January 5, 2018

BW’s Morning Article Link: Game Of Thrones’ Final Season

English: The Iron Throne, from GRR Martin's So...

The Iron Throne, from GRR Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don’t watch Game Of Thrones and even if I had HBO I still wouldn’t. Death and betrayal in a fantasy setting where sunlight is a rarity are four things I’m not typically interested in. However, for those fans of the show who aren’t steeped in everything Iron Throne related should know that 2019 will mark the end of the TV series. I don’t know if they’ve gone through every novel yet and if not I’m surprised they’d give up their most popular show. I guess they’re hoping Westworld will pick up the slack or something?

Posted by on January 5, 2018 in Book Spotlight, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , .

Leave a comment

January 4, 2018

Learning To Understand The Star Wars Special Editions

Like most Star Wars fans there are things about the Special Editions and the Special Special Editions that I don’t like. However there are a few that I do, like the Jabba scene finally getting back into the first movie, whether Greedo and Han Solo’s conversation said it all or not. And yes, I don’t like the Greedo shooting first part. However, a recent documentary has allowed me to better understand why George Lucas created them and why he felt the need to meddle with his own movie, as well as why I think he was wrong. As a fan I disagree with it but as a storyteller I understand it.

Yesterday SF Debris completed his own trilogy, collecting behind the scenes information about the history of Star Wars and George Lucas’ legacy. Hero’s Journey covered the first movie, Shadow’s Journey covered the rest of the first trilogy and what it ultimately cost Lucas, and the more recent Hermit’s Journey followed the prequels and the Special Editions as well as the spin-off material. You really need to see these to fully understand what Lucas was thinking when he was creating this franchise. It’s the last one where I really understood why he made the Special Editions, from the perspective of the creator (although I chose writing over film making). The question is…was he really wrong?

Continue reading →

Posted by on January 4, 2018 in Movie Spotlight and tagged , , , , , , , , , , .

Leave a comment

January 4, 2018

BW Morning Article Link: George Lucas’ Original Plans For The Third Trilogy

J.J Abrams and Disney ignored what George Lucas had planned to do with the third Star Wars trilogy. In the Expanded Universe we saw the tale of Han and Leia’s twins as they grew up in the Force, based on early ideas Lucas had before the Prequels. According to information Disney has released part of his finally drafted concept, parts of what he intended did end up in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi but I’m kind of skeptical after seeing what Disney did to Lucas, but I’m not ready to disbelieve based on his creative process. More on that in tonight’s commentary.

Posted by on January 4, 2018 in Movie Spotlight and tagged , , , .

2 Comments

January 3, 2018

An Actual Defense Of The CD-I?

English: A Philips CDi console with controller...

A Philips CDi console with controller. This is possibly a 400 series model, though the poster didn’t think to check specifically at the time. I have a 550 with built-in digital video card.(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Compact Disk Interactive system, or CD-I, was produced by Philips after Nintendo screwed them over like they did Sony. However, the CD-I wasn’t as popular, even as Philips tried to promote it as a multimedia system, playing Video CDs (the predecessor to the DVD) as well as educational software. Philips also played into the “full motion video” craze and since that was rarely a source of good games that hurt them as well, even after partnering with Magnavox. You may remember during my Video Game Clutter pilot for my other site (and if I can get a video capture device that works with old systems I can finally make that a series) I mentioned having one of the Magnavox systems and I rather enjoy most of the games I bought for it.

However, the system is really vilified by the gaming community, heaping most of its collective ire against the Mario and Zelda games they managed to produce from the failed deal, which admittedly aren’t very good. And yet there are good things about it. So imagine my surprise when I came across an episode of Battle Geek Plus’ Awesome Video Game Memories that actually found nice things to say about the CD-I. BGP and I were both on Reviewers Unknown when they were picked up by Channel Awesome, so this video features a guest appearance by the Nostalgia Critic, but it’s BGP member Ryan and another reviewer, Magnatrex, who do the review. I have their permission to post it here at the Spotlight, so enjoy.

Continue reading →

Posted by on January 3, 2018 in Internet Spotlight, Video Game Spotlight and tagged , .

Leave a comment

January 3, 2018

BW’s Morning Article Link: Young Justice Season Three Closer To Happening

From left to right: Artemis, Robin, Kid Flash,...

From left to right: Artemis, Robin, Kid Flash, Superboy, Miss Martian, and Aqualad. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Those of us who enjoyed Young Justice were sorry to see it end, and mad at the rumors as to the dumb reasons it might have ended. So we were happy to hear that the show was finally getting a third season. And now we have word as to a tentative release period (not really a date) and what it will entail. Has DC launched their streaming service yet and is it a paid service like Netflix or free like Crackle? Because I’d really like to see this show but can’t afford to pay for one streaming service, never mind all of them.

Posted by on January 3, 2018 in Animation Spotlight, DC Spotlight, Internet Spotlight and tagged .

Leave a comment

January 2, 2018

Chapter By Chapter: Fantastic Voyage novelization ch. 10

Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.

When last we left our heroes it looked like their mission was over before it began. Is there a solution to their dilemma? There better be, we still have half a book and most of the movie left to go.

Thus far the additions have been a mixed bag. Some I like, while others I think the movie did better, and yet others may be more to preference than anything else. I understand what Asimov was trying to do but like or hate a story some things were intended to go a certain way and without totally rewriting you may not get the spirit of what was intended. It’s also hard for me to hate on a movie that has had such a strong influence on science fiction especially if I rather enjoyed it. Let’s see what this chapter brings.

Chapter 10: Heart

Continue reading →

Posted by on January 2, 2018 in Fantastic Voyage, Movie Spotlight and tagged , , , .

1 Comment

January 2, 2018

BW’s Morning Article Link: No Justice League At The CW

Justice League: Injustice for All

Justice League: Injustice for All (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hoping to see a better version of the Justice League in the CW DC Universe? Well, it looks like (outside of Superman showing up on Supergirl) that won’t be happening, and the producer of the “Arrowverse” (the Green Arrow series Arrow having been the start of the CW DCU) has shut down anything more than Easter Eggs for the future. Too bad, but since Supergirl exists in an alternate universe and Superman has shown up before maybe he’ll pop up again. I liked him on the show. I also want to see Black Lightning take place in Supergirl’s universe because last I heard she didn’t have enough superhero friends at home.

Posted by on January 2, 2018 in DC Spotlight, Television Spotlight and tagged , , , , , , , , , .

Leave a comment