Show #40: Pre-show Discussion

Show #40 will cover Jhereg by Steven Brust.

Published in 1983, it’s the first book in the Vlad Taltos saga, of a planned 17 volumes. Steve likes the number 17; he’s said so.

The 11th book in the series, Jhegaala, just came out this month, in hardcover from Tor.

Immortals, sorcery, political intrigue, assassins, thieves and familiars. What’s not to love?

KAMN Show #39: RoboCop

Welcome to Show #39!

Feature Discussion: RoboDave, Brian-209, Summer and Jen discuss the 1987 hit movie RoboCop. A groundbreaking movie when it first came in, in terms of production as well as treading into new territories of movie ratings controversy, much can be said about RoboCop, and we try to hit all the fun points.

Brief Story Description: The city of Detroit is besieged by crime, and an overworked police force is struggling to keep from being outgunned. Because of the city’s financial problems, Omni Consumer Products (OCP) won the outsourcing contract to retool the city’s law enforcement ranks, in order to protect future plans to raze Detroit and build a better future city, Delta City, on top of it.

After a disastrous demonstration of the ED-209 enforcement robot, the corporate plans to implement RoboCop program is fast-tracked, but the project can’t proceed until a Detroit office has been gunned down.

Part man, part machine, all cop. And something more.

Listener Feedback: You can leave comments here for the show, or at the Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas Forum. You can also email all of us at ninjas-at-kickassmysticninjas-dot-com, and yes, you can also email in recorded commentary.

Movies mentioned:

Link: Criterion Collection: RoboCop
Link: Wikipedia: RoboCop
Link: RoboCop Archive
Promo: Adventures in SciFi Publishing

 

 KAMN Show #39: RoboCop [44:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2257)

Show #39: Pre-show Discussion

Show #39 will cover RoboCop.

This 1987 feature film starred Peter Weller, Ronny Cox, Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith and Miguel Ferrer. It was director Paul Verhoeven’s second US made film (after Flesh & Blood starring Rutger Hauer), and it was #1 at the box office for 3 weeks.

RoboCop won the 1987 Saturn Award as Best Science Fiction Film, and won an Academy Award for Sound Effects Editing.

Want to jumpstart your geeking? Check out the original movie trailer on YouTube… and hear the Terminator theme being used as the background music.

Review: Robin of Sherwood

This review was originally published July 2004, and the Limited Edition Region 1 DVD set by UK-based Network Videos was expensive and hard to come by.

In Fall 2007, the series was finally released domestically by Acorn Media, split into two sets, Set 1 featuring Michael Praed’s Robin, and Set 2 featuring Jason Connery’s Robin. Both sets can be found at places like Best Buy and Amazon, and a complete series box set is scheduled for release in July 2008.

Robin of Sherwood (1983-85)
Limited Edition Complete Collection
release date: 7/14/2003

starring Michael Praed, Nickolas Grace, Jason Connery

“A hooded man shall come to the forest. There he will meet with Herne the Hunter, to become his Son, and do his bidding.”

This collection contains all 3 series, 26 full episodes clocking in at nearly 22 hours, not including extras. It’s also a numbered Limited Edition Region 1 set, produced exclusively by Network Videos, one of only 2500 produced, quite likely making this DVD set rarer than the the novelizations of the series.

Continue reading Review: Robin of Sherwood…

KAMN Show #38: The Forever War

Welcome to Show #38!

Yes, we put the promo at the beginning, because once we got rolling on the discussion, we never took a break. ‘Tis why we’re geeks.

Feature Discussion: Summer, David and Jen tackle Joe R. Haldeman’s The Forever War, which was first serialized in Analog magazine in 1972, then published in novel form in 1974. It was the Nebula Award winner in 1975 and the Hugo Award winner in 1976.

Brief Story Description: This is the story of William Mandella, a student who is conscripted into an elite force being trained to fight in Earth’s first extraterrestrial war. The problem is that while they age normally while traversing deep space, time is speeding by faster on Earth. How can you go home again when you’ve aged only a few months or years while the only home you’ve known has aged 50-500-1000 years or more?

Listener Feedback: You can leave comments here for the show, or at the Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas Forum. You can also email all of us at ninjas-at-kickassmysticninjas-dot-com, and yes, you can also email in recorded commentary.

Books mentioned:

Link: Wikipedia: The Forever War
Link: We Read Science Fiction: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman - Cams #4
Link: Joe Haldeman’s Tangled Website
Promo: Parsec Awards 2008

 

 KAMN Show #38: The Forever War [50:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3620)

Show #38: Pre-show Discussion

Show #38 will cover “The Forever War” by Joe Haldeman.

Originally serialized in Analog magazine in 1972, it was first published in novel form in 1974, and it won the Nebula Award in 1975 and the Hugo Award in 1976.

The original story as read in Analog, and the first two versions of the novel contain an abridged and “more upbeat” version, different from the author’s original vision for the middle of the story. In 1997, the “Author’s Preferred Edition” was finally published, and comprises the first part of a trilogy, followed by “Forever Free” and “Forever Peace”.

A discussion topic will appear in the forums soon.

KAMN Show #37: Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Welcome to Show #37!

Not surprisingly, the Ninjas voicemail number is gone. But we can probably handle smallish recordings emailed to us… check first before sending longer comments.

Feature Discussion: Summer, David, Brian and Jen tackle Invasion of the Body Snatchers, both the 1956 version startting Kevin McCarthy, and the 1978 remake starring Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum. The 1956 version was based on a story called “The Body Snatchers” by Jack Finney, that was first serialized in Collier’s Magazine in 1954, and published as a novel in 1955.

Brief Story Description: A handful of people uncover an alien plot to take over the human race, and go to great lengths to remain themselves and warn the rest of the world.

Silly aliens… Earth is for Humans! You might catch something here unless you’ve had all of your shots.

Listener Feedback: Give us some! You can leave comments here for the show, or at the Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas Forum. You can also email all of us at ninjas-at-kickassmysticninjas-dot-com, and yes, you can also email in recorded commentary.

Movies mentioned:

Link: Wikipedia: Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Link: Wikipedia: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 Film)
Link: Wikipedia: “The Body Snatchers” by Jack Finney
Promo: The GeekSpin

 

 KAMN Show #37: Invasion of the Body Snatchers [56:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3373)

Show #37: Pre-show Discussion

Show #37 will cover Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Discussion will include both the 1956 version and the 1978 version, so make sure you study up!

Review: Sapphire and Steel

This review was originally published July 2004, the DVD set having become scarce by then. Since then, the DVD set was rereleased by A&E Home Video in 2005, and can still be found at places like Best Buy and Amazon.

Sapphire and Steel (1979-82) (DVD)
Featuring Joanna Lumley, David McCallum
Directed by Shaun O’Riordan
Official DVD release date — November 18, 2003

“Sapphire and Steel have been assigned.”

The blurb on the back of the case reads: “The spiritual precursor to The X-Files, SAPPHIRE AND STEEL is one of the most atmospheric, mysterious, and compelling television programs ever made. Joanna Lumley and David McCallum star as alien investigators sent to Earth to monitor and police ruptures in time.”

Continue reading Review: Sapphire and Steel…

More KAMN Coming

As promised last fall, my old reviews from before I joined Dragon Page will be reposted here shortly.

I couldn’t decide if it would be better to repost them with the original dates (thus dating them before KAMN existed), or just post them new, with a tagline saying when they were originally done. Brian liked the posting them new idea, so that won out.

I’ll be reposting those reviews here over the next few months, probably one a week or so. Comment as you see fit.

KAMN Show #36: The Broken Lands

Welcome to Show #36!

Yes, it’s been a while. We’re still around, though!

Feature Discussion: Welcome newcomer ninja stunt double Jen Crawford. Jen is a big fan of 90s TV, so we’ll have to explore that in future KAMN episodes.

David, Brian and Jen chat about “The Broken Lands”, Book One of the “Empire of the East” trilogy by Fred Saberhagen, first published in 1968, and most recently printed in an omnibus collection of the entire trilogy by Tor in 2004. Book Two is “The Black Mountains” (1971) and Book Three is “Changeling Earth” (1973). “Changeling Earth” was later renamed “Ardneh’s World”, and a followup story, “Ardneh’s Sword” was published in 2006.

Fred Saberhagen passed away in June 2007.

Brief Story Description: In the distant future, society has crumbled. Dark forces now rule the land, keeping all humans under their oppressive thumbs.In the darkness of the shadows and whispered on the winds, there is talk of a rebellion. In the swamps, a small band has formed. Determined to regain their freedom, the rebellion, heavily outnumbered, plans to overthrow an army of thousands . . . with the help of one incredible weapon.

It is only a legend, a story left over from the Old World before magic and the wizards came to the land. A weapon of technology. It is the mystical Elephant, and whoever masters it holds the key to freedom, or defeat. One young man, determined to avenge the death of his family, sets out to join the rebellion and find Elephant. What he discovers will change everything.

It’s always about the elephant.

Listener Feedback: Give us some! You can leave comments here for the show, or at the Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas Forum. If you want to leave a voicemail comment on anything we’ve discussed, you can call us at 206-666-5266.

Books mentioned:

Promo: INFECTED by Scott Sigler
Link: Empire of the East (Saberhagen’s website)
Link: Wikipedia: Fred Saberhagen

 

 KAMN Show #36: The Broken Lands [33:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (4302)

Great Things Come to Those Who Wait

2008 is an auspicious year.

It’s the year that Matt Stover’s epic Heroes Die becomes eligible for KAMN discussion.

This is the book that rekindled my interest in fantasy by showing me that fantasy could be so much more, and yes, validating the feeling that I hadn’t been getting enough story in my stories.

I was honored to finally meet Matt at a World Fantasy Con a few years back, fortunate to consider him a friend, and smart enough to know that over drinks at a bar next to him and Scott Bakker, my smarts are so outclassed, it’s fall-down funny.

If you read this book and get hooked/floored by it as most others who have read it, don’t neglect the sequel, Blade of Tyshalle, and keep your eyes open for the upcoming Caine Black Knife, due out fall 2008.

Most people love his Star Wars books, and I am one of the folks who believe that Revenge of the Sith could have been so much better if Matt’s dialogue from the book had been used in the movie, but if actions speak, then know that Heroes Die and Blade of Tyshalle are books that I’ve bought and given to other people to read (there’s only 4 other books I’ve done that with). None of those people were dissatisfied.

Show #36: Pre-show Discussion

Show #36 will cover Fred Saberhagen’s The Broken Lands, Book 1 of the Empire of the East trilogy.

Published initially as separate volumes, it was consolidated into the omnibus edition sometime around 1978-79 for reprinting, and has been that way ever since.

Book 1: The Broken Lands, 1968
Book 2: The Black Mountains, 1971
Book 3: Changeling Lands, 1973

KAMN Show #35: Near Dark

Welcome to Show #35!

Feature Discussion: David, Brian and Summer chat about the 1987 cult feature Near Dark, written by Eric Red and Kathryn Bigelow, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, starring Adrian Pasdar, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein and Tim Thomerson, and featuring a soundtrack by Tangerine Dream.

The Ninjas talk about this not-too-widely known vampire film with both a wild west and a romantic twist in it. The second twist comes from the fact that the word “vampire” is never once uttered during the entire movie… not by the immortals, and the victims don’t really stick around long enough to be able to say it either.

Did you know that Kathryn Bigelow is planning a remake/reimagining of Near Dark? We didn’t, but an IMDb listing is rarely wrong… it’s still In Development, so no public details are available yet.

For those of you with premium movie channels, Near Dark will be airing on TMC on December 24, 2007. Check your local listings, and have some fun. But for some real fun, definitely check out the 2-disc DVD set… the bonus features are almost as long as the feature itself.

Listener Feedback: Give us some! You can leave comments here for the show, or at the Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas Forum. If you want to leave a voicemail comment on anything we’ve discussed, you can call us at 206-666-5266.

Movies and music mentioned:

Promo: PodCulture: Equal Opportunity Geekness
Link: IMDb: Near Dark (1987)
Link: Wikipedia: Near Dark

 

 KAMN Show #35: Near Dark [40:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (7697)

Asimov, Foundation and more

We’ve had a lot of requests during the time we’ve been doing this to do a show on “Foundation.”

A lot of requests.

I haven’t put it on the schedule yet, simply because of how much work I’ve been doing lately, but for some reason I kept getting hints and reminders about Foundation over the past 2 months.

Last night, I experienced another hint. I went to a new store that deals in secondhand stuff; knick knacks, toys, videos, and of course, books. Of course, I went to the SF section to see what was there, and I found a few gems right away.

First, if anyone needs the Night Shade Books collections of Karl Edward Wagner’s Kane stories, let me know. I found hardcover copies of both “Gods in Darkness” and “Midnight Sun” rather cheap. I already own the limited editions of these, but I knew these needed rescuing, since the boys at Night Shade had told me two years ago that they’d sold completely out. These books aren’t even listed on their website anymore.

What I found next followed in the pattern of hints from the universe about Foundation. On my first pass through the SF section, I hadn’t actually noticed the books. Then I went around the corner to look at the next shelf, which turned out to be Classics, and the title that jumped out at me from the very top shelf was Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare.

Yeah. That’s what I said, too.

It’s a large book, comprised of all of The Bard’s plays, plus annotations by Asimov. Huge book, the inner page says “Two Volumes in One”.

I own a copy of the The Complete Works of Shakespeare, edited by David Bevington (huge red book, anyone who took a college English class on Shakespeare in the 80s knows what I’m talking about). This Asimov guide is larger… and I’m still trying to figure out how that happened… the Asimov guide is physically shorter than the Bevington, contains half as many pages (840 to 1730), but it’s about half an inch thicker.

Anyway, it was only $4, so I thought about buying it, just for grins. Then I went back around the corner for a second pass through the SF section, and that’s when I noticed them. One paperback printing of Foundation, from the 60s or early 70s, and 2 harcover collections of the Foundation Trilogy, one with dust jacket, one without. I decided to get the trilogy copy with dust jacket… again for $4. I figured since I’m buying Asimov, I might as well get the Shakespeare tome. I’m curious about this book, but I don’t know when I’ll get to reading it.

But now, if Brian and Dave already have Foundation, we may be able to cover that sooner rather than later. If not, I know where a mmpb copy of it is, and another copy of the trilogy in hardcover.

Oh, and if anyone wants a box full of those ancient videodiscs, lemme know. There were some good movies in there, including The Empire Strikes Back. But who has a videodisc player that still works anymore?