Digested Digest #11 (8-8-98) ----Contents---- 1.) OMEGA's Ramblings 2.) Web Site Showcase 3.) Anime: My Dear Marie Review 4.) Sailor Moon Number One 5.) Wanderers Vol. 7 Card Problem 6.) X-Files Season 6: Episode 3 (Spoilers) 7.) Entertainment News 8.)Crisis On Infinite Earths #4.5 (Spoilers) 9.) Wizard's Top 21 Truisms (1-21-98) 10.) LOSH AOL Chats 7-28, 7-30, 8-4, 8-6 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 1.) OMEGA's RAMBLINGS Well, August 5 and 6, 1998 have passed and it looks like Nostrodamus was wrong about the 'Aliens on TV thing.' I must say my friend, Kaneda, said it best in our chat with… >>In DD#1 I put a prophesy of Nostrodamos that concerns this very year. In fact the very time table is set to happen August 6-7, 1998. And this concerns a person who will be driving and see a UFO with alien beings outside it. He will grab his video camera and tape it all. Within a matter of days this film will be on every news show there is.<< hmm dum dee dum... OH MY GOD! A UFO! Luckily, I always have my trusty Sony A/R HandyCam with 30X Zoom, Sidescreen Viewfinder and SteadyShot by my side! WHOOHOO! 20 straight minutes of non-blurry high-definition extraterrestrial video! .....Nostradamus was right. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 2.) Web Site Showcase Zentertainment http://www.zentertainment.com -One of the many places to go to get the info you need when you need it. -Every type of news there is, box office figures, news, reviews, previews, and tons more. -You can join their GREAT weekly newsletter about entertainment. -They also have Movie Trailers and other cool things. Definitely worth a look. Sailor Moon SOS http://oei.physics.sunysb.edu/sos/ -THE main information base for the group that Saved Our Sailors. -Tons of information about the show, tons of great programming, links, article archive, dates and times, and tons more. -Part of the whole 'Ming' Sailor Moon Empire, which consists of the Sailor Moon ML, kidde pages, downloads, and TONS more to even mention….plus other great anime shows. -Truly a place to go back to time and time again. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 3.) Anime: My Dear Marie Review MY DEAR MARIE A.D.V., 90 min, Subtitles $29.95 This could be another of those easily overlooked titles like Dragon Half. Without a Dubbed counterpart many people will probably overlook this gem of a OAV series. The video comes complete with all 3 OAV episodes on one tape with 2 promotional trailers (A.D.V.'s own music video promo, and The Japanese Live Music Video promo for the Album of the ending theme.) So what is so special about this Anime? Well, in agreeance with Animerica Vol. 6 #7's analogy, I must say this show is similar to "Weird Science with a twist." But the concept of an android s the only thing similar between the two. In the first episode we meet our nerdy scientist, Hiroshi, who desperately wants a companion. So he picks out the girl of his dreams and creates her in his lab. But, in a twist Marie is up and questioning her existence even before her creator wakes up from a long night in the lab. And things get a little too close for comfort when Marie befriends her body model on the Tennis Courts. And what happens when a friendly bet is placed on a match between the two girls? The next episode deals with a woman who fights for money who just so happens to fall in love with Hiroshi. This is the action episode with an underlying mystery. The third and final episode deals with Marie getting and upgrade so she can dream. And what insues is a very funny and off the wall episode filled with 'What If' situations with alternate scenes from the previous episodes. And if you can't get enough of the show then there is the Manga series which is serialized in Japanese in "Weekly Young Jump" magazine (3X3 Eyes and Ghost In the Shell). But you wont find it in English. Overall this is a great series. ADV did a pretty good job with the Subtitling, although a few lines are rushed. This is a great diversion from all the other Anime on the market. Contains slight Android Nudity and Mature Situations. Parental Guidance Suggested. ------------------------------------------------ 4.) Sailor Moon Number One The Cartoon Network reports that "Sailor Moon" is the number one rated series in its Toonami block of programs and performing far better than they had expected. Congratulations to fans who helped get new viewers to try out the show! (Try and get even more "newbies"!) The series started out with its predictably low ratings but increased week after week until finally settling into a comfortable position. This is especially impressive since the show is scheduled in the worst time slot of the block. (There are more viewers available later in the afternoon, though there is more competition then.) Advertisers have been delighted with the results. The Cartoon Network is currently available in 60% of all U.S. homes with television. ~Source: http://dau.physics.sunysb.edu/~ming/sos/index.shtml But on a BAD note there is No Deal On "Sailormoon-S" Television Series. For this story please follow this link…. http://dau.physics.sunysb.edu/~ming/sos/sms-report1.html ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5.) Wanderers Vol. 7 Card Problem Pioneer has currently become aware that there was a packaging problem with Wanderers #7. This particular tape should have included 2 cards instead of just 1. In order to fix this problem, Pioneer has asked that customers who bought tape #7 please mail in the following: 1) The sticker which stated that the card was inside the box 2) A photocopy of the front of the video cover to verify that there was a sticker and which volume was purchased Please send the information to: Pioneer Entertainment Card Fix! PO BOX 71309 Des Moines, IA 50325 ~Source: kris@rightstuf.com ------------------------------------------------------------------ 6.) X-Files Season 6: Episode 3 Mild spoilers------------- I don't have a name yet, but this is gonna be CC's gimic episode for the season much like PMP was last season. It's said to take place “real time” i.e. the time frame that the episode takes place in will be 43 minutes. One set, one camera. No cuts in time meant to escalate tension. Autumn ~Source: X-Files Digest V5 #2204 -Sounds like What ER did on their Season Opener. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 7.) MOVIE NEWS Freddy Vs. Jason -- 1999 It's Friday the 13th on Elm Street as two of the most malevolent and wildly popular horror characters in cinematic history face-off for the ultimate showdown. Freddy finally matches wits with Jason in a modern-day clash that will rival the legendary battles between Frankenstein and the Wolfman, and Godzilla versus Rodan. Academy Award-winning special effects wizard Rob Bottin directs this tribute to terror produced by Sean Cunningham (the original Friday the 13th, Jason Goes to Hell - The Final Friday). PSYCHO Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy Directed By: Gus Van Sant Synopsis: Rumored to be using the original script, this scene-by-scene remake of the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock classic was directed by Gus “Good Will Hunting” Van Sant and features Vince Vaughn as Norman Bates, Anne Heche as Marion Crane, Julianne Moore as Lila Crane, William H. Macy as Sheriff Chambers and Viggo Mortensen as Sam Loomis. The original was based on a novel by Robert Bloch and told of a young woman who, fed up with the inequities of life, hits the road with money her employer had trusted her to bank. Tired after a long drive, she exits off the main highway and pulls into the Bates Motel where she is greeted by a quiet young man who seems to be dominated by his mother. The events that follow, including a shower scene and the infamous house overlooking the Bates Motel, are “carved into the collective memory of two generations of movie-goers.” 12/11/98 PARAMOUNT STAR TREK 9 P. Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton Directed By: Jonathan Frakes Synopsis: The ninth entry in the “Star Trek” motion picture franchise finds Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) saving the Federation from itself. Standing alone to protect a magical colony of beings from annihilation, Picard's enemies include a new race known as the Son'a, a group of strange aliens who will do anything they can do to steal the “magic” of the colony. Picard also becomes involved with a woman (Donna Murphy) from the colony who shows him remarkable new ways of perceiving the world. Returning cast members include Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker, Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data, Marina Siritis as Counselor Deanna Troi and LeVar Burton as Commander Geordi LaForge. Newcomers include F. Murray Abraham as the villainous Ru-fao and Anthony Zerbe as Star-fleet Admirable Daughterty. To date, the series has grossed over $642.0 in the U.S. and Canada. THE WIZARD OF OZ Re-Issue (12/25/98 - WB) Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley Directed By: Victor Fleming Synopsis: This perennial family classic, first released in 1939, features Judy Garland as an 11-year- old schoolgirl who dreams of going to a trouble-free world. That opportunity comes after a tornado rips through Kansas and she awakens in the land of Oz. Slipping on a pair of ruby slippers and setting her sights on the Emerald City, where she hopes to find the Wizard who will send her home, she embarks on a magical journey down the Yellow Brick Road. Upon its initial release: “And because it deals with Make-believe, production boundaries have given way to new approaches in sets, costuming and conception which makes ‘Oz' a beautiful thing to behold in Technicolor. Merit on every account is present, but, despite it all, the answer on acceptance rests with the public. If there is any justice, however, ‘Oz' should be, and may be, a roaring success.” 4/99 - WB - GREEN MILE 5/99 - FOX - STAR WARS EPISODE 1 5/28/99 - PARAMOUNT - BEAVIS & BUTT HEAD 2 7/99 - WB - DEEP BLUE SEA 7/2/99 - WB - THE WILD, WILD WEST 8/99 - WB - LIBERTY HEIGHTS Special Thanks to STARMAN ( starman@surfsouth.com ) for getting all that to me. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 8.) DC COMICS: Crisis On Infinite Earths #4.5 “Penciler Paul Ryan, who recently completed illustrating the new 54-page “lost chapter” of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, written by the original maxi-series author Marv Wolfman and to be released in conjunction with this winter's Crisis hardcover collection, gave us a further peek into the story that's off-handedly being referred to as CRISIS #4.5. According to Ryan, “the story picks up with Flash (Barry Allen) in the future facing the destructive force of the Anti-Monitor. He stills his internal vibrations and slips back to the 20th century. When George Perez did this sequence he had Barry start to vibrate just before vanishing. Considering that he was supposed to be vibrating all along, I thought this a bit strange. I handled it differently. “Where our story diverges from the original mini-series, Barry ends up taking a side journey to the 20th century of an alternate world. There he encounters an alternate Flash and an alternate Justice League...a League that is definitely out of its depth in handling such a cosmic threat. Their world is just beginning to be affected by the machinations of the Anti-Monitor. Flash sends Pariah to Earth-1 to bring reinforcements. Here we deal with heroism, sacrifice, and how the Earth-1 heroes deal with the fates of their dopplegangers. How they react, how they deal with these events makes the original issues that followed (#s 5-12) all the more poignant. Mike (Carlin) and Marv were quite pleased with the way it turned out. I'm just tired.” ~ This is all from Newrama.... Walid Koussa LSHML ------------------------------------------------------------------ 9.) Wizard's Top 21 Comic Book Truisms (1-21-98) The staff of Wizard jotted down a few things that always seem to be true in comic books. Here are our Top 21 Comic Book Truisms. 1. Superman, who has been known to outrace the Flash, never uses this super-speed to defeat a bad guy. 2. The Avengers, FF, and X-Men are always out of town whenever Spider-Man is getting his butt kicked in downtown Manhattan. 3. Anyone who has a super power also has the power to make a costume better than any Wizard staffer could ever hope to make for their Halloween party. 4. Any superhero that flies automatically knows how to get from New York to any point on the globe (without use of a compass or a map). 5. We never see super heroes use the toilet. 6. Criminals must always reveal, in detail, their nefarious plans before killing (or attempting to kill) a hero. 7. A new criminal must always reveal his or her full origin to a hero before killing him. 8. No super team can have the same exact membership for over 2 years. And one member must always be a renegade or a traitor. 9. Characters never eat at restaurants, unless the restaurant is the setting for an upcoming battle. 10. If you are a superhero with a girlfriend, expect to save her from your enemy's evil plot every two months. 11. You will always have new clothes and food without having to shop for them. 12. Reporters are always at the scene of a crime or battle to speak to the hero(es) involved afterwards. 13. For some strange reason, big things always seem to happen in months where your issue hits #25, #50, #100, etc. 14. There is a limitless supply of hired goons, Hydra henchmen, etc. Some people seem to choose “henchmen-ing” as a career. Wonder how that pays....? 15. Every dock or pier has an abandoned warehouse. And it's always foggy there at night. 16. Every woman in comics looks better than Cindy Crawford, is smarter than Pascal and is roughly as brave as Nick Fury. 17. When two heroes from different companies meet, a fight is inevitable. 18. All alien invasions, regardless of the force or technology of the aliens, will be resolved in less than 3 issues. 19. That damned Moon Knight will always manage to get a new series. 20. Every alien somehow knows how to speak English. 21. No super heroines wear an “A” cup bra. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 10.) LOSH AOL Chats 7-28-98, 7-30-98, 8-4-98. 8-6-98 Jeff Moy was the guest on America Online's Legion of Super-Heroes chat for Tuesday, August 4, 1998. Tom McCraw was the guest on Legionnaires Chat for Thursday, August 6, 1998. Legion of Super-Heroes Chat takes place every Tuesday in the DC Comics Online area of AOL at 6:00 PM EST. Legionnaires Chat is held every Thursday in the same area at 10:00 PM EST. (Keyword: CHAT DC.) Regular guests include Tom McCraw, Jeff Moy, Ron Boyd and Mike McAvennie. Thanks to T. Troy McNemar who originated the Legion Chat Reports; so much of the format of these writeups was derived from his hard work. DISCLAIMER: I can't guarantee the reliability of this report. Essentially, the Legion chats involve about twenty-five fans shouting repeated questions to the creators. The creators are sometimes unable to answer questions thoroughly or clarify their responses. As a result, misinterpretations may occur on my part. SPOILERS: Information that spoils current or upcoming issues is found toward the end of this report. There's no spoiler space to separate such info from the more general comments. SUBSCRIPTIONS: To subscribe to these chat reports, send an e-mail to “majordomo@mlists.com” with the message “subscribe lsh-chats”. To unsubscribe, send the message “unsubscribe lsh- chats” to the same address. PLUGS: To subscribe to Lev Kalman's humorous LSH pics, send an e-mail to “majordomo@mlists.com” with the message “subscribe lev-pics”. You'll get a new cartoon e-mailed to you about once every two weeks. To browse this fan's STARMAN website, visit http://users.aol.com/nachro2/starhome.htm Finally, for all your LSH online needs, check out the Legion of Super-Resources at http://www.idyllmtn.com/rac/dc/lsh/lsh_res.htm A BIG THANKS: To Scott Bierworth for logging the August 4th chat. =========================: Jeff likes the cover sketches done by upcoming L* cover artist Chris Sprouse. While Tom is recoloring all of the CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS reprint, he isn't coloring the recently announced new extra chapter (by Marv Wolfman and Paul Ryan). Jeff's pinup of the entire Legion appears in October's LEGENDS OF THE DCU 3-D GALLERY. Tom got to color it and likes it better than some of the others he had to work on. Jeff joked that he included every member to ”drive the 3-D guys nuts.” The upcoming TPB is called LSH: NEW HORIZONS and should be out late next year, according to collections editor Jim Spivey. He said it would contain ”the first few issues.” While it was reported previously that every issue up to L* ANNUAL #2 would be reprinted, it wasn't clear if that's still true. But Tom did say the book would have at least the Planet Hell arc, and would be “very thick.” Spivey also said that the Archives have a healthy run ahead of them, and will continue reprinting classic Legion in consecutive order. Volume 9 will finish the ADVENTURE run and begin the ACTION issues. In L* #65, Cham has some matters to settle on Durla and has some brief interaction with Ayla. Jeff has to draw a lot of robots somewhere on pgs. 7-14 of L* #68. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Next week, Tom starts recoloring CRISIS #11. Editor Mike McAvennie has told Jeff some ideas for L* #75, but Jeff won't say what yet. Jeff also won't divulge much on his own idea for a Legion of Super-Pets proposal, just that he envisions it as two issues and not a mini. Tom offered that something happens to Brainy in the next L*. Charma will appear soon, but Jeff still wouldn't confirm whether she was Lyle's ‘C.' He also said another ‘C' suspect, Condo Arlik, is supposed to appear Middle Eastern in the postboot. There are plans for the return of Catspaw. Lori will get the H-Dial back soon. Some upcoming stories include a spotlight on Cos and a fight with a JLA villain. The villain isn't Amazo. Tom had just finished plotting L* #69, which sees the return of two preboot Legionnaires. Tom has recently decided to color the new chapter for the CRISIS hardcover; he's started with a couple pages. The new material takes place between CRISIS #4 and #5 and is written by Marv Wolfman with Paul Ryan on pencils. It takes place on an Earth we've never seen before. He thinks there are too many characters in this story, but it does include Dawnstar. What Tom will probably leave in B&W is the pencilled-only second story in CRISIS #10; he noted it's looking blurry and expects it to be improved upon. Tom doesn't know how much the hardcover costs, or if there will be a TPB. Maybe a poster will be printed of the new George Perez/Alex Ross cover, whose original art is the size of a door, Tom said. -- Alex Tam goldie@intergate.bc.ca; Nachro2 on AOL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for Reading. ^_^ OMEGA's VANISHING POINT (the gateway to all of my pages) has been upgraded and now sports a 'Side-Bar' which gives you access to all of my pages from Rip Hunter to Oh My Goddess! To Digested Digest. So check it out if you got some extra time. And tell me what you think. You won't be disappointed!!! http://welcome.to/vanishing.point/ -Send all submissions, Web Site Showcases, Subscribe, Unsubscribe, and flames to ablarnold@msn.com "Until the next time, may the winds be with you."