Now, I didn’t bother writing what I thought of Terminator 4 before now, but I feel that I should throw in my thoughts.

Terminator is not an action series. It is a Sci-Fi/Thriller with action bits and an 18 certificate. Terminator 2 was better than 1, even if it was a 15. Terminator 3 wasn’t that great, and was a 12A. Salvation was worse than 3, and also a 12A.

Terminator is an adult series, with adult themes and adult depth. It is not a straight up action film with lots of explosions. It is not for 12 year olds. It is also different from Joseph McGinty Nichol’s other films. McG, as he likes to be known, is the man behind Charlie’s Angels and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle.

There are echoes of Terminators with these large robots and explosions at gas stations, a very Great Escape like bike jump, high speed motorbiking lifted from Batman, in fact, herein lies a problem for this film. There are sequences lifted from so many different films that it seems Terminator: Salvation has no real identity of its own.

This, of course, goes in hand with the constant references to the past Terminator films. Nothing sums up the feeling about these echoes as much as the groan from the audiences (on both occasions I have seen this film) when one Mr. Bale utters the words “I’ll be back.”

Beyond what is just a headbangingly bad film of almost script-less drivel, this film is missing one of the most vital parts of Sci-Fi, especially the Terminator brand of the genre. The series needs heart.

T1 and T2 gave the remaining humans an air of being the last humans, even though that little event wasn’t quite upon them yet. This particular film, however, misses that, along with everything else that made the first two films what they were.

If this is the start of another Terminator Trilogy, I think you can count me out, along with that other large franchise beginning with “T” that has just made it to a second instalment.

Salvation is not a good Terminator film. It is not even a good film. Well worth missing, unless you have a choice between this and Mighty Morphing Robots, in which case, do as I did, watch the Schwazenegger-less Terminator.

MTFBWY

Much has been made recently of Microsoft and their efforts to comply with anti-competition laws in the EU. Recently it was announced they wouldn’t be offering 7 as an upgrade, but instead would ship a full version at upgrade price to Vista users. Previously was the interesting news that IE would not be bundled with the OS. But I have a question, why do these things not apply to the fruit company? Oh, and before I continue, those of you who don’t get the title, see this Wikipedia article.

Now I am aware that Windows has the majority share of the computer market right now, but why does this mean Apple can get away with the same anti-competition practices. By bundling Safari web browser with Mac OS Apple are clearly “limiting” the user’s choice of web browser.

Not allowing the inclusion of a web browser, by default, on an OS seems to me to be one of the silliest things the EU could have insisted upon. Yes OEMs are likely to come with a browser, most likely IE8 rather ironically, but what if I buy the OS straight from MS, then I will need a second machine on which to download the executable to install a web browser, or go to a shop and buy some optical media with a browser on, or another such silly endeavour. Unless of course I buy a Mac, in which case I get it with Safari pre-installed, which would make downloading Firefox/Chrome/Other browser of choice a lot easier. But wait. If IE8 was pre-installed on my Win 7 machine I could download any browser I wanted and use it. The EU may feel that the average user deserves a choice over which browser they use, truth is, most are happy with IE, those that aren’t can make the choice to switch. However, it appears the EU feel that bundling the OS manufacturer’s browser is anti-competition, as such Safari should not be bundled, by default, with Mac OS.

Second point of contention, upgrades. I don’t quite see how this breaches competition laws, but as MS have felt the need to not offer upgrade packages and instead ship a full version at upgrade price there must be something there. Why is it then that when Snow Leopard hits these shores of the EU it will be as an update to Leopard not as a full release. You can throw this “MS have the market share” argument at me all day long, it is not a valid excuse. It is like saying “McDonalds sells more than my local café so the Café doesn’t have to worry about health and safety”.

One final point I would like to make. I can buy PC hardware with no OS. Be it that I can build it myself or go somewhere and ask for a nice clean computer with nothing installed. If Windows does come installed on the machine, I can remove it and have a refund. This doesn’t happen with Mac machines. It isn’t in the EULA that I can get a refund, I even asked an employee at the Mac shop in London, well, I ended up having to ask about three because the first two didn’t know, thank you Apple for providing these “Geniuses” or is it “Genii”, and they said no. No I cannot get hardware without Mac OS installed, well, I was offered a monitor but that isn’t really the hardware I wanted. Is this not anti-competition. Sure I can install Windows on it, and Linux with a bit of fiddling, but Mac OS has to be there, and if it isn’t it becomes slightly more tricky, and I don’t get a refund for not using it.

So, consider this a plea to the EU. Either stop being silly and making rules for Windows that make it more difficult for end users, or make it difficult for end users of Mac, as well as Windows. Or are Apple’s lawyers better than Microsoft’s?

MTFBWY

Or so the OnLive website declares. This claim, at least to me seems a tad silly. I have made a few posts before about why it is that in a technical and business sense that OnLive shouldn’t work. I even touched on why gamers wouldn’t like it in the latter post. However I have recently worked out one, final, dead horse flogging, reason that OnLive will not enter my home, and probably won’t enter those of most gamers.

If DRM has taught us anything it’s that gamers like to actually own the games that they play. Now this may be more true of PC gamers than those on consoles, but with the fact that OnLive has only license for PC, and not console, games at this moment in time, the argument seems fully valid.

You may say to me that this is highly hypocritical of me due to my love of Steam, but there is a difference here. I own my steam games. They may not come on a disc, well, I have the Orange box on DVD, and Trackmania, but for the most part they are digital downloads, but I own them. They are sitting on my hard drive, they run on my hard ware, and if at some point I want to go back to them I can. Therein lies the point. The ability to go back.

It’s all very well going forward. Left 4 Dead 2, whilst surrounded by controversy, is a large, and very nice, step forward from the original. Computers and consoles are getting more powerful, the games are getting shiner and, in some cases, the game play is getting better as well. Now comes the but, and it is a big but (and I cannot lie). I am the proud owner of an Atari 2600 Jr., A SEGA Mega Drive II, a PSone, a N64 and a PS2, and I game on the machine I have infront of me. My games range from E.T. and Mario Bros. on my 2600, through Sonic on the Mega Drive, stopping off at The Italian Job on PSone, via Pokémon Stadium and Goldeneye on the N64 and finally coming to rest at Okami and Stuntman Ignition, PS2, where you can alight for Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead and Americas Army 3 on the PC.

Now that is a roller coaster ride of games reaching back before I was born. There is however a point to me naming these games and the consoles. I still play these games. The consoles may be old, the 2600 Jr. hit in 1986 and this machine is my newest at a little over 10 months old. I won’t claim they get equal play time, but I do get almost as much enjoyment out of sitting down and shooting scary monsters from outer space on my 2600 as I do sitting down and shooting zombies.

With OnLive, when a game lives past its useful money-making life, it will probably disappear, and if OnLive is the “only console you ever need” those games will die out, and be irretrievable. The history of computer games is important. There are people who turn up their noses at anything pre-XBox or PS2, or even worse anything pre-7th generation (XBox 360, Wii, PS3). They are missing out on Goldeneye 64, they will never know the joy of Pong or Space Invaders, and then there’s all the original Zeldas. The list goes on, but without those games we would not have what we have today, and if we have OnLive any games we get may well be forgotten.

As someone looking to enter game development as a career, that is something that upsets me. I could make a game, a game that is good, look, it’s fantasy give me a break, and it will go out onto OnLive. If people like it the only way it will actually live on is through memory, and after a time no one will be able to play it. That idea makes me sad. As a gamer, not being able to go back and play those old games from my childhood, or even before that would make me even more sad.

Old games should not be consigned to just memory, they should be open for play by people who want to play them. Now, E.T. or Sonic.. hmmm…

MTFBWY

Or at least that is what we are supposed to believe. This claim however, atleast from where I am sitting, is very, very wrong and in my usual ranty way I shall tell all my wonderful readers why. Although first let me just say I am not saying this purely against the iPhone this is for the general game model of the iPhone.

It has been touted as a wonderful portable gaming device that has transformed the way we can get and play our games. Well yes it has, but that alone does not make any gaming device “great”. Allow me to make a few points. First is the complete lack of first party support. There are no Apple Games releases sitting on the iPhone. What does that really say about how Apple truly view their device? They tout it as a wonderful gaming platform, but they don’t provide any games for it themselves. How many people would trust the XBox is Microsoft stopped making games for it? If Sony stopped making games for PS3, or Nintendo decided not to release Wii games. Sony and Nintendo even support their handheld devices. It is a sign of support and belief in your device to invest money creating content for it, something Apple aren’t showing.

That may seem like a minor point, but it is definitely something that major developers will be thinking about before jumping in to the market. Another thing that puts developers off is the criteria that games must meet to appear in the App Store. More importantly, the lack of clear criteia. The approval process for the App Store is about as clear as mud, and whilst Apple say they are trying to address this, not much has happened. If companies don’t know what it is they need to do to get a game on the market then they are unlikely to try and guess.

One final point to throw in for the iPhone is how the pricing of games affect their ranking. What is almost the default price for a game is $0.99, for that price no serious developers will put in the money to developing a big title. Now, Pop Cap recently dropped their game Peggle’s price to $1. This “sale” lasted four days. They sold almost as many units in those four days as they had in the previous three weeks. Now this may well be to do simply with the fact that the people buying iPhone games don’t want to spent all their hard earned cash on Peggle. But explain to me how a market of gamers only willing to pay $1 for Peggle help make the iPhone a gaming device.

So yes, wonderful, you can get the stuff out to people in a wonderful way and people can get the content. The problem is that people want cheap, quick games. Casual gaming is fine, but for my money a gaming device needs a mix of games, and there needs to be a market for both. It also needs to be pointed out of course that because anyone can make the games, anyone does make them, and the App Store gets flooded with sub-standard games. Now that happens with any gaming market, but with a set-up like the iPhone has, that problem is a slightly larger one.

MTFBWY

Let me start by quoting a great man. A man whom many of you associate with a film, a film in which this, admittedly very large, chunk of dialogue does not appear. This dialogue however seems fairly fitting today.

“Let us not mince words… The management is terrible! We’ve had a string of embezzlers, frauds, liars, and lunatics making a string of catastrophic decisions. This is plain fact. But who elected them? It was YOU! You who appointed these people! You who gave them the power to make your decisions for you! While I’ll admit that anyone can make a mistake once, to go on making the same lethal errors century after century seems to me nothing short of deliberate. You have encouraged these malicious incompetents, who have made your working life a shambles.”

If you know the speech have five points, if you know the man have another five, and if you know which part of which story it is from you can also have a cookie. All answers sent to us, and include a self addressed envelope so that your prize can be sent out. Entries, as always, come to the usual address.

Now on with the post. The reason I mentioned that wonderful quote is because at the polls on Thursday there was a vote for European Parliament candidates, and the results were announced last night. Almost one million people (943,598) voted for the BNP. That’s 6.2% of the country, and it earned them two seats. For those who don’t live in the UK you may not be aware who the BNP are. They are a British Political Party, the British Nationalist Party to be precise, and they go very far over to the right side of the political spectrum. They claim to be non-racist, but, well, kicking out anyone who isn’t “British” from the country, not allowing non-whites into the party and having a history of anti-Semitism and, more recently, anti-Islamic sentiments, I will allow you to decide whether or not that is racist.

The BNP have been described unfavourably by many people in the UK, especially by those in government. Now for those unaware, the UK government has recently been in the limelight for our MPs taking money in expenses for some things that maybe aren’t necessary for their jobs as MPs, Duck houses, moat repairs, dry rot in a house they don’t live in, making money by investing in property, that sort of thing. Now in many countries that sort of corruption is… well… a dream, but here in England that’s unacceptable. Many votes used this EU election to show their distaste for these MPs’ actions.

Some chose not to vote, some chose to vote against our current leaders, Labour, by going for the official opposition, Conservatives, and others decided that as everyone was saying “Don’t vote BNP.” That was exactly what they would do.

I won’t claim that all the people who voted BNP would actually disagree with the BNP on most of their policies, but it wouldn’t surprise me if quite a few did. I wonder how they would feel were the BNP to suddenly gain power, begin forced National Service, kick anyone who “isn’t British” out of the country, begin a campaign against Islam, disabled people, Europe, introduce Corporal Punishment in schools and prisons and suspend the Human Rights Act. With the sentiment currently floating around I wouldn’t call it a likely outcome, but, well, they may get a representation in our house of parliament, and from there things could start to escalate.

If it happens there is likely to be a public outcry, but whose fault will it be? Well, ultimately the responsibility lies with me. With those who are over 18 reading this post in the UK. With all voters here. We are the ones who elect these people, and if they get in we can only blame ourselves.

MTFBWY

I’ve never actually been dragged to hell, but I have seen Spider-Man 3 so I think that the title to this post is fully justified and anyone who feels I have short sold Spider-Man’s third instalment, sorry, but really, come on, it’s not pretty. If you came here for a Spider-Man 3 review, I am sorry to disappoint, but stick around, Drag Me to Hell may interest you.

Back in 1981 a 22 year old director called Sam Raimi released a horror film. that film was Evil Dead. Six year later he released a sequel. Five years after that he even released a third in the series. The Evil dead Trilogy, possibly with the exception of number three, is a wonderful and truly enjoyable horror series. The elements of comedy that Raimi threw in were wonderful and made for a true blend of the two genres that made the film something to be enjoyed.

After 1992, however, there haven’t been any horror films directed by Raimi, save The Gift in 2000, unless you count Spider-Man 3, that was quite horrific. In cinemas now, however, is a new horror film from Raimi, with that blend of comedy, and it is enough to make you wonder why he left the genre alone for so long. Written by the two Raimi brothers, Sam and Ivan, Ted even appears in the movie, this film provides you with moments to jump, followed by moments to have a little chuckle.

The story focuses around a “loan officer”, Christine Browm, who, in an attempt to prove she is promotion material, declines an old woman an extension on her mortgage. The woman places a gypsy curse on the loan officer, played by Alison Lohman, which will make her life a living hell for the next three days. The curse won’t get much better after the three days, but those three are the important ones. In an attempt to remove the curse she contacts a seer, played by a new man to the screen Dileep Rao, and over the three days she becomes ever more desperate to remove the curse. I won’t spoil it for you by telling you how she tries this, but I will admit her final attempt is the best use of a goat I have seen in a film for a long time.

Surrounding Justin, I’m a Mac, Long with Apple products may well have generated a few laughs, at least from me, but the main humour comes in the form of slightly humerous ways of providing you with the shocks and scares. They are handled so masterfully that after you have leapt from your skin or suddenly leapt upon the person next to you, you can laugh at exactly what it was that found you in that position.

All in all this is a brilliant film. beautifully acted, wonderfully written and directed in a brilliant fashion. Drag Me to Hell is probably not one for people who dislike horror, it is a 15 certificate so that does remove those Spide-Man 3 fans that left back when I said I wasn’t talking about Spider-Man. This film receives the Peter Taylor seal of approval, which doesn’t mean a great deal, but it sounds good, right?

MTFBWY

I remember when I was 5 or 6 I saw my first film from a series that has changed my life in ways I could not possibly perceive. Soon after I heard that they were planning to make new films, not just the re-mastered versions I was going to go see in the cinema, three brand new films. The first one was going to come out in 1999.

I was aware of rumours, but I was 8, didn’t have ready access to the internet boards where these discussions took place, but I knew something was coming. Something big. Something that was to, not only start a big journey for me but also, launch a new journey for so many people around the world.

Today marks ten years of that event. For ten years we have had knowledge that we could only have dreamed of. For ten years we have known for sure the past of some of cinema’s greatest heroes and villains. For ten years we have known Jar Jar Binks. Ten years ago. May 19^th 1999. Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace hit our screens. I haven’t looked back since. Well, not much.

I have been letting my blog posts run fairly long recently, but this will probably run exceptionally long, for that I apologise now. I haven’t planned this out so I have no idea where I’m going, which happens a lot in my posts, so hold on to your Gungans, keep your eyes peeled for angels, hold on to that thought of two setting suns, don’t look back as you leave your mother behind, and let me take you back to that time ten years ago, and that story about the person whose name, was Anakin.

Of course, I can’t claim that I watched the film exactly ten years ago. I’m not American. July 16^th 1999 is when the film hit these shores, but I did see it opening weekend. And quite a few times after that. The date doesn’t really matter, today is the day TPM made it out to the world, today is the day we mark it’s birth, the message would be the same if I wrote it on the anniversary of the day I saw it, or the day those lucky people in the states did. Star Wars entered a new generation today. It united old and young in screens across the world. It let fans regain a small part of their childhood. Lightsaber battles, Jedi mind tricks, droids, aliens strange new planets, old familiar planets, and a small, less asthmatic, villain, who would one day be the oppressive figure of evil.

There are those who claim that the prequels ruined the franchise. Took their childhood memories and did nasty things to them in dark alleys. OK so maybe they aren’t as good as the prequels. Maybe the strong silent type of Sith isn’t the same as the tall heavy-breathing type. The whiny nine year-old slave boy isn’t the whiny 19/20 year-old farm boy. And maybe Jar Jar was worse than the Ewoks. But this was Star Wars, and you can say what you like but that means something.

Not many things have the power to unite thousands, probably even millions, of people around the world the way Star Wars can. For the run up to this film the fan community was joined in collective anticipation, discussing possible story lines, what they wanted to see, how they wanted it to pan out and most of all, how much they hoped they would like it. Along with that however was an even more important hope. A hope that their kids, and many other kids around the world, would like it. Like it enough that they would go on and watch not only episodes II and III, but also IV-VI and like them as well.

It’s unusual for someone my age, well, possibly more those a year or two younger, to be an Original Trilogy fan. Most were raised seeing the Prequels first. I was lucky enough to see the originals, all be they the re-mastered versions, in the cinema, I was just the right age. I don’t call those kids raised on seeing the Prequels first any less fans than myself. A love of Star Wars is a love of Star Wars. Maybe they haven’t had the luck to see Star Wars, Empire or Jedi in the cinema, but they have seen Star Wars there, and that is enough. Are those children who have never seen a Star Wars film in a cinema any less fans? Those who have only seen Clone Wars in the cinema less than me in the fan community? No, they just have a different view on the galaxy, the same as I do to those who saw the films in 1977.

One question though is, are those who still, after 10 years, use the word “hate” when they describe their feeling towards Jar Jar less fans? Maybe. I am not a Jar Jar fan, I don’t feel he adds a great deal to the series, but he is there, he is part of Star Wars. He is a character; he will not be taken out. It has been ten years. Please, get over it. The same applies to all you people who still “hate” Ewoks.

You may feel protective over “your” trilogy. But it isn’t yours. This is the big GL’s sandbox, you are playing in it. Episode 1 is part of that sand box, it may be, at least to you, the small sandcastle next to the large, four turret, moat surrounded castle that is Empire, but it is no less part of the series than the prequel.

The words “A New Hope” may have appeared, as if by magic, at the beginning of Star Wars in the re-master, but those words may have applied just as easily to The Phantom Menace. This film offered a new hope to fans. A new hope for Star Wars. A new hope for a fresh fan-base. A new hope that soon they could be back in a cinema being 10 again. Whatever is said, this film delivered. On so many levels. The film launched a new era of Star Wars-related things. Yes there were the toys, but the books, comics and all things Expanded-Universe that came from what we learnt in this film surpass what came before.

Telling the story of that young boy who soon would cast a shadow over the galaxy, this film was, despite what some consider many bad elements, this film blew so many people away. This film paved the way for young fans to enter into the fandom. Every generation has their Star Wars. There are those of the original trilogy, those of the prequels, and now those of Clone Wars, each adds something new to the mix. Each has its fans, The Phantom Menace paved the way for Clone Wars, for whatever is to come after now, and for that we are grateful, truly.

Ten years ago Star Wars entered the new generation. Ten years ago a little boy called Anakin asked a queen, and future wife, if she was an angel. Two Jedi Knights fought a Sith Lord. One survived. A small astromech met a tall protocol droid for the first time. Most importantly though, a strange creature from the swamp came out, met some off-worlders and began a journey that would make him a senator.

I will be watching the film today, maybe even Revenge of the Sith which shares its anniversary, and I will remember being eight and seeing this film, on release weekend. And I will smile. I hope you join me, and I hope you smile too. This is a big day for Star Wars fans. Almost as big as the 30^th anniversary of Episode IV was. Let us celebrate Star Wars fans. Let us join together on this day and say it loud. We are Star Wars fans. Ten years ago we got TPM, and we like it.

That ran entirely too long, much as one of my favourite podcasts does. Yes, that was one of the worst links I could ever do, but now I’ve done it I shall through a link out to those wonderful people at the Force-Cast from TheForce.Net and Rebelscum.com. You can find them here and do listen, it’s your (almost) weekly dose of Star Wars news, comment and random banter and it’ll give you something to listen to when you’re bored.

With that shameless plug done, and following this post that has once again shown I can talk for too long without a plan, I have just one thing left to say, as I usually do.

MTFBWY

Oh, and remember, there is always a bigger fish.

So I have just returned from Angels & Demons and I will say that the film completely fulfilled my expectations. I expected and overly long and boring film with a plot line that was a cast-off from the last Star Trek film, and Ron Howard delivered.

I was not a fan of the Da Vinci Code, I don’t think I know anyone that was, and this film is better. Being better than the Da Vinci Code, however, is not high praise, which is good, because this film doesn’t deserve high praise, in fact it doesn’t deserve much praise at all. I will also happily admit to not liking the book, either this or the predecessor. I am, in fact, not a fan of any of Dan Brown’s books. I made it about 40 or 50 pages into Da Vinci before I decided that whilst there may be an interesting story buried somewhere but the storytelling is terrible. I didn’t even make it that far into Angels & Demons. So I cannot provide a comparison to the book here, neither was I ever really likely to like the film. However had this film been good I’m sure I could have recanted my ways.

The film is 138 minutes. That makes this a long film, a very long film. Some films can hold their own over two hours, Watchmen, for instance, ran to 162 minutes. If you want proof that Tom Hanks can hold a film for that period of time The Green Mile, admittedly ten years ago, ran to 188 minutes, Howard’s A Beautiful Mind ran to 135 minutes, and how about Ron Howard and Tom Hanks’ meet in Apollo 13 which ran to 140 minutes. So both actor and director can carry films to a long length, but this film gave us what was effectively a run across Vatican City with the constant plot line explanation that seems to appear in what I have read of Brown’s books.

I would also like to take this chance to point out that Ewan McGregor seems to be unable to hold an Irish accent. Until he explained his origins he seemed to float somewhere between Scottish, Irish, Australian and a few other nationalities, then explains his past and somehow still fails to settle on an accent. And then there is the other thing that makes this a less than enjoyable film. The plot.

I have mentioned the constant recap but let me say this now. The plot is not just a cast-off from Star Trek it seems the ending came from Thunderbirds. I like Thunderbirds, a truly wonderful show, but if you are going to be telling a story about the Catholic Church and the Illuminati is this really the way you want to go. The film does seem to just repeat the same thing four times, and it’s not even a particularly interesting thing.

The standing and explaining the plot has turned into walking or running and explaining the plot. However the plot isn’t really worth explaining, the Thunderbirds-esque ending isn’t really executed that well, and the accent from McGregor isn’t as consistent as would be useful. This is a way to spend 138 minutes of your life, but it is a fairly boring way, and may well be worse than reading a Dan Brown book, although I didn’t walk out of this before the end.

MTFBWY.

I haven’t really done a post on something I have never commented on before. Today however provides me with a chance to do just that. I could take this chance to discuss Episode Two. It was this time seven years ago that Attack of the Clones hit the big screen. Usually that would be my post, a nice chance for me to say something great about the franchise I love, but that will come in a few days, today I shall mark a different anniversary.

Today is the day that Kermit died. 19 years ago today, a man who is somewhat a hero of mine died. The man behind The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, an Oscar-nominated director, Emmy award winner, founder of some wonderful companies and the man behind three other little known TV franchises that you probably haven’t heard of died May 16^th 1990.

Those franchises are Fraggle Rock, The Muppets and Sesame Street, the man is Jim Henson. The man brought joy to many children, and adults, and those characters still carry on without him and still bring an absurd amount of joy to kids everywhere. And yes, I am still a kid.

I will happily admit to owning an Animal puppet, a Cookie Monster puppet and share ownership of an Elmo Live with my mum. A lot of people who know me are aware that I own puppets. Too many puppets some may say. I have listed the Henson creations I own but add to that an Emu, a Mr. Flibble, a strange orange bird and a fluffy green monster called Paul and you should get the gist of what I’m like.

Part of my obsession with these puppets comes from my love of the Muppets and Sesame Street going back to when I was young. I don’t really remember seeing much Fraggle Rock at that point but I certainly have since then and still enjoy all three shows now.

It may have something to do with the fact that I refuse to grow up that I like these puppets so much. That may also be the reason that I still enjoy sitting back and watching the Muppet Show, and am eagerly awaiting the release of the Fraggle Rock movie. Jim had a very similar philosophy, he was just a big kid still playing with puppets, but behind that he exhibited some great wisdom.

No one else could come up with songs like Bein’ Green, Just One Person or The Wishing Song alongside slightly more light-hearted songs like The Doozer Knitting Song or Wemblin’ Fool. The other thing that proved his great foresight was to ensure, before his death, that whilst his Muppet characters would go to Disney, those of Sesame Street wouldn’t. He recognised that Disney is a corporation who perhaps wouldn’t follow his philosophy when it came to The Street. The Street was always for the kids, Disney, he felt, probably correctly, wouldn’t be able to continue this in the way he wanted.

One final thing that couldn’t be ignored is the love people had for Henson. If in no other way, this was proven at the two memorials held for Henson. Not only did those who worked closely with Jim attend, but thousands of people filled the venues and surrounding areas in New York City and London. The videos of various parts of the memorial service in NYC are available on YouTube, including the most memorable moments of Big Bird singing Bein’ Green, and the singing of Just One Person in that iconic performance where Scooter starts alone and is gradually joined by each Muppeteer and accompanying Muppet.

It is not with sadness that we look back at the life of Henson. No one was allowed to wear black at the funeral, at Jim’s request, and it is for an attitude like that I admire him. Why be sad that the man has died. His life filled the lives of many people with happiness, his characters live on, his philosophy has not died. Today is a day to celebrate the life of the man, not mourn his loss.

I shall leave you with the very first line from the very first episode of Sesame Street. “You’ve never seen a street like Sesame Street. Everything happens here. You’re gonna love it!”

MTFBWY

I have just boldly gone where no one has gone before. Well, actually quite a few people have gone there,, but hey, how else could I start this post. I will just point out that this is my “more than 140 character” review of the film, the shorter version is here, blame the bad spelling on typing on a phone.

I will lay my cards on the table now. I am not a “Trekker” or “Trekkie” or whatever it is you call the avid Star Trek fans. Star Wars in my choice of the two “star”s, and that is how it shall remain. I think it has something to do with which you are exposed to first, for me it was Wars. I don’t dislike Trek, it has its place in television history, it has never had that same place in the cinema. The title of this post does hint that I have a soft spot for a certain Star Trek film, but in general I feel that the Trek films aren’t really that good.

As with many people I had some expectations of this film. I had heard how awesome it was, how I was going to love it and how JJ Abrams had tried to get some Star Wars into the Trek movies. I had to see this early before everyone oer-hyped it so much I went to see it and was disappointed.So I did, I sat in the Cineworld in Nottingham, and watched.

This is not the Star Trek of Shatner. The character names may be the same, Nimoy may make an appearance, but this is not the same James T. Kirk you once knew. That is clear from the first shot to the last. The action starts straight away and does not stop.

The inconsistencies with any established back story are nicely explained through the use of alternate universes caused by time travel. As with any origins story there is a lot of story telling to be done, and it is done well. The action is not used at the expense of story, nor is the reverse true.

The actor’s are very well chosen. Quinto’s Spock, Urban’s McCoy, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scotty and of course Chris Pine’s Kirk are all wonderfully played, and whilst they are not aiming to be the same as their famous predecessor’s, they fill the roles brilliantly.

There is the essence of the Star Wars JJ wanted to infuse into this Trek film. Perhaps that is why this is not the disappointment we have seen from previous films from the franchise. Star Wars has long had the run of the motion picture franchise, Trek has had TV. With Wars now on the small screen with Clone Wars and the upcoming Live Action, and Trek making this move to the big screen perhaps these roles are due to swap.

This is a good film. I hesitate to use the word “awesome”, I’m afraid “very good” will have to do for now. I am not going to say it is as good as Star Wars, from me those words will never be heard, well, not for anything too soon, but there are moments that this film made me think I was watching Star Wars with some new characters.

“My name is James Tiberius Kirk” being Jimmy Bennett’s answer to “I’m a person and my name is Anakin” from Jake Lloyd, Kirk hits his head instead of a stormtrooper, and there is a collapsible sword from Sulu instead of a lightsaber, but this is Star Trek, not Star Wars, and those things are what you would expect to see and hear.

I wholeheartedly recommend this film, you don’t need to know Trek to understand and enjoy this film, it might help, but it is quite clearly optional. If you are expecting Shatner’s Kirk you will be surprised, if you expect Nimoy’s Spock you’ll be di.. no, wait.. he’s there… but still.. this is a new Trek for a new generation, but this will not be a disappointment to the old fans, or at least it shouldn’t be.

MTFBWY (No, I won’t say LLAP).