A new TV series will start going out on the internet soon, Zimm is about an alien invasion. This looks like it could be real good, with a cast that includes Armin Shimerman, Robyn Hyden of Blood and Roses, Alimi Ballard of Numb3rs and Dark Angel, Michele Boyd of Flash Forward, and Zadi Diaz of Epic Fu. Armin at one time had two full time acting jobs as the principle on Buffy and the bartender on Deep Space Nine, while simultaneously serving as the president of the Screen Actors Guild. The program itself is listed as being 24 with aliens and a Die Hard attitude, and will roll out in Sanctuary style on the web only, at least to begin. Thanks to TrekMovie for the heads up on this one.
Posted from a festival in Glastonbury, posted this past Sunday, Matt Smith took the stage with Orbital, introducing the theme to his own TV program and revving up the crowd. According to Suite 101 the control panel Matt then ran was a sampler interface, which pretty much makes Matt the only Doctor to play the Who theme himself at a concert. There was the A Capella version of the theme proformed by David Tennant and John Barrowman on the Brit TV program, so it is not completely unique, but very close. The video contains strobe lighting in the laser show, if you are susceptible you might want to give it a skip.
There are a number of good choices this week, starting with one of my favorite TV shows: Eureka Season 3.5. Another good show from the same channel has its season 1 release as well, Warehouse 13. This is just in time to catch up with the previous season before the new seasons launch on July 6th and 9th, but also on the 9th they are launching a new Steven King TV series on Syfy, Haven.
While it wasn’t a traditional TV series but more of a Machinima, I am excited to note that Red vs Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles is being released this week as well. This box set DVD includes the complete first 5 seasons of this very funny and combat intensive program.
There are some good selections from the world of live action movies. Kicking off a new franchise that hopes to pull from the ranks of the Harry Potter phenomenon, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief was thoroughly enjoyable. Like Potter, the movie was based on the first of a series of books, so there is the promise of more fine adventures to come. Another good film is Hot Tub Time Machine, which surprised me in the theaters. I went in expecting just some silly fun, but there was a bit more depth than the trailer would lead you to believe.
On the Anime front, Gintama 2 continues the story of Edo-era Japan invaded by aliens who installed a spaceport and modern city in the 17th century. They also made it illegal for Samurai to use their swords, and put the majority of the population into sweatshops working for the alien masters. Our protagonists are a Samurai named Sakata Gintoki and his companions in the Yoruzuya Gin-chan odd jobs shop, taking any job from finding lost pets to saving the world to try to pay the rent. Also this week, the re-release of the Basilisk Complete Series box set Viridian Collection, making the classic Ninja Shogunate supernatural martial arts epic affordable again.
Out of the imported live action choices, Nine Girls and a Ghost appears to be a rather uneven high school wish fulfillment presentation that should entertain anyone in that age range. Likewise Samurai Avenger: Blind Wolf is targeting a limited demographic, the Samurai Cowboy Zombie Gorefest crossover fan base. It actually looks like it might just be campy enough to be entertaining, though. I can’t say the same thing for Ultimate Machine Girl, a release so underwhelming that no one at Rotten Tomatoes even bothered to review it.
For live action movies this week, the winner is TiMER, an original independent film about using your surgically implanted chipset to find your true love. Staring Emma Caulfield, this tasty little gem won a ton of Film Festival awards, but somehow when it went into general release it seemed to be pretty thin on the ground. If you are one of the many people who never got to see it in the theaters, now is your chance. This one has a lot in common with another recent independent work, Cold Souls. I don’t just refer to the fact that they both brought home a boatload of awards, or that they both only got to play on a limited number of screens when the theatrical release finally happened. But they both share a fine old science fiction story form: set in the present day, in the world we know with just one scientific device or procedure unknown to us. Then you get to explore all the implications and consequences of that one change, and how they impact on the hearts, minds, and conditions of the people in that story. This is the core of science fiction stripped down to the only question it ever asks: “What If?”.
On the TV front, the Sci-Fi Channel second miniseries stab at Riverworld is released on disc. This was a very well done production introducing us to the classic Philip Jose Farmer masterwork universe, a planet where everyone who ever lived all woke up at the same time and promptly went back to doing what each had always done. Personally, I also liked the first Riverworld miniseries, but the new one is a bit faster paced with a few more twists to the basic premise to help drive dramatic tension as the story evolves. Yes, evolves, because just like the first miniseries this is meant to test and see if there would be support for a full TV series. And since they didn’t schedule the new one against the Superbowl (what the hell were they thinking on the first ones scheduling?), this time there is a much better chance they got their target numbers and could proceed.
Only a few new Anime series this week. The only truly new offering is La Corda D’oro Primo: Passo: 1, the first half of the series. This does have a fairy (not that kind, the tiny mystical creature sort) as a recurring character, handing out magical enchanted musical instruments that play themselves, so it qualifies as genre. The story itself revolves around classical music with a romantic component; if you are not sure if this is for you, you can watch it on Crunchyroll before laying out your hard earned money.
Of the other Anime releases this week, most are single volumes or series re-releases. The only other one that is somewhat new is Heroic Age: The Complete Series, in that a complete series box set has not previously been released. The have, however, previously released Season 1 and Season 2 box sets, so I’m not sure just how new I consider it.
I don’t like rap music as a general rule except for Nerdcore, but I think these examples qualify.
Yes, Bleach is now Live on Crunchyroll! That is the first 9 episodes of the current season in Japan, including the one that just aired at 2:30AM today in Tokyo. This is no pirate deal, but a real legal streaming contract between Crunchyroll and TV Tokyo making the program available to paid Premium Members beginning today. If you are not a premium member, but have signed up for a free membership, it becomes available to you next Tuesday, the 15th; that is still a lot sooner than when the DVD comes out. To put that last bit into perspective, the Season 5 DVD box set that hit the shelves today ends with episode 109; the episode that aired this morning in Tokyo was episode 274.