ODD: I’m trying to streamline PGPoA a bit; from now on, you’ll get Odds ‘n Ends on Tuesdays, Poe’s Points on Thursdays, and a Friday Photo. News, reviews, interviews and commentary will fill the remaining days. Speaking of which, I’ve already got two cool interviews lined up for the coming weeks, so make sure you’ve got our RSS feed bookmarked.
END: It seems reports of the early arrival of DC Universe Classics Wave Two were greatly exaggerated. As of right now, the earliest they could arrive at my door is February 18, meaning JPL or OB1 may snatch victory away from the dripping jaws of Shocka.
ODD: I watched the 1980s British sf/horror flick Lifeforce over the weekend. Has anyone else seen this movie? It was written by Dan O’Bannon (Alien) and directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). It has what looks like a fairly decent budget for a 1980s science fiction movie, but I’d never heard of it. The plot involves some astronauts discovering an alien vessel with three humans inside: two men and a young woman (the latter spends the majority of her screen time fully naked). Turns out they’re space vampires who drain the “lifeforce” out of people, turning them into zombies. Patrick Stewart plays an asylum director and almost makes out with a dude. The zombie apocalypse near the end prefigures other British end-of-days films such as 28 Days Later… Anyway, weird flick.
END: ToyFare #128 hits comic shops tomorrow, featuring another article by yours truly–this one about Kotobukiya’s Star Wars vinyl statues. There’s also going to be some news about the future of Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited and DCUC lines. The issue will be on newsstands later in the month. If the article gets put up on the website I’ll add a link, but I urge you to snag a copy at retail as well.
ODD: There hasn’t been too much toy news of late, but I suspect it’s the public relations calm before the storm of Toy Fair next week. I’ll be blogging all week on the Fair (including special Toy Fair ’08 editions of Odds ‘n Ends and so forth). In the meantime, check out this preview piece on the Fair by AFI’s Jeff Cope.
END: Mrs.-Ghostal-To-Be has me watching the new American Gladiators, which she loved as a kid. I have to admit the show is entertaining, especially that nutty Wolf guy, who looks exactly like Sabertooth and seems to get what the show’s about more than the other gladiators. I suspect it’s only a matter of time before we see new AG action figures. JAKKS Pacific, everyone’s looking at you. I’d buy a Wolf figure.
ODD: For those of you interested in the business side of the action figure industry, I recommend you check out Playthings magazine. It has a lot of interesting content and it’s updated regularly.
END: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles mini-review w/ spoilers (highlight to read) > “Queen’s Gambit” So after Sarah burned his house down, Andy just rebuilt the Turk in a matter of days? Wow. Anyway, some nice action in this one, particularly Cameron’s assault on the armored car. The plot with Reese’s brother may work (even if I have a hard time looking at Brian Austen Green and not wondering where Donna is), but what I’m really interested in is the subplot with Cameron and the classmate who committed suicide. That story is moving at a snail’s pace. I wish the show would take a break from the weekly showdowns with terminators and give us some Buffy-style high school crises. Or at the very least, take a break from the over-arching “stop Skynet before it starts” storyline.
Poe
I think the time travel element is going to be one of the more important concepts in the show. To be honest, I sort of see the films and the series as two different entities (and T3 as yet another entity…)
I think T:SCC has a chance to grow into its own thing and win a set of fans who aren't necessarily pre-existing Terminator lovers. Particularly since the show has a such a bad-ass-female bent.
The show will have to stop and focus on some character development, though, if it's ever going to catch on. It's still taking itself a bit too seriously.
Paul
Nudity?! I've got to see this film.
My fiancee watches American Gladiators and I really haven't been keeping up. I liked the old show better, but this one is pretty decent.
I'm trying to like the Terminator show, but I just can't get into it. Every Terminator fight is almost the same and I can't swallow that they could send so many terminators and resistance fighters into the past. I'll watch the next episode though, there looks like there's going to be some future war stuff.
Poe
@JPL–Yeah, I caught Wolf's cameo on The Soup. That's one of the reasons I like him.
@Googum–Those were the reasons I tried watching the movie in the first place. "Space vampires? Tobe Hooper? Great!"
However, that sort of thinking has failed me before. Often. One good example is when I netflixed Time After Time. "Jack the Ripper? H.G. Wells? Time travel? Nicholas Meyer? Great!" But that movie suuuuuuuuuuucked.
googum
I know intellectually Lifeforce isn't technically a good movie, but I remember liking it. Still, when you think about it later, you'll find yourself treating it more fondly than you actually should, because it crams in a lot of stuff you enjoy, like space vampires, zombies, and nudity.
…did that make any sense, there?
JPL
Also a big fan of Wolf on AG. He kinda looks like Sabertooth, but he also reminds me of Ben Stiller's character from Dodgeball for some reason.
The guy clearly has a sense of humor about himself and his role on the show. He actually appeared on The Soup with Joel McHale recently and didn't have a problem making fun of his persona.
http://www.eonline.com/on/shows/thesoup/
Pete
I really like Playthings a lot. It's got a lot of interesting articles.
The first time I saw Wolf on AG I quite literally fell off the couch laughing. I agree with you that he's the only one really who "gets" the AG thing, though Titan does fill his role as the stereotypical"prettyboy" fairly well.
Actually, he'd be a fair Steve Rogers…