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It’s Showtime! With Beetlejuice, the Animated Series DVD Review

People who buy Beetlejuice the animated series will love the packaging and design, and have some merry laughs when watching.

Beetlejuice DVD Rekindling certain flavors of 80’s cartoon-dom requires certain key characters to enter the video library. At the tail end of this decade came Beetlejuice, the animated series. This ghost with the most’s violent tendencies were toned down and for some unknown reason, both him and Lydia Deets are best-pals.

Fans of Tim Burton’s movie will have to wonder what happened in between since the two were unlikely allies; even at the end of the film, these two parted ways and Beetlejuice was “awaiting reassignment.” Despite the differences between the film and cartoon, the series lasted for a good four seasons—a rarity for any cartoon.

It’s tough to resist a character who reeks of mischief. This miscreant of the supernatural world gets into more trouble than he realizes, and to see him worm his way out of situations is one of the charms this series has. With Shout! Factory’s bare bones video release, viewers do not have to scout the internet or television stations to find where this ghost is hiding. If he pops out at the wrong time, then maybe someone will lose their funny bone. Stephen Ouimette does a great job in voicing this character and emulating Keaton’s style. Even the editorial staff of Patsy Cameron and Tedd Anasti certainly know their product to ensure consistency.

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Star Trek: (Getting Deeper) Into Darkness, A Movie Review

If only Star Trek: Into Darkness was edited differently, it could have been a tale about Spock’s heroic journey.

Spoiler alert

Star Trek: Into Darkness is a film that will no doubt have many fans wanting to make comparisons once the spoilers are known. By now, nearly everyone knows who the true villain is. This movie’s title card is enough to suggest the tone and direction. It’s to explore what drives men to do what they do. Sometimes that territory needs to be ventured into. And just where should the line be crossed?

The Prime Directive may be more than just a mandate to not interfere with fledgling civilizations, but in how culture gets developed. The intro is very Indiana Jones when Kirk and Bones are running away from some primitive tribe for reasons unexplained. Part of it may well do with causing a distraction so Spock can enter a volcano to save this tribe. But the plan has a few problems, and Kirk has to violate the Prime Directive to save his science officer.

In a plot that develops in one direction, the swing it makes is not necessarily politically driven. Some viewers may well read plenty of left-wing messages into this piece, but the way this film ends speaks for itself. Gone are the colorful suits the Federation that the classic and later TV series defined. When on duty, the standard red, blue and yellow are seen, but as for when they are presenting en masse, for the public to see, some viewers may well wonder what’s with the drab dark grey? Could J.J. Abrams version be a look in the mirror darkly? The first movie established the Spock from the original series universe does in fact exist. He chose to stay out of interfering in this canon’s timeline. As for what that means in this reboot as a whole, even this universe’s Spock is perplexed.

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Doctor Who: Matt Smith Exits. So Who Will Be the Next Doctor?

Somehow, the series has to continue and to smartly have the series look back at the Doctor’s past adventures from a previous regeneration will make sense to keep Doctor Who ongoing.

David Tennant Returns? Spoiler Alert

BBC and The Telegraph have confirmed that Matt Smith is indeed leaving the series, Doctor Who. As for who will replace him, that could either be John Hurt or the return of David Tennant. If the cliffhanger of season seven is any indication, the 50th Anniversary special will no doubt address this particular addition. As for the ramifications, hopefully the series will make a change for the better and explore the psyche of what the Doctor really is.

Is all the ‘good’ that he is doing truly that, or is there some selfishness about him that viewers do not really know? Long time fans will recall that the First Doctor (William Hartnell) did have an air of selfishness and self-centeredness about him. The episode “Name of the Doctor” did come full circle with Hurt mimicking some of Hartnell’s style.

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What’s Next Now That Transformers Prime: Beast Hunters is Over?

The Transformers Prime series paints a landscape where the Autobots are few and the Decepticons are many.

70234439 Transformers Prime is an animated series that is inherently dark. With Beast Hunters being the final season of this saga, Cartoon Network is putting a close to what is perhaps the best of all the re-imaging of Hasbro’s flagship product. Some fans may feel disappointed, and others will have to wonder what will become of the Autobots in their darkest hour. With seven more episodes remaining to be broadcast, hopefully that will be enough to wrap up everything that this series is cumulating to. With Predaking around, the big question is when will Grimlock and the Dinobots appear? IDW Publishing has a comic book featuring this mighty dinosaur. But as for this series, the character of Grimwing has yet to make a full appearance (since he exists as a toy). The battle with the Decepticons is not looking too good with when there is dissention in the air with Ultra Magnus now part of the team.

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Dissecting Fan Expo Vancouver 2013

The headliner for this year’s Fan Expo Vancouver was Stan Lee.

Expectations were very high by fans to see if the organizers could successfully pull off Fan Expo Vancouver for a second year. Problems were abound in its first year because nobody from the East Coast team knew what the West Coast interest would be like. The major complaint heard from the grapevine, especially on Facebook, was with the lineups. At least that looked better managed in this event’s second year. More signage could have helped direct traffic and one out of the many problems that still needs to be addressed is with hallway congestion. If that issue is not enough, detractors say Fan Expo is a form of Creation Con, a style of organization where the show is designed to take every penny out of a fan’s pocket, and true fan-run conventions are few and far-between.

At least the die-hard masses tends to ignore the naysayers and find enjoyment in everything that Fan Expo celebrates: pop culture.

This year, the show took over three ballrooms at the Vancouver Convention Center’s West Wing and it stretched out to the conference rooms on the second level. The exhibit hall was organized to have dealers for one-third of the space, exhibitors (like LEGO and Sony Playstation) in the middle and displays from special organizations at the end, near the loading docks.

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Star Wars Day and Free Comic Book Day hits Victoria, BC!

Free Comic Book Day and Star Wars Day are an annual event to get readers to visit Victoria, BC’s Nerd Row.

May the Fourth Be With You, because two pop culture events collided together to provide the public with a gaze at what it’s like to be a Star Wars fan and comic book aficionado. While people walked the streets in costume, the children may well be enjoying the sun in a park, reading the latest antics from popular brands like Spongebob Squarepants, Sesame Street or Strawberry Shortcake. An older crowd may have been going for regular favourites like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Wars or X-men.

But as for whether the latter events was intentionally planned to coincide this year or not, the late morning had downtown Victoria, B.C. slowly being occupied by fans from all walks of life — and curiosity seekers with their young ones — walking along the corner of where Johnston Street and Broad meet.

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