Episode 162: Hey Girl, Are You An Electric Sheep?

DC has been teasing the inclusion of elements of Watchmen into DC Rebirth for nearly a year and a half now, which has made us, Rob especially, very nervous. That inclusion has been kept down to a dull roar until this past weekend, when DC released an ashcan of the first six pages of Doomsday Clock, the 12-issue mini-series that will make good on their threat – I mean, their promise.

So we read those pages, and, to be honest, we read them cold, without noticing that the date in the first panel was 1992, not 1985. So our reaction is based on the misconception that the events of these pages was taking place three weeks after the end of Alan Moore’s Watchmen… not that knowing seven years have passed really change our opinion much. And what did we think? Listen to find out, and thank God that modern digital recording can modulate Rob’s shrieking!

We also discuss Blade Runner 2049, the sequel to one of Rob’s favorite movies, and a flick that he had no intention of seeing until decent reviews started to come out. But see it we did, and we discuss it from two opposing viewpoints: one rabid about Ridley Scott’s 1982 original, and one who went into the sequel almost cold about the first movie. Once again: digital modulation is your friend.

We also discuss:

• Batman: White Knight #1, written and drawn by Sean Murphy, and
• Batman #32, the conclusion of The War of Jokes and Riddles arc, written by Tom King with art by Mikel Janin!

This episode was recorded live to tape, meaning that “tossing Joi onto a hard drive” could have any one of many meanings!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:13:32 — 109.9MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 57: Toaster Babies

This was a big week of classic genre movie news for we members of Generation X: it was announced that not only will District 9 director Neill Blomkamp be directing a new Alien movie with Sigourney Weaver’s involvement, but that it will take place around the story timeframe of Aliens, and that there’s a possibility that it will disregard the events of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. You know, like most other Alien fans have been doing since 1992.

Further, Ridley Scott announced that he will be producing a sequel to Blade Runner, to be directed by Prisoners director Denis Villeneuve, and including Harrison Ford, who loved his experience making the original so much that he refused to talk about it for decades.

So Amanda and I discuss whether or not it’s a good idea for these actors to try to return to franchises they left behind 18 and 33 years ago respectively… but more importantly, whether either of these franchises even need a sequel or reboot, and what kind of stories set in these universes would be most exciting for we old school fans to see. And, ultimately, whether or not it is possible to ignore the Aliens Vs. Predators movies enough.

We also talk about:

• The recently released Power Rangers fan film starring James Van Der Beek and Katie Sackhoff (and why it reminds us of Alan Moore),
• Spider-Gwen #1, written by Jason Latour with art by Bobbi Rodriguez, and:
• Batman #39, written by Scott Snyder with art by Greg Capullo!

And now the disclaimers:

• This show is recorded live to tape. While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you’re used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like the speculation that Harrison Ford’s copy of the Blade Runner 2 script read: “We’ll pay you 30 million dollars.”
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, be aware that a spoiler could come at any time. Like the revelation that Alien: Resurrection is truly horrible.
• This show contains profane, adult language and is therefore not safe for work. Your boss doesn’t want to hear about how we want to slap around “Sigourney Weaver’s bald convict”, so get some headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:57:14 — 101.7MB)

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Enjoy the show, suckers!

Retiring Unruly Machines: Blade Runner In Watercolor

We are in the midst of a First World Catastrophe here at the Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office. The home theater PC that acts as the linchpin of entertainment for our Big Main Screen has a component that is rapidly disintegrating. Which is normally fine – we are totally able to repair computers here – except that this particular part is a hobbyist part that is not inexpensive, is somewhat difficult to obtain quickly, and the failure of which causes the entire machine to hard reboot. And this part has failed ten times so far today.

So we are busily attempting to either locate a replacement part or laboring over the decision to finally, after ten years, make the jump to an actual TiVo box (We are not cordcutters here. Neither my co-editor Amanda nor I were allowed HBO or other pay cable while growing up, and now that we are adults you will take it from our cold dead hands) and planning the dithering at the cable company that that decision would entail to allow us to watch television sometime in the next week. Either way, I am truly thankful that this massive unexpected expense occured three and a half weeks before Christmas, and therefore three weeks before I did any Christmas shopping.

None of which you care about. But it means our time is limited, so here is a 35-minute animated version of Blade Runner, put together by artist Anders Ramsell from more than 12,000 watercolor paintings.

It’s not much content from us today, but it simultaneously tickles the part of my brain that desperately wants to watch a recalcitrant machine be shot with a .44 Magnum, and it gives us something to watch if this damn machine won’t cooperate.

(via The Mary Sue)