Every day here at Doom HQ we receive tons of tips from our readers about really cool stuff from the world of geek, as well as promotional materials for new films, comic books, collectibles, and much more. While we do our best to bring you as much of it as possible, we don’t always have enough geek manpower available to cover it all on a daily basis. But we hate the idea of all of this really cool stuff wasting away in our inbox. How could we NOT cover it? Hence why we’ve resurrected our long-defunct column Bits Of Doom, now rebranded and revamped as Doom Digest, a collection of easily digestible bits of news, videos, photos, and other goodies.
Today: Children recreate The Beastie Boys video “Sabotage,” Batman teams up with Mountain Dew, Karen Gillan aka Amy Pond of Doctor Who talks Inspector Spacetime, a supercut of all the gear-shifting scenes from the Fast & Furious movie, and a Darth Vader USB Port Hub that someone really needs to get for me, plus Bits Of Doom.
In 1977, right after the original Star Wars made its debut in the theaters with lines around the block as audiences couldn’t whet their appetite enough about viewing the trials and tribulations in the galaxy that was oh so far away all that time ago, the first wave of pop culture fallout started. While it’s totally taken for granted now that tons and tons of Star Wars goods exist today, physical confections in all shapes and sizes, from T-shirts to action figures, to cereal bowls, towels, and Lego sets to video games for all platforms which have become commonplace by way of large, sprawling department stores around the globe, in 1977, the marketing blitz had just begun, and it was waters tested slowly, which eventually built to financial fever pitch for all involved in it.
To participate in today’s Star Wars celebratory “May The 4th Be With You” and right on the heels of the film’s 35th Anniversary on May 25th, comes a rather rare and fun clip from 1977 from the television game show To Tell The Truth, in which a panel of B-grade celebrities had to guess who a real person was among three — the one out of three who actually did the endeavor or the skill or the task mentioned by the game show moderator before the guessing game is played.
If you’re a Star Wars fan, chances are you’re intrigued by the dynamic between the evil Darth Vader and his estranged Jedi Knight son Luke Skywalker. Once Luke learns of his paternity, of course, he’s shocked and left in disbelief. After he comes to terms with the news, Luke wants to “save” his father from the Dark Side.
But what if Darth Vader hadn’t been separated from his son at birth and he actually was able to take part in raising the young Skywalker? That’s the journey Darth Vader and Son, a new hardcover picture book in the Star Wars Chronicle series, takes us on. And what a sweet one it is.
We all know the commercial: a little kid dressed as Darth Vader is running around trying to learn the ways of the Force when he unexpectedly starts his parents’ Volkswagen using only his mind powers (watch it here).
It was easily one of the most popular Super Bowl commercials of last year, and could arguably be one of the best Super Bowl commercials of all time, though a long list that would be. Now that very commercial has itself something of a sequel that will air during this year’s big game.
A French fast food restaurant called Quick is making some specialty burgers in conjunction with the re-release of Star Wars: Episode 1 — The Phantom Menace in 3D.
The trio of burgers each draw inspiration from the Star Wars universe. The first is the “Dark Burger,” inspired by Darth Maul (or “Dark Maul”), which can be seen here. Then comes the “Jedi Burger,” inspired by Master Yoda and the Jedi, and last but not least, the “Dark Vador” burger, which is of course inspired by Darth Vader and can be seen above. The Vader burger is the most notable of the three because it comes on a jet-black “carbonized” bun.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press