Michael Hutchison: May 2005 Archives

I will now adopt my best David Spade voice:

I liked "The Island" the first time... when it was called "PARTS: The Clonus Horror".

Actually, that's not true. I should say I liked the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode #811 where they made fun of Parts, the Clonus Horror because it contained some hilarious comments.

Obviously, any movie about people being raised as cloned spare parts for the rich and powerful is going to have some elements in common, but this one seems very close. All the clones are kept in peak physical condition by being told that they are going to be rewarded with a trip to America ("Clonus")/The Island ("The Island"). We're shown one clone being subjected to the parts harvesting while he thinks he's being rewarded. Then one guy falls in love with a fellow clone, learns the secret of what really happens to them, escapes and is pursued by the cloners. That's the story of "Clonus". Or, add lots of explosions and special effects and you have Michael Bay's "The Island."

No, I'm not the first person to notice. Apparently, MST3K Info Club is besieged with people e-mailing them to point this out.

MST3K's Paul Chaplin points out a few implausible bits about the premise of "Clonus", a 1970s movie, and at least one of these nitpicks is still relevant to "The Island":

Since the older clones (in the world of the film) are really getting on in years, some of them nearing forty and even fifty, evidently this top-secret project has been around since at least the 1930's. Unless I'm mistaken, science in the 1930's consisted almost entirely of spindly rockets rising twelve feet and crashing back to the ground.

So the movie's implausible, I guess is my point.

Another thing: the great majority of these clones would never get used! Most of us go through life and never need a transplant of any sort, so what you'd have is a bunch of really old clones, hanging around, expecting to be entertained and fed. Which would be okay, they seem fairly easy to keep happy, but what would be the point? I ask you. -- Paul Chaplin.

Back in the mid-1990s, this movie called "Jerry Maguire" appeared. Before it debuted, the film company ran numerous trailers that were completely different in tone. Was it a sappy romantic comedy about Renee Zellwegger's romance with Tom Cruise? Was it a cute comedy about Tom Cruise and this adorable, precocious kid? Was it going to be two hours of Tom Cruise shouting "SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!!!!" to Cuba Gooding Jr.? Was it a sports movie? Who knows?

Actually, come to think of it, I own that movie and I still don't know what the heck it is.

The point is, the studio tried to court several different types of movie-goers. And it looks like Columbia is doing that with their newest Bewitched Trailer. The previous trailer (which has been yanked so you can't even see it now) was a goofy promo about the hysterically intense movie star who is looking for an unknown actress to play Samantha opposite his Darren in a movie remake of Bewitched, and unknowingly finds a real witch. It looked pretty silly and it was the first time we realized it wasn't going to be a straightforward adaptation of the TV show.

I remember being somewhat disappointed that it wasn't a remake, though it was funny to hear Farrell's character fretting that on the old show they replaced Darren with a completely different actor and NO ONE EVEN NOTICED!

This new trailer is all about the witch/actress, emphasizing the real romance she has with Farrell's character and the problem she has with her relatives in abandoning her powers. In other words, pretty much the setup of the old TV show. The tone is much more what you'd expect of a big-budget Bewitched, even though it still has the plot that these are actors and a witch re-enacting the old show. (Confusing to describe, I know.) Plus it ramps up the romantic comedy level, with one of those "If you liked Sleepless In Seattle and You've Got Mail, you'll like this film!" pitches.

Is it really possible that Adam Sandler's new film The Longest Yard has seized first place from The Sith already?

We're one month away from the War Of The Worlds debut, and this new trailer finally gives the briefest of glimpses of the tripods. Also, it's set to Christopher Field's "Gothic Power", the Carmina Burrana-like music that was used for the Fellowship of the Ring trailer.

Most of you have already seen World of Warcraft with Leeroy, about a gamer who rejects strategy and planning and hurls himself into the fray. Leeroy is already gamer slang for a certain type of player, and he has his own Wikipedia entry.

Two hurt in mock light sabre duel

Two Star Wars fans are in a critical condition in hospital after apparently trying to make light sabres by filling fluorescent light tubes with petrol.

A man, aged 20, and a girl of 17 are believed to have been filming a mock duel when they poured fuel into two glass tubes and lit it.

Remember, kids...light sabres cannot really exist, and imitating what you see in movies can hurt or kill you and those you love.

Now you know. And knowing is half the battle!

I had a bit of a shock this morning. I was searching my old contact list for digital colorists and, upon visiting the web site of Benjamin "KryptonKid" Grose, I found out that he died last November! Ben passed away from complications with muscular dystrophy at the age of only 25. I would like to belatedly offer my condolences to his family.

Ben is now the third contributor of Fanzing to pass away in the last few years. Ben contributed only a few pieces of superhero artwork but he also created graphics for the site back before Phil Meadows came on board as the official graphics designer.

Ben was always an enthusiastic and helpful young guy. Even when he wasn't contributing, he used to hang out with us in our Forum. I hadn't talked to him much in the last two years since Fanzing ended, and I now regret that I won't be hearing from him anymore.

If you knew Ben Grose, please send his family some kind words to let them know that you enjoyed his work and friendship

'Sarcasm' brain areas discovered

If they'd examined my little brother's brain they could have found this a decade ago. His sarcasm center has to be five times the normal size.

I saw Sith yesterday, in a theater with a relatively small attendance. I think anyone dying to see it went at midnight, as the Chateau vowed to put it on as many as 14 screens to meet demand.

I'm sorry, but I don't know that I'll have time for a full review. I will say that it's much, much better than the two prequels, all this political hype is overstated nonsense (not that Lucas wasn't making jabs, but they're rather ham-handed and ineffectual so who cares?), and I just wish that all three movies had been this quality. But more to the point, Lucas lied. He never had his prequels in even rough draft form or there's no way he'd have written the original trilogy the way he did. Every Star Wars fan can find twenty ways that this prequel doesn't jibe with the original movies.

Anyway, I just wanted to share a funny note. The first time Jar-Jar speaks, I heard a light huff of air going around the audience. You can almost hear the eyes rolling whenever he appears onscreen. Part of me wonders just what part Jar-Jar would have played in the trilogy if audience reaction wasn't so negative.

Saw the trailer for Stealth before Star Wars today and it looks like it could be, maybe, not all that bad. Lots of flash and pizzazz, but if it handles the subject matter well (artificial intelligence in a fighter plane) it could make for a decent movie.

Jim Geraghty's "Sith" review hits on a lot of the points I was planning to make in my review, so I'll either be hammering them home or skipping on to other points.

Star Wars Hypefest!

FYI: "Anorak" is British slang for a nerdy devotee, so-named after the British term for a parka.

Why isn't PvP posted yet? What, is Kurtz sleeping off his midnight showing? He couldn't get the strip done before going to the movie?

Dang it, I have to know what happened to the Francis Ottoman-bot that has been waiting in line for Star Wars tickets. This is the long-anticipated conclusion of a three-year plot point.

I'm actually MORE excited about seeing how this ends than about seeing Star Wars III in two hours. That's kind of sad.

I've fiddled with the font colors and added the page top graphic.

I also re-configured our Bloglet settings to match the new blog tools. This means that our subscribers should get a copy of today's posts e-mailed to them in the next day.

If you aren't on the mailing list, sign up!

Something funny from our message board's discussion of Star Wars: Well now there's a hitch in my plans...

May '05 was the expiration date for the card Sherry used to buy my ticket (online) -- she ordered the tickets on April 28th.

When I took the new card (different number) to the box office earlier this evening, it rang up nothing. We went back with the printed reciept and the bill from April with the purchase logged on it, and the manager signed her name to it....told me to bring it back tomorrow and show it to the ticket taker.

And I thought the idiots in line with costumes on were nerds. I have a freaking permission slip to see Star Wars.

No, this isn't a movie review. I won't see Star Wars Episode III until tomorrow. I'm just bugged by George Lucas' injecting blatant politics into the last Star Wars movie. And since I try to confine my political opinions to other outlets, I haven't really been talking about it here.

I know, some of you are reacting, "Wha? Who are you kidding, Michael, you bring up politics a lot." Yeah, over on our forum and on Dixonverse's board I talk a little more freely. Still, I could be running a political blog and talking politics every day. I love a good debate, and it's pretty much denied in my life because I keep mum at work, I bite my tongue around my best friends who are all of the "I only listen to NPR so I'm more informed than you" persuasion, and talking with my wife is preaching to the assistant pastor. Here at Monitor Duty, our contributors and our visitors are of many different political backgrounds, and I don't want to create an unwelcome atmosphere for anyone. I love an actual discussion, but often on the Internet things devolve quickly into anonymous flaming and knee-jerk calls of "Nazi!"

So, this is going to be a bit off-topic and a bit lengthy, and I'm going to tuck it all into the Extended Entry for those who'd like to proceed to other items.

Thanks to Aaron Williams for pointing me to this hilarious Lucy in the Sky with Shatner music video.

Moviefone: 'Wallace & Gromit' Movie Exclusives

Watch out for that AOL Player option. Long experience tells me that installing the player would add five shortcuts to "sign up for 21000 hours free" and set my browser's home page to AOL, etc.

Patrick Ruffini's response to George Lucas' recent pronouncements about political meaning in Sith is to start a contest. I hope to stick with this as contest entries come in. But I love his entry: Darth Vader's metal suit covered in magnetic stickers.

Frank Gorshin, Riddler on 'Batman,' Dies

Gorshin, of course, was a terrific impressionist and a skilled dramatic actor as well. In addition to The Riddler, he was one of two black-on-one-side-white-on-the-other aliens in a classic episode of Star Trek.

Over on Dixonverse, comic creator Chris Franklin points out:

His manic performance gave dimension to a character who never had enough screen time to shine before. If not for Gorshin, the Riddler would be slumming with the likes of Zodiac Man and the Getaway Genius.

This Thursday, Gorshin's final performance can be seen in the season finale of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (which, take note, airs an hour earlier than usual).

In today's strip, PvP references Francis Ottoman's robot double.

The art listed below has been reported stolen by Mark F. McDermott in
NYC over the May 6-7, 2005 weekend. Mark’s notes have been pieced
together for easier reading.

I (Mark F. McDermott) have filed a police report and checked with local (comic show) host and founds and have yet to track the portfolio down. I also alerted all the local comic shops for them to be on the lookout.

The portfolio contained the following pages:

Journey Into Mystery 86: (9) Pages 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 Kirby
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Superman: '74 Aurora Model Comic Book: Cover & (5) Pages: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Swan

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Journey Into Mystery 83, Page 30 Ditko

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Thor 150 Title Splash Page 1 Kirby

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Thor 243 Title Splash Page 1 J. Buscema

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Silver Surfer Graphic Novel Interior Splash (Galactus) J. Buscema

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What If 105: (3) Pages: 7, 18 & 23 Frenz

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Amazing Spider-Man (Vol 2) 18 Interior Splash (Goblin) Byrne

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Savage Sword of Conan #152, pp42-43 DPS

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All right, all you lurkers and visitors, this is a general call. Who's still here now that the site's back?

I know the site gets tons of visits because I'm always getting e-mails from different people, and more and more people hear of us all the time...but I eschew counters. Counters are almost meaningless on blogs, where people are constantly reloading to look for more news. The only way to track individual visitors is via cookies, which I also eschew because the privacy-concerned get paranoid about them. That and I don't know how to set one up.

So howsabout just giving a shout? Hit that comment button and say hello.

Jason Apuzzo, one of the heads of the Liberty Film Festival and a devotee of George Lucas, reviews Episode III with minor-to-middling spoilers. He largely addresses the faux-controversy about Lucas making remarks about Bush and the Iraq War as represented in this movie, and puts that into perspective.

I don't really agree with Apuzzo's take regarding Lucas. I think Lucas is a terrific "imagineer" and he can create a decent plot, but he's a mediocre dialogue writer. Considering how many stand-out bits of dialogue were in the first and second Star Wars films, and even some in "Jedi", I have to think that it's just a matter of focus. These days, Lucas would rather play with his toys than concern himself with dialogue that sings, but he doesn't want to put the writing in another's hands.

Then again, there are many indications that this story is much better than the two-dimensional "Attack of the Clones", as Apuzzo points out:

Lucas and McDiarmid do something exceptional with the Palpatine character in this film: they make him vulnerable, three-dimensional, human. Palpatine is clearly gambling when he reveals himself to Anakin. His years of planning may all go for naught if the erratic Anakin decides to side with the Jedi, after all.

...In the midst of all this, only Palpatine is actually listening to Anakin - while, of course, manipulating him. It’s this aspect of the tragedy that is most effective, and what ultimately ensures that Sith is a compelling film.

Now, I've heard that playwright Tom Stoppard was called in to do some dialogue for Episode III. That gives me hope for when I see it at noon on Thursday. Then again, John Podhoretz really hates the dialogue...and in his review, he offers up just a sampling of the trite text that will no doubt be making us all cringe in a couple days.

Lucas had more than a quarter of a century to figure out why Anakin Skywalker went bad. And here's what he came up with: Anakin is afraid of losing his wife Padmé in childbirth. Padmé tries to reassure him: "I promise you I won't die in childbirth,"

I sure hope this movie is good. I really, really would like to leave the movie with the feeling that this Star Wars didn't suck as badly as the last two.

Thank you to Erik who notified me of this funny column: James Lileks: Producers see cash, but we're after fun

...in the last Batman movie, his costume had a codpiece and nipples. Nipples the size of a dial on a combination lock. Batman does not have nipples.

So there you have it. You have an industry that says "Batman has nipples" and an audience that thinks "No, he doesn't."

The site was/is down, but the Dixonverse Message Board is still up.

Gross Misunderstanding - Forget about the box office. By Edward Jay Epstein is a good article about the revenue stream for movies, showing how 80% of a film's profits don't come from the theater. That's why movies are on DVD so quickly these days; the movie advertising and movie's showing in the theaters are both really just promotions for the DVD. If a movie opened on DVD a year later, people will have forgotten about it by then. (And these days they'd have already gotten a pirated copy off the Internet.)

Now we go back to the strips that appeared preceding episode II.

And this one explores the ups and downs of pirating bootlegs.

Remember back in 2002 when Francis Ottoman launched WaitingEvenLongerForStarWars.com? If not, start with this comic and keep hitting "Next" for an entire month of good Star Wars comics.

Check it out, if you dare. Here's the skinny: 3 1/2 stars. That's all I want to know before the movie; I've been avoiding spoilers as much as I can. It's almost impossible. I was reading a review last week where someone's giving a general overview review (i.e. not giving away the plot) and says, "but what I'm more concerned about, and this next sentence gives away a minor spoiler, but when XXXXXX dies..."

Tip: characters dying is a major spoiler. Yes, even if you think it's an obvious event that logic dictates must happen.

Them north of the border types are rubbin' it all up in my face that they got to see the new Suicide Squad episode of Justice League Unlimited already, while for us it doesn't air until May 21st.

So I'm giving everyone a gentle reminder a week in advance. I'm sure this would otherwise catch everyone off guard since you can never be sure when Cartoon Network is going to broadcast anything!

I'm going away for a few days to visit my parents. This Sunday is my sixth wedding anniversary, so I won't be posting to Monitor Duty.

Just to clear up where things stand:

The site design is not done, not by a long shot, I've just been busy doing updates for Scott Beatty. Next week I'll finish the layout, the code updates and the site's color scheme. I'll also be further revising our message board.

I still have to convert all of our archives and restore them. Doing this will create categories, which is why I haven't added many categories to the system. So, all you contributors, just add stuff to the existing categories or leave it uncategorized and I'll work backwards next week.

I then have to work on the Metro Med web site. I'm waiting to post a big update and announcement, but the secret's out: we're going to be published by Shooting Star Comics. Our first story will be in Shooting Star Comics Anthology #7. I knew about that months ago but couldn't talk about it, which is why I told all our readers to make sure they ordered that issue at their comic shop. If you haven't done that yet, there may still be time. You can used the downloadable PDF on our site to simplify ordering the book at your comic shop.

Have a great weekend. Oh, and check out the Viking Inn in northern Minnesota. I'll be staying there later this month!

I received a promo for the following show:

ALIEN PLANET, a special two-hour program event will premiere Saturday, May 14, 8-10PM (ET/PT) on the Discovery Channel. Rooted in the latest scientific research, ALIEN PLANET takes viewers on a dramatic virtual mission of the future through the possibilities of life outside of our solar system and the deconstruction of the living form, based on the laws of evolution and physics. ... In addition, you can explore Alien Planet 3-D Parallax to see what science predicts is really out there.

This week I spent over $20 on comics, though a few books I grabbed off the shelf after they were out for a few weeks. There are a few light spoilers in the reviews below, but nothing serious.

Adam Strange #8 - BEST OF THE WEEK! Andy Diggle and Pascal Ferry end a terrific run, and I just wish this was an ongoing book by that team. More death, more drama, and just stunning art throughout.

Rann-Thanagar War #1 - Unfortunately, I don't read Hawkman, so all I know of him is what was in JSA's Return of Hawkman. I don't really understand the Golden Age Hawkman's connection to Thanagar and wish this book had had just a bit of exposition for new readers. This is all nitpicking; I'm enjoying this one.

GL: Rebirth #1 - Rather something of a foregone conclusion with this one. This really needed some kind of twist/surprise. All the GL's banding together and overpowering the bad guy isn't exactly a plot. A weak end to a great mini. But I love Hector Hammond, so I'll be checking out the new book.

JSA #73 - A bit of exhaling between the last arc and the next, catching up with old plotlines and setting up the newest arc. JSA, at 73+ issues, is still a compelling, must-read book by Geoff Johns, who is turning in one of comicdom's most notable long runs. "Geoff Johns' JSA" will someday be talked about like "the Wolfman and Perez Teen Titans", "Mark Waid's Flash" and "Chuck Dixon's Robin."

Batman: Dark Detective #1 - This book has been anticipated by many of the comic fans I know, because Steve Engelhart had an all-time classic run on Detective, most memorable for featuring Silver St. Cloud. Silver was the most compelling love interest Batman ever had; there was passion, but she was also mature and intelligent. She deduced Batman's identity by recognizing the chin of the man she loved underneath the cowel. Now, Engelhart returns with artist Marshall Rogers, and so does Silver St. Cloud. Unfortunately, this story...well, it's just goofy after the Batman we've known for the last 20 years. Batman operates in public, in daylight, and everyone in Gotham knows him. The Joker's antics seem forced. And what's with the fiance? Whoever heard of a person surviving electrocution by joy buzzer? And even if he survived, wouldn't it be of the "let's get him in the ambulance STAT" nature, as opposed to the fellow brushing off his knees and chuckling about the excitement that evening? Still, it's nice reading Batman comics of the 1970s, but anyone who started reading Batman in the mid-1980s is going to think this is just bizarre.

Shining Knight #2 - All I can say is that this story is really making me miss the real Sir Justin. I'm not buying any more of this one. Gotta admit, though, that "Horsefeathers" is a great name for a flying horse.

Zatanna #1 was okay, though I don't see how Zatanna could have ever gone through another seance in Baron Winter's mansion. I probably won't buy issues 2-4.

PvP #17 was enjoyable, although it was entirely comprised of strips I'd read before. Folks, I'm one of Kurtz's big-time boosters, and you won't catch me joining the leagues of the naysayers who call him a hack or a sell-out. He deserves every bit of success he's earned. Still, for this issue it was pretty clear that he's spread too thin and threw this one together entirely from old strips. And no backup strips by Aaron Williams, just some sketches that were already on Scott's site. When the cover is the only new artwork, the $2.95 seems just a tad steep. No big deal, I'm sure next month will make up for it. This is like what would be, in a regular comic book like JLA, one of those lame fill-in issues while the regular writer catches up, except that it's all Scott. (Heck, these days the lame fill-in stories in JLA last for six months and get sold as a TPB!)

A: A fake Robin Williams

I'll have more on this later, but in brief: Phil Meadows and I did a signing at Jimmy Jams and now Phil has photos to show.

You can also see one of our characters who will be appearing in our next story. This is really the first time he's been shown online.

Scripts for Sale is an intriguing article about a variation on speed-dating where participants get five minutes to pitch movies to power brokers.

This is worth reading just for the pitch about the vampires. It sounds so good, I hope it gets made!

Some big blog news worth mentioning. Everyone else is blogging an opinion; I may as well, too!

The Huffington Post debuted yesterday. All political and celeb gossip concerns aside, I have to say...it's a very attractive design. Pleasing colors, easy on the eyes, and a lovely layout. (I guess you all know what's on my mind lately.)

Content-wise, it's a bore.

I just discovered this: Trailer of Tears

I love this opening:

Adam Sandler looks like Albert Brooks’ older brother. Nicole Kidman should have known better. And Christian Bale plays Batman not gay. Got that? NOT GAY!

The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl 3D Movie is the next film from Robert Rodriguez, who has double cred in doing both Spy Kids and Sin City. I caught most of this trailer before Hitchhiker's Guide and it should be a great kids movie, emphasizing the escapism of superheroes.

Moviefone: The Chronicles of Narnia Movie Exclusives

Those looking for a Star Wars movie where they can spout "Awesome" and "Cool!" at all the spaceship battles should be warned that they should also bring a box of tissues to "Revenge of the Sith."

SPIELBERG WEEPS AT STAR WARS SCREENING

At last, a Star Wars film that can have you breaking down and sobbing in front of your girlfriend. Sith will be the next "Dirty Dozen", the movie that men can cry over:

Sam Baldwin: Well I'm not looking for a mail-order bride! I just want somebody I can have a decent conversation with over dinner. Without it falling down into weepy tears over some movie!
Greg: She's, as you just saw, very emotional.
Sam Baldwin: Although I cried at the end of "the Dirty Dozen."
Greg: Who didn't?
Sam Baldwin: Jim Brown was throwing these hand grenades down these airshafts. And Richard Jaeckel and Lee Marvin
[Begins to cry]
Sam Baldwin: were sitting on top of this armored personnel carrier, dressed up like Nazis...
Greg: [Crying too] Stop, stop!
Sam Baldwin: And Trini Lopez ...
Greg: Yes, Trini Lopez!
Sam Baldwin: He busted his neck while they were parachuting down behind the Nazi lines...
Greg: Stop.
Sam Baldwin: And Richard Jaeckel - at the beginning he had on this shiny helmet...
Greg: [Crying harder] Please no more. Oh God! I loved that movie.

Okay, I'll admit it: Warner Brothers is doing a very good job of cranking out the Harry Potter movies as fast as possible so that they can use the same cast of rapidly-aging kids throughout. Still, I'm surprised that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is already on its way. Seems like the last one just left the theaters!

The trailer's out for the Dukes of Hazzard movie. Sheez. Let's all stampede like cattle to the theater for a retread of a show that was pretty lame the first time. Mooooooooo.

Steven Spielberg's new "War of the Worlds" film debuts this July, updating the classic H.G. Wells story to take place in modern California. It stars Tom Cruise.

But wait!

There's ANOTHER "War of the Worlds" movie coming out in JUNE, straight to DVD! Hey, it's a public domain source...and this one's sticking to a straight adaptation of the book. Here's the official site. Now, more from the article:

...to the dismay of the Viacom-owned studio, another War of the Worlds could come out weeks before the Spielbergian version hits theaters. An obscure distributor of DVDs called UAV (formerly United American Video) plans to ship its own adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic about a Martian invasion in Victorian England. UAV's movie would go to 60,000 retail outlets around the U.S. in mid-June, right when Paramount is ramping up its marketing for Worlds. The low-budget DVD doppelgänger was shot by an obscure Seattle filmmaker named Timothy Hines, whose previous film was Bug Wars, a lesbian-exploitation sci-fi turkey that got shown in one theater in 1997. For his Worlds Hines used no-name actors and did the special effects on desktop computers, setting the film in the novel's Olde England and sticking closely to the original plot. "It's Independence Day meets A Room With a View," he says, honing the perfect Hollywood pitch.

I actually am more looking forward to this version, especially after seeing the trailers. If it's faithful to the book, instead of focusing entirely on Tom Cruise and his daughter, it could rock. Martian tripods with heat rays seem all the scarier when your greatest weapon is a cannon.

I notice the trailer says that the movie was to be in theaters March 30th. Actually, it may be Pendragon which is getting the short-shrift. Spielberg's rush job to get the movie completed in under a year probably trampled over Pendragon's scheduled movie, which was almost certainly in production at the time.

But wait!

There's yet another "War of the Worlds" movie coming out! This one's the film adaptation of Jeff Wayne's 1976 musical. Here's some test footage of a tripod walking from War of the Worlds online. However, this one won't be out until 2008, as it's an all-CGI animated movie.

What a great time to be alive. Now...could someone throw some money towards adapting many of the other great adventure classics besides just War of the Worlds?

I'll have a lot more to say about Star Trek: Enterprise's cancellation, but for now check out Orson Scott Card's gleefull Strange New World: No Star Trek in which he gives a departing kick to a show that he clearly deems a bastard son of sci-fi.

I don't know who was searching our site for Batman Begins news, but I think it's worth pointing out that we don't have our archives up and running yet. Maybe they'll be restored, and I'll certainly announce it when they're back up.