I loved Daywatch and Nightwatch and am waiting for the third in the trilogy to be released. I also enjoyed Wanted, and the man who directed all three of them, Timur Bekmambetov, is at it again. This time the Russian movie he is creating is called Chernaya Molniya, in English Black Lightning, kind of Batman Meets Transformers. It is hard to believe looking at the trailer that he made the movie for only 8 million dollars; and now I need to find out where to buy a flying car like that! Also, BBC America has posted some Water of Mars trailers on their video server, but much like the UK BBC online offerings it seems to be limited to viewing from a single country.
There are a few good DVD’s being released this week. On the Movie front, I have to give the top spot to the live-action release of Blood: The Last Vampire. I really wanted to see that one on the big screen, but it just wasn’t close enough to make. Then we have Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, a frenetic non-stop action ride for those times you just need some mindless fun. If you missed getting the first Transformers, they are releasing a 2-pack of both movies as well. Also being released is a BlueRay version of Waterworld.
For TV series, Numbers: the complete 5th season is hitting the shelves, and yes, I know it isn’t Sci-Fi, but it is at least Nerdy, and I didn’t see any actual SF/F TV shows on offer this week. I am a bit annoyed that Red Dwarf: Back to Earth was released in the US on October 6th, but I haven’t found it on a single store shelf. Guess I am going to have to order it online.
There are a good assortment of Anime titles coming out this week, not counting the previously mentioned Blood, The Last Vampire (being a live action version it doesn’t count), but there is Blood+, part 2 for those who want more Vamp action. If you prefer blood viruses that cause men to fuse with machines and go on cybernetic rampages, try out Blassreiter part 1. If you want a paranormal tale of boys traumatized so years later they can travel between dimensions and help fight a ghost invasion, and want excellent production values in the animation, then Shirow Masamune’s (Ghost in the Shell) Ghost Hound – Collection 1 is the DVD box set to look for. For a spiritual battle against demons with a noticeable amount of fan service, the choice is Ah My Buddha volume 5.
There are also re-releases of a number of classic Sci-Fi anime’s this week, including My-Otome – Complete Collection Anime Legends, Toward the Terra – Complete Collection Anime Legends, and Vision of Escaflowne – Complete Collection Super Legends. And one re-released Otaku favorite, Comic Party: Revolution – Complete Set, for some serious fun.
Appearing in next weeks Big Bang Theory is Wil Wheaton. I haven’t actually watched that show, but based on this trailer I guess I am going to check it out.
I like the way my Wednesday posting, Things to Do, has taken on a life of its own and started to build itself as I watch (and type furiously trying to keep up). So I am going to add a Sunday segment as well (you are reading the first instance now) called Things to Watch. As before, I don’t know what format or structure this will end up having, so we will just start, and see what develops.
There are some good DVDs being released this week, and as always some not so good. Whether you choose to buy them, rent them from a brick-and-mortar/mailing service/supermarket kiosk, or stream them from services like Amazon or Netflix is your choice. Just like the Things to Do postings, I am doing this to organize my awareness of the available programming in hopes I don’t miss the better ones. For the moment, I am not going to focus on the ephemeral sources, like the TV show home page that streams the current episode for one week, or the equivalent HULU, FanCast, or CrunchyRoll offerings. Perhaps that will end up being another day of the week entry; for this one, I just want to look at things that will continue to be around once they have been made available for purchase, at least for the foreseeable future.
Of this weeks DVD output, the one that looks most interesting to me is The Hunger: The Complete Second Season, hosted by David Bowie, who starred in the original movie (Terence Stamp hosted the first season). Directed by Tony and Ridley Scott, written by such authors as Brian Lumley and Robert Bloch, and starring too many famous actors for me to list, this one is a must-have for the Halloween season. If you use the season 2 link in the next few days, you can enter to win a copy from eFilmCritic; the contest ends November first, but the DVD’s might only play properly if you live in Australia.
Legend of the Seeker is another episodic TV series released to DVD this week, with Season One. This should set you up to be ready for the new season, beginning on November 7th. The Futurama Complete Collection also becomes available this week, for those who missed the earlier versions. If you missed them, for shame; but also, they are $14 to $20 per season at this point. While I love the Bender Head as the container, I don’t really feel that it increased their value from $56 to $80 for the 4 seasons to the $199.95 they are looking for with this version. If there is an additional 50 hours of programming or some other reason the new price is valid, please let me know.
On the Anime front, the TOKYO MAJIN Complete Series Box Set becomes available this week; while Gantz-like in its violence, it doesn’t quite deliver on the fan-service level. Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit concludes the season with volume 6, and the full season is also out this week. A new project to US shores, Kiba – The Complete Collection delivers the entire series at once. Uzumaki (Residents become obsessed with spiral shapes) is also new this week, but with only the first few episodes available.
The movie that stands out this week is Lovecraft: Fear Of The Unknown, which is more of a documentary than anything else. The best fiction bet may be Zombie Self Defense Force from Japan if you are a zombie fan. From the US comes Land of the Lost; I tend to wonder who was advising folks to make this movie. For a Halloween release, the William Castle Film Collection has some classics.
Did you know Leonard Nimoy got his start in science fiction as the third zombie in Zombies of the Stratosphere? You can learn about that, his new roll in Fringe, tidbits about Trek XI and XII, and more at his interview on Subspace Communique. If you want a bit more, try the LA Times: Nimoy on William Bell article. The word from EW’s Michael Ausiello is that NBC may have decided to move up its scheduled launch of Chuck from March to possibly as early as the end of this month. If they do that, it increases the odds of their buying more than the 13 episodes they originally signed up for. Good news indeed! In Dublin, Ireland is a place that seems to be a science museum crossed with an art gallery. Called the Science Gallery, they just opened up a new exhibit entitled What If…?. In this exhibit they explore possible developments in technology, and each entry has its own Twitter hashtag they ask you use when leaving comments. Here are highlights from their Science Gallery Youtube Channel of their last exhibit, Bubbles: Don’t Burst Them.
I can’t watch the video on the Dr Hoo YouTube Page, probably because I am not in the UK. But I can watch the short promo on their Facebook page, which gave me the link to the home page on Virgin where I also can’t watch anything. But that’s OK, because it was announced at MIPCOM today that IODA cut a deal to distribute it worldwide, so it should be available on ITunes and Amazon soon. Thanks to Marketwire for the details on that one. The first trailer is out for Splice, a movie about genetically engineering a new organism into existence with a few surprises for the scientists.