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Red Dwarf Radio, Doctor Who Special

Starting tomorrow, Sunday December 6th, BBC7 will be running Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, the book by Grant Naylor (who is actually Rob Grant & Doug Naylor) that tells the story about how Dave Lister ended up as part of the crew of the Red Dwarf. If that wasn’t enough, the story is read by Arnold Rimmer himself – Chris Barrie. The segments are 30 minutes long, so it will take six of them to read the whole book. There are three more Red Dwarf books and I for one am sincerely hoping they decide to present them all.

There are only 3 David Tennant Doctor Who specials left, and BBC America will be playing The Water of Mars on Saturday December 19th. Yes, it is the Beginning of the End; and Children in Need had a taste to share…

TV News: The Prisoner, Dollhouse, Torchwood, Bradbury

The Prisoner miniseries will kick off Sunday the 15th and run for 3 nights. This miniseries is a remake of the 1967 cult classic, and will run for three consecutive nights. Currently the original Prisoner is available on On Demand and on DVD.

That was the good TV news; the bad news is that Dollhouse is canceled, which figures, since it was getting better every episode. You can see what Joss has to say about the final episodes.

Torchwood, on the other hand, now has a real good chance of having a season 4! Add that to word that Ray Bradbury’s new miniseries should hit the airwaves soon as well, and the tally comes to 3 good announcements to one bad.

Things to Do: Cons

If fantastic art has ever drawn your eye, this weekend offers something special; IlluxCon in Altoona, PA has the biggest talents in the field displaying their work. The Guest List is absolutely staggering, including artists like Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell, Michael Whelan, Brom, Todd Lockwood, Greg Hildebrandt, Jordu Schell, and Bob Eggleton, to name just a few. I have never heard of a more impressive gathering of talent in this century, and will do my best to be there; this is my pick for the Event of Choice this weekend.

The Readercon event would have to be TusCon 36, put together by the Baja Arizona Science Fiction Association. Edward Bryant is the Toastmaster, and the Cosplay competition is Steampunk this year.

Speaking of Steampunk, best SteamCon event goes to WindyCon 36 running this Friday through Sunday in Lombard, IL. Author GoH is James P. Blaylock, while Artist GoH goes to the team of Phil and Kaja Foglio, who amongst many other works create the ongoing Girl Genius.

The MediaCon event for this weekend looks to be NEFanX, the New England Fan eXperience. Headlined with GoH Leonard Nimoy, who is backed up by actors Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood’s Ianto Jones) and John de Lancie (who played both Trek’s Q and the real scientist Nikola Tesla in Legend), writer Wen Spencer, and Devo Spice, this is an impressive collection of talent.

There are a bunch of Anime Cons this weekend, and one of the best of them is EirtaKon, which identifies itself as Ireland’s first Anime convention, and the largest of it’s kind on the island, from the 13th to the 15th. Nearby, and much smaller, is the Anime League Club London, London’s little Anime convention, at just 5 pounds for entry on its single day.

In Canada, OtaFest Lite takes place on Saturday only, reproducing the event look-and-feel of the early days of the University of Calgary’s major Otaku Festival. Dot Con happens in Toronto, to include Junko’s Shamisen. In the US, Izumicon happens from the 13th to the 15th in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with all the usual events. Yet another one day Con, Kaji Con, happens in Georgia on the 14th. At some point these details get too complex to track.

And then there is EuroQuest, a Gaming Con from the old country. And there are others…

Things to Watch: DVDs

Topping the TV show DVD list is the Sara Jane Adventures: the Complete 2nd Season. Sarah Jane has helped the franchise by bringing a truly kid-centric program that takes place on modern day Earth, using only the wits of its youthful protagonists to save the world. I find it makes an enjoyable counterbalance to the more adult themed Torchwood, each pivoting around the Doctor as their anchor point.

The western-style Animation winner for this Tuesday has to be Pixar’s UP, a movie that has had me snapping my head around and shouting Squirrel in mid-sentence since I first saw it. A good rule of thumb for me is if it is by Pixar, it belongs in the permanent collection. While I can’t say the same of the Cartoon Network, Xavier Renegade Angel looks worth checking out. BTW, if you were thinking about ordering the HD version of Aeon Flux, it looks like that one will not be released this month after all, if ever.

As usual, some quite good entries from the world of Anime, starting with Naruto: Shipp|AMP|#363;den the Movie. One series I wasn’t familiar with has two seasons (actually two different series) being released on Tuesday: Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha – Collection, and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s – Complete Collection. There is also the usual assortment of repackaged re-releases, like the classic Giant Robo, and a few newly available on High Def as there are each week (this week Monsters, Inc. becomes available in HD, and last week WitchBlade did the deed).

I would have mentioned S A Collection 1, but I see no Sci-Fi influences in any review I have found, and I can name three series with the same plot description that include giant robots, two with magical girls, one that jumps through linear time and another that jumps between parallel world lines. Is there at least a telepath or curse to make it interesting? Finally, there are a few places reporting Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE comes out this week, but a lot more point to next week as the actual release date.

There was very little in the way of new Sci-Fi or Fantasy live action films released this week. There were a few horror flicks like Summer’s Moon that had no fantastical elements to them, although with Breast Grenades and Rocket Feet, Samurai Princess probably counts. There were a few classic gems turned out as High Def Blue Ray disks, including Godzilla, Logan’s Run, and Watchmen (The Ultimate Cut). Perhaps Christmas on Mars will become available soon.