I’m currently watching an old Bill Bixby Hulk Movie. Before the big screen ‘block busters’, we had Bill and Lou as part of the Banner/Hulk duo. The eyes turn green, the shirt rips and somehow he can keep the same pants buttoned.

No animation here, just one very big man in green makeup. I liked these shows when they first were first on the air. I liked the stories they wrote, and I liked the acting in the show. The show holds its own even after 20 years. That is a tribute to good writing, directing and acting.

After starting to watch this show, I am hoping to see some of Bill Bixby’s other shows. My Favorite Martian, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father and The Magician. I will have to look see if I can find DVD’s of these other shows. I wonder if they will hold up to the test of time.

A rather rare treat for this production are three nights off. No rehearsals, no readings, nothing. A day off today, tomorrow and the next day. I’m using this time to get some rest and get a few things done. Tonight was the night for rest.

An old Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movie, a light snack and quiet time.

Back in the day Basil Rathbone was Sherlock Holmes. I never realized when I first saw these movies that they were set in the wrong time period. Of course, I saw the movies before I started reading the books. Even after reading the Holmes stories, I liked the way Rathbone played Holmes. For years when I thought of Holmes I thought of Rathbone.

Of course, some time ago I saw another actor in a series of shows that put Holmes in the correct time period. On a British and then PBS series, Jeremy Brett played Sherlock Holmes. After watching that series, I often thought of him while reading any Sherlock Holmes story.

There was one other actor I often think about when I think of Holmes. My college roommate portrayed Holmes in a college play. It was my first (and I thought my last), try at acting. This play gave me a line that to this day remains my favorite. “Don’t worry, there are ways to inflict excruciating pain and yet leave no marks.” Even after 30 years I remember that show.

And finally back to Rathbone. The movie “The Hound of the Baskervilles” is the only Rathbone Holmes movie that was set in the correct time period.

Or, how I spent my Thanksgiving Day.

First things first, I didn’t have anything close to a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. First at just before Noon, my youngest and I had bison chili. Not your normal fair at all for Thanksgiving. My youngest had kennel duty at school for the afternoon, so we needed to get to Fort Wayne early in the afternoon. Fun stuff for a Thanksgiving day. I would assume that this is the norm for students in a Vet Tech program.

While in Fort Wayne, my daughter and I caught the 3d Disney Movie “A Christmas Carol”. First things first, The 3D for this show was awesome. I’m a very big fan of Dickens “A Christmas Carol” There are many movie versions of this story and I’ve enjoyed most of them.

First No Spoiler if you know the story. There will be spoilers later.

They kept the main story of “A Christmas Carol”. All of the important aspects of the story. The animation was very well done and the characters were well maintained. For periods of time, I actually forgot that this was an animated movie. As I said earlier, I really liked the 3D effects. Most of them were well done to make the movie have depth. A few made you feel like you were in it. There were also a few that looked like they were just done because they could. I would have rather had those cut out, but I guess that is what some people expect in a 3D movie. Main result, if you like the Dickens’ story, you will like this story. If you like 3D animation, you will probably like the show. I would definitely pay the extra amount to see the 3D version.

******************* Spoilers Follow ***************

I wondered how this would work out. I didn’t see the necessity of doing this story in 3D or as an animated movie. I’ve been wondering about that since I first saw the theater trailers. I had many reservations before I went to see it. I was pleased that they did not destroy the story. Now for picking and praising. First, I thought the characters were very well done. The initial 3D effect at the start of the movie hooked me from the beginning. I liked the candle effect in front of the window. Other effects I liked were the snowflakes, flying over/through London and the Ghost of Christmas Past.

I liked the way the effects were used during the Ghost of Christmas Present was wonderful. Actually, I was impressed by this vision of the ghostly visitations. It was also a very good way to use the 3D effects. Not many complaints through the first two ghosts, except may the ‘rocket’ effect at the end of the Ghost of Christmas Past’s visit. One of my first problems with 3D for 3D only.

My biggest problem with the movie were the 3D for 3D only. While the initial tour of London was almost there, the tour of historical London is a great way to set the movie. I next noticed it at the end of the Ghost of Christmas Past. There were one or two times during the Ghost of Christmas Present’s visit, but they didn’t bother me nearly as much. But during the scenes with the Ghost of Christmas future, it seemed like these 3D effects were overwhelming. In fact they added quite a bit to the story to get these 3D effects in. That is the only reason I can think of that they added the Death Coach chase and the shrinking of Scrooge. Parts of the movie were really not needed and if they lasted much longer, I think the movie could have been ruined for me. Without the 3D, I don’t think I would have liked that part at all. I am, of course, a Dickens’ fan and I don’t think you need to add to an already wonderful story.

We’ve had many CSI series or maybe an NCIS series. How many Law and Orders have there been. Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits have had multiple variations. I won’t talk about all of the different versions of Star Trek. Or the many versions of various comic book heroes on TV cartoons.

And now the TV series “V” comes back to television. From the commercials it looks like it may be very similar to the original. Good looking aliens, but they are hiding something. Scuttlebutt on the web indicates that what they are hiding will be a little different than the first version.

I really enjoyed the first series back in the 80’s. It was one of the show I remember talking to friends about. I’m not sure if this show will generate the same buzz.

Anyone going to watch? Anyone remember the original show?

you were going to kill it!!

Reliving a bit of my childhood tonight. I’m watching “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”. Of course I have a signed document, even though it isn’t notarized.

Of course cartoons of the 1960’s were sometimes written for adults as well as children. I remember watching these shows year after year, but my parents would also watch. When they stopped showing them as often, my wife and I got the Charlie Brown cartoons on Video. I’m not sure, but I think I’ve seen each show at least 20 times. It could be more, but I don’t remember watching as much in High School or College.

Good shows, good humor make a timeless show.

Anyone have a favorite childhood cartoon?

Last night at around 11:00pm, I took my daughter to see the latest “Harry Potter” movie. No this is not a review (I found I don’t get that much out of 12:00am showings), more a reaction to the early morning movie experience.

This is the third late night movie I’ve seen in the past 5 years. I can’t remember going to any before that time. (Ok, I can remember going to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show late at night, but I was much younger then and it started before midnight.)

I find it interesting that so many people will come out in the wee hours to watch movies. This was in the middle of the week, and our small little theater sold out two of their screens. I’m sure if they had another copy of the film, they would have filled all three screens. Some turnout.

There were people in costumes of course. You had your witches and wizards in their ‘normal’ costumes. Wizards and witches trying to dress like ‘muggles’ (if you don’t know what that is, you are one). And even people in pajamas. They were all out to have a good time.

A little over 2.5 hours after midnight, the movie ended. The crowd made their way to the exit. Some half asleep, some excitedly discussing the show. Why did they do it this way? What were they thinking? Not enough. Too much. All differing opinions, but many excited folks. Me, I was tired. I failed to arrange the day off, so I knew I was going to have to be up and on my way in less than 3 hours. Hmmm, not much sleep. I’m sure there were others in the same boat.

Review when I see it again, and I probably will. I promised the youngest she could take a friend or two to the movies. I have a feeling this is what they will see.
I was just wondering, what kind of show would we have to put on to draw crowds like this? A wonderful thing to completely sell out. I’m not sure there is a stage show that would pull in that type of crowd. Fun to imagine.

These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise….

In 1966 the voyages of the Enterprise started. I was only a lad then, but I was glued to the set for 1 hour each week. Then this wonderful show went into syndication. For a time is was on every afternoon. It was on weekends. There were Star Trek marathons on the weekends. Then a cartoon, some movies, the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. Finally, this past weekend, another movie was released.

While I like Star Trek, I would not consider myself a die hard fan. After the initial run of Star Trek, I was no longer glued to the set. If it was on, and I happened to find it, I would watch. I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. Marriage, family and friends became more important than Trek. So you didn’t find me waiting for the midnight showing of this movie. I did want to see it on the big screen, with full sound and comfortable chairs. So I had some time available last Saturday, and I was near the multi-plex.

For those who don’t know, this movie goes back to the beginning of Star Trek. It starts with James T. Kirks birth and quickly goes to his first time on the Enterprise. I found the characters plausible for the Star Trek Universe and the story line seemed to be well thought out. Overall a good movie. Lots of action, reasonable storyline and good characters. Even for the non Trek fan, this is a good Sci-Fi action movie.

More than that I can’t say, without giving the whole story away. So if you don’t want any spoilers stop reading now……

S P O I L E R S

This started out as a standard Trek time travel movie/story. Someone goes back in time and changes the future of our intrepid Enterprise heroes. Kirk’s father dies in the very beginning of the show, making his upbringing quite a bit different than the normal Trek time line. In the TV shows and the movies, the crew of the Enterprise usually would go back in time to fix something (bring back whales, prevent a star from exploding, get the pilot back to his plane ect.). This time the people that did the time traveling either end up dead or staying in the future. Hmmm, does that screw up the time continuum? You bet…

This whole movie was one big screw up of the Trek time line. As of this movie, almost anything you thought you knew about Star Trek has been thrown out the window. They started fresh folks. Let’s see if I can touch on the basics.

Kirk was still an conceited, womanizing, know-it-all jerk (some things never change), but wow, Spock was made captain of the Enterprise before Kirk was. Kirk was marooned on a planet by Spock! He wasn’t even supposed to be on the Enterprise, he was under suspension for cheating on a test. Hmmm, he didn’t start out nearly as well in this ‘reality’.

Spock, still logical, still had problems as a child on Vulcan, but his choice is a bit different. It seems he chose to be a bit more human. In this show he had a human girlfriend!!! I think that is a good thing, since Vulcan was destroyed, he can never go back during Pon Far. He may need that girl friend.. Except now there are two Spocks in the universe. Old Spock who remembers all the stuff that isn’t anymore, and the new Spock who doesn’t.

Uhura, still bright, competent and beautiful, and she is Spock’s love interest!!!! Hmmm and in the 60’s the first inter-racial kiss between Uhura and Kirk was a major deal on TV.

I’m not sure that Dr. McCoy changed at all. This character seemed immune to the changes in the time line.

Scotty, well he was an engineer on some out of the way Ice World. I don’t recall enough of his history to know if this was happened or he was down on his luck too.

Chekov and Sulu, well Chekov wasn’t in the first season of Star Trek in 1966 (joined the crew in 1967) and Sulu was the pilot of the ship, so something changed here…

One final question… How the heck did everyone know about the Romulans? I seem to remember the first time they appeared, and everyone on the Enterprise was surprised they looked like Vulcans. Hmm something really changed in the time line. It seems the Federation knew about Romulans and the similarity to Vulcans before Kirk was born and before the random act of time travel that changed everything. Why didn’t the crew of the Enterprise know it? Hmmm?

Yes, I saw the new X-Men movie (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) on the first day it opened. For you fans of comic books and haven’t seen the movie yet, I suggest looking at this as one of Marvel alternate universes. If you’re looking for comic book continuity, you won’t find it. The names have been kept the same, but the characters may be different.

That being said, I really enjoyed this movie (see other movie reviews for disclaimers on my liking this type of movie). And I have more than a few reasons

1) Character setup — In a very short time you were able to ‘know’ the characters involved. The back story was handled quickly and gave enough information for the rest of the film. I’m sure that most of this is because we were introduced to this character and the class of characters in the earlier X-Men films, but this is how all comic book movies should be done. Make sure the audience knows the driving force behind the character, and then get to the guts of the movie. People go to these movies to see the action and character interaction, without that, the comic book movies fall short.

2) For a comic book setting, the actions were believable. Yes, if we had those powers, those things could be done. I didn’t see much that was unbelievable from the aspect of what ‘powers’ the characters were given by the script writers.

3) Action sequences were very good, and well placed. The general rule was relax, action, relax and then more action. This kept the movie flowing. The action sequences fit in with the story line developed in those time of relaxing. Also there was a lot of humor in the show. Very important to have that in a comic book movie, in my view.

Spoilers—- Stop reading now if you haven’t seen the movie and might want to ————–

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This movie was a set before the other X-Men movies, and my biggest complaint is that some of the things that should have been kept consistent between the shows. While I liked the actor that portrayed Saber Tooth, he did not match the menacing form of Taylor Mane in the first X-Men movie. I think they could have used some makeup to get a better match. I also had a problem with Cyclops being captured. From conversation in the first X-Men Movie, Xavier found him soon after he had his optic blasts. He would not have been in a normal school, he would have been is Xavier’s institute. Nitpicking here, but I would have assumed some continuity between the movies. I don’t think I would have minded as much, but they did go through a lot of trouble to get Logan his leather jacket, and signature look. I’m sure if I see this show again, I will find more.

Another nitpick and I’m sure it was done to keep the PG-13 rating, but there was never any blood on weapons or blades used to stab people. Even with advanced healing, this gave the movie a strange look. I know a comic book, but I found it a bit strange.

I did find the way that Weapon X was able convince Logan to get the Adamantium fused was very good story telling. I was not shocked when his wife/girlfriend was killed, but I was shocked to find out it was all a setup and she was working for the project. Yes, in the movie Stryker was a very sick individual. I think even worse in this movie than in X2. A very sick, twisted mind. Other X-movies indicated that Xavier and Magneto knew about the Weapon X program, but it didn’t seem lie it in this movie (another continuity problem?) .

Other characters. Well I have a lot more to say on this, so for another time

Today was an eventful day, and deserves a long involved post. It will take a bit of time to set the correct tone.

So on to more trivial things.

Baseball season: All I can say is I hope things turn around for the Tigers. 1 game out of 4? Ouch! The Cubs are doing better, so that is something. But there are a few things more important than the scores of games and who is in first place. jamiahsh puts the whole thing in perspective. I don’t think there is much I can add.

Friends: It is good to have them. They help in many ways. Sometimes they don’t realize how much they do help. But I guess sometimes I don’t realize how much I help them. It goes both ways doesn’t it?

News: Pirates should only be discussed in Baseball terms, movies and plays. Hearing about pirates attacking merchant ships and having world governments bargaining with them is not right. That type of ‘handling’ of the situation only gives them reason to keep doing what they are doing. So I guess crime pays. Something isn’t right here, but then life is not fair is it?

Movies: Soon the summer block buster season starts. I’m looking forward to seeing a few good ones.

No, nothing to do with the song, but with a movie I saw with my daughters this weekend.

I saw Knowing on Friday evening. Decent enough movie, but it was not one I would have picked just to see a movie. We picked this one, because I was too tired to drive to another town to see the movie we really wanted to see. It was the best of the three in our local theater.

If anyone can remember my scale of movies… This one was a wait for a rental. A fairly predictable movie, and it had moments of a couple of other Nicholas Cage movies. Yes, the character and surrounding story was a lot like the National Treasure movies. The plot driving it could be taken out of any ‘end of the world’ movie.

Two things I noticed in the movie were that Cages character was a widower (that kind of stands out to me) and he drank way too much. I mean if any ‘normal’ person was drinking as much as his character did, I wouldn’t have trusted them to know much of anything about what he was doing. He had at least 3 good glasses of whiskey before he started to work on the numbers project. I would have been too messed up to even see the numbers….

On the widower point, I think that was handled fairly well. Some widows/ers do turn to booze to help them cope with loss. They can be overprotective of their children. They will turn down chances to meet someone else. They will wear their wedding rings long after the death of their spouse. Even without the booze, they will forget the days they are running the car pool. And the children will see all of this. Yes, this part of the story was handled well. No fake romance thrown in. The caring seen between the two adults in the situation, was because of the situation, not because of romance. Well done.

I just wish this much care had been taken in the story/plot/characters. It had moments that could have made it a much better movie, but ‘things’ got in the way. As stated above this could just as easily have been a “National Treasure end of the world” story. That for me made the movie a bit less interesting. I didn’t think Cage was that one dimensional, but maybe I’m wrong.