The new fall season is on the verge of kicking into high gear. And although the rise of cable, streaming television, online everything and YouTubers have redefined entertainment, Fall TV still has a little somethin’-somethin’ to offer.

In a report by The Fool, September is shaping up to be one of the most game-changing months in Netflix history thanks to a boffo box office by Disney.

When it comes to Netflix, their deal with the Mouse House is about the pay off this September as the the full measure of their Disney contract is about to be met. Not only will subscribers be privy to a whole host of blockbusters in their future.

In fact, this fall, Netflix becomes the exclusive home of many of the Mouse’s first-run theatrical releases, including titles from LucasFilm, Pixar, Disney Animation, Disney Pictures and, of course, Marvel.

Hellloooo….Luke Cage!

When the partnership was struck back in 2013, neither Netflix nor Marvel was expecting quite a year like 2016. But with Captain America: Civil War, Zootopia, Finding Dory, and Jungle Book, Disney pulled a up ahead, above and beyond any other studio that year with one hit after another.

Even their misses couldn’t keep their hits down, and in their end, just ended up giant wins for Netflix, who will feel the bounty of the studio year this fall.

But alas, as one hero rises, one must fall.

OK, nothing that dramatic. But Hulu is dropping CW from its programming, which breaks my little heart since I can no longer stream The Flash, Arrow or iZombie.

Here is a quick list at a few of the shows coming back to Hulu.

September 13

• Dancing with the Stars: Season 23 Premiere (ABC)
• Ink Master: Season 8 Premiere (Spike)

September 14

• South Park: Season 20 Premiere (Comedy Central)

September 15

Blindspot: Season 2 Premiere (NBC)

September 20

• Gotham: Season 3 Premiere (FOX)
• Lucifer: Season 2 Premiere (FOX)
• The Good Place: Series Premiere (NBC)
• The Voice: Season 11 Premiere (NBC)

September 21

• Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 4 Premiere (FOX)
• Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: Season 4 Premiere (ABC)
• New Girl: Season 6 Premiere (FOX)
• Scream Queens: Season 2 Premiere (FOX)
• This is Us: Series Premiere (NBC)

September 22

• Black-ish: Season 3 Premiere (ABC)
• Chicago Med: Season 2 Premiere (NBC)
• Chicago P.D.: Season 4 Premiere (NBC)
• Designated Survivor: Series Premiere (ABC)
• Empire: Season 3 Premiere (FOX)
• The Goldbergs: Season 4 Premiere (ABC)
• Law & Order Special Victims Unit: Season 18 premiere (NBC)
• Lethal Weapon: Series Premiere (FOX)
• Modern Family: Season 8 Premiere (ABC)
• Speechless: Series Premiere (ABC)

September 23

• Grey’s Anatomy: Season 13 Premiere (ABC)
• How to Get Away with Murder: Season 3 Premiere (ABC)
• Notorious: Series Premiere (ABC)
• Pitch: Series Premiere (FOX)
• Rosewood: Season 2 Premiere (FOX)
• Superstore: Season 2 Premiere (NBC)

September 24

• The Exorcist: Series Premiere (FOX)
• Hell’s Kitchen: Season 16 Premiere (FOX)
• Last Man Standing: Season 6 Premiere (ABC)
• Shark Tank: Season 8 Premiere (ABC)

September 25

• Robot Chicken: Complete Season 8 (Adult Swim)

September 26

• Bob’s Burgers: Season 7 Premiere (FOX)
• Family Guy: Season 15 Premiere (FOX)
• The Last Man on Earth: Season 3 Premiere (FOX)
• Loosely Exactly Nicole: Series Premiere (MTV)
• Mary + Jane: Series Premiere (MTV)
• Once Upon a Time: Season 6 Premiere (ABC)
• Quantico: Season 2 Premiere (ABC)
• Ridiculousness: Complete Season 7 (MTV)
• Secrets and Lies: Season 2 Premiere (ABC)
• The Simpsons: Season 28 Premiere (FOX)
• Son of Zorn: Series Premiere (FOX)

Tune in next week when I recap the full Netflix schedule…

He-Man and She-Ra: A Complete Guide
To The Classic Animated Adventures
Written by James Eatock, Dušan Mitrović,
Alex Hawkey
Published by Dark Horse Comics
ISBN: 9781506700649 | Price $39.99
Release date: August 24, 2016

Last year, Dark Horse unleashed the Power of Greyskull with the release the He-Man art book and a collection of the old mini comic books.

Now, writer, animator and He-Man expert James Eatock has assembled the ultimate companion guide for the original animated series that was a capstone of the 80’s cartoon era.

Did you know that He-Man started off as angry and impatient before he gained his good humored personality?

What about the fact that Orko was originally going to be named Gorpo?

He-Man and She-Ra: A Complete Guide To The Classic Animated Adventures is a near 600 page hardcover juggernaut that will require some prime real estate on your bookshelf.

Every single episode of the Filmation animated series starring He-Man & She-Ra, the movies The Secret of the Sword and A Christmas Special are summarized with a wealth of information that is beautifully laid out in a cohesive manner that is easy on the eyes and super fun to explore.

Synopsis, cast of characters, moral of the story, original air dates, sketches, episode review, and so much more provides an objective under the hood at everything you wanted to know about the show.

That statement is usually a broad term that either under delivers or provides just enough information to satisfy the marketing objective, however, this is the ultimate peak behind the curtain that if anything will over deliver due to the exhaustive labor of that James Eatock put into this collection.

This book will give fans a new appreciation for their favorite episode while perhaps cracking the veil of nostalgia for others. Orko is one of my favorite characters…period. The episode where he received a visit from his old magician pal, Squonge irked me as a kid. Like Orko, I had a friend like Squonge who told tall tales that got people into trouble. Of course, 22 minutes later, Squonge learned his lesson, which I appreciated.

However, Eatock’s review scores this outing a 4 out of 10 due to the lack of stakes, underutilized plot points, and a piercing divide in the narrative. The adult in me completely agrees with Eatock’s assessment while my childhood soul sticks his tongue out at such poppycock.

Sample page showing episodic coverage

She-Ra: Princess of Power episode titled “Horde Prime Takes A Holiday” shows the galactic overlord wanting to take some time off from his busy schedule and leaves Hordak in charge until he gets back. Hordak uses this as an opportunity to use Horde Prime’s ship to conquer Eternia. Well, that’s Skeletor’s hood, and that’s going to cause some conflict.

I learned that is that a lot of footage was reused in multiple episodes with different dialog inserted in, such as a moment where Hordak and Horde Prime were conversing aboard the ship. I always thought that Prime’s giant hand always moved with the same speed and cadence. Now I know why.

This episode also marked the first appearance of the MOTU action figure Multi-Bot, released in wave 5 of the toy line.

Yes, that’s right, notes and tidbits about the popular Mattel action figures has a strong presence in this book. After all, the cartoon was designed to make the emerging toy line print money, which it did in droves.

If you’re a fan Masters of the Universe fan and absolutely love the Filmation animated series, this is the perfect book to add to your library.

While most people tend to say “He-Man” when identifying this rich franchise, James Eatock ensures that information, figures and facts about the cartoon takes precedent with this vastly informative collection.

One of the best things about social media is the opportunity to connect with not only people who share the same interest as you, but also people that have influenced you in some capacity.

Chris Gore is one of those people.  Twenty five years ago when I was in college I discovered his magazine, Film Threat, and became a regular reader.  Chris’ timing couldn’t have been better.  Film Threat covered a large amount of independent cinema and in a very short period, indie cinema exploded with large numbers of talented directors including Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Steven Soderbergh, Spike Lee, Whit Stillman, The Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, Abel Ferrara, Noah Baumbach, Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, Carl Franklin, Tom DiCillo, and many others,

Film Threat covered their movies in a way that no other print media was at the time.  In many ways, the magazine was the inspiration for online film journalism, and I believe that every film related website (including Forces of Geek), owes a debt to Chris Gore and his trailblazing magazine.

With this Kickstarter, here’s your opportunity to help out one of the cinegeeks who made a difference in my life and in the life of many people.  Chris took some time out of his schedule to discuss the magazine, the Kickstarter campaign and the future of indie film.

###

FOG!: Film Threat has been a part of your life now for over three decades, predating and in its own way, creating the kind of passionate film journalism that’s become a part of online culture.  What was the genesis of the magazine?

Chris Gore: When I was in high school in the 80s, zines were just beginning to emerge. Inexpensive xerox machines made self-publishing a possibility. So all these punk rock fanzines were sold at music stores in my hometown of Royal Oak. They mostly focused on bands and skateboarding. And while I liked those things, my real passion was film. I simply thought to myself, “I want to do a punk attitude-type of ‘zine but about movies.”

It wasn’t until David Lynch’s Dune came out in 1984 that I finally moved ahead and put out the first issue. Dune was my favorite book as a kid and I read it every year in high school. When I heard that David Lynch was going to make a film adaptation of Dune, I lost my mind! I looked forward to seeing that movie and read everything I could in every film magazine at the time.

My mother worked in the book industry at the time and got me into an early screening and I thought the film was a mess. I was so disappointed. I was upset and embarrassed that a movie based on this source material by a filmmaker that I so admired had turned out to be such a piece of cinematic garbage! I took my anger and channeled it into the very first xeroxed issue which I handed out in my Film History class at Wayne State University on February 6, 1985.

An entire generation knows you from Attack of the Show and the X-Show as well as your podcast and for your overall presence in the pop culture zeitgeist.  What led to Film Threat‘s original ending and why do you think now is the perfect time to relaunch the brand?

Film Threat is like a zombie. It has died and been resurrected so many times. It has also gone through many incarnations from a xeroxed fanzine, to newsprint with color cover, to a slick magazine and then to a website along with a spin-off magazine, a line of indie films on DVD, a t-shirt line, etc… The voice has been mostly consistent, which, well, is me.

I decided in 2010 to focus on some other projects and I sold the magazine to Mark Bell in March of that year. That break really allowed me to get creative in other areas and I really needed time off from Film Threat. There is certainly a burn out that comes from doing that kind of work over decades.

Chris on his DVD-Duesday segment on G4’s Attack of The Show

When the rights reverted back to me in 2015, I launched a Kickstarter to bring the site back, but I did everything wrong — the campaign wasn’t focused, I was trying to do too many things at once, the amount I was asking seemed like too much — I made every mistake you could possibly make. I took that failure as a time to reassess and work on some new projects that include a book about Film Threat and a documentary.

You tried a Kickstarter last year which received half its funding.  This time out you’re looking to raise a more modest sum and your plans for the project have changed.  What is the money going toward in this campaign?

As I said before, I made a lot of mistakes in my initial campaign. I got very lucky as a web designer stepped up to show me how the site could look. (If you donate to the campaign, you’ll get a sneak peek at the new site design, which is fantastic.) So I first need to give Kickstarter their cut, fulfill the backer rewards, then I need to pay our designer for his work, get a new server on a long term contract, a programmer needs to get paid to be sure that all the old content is viewable in the new format and that there are no bugs, then the app will make the site readable on mobile devices and tablets, then I’m not just doing a podcast, I’m going to be launching a podcast network.

The amount I’m asking for is modest, but I never really stopped working on the site. There’s that triangle-shaped project diagram that we’ve all seen in which there are three options, but you can only choose two: Good. Fast. Cheap.

I think you can guess which two I selected. Since I really have had no money to work with, I am doing it on the cheap, so it’s not fast. Getting this campaign funded will give me the necessary funds to go live with the site.

You and Film Threat have long been advocates of Indie Film. Film Threat‘s Golden Age was during the mid-90s during the independent cinema boom which introduced audiences to Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Smith, Richard Linkletter and Robert Rodriguez.  It feels now that Indie Film is entering it’s Silver Age.  How do you think this renaissance is different than it was 25 years ago?

It’s even more exciting now.

Social media and crowdfunding has put power in the hands of creators rather than those investors holding the purse strings. Money is a big part of any film project and there was certainly a gold rush in the 90s.

But we live in an age of major studio franchises and movies with $200+ million dollar budgets leaving little room for small films in the market.

I’m looking forward to supporting those lo-fi, no-budget movies made with an iPhone. I expect to see an explosion of these in the coming years and one of them is going to resonate and hit it big.

I am looking forward to discovering the Kevin Smiths and Quentin Tarantinos of tomorrow.

You mentioned an app as part of the Kickstarter.  What exactly will it do?

As I referenced earlier, it will allow the site to be more easily readable on mobile devices and tablets. The intention with the app is to give one the feeling of reading a magazine, so the design is very upscale. I think that also puts the indie films that we’re covering in the best light.

In addition, we’ll add other functionality including notifications about free screenings hosted by Film Threat. I’ve already met with the programmer for the Alamo Drafthouse in Los Angeles where we’ll host a screening series as well as record the Film Threat podcast live in front of an audience. It’s very exciting. I don’t want to talk too much about the app as some of the functions are things that no other film site is currently doing, and I want to keep those a secret.

Since you’re a well-established cinegeek, what 10 films would you bring with you to a desert island?

1. Slacker (by Richard Linklater)
2. American Astronaut (by Cory McAbee, it’s a black and white sci-fi musical and brilliant)
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (I watch this movie once a week for inspiration.)
4. Blade Runner: The Final Cut (Brilliant and the best version of this movie.)
5. My Big Fat Independent Movie (It’s a movie I co-wrote and produced and I would watch it only to learn from my mistakes.)
6. Fight Club (it’s the most subversive film made by a major studio and very rewatchable.)
7. Director’s Cut (written by and starring Penn Jillette and directed by Adam Rifkin. I saw an early screening this year and it’s genius.)
8. Original Star Wars trilogy (Despecialized Edition) (I know, that’s three movies, I’m cheating a little bit.)
9. I am a Sex Addict (directed by Caveh Zahedi)
10. And, for fun, David Lynch’s Alan Smithee version of Dune which I have on a Japanese laser disc.

Provided the Kickstarter is successful, will the site offer new content beyond podcasts or is it just an archive of previous material?

The site will be updated daily with new content including reviews, interviews, reports from film festivals and new revolving columns that, again, are not like anything that any movie website is currently doing.

Part of me wants to come back because I’ve grown tired of what the current crop of film websites is covering — they seem to be obsessed with Star Wars, Marvel and DC movies, and I like those, but I have a more diversified media palette. I’m most excited about the new columns intended to help indie filmmakers.

Film Threat has always been about championing causes and injecting humor to make a serious point. That will continue and I’m chomping at the bit to get started.

Finally, what are you geeking out over?

I am a media junkie, so my list can be a long and varied one….

• Stranger Things (Netflix)
• Billions (Showtime series)
• Dark Knight III (comic book series)
• Star Trek Continues (YouTube series)
• David Cross: Making America Great Again! (new comedy special on Netflix)
• All Things Must Pass (the Colin Hanks documentary on Tower Records)
• The 50 Year Mission (audio book about the history of Star Trek)
• Assholes: A Theory (audio book on the culture of assholes, this came recommended by Stephen Soderbergh)
• Attack of the Killer Donuts (exploitation movie touring the festival circuit)
• Dick Shark (by Bill Zebub now on DVD)

And next week the list will be totally different. Thanks for asking!

To help support this project and
save Film Threat, click HERE!
Follow Chris on Twitter @thatchrisgore

In the previous installment, I treated anthology films released during the roughly 10-year period when England’s Amicus Productions reigned supreme.

Amicus’s triumphs remain the subgenre’s standouts, but starting in the mid 1970s, several American movies picked up where Amicus left off, adding extra bits of American humor and subversiveness to the mix.

This column will complete my look at anthology films, bringing us into the early 1980s.

TRILOGY OF TERROR (USA, 1975)

Dan Curtis (the Night Stalker and Dark Shadows guy) adapted three Richard Matheson stories for this fine TV anthology film. Karen Black (from Burnt Offerings, also directed by Curtis) stars in all three stories.

The first two tales are substandard, but Black is very good so you don’t mind much. The third tale comprises some of the most famous sequences of any TV horror film of the 70s. When Black accidentally knocks a chain off a mysterious Zuni fetish doll, the doll comes to life – with one purpose: to kill.

BLOOD BATH (USA, 1975)

Possibly the worst of all anthology films, the Grade Z Blood Bath depicts four comical tales about jerks who try to cheat others but unwittingly destroy themselves.

Almost nothing is funny or exciting. One story is unusual, combining martial arts and science fiction with bits of horror. But it’s not unusual enough to be worth the watch.

DEAD OF NIGHT (USA, 1977)

After the success of Trilogy of Terror, Dan Curtis made this second TV anthology and even named it after the trendsetting British picture from 1945 (covered in “Classic Horror Anthology Movies, Part I“).

Again it’s Richard Matheson, and again it’s three stories. The first story is sweet and nostalgic (not horrific), but the latter two stories are more what anthology film fans expect.

Personally, I really liked the first story with the antique cars, but most fans remember the last one the best. It’s clearly akin to the Karen Black fetish doll segment from Trilogy of Terror. A woman, alone in a house, is pursued by a relentless supernatural killer. Yet here, emotions grow even more twisted, as the supernatural killer is the woman’s undead son!

As a whole, the picture is just as good as Trilogy of Terror.

THE UNCANNY (Canada/UK, 1977)

Taking up where the Amicus films left off, this little-known anthology film invests its three stories and frame with a spirit of mischief. So any horror is leavened with camp.

The premise, unoriginal yet effective, is that domestic house cats are not simple dumb pets as most people believe. Instead, they are intelligent and devious, able to manipulate their masters into doing their bidding.

So there’s a unifying premise behind all three tales – something rare in any anthology film.

Unfortunately, the stories are predictable. It’s clearly not Richard Matheson or Robert Bloch doing the writing.

But the whole is better than the parts, and the cast is very good including Peter Cushing (yet again!) as a writer who insists that all his stories about devious cats are true, and Ray Milland as Cushing’s publisher who won’t believe the stories without proof.

HOUSE OF THE DEAD (USA, 1978)

Also known as “Alien Zone,” this independent American production is the last attempt to keep the spirit of the Amicus anthologies alive.

Like The Uncanny, it mixes horror with camp, and also like The Uncanny it tries to unify its stories with a central premise (here, four dead bodies, one for each tale).

Compared with its predecessors, it’s a little sleazy and gratuitous, and (if you ask me) less fun.

But one of the stories is very good: apparently inspired by the Peter Cushing/Jack Palance segment from Torture Garden, this story depicts rival criminologists who might be trying to kill each other. Fans of mystery films might rent House of the Dead for this story alone.

SCREAMS OF A WINTER NIGHT (USA, 1979)

Here’s a strange, low-budget anthology about vacationing students telling ghost stories around a campfire. It’s closer to Legend of Boggy Creek (the Bigfoot classic) than the usual Amicus-style anthology films.

All three stories are decent, and they’re most effective if you watch with patience and low expectations, letting the ideas or images creep up on you one by one. It’s short on special effects but long on sincerity.

Check it out if you like independent low budget productions from the 70s.

THE MONSTER CLUB (UK, 1980)

At last we move into the 80s, not to mention into higher budgets and production values. It’s technically an Amicus film (produced by Milton Subotsky), yet the film feels different from its famous predecessors.

It’s more campy, more gleeful, more outrageous in its central idea: that monsters all know each other and enjoy whooping it up together in a special secret monster disco club.

None of the three stories are great, but the frame – in the Monster Club disco – is excellent.

Historically, this is the only picture in which Vincent Price played a vampire.

HEAVY METAL (Canada, 1981)

I know this one feels different from everything else on the list, but it’s technically an anthology film (with a frame and all), plus it’s great, so I wanted to mention it briefly.

It takes several stories from the first few years of Heavy Metal magazine, adds a couple new stories of its own, and frames them with a malevolent talking orb speaking to a helpless adolescent girl.

It’s an animated film with shaky but detailed figures and images. Keep the kids away, since it’s got occasional nudity and considerable gore, but go ahead and enjoy it for the great punk/metal soundtrack, the nutty surprises in the stories, and the grand unifying spirit of unabashed pulp adventure.

CREEPSHOW (USA, 1982)

I still think Creepshow is overrated. I think people want to like it because they like George A. Romero and Stephen King. People thus overlook the poorly paced stories and weak humor.

But I must admit that Creepshow at its best captures the mischievous spirit of the original EC comics more than the 1972 Amicus adaptation of Tales from the Crypt.

What do I mean by “at its best”? I mean the last story, the one with the cockroaches, by far the most famous segment in the film. It’s equally creepy (literally) and funny, it’s well filmed and acted, and it has a conclusion that follows naturally from the “don’t bug me” premise set up at the start.

Creepshow‘s intro and titles are good too:

Celebrate three decades of pulse-pounding action and bone-chilling suspense with this Aliens 30th Anniversary Limited-Edition Set that features both the Theatrical and Special Edition versions of the film on Blu-ray, as well as audio commentary, deleted and extended scenes and more. This must-have set also includes collectible art cards, and a book featuring art from the Dark Horse Comics Aliens series with an all-new cover created exclusively for this 30th Anniversary Edition.

The Blu-ray and Digital HD release will include an all-new, documentary titled “The Inspiration and Design of Aliens,” which delves into the origins of the film.

James Cameron directed this critically acclaimed sequel starring Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo’s deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien. After drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years, Ripley returns to Earth, haunted by nightmares of the past. Although her story is initially met with disbelief, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426…and this time it’s war!

ALIENS: THE 30^TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION Blu-ray & Digital HD Special Features Include:

• NEW – The Inspiration and Design of Aliens featurette
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Superior Firepower: Making Aliens
• Superior Firepower: Making Aliens Enhancement
• Pre-Production Galleries
  • The Art of Aliens
    • Gateway Station and Colony
    • Vehicles and Weapons
    • Aliens
  • Casting
    • Cast Portrait Gallery
• Deleted Scene Montage

It was a true game-changer, a film so upsetting in its blunt depiction of an amoral murderer that it made the slasher films of its time look like cartoons by comparison.  HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER became a lightning rod in heated debates about cinema and censorship but has only grown in stature since its first showing in 1986. Now, on the 30th anniversary of its momentous debut, it returns in a 4K restoration rerelease nationwide via Dark Sky Films, with major theatrical engagements to begin on October 21, 2016.

The film will come “home” on October 14, 2016, as Dark Sky partners with the Chicago International Film Festival for a large-scale event including a festival red-carpet premiere and a Q&A with star Michael Rooker and director John McNaughton in attendance.

HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER is a chilling profile of a cold-blooded killer that, 30 years after its historic festival premiere, has lost none of its power to shock. The film, loosely based on a true story, has been hailed as one of the most disturbing and terrifying examinations of mass murderers ever filmed. Henry (Michael Rooker, The Walking Dead) is a psychopathic drifter who has coldly murdered a number of people for no particular reason and without any remorse. Leaving bodies in his wake, Henry makes his way to Chicago, where his he settles into the run-down apartment of his drug-dealing former prison friend and occasional roommate Otis (Tom Towles).

Also moving into the space is Otis’s younger sister Becky (Tracy Arnold), who is fleeing her abusive husband. As she fends off her brother’s incestuous advances, Becky finds herself attracted to Henry – unaware that he, along with Otis, are continuing their murderous rampage.

Director John McNaughton completed the film in 1986, and it was shown at that year’s Chicago International Film Festival. But it wasn’t until 1990 that a U.S. distributor was brave enough to give it a wide release. Henry predates the NC-17 rating and received its predecessor, the X rating, on three separate occasions. As a result of it and related issues with Almodovar’s “Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down,” Phillip Kaufman’s “Henry & June” and Peter Greenaway’s “the Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover,” the MPAA created the NC-17 as its replacement on 9/26/1990. Henry’s current rating is “X (Surrendered)” though a renewed rating is pending.  The film’s violence, and the clinical, detached portrayal of Henry by the unforgettable Michael Rooker, originally earned it the MPAA’s highly restrictive NC-17 rating.

The response from both critics and the public was as visceral as the film itself, and it went on to gain praise as one of the most compelling and disturbing films of modern cinema.

In celebration of its 30th anniversary, HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER returns with a thrilling, cinematic presentation that cements its reputation as one of the most harrowing and original American films of all time. Dark Sky Films, a division of MPI Media Group, proudly presents it in a brand-new 4K scan and restoration from the 16mm original camera negatives, and featuring a new 5.1 audio mix from the stereo 35mm mag reels, all approved by director John McNaughton.

HENRY opens in New York on October 21, McNaughton will attend the film’s New York premiere, at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema and on October 28, McNaughton will present it at the Laemmle NoHo in Los Angeles. 

A whole new generation of filmgoers will be introduced to HENRY with an amazing new transfer that puts the film firmly back into the vanguard of contemporary cinematic horror. Daniel M. Kimmel of Variety wrote, “[T]his is a movie that will anger and frighten audiences … Many will also find this one of the most impressive film debuts of the ’80s.”

About Dark Sky Films
Dark Sky Films is an independent film production and distribution label founded in 2008, working with emerging talent as well as established veterans to develop, package, produce and finance feature film and episodic television projects. Representing films from some of the most talented directors working today, such as Ti West‘s The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers, and Jim Mickle‘s Stake Land, Dark Sky continues to identify original talent and projects to bring a vibrant slate of films to the world market, with such recent releases and productions such as We Are Still Here, Deathgasm, Applesauce and Emelie.

There’s still more DC Rebirth coming in September! Beast Boy, Starfire, Robin, Raven and Kid Flash are back in action!

Last to debut, but certainly not least, TEEN TITANS: REBIRTH #1 is one of the final DC Rebirth comics (along with CYBORG: REBIRTH and BATMAN BEYOND: REBIRTH) to hit shelves this fall after several months of exciting title launches. In the new series, the Teen Titans start out farther apart than ever before…until Damian Wayne recruits Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy and the new Kid Flash to join him in a fight against his own grandfather, Ra’s al Ghul! But true leadership is more than just calling the shots—is Robin really up to the task? Or will the Teen Titans dismiss this diminutive dictator?

Written by Benjamin Percy (GREEN ARROW, DETECTIVE COMICS) with cover, interior art and new character designs by Jonboy Meyers (GEN 13, SUPERGIRL), colors by Jim Charalampidis and letters by Corey Breen, TEEN TITANS: REBIRTH #1 arrives September 28th

Check out this preview featuring Kid Flash!

The Human Google
At the New York Public Library there are those who seem to know all, referred to as the “Human Google.”

Audiobooks vs. Reading
Why listening books instead of reading them isn’t cheating for your brain.

Everfair
A sweeping tale of hope and survival coming soon that’s worth the notice, from an author of color.

Best Fall Books
There’s a chill in the air and fall is coming. Here are some big reads coming this fall.

Reading Longevity
It’s been discovered reading can extend your life and make you live to a wise old age.

Studies Show Reading is . . .
Reading longevity may also depend on what you’re reading.

B&N Samsung Galaxy Tab Nook
B&N and Samsung are joining up for the next Nook.

On August 4th-6th, Boston Comic Con took over Beantown with some of the biggest stars in comics and entertainment and once again, FOG! was invited to moderate several of the panels. Check them all out below!

And special thanks to Erick Korpi and Dork Times.

Author! Author!

Moderated by: Clay N. Ferno
Participants: Marv Wolfman, Ming Doyle, Frank Tieri, Amanda Diebert

Spotlight on Scott Snyder (with Special Guest Greg Capullo)

Moderated by: Stefan Blitz

The Heroes of the CW

Moderated by: Stefan Blitz
Participants: Danielle Panabaker, Ciara Renee, Caity Lotz, and Robbie Amell

Spotlight on Gillian Anderson

Moderated by: Stefan Blitz

Gotham’s Jim Gordon: Spotlight on Ben McKenzie

Moderated by: Stefan Blitz

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Elizabeth Henstridge

Moderated by: Clay N. Ferno

Spotlight on Comics Legend Marv Wolfman

Moderated by: Clay N. Ferno

Alan Arkin, Peter Falk and Arthur Hiller on the set of ‘The In-Laws’

If you went to the movies with any regularity in the 1970s and ’80s, you’ve likely seen or at least heard of a film by the late Arthur Hiller. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1923, Hiller made his bones in the realm of American television, having directed scores of episodes for more than thirty television series dating back to the mid-1950s. If your cathode ray tube diet included such staples as Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Route 66, The Detectives, and The Addams Family, you probably saw quite a lot from Arthur Hiller.

Hiller made the leap from television to the movies in the early sixties, but he didn’t really hit it huge in Hollywood until 1970, when he adapted both the Neil Simon comedy The Out-of-Towners, and also the ludicrously popular tragic-romantic weeper Love Story.

Arthur Hiller with Ryan O’Neal and Ali MacGraw on the set of ‘Love Story.’

Hiller’s prolific filmography put him in the same league as equally respected contemporaries such as Sidney Lumet, Mike Nichols, and Woody Allen, who could all be depended upon to crank out quality star-studded films every year or so, sometimes two in a single calendar year—films not always of the same genre but always full of an unmistakable joie de vivre—yet not, perhaps, cinematic spectacles defined by a grandiose visual style. Hiller’s films are invariably modest human comedies rather than grand-scale epics, typically filled with well-drawn characters and in which humor is often mined from the most unassuming places.

There are quite a few of the director’s films made during my formative movie-going years that I have yet to catch up with, but chances are you’ve probably seen more Arthur Hiller films than you realize.

Following the phenomenal commercial success of Love Story, Hiller directed a string of diverse and popular films—another Neil Simon trifle Plaza Suite (1971), the Paddy Chayefsky-penned black comedy The Hospital (1971), the Don Quixote musical Man of La Mancha (1972), and the first Gene Wilder/Richard Pryor mash-up, the mystery-comedy buddy flick Silver Streak (1976).

These films’ solid commercial performance and generally positive critical acclaim made Hiller one of the most dependable filmmakers making popular movies during the early-Spielberg era. Then, in 1979, Hiller directed The In-Laws. Many fans consider the Peter Falk/Alan Arkin buddy caper to be Hiller’s most enduring classic, it’s frequently cited at the top of many “Best Comedies of All Time” lists. The movie’s loyal fans, myself included, can often quote extended dialogue passages from the film verbatim.

Hiller rounded out the 1970s with the killer bat thriller Nightwing (1979), proving he could do just about any genre.

Hiller’s steady output continued throughout the 1980s, with a spate of romantic comedies, social dramas, and sarcastic buddy flicks.

One of those social dramas is 1982’s Making Love, little-remembered nowadays because it’s not a particularly good movie and wasn’t a box office hit—one of Hiller’s very few misfires—but controversial in its day and holds a place in the annals of cinema history because it marks the first time Hollywood made and released a movie that addresses head-on the topic of being gay, and features a gay leading character (played by young Harry Hamlin just after he made Clash of the Titans, which surely could’ve only helped the film’s prospects then, and is probably the sole reason the movie has any cult following now).

I recall Teachers (1984) was marketed as some sort of Network-style indictment of the school system, but its melodramatic moments dull some of its edgier satire. The Lonely Guy (1984) was still early days for Steve Martin but the melancholy romance registered as somewhat of a serious departure for the “wild and crazy guy.”

Another popular Hiller favorite from 1987 is the female buddy adventure comedy Outrageous Fortune, with Shelley Long playing snooty straight fiddle to crass Bette Midler, at her uncensored and brassy best in the short stretch of her revitalized mid-’80s movie career before Disney muzzled her.

Hiller’s reunion with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989) was the first Arthur Hiller movie I ever outright disliked.

From there, Hiller retreated to familiar waters with the In-Laws/Outrageous Fortune-influenced mismatched-buddy romp Taking Care of Business (1990), featuring the dubious pairing of not-as-funny-as-his-dead-brother James Belushi with the slumming-I-cannot-believe-he-so-desperately-needed-this-paycheck Charles Grodin. Afterwards, Hiller directed a multi-couple domestic drama in the Woody Allen vein called Married to It (1991) starring Stockard Channing and Beau Bridges, and, perhaps Hiller’s last notable film, the 1992 Babe Ruth period biopic The Babe starring John Goodman.

Hiller’s later efforts include a little-released Tom Arnold comedy called Carpool (1996), something titled National Lampoon’s Pucked with Jon Bon Jovi (2006), and the largely unseen Hollywood satire An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, which was finally released in 1997 after languishing on the shelf for what seemed like years, and which is ironically credited to “Alan Smithee” because Hiller successfully lobbied to have his name removed from the finished movie.
Arthur Hiller was 93, and leaves behind an impressive legacy of human comedies.

Which one was your favorite?

The Wheeler Dealers (1963)
The Americanization of Emily (1964)
Promise Her Anything (1965)
Penelope (1966)
Tobruk (1967)
The Tiger Makes Out (1967)
Popi (1969)
The Out of Towners (1970)
Love Story (1970)
Plaza Suite (1971)
The Hospital (1971)
Man of La Mancha (1972)
The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder (1974)
The Man in the Glass Booth (1975)
W.C. Fields and Me (1976)
Silver Streak (1976)
The In-Laws (1979)
Nightwing (1979)
Making Love (1982)
Author! Author! (1982)
Romantic Comedy! (1983)
The Lonely Guy (1984)
Teachers (1984)
Outrageous Fortune (1987)
See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)
Taking Care of Business (1990)
Married To It (1991)
The Babe (1992)
Carpool (1996)
An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997, as Alan Smithee)
National Lampoon’s Pucked (2006)

In poetically appropriate fashion, Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders will have its World Premiere in Gotham itself as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment debuts the full-length animated Batman feature film on Thursday, October 6 at New York Comic Con.

Available November 1, 2016 on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD, fans will get their first chance to see the film during a two-hour premiere and Panel starting at 5:30 PM on New York Comic Con’s Main Stage at the Javits Center.

Adam West (Batman) headlines the post-premiere Panel alongside director Rick Morales (LEGO DC Comics Super Heroes – Justice League: Cosmic Clash) and screenwriters Michael Jelenic (Teen Titans Go!) and James Tucker (Justice League vs. Teen Titans). Tucker and Jelenic also serve as Supervising Producer and Producer, respectively, on the film. Warner Bros. Animation President and the film’s Executive Producer Sam Register will moderate the festivities.

Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment, the film takes fans back to the 1960s as Batman and Robin spring into action when Gotham City is threatened by a quartet of Batman’s most fiendish foes – Penguin, The Joker, Riddler and Catwoman. The four Super-Villains have combined their wicked talents to hatch a plot so nefarious that the Dynamic Duo will need to go to outer space (and back) to foil their arch enemies and restore order in Gotham City. It’s a truly fantastic adventure that will pit good against evil, good against good, evil against evil … and feature two words that exponentially raise the stakes for both sides: Replicator Ray. Holy Multiplication Tables!

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders will be available to own on Digital HD starting October 11, 2016.

“This quest. This need to solve life’s mysteries. In the end, what does it matter when the human heart can only find meaning in the smallest of moments? They’re here. Among us. In the shadows. In the light. Everywhere. Do they even know yet? “

– Mohinder Suresh, Heroes Pilot, “Genesis”

In the summer of 2006 I poured myself into a lush chair at The Paley Center for Media in New York City. It was their annual week of network pilot screenings.  Long before you could preview pilots online THIS was the only way to see pilots before they aired.  My network of choice: NBC – to see Aaron Sorkin’s new drama  Studio 60 on The Sunset Strip; I would leave loving a different kind of show and with a new  “heroine” at my side.  NBC’s 2006-2007 season along with the above mentioned series included 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, and a little “superhero” series called: Heroes.

I didn’t read comic books or had any interest in superheroes since I wore Underoos, yet by the end of the cliffhanger pilot I gasped – the entire audience grasped as a collective in fact.  And then we laughed… at ourselves. This little tv series about ordinary people discovering they had extraordinary powers had touched us so much we had even shocked ourselves by our level of investment in these new characters.

It was the future.

A series with a multi-ethnic, multicultural and a many language speaking cast, of mostly hot twenty to thirty somethings with special powers, would be the start of a trend in many ways, and not just of “super” human narratives.  Still, it wasn’t the teenage cheerleader (Claire) who could heal herself, or the hot, Indian scientist looking for his father’s killer (Mohinder), or even the adorable Japanese office worker (Hiro) who could manipulate and travel through time, that took my curiosity the most.

No… I only had to look at the focus of that cliffhanger, the complicated Petrelli Family, politically ambitious shark Nathan and dreamer, empathic, nurse, Peter… anddddd right past them to their sixty-one year old mother Angela (played by the incomparable Cristine Rose).  A character who, first without words, simply through gesture and behavior, and then in two short scenes, left me wanting more.  You know Regina the evil Queen in Once Upon A Time… well you wouldn’t have her if Angela Shaw Petrelli hadn’t come first.

If you’re a fan of the series Heroes or even if you’ve never watched an episode I guarantee you by the end of this column you will be her #1 fan. That you will see what I saw at the Paley Center that day, and the reason the writers took her from an obscure character in that pilot to the last standing hero.  To quote Angela: “Can you believe?”

I don’t know why I feel the need to defend Angela Petrelli, maybe because so many people hate her. And I don’t mean love to hate her, I mean HATE HER. And why not? She becomes the main villain of season one and one of the stalwart grey characters of the entire series. And in the third act of the first season it was discovered that Angela appeared to want to hurt the characters we had grown to love over the course of that season, almost half of which she is related to.

For those of us who loved or “loved to hate” her throughout the series, Angela Petrelli became a mix of badassery and fabulousness in designer threads, with devilish one liners and hints of vulnerability behind the facade she put up for protection. She was presented as a character who felt showing her emotions was a weakness, but in the end was her true strength. She is a tragic figure as much as a character to recoil from. Maybe I see her differently because I was enthralled by her from the start – the moment I saw her before her trajectory as a character was even, the above mentioned,  gleam in the writers room proverbial eye.

So for Exhibit A: Let’s briefly revisit Angela Petrelli’s  introduction in the pilot: Genesis.

Our first glimpse of Angela is her alone in the back room of a police station.  Dressed well, she wears a large diamond ring that glitters in contrast to her dirty surroundings and with her perfectly manicured finger nails she tries to scratch a stain off a cheap plastic table. A stain. This is a woman who desires order.  Control. This is a woman with money.  This is an actress who just established character without a word of dialogue – through, as I mentioned before: behavior.

Behavior, more than words, is how human beings tell us who they are, and a cornerstone of the acting process. (keep this in mind as we go forward) Why is THIS women in a police station?  Socks.  She stole a pair of socks. This seems out of character, and her son Nathan confirms our suspicions with his instant dismay at her continuing odd behavior since his father’s death six months earlier, even going as far as to declare she “get over it.”  Angela says nothing. Gives no explanation.

While her younger son Peter offers concern, tenderly holding his mother’s hand.  When she confesses to Peter, alone, her reasoning, “I just wanted to  feel alive again” you feel for this vulnerable, reserved woman, maybe a little separated from reality. Especially touching is a moment when she and her son touch heads lovingly – pulling at your heartstrings. But wait…

In the next scene, Angela seems to change on a dime – tough and strong, demanding that Peter put himself first or the Nathans of the world will walk all over him. She is cold and unrelenting, yet loving at the same time. What happened to her after her husband’s death to make her so blunt? ( More on that later…) Angela continues with statements like “Love is overrated” and “when you put everyone else first, you wind up last.” What caused Angela to be so jaded?

The gist is she is trying to protect her child, perhaps in the wrong way, but the goal is clear. Protect at all costs. This is her behavior.  And I will prove through this (two part) article that this is her default behavior throughout the series, as much as she tries to “cut out her own heart” to save the world, as another character on the show states… but like I said… more on him later.  Angela then playfully hits her son on the face (an improv from the actor) when he divulges to her how he once dreamt that his brother was hurt before he knew it. She’s just the “Mom” – judgmental, but Mom.

Perhaps this is why it was as much a surprise to the audience at large, as it was to her sons,  that by the end of the first season Angela Petrelli was revealed to be the founder of a clandestine “Company” featured throughout the series.  A “Company” that bagged and tagged people with abilities and whose associates believed being “morally grey” for a greater good was a justified evil.  A “Company” who along with one of the other founders, a Vegas gangster named Linderman (and an associate of Daddy Petrelli) want to let a “catastrophic event”, a bomb, go off in NYC, killing .07% of it’s population.  Believing the aftermath of such an “event” would bring the world together in peace.

And it didn’t seem to matter that now, due to a change in that timeline, that bomb could be her son Peter, or that her other son Nathan would rise to political office on the backs of those deaths.

So shocking was it that when Angela tells her son Nathan, upon the revelation of her secret: ”You don’t know everything about me, Nathan,” she may not just be speaking to a son who dismissed her as a human being, but to an audience that did the same. They did what every child  at some point has done –  failed to see their parent as a human being… with a past … that they were once young like themselves. With hopes; with dreams.

And perhaps the audience began to hate “Mama Petrelli”  like a resentful child. Yes, how did Angela Petrelli get here? Justifying murder to “save the world.” After all no one is born full of sin, they acquire it over time.  Next, I’m going to take you through a few important key moments and scenes in Angela’s time on the series and use that as a window into understanding her.

For as Angela said to her family in season three, when they demanded from her something she had never given them: The truth,  “ Then you’ll have to dig.”
Part Two: Every villain has an origins story. Every parent wants their children to learn from their mistakes.

From master spy novelist John le Carré – best-selling author of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and A Most Wanted Man – Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting) and Naomie Harris (Skyfall) star in the suspense-filled espionage thriller Our Kind of Traitor, arriving on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD), DVD (plus Digital), and On Demand October 18 from Lionsgate. Our Kind of Traitor will also be available on Digital HD on October 4. Featuring an international cast including Stellan Skarsgård (Avengers: Age of Ultron) and Golden Globe winner Damian Lewis (TV’s “Homeland”), the edge-of-your-seat thriller follows two people whose whole life is turned upside down when they step in to help a stranger. Our Kind of Traitor is written by Hossein Amini and directed by Susanna White.

While on vacation, a married couple unwittingly befriends a flamboyant and charismatic Russian named Dima, who – unbeknownst to them – is a kingpin money launderer for the mafia. When Dima confides to his new friends that he plans to escape from the mob, they’re quickly swept into the dangerous world of international espionage. The unlikely companions must undertake a perilous journey through Paris, Bern, and London and form an unsettling alliance with a ruthless British MI6 agent in order to save Dima and his family.

The Our Kind of Traitor home entertainment release special features include a “Making of Our Kind of Traitor” featurette and deleted scenes, as well as a look at the cast and the book the film is based on. Our Kind of Traitor will be available on Blu-ray and DVD for the suggested retail price of $24.99 and $19.98, respectively.

BLU-RAY / DVD/ DIGITAL HD SPECIAL FEATURES

• Deleted Scenes
• “The Making of Our Kind of Traitor” Featurette
• “The Cast” Featurette
• “The Story” Featurette

Facebook.com/ourkindoftraitorthefilm
@ourtraitormovie

Carver: A Paris Story
Written and Illustrated by Chris Hunt
Preface by Paul Pope
Published by Z2 Comics
ISBN: 9781940878096 | Price $14.99
Release date: September 20, 2016

Over the past few years, a few genres have saturated the comicbook market. Zombies are finally starting to transition out of the spotlight, and plenty of other genres sit in the wings waiting to take over the helm of dominance. We see mafia, western, and outer space focused comics in abundance, but no other genre has burgeoned more than one that has lived extensively since the years after World War II–film noir.

Taking its signature visual style from German Expressionism, film noir introduced the masses to the femme fatale and a sense of cool served up with desperation and bleakness that conjure up dread and disdain for society, and today, the genre has its tentacles reaching everything.

Don’t get me wrong; the pervasiveness of film noir is not necessarily a bad thing. I adore the noir genre. Some of my favorite films of all time have the noir label, and I am happy to see people take a stab at the archetypes of the form. But, with the experimentation and progress that can be made from a surge in the genre comes distilled or poorly hybridized versions that only have the flavor, not the heart, of the original. Sadly, Chris Hunt’s Carver is a perfect study of one of these almost-but-not-quite-there noirs.

Carver is not a pure noir; it is a mix between noir and the 1970s and early 1980s action films of Martin Scorsese, Walter Hill, and John Flynn, giving it a style not too far from Jean Pierre-Melville’s Le Samouraï or L’armée des ombres, which is only appropriate, since the first volume takes place in Paris. With such mighty influences, one could only hope that Hunt could flourish with his tale of Francis Carver, the American who lost far more than his cushy life path as a fine artist, but alas, Carver as a novel fails to give its characters, plot, and world enough breathing room because it packs in too many homages to its inspirations, creating a story that erratically (and frustratingly) runs from one motif to another as if each were some checkpoint in a race to the finish line.

Francis Carter is on a mission; a former love has summoned him to return to Paris, taking him on a far departure from his post-Marine life that we as the audience do not know much about but quickly get the sense is one that is grim and involves seeing the world while having to deliver violence and protection. In Paris, people recognize Carter as a hero, a man who survived capture from German troops against all odds, but Carter sees himself as a killer and a man whose experiences in war prevent him from ever integrating into society again. Disillusioned war veteran–check!

Upon his arrival to Paris, Carver quickly finds out that his former love did not send for him: a hooded man by the name of Stacker Lee did. We meet Stacker at the opening of the series, and immediately we expect he will emerge as a villain, but there’s something too perfect, too formulaic about Stacker, including his Southern gothic villain name and his dandy-esque suit, and as a result, immediately, you know that Stacker will be a part of some twist to the story. Slick and ambiguously moral villain–check!

As Carver unfolds, the plot weaves into  devices and scenarios that are all too familiar to the pop culture psyche. There’s a series of mob battles à la The Warriors. There’s a delivery of a watch that survived war; Pulp Fiction, anyone? And, of course, there’s a reunion of lovers separated by the consequences of war, a romantic device inserted into war films by marketing teams in order to give women something other than the explosions and pugilism that the men have come to see on the big screen.

As thus, Carver has all of the motifs and archetypes to make it sellable but not wholly enjoyable. Carver is a checklist of concepts that people regularly enjoy, and as a result, the graphic novel will deceptively make you think, “Hey, that’s a great idea! I like it!” as you read it, but when you sit and think, you will realize that idea came from another source, and that source is superior.

Hunt, overall, has good taste regarding his influences, and he does make some smart visual storytelling decisions, such as replacing scenes of carnage with sharp motion streaks and blurs with text conveying the sounds of the moment, but Carver just does not have its own standalone identity. As a result, the graphic novel falls into the noir-action-wannabe abyss that not only fails to capture the essence of film noir but also fails to give the genre a contemporary adaptation.

Film noirs have an exceptional ability to capture the ugliness and despair under the brightness of prosperous times. Though the genre has a visual style and tropes that evoke sensations of warm familiarity, I hope that authors aiming to jump onto the film noir bandwagon will keep this original role of noir in mind. Otherwise, film noir will be used only as a style and not as a delivery system of substance, which is an even scarier symptom of current society than Robert Mitchum is in Night of the Hunter.

Stand Up! Records (www.standuprecords.com) announced today that the latest release from Austin based comedian JT Habersaat (http://www.jtcomedy.com), Misanthrope is out now! And release is a perfectly apt word for this comedian’s high-octane routine as anyone who saw him headline the 40+ date, sold-out Altercation Punk Comedy Tour will attest.

Recorded live in Dallas, Texas (a.k.a. Not Gulfport, Mississippi), Misanthrope is equal parts “get in the van” and “self-immolate while driving that van into the Westboro Baptist Church.” Youthful, punk rock rage is all well and good, but the agitation of aging transforms a “Fight the man!” fist to a “You kids get offa my lawn!” fist right quick. Each is shaken with equal conviction, but the latter is a sign of success, of having survived through enough for long enough to decide that staying home on a Saturday night is the best plan of all. JT Habersaat’s raspy, rapid-fire delivery shows his hardcore roots, but it is in his deep affection for leaning in on middle age, his ability to have sympathy for the “snapped,” and his twin assertions that women need better political role models but men need higher standards that we glimpse something even more hardcore: the grown-up atheist’s knowledge that heaven is being left alone.

It is available now as a digital download or as a special DVD/CD set including the Misanthrope CD, the live DVD special of “Misanthrope,” and the Stand Up! Records Altercation Punk Comedy Tour road documentary.

Stand Up! Records is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota and run by Grammy-winning comedy producer Dan Schlissel. With a growing catalog and more than 150 releases, they have a 15 year history as a champion of the underdog.  More than just a record label it is a comedy brand juggernaut; combining comedy, great art, discovering new talent, founding comedy festivals and also producing cool stuff.

In Star Trek: The Official Guide to Our Universe, astronomy guru and educator Andrew “The Night Sky Guy” Fazekas takes Trekkers and astronomers alike on an incredible journey into space, starting with specific Star Trek voyages, explaining the science behind them, and guiding them in observing and learning more about the real-universe corollaries of planets and places in the Star Trek universe.

This big, beautiful beginner’s guide to the cosmos – planets, starts, galaxies and beyond — reveals the real science behind its fantastic and beloved fictions, inviting readers to step outside, gaze up at the night sky, and observe some of the destinations the Starfleet has visited.

With a foreword by Captain Kirk, himself, William Shatner, Star Trek: The Official Guide to Our Universe, will take readers boldly where no man (or woman) had gone before.

Andrew Fazekas took some time to discuss the book with FOG!

###

FOG!: You write for nationalgeographic.com and are the national science editor for Yahoo! News. When did you first discover Star Trek and what about it resonated with you?

Andrew Fazekas: My love of Star Trek goes way back to my early childhood, when I was in my primary school age during the mid-70s when the Original Series was probably in one of its first reruns in Canada. My dad and I would watch every Sunday morning – practical ritual in our household. And I would barrage my dad with questions about the aliens, destinations and amazing technology peppering every episode.

And Star Trek science, technology and the hopeful vision of humanity all fascinated me right from the get go and still does today.

What was the genesis of the book?

For about 20 years I have been actively involved in amateur astronomy clubs doing public outreach, showing folks some of the wonders of the universe through a telescope. And early on I recognized that if I used Star Trek analogies and referenced episodes that had real life astronomical objects that played a role in the plots, it would engage people of all ages a lot more.

I then began building ups list of some of the greatest hits in terms of real life astronomical objects that appear in the fictional universe of Star Trek.

That became the skeleton framework on which my book was built around. Any I have to say that I had to cherry pick only a few out of hundreds of amazing references found throughout the 6 TV series and 13 movies. It was not an easy task but I wanted to at least make sure I hit on some of the major, most well known episodes and movie scenes that both fans and space geeks could relate to.

Star Trek premiered during the Space Age and now as it celebrates it’s 50th anniversary, space exploration no longer seems to have the national or global interest that it once had. Why do you think that happened?

I would differ with that as I think the appeal of the Star Trek universe has grown over the years and has withstood the test of time. Throughout the many series the franchise has evolved and has always explored the many relevant issues of the times and continues to portray humankind at its best – exploring the final frontier and being continually curious and bold about the unknown. That is why it continues to appeal to generation after generation of scientists, engineers, educators and science geeks worldwide. The reason it continues to work is because it is built on a solid foundation of science, which it has never been afraid to fully embrace.

Why do you think as a civilization that space exploration is important?

It represents the future success of our species. Great minds of our times like astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and space entrepreneur Elon Musk have been warning that we currently have all our eggs in one basket when it comes to humans being relegated to one planet – Earth. A pandemic disease or even an asteroid impact could wipe us out. And many experts say that its not a question of if but when these kind of apocalyptic events may unfold.

Exploring new potential celestial homes for the expansion of humankind, like Mars for the more immediate future and even possibly moons of Jupiter and Saturn in the far future, makes sense to ensure our survival.

Star Trek was very forward thinking, with many of the series technological gadgets becoming a reality. Do you think this the result of fans becoming engineers and scientists and using Trek as a springboard to bring this tech into reality?

There is no doubt that futuristic technologies featured in the Star Trek Universe became seeds planted in the imaginations of many of todays inventors and engineers. It’s not a coincidence that our old!! flip phones and computer tablets look so similar to what was seen used by Captain Kirk and his crew.

While there were many technologies, like transporter system and warp drive that are light years away from being reality – if ever – some scientists say that at least theoretically -on paper – they are possible. Will we ever be able to build them – only time will tell.

But other technologies, like clocking devices and laser based weapons are activity being pursued by the military today. Handheld medical devices allowing non-intrusive diagnosis of health is already a reality in at least its simpler forms.

Is there a particular episode or character that you consider to be your favorite?

My absolute favorite episode from the TOS is City on the Edge of Forever. It offers a great combination of science fiction staples like time and space travel and has heart-wrenching romantic story line to boot. In terms of movies- it has to be Wrath of Khan. The battle scene in the Mutara Nebula have hands down amazing astronomical backdrops that as a backyard astronomer I can relate to my favorite real-life celestial object – the Great Orion Nebula.

What are you currently geeking out over?

The Syfy TV series Expanse is one I am getting into now and having fun with. I find its a great detective store that brings in some imaginative hard sci-fi elements of humanity’ future – an alternate vision from Star Trek – set a couple of hundred years in the future. I particularly find it heartening that the foundation is based on the premise that humanity has gone from low Earth orbit, beyond the moon and has colonized the solar system.

Star Trek The Official Guide to Our Universe: The True Science Behind the Starship Voyages is available everywhere books are sold. 

For more information on Andrew Fazekas visit thenightskyguy.com

Dr. Frankenstein. Willy Wonka. Leo Bloom. The Waco Kid. Rudy Hickman. Skip Donahue. Sigerson Holmes.

The late, great Gene Wilder was not a man of a thousand faces, but rather a genius who made great use of the one he was born with.

A comedic legend best known for his soft spoken tone that would go from zero to meshuggah in two seconds flat, his genius inspired many, as well as the face of comedy itself.

Here is a quick look back at the deep well of work that Wilder leaves behind.

Death of a Salesman (1966)

Early in his career, Wilder played played the small part of Bernard in the Arthur Miller drama for the TV movie. The full version is available online.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Wilder’s small but memorable part as hostage Eugene Grizzard in the super stylized and uber violent caper pic made have made him a familiar face…

The Producers (1967)

…but it was Wilder’s turn as Leo Bloom in the Mel Brooks classic that made him a household name.

Start The Revolution Without Me (1970)

Wilder starred with Donald Sutherland in loose interpretation of Dumas’ The Corsican Brothers. The comedy set in revolutionary France followed a mismatched set of twins who are switched at birth and are mistaken for aristocrats.

Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx (1970)

Wilder plays an Irish slacker who falls for an American college student (Margot Kidder).

Did I mention that Wilder does an Irish accent in this? Totally worth checking out.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1970)

The movie we all know and love. This is my favorite scene. Please enjoy.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972)

Wilder played Doctor Ross in the Woody Allen sex romp back when Woody Allen was well known for his sex romp comedies.

Rhinoceros (1974)

Based on the absurdist work by Eugene Ionesco, Rhinoceros is the story of a town where the folks believe they are slowly turning into rhinoceroses. The comedy also reunites Wilder’s Producer’s star Zero Mostel.

Blazing Saddles (1974)

All hail the Waco Kid

The Little Prince (1974)

Wilder played a sly Fox in the charming (yet still slightly traumatizing) version of classic kiddie tale.

Young Frankenstein (1974)

“PUTTN UNN NA RITTZ!!”

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (1975)

Wilder plays Sigerson, the younger brother of the famous detective who tries to cash in on his older brothers’ fame with his own agency.

That is just a small sampling the genius of Gene. Please do yourself a favor and binge all you can.

His work is nothing short of pure imagination.

Photo © Henry Diltz

The Video Association of Dallas announced today that former Dallasite, Michael Nesmith will receive the Ernie Kovacs Award on the evening of Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Kessler Theater (1230 W. Davis St.), prior to Dallas VideoFest 29, which runs Oct. 18-23. Nesmith is being recognized for a career that spans more than 50 years, including acting, producing, songwriting and his breakout role with The Monkees band and widely popular 1960s TV show.

The Ernie Kovacs Award recognizes the career and talents of some of television’s greatest visionaries. Kovacs’ work in the 1950s and early 1960s summed up the spirit of innovation and the development of the language of television art. Past award recipients include “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” creator George Schlatter, Joel Hodgson, Robert Smigel, Terry Gilliam, Harry Shearer, Chris Elliot & Bob Elliot, Martin Mull and Mike Judge.

“Michael Nesmith is being recognized for his efforts as a video pioneer,” said Bart Weiss, director of Dallas VideoFest. “He understood the future of home video and formed Pacific Arts Video, which was a high point for great video that could be viewed at home.

“In looking back at the comedy of The Monkees and his other work, you can see the visual puns that came from Ernie Kovacs,” Weiss said. “More than that, he, like Kovacs, saw what video and television could be and took us to that new place.”

“It’s immensely gratifying that Michael Nesmith is the latest recipient of Ernie Kovacs Award,” said Josh Mills, president of Ediad Productions and the Estate of Ernie Kovacs. “Nesmith’s innovation in the early years of home video with ‘Elephant Parts’ and his Videoranch Productions showed his cockeyed sense of humor and his creativity were aligned with Kovacs’ vision. He embodied the spirit of Kovacs by pushing the boundaries and asking ‘What if?’.”

Nesmith is a former Dallas resident best known for his work with the hugely popular The Monkees band and television show. His other contributions in film, television and music include serving as executive producer of cult films REPO MAN, TAPEHEADS and TIMERIDER. Moreover he developed Pop Clips in 1980, which was the inspiration for MTV and his video “Cruisin” was Pop Clips first video. He won the first Grammy Award given for Video of the Year in 1981 for his hourlong Elephant Parts. He served on the board of trustees for the American Film Institute for 10 years.

Nesmith will reunite with former Monkees Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork for a concert Sept. 16 at Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles to mark the 50th anniversary of the TV show and plans a book tour to promote “Infinite Tuesday” – an autobiographical riff, which is due for release in 2017.

The award presentation will take place as a stand-alone event,Saturday, Oct. 1, at The Kessler, 1230 W. Davis St. in Dallas. Doors open at 7 p.m and showtime is at 8 p.m.

Tickets available: http://www.prekindle.com/promo/id/24545708305417863

“We saw an opportunity to elevate the Ernie Kovacs Award to a higher level by separating it out from the Dallas VideoFest and creating its own event,” said Bart Weiss, director of Video Association of Dallas and creator of the Kovacs Award for Dallas VideoFest.

History of DVF’s Kovacs Awards
The Dallas Video Festival and the Video Association of Dallas announced the first Ernie Kovacs Award at the 1997 festival. Comedian Joel Hodgson of “Mystery Science 3000” was the first recipient and subsequent annual honorees include Terry Gilliam of “Monty Python;” Robert Smigel, writer/performer of “Saturday Night Live” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien; Paul “Pee-wee Herman” Reubens; Martin Mull; Mike Judge and George Schlatter of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In.”

Actress Edie Adams, Kovacs’ wife, came to host the awards program every year until her death in 2008.

About Ediad Productions, Inc.
Formed by the late entertainer & Muriel Cigar girl Edie Adams and currently run by her son Joshua Mills, Ediad Productions is home to what is likely the largest independent archive of early American television in existence. With more than  100 hours of audio airchecks and 150 half-hours of content from legendary comedian Ernie Kovacs as well as two seasons of Edie Adams’ prime time variety show from the mid-1960’s, Ediad Productions is a treasure trove of classic popular entertainment. Titles in the archive include, The Ernie Kovacs Show, Ernie in Kovacsland, Take A Good Look (clues), the Kovacs specials for ABC, The Edie Adams Show, Here’s Edie! And much more. It is based in Los Angeles, California.

About Michael Nesmith’s book: “Infinite Tuesday”, The long, strange journey of Michael Nesmith is as fascinating as it as was fraught–from fleeing Dallas as a young man with his pregnant girlfriend, to gaining international fame as a member of the Monkees, to falling deep into the grips of what he calls Celebrity Psychosis, to finally achieving inner peace and finding a creative wellspring in the teachings of Christian Science. Influenced in equal parts by the consciousness-expanding ambitions of Timothy Leary and the cerebral humor of Douglas Adams, in Infinite Tuesday, Nesmith spins a spellbinding tale of an unexpected life, in which stories about meeting John Lennon, or recording with Nashville greats, or inventing the music video trace an arc from Hollywood to Silicon Valley, illuminating a remarkable mind along the way.