Year: 2010

Classic TV

Weird old title sequences: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra: Princess of Power

1 April 2010 Rob Buckley Post a comment

He-Man

Once upon a time, there was a tiny little company called Mattel who made toys. You may have heard of them. Back in the 80s, they wanted to launch a new line of toys based around a barbarian character they’d created called He-Man. Since obviously no one had ever heard of He-Man, to advertise it, they took the radical move of getting US animation house Filmation to develop a cartoon series based on the toys.

Filmation, having been around for a while doing things like Space Sentinels, took their job seriously and really went to town. Although there was already a range of mini-comics that accompanied the toys, Filmation got in proper writers who developed series bibles, rewrote the comics, picked which characters to include in the show and more. Before you knew it, an entire background had been developed for all the characters and the planet on which they lived.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe was born. Here’s its title sequence:

Continue reading “Weird old title sequences: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra: Princess of Power”

Sitting Tennant

Easter Sitting Tennant (week 13, 2010)

1 April 2010 Rob Buckley 3 Comments

Dawn's Sitting Tennant

Erin C's Sitting Tennant

Rachel's Sitting Tennant

Rullsenberg's Sitting Tennant

Sabine's Sitting Tennant

Sister Chastity's Sitting Tennant

Toby's Sitting Tennant

In the UK at least, it’s Easter this weekend, with Good Friday tomorrow and Easter Monday on (go on, guess) Monday. So that means no blogging on either day – and so no Sitting Tennant. Never fear though – here for you joy, a day early, is Sitting Tennant. We also have a new contributor to Sitting Tennant to thank – everyone give Dawn a great big thank you and a warm welcome for her piccie.  

  1. Rullsenberg: 85
  2. Sister Chastity, Erin C: 75
  3. Toby: 65
  4. Sabine: 60
  5. Rachel: 40
  6. Karen: 35
  7. Dawn: 5

Don’t forget Monday’s caption competition. As if you could.

Got a picture of David Tennant sitting, lying down or in some indeterminate state in between? Then leave a link to it below or email me and if it’s judged suitable, it will appear in the “Sitting Tennant” gallery. Don’t forget to include your name in the filename so I don’t get mixed up about who sent it to me.

The best pic in the stash each week will appear on Monday and get ten points; the runners up will appear on Friday (one per person who sends one in) and get five points.

You can also enter the witty and amusing captions league table by commenting on Monday’s Sitting Tennant photo, the best caption getting 10 points, everyone who contributes getting five points.

Random Acts

Random Acts of Ali Larter: Getting soaked

1 April 2010 Rob Buckley 2 Comments

Ali Larter in Resident Evil: Afterlife

I’m sure it’s entirely vital to the plot, but Ali Larter (and Milla Jovovich) are getting soaked to the skin in Resident Evil: Afterlife. If you’re not up to much and are in San Francisco this weekend, they and the director are going to be answering questions at WonderCon. Anyone going? Maybe Ali and Milla will be doing their pillow fight as promised.

In case you were worried she’s been slacking off on the charity work over the last couple of weeks, Ali’s also been signing Lindt Gold Bunnies made of porcelain to raise money for Autism Speaks during National Autism Awareness Month (that would be April).

How random.

Have you seen Ali Larter acting randomly? If so, let us know and we’ll tell everyone about it in "Random Acts of Ali Larter"

Mark Kermode tries to explain the point of critics

1 April 2010 Rob Buckley 7 Comments

My favourite film critic, Mark Kermode, tries here to explain what the point of film critics is. His argument is basically, “Because they can point you in the direction of some good stuff you might have missed.” Not exactly water-tight – is there any point in a film critic giving a negative review or a widely-released movie? – but interesting all the same.

What do you think though? Is there a point to critics, not just of film but of any media? Is there a point to professional critics or are amateur critics as useful? And if there is a point, what is it?

[ via, @benjamincook]