Hishgraphics

Burtt At His Best - A WALL-E Review

16 August 2008 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, Movie Review

WALL-E, directed by Finding Nemo's Andrew Stanton, is indeed according to Ben Burtt, "R2-D2 the movie ". And as any Star Wars fan knows, Burtt has been the Academy Award sound designer for all the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, as well as a writer for the Droids cartoon TV movie The Great Heep which featured R2-D2 and C-3P0. So, there is no one more skilled than him in crafting mechanical sounds that elicit emotions in viewers.

WALL-E is the acronym for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth-class, a trash management robot designed to clear the immense volume of garbage from an uninhibitable Earth, and left behind when all Humans have evacuated into ships in space. We also see two WALL-As - Axiom-class robots later in the movie.

However, it's been seven hundred years since he first started his job and all the other WALL-Es are damaged beyond repair and dead. Over the course of seven centuries, the remaining WALL-E is still doing his job, has developed sapience, emotion, and a hobby of collecting interesting trinket. Also, he has a fondness for his pet roach who follows him around, keeping him company on his job rounds.

Light spoilers will follow. But it's not as if you can't figure out what's going to happen just looking at the trailers.

Out On The Frontier... With Giant Robots

10 July 2008 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, TV

I wrote earlier about the continuation of the Robotech saga with the Shadow Chronicles. Robotech is actually three different anime series juryrigged and tweaked so they become a (more or less) coherent whole to be syndicated on the American market. However, the first of the three, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross is a saga still being told in its native Japanese, disregarding the entire Robotech thing.

Throughout the years, there's been among others Macross Plus, Macross 7, Macross Zero... and now the latest series to continue saga of the original Macross is Macross Frontier.

All This Has Happened Before

16 June 2008 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, TV

This is it.

This is the home stretch.

For the humans on the brink of extinction and traveling across the stars looking for a new home in Battlestar Galactica, the end is near. As viewers, we have arrived at the fourth and final season’s mid-season break. 10 more episodes before it’s all over.

Will it be a happy end? Will they finally find the 13th tribe on the lost colony of Earth? Will the Cylons annihilate the last forty thousand human beings of the Twelve Colonies before they arrive at their destination?

Trying to formulate a good theory on what will be revealed in the series finale next year is probably a futile effort, but I’m going to attempt it anyway. I have a theory that’s been percolating in my mind since the 3rd season of the show.

This discussion will have SPOILERS. So stay away if you’ve not seen up to “Revelations”. However the conclusion at the end of this entry is conjecture and speculation and not any sort of a spoiler.

If I get it right, yay me.

Else, oh well.

Lance Is Virtually A Cat

29 May 2008 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, TV

Warning: Spoilers for Battlestar Galactica episode "Sine Qua Non". Click on the thumbnail at your own risk.

I'd Pay Good Money To See This TV Show

06 May 2008 | Hisham | ¶ | Humour, Misc Sci-Fi, Trawling The Net, TV

So anyway, to cut things short io9 pitched in jest the idea for Star Trek: Captain Wesley Crusher, Starfleet Investigative Services starring Wil Wheaton. Here's an excerpt: Yes, the much maligned ensign should be brought back as the captain of a Starfleet science vessel that warps around the Alpha Quadrant solving mysteries for the Federation. Think of it as CSI . . . in space!

Wil says, "Thanks, but I think I'll pass."

Which is the title of his blog post.

But then, I got to thinking.

CSI... in space!

Well, thinking led to another thing and, voila...

_{It wasn't easy coming up with the script. It took me almost 6 hours to come up with something I was moderately satisfied with.}

A Novel Tale of a Novel Cover

06 May 2008 | Hisham | ¶ | Artwork, Books, Misc Sci-Fi

Once upon a time, I went to study on how to repair flying machines.

During my dozens of years (not really, just 2 and a half years) of studying there were many instructors that taught me different aspects of flying machine repairs.

Some taught me metalwork, some taught me electrics, some taught me theory of flight.

One particular person taught me about turbine engines. He was a tall gentleman, he was.

Over the years after I returned home, I've always known from second hand accounts that he's now living in this country. In recent years, I've had the pleasure of meeting up with him again briefly.

Last month, he and his lovely wife came down all the way from Ulu Klang (which is about 10 klicks up the Middle Ring Road) asked me to produce a cover for a science fiction novel that he has written and is about to publish.

So I've used all my turbine engine skills and knowledge* to come up with this following cover:

This is only a draft. It might be used, or it might not. But one thing's for sure, I had a lot of fun conjuring up the painting.

Further details about the novel shall be written as entries unto this website when I get more information about it and its upcoming release.

*_{"...turbine engine skills and knowledge"? Not bloody likely.}

And The SDF-3 Is Still Missing

30 March 2008 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, TV

Robotech Defense / Expeditionary Force is back in force in the form of the direct-to-DVD movie Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.

And this time, they're continuing directly from the Robotech The New Generation (the third chapter of the series that was derived from the Japanese standalone series Genesis Climber MOSPEADA) episode "Symphony of Light". In fact the first 20 minutes or so is a retread of the Battle of Reflex Point from the point of view of the returning fleet. However, this also means that the aborted Robotech II: The Sentinels movie and novels (especially The End of the Circle) has been decanonized and considered never happened.

Returning characters include Scott Bernard, the Invid simulagent Ariel, Louie Nichols formerly of the 15th ATAC. Previously non-canon characters Vince and Jean Grant, General Reinhardt and Janice Em are also featured. New characters that pop up include Marcus Rush (brother of Marlene) and Maia Sterling (apparently the other daughter of Max and Miriya).

There are a couple of cameo appearances of Admiral Rick Hunter, leader of the Expeditionary Force aboard the SDF-3... which goes missing, but as I mentioned not as depicted in the novel by the gestalt entity Jack McKinney.

Thankfully, there are no Lynn Minmei shenanigans.

There is a brief "We Will Win" reference in the end though.

SPOILERS follow!

And On The 501st Post, Shane Meets Apollo

28 October 2007 | Hisham | ¶ | Friends, Misc Sci-Fi, Role Playing Games

Yes, really.

Awesome wikked.

Take it away, Shane:

Today was the Winnipeg Comic Con.

Richard Hatch was the big reason I wanted to go. JUST to get a pic of him and I together and an autograph. I did that very early on in the day, think I was third in line. I knew later he had this acting/improv/rpg character creation session.

I went, thinkin that there was gonna be a million people and I'd get stuck in the back and not even get to interact with him. The room turned out to be very small, and there were only about 50 people. Me, sitting up front. He starts asking why people are here. I raise my hand. Suddenly, I'm talking to Apollo. One on one....I'm mentioning about being a GM and wanting to crerate better stories. He then talks about how RPGing and being a GM is harder than acting sometimes.

We do some warm up exercises, one of which is to get us warmed up, Richard is up on two chairs yelling 'FRAK!'. We yell 'FRAK!' back to him. He then yells 'FRAK OFF!'....we return the favor. He then yells 'FRAK YOU!' and we yell back 'FRAK YOU'...as best we can, between roars of laughter. He then starts stretching his legs saying 'It's the Tom Zarek workout hour'....I laugh till it hurts.

He then starts doing some improv situations with the crowd. First round, I get passed by. No biggie. Second round, passed by. The second round begins and I'm sitting watching, it's starting to go slow and the people in it aren't very good. Suddenly, there's a voice behind me 'Do you want to go up and be the mafia guy?'.....it's Richard in my ear. I get up and start the stereotypical mob boss voice. Richard is in tears.

The next improv round, Richard pulls me up again. Before we know it, the two hour time limit on the room is over and the next seminar is going to start. Richard thanks us, and tells me how funny I am. I poo. Right there. Great con, great day.

If you ever get the chance to meet him, DO IT!

One day, Shane. One day. Best 501st post evar!

Finally! Transformers: The Score!

14 October 2007 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, Transformers

One of the things that I looked for immediately after watching Transformers was the soundtrack CD. I was disappointed that there was only Transformers: The Album released which had, you know - a bunch of songs. The Linkin Park song What I've Done wasn't too bad. So were the songs from Goo Goo Dolls and Smashing Pumpkins. But there was not one track released that had the movie's orchestral score as composed by Steve Jablonsky. In fact there was no score soundtrack album at all.

I've been monitoring the online news about the status of the score soundtrack. On or off? There was an online petition, but would it work? Sifting through a ton of information in the internet I found only an mp3 of Jablonsky's Decepticon theme on the web.

And there was nothing on Amazon.com... until last month or so. And as of last week, it's been released.

Sunburn Is The Least Of Your Worries: A Sunshine Review

18 April 2007 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, Movie Review I just saw this movie on a THX screen and it was quite a ride. I liked it very much. Absolutely no spoilers ahead.

Danny Boyle directs this movie and what he did was create an atmosphere that doesn't not really accentuate claustrophobia or xenophobia. What Sunshine has instead is a layer of despair and hopelessness which barely registers but hangs over the proceedings like a thin film. You can almost feel the despair being radiated by the characters and the situation mounting as the movie progresses.

Sunshine gets right to the point with Cilian Murphy's voiceover. It's 50 years in the future and the sun is dying, and with it the slowly-freezing Earth. The crew of the Icarus II (a shieldship right out of the pages of Dark Force Rising, heh!) has been tasked with the delivery of a Manhattan Island-massed bomb which would theoretically re-ignite the sun. Apart from the personal conflicts that arise after being cooped up on the spaceship for 16 months or so, they suddenly rediscover the Icarus I, the first ship that went on a similar mission 7 years earlier but was lost.

Then things start to go nuts.

Irfan Wants To Be A Doctor...

16 April 2007 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, Recent News, TV

... but it's not that kind of doctor. Now, when he's got shampoo in his hair, he fancies himself as the Gallifreyan Time Lord, known as the Doctor from BBC's Doctor Who series. Specifically he wants to be the Tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant.

He keeps going on and on about travelling about in a TARDIS, having his own K9 and enjoys the fact that every week the Doctor (along with anyone in his vicinity) has to run from something chasing them - be it disease-ravaged human constructs, werewolves, Judoon policemen, or Cybermen, or Daleks. If the Doctor has to flee for his life, Irfan digs it a lot.

Not too bad, really, cause I haven't seen Doctor Who since the Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor and I still thought BBC's production of the series is constrained by a lack of budget. When I first saw the new Ninth Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston, series back in 2005 I thought that it had a great production design and fantastic special effects, even if the fleeing from the Auton attack was quite stereotypical... but the story is still quite off the mark, thanks to the attack of killer shop window mannequins.

The Grey Armour Looks Pretty Good

15 April 2007 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi

And here we have it, the first image online of the first Iron Man armour, the one Tony Stark had to build in captivity in Vietnam (original comic) / China (animated movie) / Afghanistan (upcoming movie). No one ever, ever gets captured by bad guys in, say Decatur, Illinios... why?!?

I think it looks pretty good. It really does look like Iron Man and it even has what seems to be a flamethrower that was used in the comic story back in the old Tales of Suspense #39. But the eyes appear to be larger than usual. I can't wait for him to move on to the more famous red-and-gold armour in the course of the movie (as designed by Adi Granov, no less). Or the War Machine armour even!

Before we go on to the movie image, here is the picture of the grey armour, and Iron Man's debut appearance:

Straight From The Bear's Mouth

26 March 2007 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, TV

Bear McCreary has become my favourite composer for soundtracks. I love what he did throughout Battlestar Galactica. The music isn't a traditional symphonic orchestral score, although it is in some places. I can't quite categorize listening to the score as a whole. It has string quartet, Japanese tako drums, Armenian duduk, bagpipes, gamelan, erhu.... a hodge-podge of traditional instruments being used to make the music of the Battlestar Galactica universe. Lyrics are sung in languages like Latin, Sinhalese, Sanskrit and Italian. Modern earth music even make their way into the episodes as source music, such as Philip Glass' "Metamorphosis Five" (played by Starbuck at her Caprica apartment) and the super spoiler full-blown music which rocks the closing scenes of the recent third season finale, which broke my mind in half.

Anyway, Bear McCreary's website has a blog and the blog has entries pertaining to his work on Galactica, which also includes very simple notes of the themes he composed for various characters and situations in the series. Here's the "Wander My Friends" theme (the Adamas' theme):

Tron - A Look Back at a Reindeer Flotilla

20 March 2007 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, Movie Review

It's been a while since I saw Tron. I never saw it on the big screen. I believe I last saw it when it using one of the most sophisticated, technological wonder of a multimedia player (well, sight and sound) at the time known as the video cassette recorder.

So here I am more than twenty years later, and did it stand up the test of time? And more importantly... is there a Mickey Mouse out in the cyberscape field in the background under the solar sailer in one scene? Let's answer the second question first:

YES!

Retro Review: Vejur Returns To Look for Dad

15 March 2007 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, Movie Review

My first foray into the world of Star Trek consisted of a single page ad on a comic (might have been a Gold Key comic) for Star Trek The Motion Picture, back in 1980. It had a picture of the new refitted Enterprise (no bloody A, B, C, or D) with a photo line-up of the characters along the bottom. My first thought was (probably) how great it was to be part of this team, exploring the unknown in the 23rd century (it said 23rd century right there on the movie ad) in such a sleek starship. I don't remember when I learned that the movie was based on the TV show, or if I learnt it before or after I saw the movie ad.

Anyway some months later, I bought the novelisation of the movie, which I believe might be my first ever movie novelisation bought. Tok & Opah Irfan bought it for me at a bookstore in Taiping (named Mubarak's, IIRC - might be mistaken) along with the comic adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back in digest format.

Anyway I found the novel (written by Alan Dean Foster) to be quite gripping to my 10 year old mind. It was fantastic visualising myself on the bridge of the Enterprise with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, Scotty, Chapel and Rand. The threat of "Vejur" (as it was spelt in the novel, no doubt to ensure it doesn't hint to what Vejur actually is - which the more widely used spelling "V'ger" does)...

But I've never actually seen the movie until well into my mid-teens when TV3 aired it. I remember being very, very underwhelmed by it after visualising the narrative from the novel. Recently I saw STTMP again, the old theatrical version and Pan and Scan to boot, not the more recent Director's Cut DVD.

Did It or Did It Not Exist?

09 March 2007 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, TV

The stormy clouds of the gas giant were where the rag tag fugitive fleet was undergoing refueling operations last week in Battlestar Galactica.

But Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace patrolling the skies of the planet in her Viper caught a glimpse of a Cylon Heavy Raider and chased after it. Without invoking spoilers, the question would be whether she was hallucinating or not. If she wasn't then a whole set of new variables can be introduced to the outcome of the episode, entitled "Maelstrom".

As the viewer, we saw Starbuck's point of view of the bloodied child in the cockpit.

We also saw the silhouette of the man in the room outside her cockpit as she was flying deeper into the storm.

Let's not get into the dream sequence. (I hope the paint was non-toxic.)

The shots of the Heavy Raider were for the most part in her point of view... until we see this shot where the point of view was behind Apollo's Viper. This is definitely not Starbuck's point of view - heck, it's too far out to be her POV. In fact it's more of Apollo's:

In the current age of visual FX previsualisation where everything is preplanned in a single shot, the questions will now be (1) what was it doing there, (2) is even a Cylon ship, and (3) why didn't we hear Apollo say he saw it?

Wil Revisits His Encounter At Farpoint

14 January 2007 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, TV Ensign Wesley Crusher wasn't really my favourite character on Star Trek The Next Generation all those years ago. Not to say I didn't like him like a lot of the Wesley-haters that existed I later learnt, but I thought Data was much more an interesting character.

His actor Wil Wheaton on the other hand has been one of my favourite online personalities (and a wonderful writer) ever since I came across his website three years ago. In addition to his site, he also writes for Suicide Girls and TV Squad. (Also, he's my age and a comics & RPG geek too.)

I remember waiting for the premiere of TNG back in '88 on TV3. It arrived in full regalia complete with newspaper colour spreads and weekly "tune in to find out the answer" contest. I didn't care much about the extra trimmings. Being a Trekkie, all I cared about was the show itself. The premiere episode was "Encounter at Farpoint" two parter which introduced us to the new Enterprise and its crew - strangely enough led by a Frenchman who spoke in a perfect English accent, I thought. (But it was frakking Gurney Halleck, so I let it slide.)

Wil Wheaton recently reviewed "Encounter at Farpoint" at TV Squad and it's the funniest thing I've ever read. Not only he write with sarcasm and humour, he also writes as a Trekkie who just happened to work on one of the biggest TV events in my teeneaged years and with complete respect for the people with whom he worked to bring TNG to life on television.

Part 1 goes here and Part 2 goes there.

Tablets Seem Fun To Work With

29 November 2006 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, TV

Tablet PCs, used by the personnel of Stargate Command's Atlantis Expedition (particularly Dr. Rodney McKay) seem to be cool little gadgets to work with. I wish I can buy one around here. Are there any being sold here in Kuala Lumpur at all?

Perhaps the PC Fair at the KL Convention Centre coming up next weekend?

Frack! Is Today Friday?

06 October 2006 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, TV

Cause if it is, it's time to get back home to the starboard landing bay. It's time to find out what happens to people left with the rag tag fugitive fleet and on the Cylon-occupied New Caprica. The last ten minutes of the previous season's finale was quality mindfrack.

Because of the total tangency to the status quo last episode, I can see this being the best season premiere or the worst season premiere ever.

The odds are certainly against it sucking.

So say we all.

A Trekkie I Was Til A Threshold I Crossed

30 September 2006 | Hisham | ¶ | Misc Sci-Fi, TV

I used to religiously catch every episode of Star Trek whenever it was on the air to watch episodes a couple of times. The Original Series. The Next Generation. Deep Space Nine. They were all my regular TV consumption.

Even when I was working in the East Coast and out of the station's broadcast area, Atok Irfan - long before he was designated Atok Irfan - taped the shows for me for my viewing when I was on my 5 days off period from work.

It was during the middle of the second season of Star Trek: Voyager that I finally realised something.