the show. First he stops going on the “missions”, (which is where most of the action happens) and then he leaves the show altogether. Don’t get me wrong I still enjoyed the show when the Farscape crew came on board, but losing Jack O’Neil would be like losing Kirk or Picard. A show never fully recovers from such a loss.

Sliders- This show should have been on our “Cancelled Too Soon” podcast. It never got a fitting ending. I want a movie for this too!

Firefly- Everyone knows that Fox dropped the ball on this one! Serenity was a very fulfilling movie, but I’d love to see another!

This time: zombies.

The sci-fi guys examine The Walking Dead and the zombie phenomenon. Do zombie stories have something to say about modern life? Or are they just gory thrills? Or both?

The conversation goes from the beginnings of the zombie genre to themes in zombie tales to a discussion about the power and use of art.

Even if you aren’t a fan of zombies or horror, this conversation will be of interest to creators and consumers of pop culture.

Also, we open the mailbag, responding to e-mails and comments from the website, mainly about the “Cancelled Too Soon” episode.

We do want to hear from you! You can use the contact tab above, like us on Facebook and drop us a line, or e-mail us an MP3 recording if you want to hear your voice in our next episode!

Also, we had a special shout out to some incredible artists who are official honorary strangers and/or aliens:

Jeff Slemons, the artist of our caricatures and Tim Leffel, the artist of our theme songs

Thanks for listening, and godspeed!

~ Ben

And it’s awesome.

The premise: a man is in a car accident with his wife and son and finds himself straddling two worlds. In one, his son lived. In the other, his wife lived. Whenever he falls asleep in one world, he wakes up in the other. A police officer, he bounces back and forth between the worlds, dealing with situations and crimes and people in each alternate reality that somehow have ties to the other.

The pilot episode is brilliant television. It feels like a independent sci-fi film, dreamy and mysterious and heart-felt. And yet, there is also the element of the “police procedural” as well, with crimes that need to be solved in each episode. Two crimes, actually — one in each world.

I don’t know where they are going with this. I hope, unlike Journeyman (also NBC), which had a mystery thread strung through a episodic adventure, that the mystery will be solved. This is the kind of show that, if I knew was only going to be one season, I would be very, very excited.

As it is, I will be watching the next episode. There are many dramatic ways this story can go, and the personal stakes are high. Which universe is real, and which is a dream? Or is he really, truly bouncing between two universes? Or is HE the one who was lost in the accident? (I think it is very possible BOTH worlds are dreams, not from anything I saw in the episode, but just because that would be an unexpected way to go with the story that would still make sense.)

And from my parenthetical above, you can see this fits one criteria of “things Strangers and Aliens like”: it is sci-fi that causes discussion. Discusion about grief. About loss. About holding on to something dear. About dealing with difficult situations. About accepting things we have no control over.

I said the pilot episode feels like an independent film. Part of that comes from this: while obviously, they are setting up a situation that can carry a season of episode, this first episode has resolution. If this had been the only episode of the series, I would have been happy. (Granted, if you have seen the extended preview, you might have been spoiled a bit.) The resolution is an emotional one, but it makes the first episode feel like it has a beginning, middle, and end. But it’s an ending that, fortunately, makes us want more, too.

It airs tonight on NBC. Highly recommended.

This review is based on the full episode preview from NBC.com

Muppets’ Christmas Carol (1992)

Kermit and the gang play the ensemble cast to the famous story of Ebenezer Scrooge (Michael Caine). This is one of the most famous stories ever written and this version is the best in my opinion. Before Back to the Future was even conceived this classic story had Scrooge visiting his past and righting his wrongs. The Muppets just made it better!

When: 19^th Century

Best part: The various quips between Gonzo and Rizzo.

Worst part: Nothing. Nearly the perfect movie.

See #2 Back to the Future (1985)

Trailer of Muppets Christmas Carol (1992)

Honorable Mention: Galaxy Quest, Star Trek 2009, Somewhere in Time, Frequency

Find out what geeky toy he and Ben both had as kids, why Steve thinks he may have found a long lost twin, what his career choice before comic books and sci-fi/fantasy writing was, why he hated Peter Jackson for a couple days, and why you should buy his books (aside from, you know, that they’re good).

And don’t miss our other special guest, Tinkerbell!

Alienation is a young adult sci-fi action adventure novel, merging pulp heroics, alien invasion conspiracies, and the Biblical story of King David. It is the sequel to Invasion, both published by Thomas Nelson.

You can visit Jon S. Lewis’ website here: Alienation — a C.H.A.O.S. Novel

Usually, the question centers around the first two: who is better, Kirk or Picard? Dr. Jayce and Ben haven’t come to blows about the answer to that question (yet) but they’ve had the discussion. Many times.

And there are many ways to judge it, too. Who is the best diplomat? Best tactician? Smartest? Has the best supporting crew? Has the best ship?

For our poll, I tried to take it in a different direction, though. Which captain would you prefer to serve under, if you were a member of the crew? Kirk, the legendary explorer? Archer, the “first” starship captain? Sisko, the frontier sheriff? Janeway, the survivor? Picard, the wise leader?

This poll is about leadership style and personality. Think about each of these officers in their prime, during the most iconic moments of their career. It’s like a super geeky version of the Rorschach test — it says a lot about you, I guess. We also ask that you post a comment below — let us know why you made your vote! And let us know why you did not vote for some of these captains.

Your favorite captain wasn’t included, you say? Well, if you have another, go ahead and tell us about it below. To make it easier, I went with the primary captain of each series. I thought about including Spock, who captained the Enterprise briefly, and then I thought about Sulu and the Excelsior, and then I realized this could go on forever . . . but if you have a favorite you want to let us know about, that’s what the comment section below is there for!

I know who I will vote for, but I think I’m going to wait just a little bit before I do. My answer might surprise you, Dr. Jayce. Or it may not.

I also read them.

If you’ve listened to the podcast, you also know I am a fan of the Stargate franchise. All of the series.

So, by proxy, that makes me a fan of Joseph Mallozi and Paul Mullie, writers from Stargate (Mallozi is also a producer), and made Dark Matter, his comic book from Dark Horse, a must buy for me. So I got the first issue. And, today, the second issue. And I will probably buy the third and fourth, simply to complete the series. i mean, I’m already halfway in.

First, the good. Mallozi and Mullie are talented writers. Gifted storytellers. And Dark Matter seems to have an interesting and intriguing high concept behind it. Essentially, a small group of people wake up on a starship with no memory of who they are or how they got there.

Second, the bad. Mallozi and Mullie are good television writers, and this feels like it was meant to be a TV episode. It doesn’t read like a comic. Granted, the second issue is better on that front.

The truth is, Dark Matter is intended to be a television series, according to Mallozi. The comic is adapted from their screenplay, from what I understand.

I do recommend it. It has a strong concept and strong visuals, and gets better as you read along. However, I would probably suggest waiting until it is collected into a trade paperback. As a pilot episode, I think part of the problem is instead of waiting through five minutes of commercials to get from the first to the second to the third to the fourth act, buying the individual issues requires to to wait four weeks!

Dark Matter is © Dark Horse Comics

When Ponyo hit theaters a few years ago, I hoped to get the kids in to see it but we missed the chance, so we watched it together on video. Not long after, I heard rumblings about a movie based on the classic children’s book The Borrowers. For the last year or two, then, I have been waiting for The Borrower Arrietty (it’s original title — Disney changed the title for release here) to come to the States after its release in Japan. My intention: for my kids to see it on the big screen.

We finally got the chance. And it was worth the wait.

We ended up skipping Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace in 3D in favor of Arrietty, and I am SO glad we did. (Mainly for “pocket-book” reasons. We own that movie and can watch it any time we want, and by “we” I mean my kids.)

This interaction between Arrietty and the cat has a distinct My Niaghbor Totoro vibe. It has to be an intentional homage . . .

First, my kids’ reaction. All of them liked it almost as much as they liked My Neighbor Totoro and more than they liked Ponyo. This is no faint praise, because all four of them love both of those movies. They are some of the few movies to get repeat viewings in my house. My son loved the way the family of borrowers, six-inch-tall people who “steal” from the “human beans” the things they need to survive and who live under the floors and in the walls of human houses, had created a habitat using human objects. A straight pin becomes a sword. Double-sided tape is used to scale walls. Fish hooks are grappling hooks. As they wandered through a richly detailed world of these things, it really excited my ten-year-old son’s imagination. My daughters loved Arrietty, a strong young woman, and a far better roll model than Disney’s own princesses. This is typical for Studio Ghibli — strong, idealistic female lead character who react realistically in fantastic situations.

And I enjoyed the movie as well. Hayao Miyazaki is credited as writer for this, and did not direct as he usually does. I was a bit worried about this. The last Studio Ghibli film I saw without him as director was Tales from Earthsea, which I was disappointed in. The animation for Arrietty was close to flawless, though (there are a couple moments when the character interactions with the background felt a bit “off”) and the “secret world” the borrowers inhabited is richly detailed and sumptuous. Like all Ghibli films, the animation and story feel both sprawling and almost epic, but intimate in the details.

Arrietty's needle -- "makes a great sword"

The story itself is simple, and it feels almost like it is more of a character study than anything. The action is low-key, and it is the characters who carry the story forward. The film really is more about the emotions of the moment.

At its heart, though, this is a movie about friendship and family. The familial relationship is quirky and positive, although when Arrietty makes a new friend in the “human bean” boy who moves into the house, the contact comes because Arrietty disobeys her parents. There are consequences to all of this, even if it is not addressed specifically.

The Secret World of Arrietty is a movie I highly recommend. I believe that it would not be to everyone’s taste, but if you appreciated the plot and tone of the earlier Studio Ghibli movies, you’ll feel the same about this. And if you’re not, this will be a good one to start with.

~ Ben

Previous SCI-FI/FANTASY FOR KIDS reviews:
Wall*E

The Secret World of Arrietty is © Disney and Studio Ghibli

Back to the Future (1985)

Marty Mcfly (Michael J. Fox), Travels back in time and accidentally alters the natural timeline that directly impacts him and his family. He must right his wrongs, before he ceases to exist.

When: 1955 & 1985

Best part: Mcfly and his rock and roll moments were worth the entire price of admission.

Worst part: The thing with his mom was just weird.

See #3 Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Trailer of Back to the Future (1985)

The Nerdiest Lovers’ Spat Twitter Has Ever Seen

“Take my love, take my land
Take me where I cannot stand
I don’t care, I’m still free
You can’t take the sky from me . . .”

But you CAN take away my favorite TV show!

It happens to every fan of fantasy or sci-fi. The networks take a chance on a genre TV show. The fan takes a chance on the show. The fan likes it. The network cancels it.

In this episode, the strangers and aliens take on their favorite cancelled TV shows. What obscure show does Steve wish had continued? What shows do Dr. Jayce and Ben agree on? What other obscure does Steve wish had continued? And what show do all three of the sci-fi guys agree went longer than it deserved? What favorite show of Dr. Jayce went on for three seasons longer than it should have?

Also, we open up the mailbag! A few of you strangers and aliens let us know some of your favorite shows that were cancelled too soon, we read a reply to our replies to your replies about Star Wars, and we read a reply to one of our listeners about our time travel episode (way back in episode 2).

Are your favorite canceled shows represented in our discussion? Send us an e-mail or record yourself in an MP3 and we’ll address that in our next regular episode.

Our next episode will be an interview with sci-fi and comic book writer Jon Lewis!

~ Ben

Firefly is copyright 20th Century Fox

According to Variety, Terry Brooks’ non-Shanarra fantasy series is in development for the big screen.

I liked the Shanarra series, but after reading Lord of the Rings Shanarra was a world I never wanted to go back to, even with the implications that while Middle-Earth is from pre-history, Shannarra might be . . . not. I’ll leave it there.

But my friend in high school got me hooked on reading a number of different books. I think it was because of his older brother, who would discover series and pass them down. I don’t remember all the books he recommended, but this one I certainly do remember.

It’s a nice twist on the old “regular guy from our world enters another world and becomes something more”. I don’t want to give too much away, because there are some nice surprises throughout the story.

I haven’t read the two newer books that Brooks did recently, revisiting the world, and I’ve heard they aren’t very good. But the first three books, the ones I AM familiar with, have some great potential to be exciting, big budget fantasy films, with some fun twists and a lot of heart. They also have some great potential to be real stinkers.

That’s the way of things, though, isn’t it. Rarely do adaptations live up to their source material. Maybe Jaws is the exception. I was not impressed with the book at all. But the movie is a classic, and rightfully so. On the other end, you have Lord of the Rings, which I think rose up to the challenge, as a movie series, to be the best movie it could possibly be.

Personally, I have reserved excitement for this news. An enjoyable and entertaining book . . . let’s hope it can become an enjoyable and entertaining movie. I believe Warner Brothers is looking for the next Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings (or John Carter), and this series has potential. I highly doubt if the first one is made, it will be successful enough to continue as a series, but if this does make it to theaters, I’ll be in line.

You can read Variety’s article here.

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise must travel back in time to defeat their arch nemesis (The Borg), from wreaking havoc on Earth in the past.

When: 24^th Century & 2063

Best part: Picard going all James “Tommy Gun” Cagney on the Borg.

Worst part: That it had to end.

See #4 Groundhog Day (1993)

Trailer of Star Trek: First Contact

For this episode of the podcast, Strangers and Aliens is proud to present an interview with a special guest: Mark Christopher Lawrence.

Known for playing Big Mike on Chuck, Mr. Lawrence took some time to talk with Ben and Dr. Jayce, giving us a revelation about Chuck’s final episode, revealing his favorite sci-fi movie, and talking about his early career and what he’s doing next, now that Chuck is finished.

LINK: MOXIE Theatre — where Mark Christopher Lawrence will be appearing in A Raisin in the Sun.

But.

It’s a big event for commercials. All types of commercials. Especially for big budget movies. When you spend hundreds of millions of dollars to make a movie, you need eyeballs to know your movie is coming. Last year was a great year for genre movie commercials. This year looks to be good too! Not great, like last year. But good.

BATTLESHIP

So, first we have a movie that when I first heard about it, I was prepared for it to be just plain awful. Now I see the trailer and think to myself that it could actually be a little bit good. Mildly entertaining. Or, at the least, pretty to look at. And while it may not look like the game . . . I’m sure when the movie comes out, the game will start to look like the movie!

JOHN CARTER

Another movie that promises to be better than it should be, considering it is a big budget action movie. Like a lot of modern sci-fi movies, it may not have a lot of substance, but it promises to look incredible. The creature design alone looks amazing.

G.I. JOE

Of the four trailers I’m posting about here, this one looks like the only one I won’t see in the theater. But I will catch it when it’s released to home video. I enjoyed the first G.I. Joe, and this one looks like they decided to take what worked (crazy action) and amp it up to 11 (audacious action). To me, the first G.I. Joe film was a lot like Speed Racer: it felt like the kind of “movie” I made when I was jumping my G.I. Joes around to fight each other from the couch to the coffee table to the stairway (which were in my imagination a city building, a secret base, and a mountain).

THE AVENGERS

And of all four of these movies, this is probably the only one I will actively try to see opening night. And this commercial reveals what a lot of this movie is going to look like. Watch it. ‘Nuff said.

It’s not the biggest year for genre movies . . . but there are some big ones to wait for.

What are you most looking forward to?

~ Ben

Groundhog Day (1993)

Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is an egomaniac who just happens to also be a weather man from Pittsburgh. He ends up in a small town covering a story he loathes-the annual Groundhog Day event. Connors is a self-focused jerk who wants to get out of small town, USA ASAP, but he finds himself not only unable to leave, but also repeating the same day over and over again.

When: Same Day in 1993

Best part: Murray learning French, Piano, and a million other talents and skills.

Worst part: What would have happened if he’d just spent the day driving out of town even if the roads were shut down due to the blizzard?

See #5 T2 (1991)

Trailer of Groundhog Day

Also, we open up the mailbag! We received a lot of feedback about our Star Wars episodes and Dr. Jayce’s original blog pos, ranking the episodes. For time purposes, we only dug into the Star Wars responses we received. Next episode we will respond to some of the comments we received about other topics.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Arnold returns in the 2^nd (and best) installment of the Terminator franchise, but rather than being the baddy, Arnold is the protector of John Conner.

When: 2029 & 1991

Best part: Robert Patrick is perfect as the T-1000. He is creepy, cold, and seemingly unstoppable.

Worst part: T3

See #6 Back to the Future 2 (1989)

Trailer of T2

Tron is something I’d like us to tackle here at Strangers and Aliens sometime soon, even though the first movie is really old (by real time standards) and the second movie is really old (by American consciousness standards). Still, both Tron and Tron: Legacy were movie that I enjoyed, for different reasons at different times.

So I find myself interested in the possibilities of this upcoming animated series on the Disney XD channel. I do not have that channel, so I do not know if I will be able to actually SEE the series . . . but the trailer looks sharp.

I’ll admit, seeing “And Bruce Boxleitner as Tron” is what got me. For a movie called “Tron Legacy”, there wasn’t a lot of Tron in it. (Well, there WAS . . . sort of . . . considering . . . but that puts us in spoiler territory.)

I’ve seen rumors of a sequel to Tron: Legacy, and Bruce says he’s in it. A beautiful looking movie with incredible music AND an interesting, exciting story could elevate a “Tron trilogy” from interesting cinema history footnote (Tron) and popcorn music video (Tron: Legacy) to relevant sci-fi franchise.

What do you think? Does the Tron franchise have legs?

~ Ben

Two incredible Star Wars related videos surfaced last week. One is polished and high budget. The other is absolutely the opposite. And yet, both of them are worth watching. The first one will take you a minute. The second one, I suggest bookmarking and watching what you can, then writing down the time you stopped watching so you can come back to it later and continue watching . . .

Consider the first one a commercial before the feature presentation:

VIDEO #1

I loved last year’s VW commercial featuring “li’l Darth”. Here’s the video and a blog post I wrote about it last year, called “What Can VW’s Li’l Darth Vader Teach Us About Storytelling?”

Well, they are at it again:

In the description for the video, they say:

A canine chorus barks a familiar tune. Keep an eye out for our 2012 Game Day commercial—it will all make sense.

I don’t know what they mean. “It will all make sense”? It all makes sense NOW. There’s doggy Darth Vader. Doggy C-3PO. Doggy Princess Leia. Doggy Chewbacca. Doggy Wicket. And the Doggy AT-AT Walker to make it even more awesome. They don’t need to make sense out of it, it’s already pretty incredible. (Hmmm, I notice a distinct lack of characters from the prequels.)

 VIDEO #2

So a couple thousand Star Wars fans, roused to action by a couple guys with an idea, filmed scenes of Star Wars and sent them in, to be stitched together into a feature length presentation of the entire Star Wars movie. (When I say “the Star Wars movie” I mean Episode 4 or A New Hope to you young ‘uns.)

It is alternatively bizarre and imaginative. It’s funny, silly, and dumb. It’s awe-inspiring and awful. It’s film-making at its best and worst. It’s schizophrenic and cohesive. Scenes are filmed in carefully recreated sets . . . garages . . . backyards . . . hallways . . . living rooms . . . kitchens . . . and boxes. It’s respectful and subversive.

It is something amazing to behold.

As I said above, this is something to bookmark and come back to if you can’t watch the entire video. (Warning: it IS self-rated PG, and I agree. There’s some mild crude/offensive humor.)

~ Ben

My friend, collaborator, and editor Bud Rogers sent this to me. Have to say, I love, love, love this image. I’m not a follower of the Dead, but he’s a fan. Here’s the note he sent me about the image:

Hi Ben,

Just saw the cover to the newest release from the Grateful Dead (thanks to constant taping, they continue to release 4 – 6  items a year). This release features their concert from May 25, 1977 – which not only was my 14th birthday, but was also the premier of Star Wars. It’s kind of a shame they didn’t do “Dark Star” that night.

Anyway, after the latest couple of podcasts, this seemed appropriate to share.

(Mild spoilers ahead . . . very, very mild.)

Last night, the Fox network tried to fill the hole left in so many people’s lives after Lost disappeared from the airwaves with Alcatraz.

Say what you will about Lost’s finale, the the show defined “appointment television” in a television environment that had become increasingly difficult to grow an audience. People liked it. And nothing has replaced it.

To be honest, I don’t believe anything CAN replace it. Between networks and advertisers losing money and viewers to time delayed viewing and 500 choices of digital channels to the bed economy . . . the deck is stacked against any show, no matter how good, to find an audience, keep that audience, and grow the audience AND make a profit. So smaller budget shows are important. Shows that you can just watch one episode of are important. So long involved sci-fi high-concept shows with many special effects are not what networks are looking for.

But, every once in a while, networks do take chances. Chances like Alcatraz.

Comparisons to Lost are inevitable. Just look at the title card above. Obviously, they want you think of Lost. But does it live up to the legacy? I’m optimistic. I was optimistic before I saw the first episode, and not after seeing the first episode I’m even more so . . .

1. The premise. J.J. Abrams is involved. He helped create and guide Lost at first, and he’s producing Alcatraz. I don’t know how much involvement he actually has, but he’s almost got a golden touch. Super 8, Star Trek, Lost, and Fringe are all sci-fi titles Abrams has been behind. I’ve enjoyed them all. Alactraz is a sci-fi show as well — with a simple and intriguing premise. Forty years ago, a bunch of people disappeared from Alcatraz and they are now committing crimes in the present, without showing any signs of age.

2. Speaking of Lost and Fringe, Alcatraz seems to be the answer to “What if they mated?” That’s not a bad thing. It’s a big sci-fi mystery being investigated by a pretty blonde cop.

3. The island. Lost had an island, Alcatraz has an island. Of course, in this case, Alcatraz is an island. I visited Alcatraz as a kid and I still find the thought of that place intriguing and mysterious. Choosing a location that is a part of our cultural consciousness was a smart move. Unlike the unknown island from Lost, Alcatraz is a “brand” that people are familiar with.

4. Jorge Garcia. Who doesn’t love Hurley? It was smart to put him in the middle of this mystery. He’s the guy you wanted to hang out with in Lost. And he’s just as lovable here, if smarter. Already in this first episode, he’s shown a nice range of emotion and character development. The rest of the cast is amazing, I have to add. Especially Sam Neill. I’ve always liked him. And from the beginning of Alcatraz, he does some things that, well, let’s just say it will be fun to see his character unfold over time.

5. Flashbacks. So far, in hour one and hour two we had our team of investigators investigating two different former Alcatraz inmates. I’m hoping that doesn’t mean each episode is going to be a “catch the convict of the week”, although it easily could. And it might not be a bad thing. These first two characters were unique (one of them was named Jack . . . and I hope that he’s going to be a part of the show in the future) and we are given flashbacks to the island prison before everyone disappeared. This use of flashbacks obviously hearkens back to Lost, but also gives interesting insight into the characters and the mystery . . . and the last shot of the first episode really drew me in. Alcatraz absolutely has become an appointment TV for me.

6. Scope. The one thing that will keep this from being the next Lost is the scope of the show. It’s not as big and sprawling as Lost was, which makes it more manageable for viewers and the networks. However, it also loses some of its universality. It is locked in to a very specific place that exists in the real world, instead of an imaginary place that gives glimpses of many other real places. Also, the smaller cast is strong, but again not a s broad.

In the end, I did enjoy the two hour pilot episode. I’ll be tuning in again. And I’m hoping I can find some people to talk about it the way I did Lost. Because that’s what really made Lost for me — and for a lot of people. It gave us something to think about and talk about and enjoy. And that will be the test to see if Alcatraz is successful. Not in the network’s eyes or in the Neilson’s eyes or in the advertiser’s eyes . . . but in my eyes.

~ Ben

This list is my reply to Jayce’s list, and represents a totally non-objective view of the movies. This is not based on the merit of their acting, production, directing, etc. but solely on how I perceived them at the time and their impact on me. I present them chronologically so the narrative will make a little more sense, with the ranking listed after my comments.

A New Hope: I was 10 years old. It blew me away. I read the novel, got the album, bought the action figures, collected the bubble gum cards, read the novel, listened to the audio drama LP, read the novel, watched the…Holiday Special, bought some of the comics, read the novel, and cut out and saved the classic Russ Manning comic strip. I even read the novel. This was the defining event of my youth. For the next three years I was the Star Wars Guy. RANK #1

Empire Strikes Back: A cliffhanger? I didn’t want to be cliff-hung, I wanted the team to be challenged, take it to the next level, then knock it out of the ballpark in the last movie. This was a let down for me, as I had no real grasp of how a larger story needed to play out on the screen, and I guess I was just expecting so much more after the disappointing Holiday Special, but having my appetite whetted by Mark Hamill’s epic Muppet Show appearance months before. And, for a 13-year-old just starting to discover girls, Princess Leia in her Hoth outfit wasn’t a big enough draw to keep my attention. RANK #5

Return of the Jedi: I was 16. This movie, to me at the time, was simply running out the clock on the whole Star Wars thing for me, at the time. Yeah, I read the novel (I even got it before the movie came out), but other than that it was just another movie to see in a year of blockbusters (Staying Alive? Superman III? Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance? Cinematic masterpieces!). But my teenage life was otherwise in turmoil, and so the ewok-fest did little to preserve the flame that had been guttering since Empire. RANK #4

INTERLUDE: Between the two series, my enjoyment and appreciation of the films grew, in no small part due to the non-canonical comic books from Dark Horse as well as the novels detailing the continuing adventures of Luke and company and the annotated script book. So much so that I regained that pre-Empire sense of wonder I felt for the films, mythos and even the merchandising. Few birthdays or Christmases went by without a Star Wars themed gift or card, and I spent many long hours honing my Star Wars collectible card game deck to a formidable stack of cardboard, ink and plastic. Yeah, that’s right, I had two -TWO! – Admiral Mottis in that deck! What are you gonna do when the MADNESS meets the MANIA?! Oh, by the way, I was the Star Wars Guy again.

Phantom Menace: Star Wars back on their screen after 15 years! Sort of! It actually took me 3 viewings (all during my honeymoon, after a Star Wars themed wedding rehearsal party that ALMOST included a bachelor party private viewing of A New Hope on the big screen -but that’s a different story) to realize that Lucas made the movie for 7-10 year olds, which put the whole Jar-Jar thing into perspective for me early on, but made me wonder why he would add so much political stuff…do kids like that? But that notwithstanding, this led to the first Clone Wars cartoons, which only primed the pump for what was coming next. RANK #3

Attack of the Clones: In the immortal words of the Kool Aid Man, “Oh, yeah!” After the political intrigue and origin stories of Phantom Menace, this was what I had really been waiting 2 decades to see. Action packed adventure, jedi action (including Yoda fighting Christopher Lee!), clones, clones, clones, and the Fetts. Even the growing love story was nice, remembering that this was experienced years before the romance took horribly ridiculous turns in Revenge of the Sith. And Anakin beginning his descent into the maelstrom was the icing on the cake. You could just taste how sweet the next movie would be! RANK #2

Revenge of the Sith: After waiting for 25 years to see Lucas pull together all the subtle clues he planted in the original trilogy, watching him have filmnesia concerning his own creation was painful (hey, George, why not have the twins born on Dagobah, so when Luke says in Empire that he feels like he has been there before it actually MEANS SOMETHING instead of just being a throwaway line!). Worse was the logic that he presented concerning the Jedi and how they could miss the meaning behind the prophecy of the one who would bring balance to the force. These things (among a few others) set the entire series into the realm of nonsense for me, and totally recast all my previous attitudes towards the series. I had been a huge fan for so long. This is the movie that changed all that. RANK #6

For me, the proverbial circle was now indeed complete, although in this case I think the circle is more properly recognized as being a zero.

if you haven’t listened to the first part of this conversation, you can download part 1 of the Strangers and Aliens Star Wars conversation from iTunes (it’s episode 5) or download it and listen to it here on the website as well.

We’ve appreciated all the responses to out last episode, but because we recorded both parts at the same time we weren’t able to answer responses to part 1 in our part 2 podcast, but we’ll answer as much of it as possible in our next episode. But please, let us know what you think about the original trilogy and what you think about the sci-fi guys thoughts as well. We’ve enjoyed getting your feedback!

Links to related posts:

Dr. Jayce’s list of Star Wars rankings

Steve’s own list of Star Wars rankings

Star Wars burgers from France (if someone served me one of these burgers, I’d be tempted to say, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” . . . but I wouldn’t, because that’d be geeky and cliche)

~ Ben

Check out this image (from the LA Times):

"I will give you a name," he said to it, "and I shall call you Sting."

Obviously, all of us strangers and aliens are excited about this movie. Certain little things like this are just amping up the excitement.

I’m wondering if we need to get some bad press about how awful this movie is to bring down our expectations!

But for now? Yeah, we’re just going to geek out about it . . .

~ Ben

PS — If you go to the LA Times website, you can click on the image and make it HUGE. We recommend doing so . . .

All three of the sci-fi guys are back for the first full episode of 2012 and the first part of a two part look back at Star Wars.

In this episode, a look at episodes I, II, and III — the “prequel trilogy”. For many fans of science fiction and fantasy, Star Wars was their gateway into the genre. And for many fans of Star Wars who grew up with the original trilogy, coming back to see the rise of young Anakin and his fall to becoming Darth Vader was a controversial experience.

Join Dr. Jayce, Steve, and Ben as they talk about the highlights and lowlights of these movies — exploring the storytelling, big ideas, and over all film making. Some of their opinions may surprise you. Some probably won’t. (Really, can ANYONE defend Jar Jar Binks? Well, I had a friend who tried . . .) But, agree or disagree, we’d love to see your comments below or on our Facebook fan page.

Tune in next week for part two . . . and click here for a peek at Dr. Jayce’s “controversial” list (which became the inspiration behind these episodes) and click here for a peek at the oddest fast food Star Wars tie-in I’ve ever seen . . .

UPDATE: Strangers and Aliens episode 6, which is part 2 of this conversation, is live! Click here to hear what the sic-fi guys think of the original trilogy!

~ Ben

And very, very disgusting.

In anticipation of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace being re-released in theaters next month in 3D, a burger joint in France is making the experience even MORE interactive . . . but letting you consume the light side or the dark side of the Force. In burger form.

First up, the Dark Burger:

I think the bun is supposed to have a reddish tinge to it, and I’m guessing it’s sort of hot. Maybe spicy even. But this one is based on Darth Maul. And really, you should probably cut this one in half before you eat it. Nyuck, nyuck, nyuck.

Next up, the Jedi burger:

I have no idea what this burger is supposed to be. It’s got two patties. Special sauce. Cheese. And styrofoam chunks. At least the Dark Burger looks like real food. This burger looks like they said (in French, of course): “Let’s take a regular burger and put something on it that looks like the fake alien food they used to use on Star Trek: The Next Generation!” (My son just asked me, “Are those marshmallows?” He just may be right.)

But the pièce de résistance has to be the Dark Vador Burger:

Yes, using food coloring they have colored the bun black. (My son’s reaction: “What in the world? That . . . looks . . . gross . . .”) Other than that, it looks like a regular burger. Except a bun that LOOKS like it has been burned. Charred. Hmmm. Considering Anakin’s fate in Revenge of the Sith, maybe a bun that looks burned and charred isn’t so crazy.

Well, not so crazy except, of course, that they want people to EAT it.

And I don’t think “Dark Vador” is a misspelling. I think that may be how it’s said or spelled in France.

Here’s a look at the actual ads:

Looks like they’re doing something similar to Burger King’s Spider-Man III campaign, when you could choose good or bad by choosing Spider-Man’s normal costume or his Venom costume on a scratch off prize ticket thing. “Choisis ton cote de la force” translates to “choose your side of the force” (roughly). Interesting that they give two dark side choices and only one light side.

Hmm. Two Sith. Always two, there are.

And now, to add to the menu, my son and I have selected the Jabba the Hutt burger:

Looks like there’s some elderly Wookie in the background eyeing this thing hungrily. (Picture via funny-potato.com) And judging from one of the toppings in the middle there, looks like the Jabba the Hutt burger is delivered to your door by Pizza the Hut.

~ Ben

Via mintinbox.net

Vote! And then, please, leave a comment below and talk about your answers . . . then come back and see what other people are saying!

(First time commenters have to be approved once. We get many spam comments every day and this helps weed that out, but once you post once and are approved you’ll never have to wait again!)

~ Ben

As a kid, when we could only watch Christmas specials if we caught them when they happened to appear at a certain time on a certain night in December and if we missed them that was our only chance until next year, we would study the top of the TV listings (the broadcast television part, not the cable listings — I only looked at the cable listings to see what I was missing) for certain things. Like the one-two punch of the Charlie Brown and Garfield Christmas specials. And Fat Albert. And for a long time, I hoped that the Star Wars Holiday Special would appear as a rerun. (Seriously.)

But there were certain Christmas specials that caught my imagination. They had interesting character designs and stories that bordered on the mythic, had they not also had some pretty hockey song and dance routines . . . although, the music always was (and is) catchy. The stories covered Rudolph, Frosty, Santa, and, of course, the First Christmas. Puppets in some films were reused in other films. And then, these storytellers did a crossover: Frosty and Rudolph appeared together in a special. In other words, Rudolph and Frosty lived in the same universe. And in other, later specials, little references were dropped in (like Mrs. Claus’ name before she married Santa).

I’m talking, of course, about the Rankin Bass Christmas specials. Usually based on a popular Christmas song (and sometimes a book), these animated (sometimes stop motion, sometimes cell animated) specials became annual favorites.

And all of those stories were connected? Well, yes. Loosely. But as a geek, I started figuring out how, indeed, these specials could be woven together into one, long story arc.

And so, I present to you the “viewing order” of how these specials could be (nay, SHOULD BE!) watched, in order to be seen as a long story, with character arcs and mythological backstories. To be clear, those stories were not meant to be watched this way, and there are way geeks refer to as “continuity errors” galore. Still, it makes for something fun to think about. This list does not include some of the more modern sequels (like the CGI Island of Misfit Toys, which I understand to be horrid, and the Miser Brothers Christmas, which is also top motion animation, but I haven’t had a chance to see, or the Frosty Returns that featured John Goodman as Frosty and just wasn’t all that good). But for the most part, if it was made by Rankin Bass and had a somewhat Christmas theme, it got on the list.

Spoilers ahead. If you wish to avoid spoilers, just glance ahead and look at the bold titles to see the viewing order and skip the notes.

THE RANKIN-BASS EPIC CHRISTMAS MINI-SERIES

Mary and Joseph. Note the realistic designs for them, in comparison to the usual cartoony Paul Coker, Jr. character designs.

Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey — Every Rankin Bass Christmas special has a narrator. These narrators usually were voiced by a well known celebrity, and often got to sing. And for this story, the narrator if Santa Claus’ donkey . . . who starts his story singing about how everyone knows about Rudolph, but there’s a Christmas story that doesn’t get told. The story of Nestor, the donkey who had such long ears that he gets picked on. In fact, it’s the Rudolph story, with two exceptions: his mother dies and he apparently took part in the story of the original Christmas story . . . by carrying Mary to Bethlehem and wrapping her in his enormous ears to protect her from the cold. And the donkey’s memories of his warm nights in a stable is what directs them to their stable. It’s a classic “misfit” story, and to make sure you know this, they keep singing about the comparisons to Rudolph. (It features a song “Don’t Laugh and Make Someone Cry”, perhaps because they felt the message from the earlier Rudolph story was too subtle?)

So this story fits into the actual “Rankin Bass” Christmas universe, with Santa and two elves from The Year Without a Santa Claus and Rudolph appearing. But it also acts, for the purposes of this epic series, as the origin story of Christmas itself. This is the prologue. The story that sets it all in motion.

It alternates between cheesy and disturbing and cute and dark. Rewatching it this year, I could not help but smile at it. And with it.

Length: 1/2 hour; Animation Style: Stop motion; Year: 1977

Crossover Characters: Santa Claus; Mrs. Claus; Rudolph; Jingle; Jangle; the other elves and reindeer

Santa Claus Is Coming to Town– This is the origin story of Santa Claus. (Although in the ’80′s they did another origin story, based on

Winter Warlock and Kris Kringle, but look below for the appearance of another "winter warlock".

Oz’s Baum book The Life and Times of Santa Claus — but we’re going with this one.) It’s the story of why Santa has so many names, how he met the future Mrs. Claus, why he brings toys. All that stuff. Interestingly, much of it comes from Winter Warlock, an evil wizard who becomes reformed and gives Santa a number of things, including magic beans that make reindeer fly.

The references Nestor’s story, in a way, as Santa looks for the best time to deliver presents to children. He chooses December 24, because of its special significance.

The elves in this story are different from the elves in other versions, but that’s one of those little things that you just have to let slide.

The fantasy elements of this story always resounded with me, and might be what caused me to become such a big fan of the Rankin Bass Christmas tales, and these elements also makes it easy to see why Rankin Bass would later animate movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings.

Length: 1 hour; Animation Style: Stop Motion; Year: 1970; Based on: The song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” by by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie.

Crossover Characters: Santa Claus; Mrs. Claus; Rudolph (briefly)

Jack Frost — Another origin story. Jack Frost is one of the winter spirits who brings winter (can’t help wondering if Cold Miser is part of that gang – but more on him later). I rarely saw this one as a kid (I think I saw the entire thing once and parts of it another time when I was visiting a friend’s house), but it left a lasting impression, both from story and designs.

The story has Jack Frost wanting to become human because he was in love with a human girl. But the girl is in love with, literally, a knight in shining armor. And the bad guy, Kubla Kraus, is in love with the girl. It’s a weird love . . . triangle? Love rhombus? Yeah, let’s go with that one. And, meanwhile, Kubla Kraus taxes everyone to abject poverty, but still at Christmas they are able to give the gifts they want to give, by just giving people imaginary gifts! There are many, many fairytale elements, too. It’s not as bright and happy as some of the others, and yet it still feels optimistic.

And then there are the characters. Both good and bad, the character designs are just cool. The other winter spirits, Jack’s peers, are interesting and strange. And Kubla Kraus’s army are steam powered knights and he rides a steam powered horse! Here’s some pictures I was able to find of these characters . . .

Kubla's horse

Kubla's army

Some of the winter spirits

Snip, a spirit who cuts snowflakes

The most interesting character . . .

Kuble is such a bad guy that he has to create an army to follow him, a horse to carry him, and a lackey to agree with him. The lackey’s name is dummy, and is part of a BIG plot point at the end.

When we see Jack Frost later in this series, he has changed much. Why, it’s almost as if when he appeared in Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, they didn’t know his backstory! Of course, they didn’t . . . BUT, I can just see him, after the events of this story becoming bitter (pun not intended) and angry. It’s a cool (pun sort of intended) character arc . . .

Length: 1 hour; Animation Style: Stop Motion; Year: 1979; Based on: original story by Romeo Muller

Crossover Characters: Jack Frost

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas– Let’s not forget the glue keeping this story together. When last we saw Santa, he was pretty happy

Very, very different Santa design - no mustache and what's going on with those cheeks?

giving out gifts. But this particular year he gets a letter from Junctionville, NY, signed “all of us”, saying they don’t believe in him. Of course, it only came from one smarty-pants mouse who lives in the house of a clock maker. The town tries to gets Santa to come by building a clock tower that sings a song, hoping that Santa will hear it when he flies over. But the smarty pants sabotages it. So it looks like Junctionville will miss Christmas . . . because Santa is not going to come to a city that doesn’t believe! Of course, smarty pants sees the error of his ways (after father mouse gives lectures about faith and responsibility), fixes the clock, and Santa comes, allowing the clock maker to narrate the classic poem as Santa leaves gifts and then leaves.

In this one, we get a glimpse of Santa’s humanity, in spite of his immortality. This will show up again, soon.

Length: 1/2 hour; Animation Style: Cell; Year: 1974; Based on: The poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas”, written in the early 1800′s, which opens with the first line “‘Twas the night before Christmas . . .”

Crossover Characters: Santa Claus

Is Cold Miser a friend of Jack Frost?

The Year Without a Santa Claus – Well, last time Santa was just going to skip one city. This time? The whole world. We’re REALLY raising the stakes.

And why? Because Santa has a cold. The doctor says he needs to take some time off, and Santa issue a press release that Christmas is cancelled. There’s some talk about believing in Santa Claus or not, too, although I’m not sure why. I mean, he issued a press release and the paper ran it like he was a real person. Anyway, Mrs. Claus sends two elves (Jingle and Jangle, who appeared in Nestor) and Vixen to go and get people to have Christmas cheer, to cheer up Santa.

The elves and Vixen have to pass between Heat Miser and Cold Miser, and we see that they are bad dudes. When Santa hears of all this, he goes after his friends and finds himself in Southtown, which sets up a weird scene where Santa Claus sings a song about believing in Santa. According to the song, he does. Also according to the song, Santa sometimes would not just bring presents to the living room, but tiptoe into kids rooms and sing to them about believing in him? Creepy.

Obviously, Christmas is saved. But Santa’s still showing a little bit more of that immortal strain. Fortunately, he does get a little boost from the children of the world.

A nice twist -- the kids bring presents to Santa!

Length: 1 hour; Animation Style: Stop Motion; Year: 1974; Based on: The book by Phyllis McGinley

Crossover Characters: Santa Claus; Mrs. Claus; Jingle and Jangle the elves; Vixen

"Give back that hat that they took from you!" says Santa.

Frosty the Snowman — You know the story. Magic hat . . . snowman . . . comes to life . . . says “happy birthday” (I love this detail) . . . winter wanes . . . heat will melt Frosty . . . so he goes to a colder place.

There’s more to it, of course. First of all, the magic hat? Really, they stole it from the magician. And the Santa forces the magician to let them KEEP the hat, and beyond that, punishes him for wanting it back. Unless you subscribe to schoolyard thinking like “finders, keepers”. Either way, I’m not sure I trust Santa’s definitions of “naughty or nice”. Nitpick aside, I love this story and the heart warming and snow melting ending.

How does it advance our story, though? It’s Frosty’s origin story. And Frosty figures heavily from here on out.

Length: 1/2 hour; Animation Style: Cell; Year: 1969; Based on: The song by Jack Rollins and Steve Nelson

Crossover Characters: Frosty, Santa Claus

The Island of Misfit Toys -- such a great concept

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer — The story that started it all . . . for Rankin Bass, anyway. This hour long movie expanded on the song. A LOT. And the fantasy elements (especially the island of misfit toys) start here, along with a lot of the thematic elements of doing good and not fitting in start here as well.

I don’t think much of a plot synopsis is needed here, considering this is the most popular and well known and parodied of the Rankin Bass Christmas specials. It’s also possibly the least liked in some ways, too, especially when you consider the way those in authority act toward Rudolph and Dennis (the elf who wants to be a dentist) and the barrage of rejection throughout the story — unless that which causes people to reject you is actually some sort of superpower or something. (“Yes, we’ll make fun of Rudolph . . . until he proves his worth.” “We’ll fear the abominable . . . until he proves his worth.” “We’ll mock Dennis . . . until he proves his worth.”) The same thing happened to Nestor.

All that aside, I’ve always enjoyed this special and the little twists and character designs and characters. Except Santa. He has no excuse. He went from being such a good guy to be sort of petty toward people who don’t believe in him to being judgmental of that poor magician whose just trying to make a living and has his hat stolen to being downright disappointing in his rejection of a reindeer that’s different. I’d like to think that this is the turning point of his character arc. He let himself become jaded by his job, but after he realizes how wrong he was about Rudolph, and then gives those misfit toys a chance in a new home, he’s much more “heroic” after this. Well, sort of . . .

The other toys have obvious reasons for being rejected . . . but this doll? According to the creators, her problem was that she was psychologically damaged from her owner growing up and rejecting her.

Length: 1 hour; Animation Style: Stop Motion; Year: 1964; Based on: The song by Johnny Marks

Crossover Characters: Rudolph, Santa Claus, various Reindeer

"Why am I such a misfit?"

Rudolph’s Shiny New Year – A direct sequel to Rudolph. But the repsonibilites he now takes upon himself . . . he’s not just pulling a sled to save Christmas, he’s saving New Years! And not just New Years! But TIME ITSELF!!! Yes, Father Time contacts Santa just after  they returned on Christmas Eve, sending him a letter begging for help to find Happy the Baby New Year. Because if that baby is not found, on the first of January there is a baby New Year . . . December 31st will go on forever! Yes. No kidding. Why? Because a vulture named Aeon wants to live forever, and is destined to only live for . . . an eon! And that eon is almost up!

It’s another “misfit” story, too, with a baby whose ears are enormous! And so, he goes on the run through islands that represent passed ages and just when he starts to make friends, well, he ears make people laugh. So he runs off to the next island, pursued by Aeon and by Rudolph and some pretty awesome sidekicks. Again, we get some crazy awesome characters with crazy awesome designs.

But Santa, really, you’re going to send a young, untested reindeer out on a mission like this? Alone?

I like this guy for reasons other than just his name . . . Big Ben

General Ticker, another time themed character

Quarter Past Five. Yes, that's his name. Because apparently, his mother was a very literal type of thinker.

Length: 1 hour; Animation Style: Stop Motion; Year: 1976; Based on: Nothing but Muller, Rankin, and Bass’ insane imaginations

Crossover Characters: Santa Claus; Rudolph; Big Ben; Father Time

"In the meadow, we can build a snowman . . . and pretend that he is Parson Brown" -- clever use of the lyrics, as Parson Brown can't perform a wedding for snow people, but a snow-parson could. So they build a snow man, pretend he's Parson Brown, and bring him to life by putting a Bible in his arms.

Frosty’s Winter Wonderland – Since Frosty the Snowman, a cartoon based on a song, was such a success . . . why not find ANOTHER song and do a cartoon about that too? Ordinarily, I’d say this to mock the creators. The cynic in me is not a fan of just shoehorning one concept into another to do what may end up being a subpar grab for more dollars. But this actually works.

Also, this is the special that introduces two important character to the mythos we’re chronicling here: Jack Frost and Crystal.

Crystal shows up in a later special and Jack shows up in two more. We’ve already talked about the first — his self titled origin story, which was made after this one — and we’ll talk about his next below. But this appearance takes place decades, perhaps even a century or more, after Jack Frost wanted to become human for love.

I can’t help imagining a tragic, romantic spiral downward occurred to good old Jack over the passage of time. Jack becomes a spiteful, bitter little sprite, remembering his love and the misunderstanding behind it and then Frosty, that upstart who became popular just because of a magic hat, comes around and takes all the glory? And Frosty has found love? Something Jack thought he found, but lost?

Yes. Yes I am probably reading too much into it. But Frosty’s love, Crystal, shows Jack some warmth and brings him back from the abyss of pain and loneliness and his cold, hard heart begins to melt.

A slightly different character design. Not so romantic and much more impish. And yet, it's interesting that they kept a number of aspects of the design. Enough that I think he was meant to be the same person.

Length: 1/2 hour; Animation Style: Cell; Year: 1976; Based on: The song “Winter Wonderland” by Felix Bernard and Richard B. Smith

Crossover Characters: Frosty, Crystal, Jack Frost

Rudolph and "puppet" Frosty and his kids!

Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July — This one actually got a theatrical release in ’79! SUMMER of ’79. I didn’t know that until I started writing this.

This is also the reason for this whole article. Here is where all the strands get pulled together. Frosty and Rudolph are together. Jack Frost appeared in Frosty and in his own special, and in this movie he looks like he did in his own special so he must be the same character as appeared in Frosty’s Winter Wonderland. Big Ben makes an appearance. Mrs. Claus is called “Jessica”, so she’s from Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town but this is the same Santa as in Rudolph and Year Without a Santa Claus, so those three stories are about the same characters.

But beyond that, there’s a whole lot of imagination on the screen. There’s another evil winter wizard — I think he’s related to Winter Warlock. And he also wants the power of Frosty’s hat . . . and for reasons about as convoluted as a vulture trying to stop time, he also wants Rudolph’s “magic”, from his nose.

Jack Frost, back to his good old self . . .

And Jack Frost completely redeems himself from when he became that petty, spiteful little spirit.

Length: 2 hours; Animation Style: Stop Motion; Year: 1979; Based on: Once again Muller, Rankin, and Bass’ insane imaginations, this time drawing from all the other specials

Crossover Characters: Santa Claus; Rudolph; Big Ben; Frosty; Crystal; Mrs. Claus; Jack Frost

Seriously, this guy HAS to be related to Winter Warlock!

As I said before, there are many different Rankin Bass specials I do not include here. Like The Little Drummer Boy (retelling the nativity story, but doing so straight, without references to Santa) and The First Christmas (which I saw once as a little boy and never forgot, but just doesn’t reference anything Santa, Frosty, or Rudolph related); Little Drummer Boy II, Pinochio’s Christmas, and The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold (because I’ve never seen them, although the last two COULD potentially fit into this and maybe I’ll do that next year); and The Stingiest Man in Town (because it’s A Christmas Carol, really, and doesn’t fit).

But if you’re planning to watch Christmas specials next year (or this — I’m still watching Christmas specials with my kids) here’s a fun way to do it. These are easily available to buy or borrow from libraries or whatever. Or you could Tivo a lot of these from ABC Family, then watch them in chronological order.

~ Ben

You can see the trailer here.

In this episode, Ben and Steve look back at the Lord of the Rings trilogy and look forward to The Hobbit in this episode.

What’d you think of the trailer? Like it? Love it? Hate it? Has it raised your expectations? Lowered them? Chime in below! You can also contact us via e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook!

Thanks for listening and Godspeed!

~ Ben

Before listening, or after, if that’s your style, check out the impetus behind this mini-sode’s discussion, Dr. Jayce’s Christmas movie lists:

The Most Overrated Christmas Movies Ever

A Christmas Carol Slamdown

If the World Ended & You Could Only Watch 7 Christmas Movies…

What are YOUR favorite and most memorable Christmas tales? Leave a comment below!

You can also contact us via e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook!

Thanks for listening and Godspeed!

The OVERRATED Christmas movie parade begins now:

1. A Christmas Story

I don’t have to say much about this film, because I think it speaks for itself…YAWN. Simply put…it’s boring. I know, someone had to say it, and you’re probably glad I said it instead of you, but the truth is this movie has somehow become a classic and I think it is because my parent’s generation somehow relates to this film….I don’t. Now my middle brother may never talk to me again (because this is his favorite film, but I had to be honest!)

2. White Christmas

Ah Oh! I went there! I just took on perhaps one of the most beloved Christmas films out there. The females especially love this film, I know my wife does at least, but I just can’t help it…this film is just as boring as A Christmas Story, but it adds singing and dancing, which somehow makes it even worse. I would have listed this one first, but I don’t want to sleep on the couch this Christmas season, because as I mentioned this horrible, I mean boring, I mean…..I’m sorry babe, but this movie just stinks, no matter how many times you force me…I mean encourage me to give it a chance. I have given it several chances and it still stinks! Love you babe!  ;)

3. Santa Clause

The entire message of this film comes down to Santa (Tim Allen), leaving his kid behind at the end of the movie, because of his massive responsibility of being Santa. Lovely, just what we need, another father shirking his responsibilities as a dad. In this case, it is Big Red himself, and I just think it is an awful message that many seem to overlook! A dad’s first responsibility is to his family and not his job.  

4. Jingle All the Way

Simple. Any film that has Arnold talking while he is NOT carrying a gun……FAIL!

5. Jack Frost

A reincarnated father comes back to life in the form of…wait for it….Frosty the Snow Man….wait….I mean….Jack Frost. In an all-time low Michael Keaton (who is an excellent actor) makes his second worst decision in accepting this role. His biggest mistake was leaving the role of Batman.

You can watch it here . . .

Some of this feels disturbing . . . some of it feels strange (the football field thing — that’s either going to be brilliant or awful, but in the trailer I find myself confused . . . and a good kind of confused . . . I think) . . . and it does the job. This looks good, it looks interesting. Could we possibly be looking at a satisfying conclusion/sequel? Is it possible?

Let’s look at other third films in superhero franchises . . . Spider-Man 3. Superman 3. Batman Forever.

It looks like we just may be looking at a right proper trilogy here. Starts strong, powerful middle, and fitting conclusion. Time will tell.

The good news for me is this: I’m getting to the point where my expectations are pretty high, which means I’m going to start bringing myself down by saying there’s no possible way it can live up to those expectations, which will means if the movie really is good, it will exceed my lowered expectations.

I hope.

~ Ben

Every Christmas, (for our family) I read the Biblical account of Jesus’ birth and we all have joyful time remembering why we have joy to celebrate during this wonderous season. Shortly after, we get food and the fun begins. Part of our tradition is watching movies. This list is a survival guide to the Christmas movies you have to watch this year and any other year. There are others we may watch, but they fall behind these…remember this is for pure survival and in my opinion it is safer to skip SOME Christmas movies out there-like The Santa Clause….ugh!

1. Muppet’s Christmas Carol

This movie takes the most redone Christmas story and takes it to a whole new level. Outside of the narrative of Jesus’ birth, no Christmas story is as grand as the tale of Scrooge and his ghostly visitors. However, this one trumps all of the others, because it has something none of the others have-Muppets! Kermit and his band of misfits make this film fun and family friendly in a way that doesn’t cheapen the message. Gonzo and Rizzo alone are worth watching, because they are the perfect narrative device to lighten this potentially dark storyline.

2. It’s a Wonderful Life

If The Muppets is 1, than It’s a Wonderful Life is 1a, because it has lasted the test of time. It is as good, if not better, than when it first came out. We all can take our lives for granted and through the eyes of one man we can get a glimpse of how each of us should be grateful for the little things we have. It is hard to believe that this movie was seen by many to be a failure when it first released, because it has become the standard that all other dramatic Christmas stories are judged.

3. Elf

It is hard for me to rank this movie at three. It very well could be number one, because I have NEVER laughed as hard as when I first saw this movie. It captures the wonder and innocence of those clamations that I watched as a kid and then it goes to a whole new level. This movie is so quotable it’s ridiculous. Elf is downright funny and by far the best movie Will Ferrell has EVER made. “You sit on a throne of lies!” is just one of the golden gems found in this movie!

4. Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Okay, you may never have heard of this movie in your entire life, but it is amazing. It is a must see, because it is so amazingly awful. The plotline itself is laughable, but the execution of this film is just as bad. The acting is putrid; the direction is dreadful, and the makeup is…did I already say putrid? But it is so bad that it is hilarious! Santa Conquers the Martians is often heralded as the worst movie ever made…and it all truth it is…but that is what makes it a must see. I promise, surprise your family and put this movie in while you’re playing games or sitting down to eat. The laughs will be plentiful.

5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Jim Carrey

When I first saw this movie I loved it, but then Elf came along and I forgot all about Jim Carrey’s stellar performance, but I recently rewatched this movie and I have to admit Ron Howard and Carrey did a fantastic job. They took a classic cartoon, which has been a staple for millions of children and parents and they hit a home run. They very well could have fallen on their face, but this movie very much succeeded.

6. Home Alone

This movie highlights both the dreams and fears of children. They very much want to act like grownups, but they also fear being alone. This film takes an average kid who often feels on the outs with his or her family (which most kids have felt at one point or another), and makes him a hero as he out smarts two adult crooks. This funny film also has some touching moments that occur center around a local homeless man.

7. Die Hard

This Christmas classic is for the men. After watching all of the feel good kiddie movies, sometimes a guy just needs to see a few explosions, clever catch phrases, and classic Bruce Willis.

A Christmas Carol is the most adapted Christmas movie of all-time. That means that there are more movies about Scrooge and his conversion than any other story-ever. However, we must warn you that not all Carols are created equal. Therefore, I am making this list to save you the time and trouble of figuring out which to watch this Christmas season.

Here are the top 5 you have to see:

#5 A Christmas Carol (1999) Starring Patrick Stewart

Here’s all you need to know…Patrick Stewart is quite possibly the best scrooge of the entire bunch. He is downright awesome. I know others will argue for George C. Scott, but in my opinion no one touches Capt. Jean-Luc Picard himself.

#4 Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983)

This is a great version for the kiddoes, plus it is the shortest of the bunch, clocking in at a mere 25 minutes long. It hits all the high points and includes all of your favorite classic Disney characters.

#3 Scrooged (1988) Starring Bill Murray

This is a modern (at the time) take on the classic tale. This one isn’t for the children though. Murray is great, but Bobcat Goldthwait steals the show.

#2 Disney’s A Christmas Carol (2009) Starring Jim Carrey

This animated feature may be more like the book than any of the other movies, simply because of the limitations of technology. The 3D features, also makes it stand out from the rest. This version also includes parts of the story that many of the others overlook.

#1 The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Starring Michael Caine

This movie has everything. It has humor, singing, a great scrooge (Caine), and one thing the others lack-The Muppets.  This version keeps a lot of the story unlike the Mickey version, but it is also light and very family friendly unlike some of the others. The writing is hilarious, with Gonzo and Rizzo stealing the show.

http://simoncomics.com
http://joesimonstudio.com
http://facebook.com/joesimonstudio
http://images.titanpublishing.com/promotions/simonandkirby
http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby
http://simonandkirby.com.futuresite.register.com/_wsn/page2.html
http://comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=1387
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2011/12/joe_simon_interview_captain_am.html
http://www.comicbooked.com/joe-simon-nycc-panel
http://twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/25simon.html

~Steve

(You can read more about the recording and listen to it at trek movie.com by clicking here, or listen to it below.)

It’s an interesting listen. It starts with some promos for the radio stations and then gets into some of the background of the show. Particularly painful — gas was only $0.33 when Star Trek was on the air? Anyway, it’s full of interesting tidbits of information and observations from 1982, rather than from people looking back and remembering it thirty years later.

Thirty years? One of the themes of that movie is aging and feeling old . . . now the movie itself is making me feel old!

~ Ben

~ Ben

#6 Back to the Future 2 (1989)

Marty McFly must travel back and forth in time in his pursuit to save his kids and a less than stellar future. However, lots of things go wrong which alters his home time in 1985.

When: 2015, 1985, and 1955

Best part: Till this day I STILL dream of having a hover board!

Worst part: The worst part is that it is very nearly 2015 and we don’t have some of the cool things promised in this movie-like the hover board.

 See # 7: Planet of the Apes  

The Shadow (radio series)
Chronologically, this old-time radio episode of The Shadow is the first instance of time travel encountered by an actual superhero. “The Man Who Murdered Time”, originally broadcast on January 1, 1939, is about a dying man and his attempt to use a time machine not for travel but rather to replay one day for eternity. No one should have been able to do anything except exactly what they did that day, but the Shadow (or ‘Lamont Cranston’…I guess he flunked out of Alter Ego Naming 101) was trained in Asia, and apparently the training produced a type of ‘ iron will’ that made it difficult for the time machine to control him, as well as others who are under the Shadow’s direct influence. And apparently none of his trainers survived, or else he could have mustered an army of time-busting Hindus to make short work of the plot.

FUN QUOTE: “Instantaneously time will take up where it left off, but you put the machine into operation, and so will come what you thought to destroy forever – the new year, the bless’ed new year. That means new hope for the good and the innocent people of the world, while for you it will bring what God decreed for you…Death!” – The Shadow

You can listen to the episode (and a few dozen more, for free) at Old World Radio.

Mark Swift and his Time Retarder (comic book, Slam Bang comics #1)
Mark Swift, the young orphaned friend and sidekick of a school teacher-turned-timelord named Rooney Kent, was the first comic book character (Slam Bang comics #1 is cover dated March 1940) with a time travel device, which Rooney used to teach Mark about history…by subtly altering it, I guess. Kent and Swift built the device themselves, Kent having “…discovered the amazing principle of time-travel”, without any further elaboration about just HOW he discovered it, or even what the amazing principle actually was. Oh, but trust them…it was AMAZING! The introductory paragraph mentions that Mark is “…liked by everybody.”, which means you have to like him, unless you don’t consider yourself part of everybody, you cynical misanthrope. All this from the mind of Otto Binder, who went on to create (or co-create) Mary Marvel, Black Adam, the Legion of Superheroes, Braniac, Supergirl, and gold from base metals.

You can read all of their adventures online at Digital Comics Museum.

Brick Bradford (comic strip)
For a comic strip that lasted over 50 years straight (not to mention the 1947 movie serial…although I did just mention it, so…um…AWKWARD), you would think that Brick would have made more of an impact on culture than he did…which seems to be none at all. From 1933 to 1987 Brick adventured on Earth, in space, and (starting on October 17, 1937) through time. Brick and company typically went forward to the future, while poor Mark Swift had to settle for going back in time. Brick’s ship was called the Time Top, and was apparently not bound by time. I think his first attempt at this type of device was his Time Yo-Yo, which would almost reach its destination, then be drawn back to its starting point. Then moving toward the destination again; then back. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Anyone interested in reading more about him can find literally thousands of his comics strips at I Love Comix.

Links Redux:
The Shadow at Old World Radio
Mark Swift and his Time Retarder at Digital Comics Museum
Brick Bradford at I Love Comix

With Josh Brolin channeling Tommy Lee Jones . . . and Will Smith channeling, well, young Will Smith . . . this could be fun. I liked the first Men in Black and didn’t care one way or the other for the second. But this looks fun and funny, with time travel and aliens and conspiracies and, well, just check out the trailer.

You can see it here . . .

~ Ben

This rather excites me. I doubt they would be so brave . . . or bold . . . as to really END the legend, but I would love if this film was about the death of Batman. In comics, Bane (the big guy in the poster) breaks Batman’s back, putting him out of commission. Of course, he got better. So i expect this movie to take that route. But what if? What if they went there? Made this movie, the last Batman movie in this cycle of stories, the true “end” of the story, with his death? Then again, it’s called “The Dark Knight Rises”, so the title would seem to be about Batman getting a good beat down . . . and then rising.

But this poster makes me want to not know anything else about this movie until it comes out. I don’t want to see any trailers. i don’t want to read any spoilers. I just want to see this movie.

What do you think of the poster? And are you looking forward to the movie? Can it possibly be as good as The Dark Knight?

~ Ben

I have to say, I love this poster. As far as posters go, this actually gets me excited. It’s very, very simple. The spider symbol is something that is recognizable. I remember when the first Batman movie came out and the poster was simply the Batman symbol. That was all that was needed. For Spider-Man, the spider symbol is almost as recognizable, and everyone who is going to see the movie knows that this symbol means.

But I look at this poster and I know what this movie is about. It’s about the person inside the superhero costume. And in some ways, the spider is a menacing figure in the poster. This poster tells me that this movie is meant to be about Peter Parker dealing with the whole “with great power comes great responsibility” idea, like the best comic book stories. In theory, if not in execution.

The imagery of the poster makes me want to see this movie. But . . .

The words! As a writer of comics, I often get caught up in the question, “Which is more important in a comic book, the artist or the writer?” “Writing or art?” (Answer: yes.) But the art and the writing should work together, and words on the page should serve to enhance the art and tell you something the art cannot. And the words on this poster, well, the something they tell me that the art cannot? “The untold story”? What’s that supposed to mean? What story are they trying to tell? Are they trying to say they are going to tell a new story? Well, I hope so. Maybe they are trying to reassure people that yes, this is going back to tell the origin story but they are going to tell it in a different way? I hope so!

(One other thing makes me want to see this movie: Andrew Garfield. Everything I’ve seen him do, he has done phenomenally.)

Anyway, this poster looks great. If you want to see a bigger version, you can go to Superhero Hype here.

What do you think? Do we really need another origin story for this character? Especially considering he’s got about the easiest origin to tell: dude gets bit by radioactive spider, dude gets spider powers. There, I did it . . . on with the story! Any of you strangers and aliens excited to see The Amazing Spider-Man?

~ Ben

(This post was also posted on my blog, Myth-Understanding.)

#7 Planet of the Apes (1968)

Planet of the Apes is about an astronaut crew who crash-land on a strange planet in the distant future. At first the planet seems uninhabited, but soon the humans discover a civilization where apes are the dominate species, while humans are nothing but animal like servants.  

When: Distant Future

Best part: When Charlton Heston discovers the statue of liberty! Shocker!

Worst part: The worst part is the makeup, but that’s only from a modern perspective looking back. At the time it was very believable (groundbreaking for that era), but with the apes mouth’s barely being able to move it is a bit distracting to a modern viewer…especially with all of the technology we have today. However, this movie is a classic!

 See # 8: Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

#8 Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

“Ted” Theodore Logan & Bill S. Preston, Esquire are two metal headed slackers who end up time travelling, meeting some of history’s most famous individuals, and give one of the best school reports of all time. In the process, they shape the entire future for the better and become the “Great Ones”.

When: 1988

Best part: The school report. Perhaps, it’s only because I have spent the better part of my life in one form of classroom or another, but after all of the adventures to see two underdogs make good is very satisfying.

Worst part: Keanu Reeves. Oh, don’t get me wrong, he is excellent in the movie. In fact, his character is quite endearing, but this character likely typed cast him for the majority of his career. I actually like Keanu a great deal, but many others tease him for his lack of acting ability. Keanu has joined my personal “secret” list (along with Kevin Costner)…of actors I really enjoy more so than most.

Wait I take that back. The worst part of this movie was its sequel….not even worth mentioning.

 See # 9: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

This was pre-internet. Pre-cable (and even when cable was available, we never could afford it). Pre-immersive, ultra-realistic video games (although, it’s amazing that we managed to waste just as much time on video games back when they were just moving blocks of color and not fully rendered 3D environments). Pre-absolute-media-saturation. I’ve found myself wondering what is out there inspiring kids to be creators and storytellers and filmmakers and scientists and thinkers.

That’s what’s inspired this “series”. On and off, as I discover works of sci-fi and fantasy in different mediums that engage both my kids and me, I’ll pass on that recommendation.

To start with:

PIXAR and Disney's Wall*E

I’m going to give away the ending. Not of the movie, but of this post. I loved this movie. My son loved this movie. My daughters loved this movie.

There are flaws. Some people might feel the whole environmental thing is over the top. Truth is, it IS over the top. It’s supposed to be. It;s that kind of sci-fi movie. “What if . . . the whole world was rendered uninhabitable by our waste?” It’s part of a tradition of sci-fi movies that deal with these kind of questions . . . like Soylant Green or Planet of the Apes or Silent Running or Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. All of these movies take current fears and then take them to a horrible conclusion, whether it is nuclear war or overpopulation or food shortages or animal extinction or the destruction of the environment. And while I know the environment is a hot topic, and line have been drawn politically, the movie itself is less commentary on environment and more commentary on a culture of consuming.

Another flaw: halfway through the movie, it stops being Wall*E’s story and becomes some new characters’ stories. This is okay, because it’s still fun and interesting. i just wish Wall*E had been a more personal part of the climax.

Sometimes, I think, we're all a little Wall*E . . .

But this is PIXAR, and that means heartfelt storytelling, technical excellence, engaging characters, and lots of fun. Half of the movie is essential a “silent picture”, featuring two speechless robot characters. Body language, music, and a select few words convey more in this animated movie than you see in a lot of big budget movies with human actors. When it becomes a “talkie”, moving into a new location and introducing new characters, again the script, animation, and acting convey plot and character in a much stronger way than so many other movies.

Spiritually, the second half of the movie actually cut a little close to home. (Mild spoiler for a reveal in the middle of the film — don’t read this paragraph if you don’t want that sort of thing.) It’s a poignant portrayal of our current state of being (at least, here in America) with doughy, overweight, lazy people who have their every need catered to by machines. All they do is exist to consume — consume food and consume entertainment. Their lives are easy and comfortable, but lonely and meaningless. It’s great fodder for conversation with your kids, and also a visual metaphor that sticks in your mind.

And, being sci-fi, as I said before this has some big ideas. There is the earth becoming uninhabitable because of all the garbage created by our culture. This idea has a spiritual component as well, because weren’t we made stewards of this planet? Aren’t we supposed to care for it? Isn’t it, as something created by God, something worth taking care of? Younger generations won’t even blink at this message, which is, on a grand sci-fi scale, basically a reminder to “reduce, reuse, recycle”. There is also a generational starship, a concept I personally love. Finally, the movie itself doesn’t ask questions outright about robots having souls (like, say, having Commander Data stand trial to see if he’s a “person” or not), but indirectly it has robots developing feel ins for each other far beyond their original programming.

Is it possible for two robots in a cartoon to have a more believable romance than human actors? Yes. Yes it is.

I can’t think of a PIXAR movie I haven’t liked. There are a few I haven’t SEEN (both Cars movies and Ratatouille), but not one that I haven’t liked. And perhaps Wall*E holds a soft spot for me because it gets into the sci-fi ideas that I enjoy. But it is genuinely funny and charming and sweet and exciting. All the best things I used to love, and still do, about sci-fi. That’s why I recommend this movie as good sci-fi for kids . . .

~ Ben

#9

#9 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Bones take off with the rest of the Original Star Trek crew to the past in order to bring back a humpback whale to save all humanity. If that isn’t a sci-fi premise then I don’t know what is.

When: 1986

Best part: Kirk and Spock riding a bus in 1986 and trying to figure out cultural norms of the 20th century is amusing, if not hilarious at times. This may be the most original plots of any Trek movie before or after its release.

Worst part: This answer is simple. It’s not even close. You’re telling me that the fate of the entire Earth depends on the language of the humpback whale? LOL! Wow, that is just way out there even for the Star Trek franchise. I mean why not have the Federation desperately in need of a chia pet or –God forbid- a mullet…or what about a movie that illustrates how Cyndi Lauper was the key catalyst for saving the planet!?

If it wasn’t for the brilliant dialogue and the fish out of water hilarity of the TOS cast tiptoeing around in 1986 this movie could have been laughable. But, for some CRAZY reason it worked. The movie was a bit preachy about saving whales, but the execution of the film carried the movie despite its political and random premise.

 See # 10: The Time Machine

#10 The Time Machine (1960)

Rod Taylor’s character travels into the future to see how his world turns out. At first he sticks to the not too distant future, but due to an accident he travels more than 800,000 years into the future.

When: 1917, 1940, 1966 and finally 802,701

Best part: This was the story that started it all! Before the brilliant-if not pessimistic-Wells had written The Time Machine, time travel had never been broached by the popular masses. If Wells hadn’t penned this masterpiece we may never have been blessed by the other time travelling stories we will see later in this list.

Worst part: I have no idea how the audience of the time felt when they saw the gorilla looking Smurf that resembled a homely woman who had stayed out of the sun a few centuries too long; but looking back at the show now it isn’t all that scary. I haven’t always felt this way, because as a kid those dentist lacking blue apes really scared the bejesus out of me. The makeup and costumes have not aged well, but it works because it is a classic Sci-fi tale and in classic Sci-fi tales unbelievable makeup and special effects only add to their appeal.

What is it about the idea of traveling through time that captures our imagination?

What do time travel stories teach us about ourselves? About God?

Why are they just so much fun?

In our second episode, we explore one of our favorite sub-genres of science fiction and fantasy: the time travel story.

Do you have a favorite time travel book or movie? Have a thought we didn’t touch on? Let us know! You can contact us via e-mail, Twitter, or Facebook!

Thanks for listening and Godspeed!

At its best, Star Trek appears to function as pop-allegory/pop metaphor, taking current events and issues (ecology, war, racism) and objectifying them for us to contemplate in a sci-fi setting. The world it presents may make no scientific sense but it is well and truly sufficient to lay out human questions for us to think about. Removed from our immediate neighborhoods, it is refreshing and even intriguing to consider earth matters from the distance of a few light years.

Like the best science fiction, Star Trek does not show us other worlds so meaningfully as it shows us our own — for better of worse, in sickness and in health. In truth, Star Trek doesn’t really even pretend to show us other worlds — only humanity refracted in a vaguely hi-tech mirror.

Nicholas Meyer (writer/director of Star Trek II and VI), in The View from the Bridge: Memories of Star Trek and a Life in Hollywood (2009)

I’ve never seen a more poetic depiction of a man and his turkey fryer . . .

Here’s a public service announcement about turkey fryer safety. There’s so much to love about this video.

“But I was young and arrogant . . .”

Score one for Kirk . . . you could never imagine Patrick Stewart doing this! (Hmmm, second thought, maybe score one for Picard?)

Seriously, though, there’s a companion video that goes with this one showing some firemen actually doing some of the things Shatner did in his video, and it’s pretty amazing how easily and quickly the fire can get out of hand . . . it’s pretty amazing (and scary – I still have a scar from last summer when I was frying fish).

~ Ben

STAR WARS: BATTLE FOR # 1 

by Dr. Jayce

Over the past few decades the stories of Jedi vs. Sith have raged on, but today we will discuss a different battle of good vs. evil.

I am posting a fire starter. I am pitting each of the Star Wars movies against each other. My Co-hosts will likely disagree and you might too, but I ask this of you…prove it! Prove your order and why. Here is mine:

Dr. Jayce's #1	EMPIRE (1st Place) Most won’t argue that the 2nd installment of the original movies is the best of the bunch. It is somewhat darker and deeper than any of the other movies (especially the first three).   Best part: Everything! This movie has everything, Ice planets, swamp planets, and planets in the sky! Not to mention the famous reveal by Vader himself.   Worst part: Luke’s reaction to the BIG news: “NOOOO!” See for yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6sj89xgnl4   Kind of laughable really. LOL.
#2	SITH (2nd Place) This is where many will fall off their rockers in protest of my personal list, but that’s okay…this is MY list!   Darth Vader’s final steps into the dark shadows of the force is displayed in REVENGE OF THE SITH. Many find this to be the best of the newer trilogy, but I rank it even higher.   Best part: The battles are awesome. Yoda vs. the Emperor and Anakin vs. Obi Wan is EPIC! Easily the most fulfilling fighting sequences of the entire trilogy. Ultimate good vs. Devilish Evil and Mentor vs. Protégé’. You just can’t beat it.   Worst part: Dialogue: “Sith Lords are our specialty.”  Just plain awful.
# 3	ORIGINAL (3rd Place)   The one that started it all will go down as one of the best movies of all time as far as cultural impact, but it isn’t even the best movie of its franchise.   Best part: The scenes that included Luke, Solo, Princess, Chewy, and the robots. This group was magical together and I think the chemistry between the three leads is part of the reason this movie was so memorable.   Worst part: The magically moving shrubs. If you rewatch this classic you will find tons of mistakes. Part of which was due to the budget. If you don’t believe me check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyg20cqFxdk
# 4	CLONES (4th Place) Hayden Christensen makes his debut in the second installment of the newer trilogy to mixed reviews.   Best part: Jango Fett! Let’s just say this right now, the Fett’s are just downright cool. On top of that we get to see a whole slew of Jedi battle it out. Very satisfying.   Worst part: Hayden Christensen. Though he improved in time for SITH, in ATTACK OF THE CLONES he seems more “whiney” than threatening and more” immature” than powerful.
# 5	PHANTOM (5th Place) After years of rumors and speculations George Lucas finally delivers his prequels to his master piece STAR WARS.   Best part: Darth Maul. The double edged light saber alone was something that captivated the audience. The fighting scenes with Ray Park as Darth Maul were genuinely awesome to watch.   Worst part: Little Anakin vs. Jar Jar Binks. I really can’t tell you which one was worse, but they both were obviously distracting. I find it odd though that Jar Jar Binks was actually liked by younger viewers, but thankfully Lucas listened to the majority of fans and made Binks a peripheral character later on.
# 6	JEDI (6th Place) This one is the most painful for me to rank. When I originally watched all of the Star Wars’ movies this was possibly my favorite, but I think that of all the movies this one holds up the least over time.   Best part: The redemptive conclusion to the sad life of Anakin Skywalker.   Worst part: Ewoks. As fun as they were when I was a kid, I can’t honestly overlook the horrible and unbelievable fight scenes where EWOKS throw rocks and sticks at FULLY armored soldiers and come out victorious. The soldiers literally just fall over after getting hit with a rock?!

. . . it is impossible to write science fiction and really ignore religion. What if we find intelligent beings on other worlds? Do they have a religion? Is our God universal, and is he/she.it their God as well? What do we do about it? What do they do about it? This point is almost never taken up but, since it would certainly arise if such beings were discovered in actual fact, science fiction loses touch with reality in taking the easy way out and pretending religion doesn’t exist.

Isaac Asimov, in Asimov’s Galaxy: Reflections on Science Fiction (1989).

The government's finally going to reveal what Fox Mulder has been waiting for all these years . . .

Finally, a president who is willing to let the truth be revealed!

There’s a new initiative on the White House’s website that, if you have a petition with 25,000 signatures, they will address your question.

So of course, people are going to ask the question that is in front of most Americans these days:

“What does the government know about life on other planets?”

Here are the official petitions. One asks that the White House “formally acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race”,  stating “We, the undersigned, strongly urge the President of the United States to formally acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race and immediately release into the public domain all files from all agencies and military services relevant to this phenomenon. Hundreds of military and government agency witnesses have come forward with testimony confirming this extraterrestrial presence. Opinion polls now indicate more than 50% of the American people believe there is an extraterrestrial presence and more than 80% believe the government is not telling the truth about this phenomenon. The people have a right to know. The people can handle the truth.”

Another petition asks that the White House “immediately disclose the government’s knowledge of and communications with extraterrestrial beings”. This petition goes on to says, “This Petition calls for the President to disclose to the American people the long withheld knowledge of government interactions with extraterrestrial beings and call for open Congressional hearings to allow the people to become aware of this subject through those whose voices have been silenced by unconstitutional secrecy oaths.”.

Interestingly, if you add up all the signatures for both of these petitions — both together, mind you — it didn’t add up to 25,000. But apparently, the White House staff knew this was something important for them to address.

So here’s the official response: “Searching for E.T., but No Evidence Yet”.

The word: “The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race. In addition, there is no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public’s eye.” They go into more detail, and explain some of the factors. But it all comes down to this: maybe, out there, somewhere . . . just not here . . . and we won’t know for certain any time soon.

(Not so fast, though, say some scientists. There’s some willing to go on record saying, perhaps, we’ll actually find extraterrestrial life within twenty years.)

But the government has gone on record, now, saying there is no government cover up. Of course, that’s exactly what one would expect the government to say if, you know, they were covering something up. Can’t say it’d be a very effective cover up if they answered a petition by saying, “Yes, now that we have 17,000 people signing a petition, we admit it . . . we’ve been involved in a cover up for the last fifty years. We would have told you sooner, but, you know, you didn’t have 17,000 signatures.”

What say you? Government cover up? Is the truth out there? Or are we alone in this universe?

~ Ben

Le Big Boss Productions' "The Captains"

I’m a big fan of William Shatner. If we ever do a podcast to tackle the classic “Kirk vs. Picard”, there will be no question what side I fall on. I will listen to opposing arguments, but I will not change my mind. (Gauntlet thrown, Dr. Jayce.) I enjoy watching Shatner in Star Trek, in Twilight Zone (the series and the movie), in Boston Legal. I’m a fan of Shatner as an actor.

As a presence, as a celebrity, as a musician . . . that, I’m not so much a fan of. Although I know that his presence is a large part of his appeal as an actor.

In “The Captains”, William Shatner interviews some of the other captains from the Trek franchise: Patrick Stewart, of The Next Generation; Avery Brooks, of Deep Space Nine; Kate Mulgrew, of Voyager; Scott Bakula, of Enterprise; Chris Pine, of the new Star Trek movie; and Christopher Plummer? (He played a Klingon in Star Trek VI.)

The interviews are all interesting, although they sometimes seem to be more Shatner pontificating and less Shatner interviewing. His interview with Patrick Stewart alternates between two old friends reminiscing and a “mutual admiration society” (although it does seem very, very genuine – and should be, they are both accomplished actors in different ways). Bakula’s interview feels like a couple of peers getting to know each other, as they both have very similar stories and experiences in their careers and lives. With Mulgrew, Shatner seems to be a little more aggressive, pushing her to answer questions when she doesn’t to his satisfaction, but she’s game. Brooks’ interview is quirky and fun, but I feel like with that interview, more than any other, they are simultaneously aware of the camera and unaware as they sing and goof around in a way that feels both staged and improvised. The interview with Pine is fun to see, especially the arm wrestling (yes, young Kirk and old Kirk arm wrestle – in round one, young Kirk easily overpowers old Kirk, round two has old Kirk showing he doesn’t believe in the no win scenario so he cheats, and round three resolves itself nicely).

Two interesting segments: hearing Scott Bakula, Patrick Stewart, Kate Mulgrew, and William Shatner talk about their family life when they were working on their different series (although for Bakula, it was more about his life during the filming of Quantum Leap).

Another interesting segment is hearing all their views of death. Both of these segments are interesting because they seem to be pretty raw and pretty open about things (I say “seem” because I’m always wary of what people say in front of a camera).

As a Trek fan, The Captains is an interesting hour and a half. There are thoughts about the attraction of Star Trek, a recurrent segment of Shatner walking through a Star Trek convention (the fans are delighted, and Shatner enjoys delighting them), and some exploration about what it means to be a fictional leader and how that might translate into their real life.

But ultimately, “The Captains” is a documentary about William Shatner. It’s his story, and he sets it up as a journey of self-discovery. But considering that it’s a documentary about Star Trek captains, it sometimes gets surprisingly deep.

Then again, considering the way Trak straddles pulp sci-fi and Big Ideas, maybe it’s not so surprising.

Recommended.

~ Ben

In this episode, our intrepid heroes discuss what got them interested in science fiction and fantasy in the first place and why imaginative fiction engages them now.

After you listen to the episode, we’d love to hear what you have to say. If you want to contact us privately, you can click on the contact button above and send us a message using the contact form there.

Do you want to share what first got you interested in sci-fi? Or maybe what keeps you from getting into it? Do you have some thoughts about the “power of story”? Or do you think we’re just plain wonky? Go ahead and leave a comment below! We’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for listening and Godspeed!

The website is the nexus for Strangers and Aliens itself — here you will find the podcast, our main event, so to speak; the blog, which will feature thought provoking articles and quotes, along with book and movie reviews; various ways to communicate with the “community”, through social media and commenting on blog posts and contacting us directly; and links to things that the hosts are involved in or find interesting.

Our hosts are three Christians, Ben Avery, Dr. Jayce O’Neal, and Steve MacDonald, who also have an interest in science fiction, fantasy, and storytelling. They believe storytelling engages the spirit in ways that other methods of communication can not do, and they invite you into the conversation as we “explore faith and imagination”.