Some of the music (OK, a LOT of the music) Shatner has created has been sad and hysterical at the same time, like his early 70s rendition of Rocket Man. A much smaller number of his songs have been better than the original versions, like his go at Common People. And on very rare occasions he has given us an original work or following up on. But this one is flat out scary; Part of the creation process for his new song, a cover of Iron Man. I can’t wait to see the finished product.
The top movie this week is The Adjustment Bureau, yet another Philip K. Dick story given the big screen treatment. I thought the early 1960s stylization of the sets and costumes was a good choice, since that matched up with the era it was written in. Another good one is The Eagle, the dramatization of what might have happened to the Ninth Legion in 120 AD. To counterbalance those, we have Van Von Hunter, a silly live action movie based on an American comic but filmed by Tokyo Pop (you may have recently seen their movie Priest), a now defunct American production and distribution company for predominately Japanese properties. The other counterbalance is Mega Python vs. Gatoroid, just to prove silly movies still sell. I have never been able to figure out why these kind of movies made in the US are so offensive to me, and yet I love Gojira and the like from Japan. Actually the US release of Godzilla with Jean and Mathew was a favorite as well; maybe it’s the monsters.
For TV, Medium: The Final Season becomes available, as well as the full series in a single box set. While I am aware this series was based on someone’s real life, to me it will always be Fantasy.
New Anime this week starts with Bleach Uncut Box Set 9, another handful of episodes in this long running series about the world of the Soul Reapers. When I say a handful, I mean just that; episodes 146 through 156 are included here, only 11 of them. At this rate, it will be a while before we catch up with the current production run, which is somewhere around episode 275. The Kanokon OVA Collection is all about summer break and how the relationships evolve as the Fox Goddess and Wolf Goddess continue to vie for the heart of the human Kouta.
While not actually Sci-Fi or Fantasy, You’re Under Arrest is one of my favorite Anime series, and the Complete Full Throttle set is also the complete season 3. It has been a while since the last season, and this one starts off with one partner having returned from forensics training in the US, while the other one just finished JSDF (Japanese Self-Defense Force) Ranger training, which is as close to Green Beret as makes no difference. If you thought these two were dangerous to everyone anywhere near them before (criminal or not), wait till you see them now! And Kekkaishi – Part 1 has two childhood friends battling it out to see who gets to be the destroyer of monsters using barrier magic. While both are doing their best to protect their people, they are not the same gender, so some romantic tension gets added to the story.
Finally, this weeks classic series re-release is Blue Gender, where our protagonist wakes up from a few decades of suspended animation to discover that instead of the cure for his terminal disease that he was expecting, humans are being hunted as food by giant insects. As usual with such releases, you can pick up this quality series for dirt cheap if you shop around, $20 being the est price I found.
For those who missed seeing this tribute video when it aired during the season 6 Doctor Who premiere this past Saturday. This loving tribute to Lis is the official BBC presentation.
Sadly the reports have come in today that Elisabeth Sladen, the actress who played Sarah Jane Smith, has died at the age of 63. She was without a doubt the longest running companion, working with Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker in the 1970s and 1980s, then returning several years ago to partner up with David Tennant, and finally getting her own series, the Sarah Jane Adventures. There is one more season of that in the can ready to be broadcast, so there are still new adventures waiting. The most moving tribute I have seen so far came from Russell T. Davies, although another really nice one came from Airlock Alpha. It is fitting that the BBC announcement was a part of the Doctor Who News segment of the site, and includes Steven Moffat’s reaction. And BBC Worldwide put together this YouTube collection of some of Sarah Jane’s finest moments.
It is time for the SFX 2011 Blog Awards, where the world class Sci-Fi magazine staff have narrowed each category down to four or so nominations. They have six categories, but they have still left us some impossible decisions. Under Best Podcast, as an example, they have both Escape Pod and Doctor Who Podshock, both of which are insanely good, so how do you decide? The Fan Community choice is even harder; Gateworld or Whedonesque gets compounded with Gallifrey Base or The Trek BBS, and I want to vote for all of them! But you only get one vote per category, and trust me when I say the others are just as difficult to choose between.
The opening ceremonies of Gallifrey 22, which is going on this weekend, were caught on Video and posted online. Peter Davison does a wonderful job with this, and they even manage a nod to The Doctor Who Experience in the process.