John Scott Lewinski
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RiffTrax offers chance to win a trip to San Diego live show
The Mystery Science Theater 3000 alums at Rifftrax are taking Christmas down a notch in a nationwide event next month, and you can win a trip to sunny San Diego to watch in person.Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett will team up again with partner and live event specialist Fathom to bring a collection of old-school Christmas shorts to theaters across the country in a live big screen broadcast.
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Boomerang brings back classic '70s Thanksgiving special
No Generation X'er can forget the monochrome colors and compromising frame rate of 1970s Hanna-Barbera animation. Take that unmistakable style and some autumnal inking, and you've got The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't.Boomerang is reaching into the Hanna-Barbera archives to bring back this all-but-forgotten TV special from the 1970s. You can catch it at 10 a.m. and at 7 p.m. (ET).
According to a network release, The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't "chronicles one dangerously fateful day for Johnny Cooke, a young Pilgrim, and Little Bear, an Indian boy, who are discovered missing. The first Thanksgiving feast cannot start without them, and when their friend Jeremy Squirrel hears they are in peril he goes on a daring rescue mission."
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Adult Swim lets you build your own DVD online
This is the age of personalized entertainment on demand. It's also the age of talking wads of meat and animated fart jokes. Finally, all of that can now come together on your home DVD player.Adult Swim fans can now go online and create a disc full of their favorite episodes from the channel's top shows with the Build Your Custom DVD tool.
For $20, you get 110 minutes worth of space to build a DVD. You can choose any of the available episodes from such series as Venture Brothers (right), Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab 2021. After arranging them in your preferred order, you give your DVD a name, description and cover art before paying for it and burning your unique creation.
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Holiday gift ideas keep coming from 'a galaxy far, far away'
Black Friday is less than a week away, and if you're stumped for gift ideas for a boy anywhere in the family, you could do worse than going with Star Wars: The Clone Wars merchandise.The show remains one of the highest rated programs for males aged 12-25. That's no surprise since boys have always been the cash cow of George Lucas' $3 billion empire (no pun intended).
Hasbro is the emperor of Star Wars toys (at least those for kids), and the company has a couple of new, higher end items for the 2009 holidays.
The Clone Wars Remote Control R2-D2 is pretty much as advertised. For about $30, you get a replica of a Death Star comm-link that controls the droid's movements, sounds and lights. A kid will have fun driving him around the house. But, the toy is more fun for adults if you imagine that every beep he makes is really a rude, digitized curse word.
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Star Trek collectibles multiply in time for Black Friday
Can shoes or cologne be considered fanboy collectibles? We'll find out together as a very different breed of Star Trek collectibles arrives in time for the post-Thanksgiving gift buying frenzy.J.J. Abrams made Trek sexy again -- especially the original TV show from the 1960s. So Paramount and CBS put their marketing and licensing people to work. What did they come up with from just inside the Windsor Gate on Melrose?
The Vermont Teddy Bear Company is offering shorter, furrier versions of Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock (right) for about $100 each. I've acquired one of these, and they're well made with a lot of attention to detail in their little uniforms.
Also, make sure you check out the Airwalk Terrain Hi Skate Star Trek StarFleet Edition sneakers from Payless. For $50, you get a really well-made urban sneaker that just happens to bear a Starfleet insignia. And they come in the departmental uniform colors of the original Enterprise crew -- gold, blue and red.
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Discovery roars into December with Clash of the Dinosaurs
As December rolls around, your kids will want to watch the usual line-up of holiday specials. But, I'm guessing they wouldn't mind watching a T-Rex hunt down and tuck into a Triceratops, whatever the time of year.Discovery Channel will put cutting-edge imaging technology to bring giant lizards to life inside and out with Clash of the Dinosaurs. Premiering December 6 at 8 p.m. (ET/PT), the four-part series looks inside the body of a dinosaur to with cinematic photo-real 3D graphics.
According to Discovery's announcement, consulting anatomy and paleontology experts help to peel back the skin, muscles and bones of the creatures to show how they thrived. So, on second thought, maybe the kids should stick with A Year without a Santa Claus.
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No one escapes Hogan's Heroes DVD mega-set
I admit there's nothing topical about a post on Hogan's Heroes, but any day is a good day to sit and wonder how this show got on the air.Don't get me wrong. It's not bad. It boasts its share of laughs and memorable characters. And, it's back on the radar recently because of the comprehensive DVD set, Hogan's Heroes: The Komplete Series, Kommandant's Kollection.
But I'd give a month's pay from TV Squad (so, like $6.50) if I could build a time machine, change myself into a fly, stick myself to a wall in the network offices of CBS, and hear the pitch meeting for this show. I know it's not likely to happen, but there's no harm in dreaming.
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Is Canadian Doctor Who house bigger on the inside?
If you happen to be house shopping in the Brantford, Ontario area of Canada -- and if you're a British sci-fi fan -- I've found the perfect ivy-covered drive-by cutie for you.A house listed on Point2Homes.com features some indoor improvement found previously only on the planet Gallifrey. If you take some time to watch the photo montage of the house's interior, you see a Tardis (left) in the living room and a Dalek patrolling the hallways.
Obviously, the current residents are huge Doctor Who fans -- unless most Canadians keep evil robotic killers in their home. I have no idea what the cuddly snow creatures to the north do with their free time -- besides crowding up against the U.S. border for warmth.
A closer inspection of the housing listing doesn't make it clear if the alien artifacts come with the jacuzzi, but I doubt you get the whole package with your down payment. But, if the Tardis is part of the deal, you can travel 30 years into the future when the mortgage is paid already off and move in for free.
New Doctor Who DVD features new CG-enhanced episode
Many sci-fi fans wonder what classic Doctor Who might look like if the BBC bosses of the '70s and '80s could have budgeted more than £6 per episode for visual effects.A new Who DVD set from BBC Video features a specially remastered episode that offers you just that experience.
Doctor Who: "The Black Guardian Trilogy" serves up a trio of 1983 Who episodes featuring Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor in a life and death struggle against a supernatural evil force.
A team of restoration and digital effects artists took the final episode of that trilogy ("Enlightenment" -- a well-written, high-concept adventure featuring a simulated sailing race in deep space) and laid in 21st Century CG visuals.
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TV Squad Video: Starship Enterprise orbits Griffith Park
If you're like me, and I know I am, you've wondered what it would like if the U.S.S. Enterprise descended on the Hollywood Hills.
Fortunately, Paramount held the big DVD and Blu-ray release party for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie at the Griffith Park Observatory Monday night, and the Enterprise took up a standard orbit around the famous planetarium landmark.
While the film's creators and cast mingled inside the observatory, a high-definition multimedia system projected video images of Trek visual effects up against the building's walls.
So, for a few moments, the Enterprise (almost to scale) swooped in for a visit before heading away at warp factor one.
Enjoy a glimpse of it below.
Fortunately, Paramount held the big DVD and Blu-ray release party for J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie at the Griffith Park Observatory Monday night, and the Enterprise took up a standard orbit around the famous planetarium landmark.
While the film's creators and cast mingled inside the observatory, a high-definition multimedia system projected video images of Trek visual effects up against the building's walls.
So, for a few moments, the Enterprise (almost to scale) swooped in for a visit before heading away at warp factor one.
Enjoy a glimpse of it below.
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