Muhammad Ali, 2025 hype meter, and shameless plugs
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Monday, February 3, 2025
Friday, December 2, 2022
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
X-amining Star Trek/X-Men #1
December 1996
In a Nutshell
In a Nutshell
The X-Men meet the crew of the USS Enterprise!
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Pencilers: Marc Silvestri, Billy Tan, Anthony Winn, David Finch
Writer: Scott Lobdell
Pencilers: Marc Silvestri, Billy Tan, Anthony Winn, David Finch
Background Assists: Brian Ching
Inkers: Batt, D-Tron, Billy Tan, Aaron Sowd, Joe Weems
Inkers: Batt, D-Tron, Billy Tan, Aaron Sowd, Joe Weems
Ink Assists: Victor Llamas, Team Tron, Jose "Jag" Guillen, Viet Troung, Mike Manczarek
Letters: Dennis Heisler
Colors: Tyson Wingler, Steve Firchow, Jonathan D. Smith, Richard Isanove
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Letters: Dennis Heisler
Colors: Tyson Wingler, Steve Firchow, Jonathan D. Smith, Richard Isanove
Editor: Bobbie Chase
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras
Plot
The USS Enterprise returns to Delta Vega, site of the death of former crew member Gary Mitchell. Drawn there by reports of a rift of psionic energy in space, they arrive just as a Shi'ar craft emerges from the rift. It is quickly destroyed by the anomaly, but a second larger ship soon emerges, out of which Gladiator flies, warning the Enterprise to stay away from the planet. Meanwhile, Wolverine reconnoiters the Enterprise, as he and the rest of the X-Men teleported onto the ship shortly before their Shi'ar vessel was destroyed. The X-Men hope to keep their presence a secret, but Doctor McCoy discovers Storm, Beast and Gambit in sick bay while Spock detects Jean Grey's telepathic scans and deduces the X-Men's hiding place. After a brief scuffle, he brings the X-Men to Captain Kirk. They tell Kirk that the other ship is under the control of Deathbird, who is tracking a powerful reality-altering mutant from their universe, Proteus. On Delta Vega, Proteus has taken control of the body of Gary Mitchell. Beaming down, the X-Men and Enterprise crew discover Proteus has transformed the planet into a replica of a Scottish village. Deathbird arrives, and offers Proteus use of their ship in exchange for an alliance. As the X-Men battle Proteus and the Imperial Guard, Jean and Captain Kirk enter Proteus' mind, convincing the remnants of Mitchell's consciousness that he needs to die again. As Bishop and Chief Engineer Scott find a way to re-channel the psionic rift's energy in order to close it, the rest of the X-Men and Enterprise crew destroy Proteus. Commandeering Deathbird's ship, the X-Men prepare to return home before the rift closes completely, telling Kirk and his crew they are grateful, for all the terrible futures they've known, to encounter one which seems hopeful.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Summer Movie Report Card 2013
No time for a preamble, here's 2013's Summer Movie Report Card!
Iron Man 3
A huge step above the lackluster previous film in the series and a worthy follow-up to The Avengers, I still would have liked a bit more of Iron Man himself and more nods to the shared universe. Nevertheless, there's no denying this was well-crafted and tremendously fun, largely carried by Robert Downey Jr.'s phenomenal performance.
A
The Great Gatsby
Iron Man 3
A huge step above the lackluster previous film in the series and a worthy follow-up to The Avengers, I still would have liked a bit more of Iron Man himself and more nods to the shared universe. Nevertheless, there's no denying this was well-crafted and tremendously fun, largely carried by Robert Downey Jr.'s phenomenal performance.
A
The Great Gatsby
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Dr. Bitz Ranks Every Television Series Ever...Sorta (Part 9)
It's the the top 20! Huzzah! We're getting to some quality shows and one that can definitely be labeled a classic. Not much more of an intro in this post, but, as always, the rules to my list are here:
20. Todd McFarlane's Spawn: Al Simmons made a deal with the devil and it went about as
well as...actually it went a little better than most deals with the devil. Not
to say there weren't Catch 22s but he did get super powers. You don't want to
know what I'd do to get super powers.
20. Todd McFarlane's Spawn: Al Simmons made a deal with the devil and it went about as
well as...actually it went a little better than most deals with the devil. Not
to say there weren't Catch 22s but he did get super powers. You don't want to
know what I'd do to get super powers.
Spawn was an animated HBO show based on the Image comic book
of the same name. It is dark, gritty and filled with adult situations. And not
just Skinemax adult situations. This is a series that dealt with some
heavy and disturbing stuff. But watching a man battle evil demons and protect a
family that believes him dead and has moved on is interesting. It's too
bad that this series ended after the third season right when an apocalyptic war between
heaven and hell was promised.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Teebore's Summer Movie Report Card
The calendar has changed, there's snow in the forecast and I haven't seen a movie in several weeks, which means it's time for the Summer Movie Report Card!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Thursday, September 18, 2008
What I Watched On My Summer Vacation
Mrs. Teebore and I spent a week up north at my father-in-law's cabin this summer and, well, we watched a lot of movies (and TV-on-DVD). Hey, there's only so much jet-skiing, swimming, antiquing and game-playing a couple can do before turning to movies, especially with only two local TV channels (though I did get to watch Jeopardy a few afternoons). So here's what we watched to fill that time:
Major League-Whilst watching a few minutes of this on TV one day, my wife commented that she had never seen it. So I made sure to bring it along on our vacation, as it had also been awhile since I'd seen it in one sitting (as opposed to on TV, edited and chopped up by commercials). It was a pleasure to once again hear Dorn drop the f-bomb when pumping up Vaughn during the last game, instead of whatever lame "family-friendly" dialogue the censors edit in. Mrs. Teebore seemed to enjoy the movie as well, particularly the slightly pre-fame Charlie Sheen's turn as "Wild Thing" Vaughn.
Also, apparently the DVD version I picked up at 1/2 Price Books for $5 was a directors cut of the film or something, because it had scenes I'd never seen before. Most of them involved fleshing out the relationship between Tom Berenger and Rene Russo, and since I spend most of my time during such scenes in the "cut" version wishing they'd get back to the wacky baseball hijinks already, most of the added scenes in this version were pretty unnecessary.
Lethal Weapon-Another cable TV favorite that the missus had never seen and I hadn't seen uncut in some time. Still a classic of the genre and a lot of fun. Mrs. Teebore particularly enjoyed the work of a pre-reality TV show star Gary Busey.
Like the Major League DVD, this one had some extra scenes added in, again, mostly extraneous. A couple at the beginning reinforced the notion that Gibson's Riggs was living on the edge (the scene at the Christmas tree lot, which on this DVD, is now the third such "Riggs is crazy" scene, did the job just fine on its own). Another added scene showed the morning routine Murtaugh had before getting partnered up with Riggs. It added some dimension to the action towards the film's end when, after escaping from the bad guys, Murtaugh stands at the end of an alley, cracks his neck and quick draws on an approaching car, killing the driver. Thanks to this Directors Cut I now know that was a move he practiced every morning on the gun range.
Stargate-For the last few years, I've been watching a "highlights only" version of Stargate with a group of friends. The wife and I enjoy the show enough that we've expressed interest in going back to watch more of the show (not just the overarching, plot-centric episodes) so for my birthday this year, those friends were kind enough to give me the first two seasons on DVD. Before watching them, though, I wanted to rewatch the movie that started it all.
This was a much more cerebral science fiction movie than the action figures released alongside it would suggest; perhaps this is why the only time I'd seen if before, on video as a kid, I was kind of bored by it. I mean, you stick Kurt Russell in a movie and toss some explosions into the trailer and what else is a 13-year-old supposed to expect? It wasn't until I was introduced to the TV show (which, before friends recommended it, I avoided based on my recollection of the film) that I felt an urge to revisit the film. It holds up much better now, caused, I'm sure, by my famiiarity with what follows it in the TV series and my altered expectations. There really isn't much action to speak of until the last act but it hums along regardless, making the most of its setup (ancient gods were actually aliens) and setting (soldiers trapped on an alien world-how will they get home?) to not really need big action set pieces.
Also, French Stewart plays one of the soldiers, completely straight. I did not know this until rewatching it this summer. Hilarious, but it clearly wasn't meant to be.
This Is Spinal Tap-I'd never seen this before, and sadly, I probably would have enjoyed it more if the funniest bits weren't already so familiar to me. They've become such a part of the pop culture fabric that one can know them without ever having seen the movie. Thus I was already familiar with the best parts.
Still, it's a funny movie, with the same kind of droll humor and wry antics one comes to expect from the creator of Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. Definitely something I'd come back around to seeing again, and at least now I can say I've seen it.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan-An old favorite the missus had never seen and I hadn't watched in awhile (she's more of a Next Generation gal). I was curious if it held up to my recollection, and it did. Like Stargate, it was less action-y than I remembered, which makes sense for a Star Trek movie. Instead of phaser fights and space battles (though there are some) this is a measured look at growing old, the regrets that go along with that, and the strength of friendship. It's also a great examination of obsession, drawing parallels to Moby Dick in the same way the Next Generation crew's finest film (First Contact) will do.
Of course, it also features the Kobayashi Maru, the screen debut of Kirstie Alley, and lengthy scenes in which Shatner and a prosethetic-chest-sporting Ricardo Montalban chew up the scenery and spit it at each other, so it's got that going for it as well. And I have to admit, everytime I watch Kirk's euology for Spock I get a little teared up. "Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human."
The seesaw battle over which original series Trek film is my favorite (this or Undiscovered Country) goes on...
Grease 2-After watching Khan, I figured it was only fair to give my wife her due and watch a movie she had been yearning for me to watch, one of her favorites. It wasn't that bad, I suppose, certainly no worse than the first one, and maybe just a little bit better. The music is fairly derivative and the girl who wanted to go to beauty school in the first movie is back at the high school, for some reason, but it does feature a very young Michelle Pfeiffer and a guy who masquerades as a mysterious motorcyclist, not unlike the Voltron-esque Dark Rider that the Marvel mutant cyclists of Team America form. Yeah, it's as bad as it sounds, but Mrs. Teebore is right: I'd still rather watch this than the first Grease movie.
Thoroughly Modern Millie-A friend of mine gave me this movie for Christmas last year, after I requested some old classics. Sitting down to watch it, we were expecting something in the predictable-but-not-without-its-charms 60s musical genre, something not unlike My Fair Lady or the King and I. Instead we watched one of the most awesomely batshit insane movies ever.
Seriously, you know you're in for something awesomely insane when within the first five minutes of the film you're already treated to a dance-powered elevator. The plot of the film basically involves Mary Poppins trying to:
A. Find a husband
B. Bust up a slavery ring coordinated by her landlady in which single young women are sold to the Chinese.
In that order.
Along the way, there's aerial dog fights, the scaling of buildings, car chases, a young Mr. Myagi, Mary Tyler Moore, several jokes involving knockout gas, and a climatic final battle involving trampolines.
It's like the Adam West Batman movie of 60s musicals.
Noises Off!-After that insanity, it was all comedies for us the rest of the way. We had a bit of a Michael Caine night. I've seen the stage version of Noises Off! but never the film. I was curious how well the third act, which takes place silently and entirely "backstage" of the play the characters are performing, would work on screen. If anything, it worked a little bit better, affording us more opportunities to see the expressions on the actor's faces.
It was also a bit bittersweet, seeing as how the movie starred both Christopher Reeve and John Ritter, but having seen little of either actor beyond their more well known roles (Superman and the Problem Child films...er...I mean, Three's Company, respectively) it was fun to see them doing something a little different.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels-Like This Is Spinal Tap, I'd seen bits and pieces of this movie on TV, comedic restrospectives and Scene It trivia questions, but I'd never seen it from start to finish, and even though I thought I already knew the whole story, it turns out I didn't. I've always had an affinity for Steve Martin, but I usually think of Michael Caine as more of a serious actor than a comedic one; between this, Noises Off and Jaws 4 I've come to see he can be wicked funny as well. Another film I'll probably dust off every few months for a good laugh.
Major League-Whilst watching a few minutes of this on TV one day, my wife commented that she had never seen it. So I made sure to bring it along on our vacation, as it had also been awhile since I'd seen it in one sitting (as opposed to on TV, edited and chopped up by commercials). It was a pleasure to once again hear Dorn drop the f-bomb when pumping up Vaughn during the last game, instead of whatever lame "family-friendly" dialogue the censors edit in. Mrs. Teebore seemed to enjoy the movie as well, particularly the slightly pre-fame Charlie Sheen's turn as "Wild Thing" Vaughn.Also, apparently the DVD version I picked up at 1/2 Price Books for $5 was a directors cut of the film or something, because it had scenes I'd never seen before. Most of them involved fleshing out the relationship between Tom Berenger and Rene Russo, and since I spend most of my time during such scenes in the "cut" version wishing they'd get back to the wacky baseball hijinks already, most of the added scenes in this version were pretty unnecessary.
Lethal Weapon-Another cable TV favorite that the missus had never seen and I hadn't seen uncut in some time. Still a classic of the genre and a lot of fun. Mrs. Teebore particularly enjoyed the work of a pre-reality TV show star Gary Busey.Like the Major League DVD, this one had some extra scenes added in, again, mostly extraneous. A couple at the beginning reinforced the notion that Gibson's Riggs was living on the edge (the scene at the Christmas tree lot, which on this DVD, is now the third such "Riggs is crazy" scene, did the job just fine on its own). Another added scene showed the morning routine Murtaugh had before getting partnered up with Riggs. It added some dimension to the action towards the film's end when, after escaping from the bad guys, Murtaugh stands at the end of an alley, cracks his neck and quick draws on an approaching car, killing the driver. Thanks to this Directors Cut I now know that was a move he practiced every morning on the gun range.
Stargate-For the last few years, I've been watching a "highlights only" version of Stargate with a group of friends. The wife and I enjoy the show enough that we've expressed interest in going back to watch more of the show (not just the overarching, plot-centric episodes) so for my birthday this year, those friends were kind enough to give me the first two seasons on DVD. Before watching them, though, I wanted to rewatch the movie that started it all.This was a much more cerebral science fiction movie than the action figures released alongside it would suggest; perhaps this is why the only time I'd seen if before, on video as a kid, I was kind of bored by it. I mean, you stick Kurt Russell in a movie and toss some explosions into the trailer and what else is a 13-year-old supposed to expect? It wasn't until I was introduced to the TV show (which, before friends recommended it, I avoided based on my recollection of the film) that I felt an urge to revisit the film. It holds up much better now, caused, I'm sure, by my famiiarity with what follows it in the TV series and my altered expectations. There really isn't much action to speak of until the last act but it hums along regardless, making the most of its setup (ancient gods were actually aliens) and setting (soldiers trapped on an alien world-how will they get home?) to not really need big action set pieces.
Also, French Stewart plays one of the soldiers, completely straight. I did not know this until rewatching it this summer. Hilarious, but it clearly wasn't meant to be.
This Is Spinal Tap-I'd never seen this before, and sadly, I probably would have enjoyed it more if the funniest bits weren't already so familiar to me. They've become such a part of the pop culture fabric that one can know them without ever having seen the movie. Thus I was already familiar with the best parts.Still, it's a funny movie, with the same kind of droll humor and wry antics one comes to expect from the creator of Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show. Definitely something I'd come back around to seeing again, and at least now I can say I've seen it.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan-An old favorite the missus had never seen and I hadn't watched in awhile (she's more of a Next Generation gal). I was curious if it held up to my recollection, and it did. Like Stargate, it was less action-y than I remembered, which makes sense for a Star Trek movie. Instead of phaser fights and space battles (though there are some) this is a measured look at growing old, the regrets that go along with that, and the strength of friendship. It's also a great examination of obsession, drawing parallels to Moby Dick in the same way the Next Generation crew's finest film (First Contact) will do.Of course, it also features the Kobayashi Maru, the screen debut of Kirstie Alley, and lengthy scenes in which Shatner and a prosethetic-chest-sporting Ricardo Montalban chew up the scenery and spit it at each other, so it's got that going for it as well. And I have to admit, everytime I watch Kirk's euology for Spock I get a little teared up. "Of my friend, I can only say this: of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human."
The seesaw battle over which original series Trek film is my favorite (this or Undiscovered Country) goes on...
Grease 2-After watching Khan, I figured it was only fair to give my wife her due and watch a movie she had been yearning for me to watch, one of her favorites. It wasn't that bad, I suppose, certainly no worse than the first one, and maybe just a little bit better. The music is fairly derivative and the girl who wanted to go to beauty school in the first movie is back at the high school, for some reason, but it does feature a very young Michelle Pfeiffer and a guy who masquerades as a mysterious motorcyclist, not unlike the Voltron-esque Dark Rider that the Marvel mutant cyclists of Team America form. Yeah, it's as bad as it sounds, but Mrs. Teebore is right: I'd still rather watch this than the first Grease movie.
Thoroughly Modern Millie-A friend of mine gave me this movie for Christmas last year, after I requested some old classics. Sitting down to watch it, we were expecting something in the predictable-but-not-without-its-charms 60s musical genre, something not unlike My Fair Lady or the King and I. Instead we watched one of the most awesomely batshit insane movies ever.Seriously, you know you're in for something awesomely insane when within the first five minutes of the film you're already treated to a dance-powered elevator. The plot of the film basically involves Mary Poppins trying to:
A. Find a husband
B. Bust up a slavery ring coordinated by her landlady in which single young women are sold to the Chinese.
In that order.
Along the way, there's aerial dog fights, the scaling of buildings, car chases, a young Mr. Myagi, Mary Tyler Moore, several jokes involving knockout gas, and a climatic final battle involving trampolines.
It's like the Adam West Batman movie of 60s musicals.
Noises Off!-After that insanity, it was all comedies for us the rest of the way. We had a bit of a Michael Caine night. I've seen the stage version of Noises Off! but never the film. I was curious how well the third act, which takes place silently and entirely "backstage" of the play the characters are performing, would work on screen. If anything, it worked a little bit better, affording us more opportunities to see the expressions on the actor's faces.It was also a bit bittersweet, seeing as how the movie starred both Christopher Reeve and John Ritter, but having seen little of either actor beyond their more well known roles (Superman and the Problem Child films...er...I mean, Three's Company, respectively) it was fun to see them doing something a little different.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels-Like This Is Spinal Tap, I'd seen bits and pieces of this movie on TV, comedic restrospectives and Scene It trivia questions, but I'd never seen it from start to finish, and even though I thought I already knew the whole story, it turns out I didn't. I've always had an affinity for Steve Martin, but I usually think of Michael Caine as more of a serious actor than a comedic one; between this, Noises Off and Jaws 4 I've come to see he can be wicked funny as well. Another film I'll probably dust off every few months for a good laugh.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Airplane Gets a Nose Job
Alright, so apparently this airplane landed at an airport with a dented done. The thing is, nobody claims to know what caused the dent. And this is no minor dent, either, it's a dent that...well...looks a little something like this:
Hmmm...that's an awfully large dent for nobody to know what happened. But the FCC claims that it's a mystery.
So, what really happen to this airplane? What could have caused such a large dent in the nose? Nobody knows, but I have a few ideas:
1. A meteorite
2. A giant flying ostrich wearing an oxygen mask
3. A freak rip in the space-time continuum
4. A huge release of electro-magnetism originating from a mysterious, moving island's 'hatch'
5. Superman was flying while intoxicated...again...and wasn't watching where he was going
6. The Klingons just declared war on the human race
7. The pilots accidentally hit God's mailbox and won't admit it
8. Upon finding out the in-flight movie was "The Love Guru" the airplane nobly attempted to sacrifice itself for the good of all the passengers
All of those possibilities are plausible, but what's the truth? Who knows? But you can all vote on which one you think it is on your left. You can also vote 'Something Else' if you'd like and leave a comment on what else you think this could be.
Whatever it is, I'm sure we can all agree that a giant government conspiracy is somehow involved.
Hmmm...that's an awfully large dent for nobody to know what happened. But the FCC claims that it's a mystery.
So, what really happen to this airplane? What could have caused such a large dent in the nose? Nobody knows, but I have a few ideas:
1. A meteorite
2. A giant flying ostrich wearing an oxygen mask
3. A freak rip in the space-time continuum
4. A huge release of electro-magnetism originating from a mysterious, moving island's 'hatch'
5. Superman was flying while intoxicated...again...and wasn't watching where he was going
6. The Klingons just declared war on the human race
7. The pilots accidentally hit God's mailbox and won't admit it
8. Upon finding out the in-flight movie was "The Love Guru" the airplane nobly attempted to sacrifice itself for the good of all the passengers
All of those possibilities are plausible, but what's the truth? Who knows? But you can all vote on which one you think it is on your left. You can also vote 'Something Else' if you'd like and leave a comment on what else you think this could be.
Whatever it is, I'm sure we can all agree that a giant government conspiracy is somehow involved.
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