/** ************************************************************************ * ************************************************************************* * The Non-Sequitur Express * Man does not live on bread alone. Bread mold does. * Published at fortnightly or random intervals by Phillip Thorne * http://home.earthlink.net/~pethorne/NonSeqExp/ * * Volume 2, Issue 14: Sunday, 11 June 2000 * ************************************************************************* * *********************************************************************** */ OBSERVATIONS: booface.com. REVIEW: stanlee.net: animated comic books. HORIZON: 7 Days, Voyager, SFC's Dune, Pern, Terminus. UPCOMING: Heads-up, Primetime, Stripped. ERRATA: TV horizon-publishing impedance mismatch. plus Legalese, acknowledgements and opt-in/out instructions. /** ************************************************************************ * OBSERVATIONS * *********************************************************************** */ Over the past few years, several online e-book-publishing ventures have attempted to grab audiences. The latest is bookface.com, which offers free texts -- well, ad-supported, anyway, and you have to register. The documents are displayed in a Java applet, with contents and search features. Each page-down loads a new set of ad banners (solution: disable image loading). J.Michael Straczynski, creator of "Babylon 5", has five works on Bookface: "Say Hello, Mr. Quigley" (horror), "Cold Type" (SF), "We Killed Them in the Ratings" (mystery/thriller) and two unproduced scripts for B5 sequel "Crusade". In the kick-the-season-into-high-gear "To the Ends of the Earth" the Apocalypse Box finds the Shadowship that destroyed Capt.Gideon's own ship years ago; and the _Excalibur_ crew gets quite a few surprises when they finally track it to its home base in the intended season finale, "End of the Line". Maybe it's the lack of visuals or a Chris Franke soundtrack, maybe I'm just jaded, but these supposedly pivotal episodes didn't have the impact of, say, "The Fall of Night." /** ***************************************************************** * REVIEW * www.stanlee.net * *************************************************************** */ Marvel Comics luminary Stan "The Man" Lee, creator of "Spider-Man" and other popular characters, has enthusiastically embraced the Web as the next great content channel. His stanlee.net site is built around two new titles -- "The 7th Portal" and "The Accuser" -- with ancillary games and editorial content. Most everything is Shockwave-based; you'll need Flash 4.0 and Shockwave 8.0. The titles are released as a series of five-minute episodes, each a Macromedia Shockwave movie. As long as you're on the page, you can replay the movie; but if you want to save it, you'll need the Shockmachine. The format, and the file-size-reduction shortcuts taken by the animators, produce an experience somewhere between a comic book and full-motion animation: wagging mouths pasted atop faces, fixed poses translating across the screen, very little rotation. There's music and a vocal soundtrack. On my 31.2 connection, the movies had an irritating frequent- but-not-universal habit of stalling while additional seconds loaded. My solution: leave the PC while the movie loaded and played all the way through once, the play the cached copy. "The 7th Portal" uses your standard neophytes-finagled-into-world-savior- superheros premise. A Mysterious Stranger, Isaiah, brings a CD to a beta tester in an urban software company. He shares the game with his PDA- carrying friends over the 'net (Brazil, Germany, South Africa, India and Japan), they choose their characters, start playing -- and are promptly sucked through the Seventh Portal of Cyberspace to the realm of Darkmoor, where Mongorr "the Merciful" prepares to invade Earth. ("Mortal Kombat," anyone?) "The Accuser" is slightly more original. A criminal defense attorney lies on the operating table, lamenting his horrid history of representing crimelords -- because they can pay, and heck, they are entitled to a lawyer. One of his clients, "The General", leader of a national militia group funded by illegal activities, recently learned he would be aiding a rival -- so he sends a hit squad. His wife is killed, he's paralyzed below the waist, and a Mysterious Stranger known only as "The Surgeon" spirits him away from the hospital, stuffing him into a wheelchair that transforms to a battlesuit, ready to exact both their revenges. (See also: "M.A.N.T.I.S.") /** ************************************************************************ * THE HORIZON * Books, TV series, Cinema, Games * *********************************************************************** */ On UPN, "7 Days" will be returning for a third season and "Star Trek: Voyager" for its seventh, but I've seen no reports as to the disposition of "Dilbert" or "Secret Agent Man." The Sci-Fi Channel has wrapped principal photography on its "Dune" miniseries, due in October. Originally due at the same time, Anne McCaffrey's "Dragonriders of Pern" is probably on hiatus -- the show's site (pern.com) hasn't been updated in months, and the website of the Irish production house, zyntropics.com, has no content -- and was built by an amateur using an ISP tool. It even has a random ad banner. (If price is an issue, there are probably hundreds of "Dragonriders" fans who'd write a bang-up site for free. The precedent for fan assistance was set by Benson Yee, a TransFan who provided background history to Mainframe, makers of "Beast Wars Transformers.") On the gaming front, pern.grolier.co.uk hasn't been updated since November, and the best release date the producers can give is "mid-2000." (That sort of delay is, at least, par for the PC game industry.) The Vicarious Visions game "Terminus" missed its original "gold" date (on which the code is frozen to CD), and production snafus have pushed the retail release date to 27 June. The game press has been largely positive in its reviews, but reportedly the publisher (Vatical) will be advertising mostly in comic books -- and comic readers are mostly cartridge gamers. While "Terminus" has PC, Mac and Linux versions in one box, it *doesn't* support the Nintendo/Sega platforms. (Apparently you get this sort of demographic tip at workshops at E3, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo -- so claims a friend.) /** ************************************************************************ * UPCOMING * TV, Series, Telemovies * *********************************************************************** */ HEADS UP... Mon-12-Jun-15:00 : On BKN, Week 5 of "Roughnecks" -- the ice asteroid. Tue-13-Jun-20:30 : On UPN, Dilbert gives birth in the season finale. Sat-17-Jun-09:30 : KidsWB premieres its latest anime import: "CardCaptors". Mon-19-Jun-15:00 : On BKN, Week 6 of "Roughnecks" -- bughome Klendathu. PRIMETIME ETC... r EFC Emancipation 303 pg 17 z 0610-1600 s 0618-2330 r SG1 Holiday 217 pg 29 z 0610-1700 s 0618-0400 r Cle Run Cleo, Run 1213 pg 17 z 0610-2000 z 0617-1300 r JAT Daddy Dearest 1310 pg 17 z 0610-2030 z 0617-1330 r SG1 A Matter of Time 216 pg 29 s 0611-0400 r Fut Mars University 111 pg fox s 0611-1900 3 Sim Hello Gutter, Hello Fadder 1102 pg fox s 0611-2000 - FWv Red Flag 206 14 sci s 0611-1900 s 0611-2200 - Pry Infiltration 106 pg sci s 0611-2000 r XF The Amazing Maleeni 708 14 fox s 0611-2100 r EFC Thicker Than Blood 306 pg 17 s 0611-2330 r Ros 285 South 1ada05 pg wb m 0612-2100 r Ros River Dog 1ada06 -- wb m 0619-2100 r Buf Hush p4abb10 pg wb t 0613-2000 r Ang The Prodigal 1adh15 14 wb t 0613-2100 * PJs The HJs 205 pg fox t 0613-2030 * Dil The Delivery (season fin) 214 pg upn t 0613-2030 * FGy Dammit Janet 209 14 fox t 0613-2100 * PJs Haiti and the Tramp 209 -- fox t 0613-2130 r 7D The Collector 208 pg upn w 0614-2000 r Chm Heartbreak City 4399031 pg wb r 0615-2100 r SAM FRom Prima With Love 101 pg upn f 0616-2100 * Inv The Catevari 102 14 sci f 0616-2000 f 0616-2300 * Fsc Home on the Remains 207 14 sci f 0616-2100 z 0617-0000 * Lex 791 209 -- sci f 0616-2200 z 0617-0100 r Cle Choices 1204 pg 17 z 0617-0200 r JAT One Wedding and an Execution 1310 pg 17 z 0617-0230 r EFC Crackdown 301 pg 17 z 0617-1600 r SG1 Serpent's Song 218 pg 29 z 0617-1700 r Fut A Clone of My Own 210 -- fox s 0618-1900 3 Sim Beyond Blunderdome 1023 pg fox s 0618-2000 - FWv The Heist 210 -- sci s 0618-1900 s 0618-2200 - Pry Transformations 107 pg sci s 0618-2000 m 0619-0200 r XF En Ami 715 -- fox s 0618-2100 r Dil (no ep) r FGy (no ep) r PJs (no ep) r Buf Something Blue p4abb09 -- wb t 0620-2000 r Ang I've Got You Under My Skin 1adh14 -- wb t 0613-2100 r 7D Love and Other Disasters 209 -- upn w 0621-2000 abc wpvi-6, bkn wgtw-48, cbs kyw-3, fox wtxf-29, nbc wcau-10, pbs whyy-12, pbs wybe-35, upn wpsg-57, wb wphl-17; plx MoviePlex, sci Sci-Fi Channel, and tnt is TNT. Animated: Clk Clerks, Dil Dilbert, FGy Family Guy, Fut Futurama, PJs The PJs, Sim Simpsons. 7D 7 Days, B5 Babylon 5, BCJ The Adventures of Brisco County Junior, Chm Charmed, Cle Cleopatra 2525, DS9 Star Trek: Deep Space 9, EFC Earth: Final Conflict, JAT Jack of All Trades, Ros Roswell, SAM Secret Agent Man, SG1 StarGate SG-1, SI1 Space Island One, TNG Star Trek: The Next Generation, TR2 Total Recall 2070, Vgr Star Trek: Voyager, Who Doctor Who, XF The X-Files -- and on the Sci-Fi Channel: FSc Farscape, FWv First Wave, Inv Invisible Man, Lex Lexx, Pry Prey. STRIPPED SERIES... Star Trek: Voyager Weeknights 22:00 etc., TV-PG, WPSG-UPN-57 Year of Hell, pt 1 408 m 0612-2200 Obsess, with timeline mess. Year of Hell, pt 2 409 t 0613-2200 Bad things happen to ship. r One Small Step 608 w 0614-2100 Find the first Mars mission. Concerning Flight 411 w 0614-2200 DaVinci in the Delta Quadrant. Mortal Coil 412 r 0615-2200 Death depresses Neelix. Message in a Bottle 414 f 0616-2200 EMH 1+2, new ship, Romulans. Tuvix 224 s 0618-1700 Tuvok+Neelix+flower = melodrama. Waking Moments 413 m 1619-2200 Dream aliens snoozify crew. Hunters 415 t 1620-2200 Hirogen station relays news. r Fair Haven 611 w 1621-2100 When Irish holoeyes are spyin'. Prey 416 w 1621-2200 Hirogen, Seven, 8472. Star Trek: The Next Generation Weeknights (Tues-Fri) 21:00 1 hour, TV-PG, WFMZ-69 Second Chances 250/624 t 0613 Riker and his stranded double. Timescape 251/625 w 0614 Timeshift Enterprise-Romulan boom. Descent, part 1 252/626 r 0615 Data goes bad! Descent, part 2 252/701 f 0616 It's Lore and his Borg! Liaisons 254/702 t 0620 Alien ambassadors study emotions. Interface 255/703 w 0621 Geordi jacks in. Babylon 5 Weekdays and Saturdays 06:00 1 hour, TV-PG, TNT The Quality of Mercy 117 m 0612 Chrysalis 112 t 0613 Points of Departure 201 w 0614 Revelations 202 r 0615 The Geometry of Shadows 203 f 0616 A Distant Star 204 z 0617 The Long Dark 205 m 0619 Spider in the Web 206 t 0620 Soul Mates 208 w 0621 A Race Through Dark Places 207 r 0622 /** ************************************************************************ * ERRATA * *********************************************************************** */ tv.excite.com's programming horizon isn't quite two weeks, so I didn't advise you of a new episode of "Secret Agent Man" on Friday night, or "Dilbert" on Saturday afternoon (shifted there from Tuesday) -- but as ironic divine punishment, *I* didn't get to see it either; my VCR unaccountably failed to operate. /** ************************************************************************ * Legalese * Acknowledgments * Opt-in/out Instructions * *********************************************************************** */ The set of creative works herein reviewed and analyzed, including the subset {books, movies, TV shows, toys}, are the property of their respective copyright holders. No infringement or endorsement is expressed, implied or intended. The original reviews and analyses are themselves copyright 2000 by Phillip Thorne. Certain data may have been obtained and aggregated from, repeatedly and in particular: Excite tv.excite.com FOXKids Shows foxkids.com/foxkids/shows_F.html Station Terminus stationterminus.com If you're receiving this newsletter, you've probably intentionally subscribed to it. Or possibly you've procrastinated in subscribing and I'm sending it to you anyway. Or maybe you're a family member and I'm demonstrating that I'm still alive. In any case, to cancel your subscription, send an email message to pethorne@earthlink.net with the words "UNSUBSCRIBE NON-SEQUITUR" in the subject line and/or body. Capitalization and punctuation don't matter, since I'm doing this all manually. /** ************************************************************************ * ************************************************************************* * The Non-Sequitur Express * http://home.earthlink.net/~pethorne/NonSeqExp/ * Volume 2, Issue 14: Sunday, 11 June 2000 * Copyright 1999-2000 Phillip Thorne, pethorne@earthlink.net * ************************************************************************* * *********************************************************************** */