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There’s Zelda Gold in Them Thar Hills

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Nintendo 3DS XL Tri-Force Limited Edition Package

No Legend of Zelda fan can do without lusting after the “gold” limited edition version of Nintendo’s 3DS XL. It is very nice to look at and it can make for a great centrepiece for any fans collection.

Ever since I heard about this release, I have been thinking that yes, it is time to upgrade. When The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia book is not enough to sate my appetite, this novelty release will certainly make my slowly growing collection worth displaying.

But is owning it worth the price? When considering that this package comes with a digital download of the game (or preinstalled, according to some advertisements) and nothing else, that’s hard to say.

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How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero: An Analysis and Book Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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The last four novels in the How to Train Your Dragon series may well form a tetralogy. Although the last volume is not being penned yet, the second to last volume, How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero is proving to be the turning point of Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III’s final adventure.

Cressida Cowell has crafted a fun and exciting world that ranks right up there with Harry Potter. When nothing new will be coming for the magical realm anytime soon, readers can enjoy the fascinating world of dragons that this author has crafted.

From book one to number eleven, readers get introduced to a wide menagerie of beasts. But for the story, everyone knows Hiccup will be King. He says so in the first volume. But to see how he became king, that’s part of the ride readers will enjoy discovering in his journey to become a respected leader.

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Happy Birthday Doctor Who!

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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One of my earliest recollections of seeing Doctor Who was in front of the telly with Jon Pertwee playing the iconic role. To see his face float down, deeper into that dimensional vortex is a recollection that I will carry with me till my end of days. And what I saw was very colourful!

But for this special day, 50 years ago, that was when this series hit the airwaves to change a nation, if not the face of British pop culture forever. Thank you for all the many years of memories. Thank you for showing there is always hope. And thanks for surviving to this new century to show that your message has never changed, even though the producers and writers have.

Happy Birthday Doctor Who! May you last for many more years to come!

Blast to the Past with An Adventure in Time & Space, A Review!

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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* Spoiler alert

Not every new fan of Doctor Who will know the full story behind the creation of popular culture’s greatest icon from Great Britain. Thankfully, the BBC has taken it upon themselves to create An Adventure in Space and Time to look at the years when this series became a success in a somewhat historical but yet fictional form. In the final day leading up to the 50th Anniversary special, this fascinating docu-drama will get further broadcasts throughout the world as it looks at how the series started.

But this movie also chronicles Verity Lambert’s (Jessica Raine) rise to being a prominent creative force behind the scenes. She helped William Hartnell (excellently played by David Bradley) become an enduring figure that later actors could not even come close to mimicking. Try as these actors might, the goal is to not be what the First Doctor or Bill represented. Instead, it was to make the Doctor Who character their own so that each’s actor’s contribution will be remembered.

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Star Trek: Into Darkness and IMAX’s FANFIX program

These Star Trek “limited edition” prints may well number roughly 25,000 since enough product has to be printed and shipped to all the participating theaters across North America.

The IMAX premiere of Star Trek: Into Darkness was a crowd pleaser. Not only were fans treated to a well done movie, mixing some rebel rousing high brow action with a familiar story, but they were treated to a memento, a glow-in-the-dark poster of the Enterprise orbiting the Earth, with a rising sun to signify the final frontier. The painting of a sun and a starry background by artist Mark Englert will glow when the lights go out.

This item may seem gimmicky, but for the people who love merchandise, this collectible will no doubt be numerous and will last until stocks run out. Technically, they were available for people attending the Wednesday night show, and only select theaters are eligible to receive this box of posters to distribute. For the IMAX company, it’s their way of saying thank you for coming out and of introducing IMAX FANFIX™ to the masses. It’s not quite a rewards program, but it is a gesture with good intentions behind it.

These Star Trek “limited edition” prints may well number roughly 25,000 since enough product has to be printed and shipped to all the participating theaters across North America. Now if they were individually numbered, that would make a difference.

Gone is the IMAX 12:01 program, which saw a distribution of smaller 13.5×19.5 posters last year.

PIXAR’s Brave New Worlds

Brave is not very suitable to children who can get easily frightened and PG-13 rating is far more appropriate than its current one.

Brave_Poster At the heart of PIXAR’s CGI film, Brave, is a look at the ties that bind and the threads that get broken along the way. This medieval parable can easily be retold within any cultural backdrop and that can make for a universally understood movie.

In this film, the Scottish setting is appropriate. The importance of bringing clans together does get noticed as the tale progresses and some viewers can easily shout, “Braveheart!” along the way. But this movie is hardly original. PIXAR may have taken a few ideas from an older product, namely Disney’s Brother Bear, and redesigned it for a newer generation. The concept of brotherhood is important, but this time the focus is on sisterhood, and the bonds that keeps families together.

This movie has the potential to play up some of Scotland’s mystique, and sadly it does not. Should the producers have gone further, a fanciful look into the mysticism of the Celtic pride and superstition could have made for a satisfying watch. MacBeth and Shakespeare must be feeling ashamed by now. This movie is hardly Arthurian in style either. With this film, the struggle comes from one strong-willed teenage redhead who is not willing to be a Juliet to all the Romeos who are brought to her attention.

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