Episode 164 - Why They are Badasses

Part Two - Last week we listed some of the baddest ladies in genre media. Today we ask ourselves why they are the baddest of the badasses. enjoy.

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Stan Lee Says, "YOU OLD MEN GET OFF MY VIDEOGAMES!!!"

In an open letter supporting the Video Games Voters Network, comic book grandmaster Stan Lee drew a parallel between censorship of comic books in the 1950s and new laws aimed at curbing videogame violence. Lee’s letter comes just weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court takes up the case of a California law, which would ban sales of violent video games to anyone under 18, levy fines against retailers for any infractions, and require a new violence rating code. The California law, which was signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, was declared unconstitutional by the 9th Circuit Court of appeal.s, but the 9th’s decision could be overturned by the Supreme Court. In his letter, which is printed in full on the VGVN site, Lee recalled the excesses of the anti-comic book movement in the 1950s: “My memory has always been lousy and it's not improving with age. But it's good enough to remember a time when the government was trying to do to comic books what some politicians now want to do with video games: censor them and prohibit their sales. It was a bad idea half a century ago and it's just as bad an idea now. Comic books, it was said, contributed to "juvenile delinquency."

Chrismas for Ma'at and Brien Letendre

This holiday season WizKids is releasing A Christmas Story: The Party Game, the family-friendly board game that challenges the players’ knowledge of the original, traditional, 100%, red-blooded, two-fisted, All-American Christmas movie, while they navigate a nostalgically designed game board chock full of classic movie scenes and quotes. The deluxe A Christmas Story: The Party Game comes complete with full color illustrated game cards (the “leg lamp” anyone?) and four fully painted miniature figures (the WizKids touch) of those loveable characters, Ralphie, Randy, Flick, and the Old Man.

30 Million Dollars of Dredd

IM Global has managed to grab $30 million in “pre-sale,” pre-production commitments from a number of foreign markets for its Dredd movie, which Pete Travis is set to begin shooting in South Africa in November (see “Olivia Thirlby Joins ‘Dredd’ Cast”). The $45 million production is based on the 2000 AD Judge Dredd comic, and key Judge Dredd creator John Wagner is heavily involved in the production of the film, which stars Karl Urban, and which is going for the gritty, yet satiric tone of the original comics. According to Variety, in just five days IM Global was able to gather its $30 million in commitments by selling the picture in a number of territories including Germany, Spain, Australia, Canada, Russia, Latin America, Benelux, and Scandinavia. A deal for the U.S. is expected soon, and a number of other major markets in Asia remain untapped.

No More Heroes

When NBC cancelled Heroes last May, there was talk of a made for TV movie that would tie up all the series’ loose ends. Now a source close to the show has told Entertainment Weekly that the peacock network is definitely not moving ahead with a movie that would provide fans with one last chance to see what happened to the characters they had been following for four seasons. Heroes, which was created by Tim Kring, began with very strong ratings, but never recovered from the interruptions created by the writers’ strike.

Episode 163 - Ladies Gotz the Badasses

Part One: On this episode we make a list of the most kick ass women in genre media. The ones who you can't tie up and make a hostage, the ones who could take you down before you find out where her eyes are, the one who make movies, TV and comics that much better for being who they are. Enjoy.

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Booth Babe Career

If you are a young, attractive woman then, yes, you can be a booth babe and make money doing it. VC Imagination Factory is advertising for a hot girl to dress up as their character Bellona from their graphic novel trilogy Bialien, offering $50-$70 a day. It's no surprise really. Comic Convention are huge money makers - which is why ever city, town and hamlet are scrambling to have one these days, but for the most part paid "product models" only appeared at Car Shows and other business conventions. Not that that Booth Babe hasn't existed at the comic convention, but now they are becoming a 'career move" and considering how comic convention are not losing steam any time soon they might be the temp employment of the future. Go figure.

Early Caprica

The Syfy Channel is planning to start airing the second half of the initial season of the Battlestar Galactica spin-off Caprica in October rather than in January as originally planned. The first new Caprica episode will air on October 5th right after a new episode of Stargate Universe. According to Deadline Hollywood, SyFy has still not placed an order for a second season of Caprica, which stars Eric Stoltz, Paula Malcomson, Esai Morales, and Polly Walker. Caprica has developed a loyal following, but has had only modest success in the ratings.

The King's 3 + TV

Universal and NBC have unveiled ambitious plans to adapt Stephen King’s seven-novel series The Dark Tower into a trilogy of movies that will be bridged by two TV series. Ron Howard is set to direct the first film from a script by Akiva Goldsman. Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment are behind the project, which certainly gives it some weight. According to Variety, the first movie will be followed by a Dark Tower TV series that will air on NBC and function as a bridge to the second film. After the second film premieres, a second installment of the TV series will lead-in to the third and final movie in the series. This sort of interactivity between the big screen and the small screen is rare although Fox did use The X-Files Movie in the late 1990s to bridge two seasons of the TV series.

Taken - On a Battleship

Liam Neeson has joined the cast of Peter Berg’s Battleship that also includes Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker, and Rihanna. According to Variety, Neeson plays Admiral Shane while Decker is his daughter and Kitsch will take on the role of his future son-in-law. Neeson played Hannibal Smith in this summer's failed A-Team movie, but also starred in Taken, the surprise action movie hit of 2009. Powerful alien forces provide the adversaries in Battleship, which is based on the Hasbro game.