 October 31, 2012 - 3:35pm | I thought I'd pop in to announce this biggy for anyone that may be late on the news. George Lucas has sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney. What do you think of them beans? View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 November 2, 2012 - 4:54pm | Yeah, I guess I am done ranting. You're not going to find a prefect made movie or series really. But after much thought I guess I'm not as big of a Star Wars fan as I used to be. Star Wars was replaced as my favorite years ago now anyways. I now kind of rank things like this. 1. Legend of Galactic Heroes 2. Gundam 3. Babylon 5 4. AT Votoms 5. Crest/Banner of the Stars 6. Predators 7. Heroic Age 8. Outlaw Star 9. Star Trek 10. Star Wars Maybe you guys should try the anime Outlaw Star, it might look like a Star Frontiers influence anime. It has a prequel called Angel Links as well. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
 November 2, 2012 - 5:10pm | Maybe you guys should try the anime Outlaw Star, it might look like a Star Frontiers influence anime. It has a prequel called Angel Links as well. Like Knight Hawks, but with arm-wrestling!  |
 November 2, 2012 - 5:14pm | OK will try to find some of them. One thing I do need to do is make factual correction: Waterworld At that time (1995) it was the most expensive movie ever made, but it wasn't a flop as it made it's money back worldwide and then some. It cost around $175 million to make and it grossed $264 million worldwide. The biggest mistake/flop of all time is Cutthroat Island (also released in 1995). It cost $98 million to make and it only grossed $10 domestically in the U.S. It was never even released theatrically worldwide. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 November 2, 2012 - 5:29pm | Regardless of what rants I may have, I still enjoy Star Wars. The bottom line is it's a kids' movie. I saw it as a kid and grew up loving it as such. Sixteen years after watching the last Star Wars flick on the big screen (in their orignal form that is) the new ones started coming out...I was a little older and a little wiser but enjoyed the new one too. Not as much as I did the old ones, but these new movies weren't made for my generation...they were made for the current generation. As such I'm sure they had the same experience I did back in 1977. I go back and watch the original trilogy and I can find hoardes of inaccuracies and flubs and other things to rant about, probably to the same degree as I can with the new trilogy. Even as a kid I wondered about Luke's questioning of Han's disbeliefin the Force, having only discovered it himself quite recently. And Lando wearing Han's outfit at the end of ESB. Yeah, this was all laid out in the Family Guy parodies but I discovered this stuff back when Seth Macfarlane and I were still in grade school & junior high. I go back now and see the forced acting in the original trilogy and can see George's lack of interest in directing skills (why he directed four of the six films is beyond me) and a whole slew of other issues. But I still enjoy watching the films. And regardles of what Disney does with the franchise, I can safely say I'll probably enjoy their Star Wars movies too, regardless of how many things I can find to rant about. Just like Star Frontiers is filled with rant-worthy issues, it's still my favorite game that I grew up with and that will never change. So it is with Star Wars as well. But if we turn the topic back to comics, I can't rant enough about that douche waffle Rob Liefeld...and every rant I can make will possess more substance than his artistic capabilities.  |
November 2, 2012 - 5:54pm | Well if we are going to go back to comics and movies we must include the comic made into a movie which is still considered one of the worst ever adaptions ever. Yes folks I am talking about: Howard the Duck Who was responsible for that mess? Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 November 2, 2012 - 5:54pm | Just like Star Frontiers is filled with rant-worthy issues, it's still my favorite game that I grew up with and that will never change. So it is with Star Wars as well. Infindel! You dare rant against the cannon Star Frontiers! LOLBTW the most quote worthy part of Shadow's post: But if we turn the topic back to comics, I can't rant enough about that douche waffle Rob Liefeld...and every rant I can make will possess more substance than his artistic capabilities. ROFL I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 2, 2012 - 7:40pm | OK will try to find some of them. One thing I do need to do is make factual correction: Waterworld At that time (1995) it was the most expensive movie ever made, but it wasn't a flop as it made it's money back worldwide and then some. It cost around $175 million to make and it grossed $264 million worldwide. The biggest mistake/flop of all time is Cutthroat Island (also released in 1995). It cost $98 million to make and it only grossed $10 domestically in the U.S. It was never even released theatrically worldwide. Well, I still thought those movies were stinkers anyways. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
November 2, 2012 - 8:15pm | I never saw Howard the Duck, nor did I ever read the comic. But I can't imagine it being any worse than Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, the first superhero non-actionmovie ever made. Infindel! You dare rant against the cannon Star Frontiers! LOL
Well, there is Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space...where would you like me to start? And even for those who don't consider Zeb's to be canon (like me, I prefer to call it SF 2e or more appropriately 1.9e since it was unfinished), there's always the clunky ship design rules in KH. And if you've ever seen a pic of Rob Liefeld, the name is a perfect match to the face:  Same fan-boy look he had nearly 20 years ago. And a sample of his greatest (s)hits: |
 November 3, 2012 - 1:58am | I read the article about SW being sold to Disney and it said Lucas had made 4.4 Billion from the franchise and they paid him 4.05 Billion for it. I wish he was my long lost uncle. Not a bad businessman by those numbers. I am like shadowshack, in that I grew up watching Star Wars and yes, the acting is bad, the inconsistancies can be frustrating, the prequals had their issues too(JarJar). But there were also cool things about them too. I still watch the movies from time to time. Not like I used to, but still, once a year at least. Star Wars left a mark on my sci-fi imagination as did Star Trek. I used to think that you had to be a fan of one or the other, but I came to realize, they are different. Some of the stuff that has been said to be not very good I liked some I agree was bad. @ sargonhares, I like anime too and I am going to check out those ones you mentioned. I was a fan of Star Blazers, Robotech and Patlabor. I can tear apart Star Blazers and Robotech now for things, but they are still good memories like Star Wars. And I did really enjoy Firefly, it was actually a good storyline. |
November 3, 2012 - 5:26am | I liked Firefly because: 1. No "ensign Ricky" red shirts- everyone is a red shirt and most everyone takes a "bullet" some time or another 2. Character development- most of the individual characters had stories going on beneath the surface and changed things from episode to episode 3. Bigger mysteries in play that kept you guessing 4. Had a really cool Star Frontiers vibe 5. They could swear their heads off in Chinese and the censors were not going, "you cannot say shit" the idea that even you basic white trash speaks Chinese was intriguing and said really interesting things about the modern day 6. a character who was a preacher who was authentic without being a holywood charicature of a minister in all the typical ways that holywood like to portray a minister. He tough and would not compromise his convictions like not allowing them to kill the unconscious agent- very refreshing 7. some great lines and writing- scene where Book ask Mal if he minds if he say grace for the dinner and Mal says, "Only if its out loud." or the scene wherer their discussing going to help the former companion who started a whore house on an out world and Jayne is saying things about not putting his head out to be shot off and Mal says, "there's whore" and Jayne's rapid fire response, "I'm in." There was a lot of understated humor in the series from the dialog byplay- just loved that. What pissed me off about firfly was that they killed Book off screen in the Serenity movie. I liked the character. Actually there was a lot of death in the movie and not happy about all the characters that bought the farm. But these days I tend to embrace a story that is willing to kill off a cherished character more then I use to embrace Star Trek which never killed the sacred cows in the crew, even spock didn't have the good grace to stay dead and now there is two of him living side by side in the same time. Though the destruction of vulcan was a step in the right direction in this reguard. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 3, 2012 - 7:00am | Actually, Mal said to Preacher that prayer was okay as long as he kept it to himself. Also, Mal said to Jayne, "There'll be whores." /nitpick Then there's Mal's "I aim to misbehave." The episode "out of gas", where Mal has been shot, has to fix the engine part to get the air flowing again after putting out the fire that used it all up and contaminated what remained and is flashing back to how he met the crew; that was ultra epic. It was that episode where Mal is being held at gunpoint by Jayne and his old crew and Mal was offering Jayne good pay to switch crews and Jayne shot one of his old crew, saying, "Shut up. The man's talkin'." ROFL. Or when Jayne is holding his bowie knife after interrogating the Fed agent, and said, "He ain't got nothing. Man, and I wanted to get me an ear." Though that in itself was telling. He was one of those scavengers after the war that went collecting ears off of dead confederate soldiers to sell to union soldiers seeking bragging rights. Thus, Mal only ever saw Jayne as a bottom-feeder, the lowest of the low and would kill him in a heartbeat, yet somehow he still took care of him as beloved crew. And that brings us to when Jayne turned the brother and sister in for union credits and Mal busted him for it at the end of the episode "Ariel". As Jayne is getting ready to be spaced, he asks Mal through the personal radio Mal gave him to speak to him on the other side of the glass, as Mal is coldly walking up the steps, "Please, Mal. Don't tell the others what I done. Make something up. Tell them I fell out the airlock." Yep, I cried. That episode, though not exactly parallel, reminded me of the episode "lunch" from Cowboy Bebop, when they had the alien fungal parasite on board that came out of the old refrigerator in the cargo compartment of Bebop. Another favorite scene of mine (As if there's any that wasn't), when Mal was tricked into marrying a young girl without knowing it, and the Preacher told him not to touch her or he would go to a special hell just for child molestors, then later "Mal's bride" (episode name) surprised him by showing up in his bed nude and "quoting" scripture that was relating lustful desire seductively, and Mal said, "Oh I'm going to the special hell." :D View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 November 3, 2012 - 6:56am | Star Wars owes as much of its success to the writing and directing as Top Gun owes to the writer of its script  . It was all about the starships, space battles and lightsabers. None of which was new, it's just that the technology had finally arrived to make it possible on the big screen.I am ambivalent about George Lucas. I am happy for his success and that we live in a country that allows him to utilize his talent. At the same time I don't care for what I perceive to be his pompous attitude; there is no doubt he is shrewd and hardworking, but his billions come from being in the right place at the right time, not from any unique gift that he has. With that said, I am happy Disney purchased the franchise. I might even take my kids to see the new movies. I had pretty well outgrown SW but appreciated it for the impression it made on me as a kid. Disney can bring in new writers and breathe new life into the series without being shackled to the past. |
November 3, 2012 - 7:06am | Correction, the tech existed for years. It was just the first science fiction movie to ever receive a respectable budget, which was only possible because of the new era of blockbuster catastrophe movies such as Poseidon Adventure and Towering Inferno. Star Trek the Motion Picture was the movie that pushed the envelope, because it was the first to use computer effects. (Which aren't the effects you might think they are.) View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
November 3, 2012 - 8:07am | Star Trek the Motion Picture was the movie that pushed the envelope, because it was the first to use computer effects. (Which aren't the effects you might think they are.) I thought that honor went to Tron? I'd have to watch the first Trek flick again to form an opinion, as it stands I've not seen it since it was on the big screen and I was 10 or 11 years of age. All I remember from that movie was a great opening sequence with Klingon battle cruisers followed by being bored out of my skull for the remainder of the film, and that it had special effects for no other reason other than to have special effects (which is pretty much the general complaint of the new SW films). Oh yeah, and there was "V'ger"...MAD magazine spoofed it back then with the title "Star Blech: The Motion Sickness Picture" and at that tender age I couldn't help but to agree. But again, I'd have to see it once more as an adult to confirm or deny my initial experience. Sadly, based on said initial experience coupled with my current employment situation, that is a priority right up there with subjecting myself to 2001: A Space Odyssey again. I have given that movie far too many honest attempts and have yet to make it to the end without nodding off...it's stronger than Ambien. |
November 3, 2012 - 10:19am | I like how people would condemn some movies (Starcrash, Starchasers and the like) for being shameful ripoff of Star Wars, in the same way as ignorant folks might call John Carter a ripoff of Avatar. (if anything, those movies just feed-off the success of Star Wars) Much like how Avatar was meant to be like A Princess of Mars (and Pocahontas and Dances With Wolves IN SPACE!!!), so was Star Wars was meant to be like the old Flash Gordan and Buck Rogers serials. For example, early on in its development, everyone had a lightsaber - or "laser-sword" - because in the old serials, Ming's men or whomever used swords along with rayguns. (The old Ralph McQuarrie art shows Stormtroopers with lightsabers and laser-proof shields.) Then they became Jedi weapons, when Lucas made Luke Starkiller's (yes, that was her original last name) lightsaber as a family heirloom, and made into something akin to Excalibur. Lucas made a LOT of revisions before the script of the first movie got finished. That was his first and last true success with that fiction - Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi were written other witters - and he end up ruining his own universe with the prequels. As much as like Star Wars, I dont really care about the canons, as I would rather use it as a springboard for my own sci-fi playground - with a mix of this and that. |
November 3, 2012 - 2:05pm | Tron was the first movie to do live action CG. (Digital machines, such as the tanks, light cycles and recognizers, or the exploding barriers and pathways.) Star Trek used computers for non-action effects. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
November 3, 2012 - 4:08pm | For those of you who haven't heard, George is giving away the money he is getting from the Star Wars deal. Here is one source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/02/george-lucas-donate-4-billion_n_2067145.html Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
November 5, 2012 - 10:04pm | http://geek-news.mtv.com/2012/11/05/disney-buying-hasbro/ Rumor has it Disney may have their eyes set on Hasbro next. Good news for D&D and SF... |
November 5, 2012 - 10:29pm | With a company like Disney, who needs OCP? |
November 6, 2012 - 4:53am | Is Disney the evolution of the mega corp in our time? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 6, 2012 - 2:46pm | http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/harrison-ford-says-open-another-star-wars-film-185829069.html |
November 6, 2012 - 3:04pm | Mega-Corps of the the Star Frontiers kind I can live with since there are a few around today. Mega-Corps of the original Rollerball kind are another story. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
November 6, 2012 - 3:55pm | Hold on to the thought now and read this. http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/post.aspx?post=6dd4cbb8-d936-444a-8f2b-6869a1e26688 This might have an effect on us more directly. If Disney buys Hasbro they'd get WoTC and in turn TSR and the rights to Star Frontiers. I'm sorry but I think Disney would shut us down. In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
November 6, 2012 - 6:29pm | So the rumor has spread... http://geek-news.mtv.com/2012/11/05/disney-buying-hasbro/
Rumor has it Disney may have their eyes set on Hasbro next. Good news for D&D and SF... Not sure how it could be bad news, they'll either do something with the property or sell it off. Neither of which WotC has explored. |
November 6, 2012 - 6:47pm | I enjoy producing a magazine, I'd hate to get shut down but then I would adapt. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 10, 2012 - 8:03am | If Disney buys Hasbro then you can bet they will not be as benevolent towards SF. SF is dead as a viable commercial brand but that won't keep Disney from locking it down in their dungeon (vault). Thanks for the heads up--I'm going to make sure I have all the SF stuff I want downloaded, just in case.... |
November 10, 2012 - 8:13am | Really have to wonder about a company that spends resources shutting down people working on dead acquired 30 year old properites. Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go? |
 November 10, 2012 - 8:31am | I am really familiar with control freak executives. One of the ways up the corporate ladder is to control as much around you as possible. You don't do any productive work, just control as many people as possible and get your fingers into as much as possible so that no one does any thing without worrying about getting your permission. This typically starts with one person in a company and then grows as the company grows to include more and more control freaks. Eventually a culture of control develops that is not based on logic and business needs but the fear of not being in control. Good executives recognize that this condition exists and actively seek to prevent it as it will stunt the full potential of the company. -iggy |
 November 10, 2012 - 10:23am | I am really familiar with control freak executives. One of the ways up the corporate ladder is to control as much around you as possible. You don't do any productive work, just control as many people as possible and get your fingers into as much as possible so that no one does any thing without worrying about getting your permission. This typically starts with one person in a company and then grows as the company grows to include more and more control freaks. Eventually a culture of control develops that is not based on logic and business needs but the fear of not being in control. Good executives recognize that this condition exists and actively seek to prevent it as it will stunt the full potential of the company. Man do I hear that!!! The only good news about places like that is that they are doomed to fail and sometimes are replaced by better led organizations. |
November 10, 2012 - 1:03pm | http://geek-news.mtv.com/2012/11/05/disney-buying-hasbro/
Rumor has it Disney may have their eyes set on Hasbro next. Good news for D&D and SF... Not so sure about that. Hasbro has been quite good about selling or licensing out games its not interested in producing. Hasbro's ownership of Avalon Hill has allowed a lot of long OOP games to be updated and reprinted. In contrast Disney is notorious for locking away IP in case it might one day be valuable. Hasbro reminds me more of Microsoft while Disney is more like Apple. |
