First clip from DOCTOR WHO: DREAMLAND

The first clip is now online for Dreamland, the upcoming Doctor Who animated story featuring the voice of David Tennant in one of his final outings as the Doctor.

I'm sorry to say that this clip looks... bad. Astonishingly bad. I don't mean that the story looks bad. Actually, the Doctor visiting 1950s Roswell is a fun idea. But that animation literally looks like a cutscene from a PS1 game. This could be a scene from the original Tomb Raider. The actual character designs aren't awful, but the animation is just ridiculously stiff and awkward. It's just baffling why the BBC signed off on something that looked so crappy, especially considering that the tenth Doctor's previous animated adventure, The Infinite Quest, was gorgeous.

Well, you don't watch Doctor Who for the beautiful visuals. After all, the original series became famous for "planets" that were really suburban rock quarries, featuring "aliens" with tinfoil helmets and hairdryer ray guns. But still... Judging by this clip, the budget for this thing had to be roughly comparable to what they were spending for an episode back in Tom Baker's day.




Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

WOLFEN's tour of a post-apocalypse, 1981 New York

Yes, this is another re-post from a few months ago, before anybody was reading this site. I wish the economy had improved enough since then that this post wasn't relevant anymore.

Wolfen is a fun, twisted little werewolf picture featuring Albert Finney and Edward James Olmos, both looking younger than you can believe they ever were. (Click the image at left to buy Wolfen on DVD.) But one of the film's most chilling aspects has nothing to do with wolfmen.

By the early '80s, the South Bronx had fallen into a disrepair so total and so terrible that it resembled a grim sci-fi landscape, it literally looked like an atom bomb had gone off there. Abandoned buildings rotted and caved in on themselves, piles of rubble and garbage were everywhere and entire blocks were eerily devoid of life save for the rats gnawing on whatever they could find. Wolfen shot some unforgettable scenes on those streets, and Youtube user Izakokomarixyz has compiled them into the clip below.

Looking at these scenes now, it's hard to believe this is really the United States we're seeing, that this is New York. Things can get this bad in other countries, after years of war. But not here.

Well, here it is 2009, and after decades of booming business, New York, like the rest of America, is teetering on the brink of ruin once again. The economy has gotten so bad that there are plans to bulldoze entire blocks in cities like Baltimore and Detroit and move the locals into smaller areas to conserve the dwindling resources. These Wolfen scenes aren't just a quaint historical curio. This could be our urban tomorrow. (Well, other than the werewolves, of course... At least, let's hope without the werewolves.)



Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Technocrati tags: [Wolfen][South Bronx]

Read more...

Johnston talks JURASSIC PARK IV

Speaking with Ain't It Cool News, director Joe Johnston says that there is a story for a fourth Jurassic Park picture and "it sort of takes the franchise off in a completely different direction, which is the only way I would want to get involved."

Weirdly enough, Johnston says that the sequel not only wouldn't go back to Jurassic Park itself, but also wouldn't feature a group of people trying to survive a dinosaur attack.

"Why would anybody go back to that island?" Johnston said. "It was hard enough to figure out the second and third reason for them to go, but it would take it off in a whole other trilogy basically, but when it gets to that level it's sort of about studios and Steven [Spielberg's] thing and who knows. I think we are at that point where we are due for another one if we are going to do it."

It's true that the series needs shaking up and I can maybe see not returning to Jurassic Park (although that seems a little odd, since the entire franchise is named after the island). But how do you do one of these movies without people being chased around by dinosaurs? I mean, isn't that sort of the whole point?

Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

SHATNER SUNDAY: Epic music video for Shatner's LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS

The Transformed Man is a mind-fryingly strange and hilarious album that William Shatner recorded back in 1968, featuring a mix of poetry and his own incredibly over the top performances of hit songs of the era like Mr. Tambourine Man. If you've ever heard Shatner's rendition of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, it's hard to imagine any music video could ever be crazy enough to do it justice... But the clip below is perfect, a Monty Python-esque, psychedelic cartoon that mashes together Star Trek, I Love Lucy, Charlie Brown and I don't know what all else.



This is only the second official clip for our ongoing Shatner Sunday series, but I suspect we've already peaked. Seriously, how can it get any better than this?


Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

Art by psychiatric patients on LSD

Psymon.com features some interesting artwork created by patients who had been dosed with LSD, as reproduced from the book LSD Psychotherapy by Stanislav Grof MD. It's kind of surprising how varied the art styles are, from the psychedelic, trippy stuff you'd expect to crabby little cartoons depicting the dispensing physician as a "nosy detective with a large pipe".

Seen below: "A patient's representation of the dynamic and colorful displays of ornamental patterns which characterize the early stage in a psychedelic session."



Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

Tim Burton exhibit coming to MOMA

Beginning November 22nd, New York's Museum of Modern Art will unveil a retrospective exhibit honoring the work of Tim Burton. In addition to the expected film stills and props, there will also be plenty of Burton's original artwork.

Yes, this is the guy who gave us those pathetic remakes of Planet of the Apes and Willie Wonka, but he's also the artist who brought us classics like Edward Scissorhands and Nightmare Before Christmas. The Vulture website has a slideshow gallery featuring a bunch of rarely-seen Burton art, including early sketches of Mssrs. Scissorhands and Skellington, and some fine art paintings I'd never seen before. It'll remind you why you were such a fan of this guy in high school.






Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

Mickey Mouse is getting a makeover

The New York Times is reporting that that icky-looking Epic Mickey video game is just the first assault in Disney's plans to give Mickey Mouse an edgy new makeover.

I've already ranted at some length about how an "extreme", "modernized" Mickey Mouse is a bad idea. But it is true that Mickey has become a mere corporate figurehead at this point, and I suppose it's possible giving him a little of his old grit back could be a good thing, if it's handled well. And it's hardly the first time that Disney has given Mickey a big makeover.

Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

SPOOK HOUSE DAVE

Spook House Dave is a cute new web series featuring puppets, monsters and other things that make this world bearable. Think of it as a Muppet version of The Munsters. (The Munstets? The Muppsters?) In the premiere episode, poor Dave just can't seem to find that darn backpack. His monster friends attempt to help.

Read more...

HI-FI PIZZA OF THE APOCALYPSE 5: Dan Aykroyd as Yogi Bear

Inspired by this apocalyptic moment from an old Daniel Clowes Eightball comic, Hi-Fi Pizza of the Apocalypse is a Monsters and Rockets feature where we chronicle the Hollywood rehashes, recyclings and recombinings that serve as ominous portents of the End Times.

Today's harbinger of doom: An upcoming CGI/live-action movie version of Yogi Bear, featuring Dan Aykroyd as Yogi, Justin Timberlake as Boo-Boo Bear and Anna Faris as a girl making a nature documentary. Oh, Danny... This is a sad, sad fate for the man who gave the world the Super Bass-O-Matic 76.



Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...

Ira Glass, unlikely Hollywood mogul

Ira Glass, the soft-spoken host of NPR's classic radio show This American Life as well as the TV version on Showtime, has been quietly developing a surprising sideline as a Hollywood player. This American Life often offers up the kind of stories that make you say, "Jesus, somebody should make a movie based on that!" Well, Hollywood has been paying attention, and now people really are making movies based on stories from the show.

The first such film, Unaccompanied Minors, was pretty dire kiddie fare despite Glass producing and Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig directing. But The Informant! got great review and the IMDB lists three TAL-inspired films in development - Wenceslas Square, Urban Tribes and Untitled Cryonics Project, and now Variety has announced that HBO will produce T, a TV series based on a This American Life story about a woman who becomes a man. (Presumably they're referring to this episode. Although if it turns out that they're adapting Fatso I sure won't complain.)


Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.

Read more...