The second day of New York Comic Con has come to a close and I’m resting my feet back  at a friend’s place in Queens. Today was fantastic – lots of great interviews, panels and special events. The highlights of my day included interviewing Chris Sabat, Justin Cook, and Sean Schemmel from Dragon Ball Z, seeing Joe Simon (who just turned 98 years old on Tuesday) at his panel “My Life in Comics,” and getting an up-close glimpse of Stan Lee meeting colleagues at the Archie Booth on the show floor. We’ve got a lot of great stuff coming up for you once we get a chance to get it all edited and web-ready, but for now I wanted to share some photos with you from Thursday and Friday. Enjoy!

Be sure to check back soon for our interviews with Tom Morello, the Skullgirl’s creative team, Kevin Conroy, Bruce Timm, Andrea Romano, Chris Sabat, Justin Cook, Sean Schemmel and more!

“Nomad Droids” is an episode divided into three mini-segments, all starring Artoo and Threepio. The first part is very much like the opening to the Wizard of Oz. There’s a hurricane of a battle and the droids get into the only safe place they can think of: a Y-wing. They’re whisked away to a foreign world where they encounter a pint-size civilization under the thumb of an evil leader. Our heroes are captured, freed, and accidentally kill the overlord, freeing the Brownie-like creatures to lead themselves. Think Wicked Witch of the East and the Munchkins.

Back in space, they find themselves on another planet, running low on power and playing out more scenes from The Wizard of Oz. That’s where they encounter a group of Pit droids who have enslaved an entire race with a giant hologram. (That might have been my favorite part of the episode).

In the third section, they’re abducted by pirates and are almost melted down before they’re saved by General Grievous.

At the end, they’re reunited with the Republic and no one seems to want to listen to their fantastical story.

Watching this episode, it’s important to remind people that Artoo and Threepio as a duo carried an entire show in the 80s on their shoulders. And they did it capably.

I can see where a lot of people might have an issue with these Artoo and Threepio. Their whimsical adventures aren’t the sort of fare we’ve been used to on the show, really since the beginning. Ambush (the first aired episode) is really the only one I can think of with this level of whimsy. They’re fun episodes and in the classic mold of old Saturday morning cartoons. It takes all the heart of those old stories and adds in the sensibilities of the new show and give us something unique to The Clone Wars.

How can you argue with that?

Some could, I’m sure. But I watched this episode with my kids and we all laughed hysterically through it. It was fun. And that’s what Star Wars is supposed to be. No matter how awesome or how epic things get, there’s always whimsy and humour there. Even when Star Wars is at its darkest, there’s lighthearted joking. The first half hour of Revenge of the Sith has plenty of laughs. And The Empire Strikes Back? It has some of the funniest moments in the entire saga. Consider this exchange between the droids:

C-3PO: I didn’t ask you to turn on the thermal heater. I merely commented that it was freezing in the princess’s chamber…
[Artoo whistles his objection]
C-3PO: But it’s supposed to be freezing! How we are ever going to dry out her clothes, I really don’t know!

And that leads into some great moments with Han.

What I’m trying to say is this: This show shouldn’t be one note. It will get soooo boring if it’s war all the time. It’s these brief respites that make me appreciate the war episodes even more. These are fun. The kids love them and so do. Sure, it doesn’t make the most sense in the world that the droids weren’t with Anakin and Padme, but these were fun episodes and that outweighs things. It’s important to have comedic moments woven into the tapestry of the films to break the tension, and for that same reason it’s important to have these lighthearted episodes to break the tension of the season.

But for as funny as this episode was, there was a LOT of killing… Which actually made me laugh. As the pirates were getting sucked out of the hole in the ship and into the vacuum of space, I started giggling about the whole thing. There is a hilarious amount of killing in this episode. Watch it again, you’ll see what I mean.

The animation for this episode was wondrous. The environments and the character models were things we hadn’t really seen before and even just for a throwaway episode. And I loved all the references to the classic trilogy. Most will recognize the shots in the hallway at the beginning with Artoo and Threepio looking for an escape pod as a direct homage to A New Hope, but did anyone else notice the direct visual reference to Empire? Their crash landing on that first planet seemed, shot for shot, just like Luke’s landing on Dagobah. Specifically: that shot in the cockpit.

I don’t automatically like every episode, trust me, but they make it incredibly hard for me to hate the episodes. From the gorgeous lighting, rich colours, fascinating design, and great characters all the way to the well-written stories and inspirations from the films I love the most. It all congeals into something that seems designed specifically for me to enjoy.

It just works.

If you’re whining about these episodes and can’t wait to get back into the war, The Umbarra arc is up next and Dee Bradley Baker assured me on more than one occasion that this is the show stopper. At least until Darth Maul returns.

We’re starting a new weekly column here today. Every Friday a different robot will give you a different suggestion about what you should be watching on Netflix. Our picks will all be available on instant streaming.

For our inaguraual pick, I’m going to set you up on what might be the best of the Star Trek series: Deep Space Nine.

It was just added in the last week or so to Instant Streaming and it’s worth checking out all over again from the beginning.

I’m only one episode in and I’m hooked already.

For those on the fence on it, let me ask you: Did you like Battlestar Galactica? If so, did you know that Ron Moore, the driving creative force behind Battlestar Galactica was the supervising producer on Deep Space Nine starting with the first episode of Season 3?

Many complained at the time that Deep Space Nine wasn’t the same as the other Star Trek series and they were right. Unlike the others, who follow an “adventure of the week” pattern, DS9 is linear. Actions from one episode have consequences in the next and so on. Sisko explains it beautifully in the pilot episode to an entity that doesn’t understand the concept of linear time. It was almost as if they were preparing us for what was to come.

For those fans of Battlestar, this is a show to get into that will help you with that desire to see more of it.

Every single episode is up on Netflix. You owe it to yourself to check it out. If you find yourself checking out in the first two seasons, just skip to the first episode of the third season, though I wouldn’t recommend it. If that’s the only way to get you to keep watching, I guess it’s unavoidable.

As I go through the show, I’ll write periodical reports about highlights, but take my word for it: It’s dynamite.

One of my fondest memories is traveling 40 miles to a theatre that was selected to play the trailer for The Phantom Menace before Meet Joe Black. This was in the days where downloading a good looking trailer the size of a postage stamp took all night, so that 40 minute drive up to the capitol city was no skin off my nose.

They played the trailer before and after Meet Joe Black and the group of people I went with spent the entire time during the film discussing Star Wars and how mind blowing the trailer was. (“>You can watch it here. Say whatever you want about The Phantom Menace (quietly, please) this trailer was incredible.)

I know some people were disappointed, both in the trailer and the film, but for me it delivered with flying colors. It continues to do so, as well.

Another film I couldn’t care less about will be premiering the trailer for the 3D version of The Phantom Menace and I’ll be there to see it. It doesn’t hurt that my kids want to see it, but I’ve spent since Aliens Vs. Predator doing my best to avoid the crap Paul W.S. Anderson directs. In any case, there it is. The Three Musketeers hits theatres October 21st.

We also have this new poster for the film and it highlights all the things we love about the film. And with Darth Maul returning from the dead on The Clone Wars soon after the February release date of this re-release, it makes a lot of sense to get him out in the open.

MARK DAGO; “Kill Screen” (Earthburn Records)
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE? Mark Dago (lyrics, words and vocals)

As crazy as it sounds, there occasionally exist things that make even this Prince of Dorks feel insufficiently nerdy. Well, almost.

Take, for example, “Mark Dago Presents: Kill Screen,” a hip-hop/nerdcore mini-album that is touted on its cover as being “For
use with stereophonic technology.”

For those who might be unfamiliar with Dago, he’s a Utah-based musician/rapper who has performed in Rotten Musicians and the Numbs. “>And he’s even free-styled onstage with Chuck D. and Public Enemy. So what I’m saying is he’s legit.

His latest solo work explores his preoccupation with video games (especially the old, “8-bit” versions) and other forms of gaming. And it uses available video game music and sonic re-creations as the musical backing (if you’re a veteran gamer, you’ll recognize at least a few sound bites).

Luckily, it’s not nearly as insufferably “inside” or nearly as cutesy as you’d expect such material to be. Dago’s credible, convincing raps and rhymes make “Kill Screen” more than palatable … they make it very enjoyable. Just try to resist the pulsating “Megamanic.” I dare you.

Although it is largely a solo work, there are contributions from some of Dago’s usual collaborators, such as Rotten Musicians mate Daniel “Fisch” Fischer, who produced “Kill Screen” and contributes vocals to “The Low End of Doom.” (The nine songs were recorded by Salt Lake City music legend Andy Patterson, who’s smart enough to know that Dago’s vocals need to be pushed up in the “mix.”)

By the way, while “hard copies” of the CD are on sale locally, at such stores as Uprok, you can also download “Kill Screen” for free at Mark’s Bandcamp site. But you really should give Dago some monetary love. It’s only right.

Jerk-bot is the robotic nom de plume of Utah-based movie and music reviewer/writer Jeff Michael Vice, who invites you to enjoy his other endeavors, for Xfinity’s Big Movie Mouth-Off review program, MSN’s Parallel Universe and MSN Movies, Now IN Salt Lake magazine, X-96′s Radio From Hell, Geek Show Podcast and the Mediocre Show.

Editors note:

You can check out Mark Dago and Fisch performing tracks from Kill Screen on Park City TV below:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD3T5Yp865E

Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Mark Strong, and Peter Sarsgaard is making its way to Blu-ray this Friday, October 14.

I originally reviewed this Martin Campbell-directed film when it hit theaters back in June, and you can read that fairly lengthy review here. Here’s a brief excerpt:

Perhaps where this film suffers the most is a rushed, and undeveloped story and a gross under-use of some potentially interesting characters. The film really jumps right in to bestowing the power ring to Hal Jordan who is shortly after inheriting a power ring from the dying alien, Abin Sur, is whisked away to the Green Lantern base-planet of Oa. Here we are introduced to three Green Lanterns we will see shockingly little of after they attempt to train Hal Jordan in the ways of being a member of the Green Lantern Corps. After becoming frustrated and beaten down by his would-be trainers Kilowog and Thaal Sinestro, Hal simply gives up and returns home. Yes, after less than one day spent traveling to Oa, learning about the Green Lanterns, and getting frustrated because he can’t immediately wield his ring as well as some the the Corps’ best members, Hal Jordan returns to Earth and gives up. Running parallel to Hal’s story, we have Hector Hammond, a scientist and son of a U.S. Senator, become exposed to some remnants of the yellow, physical manifistation of the power of Fear, Parallax, when he is summoned to study the body of the deceased Abin Sur. This of course putshim on track to becoming the film’s main – but relatively weak – antagonist. The film whisks along at a steady pace as it desperately attempts to set up some romance between Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris and present scenarios on Earth that forces Jordan to don his ring and become a hero – including a crashing helicopter and an increasingly crazy Hector Hammond drunk from the power and influence of Parallax. It’s not long before our hero prevails in a relatively anti-clamactic showdown with Parallax and he is accepted by the Green Lanterns as a formidable member.

Needless to say, I was not really impressed with this film the first time around, and my opinion has not changed much after a second viewing on Blu-ray. I of course watched the extended version of the film which added around ten minutes of extra material. These extra scenes do help the film out a bit by adding some back story the theatrical version merely hinted at. Most – if not all – of the extra material is at the beginning of the film where we see more of young Hal Jordan interacting with his parents, being a bit of a rebel and skipping class to watch his father fly. At the airfield Hal runs into a young Carol Ferris and Hector Hammond which I appreciated. In the theatrical version of the film it’s implied that these three have a history together, but implying is all the film does; it’s nice to see these relationships expanded on a little and makes the interactions of these characters later on in the film make more sense. These added scenes don’t necessarily make this a “better” film overall, but definitely improve it by providing some back story. Of course, visually the film is quite stunning on Blu-ray, but it does little in the way of hiding the fact it suffers from a rushed, bumbling script and poor character development.

There are a handful of deleted scenes included, but nothing terribly substantial. There’s an odd scene in which Hector Hammond uses his new found powers to levitate a hamster running in a wheel, a scene of Hal and Sinestro visiting a Green Lantern cemetery, and some other minor moments that were left on the cutting room floor. Perhaps the deleted scene that stood out the most was one in which Hal protects his nephew as Parallax attacks the city. It would have been nice to see Hal’s close relationship with his nephew expanded on in the film instead of having him essentially disappear about fifteen minutes in, never to be seen again. With this scene at least we see that this character wasn’t completely forgotten.

Some fairly interesting featurettes are included that cover the creation of the alien Green Lanterns, how Hector Hammond’s disfigured look was achieved, Ryan Reynolds’ “transformation” into Hal Jordan, and how the CG Green Lantern costumes were created among other things. Fans of the Green Lantern comic book universe will probably most enjoy the “The Universe According to Green Lantern” featurette in which Hal Jordan’s comic book history is explored in quite a bit of depth by DC writers, artists, etc.

Green Lantern is by no means an awful film, but when you have other superhero films like Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, and X-Men: First Class setting such a high bar this year it just doesn’t compare. It’s a good looking film, but the script just doesn’t hold up. For those of you on the fence about seeing this movie that passed on it while it was in theaters, I do think it’s worth a viewing on Blu-ray but perhaps as a rental.

You can pick up Green Lantern over at Amazon.

I recently had the incredible opportunity to spend some time chatting with some of the greatest visual effects artists in the industry to discuss Jurassic Park, which will be released on Blu-ray in an ultimate trilogy set on October 25.

Even if you don’t know their names, you know their work.  Dennis Muren began his career with George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) in the early days of the Star Wars saga.  Phil Tippett also worked at ILM and worked on stop-motion scenes.  John Rosengrant worked closely with Stan Winston on the animatronic dinosaurs and has even performed as a puppeteer for movies (including performing as one of the velociraptors in the kitchen scene in Jurassic Park).  He is now with Legacy Effects.

I began by asking them if they thought CGI was overused by filmmakers today, since part of the success of Jurassic Park comes from the seamless blending of multiple effects techniques (animatronic dinosaurs from Stan Winston, and the collaboration between Tippet’s stop motion and Muren’s CGI).

Muren:  “Yeah, absolutely.  I think it’s overused.  Movies should be about people, not about effects, and there’s a tendency to just do sort of everything CG and what they’re actually doing is delaying making the decision.”

Rosengrant:  “It’s lazy film-making.  I hate to be that blunt but I really feel like it is, because movies were made with decisions and planning for years and now you get to set and they just don’t want to make a decision . . . they don’t want to do their homework or be locked in.”

Muren:  “[Jurassic Park] very well planned.  It was a mixture of real dinosaur props on the set that could move realistically mixed with post-production effects that ended up being computer graphics as opposed to just doing all one or all the other.”

Tippett:  “And to add to that note there was the Winston Studios that did all the practical on-set stuff which contributed a significant amount of shots to it whereas Dennis and I worked primarily on the . . . more ambulatory shots . . . I think there was only something like 55 dinosaur shots and it was so well laid out by Steven [Spielberg] and cut together seamlessly that it was almost a perfect amount of what you needed to do to tell the story and kind of left you wanting more . . .

Muren:  “You felt like there were a heck of a lot more dinosaurs in that movie than really were.  It’s so funny, but Steven did the same thing in Jaws and he did the same thing in E.T. You’d think the people would learn from him how to make these movies, but they don’t.  So many people just throw in a thousand shots, 2000 shots and think that’s how you do it.  It’s too bad.”

Next, I asked them what they thought about filmmakers going back to earlier works and updating the visual effects (as we have most recently seen with the Star Wars Saga.  Again)

Tippett:  “It’s their business.  Artists throughout all history have gone back in and re-worked stuff, and that could be for a number of different reasons, so you know, it’s their call to do that.”

Muren:  “I agree with Phil.  I wish the original versions were always available, but I think it’s fine to update a movie if it means you’re going to have an audience later watching that movie that otherwise might turn it off because of something that you could fix.  It’s a shame, people were talking about a shot in Raiders of the Lost Ark where there’s a reflection in a piece of glass between Indy and the snake . . . I would hate to have people turn that movie off . . . because of that reflection looking fake.”

Their responses to the most challenging parts of working on Jurassic Park:

Rosengrant:  “For Stan Winston Studio I think it was coming up with moving these giant dinosaurs hydraulically and getting them to move naturally because the hydraulics had been used in theme parks for years but they didn’t have the compliant servos and the computer technology to stop them from kind of looking very fake and mechanical so that was a huge groundbreaking thing for us and of course you’re also strapped with skins of Tyrannosaurus Rexes that are 24 feet long and Brachiosaur heads which technically oh that’s a big deal the mold-making process for something like that we turned to aerospace.  Used a lot of products for the mold-making, epoxy molds and things that would be very light and strong compared to the other techniques of the past. that was daunting I mean, obviously the scope of work as well.”

Muren:  “From our point of view on the CG stuff, is that we didn’t even know if we could to it at the start of the project because it just hadn’t been done before.  I looked at a lot of footage that had been done by universities and all these attempts to make animal skin to look like real computer graphic creatures.  Nobody got even close to it, and it was the best stuff from the finest minds. Fortunately at ILM we had a lot of people who really cared about it and we had some science people that we brought in and computer scientists to sort of help solve problems the way the light should hit the detail on it different detail on it and how we could get the apparent look of all the different detail on the skins of the dinosaurs without actually having to make all that because computers of that time couldn’t have ever handled it.  There was an awful lot of cheating compared to what we do now in CG.  We didn’t know what we were doing.  We didn’t know if we could do it.”

And they are currently working on:

Muren:  “I just did some work on Super 8 but now I’m onto this book I’ve been working on for a long time on and it’s on observation and inspiration for films.”

Phil Tippett is working on the final two chapters of the Twilight saga.

Rosengrant:  “And Legacy Effects is working on Pacific Rim which is the Guillermo Del Toro movie and we’re also doing a smaller movie . . .  called Neighborhood Watch where aliens have invaded the neighborhood.”

It was a treat to speak to these masters of visual effects, and you can see and hear more about the behind-the-scenes magic on the documentaries included in the Jurassic Park Blu-Ray set.  I’ve viewed some of them already, and they’re full of movie clips, interviews, and information about all three Jurassic Park films.

Is Jem still truly outrageous?  Well, naturally that will depend on your personal tastes, but re-watching episodes of Jem & the Holograms has been a very entertaining experience.

Jem brings the glam and glitz of the music scene to an animated series, and it has everything you could ask for:  drama, intrigue, romance, adventure, an ongoing identity crisis, oh, and of course music.

And the clothes!  If you remember the 80’s, then you know what I’m talking about.  Crazy patterns, shoulder pads, big hair, chunky earrings . . . Jem brings back the styles of the era with a vengeance.  I think much of my enjoyment from each episode came from just seeing what the group wore.  Reminds me of the Jem paper dolls and their accompanying outfits that I still have stashed away somewhere.

Beware, though.  The catchy theme song can quickly become an earworm.  I just found myself singing it a moment ago.  You’ve been warned.

If you’re unfamiliar with the basic plot of the series, Jerrica Benton’s father has passed away and left her Starlight Music and Starlight House, a foster home for orphaned girls.  Half of Starlight Music is owned by the greedy Eric Raymond, who also manages a rival group called The Misfits.  Led by spoiled heiress Pizzazz, the Misfits bring nothing but trouble to Jerrica.

Jerrica’s father also left her a machine known as Synergy, a secret computer that has the capability to project holograms of any kind.  Jerrica uses it to turn herself into Jem.  Quiet band manager Jerrica by day, glam pink-haired rocker Jem by night.

So . . . how does the show hold up after nearly twenty years?

Pretty well.  The series offers a wide variety of themes, focusing on social issues such as hunger, poverty, the elderly, drug use, and orphaned children.  Sometimes the tone is more reminiscent of an after-school special, however, which certainly is indicative of the era in which the show aired.  Still, each episode contains songs set against music video-like sequences, and most of the shows are just pure fun.  Silly at times, but still fun.

I suppose my main issue with the show is the relationship between Jerrica and her boyfriend Rio.  The problem is that Rio also appears to be involved with Jem.  Technically, Jem and Jerrica are the same person, but Rio has no knowledge of this.  And yet no one finds it weird that he kisses Jem in one scene and Jerrica in another.  The episode “Midsummer Night’s Madness” tries to address this problem to some degree, but I feel like it was never really resolved.

If you were a fan of the series when it first aired, then I certainly recommend this set.  In addition to the complete series, there are also bonus features worth watching.  And if you haven’t seen the show, then I also recommend it, if for no other reason than to experience a blast from the past, along with a little glamour, glitter, fashion and fame.

Entertainment Weekly has the exclusive and a first look, but Darth Maul is BACK!

Coming to us in Spring 2012, the one thing we were all most excited about that was hinted last season is coming true. Presumably, Savage Opress finds his missing brother and he survived being cut in half on Naboo.

I really can’t begin to tell you how excited this makes me.

You can go to EW and watch the clip here.

The video is fantastic.

They have an interview with Dave FIloni who, in classic Filoni form, uses classic Star wars logic to explain his point. I can’t tell you how fun it is talking to Dave Filoni because of it. Here’s a snippet:

Fans will note that there is precedent for this kind of resurrection. “The Dark Side of the Force is the path to many abilities some consider to be…unnatural,” Darth Sidious says in Revenge of the Sith. Sidious and his master found a way to use the Force to cheat death—that’s how he was able to keep Vader alive after that little swan dive into a lava field. Couldn’t Maul have picked up on some of that too? Says Filoni, “He’s suffered through a lot to keep himself alive and implemented the training of his master to do so.”

Sadly, we have to wait until spring to see this.

Dragon Age: Redemption premiered today on youtube and has already garnered 66,000 views as of 5PM. The show is the first of its kind –  the main character, Tallis, has been taken from the Dragon Age II video game and made star of a web series based on her quest. Felicia Day had been approached by Bioware and personally put a lot of time and effort into the project, and so far the web series is looking fantastic!

Felicia Day said on her blog about the new series:

“I believe this is the first time a project has taken a character from a web series into a video game as a playable character, and if you know me, you probably can tell that I am more incentivized by innovation rather than pay checks  As a big Dragon Age fan I am thrilled to be able to use their epic fantasy universe to tell a story I created, and then live IN their universe as the character.  I did full mo-cap and vocal recording, over 12 hours worth, so this is a truly innovative project.  I really hope you enjoy that adventure, Tallis is a fun character to play with!”

The first episode is fun and shows a bit of a dark side to Tallis, an elvin assassin who must succeed in her quest or risk losing everything – including her freedom. If you’re playing Dragon Age II – you’ll note that this storyline takes place alongside the story in the game, and that Tallis is now available as a playable character in the DLC  Mark of the Assassin. Watch the first episode here and let us know your thoughts!

https://youtu.be/-093SQo9NWM

Don’t forget to check out our upcoming New York Comic Con coverage later this week! We’ll be bringing you a very cool interview with Ms. Day herself. Let us know here if there are any questions you’d like us to ask!