Hey, peeps, I'm back from a brief hiatus, and I've got good news: I watched Syfy's TV incarnation of 12 Monkeys over the weekend on my DVR ... and it's actually quite good!  Granted, it's a first episode, but there are plenty of reasons to remain hopeful that Syfy is putting the SciFi back in weekly programming if this is an indication of things to come from the flailing network.

I've penned a review of the said episode, and I've posted it for your approval.  Enjoy!

     Syfy's 12 Monkeys: May None of Them Throw Feces!

Hey, peeps!  We made it to Friday, so all us can thank our lucky stars!  You know how exciting it can be to finally see another work week come to an end, and those are sentiments certainly not lost on the time travel SciFi short ReCURSION.

I just learned about this from a follower on Twitter.  It's a little over twenty minutes, and it's easily one of the better made shorts I've seen in this new year.  It helps to kinda/sorta think of it as 'The Time Travelling Best Man's Groom' as a subordinate title.

Enjoy ... and have a great weekend!

Confession time: I was one of the long-time Star Wars comics book readers who was honestly dreading the move from Dark Horse to Marvel.  (Bear with me, peeps: that’s NOT what this review is going to be about … I’m just owning up is all.)  You hang your hat as long as one does with a particular publisher, and you think that means something in today’s world of business.  However, I think those of us who follow the trades knew that – once George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney – a change was like a disturbance in the Force: bound to happen, and we’ll just have to see what comes of it all.

Well, the day is finally here.  As a Star Wars fan – and as someone who read ALL of Marvel’s original run on the space-faring property back in those original days – I was just excited as the next bloke for the time to arrive when the continuing adventures of Luke Skywalker and his cohorts would continue again.  They are, they will, and the future looks good.


     Reviewed: Marvel's Star Wars #1

For what it's worth, you young pups can have your Avatars.  I'll happily leave you to them ... especially when terrific old school properties keep getting a chance to share the limelight with new merchandise.

One of my most favorite websites/webstores ever, Things From Another Planet hit my mailbox today with their weekly newsblast (you really should sign up for it if you're anything near a geek or nerd like I am), and right there at the top of the list was this baby: the Universal Monsters Metaluna Mutant Bust Bank (see picture above if you're not already salivating at the prospect).  It's available for purchase today in either the black'n'white model or the color (or is that Technicolor?) version, and the more mature SciFi dogs out there would do well to check 'em out today while supplies last.  You know you want to.

     Link for Black'n'White Bust Bank
     Link for Color Bust Bank

Unlike many of the old school, die-hard Star Wars fans, I've pretty much forgiven George Lucas for the shortcomings of the Prequel Trilogy (JarJar Binks notwithstanding).

My particular take on the whole shebang is that, "This is, after all, his creation, and he should be allowed to do what he wants with it."  If that means Han Solo never shot first, then so be it.  But he did.  Shoot first, George.  Mark my words.  I was there.  I saw it.  In theatres.  Back in 1977.  Han Solo shot first.  Shot Greedo dead in his chair.  And it made thematic, dramatic, and narrative sense.  What you did?  That flick of his head to miss being shot?  That's just plain stupid.  But I forgive you for it.

However, this morning The Verge reports that Lucas is now claiming (again contradicting things he's said previously) that he had intended all along to film Episode VII and have it in theatres this upcoming May, 2015.  Realizing how much of his life he'd have to set aside in order to complete this third trilogy, he apparently jumped at the chance to sell the entire kit and kaboodle once Walt Disney showed up with his checkbook.

So now after insisting for years that he'd never intended a third trilogy while having previously said his story was (originally) plotted out as three trilogies he's going on record apparently "to clarify" that there were three trilogies all along.

I guess it's best just to consider this report in The Verge as "George Lucas: The Special Edition."  In other words, blame Greedo.

Disclosure time: I've never been one for electronic games.  Mostly, I suspect that's because I've never been any good at them.  So far as my old brain knows, it takes far too much concentration for me to maintain the immersion into an entirely fictional existence ... and when you have trouble staying focused in reality I suppose one's usefulness in the pseudo-reality of the game environment just doesn't take hold.

However, I do remember being as jazzed about the games of the household computers early days as was any newcomer.  Many of these were relatively low-brow knock-offs of what amounted to the arcade style machines of my youth, and it was pretty freakin' cool to learn you could play these at home (for a price, naturally) instead of plunking down a quarter in a machine wherein all your friends could watch you die a slow death.

As home computing and gaming systems continued to evolve into the CGI era, these quaint games of yesterday -- ones going under such titles as 'Zaxxon' and 'StarBlade' and 'Space Station Oblivion' -- quickly disappeared.  Sadly, even the floppys (old-style discs, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the term) eventually were about as useful as a beverage coaster as our desktop PCs grew too big for the britches and could no longer understand much less operate the outdated code.

Well, kiddies, get ready for a real blast from the past!

Space.com recently announced that many of these games are now available for play online.  In fact, the article boasts that over 2,400 of them have recently become housed on the net ... and they're just waiting for your undivided attention.

So if any of you young Turks who are tired with capturing the flag in Halo want to go back in time and take a real good hard cold look at the kind of cutting-edge tension that blew grandpa's mind, you'd do well to click on over and check out what the future looked like in only two and three color graphics.

As one of those life-long Star Trek fans who hasn't exactly been all that thrilled with what death, damage, and destruction JJ Abrams has wrecked on the franchise with Star Trek (2009) and the just-God-awful Star Trek Into Darkness, I'm trying very hard to remain optimistic about Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens.  I am on record already as absolutely hating the name -- after all, how can the living Force ever truly go to sleep? -- but I realize that's largely a semantic issue.

Like most fans of SciFi and fantasy, I've watched the teaser trailer; and, like many, I've questioned the logic of this three-bladed lightsaber.

I get that storytellers always want a way to "up the ante" as it were, but at some point fankind really has to cry 'please stop' to whatever powers might be listening.  On the plus side, it's only a single film, so let's be thankful for small favors.  Still, I have already grown weary with the endless parade of YouTube videos claiming this particular saber is either a good or a bad idea.  To me, it's all in the execution -- if it's pulled off believably on film, then I'm always willing to give directors leeway in delivering their respective epics.

However, the above video (I noticed this recently on Geeks Are Sexy) really should bring this particular debate to its close ... that is until the next teaser trailer reveals the four- or five-sided blade that the aged Jedi Master Skywalker now uses.

One might expect more Science Fiction projects coming from a network that was originally founded on the premise of delivering ... well ... Science Fiction to interested parties.  Alas, maybe Syfy was never what it believes it was cracked up to be.

However, Deadline today is reporting that Syfy has announced 51st State being "in development."  The SciFi drama hails from Craig Borten, and a review of his profile on IMDB.com shows ... well ... absolutely nothing in the SciFi arena.  As a matter of fact, it only shows a single completed entry, that being as an apparent co-writer of the AIDS-themed drama, Dallas Buyers Club.  The premise of said 51st State indicates that the United States has purchased Greenland and turned it into a massive island penitentiary (I'm thinking of Escape from New York for some reason now); and Uncle Sam then reneges on granting said inmates provisional freedoms, which leads to a revolt.

Hmm.  How 'bout that?

Again, one would think that a network seriously dedicated to SciFi might actually seek out and explore properties from folks with some experience in that genre ... but it is what it is.

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em ...

Seriously, you have to give a hand to the CW.  Since they emerged as the victor when the WB Network and the UPN shacked up together, they're made an honest attempt to capitalize on the demographic left out in the cold after the Sci-Fi Channel changed its name and incorporated Professional Wrestling into its Syfy line-up.  Though I've yet to really investigate Arrow as fully as I did Smallville, I am enjoying the sacharrin goodness that is The Flash.

Now, there's even more to get excited about as the CW is soon launching iZombie into existence.  It's set to premiere on Tuesday, March 17 (following The Flash); and it looks as if some smarmy forensic lab tech might just become a modern day private investigator.

Until it gets too smarmy, count me in ... brains and all.

Who doesn't appreciate a good Apocalypse every now and then, eh?

It looks like the CW wants to hop aboard the End Times wagon.  The Messengers is set to premiere on Friday, April 10th on the network; and -- if the preview is any indication -- quite a bit of it looks derivative of all of the many Biblically-themed End-of-the-World programs that have come before.  However, there's also a hint of SciFi in there, so I'm throwing it up here for good measure.

Remember: don't shoot the messenger. (wink wink)