Batmobile Mania

Been writing a feature about Batman this afternoon and needed some Batmobile trivia so turned to the good old internet...

It didn't let me down. Batmobile History has entries on every single Batmobile from the comics, to the movies, to the cartoons... It even has fan made motors including this beast custom built by designer Chris Canole over a period of three years, using a 1974 Corvette base and a big block 454 Chevy Cheyenne engine.



Holy bat-nuts!

Land of the Dead Trailer

Romero. Zombies. Hopper.

It's the Land of the Dead trailer.

Nuff said!

The Ring

A day off sick meant I have lounged around on the sofa feeling sorry for myself. Also watched The Ring (US version) that my good mate P.T. bought for me for my birthday.

Must admit I was quite impressed with this remake - not quite as freaky as the original Japanese version but pretty darned chilling all the same. How spooky was that little lad? Brrrrrr. Good to see a hollywood film that isn't afraid to be bleak either.

I just love a good twisted ending...

Anyway, hopefully won't have too many nightmares tonight. She doesn't sleep you know...

The new super-suit

Ladies and gentlemen, here's what every Kryptonian will be wearing this season...



Hmmmm. I know they've tried to modernise it a bit but it looks so dated doesn't it, compared to the Fantastic Four or Batman. Also, he looks a bit wimpy doesn't he. You know you're getting old when Supermen start looking too young...

Bring back Dean Cain!!

Pick the Pope

So we have a new pope but how did they get to the decision?

Me old mate Carlton came up with this unique idea of how he was chosen...

Come on kids - play on the Titanic

One of the most tasteless playground attractions of all time?



Yes, it's an inflatable waterslide based on the sinking of the Titanic, manufactured by the China Inflatable Corp

What's next? A 9/11 bouncy castle? A Tsuami Wave machine? Answers on a postcard...

It's my birthday!

And apparently I share this date with David Tennant, the new Doctor Who so there you go...

Happy birthday David!

Carry on Barging!

Had a great surprise today. It's my birthday tomorrow so my Mum and Dad had arranged for a day on a narrow boat on the Kennet and Avon Canal.



Was sent on a magical mystery tour this morning and ended up driving (is that the right phrase) the boat down to Bradford upon Avon and beyond along with Clare, Mum and Dad and Clare's family.

There were a few sticky moments but we didn't sink.

What a fab day! Cheers Mum and Dad!

Doctor Who: Aliens of London

It's Doctor Who day again then...

Wasn't so keen tonight. There were some great moments - the crash obviously, and the stuff with Rose's Mum, the fantastic Penelope Wilton - but as I whole I just didn't enjoy it so much. The most annoying thing is that I just couldn't put my finger on it.

I even didn't mind the fart jokes or the rubbery monsters (although I can guarentee that they'll be the source of much merriment in the office on Monday). I must admit the Doctor waving for the cameras was a bit much though. It was entertaining but not such of a 'ride' this week...

Anyway, only two more weeks till 'Dalek"!

PS. I wonder how long it'll be before fans are accussing Russell T Davies of fattism?

Fancy a shrunken head?

Do you remember these ads from old comics... I know there are a few people I would like to do this to ;-)

Anyway there's loads of these wonderfully retro ads here.

David Tennant is the Doctor

And so it's finally been confirmed that David Tennant is the new Doctor Who. Sounds like a good move to me.



I've only met David a few times and the first time we met he was very nice about Project: Twilight which means I will obviously think he's brilliant forever.

Can't wait for the Christmas special to see him in action.

Constantine

Saw Constantine last night and have to say I wasn't impressed. It looked great and the scenes set in hell were fab but it just didn't have any edge. Both leads were duller than a dull thing on a particularly dull day (well what do you expect from Mr Reeves) and didn't have an ounce of urgency about them. Ooooh, the devil's son is going to be born on earth. Ah well, never mind. Yawn! And oh, yes, he's wearing black and white - looks a bit like the Matrix (another waste of celluliod of course). How clever!

A real missed opportunity...

Doctor Who 'Too Scary'

Now this seems right. The Times, along with a load of papers have printed stories today that said the BBC have received a number of complaints from parents that the new series of Doctor Who is too scary, with little 'uns all around the country having nightmares following Saturday's Unquiet Dead.

Just the way it should be...

The Beeb have even made an announcement that the programme is unsuitable for under eights. Mary Whitehouse would be proud!

Breasts... not what you expect from Doris Day

This story made me giggle earlier today...

A devout Baptist couple who bought a Doris Day DVD from a Sainsburies were surprised themselves watching a porno.
Alan and Anne Leigh-Browne, from Somerset, had been expecting to enjoy The Pajama Game.Instead they were confronted by Italian sex film - Tettone che Passione, which translates Breasts, What a Passion.

"Some topless young women appeared and started talking in Italian... it's not what you expect from a Doris Day film," Mr Leigh-Browne told the BBC. Indeed it is not!

But the couple did apparently watch it to the end, complaining that it had little in the way of plot...

Strange that!

Spit the socks

Is this the saddest auction in the history of ebay? Bob Carolgees sells his own old socks...

Keeping Megatron at Bay

DreamWorks is apparently keen for Michael Bay, the man behind Armageddon and Pearl Harbor, to direct the Transformers movie.

Now, Armageddon was pretty unwatchable and Pearl Harbour made me want to plunge forks into my eyes but I’m trying to keep an open mind…

… ish!

New Zombie Series

I like me zombies as you know, so I'm chuffed that a mate of mine, Eric Busby is producing a series of zombie audio plays that will be available for download for free on the interweb!

Here's the blurb:



The human race? Forget about them. Laid waste by the Great Catastrophe, the remnants of humanity fight for survival is a world scarred by a plague that causes the dead to walk again. Now, the zombie hordes add to their infernal ranks with every fresh victim.

Can a bold venture across the wastelands of the former United States of America hold the key to our salvation? Or does the future belong to the zombies?

Alive Inside: State of Grace

It sounds like good, old fashioned zombie action to me... Here's the link to the web site. There's not much to see about this particular project just yet but I'm told the undead start walking next month!

Speed Demon!

Super Hero Hype have revealed the hellish cycle from the upcoming Ghost Rider movie starring Nicolas 'Oops where's me hair-line' Cage. What's the betting every mag and newspaper uses the head 'Hot Wheels'... I know I would...

Grade Admits Mad Maggie told him to axe Doctor Who

This email has been doing the rounds and while I would love for it to be true, I think it might be a wee joke...

Tearful Grade Admits 1980s BBC Blunder - 'We Should Have Left Who Alone'!

BBC Media Release
11 April 2005, 8.00pm AEST

BBC Supremo Michael Grade, the man who tried unsuccessfully to kill of Doctor Who in the 1980s, fought back tears today as he admitted "we should have left this national icon alone".

It was a young Michael Grade who, at the height of economic rationalism, decided to pull the plug on Doctor Who in 1985, only to see the show limp on for another four years until its untimely dematerialisation from the airwaves.

Grade, now BBC Chairman, now concedes what a bone-headed decision this was. "I was a bit of a thick clot wasn't I", Grade said. "To think we played with the hearts and minds of a billion Doctor Who fans worldwide, when clearly it was Eastenders we should have axed".

Following the sensational ratings for the newly revived science- fiction series, the older and wiser Mr Grade has conceded what many industry insiders have been saying for a long time, is true. "Doctor Who truly is remarkable", wept a blubbering Grade. "I am now coming out of the closet to reveal that all along I have been the world's greatest Doctor Who fan".

"I only axed the show last time round because the old dear Maggie told me to", Grade revealed as he layed the blame solely and squarely at the door of former Prime Minister Thatcher. "That mad Tory government made the BBC do it, they made us - I fought tooth and nail to keep my hero on air, but alas, I failed".

Mr Grade has instructed his BBC underlings to expedite a new series and a Christmas special forthwith. "I intend to sign up the entire cast and crew, minus Chris of course, for a further 25 years", Grade enthused. "If I have anything to do with it, Doctor Who is here to stay!".

ENDS.

Media contact: channing@thenesteneplanet.com

Another Who Fan / Nutter

I'm always fascinated by the madder sides of Doctor Who fandom and I've stumbled on a doozy here. The writer of this website appears to think that Saturday's episode was racist. Apparently he was watching a different show to me. Unfortunately he also starts calling the writer names when his argument peters out.

Oh dear...

It's political correctness gone mad. If people are going to complain that evil aliens in sci-fi shows promote racist thought they had better a) remember that its silly escapism they're talking about not political debate and b) have a little lie down. The 'nice aliens turn up and then turn out to be nasty' is as old as the hills and won't go away, mainly cos it's a damn good one.

Calm down dear, it's only a TV series...

Robo-loo

Writing a feature for Jetix Mag and I found this...



This, apparently, is Shakeutron and I think it's just a bit of art. Well, I hope it is... What the heckity-heck are the hands for? On second thoughts, don't answer that!

Doctor beats Grand National

Blimey. Apparently Doctor Who got 8.9 million viewers last night which is more than the Royal Wedding or the Grand National. Well done doc...

New Batman Begins Poster

Still strangely unexcited about Batman Begins but love the new poster. Very gothic and very cool!



Click here for a big version

Doctor Who: The Unquiet Dead

So, let me get this right...

Here's a list of my very favourite things:
1. A Christmas Carol
2. Zombies
3. Victoriana
4. Ghost Stories
5. Doctor Who

If only they all came together. Oh, hang on - they just have.



The Unquiet Dead was my favourite new Who yet (OK, we're only on episode three but indulge me for a bit). Spooky, atmospheric and finally, with a proper plot. And it also had the fantastic moment of Dickens saying 'What the Shakespeare...' when faced with the unknown.

There was every chance I'd love a Mark Gatiss scripted Doctor Who and I wasn't disappointed.

And didn't next week look blooming exciting?

Wahoo!

Previous Episodes - The End of the World

Anime Review: Gungrave

I must admit I didn't expect much from MVM's latest release Gungrave as it's based on a rather unoriginal shoot-every-thing-in-sight PS2 game. Let's face it, games-into-cartoon experiments don't always work very well at all.

Wrong Mr Scott!

Gungrave proves that the impossible can be done. The first episode starts as you'd expect from an Anime series with oodles of mystery. A mysterious gunslinger, Grave, returns mysteriously from the, erm, grave in a mysterious lab and mysteriously fights off a mysterious bunch of monstrous nasties. And yes, our moody, silent anti-hero does what moody, silent anti-heroes do best and dispatches the bad guys with an avalance of style and not much in the way of chat. It's all distinctly 'ok' and pretty much what you expect. More of the same to come in the following episodes then?

Wrong again!

Episode two at first leads you to wonder if MVM have slipped in the wrong series. Yes the bizarrely jangly but atmospheric title sequence is the same but suddenly we've been dumped into the middle of a gritty, and plainly superb, gangster epic. With Grave acting as a narrator we watch as a group of young neer-do-wells dodge bullets and class with the mob with not a monster in sight. But in the back of our mind we're always waiting to see how the young Brandon and Harry of these younger days become the Grave and 'Bloody Harry' of the future events of episode one.

So a game spin-off with fab animation and a fascinating backstory. Who would have thunk it?

Queuing on the Dark Side!

You have to feel sorry for them. A group of Star Wars fans who have spent the last seven weeks queuing for the opening of the new film have been told they are camping outside the wrong cinema. D'oh!


Fans camping outside the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood have been told Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith will open on 19 May at the ArcLight cinema a mile away.
However, the pig-headed fans are refusing to move as they believe the news to be a trick to get them away from the front of the queue!

In for disappointment, they are as Yoda would say...

Eccles-gate

Will this story never end. The Beeb have apologised to Christopher Eccles-cake for revealing he was going to quit Doctor Who. Apparently there had been an agreement between them not to reveal the news he was leaving until later in the year. Then they even made up a statement from the man. Shocking.
Head of drama and commissioning Jane Tranter said: "Contrary to press statements Christopher did not leave for fear of being typecast or because of the gruelling filming schedule. The BBC is delighted by Christopher's performance as Dr Who. He has brought iconic status and contemporary vision to this classic role, reinvigorating it for a new generation of fans.

Quite right too. Now perhaps fans can calm down, stop treating him like a war criminal and remember we're supposing to be enjoying this new series!

New website

Launched my new look website this weekend - check it out here - It's a little empty at the moment but will blossom over the next few months.

One Website. One Conspiracy

One of the best thing about the new Doctor Who series (yes, I know I'm sounding obsessed. Forgive me) is the fab 'Who is Doctor Who' spoof website the Beeb is producing, posing as a conspiracy site.

My favourite bit this week is when they report the sound-feed cock-up that had the soundtrack of the Graham Norton BBC3 show play over the top of Doctor Who on BBC 1. According to the site 'We're being bombarded with proof of the supernatural. First it was killer dummies. Now millions of people are claiming to have heard a ghostly disembodied voice last weekend.
Was it a warning from Forces Unknown of that disaster that was about to happen? We will never know!"

Genius.

Now what's the betting someone stumbles upon this site and thinks it's real!

Dodgeball

Finally got around to watching Dodgeball: A true Underdog Story. What a fantastic film. Obviously it's fab cos it has Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn but there are two other reasons.

A) It's set in Vegas and anyone who knows me knows I love Vegas.
B) Come on. David Hasselhoff, Chuck Norris and The Shat in one movie. You have to be kidding me. I must have died and gone to cheesy actor heaven. All they needed to do was throw in Roger Moore and I would have exploded.

But bet of all it's lead me to realise that (unless I've fallen for a massive practical joke) Dodgeball is actually played in the states. It's a real sport. Check out The National Amateur Dodgeball Association. I was overjoyed to read that the Smurf Squad Jr's claimed victory in the Boy's 4th-6th Grade table of the NADA Indoor National Championships. Any team that can name itself after a group of small blue skinned pixies is OK with me.

I know I for one will be putting July 22 - 23, the date of the NADA Outdoor National Championship in my diary. And you should too!

So come on then, is there a UK Dodgeball association out there and where can you sign up. This could be all the excercise I need.

LET'S DODGEBALL!!!!!

Doctor Who: The End of the World

so what do I think of the second episode of Doctor Who then?



Well, it was much funnier than I thought it would be - I loved the fact that people of the future think that Britney Spears is an suitable soundtrack for watching the end of the world. A nice fluffy episode all round, so I wasn't expecting such great dollops of emotion such as the Doctor crying when we first discover that Gallifrey has been destroyed. It's obviously affected the poor soul, have we ever seen him so cold-hearted (or should that be cold-heartsed) when faced with his opponent's death. He could have stepped him but instead watches the villain die with a sneer on his face. Not the Time Lord of old then.

Liked this much more than episode one but have a suspicion that next weeks will be even better. Doctor Who works so damn well in period drama and from the trailer it looks so damned creepy.

Roll on The Unquiet Dead!

Frankenstein vs. Bambi

Did you know that the curly haired nipper who starred alongside Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff in 1939 provided the voice of Bambi three years later.

Apparently he has stopped appearing at conventions as he's bowled over by the passion of the fans.

Who what?

OK, I've said that certain Doctor Who fans are slightly nutty today (as am I for caring enough to write it perhaps) but there are a group of fans who, with too much time on their hands make their own creations. I shouldn't knock 'em because people like Gary Russell who produced fan Who stuff went on to become producers who have commissioned me (bless 'em)

But I can't help but like this fella who has colourised a load of the black and white Doctor Who images. You can find his site here. There's a strange charm to them.

I particularly like the second doc pics and the monsters

Awwwwww...

Movie Posters

There's a blog for everything now - If you like movie posters then I suggest you check out Poster Wire for chat about classic and new movie posters. It's fab.

Doctor Who fans go mad (no surprise there then)

So Christopher Eccles-cake has quit Doctor Who just after the BBC has launched the series. Ah well, thought I, still got 12 weeks of the fellow and then we get a new Doctor for 2006. Not so bad.

I expected some fans to be annoyed about this, a little miffed even. But I should have known better. There is more spleen being vented online than ever before.

So far this outburst on a fan forum (which has now been shut down for a few days so the fans can calm down a tad) is my favourite:

"Ten and a half million viewers, a bright future, a second series guaranteed, and he [Mr Eccleson] has to ruin it for everyone.

There was no need for this.

I adore his acting, but my opinion of him as a person has sunk lower than a cockroach.

When I THINK how hard we all fought back in the early nineties to try to save the show. When I THINK how we've suffered for sixteen years, and also really my opinion of the twelve years prior to that is public knowledge. When I THINK that we
after so so so so long had a return to the glory days and had something to celebrate,
yet this selfish individual has done his best to spoil it for everybody, MY BLOOD BOILS.

I put it to you all that he had no moral right whatsoever to take on this role, if he was gonna quit after thirteen episodes.

What a slap in the face and a betrayal of the trust that Russell placed in him.

And how unfair to Russell, who has been Doctor Who's messiah, in not only bringing the series back, but giving us a series worthy of being proud to be a fan.

If Eccelston cared at all, he wouldn't have even considerd quitting till at least two years had passed.

But NO, he's worried about his precious reputation.

DAMN HIM !!!!!!!!!!!

But after all the wonder and magic and brilliance and excitement and awe and thrills of topping the ratings, and joy at seeing posters everywhere, it just all seems so futile.

Why oh why oh why ???
I feel sick.
Please let it all work out in the end.
PLEASE LET DOCTOR WHO STILL HAVE A FUTURE.
PLEASE. "

Calm down dear, it's only a TV show.

And what's all this about 'suffering' for 16 years? People suffer when they loose their jobs, they suffer when their marriages break up, the suffer when they become ill. They do not suffer when their favourite TV show isn't on telly.

Some people need to get a grip. The man is an actor who has completed his contract and thought, nope don't want to do that anymore. He isn't a murderer or a rapist or anything nasty. He's just an actor. Breathe deeply and repeat that mantra ten times. Then remember that it's a TV series and enjoy tomorrows episode if you watch it.

Thanks you