Movie Review, Star Trek

I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed a star trek film as much as I enjoyed this one. I have nearly nothing bad to say about it. For what it was and what it was trying to accomplish, it was near perfect.

The casting for the film was fantastic. Growing up with a mother who was a Trekkie, it was fun to see these young actors recreate these roles. Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, AKA "Bones" was spot on! But what I was happy about the most was how true the stayed to the characters. The actors of course have a job of making a role their own, But they also need to remember why audiences love these characters and maintain that. And they sure didn't disappoint.

And of course the same type of humor that was used in the series was continued in the film, while keeping the series undertones flowing throughout the film.

There were a few moments in the film I thought were either poorly timed or not planed well. Scotty seemed to have appeared out of no where, like the writers were trying to fit him in the scirpt but couldn't figure out how. So they had him out in the middle of a frozen waisteland?

As much as I like Eric Bana as an Actor, I felt his character wasn't a great one...at least as far as evil people goes. His acent seemed to be a combination of a Texes Cowboy and and a American gang lord. But maybe that's what the director was going for!

Films and stories dealing with time travel have always confused the heck out of me. You first are dealing with the paradox of time, how can someone travel back in time and meet him or herself? It seem like it couldn't be physically possible. But thats the great thing about Sci-fi!

Now even though these three aspects of the film I wasn't particularly found of, it was still not enough to hinder my ability to enjoy the film. The script was well written, acting fantastic, special affects astounding, music wonderful, etc etc etc! I can say this with absolute certainty that anyone, sci/fi fan or not, can enjoy this film due to how entertaining it is. You'll find yourself laughing through 60 - 70% of it, and the rest you sit on the edge of your seats enjoying the thrill ride!

Go watch this film, it's worth your money! Read more...

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5 Quick Questions with Todd McFarlane

Todd McFarlane is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn.

McFarlane's first published work was a 1984 backup story in Epic Comics' Coyote. He soon began drawing for both DC Comics and Marvel, with his first major body of work being a two-year run (1985–1987) on DC's Infinity, Inc. In 1987, McFarlane also illustrated several issues of Detective Comics' Batman: Year Two storyline. From there, he moved to Marvel's Incredible Hulk, which he drew from 1987–1988.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, McFarlane became a comic book superstar due to his work on Marvel Comics' Spider-Man franchise. McFarlane then left Marvel with six other popular artists to form Image Comics, an umbrella company under which each owned a publishing house. McFarlane's studio, Todd McFarlane Productions, published his creation, the occult-themed Spawn. Spawn #1 sold 1.7 million copies, still a record for an independent comic book. Spawn was a popular hero in the 1990s and encouraged a trend in creator-owned comic book properties.

Todd McFarlane Productions has also published multiple Spawn spin-off mini-series, but, unlike other Image studios, such as Jim Lee's Wildstorm, McFarlane's studio was never intended to focus on being a comic book company, and had always intended to diversify into other areas,[citation needed] like the short lived Spawntastic Apparel, a T-shirt line. McFarlane increasingly concentrated his own personal attention to those other ventures, which resulted in irregular work as an illustrator. By 1994, he ceased to be the regular illustrator of his own "signature" book, and would only re-visit Spawn sporadically, or as a promotional stunt for the title.

That same year, McFarlane created McFarlane Toys. Its line of meticulously sculpted Spawn action figures changed the entire industry by focusing on more mature consumers and non-traditional action figure inspirations such as musicians. The company has licensed the right to produce action figures of athletes in all four major North American sports — baseball, hockey, football and basketball — and several recent, successful film franchises, including The Terminator, The Matrix and Shrek. He has also created figures of rock musicians, including the members of Kiss, Jim Morrison, and Jimi Hendrix and toys related to video games, like Halo 3.

In recent years, McFarlane has illustrated comic books less often, focusing on entrepreneurial efforts, such as McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio. In September, 2006, it was announced that McFarlane will be the Art Director of the newly formed 38 Studios, formerly Green Monster Games, founded by major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling. McFarlane used to be co-owner of National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers but sold his shares to Daryl Katz. He's also a high-profile collector of history-making baseballs.



He agreed to answer 5 Quick Questions

1) What would you say is your greatest achievement in comics?

Probably putting personally touches Spider-man into the new world, currently getting to be one of founding fathers of image comics. Getting to a point where one of the character there, Spawn, is heading towards his 200th issue, as a independent comic book. I guess making an impact in mainstream comics & independent comics.

2) Who was your favorite writer or artist that you worked with & why?

Artistically without a doubt it’d be Greg Capullo. I believe he’s one of the true unsung heroes of comic books. Not only currently, but in the history of comic books. There are handful of guys that I think that are tremendous, tremendous artists that don’t get their due, because of guys like me, happen to be a bit more flashy. A little more glittery. Skill wise, storytelling wise, nowhere as near the skill level of some of the people that are put in the shadows of our popularity. From a writing point of view I would say that Brian Bendis did a nice run on Sam & Twitch. I wasn’t the artist on it. It was Angel Medina, but Brian Bendis did a nice run on Sam and Twitch for a couple of years.

3) What character you have never worked .., would you like to do & why?

I would have like to have done more with Batman. Again, Batman is sort of a cool guy. Kind of falls in the same vain as Spawn. I sort of used to tackle each character as brand new & fresh, when I took him over artistically. Even though I might not have personally have liked them, I found elements that made them interesting, once I got on board. I always felt I could take any character and 4 or 5 months, fall in love with them. Just based on the aspect on what it is that makes them that character. I can’t say I have a hankering for any single character I know right now.

4) Who are your influences?

Artistically, when I first started in comics, guys like John Bryne, Frank Miller, George Perez, Michael Golden. But then later on I because aware of some of the old guys that were fantastic. The guys that sort came before all of us. Guys like, obviously, Jack Kirby, the King. Gil Kane, who you can see a lot of his stuff in mine. Even guys like Russ Heath, John Buscema, Alex Toth. More for storytelling, not so much about style. In terms on how they tell stories. They made it dramatic and big and fantastic.

5) What hero or villain would you like to change if you could and why?

You know it’d probably be someone like the Penguin or even somebody like Red Skull. Some of the guys that seem they been sort of passive of late, that I think, that you do a lot more sinister with them. The Penguin is always the short little fat guy that you go “how’s he ever going to be threat to Batman. But I think that done right, and there are petty of writers that could do it right, that you could make the Penguin very formidable that he was on par with the Joker, if you actually wanted to spend the time on him.

Check out Todd at his website at http://spawn.com/

Brian Isaacs
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I.M.O. Review of Star Trek: Crew #3 (IDW Publishing) By Eddie R.

Continuing the mission.

When it comes to Star Trek stories, especially ones dealing with the Original series, or even more to the specific, Pre- TOS, one has to keep in mind that there were usually 3 types of story plots. Either it was hostile Aliens, a hostile planet, or my personal favorite, a hostile computer or Androids. Now, these plots were used in any combination in order to achieve a delicate balancing act between telling a good story, with lots of action, suspense, and usually a moral, with a positive outcome at the end. It must be very hard to juggle this type of story, because you don’t really want to sound too preachy, nor do you want the story to become bogged down with so much techno talk, where people will tune out, and move on to something which is easier to get their heads around. I am so glad that none of this is the case.



I.M.O. John Byrne’s Star Trek: Crew #3 continues to be one of the best written Trek comics currently out there. This issue opens with our female Ensign, now promoted to rank of Lieutenant, and well on her way to becoming the Future Number One aboard the U.S.S Enterprise, currently serving aboard the U.S.S Ventura.

On this mission, The Lieutenant’s landing party transports down to investigate what seems to be another failed human colony, but they soon discover a deserted 1960’s small rural American town in pristine condition, but minus one thing: people. As the story unfolds, we get a fast paced adventure involving all 3 types of plotlines I mentioned before, but so well balanced that we even get a bit of a history lesson concerning a certain Eugenics war, mixed in for an added bonus.

As usual, the visuals are stunning, making the ship and the era which this story takes place in, feel right. Once the outcome of this mission is resolved, our Lieutenant finally gets the commendation she has been seeking since the first issue, allowing this story to come full circle.

But as any Star Trek fan knows, every ending like this is just the beginning of a new adventure.

9/10

Eddie R.
Review Editor. Read more...

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