Though I’d seen a few comic books in my youth, my first exposure to the Batman phenomenon was in 1989 when I saw Tim Burton’s Batman on the big screen. From that moment on, Michael Keaton captured the duality of Batman for me – playboy by day (as bazillionaire/tychoon Bruce Wayne) and crime fighter (Batman) by night.
Then in 1992, Batman: The Animated Series really drove that home the comic legacy of the Batman character. Paul Dini and around 30 other writers took the Gotham City from the pages of DC Comics and breathed life into the heroes and villains that walked its streets. It was really the series’ four seasons that Batman graced my television screen that made me appreciate the depth of what DC Comics and Bob Kane had created from the late 1930s to today.
In 2008, a new chapter of Batman animation would unfold as Batman: The Brave and the Bold. But where previous incarnations of the world were portrayed in a serious vein, this new series amped up the campy, fun nature once seen in another Batman television product starring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin in the 1960s.
The Brave and the Bold uses Batman (voiced by Diedrich Bader – The Drew Carey Show) as the straight man while still managing to incorporate the classic heroes and villains of the DC Universe with humor. Now DC Animation and Warner Brothers are releasing the first 13 episodes of season one in a two-DVD set – Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Season One – Part One.
In the first 13 episodes, we see an amazing array of heroes share the stage with the Dark Knight… We meet the Blue Beetle (Will Friedle, Batman Beyond, Kim Possible) as he’s just getting used to his alien powers; Plastic Man (Tom Kenny, SpongeBob SquarePants) who’s constantly struggling with his criminal side; the Red Tornado (Corey Burton, who seems to have been in 100+ different cartoons over the last 30 years) who is an android trying to understand what it is to be human…
We also meet:
Green Arrow
Wildcat
Deadman
Bronze Tiger
The Atom
But Aquaman (John Di Maggio, Futurama, Penguins of Madagascar, Ben-10) is by far my favorite. He manages to be endearing and annoying at the same time. Larger than life and willing to tell of his adventures to anyone who will (willingly or unwillingly) listen.
Not to be outdone, we also see many of the classic villains appear along with some I had never heard of… Kite Man (Jeffrey Combs, The 4400, Justice League, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), gliding thief, nemesis and former employer of Plastic Man; Black Manta (Kevin Michael Richardson, The Penguins of Madagascar, The Cleveland Show), a surface dwelling criminal who seeks dominion of the sea; Gorilla Grodd (Di Maggio in another role), super-intelligent gorilla from Gorilla City seeking revenge over the human race; and many more…
Kanjar Ro
Gentleman Ghost
Fun Haus
Morgaine le Fey
Slug
Chemo
Despero
Terrible Trio
Clock King
Owlman
Honestly, when I watch an episode of Batman: Brave and the Bold it’s a very guilty pleasure. It’s fun to see how cheesy some of the lines can be (deliberately) and how the bad guys inevitably foul up and let the good guys win. These are definitely simplified hero vs. villain stories, but they’re great for kids and adults who want to become kids again for a little while.
Other than the episodes and a game trailer, you don’t get any extras, but that shouldn’t prevent you from enjoying any of the 13 great episodes in this collection.
So if you’ve seen an episode or two and want to catch up or simply want to have a good time, be sure to check out Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Season One – Part One. I’m very excited to see when Part Two comes out so I can enjoy my favorite episode of the series so far – “Mayhem of the Music Meister!” starring Neil Patrick Harris as the Music Meister!
This article first appeared at Blogcritics.org here.
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up Batman: The Brave and the Bold today and enjoy some campy fun!
The television series based on the comic is being directed by Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, The Mist) and has been in the works for a while now. But up to now (unless you were at Comic Con) you might have missed the trailer (though it’s been going around the internet like wildfire).
Yes, there are survivors of a deadly zombie plague. But like all good zombie stories, it’s less about the monsters themselves but how people deal with them. When the chips are down, how do they react? Do they do what’s right? Or what’s convenient?
The survivors are led by police officer Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) who’s simply looking for somewhere safe to call home. Rick’s wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and friend Shane (Jon Bernthal) are tagging along. And of course they pick up a few others along the way.
Here’s the trailer. It looks awesome and it’s weird looking forward to Halloween for a change! Be sure to check out the premiere on Sunday, October 31st at 10/9c on AMC.
Douglas Adams is one of my heroes. When he passed away in 2001, it was like losing Jim Henson in 1990 – these great people left us far too soon. In Adams’ case, he left us with the number 42, a resounding “so long and thanks for all the fish,” and a couch stuck impossibly in an apartment staircase. These were but a few of his gifts.
Dirk Gently‘s Holistic Detective Agency and Long, Dark Teatime of the Soul were two of the non-Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy related titles he produce during his career. Both of them (and all of the Hitchhiker’s titles) have stuck with me over the years in ways I couldn’t have fathomed in the beginning…
The Electric Monk from Dirk Gently will forever be my labor saving device. Not having time for faith of my own, I would love to purchase one of these robots for my own purposes. Or, as Adams put it:
“Electric Monks believed things for you, thus saving you what was becoming an increasingly onerous task, that of believing all the things the world expected you to believe.”
I could use this ability today so I wouldn’t have to keep believing that everything will work out on its own accord.
At any rate… where was I? Oh yes…
The BBC it seems is creating a television program based on Dirk Gently and I can’t wait to see it here across the pond. Hopefully BBC America will see fit to share this new program with those of us in the U.S. Until then, we will have to content ourselves with the noise generated turning the pages of our lovingly worn, yellowed page copies of Dirk Gently as we read them to tide us over.
Four contestants – Pete Palma, J.J. Racaza, Chris Cerino, and Iain Harrison – went into the field during the final episode to see who would become the first person to be Top Shot in this new reality competition series. And host Colby Donaldson, Survivor: The Australian Outback runner-up, played host to the entire 10-week series on the HISTORY channel.
We were rooting for Pete, the last member of the Red Team still standing, but it was not to be. Pete went home after being bested with a pistol exhibition. The goal? To knock more targets to your color than your opponent did. And just as quickly as you knock one from Red to Blue, your opponent can shoot it back to Red again.
J.J. beat Chris and Iain beat Pete, which set Pete against Chris to see who would move on. Unfortunately, though Pete looked great early on in the challenge, Chris eventually got the better of him and that was the end. All that remained were Blue Team compatriots to see who would get to the end.
In the next round, J.J., Chris, and Iain were playing almost a game of “HORSE” where the first contestant (drawn randomly) was able to pick a weapon – pistol, rifle, etc. – then pick a target and a distance. If they hit it, they got a point. The contestant with the most points at the end won the round. J.J. got a little cocky and couldn’t deliver when the chips were down – sending Iain and Chris to see who would be the last man standing.
The last round was awesome. The two contestants started at opposite ends of a course laid out from knives to rifles. Each contestant would stay at a station until they hit the target, then move to the next station, repeating the process until they got to the last station to hit distant targets with a rifle.
It was amazing how close Iain and Chris were as they went through the course. Each time you thought one or the other had an advantage, the other would catch up. And in the end it came down to only a round or two difference.
But Iain was the victor! He gets the title of “Top Shot” and the $100,000 prize to do with what he wants.
Honestly, this whole series – from June to this past weekend – was fun to watch. I’m not much of a competition fan – I’ve kind of burned out on shows like Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Hell’s Kitchen. But HISTORY put together a show that was unique in the people it brought together as well as the challenges they were put through.
Congrats to Iain and all the contestants. It was fun to watch and I can’t wait until the next season. Hopefully they’ll bring Iain back to talk to the contestants and have an even more interesting mix of new and historical weapons to challenge the competitors!
For more information about the series, check out the Top Shot website at the HISTORY Channel site.
Much has been said and written about “LED” televisions. This is also the main reason that many people are eagerly purchasing LED TVs. However, it is imperative to understand that the term ‘LED’ can be defined as the backlighting system that is widely used in the latest LCD Television. The term LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. The LCD chips themselves are not capable of producing their own light. LCD televisionpixels must be backlit in order to produce a visible image.
LED backlighting plays its role in LCD flat panel TVs in two main ways. These include the Edge lighting and Full-Array technologies.
Edge Lighting
This technology consists of a series of LED backlights that are placed along the outer screen edges of the television. The light is then dispersed across the screen to produce clear images. The advantage of this technology is that it can reduce the width of the screen making it as flat and thin as possible.
Full-Array
Full-Array is another type of LED backlighting technology. It is also one of the most popular techniques applied in the field of LED TVs. The technique involves placing several LED in rows. The lights are located at the rear of the entire screen surface. This technology can also be termed as local dimming which refers to each LED. It can also refer to a group of LED’s that can be turned on and off autonomously within definite screen areas. This enables control over the brightness and contrast of these areas. This actually depends on the source material that is displayed. LCD TVs employ full array backlighting and are known to be thicker when compared to LCD TVs employing an Edge-lit LED light source.
In a nutshell
In case, you are looking forward to purchase an LED/LCD TV, research well on the type of models and brands that utilize the Edge or Full Array techniques. Study the brands when shopping. This will help you decide on the type of LED backlighting that suits your specific requirement and budget.
About the author: James Mowery is a computer geek that writes about technology and related topics. To read more blog posts by him, go to led tv.
I need to geek out a bit. I received my copy of the recent release of the complete Max Headroom series from the 1980s yesterday. Watched the first episode with my daughters. I’m not sure they get the irony of what they watched, but they really liked Max!
For those of you who don’t remember, Max Headroom was a cyberpunk setting “20 minutes from now” in the future where the world has gone to heck and the multi-national corporations have taken over the world. Edison Carter (the indomitable Matt Frewer) is a reporter for Network 23 determined to get to the truth of any story. Unfortunately for him, the network sometimes conspires against him.
When an accident happens escaping some bad folks in the first episode, Edison is taken to the lab of the young Bryce Lynch (Chris Young) – Network 23′s technological prodigy. Bryce has figured out a way to capture the mind and personality of a person (or parrot, as that was his first experiment) and create a virtual person in the computer out of that data. When Bryce tries it with Edison’s brain, Max Headroom is created. But Max doesn’t quite turn out as expected. Because of the bump on Edison’s head or getting some wires crossed, Max is a wild card – saying and doing crazy things to get better ratings or even just get noticed.
Edison is helped by hacker Theora Jones (the gorgeous and British Amanda Pays who I was in love with in the late ’80s – still may be), who manages to hack and connive her way through computer systems and cameras to get Edison where he needs to be to get a story – and then get him safely out again when he gets what he needs. That of course is the trick.
Max Headroom as a series warped my brain in my last year of high school. With its old typewriter-style keyboards (in the style of the movie Brazil by Terry Gilliam) and computer graphics that were way ahead of its time, it set me even more firmly on the course of becoming the computer geek I am today.
So now I’m excited to share the series with my daughters. It gives me an excuse to watch every episode again. I’m amazed at how much I remember!
The picture quality is a bit grainy, but this is 20+ year old footage, so I’m not surprised. But the stories are still just as relevant – and maybe more so – today in the mass media and technologically advanced world we live in.
Be sure to check out Max Headroom: The Complete Series on DVD at your favorite retailer. I know I’m going to enjoy every single show!
–Fitz
p.s. Pick up your own copy at Barnes & Noble today!
We’ve been watching Top Shot! on the History Channel since it started a few weeks ago. And at the top of the list of contestants we were rooting for was Kelly Bachand – the youngest competitor in the field. Unfortunately, Kelly was sent home along with Adam Benson this week in the episode “The Shortest Fuse”.
Honestly, I have no idea how the guys were able to shoot that fuse as it scurried across the board to the explosive cap. Not only was it tiny, but it wiggled around!
I’m not a huge weapons guy, but I can appreciate the skill and talent of those who have it. Kelly managed to compete against folks twice his age and come out on top more times than not. So he did an amazing job throughout the competition.
Now we’re cheering for Kelly’s “Red Team” teammate – Peter Palma. Though I have to say there’s a couple of folks at my house rooting for J.J. Racaza too.
Next Sunday is the season finale and we’ll see who, among the 4 competitors left – Peter, J.J., Iain Harrison, and Chris Cerino – walks away with the prize.
Again, best of luck to Kelly in everything he does and hopefully we’ll have another great episode this Sunday! Go Pete!
I saw a press release a few days ago about some new projects Syfy is working on. Names such as Kevin Sorbo, Lee Majors, Amanda Tapping, and others are involved in these projects. Some sound funny, others are serious, and some I can’t tell which bucket they may fall in.
There are some odd concepts, like Lee Majors (Six-Million Dollar Man) convincing someone to undergo surgery to become a new bionic man… A futuristic Robin Hood… And a They Call Me Bruce-type show that combines Kevin Sorbo and his knowledge of Hercules to save Los Angeles…
But here’s the info from the press release… What do you think?
–Fitz
SYFY’S ROBUST SCRIPTED DEVELOPMENT SLATE FEATURES PROJECTS FROM KEVIN SORBO, LEE MAJORS, SANCTUARY CREATIVE TEAM AND UNIVERSAL CABLE PRODUCTIONS
LOS ANGELES – July 30, 2010 – Building upon solid ratings and critical acclaim for returning hits Warehouse 13 and Eureka, and newcomer Haven, Syfy today announced a rich development slate of seven scripted projects featuring television icons Lee Majors and Kevin Sorbo; the Sanctuary creative team of Damian Kindler, Martin Wood and Amanda Tapping; a swashbuckling space opera and an alien version of The Office from Universal Cable Productions plus a single camera ½-hour about fighting zombies and a dramedy featuring supernatural villains.
In making the announcement, Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Programming, Syfy, and Co-Head, Original Content, Universal Cable Productions, said: “One of our key agendas is to continue the extraordinary growth and momentum of our popular dramas. Through partnerships with these formidable talents, in front of and behind the camera, we hope to expand our powerful brand by offering our viewers an imaginative next generation of programming.”
BALL & CHAIN
After months of emotional tumult, Edgar and Mallory call their relationship quits. As they say their final goodbyes, the ex-lovers are nearly hit by a meteorite that, it turns out, imbues them with extraordinary powers. Unfortunately, the powers only work when they are in close proximity to each other. Though the last thing they want to do is stay together, they’ll need to try if they hope to overcome the newly arrived other-worldly forces that threaten to destroy them and anyone else who gets in the way.
Executive Producers: Bob Cooper and J.J. Jamieson for Landscape Entertainment Executive Producer/Writer: Andrew Miller
Studios: A Universal Cable Productions/Fremantle Media co-production
ME AND LEE
In this ½-hour single-camera series, a down-on-his-luck 20-something undergoes back surgery, only to find that the procedure did not go well. Enter Lee Majors, who claims he has the perfect solution. He entices the young man into his ultra high-tech lab and makes him bionic. Now intrinsically bound together, Majors tries helping his new partner get his life back on track.
Executive Producers/Writers: Matthew Salzberg and Jenji Kohan
Executive Producer: Steven Pearl
Studio: Lionsgate
ORION
National Treasure meets Firefly in this swashbuckling space opera about an adventurous female relic hunter and her team as they hunt down — and sometimes steal — valuable and powerful objects to sell on the black market, all while staying one step ahead of the bounty hunters hot on their heels.
SHERWOOD
In this “Robin Hood” story for the 23rd century, a young man of privilege teams up with a misfit spaceship crew to right the wrongs of his family.
Writer: Damian Kindler
Executive Producers: Damian Kindler, Martin Wood, and Amanda Tapping for My Plastic Badgers Productions
LEGENDARY
A ½-hour single-camera series in which Kevin Sorbo plays an exaggerated version of himself… a former syndicated television series star. When a fan approaches Sorbo to enlist his skills in combating the underworld mythological creatures that threaten to destroy Los Angeles, an unlikely partnership is formed. Together, they use their intimate knowledge of the myths of Hercules to defeat a myriad of beasts.
Executive Producer: David Eick
Supervising Producers/Writers: Adam Karp & Royal McGraw
Producer: Kevin Sorbo
Studio: Universal Cable Productions
HUMAN RELATIONS
The Office meets Men in Black in this project featuring an office Temp who slowly discovers that his off-kilter and odd-ball bosses at the strange hi-tech “ad agency” where he works are really aliens working on a plan to destroy the Earth.
Co-Executive Producer/Writer: Scott Prendergast
Executive Producers: Michael Rotenberg and Tom Lassally for 3 Arts
Executive Producers: John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky for Ternion
Studio: Universal Cable Productions
ZEROS
In this ½-hour single-camera satire, when the zombie population of Marshall City overcomes the 30-foot barrier separating the infected people from the rest of the city, the Zombie Extermination and Removal Operations company (the Zeros) are called in to keep the peace. When they can get out of their own way long enough to focus on a case, they are pretty effective with very unorthodox methods.
Executive Producers: David Kenin and Steve Brenner
Co-Executive Producers: Chris Provost & Dave Hales
Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in more than 96 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)
Today I saw a press release from the Syfy Channel announcing that on August 6 we’re going to see not one but two crossover episodes of two of our favorite series on Syfy!!
Airing August 3, Fargo is going to visit the Warehouse and on August 6 Claudia will be visiting Eureka… you can bet both will be getting into (and hopefully out of) trouble!
Here’s the release!
–Fitz
EUREKA AND WAREHOUSE 13 – SYFY’S MOST WATCHED SCRIPTED SERIES – TEAM UP FOR FIRST EVER CROSSOVER EPISODES
Warehouse 13‘s Allison Scagliotti visits the town of Eureka and Neil Grayston of Eureka visits Warehouse 13
New York, NY – May 19, 2010 – Warehouse 13 and Eureka, Syfy’s top scripted series, are joining together for the first time ever for a pair of crossover episodes this summer, it was announced today by Mark Stern, Executive Vice President of Development, Syfy, and Co-Head Original Content, Universal Cable Productions.In the episodes, which are currently filming, Douglas Fargo (Neil Grayston) of Eureka’s Global Dynamics is sent to Warehouse 13 to help update its aging computer system. This triggers a seemingly sentient computer virus that sends the Warehouse into lockdown and traps the team inside. The Warehouse 13 episode is entitled “13.1″ and will air on Tuesday, August 3, at 9PM (ET/PT). The Eureka episode entitled “Crossing Over,” will air on Friday, August 6, at 9PM (ET/PT). Warehouse 13′s Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti) pays a visit to Eureka, hoping to see some amazing technological wonders. She gets more than she bargained for when seemingly random objects begin appearing around town. Working with Sheriff Carter (Colin Ferguson) and Fargo, Claudia has to help solve the mystery before the strange anomalies have deadly consequences…particularly for newcomer Dr. Grant (James Callis).Rene Auberjonois (Boston Legal and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) will guest star in the Warehouse 13 episode as former Warehouse agent Hugo Miller. About Warehouse 13Warehouse 13 follows two Secret Service agents who find themselves abruptly transferred to a massive, top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota which houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse’s caretaker Artie (Saul Rubinek) charges Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse, as well as helping him to control the Warehouse itself.Warehouse 13 is produced for Syfy by Universal Cable Productions. Jack Kenny (The Book of Daniel) returns as showrunner. The second season premieres Tuesday, July 6 at 9PM (ET/PT).
In its first season, Warehouse 13 became the all-time Syfy leader in total viewers (4.1 million), Adults 25-54 (2.1 million) and Household ratings (2.9), as measured by 7-Day DVR data.
About Eureka
Eureka seems like any other cozy, Pacific Northwest town, but is actually a secret community of geniuses assembled by the government to conduct top-secret research. What they’ve unwittingly created is a place where anything imaginable can happen… and does. Eureka stars Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Joe Morton, Erica Cerra, Neil Grayston, Niall Matter, James Callis and features Jordon Hinson. Guest stars this season include Wil Wheaton, Jamie Kennedy, Jaime Ray Newman and Matt Frewer.
Eureka is produced for Syfyby Universal Cable Productions. Jack Kenny () returns as showrunner. The second season premieres Tuesday, July 6 at 9PM (ET/PT).In its first season, became the all-time Syfy leader in total viewers (4.1 million), Adults 25-54 (2.1 million) and Household ratings (2.9), as measured by 7-Day DVR data.Eureka seems like any other cozy, Pacific Northwest town, but is actually a secret community of geniuses assembled by the government to conduct top-secret research. What they’ve unwittingly created is a place where anything imaginable can happen… and does. stars Colin Ferguson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Joe Morton, Erica Cerra, Neil Grayston, Niall Matter, James Callis and features Jordon Hinson. Guest stars this season include Wil Wheaton, Jamie Kennedy, Jaime Ray Newman and Matt Frewer. Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (WWW.SYFY.COM), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in 95 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. Syfy. Imagine greater.
Last week, NBC announced their slate of programs for the Fall 2010 season…
Some of our favorites are back such as Chuck and Parenthood as well as some new potentially entertaining programs like Chase, The Undercovers, and Outsourced.
Here are the dates for the fall premieres…
Chuck – Monday, September 20, 2010, 8pm EST
Chase – Monday, September 20, 2010, 10pm EST
Parenthood – Tuesday, September 21, 2010, 10pm EST
Undercovers – Wednesday, September 22, 2010, 8pm EST
Outsourced – Thursday, September 23, 2010, 9:30pm EST
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There used to be an Amazon ad here, but since Amazon and the state of Colorado can't agree on how to handle taxes, they've blocked my affiliate account. From now on or until this is resolved, links to products will be through Barnes and Noble.
In 2008, a new chapter of Batman animation would unfold as Batman: The Brave and the Bold. But where previous incarnations of the world were portrayed in a serious vein, this new series amped up the campy, fun nature once seen in another Batman television product starring Adam West and Burt Ward as Batman and Robin in the 1960s.
