Vile

"Moya's picked up a distress call. We're bringing the vessel aboard now."

Oh, man, I really have nothing to do in the office today ... * Best/Worst Anime (film/TV series/OAV) - Film: Spirited Away (yeah, yeah, but it's just so pretty) / Series: GitS: Stand Alone Complex. * Best/Worst SF (film/TV series) - Film: Serenity / TV Series: Farscape. * Best/Worst SF Literary (Book/Short story/Comic) - Book: Probably something by Iain M. Banks Comic: Duh, 200AD, of course! * Most annoying trend in Anime - Girly Men Lead Characters. * Most annoying trend in SF - Too many cartoony CGI critters - make 'em look real or get some guys in rubber suits. * Most Unnecessary *Remake - The Day the Earth Stood Still. *Sequel Transformers (the second one - don't even know what it was called). * Greatest addition to your toy/model/DVD collection - Model: four Tachikomas and an Uchikoma / DVD: the Complete Farscape. * What is the piece of technology that you have now which was not available at the start of the decade that you cannot do without? Digital Camera. * Best/Worst Band/Album/Live performance - Best Live Performance: Kodo Drummers (unless Japanese horseback archery counts?) wait, Iron maiden was good, but I had a crap seat. * What do you think is going to be the most inaccurate SF prediction about life in 2010? There will be no more money! Well, it'll be accurate for my wallet, though ... * Where do you think you will be at the end of next decade? Sitting in front of a computer (a much faster one, with a much better screen an' all, and in a really nice and warm country, but still ...). * Complete the following sentence. "I will be much happier next decade if I inherit the rights to all of Marc Miller's writings." Hey, he's not getting any younger, you know ...

Just because there are spaceships doesn't mean this should be seen as a science fiction movie. Its technological and social science is about as plausible as Return of the Jedi, i.e. not, if a bit more imaginative. But not a good movie? How do you define 'good', if not 'entertaining'? In my book something is good if it fulfils its purpose. In the case of a movie, that purpose is entertainment, pure and simple - everything else is subliminal. The purpose of Avatar is not to raise environmental awareness or to extrapolate a feasible alien ecology based on our sample of one - those things are served* by climate conferences and think tanks. I can't believe how much over-analysis this film has sparked on the various SF-related forums I visit. Repeat after me: "It's a bit of fun" *Using the term 'served' in its loosest possible sense.

But ... there'll still be Na'vi lapdance clubs, right?

Well, yeah, but if you're going to compare films to the mighty Bladerunner, then you may as well consign the entire celluloid/digital output of mankind to the crapper-than-perfection bin!

The biggest favour you can do yourself before seeing this film is to perform a mental switch from science fiction to fantasy. It's not new BSG, it's Lord of the Rings with VTOL gunships and power armour. I think there are so many comparisons that can be made - I thought of Laputa, Return of the Jedi, Aliens, Matrix, Nausicaa, Traveller (ok, not a movie but an RPG), but I'm sure that's just based on what I've been exposed to. The 3D CGI was definitely waaay beter than I expected from seeing the 2D previews. I agree that not many directors will be able to make use of it in the same way, but it's assuredly a great leap forward in technology (a proper one, not the big total failure disaster kind). Not a film to see for the story or (most) of the characters, but certainly one for the visual experience. There are very few times I've thought a film worth seeing for that, but Avatar is one of those.

And here's the linky: http://www.hkticketing.com/Ticketek/eng/ev...ent.asp?id=3284 Ouch! Not cheap ...

Ditto!

I would get excited, but 1/48 is just too big for my limited storage space (I'll worry about display space when I actually get around to building some of my kits).

Nah, that's just a dip in the foothills. Over 40 and you start climbing the Mountain of Macross Appreciation!

Finally got to see this movie - had to fly to Tokyo and back for it, but it was worth the pain! A very cool movie on a limited budget. The mystery is not as mysterious as it could be, but pretty good nonetheless. Definitely took away some of the pain I would otherwise have felt at the end of another Land of Macross vacation ...

I voted battroid, because the first Macross model I ever saw (and built) was a Tomahawk. It was years later that I saw DYRL, so my knowledge of Valkyries and their transformation was severely limited at the time - this being before they invented that new-fangled interweb an' all ...

Looks like a nice enough kit for what it is, but not for me - not at that scale and not at that price. Now, how much would I be willing to fork out for a 1/24 Hasegawa ... ?

I bought a DVD player. Man, can you believe how hyped those things were? Now you can't get the discs outside a museum, it's all protoculture now ... Oh, wait, wrong timeline!

Makes you wish there were some more dishonest employees in the old SFX studios! Future historians, like today's, will rely on all those hidden caches of 'liberated' goods to make sense of our time. Of course, it's much easier to keep movie vehicles 'alive' these days - computer models don't tend to get damaged as easily, and there are usually a lot more copies ...

Hey, great link, electric indigo! The problem, as ever, is copyright - that's why studios would rather destroy ( or leave to rot) props than let someone else have them. You could get around it with a contract that retains copyright with the studio, but corporate law is too expensive for enthusiasts, and studios don't really have the incentive to bother. Still, it's good to see that something occasionally survives the crusher!

One scale to rule them all And on the shelf display them!

In my book this was criminal negligence by the studio, but at least it looks like it's not too late for the Nostromo: http://www.propstore.com/nostromo.htm

Oi! Let's not get too personal, there!

I always buy the real deal if it's available. If torrent is the only way, then needs must, I suppose. If I like something enough and watch it often enough to live without the subtitles, I might even buy the original if it's only available in Japanese. Mind you, then I need to have a fansub to refresh my memory every now and then ...

Well, of course other 80s heavy metal bands were not that different to Iron Maiden ... they just weren't as good!* *Ok, apart from Motorhead.

Whoops, another typo!

Can't argue with that! And this is something I'd like to see - not sure if it would work, but it sounds interesting.

Only one thing - is that where you're gonna display it? I guess that means no more cake & coffee 'round your place, then ...

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