/** ************************************************************************ ** ************************************************************************* ** The Non-Sequitur Express ** Garibaldi built a motorcycle, but Zack was not a LEGO Maniac. ** Published at fortnightly or random intervals by Phillip Thorne. ** http://nsx.underbase.org/ ** ** Volume 2, Issue 25: Thursday, 28 September 2000 ** ************************************************************************* ** *********************************************************************** */ OBSERVATIONS & C: Vote, IMDb xref, new SF, B5 wide?, TFTM and RSTC DVDs. ERRATA & O+A+A: Leprechauns, B5 movies. TOY REVIEW: New cobranded LEGO sets, bulk buys, violence. UPCOMING: SF premieres, movies, and TV through sun-8-oct. plus Legalese, acknowledgements and opt-in/out instructions. /** ************************************************************************ ** OBSERVATIONS & COGITATIONS ** *********************************************************************** */ On November Fourth, only *you* can prevent pundits from bemoaning the apathetic American electorate! Register to vote, and support our republican-not-democratic system of federal government. And if you want to vote for a third party, go ahead! Sure they'll lose -- this time -- but by repeated effort, someday they might not. Each entry in the Internet Movie Database (possibly the earliest killer app for the web) includes hyperlinks to similar films or TV series. The summary for "Voltron: Defenders of the Universe" (1984) reads: "this series focuses on 5 lion robots and their pilots as they fight vs. the evil forces of king zarkon and prince lotor." The cross-reference adds: "if you like this title, we also recommend... Lion King, The (1994)." This perhaps gives insight into their clustering algorithm. According to _Sci Fi: The Official Magazine of the Sci Fi Channel_, the half-hour quasi-SF-guns-n-babes series "Cleopatra 2525" (www.back2backaction.com) will indeed have a second season this fall... if I can trust the magazine; the writers of the fall preview apparently failed the "fact checking" or "proofreading" courses at journalism school. For instance, they claim "StarGate SG-1" (www.stargate-sg1.com) will be entering its fifth season (it's in the middle of its fourth), that "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" (www.efc.com/earth.frm) will appear on SFC (www.scifi.com) for its second season (it's syndicated and only now premiering), and that "Lexx: the Series" (www.lexx.com) is in its second season (possibly its second *year* on SFC, but the onscreen numbers rather unambiguously peg the current episodes as third *season*). See also the UPCOMING section. Some of you may have noticed by now that the first two nights of "Babylon 5: The Widescreen Edition" on SFC, weren't -- sort of. One reader points out that the pilot movie, "The Gathering" (appearing in its 1998 TNT-paid JMS-edited Franke-scored version, not the original 1993 cut), was *not* filmed in widescreen. [Disambiguation by L.Thompson, www.siconhq.com, on 18-sep.] Unlike the regular series episodes, "The Gathering" was originally filmed in standard TV aspect ratio (4:3), but SFC slapped some black bars onto it to avoid explaining why the first two nights of "The Widescreen Edition" weren't. [Explanation by JMS himself on 25-sep.] The DVD version of the animated "The Transformers: The Movie" (1986) hits amazon.com on 24-oct, for $13.96. [So reports M.Keller on 18- sep.] "A rock-and-roll adventure," teens were told. "Will bring audiences back again and again," theater owners were assured. It's the final appearance of the voice of Orson Welles... not to mention Eric "Monty Python" Idle, John "Micromachine Man" Moschitta, Judd "Suddenly Susan" Nelson, Leonard "Spock" Nimoy, and Robert "Unsolved Mysteries" Stack. Fans can thank Kid Rhino Home Video, and probably the multi-year petition drive by TransFan Tim Finn (?), for the DVD's existence. The first DVD of the CGI series "Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles" (1999), containing the five episodes of the Pluto campaign edited into a single feature, may hit retail on either 10-jan-2001 or 10-mar-2001. Special features aren't finalized, but will probably include concept art, storyboards and animatics. [So reports www.roughneckchronicles.com on 30-aug.] /** ************************************************************************ ** ERRATA & OMISSIONS, ADDENDA & ADMISSIONS ** *********************************************************************** */ In 2.24's listing of "Harry Potter"-world non-broom-piloting quasi- humanoids, I forgot to mention leprechauns. They don't *need* no steenking brooms. Nor do veela, for that matter, who can transform into harpy-like avians. In 2.24, I missed listing the B5 telemovies shown on TNT just as their weekday cycle was ending. In his Usenet postings, creator/writer JMS opines that they were shown out of spite, in an attempt to burn out the potential audience for the soon-to-premiere Sci-Fi Channel airings. /** ************************************************************************ ** TOY REVIEW ** New cobranded LEGO sets: movies, tractor pull, TV, Harry Potter. ** Bulk elements now available. ** Violence is bad unless it's made of ABS plastic. ** *********************************************************************** */ The owners of The LEGO Company (formerly Interlego) have a master plan to become the leading brand among families with children, and the committment shows in the company's licensing deals over the past two years. First there were Mickey- and Pooh-themed DUPLO sets (Disney), then a slew of "Star Wars" models (Lucasfilm). In the past three months they've added: * LEGO Studios Steven Spielberg MovieMaker Set * Team Larsen LEGO TECHNIC Power Puller * "Bob the Builder" DUPLO sets (HIT Entertainment PLC) * "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" (Warner Bros.) The MovieMaker set is built around the new LEGO Cam, based on Logitech QuickCam technology. It's a 352x288x30fps color digital/still camera with manual focus (one inch to infinity) and onboard microphone, with a five-meter USB cable. The video editing software is by Pinnacle Systems (www.pinnaclesys.com) and the film school book by DreamWorks. Juvenile filmmakers can attack the occupants of fall-apart buildings with a T-Rex as the earthquake soundstage shakes. Spielberg's cut of the revenues goes to the charities Shoah and the StarBright Foundation. The LEGO Cam is also found in the Mindstorms Vision Command set (#9731, mindstorms.lego.com/visioncommand/), which includes realtime image recognition software. Tractor racing is an increasingly popular sport in Europe, and the LEGO TECHNIC Power Puller (#8457, www.lego.com/powerpuller), a yellow mutant truck that can carry one to five motors, is based on the vehicle fielded by Team Larsen (photos at the Danish-language site www.teamfox.dk/dk/). Or possibly vice-versa. "Bob the Builder" is the top-rated pre-school TV program in the UK, it's coming to 80 other countries by fall 2001, and at least five DUPLO-scale sets should be hot on its heels. Judging from the LEGO press release, the show's action level is somewhere between those other two great British exports, "Teletubbies" and "Doctor Who." Warner Bros.'s "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" hits theaters in nov-2001, acoompanied by at least nine LEGO-scale sets. Well, that's certainly more promising than the recent action-figure tie-ins for "Titan A.E.," "Chicken Run," "Battlefield Earth" and "X-Men." It's a greater challenge to LEGO's designers than "Star Wars," I should think -- many fewer vehicles (Mr.Weasley's flying blue Ford Anglia?) and more buildings (an extension of the Castle theme?) Will Hogwarts be modularized? Harry's closet under the stairs? Will the dragon creature-element return, using new colors and wings to depict the black Hungarian Horntail, Common Welsh Green, blue-gray Swedish Short- Snout and Chinese Red? That "leading brand" plan applies not only in building toys, but also software (media.lego.com), broadcast media and attire. Accordingly... LEGO Media is a new business unit for the creation of factual and entertainment shows, animation and live action. Its first products are due in 2001/2. The LEGOLand parks in Denmark, the UK, and California will soon be joined by one in Germany. [Distilled from press releases at www.lego.com/info/press.asp] Building the House of the Seven Gables? Among other elements, you can now buy bulk quantities of roof tiles (red or black), either through the LEGO website (www.lego.com/bulk/) or the Shop@Home catalog. The current selection is limited to certain bricks, plates, sloped roof tiles and windows; colors are black, gray, white, green and red. For many years, LEGO sets and their minifigure population avoided any concept of armed conflict. That peaceful ideal began to erode with sword-toting castle guards, then advanced to flintlock-armed pirates, rifle-equipped mustachioed tomb raiders, and lightsaber-wielding Sith Lords. Still, it's all *fantasy* violence, isolated from the here- and-now. Unlike some LEGO clones (e.g. Ritvik MegaBloks), there's never been a khaki tank, green attack copter or grey battleship. Of course, that hasn't deterred enthusiastic LEGO Maniacs... /** ************************************************************************ ** UPCOMING ** Series, Seasons, Episodes, Movies, Books ** *********************************************************************** */ HEADS UP... The big news: SF premieres. Next tue-3-oct-20:00 is the 2-hour premiere of "Dark Angel" (symbol: DkA) on Fox. On wed-4-oct is the seventh-season premiere of "Star Trek Voyager" on UPN, preceded by the sixth-season finale/cliffhanger. Next fri-6-oct-21:00 is "FreakyLinks" (symbol: fky) on Fox. Next sat-7-oct is the premiere of "Gene Roddenberry's Earth Final Conflict" (season four) followed by "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" (season one, symbol: And). Note that wphl-17 has moved EFC to 17:00 so that "Andromeda" isn't counterprogrammed against "StarGate SG-1." This Sunday 19:00-23:00, SFC holds a mini "Farscape" marathon. There's a bunch of movies on the horizon that you may (not?) (want|be able) to see. This Saturday, SFC airs the prototypical VR-and-CGI movie, "Lawnmower Man" (1992), reputedly-but-unrecognizably based on a Steven King short story; plus "Alien^3" (that's cubed, not three) (1992) in which everyone, you guessed it, dies horribly; over on Showtime is the surreal-sad-triumphant Robin Williams-is-dead "What Dreams May Come" (1998). Remember this: oil paint is not a recommended material for load-bearing residential walls. Next thu-5-oct MoviePlex repeats the most nonsensical of its anime slate, "Shadow Skill;" after that comes all six episodes of "Space Rangers," one of those short-lived SF series from 1993. On fri-6-oct- 18:30 Showtime airs "Trekkies," a nonfiction documentary about "Star Trek" fans. (See also: Gainax's "Otaku no Video" (1991), featuring (1) faked live interviews with sadly-obsessed-with-XYZ Japanese fans, and (2) an interspersed animated pseudo-history of that anime studio's own development.) On sun-8-oct MoviePlex has three 1999 films: Disney's live-action "Inspector Gadget" based on the 1983 Dic cartoon (be glad you didn't pay for it at the theater, it was only 78 minutes long), "The Mummy," and "The Sixth Sense." You can tape the counterprogrammed "Street Fighter" (1994) off USA, and laugh/despair later as Raul Julia struggles to portray the evil M.Bison from the qi-wielding video game. To top it all off, F/X airs a *four-hour* version of "The Abyss" (1989). (CGI water tentacles! Schizo nuke-wielding commando commanders! A homage to Dave Bowman's monolith-stargate journey! Clunky late-80s automobiles threatened by giant tidal waves!) ANIMATION... Gwg The Gundam Deathscythe 2 pg ton z 0930-0000 Gwg Five Gundams Confirmed 3 pg ton t 1003-0000 Gwg The Victoria Nightmare 4 pg ton w 1004-0000 Gwg Relena's Secret 5 pg ton r 1005-0000 Gwg Party Night 6 pg ton f 1006-0000 Gwg Scenario for Bloodshed 7 pg ton z 1007-0000 PRIMETIME ETC. PROGRAMMING... mov Lawnmower Man (director's cut) (1992) 14 sfc z 0930-1300 3:00 r Cle Hel & Highwater, pt.1 1214/113 pg 17 z 0930-1300 r JAT X Marquis the Spot 1315/113 pg 17 z 0930-1330 mov What Dreams May Come (1998) 13 sho z 0930-1530 2:05 mov Alien^3 (1992) 14 sfc z 0930-1600 3:00 r EFC Arrival 322 pg 17 z 0930-1600 m 1002-0030 SG1 29 z 0930-1700 s 1008-0400 r Vgr The Haunting of Deck Twelve 945/625 pg upn z 0930-1800 Who Logopolis, pt.1 35 z 0930-2300 Who Logopolis, pt.2 35 z 0930-2330 r Vgr Alter Ego 855/314 pg upn z 0930-2300 Fut (pr'emp'd) fox s 1001-1900 r Sim Pygmoelian babf12 pg fox s 1001-2000 XF (pr'emp'd) fox s 1001-2100 Fsc Rhapsody in Blue 112 14 sfc s 1001-1900 Fsc A Bug's Life 118 14 sfc s 1001-2000 Fsc Nerve 119 14 sfc s 1001-2100 Fsc The Hidden Memory 120 14 sfc s 1001-2200 * Ros Skin and Bones 201 wb m 1002-2100 * Buf Real Me 502 wb t 1003-2000 * DkA Pilot, pt.1 101 fox t 1003-2000 * DkA Pilot, pt.2 102 fox t 1003-2100 * Ang Are You Now or Have You Ever Been 202 wb t 1003-2100 r Vgr Unimatrix Zero, pt.1 946/626 pg upn w 1004-2000 * Vgr Unimatrix Zero, pt.2 947/701 pg upn w 1004-2100 z 1007-2300 * Chm The Honeymoon's Over 301 wb w 1004-2100 r mov Shadow Skill plx r 1005-1730 2:10 r mov Space Rangers Chronicles 1 14 plx r 1005-2100 1:35 r mov Space Rangers Chronicles 2 14 plx r 1005-2235 1:35 r mov Space Rangers Chronicles 3 14 plx f 1006-0010 0:00 * mov Trekkies sho f 1006-1830 1:30 r Inv Ralph 103 sfc f 1006-2000 f 1006-2300 * Fky Subject: Fearsum 101 fox f 1006-2100 Fsc (pr'emp'd) sfc f 1006-2100 Lex (pr'emp'd) sfc f 1006-2200 r Cle Hel & Highwater, pt.2 1215/114 pg 17 z 1007-1400 r JAT It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Opera 1316/114 pg 17 z 1007-1430 SG1 29 z 1007-1500 Sho Star Trek: Insurrection pg sho z 1007-1605 * EFC Forge of Creation 401 pg 17 z 1007-1700 s 1008-2330 * And Under the Night 101 17 z 1007-1800 Vgr Fair Trade 856/313 upn s 1008-0000 mov The Abyss (1989) 13 fx s 1008-1800 4:00 mov Inspector Gadget (1999) pg plx s 1008-1830 1:30 r Fut My Problem With Popplers 215 fox s 1008-1900 Sim (pr'emp'd by baseball) s 1008-2000 mov The Sixth Sense (1999) 13 plx s 1008-2000 2:00 XF (pr'emp'd by baseball) s 1008-2100 * mov Street Fighter (1994) 13 usa s 1008-2100 2:00 mov The Mummy (1999) 13 plx s 1008-2200 2:10 abc wpvi-6, cbs kyw-3, fox wtxf-29, ind wgtw-48, ind wfmz-69, nbc wcau-10, pbs whyy-12, pbs wybe-35, upn wpsg-57, wb wphl-17; fx F/X, plx MoviePlex, sfc Sci-Fi Channel, sho Showtime, tnt is TNT, ton Cartoon Network, usa USA. 7D 7 Days, Ang Angel, Buf Buffy the Vampire Slayer, EFC Earth: Final Conflict, Fsc Farscape, Fut Futurama, Inv The Invisible Man, Lex Lexx: The Series, PJs The PJs, SAM Secret Agent Man, SG1 StarGate SG-1, Sim Simpsons, TNG Star Trek: The Next Generation, Vgr Star Trek: Voyager, XF The X-Files. STRIPPED SF... Star Trek: The Next Generation Weeknights (Tue-Fri) 21:00 1 hour, TV-PG, WFMZ-69 Loud as a Whisper 132/205 t 1003 Deaf royalty mediates alien war. Unnatural Selection 133/207 w 1004 Transporter can reverse aging. A Matter of Honor 134/208 r 1005 Worf vs. Duras: Round One! The Measure of a Man 135/209 f 1006 Data vs. cyberneticists: Round One! Babylon 5: The Widescreen Edition Weeknights (Mon-Fri) 19:00 1 hour, TV-PG, The Sci-Fi Channel The Gathering, pt.1 m 0925 The Gathering, pt.2 t 0926 Midnight on the Firing Line 101 w 0927 Soul Hunter 102/102 r 0928 Born to the Purple 104/103 f 0929 Infection 101/104 m 1002 The Parliament of Dreams 108/105 t 1003 Mind War 110/106 w 1004 The War Prayer 107/107 r 1005 And the Sky Full of Stars 106/108 f 1006 /** ************************************************************************ ** Legalese ** Acknowledgments ** Opt-in/out Instructions ** *********************************************************************** */ The set of creative works herein reviewed and analyzed, including the subset {books, movies, TV shows, toys}, are the property of their respective copyright holders. No infringement or endorsement is expressed, implied or intended. The original reviews and analyses are themselves copyright 2000 by Phillip Thorne. In this issue, certain data have been obtained and aggregated from: Excite tv.excite.com The Internet Movie Database imdb.com Roughneck Chronicles roughneckchronicles.com Star Trek Continuum startrek.com If you're receiving this newsletter, you've probably intentionally subscribed to it. Or possibly you've procrastinated in subscribing and I'm sending it to you anyway. Or maybe you're a family member and I'm demonstrating that I'm still alive. In any case, to cancel your subscription, send an email message to pethorne@earthlink.net with the words "UNSUBSCRIBE NON-SEQUITUR" in the subject line and/or body. Capitalization and punctuation don't matter, since I'm doing this all manually. /** ************************************************************************ ** ************************************************************************* ** The Non-Sequitur Express ** http://nsx.underbase.org/ ** Volume 2, Issue 25: Thursday, 28 September 2000 ** Copyright 1999-2000 Phillip Thorne, pethorne@earthlink.net ** ************************************************************************* ** *********************************************************************** */