JsARCLIGHT

OK, I just got finished laughing my ass off.

For those who don't know (or do know) the Venture Brothers "Shirt of the Week" this week is simply a drab tannish brown number with a screen of Dean and the word "DEAN!" above it. This has to be one of the biggest in jokes they've done yet. For those who don't have the DVDs and listened to the commentaries, Doc and Jackson made comments about all the bootleg shirts on the market and how they were of questionable design quality yet they were apparently selling like mad. They then go on to say they should make their own shirts to cash in on this VB shirt craze, except they should make shirts that were so "out there" that people would never buy them. To wit Doc makes the crack that they should/could/would release the drabbest, most non-sequitor shirt ever that was brown and simply said "Dean" on it.

Now that shirt has become reality.

... or if Dean will ever reveal the terrible secret of Turtle Bay (that the Nancy Drew sisters stuff)?

The DVD sets are worth it for no other reason than Doc and Jackson's "non commentary" commentary tracks. The bonus materials on them are also pure spun gold as well and I bet the extras on the third season set will be even better.

I'm DVR'ing all the episodes this season but it's just not the same as seeing them on DVD... plus I hate Cartoon Network's "not HD" HD channel. They basically take their normal SD channel and rebroadcast it on their HD channel. So shows like VB and Metalocalypse which are created in HD 16x9 are broadcast letter boxed and in low def.

I'd murder people for VB season three on Blu Ray.

"Now you're all like... go... team... boobies!"

Classic as they come. I'm chomping at the bit to buy this season on DVD. I hope they release it shortly after it's run ends rather than waiting forever like they did with the other two seasons. Jackson Publick mentioned on his blog how they were working on the season three DVD package art so hopefully it will be turned loose post haste.

Copies kept in your "sent messages" folder are not automatic. In order to retain a copy of a PM you send, you need to click on the "Add a copy of this message to my sent items folder " option box which is in the options section just above the "send" buttons in the PM screen. If you send a PM without clicking this option "on" then no copy will be saved. This is the only way to retain copies of your sent private messages in your sent box.

I just enjoyed how Dermot (the guy's name) was the quintessential "chairborne ranger" black ops poser, complete with an army jacket. He talked a big game but got his ass handed to him by Dean of all people. A perfect bookend to Brock, who actually IS black ops.

It was kind of a pisser that their video skipped that section. I was waiting to see if they fixed it before posting my feelings on the episode as I was kind of hoping that there'd be a nugget of pure comedy gold in that missing section.

That said, this episode was kind of "meh" for me.

It didn't really have that "super laugh out loud" joke or two that the past few episodes have had. It was good, but once again it was not "good" good. They can't all be diamonds though and I'll take a middle of the road VB episode over most of the stuff they run on Adult Swim these days.

... and is it just me or do they just keep adding more "questions"? They answer a few then throw more questions out there... I think by the time this season is over the questions to answers ratio will be back up to 2 to 1.

And that is my point as well... anything is possible. Right now this "movie" is simply an idea in someone's head. It has no director, it has no real producer. It only has a studio, a possible initial script writer and Toby Mcquire. Those three things do not make a movie, let alone a good or bad one. Arguing about "how good it's going to be" is like trying to debate next year's football season. It's all speculation and guesses because nothing has actually "happened" yet. It's all speculation. The trick is to speculate based on what you know about the market, the subject and the "intricacies" of the license. And from what I know of those things, Robotech: The Movie has an uphill climb ahead of it.

The whole reason they're making or even thinking of making Robotech (or any other giant robot movie) IS Transformers.

Well then, that means history is repeating itself. The main driving reason Robotech was "made" in the first place was to cash in on the big Japanese transforming robot craze that was hitting the states... which ironically was fronted by Transformers. And if history continues to repeat itself, Robotech will be mostly ignored by the general public again and go down as a "Transformers imitator" yet again. A big thing people keep forgetting is that Robotech was more or less a commercial failure in it's heyday. Reviving a "questionable" property for new life on the big screen is a gamble these days. Robotech is not Iron Man... it's more like someone trying to make a new movie about Marvel's "Power Pack" today. Sure a handful of weirdos (us) will remember it and be stoked, but everyone else will just say "so it's an Independence Day and Transformers knock-off"?

In today's market Hollywood looks at world sales, not just domestic US sales. And when a movie's budget surpasses the $150 million mark (which this movie would have to just to maintain a decent "look") that is pretty much the automatic caution lamp on the writer's dashboard... meaning everything in the plot has to appeal to international audiences, feature no hard line positions or elements that would anger or alienate lucrative audiences in another country and at the same time be 100% legally "open" in every foreign territory the movie is to open into. The last thing Warner Brothers wants is a legal battle in a lucrative market over a property that is "supposed" to be a "money maker".

Rest assured that Robotech: the movie will NOT be Macross... hell, it probably won't even be Mospeada. Chances are high that it will not even be Robotech. It will be something completely new along the lines of "Independence Day 2: War of the Worlds!... This time with Robots!". And perhaps they will even completely ditch the "transforming robots" angle as well feeling that it's "too much like transformers" and that they want this "brand to be unique" so "kids can tell the difference in the toy isle". Anyway at this stage of the game they could attach a real piece of work of a director who has a "vision" for the movie that completely changes everything we "the fans" (using that term loosely) think the movie should have.

I expect only two things from this movie if it even gets past the pre-production stage: the broad, liberal interpretation of character names, appearances and stories and the very loose plot elements of aliens attacking earth. The final product we get will either be something like the new Speed Racer movie or that horrid Thunderbirds movie that came out a few years back or it will be like any of the other modern day remakes: so completely rewritten and re-conceptualized "for today's audiences" that every hint of what made it great originally will be boiled away leaving only a forgettable bloated budget summer brain dead action piece that will be in closeout bins at Target for $4.99 in three years time.

It's been my experience that any hobby has it's crazy weirdo "too far into it" side and generally that hobby is judged by the "masses" by that extreme rather than the norm. To a degree everything in the west is judged by their extremes rather than the norms. I've seen it in every hobby I have. Tell someone you like video games and they ask if you play Grand Theft Auto all the time, slobbering and cussing while you run over hookers and shoot up drugs. Tell someone you like football and you're instantly a hooting, hollering neanderthal who only likes to see the injuries and the carnage. Tell someone you like guns and they accuse you of being a mass murdering lunatic who will shoot them the first chance you get (anime fans think they have it bad, try being a firearms enthusiast in this country). Tell someone you like cars and you are an environment killing out of control lawbreaking street racing thug. Tell someone you like rock music and you are a greasy haired, wifebeater wearing trailer park hick. Tell someone you like rap music and you are a lowbrow street thug gangsta wannabe. The "sword" is always out there and it's always cutting both ways.

That is just how the "west" works. We have freedom of speech and everyone chooses to engage in it. Yes they are usually judging you based on misconceived notions or their own need to bash but that is just how "people" are. People are mean, self-centered pricks that feel the need to denigrate others in order to make themselves feel better about who they are and what they do. A child molester will call a murderer "bad". A fantasy football player will call a dungeons and dragons player a "nerd". The pot will call the kettle black. The street drives both ways and in the court of popular opinion everything gets judged and everything gets sentenced, the trick is to try to associate yourself with like minded people so you aren't constantly defending yourself... and even in groups of "like minded people" you can still find someone who you think has "taken it too far". How many times have we ourselves gone into a convention, seen a chubby guy dressed up like Faye Valentine and said "LOSER!".

It's all in how you yourself see it. If people tell you to take your ball and go home, then take your ball and go home... look for a new place where people think like you, because it does exist and it is out there somewhere. And if you ask me I prefer my hobbies to be niche... the second something goes mainstream to becomes so watered down and homogenized for mass consumption that you don't like it anymore.

I'm slow on the uptake but I just now realized that The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend now live in "A Town Called Malice"...

Baa baa baa dup baa baa baaaaaaaaaaa!

Struggle after struggle...

year after year...

The atmospheres a fine blend of ice...

I'm almost stone cold dead...

In a town called malice!

(For you young kids "A Town Called Malice" was a pretty good jam from 1982 by a band called... ironically... The Jam)

It's also mentioned that Sgt. Hatred apparently married Princess Tinyfeet. He regularly refers to her as "the wife" and if you look closely there is a picture of her on the wall in the den Brock is sitting in watching the PBS special on giant crossbows.

I also took Tim Tom and Kevin's remarks to be against the Monarch henchmen, not the Monarch himself. I think the murderous moppets are planning a purge of the henchmen in order to place themselves at the top of the pile. After all they show fierce loyalty to Dr. Girlfriend and it would be kind of odd for them to want to "off" The Monarch, her husband...

... unless...

It's a plot. Dr. Girlfriend is going to snuff The Monarch and usurp his little "tree fort" for herself, making him her "number two".

"Ditch the non lethal... we're going NERF on this!"

Home Is Where the Hate Is.

Classic.

Um... is this the Robotech movie thread or the Harmony Gold / Bigwest legal battle thread?

Can't this site ever have anything Robotech without the whole legal wrangle being thrown in?

As for the topic at hand I reiterate what I said pages ago: this is only the beginning. "Writers attached" and "in development" don't equal a movie. Look how long and how many different iterations certain projects like Watchmen have been through. Call me the constant skeptic but I'll believe it when the movie rags I read list it as "in principal photography".

OK, this is information control.

There seems to be a LOT of speculation and half facts floating around about this, so here are the FACTS. Wolfx was indeed banned a week ago when this issue was resolved by the staff... HOWEVER it is only a temporary ban. Wolfx will be able to return in a little while and this has been communicated to him. This issue was complicated when Wolfx returned to the site under a different account (which is not allowed under MW rules) and began posting again before waiting for clarification from the staff as to his status. This resulted in him being banned "again". Somewhere there has been a communication breakdown, we are not sure where but suffice it to say, Wolfx is only temporarily banned and he should be aware of this now as a high ranking admin is handling his "case".

This is a matter between the site staff and Wolfx which we consider closed at this point and with due respect to the membership here there is no need for further discussion as it only serves to further spin and warp the situation at hand. Rest assured we are not banning people "because we feel like it" arbitrarily. We are here to ensure everyone has a fair chance to enjoy the site and that we all play by the rules.

Wow, Multiple myeloma... did anyone read anything about him having this for so long? It seems so "sudden" yet CNN makes it out that he's been coping with it for 7 years.

Lawrence Kasdan to write screen play for Robotech LAM!

Please.... please... please... discuss this in this thread. Thanks in advance.

Yeeeeaaaaaaaah. Once again folks, please keep all RT Movie stuff in the RT Movie thread. This is the third time we've locked this same topic in like two days. One of the other ones is even still on the first page.

Doh, the other locked one is even still on the first page!

Like Az said in the other thread, please post this stuff in this thread here: Robotech Live Action Movie Thread

I got the vibe that the OSI Guild plant who chews out Brock and gives him his assignment at the Venture compound is going to turn out to be Sergeant Hatred.

I also enjoyed seeing OSI "haul off" Myra... complete with HELPR holding the titular babies in his arms in the background. It kind of gives you the impression that Dr. Venture just ignored it all until it boiled out of control... like everything else.

Yep, "The Terrible Secret of Turtle Bay" is a bonus on the first season DVD set, as is "A Very Venture Christmas". It should be noted however that Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick have "disavowed" the pilot as being part of the official Venture continuity... mostly because it contradicts a lot of stuff that comes later.

The new episode, while great, is somehow less shiny and delectable than the first two. I thought it was a great ep and it did indeed answer a ton of the remaining "questions" surrounding a few of the characters (as well as providing even more back story to a few)... but... I dunno. It was good, but not super out of the park good.

"The Invisible Hand of Fate" tonight at 7pm on AdultSwim.com.

Looks to finally possibly reveal the origins of Phantom Limb, the disposition of Billy's missing eye and hand and possibly give us some extra background on one of my favorite characters (Pete White) as well as more Myra!

Dr. Killinger simply "is".

He creates balance and endeavors to give people what they truly want. To a degree, Killinger is not actually evil... he just tries to "make the best" out of people, it's his "thing" and as he says, "I love mein job!".