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Starland
News Headlines This Month's News - Submit News - News Archive |
June 30, 2000
 The
Man Inside MornI had the chance to talk to Mark Allan Shepard this week. He's the guy that played the perennial barfly on Star Trek DS9 during it's entire run. While we were talking about the possibility of his coming to a future Denver convention, Mark let me know he's been keeping busy with animation projects and music direction since he's returned to Earth. I decided to do a little homework on Mark. He is quite an accomplished artist! Many of his works were used on the sets of Deep Space Nine. Now he's taking those talents onto the web. A project he's currently working on can be seen at eternalpung.com. It's an adult-themed website featuring Flash animation and Mark's soundtracks. For more Mark-specific info visit his Official website for More about Morn. |
June 29, 2000
 Worms
Again?The Sci-Fi channel is starting to promote its largest film project to date: Frank Herbert's Dune. The 6-hour mini-series will debut in December and stars William Hurt as Duke Leto. While many of the actors in the production are new, the cinematography for the movie will be helmed by multi-Academy Award winner Vittorio Storaro. The Sci-Fi channel will be promoting this series heavily and we will be showing a trailer for it at Starcon 2000. To view the latest trailer for the series, click here... |
June 28, 2000
 Suspended
AnimationMike takes a look at The Iron Man comics and finds Joe Quesada's writing refreshing. In fact, he says, "This is the most enjoyable Iron Man storyline that I have read in years." From the classic review vault, we have Dr. Jon Suters comments on the Lex Luther spin-off. Click here for the complete reviews... |
June 27, 2000
 Cover
Your EarsJeff Rhind must have real bad taste in music or he's just deaf. Jeff's been compiling the recorded efforts of several of the Star Trek actors at his website shatnerrocks.com. If you tune-in, you'll be able to hear melodic and notably unmelodic renditions of such classics as: Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds (Shatner), Twinkle Twinkle Little Earth (Nimoy), Beyond Antares (Nichols), poetic readings by Stewart, Time After Time (Spiner), Love the One You're With (Russ) and Black Magic (Ryan). The more recent recordings are certainly the best, but none of the actors should quit their screen jobs. If you're looking for the Shatner Priceline
commercials, they are here - along with my favorite of the bunch, Leonard
Nimoy singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. |
June 26, 2000
 I'll
Be BackA recent Hollywood Reporter story confirms that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be returning to the Terminator series for a third movie. Schwarzenegger confirmed that he and James Cameron have talked about the third movie, however, Cameron has yet to announce his return as director. The film is scheduled to begin filming in the spring of 2001, in LA - regardless of the final director. |
June 23, 2000
 Go
Speed Racer, Go!Every day, while in Jr. High, I'd come home and watch Speed Racer on TV. My brother and I would dream about owning a car like the one on the cartoon. We'd go on endlessly talking about jumping over incredible hurtles and attaching super accessories to our own bikes. So I'm tooling around E-Bay today and what do I spy, but a life-size version of the car! I turns out that the car is being sold for charity with 20% of the proceeds going to the Child Safety Network. All the stats for the car (they are impressive) are on the bid site. If you ever dreamed about the car, like I did, it's worth the click to check it out! Click here to view the auction page... |
June 22, 2000
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Von Flores Joins Starcon
2000 |
June 21, 2000
 Suspended
Animation ReviewsMichael Vance sounds like an excited miner in his review of Rhinegold this week. Mike says the length of the comic sets a new record: The Ring of the Nibelung, Book One, The Rhinegold. Chapter One: "The Rape of the Gold" - Whew, that is a long title. From the vault we also have reviews of Flash Gordon (Recommended), Plague (Not Recommended) and a great, big Hola to The Broken Arrow Ledger. |
June 19, 2000
Making
Star Wars
Lynne Hale has produced a series of episodic diaries
from the making of Star Wars Episode 1. They have been transferred to Quicktime
and provide an interesting insight into the process of making a Star Wars movie.
I say Star Wars because nobody makes movies like George, nobody can.
He reveals himself as a reluctant storyteller. You get the idea from the video that George views the Star Wars creature as something that has to be fed, but he'd be just as happy if it slept like a dormant dragon for another decade and left him alone to putter around the house with his kids.
Click here to view the diaries...
June 14, 2000
Suspended
Animation Reviews
Michael Vance works his magic on Cross
- a sick violent, twisted, adult comic book - he likes it. Miniviews on Morphos
The Shapechanger - with the great art of Burne Hogarth and Walter:
Campaign of Terror - black humor, a hard edge, tongue in cheek, Recommended.
Click here for the complete reviews...
June 13, 2000
It's
Alive!
The New Science Magazine has reported that
scientists at Northwestern University in Chicago have created a robot with the
brain of a fish. Before you start giving me a hard time for my illustration, I
already know a whale is not a fish. I still think it works with this story
anyway.
To make the artificial animal work, the team used a lamprey's brainstem and part of its spinal cord. They then sustained the bio parts in a fish tank-like salt solution. They were able to attach the commercially available robot via wires to nerve cells in the brain tissue. While not ready to win any Indy races, the cyborg is able to respond to stimuli from sensors on the robot. When exposed to a light source, the cyborg will alternatively roll towards it, away, or in circles.
Kevin Warwick, a cyberneticist at
Reading University, believes that someday it may be possible for humans to have
their brains transferred to a robot when their body dies. But he feels it is
much more likely that people will have cyber-connected electronic devices such as mobile
phones installed. That's funny, because I always
thought a watch implanted in my head would be a good idea - until my wife tried
to do it for me.
Click
here for the entire article...
June 12, 2000
See
STMP on The Rocks!
Monday, August 21, 2000, as part of the Film
on the Rocks series, you'll be able to see Star Trek The Motion Picture
at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The Denver Brass will also perform a pre-movie
concert featuring science fiction "Space Themes" starting at 7:00PM.
The movie starts at 9:00PM. Everyone is encouraged to come in costume. There are
plans for dealers tables too. We'll be there promoting Starcon 2000! Tickets are
just $5.00 in advance, $7.00 at the gate. You can purchase them online,
at King Soopers or by phone at 888-999-1916.
June 9, 2000
New
Sci-Fi Series Listings
It's official, summertime is here. That
usually means lots of repeats on TV, but not this year! I've posted the
schedules for our favorite SF shows and Farscape, First Wave, The Invisible
Man, Le Femme Nikita, and Stargate SG1 all have new episodes in June.
So what gives? Cable channels have learned that getting people hooked on a series is much easier when their favorite network shows are in repeats. Their hope is that when the fall rolls around, you'll have developed new viewing habits and stick with the shows.
Roswell has been added to our listings - because you asked for it and the show got renewed. Alas, it's going to be the final year for Le Femme Nikita. What really stinks is that the show is being cancelled, not because of bad ratings, but because Warner Bros. hiked the price to USA Networks. Rumor has it that Warner's was hoping to get more money for the raises they just gave to the Friends cast (they produce both shows) and figured that USA would pay more for Nikita, unfortunately, they were wrong.
Click here for the Sci-Fi Shows Listings...
June 8, 2000
Suspended
Animation Reviews
We're doing a little catch-up on this week's
reviews. Michael has included reviews of past classics that deserve your
attention: Tangents, which is an adult comic that is not about sex
exploitation, but sexual reality. Mini-reviews on Deadbeats #16; Star
Wars: Dark Empire; Deadworld #s 12-15; and a great recommendation for
The Tale of One Bad Rat: A comics story which deals with child
molestation. Mike says it is one of the best comics of 1995.
June 6, 2000
Titan
A.E. Free Movie Screening
In a journey that begins after earth ends, a rebellious
teenager named Cale embarks on an adventure through space to find a legendary
spacecraft, the Titan, which holds the secret to salvation for the human race.
With the deadly Drej aliens close behind and betrayal from within, Cale must
become a renegade warrior and a new kind of hero as he completes his mission to
find a whole new world.
Join us on Tuesday, June 13, 2000 for a free advance screening of the movie. The preview will be held at the AMC Highlands Ranch. Click here to play our quiz for tickets...
June 5, 2000
Digital
First
It looks like the digital future of film (that's kind of
like saying soundtrack album) has arrived. Tomorrow, June
6, 2000, Titan A.E. will be transmitted digitally
from California to an Atlanta theater for a screening during the Supercomm trade
show. Colorado's own, Qwest Communications, will be sending the signal using a
secure Internet transmission protocol from its Cyber Center in Burbank (darn, I
was hoping to intercept the signal with my satellite dish). The broadcast will
mark the first time a full-length movie has been transmitted via the Internet
for a theater screening.
June 2, 2000
Farscape
Returns!
I got KathE hooked on Farscape and then there
was some scare about it not being renewed. Well, we can all relax, the Sci-Fi
channel's picked it up. Many of the actors are going to be in the U.S.
around the fall show, so let me know
who you'd like to see the most. We'll book one for September if we can. Please
don't ask for Rigel, you smart alecks, he's a puppet.
Get this: There is already controversy in Farscape fandom. The first fan-run convention, Scapercon 2000 (St. Louis, MO) is booked for the same weekend as Creation's Official Farscape Convention (LA, CA, August 5-6, 2000). Since Creation has booked Ben Browder (Commander John Crichton), Claudia Black (Officer Aeryn Sun), Virginia Hey (Zhaan), Anthony Simcoe (D'Argo), Gigi Edgley (Chiana), Kent McCord and more, I don't know that the fan show has much chance for success. Too bad they couldn't have planned different weekends.
June 1, 2000
Price
Lists
Collectible guides and price lists are
antiquated. They are usually wrong about the time they are printed. Most offer a
price range for goods in reasonable shape. Their best and only
function, in my opinion, should be as a catalog.
I just got an email yesterday concerning an update to Xan Steadman's Playmate Pricing Page. Xan's done a great job of listing the Star Trek figures. He included a form for you to submit price changes right on the page, but my gut-feeling was that the prices were wrong. To support my theory, I decided to check-out his prices against the going E-bay listings. In every case his prices were high. Many of the E-Bay figures being sold weren't even getting the starting bids, often 1/2 of the low guide prices.
Bottom Line: Use the various online price lists and guides to verify your collection's completeness. Don't use them as your only source for pricing. You won't find everything you want on E-Bay and Amazon, but if you do, chances are, you'll get a better deal.
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