Episode #6 of the Bagged and Bored Cast is now up for download at iTunes! Join Chris, Paul and John this week as knock back a few (more) and discuss:
The Week In Geek - Our quick hits of nerd news from the past week, where we talk about a verbal throwdown at Wizard's Chicago Comic-Con between a jaded fan and creator Rob Liefeld, how it spilled out onto the internet, the Walking Dead on AMC, the Batman: Arkham Asylum demo and the XBox Live Update.
The List - The comics we're looking forward to the most next Wednesday.
Main Topic - Nostalgia. We throw on our Underoos and sit in front of the tv and lose ourselves to what we loved growing up. Chris tags Thundercats, Paul hits on X-Men, and John wraps up with GI Joe which leads us into...
The Movie Fix - We suit up and take on Cobra with a review of the new GI Joe movie.
So make sure you subscribe and review us on iTunes today, and make sure you follow us over at http://twitter.com/BaggedandBored for all of our latest updates.
In 4th grade Fox Saturday morning cartoons were the talk of lunch time. During the Autumn of 1992 Fox Kids line-up included two powerhouse animated series namely, "Batman: the Animated Series" and "X-Men". While the girls would sit at their tables discussing how cute Macaulay Culkin was in "My Girl" and how it made them cry, us boys were deep in debate about which superpower was the best. Superpowers, hidden special abilities what 9 year-old boy doesn't what to wake up and discover they were a mutant like the ones on the "X-Men"? Important arguments were made during the half hour lunch sessions and eventually agreements, optic blasts are good but charging anything with kinetic energy till they explode was better. "X-Men" first aired on Halloween in 1992, and I was sitting at a distance to the television screen that any optometrist would scream. I wasn't that excited to see a new cartoon since, ironically enough, a Halloween a few years before for "The Real Ghostbusters" prime time special written by none other then J Michael Straczynski. Neither episode disappointed, but at that moment "X-Men" eclipsed my love for "Ghostbusters", for the reasons listed above. The series would go on for 5 full seasons totaling 76 episodes, including the retelling of classic comic runs such as "Days of Future Past" and "The Dark Phoenix Saga".
Recently, I picked up the first DVD volume of this childhood favorite. The first two volumes consisting of 16 episodes a piece were released on April 28th. Going back and re-watching the first few episodes, I noticed how rough the animation is. The first two episodes, "The Night of the Sentinels", in parts look almost unfinished, where the background seems to be sketched and not fully drawn. The rest of the DVD set didn't look quite as rushed. The dialog in parts does come across a little over the top, but all the voices in the series are still the voices I hear whenever I read an X-book. Honestly, the voice for Rogue might be why I have a thing for southern accents.
Going back and seeing these episodes again it is difficult to separate how much I enjoy it for what it is and how much I enjoy it for what I remember it for. Overall, the series ability to tackle social issues of prejudice and intolerance inside of a kids show is impressive on it own. Also, the price is right at about $20 for each volume. These DVD collections remind me why I wanted the "X-Men" video game for the Sega Genesis, when other kids where excited for "Mortal Kombat" and "NBA Jam".
Ok, I don't know why it's taken me so long to get to this one. It's something that's been kicking around in my head for a week or so, so it's about time before January is over.
Here's my list of 10 movies to get excited for in 2009:
10. They Came From Upstairs - Yes, the studio that brought you Alvin and the Chipmunks ripped off what looks like both Gremlins and Lilo and Stitch, but I can't help it. I'll see anything with Ashley Tisdale in it.
9. Coraline - If it looks familiar, that's because it's by the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Monkeybone. I know, I probably just rocked a lot of worlds there, but yes. Tim Burton didn't direct those movies.
Coraline is straight out of the mind of Neil Gaiman so you can count on an inventiveness you don't normally get out other writers. I could say it's because he's better, but I don't want to make anyone feel bad. So we'll just say it's because he's British instead.
8. 9 - Yes, my #8 is 9. Another computer animated film but this one boasts some real star power behind it with, Elijah Woods, John C. Reilly, Martin Landau, Jennifer Connelly, and Crispin Glover.
Based on an 11 minute, silent shortfilm this looks all sorts of epic. Probably helped out by Coheed And Cambria's "Welcome Home" in the trailer.
7. Up - I've loved almost every Disney/Pixar film except one, but this one looks like it'll be one of the good ones. There's not a lot to judge by yet, but Pixar has a way with characters like nobody else. I'm looking forward to this one.
6. Transformers 2: Rise Of The Fallen - I really enjoyed the first one. It was the right amount of action and eye candy. I guess there are going to be giant robots in this one though?
5. Dead Snow - Hopefully this foreign Sundance Film will see a wider release in the states. Zombie Nazis and black humor. What more could you possibly need?
4. X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Yeah, it probably won't be the best movie ever, but it looks better than X3. Also, Wolverine going berzerk and killing Stryker's troops was one of the best parts of X2. So I'm expecting that plus Gambit and Deadpool, which means a fun movie more than anything else.
3. Star Trek - This reboot by JJ Abrams looks like it exceeds the awesome-levels 10x over. With Simon Pegg as Scotty and Leonard Nimoy making a cameo as old Spock, I'm more than pumped for this one.
2. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - Yeah I'm sad this got pushed back, because that means we could have SEEN this by now, but it just makes this coming summer awesome for movies. Hard to say if it can match this past summers hype level though.
1. Watchmen - I just don't know what else to say about this one.
