F-ZeroOne

There is a timelessness about great aviation design (and even fictional) that pretty much transcends current fashions. The X-Wing, the Blackbird, Concorde, the Valkyrie, and of course, the Supermarine Spitfire...

Its rumoured that there will be a May release for individual DVD releases, and in October a DVD box set. These will of course be Region 2 and PAL, but as Canada is getting the series in early April there might be a Candian NTSC Region 1 release, although I stress thats speculation on my part.

http://downloads.scmgames.net/files/Videos/whotrailer4.avi

A few personal favourites: Doctor Who: okay, okay, yes, the effects were paid for out of the tea kitty, and its had as many downs as ups. But: Daleks! Cybermen! Yeti! The TARDIS! Davros! Tom Baker! Stand out story arcs include "Genesis of the Daleks" and "Earthshock", but the best part is that a new, much updated series featuring the ninth incarnation of the Doctor will be out soon. The Princess Bride: the lesson to be learned from this film is that a small budget can go a long way if you have a good script - and The Princess Bride probably has one of the most quotable scripts around. Jason & The Argonauts: you want complex? You want epic? Well, how about every major player from Greek mythology, lovingly bought to life by the legendary Ray Harryhausen?

I can't believe I forgot this one, theres a popular second-hand manga/book/CD/DVD chain called Book Off...

Ah, thanks. I was beginning to wonder if the Iranians had somehow managed to sneak an aircraft carrier by Customs... "Is toy boat. For bath. Children, you know."

Tom Baker is very much alive and is currently providing voice narration for the exceptionally popular BBC comedy sketch series "Little Britain" (er... please don't ask me to describe this, non-UK MW-ers! Incidentally, some of the scripts are being worked on by at least one of the creators of another BBC comedy, The League of Gentlemen - not to be confused with the Alan Moore comic of a similar name) I would personally doubt that a cameo will be possible, at least as the Doctor - it would probably destroy the fresh feeling the BBC is going for. It is possible he could appear heavily disguised, I guess. Spaced/Shaun of the Dead fans - a Dr. Who script is known to have been looked at by Simon Pegg. I am very much hoping they are able to find a role for him!

Heres an update for those of you interested (that means you: Daleks, Cybermen, Yeti, the Autons, the Sea Devils... ) Doctor Who returns to the BBC on March 26th, 19:00 GMT. Apparently it will be broadcast in Canada in early April as well. "Buzz" from various media types that have seen it is generally favorable - much has been made of the updated production values and snappy dialogue. The current Dr. Who magazine also features an unidentified alien from the new series on the cover, which is probably best described as "a blue space midget with a very large brain"...

Yet. We have something of a history of suddenly needing replacements ina hurry because some wonder-toy or another didn't work out as planned...

This is the Azarakhsh as near as I can tell it's a replacement for the IRIAF's older F-4s. It looks like nothing more than a giant two seat F-5 with F-4 intakes. Is that an arrestor hook...?! (striped underfuselage fixture towards engines) And if so... why?

Finally caught an episode the other day. The story was only average - a rather overdone SF staple - but the visual effects, especially the all important vehicles, are superb. Aviation heads (I believe we have a few here? ) will probably really enjoy the SkyBases robotic deck landing crew, who make the proper gestures. Not completely convinced by the voice acting, which seems a bit of a shame - the Gerry Anderson shows were known for their pretty distinctive voice work. I am probably biased, but I would have preferred a slightly more British sounding cast, like the original show.

Its alledged that one of the reasons Key-Op in BoTP communicated in whistles is because the original Japanese character was so potty-mouthed they couldn't dub it properly! I'm really looking forward to this - BoTP was a big part of my early growing up. I'm curious as to whether it will see a UK release, though - the Battle of the Planets version is already on sale in the UK...

Yes, but... The designers of the Ingram did not intend for it to take on a whole fortress full of berserk Labors. At the design meetings, it probably never occurred to them! The only reason Section 2 found themselves in that situation is because their Captain got them into it - they couldn't give Shinohara Industries a ring and ask them to provide them with a high capacity Labor-shredding weapon because they weren't supposed to be there!. They had to go with what they had - and what they had was revolvers, and shotguns (which I believe weren't part of the original specification either - they were designed by one of Section 2s members. You may recall, from the TV series, I think they only ever use the shotguns once, and thats because they're going up against the Griffon). I can't remember if there are more Police Labor sections for the second movie; the original Section 2 were pretty split up by then and only bought back together by Captain Goto. Section 2 still seems to exist, but with new equipment and presumably new members (you may recall it getting shot up by the gunships... )

Theres a number of reasons. Styling is almost certainly the first consideration - it wouldn't be a Police mecha without a revolver. For more practical reasons - if you accept the 37mm calibre as being suitable for grenade launching (with apologies to those who have pointed out, quite rightly, the differences in shell types), a revolver is good for carrying mixed loads of riot rounds - baton rounds, tear gas, rubber bullets etc. The next reason is that, for the most part, its simply not neccesary - these are Police mecha, not tanks. They're for dealing with out-of-control civilians who don't know what they're doing, not hosing down the neighbourhood. Its not Section 2s fault that their captain keeps poking their noses in where they doesn't belong... Police officers also have to account for every bullet fired (okay, except for Ota!). Japan is not, generally, a very gun-centred culture...

In my totally amateur, non-plane-buff, bassed on Oh My Goddess and Strikers 1945 opinion, the top right one is a Shinden. I like the Hellcat, Corsair, and Tempest girls, personally. I'd actually bet money it is supposed to be an Ohka: http://www.combinedfleet.com/ijna/mxy7.htm look at the dual vertical stabs, the bulbous nose, the color, the cherry blossom...the only thing that doesn't work well is the wings. The green one in the top right corner is a Shinden. The second right most-one (white colour) is definitely an "Ohka" (Allied codename: "Baka"; one of the very few instances of an actual Japanese term being used for a Japanese aircraft!). Awesome work. I love the Tempest girls trench coat! Would there be any chance of an edited version putting a little more, um, clothes (aircraft?!) on the Me-262 and P-51 girls, as I'd love to use it as a desktop background but am worried about the family implications...

In one episode of the comic, Destro indeed storms his own Scottish castle (to save it from an imposter) in a "borrowed" World War II glider with Flint and Lady Jaye in tow. Its guarded by his own regiment of Scottish Highlanders. I'm sure it made sense at the time...

That I own - my Takatoku DX Big Dai-X toy. Basically a block of die-cast, an extremely non-childsafe sword and one of the goofiest transformations I've ever come across - made even more so by the fact that the mecha didn't transform in the TV series it came from! That I would like to get - a Blitzkreig Combination Big Dai-X. The next step up from the DX. That I have been trying to get: Microman Rescue Force M-272. I thought this would make a nice present for my brother, as the figure has the same name as him (all Micromen have names as well as numbers). Unfortunately, it turns out to be just about the rarest Microman ever made...

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Shoji Kawamori worked on some of the early designs that eventually wound up as Transformers (not just valkyrie/Jetfire) - however, I cannot confirm this and may well have gotten mixed up with something else. Edit: I suspect that Omega Supreme and Shockwave are there because they were both originally designs by other companies - like Jetfire - that wound up under the Transformers banner.

I'd just like to point out here that Germany didn't intially try to attack British cities deliberately (and I'm speaking here as a Brit) - the list of targets for the Battle of Britain were originally restricted to military installations or production facilities - or at least, tried to; the technology of the time and the unavodable cock-ups that war brings resulted in quite a few incidents of what are now called "collateral damage". Hitler, in fact, respected Britain and actually wanted a settled neogiation. He was rather surprised when Churchill, effectively, raised two fingers to him... It was only in the latter part of the Battle of Britain that attacks were switched to London, in an attempt to do enough damage to break the will of the British government to resist before the autumn weather came in and made a German invasion impossible (theres quite a bit of evidence that such an invasion was pretty much impossible anyway, the German surface Navy at the time being almost pathologically awed by the Royal Navy). The night "Blitz" was a different matter; by the end of the Battle of Britain, the gloves of the various combatants were coming off in a big way. The RAF, on the other hand, had strategic bombing in mind even before the outbreak of World War II, and while it took a while to learn some very painful lessons and build up Bomber Commands effectiveness, once it reached that effectiveness, it "sowed the whirlwind" in a manner even Hitler probably didn't believe possible (this in contrast to the Luftwaffe, where tactical support of the Army was mostly its purpose, and strategic bombing a secondary function - and the Luftwaffe never did produce a successful aircraft in the same class as a Lancaster). Please note that I am not trying to defend German actions, just to point out that, at least to start with, Germany wasn't actually trying to wipe out Britsh cities as a deliberate war aim.

I dunno about that... the ISDs in Star Wars always seem to miss an awful lot (My personal gripe on Sci-Fi: In an age of shields, ion propulsion, and laser cannons, nobody has the brains to invent a slightly better targeting system???) Blame it on the World War II-era fleet and air battles things like Star Wars took their inspiration from; the USAAF, for one, found that being able to drop a "bomb into a pickle barrel from 20,000 feet" only worked if you didn't add flak, fighters, and worst of all, European weather, to the equation...

Okay, for the record: I am yet to be convinced that any mecha - with the possible exception of multiple-legged "spider"-like designs - is a plausible combat platform. This is despite the fact that I have "mecha" engraved upon my soul and Patlabor on TV is my second favourite anime TV series. I find even Patlabor fudges the issues. Having said that, I am no longer as certain as I used to be that we never see humanoid mecha either in civilian roles, or in as-yet-unknown combat scenarios. Honda - among others - have literally made great strides lately with bipedal robot designs. So, my choice goes to: The Black Magic M(Marionette)-66 from the Masamune Shirow manga/anime of the same name. Shirow even says he made it female because it would cause pyschological hesitation in male soldiers...

You're welcome, MechaMaster. However, you're not alone in being caught out; while a remake of Captain Scarlet has been in the works for a while, it seems to have escaped the general press [1]. Also, the air date was pushed up to February from a planned autumn 2005 date; even Gerry Anderson seems to be a bit surprised and so, I imagine, are the various merchandising concerns, as it seems product lines will be appearing in the autumn (now to tie-in with a second season). Oh, also from the website, one of Gerry Andersons aims was to make a CGI show with a much more rapid production schedule than was the norm previously... [1] You can almost write the headlines yourself - "Captain Scarlet is Back - No Strings Attached!"

Mr Anderson would be terribly hurt to hear someone say that - he apparently never really liked puppets, and finds CGI characters who can actually run, jump, dive etc. much more to his liking. Graham - I find it a bit strange also. I was a bit amazed to find that the creators of Team America were - rather obviously - inspired by Thunderbirds, but that they hadn't actually seen any episodes until relatively recently. It might be due to the TV set-ups in the UK, Japan, and US at the time; in the UK, you either watched Thunderbirds or you didn't watch anything except the Open University on BBC2...! Japan, it really speaks for itself, though - cool mecha...

Is back: http://www.captainscarlet.com/ As per usual, thanks to typical British childrens broadcasting times, I haven't actually seen this yet, but the website has some pretty cool stuff on it. And be sure to check out the section on the interceptors - especially the attached dogfight clip. Methinks someone has been watching Macross Plus...

An extremely poor but very quick one of my own...