The Simpsons have been on the the air for 20 seasons and yet Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie haven’t aged a day. To say The Simpsons is a legacy of creator Matt Groening’s at this point would be an understatement –  not only has the show been on for 20 seasons, but for all 20 of those seasons it has pushed the boundaries of what’s acceptable to air on television and remained culturally relevant.

As the years have gone by and The Simpsons has evolved some might say that the show has “lost its way” or “isn’t the same” – but I ask, who are you to say how The Simpsons should or shouldn’t be? For 20 seasons I have watched every single episode and I think the show has never been anything else except for just unapologetically The Simpsons. Sure, we have seen some characters come and go and the show is a perpetual shark jumper, but in my eyes this series has always maintained the perfect balance of slapstick and satirical comedy – which is probably why it has been around for so long and maintained consistent wild popularity through most of them.

Though, The Simpsons is not infallible; the creators and writers have experienced the occasional criticism, controversy, and misses just like any critically-acclaimed television show. The difference with this series though is that they keep pressing on and keep making a quality prime-time show. Perhaps one issue with a series like The Simpsons that runs for so many seasons is that they all kind of begin to blend together. Of course, you have the early years that stand out as the “golden years” (seasons 1-9) and then after that we have the kind of adolescent years (seasons 10-16) and now we are getting into the “later” years of The Simpsons (seasons 17-current). I do feel that the series experienced a bit of a slump in some of those middle years, perhaps I was burnt out, maybe the appearance of more “edgy” cartoons like Family Guy drew my attention away, in either case I am quite enjoying these later years of The Simpsons as they experience somewhat of a resurgence.

It may seem a little odd that Fox decided to jump from releasing The Simpsons: Season 12 on DVD to releasing Season 20 but they obviously wanted to commemorate this monumental event. The Simpsons: Season 20 includes all 21 episodes from the 2008-2009 season that include guest appearances by the likes of Denis Leary, Emily Blunt, Anne Hathaway, Jodie Foster and Ellen Page. Season 20 had some memorable episodes in it like, “Mypods and Boomsticks” in which Homer becomes suspicious of Bart’s new friends being terrorists based on their religion and Lisa gets addicted to downloading music to her “MyPod”. Also in this season is the relevant “No Loan Again, Naturally” in which the housing market is harpooned, and the great season finale with “Welcome to Homerica” where Springfield citizens play border patrol against the Ogdevillians who are swarming to Springfield after their economy collapses. The Simpsons has always been great at political satire and this season has some really great examples of this – somehow getting us all to laugh at serious subjects that were/are plaguing our society.

There isn’t much in the way of special features in this 2 Blu-ray/4 DVD set. In fact, the only one included in the set is “The Twentieth Anniversary Special Sneak Peak by Morgan Spurlock” which is a bit of a let down because I fail to see why they couldn’t just include the twentieth anniversary special in its entirety with the twentieth season. The video transfer of this season is of course far superior to seasons past; starting with episode 10 of this season The Simpsons started being broadcast in 720p High Definition (a decision that also justified a new opening sequence!).

For any Simpsons fans out there, this is obviously a “must have” to add to your collection. The Simpsons: Season 20 is available now on DVD and Blu-ray!

Blu-Ray Disc Content
Disc One:
o Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes
o Lost Verizon
o Double, Double, Boy in Trouble
o Treehouse of Horror XIX
o Dangerous Curves
o Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words
o Mypods and Boomsticks
o The Burns and the Bees
o Lisa the Drama Queen
o Additional Bonus Features Include:
• “The Twentieth Anniversary Special Sneak Peak by Morgan Spurlock”

Disc Two:
o Take My Life, Please
o How The Test Was Won
o No Loan Again, Naturally
o Gone Maggie Gone
o In The Name of the Grandfather
o Wedding for Disaster
o Eeny Teeny Maya Moe
o The Good, The Sad and The Drugly
o Father Knows Worst
o Waverly Hills
o Four Great Women and a Manicure
o Coming to Homerica

DVD Content
Disc One:
o Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes
o Lost Verizon
o Double, Double, Boy in Trouble
o Treehouse of Horror XIX
o Dangerous Curves
o Homer and Lisa Exchange Cross Words

Disc Two:
o Mypods and Boomsticks
o The Burns and the Bees
o Lisa the Drama Queen
o Take My Life, Please
o How The Test Was Won

Disc Three:
o No Loan Again, Naturally
o Gone Maggie Gone
o In The Name of the Grandfather
o Wedding for Disaster
o Eeny Teeny Maya Moe

Disc Four:
o The Good, The Sad and The Drugly
o Father Knows Worst
o Waverly Hills
o Four Great Women and a Manicure
o Coming to Homerica
o Additional Bonus Features Include:
• “The Twentieth Anniversary Special Sneak Peak by Morgan Spurlock”

About THE SIMPSONS
The longest-running comedy in television history, The Simpsons exploded into a cultural phenomenon in 1990 and has remained one of the most groundbreaking and innovative entertainment franchises, recognizable throughout the world. Matt Groening created the infamous Simpson family: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpsons – all now identifiable by their silhouettes alone. Currently celebrating their 20th Anniverary, The Simpsons will air their 450th episode in January 2010. The show has received a Star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame, enjoyed the successful release of their first feature film, The Simpsons Movie, opened The Simpsons Ride at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida and Hollywood, CA. and been honored with five U.S. postal stamps personally designed by Matt Groening.

The Simpsons is a Gracie Films Production in association with 20th Century Fox Television. James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, and Al Jean are the executive producers. The Gracie Films Worldwide Brand Division develops and produces the DVD collections for the series. Film Roman, a Starz Media company, is the animation house.

You can find The Simpsons: Season 20 at Amazon.com.

After years of rotting in development hell, Brian Michael Bendis’ superhero detective yarn is joining the FX Network with the ranks of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Damages and Rescue Me.

Short of the adaption hitting a premium cable network like Showtime or HBO, FX is a prime spot for Powers. The network is known for pushing the envelope; so at least the book will be able to maintain it’s noir edge and grittiness.

Wether it’s gonna be animated like Adam Reed’s FX’s animation, Archer is unknown, but if Bendis helms it as a producer and/or writer it’s no doubt going to be good.

On February 23, 2010 DC and Warner Home Video will be releasing their next direct-to-DVD feature, Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Included on this DVD you will find the premier of the all-new DC Showcase of animated shorts!

The DC Showcase will feature animated shorts featuring favorite, but lesser-known characters from the DC Universe in their own animated adventures. From what I can gather from the press release I believe they will start including one of these DC Showcase shorts with each of their direct-to-DVD releases going forward – which is usually two or three a year if they keep the pace of years past. The first DC Showcase included with Crisis on Two Earths is “The Spectre”, and according to the press release, the next short will feature Jonah Hex, which will be penned by Joe Landsale

Warner Bros. was kind enough to provide the first official images from the first ever DC Showcase, “The Spectre”. Check out the slide show and press release below!

And of course, you can pre-order Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths over at Amazon now!

From the creative forces behind the DC Universe animated original PG-13 movies, DC Showcase puts the spotlight on favorite characters from throughout the annals of DC Comics in fascinating, short-form
tales sure to entertain longtime and new fans alike.

The Spectre focuses on a detective story with an ethereal twist, featuring the otherworldly character originally introduced by DC Comics in 1940. The short is written by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night) and directed by Joaquim Dos Santos (G.I Joe: Resolute). The voice cast is led by Gary Cole (Entourage) as the title character and Alyssa Milano (Charmed) as Aimee Brenner.

The Spectre will be distributed February 23 by Warner Home Video as part of the Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Blu-ray/DVD.

DC Showcase is a co-production from Warner Premiere, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video and DC Comics. Bruce Timm is Executive Producer. Future DC Showcase titles include Jonah Hex (written by Joe Lansdale).

Avatar, James Cameron’s brand new movie designed to blow you away. Well I watched it, and I’ll tell you one thing. I was not blown away. Especially when the story can be so concisely  wrapped up as, “The Last Samurai on Mars.”

The first hour of the movie was regrettably the most awesome. Establishing the world that we are going to be viewing for the next hour and a half. But even then, I can’t say really just how rich the story was, sure the Aliens were original enough (if you don’t count Native Americans), but most the concepts in this movie have been seen before. (Anyone remember Fern Gully?)

That said, it wasn’t anything resembling a waste of my time. The movie was pretty good, I wish everyone thought about their movies as much as James Cameron did. Although I think he is horrible at writing dialog. Referring mostly to Colonel Miles Quaritch, but not stopping there. A great example would be when James Cameron pays homage to himself, having one of his marines say, “Get some!” Much like when Michael Bay paid homage to his own film, Bad Boys II, in the midst of Transformers II.

I’ve heard a lot of people talking about the soundtrack being similar to other soundtracks, but as a barely capable listener, I didn’t think the soundtrack stood out as good or bad. The person sitting next to me had to elbow me and say, “There’s music playing.” because I was none the wiser, I said, “Ah.” which they confused with appreciation for the visuals.

Which brings me to my next point, the visuals. Eh!…Breathtaking? I guess so, sometimes…Was it worth 300 million? Nope…Was it worth watching in 3-D?…Not really. Honestly I thought the Dark Knight felt more visually stimulating, not to mention Pan’s Labyrinth. Some of the creatures were really cool, but honestly some of them didn’t make sense to me. The marines were the biggest let down though. Personally for action and cool technology, I would have to give the award to district 9 over Avatar, and for $30 Million dollars.

The last thing I want to get off my chest, is the dangerous forest. I hate that they made it as “Dangerous” as they did, with all the creatures they showed in the first hour. Then as soon as they establish how dangerous it is, it’s no longer dangerous ever again. It bugged me a little when the same thing happened after the first season of Lost, but I think it really stood out as annoying in this movie.

Also I would like to bring light of the fact, that the six creatures of Pandora, awesome as they were, didn’t feel like the inhabitants of an entire world. They should have designed tons more creatures. They were so shamelessly stealing characteristics from Earth animals anyway, why not transmute a few more? A six legged anything else. And maybe some water.

To wrap the whole thing up into a pretty bag. This movie is better than most the movies that you see in the theatre, but far from perfect. The story isn’t spectacular, the science is nothing special, the characters barely function, and the dialog is dumb. Bring your kids, it’s James Cameron’s second best film! Definitely worth watching once. I’m giving it a whopping 7/10!

In one of my columns a couple of months ago I mentioned cartoonist Dash Shaw as one of the most exciting new creators working in comics today, and his upcoming book, The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century AD (Fantagraphics, $19.99), as the one I was looking forward to the most this year. A collection of new stuff and previously released short stories and rarities, it’s currently set for a December 30th release, and for it Dash has teamed up with IFC in order to create a series of animated shorts to be shown on their website.

From the press release:

“Each episode of this four-part Web series chronicles Rebel X-6, a man who works for an anti-droid organization in a futuristic world where student artists can no longer draw the living human form. Challenging the convention of hiding the use of line in animation and using an intricate, organic drawing style, Shaw attracts attention to each frame as a complete illustration. With an uplifting, constantly evolving soundtrack that mirrors Shaw’s work, he uses surreal dreams and an achingly human touch to bring his characters to life.

The series’ animated human hero, Rebel X-6, sets out on a quest to initiate change in the 35th Century A.D. An artist guild that believes living people should model for live drawings instead of droids in art class hires Rebel X-6. Rebel X-6’s assignment is to enter Art School 46 posing as “Model-Droid #343.” He must appear life-like but take on the characteristics of standard model droids, which do not laugh, cry, swear or exhibit other human shortcomings. His mission is to subvert the school’s ban on drawings of real humans by tricking the students into drawing him. His journey ends with a new compatriot and understanding of the humanity that surrounds him.

The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century AD is Shaw’s first book since his breakthrough graphic novel of 2008, Bottomless Belly Button, which was named Publishers Weekly’s best graphic novel of 2008 and one of Entertainment Weekly’s top ten books of 2008, among numerous other accolades. The book also collects Shaw’s acclaimed, genre-bending short stories from MOME, including Look Forward, First Son of Terra Two, Galactic Funnels, Outstanding Story, Satellite CMYK and Making the Abyss, a fictionalized story of a surreal film set filled with nuclear tanks, hot tubs, and blind ambition.”

I recently had the chance to briefly discuss the project with Dash:

BIG SHINY ROBOT: I plugged the Unclothed Man in one of my columns a couple of months ago, based on the strength of your previous work, specifically the MOME short stories. Are all of them included in the book? And what else is in it?

DASH SHAW: All of them are in the book except for “Train” because I looked at it again and it sucked too hard. Some of them have been slightly changed for this collection. An older comic from 2005 called “Cartooning Symbolia” is in it. I still liked it for some reason. A new story called “The Uncanny Reproduction” is in it. And the first 24 pages of the book have the Unclothed Man short stories plus backgrounds and storyboards and a flip book from the animated series. The first 24 pages are like an “animation art book” and the next 80 pages have the short stories.

BSR: So, other than “The Cartographer,” of which I only know from the back pages of The Mother’s Mouth, I am not aware of any other forays of yours into animation or film. Is this something you have been doing or interested in doing for a while now? And how did the IFC thing come about?

SHAW: I did animations for Bottomless Belly Button and BodyWorld, just one minute animation tests. Those are online if you look for them. I’ve always liked animation and watched a lot of cartoons and collected animation art books. The IFC thing came about because I showed them the animations for Bottomless and BodyWorld and the Unclothed Man comic. Based on that, they said “okay” for the animated series.

BSR: Speaking of BodyWorld, this acclaimed webcomic of yours is about to be published as a book by Pantheon. Having read it, I can imagine some instances where the translation from web to print would be rather difficult. What are some of the differences between the two?

SHAW: The differences are many, and most of them are probably obvious. Webcomics aren’t printed. There aren’t any “pages.” It was serialized online, rather than one long reading experience. The print version has new material and I made a lot of changes to the comic. I’d change the colors or add different elements in a way that I think favors the print format. I just got a dummy of the book to see how the covers and everything will look and I’m very happy with it. Pantheon is smart. They believe in the beauty of print and they believe people will shell out for a nice book, even though a different version of the same story is online. They have a lot of faith in the new material and the book as an object.

BSR: A lot of your previous work, like Love Eats Brains and Mother’s Mouth, was done at least partially in color, but eventually published in black and white only. Why is that?

SHAW: You’ve done your research! It’s because I wasn’t thinking about what I was doing at the time. I did those while a student at the School of Visual Arts, where I’d show the originals. Sometimes I’d do the originals in color and sometimes in black and white. When they were printed, it made more sense to just do a gray book then figure out how to make the color pages printed in color and the black and white pages in black and white. Really, the honest answer is that I wasn’t thinking about it as much as I guess I should have.

BSR: I’ve followed your work for some time now, and you have rather quickly established yourself as a creator to watch out for. Your climb up the publishing ladder, from Oddgod Press (a publishing operation run by a Richmond, VA comics retailer) to Pantheon, certainly seems to reflect that. Is the pressure greater now, or do you not concern yourself with the commercial aspects of your work until after it’s completed, if at all?

SHAW: This is a long answer. Oddgod Press published Love Eats Brains because they asked me about it. I know those guys because I’d shop there when I lived in Richmond. And then I did a collection called Goddess Head because I used to contribute to an anthology called Garish Zow and one of the editors called me and asked about doing a collection of my shorts. So things would happen pretty organically for a while, but those felt like weird arrangements, like Tim Goodyear, who published Goddess Head, took a loan out from a bank to do it!  Ha ha. It was awesome that he did it (I mean, I love Tim), but I think he lost a lot of money on it. I kept applying for Xeric Foundation grants to self-publish and I kept losing. And then Fantagraphics did Bottomless Belly Button and they’d publish me in MOME, so then all of the comics I’d been drawing for a few years would now have a regular publisher. I’d also done half of BodyWorld by the time Bottomless came out. BodyWorld started online in 2007. But after Bottomless came out, I was going to have to get a day job. I’d run out of the money I’d saved while living so cheaply in Richmond. So I called Fantagraphics and told them I was going to try to sell BodyWorld. They understood. I mean, I guess what I’m saying is that all of these projects I was doing anyway. I’ve never sold a treatment and then executed something with the expectations of the publisher looming over my shoulder. By the time I got the advance for BodyWorld I was drawing the last chapter of it. These comics were going to exist in some form anyway. It’s all been a combination of drawing a ridiculous amount and total luck.

If there’s a way to do what I’m already doing and luck into a situation where I don’t have to think about money, because I have enough to live off of for a while, I’m going to try to get in that situation. I think a lot of it stems from my general hatred of illustration work. I hate illustration gigs. I tried to get them (for money) for a while, and I’d always half-ass it because I hated doing it. I hated feeling like I had to draw consistently, in some consistent “style.” I hated everything about illustration. So after having that experience for a couple years, I just decided I’m not an illustrator and I’m not going to do work-for-hire and I don’t want any commercial expectations and that I’d just do whatever I wanted to do for as long as I possibly could. If I run out of money, I’ll move back to Richmond, where I paid 200 dollars a month for a shitty room, and work as a figure-drawing model again for 12 bucks an hour. I drew all of Bottomless that way, but right now I have even more time to do whatever I want. I don’t know how long it’ll last.

BSR: So, do you read a lot of other people’s comics? Are there any of your peers whose work you would say you admired?

SHAW: I basically only read comics that I get at conventions now, because when I’m at home I’m just drawing, and when I’m on the subway I’m reading a magazine or an all-word book. But I got a lot of comics at the Brooklyn Comics and Graphics Festival this past weekend. It was run by my friends Dan Nadel, the Picturebox publisher, and Gabe Fowler, the Desert Island comic store owner. There was a lot of good stuff there. I got new minis from Matthew Thurber and C.F. and Anya Davidson and they’re all really great. Those are available on the Picturebox website. I recently got to collaborate with two peers I admire: Tom K (who does amazing short stories for MOME), we did a comic for the next volume of MOME about computer rendered society; and Jesse Moynihan (who does a webcomic called “Forming” on his website) who wrote a story about his father and the TV show Lost that I drew that’ll be a mini comic insert in a forthcoming issue of The Believer magazine. I’d name more people but I’d feel like a dick if I left someone out. I probably already forgot someone.

BSR: Gary Panter strikes me as an obvious influence, but who are some other creators you would say have shaped your artistic sensibilities and style?

SHAW: I haven’t gotten Gary for a while, nowadays people always say Mazzucchelli. But I’ve ripped off of both of those guys. When someone tells me who they think my influences are, it usually says more about the comics they read. When Mazzucchelli flipped through “Bottomless” years ago, he said: “looks like manga.” Because he looks at the same manga I look at. But for a lot of people it’ll look like something else. Anyway, instead of listing a bunch of people I’ll just name three people who I’ve learned a lot from in college and I think deserve more attention: 1. Keith Mayerson’s comic Horror Hospital Unplugged, 2. Thomas Herpich’s comics Cusp and Gongwanadon, 3. Hal Hartley’s movies.

BSR: Finally, what’s next for you, Dash?

SHAW: I’m working on an animated feature called “Slobs and Nags” and a comic called “Torture Hospital.”  I don’t want to say more about them because I don’t want to jinx it.

BSR: Thanks again, and best of luck!

You can view the animated shorts for The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century here. To pre-order the book, talk to your local retailer, or click on the image below:

Funimation and Cybergraphix are starting a collaboration on an animated film, “Guardians of Luna”. Why should you be excited about this? Well, this movie is written by Michael Reaves, famous for Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles, and other bits of 90’s nostalgia, with character designer Cindy H. Yamauchi (Naruto: The Movie, Black Lagoon, Akira) adding her unique look to it.

The movie tells a dark story which revolves around an ancient race of shape-shifters with the ability to change into powerful creatures. Four unlikely heroes descended from this once-great race are charged with protecting an ancestral power source from a ruthless mogul. If you want more details, subscribe to the updates here.

Stay tuned for more next week!

(source: Funimation)

Halo Legends is an all-new anthology of seven stories that expands the universe of Halo, one of the world’s most popular video games. The Blu-ray and DVD will be available from Warner Home Video on February 16, 2010. Warner Home Video will distribute Halo Legends as a Special Edition 2-disc version on DVD and Blu-Ray, as well as single disc DVD and available On Demand and Digital Download. If you haven’t reserved your copy of Halo Legends you can do that today at Amazon.com!

Warner Bros. was kind enough to provide an interview with Frank O’Connor – one of the major driving forces behind the Halo universe! Being a big Halo fan, it’s good to know that someone like O’Connor is a major player in the production of this new feature set!

Courtesy Warner Bros.:

The Halo universe expands into anime this spring via Halo Legends, a DVD anthology of episodic films based within the popular game’s mythology produced by 343 Industries, a unit within Microsoft Game Studios. One of the key orchestrators of Halo’s morphing from interactive entertainment to on-screen magic is Frank O’Connor, the Halo franchise development director.

Born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, O’Connor is renowned throughout the gaming industry for his insightful expertise and innovative direction working with Halo. After a long career as a journalist for several gaming publications, O’Connor has parlayed a keen sense of the gaming industry – and a devout love for the games therein – into a career as a creator of content and story lines for the worldwide phenomenon that is Halo.

For Halo Legends, O’Connor worked directly with Japanese screenwriters on each of the seven stories – spread over eight episodic installments – that include all the elements familiar to Halo fans. Exploring the origin and historical events of the Halo universe and its intriguing characters. Halo Legends has been created in the same breakthrough format as The Animatrix and Batman Gotham Knight with each individual episode imagined by a cutting-edge, renowned Japanese anime director/animator.

Most of the individual episodes fall within Halo’s 26th Century mythology as the battle between humanity and aliens rages on in an attempt to protect Earth and mankind’s ever-dwindling collection of space colonies. The dramatic, action-packed stories feature characters and locales familiar to Halo fans, and episodes range in length between 10 and 17 minutes – resulting in nearly two hours of animated adventures.

O’Connor took a few moments from his busy schedule to discuss the exciting production and offer a glimpse behind the scenes in the creation of Halo Legends.
QUESTION:
Halo Legends not only shifts from interactive game to animated film, but also to a variety of anime styles. Was there any worry that going anime would make the production unrecognizable as a Halo brand?

FRANK O’CONNOR:
The Halo brand is strong enough to survive and even thrive through interpretation. Halo iconography is recognizable in virtually any form. When you look at a Warthog that’s drawn by a Japanese artist or a Spartan that’s animated in a way you’ve never seen it before, it’s still intrinsically Halo. The brand really lends itself to comics and animation beautifully. It withstands all sorts of interpretation and is still recognizable Halo, rather than just diluting and becoming generic sci-fi.

The wonderful thing about a completely immersive world like Halo is that it’s not just the visuals that are instantly recognizable. There are so many elements involved in playing the game, including the audio, the music, the sound effects – it’s all part of the experience. When you’ve played these games for six or seven years, and you hear a Warthog engine, you instantly recognize it. So in an episode as distinctly different visually as “The Duel,” it may take a while before you actually see that energy sword and it’s apparent that this is Halo, but the sounds might bring you into this story much earlier as being from the Halo universe.

This is a world that people come to know with great, detailed intimacy. You might’ve watched Star Wars 20 times, but Halo fans have played the game hundreds and hundreds of times. Most of our mid-level
players, say those at Level 33, have logged more than 2,000 games just on Halo 3. If you’re a Level 50 player, that number goes up geometrically.
QUESTION:
How did you decide which stories to tell in Halo Legends?

FRANK O’CONNOR:
There are really two driving forces behind our creative development. First, there were things we were curious about. We wanted to investigate what shaped the Elite civilization, their solidifying of the Covenant, and their place in it. The second, but equal part of the equation was that we wanted to provide backstory about what fans are curious about. Our story for “The Package” fits that neatly – fans want to see more about the Spartans, and they wanted to see them fighting in a group. Normally you see one Spartan in battle – the question came up, “What happens when you have that force multiplier?”

We came up with dozens of topics, but these were the hot button stories. For “The Babysitter,” we were interested in the rivalry between the ODSTs and the Spartans, so we wanted to put them together and see what happened. “The Duel” gave us the chance to delve into the pure civilization and the futile aspects of that society. We used “The Package” to present a story that not only featured the Master Chief but had multiple Spartans fighting together.
QUESTION:
Can you give a quick breakdown of what fans can expect in the other Halo Legends stories?

“Prototype” is very Japanese in style as we worked with Bones and director Yasushi Muraki – both the studio and Muraki are huge in Japan right now. He has created an anime sub-genre called Muraki Circus, which features a lot of flying, mecha fighting, weapons, explosions, dog-fighting – and that fit perfectly with the creation of a Halo prototype weapon. Still, we really wanted to make it a human story, so we worked with Muraki to blend those two ideas. Ultimately, it’s the introduction of a prototype of Spartan equipment that’s never been employed, and played out in the very pure anime style of Muraki Circus.

The Halo universe is big and expansive, and “Origins” gave us the chance to take Halo newbies through that universe one step at a time. At the same time, for Halo fans, we wanted to go really deep and show them things they’ve imagined but never seen before. Part I of “Origins” is the forerunner of civilization, and the advent of the flood threat that led to the creation of the Halos. “Origins Part 2” deals with the current Halo universe and everything from the advancement of human space travel to contemporary Halo fiction.

“Odd One Out” is just flat out fun. We worked with Toei Animation to create an episode that Halo fans and responsible parents could show their kids. It’s all fun, lots of parody and no gunfire, along the way poking fun at all the macho archetypes that inhabit the Halo universe.

You’re going to have to see “Homecoming” – it’s about Spartan origins, and it’s just too spoiler-filled to describe it. I will say this, though – it’s got the cutest poster of any of the stories, and that’s ironic because it’s a really dark story.
QUESTION:
How did you balance giving the Japanese artists balance specific instructions vs. creative freedom?

FRANK O’CONNOR:
We didn’t try to control their every pen stroke. There were some things that needed to be maintained – a Warthog has to look like a Warthog. But we gave them a lot of creative freedom. “Prototype” is an excellent example in that the actual prototype is an entirely brand new piece of Spartan equipment. I think the Japanese artists had a good time trying to create new inventions, and for the most part we embraced those creations. There were a few things we rejected or simply worked with the artists until we had them just right. We gave very loose descriptions, mostly emotional threads rather than pinpoint direction. But in many cases, we simply said, “Here’s some goalposts, but we want your interpretation.” In most cases, they exceeded our wildest expectations.
QUESTION:
Why go with anime over animation?

FRANK O’CONNOR:
The funny thing is that the question these days is “What is anime?” It has expanded in so many directions. But still, there’s a distinct way anime deals with the narrative in animation, exploring ideas and ambitious techniques that we don’t often do in western animation. That was one of the things that drew us to anime.

The other difference is that there aren’t that many outfits (in the U.S.) that can produce shorts or an anthology of shorts in the way we saw this project playing out, and yet Japan has a very rich pool of talent and studios that are perfectly suited to this type of production. And we were anxious to work with those talented artists and studios. We made a wish list of the studios and pretty much got everyone we wanted.
QUESTION:
Were there any artists that wanted to work no Halo Legends as badly as you wanted to work with them?

FRANK O’CONNOR:
Shinji Aramaki is sort of a central figure – he works well with everyone. There’s no ego there – he’s a nice collaborative force. We worked closely with Aramaki on “The Package,” and with Aramaki and Bones on “Prototype.” The great part is that he’s a huge Halo fan – he has completed the game on “Legendary” difficulty, which most people haven’t done – let alone a legendary Japanese director. He’d always wanted to work on a Halo project, so he was already well versed on the fiction and was excited about the opportunity.
QUESTION:
How much of a learning curve was there for the anime studios in getting fully vested in the Halo universe?

FRANK O’CONNOR:
Some of the studios had to learn Halo from scratch, so we educated them in the universe and they took that and ran with it – and they became genuine, passionate fans. I’ve spent a significant amount of time in Japan, going over the game, the artwork, the concept art. A lot of the artists were playing the game at the same time, so I played with them. We felt it was important that they were very understanding of the game. As we went along, every single overseas team had someone on their staff that became their resident Halo nerd, their internal expert.
QUESTION:
Does Halo Legends have an overall theme that unites all seven stories?

FRANK O’CONNOR:
These episodes don’t have a rigid super arc beyond the theme of artistic interpretation. The individual pieces are made up of a lot of very universal story themes. It’s the idea of a hero’s journey – every single episode features a heroic archetype. There are the more traditional Achilles and Ulysses types, the clever ones that succeed through craft and guile and wit. Sacrifice and heroism are general themes, but that’s germane to the game of Halo. There’s not much time for romance when you’re shooting at everything. Ultimately, the episodes are like the game in that you’re putting yourself in the shoes of a hero and his or her journey.
QUESTION:
Halo is a very interactive experience. Why will fans embrace the opportunity to sit and watch rather than interact and play?

FRANK O’CONNOR:
Halo Legends does the reverse. I think we have a lot of players that probably don’t fully understand the narrative of the fiction. A lot of people don’t stop and smell the roses while playing – mainly because it’s easy to miss the narrative when you’re surrounded by explosions and Banshees. This gives fans a chance to enjoy Halo in a completely different experience – to sit down on a couch and take in the story without worrying about being shot or how much health you have left. For anyone interested in a preview I suggest they log into to Halo Waypoint on Xbox LIVE to see preview episodes of Halo Legends running through early next year every Saturday.

For more information visit www.halolegends.com!

Lucasfilm has been kind enough to give us a look at the last part of the Geonosis arc. It looks like we’ll get some Zombie Clone troopers after all:

Reunited after the Battle of Geonosis, Padawans Ahsoka Tano and Barriss Offee are assigned to take a supply ship back to Republic-controlled space. But their routine mission becomes a fight for survival when they discover that the ship has been overrun by a horde of deadly stowaways – Geonosian brain worms with the grotesque ability to control the thoughts and actions of their clone hosts. It is impossible to tell friend from foe when dealing with deadly “Brain Invaders” in an all-new episode of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, airing at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT Friday, December 4 on Cartoon Network.

With their clone comrades controlled by the gruesome Geonosian brain worms, the Padawans must confront their greatest challenge yet. Though faced with a deadly threat to life and limb, it is their commitment to the Jedi teachings that is truly put to the test; with former friends as enemies, the two young women are forced to weigh the fate of the Republic against their own personal attachments.

“Due to Anakin’s teaching, I do feel that Ahsoka is developing similar attachment issues. Only time will tell if those issues will play a part in her destiny,” says Ashley Eckstein, voice of Ahsoka. “Over the course of the Clone Wars so far, Ahsoka has spent most of her time with Anakin, and she is really beginning to emulate him. She is becoming more and more like her Master in every episode; we’ll see if that’s a good thing or a bad thing,”

Ahsoka has found some balancing influences as well, particularly in the company of her fellow Padawan, Barriss. It is a dynamic that provides a sharp contrast to the sometimes reckless teachings of her Master.

“Ahsoka has become a better, more well-rounded Padawan because of her friendship with Barriss,” she says. “After becoming friends with Barriss, Ahsoka is now able to look at things from another point of view. She’s realizing that they each have different strengths, and as a team they work well together. When I think of the two of them together, I think Padawan Power!”

As for whether or not Ahsoka will succumb to the emotional tolls of the war, or to the emotional temptations that will one day turn her own master to the dark side, Eckstein remains optimistic.

“Maybe it’s just my own personal positive thinking, but I don’t see her going to the dark side. She just wants to be the best Padawan she can be, and ultimately prove that she deserves to become a Jedi – and sometimes that means making tough choices,” she says “One can’t overlook the overall message of Star Wars – that good will always overcome evil. Our show presents these lessons in such a cool way, and I think it’s a great message to teach kids today.”

Be sure to follow all of my Star Wars updates over at The Examiner.
To catch up on Season 1, you can order The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One at Amazon by clicking the link.

For other Clone Wars news and reviews of previous episodes, click this link.

The heroic Thor and his villainous brother Loki are two of the most powerful people in the universe—so when these siblings fight, Asgard and Midgard are in a lot of trouble! This Saturday at 7:30pm Eastern on Cartoon Network, The Super Hero Squad Show sends the Squaddies into the center of Villainville and Asgard itself—has Loki’s scheming finally paid off? “Hero Up” with Battlestar Galactica and Burn Notice star Tricia Helfer as she voices guest-star Sif for the most action-packed family-friendly show in the universe! Heimdall, Reptil, M.O.D.OK. and more guest star in this mighty Marvel adventure!

Plus, don’t miss the new Marvel Super Hero Squad series, jam-packed with your favorite Marvel heroes and all-ages action, in comic shops now!

Tune into the Cartoon Network at 7:30 PM on Saturday to “Hero Up!” with your favorite characters in the Marvel Universe—or any other—in an all-new episode of The Super Hero Squad Show!

To learn more about The Super Hero Squad Show, please visit www.superherosquad.com and www.marvel.com!

You can pre-order Something Something Something Dark Side from Amazon.com!