Last year someone called for March 22nd to become Talk like William Shatner Day. That someone was Maurice LaMarche, who bills himself as the 3rd most prominent William Shatner impersonator, and he is also the Voice of the Brain (as in Pinky and the Brain). It is coming around again Monday, gang, so practice your dramatic pauses and get ready…
The word from Red Dwarf is that Hattie Hayridge, the female Holly of Red Dwarf, has been interviewed by Robert Llewellyn for his Carpool program on Llewtube. In other UK SF news, Tom Baker will be doing one or more additional turns as The Doctor, recording for Big Finish Productions. That is according to Comic Mix News, who pulled the tidbit from Tom Baker’s own web site. Besides pointing you to the forum entry, I should also mention that his Home page is very nicely done, but now I am going to have to re-watch Blackadder to see if I can spot him.
The most important Doctor Who Con of the season has to be Gallifrey One: Blackjack 21 in Los Angeles. Guests include Sarah Sutton, Katey Manning, Georgia Moffett, Debora Watling, Frazier Hines, John Levene, and many, many more.
There are two good general sci-Fi cons in the US this weekend; on the left coast is Condor XVII in San Diego, with Writer GoH CJ Cherryh. The theme is Tripping the Past Fantastic in all its Steampunk glory, with a Mad Science Faire and nominations open for the Mad Scientists Hall of Fame. Out of those already nominated, I have to vote for Nichola Tesla for the Real and for the Fictional, it’s a toss-up between Dr. Emmett Brown and Professor Albert Wickwire (in both cases because of the skill and sheer joy the actors brought to the parts). There are also writers workshops, dealers rooms, anime rooms, the Hogwarts Educational Retreat, lots of live music including the Steam Powered Giraffe, and ever so much more.
Over on the write coast, SheVaCon in Roanoke, VA, has guests covering the spectrum of authors (including Kevin J. and Rebeca M. Anderson), artists, and actors. All aspects of Fandom seem to be covered in the Events section, with Anime Rooms, TV/Movie Viewing Rooms, Game Rooms, Computer Rooms, Fan Groups (a LOT of them), multiple competitive Cosplay events as well as non-competitive, and everything else you would expect. Whichever coast you are on, quality general Sci-Fi Fun is to be had!
If you are down under, Continuum 6: Future Tense looks to be the venue of choice this weekend. The premise for the event is that 2010 was used in so many books, movies, etc. to mean simply The Future, that now that it is here we should celebrate! Their home page describes it as Killer robots are beating down the door while Mutant Hordes gather… your Emotional Inhibitor is on the fritz and your Computer is calling you “Dave”, and again this event has everything a good general Con should have, plus something special. This is the event where they hand out the Chronos Awards, which I find somewhat disturbing. I am not disturbed by the thought of the award, but by the fact that I know none of the nominees in a contest that is pulling together the best authors and stories from an entire subcontinent. Looks like I have some serious reading to do!
Meanwhile the Japanese Art Festival comes alive at the Richmond Adult Community College in Richmond, UK. This is a Non-traditional anime-related event, if you are interested in the subject matter, I urge you not to miss this one; it is a monster!
The Doctor Is Coming!
Tom Baker was my doctor, right up until David Tennant came along. Of all the actors that played the part, these were the two who spoke to me, who became the Ideal Doctor. I don’t know how the new one will do, but I will be watching. This is all old news, but I felt the need to post these videos again since there is now a New Doctor 12 trailer online. And then I posted the others because I couldn’t help myself.
Some things are too funny to avoid. One of those things is the tremendous body of work created by Mitch Ben and the Bonzo Dog Band. This was the place where comedy and music slammed face-first into each other, and each grew a bit in the process. So I thought i should post a few songs here, for those who didn’t know about them. But just before we go there, the best bit of street theater ever; Antwerp is singing scales from The Sound Of Music, and so is Wellington! If your town hasn’t gone there yet, you could still get lucky.
One of the best movies of 2009 (certainly in the top 5) is coming out on Tuesday: Cold Souls. This one isn’t an action/adventure tale with Sci-Fi special effects wallpaper like so many others, but the core premise of the story is science fiction, and the rest of the film explores the consequences spinning off from that premise. Because it was in such limited release in the theaters a lot of folks didn’t get the chance to see this on the big screen. Do not miss it now; the acting is amazing, and the story itself is wonderfully presented.
The other movie worth noting is Zombieland, yet another comedy about the living dead; at this rate, they could become almost as numerous as TV shows about Vampire Cops/Detectives.
Speaking of TV, also this week are the final David Tennant Doctor Who episodes, >Dr. Who: End of Time Parts 1 & 2 and Doctor Who: The Water of Mars. If you haven’t already acquired the other two Who Specials, Doctor Who: The Complete Specials box set gets released Tuesday as well.
the only new Anime I found coming out this week is Skull Man: Complete Collection, which looks like it would make a good double feature with Red Garden (if you have 12 hours to watch a double feature). I just wanted to mention last weeks Sands of Destruction again, because they have a great tag line: Destroying the world solves everything.