With the growing popularity of psychic television shows based on real people, such as Ghost Whisperer and Medium, we decided to go find a real life “Ghost Whisperer” and ask him what it is like to be a psychic. This is a preview of the upcoming Paranormal section for Scifi 411.
"Hollywood has indeed come calling, in the form of screenwriters wanting to make a movie based on the life of this shaman/minister." [MORE]
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
The Lucky Seven… (Part I)
In a previous post, “Six and Counting,” I spoke about how the six new SF series (the ‘Sinister Six’ if you will) were doing. Today I’m going to touch on how the returning SF series (‘The Lucky Seven’ if you will) are doing. The 4400 and Dead Zone had their seasons during the summer, so I won’t discuss them right now. I also won’t talk about Alias because I haven’t seen this season yet. I save this series for DVD. Hey, I can’t watch everything on TV. I do have a life you know…I think.
Smallville
(Marx gives it a B)
Smallville Episode Guide
I have enjoyed this series off and on over the years, but was always frustrated with the lack of story development. When are Lana and Chloe going to figure out Clark’s secret? When will Lex finally start going to the dark side, instead of this constant walking the line? When will Clark actually fight a real super villain instead, of these “freaks of the week” nonsense? I know that the writers can only do so much with the storyline of Clark before he became Superman, but the little reboots have been starting to get a little silly.
Well, this season may finally be a move forward. They are going to college. Lana and Clark are finally together (many times, if you know what I mean), but Lana still doesn’t know Clarks secret. Grr, Argh…tell her already. I can’t believe Lana doesn’t already know and it is really starting to make her look stupid. I already think Clark should get over this crush and go for Chloe. Chloe would be a much better catch. She’s smart, resourceful, funny, and she can handle the truth (Lana, you can’t handle the Truth!). I don’t know what Clark is worried about, anyway. What room does Lana have to judge...
“Lana I’m an alien”
“Yuck, that’s gross”
“Hey, what are you talking about? You were a witch.”
“What did you call me!?”
“What?”
“That’s it; I’m breaking up with you again and dating another guy to obsess over me until he wants to kill me. Now I must go and cry for the 100th time.”
“What?”
Ok…where was I?
Although I have been frustrated in the past, this season is shaping up to be the strongest yet. Lex is getting darker, James Marsters is playing a real super villain (hopefully the writers will know how to use him), Chloe is in on the super secret, Lana & Clark are sitting in a tree with no freak love interest getting in the way, more guest star heroes (Aquaman, possibly the Flash again, and maybe more later), and we get to see the characters go to college. Hopefully Clark will graduate, unlike Buffy…poor, poor Buffy. So, this season may be really great if the writers can keep the momentum up, which they unfortunately don’t always have a good track record of doing.
Charmed
(Marx gives it a C-)
Charmed Episode Guide
Charmed (in case you don’t know) is about three sisters who are witches. Not only that, but they are the “Charmed Ones,” given great powers to fight those pesky demons. They must balance saving the world while keeping a love life and making sure the world doesn’t find out, which isn’t easy. Look at poor Buffy, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dating truly is tough enough without secret identities and a destiny to save the world thrown into the mix.
I once enjoyed this series. Honest. But I feel that it started going downhill after Prue’s death. Even further after they killed Cole. That is after making him switch between evil and good so fast it would even make dual-personality-super-villain Two-Face confused.
This season has continued the slow spiral to series finale. I’m getting so tired of the “why can’t we have normal lives” moaning. Guess what, girls? Apparently, the whole world is defenseless without the Charmed Ones, so get over it. Ever hear of balance? What is more frustrating is that they have learned this lesson over, and over, and over again. Make it stop please! Plus, you’ve got a kid with super powers who could change the balance of power. Guess what; no matter what you do the demons aren’t going to leave him alone. Period.
After faking their deaths and magically taking on new lives, the sisters are trying their best to avoid magic and fighting those mean demons. But a new Buffy…I mean witch… is in town. She has become their protégé. Do I smell spin-off? First off, what was up with her clothes in the first few episodes? Could they get any campier? This show is almost as much comedy as fantasy, which was nice at first, but the campy factor is growing to Godzilla proportions this season.
I also dislike how man-hating this show is. You heard me, people, I said it. Silly man, Charmed is for women. Some people thought Buffy the Vampire Slayer was man-hating? Yeah, right. This show either kills, turns evil, turns stupid, or neuters…err…I mean de-powers every man that is on this show. I know, girl power. But at least Buffy had Angel, then Riley, and then Spike. Not that Leo hasn’t been helpful, but he is (especially now sans powers) generally just being saved or giving advice.
Last season had some high points. I found the Avatars’ plot line rather interesting. Maybe the writers will prove me wrong, but it just seems like the characters are stuck in a loop. Over and over again with evil boyfriends, demons after their kid, the Source, the sisters wanting a normal life (what is “normal” anyway, especially in a world like theirs?), and the government wanting to butt in. It is all starting to get a little old. Sorry, but this series is just no longer charming.
Smallville
(Marx gives it a B)
Smallville Episode Guide
I have enjoyed this series off and on over the years, but was always frustrated with the lack of story development. When are Lana and Chloe going to figure out Clark’s secret? When will Lex finally start going to the dark side, instead of this constant walking the line? When will Clark actually fight a real super villain instead, of these “freaks of the week” nonsense? I know that the writers can only do so much with the storyline of Clark before he became Superman, but the little reboots have been starting to get a little silly.
Well, this season may finally be a move forward. They are going to college. Lana and Clark are finally together (many times, if you know what I mean), but Lana still doesn’t know Clarks secret. Grr, Argh…tell her already. I can’t believe Lana doesn’t already know and it is really starting to make her look stupid. I already think Clark should get over this crush and go for Chloe. Chloe would be a much better catch. She’s smart, resourceful, funny, and she can handle the truth (Lana, you can’t handle the Truth!). I don’t know what Clark is worried about, anyway. What room does Lana have to judge...
“Lana I’m an alien”
“Yuck, that’s gross”
“Hey, what are you talking about? You were a witch.”
“What did you call me!?”
“What?”
“That’s it; I’m breaking up with you again and dating another guy to obsess over me until he wants to kill me. Now I must go and cry for the 100th time.”
“What?”
Ok…where was I?
Although I have been frustrated in the past, this season is shaping up to be the strongest yet. Lex is getting darker, James Marsters is playing a real super villain (hopefully the writers will know how to use him), Chloe is in on the super secret, Lana & Clark are sitting in a tree with no freak love interest getting in the way, more guest star heroes (Aquaman, possibly the Flash again, and maybe more later), and we get to see the characters go to college. Hopefully Clark will graduate, unlike Buffy…poor, poor Buffy. So, this season may be really great if the writers can keep the momentum up, which they unfortunately don’t always have a good track record of doing.
Charmed
(Marx gives it a C-)
Charmed Episode Guide
Charmed (in case you don’t know) is about three sisters who are witches. Not only that, but they are the “Charmed Ones,” given great powers to fight those pesky demons. They must balance saving the world while keeping a love life and making sure the world doesn’t find out, which isn’t easy. Look at poor Buffy, of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Dating truly is tough enough without secret identities and a destiny to save the world thrown into the mix.
I once enjoyed this series. Honest. But I feel that it started going downhill after Prue’s death. Even further after they killed Cole. That is after making him switch between evil and good so fast it would even make dual-personality-super-villain Two-Face confused.
This season has continued the slow spiral to series finale. I’m getting so tired of the “why can’t we have normal lives” moaning. Guess what, girls? Apparently, the whole world is defenseless without the Charmed Ones, so get over it. Ever hear of balance? What is more frustrating is that they have learned this lesson over, and over, and over again. Make it stop please! Plus, you’ve got a kid with super powers who could change the balance of power. Guess what; no matter what you do the demons aren’t going to leave him alone. Period.
After faking their deaths and magically taking on new lives, the sisters are trying their best to avoid magic and fighting those mean demons. But a new Buffy…I mean witch… is in town. She has become their protégé. Do I smell spin-off? First off, what was up with her clothes in the first few episodes? Could they get any campier? This show is almost as much comedy as fantasy, which was nice at first, but the campy factor is growing to Godzilla proportions this season.
I also dislike how man-hating this show is. You heard me, people, I said it. Silly man, Charmed is for women. Some people thought Buffy the Vampire Slayer was man-hating? Yeah, right. This show either kills, turns evil, turns stupid, or neuters…err…I mean de-powers every man that is on this show. I know, girl power. But at least Buffy had Angel, then Riley, and then Spike. Not that Leo hasn’t been helpful, but he is (especially now sans powers) generally just being saved or giving advice.
Last season had some high points. I found the Avatars’ plot line rather interesting. Maybe the writers will prove me wrong, but it just seems like the characters are stuck in a loop. Over and over again with evil boyfriends, demons after their kid, the Source, the sisters wanting a normal life (what is “normal” anyway, especially in a world like theirs?), and the government wanting to butt in. It is all starting to get a little old. Sorry, but this series is just no longer charming.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Review: Blood and Brains
Zombies, the other dead meat. Not only are they one of the few supernatural creatures in folklore that start with the letter Z, but they also are really, really big in movies and games right now. Don’t believe me? Look at the recent movies: Land of the Dead, Resident Evil 2, 28 Days Later, Undead, etc. Look at games like the uber-popular video game series Resident Evil (and its many wannabe clones). And there are even entire RPGs that focus only on those smelly, shuffling brain eaters.
If you play RPGs of the D20 Modern flavor and you want to add the Zombie genre into your game, then you really need Blood and Brains: The Zombie Hunter’s Guide. This 56 page PDF book is written by Michael Tresca (Blood and Blades, etc) and published by RPG Objects. This book covers everything (and more) that you have ever seen in movies, television, and games that dealt with the Zombie persuasion.
The book starts out with background info on what exactly a Zombie is. Then, we are given new occupation choices: Boy Scout, Cheerleader, Jock, Mental Patient, NCRPC (National Center for Reanimation Prevention and Control) Employee, Nerd, Prep, Scream Queen, Stoner, and Y-Mart Employee. By the way, you can find classes of these occupations in Blood and Blades. Advanced classes: Bokor (a spellcaster that creates and controls zombies), Mad Scientist, Necromancer, Psychokinetic (bend that spoon), and Zombie Hunter.
There are also many excellent Zombie genre hack & slash feats like Backhand Slash (handy when those pesky Zombies sneak up behind you), Bring It On (you’re too crazy to worry about madness ratings), Chainsaw Impale (sweet, need I say more?), Cool (pressure, what pressure?), First Impression (shotgun go boom, scare weak creatures), Hardware (you knew that your hardware department experience would help you someday), Improvised Implements (tools, I don’t need no stinking tools), Improvised Weapons (anything around is a deadly weapon), Improvised Weapon Damage (now the pen is truly mightier than the sword), Over The Shoulder (who wouldn’t want to shoot a shotgun over their shoulder and hit that zombie behind them), Rifle Spin (remember that lever-action rifle spin reload trick in Terminator 2? Now you can do it too.), Slapstick (when you fight hand to hand you fight dirty), Stud (handy with the opposite sex), Suck On This (a classic zombie-killing shotgun technique), Virgin (very useful in horror movies-but that’s about it), and Whatever (you don’t frighten easily).
Chapter 2 deals with the fine art of Zombie Hunting, with new weapons, including chainsaws and gatling guns. Sometimes you survive, but not without losing a chunk to those nasty zombies. Hence, the section on prosthetics. And there are new options for fighting with guns and a small section on madness rules. You can find a more detailed version of these madness rules in Blood and Blades, by the way. Chapter 3 deals with new powers and spells. Two of my favorite spells are Possess Zombie and Zombie Belch.
Then, Chapter 4, the chapter with every kind of Zombie-like creature you can think of. There are even a few not so Zombie-like creatures that you wouldn’t expect, like the Hsing-Sing (a Bigfoot like race from the Himalayas), Creep (alien parasites that turn their victims, including the Hsing-Sing, into zombies), and the Trillian (weird 50’s looking aliens that kill people with gas and turn them into zombies). There are also 21 variations of zombies, including Atomic, Nazi, Radiation, Toxic, Ultrasonic, and Radiation Zombies. Ah, then let us not forget one of the best sections in the whole book…the Zombie template, which has a chart full of abilities that can be randomly assigned. One of my favorites is the TV travel under the movement section, which allows zombies to travel through TV sets.
I give this book a B+. It would have been an A, but I would have liked to have seen some of the earlier chapters fleshed out more (pun intended). More information on the National Center for Reanimation Prevention and Control would have been nice too. Also, more on the madness rules would have been good (which you can find more info on in Tresca’s Blood and Blades). But overall an excellent book with some great fiction sprinkled throughout. If you combine this with Tresca’s Blood and Blades and Blood and Spooks, you can cover just about anything found in horror films.
So, if you are serious about adding Zombies into your game, then this is the book for you. Your players will never know what kind of Zombie they will run into next. Trust me, after your players run into a Video Zombie, they will never feel safe watching TV again.
Friday, October 21, 2005
Interview: K. Scott Agnew of Morrigan Press
Today I'm going to switch gears from my usual reviews and rambling on about SF stuff. Today I'm going to post an interview I recently did with K. Scott Agnew of Morrigan Press. Morrigan Press is a Pen & Paper Role Playing Game company located in Canada. Don't know what a Role Playing Game is? Then click on over to http://www.roleplay.org/ for more info.
Name: K. Scott Agnew
Hometown: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Favorite Food: fettucine alfredo
Favorite TV Shows: Jeremiah, Firefly, Lost, Over There, Out of Order
Favorite Movies: Fight Club, Rules of Attraction, Waking Life
Marx Pyle: Please explain how you first became involved with role playing games, both as a player and as a game designer.
K. Scott Agnew: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... Well not really another galaxy but it was a long time ago. I started roleplaying with a buddy of mine back in 1979 at the tender age of 10. My friend received the old D&D boxed sets for xmas (the basic and expert sets with the Erol Otis covers) and we went from there. After surviving the perils of the Keep on the Borderland and exploring the Isle of Dread we moved onto AD&D and probably played every published adventure between 1980 and 1987 along with tons of our own design. We were there when TSR released the Forgotten Realms (having read about Ed Greenwood's world in Dragon magazine for years) and revelled in Dragonlance (I played Tas through all DL modules). We also played a lot of Gamma World and Star Frontiers with a smattering of Top Secret thrown in for good measure. Non-TSR games of interest also included Traveller, Twilight 2000, Talislanta, Jorune, and later the original WHFRPG.
From late high school onwards, I turned more and more to my own creations and less on published material. University saw a slew of world building on my part. After Uni, things took a downturn when it came to RPGs for me. The day to day struggle of finding a job not to mention marriage and children meant little to no time for playing games. That said, the world building continued throughout the 90's even though playing RPGs had pretty much ceased. For me, world building is a hobby unto its self. I credit my fantasy worlds and sci-fi galaxies with keeping me sane in an otherwise hectic and tumultuous period of my life. It was my sole creative outlet at the time the corporate world was trying its hardest to suck my soul dry. When D&D 3.0 was released, I, like many lapsed gamers, got back into the hobby again. This also coincided with a point in my life that saw stability return. I was working in a good job with excellent income, my wife had graduated law school a few years earlier and the kids were growing and content. While still not playing nearly as much as I had in my youth, RPGs were back for me.
How I got into the industry is a bit of a weird story. I was sitting watching TV one night when I stumbled upon a show called Jeremiah (on The Movie Network here in Canada. It's a Showtime series in the US). It intrigued me and in the coming weeks I found myself anxiously awaiting the next episode. One day in late 2003 I was watching Jeremiah and thought to myself: "myself, this would make an awesome RPG setting." so I walked 20 feet to my computer and did a quick Google search. I found that the Jeremiah intellectual property was owned by Platinum Studios (the guys behind Men in Black) and shot an email to the head of the company and the executive producer of the TV show. Long story short, within a week I was on the phone with Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and began negotiating for the RPG rights to Jeremiah. Now keep in mind, I don't have a company at this point nor do I know the first thing about publishing. Anyway, I got the rights but rather than make a piss-poor attempt at creating and publishing an RPG, I opted to find a publishing partner which is where Mongoose Publishing comes in. Since Mongoose already had Babylon 5 and Jeremiah was created by the same person who created B5, they agreed to publish the Jeremiah RPG. While designing Jeremiah I also began exploring and doing research into publishing and by the time the Jeremiah game was nearing completion, took the big step of creating Morrigan Press.
Marx Pyle: Why did you create your own role playing game company? Also, why was it named Morrigan Press?
K. Scott Agnew: While working on Jeremiah was fun and educational, I quickly discovered that working as freelance game designer was NOT going to pay the bills. By this time I had given up on the Dilbert lifestyle of the IT industry and wanted to do something on my own. I've always had a strong independent streak and so starting my own business was very appealing. So, I did the research, wrote a 40+ page business plan, secured both private financing and bank loans and started up Morrigan. I named the company Morrigan Press after the Celtic goddess of battle and death. Being of Scottish descent, I've always had an affinity for things Celtic and this goddess seemed an appropriate name for an RPG company. Since then we've grown to have several fulltime employees and an army of regular freelancers.
Marx Pyle: How did your company come up with the idea of creating the Omni System rule mechanics? Also, why did Morrigan Press decide to go this route instead of using d20?
K. Scott Agnew: I knew new game companies come and go on a regular basis and had no desire to become one of these statistics. I also started this company as a full-time job and not a hobby I do on the side. With this in mind, I knew we needed to find an anchor in the form of a license so gamers who might not have heard of Morrigan Press would still be familiar with our products. I was a fan of Talislanta "back in the day" and immediately sought out this property. It seems my timing was perfect because the previous publisher of Talislanta had run into trouble because of the Wizard's Attic fiasco. Again, long story short, I basicaly bought them out and secured the license to Talislanta from the game's creator, Stephan Michael Sechi.
We rebuilt Talislanta and quickly released several new books after fans had only had 2 releases in the previous 10 years. While I had always been a fan of the setting, I quickly learned that the new 4th Edition rules for Tal were incredibly elegant and easy to use. The magic system in particular is a masterpiece IMHO. Why Talislanta is not a blockbuster RPG is a result of what I consider one of its strengths. The world is weird and alien to most gamers. There are no elves, dwarves or halflings to be found but yet there are over 40 playable races. Gamers either love this or hate it. The alien-ess of Tal meant that many gamers would not try it. They wanted to Toliken-fantasy staples.
So, with that in mind, I decided the system itself was masterfull and so we went to work redesigning and adding to it to divorce it from the setting of Talislanta. The result was Omni. While the core mechanics are based on the TaL4 system, we made many changes to make the system generic instead of tied to a specific setting or even genre of game.
As to d20, we explored that route. Our first book was actually a d20 edition of Talislanta. It sold extremely well but we knew the d20 system was not the perfect fit for Tal so we opted to maintain the Tal4 system as well and have dual-statted adventures and sourcebooks for both systems. Over the past 2 years, we have witnessed the steady decline in d20 sales and opted instead to take something we already had (the Tal system) and turn it into a competitor to d20 rather than try and carve out a decreasing slice of the d20 pie for ourselves.
Marx Pyle: Has it been hard for Omni System products to compete in this d20/OGL dominated marketplace?
K. Scott Agnew: Not even close. While still in the early days of the system, Omni has been selling very well, surpassing our initial expectations by a considerable amount. With the decline of d20, gamers seem to be exploring other systems again and Omni is about as elegant as the come. For those who like the roleplaying aspect of these games, Omni is perfect. It's rules light and there is no need for a stack of 20 books to play a game. In fact, once a player has memorized a 5 line table, there is no need to open a book during play. On top of this, we have also listened to gamers over the past couple of years complaining about the rising price of game books. Do you need a hardcover, glossy color pages and Todd Lockwood or Ron Spencer art in every book to enjoy a game? We think not and so opted to produce Omni books with excellent production values but without all the bells and whistles that other companies are currently using. This keeps our expenses a bit lower and we can in turn sell books at $20 instead of $40.
Marx Pyle: What do you think of d20 and the OGL? Do you think it has been a good thing for role playing games?
K. Scott Agnew: Absolutely! It re-energized the industry in a big way. The OGL in particular is an excellent idea and I've always liked the idea of publishers coopertaing to make better games and the OGL is one way that is possible. While our games are not intended for the d20 market, we still use the OGL and have been able to adapt d20 Open Content for some of our games like High Medieval.
Marx Pyle: Does the Omni System use the OGL?
K. Scott Agnew: Yes and no. We do publish Omni under the OGL but the core mechanics are deemed Product Identity and therefore closed. Our skills, talents and equipment sections are normally released as Open Content though. Creature stats on the new Atlantis Bestiary are also being released as Opne Content as well. We do license the core Omni mechanics to interested publishers but we have no intention of putting the entire system out there under the OGL. The Open sections of Omni books allow publishers to use a common set of skills, talents, creatures, etc while keeping the core of the system under our control through a separate license.
Marx Pyle: What do you believe are some of Omni System's strengths, as compared to other d20 games, including d20 "spin-offs" like True20, Spycraft 2.0, and Anime d20?
K. Scott Agnew: Omni is not a d20 spin-off. That's said, the Omni System requires only a single d20 to play and I think that is why some people confuse Omni with d20. Unlike d20, Omni is a rule-lite game.
Marx Pyle: What do you believe are some of Omni Systems strengths, as compared to other non-d20 games, such as GURPS, Unisystem, or the Action! System?
K. Scott Agnew: Elegance. Omni is a rules-lite system that let's players simply have fun playing the game without the need for searches through multiple tomes of rules. The whole system fits into one 160 page book. That's all you need to play really (assuming you are using a homebrew setting). There is one single mechanic used for all task resolution be that skill use, combat or spell casting. There are no classes or levels and players actually construct their own "class" as part of character creation. It can also be used in any genre with little to no modification required. We have books currently in production for the horror, sci-fi, super hero, japanese, steampunk and modern genres with others coming behind those.
Marx Pyle: Will Morrigan Press be creating any other d20/OGL products, or will all future books be made with the Omni System?
K. Scott Agnew: At this point I think we'll be sticking with Omni for the forseeable future. I believe the d20 bubble has burst and while I have nothing against the d20 system, I don't believe it is the be-all and end-all of gaming systems. It works great for D&D and Sprcraft and Star Wars but that doesn't mean all games need to be d20. Vive le difference! Talislanta products will continue to be dual-statted for d20 and the recently released Talislanta Menagerie contains over 300 Talislanta creatures complete with d20 stats for each. We've actually found that we are selling more of these to d20 players looking for new monsters than we are to Tal fans.
Marx Pyle: Currently, what are some of your strongest products, and what does Morrigan Press have planned for the future?
K. Scott Agnew: The core Omni System and Atlantis: The Second Age are our two strongest products right now. Talislanta continues to have a strong and loyal fanbase but the new Omni genre sourcebooks and Atlantis are currently our growth lines. Atlantis is about as deep a setting as you'll ever find and it actually covers the entire globe (our own globe in a bygone age). We had a limited release at GenCon and nearly sold out but this print run was flawed with some binding issues and so we are now waiting for the second print run to return from printing so we can get the game into general distribution.
Marx Pyle: Thanks again for agreeing to the interview.
K. Scott Agnew: Thank you for listening to me ramble (or read me ramble I guess).
Name: K. Scott Agnew
Hometown: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
Favorite Food: fettucine alfredo
Favorite TV Shows: Jeremiah, Firefly, Lost, Over There, Out of Order
Favorite Movies: Fight Club, Rules of Attraction, Waking Life
Marx Pyle: Please explain how you first became involved with role playing games, both as a player and as a game designer.
K. Scott Agnew: A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... Well not really another galaxy but it was a long time ago. I started roleplaying with a buddy of mine back in 1979 at the tender age of 10. My friend received the old D&D boxed sets for xmas (the basic and expert sets with the Erol Otis covers) and we went from there. After surviving the perils of the Keep on the Borderland and exploring the Isle of Dread we moved onto AD&D and probably played every published adventure between 1980 and 1987 along with tons of our own design. We were there when TSR released the Forgotten Realms (having read about Ed Greenwood's world in Dragon magazine for years) and revelled in Dragonlance (I played Tas through all DL modules). We also played a lot of Gamma World and Star Frontiers with a smattering of Top Secret thrown in for good measure. Non-TSR games of interest also included Traveller, Twilight 2000, Talislanta, Jorune, and later the original WHFRPG.
From late high school onwards, I turned more and more to my own creations and less on published material. University saw a slew of world building on my part. After Uni, things took a downturn when it came to RPGs for me. The day to day struggle of finding a job not to mention marriage and children meant little to no time for playing games. That said, the world building continued throughout the 90's even though playing RPGs had pretty much ceased. For me, world building is a hobby unto its self. I credit my fantasy worlds and sci-fi galaxies with keeping me sane in an otherwise hectic and tumultuous period of my life. It was my sole creative outlet at the time the corporate world was trying its hardest to suck my soul dry. When D&D 3.0 was released, I, like many lapsed gamers, got back into the hobby again. This also coincided with a point in my life that saw stability return. I was working in a good job with excellent income, my wife had graduated law school a few years earlier and the kids were growing and content. While still not playing nearly as much as I had in my youth, RPGs were back for me.
How I got into the industry is a bit of a weird story. I was sitting watching TV one night when I stumbled upon a show called Jeremiah (on The Movie Network here in Canada. It's a Showtime series in the US). It intrigued me and in the coming weeks I found myself anxiously awaiting the next episode. One day in late 2003 I was watching Jeremiah and thought to myself: "myself, this would make an awesome RPG setting." so I walked 20 feet to my computer and did a quick Google search. I found that the Jeremiah intellectual property was owned by Platinum Studios (the guys behind Men in Black) and shot an email to the head of the company and the executive producer of the TV show. Long story short, within a week I was on the phone with Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and began negotiating for the RPG rights to Jeremiah. Now keep in mind, I don't have a company at this point nor do I know the first thing about publishing. Anyway, I got the rights but rather than make a piss-poor attempt at creating and publishing an RPG, I opted to find a publishing partner which is where Mongoose Publishing comes in. Since Mongoose already had Babylon 5 and Jeremiah was created by the same person who created B5, they agreed to publish the Jeremiah RPG. While designing Jeremiah I also began exploring and doing research into publishing and by the time the Jeremiah game was nearing completion, took the big step of creating Morrigan Press.
Marx Pyle: Why did you create your own role playing game company? Also, why was it named Morrigan Press?
K. Scott Agnew: While working on Jeremiah was fun and educational, I quickly discovered that working as freelance game designer was NOT going to pay the bills. By this time I had given up on the Dilbert lifestyle of the IT industry and wanted to do something on my own. I've always had a strong independent streak and so starting my own business was very appealing. So, I did the research, wrote a 40+ page business plan, secured both private financing and bank loans and started up Morrigan. I named the company Morrigan Press after the Celtic goddess of battle and death. Being of Scottish descent, I've always had an affinity for things Celtic and this goddess seemed an appropriate name for an RPG company. Since then we've grown to have several fulltime employees and an army of regular freelancers.
Marx Pyle: How did your company come up with the idea of creating the Omni System rule mechanics? Also, why did Morrigan Press decide to go this route instead of using d20?
K. Scott Agnew: I knew new game companies come and go on a regular basis and had no desire to become one of these statistics. I also started this company as a full-time job and not a hobby I do on the side. With this in mind, I knew we needed to find an anchor in the form of a license so gamers who might not have heard of Morrigan Press would still be familiar with our products. I was a fan of Talislanta "back in the day" and immediately sought out this property. It seems my timing was perfect because the previous publisher of Talislanta had run into trouble because of the Wizard's Attic fiasco. Again, long story short, I basicaly bought them out and secured the license to Talislanta from the game's creator, Stephan Michael Sechi.
We rebuilt Talislanta and quickly released several new books after fans had only had 2 releases in the previous 10 years. While I had always been a fan of the setting, I quickly learned that the new 4th Edition rules for Tal were incredibly elegant and easy to use. The magic system in particular is a masterpiece IMHO. Why Talislanta is not a blockbuster RPG is a result of what I consider one of its strengths. The world is weird and alien to most gamers. There are no elves, dwarves or halflings to be found but yet there are over 40 playable races. Gamers either love this or hate it. The alien-ess of Tal meant that many gamers would not try it. They wanted to Toliken-fantasy staples.
So, with that in mind, I decided the system itself was masterfull and so we went to work redesigning and adding to it to divorce it from the setting of Talislanta. The result was Omni. While the core mechanics are based on the TaL4 system, we made many changes to make the system generic instead of tied to a specific setting or even genre of game.
As to d20, we explored that route. Our first book was actually a d20 edition of Talislanta. It sold extremely well but we knew the d20 system was not the perfect fit for Tal so we opted to maintain the Tal4 system as well and have dual-statted adventures and sourcebooks for both systems. Over the past 2 years, we have witnessed the steady decline in d20 sales and opted instead to take something we already had (the Tal system) and turn it into a competitor to d20 rather than try and carve out a decreasing slice of the d20 pie for ourselves.
Marx Pyle: Has it been hard for Omni System products to compete in this d20/OGL dominated marketplace?
K. Scott Agnew: Not even close. While still in the early days of the system, Omni has been selling very well, surpassing our initial expectations by a considerable amount. With the decline of d20, gamers seem to be exploring other systems again and Omni is about as elegant as the come. For those who like the roleplaying aspect of these games, Omni is perfect. It's rules light and there is no need for a stack of 20 books to play a game. In fact, once a player has memorized a 5 line table, there is no need to open a book during play. On top of this, we have also listened to gamers over the past couple of years complaining about the rising price of game books. Do you need a hardcover, glossy color pages and Todd Lockwood or Ron Spencer art in every book to enjoy a game? We think not and so opted to produce Omni books with excellent production values but without all the bells and whistles that other companies are currently using. This keeps our expenses a bit lower and we can in turn sell books at $20 instead of $40.
Marx Pyle: What do you think of d20 and the OGL? Do you think it has been a good thing for role playing games?
K. Scott Agnew: Absolutely! It re-energized the industry in a big way. The OGL in particular is an excellent idea and I've always liked the idea of publishers coopertaing to make better games and the OGL is one way that is possible. While our games are not intended for the d20 market, we still use the OGL and have been able to adapt d20 Open Content for some of our games like High Medieval.
Marx Pyle: Does the Omni System use the OGL?
K. Scott Agnew: Yes and no. We do publish Omni under the OGL but the core mechanics are deemed Product Identity and therefore closed. Our skills, talents and equipment sections are normally released as Open Content though. Creature stats on the new Atlantis Bestiary are also being released as Opne Content as well. We do license the core Omni mechanics to interested publishers but we have no intention of putting the entire system out there under the OGL. The Open sections of Omni books allow publishers to use a common set of skills, talents, creatures, etc while keeping the core of the system under our control through a separate license.
Marx Pyle: What do you believe are some of Omni System's strengths, as compared to other d20 games, including d20 "spin-offs" like True20, Spycraft 2.0, and Anime d20?
K. Scott Agnew: Omni is not a d20 spin-off. That's said, the Omni System requires only a single d20 to play and I think that is why some people confuse Omni with d20. Unlike d20, Omni is a rule-lite game.
Marx Pyle: What do you believe are some of Omni Systems strengths, as compared to other non-d20 games, such as GURPS, Unisystem, or the Action! System?
K. Scott Agnew: Elegance. Omni is a rules-lite system that let's players simply have fun playing the game without the need for searches through multiple tomes of rules. The whole system fits into one 160 page book. That's all you need to play really (assuming you are using a homebrew setting). There is one single mechanic used for all task resolution be that skill use, combat or spell casting. There are no classes or levels and players actually construct their own "class" as part of character creation. It can also be used in any genre with little to no modification required. We have books currently in production for the horror, sci-fi, super hero, japanese, steampunk and modern genres with others coming behind those.
Marx Pyle: Will Morrigan Press be creating any other d20/OGL products, or will all future books be made with the Omni System?
K. Scott Agnew: At this point I think we'll be sticking with Omni for the forseeable future. I believe the d20 bubble has burst and while I have nothing against the d20 system, I don't believe it is the be-all and end-all of gaming systems. It works great for D&D and Sprcraft and Star Wars but that doesn't mean all games need to be d20. Vive le difference! Talislanta products will continue to be dual-statted for d20 and the recently released Talislanta Menagerie contains over 300 Talislanta creatures complete with d20 stats for each. We've actually found that we are selling more of these to d20 players looking for new monsters than we are to Tal fans.
Marx Pyle: Currently, what are some of your strongest products, and what does Morrigan Press have planned for the future?
K. Scott Agnew: The core Omni System and Atlantis: The Second Age are our two strongest products right now. Talislanta continues to have a strong and loyal fanbase but the new Omni genre sourcebooks and Atlantis are currently our growth lines. Atlantis is about as deep a setting as you'll ever find and it actually covers the entire globe (our own globe in a bygone age). We had a limited release at GenCon and nearly sold out but this print run was flawed with some binding issues and so we are now waiting for the second print run to return from printing so we can get the game into general distribution.
Marx Pyle: Thanks again for agreeing to the interview.
K. Scott Agnew: Thank you for listening to me ramble (or read me ramble I guess).
Thursday, October 20, 2005
The Infinite (Comic Book) Crisis?
Recently John Kenneth Muir's Reflections on Film/TV blog posted about the fate of Marvel Comics and comic books in general. This was all started by the fool who wrote the article "Will Licensing Doom Marvel?" by Nathan Alderman which was posted on September 19, 2005, at Fool.com. Get it, fool, Fool.com, yeeeaaahhh – smell that corn. Anyway, Mr. Muir posted "Whither Marvel Comics?". In which I commented on my basic feelings about this.
Basic no more! I shall now talk more in-depth about this subject, which is close to my heart. I’ve been a fan of comics since I was a little itty bitty tiny witty child. Although I don’t buy them nearly as much anymore (more on that later), I’m still a big fan of the medium.
As that foolish article stated: “…Marvel's publishing arm tallied $20.9 million in net sales, comparing respectably with its licensing ($43.9 million) and toy ($23.4 million) ventures. But remove that mask and look at the operating income: While licensing brought in $28.2 million and toys commanded $13.2 million, publishing brought in only $7.89 million -- down more than 12% year over year.”
Ack, so are comics doomed? Yes, no, maybe. Seriously…yes, if publishers don’t wake up and change with the times.
The reality is that increasing technology has made DVDs and video games more powerful and cheaper than they once were. I know that I’m digging the cheaper prices and the increasing extras that DVDs have.
But, not all is lost. Manga (the Japanese equivalent to our American comics) are increasing in sells in the USA. As the article confirms: “manga is eating the mainstream publishers' lunch. According to the Nielsen BookScan ratings of bookstore sales, in early August 45 of the top 50 sellers in the graphic-novel category were manga. In the first half of 2005, DC's graphic-novel sales grew by 13%, and Marvel's increased by 9%, while manga publisher Tokyopop notched 40% sales growth, including 81% growth in the first quarter.” This tells us that Americans are at least still willing to read comic book-like products. So what is it that manga has that American comics don’t? I personally don’t read much of the manga, but I can tell from watching anime versus American animation that the Japanese do take a different approach to storytelling.
So, enough doom and gloom. What can American comic book publishers do to save themselves? Here are my suggestions. Some are not completely serious (but did you really expect them to be?):
Publish Online - Take advantage of the software and publish titles online to supplement print sales. This has been done fairly successfully with role-playing games to help boost sales (RPGs are the only SF niche that is hurting worse than comics). This will also help cut down on sale loss from BitTorrent (darn you BitTorrent!). It will also make it cheaper for fans to catch up with titles, which really is needed due to the inflating continuities of many multi-title ‘universes’. Don’t get me started on the pre-Crisis vs. post-Crisis Superman discussion. And I always get a headache when I think about Magneto. How many times has he died or switched sides, anyway?
Experiment With New Formats - Sorry, but the typical monthly is not working anymore, in my humble opinion. Perhaps publishers should experiment with manga format books or graphic novel only products. Just as the ‘dime novel’ evolved into the novel, perhaps many of the monthlies should become graphic novels.
Scheduling - Lets get scheduling under control. Nothing loses interest faster than waiting an additional week or month (or more) for the next issue. Writer and artist contracts with heavy financial penalties for late work might help things a bit. It blows my mind how often titles are late. Could you imagine a television network allowing their television crews to do that? It would kill a series. As if the networks’ own re-scheduling doesn’t already hurt a series (remember when FOX aired the Firefly pilot last?), but continuous delays by writers would destroy a television series. Guess what, it isn’t helping comic books out either. This is one of the biggest gripes I hear from my friends, and it is probably my numero uno gripe too. Most comic books now (especially Marvel) do 4-6 issue arcs. If, for example, we compare one arc to one episode of a television series, we would have to wait 4-6 months to see one complete episode. Man, I love Lost and Stargate, but if I had to watch each episode only one act or less at a time, I would completely lose interest.
Enough With ‘Comic’ Books - Change the name! I get so embarrassed when I tell someone I read ‘comic books.’ These books aren’t the same funny books of old. Can everyone agree on a new name? Lets just all call them graphic novels, graphic shorts, graphic episodes, graphic-sodes, commie books (just kidding), graphic serials, or something. Anything but “comic book.”
Geek: The Next Generation - Publishers should try harder to court the new generation of readers (the ‘Ultimate’ line is a cool idea – but not the most kid friendly). You can’t beat out video games and movies, but ‘graphic serials’ are not just a cool alternative. They are also a helpful tool in developing reading skills, and that is something that video games and non-subtitled movies can’t do.
We Are Creators, Hear Us Roar - Publishers need to do more to encourage creators to make new characters that can become the icons for new generations. Sorry, but right now a good creator will shy away from "giving away" a character to Marvel or DC, and I don't blame them. How? One way is through creator-owned companies like the awesome Image Comics. Or, at least contracts that give partial rights to creators. For example, creators should get a percentage for use of the character in comics or in other media. Creators should get a voice when a character is being optioned for a movie or TV series. More rights could go a long way in encouraging creators to create new, and future iconic, characters. Perhaps something along the lines of Crossgen’s Code 6 program. Crossgen never had a chance to do much with it, but imagine if DC or Marvel did this. Not only could they have more PI (that’s Product Identity, not Private Investigator) for future movies and TV, but they could use the same method for new characters in their shared universe. It sucks that the creators would only have 1/3 ownership, but it would help prevent a painful crash, like the one that Image suffered in its shared superhero universe when Rob Liefeild got kicked out and when Jim Lee left. 100% ownership just doesn’t work in the long run for a shared universe. The Imageverse has never really recovered. Please note that I’m talking about the shared superhero universe, not Image Comics overall. Image overall is a godsend for creators to create and fully own their creations.
BUT - I do feel that many of tomorrow’s icons are out there right now. They are just in independent books, rarely seen. Until they hit it big in another medium, they will remain in obscurity. How many people heard of Men In Black, Hellboy, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles until they hit movies and television?
Why do I care so much about these ‘funny’ books. Because they are really the first medium of story telling that I used to entertain myself. They are addicting and can tell stories in a way that no other medium can. I have three reasons why I don’t want to see comics die: I’m a fan, I want to introduce my future munchkins to them, and I want to actually write a few before they are gone.
To conclude this rambling, comics aren’t doomed (knock on wood)…they just need to make some changes. In the long run though, I don’t think comic books will ever sell the same as they once did. But, there will always be television (live action or animation), movies, and video games for future heroic icons. That is, until Virtual Reality gets big…and then someone makes a Holodeck…then we ascend into energy beings and amuse ourselves by watching the ‘lower’ life forms live life. Evolution…a harsh mistress indeed.
Basic no more! I shall now talk more in-depth about this subject, which is close to my heart. I’ve been a fan of comics since I was a little itty bitty tiny witty child. Although I don’t buy them nearly as much anymore (more on that later), I’m still a big fan of the medium.
As that foolish article stated: “…Marvel's publishing arm tallied $20.9 million in net sales, comparing respectably with its licensing ($43.9 million) and toy ($23.4 million) ventures. But remove that mask and look at the operating income: While licensing brought in $28.2 million and toys commanded $13.2 million, publishing brought in only $7.89 million -- down more than 12% year over year.”
Ack, so are comics doomed? Yes, no, maybe. Seriously…yes, if publishers don’t wake up and change with the times.
The reality is that increasing technology has made DVDs and video games more powerful and cheaper than they once were. I know that I’m digging the cheaper prices and the increasing extras that DVDs have.
But, not all is lost. Manga (the Japanese equivalent to our American comics) are increasing in sells in the USA. As the article confirms: “manga is eating the mainstream publishers' lunch. According to the Nielsen BookScan ratings of bookstore sales, in early August 45 of the top 50 sellers in the graphic-novel category were manga. In the first half of 2005, DC's graphic-novel sales grew by 13%, and Marvel's increased by 9%, while manga publisher Tokyopop notched 40% sales growth, including 81% growth in the first quarter.” This tells us that Americans are at least still willing to read comic book-like products. So what is it that manga has that American comics don’t? I personally don’t read much of the manga, but I can tell from watching anime versus American animation that the Japanese do take a different approach to storytelling.
So, enough doom and gloom. What can American comic book publishers do to save themselves? Here are my suggestions. Some are not completely serious (but did you really expect them to be?):
Publish Online - Take advantage of the software and publish titles online to supplement print sales. This has been done fairly successfully with role-playing games to help boost sales (RPGs are the only SF niche that is hurting worse than comics). This will also help cut down on sale loss from BitTorrent (darn you BitTorrent!). It will also make it cheaper for fans to catch up with titles, which really is needed due to the inflating continuities of many multi-title ‘universes’. Don’t get me started on the pre-Crisis vs. post-Crisis Superman discussion. And I always get a headache when I think about Magneto. How many times has he died or switched sides, anyway?
Experiment With New Formats - Sorry, but the typical monthly is not working anymore, in my humble opinion. Perhaps publishers should experiment with manga format books or graphic novel only products. Just as the ‘dime novel’ evolved into the novel, perhaps many of the monthlies should become graphic novels.
Scheduling - Lets get scheduling under control. Nothing loses interest faster than waiting an additional week or month (or more) for the next issue. Writer and artist contracts with heavy financial penalties for late work might help things a bit. It blows my mind how often titles are late. Could you imagine a television network allowing their television crews to do that? It would kill a series. As if the networks’ own re-scheduling doesn’t already hurt a series (remember when FOX aired the Firefly pilot last?), but continuous delays by writers would destroy a television series. Guess what, it isn’t helping comic books out either. This is one of the biggest gripes I hear from my friends, and it is probably my numero uno gripe too. Most comic books now (especially Marvel) do 4-6 issue arcs. If, for example, we compare one arc to one episode of a television series, we would have to wait 4-6 months to see one complete episode. Man, I love Lost and Stargate, but if I had to watch each episode only one act or less at a time, I would completely lose interest.
Enough With ‘Comic’ Books - Change the name! I get so embarrassed when I tell someone I read ‘comic books.’ These books aren’t the same funny books of old. Can everyone agree on a new name? Lets just all call them graphic novels, graphic shorts, graphic episodes, graphic-sodes, commie books (just kidding), graphic serials, or something. Anything but “comic book.”
Geek: The Next Generation - Publishers should try harder to court the new generation of readers (the ‘Ultimate’ line is a cool idea – but not the most kid friendly). You can’t beat out video games and movies, but ‘graphic serials’ are not just a cool alternative. They are also a helpful tool in developing reading skills, and that is something that video games and non-subtitled movies can’t do.
We Are Creators, Hear Us Roar - Publishers need to do more to encourage creators to make new characters that can become the icons for new generations. Sorry, but right now a good creator will shy away from "giving away" a character to Marvel or DC, and I don't blame them. How? One way is through creator-owned companies like the awesome Image Comics. Or, at least contracts that give partial rights to creators. For example, creators should get a percentage for use of the character in comics or in other media. Creators should get a voice when a character is being optioned for a movie or TV series. More rights could go a long way in encouraging creators to create new, and future iconic, characters. Perhaps something along the lines of Crossgen’s Code 6 program. Crossgen never had a chance to do much with it, but imagine if DC or Marvel did this. Not only could they have more PI (that’s Product Identity, not Private Investigator) for future movies and TV, but they could use the same method for new characters in their shared universe. It sucks that the creators would only have 1/3 ownership, but it would help prevent a painful crash, like the one that Image suffered in its shared superhero universe when Rob Liefeild got kicked out and when Jim Lee left. 100% ownership just doesn’t work in the long run for a shared universe. The Imageverse has never really recovered. Please note that I’m talking about the shared superhero universe, not Image Comics overall. Image overall is a godsend for creators to create and fully own their creations.
BUT - I do feel that many of tomorrow’s icons are out there right now. They are just in independent books, rarely seen. Until they hit it big in another medium, they will remain in obscurity. How many people heard of Men In Black, Hellboy, or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles until they hit movies and television?
Why do I care so much about these ‘funny’ books. Because they are really the first medium of story telling that I used to entertain myself. They are addicting and can tell stories in a way that no other medium can. I have three reasons why I don’t want to see comics die: I’m a fan, I want to introduce my future munchkins to them, and I want to actually write a few before they are gone.
To conclude this rambling, comics aren’t doomed (knock on wood)…they just need to make some changes. In the long run though, I don’t think comic books will ever sell the same as they once did. But, there will always be television (live action or animation), movies, and video games for future heroic icons. That is, until Virtual Reality gets big…and then someone makes a Holodeck…then we ascend into energy beings and amuse ourselves by watching the ‘lower’ life forms live life. Evolution…a harsh mistress indeed.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Six And Counting...
So, how are you enjoying the TV schedule of Fall 2005? Me, I’m going blind from the eye strain of watching so many shows.
My SF watching: Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Smallville, Justice League (a cartoon, but a very cool cartoon indeed), Supernatural, Invasion, Threshold, Ghost Whisperer, Night Stalker, and Surface. I save Alias for DVD sets.
My non-SF watching: Prison Break (a must see), Veronica Mars (awesome), Bones (highly entertaining), Nip/Tuck (this season may be getting a bit too weird, even for me), Desperate Housewives (blame my significant other), Gilmore Girls (ditto), Grey’s Anatomy (a guilty pleasure), Boston Legal (when I can catch it), and The Daily Show (love it).
Yes, I watch to much TV. Something has got to give…
Which leads me to this post. For Fall 2005 we have six new SF series. Not only that, but they are all on networks…sweet. Now that the crap, known by some as “Reality TV,” has lost the interest of many a coach potato, we have the networks (except for FOX) jumping on the SF bandwagon.
Kudos for ABC. They are doing great this season because last season they didn’t leap almost 100% into Reality TV (unlike FOX), but instead took the amazing idea of airing new dramas. Ooh, aah. ABC now has big hits (Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Boston Legal) returning, adding to the success of many other new dramas. And, of course, the mega-hit known as “Lost”, but known by the citizens of the little known country GrrArghKablahKree as “The Island of Flashbacks and Monsters Which We Can Not Get Enough Of.” Now many of the other networks hope to duplicate the success of this truly cool show. Have they succeeded? No, but good try.
Without further ado, let’s break these down:
Supernatural
(Marx gives it an A)
Supernatural Episode Guide
Concept: The show revolves around brothers Sam & Dean, played by Jared Padalecki (House of Wax, Gilmore Girls) and Jensen Ackles (Smallville), who travel around the country investigating, hunting and fighting mysterious phenomena. They are driven by the search for their father, who is on a quest to find the reason behind their mother's bizarre death.
This is, without a doubt, my favorite new SF show this Fall. Supernatural has the creepiness of X-Files mixed with the action and humor of Angel. Who knew that two brothers driving around America taking out supernatural creatures could be so much fun? This series truly is (as creator Eric Kripke said in an interview) “…Luke Skywalker and Hans Solo cruising the country and killing monsters, and what's not to love about that?" What indeed.
Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are great in this series. This is definitely a better role for Ackles than the one he had previously on Smallville and Dean is a really a fun character. Every week, these two brothers battle a new creature based on mostly North American folklore and urban legends. Plus, we have the mystery subplot of their mother’s death, Sam’s girlfriend’s death, and their father’s disappearance. This series has feet my friends, and I can see it lasting for a number of seasons.
Bravo WB for stopping the hatin’ of SF series. Now if they could just give us a Spike television movie and/or a Buffyverse spin-off series. Hmmm, perhaps give Global Frequency another chance, too.
Invasion
(Marx gives it an B+)
Invasion Episode Guide
Concept: “When a hurricane threatens Florida, temporarily cutting off a small town at the edge of the Everglades, U.S. Park Ranger Russell Varon (Eddie Cibrian) takes heroic measures to keep both the town's citizens and his family safe. In the middle of the violent storm, his young daughter is the only one to see small lights floating towards the water, seemingly unaffected by the vicious winds. At the time, he thinks nothing of her claim, but begins to suspect that something may indeed be amiss when his missing ex-wife is found naked, with no memory of what happened during the storm.” (Official Description)
This series doesn’t come close to Lost, but with that said…I’m digging this series. I’m not sure where they are going with it or how they can make it last for multiple seasons, but it continues to entertain. The cast is great (especially Eddie Cibrian, Lisa Sheridan, Tyler Labine, and William Fichtner) and the conflict between these modern families with the whole alien invasion concept is working for me…for now.
I can see this series coming back for a season 2, but I am concerned with how long they can keep the story interesting. I’m also concerned with Shaun Cassidy’s apparent hatred of sheriffs. This one is an alien, and the one in Cassidy’s American Gothic was a demon. Hmm, perhaps he knows something I don’t.
Ghost Whisperer
(Marx gives it an B)
Ghost Whisperer Episode Guide
Concept: Ghost Whisperer is inspired by the cases of famed psychic James Van Praagh and Mary Ann Winkowski. This series focuses on Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt) a young newlywed with the unique ability to communicate with the earthbound spirits of people who have died. Melinda has spent her entire life coping with this extraordinary psychic gift, but also yearns to lead an ordinary life. Melinda uses her gift to relay important information to the living, which allows the dead to pass on to the other side.
First off, Jennifer Love Hewitt (Party of Five) and David Conrad do a great job in this series. Actually seeing Hewitt switch from her character now and her character as a young teen in the episode “Ghost, Interrupted”, was both fantastic acting and a tad bit creepy.
I do question their sets and clothing though. It is an awfully big house for newlyweds, especially with the husband starting a new job and Melinda starting up a new business! And what is up with all the candles? Melinda’s clothing also seems to be out of place at times, too. Oh, and some of the dialog from the pilot was overly dramatic, but luckily they have toned that down since. I was just waiting for the “That reminds me of when Plato said, (fill in with quote)” type of dialog that plagued Andromeda for the last few seasons. Oh, and not exactly the best name for a series either.
With that said, from what I have heard from actual psychics, this series is pretty close to reality, or (for you Scullys out there) at least what psychics claim to be real. My only problem is that this series runs the risk of getting old. There is no conflict between Melinda Gordon and her husband. Nor with Melinda and her best friend. They all just seem cool with it. Which is great for the character, but a missed opportunity for added drama. I like the tension between Allison and Joe on Medium, even though Joe does get a little carried away sometimes. Plus, if Melinda fails, someone doesn’t get a message from a passed on loved one. Sad, but not exactly as nail biting as the possible outcome if Allison Dubois fails a case on Medium.
So, Ghost Whisperer is a good psychic show with some very touching stories and with its current ratings, I would be surprised if it doesn’t return next season. But this show runs the risk of audience ADD if the writers aren’t careful. A similar fate that befell Joan of Arcadia could happen to this series if they aren’t careful.
By the way CBS has committed to a full season run of 22 episodes.
Threshold
(Marx gives it an B)
Threshold Episode Guide
Concept: “In the middle of the ocean, a cargo freighter makes a chilling discovery: an extraterrestrial craft has landed on earth. Enter Molly Anne Caffrey, recruited to await the planet's first contact, along with a carefully assembled team made up of a brilliant physicist with strong religious beliefs, a language and communications expert and a highly trained covert operative. Together they implement the long-gestating Operation: Threshold, charged with finding out the purpose of the landing and the fate of the ship's crew, and preparing for the worst-case scenario of an alien invasion.” (Official Description)
The pilot for this series was my second favorite out of these six series, but I think they may have given away too much info too soon. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want the X-Files or Twin Peaks version of a mystery (The Truth is Out There, but don’t worry you’ll never find it), but I like the Lost version of a mystery (We do have the answer, we promise, but we will tease you along the way). The Threshold writers decided to just give nearly all of it away with the pilot. This makes a strong pilot but potentially a weak series. For example, First Wave had a strong pilot, but the rest of the series was just the main character trying to foil the aliens’ plans, which got boring after awhile. Hmmm, Star Trek’s Braga is in charge of this and heaven knows that Star Trek: Enterprise rarely had any good plot twists or mysteries…could the B&B curse (short one B) hit Threshold too?
I hope not, because I really like this cast. Carla Gugino, as Molly Anne Caffrey, is great in this. So is Peter Dinklage, Robert Patrick Benedict, and the great Brent Spiner. Kudos on the creators on making a strong female character, but where are the other women? The cast just seems a little too male, especially with the egos from Arthur Ramsey and Nigel Fenway, and J.T. Baylock’s constant yelling (chill dude). Maybe they should throw in another woman. Perhaps Lucas’s finacee.
Oh and the thing that the cops did in the episode “Shock” was cheesy. What did she think she was accomplishing hiding the criminal from (what she thought was) Homeland security? How was she planning on hiding him when he went to trial? And how did she convice the other cops to go along? That could fly if this was an alien planet on Star Trek, but rings false in modern America.
So far the ratings have been good, but not great. CBS wants to look at some more scripts before committing. So, it’s 50/50 on whether we’ll see a season 2. Hey producers of Threshold! Add some more mystery, at least one more female character, some additional subplots, a big plot twist, and tighten the overall arc, and this series could get some feet on it. Oh, and CBS should think about moving it to different night. Sorry, but Scifi Friday rules the action/adventure SF niche for Fridays. Look how bad Star Trek: Enterprise faired on Fridays. Ghost Whisperer skews a different audience, but Threshold would appeal to many of the same people who love Stargate (alien threat and a modern day covert team fighting against it). But if they have to choose, you can bet they will stick with the 9th season of Stargate SG-1 and 2nd season of Stargate Atlantis. Please CBS, don’t make us choose. Be a uniter, not a divider.
Night Stalker
(Marx gives it an B)
Night Stalker Episode Guide
Concept: Crime reporter Carl Kolchak, determined to find out the truth behind his wife's mysterious murder, investigates other crimes that seem to have some kind of supernatural component. With sidekick Perri Reed, a skeptical reporter in tow, Kolchak will go to any lengths to answer his questions.
I’m a fan of the original show, but this reimagining is very, very different. Ok, not as different as the reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, but different nontheless. Stuart Townsend is great as Carl Kolchak, but I’m afraid the writers may have made him a little too cool. This Kolchak is younger, doesn’t have the funny hat, has a wicked car, and a very expensive house of glass for a home (what is up with that?). Ok, he is suspected of murdering his wife and no one wants to listen to what really happens on his investigations, but he does have a wicked car. As for Townsend’s co-star Gabrielle Union, she was a little weak in the pilot, but is starting to grow into her character.
The good: A talented cast, excellent directing, and good writing.
The bad: Too much like X-Files. The show hasn’t found its own unique voice. It just seems like this is Mulder and Scully as reporters instead of FBI agents. Oh, except they no longer have guns, the resources of the FBI, or the Lone Gunmen. But, they do have their own Jimmy Olsen.
This series has great potential, but needs to find its own identity. Only time will tell how this series pans out, but I have high hopes that they will pull it off.
Surface
(Marx gives it an B-)
Surface Episode Guide
Concept: Surface is an action-adventure drama from writers-directors Josh and Jonas Pate. The pilot was described as being in the vein of James Cameron's The Abyss and revolves around mysterious creatures deep in the ocean. The series centers on the discovery of a new form of sea life. Lake Bell (Boston Legal, Miss Match) plays the female lead, a marine biologist who discovers the creatures
Snore. I’m sorry, was I doing a review? This is how I feel when I watch this series. I’m sorry, are they trying to entertain us? The first episode of this series was one of the most boring pilots I have ever seen for an SF series. Part II was slightly better, perhaps NBC should have aired them together. The series has been getting better, but it still lacks something. Oh, and I hate series that do not give names to their episodes. I can see it now, “this reminds of episode 34 of Surface or was that episode 23…hmmm.” Yeah, give them names already! Ok, maybe I’m the only one who cares about that, but darn it, it annoys me.
I’m afraid that series is falling into the potential flaw of a series that doesn’t take the episodic approach. Lost and Battlestar Galactica have done this approach well, but look at how Point Pleasant flopped last year. The difference is, even though Lost and Battlestar Galactica have many ongoing plot lines, they always have a beginning and end of at least one of those story threads every episode. So, I can say “remember that episode of Battlestar Galactica where Starbuck got stuck on that planet or on Lost when we found out Locke’s big secret.” But series like Point Pleasant and Surface just seem to keep going and going. Stuff happens every episode, but it is hard to remember exactly what. I can handle that to a point, but the general American audience won’t stick with it.
Anyway, Surface’s cast just isn’t interesting enough for me, and the story of these underwater creatures just seems to be dragging. But, the scenes where ships are eaten or when people get sucked into whirlpools are cool, I’ll give them that. This series has been getting slightly better with every episode, so maybe it will surprise. But for now I have to say that this series is sunk, and I would be surprised if it makes it back for a round 2.
My SF watching: Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Smallville, Justice League (a cartoon, but a very cool cartoon indeed), Supernatural, Invasion, Threshold, Ghost Whisperer, Night Stalker, and Surface. I save Alias for DVD sets.
My non-SF watching: Prison Break (a must see), Veronica Mars (awesome), Bones (highly entertaining), Nip/Tuck (this season may be getting a bit too weird, even for me), Desperate Housewives (blame my significant other), Gilmore Girls (ditto), Grey’s Anatomy (a guilty pleasure), Boston Legal (when I can catch it), and The Daily Show (love it).
Yes, I watch to much TV. Something has got to give…
Which leads me to this post. For Fall 2005 we have six new SF series. Not only that, but they are all on networks…sweet. Now that the crap, known by some as “Reality TV,” has lost the interest of many a coach potato, we have the networks (except for FOX) jumping on the SF bandwagon.
Kudos for ABC. They are doing great this season because last season they didn’t leap almost 100% into Reality TV (unlike FOX), but instead took the amazing idea of airing new dramas. Ooh, aah. ABC now has big hits (Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Boston Legal) returning, adding to the success of many other new dramas. And, of course, the mega-hit known as “Lost”, but known by the citizens of the little known country GrrArghKablahKree as “The Island of Flashbacks and Monsters Which We Can Not Get Enough Of.” Now many of the other networks hope to duplicate the success of this truly cool show. Have they succeeded? No, but good try.
Without further ado, let’s break these down:
Supernatural
(Marx gives it an A)
Supernatural Episode Guide
Concept: The show revolves around brothers Sam & Dean, played by Jared Padalecki (House of Wax, Gilmore Girls) and Jensen Ackles (Smallville), who travel around the country investigating, hunting and fighting mysterious phenomena. They are driven by the search for their father, who is on a quest to find the reason behind their mother's bizarre death.
This is, without a doubt, my favorite new SF show this Fall. Supernatural has the creepiness of X-Files mixed with the action and humor of Angel. Who knew that two brothers driving around America taking out supernatural creatures could be so much fun? This series truly is (as creator Eric Kripke said in an interview) “…Luke Skywalker and Hans Solo cruising the country and killing monsters, and what's not to love about that?" What indeed.
Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are great in this series. This is definitely a better role for Ackles than the one he had previously on Smallville and Dean is a really a fun character. Every week, these two brothers battle a new creature based on mostly North American folklore and urban legends. Plus, we have the mystery subplot of their mother’s death, Sam’s girlfriend’s death, and their father’s disappearance. This series has feet my friends, and I can see it lasting for a number of seasons.
Bravo WB for stopping the hatin’ of SF series. Now if they could just give us a Spike television movie and/or a Buffyverse spin-off series. Hmmm, perhaps give Global Frequency another chance, too.
Invasion
(Marx gives it an B+)
Invasion Episode Guide
Concept: “When a hurricane threatens Florida, temporarily cutting off a small town at the edge of the Everglades, U.S. Park Ranger Russell Varon (Eddie Cibrian) takes heroic measures to keep both the town's citizens and his family safe. In the middle of the violent storm, his young daughter is the only one to see small lights floating towards the water, seemingly unaffected by the vicious winds. At the time, he thinks nothing of her claim, but begins to suspect that something may indeed be amiss when his missing ex-wife is found naked, with no memory of what happened during the storm.” (Official Description)
This series doesn’t come close to Lost, but with that said…I’m digging this series. I’m not sure where they are going with it or how they can make it last for multiple seasons, but it continues to entertain. The cast is great (especially Eddie Cibrian, Lisa Sheridan, Tyler Labine, and William Fichtner) and the conflict between these modern families with the whole alien invasion concept is working for me…for now.
I can see this series coming back for a season 2, but I am concerned with how long they can keep the story interesting. I’m also concerned with Shaun Cassidy’s apparent hatred of sheriffs. This one is an alien, and the one in Cassidy’s American Gothic was a demon. Hmm, perhaps he knows something I don’t.
Ghost Whisperer
(Marx gives it an B)
Ghost Whisperer Episode Guide
Concept: Ghost Whisperer is inspired by the cases of famed psychic James Van Praagh and Mary Ann Winkowski. This series focuses on Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt) a young newlywed with the unique ability to communicate with the earthbound spirits of people who have died. Melinda has spent her entire life coping with this extraordinary psychic gift, but also yearns to lead an ordinary life. Melinda uses her gift to relay important information to the living, which allows the dead to pass on to the other side.
First off, Jennifer Love Hewitt (Party of Five) and David Conrad do a great job in this series. Actually seeing Hewitt switch from her character now and her character as a young teen in the episode “Ghost, Interrupted”, was both fantastic acting and a tad bit creepy.
I do question their sets and clothing though. It is an awfully big house for newlyweds, especially with the husband starting a new job and Melinda starting up a new business! And what is up with all the candles? Melinda’s clothing also seems to be out of place at times, too. Oh, and some of the dialog from the pilot was overly dramatic, but luckily they have toned that down since. I was just waiting for the “That reminds me of when Plato said, (fill in with quote)” type of dialog that plagued Andromeda for the last few seasons. Oh, and not exactly the best name for a series either.
With that said, from what I have heard from actual psychics, this series is pretty close to reality, or (for you Scullys out there) at least what psychics claim to be real. My only problem is that this series runs the risk of getting old. There is no conflict between Melinda Gordon and her husband. Nor with Melinda and her best friend. They all just seem cool with it. Which is great for the character, but a missed opportunity for added drama. I like the tension between Allison and Joe on Medium, even though Joe does get a little carried away sometimes. Plus, if Melinda fails, someone doesn’t get a message from a passed on loved one. Sad, but not exactly as nail biting as the possible outcome if Allison Dubois fails a case on Medium.
So, Ghost Whisperer is a good psychic show with some very touching stories and with its current ratings, I would be surprised if it doesn’t return next season. But this show runs the risk of audience ADD if the writers aren’t careful. A similar fate that befell Joan of Arcadia could happen to this series if they aren’t careful.
By the way CBS has committed to a full season run of 22 episodes.
Threshold
(Marx gives it an B)
Threshold Episode Guide
Concept: “In the middle of the ocean, a cargo freighter makes a chilling discovery: an extraterrestrial craft has landed on earth. Enter Molly Anne Caffrey, recruited to await the planet's first contact, along with a carefully assembled team made up of a brilliant physicist with strong religious beliefs, a language and communications expert and a highly trained covert operative. Together they implement the long-gestating Operation: Threshold, charged with finding out the purpose of the landing and the fate of the ship's crew, and preparing for the worst-case scenario of an alien invasion.” (Official Description)
The pilot for this series was my second favorite out of these six series, but I think they may have given away too much info too soon. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want the X-Files or Twin Peaks version of a mystery (The Truth is Out There, but don’t worry you’ll never find it), but I like the Lost version of a mystery (We do have the answer, we promise, but we will tease you along the way). The Threshold writers decided to just give nearly all of it away with the pilot. This makes a strong pilot but potentially a weak series. For example, First Wave had a strong pilot, but the rest of the series was just the main character trying to foil the aliens’ plans, which got boring after awhile. Hmmm, Star Trek’s Braga is in charge of this and heaven knows that Star Trek: Enterprise rarely had any good plot twists or mysteries…could the B&B curse (short one B) hit Threshold too?
I hope not, because I really like this cast. Carla Gugino, as Molly Anne Caffrey, is great in this. So is Peter Dinklage, Robert Patrick Benedict, and the great Brent Spiner. Kudos on the creators on making a strong female character, but where are the other women? The cast just seems a little too male, especially with the egos from Arthur Ramsey and Nigel Fenway, and J.T. Baylock’s constant yelling (chill dude). Maybe they should throw in another woman. Perhaps Lucas’s finacee.
Oh and the thing that the cops did in the episode “Shock” was cheesy. What did she think she was accomplishing hiding the criminal from (what she thought was) Homeland security? How was she planning on hiding him when he went to trial? And how did she convice the other cops to go along? That could fly if this was an alien planet on Star Trek, but rings false in modern America.
So far the ratings have been good, but not great. CBS wants to look at some more scripts before committing. So, it’s 50/50 on whether we’ll see a season 2. Hey producers of Threshold! Add some more mystery, at least one more female character, some additional subplots, a big plot twist, and tighten the overall arc, and this series could get some feet on it. Oh, and CBS should think about moving it to different night. Sorry, but Scifi Friday rules the action/adventure SF niche for Fridays. Look how bad Star Trek: Enterprise faired on Fridays. Ghost Whisperer skews a different audience, but Threshold would appeal to many of the same people who love Stargate (alien threat and a modern day covert team fighting against it). But if they have to choose, you can bet they will stick with the 9th season of Stargate SG-1 and 2nd season of Stargate Atlantis. Please CBS, don’t make us choose. Be a uniter, not a divider.
Night Stalker
(Marx gives it an B)
Night Stalker Episode Guide
Concept: Crime reporter Carl Kolchak, determined to find out the truth behind his wife's mysterious murder, investigates other crimes that seem to have some kind of supernatural component. With sidekick Perri Reed, a skeptical reporter in tow, Kolchak will go to any lengths to answer his questions.
I’m a fan of the original show, but this reimagining is very, very different. Ok, not as different as the reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, but different nontheless. Stuart Townsend is great as Carl Kolchak, but I’m afraid the writers may have made him a little too cool. This Kolchak is younger, doesn’t have the funny hat, has a wicked car, and a very expensive house of glass for a home (what is up with that?). Ok, he is suspected of murdering his wife and no one wants to listen to what really happens on his investigations, but he does have a wicked car. As for Townsend’s co-star Gabrielle Union, she was a little weak in the pilot, but is starting to grow into her character.
The good: A talented cast, excellent directing, and good writing.
The bad: Too much like X-Files. The show hasn’t found its own unique voice. It just seems like this is Mulder and Scully as reporters instead of FBI agents. Oh, except they no longer have guns, the resources of the FBI, or the Lone Gunmen. But, they do have their own Jimmy Olsen.
This series has great potential, but needs to find its own identity. Only time will tell how this series pans out, but I have high hopes that they will pull it off.
Surface
(Marx gives it an B-)
Surface Episode Guide
Concept: Surface is an action-adventure drama from writers-directors Josh and Jonas Pate. The pilot was described as being in the vein of James Cameron's The Abyss and revolves around mysterious creatures deep in the ocean. The series centers on the discovery of a new form of sea life. Lake Bell (Boston Legal, Miss Match) plays the female lead, a marine biologist who discovers the creatures
Snore. I’m sorry, was I doing a review? This is how I feel when I watch this series. I’m sorry, are they trying to entertain us? The first episode of this series was one of the most boring pilots I have ever seen for an SF series. Part II was slightly better, perhaps NBC should have aired them together. The series has been getting better, but it still lacks something. Oh, and I hate series that do not give names to their episodes. I can see it now, “this reminds of episode 34 of Surface or was that episode 23…hmmm.” Yeah, give them names already! Ok, maybe I’m the only one who cares about that, but darn it, it annoys me.
I’m afraid that series is falling into the potential flaw of a series that doesn’t take the episodic approach. Lost and Battlestar Galactica have done this approach well, but look at how Point Pleasant flopped last year. The difference is, even though Lost and Battlestar Galactica have many ongoing plot lines, they always have a beginning and end of at least one of those story threads every episode. So, I can say “remember that episode of Battlestar Galactica where Starbuck got stuck on that planet or on Lost when we found out Locke’s big secret.” But series like Point Pleasant and Surface just seem to keep going and going. Stuff happens every episode, but it is hard to remember exactly what. I can handle that to a point, but the general American audience won’t stick with it.
Anyway, Surface’s cast just isn’t interesting enough for me, and the story of these underwater creatures just seems to be dragging. But, the scenes where ships are eaten or when people get sucked into whirlpools are cool, I’ll give them that. This series has been getting slightly better with every episode, so maybe it will surprise. But for now I have to say that this series is sunk, and I would be surprised if it makes it back for a round 2.
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Dungeons & Dragons 2: Wrath of the Bad Script & Terrible Special Effects
I saw the new D&D movie, Dungeons & Dragons 2: Wrath of the Dragon God, on the Scifi Channel over the weekend. It suffered from a very low Charisma score that could not keep me entertained. As a fan of D&D and other role-playing games (see http://www.roleplay.org/ if you don’t know what a role-playing game is), I was actually looking forward to this film. Unfortunately, the dream was better than the reality.
The Good:
Kudos for the references to D&D rule mechanics (the barbarian with the rage problem, the teleportation limitation, spell slots, and having a D&D style cleric). Even more Kudos for the clever introduction of the barbarian and the terrible, but yet slightly humorous, fate of the wizard’s familiar. Triple Kudos for the excellent acting skills of Mark Dymond as Berek and Clemency Burton-Hill as Melora who both somehow managed to pull off some terrible dialog, and somehow added depth to otherwise depthless characters. Ditto for Bruce Payne as Damodar. Damodar wasn’t written as badly as Profion from the first movie, but Damodar was nowhere near as cool as he was in the first film (although that wasn’t apparently the same character…now I’m confused).
The Bad:
The script for this sequel is poor. I actually liked the first film, in a sort of that’s campy but worth watching on DVD "kind of way." I would probably give the first film a C.
But this second film was less campy, but more booorriiinnnggg. I’ll take campy any day over a 2.5 hour television movie that moves at a snail's pace. Ok, I’m going to sound like a cliché, but where was the bad guy’s “motivation.” Damodar comes back to life and the first thing he wants to do is destroy everything and rule over its ashes? OK. And that darn Lich. A – it was cool that they added a major creature from D&D (plus they also had a Magmin), but B – I don’t understand why he did anything he did. The “I’m evil” excuse just really isn’t good enough.
I’m also confused by the script. It almost appears that the film was originally going to be tied directly into the first film, but then it got hacked to pieces. For example, Damodar (who has the same name and is played by the same actor as the character in the first film) apparently isn’t the Damodar from the first film. At first Damodar says he was turned into an undead due to a curse by his master which activated when Damodar died. That doesn’t conflict with the first film, but then we find out that this Damodar died by accidentally teleporting into a wall. So…apparently not Damodar from the first film. Not to mention, this Damodar fought like a wussy Halfling, so he is definitely not the same kick ass Damodar from the first film.
I also thought, at first, that the two main characters (Berek and Melora) were the two main characters from the first film years later. Not so, but they sure seem similar… Perhaps that had been the original plan.
It may be just me, but this whole film seemed like a game session converted into a script. It even had a random encounter...those pesky bandits. Although having a game session turned into a movie is cool in a fanboy sort of way, it doesn't really make for a very good movie.
The setting for this film is generic (why not use Krynn, Faerûn, or Eberron), the characters have no depth (unlike characters from many of the Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, or Ravenloft books), and the story is also generic. Why reinvent the wheel, when there are already so many great D&D stories and settings to draw from?
The Ugly:
The special effects weren’t very special. I’ve actually seen TV series with better special effects, so I’m not surprised that this film didn’t make it to the big screen. Plus the make up was so-so. The goblin looked terrible. The Lich wasn’t as bad, but it didn’t look anything like how a Lich usually is depicted in art from the books. They also did some funky graphics in the beginning that just didn’t come out quite right.
I give this film a D+. Fitting for a film named D&D I suppose. Sorry, D&D fans, but a D&D film should be, dare I say deserves to be, better than this.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Welcome!
Howdy world! I reckon I'm goin' to attempt to use this here "hi-tech" blog software to tell ya all about my thoughts on current SF news.
I must warn you... I have "online-itis." It is a disease that makes it impossible for me to post online without grammar and spelling errors. There is no cure. But please...don't pity me. People with online-itis can live healthy, awarding lives too.
To start, I'll post my two previous articles from my Scifi 411 site. Enjoy!
The 1st post: scifi411.com/Opinion/rambling1.html
The 2nd post: scifi411.com/Opinion/rambling2.html
I must warn you... I have "online-itis." It is a disease that makes it impossible for me to post online without grammar and spelling errors. There is no cure. But please...don't pity me. People with online-itis can live healthy, awarding lives too.
To start, I'll post my two previous articles from my Scifi 411 site. Enjoy!
The 1st post: scifi411.com/Opinion/rambling1.html
The 2nd post: scifi411.com/Opinion/rambling2.html
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