Blaine23

To say Sky Captain has no story or even a bad story is just not accurate. The story is different, though, than what we're used to seeing on screen in the last 40 years. It isn't sexy or overly violent or anything that would qualify as "controversial" or "racy." Boil it down to it's elements and it's not really any different than your basic hero adventure story. I think anyone who says it has either no story or a bad story is just someone who doesn't really want to see this type of movie - which is essentially a period piece about a time when young people's entertainment wasn't so reliant sex and blood to sell movie tickets. To some, that's boring. To me, it was cool and different. Diff'rent Strokes move the world, though.

I'll actually give him the props on sticking to the "ONE LAST TIME" business. Who knew he was serious? I mean, we live in a culture where we are constantly slammed with decade long "going out of business" sales and endless rock band reunions that theoretically were "impossible." Despite the fact that I think Lucas is more than a bit nutty, I actually respect the guy for sticking to his guns. On principle, it's great. But only on principle. But ultimately, it's just silly when you look at it with any kind of perspective. The fact is that it would be really easy for Lucasfilm to put both versions in the same set without too much trouble. I have several films with multiple edits and cuts on my shelf. As far as praising him as an artist (as opposed to a whore) for his gumption on this issue, I think that's a bit more praise than is deserved. By that rationale, your assuming that offering the original cut of the films would have cost fans more money. I say it could easily be done. If the Aliens box can retail at $80 with 9 discs (including 2 cuts of 4 films + extras), why couldn't SW offer a similar value? And really... the guy sells Star Wars sheets, underoos, comics, books, toothbrushes, Taco Bell cups, Burger King glasses, and a million other products... if you think us voracious "fans" who want to watch an older cut of a movie would be the difference between artist and whore, then you really have some priorities out of whack, Maxie. Done and done. Actually, now I have both versions. Which is all I ever wanted.

Wow. It blows my mind what some people are capable of doing on their own. But this also shows me that I'd be pretty thrilled with any new MP Transformer toy. I'm not even a big Soundwave fan, but that looks pretty great, especially for a home custom.

"A wise man knows his limitations" That being said, I wouldn't buy any of these conversion kits. I figured out a while back that while I'm pretty talented at some things - model building and toy customizing is not one of them. And even the best customs still have a weakness to them that factory toys don't. I'm fairly certain I wouldn't be that satisfied with a custom version of any of the above models. I'd rather Yamato just released them.

Meh. We could argue and rationalize why there's now a Hayden ghost as opposed to a Shaw ghost, but ultimately there's no real good reason for it/against it. In my opinion, the idea to tie in the prequels to the originals is about the most logical of the bunch. Sure, it's not a real continuity driven answer, but it makes the most sense. Most of the added scenes are pretty much the same way. Do we need Greedo shooting first or at the same time? Not really. Do we need a Han & Jabba scene? Not particularly. Does the new musical number in RotJ really add anything? Nope. It's all incidental stuff, mostly done in the name of name of proving that it could be done. I'm not dismissing it entirely. I, for one, will accept any change that involves getting rid of the "yub yub!" song in RotJ. Also, the cleanup and FX look of the films is really amazing now. Dealing with the "why" of Star Wars is much easier if you just accept that George Lucas is probably insane.

That's good to know. Now it just means me and 99.9% of the male population of Earth think Angelina's about the hottest thing since the sun. I liked her part in the movie, but I'd have loved to have seen more of her in it. Bai Ling as "Darth Maul Lite" didn't do much for me at all, though. With everything so retro, she seemed a bit too modern and out of place. It would make more sense for the bad guy to have a big Robby the Robot style henchman, IMHO.

Congrats Pfunk. Something must be in the air. I actually got engaged this weekend. Here's to love.

Well, it could be bad or it could be really, really bad. Or it could start out as "not too bad" because they'll spend about 8 billion dollars on the pilot, then it will slide into really bad quickly enough. No matter how you slice this, it will end badly. But from the sound of George's quote above, he doesn't really care much. After most of the abominations pawned off and sold to SW fans (and this definitely includes any crap by Timothy Zahn), he'll just count the money and ignore it. It's not HIS television show. He only cares about his movies. I definitely think he's got the right idea. Maybe if the fandom would quit buying some of this crap, they might quit making it.

I take it you're on a train or being driven... because that could get dangerous. Actually my drive to/from work went from 10 minutes to an hour about a year ago. Since then, I've become a big fan of unabridged audiobooks that I download to my iPod. It's very easy, very cheap, and it keeps the ride from being a total killer. I highly recommend it to anyone driving a roadtrip or long commute. Like I said earlier, I have a soft spot for the Robotech novels as they were my only Macross enjoyment during the barren years when the Robotech VHS was too expensive and the orignal show couldn't be imported into my backwater area growing up. But as a general rule, I don't like to read "adaptations" or "licensed" books at all anymore. These types of "branded" books are almost always some kind of letdown or not far from fan-fiction (as was mentioned earlier). The authors are interchangeable and the characters and writing suffers as a result. There's a million great books out there, there's no real reason to read about a TV show, movie, or anime except for the comfort factor of it all.

Man, I do love Hope & Glory - I'm glad you made me remember that one. But I am curious - you seem to have your faults with Spielberg - but they're mostly in regard to him being a bit too obvious/preachy, or indulging in Americana or the forced ooey feel-good moments. I totally agree with you, as those are the things I find fault with in his films too. But then I remember that we're talking about War of the Worlds, folks. HG Wells was a great writer with a terrific imagination... but this isn't Faulkner or Hemingway. WotW is a fairly straightforward piece, no matter whether you're talking about the book or previous adaptions. There's not a ton of subtlety to be had in such a venture. Maybe I'm just stumped here, but I cannot really imagine any other way to present this particular material than in a manner like Spielberg's. Can any of you guys name a better director for such a story? I mean, the very title of the story alone implies a huge special effects budget... and despite his faults, I can't name too many directors that could match Spielberg in that arena. Sure, he can be obvious or forced, but I actually think that should work in his favor when presenting a story like this one.

Here ya go, A1. I can do it, yes I can read! The words make sense to me! Don't say I never did anything for you.

Voltron to me is all about nostalgia anyway. Amen. I could really care less about nostalgia. The appeal of the 80's to me is their workmanship. The precision. The perfection of the item. The flawlessness of the mechanics. That's what the Chunky Munky and the original Golion had over the newer toys today. Don't get me wrong. I love the 1:48 and I'm not a strong critic of the Alpha... but I never opened a toy back in the 80's and worried about instant breakage, messy paint, unplayability, missing parts or whatever it was we worry about now. You took it out of the box and you played with it... If that's what nostalgia is, then I guess I can't f'n get over it. To me there's still toys that continue that tradition. SOCs, BTs and MP Prime are a couple... it's too bad these lines don't mean as much to me as Macross, but it's good to know that there's still people making good toys... personally I think Yamato will get there, it's Toynami I'm worried about. awww... man... here comes Js and his defective Walmart Prime.... Word, >EXO<. It's not that their big metal bricks, it's that they are well-made big metal bricks, people!

Imacs? hell no! It should be Windows, so we can all identify with it. That's fine. iMacs can run WinXP (as well as RedHat, Yellow Dog, BSD, SuSe....etc. You just need to know how). Says so on Microsoft's Mactopia homepage. (and that's as far as I'm going in the PC/Mac debate. Stay on topic people.)

I'll agree that the proto definitely looks great. But I still won't be buying one, likely. For the following reasons - 1. Toynami protos have a tendency of looking alot better than their toys. Even their version of the valkyrie looked much, much better than the toy that eventually arrived on store shelves. Same thing goes for the Alpha. 2. It's overpriced. There's just no reason for it cost that much. 3. I don't really like Voltron enough to really warrant purchasing a newer, better toy. I liked the show when I was a kid and therefore I like the giant bulky diecast toy I had when I was a kid. But, the proto pictures sure are pretty. Good luck to those of you that are preordering this thing. With Toynami's track record, you are brave souls.

Where us Macross Purists kick it? Where are we? In a bad rap video from 1989? Please Supreme Kaioshin, don't hurt 'em!

Where us Macross Purists kick it? Where are we? In a bad rap video from 1989?

You guys... Yeah, I'll own up to reading every one of these books, back in the weird gray period when Robotech as a show was long gone, Macross was nowhere to be found in my neck of the USA, and I was a big time bookstore fiend. They are actually not bad, in terms of licensed adaptations. Easy to read, identifiable with the cartoon version, but it's fairly obvious that much material had to be "thought up" in order to expand the episodes into a longer format. Thanks for the links, Deacon - it was fun to look at these books again. All of the "ew - Robotech is gross" talk can get a bit overzealous at MW, so don't take it personally. Just remember - it's not you being flamed so much as it is Harmony Gold. Most of us from America watched and enjoyed Robotech when we were younger, but almost all of us now prefer enjoying Macross as it was originally conceived - the way we never got to see it growing up, thanks to HG. But there was a time, for me personally, when these books, a few terribly made VHS copies of 12 RT episodes, a badly repainted Jetfire, and tons of heavily discounted Matchbox toys were my entire Macross collection. I think at this point I'd heard of the show Macross by reading Robotech Art 1 and looking at ads for all kinds of cool Bandai toys that I couldn't afford to order from California - but Robotech was what was available. Now, luckily, it's a different world and I can watch Macross or collect 1/55's all I want... But it's still fun to look back at the way things used to be and remember it for what it was. IIRC - there were 3 other Robotech novels - all dealing with "lost" (ie- completely made up) stories set inbetween Macross and SC. I also seem to remember that Jack McKinney was a pen-name for two authors that collaborated to write the novels. Found them on Amazon - Robotech 19 Robotech 20 Robotech 21 All of them seem rather overpriced for used books - but that's Amazon and out of print for you. You could likely find them for a buck a piece if you troll your local used bookstores. And here's more on the two guys who were - Jack McKinney.

Yeah, yeah, yeah... I do indeed suck. The weird thing was that they announced free passes at a local record store in the paper to be given away Saturday morning. They also had free passes to Wimbledon for a screening tonight at a chick boutique across the street. When we showed up, we easily got the Sky Cap passes, but apparently the Wimbledon tickets were a hotter draw than Marlboros in Cellblock D. Which sucks because now I'm gonna have to pay to take her to that flick. Another thing I forgot to mention about Sky Captain - go see it on a big screen with a good sound system. Very few movies do I even notice if the sound is good and this was definitely one of them. If I'm any indication, you guys will dig this movie quite a bit - it's easily the biggest retro film to ever hit the screens. If I owned a movie theater, I'd probably show Sky Captain and the Iron Giant as a double feature. Or maybe the Rocketeer.

300 rocks. As does Miller's run on Daredevil or the Dark Knight Returns. But as far as Sin City goes - the best read is That Yellow Bastard. The first GN is awesome, but you can tell Miller was just finding his way around his city. Dwight's stories are also great - but Hartigan is the guy I think of when I think of Sin City. That Yellow Bastard has all of the visual style of the others, but it has more of a heart, too. It's just Miller at his best, IMHO. I'm not sure which collection has the short story/comic Blue Eyes, but that one's also a killer piece. Anybody checking out the comic would dig That Yellow Bastard, it's highly recommended.

I can't wait... but at the same time I'm a bit nervous too. I usually get this way when something ending and I'm wondering if the ending will satisfy me or leave me wishing that King was still taking 7 years between volumes. SoS was a good read, Calla was better... I'm just hoping that the final volume manages to capture some of that vibe that was there in the very beginning when it was just Roland chasing a man in black across the desert. I want it to have some closure, not just end. Either way, I've been reading these book since the first time I saw Whelan's cover art on The Gunslinger when Drawing of the Three had just been released. I think I was about 14. I'll be stopping by CostCo to pick it up the morning it comes out. I don't think I could imagine Roland finally reaching that damned Tower and me not being there to read about it.

I saw a free preview of Sky Captain last night and here is my review: To anybody that enjoyed the visuals of the trailer - you will not be disappointed in the visuals of the movie. The effects are nothing short of gorgeous and insanely detailed. I'm not the type to find small flaws or notice a revolver that magically fires 7 rounds... but I what I did notice was an incredible attention to little touches. Everything in Sky Captain's world is completely retro-future from the knobs on radar devices to the camera Gwyneth lugs around the entire movie. Without a doubt, most of the enjoyment the movie brings comes from being part of Sky Captain's world for a couple of hours. The story... where here's where it gets tricky. Do you like old movies? Do you like the way old radio and film serials have their own rhythm and style? Don't go see Sky Captain looking for an updated take on classic themes and characters. The story is as retro as the visual effects - which is good and bad. Alot of things stretch the realms of plausibility, but in that way that an old Flash Gordon or Lone Ranger serial did. It's done for a reason, but it's not for everyone's tastes. My fiance and I were completely in love with it, because we tend to watch old movies at home, but my friend and his g/f were a bit thrown by the dialogue and pacing. The movie is a thrill ride, but it's not like your modern action/adventure film. Sky Captain is essentially made to be as much like the movies that inspired the Indiana Jones films or Star Wars as possible. So, in effect, you end up with a movie that feels older than either of those "new classics". It's pretty easy to imagine the X-Box generation not getting it and wishing the movie had more bang and less mood. It's hard for me to say - but I imagine that most of the complaints will be from people who went to the theater expecting something like The Mummy or another movie that takes an old concept, then basically keeps only trace elements of the original to make a modern action bash. This ain't that movie. Sky Captain is as if somebody went back in time with team of CGI badasses and made a movie to thrill audiences from the 40's. The acting... Jude Law is excellent, as is Angelina in what really is a very brief role, almost a cameo. The real surprise here is Giovanni Ribisi, whom I usually am bored by onscreen. His character, the mechanic/Q from Bond of the film just nails his performance as the guy who makes everything work. As for Gwyneth - she bugs. Mainly it's that her character is really a drag to the story, basically getting in the way of Sky Captain and Co. and that's not really her fault. The thing is - she does her best to be an old school ingenue, but it just doesn't fly. Hepburn, Bacall, Bergman - these women could get in the way of the hero and cause problems the entire movie and you'd still love them. You just never feel that way with her. She never wins you over. In the end, you still think Jude should leave her on a remote mountaintop and go hook up with Angelina or his "best friend" Giovanni or a gaint robot or anyone else. Despite her annoyingness, she tries and it shows and she never ruins the film or even slows it down too much. The movie is a great deal of fun, all the way through. I think to the average moviegoer this movie would be fun to look at and a great diversion while eating popcorn for a few hours. To anyone who's ever read old comics, or read HG Wells, or watched hours of old movies and delighted in it - this movie is like a feast. There's just so much to enjoy - I can guarantee I'll watch this on DVD probably 50 times. I'm not even really curious about the green screen effects or the filming - which is rare for me - I just want to enjoy the movie and see all the details. There's millions of nods to older scifi and movie icons, if you look for them. From the look of things, a great deal of love went into making this movie. I could be wrong, maybe audiences will surprise me and eat the film up like I did - but it's hard to imagine that modern kids won't find some of the ideas hokey or "teh lame". In a world where Van Helsing actuals makes money instead of inspiring city-wide riots, I'm usually the odd guy out. The coolest thing about the movie is that you know that it looks the way that old directors, forced to use plastic rocket ships on fishing line and guys in cardboard robot suits, wanted their movies to look. Unlike a "special edition" remake of Star Wars, where certain things seem to be added in CGI just because they can and certain things seem out of place in what is really a 1977 setting - nothing in Sky Captain doesn't look exactly like the imagination of a bygone era. To me, that's what makes it better than 99% of big budget action movies. But it could be the same reason that people might not get it at all.

I think unicorns kick ass.

I was just kiddin', JSA. I had visions of Sgt. Hartman yelling at Neko and calling Sissy boy Van Gogh and threatening to cut his ear off if he didn't make his bed properly. But then again, I spent my youth touring America in a funk band watching too many movies to have any idea what military life is actually like outside of Kubrick films.

Good to hear it, Chris. I'll take that as my apology too. Now, rock out to the magic that only Darryl Hall and John Oates can bring you and let's forget the whole matter. Or... you could always... PM me.

Actually we all shrink as we grow older. It's a fact.