Alien Siege (2005)
Directed by Robert Stadd
Written by Bill Lundy, Paul Salamoff, Robert Stadd, Ian Valentine
Starring Brad Johnson, Erin Ross, Lilas Lane, Carl Weathers, Nathan Anderson, Michael Cory Davis, Gregor Paslawsky
Image Entertainment

Governments around the world have entered into a shaky truce with an alien race called the Kulkus, who have demanded eight million humans to be given to them in order to save their race. In exchange for these souls, the Kulkus will provide highly evolved technology that will ensure the further advancement of the human race. In the United States, which must give up almost a million of their own citizens, the Kulkus have given the job of turning over the selected humans to the military, who have turned to martial law to keep the peace and process the selected.

But in the shadows, a resistance group who refuses to believe they are no longer the highest member of the universal food chain have been slowly building in numbers, and plan to stop the harvest of humans from advancing any further. When Dr. Stephen Chase’s daughter is chosen by lottery to be turned over to the aliens, he becomes the newest member of the resistance, and his involvement with studying Kulku technology may just be the key the resistance needs to finally strike back!

Shamelessly ripping off V: The Final Battle and Independence Day, and that is just for starters, Robert Stadd‘s made-for-television movie is a thoroughly enjoyable slice of sci-fi pie that knows exactly the demographic it is aiming for (if you perked up a little with the V name-drop, congratulations, you are the target) and hits the bull’s eye pretty much dead center.

Ironside
Season 2
Starring Raymond Burr, Barbara Anderson
Shout! Factory
Available Now; $44.99

When Perry Mason ended, Raymond Burr was amongst the most popular television actors. It wasn’t long until they found another vehicle for Burr, and Ironside was that vehicle. On the surface, the premise was pretty implausible. Ironside, the Chief of Detectives in San Francisco, was paralyzed by an assassin’s bullet and was confined to a wheelchair. Did that stop him from fighting crime? Heck, no. He assembled a crack team, featuring a beautiful policewoman, an ex-con who was studying law, and a straight-laced detective sergeant. He also rode around in a modified paddy wagon so he could travel to the crime scenes and question the bad guys. Like Perry Mason, he knew the answers even before he asked the questions. And he ate — he ate a lot! (No kidding, in every episode Burr chowed down once or twice).

The show touched on all of the hot topics of the late 1960s: drugs, racism, youth, abortion, civil rights, and so on. It was quite popular, as much of a cultural touchstone as Adam-12 and Dragnet. However, because of its hour-long length, it hasn’t lasted in syndication, so it’s not as well known as those other shows. Recently, reruns have shown up on TV Land.

However, if you need an Ironside fix, Shout! Factory has released the complete Season 2 on DVD. There are 26 hour-long episodes in the seven discs and they are filled with guest stars that are familiar to us all, but yet typical of late 1960’s TV fare. Ed Asner, Ricardo Montelban, Bill Bixby, Burgess Meredith, and Gary Collins all take turns as guests.

Dark Sector Zero
Written by David Wohl
Art by Bill Sienkiewicz
Letters by Troy Peteri
Top Cow Productions
Cover price: $2.99; On-sale: Dec. 12, 2007

Ahhh, Sienkiewicz.

Sienkiewicz, Sienkiewicz, Sienkiewicz.

Just saying the name out loud, it… well, it makes me scratch my head and google the damn thing because I’ve never really known how to pronounce it.

Bill Sienkiewicz (that’s “sin-KEV-itch” for the google-impaired) is a legend within the comics medium. His work on Marvel’s New Mutants in the early ’80s, followed by his groundbreaking work on Elektra: Assassin has pretty much cemented him in the comic book art hall of fame (should such a thing ever exist) as one of the most influential talents of our lifetime. Echoes of his moody, often chaotic art style can be found in the works of artists like Mark Texiera, Ashley Wood, and even Australian superstar Ben Templesmith. To many, Bill Sienkiewicz is a god.

But I… just… could never really get into him. I know, I know… A lot of you probably think me insane (and the rest of you are going, “Sinkewhatsit?”).

Before you take away my keyboard and hang a bell around my neck, making me wander the Internet muttering “Unclean” to anyone who may otherwise find value in my opinions, just hear me out! I respect the man, and I can see and appreciate how his work changed the industry, and brought comics a bit of the respectability it had been deprived of for so many years. I’m even a fan of the next generation of artists he influenced. Wood? Awesome. Templesmith? Love ’em. But, for some reason… I just couldn’t ever really get enthusiastic about the work of the man himself. Until — ironically — now.

Why ironic? Well, because this isn’t some grand independent work of his, or a return to the universe that launched his career… It’s a video game comic.

The official IMAX site has posted a video clip for The Dark Knight‘s IMAX prologue featurette, which includes interview footage with director Christopher Nolan.

Also, the film’s viral marketing campaign is in full force, with a new site going live today at http://www.thegothamtimes.com. If you click around on page 1, you’ll unveil a message from The Joker. This leads to www.thehahahatimes.com, which is the online version of the newspapers that were sent to the rorysdeathkiss.com winners.

From the Ha Ha Ha Times page, you can get to other viral sites:

The Probability Broach
Story by L. Neil Smith
Art by Scott Bieser
Colors by –3–
Big Head Press
Cover Price: $19.95; Available Now

Or as I like to call this book, “Libertarianism, Yay!” This was a weird one, not really knowing anything about it till I started reading, which is not normal for me these days as I usually try to find out lots of info about things before I buy them. However, I was sent this book and after reading it, I’m left scratching my head a bit. There are several different questions to ask myself while reviewing this: does it work as an adaptation of a novel? Does it work as an explanation of Libertarian ideas and philosophies? Does it work as a piece of fiction on its own? Is it exciting? Does it have interesting characters? Does it have anything to say? I guess those last ones are questions I ask when reviewing anything, but they come up more in relation to the first two questions. I have answers to all those questions, but first, plot synopsis, ho!!

The Probability Broach was originally a novel released in 1980 by writer L. Neil Smith, if Wikipedia is to be believed it was his first novel, and if Wikipedia is wrong, I don’t want to be right. It deals with the adventures of Detective Win Bear and his adventures through a quantum looking glass in an alternate dimension where the United States became a Libertarian utopia very early in it’s history. Win is investigating the murder of a university professor in his version of 1987 which is a pretty nasty place, with secret police taking out dissenters and basically everything having been outlawed by the government. While investigating he gets shot through a probability broach (just like the name of this book) and winds up in a utopia where everyone is basically rich, there’s no pollution, monkeys, gorillas, and dolphins can talk and are valued members of society, and everyone does their own thing because there’s hardly any centralized government. Unfortunately, Win is followed by one of the secret police from his world and ends up embroiled in a plot by a group of Federalists to ruin this utopia.