It has been one week now since the release of Halo: Reach, and to say that myself and Kill-Tacular-Tron have put in our fair share of hours playing the game at this point is reasonable to say. It may seem that perhaps this review is a week late, but we both wanted to beat the game and get in some hours of multiplayer play to form a solid opinion about this final entry in the Halo franchise from Bungie. So without further adeau, here is our review!

Arse-Bot:

Campaign: I have always been a fan of the Halo campaigns. For me, they are some of the most epic story lines ever portrayed in a FPS video game and Halo: Reach continues this tradition beautifully. In fact, I am going to be as bold as to say it’s the best narrative of all the Halo games thus far. I really don’t want to ruin the story for any of you out there yet to finish the campaign, but the story is epic and dramatic as all hell – and be sure to play the mission after the end credits! It’s what truly completes the story!

As far as actually playing the campaign goes, it was tough. Bungie has made it very clear that this is the most difficult campaign to date for any Halo game, going as far to state that trying to beat it on Legendary mode solo is almost impossible (though, there are many who have claimed to have done so already). I personally went through the campaign on Heroic – and it was a bitch. What makes this campaign so different from other Halo games is that the planet Reach is under an all-out invasion, so you are constantly massively out-numbered by hoards of Covenant. And this Covenant seems different, the Elites are more brutal, they all work in formation, they can evade you weapons, and they have a lot of fire power. Luckily though, you are usually with at least one of your Noble team mates, and they can actually be pretty helpful as far as AI go. The game took me about 11 hours to complete on this difficulty, and it was a hard-fought battle. It’s been a long time since I was this challenged by a FPS game, but a welcome challenge. Far and away my favorite mission is one in which you and your entire Noble Team (there are 6 of you) are storming up a hillside to storm a Covenant strong hold. It was something else being one of six Spartan’s running up a hill kicking ass and taking names.

I think overall, the main thing that makes this campaign so different from the other previous Halo games is the grand scale of things. Previously, you were a one-man army with Master Chief and were spending your time infiltrating ships, bases, etc. This time around, it is all out war. There are other Spartans helping out, more UNSC troops, more vehicles; everything is on a bigger scale. I noticed that before I felt like a super-soldier going it on my own in previous Halo games, now with this game, the scale feels way too big for it to be up to just one man. It’s chaotic, loud, and fast – and a hell of a lot of fun.

Multiplayer: In the interest of full disclosure, I “quit” playing Halo 3 about a year ago. I was growing tired of the multiplayer strategy of “charge, empty clip, melee, repeat” over and over again in every match. Once CoD Modern Warfare came out it offered me something new, so I have spent my online gaming hours playing that up until this point. I was anxious for this new Halo multiplayer after hearing about all it offered in the Beta – and I must say, it has reignited my love for this game’s multiplayer aspect.

Gone is the same old strategy of rush, shoot, hit; in its place is the need for adaptability and actual strategy. The melee has been adjusted in two ways to prevent this old style of play: 1. It takes two hits to take a guy down if he has even the smallest amount of shield left, 2. You no longer “lunge” when you melee. Some people may complain about this, but I think it adds a lot better game play value and puts more reliance on the use of weapons. The weapons have been adjusted as well, with the introduction of some new weapons along side old favorites. The new DMR, which is a mid to long-range rifle is a new trusty go-to weapon and the much-loved magnum pistol -with zoom- is back from the original Halo. There is also the introduction of new “Load-out” options, which gives you different abilities to choose from depending on your style of play; if you want to fly around like Boba Fett, the jetpack is for you – but if you want to be more sneaky, you can equip yourself with some active camo; there is also the ability to sprint, armor lock, deploy a bubble shield, and produce a hologram of your self to fool your enemy. All of these loadouts have great purpose and I personally find myself switching between a lot of them depending on the game type, situation, and how the match is being played. Between the new weapons and these load-out options there is an incredibly diverse way the game is being played in any given match, creating the need for adapting to new strategies and learning to use these new tools Bungie has given you.

Finally, there is armor customization. This isn’t the same customization from Halo 3, you have a LOT more control over the appearance of your Spartan. As you rank up, more armor becomes available to you and you can use your credits earned during gameplay to buy them. This is a great model. Prior to this, in Halo 3, when you ranked up your only reward was the “privelage” to play bigger assholes – now, there is an actual “reward” system that keeps you coming back to play the game to unlock new armor permutations.

Now, this game isn’t perfect. There seems to be some one-sidedness on some of the multiplayer maps that gives one team the advantage over the other, and it’s hard to recover from that advantage if you are the other team. Also, it seems there needs to be some better stability in the multiplayer matches; I would say that in about 50% of the games I play at at least one point during the match the game stopped, had to find a new host, and restarted – in fact, this happened four times in one game. It’s infuriating since it can take up to a minute or two for the server to find a new host and get the game going again.

Summary: It’s safe to say that up until about a week before Halo: Reach was released, I was skeptical. I hated the interim game between Halo 3 and this –Halo 3: ODST– and was thinking my days of enjoying Halo were over. This game has reignited my love for the franchise and has introduced enough change to keep the game interesting and prevent n00bs from just deploying the same tactics over and over. While I’m sure I will still grave the more “life-like” carnage from Call of Duty, Halo: Reach has definitely stepped up Halo’s multiplayer game and will be in regular rotation for my online gaming.

Kill-Tacular-Tron:

Campaign: I honestly can’t say I have a whole lot more to add to what Arse spoke about. The campaign is gripping and epic. For the entire time you feel you are fighting a nasty uphill battle and you aren’t sure how to win it. The only thing I’ll add… be sure to stay after the credits.

Multiplayer: Alright, this is the meat and potatoes of Halo for me. I’ve always been a big fan of big team slayers with friends. Halo 3 was always a lot of fun for me, but it certainly felt uneven. Especially with the BR’s. Nothing was more frustrating then some asshole pinning you down in a corner and spawn-killing you.

With Halo: Reach’s multiplayer, it is so much more varied. Getting stuck a lot or run over? Grab the Guardian over shield. Want to cut some corners and surprise attack the other team? How about the jetpack?. So awesome.

And on the subject of the old Battle Rifle, its replacement the DMR is awesome. Its powerful enough that you can get away with having it for an entire game. But its weak enough that you can’t dominate an entire team without some serious skill.

The maps on this game are epic as well. All of them having been incorporated into the campaign. So if you play through it before hopping online, even the new maps will seem familiar. Really great touch.

The vehicles have always been my favorite part of any Halo battle. And being the “wheelman” that I am, they’ve done a good job of crippling some of the things I would take advantage of, as well as beefing up some of the weak points. I can still drive a Warthog around and tear it up, but I have to be more cautious of the path I take so I don’t bounce out of control. And my gunner has to burst shoot as to not overheat the gun.

Summary: I can’t stop raving about this game. If you have liked Halo games in the past, you’ll love this one. If you hate Halo and are a die hard CoD fan. You won’t like it. So STFU and GTFO.

From the BSR Forum:

Vivalalance: “I have already sank about 20 hours into this game online and I can tell you its well worth its 60 dollar price point. I know I have been hearing this a lot lately, but it really is the best halo to date. I have ONE gripe with the multi player being that the level design colors are very bland. And Zombietron was quick to point out that with the vast universe that halo could be all we ever seem to see is: the interior of a ship, desert, and mountain escapes. That aside the load outs are a great addition along with the armor unlocks seem to be a much more rewarding part of the game. The balance within the game is probably the best I’ve seen out of all the halo’s. And did I mention they brought back 3 of my favorite halo 2 maps? ivory tower, blood gulch (technically from one) and ascension. On a note for the campaign, I RARELY play a campaign…..it has to be arkham asylum amazing or I won’t touch it. And I am ACTUALLY into this campaign and its REALLY good.”

You can check out the rest of what BSR Forumer Vivalalance had to say about Halo: Reach and share your input as well over in the Forum! Plus keep an eye out for our new articles You Got PWND.

It’s time once again for another installment of The Big Movie Mouth Off, starring Jeff Vice from X96’s Radio From Hell and Jimmy Martin from SLUG Magazine (and both are regular panelists on The Geek Show Podcast)

You can friend the show on Facebook here.

These are available exclusively on Comcast: Utah On Demand, and then after their exclusive run there, they will be appearing on Big Shiny Robot! and across the Internet. (iTunes/podcast versions coming soon by popular demand.)

Without further delay, let’s get to the reviews.

First, we’ll start with the Drew Barrymore/Justin Long romantic comedy “Going the Distance”:

Then Robert Rodriguez’ Grindhouse film “Machete”:

The heist film “Takers”:

George Clooney’s “The American”:

And finally, the Disney behind the scenes documentary “Waking Sleeping Beauty”:

We hope you enjoy the reviews. Tell your friends about them and keep coming back for more.

You can see old episodes here.

Marvel was kind enough to send us our first look at New Ultimates #4 this morning and I wanted to share it with you.  Not because I think the book is great.  In fact, I had it axed from my hold after 2 issues.  The art is very, very pretty and I love Frank Cho, and there are a couple of preview pages here that are pretty stunning.

And usually I love Jeph Loeb, but his foray into Ultimate comics has been lackluster, to say the least.  His work in the Batman universe is second to very few, if any, and it’s difficult for me to see one of my favorite writers on Batman, struggle so hard in the Marvel Universe (both in 616 with Hulk, and here in the Ultimate Universe).

But New Ultimates bored me.  It bored me to tears.  I love Frank Cho’s art, but without a cool story (or even a passable one) I couldn’t stay on board.

But I must say, these pages are making me second guess my decision.  Though my biggest problem is that the Ultimate Universe during its first decade felt like one cohesive place, but with Mark Millar’s Ultimates books, and Brian Michael Bendis’ Spider-Man books, Loeb’s stories seem oddly out of place.

My proposal?  They should let Jeph Loeb create the 626 universe or something and let Bendis and Millar carry the Ultimate torch and rebuild it into something that’s great.

Here’s what came in the press release with the pages:

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at Ultimate Comics New Ultimates #4, from the superstar creative team of writer Jeph Loeb and artist Frank Cho! IT’S THOR VS. THE ULTIMATES!  Thor’s returned from the underworld, but that’s not good news—he’s on a rampage! When he discovers the depths of Loki’s treachery, Iron Man, Captain America or Hawkeye won’t be able to stop him! How do you put down a god gone mad? Find the answers in Ultimate Comics New Ultimates #4!

ULTIMATE COMICS NEW ULTIMATES #4 (JUL100528)

Written by JEPH LOEB

Art & Cover by FRANK CHO

Parental Advisory …$3.99

On-Sale – 10/13/10

But without further ado, here are Frank Cho’s pages:

—Marvel Preview: X-Men #4

—Marvel Announces “Heroes for Hire” to Start in December

—Marvel Teases the Return of the Illuminati

—Black Panther is the new “Man Without Fear”

Marvel is pleased to announce that best-selling author David Liss and the acclaimed artist Francesco Francavilla will be launching the all-new Black Panther: The Man Without Fear this December! The smoke has cleared from the ruins of Shadowland and a new protector of Hell’s Kitchen is on the prowl. His name is T’Challa, the Blank Panther! In a city without Daredevil and a dangerous knew foe called Vlad the Impaler consolidating power in the underworld, the Black Panther must learn to become a new type of hero. Without his riches, his technology, and his kingdom can T’Challa truly be the man without fear? Find out in Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #513!

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—Image Releases Teaser for “The Walking Dead” #80

—Larfleeze Celebrates the Holidays With His Own Christmas Special

What do you get for the Lantern who wants everything?

This December, Orange Lantern Larfleeze, who’s never seen anything he didn’t want for his own, has his hopes set on everything Christmas-related, including Santa Claus. And nothing, not even the heroes that populate the DCU are going to stand in his way.

Featuring words by GREEN LANTERN mastermind Geoff Johns with art by Brett Booth and a sterling Gene Ha cover, the one-shot special also includes a peek into how the other members of the Orange Lantern Corps celebrate the holidays. Click below for Ha’s cover and prepare for the weirdest and craziest sleigh ride ever.

—Marvel Preview: I Am An Avenger #2

Marvel is pleased to announce your first look at I Am An Avenger #2, featuring the return of acclaimed writer Greg Rucka along with Sean McKeever, Paul Tobin, Mike Mayhew and more! The star-studded Avengers anthology continues! Witness Captain America pay tribute to those who fell at the Siege of Asgard. Watch romance ignite between Firestar and Justice! See the Avengers like you’ve never seen them before in an array of new and exciting tales in I Am An Avenger #2!

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—A Look at the Cover to January’s Issue of Detective Comics

—Giffen and Levitz Revisit The Legion Together

This news broke over at DC’s blog, The Source.

Okay, I’m just gonna geek out and shout it to the heavens:

PAUL LEVITZ AND KEITH GIFFEN ARE REUNITING ON THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES!!!

And I get to edit it! Whee!! You have to understand what this monumental development means to me personally.

Y’see, Paul and Keith transformed the Legion from an enduring DC franchise into one of the most popular and dynamic comic book series of the 1980s. With an entire 30th century future world at their command, they crafted the most innovative, break-the-mold superhero world anyone had ever read up to that point. Their names were spoken in the same breath as Frank Miller, Chris Claremont and Wolfman/Pérez.

For me and the many other fanboys of Generation X, Paul and Keith did the seemingly impossible: They made me a Legion fan. For life.

I admit, back in 1985, my 14-year-old self felt names like “Lightning Lad” and “Cosmic Boy” sounded really silly. No way I was going to invest in characters with those names, right?

Then I somehow stumbled upon TALES OF THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #326, which affordably reprinted Paul and Keith’s all-new LEGION series a year after their original release. This one reprinted issue #1. It must have been a slow week for me to even crack open the cover. It began with a collection of psychopaths called the Legion of Super-Villains who each took a blood oath to kill a Legionnaire. One of them tortured his own sister by jolting her with massive amounts of electricity. Another literally melted a lowly waitress alive with a molten kiss, just for the fun of it! Sick stuff. And yet, these Legionnaires refused to back off. I was really impressed. I wanted to know more about these guys, even if their names were “Saturn Girl” and “Ultra Boy.” They stopped being silly and became as serious as a heart attack.

Then Keith left the series shortly thereafter, and Paul flew solo for a long while. Then Keith came back to do the last year on that series with Paul—and I defy anyone to tell me issue #53’s “The Trial of Brainiac 5” isn’t awesome—and then Paul left the series for Keith to do solo.

That was 1989. The two never collaborated on the Legion again. That is, until this December, when they come together again on the oversized LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ANNUAL #1. It introduces an all-new, all-psycho Emerald Empress—and just hearing the twisted stuff they have in store fills this Legion fan with utter glee.

In fact, Keith just sent me his first pages, and they look gorgeous. He’s mixing Kirby with his ’90s Legion style and a modern sensibility. I look at the Xeroxes on my desk, and I know it’s REAL. It’s happening.

It reminded me why I’m a Legion fan in the first place.

P.S. You know what’s REALLY weird? This is Paul and Keith’s third “LEGION ANNUAL #1.” They did one in 1982, 1985 and now in 2010. Third time’s the charm, they say!

—Marvel Teases: “All New All Different” for December

—Marvel Preview: Wolverine #2

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at Wolverine #2 from the acclaimed creative team of Jason Aaron and Renato Guedes! Stuck in Hell, Wolverine must come face to face with everyone he’s ever killed! Meanwhile, back in the land of the living, Logan’s demonically-possessed body is still running amuck and Mystique may be the only one who can stop it! Can Wolverine battle the Legion of the Damned and make it out alive? Find out this October in Wolverine #2!

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—Ardian Syaf Joins “Birds of Prey” as its New Artist

Starting in December, the Birds of Prey will get a new member – to their creative team, that is.

Hot off a stint on GREEN LANTERN CORPS and BRIGHTEST DAY, Ardian Syaf steps in as the regular artist on the series, joining forces with regular writer Gail Simone. And Syaf is stepping in just in time, as the series continues to kick things into high gear, with a new arc starting in December titled “The Death of Oracle.”

BIRDS OF PREY Editor Janelle Siegel was kind enough to show off a few pages of Ardian’s art, and it seems she’s as excited as we are about the new addition:

“I’ve been a fan of Ardian’s work for quite some time, so I jumped at the chance to have him on Birds of Prey. He’s a great fit for the book because he is an immensely talented artist with a gift for storytelling and action and he’s also great at drawing beautiful women! We couldn’t ask for a better combination than that for the kind of stories we’re telling in Birds of Prey right now.”

Oh, and about that art…

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—Marvel Preview: Invincible Iron-Man #31

Marvel is pleased to present your first look at Invincible Iron Man #31, the latest explosive chapter of “Stark Resilient” from the Eisner Award-winning team of Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca!  Tony Stark has spent the past year reassembling his empire, suit and psyche…only to find himself head-to-head against Hammer family at every turn. Just how does Stark Resilient’s first public demonstration at the Seattle Tech Expo play into their master plan?  And Detroit Steel has gone viral…could he inadvertently put an end to them both?  Just when things are looking up for Tony, the stakes get higher in Invincible Iron Man #31, on sale this October!

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Editor’s Note: This is the first report from a new Los Angeles based Big Shiny Robot correspondent who goes by the name of FrankYaegerBot.  I’m told it’s a reference to some video game or another…  In any case, we sent him out to cover the premiere of “Malice in LaLaLand” from Vivid Entertainment.

For those of you who have never been to an adult film release party, let me tell you, it’s nothing like you’ve ever imagined and the same time everything you’ve ever imagined all rolled into one magnificent event. To quote Hamlet, “Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.”

What follows is a dream finally come true.

Just a couple of weeks ago, the powers that be at Big Shiny Robot saw fit to bestow upon me the opportunity to cover the release party for Vivid Entertainment and Miss Lucifer Productions new animated/ live action hybrid “Malice in LaLaLand”. The event took place at the very chic nightclub Boudoir in West Hollywood last Saturday evening.

Upon arrival I felt like a god. Albeit a giddy, aroused, adolescent god, but a god nonetheless. Excited to wield my new found powers. One of those being the ability to cut past everyone in line with my BSR press credentials. I kept my head held high as I waltzed past the common folk waiting to get in, the bouncer lifted the velvet rope that lead me to the doorway. A drape hung over the front entrance; I took a deep breath and walked in.

I felt like Steve Trevor entering the bountiful land of Themyscira. I say this in great truth to help illustrate, for at that very moment when I pulled back the drape, a seemingly multiplying pageant of pure enrapturing femininity did bombard my sight. Women as far as the eye could see. Adorned with outfits ranging from mammary mashing corsets, to free breathing bosoms lightly enswathed with semi see-through tops, to ripe posteriors peaking out of the shortest skirts this side of sector 2814.

The place was packed and I was shoulder to shoulder with all the other losers gawking and drooling like I was. But there was work yet to be done.

So with the will power of a demigod, I made my way past the hordes of delectable dancing debutants and began scouring the club for some of the main cast to interview including the likes of the (Entourage’s) Sasha Grey, (Superman XXX’s) Andy San Dimas and (Detroit Rock City’s) Ron Jeremy.

I walked, waited and walked for a solid forty minutes, trying to speak to those around who looked to be in charge. In hopes that I might learn where the stars were or when they would arrive.

As I began to kneel to ask for help from on high, a lovely young lady at the bar struck up conversation. She told me of her duties on set as a production assistant and I told her of my plight, to which she promptly responded, “I can introduce you to the director”. The prospect of not leaving empty handed was so tremendous that I nearly cried. The giddiness had begun to return as I followed this angel on her approach to one of the V.I.P. tables where the director, Lew Xypher, stood with drink in hand. At this juncture I wasn’t going to waste anymore time wondering how I’d gotten so lucky. So I got right to the hard-hitting questions.

FYB: What attracted you to the project?

LX: I wanted to do something completely new. There are a lot of good movies in the adult entertainment world but they are almost all the same. We wanted something different. Our production company based in Europe wanted to approach things very technically and filmic. Which is why we shot on 35mm film.

FYB: Was it difficult working the 2D animation into live action film?

LX: It wasn’t too difficult. It was very hands on. I worked with the talented Jeremy Ley. He is a great storyboard artist and illustrator from Australia. I worked on the animation and special effects myself. To have that temporary comic book style in it was fun.

FYB: So you have experience in animation?

LX: 25 years ago, I started in animation. I began in 2D and later moved into 3D animation. I’ve incorporated it into some of my music video projects. Animation has always been in my roots. I studied fine arts; I painted a lot and moved into computers. (Laughs) Well, on Mac. I love art and always read comic books.

FYB: What comics did you read?

LX: Every kind. I love French comics. Belgian comics like Tin Tin. I grew up with Tin Tin and the Belgian comic culture.

FYB: Are there any U.S. comic influences?

LX: I like Batman and all the superheroes. In Belgium I bought them all; from Batman, Superman to the Green Lantern to Hulk.

FYB: What are some of your influences?

LX: I love movies and I love comics. I really loved The Dark Knight, especially the scenes with the Joker. They are very strong. It’s one of my favorites. I am a big fan of Tarantino and Hitchcock. If it’s a good movie I like it. (Laughs)

FYB: Would you say this was a kind of a dream project?

LX: (Laughs) No, it was a test project. My goal is to do mainstream.

FYB: So what’s next for you?

LX: I have some mainstream projects. Some people want to work with us on a sequel or prequel to “Malice” or another project like it. And, I think I’ll do both. (Laughs)

FYB: Good luck on your future projects and congratulations.

LX: Thank you very much.

As the director walked a way I was shocked and excited that we had found our way from the topic of adult entertainment to comic books and back within such a short lapse of time.

In elation I clicked stop on my tape recorder and twirled it like a six-shooter, pocketed it and headed to the bar for a celebratory drink. This had been no small feat, though the interview was brought upon by shear luck; it was a victory in my book. By the time I finished my drink the event had come to a close and the general populace had been allowed in. Seeing that the night had drawn to an end I decided to take my winnings and be on my merry.

Which is when I saw him, yes, that’s right the lord of porn himself. Mr. Ron Jeremy. He wasn’t very talkative. In fact by the look in his eyes, you would have thought I had just interrupted a eulogy. But I was dead set. I swung in close and exacted a handshake. It was clearly going to be the extent of our exchange. Then I went on my way, as he was busy talking to a couple of ladies.

In closing for those who do not know whom Ron Jeremy is. He is the long lost son of Lou Albano who played Mario on Club Mario back in 89’. You know, the one with the Zelda and Super Mario cartoons. Okay so that last part is not entirely true but they do share a striking resemblance.

And with that, this reporter is signing off.

Editors Note: Come back tomorrow for FrankYaegerBot’s review of “Malice in LaLaLand”

The time has come for me to do a review of the season premiere of Clone Wars, and I must say, the crew is working hard to pull out all the stops on this season.

This premiere is a bookend on either side of one of my favorite episodes from Season 1 entitled “Rookies”. Rookies tells the tale of a new batch of shiny clones, fresh out of their training and guarding the Rishi Outpost, a listening station designed to prevent a Separatist attack on Kamino, where we all know that Clones are grown and trained.

The first episode of the premiere is called “Clone Cadets” and follows these clones during their training. Although they’re reluctant heroes in “Rookies”, in this episode they all get wiped out in every training simulation and have no idea how to work together. Jedi Master Shaak Tii and a pair of Bounty Hunters in charge of their training argue about what to do with them. The most likely scenario for them is to flunk out with the rest of the “bad batchers” and join the maintenance clones, headed up by 99. 99 is the hunchbacked clone with flayed skin and a heart of gold. An Arc trooper named Colt shows up and oversees the final stage of their training and it’s a very cool thing to see.

Though I’ll skip the details since you’ll want to see for yourself, 99 encourages this group to work as a team and they pass their training, which is an obvious conclusion if you’ve seen “Rookies”

This half of the premiere was very fun to watch, but not terribly substantive. It does have a great heart and soul with the 99 character though, who within his first scene impressed me as a very ‘Gunga Din’ sort of character. If you’ve ever watched that movie, that pretty much gives away what’s in store for him, but it’s worth it. It’s interesting to see the troopers train and get an official sense of what goes on during that process, but ultimately, this is just a set up for the second episode in the arc, “Arc Troopers”.

“Arc Troopers” picks up where season one’s “Rookies” left off, with the Separatists on their merry way to invade Kamino and disrupt the flow of clones to the Grand Army of Republic. As it turns out, Ventress has been laying in wait beneath the oceans of Kamino with an amphibious strike force and Grievous’ attack was a feint to distract from her assault.

Though Obi-Wan discovers the true assault in the nick of time, Ventress and Grievous are able to do some serious damage and are on their way to steal Jango’s DNA so they can disrupt production of Clones for the Empire and perhaps make their own army. Will the Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Shaak Tii reposition their forces (with the help of the “Rookies”, 99, and a whole bunch of young clones (with Daniel Logan reprising his role as their voice)) in time to deflect the massive strike force? Or will the Separatists win out at the end?

I’ll leave the episode for you to watch, but let me make this clear. Some might argue that this is a Clone episode, between the great stuff 99 is doing and the stuff the remaining “Rookies” do, this is an episode full of great action moments.

But make no mistake: This is Ventress’ episode.

She shines in this episode in a way I didn’t think she could or would. Even with her best moment deleted, she still drips with lethal sexuality and it’s scary. She got to face off in an epic lightsaber duel with Anakin, though I’d almost like to have seen her face off with Shaak Tii, who’s animation in this episode is beyond fluid and gorgeous. (There was a moment where Shaak Tii was talking on a communicator and deflecting laser bolts all at the same time that I must have rewound and watched again 5 times. It was so graceful and bad ass… I just can’t wait for you all to see it.)

At the end of the day though, I really can’t tell what my favorite parts of these episodes were, Ventress blossoming as a villain, or 99’s arc. Both are excellent, both are well worth your time.

Though the attack on Kamino is ultimately repelled, Grievous and Ventress make damn sure the Republic forces pay a price for the assault.

As far as the technical achievement of these episodes, I don’t think any fan could be happier. Season three is a quantum leap forward in look and animation. These guys have nailed the story element since day one (I’ve been rewatching Season 1, and the animation is a little rubbery and the backgrounds a little flat, but the stories are still top notch), but now the animation, painted models, lighting, effects, backgrounds, everything… It’s all put together to make the best looking episodes we’ve ever seen. And this is the beginning of this season. I can’t even imagine what is in store for us.

I want to point out, too, that you need to be watching this in HD on the biggest TV possible. Re-watching those Blu-rays and seeing this premiere at Lucasfilm have really opened my eyes to the quality of the animation. Every frame is a painting I’d hang on a wall. In a good enough quality and size, you really can see the brush strokes on the models and in the backgrounds.

It’s beautiful.

I’m glad we have Clone Wars. It just keeps getting better.

To catch up on season one, order that here.  You can preorder season two here.

You all know that we write a weekly column for IN Magazine, but sometimes I’m able to write up other things of significance.

In this week’s issue, I was able to write up a blurb for the audiences of IN about The Season Premiere of The Clone Wars and my trip to Lucasfilm. I’m sure you’ve heard plenty about it by now, but I thought you’d all like to check out what I wrote for a more general audience. Maybe it’ll give you some ideas on how to spread the gospel of Clone Wars to the non-believers.

You can read the online version here, or click on the image below to see what it looks like in printed form. And don’t forget to read Ryan Michael Painter’s review of the new Metroid game on the page as well.

For all of the rest of our Clone Wars coverage, click here.

I’m sure it’s getting to be common knowledge around these parts that Big Shiny Robot! has a regular column in the Salt Lake City Alt-Weekly IN Magazine.

If you’re in the greater Salt Lake area, you can pick up a copy on newsstands.

This week, we are highlighting the twentieth anniversary of Dr. Volts Comic Connection, who is commemorating their celebration with a signing by Jeff Parker, Gabriel Hardman, Jake Black, and Derek Hunter.

To read the online version of the story, click here. Otherwise read it below.

In honor of tomorrow’s premiere of The Clone Wars: Season 3, I’m posting an interview with Dave Filoni, the supervising director of Clone Wars.

We had this conversation at Star Wars Celebration V and spoke, almost more than anything, about the cinema influences of on Clone Wars. The subject quickly turned to The Third Man, which is one of my favorite films that no one has heard of, and Filoni said of that, “It’s shocking isn’t it? But all of the smart filmmakers know it and build on it. And if we can touch upon that in Clone Wars and some kids sees [Akira] Kurosawa’s name at the beginning of our film, that makes them go look it up. I was lucky, my father showed me a lot of those films when I was a kid, but I also heard these rumblings of Hidden Fortress and it’s relevance to Star Wars and as a kid you’re thinking, ‘I’m gonna go watch that.'”

When we talked about the growth and changes coming this season for our main trio of characters (Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi-wan), he also talked about his difficulty in talking to Star Wars fans. “I’m very excited about [Season 3]. It’s really hard to hold back, especially being around people that are so excited by Star Wars. I want to tell you guys everything. And I can’t. So there you have it. I’ve been accused of being very good at delivering very lengthy answers that have absolutely no point, but I think that’s a skill to have.”

He talked a lot about his fandom, too, and George Lucas’ specific influence on the show. He also talked about the fine line he has to straddle between making a show for the mainstream and a show for fans.

Perhaps my favorite part of the conversation, though, was when I was able to out Dave as a fellow Robotech nerd. We were talking about his biggest influences in storytelling on the show, “That animated series to me, showed me as a kid that, ‘Wow, these characters can die. Roy Fokker got shot down. How does that work?’ The romance in it made me feel very much like what was happening in Star Wars. The Zentradi battlecruisers… It was all so incredible to me and it made me say, ‘I want to grow up and make an animated series like that.'”

We talked much more about Robotech, but you’ll have to watch the interview for the finer details. I would also highly recommend any fan of Clone Wars watch Robotech. It’s just a great show.

I’m an amateur photographer and my new favorite thing to toy around with is Light Painting. If you don’t know what that is you can check out a few examples of it “>Here, Here, and Here. Basically you open up your shutter for a long exposure and use some kind of light source to write in the air, you know like you did with sparklers when you were a kid.

So I saw this video floating around for a minute and never paid attention to it because the title always said Ipad…I could give a shit less about them but finally Arse-bot sent me a direct link to the Dentsu London blog and the words Light Painting were in the URL, so I pulled it up on my phone and was blown away by how awesome it was. They made a program to Light Paint holograms of characters and words using an Ipad. Its such an original way of doing things I immediately wanted to try it. I expect to see lots of people following suit and upping their Light Painting game after this. Check out the video below and sound of in the comments or forums to tell us what you think.

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.