Shadow Raiders Reflections before 15th Anniversary

It’s been a few years since I have talked about the TV show ReBoot. I did a post on it when I heard the announcement of the entire series being released on DVD. I was very excited as this was one of my childhood shows that I watched a ton growing up. There were three shows that were done using computer animation that I watched and loved. ReBoot was the first one, then there was Beast Wars, which came out on DVD two years ago as well, and it was about three months after I got ReBoot. Then the last one was Shadow Raiders.

To explain a bit more about me, I lived in Canada for quite some time, and when I lived there,  there were a few TV channels that I would watch, the big one was YTV that contained a lot of the big kids shows, and also some of the older ones that were still fairly popular. YTV was where I caught those three computer animated shows, as they were all produced by a Canadian company called Mainframe Entertainment. Therefore I got plenty of exposure to their works. This was how I became aware of Shadow Raiders when it was first released. Which first aired on YTV on September 16, 1998. The show lasted for 26 episodes.

To give you a history lesson on Shadow Raiders, it was first a toy line, just like Beast Wars: Transformers. Shadow Raiders was based on the toy line entitled War Planet. They were these little planets that would open up and you would have a station in them that had little men that you could play with. Think of Mighty Max if you have ever heard of that and you have the idea of the toy line. It had some cool things to it, but I only had one of them.

Anyway, I first saw a preview for it on TV and realized it was done by the same people that did ReBoot and Beast Wars, and since I really liked those shows, I knew that I was going to like this one as well. I got a blank VHS tape out (which was refered to as a video tape back then, DVD wasn’t popular yet) and set the timer to record the first episode. I remember sleeping in my basement in my home and watching the first episode with no sound, as the TV was mainly left on at that point just as picture noise to help me sleep, but the visuals were really cool that I really was curious about the dialogue that went along with it. When I woke up the next morning, I rewound the tape and watched the whole episode (with sound nonetheless) and I was hooked.

To give you a symopsis of the show, it was about four planets (Ice, Rock, Fire, Bone) that were divided and would steal resources from one another. This was done so each planet could survive, as each one had something of value. This had gone on for many years. All things change when the Beast Planet arrives. Planet Tek is destroyed by the Beast Planet, and Tekla of the planet goes out to warning star systems near her home world to warn them of the threat of the Beast Planet. She lands on Planet Ice, where she is in the middle of raid by the people of Rock to get the Ice off the planet. She eventually warns Graveheart, a miner from Planet Rock, and King Kryos of Planet Ice about the Beast Planet. They realize that they must get to all the planets to unite them.

You may think that they unite perfectly and things are all good, actually there are many different complications. Ahead are a few spoilers for the show, in the second episode, Graveheart and Kryos try to warn Planet Rock about the threat of the Beast Planet, but Lord Mantle, the leader of the planet, refuses to join forces with the other planets, and he doesn’t join for another 11 episodes, it isn’t till episode 13 where Planet Rock joins the Alliance. There are also many other complications like the leader of Planet Bone ditches everyone in battle, and his forces retreat with him. The biggest shocker is when Planet Fire is actually destroyed by the Beast Planet, and the people of Fire end up living on one of the battle moons of Planet Rock. So this show doesn’t really have that, “everything is great and everyone lives happily ever after”. There are things that happen that never get fixed, characters that die, etc. Were there flaws, of course, but I was able to check out the whole series again about a year ago, and it brought back all the nostalgia of when I first watched it. Even appreciated a lot of the story elements in the show.

Why do I share all of this with you? Well, this September marks the 15^th Anniversary of when the show first aired. I was hoping to hear of a DVD release of the whole show by now, but nothing, I am happy to have ReBoot and Beast Wars, but was also hoping to add Shadow Raiders to my collection. My hope with the 15^th Anniversary is to hear of a DVD release. Keep in mind they have released it in the past, but they are long out of print, and it isn’t a DVD set, but different volumes. It would be awesome to have a DVD release to accommodate with the Anniversary, and maybe a few new extra features about the creation of the show. I believe that there are many fans out there that would want to get the whole series on DVD, and maybe some that would re-buy the entire series for a new DVD edition. This was an important show in my childhood and I would hate to see it disappear into nothing. This is my call for any distributors that are reading this to consider getting the rights for the show and get a new edition of the DVD out soon. This is a big piece of my childhood for me, and I am sure there are many that feel the same.

Teaser for How To Train Your Dragon 2 released

How often do you get excited for a sequel? We have so many of them this day. Even to ones that we probably don't even really want sequels to, like Grown Ups 2 that has arrived this weekend. I enjoyed the first one, but don't see the purpose in really having a sequel to. There are even movies that shouldn't have had a sequel, like all the Direct to Video Disney Sequels. However, we live in a culture that really wants sequels to many movies made. There are ones that we expect sequels to like Iron Man, Star Trek. Even everyone was expecting a sequel to a sequel already made, The Dark Knight. Sequels bring in big bucks, so why not, in the minds of the producers.

There are many sequels that can really build on the first movie, for example Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. There are some that can be just better than the first, like Toy Story 3 (at least in my opinion). Some won't even do anything really different, like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Regardless of what a sequel does, there is no denying that it will bring in big bucks, just look at Despicable Me 2, that made more it's first weekend than the first did when it opened. By the way, if you haven't had the chance to see Despicable Me 2, it is definitely worth seeing.

Yes, we live in a sequel dominated culture right now, even many movies that are coming out right now also have a potential to be a first for sequels down the road, like Man of Steel. But regardless of the opinion of too many sequels, we will have a few that stand out that we must see. One of those for me is How To Train Your Dragon 2. This is one of those that I am really looking forward to. I really loved the first one that came out years ago, and is one of my favorite movies within the last few years. They just released a teaser for the movie and it is enough to get me excited for the new one, and is a really awesome. If you want to see the teaser, just click on the link below. 

Click here to view the teaser for HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2

Yeah we have a lot of sequels, but there are sequels that are worth it. And this one looks like it will be worth it. I don't know how many of you will agree, but I hope that you take a moment to view this awesome teaser.

Will Man of Steel bring in new fans for Superman

The last time that a Superman movie graced the screen was 7 years ago with Superman Returns. Superman has been a fairly popular superhero, but for me he has never been one that has stood out. The biggest reason is the costume. The style and the color never seemed to draw my attention. He looked like a bland superhero. Because of this, he was never one superhero that I was interested in checking out. I saw a few of his appearances here and there, but never felt drawn to check more of him out.

With that said, that could easily change with Man of Steel arriving in cinemas next week. They have given the character a modern update, with the costume going with a different modern look, and giving it a texture that seems rather cool in my opinion, and it ditches the underwear on the outside, which I never seemed to find appealing in superheros. I feel that they have modernized Superman by doing all this, and this helps for Superman to gain new fans.

The other thing that will help is that Christopher Nolan is the producer, who has worked on the Dark Knight Trilogy, which all those movies are great, and with everyone already impressed with how he dealt with the reboot of Batman, then they will want to know how he will deal with the reboot of another iconic superhero. The rest of the team is impressive as well. Also, there was an epic trailer that was released a couple of months ago that really gained attention. You can view that trailer by clicking here.

With everything that I have seen from Man of Steel, I am already very interested in seeing this new reboot of the franchise and will definitely catch it opening weekend, and maybe even the midnight showing. I even feel that this reboot will get new fans and possibly may help them want to go back and check out some of Superman's former adventures. I may look up a bit myself. Keep in mind, that this is all my opinion on the character in the past, feel free to share your thoughts.

Prayers go out to victims of Colorado shooting

I think it's despicable that someone would come in and disrupt the lives of many that are just trying to enjoy a movie. The midnight showing should be the most exciting event for movie fans, including myself. I love going to movies at midnight, mainly the big movies such as this. It is a great experience to have eager movie fans join and celebrate the joy of the experience before everyone else has the chance to see it.

For those that don't know what happened, a patron bought his ticket and entered the theater, and then took the emergency exit, propped it open and came back as the movie was starting, he was armed and had a gas mask on, and then started firing at everyone in the theater, as well as throwing gas bombs. 12 were killed and about 49 more were injured. It was a true tragedy. I have a hard time believing that someone would be this senseless to commit such a despicable crime. The guy's name was James Holmes. H was dressed up in a way that others wouldn't suspect him for anything.

My prayers go out to those that have lost loved ones in this horrible shooting, and also those that have been injured that they may have a speedy recovery.

I would also like to make a statement. Yes, this was a tragic event, but this should not stop us from going to the movies. That includes the movie, "The Dark Knight Rises", Which is an excellent movie that is a must see. Don't let terrorist attacks or anything of that matter keep you from living. If you let fear get the best of you, then the terrorists have won.

10 Days till Dark Knight Rises

Well, we are now less than 10 days away till The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters and IMAX. It's that time to get your tickets for the midnight showing, or the showing that weekend. I would suggest you get your tickets soon because you never know, they could be sold out soon, especially for a midnight showing. As for me, I am going to a 3:30 am showing on Friday morning, that's right, it is at an IMAX. In my opinion, this will be a massive movie, and the way to experience it the first time around is to go to the biggest screen possible to experience it. So I will drive about 45 minutes to get up to my nearest IMAX theater to see this, to honor the huge experience. I recommend anyone of you to see it on the IMAX. Why not finish this epic trilogy by seeing it on the biggest screen possible.

Well, besides that, this has been the one movie that everyone has been looking forward to since the end of The Dark Knight 4 years ago. To prepare for this grand experience, here is a list of questions to think about and to get one speculating before entering the theater. As well, I will share some thoughts on some of the questions. Feel free to share your ideas as well, I am open for possibilities, but if any of you have already seen the movie for some odd reason, please don't spoil.

Is Batman still being hunted and considered a criminal? I am pretty sure it’s safe to assume so. At the end of The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent was killed after going around killing cops that were responsible for the death of his girlfriend, and Batman decided to keep his madness a secret and put the responsibilities of the deaths on his soldiers. It is pretty safe to assume that Batman basically went into hiding, because there is an 8 year gap between the events of The Dark Knight and this new movie. If you have watched the trailers, which I am sure you have, you will have witnessed an older Bruce Wayne who seems a little worn out, and is spotted with a cane. Why is he worn out, what has happened?

Who is John Blake? To give you an idea who this is, it is a new cop assigned to Gordon’s unit, he is played by Joseph Gordon-Leavitt. There seems to be more to him than we might originally think. There are rumors going on that he could possibly step in for Batman after… (so much speculation that Batman could die, or his back could be broken)

Will Dent’s true demise come to light? We all know that Harvey dent turned into a fallen hero at the end of The Dark Knight, but of course that was hidden from the public, except for Batman and Commissioner Gordon, and possibly Alfred and Fox. Will the truth come out? Will everyone come to see Batman as a true hero?

What happened to Lucius Fox? At the end of The Dark Knight, the results of that device that was used to track the Joker are not very clear, did it stay at Wayne Enterprises for a while or is it still there, or is it now at the Bat Cave or has it been destroyed. We saw Lucius type in his name like Batman asked him to, but did Fox quit after that or did they destroy it? Obviously Fox came back to Wayne Enterprises seeing that he is back, but did differences have to be resolved, or is everything OK?????

What is Bane’s goal? Who is Bane? We have seen plenty of him in the trailers, but honestly, we don’t know very much about him. He’s big, he wears a mask, and we have a hard time understanding him. But why does he want to terrorize Gotham? Why is he after Batman? We found out the goals from the previous films for each foe, Ra’s al Ghul found Gotham corrupted and therefore he felt he needed to destroy it and rebuild it. The Joker want to cause chaos and bring out the insanity of the public. What would Bane want to do? There is obviously some sort of revolution going on. But what is the purpose. Each villain has a purpose, a reason for doing what they are doing, and we will have to wait to find out what it is.

How does Catwoman play in all this? We have Catwoman in this new movie, but why is she in it, how does she become Catwoman. Is she a good cat or bad cat? She is Selina Kyle who is an employer over at Wayne Mansion, I think a maid of some sort. But I have also heard rumors that she is also working for Bane, and don’t know exactly what she is doing for him and how she got involved. But of course we will find out when the movie arrives.

Will the Joker make an appearance? The answer is no, he will not be in this movie, Christopher Nolan has confirmed this. He did not want to do anything to corrupt Heath Ledger’s final performance, it was a wonderful performance and obviously gave it his all, so therefore I do not feel it would be right to bring the Joker back either with a different actor, and of course Christopher Nolan did not shoot anything with Heath Ledger for a future movie before his passing.

Will the Scarecrow make an appearance? There has been a rumor that he will, the actor Cillian Murphy has been spotted on the set. What kind of role will he play in this new movie if he is in it? Will any other characters from the former movies make an appearance? Obviously Rachel Dawes won’t as she is dead, and anyone else that was killed in The Dark Knight. But wait, Ra’s al Ghul is rumored to be in the movie, but of course he died at the end of Batman Begins. Possibly a flashback, and that means that the League of Shadows will play a role in this movie, but what would that role be?

Will the Valcone crime family play a role in this movie? They were fairly big in the other movies, so do they play a role in this one, or is it other criminals? If we remember in The Dark Knight, the Valcone crime family had been killed by The Joker, and also Harvey Dent (Two Face at that point) killed some of the members of the crime family, including Muroni and one of his planted cops. But of course someone from the crime family could step up and recreate the entire business.

What new toys will we be introduced to in The Dark Knight Rises? The one thing we are already aware of is The Bat, the famous copter that Batman flies around, is it more slick than the Batpod, which I think is amazing, I am not ready to answer that, but I want one, maybe more than the Batpod. That would make getting to places far away much easier, maybe a trip to Hawaii would be more affordable than paying for a plane ticket. But anyway, that is one of the big toys, there are bound to be really cool toys besides that. We will have to wait and see what Lucius has up his sleeve.

Will Batman die at the end of the movie? Predicting a death of a main character, yes I am, Christopher Nolan has stated that this movie will be the last movie of the Batman world that Christopher Nolan has created. In order for that to happen, something dramatic would have to happen at the end. That event could be the death of Bruce Wayne. It has been stated at the beginning of Batman Begins that if Bruce Wayne devoted himself to an ideal that he could be more than just a man, that he could become a legend. Even Bruce Wayne on his way back to Gotham, that he couldn’t fight the injustice of Gotham as Bruce Wayne but that he would need to become something else to do so, a symbol of hope.

Now here is another big question that has been discussed since the release of The Avengers. Could this possibly beat the records that The Avengers has set? I am going to say yes, there is a very strong possibility that it won’t, but honestly, many predicted when Dark Knight came out four years ago that it wouldn’t beat any records, but of course it had set many new records, which were enormous at the time, and are still huge today. So I could see the same results with this movie. Therefore, I will predict that it will surpass Avengers monstrous record.

Now feel free to share speculation.

Plus, here is a new TV spot as of today.

2011 review

Yes, I know, I haven't touched this blog for almost a year, I have gotten really busy lately. But I decided that I should post something new, so I decided to give my top 11 list of 2011 (why 11, because it was 2011, I think 11 would be appropriate)

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – A perfect way to end off a series, I think the great thing about this series was that the cast stayed the same (except for Dumbledore, but honestly you can’t do much with that), and also that there really wasn’t a bad movie in the series (there were a couple that weren’t great, but honestly that’s it). There much excitement in the theater during the early shows, and honestly, that is when a movie is fun. Plus a really good story that is well crafted.

2. Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol – Many third sequels aren’t good (Batman and Robin, need I say more), but honestly here they got creative and pushed the boundaries of intensity a bit. They had a strong crew for this with the likes of Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg. I say the best way to see this is IMAX. And this is my favorite in the series.

3. Captain America – This was one superhero that I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing on the big screen, mainly because I don’t think much when I see this character, I was so wrong, this was a great movie, one that exceeded my expectations, and really made me like the character more. Plus it had a really solid story and was much fun to watch.

4. Super 8 – Think of ET and The Goonies meshed together, you get this. I felt the strongest thing about this was how much it had the feeling of a movie that could have been made back in the 80s. Plus a really solid cast, mainly with people I don’t really know. That’s right, you don’t always need a Hollywood Class A cast to make a movie good.

5. Hugo – Personally, I think 3D got really abused this year, it had potential, and still sort of does if they can not make every movie 3D, but this was one movie that actually really used 3D to their advantage, and was a big part of the story. This was such a unique world to explore, and had a lot of nice history of filmmaking. This also had a really good story, and good things to think through. This one should not be missed.

6. Moneyball – A movie really doesn’t always need car chases or explosions to be good, if it has a good story and strong acting, then a movie can be great. I learned a few things about Baseball that I never really thought about before. Plus I think this is one of Brad Pitt’s better roles.

7. Rise of the Planet of the Apes/ X-Men: First Class – Honestly I had a hard time taking one of these off the list so I decided to have them at a tie. Both prequels (maybe Rise of the Planet of the Apes may be more of a reboot but not sure) and they certainly restored my faith in prequels and made me see that they have stronger potential then what they tend to be. As well, this X-Men movie was the best one I have seen in a long time, and was well crafted. Rise of the Planet of the Apes had some really strong performances, and can make you feel sorry for a soon to be villain, honestly X-Men First Class was also great at doing that too.

8. Rango – This was definitely one of the weirder movies that came out this past year (Tree of Life is way more trippy), but because it was, it was a ton of fun to watch and had many elements that make a movie great. Personally I see this one winning Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.

9. Thor – Again, one of those superheroes that I didn’t have much anticipation for, but it was good. Man, the visuals were very cool to look at.

10. Limitless – This was one movie that had a very different concept than was is normally found in the movies today, and a very interesting way of presenting it.

11. Muppets – I never really watched the series as a kid or many of the movies, but this was a ton of fun to watch. I really enjoyed the many cameos throughout the film.

Movies that didn’t make the cut but are still worth seeing: Unknown, Source Code, Rio, Kung Fu Panda 2, Real Steel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Lincoln Lawyer, War Horse.

Now with 2012 here, I am making a list of the top 12 movies I want to see this year

1. The Dark Knight Rises
2. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
3. The Avengers
4. Brave
5. John Carter
6. Hunger Games
7. Journey 2 the Mysterious Island
8. Wrath of the Titans
9. Men in Black 3
10. Man on a Ledge
11. GI Joe Retailiation
12. This Means War

Other Mentions: Chronicle, Secret World of Arriety, Lorax, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Mirror Mirror, Safe House, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, Battleship, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Amazing Spider Man, Madagascar 3, Ice Age 4, Bourne Legacy, Total Recall

March Update

I thought of sharing some movies that have come out a couple of weeks ago that are worth checking out if you haven't. There is Unknown with Liam Neeson, I found it to be very entertaining, and a lot of interesting twists to it, there is that. There is also I Am Number Four, which is another movie that is based on a book, may be a series of books but I am not too sure, but that was also enjoyable, while it is cheesy and cliche, it is entertaining and fun to watch, I do recommend checking that one out as well. This weekend, we see the release of two movies that will hopefully change things a bit at the box office for the better, there is Rango and The Adjustment Bureau, which for me have been high on my to see list for a while, and finally after a while of things that really haven't been worth seeing, we get a couple of movies that have a ton of potential. Will they deliver, I will let you know.

As for DVD and Blu-Ray, this week had a big release for me, maybe not for many out there, but for me, Reboot the entire TV series, I have talked about it a couple of times, but in case you haven't read, it was the first computer animated TV show, it started in 1994, and involved the lives of programs in a computer, think of the same concept of Tron. Anyway, while the animation is outdated today, it was for sure revolutionary since it was the first computer animated TV show, so it helped lead to things like Toy Story, Monsters Inc., How to Train Your Dragon, and many other computer animated movies that are out there today. There are many things that take place in movies that are very revolutionary, I talked about how Tron Legacy pushed the boundaries of 3D, and there will be more pushes in that area till it becomes more perfected. The technology in movies is amazing, each project can make a huge difference, and can pave the way for other projects that have a wonderful story to tell.