Category: Sci-Fi Café


Retro fix–Awesome vintage-style The Mandalorian action figures are coming in 2021

Filed under: Con Culture, Movies, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café — Leave a comment
October 27, 2020

The Star Wars vintage Kenner action figures changed toys and franchising forever.  Sales of this line were so successful that it’s no surprise the fan nostalgia for these 3.75-inch figures in new packages is still as great as ever, 43 years after their first appearance in a pre-order campaign for Christmas 1977.  Disney knows what its fans want, and so they have assembled two takes on a new round of action figures for the Disney+ series The Mandalorian–one with modern molds and articulation in vintage packaging, and the other with retro, classic Kenner style molds and articulation, housed in classic, mock-distressed packaging–plus original-style vinyl capes!  IG-11, Moff Gideon, Cara Dune, Greef Karga, Kuiil, “Baby Yoda,” and Din Djarin, the man behind the mask.  You can pre-order them now at Entertainment Earth and Amazon.  Check them out:

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Bounty Hunters–Star Wars’ newest great comics arc arrives in a collected edition next month

Filed under: Comics & Books, Fantasy Realms, Movies, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment
October 26, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

Delayed a bit due to the pandemic, a Star Wars tie-in comic book series proved this summer to be the best so far since Marvel Comics pulled the comics license back from Dark Horse.   Star Wars: Bounty Hunters completed its first story arc and will be coming next month to comic shops in a collected edition, available via pre-order now here at Amazon.  Compiling the first five issues of a new series in the vein of The Mandalorian, it establishes itself with a new anti-hero from the past and familiar faces fans of the original trilogy love.  It all begins by asking why all those bounty hunters appeared together on Darth Vader’s ship Executor in that brief scene in The Empire Strikes Back.

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Round 3–TKO Studios switches up with new formats in addition to its binge-style titles

Filed under: Comics & Books, Fantasy Realms, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, Superheroes — Leave a comment
October 23, 2020

It’s been an entire year since we last saw a new publication from TKO Studios, the company that brought the Netflix trademark binge to comic books.  Though not as striking and punch-packed as Round 1 from the publisher early last year, the second round of titles had promise.  At last Round 3 is on its way, and pre-orders are now available.  So what does the next incarnation of TKO hold?  First, none of the original series will see their sequels just yet.  But you will have the option to check out three new mini-series, and two new concepts: an illustrated prose horror book and three TKO “shorts.”  Check out previews for all below.

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The Mandalorian–Season 2 is looking better and better, and yes, lots more Baby Yoda

Filed under: Fantasy Realms, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment
October 20, 2020

Disney+ shared a new trailer for The Mandalorian late Monday, adding more great clips and images from the coming season, tying viewers back to the original 1977 Star Wars.  The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal), who we now know as Din Djarin, flying around with his backpack?  Check.  Cara Dune (Gina Carano) and Greef Karga (Carl Weathers) putting an Imperial troop transport through its paces?  Check.  Someone found Yondu’s Yaka Arrow?  Check.  The Abyssin cyclops from the Mos Eisley cantina?  Check.  More of The Child (we know, you know him as Baby Yoda)?  Check.

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TCM’s Fright Favorites–31 movies take center stage with hundreds of recommendations for the season

Filed under: Backstage Pass, Comics & Books, Fantasy Realms, Movies, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment
October 19, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

Your first glance at the title of TCM’s latest overview of a key genre of Hollywood’s greatest films may give you pause: Fright Favorites: 31 Movies to Haunt Your Halloween and Beyond.  Only 31 movies?  Quickly you’ll figure out that the 31 highlighted movies in horror historian David J. Skal’s list are only the framework for a larger, chronological examination of the horror genre, with a lean in to Hollywood’s horror classics, the kind you’re most likely to find on the Turner Classic Movies TCM channel.  In this list of recommendations, readers are sure to pull their hair out, since it’s very likely nobody’s personal list will match the author’s–or anyone else’s.  Yet that’s why we turn to these books, and as you’d expect, Fright Favorites doesn’t disappoint: You’re practically guaranteed to add an obscure–or not-so-obscure–horror film to your future watch list.

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Monster Hunter–Trailer for film adaptation of fantasy-action game delivers spectacular visuals

Filed under: Fantasy Realms, Movies, Sci-Fi Café — Leave a comment
October 15, 2020

If you’re discussing the most compelling and amazing action movie franchise actresses, you’re going to begin with Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton.  But quickly you must count Milla Jovovich, whose track record at the box office is hard to match, thanks to her role as Alice in the Resident Evil series.  But she’s also revealed her badass prowess in classics like The Fifth Element and Ultraviolet, and she keeps adding to her amped up, tough-as-nails characters.  This year that means taking on the role of Lieutenant Artemis in Monster Hunter, an adaptation of the online fantasy-action game.  In one word, that overly-used phrase is apt here: Epic.  The first trailer for the film (below) is very Starship Troopers meets Jurassic Park.

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Preview–Marty McFly meets a new Autobot in mash-up series, Transformers/Back to the Future

Filed under: Comics & Books, Sci-Fi Café — Leave a comment
October 11, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

A DeLorean time machine Transformer?  It’s like some kind of concept 35 years stuck out of time.  And yet, the future is now–again.  Back to the Future is back in the present, this time with Marty McFly stepping into another future, a future taken over by Transformers’ Decepticons.  It’s a great mash-up idea and it actually works, as envisioned by IDW in its new mini-series, Transformers/Back to the Future.  Issue #1 is now in comic book stores, and today we have a preview for borg readers.

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The Mandalorian: The Art and Imagery–Packed with concept artwork from the series

Filed under: Backstage Pass, Comics & Books, Sci-Fi Café, TV — Leave a comment
October 7, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

Star Wars in pictures.  It’s something fans of the franchise have gotten excited about now for 43 years running.  From the first publication of Ralph McQuarrie’s earliest concept art, fans want more.  So it makes sense we’re going to see three books are concept artwork this year for the first season of The Mandalorian, the best thing to happen to Star Wars since the original trilogy (OK, and one or two “Star Wars story” movies).  The first of these behind the scenes books is Titan Magazines’ The Mandalorian: The Art & Imagery, just released in three versions, one via newsstands, one via comic shops, and a hardcover version you can pick up here at Amazon and brick and mortar bookstores.

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Star Wars Unfolds–New children’s storybook finds the heart of the original trilogy in 24 scenes

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September 28, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

The art of paper folding, called zhezhi, has been around a thousand years in China and Japan, and continues to manifest throughout Western culture.  In children’s books, we’ve seen modern book crafters design incredible fold-out books that allow kids to interact with story characters and settings.  A new book from Abrams Books for Young Readers provides another twist on fold-out book design, allowing each new page to interact with the last.  Star Wars Unfolds: The Original Trilogy sums up the first three Star Wars movies in a great nighttime storybook any young fan of the movies can enjoy.

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First look–New chapter begins for Blade Runner sequel/prequel

Filed under: Comics & Books, Movies, Retro Fix, Sci-Fi Café — Leave a comment
September 23, 2020

Review by C.J. Bunce

It’s the sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and prequel to Blade Runner 2049, giving fans of either or both a look into the world created by Philip K. Dick in his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?  Blade Runner stories continue as Titan Comics looks to the parallel Earth future in Blade Runner 2019.  The first nine issues introduced us to ex-Blade Runner Ash and Cleo, daughter of business magnate Alexander Selwyn.  It’s now 2026.  On returning to Los Angeles, Ash sleuthed out the location of Selwyn, but Selwyn knows Ash is after him, and has created a new Blade Runner.  Of course the ghosts of Tyrell are always in the shadows.

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