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Octoberfest is coming!

Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest is coming from Thursday October 14th through Saturday October 16th, and it is bringing many goodies. It will kick off on Thursday night with a special Planetarium program on Astrobiology at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich (home of Greenwich Mean Time). My personal film favorite may be the UK premier of the live action Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time movie, giving us yet another rendition of this perennial favorite. Another UK premier will be the first ever Serbian feature length animation, in the form of the Cyberpunk soon-to-be classic Technotise: Edit & I. There are an assortment of all-night screening sessions with various focuses as well as a collection of workshops, panels, and gatherings. All in all, an event worth attending.


Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
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Something to Watch: DVD’s

Genetic engineering gone wrong at its finest, Splice will be on the shelves this Tuesday. It caused quite a stir on the Film Fest circuit, but didn’t do as well at the box office, in part because it was released on a very limited number of screens. While Splice is a thriller, the other feature film releases this week are out-and-out horror, including the reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

TV did much better than movies this week. Continuing the tales of the Battlestar Galactica universe, Caprica: Season 1.0 shows how the Cylon’s were developed and sets everything up for the Cylon-Human wars. The tech base for their development is only a few years in advance of ours own, which helps remind us we need to get ready for the Robot Uprising. Also out this week, the complete first season of Star Gate Universe, previously available as parts 1 and 2, also from Syfy and also bearing a resemblance to Battlestar Galactica. In a completely different genre, Medium comes out with Season 6, as well as Seasons 1 through 6 in a single box set.

For western animations, we have Dr. Who: Dreamland, with David Tennant doing the voice-over work for the Doctor. This story was previously available to watch online, but only if you live in the UK. From Dreamworks comes another in the Penguin series, Penguins of Madagascar: I Was A Penguin Zombie.

Several gems from the Anime realm, starting with Linebarrels of Iron part 2 and the Linebarrels of Iron OVA collection (all two episodes of it). Being re-released in more affordable form, Jinki:Extend – The Complete Series comes out in a S.A.V.E. Edition for more giant mecha fun. There was a series I saw some time ago I thought was called Super Gals that involved the three lead girls growing to 7 stories tall and fighting off alien invasions and giant monsters, but the Super Gals complete series being released this week seems to have a completely different plot description; I thought I would link it here anyways, in case it does turn out to be the one I was thinking of.

Something to Watch: DVDs

The winner in the movie category this week is obviously Iron Man 2, a film that built on the premise of the first one and ran with it. Of particular interest is the way it fleshed out more of the Avengers arc and back story, and introduced several new characters with Black Widow being the best represented. The other movie this week is no slouch, even if nowhere near as well known: Suck is a rock-and-roll vampire film with some real bite, and a cast that includes Malcolm McDowell as Eddie Van Helsig, Nicole de Boer, Rob Stefaniuk, Jessica Paré, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, Moby, Henry Rollins, and more. It picked up at least seven awards including ones from the Toronto IFF, SXSW, and Fantasia.

Live Action TV series include Legend of the Seeker: The Complete Second Season, based on the Terry Goodkind novels, and not much else that I have seen.

In the field of western animations, the important releases are the final two seasons of Red VS. Blue, Red vs. Blue: Recollection which is season 7, and Red vs. Blue: Revelation, season 8. With these, the entire run of Red VS. Blue is available to play even on TVs with no web interfaces.

There are several Anime releases this week, including Bleach Box Set 6, another season of our favorite Soul Reapers in action. If you want to watch some of these online, including the latest episodes as they air in Japan, you have a couple of choices; Crunchyroll, where a premium membership allows you to watch the latest episode an hour after it airs in Japan, and Viz Anime, where you can see the released in the US episodes as well as the current season only a week or two after they played in Tokyo.

Also out, Hell Girl: Three Vessels Collection 1 does not let go of the pressure generated in seasons 1 and 2, but continues to build on it. Season 3 collection 2 of Hell Girl will be available at the end of November, if you were wondering, and I can’t say I am very surprised to learn there is conflict in Hell. Kaze No Stigma: Season 1 is the story of a family of Fire Users who banished one member who later returned as a very powerful Wind Spirit controller to challenge them all. Nabari No Ou: The Complete Series gives you a taste of what it is to be a Ninja with a hijutsu (hidden technique) that can control all other Ninja’s, much in the spirit of One Ring to Rule Them All. All three of these tales fit in here because they are fantasies from my perspective, but in terms of the cultures which created each of these stories (and yes, like the US, Japan is not a monolithic society, no matter how much the multinational corps try to homogenize us all into one big consumer culture) is told from a world view considered the core reality by its society members.

Something to Watch: DVD’s

Ondine did pretty well when it made the festival circuit, getting lots of good buzz, but when it finally made a limited theatrical release it played no where near me. Now that is coming out on DVD this Tuesday I will finally get to watch this tale of a mermaid-like creature and the fisherman who catches her. The other live action movie out this week is the
Ridley Scott/Russel Crow version of Robin Hood, complete with WWII amphibious assault craft.

For TV programs, Being Human: Season Two just finished its first run on BBC America and is now heading for the shelves. A lot of the second season involves dealing with the consequences of the first, such as George accidentally turning his girlfriend into a werewolf and Mitchell’s new position in the local Vampire hierarchy. But there are new enemies to deal with this time around, one just for Annie and an organization out for the whole group and all their associates. Mythbusters Collection 6 is also available for anyone who likes their science with some serious attitude, and the new season rolls out on October 6th.

Xam’d: Lost Memories – Collection 1 is the story of war between humans and human/Hiruko fusions, told from the viewpoint of the high school boy who just got merged. The animation quality is excellent, and a bonus is the opening track by Boom Boom Satellites. Two other animation series come out in reduced cost editions, Ghost Hunt – The Complete Series in a S.A.V.E. version, and Samurai 7 in a Viridian Collection.

New Season Trailers!

The new Game of Thrones trailer, the George R.R. Martin series from HBO, premiering in 2011; The new Fringe trailer from Fox, with the new season kicking off the 23rd of September. The new season 4 trailer for Chuck on NBC, with a season that promises to be the best one yet. From Syfy, Stargate Universe and Caprica. There are a whole lot more, but get ready, because the majority of the new season starts next week!

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