Original Star Trek remastered for HDTV

Remember the cheesy space backgrounds in the original Star Trek series of the 1960s? How about how every planet looked like California. Well, no more!

Paramount has announced that they are remastering certain episodes of the series to air once a week in syndicated HDTV (not DVD at this time), beginning Sept 16. The first remastered episode to air is “Balance of Terror.” One episode per week (out of order) will air over the next two years. Here are some of the changes announced:

• New CGI effects for space shots and static paintings
• Static paintings will add some new animation and details
• Will ‘honor original’, but fixes some ‘goofs’
• Original title music re-recorded

This article goes into lot more detail and includes a shot of the exterior of the Enterprise.

See the trailer for Will Ferrell's new movie: "Stranger than Fiction"

Will Ferrell's new movie Stranger than Fiction, which opens Nov. 10, is about a guy (Ferrell) who realizes he is the character in a writer's (Emma Thompson) new book. He hears her narrating his life in his head. This looks pretty good.

"Fantastic Four" toon debuted on Cartoon Network...

And it stunk!

But if you want to know more about the show, click here. The first episode will show again next Saturday at 11 am. It's regular time slot is Saturday at 8 pm. They changed their plans for the first episode, whch was supposed to feature Dr. Doom, so I still want to see that. And apparently later this month, we'll see the Thing fight the Hulk, which I want to see.

But I don't hold out much hope for this show. I don't like the tone (comedy over action) or animation style (a new anime thing), but hey, if the kids like it, it's still better than something like Bo-bo-bo-bo-bo, whatever the heck that is.

Here's the Fantastic Four schedule for September released by Cartoon Network, though it has already changed. They swapped the first two epsidoes, and the Hulk episode has been stated to also air in September, though its not listed here.

Keen! Animated Tick on DVD

This week, the first season (minus one episode for legal reasons) of the Fox animated series that began in 1994, The Tick came to DVD. Of course, The Tick is now on every night on the Toon Disney channel at 10:30, but its not the same as having them collected together. The DVD unfortunately does not contain any extras.

For a review of the set, click here.

Hear The Geator with Heator's Musical History

Did you know that since January 2006, Jerry Blavat has had an hour-long radio show on WXPN (88.5 FM) from 6-7 pm. Each installment is based on a theme and not only does Blavat play music you likely won't hear anywhere else on regular radio, he fills in the backstory of pop music in the 50s and 60s. Any fan of the music of that era should give it a listen.

And now, it's even easier to do that. Not near a radio on Saturday nights at 6? Through WXPN's new online service, XPoNential Music On Demand, you can hear archives of Blavat's show whenever you want from your computer. Just go here, where you can link to archived broadcasts.

You'll thank me later.

ELO's "Here is the News"

Don't Hassel the Hoff!

Music Monday: Hear new Dylan and 40th anniversary edition of "Pet Sounds"

AOL continues its stream of brand new albums this week with Bob Dylan's well-reviewed new album, Modern Times, named after the Charlie Chaplin classic.

Also streaming is the 40th anniversary reissue of the Beach Boys' classic, Pet Sounds. In addition to the album, the new package includes a DVD with several goodies for fans. According to the Los Angeles Times:

Along with "The Making of Pet Sounds" documentary and several promotional films — the music videos of their day — shot to accompany "Sloop John B" and "Good Vibrations" is an excerpt from "Rhythm of Life," a previously unreleased BBC-TV interview that brings together two of the most innovative and celebrated producers of the rock era: the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson and Beatles producer George Martin.

The remastered new release contains the original mono mix of the album, along with the stereo mixes that were released as part of Pet Sounds Sessions several years ago. Check out the full article for more info.

"Fantastic Four" and other Marvel Animation News

The Fantastic Four animated series debuts on Cartoon Network this Saturday at 8 pm. For the names and descriptions of September's episodes, as well as more images, click here.

In other Marvel toon developments:

• Ultimate Avengers 2, released on DVD a few weeks ago, will appear on the Cartoon Network on Oct. 21, more than two months after the DVD release. The first Ultimate Avengers movie aired on Cartoon Network within a week of its DVD release. The second movie features the Black Panther.
• The Ultimate Avengers 2 DVD also features trailers for upcoming direct-to-DVD animated movies for Dr. Strange and Iron Man, both of which will be origin stories.
• Another direct-to-DVD movie announced at a recent Marvel investor presentation is something called “Teen Avengers”. There’s no indication as to whether this is based on the current Young Avengers series, or if it actually features the current Avengers as teenagers.
• Marvel and Sony have announced that three will be a direct-to-DVD animated Spider-Man series, likely to debut near the release of Spider-Man 3 next summer. Whether this a continuation on of the Sony-produced animated series that aired on MTV, or a totally new series is still unclear.
• Other animated series currently in development include Wolverine and the X-Men and Iron Man.

sneak peek footage promoting "The Batman"

At this link, you can see footage, model sheets and designs of the upcoming season of The Batman. See some of the expanded cast and hear the voices playing them. This footage was shown at the recent San Diego Comic-Con. You can also see shots here.

Prominently featured in this footage is Robin, who looks to be getting his own origin episode, as well as shots of what Nightwing, Oracle and Batman will look like in the future. The footage ends with dialogue and shots of a very special guest star.

This looks to be the season to really strart watching The Batman.

RIP Bruno Kirby

Update on "The Batman"

When the new season of The Batman premieres on September 23, Dick (Robin) Grayson will be added to the cast, as you can see in the pic below. Cast as the voice of Grayson’s father (in what is presumably his origin episode) – Kevin Conroy, the voice of Batman in the Bruce Timm-animated universe since 1992.

Say what you will about this show, but it makes very cool casting choices – Adam West as the Mayor (placing Gotham City in Rhode Island, apparently) and the late Frank Gorshin as Pr. Hugo Strange, and now Conroy. But that’s not all. Brandon Routh, Clark Kent/Superman in the latest movie, will be doing the voice of a character called “Everyman.” Not sure who that is, but that’s still pretty cool.

Adding Robin after Batgirl is major continuity change from the comics that is easily explained by two words – “Teen Titans”. When The Batman premiered, the Titans cartoon was still in production, so the character was unavailable for use. With the conclusion of that series, he can be used here. Apparently, though there are still some characters, mostly villains, that cannot be used by the cartoon because of the movie series – Two-Face is one of those characters, lending further credence to the rumor that Harvey Dent will be introduced in the series in the next movie, even if Two-Face himself is not.

It’s also been stated that a Justice League member will be making an appearance on the show and one of the staff members on the show reportedly indicated he was working on an episode featuring J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter. This also makes sense because he is probably the only JLA member who doesn’t have a movie deal.

And finally, there will be a “glimpse into the future” episode in which we will see Dick Grayson as Nightwing and Barbara Gordon as Oracle, their current comics alter egos.

The new Legion of Superheroes cartoon also debuts on September 23. The series stars “young Superman” and is not based on any other animated appearance of the Legion or Superman. Here’s a new pic from that show:

Another perspective on the return of Jason Todd

50 Greatest Comedies

Premiere magazine has published a list of what they are calling the 50 greatest comedies of all time. I can confirm seeing 37 of them, some more deserving to be on this list than others. In fact, I just saw one of them for the first time this weekend -- The Big Lebowski.

Sadly missing -- Tootsie.

Check out the list, which is presented as a slide show in chronological order. How many of these have you seen?

Warner Bros. confirms Heath Ledger as Joker in Batman sequel

In a press release scheduled for Tuesday, Warner Bros. will officially announce that Heath Ledger will be the Joker in the sequel to Batman Begins, which will be called The Dark Knight. Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne/Batman, as does the supporting cast from the first movie, including Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), Michael Caine (Alfred), Gary Oldman (Gordon) and Katie Holmes (Rachel).

Director Christopher Nolan and writer David Goyer, who has already written 80 pages of the sequel's script, are also returning.

Oasis to release greatest hits album

From Spin:

Oasis have announced the upcoming release of the compilation album, Stop the Clocks, which will cull No. 1 singles and B-sides from the band's catalog. Set for a Nov. 21 release date, the set will feature singles like "Wonderwall" and "Supersonic," B-sides like "Acquiesce" and "Half the World Away," and more recent releases like "The Importance of Being Idle." The band, who hand-picked their favorite tracks for the album, will release Stop the Clocks during what their label calls "a well earned sabbatical prior to starting work on new material." The final track list for the compilation has not been released.

REM: The IRS Years Anthology

Due out September 12, a few versions of this will be available -- a single disc or 2 disc with DVD, which includes more rarities. Check this out for more info and track listings.

Great Beatles Moments

Somne nice observations, competle with audio samples to illustrate the points:

Part 1

Part 2

Here's a sample:

The Opening 12 Seconds from "She Loves You." Beginning with a quick bass drum roll, it then leads into what may be the most ebullient couplet ever recorded, with the "yeah! yeah! yeah!" part just summing up the release of a thousand stomachs full of butterflies. Then, the yeah yeah yeahs give way to Ringo's cymbal crash, which, when it settles, exposes the first verse. Perfection.

Mark Millar want to revamp the DCU

Comics writer Mark Millar, mastermind behind Marvel's current Civil War series that has taken over its's universe, has made no secret of his true love of the DCU. But due to some behind-the-scenes problems with the publisher and subequent exclusivity with Marvel, he hasn't written anything for DC (or any of its imprints) in years. But that doesn't stop him from thinking about it. Consider this July 19th post from him on his messageboard MillarWorld:

Just back from my hols and had some mad notions. I woke up two nights ago and thought of something as big and as simple as Civil War for the DCU and spent two hours during the night writing it all down. I'm obviously not going into details, but this is so bloody simple, screws with nobody, could be explained to a 4 year old and would ramp up DC's sales as much my little Civil War book is working for Marvel. It would spin off into me doing Superman with Hitchy and JLA with McNiven and I worked out a cracking line-up of creator pals for all the other books this would influence. I said I was only doing a Marvel crossover if they let me rethink the whole MU and rejig a lot of books that needed a face-lift (some huge characters selling nothing for 5 years now). Similarly, I'd only do this if DC let me go the whole hog and, although I have a very good relationship with DC again, I'm under exclusive for almost 2 more years. But these notes have been filed and this thing, if anything, will work BETTER a couple of years down the line. It's incredibly exciting. I already had about 70 issues of Superman loosely worked out and a first eighteen months on JLA, but it all came together perfectly for me over the holidays. The end of the decade just got very exciting.

Let's hope he gets his chance. His few forays into the DCU -- JLA, Superman Adventures and the Superman Eleworlds' Red Son -- have been fantastic, and definitely show a love of the characters.

Read Bendis' "Powers" online for free

Starting this past Monday, each day, Newsarama is posting a page of the Brian Michael Bendis/Michael Avon Oeming superhero noir comic series Powers, from the very beginning. Not only is a new page posted, but that page's script and art breakdowns are ofen posted as well. And each page is archived, so you can join in any time.

What a great way to get into the series. I have first 3-4 trades, so it will be awhile until I see antything new, but this is good stuff.

And coming in August is David Mack's Kabuki, which I have not read, but will certainly try in this format.