Victoria SF

Star Trek widget

2008-12-15T20:49:00.001-08:00

Take note of the NAV button on the right.

Lost Tales Becomes Last Tales

2008-07-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

While not sounding the demise of Babylon 5, the show creator, J. Michael Stracynski had this to say:

B5 as a five year story stands beautifully on its own. If anything else is to be continued from that story, it should be something that adds to the legacy of B5, rather than subtracts from it.

As well intentioned as [TV movie Legend of the] Rangers and TLT were, as enticing as it was to return to those familiar waters, in the end I think they did more to subtract from the legacy than add to it. I don't regret having made them, because I needed to go through that to get to the point where I am now psychologically, but from where I sit now, I wouldn't make them again.

I could really see the scotch tape in the Lost Tales, but I loved the anthology just the same

FireFox 3 Download it for the Record

2008-06-18T08:25:00.001-07:00

Download it now to be part of the Guinness World Book record.

Indiana Jones widget

2008-04-09T20:28:00.001-07:00

Cloverfield grab this

2007-12-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

This is the clearest trailer of Cloverfield I've seen, check this out and grab it for your blog.

Transformers Trailer

2007-04-08T11:00:00.000-07:00

Abrams talks Trek

2007-01-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

After his panel at the New York Times' 6th Annual Arts & Leisure Weekend, Entertainment Weekly sat down with Mission: Impossible III helmer and Lost creator J.J. Abrams to get an inside look at his new Star Trek movie.

Abrams confirmed a draft of the script is done and will be trimmed sometime soon. As for the target audience - "On the one hand, for people who love Star Trek, the fix that they will get will be really satisfying. For people who've never seen it or know it vaguely, I think they will enjoy it equally, because the movie does not require you to know anything about Star Trek. I would actually prefer [that] people don't know the series, because I feel like they will come to it with an open mind."

There's no word on a director or casting yet, but Abrams is anxious to move forward.

Babylon 5 : The Lost Tales

2006-12-02T09:31:00.000-08:00

This is from the B5 Scripts Team:

As I write this, we have finished principal photography on "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales," coming in under budget and finishing a full day ahead of schedule.

This first DVD, entitled "Voices in the Dark," covers the same 72 hour period of time as Sheridan travels on board a Presidential Cruiser en route to Babylon 5 from Minbar for a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Interstellar Alliance. One part of the story follows Sheridan as he picks up an unexpected visitor on the edge of Centauri space, Prince Regent Dius Vintari, and a warning about what will come afterward delivered by the techno-mage, Galen. The other part of the story is set aboard Babylon 5, as Colonel Lochley summons a priest from Earth space to deal with a problem that may have dark supernatural overtones. The two parts of the greater story intersect at certain key plot and thematic points, so that they overlap and complement each other while telling separate, but simultaneous, stories.
The first DVD is going to require nearly 200 EFX shots, taking us all over Alliance space, and Babylon 5, which is being redesigned using the latest CGI technology. The same CGI is being used to create virtual sets a la Sin City, but on an even more detailed basis, in many cases integrating them with practical sets based on the original blueprint designs for Babylon 5. A number of behind-the-scenes pieces were shot for inclusion on the DVD, as well as a number of original short pieces that will be filmed in February which feature glimpses into the future of Babylon 5 and her characters. We have set-up a temporary webpage of photos from the shoot from my personal collection. These images mark the very first photos to emerge from production.

[http://babylon5scripts.com/TLT-JMS-photos.html]

Will this suck and look stupid (like Episodes I-III) or look cool (like Sky Captain or Sin City)? Time will tell.

Oh, The Pain Of It All!

2006-09-22T14:10:00.000-07:00

Step into the Agony Booth: site devoted to painful movie and TV experiences. It was named after the torture device from the Mirror Mirror episode of Star Trek TOS. You're forced to endure waves of pain. Kind of like Steven Seagal's 2005 opus, Submerged.

If you like bad movies and most of Star Trek, give this site a looksee.

Star Trek : Original Series With New Special Effects

2006-08-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

This from Digital Bits:

...On The Bits before it has been announced that Star Trek: The Original Series (which was shot and finalized on film) is currently being given new high-def transfers by CBS for future HD syndication, as well as eventual release in the new HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats (click this link and slide down a few paragraphs for that story)...

Now... going into the panel this weekend, I was wondering about The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager. All three of those shows were post-produced and edited in 4x3, standard definition video... but the episodes were all shot on film. CBS could, in theory, go back to the original film elements for those episodes, re-transfer them all in high-definition and re-do all of the special effects with new CGI at high-def resolution. The result would be rebuilt HD versions of the episodes. All that would be required is the will to do it and the money to get it done right. This possibility was discussed during the panel.

So here's where it gets even more interesting. In doing some digging with our industry sources over the last few days... I've found out something that's going to come as a major surprise to a lot of you. It might be one of the best kept secrets in Hollywood in recent years. Never mind The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager: It turns out that CBS Video, as part of their high-definition remastering of The Original Series, IS giving a lot of the special effects shots a new CG face-lift! Specifically, they're re-doing all of the spaceship shots. This to me is a very exciting idea... in principle. As anyone who saw the Mirror Universe episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise will tell you, the old TOS ships look awfully damn good in new CG. The replicated TOS sets, the original ship designs... rather than looking dated, they actually hold up VERY well by today's standards. Re-doing the effects will give new life to The Original Series and could help it appeal to a new, younger generation of fans. Unlike, say... the Star Wars films... the original versions of these episodes will always be preserved in GREAT remastered quality on DVD. And it would be extremely cool if CBS would release BOTH versions of the episodes on HD-DVD/Blu-ray, such that you can choose which version you wish to watch... the original or the new enhanced version.

Since the Last Starfighter came out in the 1980s, I've heard word that the original series will be redone with updated effects. We'll see if they eventually do this or not. Given the cost (like $100k per episode), it's not much to prepare a series for re-issue. The original series has paid for itself 10 times over so this is almost a freebie exercise.

Dath Vader is on the line

2006-05-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder what the coversation between Darth Vader and Dath Sidious would be like when Vader had to tell him of the events at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope? Well check the video below for a good laugh.

New Begining for Star Trek

2006-04-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

Paramount is looking within to resurrect is most beloved franchise. Lost and Alias creator and Tom Cruise’s MI:III director, J.J. Abrams has been tapped to helm the Enterprise and her crew in the eleventh installment of the Star Trek film franchise by fulfilling the ultimate slash role. In Hollywood, a slash is anyone who works more than one major role on a film or television project, in this case Abrams will perform as Producer / Director / Writer, sometimes known as a double slash.

The as yet untitled script by Abrams and long time co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, is said to look at the early days of the crew from the original television series, James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet during their Academy days and first mission.

To date Star Trek has had ten films and 726 television episodes in six separate series. Things will have to move quickly as Paramount wants this film out in two years, and they still have to script and cast it before starting to film it next year.

Fan Films worth seeing... got more?

2006-04-08T06:38:00.000-07:00

I have been aware of the world of fan films since the eighties when Karl and Dan created Revenge of the Socks. The internet has created a perfect forum for the showcasing of these films as places like Filmforce and ifilm have popped up to host things like Troops and Grayson.

Now something new for video game fans, Zelda: The Hero of Time, a fanfilm made because they could. Fan films are a world unto themselves and the trailer for this one looks great. Check it out, and if you see any other fan films that are worthy drop me a line I'd love to check them out.

RimCon Hibernates

2006-03-12T12:46:00.000-08:00

RimCon has been put on hold citing apathy among Victoria fans. Cary Condor says " Due to the incredible apathy with the local fan and business community, RimCon Victoria has been postponed."

Don McCaskill weighed in saying " Its not apathy its a lack of communication and getting along."

More details at FanForce.

RimCon

2005-10-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

The gang over at the Victoria chapter of the Star Wars form have organized a new convetion for Victoria. RimCom, I don't realy know the basis for this name but I'm sure Karl and John can come up with a few ideas. They claim they'll have a site up soon but you can inquire about tickets through:

RimCon Victoria
PO Box 32108
Victoria BC V8P 4N0

or by contacting

www.caryconder.com

look for this website soon

www.rimconvictoria.org

Neo-Opsis Issue 7

2005-09-13T09:50:00.000-07:00

Victoria SF Zine: Issue 7 of Neo-Opsis has been published!

Letters to the Magazine this issue are from: J. P. Polmateer, Vaughan Stanger (Author of Survival Strategies, issue 6), Yvonne Pronovost (Archeologist and author of All the Tea in China, issue 6), Roger Dunn, Frank C Gunderloy, Jr. (Author of The Silver Connection issue 6), Paul Carpentier.

This issue, Karl Johanson’s A Walk Through The Periodic Chart deals with Argon. With the article is a related cartoon by Karen Lightbody (formerly Kazanowski).

The first story in issue six is The Mask and the Maze, by K. Bannerman. (13,330 words – Novelette) K. Bannerman has had fiction appear in Room Of One's Own, Parabola magazine, Lichen Literary Journal and Premonitions Magazine, and Double Dragon Publishing published K. Bannerman’s novel The Tattooed Wolf in 2004. (Illustration by Stephanie Ann Johanson.

The second story is Thirty-Three, by Tom Brennan. (3,969 words – Short Story) Tom is 39 and he lives in Liverpool, UK with wife Sylvia and many cats. A former winner in the Writers of the Future contest (XVIII), he has two novels out at the moment: The Debt and One True Prince. He enjoys a wide variety of fiction, including SF, Fantasy and Mystery/Thriller; he’s currently working on Doktor Glass, an alt.history Victorian Fantasy.

The third story is The Rain Queen, by Barbara Davies. (3,683 words – Short Story) Barbara lives in the English Cotswolds. Her fiction has appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, The Eternal Night, Fables, and Kimota (her story won their Best Story Award for 1999), and e-anthologies Ideomancer Unbound and Crossings, among others. She reviews fantasy fiction for Starburst. (Illustration by Stephanie Ann Johanson)

The forth story is Dead People’s Stuff, by Diane Arrelle. (3,434 words – Short Story) Diane has sold more than 60 short stories to magazines and anthologies including Barnes and Nobel Crafty Cat Crimes, Oui, Terminal Fright, Pirate Writings, Blue Murder and Be Mine. (Illustration by Stephanie Ann Johanson)

The fifth story is Like Minds, by Mike McHone. (805 words – Short Story) Mike is a writer/journalist living in southeastern Michigan. His work has appeared in small and mainstream presses such as Blood Moon Rising and American Zoetrope. He is currently a music reviewer for Clamor Magazine and a columnist for the Detroit music magazine The Record.

News this issue includes: Author readings, the 2005 Nebula Award winners, the 2005 Aurora Award winners, the 2005 Hugo Award winners, the 2005 Sunburst Award nominees.

Reviews includes: Professor Robert Runté gives his review of the book Rocket Science by Jay Lake; John W. Herbert reviews The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie, Touchstone Pictures 2005; Stephanie Ann Johanson reviews the novels Dragon’s Kin by Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey, Dragonsblood by Todd McCaffrey, and The Courtesan Prince by Lynda Williams; Paula Johanson reviews the novel Ice Tomb by Deborah Jackson.

In Science News there is New Moon Makes Waves, with accompanying Cartoon by Karen Lightbody (formerly Kazanowski)

Karl Johanson talks about Westercon 58 in The Last Two Pages, accompanied by photos taken during the convention.

Victoria Toy Show

2005-09-11T21:11:00.000-07:00

Biggest Toy Show in Western Canada
Antiques, Collectibles, Dolls, Robots, Star Wars, Trains, Boats, Games, Books, Soldiers, Wind-ups, Comics, Disney, Western, Corgis, Barbies, Beanies and more! (how much more? Show up and find out).

When: Sunday, October 23rd, 2005 (10AM - 4PM)
Where: Mary Winspear Centre @ Sanscha Hall : 2243 Beacon Ave. Sidney BC
General Admission: $3.00 - children w/adult are free.
Early Admission: $20.00

More info:
Jack 727-2403 - Dave 385-4292
www.victoriatoyshow.com

1st Annual Victoria Comic Memorabilia Show

2005-09-11T21:05:00.000-07:00

Guest Artist: Ken Steacy

Door Prizes
Silent Auction
Free Admission

When: Sunday, September 25th, 2005 (11AM - 4PM)
Where: Norway House - 1110 Hillside Ave (between Quadra and Cook)
More info:
Al 652-0149 - Glen 361-6227

Neil Gaiman to Visit Victoria

2005-09-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

Neil Gaiman will appear at Alix Goolden Hall on Wednesday October 5, 7:30 pm

Literary superstar Neil Gaiman, creator of The Sandman, and New York Times bestselling author of American Gods and Coraline, returns to Victoria with a spectacular new novel. Anansi Boys is a delerious rush into fantasy and wild imagination as only Gaiman can provide, deftly balancing rich humour and tragic pathos.
Tickets $10 -- your ticket allows you $5 off the cover price of Anansi Boys, which will be released September 20.*

*** Please note - Bolen's expects this event to sell out quickly, so please purchase your ticket early to avoid disappointment. While Mr. Gaiman will sign any copies of Anansi Boys purchased at Bolen Books or at the event, we reserve the right to limit quantities of other titles to be autographed.

Purpose

2005-09-06T07:00:00.000-07:00

What is the purpose of this Blog?

To facilitate to union of SF/F fans in Victoria and Vancouver Island or even across Canada and the states, if you want to join in. Act as a place to meet, talk, and exchange ideas and love of all things science fiction and fantasy. This is your community, the only way to make it stronger is to build ties with others, The Star Wars Fan Force, and the Trekkers, the SCA and the Camarilla all need to know what each other is doing, for there to be a harmonious society.

As I make contact with clubs I'll give certain members posting access to the blog, everyone else has access to make comments. After awhile I shouldn’t need to do anything, the blog will simply run its self. That’s my plan anyways.

Who am I?
Don McCaskill, a member of Victoria’s science fiction community since 1979.

Why are you doing this?
I’ve started online communities like this in the past, but my press trip to Tillicum's Silver City for the premiere of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith reveled that the group was in pieces with four separate Star Wars clubs, that were not coordinated with each other.

Were will this all happen?
Right here, just bookmark the page and keep coming back.

When will it start?
As soon as you make your first comment

Start

2005-08-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

This is the first test post by Don McCaskill if you want to be a member please leave a comment