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Something to Watch: Discs

The one new Movie title isn’t genre, and Janis: Little Girl Blue looks like it actually came out this past week. But it is an excellent documentary about an amazing artist who we lost too soon, so I had to mention it anyways. The IP Man Trilogy puts 3 of the movies in that series into a single box, at a noticeable savings over buying them individually, so if you don’t have them already now might be the time. Likewise DC Universe is releasing a number of their animated feature films two to a box for the price of one this week, including Son of Batman/Batman: Under The Red Hood, All-Star Superman/Superman Doomsday, and Superman vs. The Elite/Superman: Unbound. TV is represented by Nova: Rise of the Robots, also not genre but very worth watching.

We do better in Anime, with some actual new genre titles like Assassination Classroom – Season 1 Part 1 bringing the first 11 episodes of the series home. Akame ga Kill: Collection 2 is the second half of that rather twisted story line, this time with the old enemies working together. Black Butler: Book of Murder has two OVAs about Ceil and the Demon Butler, and a cast that includes legendary author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; that alone should make this an important selection. Finally Gunbuster: The Movie tells the tale of the monsters between the stars, and the humans who go out to fight them. The time dilation caused by their near light speed transitions means the ones they go out to protect may be long dead before the battle is even joined.

1984: Patrick Troughton

A year before he became the 2nd Doctor, Patrick Troughton did a BBC Radio production of George Orwell’s 1984. He wasn’t the first actor to give voice to Winston Smith, because that was David Niven in 1949, within a year of the books original publication. He was the first actor to ever play Robin Hood on TV in 1953, and I can’t help but wish at least one complete episode of that show still exists in some format so I could watch it. Video Curios posted his 1984 online a few years ago, and Open Culture posted the heads up, so here you go; enjoy.

A Sad Fairwell to SF Signal

The award winning SF Signal posted its final entry on May 5th, one day after Star Wars Day. For the past almost 13 years I have hit the site at least once a week, always finding lots of interesting and exciting science fiction and fantasy articles and links there. If I went for no other reason, I always checked out their regular postings on free science fiction you could read, hear, or watch on line. They have even won some Hugo awards for Best Fanzine and Best Podcast, and I have had them in my Blog Roll for over a decade. But John DeNardo made the announcement last week that they were shutting down new entries because they could no longer devote the amount of time such a site required. It will remain online until at least June so you can still access the 100 Gig of sci-fi interviews and articles, and they are looking into some hosting options that will allow it to stay online at least as a static site. I wish them well on their next endeavors, and am sorry to see them go.

Project Itoh: Harmony

For 2 days only Project Itoh: Harmony will be on the big screen May 17th and 18th only. The Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel by Satoshi Itō (often known as Project Itoh), Harmony, is an amazingly twisted and complex story that fully deserved that award. If you haven’t had a chance to read the original book yet, now you can see its film version. Some of us will be lucky and have it hit nearby, I intend to be one of the folks in the theater when it does.

Neil Gaiman reads Jabberwocky

The title says the important bit, but it is not the full story. Worldbuilders let people who donated money vote on what would be read. In this instance, the author/reader was Neil Gaiman, and Jabberwocky won the toss (the also-rans included Goodnight Moon, Fox in Socks, and Where the Wild Things Are). Thanks to everyone who contributed, we got this excellent rendition of a master writer reciting a masterpiece. This particular contribution took place back in 2014, but the work continues; be sure to visit Worldbuilders and see if you can’t find a current project worth your own contribution.

New Fantastic Beasts trailer

The new J.K. Rowling story, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, moves the Harry Potter universe forward in time by a generation or two, and the latest trailer shows what Magic in 1926 New York might look like. Personally, I am hoping she dives in and does a new entire series with them, but even if it is a one off I will take it and be grateful. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will be on the big screen in November, and I will definitely be in the audience on opening day.