Today is the opening ceremony at the NADWCon, or North American Discworld Con, in Baltimore, MD. Obviously Sir Terry Pratchett is the Guest of Honor, but a lot of other folks will be there as well, including another favorite satirical author of mine, Esther M. Friesner. I recommend haunting the media area, in case you might be able to see some footage of the new TV series The Watch, assuming they got the money to make it. Note this is supposed to be a full TV series, and not a miniseries like Hogfather, Going Postal, or The Color Of Magic. 13 hour long episodes!
Attack on Titan with ponies? Yes, that is one. Attack on Fortress, Attack on Kingdom Hearts, Attack on pretty much everything you can name. There are two killer Anime’s this season, and Attack On Titan is ahead by a nose, but it has spawned more fan interaction than anything else going.
The Saturn Awards are handed out by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, and try to honor the best TV and Movies each year. There are some amazing programs up for consideration this year; I will be cheering on The Avengers and Joss Whedon for their multiple nominations and hope they each take home something, but there is some stiff competition. For the full list, see the Saturn Awards Nominations Page.
The fantasy film this week is a re-release of 1965’s Beatles Help!, but since this is the first time ever a fully restored version will be available on Blue Ray, perhaps it could be counted as a new release. Also, while not exactly genre, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is a fun film with more than a tip of the hat to the magically inclined.
In TV, Todd & the Book of Pure Evil: The Complete Second Season is finally being released in the US. It has been available on streaming for a while through various paid streaming services, but this will be the first opportunity to add it to your permanent collection in this country. Meanwhile, the cast and crew have been trying to raise the funds to get a third season going; read about it at their web site.
In Anime, Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte is season 2 of the series and continues the trail of havoc the wishes of the high school protagonist creates as his android angels (or angelic androids, they are a little unclear on that point) carry them out. Juden Chan: The Complete Series is about spirit girls from another universe who charge up the depressed so they can live their lives, and what happens when they meet a boy who can see them.
Another spirit girl is a shinigami called Momo: The Girl God of Death, who does her best to help the spirits of the no longer living she guides to the other side. Helps so much she herself winds up in trouble, in fact. This is more of an OVA than a series, since the entire thing is only six 25 minute episodes long, but all of them are here.
Old school anime from the late 80s, Saint Seiya Movies 1 & 2 are being re-released together, with the 3rd and 4th movies in another box set. I couldn’t find a link to the official web site, so I linked one of the TV series instead, where you can watch episodes and get an idea of the program.
The prime movie this time is Jack the Giant Slayer, where Jack accidentally opens a gateway to a land of giants, who immediately invade the world they were driven out of long ago and attempt to take it back. Also coming out is The Ghastly Love of Johnny X, aliens exiled to Earth for delinquency who just keep getting in trouble once they arrive. This one is campy silliness with some fun musical numbers and several surprises in the cast you might enjoy.
In TV, Wilfred: The Complete Season Two brings more strangeness between a man and his neighbor’s anthropomorphic dog. In both TV and western animation, Kung Fu Panda Legends of Awesomeness: Good Croc, Bad Croc is the first release of the Panda-centric TV show. The production house changed, the original films were a joint production of Disney and Chinese animation works, and most of the voice actors are different than the films as well, but there is still some good stuff here.
In Anime, last year’s Kill Me Baby brings a truly bizarre series of events to a normal high school filled with anything but normal students. Things like escaped bears, several separate groups of assassins, a family of ninjas, voodoo curses, and killer mosquitoes, to name just a few.
Saiyuki: The Complete Collection brings 50 episodes of Demon fighting goodness. Long ago demons and humans lived together in peace, but now some renegade demons are trying to manifest a great evil. A small group of disparate souls come together to oppose them, and the fight is on! This classic anime series is from 2000, and if you shop around to can pick this one up at a decent price. Finally, Chrome Shelled Regios has been released in a S.A.V.E. edition, so you can pick up the entire series for just around $20.
A couple of real winners in Movies this week, starting with Oz: The Great and Powerful. This Disney built prequel was a true homage to the 1939 movie on so many levels, as well as to Frank L. Baum’s wonderful but scary universe. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is another excellent selection, and I am definitely going to have to go for the unrated version with the extended footage. If those weren’t enough the Korean historical epic Masquerade tells an exciting tale of a commoner who becomes a king in the 16th century.
While there doesn’t seem to be any true genre TV this week, Burn Notice: Season Six comes awfully close. Hey, it’s got Bruce Campbell, that ought to qualify it right there.
In Anime, Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne is the story of a helpful high school girl who agrees to pilot a giant robot to kill aliens who are trying to invade the Earth. So yes, now that you ask, this one is a comedy, and I believe they are working on a movie to go with this 12 episode TV series. Bleach: Season 17 has the Soul Reapers battling their own weapons, which are under the control of a power with his eye set on the world of the living. This brings the US anime release up to episode 255, but I think the current Japanese episode is 640. We have a ways to go to catch up.
Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings has season 1 at 13 episodes, season 2 at 12 episodes, plus the OVA. It is a 3-way battle between ninjas, samurai, and pirates, each group trying their best to conquer the country, until the Demon King shows up to threaten everybody. Then the warring parties join forces to eradicate their common foe. While I am not sure if Mysterious Girlfriend X is genre or not (I am only about a third of the way through the series, it could still go either way), it is sufficiently bizarre to be worth checking out.