10 Years 100 Toys

Wizard’s Toyfare just ran an article on the best toys of the past 10 years.

I’m more of a vintage toy collector, but nonetheless, it is nice to be reminded of some of the many triumphs in plastic from the past decade including the Four Horsemen’s much needed revamp of the Batman design and the inspired design of the Iron Man minimate.

Included in the long list are re-imaginings of many classic toys such as Optimus Prime (complete with the Matrix of Leadership and an actual moving ‘mouth’) and GI Joe’s Storm Shadow.

Click here to read the full article and let me know what you think should have made the cut.

The Batman’s Stan Berkowitz

Writer Stan Berkowitz was the subject of an interview with World’s Finest where he described some of his problems working on the new series.

“I wrote my first script for ‘The Batman‘ in early 2006 (the Riddler origin story), and writing it was exactly like writing any ‘Batman’ episode. No difference whatsoever. After that season, though, the network focus-grouped ‘The Batman’ (and ‘Legion of Super Heroes’) and found out that what our very young male audience wanted was more fights, jokes and costumes and fewer female characters.”No surprises there, but for some reason, I had an incredibly difficult time adjusting to these new imperatives when I was working on the Green Arrow story for the show’s 07-08 season. The script generated endless notes from just about everyone, and it wasn’t finished until 15 minutes before it was due to be recorded. Not the way I like to work.

“Before starting on the next script, I asked Alan Burnett if I could see Len Uhley’s Hal Jordan/Green Lantern script for the show, and once I read it, I had a much better sense of the tone the network wanted. I guess the point is, it comes more naturally for me to write for a slightly older audience. But you can’t deny the value of focus groups; the kids will always tell you what they want and don’t want, and if you pay attention, they’ll watch your show.”

An episode devoted to Oliver Queen AND an episode all about Hal Jordan?

Sounds like Batman Season Five will be a very fun ride!

The new season premiers September 22nd… set your TiVo.

Star Trek – New Voyages

You gotta love the 21st Century.

Only in the age where fans are skilled enough to make the programs they love would a project as elaborate as this get done. Star Trek: The New Voyages is a message to Hollywood that if you do not provide entertainment worth the public’s time, your public will just make it themselves.

It’s also a direct lift from the Talking Heads ‘More Songs About Buildings and Food’ in which David Byrne urges his listeners to make TV rather than just sit and watch it.

And it’s pretty damned cool.

Taking place directly after the end of Season Three of the Classic Star Trek series, the New Voyages is a collaborative effort put up by fans in Ohio in their spare time.

CBS Morning News Piece 7/30/07

The love and dedication put forth in the series has been so powerful that it attracted the attention of Star Trek scribe DC Fontana, actors Walter Koenig, George Takei and Denise Crosby who have all contributed to The New Voyages. Additionally, top notch make-up experts and visual effects wizards have donated their time to work on the not for profit saga.

I’ve just never heard of anything like this.

‘World Enough And Time’ trailer

The goal is to develop an entire year of programming to build upon the legacy of Star Trek already developed by Roddenberry and others. With a new Star Trek film looking to leech off of the nostalgia craze currently in vogue in the Entertainment Industry, it’s more than a little heartening to see that the average Joe, armed with just determination, charisma and a LOT of free time can compete with the big boys.

‘In Harm’s Way’ part one

The series features a cast of experienced and green actors often working alongside the actors who inspired them into the project in the first place. This has to be the most bizarre and inspired productions I have ever heard of.

Episodes can be downloaded for free from their site, startreknewvoyages.com.