Doctor Who, that is (or should I say "The Doctor," as I have found out today that his full name isn't Dr. Engelbert P. Who, as I had originally thought. My apologies). Underground Toys, owners of the Doctor Who figure license, will release Time Squad, yet another line in the vein of Hasbro's Superhero Squad/Combat Heroes/Robot Heroes/etc. There's only one pack with "The Doctor," and that's shown above, and includes the
Supreme Dalek, Davros, the Slitheen, and Weeping Angel. The second pack includes
Cyberman, Black Dalek, Scarecrow, Vashta Nerada, and Sontaran, while the third has a Bronze Dalek, Sycorax, Natural Ood, Pyrovile, and Clockwork Man, which you can see here.
One can only hope that the bisexual adventurers of Torchwood might make it into the line later, which could really open the door for children's toys of adult properties. I'm crossing my fingers I'll be able to buy a Rocky Horror Picture Show Transvestite Heroes toyline before I die.
Okay. I am well aware that Capcom's Street Fighter 4 is in 3-D. I got that. 3-D character models, 3-D backgrounds...very obvious. And I'll add that seeing the gameplay looks far better than i originally thought in motion. But looking at the completely 2-D gameplay, I can't help but see...a gussied up Street Fighter 2. I'm hardly an expert, but watching Cammy and Fei Long up above, the moves seem the same. The combos seem the same. Hell, obviously the character roster is the same, even with the inclusion of Ryu's master Gouken who was rumored to be playable in SFII. And the game is set in-between SFII and SFIII. So...why is this one called "4" again?
I was certainly expecting Capcom to cater to hardcore SF fans with the character roster. And I think I'm happy SF is still a 2-D fighting game than a 3-D one. But I was expecting some kind of...I don't know, change, over the previous titles in terms of gameplay, not just the graphics. I mean, there's already a gussied up SFII on Xbox Live. And it doesn't have that horrible fucking announcer.
Sorry for missing the last two DVD Days, but really, virtually nothing came out other than that weird Resident Evil: Degeneration CG flick. The studios have clearly been saving their good stuff for after the new year, including...
• Battlestar Galactica Season 4.0 I could point out this is when they find Earth, but I'd rather point out that Apollo is clearly staring at Starbuck's rack on the DVD cover.
• Babylon A.D. The Vin Diesel sci-fi flick roundly denounced by its own director. It currently has 1-star on Amazon, which is impressive in its own way.
• Duckman Seasons 3 & 4 I'm all well and pleased Duckman is out, but where the hell is my last Tick set? Goddammit.
• Gurren Lagann Part 2 Anime death watch: Gurren Lagann is a great show. It was on Sci-Fi Channel. It was made by Gainax, of Evangelion fame. It has many, many fans in America. It is absolutely one of the top anime series in the U.S. Currently, this reasonably priced box set is selling slightly less than the DVD of the PBS special A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway. Wow.
• Postal: Unrated Director's Cut Uwe Boll's latest movie apparently had a few brief moments of non-awfulness. So wouldn't his director's cut just be him making those scenes as terrible as he originally intended?
When Warner Bros. was talking about which DC superhero would star in their next film, they mubmled something about Green Lantern. They didn't mention Jonah Hex, the facially-challenged gunslinger who shot the hell out of the supernaturally wild west, whose movie has been on track for most of the year. Apparently, the Warner exec was forgetting him on purpose, because since the movie last made the trades, the directors have dropped out, to be replaced by the guy who did Horton Hears a Who. From the Hollywood Reporter:
Jimmy Hayward, who directed the animated "Horton Hears a Who!" will
make his live-action debut with "Jonah Hex," the Warner Bros.
western based on the DC Comics character.
Josh Brolin is attached to star in the film, which previously had
Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor ("Crank") on board as directors.
The duo, who also wrote the script, bowed out over creative
differences in November. The studio, which hopes to put the movie
into production in March or April, went on a fast-track search,
putting together a short list that included such names as Andy
Fickman and McG before narrowing it down to Hayward.
I'm sure Hayward is a nice guy. Probably talented. I'm told Horton Hears a Who is a actually a pretty good CG kids' flick, actually. Does any of this make him at all qualified to direct a halfway decent Jonah Hex movie? Not in the slightest.
No one should be surprised that Hasbro is making toys for the Wolverine and the X-Men cartoon; it's a cartoon, it's X-Men, of course merchandising is half the point. However, I am mildly surprised that these toys are getting into the hands of Hong Kong eBay sellers before the toys have actually been announced. Usually the announcement comes first, then Hong Kong/eBay, then U.S. stores. Weird.
So if you check here, you can see auctions for Beast, Colossus (both above) and Avalanche. I'll make an educated guess and say that there's at least a Wolverine and a Cyclops in the first wave, but there's no way there's a White Queen (she'll be in a barely released third wave, if history has taught s anything). Since these are in package, they have to be close to shipping to the U.S., so expect to see them not long after the cartoon debuts on NickToons on January 23rd. Much thanks to Great White Snark for the tip, and thanks to eBay seller Dreamcab for announcing these things, as Hasbro obviously wasn't going to.
Anyone feeling bad for picking on The Spirit, Frank Miller's directorial debut, which has earned a staggeringly low $18 million in its two weeks of release? No? I didn't think so. So here's a "promotional" video, asking you to consider The Spirit for Worst Picture at the upcoming Razzies, along with many of the film's finest reviews. I honestly don't think it's needs any assistance. (Via FilmDrunk)
With the recent resurgence of Doctor Who (and recent casting of the eyebrow-challenged Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor), Britain's most famous science fiction character has been brought back to the consciousness of shut-ins and non-stop sci-fi watchers globally. In the long-running series, The Doctor is a Time Lord, a race (or subset of a race) charged with protecting the universe from villains and threats throughout all times. While Who appears to be in exile from the Time Lords, he's still trying to protect the universe, except that...well, he's actually kind of terrible at it. Here are 9 reasons Doctor Who is lamer than you think.
Uh...I hope your frontal lobes have healed from the assault of Japanese Thriller, because otherwise watching this Korean commercial for some kind of homemade chicken nuggets will likely give you an Alan Moore-style embolism. Sure, it starts out normal, with a broken Korean family getting ready to enjoy a meal, but then a smiling Robocop bursts from the TV, eats some of the chicken, and then carries off the family's fridge...because...because I have no fucking clue, actually. I've had fever dreams that are more coherent than this commercial. Thanks to TR contributor Chris Cummins for the tip.
Playmates has Skynet's time travel technology. That's the only way they could be bringing out these action figures for the upcoming Terminator: Salvation movie, which were clearly made sometime in the '80s. Look at the lazy sculpting--that's supposed to be Christian Bale as John Connor, by the way, on the right--on these 6-inch figures. You cannot convince me they were made with today's technology. Hell, Action-Figure points out that they look slightly worse than Playmates' Virus movie toys from 1999 or so. Head over there to see both the 3 3/4-inch and the 10-inch figure sets, both of which are even worse-looking than these.
Remember, Playmates also has the new Trek movie toy license, and if these things are any indication, you might as well just hit the flea markets for Playmates' old Trek toys. They won't look any different. Maybe Playmates is spending all their cash/talent on Trek, but...that's some seriously wishful thinking right there.
Fuck Artoo. Fuck him right in his little red eye. All he can do is beep and interface with all the computers in the galaxy...and store space station plans, and fly with jet packs, and put out fires, and shock muppets, and shoot lightsabers quite sizable differences. But whatever. He sure as hell can't serve booze--FUCK! HE CAN DO THAT TOO! Bastard. But he probably can't do it with the skill and style of Bar2-D2, seen in the video above. Bar2 is radio-controlled and has a motorized beer elevator,
motorized ice/mixer drawer, and a six-bottle shot dispenser. Sure, Bar2 can't shoot lightsabers, but if he serves you enough gin and tonics, you won't even care than Jabba has Han. Problem solved! (Via Gizmodo)
