We are rapidly approaching the 50th anniversary, and everyone is gearing up for it. These trailers really set the tone for the New Who 7th Season, which will lead us up to the celebration. The first by recapping the New Doctor so far, while the second pulls from every Doctor back to the beginning. I just have this to say to Last Whovian: amazing job, and keep up the good work!
It is a sad week when your choices for movies are between Zombie A-Hole and Attack of the Killer Backpacks.
In TV we have Planet Dinosaur, speculative science rather than Sci-Fi, and quite worth your time to check out. You might enjoy taking a look at this page as well if you are looking for a bit more.
Anime has a few new goodies this week starting with Shangri-La, one of my favorite shows from last year. It deals with a future Japan in the middle of a climatic crises and under economic attack, with a ruling elite holding onto the ultimate gated community while the poor starve and live on the street. Until Kuniko take up the gauntlet and fights for the survival of her people, storming the heavily armed gates of heaven’s suburb itself to see them through.
Shakugan no Shana is a story of a warrior who battles demons with a flaming sword, and the dead human boy who has been turned into one of those flames. They work together to defeat evil and maintain the balance between the supernatural world and the mundane.
Finally, No. 6: The Complete Collection takes place in a near future world where a handful of survivors cling desperately to life. There is a mystery to be solved if our two protagonists are to have any hope of survival, and they have to do it before the corrupt elite wipe them out.
The new show from BBC America is Copper, about a cop in 1864 New York City. As far as I know this is something new for them, producing their own original TV series, but they have some good ones in the pipe. I am particularly looking forward to seeing David Tennent as a spy, the closest he might get to playing Bond.
The top spot in movies this week goes to The Hunger Games, which I suspect may do as well as a DVD as it did as a book and movie. This one will definitely be coming home with me, and I am looking forward to seeing if they can sustain the momentum in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Also out this week, Juan Of The Dead brings still more humor to the Zombie Apocalypse. And for fans of the classic Japanese giant monsters series, Gamera: War of Monsters Collection has 6 movies of the giant turtle god being reissued together in a box set. And finally in the live action feature films category, The Sword Identity comes our way from China. I am sure you will be shocked to learn it is a historic martial arts epic.
In TV we have Dr. Who: Greatest Show in the Galaxy, a Sylvester McCoy classic tale with Sophie Aldred as Ace. Another option is Dexter: Season 6, which is also coming out in a box set of seasons 1 through 6.
Western animation brings us Marvel Knights Astonishing X-Men: Torn, and I do have to say I have been enjoying the entire Marvel Knights series.
New Anime releases start with Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror, a feature-length presentation that has Haruka off in a wonderland like environment searching for her lost treasure. The trailer looks cute as hell, I will be interested to see if the animation quality is consistent and how the story holds up. Another new entry this week is called This Boy Can Fight Aliens, which is good, because Earth has been invaded. Except, of course, the boy has lost his memory and doesn’t have a clue how to use his powers. This is an OVA, not a feature film or a TV show, and the entire thing is only 28 minutes long, so unless it comes with some outrageous extras I am thinking it is overpriced.
The third and last new entry for this week is One Piece – Collection 7, with the Straw Hat Gang continuing to contend for the crown of King of the Pirates. Besides the new stuff, there is a re-release in more cost effective packaging: Trinity Blood – The Complete Series reduces the price over buying the seasons separately by a good 25%. And I do like their tag line: Vampire action without all that teen angst.
H+ The Digital Series launched this week online, and it looks like a very interesting project. The stage is globe-spanning, the cast includes a few old favorites, and the plot is intriguing. You can upgrade yourself by getting a chip implant called HPlus, which gives you internet access just by thinking about it. But then a virus is released and one third of the H+ users (which is most of humanity by that point) die overnight. Some of the survivors go offline, some stay online, and some were never part of the network, but they all try to put their world back together. Besides the web site they are also running a You Tube Channel, and you can watch the first six episodes now by subscribing to it. There is a good interview over at Tor you might like to read as well.
The British sci-fi comedy Red Dwarf has been a favorite of mine for quite a while, and I am happy Dave TV decided to pick it up for some new seasons. They are posting a new special update every Friday leading up to the launch of season 10