The folks over at Deadline are reporting that Ridley Scott is signed on to helm a new rendition of Bladerunner. The classic Philip K. Dick story explores one of his favorite themes, what does it mean to be human and how can you tell if someone is? Details are few and far between yet, such as will this be a prequel or a sequel, but I really don’t care. As a person who already bought every different edit and version of the original movie, I will definitely be in the theater for that one. Meanwhile, Trekweb reports that Walter Koenig has been talking about J. Michael Straczynski getting his hands back onto the rights for Babylon 5 and rolling out a new feature film for the franchise. That is another universe I have never gotten tired of, and I look forward to returning to it as well.
Tonight there is a one time opportunity to see Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal streaming live from Japan, simulcast in Japan, the US, and Canada for free! Trust and Betrayal is the OVA prequel to the TV series, showing Kenshin going from an idealistic young man to a hardened killer in 19th century Japan. The simulcast is being run on Nico Nico Douga, and you can use the first link in this article to get directly to the streaming page. It starts at 22:00 PST tonight or 01:00 EST (yes, that is 10PM west coast, 1AM Saturday morning east coast time), and will run just over two hours. Do not be late, as it will not be repeated. Thanks to the folks at Anime News Network for the heads up on this one.
I enjoy webisodes of programs like Eureka or Battlestar Galactica, where an ongoing TV series has bonus content you can only watch on the web (or wait for the DVDs to come out). It often includes background into things they don’t cover in great detail on the TV shows, or a chunk of the story arc that takes place between two seasons of the main program, bridging the gap to tell you how we got there. There have also been several programs that got their start that way, most notably Sanctuary. Now it seems a new one is coming out, Bryan Singer’s HPlus, and judging by the trailer it is going to be a monster. Thanks to Sci-Fi author Steven Hunt for the heads up on this one. The premiss is H+ is a direct neural interface that connects your brain into the Net and allows you to process information and be productive like never before. It gives you such an advantage over the competition that everyone has to have it, and all but a tiny percentage of the population has it installed. And then the system crashes, killing everyone who has it; this series is about what happens next.
The new online portal JManga was launched today by the Japan’s Digital Comic Association, a coalition of 39 Japanese publishers. This site is a place for The companies to generate excitement for their products, which they predominately do by allowing fans to read many of the titles online, having creators interviews, and hosting a forum where your question about a given manga might be answered by the person who wrote or drew it. This site has been in closed Beta for a month or three now while they worked the bugs out, and tweaked they layout and features. With that many digital publishers signed on I expect this site will be the go-to place for all things Manga. Many of these groups already have their own Manga sites and apps, such as VIZ Manga, while others do not, but by banding together they will have the best chance of reaching their target market.
A trailer from the first episode of the second half of Doctor Who Season 6 called Let’s Kill Hitler: enjoy!
This weekend we have an interesting looking remake of Conan the Barbarian, one a bit more visually explicit than the Arnie version. It also looks like it might be truer to the original books than the previous film versions, and I will be in the theater for this one. Also out this week is Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World, with Jessica Alba as the mommy spy. While this franchise is definitely kid-centric, it still has some entertainment value for the adults in the audience. And there is one more I have to mention, even though it is not genre; the Independent Films crime comedy Flypaper starring Ashley Judd and Patric Dempsey looks to be an absolute hoot. It is only in limited release to start with, but hopefully there will be a theater somewhere near you carrying it.
There is also a special one night only event this Wednesday, the 17th, in the form of RiffTrax Live: Jack the Giant Killer. This is another one of those Fathom Events presentation, with the MST3K inheritors doing a number on the cheesy 1962 fantasy epic.