Southern Cross

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Finally saw my DVD of The Old Dark House yesterday.I laughed at several points-the movie being a classic black comedy.Essential watching for all fans of old movies.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? The last two things I've seen were as follows:the sci-fi puppet show Star Fleet,created by the legendary Go Nagai,and the Bert I. Gordon film The Magic Sword. The best of the two was the Star Fleet TV series.Inspired by Star Wars,Thunderbirds ,and Japanese anime,this was probably one of my favourite TV shows when I was a teenager,and it didn't let me down when I watched it again.The adventures of the X-Bomber crew,as they fight against the evil Imperial Alliance,with the frequent use of Dai-X (three fighters which combine into one giant robot) are as exiting as ever.The DVD set also has several extras,including where Go Nagai goes into the history of the show.As he apparently only speaks Japanese,he's given yellow subtitles,which tend to blend in with the background slightly. As for the Magic Sword,this was the best of his film's I've yet seen.Not only because it was in colour,but because of who Mr. B.I.G got to play the villain - Basil Rathbone! And I liked the two-headed dragon as well.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Still watching my DVD of Sanctuary (up to Episode 9),a 12 -episode sanctuary for monsters series starring Amanda Carter and Christopher Heyerdahl (both from Stargate SG-1,though only Amanda is mentioned as being from the series,probably because she has the starring role as 158 year old Dr. Helen Magnus ).Well-made (and written) series,it's a crying shame there are only 12 episodes. Also (on Tuesday) I finally saw The Giant Claw on the website Classic Cinema Online.More laughable than scary,thanks to that ludicrous model.Also notable for being the first movie to mention antimatter. I also saw The Vampire's Ghost on the website Monsterpiece Theater.A Republic movie,it benefits from having the original script being written by the noted SF writer Leigh Brackett.Despite the name it's really a combination of vampire movie and African safari movie,as the titular vampire has settled down as owner of an African gambling den.Also,unlike most '40's movies,the natives are at least as intelligent as the white main characters (in fact two of them are the first to find out who the vampire is).Well worth watching.

Re: HERO SYSTEM MARTIAL ARTS -- What Do *You* Want To See? Here are a few suggestions: Include Ecky Thump from the Goodies episode Kung Fu Capers as an example of Slapstick Martial Arts.I'd build the main manuever (walloping people's heads with a black pudding) as follows +2 OCV,+2d6 damage and Target Falls.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Phobos by Ty Drago.Here is the book description from Fantastic Fiction. Essentially,it's an excellent mystery (and giant monster) novel set mainly on Phobos and Mars.It would make an excellent movie.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Finally finished watching the Flash live-action series. Well worth watching.Considering it was made in the early '90's,the special effects were fairly good-with the few exceptions being when they wanted to show the image on a computer,in which case the image was often monochrome or (if the character was using a visual scanner) highly pixelated.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? I've been rewatching my DVD collection of the first (and only) season of The Flash live-action series. I've also been looking at Classic Cinema Online - in the " Special Features" section I found both The Deadly Mantis and X The Unknown (which was the first full-length movie written by Jimmy Sangster). I enjoyed both,despite the frequently poor image quality provided by Google Video,but (as I suspected) X The Unknown was the better movie. A blob movie with a difference (in that the title creature comes from the centre of the earth instead of outer space) X The Unknown was Hammer's homage to The Blob,and was a movie I always wanted to watch.It lived up to my expectations.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? I Guess That's Why They Call it the Blues by Elton John.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... House of Cards by CE Murphy. The sequel to Heart of Stone,it features the heroine Margrit being drawn further into the secret world of the Old Races (dragons,djinni,gargoyles,selkies and vampires),despite the protests of Alban,her gargoyle lover. (For those who haven't read the first novel,these races are immortal beings who can all assume a human form,and all possess different magical powers). The plot of the novel is as follows: Somebody is murdering the dragonlord Janx's criminal lieutenants,and he recruits Margrit and Alban to protect Malik,his djinni second-in-command.This is all tied in with the selkies being reaccepted into the world of the Old Races,despite their interbreeding with humans. (Yes it all ties together.Despite what you might have thought if you haave read the previous books,selkies can be quite ruthless in getting what they want,even making deals with their ancient enemies the djinni in order to do so). Well worth reading (for the airborne love scene alone).

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? How can that be? I thought the OVA had the same voice actors as the previous anime... And I've watched the first volume of Casshern Sins.There are some things I have to let you know: (1) the version I saw was in Japanese with English subtitles. Apparently an English dub doesn't exist (at least for Zone 4). (2) It has little to do with the previous versions. While many of the major characters exist from the previous versions,they are all significantly changed from their previous selves (ESPECIALLY Casshern,Friender and Luna). (3) It is very slowly paced. The first volume covers twelve episodes (on two DVDs),and Casshern still doesn't remember what he's done. (4) The new series has a much more stylised art style than the 1993 version. Casshern suffers most from this,with his waist jets looking more like guns. (5) Casshern Sins has a strong mystical element that I don't like. The idea that the murder of one woman can destroy the world and everything in it is frankly magic,plain and simple. (6) This version of Casshern is a berserker.Once in combat,he starts destroying everybody within sight,unless calmed down. Does the world really need the cyborg version of Wolverine? I've also watched the first three episodes of Primeval,Season Two.While they were as enjoyable as the first,I really don't like the main menu,as if you don't click quickly enough,you could end up watching the whole DVD,instead of just one episode.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? "You've Lost that Loving Feeling" by Roger Whittaker.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? Syncronicity part 2 by The Police.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? The last things I watched was the DVD of the Jon Pertwee story Carnival of Monstersand rewatched the first two episodes of The New Captain Scarlet (a CGI remake of the old Captain Scarlet series),and enjoyed both. I also have to mention that,before that,I managed to watch Night of the Blood Beast on Monsterpiece Theater Presents,which is a blog that puts public domain monster movies on the internet.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I recently read Nicor! by Peter Tremayne.A solid B-Movie plot featuring an oil-rig being attacked by a giant marine dinosaur (or whatever you call a marine reptile that should have died out millions of years ago). Prior to that, I read Bard by Keith Taylor,and it got me wondering why they didn't base the 3.5 D & D bard on the lead character.

Re: Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company Thanks! Your result for What color would your lightsaber be?...Blue BeamThe NegotiatorWhat color would your lightsaber be? at HelloQuizzy

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? I'm halfway through the Season 7 DVD of Smallville.The last things I finished watching were the Filmation cartoon series of Flash Gordon (Much better than the DeLaurentiss live-action version) and a repeat viewing of Slayers NEXT.

Re: Smooth Criminal: An MJ tribute Here's the DC Heroes version of Smooth Criminal.

Re: Real World Books in Fictional Libraries Of course,someone who was trying to reanimate the dead would have a first edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,a vampire lord would have a copy of Dracula,and an alien invader would also pick up H.G.Wells The War Of The Worlds and The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? "Horsell Common and the Heat Ray" from Jeff Wayne's version of War Of The Worlds.

Re: Order of the Stick According to the Oracle,Belkar will take his final breath before the new year,which is apparently seven weeks away in OOTS.

Re: TV to rpg Actually it's "Captain Scarlet and The Mysterons".

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The last Fantasy/scifi book I finished reading was An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe.While it was as well-written as the rest of his works I thought that the behaviour of the heroine was a bit off.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? THe first season of The Adventures of Superman and the Hammer movie DevilShip Pirates.Both are well worth watching.

Re: What Are You Listening To Right Now? The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Re: TV to rpg Quatermass.