Ninja Fight: Death Star vs. Unicron

In the spirit of Jack Mangan’s Duel of the Fates, Microsoft-Paint-tastic blog Puntabulous asks the question: Who would win in a death match between Unicron and the Death Star? (link)

Musings: Painkiller Jane

I just got around to watching the SciFi Original Movie Painkiller Jane. I’ve wanted to see it for over a year… ever since seeing a short promo for it during a longer SciFi Channel promo narrated by Sean Bean when it aired during the first airing of the miniseries for the new Battlestar Galactica.

The premise was interesting, but I was not entirely thrilled by the presentation.

Continue reading Musings: Painkiller Jane…

Underworld sucked, didn’t it?

I have a question for us to discuss. What’s the deal with Underworld? I’d been under the impression that the movie sucked. I mean, sucked. As of today, it has a 30% rating at Rotten Tomatoes, with Roger Ebert declaring: “This is a movie so paltry in its characters and shallow in its story that the war seems to exist primarily to provide graphic visuals.”

Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of great scifi movies out there that the fans love and the critics hate. And I love, love, werewolves versus vampires. Not werewolves alone or vampires alone, but werewolves versus vampires, that I’d pay money to see. But, leaving the critics aside, the word of mouth on this flick was terrible too.

Continue reading Underworld sucked, didn’t it?…

Gift Geekery

Ya know, I could easily find myself sucked into a game of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.

So much fun for such a simple game.

Slice of SciFi “Fans’ Top 10″ Survey

Here’s a message from Sam of the Slice of SciFi News Team:

Slice of SciFi Fan’s TOP 10 Movies of All Time Survey Announcement

OK kids here is the official word on how this will work.

We are looking for your picks (not ours) for the best TOP 10 Films of all time in the following categories:

Science Fiction - Pick your top 10

Fantasy/Fable - Pick your top 10

Horror/Supernatural - Pick your top 10

There is no time frame or country restrictions for which movies are chosen. You can go back as far as you wish, even to the silent era and may also include anything released throughout the month of January 2006.

This TOP 10 Survey for each category will begin on January 1, 2006 and run throughout the entire month to allow for everyone to get in their favorites.

HOW TO ENTER YOUR PICKS:

Please do not send them via the comments section for this article or anywhere on the Slice of SciFi website. Send them to Sam, at the SoSF email address provided on the right hand side of the SoSF Webpage.

Sam will make the final tally, and in February 2006, Mike and Evo will announce the winners of your TOP 10 picks in each category (for a total of 30 films) on the show, and they will also be posted at the Slice of SciFi website.

We are looking forward to letting everyone know what SciFi fans really consider their best of the best.

Show #5: Pre-show Discussion

Because of the holidays, I’m posting this a little earlier than usual.

For Show #5, The Ninjas are headed back to the bookshelf. We’ll be talking about Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic The Lathe of Heaven

This book also had two movie adaptations. The first one was done by PBS in 1980, and starred Bruce Davison. The second one was done by A&E TV in 2002, starring James Caan, Lukas Haas, and Lisa Bonet.

Throw your comments and suggestions into the ring, and we’ll see if we can address any of them during the podcast.

Show #4: Blue Thunder / Airwolf

Welcome to Show #4!

Today, we spread the love for the gizmos, the gadgets, the weapons, and the stylings of two of our favorite souped-up monster machines. Re-live the explosions and the cheese the way only the 1980’s could bring them to us!

Joining Joe and myself again for this discussion is David Moldawer, writer, videographer, and Dragon Page book reviewer. He’d never seen Blue Thunder until a few weeks ago, and he came away impressed. Dave’s almost a full Ninja, so now he’s got a kickassmysticninjas.com email address… show him some love, too.

We’d also like to present a new segment, Old School Anime Reviews for Your Ears, by Aaron from Weekly Anime Review. This week’s feature is Mobile Suit Gundam… Enjoy!

Movies Mentioned:

I’m not linking to the DVD version of Blue Thunder listed at Amazon, because the details say it’s the older version, which was full screen only. The version I rented had full screen on one side, and widescreen on the other, but that version isn’t available from Amazon. It is, however, available from DVD Planet for a tasty $6.99 plus shipping.

Oh, and I think I have to add a post-show correction. I mentioned that I thought the Blue Thunder was adapted from a book… I either misinterpreted a “Story by” credit, or had a crosswired memory with Die Hard.

Promos and Links:
Promo: Dragon Page Wingin’ It
Promo: Girl Genius Radio Theater
Link: TVShows.com: Airwolf Episode Guide

 

 KAMN Show #4: Blue Thunder / Airwolf [57:30m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2877)

Ninjas Fans of the World, Unite!

The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas… a couple of cool scifi geeks… a website… a podcast… and now, a frappr map!! Check out our map, and drop us a shoutout.

We have Links!

Looks like the awesome SFFAudio.com site mentioned the KAMN podcast back in November, and I’m only just now finding out.

I really have to check incoming links more often.

Show #4: Pre-show discussion

KAMN #4 is going to be our first media show.

Joe, David and I will be picking up where the Ninja Fight left off, sort of.

We’ll be sitting down to talk about Blue Thunder and Airwolf. We won’t be directly comparing the two, at least not for the entire show, but how can we not make some comparisons between our two favorite souped-up helicopters?

I also think it’s rather funny that there’s a brand new Airwolf related post over at dragonpage.com, courtesy of Tee Morris.

A Good Day to be a Terp

A little outside the usual topics, but I absolutely had to do this.

I finally got caught up on all of today’s sports scores, and discovered what a day it was for my old school.

Maryland Men’s Soccer: won NCAA Championship (were ranked 1st in the country coming in, 4th consecutive year making at least the semifinals).
Maryland Women’s Basketball: won (ranked 8th in the country).
Maryland Men’s Basketball: won (ranked 17th in the country).

Fear the Turtle, baby. Fear the Turtle.

Show #3: Lord of Light

We’re back! We can be delayed, but never kept away too long!

Today, we talk about Roger Zelazny’s Hugo Award-winning novel, Lord of Light, first published in 1967. There are many levels to this book, and we try to hit most of them.

Again joining Joe and myself for this discussion is David Moldawer, writer, videographer, Dragon Page book reviewer, and Zelazny enthusiast.

There’s no image at Amazon for the “Unicorns!” anthology, but if anyone really really wants it, I can scan in the cover image. The collection is 23 years old, and way way out of print. My goodness, will you look at who’s got stories in this collection: Gene Wolfe, Zelazny, Stephen R. Donaldson, Sturgeon, Unca Harlan, Le Guin, Niven, Vonda McIntyre, de Camp, Avram Davidson…

There is a newer collection containing the story “Unicorn Variations”… it might be easier to find My Favorite Fantasy Story than it is to find the Unicorns! anthology.

Books Mentioned:

Promos and Links:
The SciPhi Show
I Should Be Writing
Internet Science Fiction Database

 

 Standard Podcast [33:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (11944)

Additional KAMN segments?

I’m thinking about adding a segment not related to the show’s main topic: an old school anime or game review.

Thoughts?

(Yes, KAMN #3 is coming very soon. Wednesday night, if editing goes as planned.)

(Plans. Yeah, right. Thursday night.)