[TV] Battlestar Galactica: The Plan Trailer

It's been a few months since the pivotal end of Battlestar Galactica. While many fans derived some level of satisfaction from the pilot for the BSG prequel, Caprica, it still doesn't quite scratch that BSG-itch a lot of us fans feel. Naturally, the folks at SyFy are more than willing to capitalize on that.

Thus the reason for Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, a new movie based on the hit series that will attempt to explain more of the Cylons' plan for humanity. We all know they had some master plan in mind - we were reminded of that fact in the opening credits of every episode after all. However it doesn't mean we fully understood what it was.

The movie is directed by Edward James Olmos, who plays Admiral Adama on the series and is scheduled to debut on DVD on October 27, 2009. It's also expected to broadcast on SyFy sometime on November of this year.

To get a taste of things, check out the trailer below:

New trailer for 'Battlestar Galactica The Plan'

[Movies] Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)

The DC Universe Original Animated Movie line is pretty interesting, to say the least, starting with their release of Justice League: The New Frontier (since I wasn't too enthused by Superman Doomsday). One has to admit that they're a lot better than some of the similar direct-to-DVD ventures Marvel has been getting into as of late, and credit definitely has to go to the DC writers behind the original inspiration for their stories.

And to think I was a Marvel Comics kind of guy most of my life.

Thus far they've generally been taking a sort of Elseworlds approach to these stories / movies in order to justify a little artistic license. Marvel's been trying that as well with their Marvel Ultimate stories, although I have to admit those never really left a good taste in my mouth.

Batman: Gotham Knight is positioned as a collection of short animated stories that feature within the context of the Batman Begins / The Dark Knight universe, although without a specific time-place set nor a definite anchor in the Nolan continuity. The point is that this is an early Batman and Gotham is only beginning to appreciate his efforts and even get their facts straight about the mysterious figure trying to keep the city safe. The six stories are done in a style that features heavy <a class=" zem_slink="" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime" title="Anime" rel="wikipedia">Japanese Anime influence.

The film reminded me a lot of The Animatrix, given it does perform that "supporting" function in terms of the larger Batman universe. The fact that the animation style matches that of The Animatrix doesn't help much either, haha. The only thing different between the two is the lack of CGI-rendered stories.

There are limited interconnections between the stories, although don't expect for things to add up into one overall story arc by the end. It really is six different stories that more or less stand up on their own well enough and thus you just need to work with that concept. This is not to say that the way things were handled wasn't good - in fact there are moments that are outright brilliant and one wonders why they don't venture into making some of these stories part of a full-blown series.

Any Batman fan is bound to appreciate the efforts here, although the differing styles and ways of depicting Batman will get a tad dizzying at times. It helped that Kevin Conroy reprised his role as the voice of Batman / Bruce Wayne as he has done for previous animated versions of the character within the past decade or so, although there are some stories where the animation doesn't seem to match the fullness of his voice. Oh well.

Batman: Gotham Knight is an interesting venture that is at least worth the once-through, regardless of your appreciation of the Batman universe. Here's to more DC animated movie ventures!

[Viral Video Chart] Futurama - Benders Big Score - DVD-Trailer

Yeah, I'm one of those geeks who got all up in arms about the cancellation of Futurama, a show that was a bit edgier and more crass than The Simpsons but in a good way, hehe. In the US there have been alternative sources of these episodes but of course here in the Philippines, all I can do is resort to more creative methods of acquiring copies of their episodes, hehe.

When news of the direct-to-DVD movie for the series came out during the Comic-con earlier this year, I was thrilled! Here's the full trailer of the DVD movie in all its animated glory...


#14 - Futurama - Benders Big Score - DVD-Trailer

[TV] The New Doctor Who - Series 1 (2005)

During the Sci-Fi Philippines September 'Thon, Inklingfair was kind enough to lend me her collection of the first season of The New Doctor Who series back from 2005 featuring Christopher Eccleston as the Doctor.

For those unfamiliar, Doctor Who remains to be the pretty much the longest-running science fiction series out there (although not necessarily continuously running, mind you). The series centers around the rather enigmatic time traveler known only as The Doctor and his various adventures across time as he works to save humanity from threats beyond our comprehension.

In this particular regeneration of the Doctor, he eventually takes on Rose Tyler (Billie Piper) as a Companion and together they continue in the grand tradition of previous incarnations of the Doctor and attempt to right wrongs across the timeline.

This Ninth Doctor is pretty refreshing although with a bit more edge behind his somewhat jovial exterior - a foreshadowing of the dark events he's faced since the last time there's been an official series on the air. It appears that he's now the last of his kind, an alien race known as the Time Lords. Snippets of information littered across the season reveal that they died in a great Time War against the Daleks, longtime menace of the series.

Thus the series works to do several things - (1) re-establish the Doctor, (2) reveal clues to what has happened to the rest of the Time Lords and (3) document the continuing adventures of everyone's favorite time traveler and his blue box.

The series is brilliantly intelligent and rich with British wit and humor, which may or may not strike your fancy. The great thing is that you don't need to have seen the previous series to really enjoy it - the show stands on its own and each episode is capable of operating independently of the others, much akin to the Discworld or Xanth books which are part of a larger series but more or less each story can be enjoyed independently of the others. Going over all the stories just helps things make a lot more sense.

So if you're looking for an intelligent TV experience that dabbles in science fiction but doesn't overwhelm you with technobabble and all that, this is definitely something for you to try.

[TV] He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002)

I recently picked up an "Asian version" of a He-Man DVD thinking it was the original series from 1983. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was actually a compilation of the 2002 Cartoon Network series. While playing the "Asian version" roulette in terms of DVDs is not always so fortunate (I have disappointing copies of the latter non-Macross Robotech series and the post-movie Transformers cartoons), this compilation was a real gem.

In case you're into watching a huge blond muscle man run around in little more than a furry loincloth, then this is definitely a series for you, haha.

The series is great mainly because it returned to the fantasy spin of the original series and drew strong inspiration in terms of characters from the original toyline. The cartoon was meant to accompany to release of redesigned versions of the original toys featuring more unique sculpts as compared to the generic torso template used for the original.

The series featured more mature writing and heavy Egyptian-style influences, perhaps best seen in the redesign of the Sorceress and her throne room and in the stylizing of Teela's costume and battle staff. I thought it was a pretty cool twist for things and it definitely made the series all the more stronger for it. A lot of the characters were redesigned / re-imagined in line with the new toyline which resulted in more mature characters overall.

Perhaps the most notable change would have to be the difference between Prince Adam and He-Man. In the original series Prince Adam just seemed like a weak-willed (almost gay) version of He-Man in tights, which makes his secret identity all the more ridiculous. In the new series he's a young man who's a lot leaner than the full-power barbarian, which made for more dramatic transformation sequences that were probably a steroid addict's dream come true.

The compilation covers the only two seasons of the cartoon before it was canceled, covering the introduction of many heroes and villains and building up all the way to cover the Snake Men with the second season actually being retitled as Masters of the Universe versus the Snake Men. I especially liked the second season since it gave much greater depth to the character of Evil Lyn while presenting the Snake Men as pretty fearsome opponents. It also hinted at the future appearance of Hordak and the Horde as future villains, whom most of you might remember as the adversary of She-Ra in the original Princess of Power series. Web rumors state that there were plans to introduce She-Ra later in the series, but the show got canceled before that could happen.

If you want to relive some of that 80's nostalgia but not have to be subjected to the silly antics of the original series, then this DVD collection is a must-have for your collection! I assure you that you'll definitely be more than entertained.