Sci Fi Rifle WIP

A work in  progress. The main body is a Nerf Praxis rifle that I thought had an interesting profile and I added an M-4 handle from some spare parts that I found in the bargain bin of my local Mil-surplus store. Overall I'm pretty pleased with the way it's starting to look. What I'll use it for is still pretty much a guess but I want to come up with some kind of original sci-fi costume to go with it.

The Hidden II: Stay Hidden!!!

The Hidden II (1993) directed by Seth Pinsker starring Raphael Sbarge and Kate Hodge. Produced by New Line Cinema.

Kyle Maclachlan takin' care
 of business in the Hidden.

 Every sci -fi fan should be familiar with The Hidden!!! 

This was a great movie featuring Micheal Nouri and Kyle Maclachlan and was a sci-fi sleeper featuring a good alien tracking an evil alien down the streets of Los Angeles, using human hosts to carry out heinous crimes. 

While not original it was still an adrenaline thrill ride replete with action and witty humour. (If you haven't seen it go rent it, torrent it, buy it or whatever it is you do right now!!!... go... what you're still here? I'll wait... go on... GOOOOOO!!!!). Just remember kids video piracy is wrong.

Kate Hodge as Juliet.

Okay now that you've seen it DON'T go out of your way to see the sequel. In fact the only reason I knew the sequel existed was because it was already included as a double bill on the DVD that I bought for the original movie. 

Man this movie was bad and not in the so bad it's good way but in the so bad it reeks way. Whereas the first Hidden portrays the 80's with lavish fashion, cocaine, expensive cars and cassette tapes the sequel screams 90's by showing us homeboys, raves, ecstasy and vinyl records... yeah I know how ironic that sounds.

Look!!! It's Nick Nolte!!!

The main problem with this movie is that it contradicts many elements of the first film, the other is that it's just plain boring.

At the end of the first film Maclachlan's character Gallagher saves the life of Earth detective Thomas Beck by inhabiting his body and assuming his life... all well and good. The second movie opens with a transmission  from Maclachlan's character Gallagher, stating that he is pursuing the alien criminal and requesting for backup. 

This really makes no sense for reasons to be explained later on, and there's some exposition that the creature could be preparing to spawn... again making no sense as this was never hinted at in the first film.

The worst part is that fifteen minutes of the opening is just a recap of the final sequences that took place in the first film doing not much more than padding out the movie. 

It also serves as a reminder that the first film was a better movie.

There's some additional footage where we see a dog enter the crime scene where the first alien was killed and it decides to snap up a piece of fried alien meat for a snack (Who let's a stray dog saunter into a crime scene anyway?). 

Later we find that poor Benji turns out to be an incubator for the new alien spawn. 

 Funny, you'd think that agent Gallagher would have had the foresight to deal with this problem before hand to prevent this from happening, especially if he had mentioned it in his report. In fact if this report had been sent why did it take fifteen years to get back up, and did they not know that the bad guy was incinerated and blown up with an alien phaser? Wouldn't Beck/Gallagher have filed a report about killing the alien at the end of the movie?

Remember kids:
 improperly cooked, strange alien meat
 is bad for your pets.

Fifteen years later we find that after saving Beck's life the years of inhabiting a human body takes a huge toll resulting in rapid aging. Hmmm, this seems a bit out of line but we'll go with it for now.

The Green Sliiiiiime!!!!

Beck/Gallagher has retreated from his home life to one of a hermit and is no longer played by Micheal Nouri, but has been replaced by another actor (Michael Weldon) in a bad make up job (hence the necessity of making the actor looked aged). Plodding on... The new aliens decide to lay dormant in an abandoned factory where they patiently await new human hosts. 

Fortunately for them there happens to be a bunch of guys scouting out the place to hold a rave and one of them becomes a victim to the alien menace.

Looks like he ordered the special from Space Balls.

The victim whom I shall refer to as "Rainbow shirt guy" goes on the usual killing spree that alerts Beck/Gallagher to come out of hermitage and on to the scene. Beck and Rainbow shirt guy kill each other resulting in failure to take out the rest of the offspring.

I don't think that's the bubble boy Jerry.

Enter Juliet Beck (Kate Hodge), Thomas' daughter (Biologically, not an alien/human offspring). She manages to identify the body of her father and later she is sought out by Maclachlan (Played by Raphael Sbarge). Really? 

Sbarge's character is named Maclachlan? Oh well. Sbarge is no stranger to the science fiction arena as he is known to have played roles as Micheal Jonas (Star Trek Voyager), Carth Onasi (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic), an un-named Tech Commander (Independence Day), Mark Simonson (Dark Skies), Major Kaiden Alenko (Mass Effect) and who could forget... Sherman from My Science Project. Just to name a few. 

 While Sbarge does a good job of playing an alien he does it too well. Whereas Loyd Gallagher could blend in and do a serviceable job of passing as human, Sbarge (Who looks an awful lot like Jerry Seinfeld in this movie) plays the fish out of water part a little too over the top.

Major Kaiden Alenko.

Buuurrrp!!! Sbarge,
proving he's an alien
by releasing his essence.

They manage to investigate Beck/Gallagher's apartment where they find a video tape of the dog that was the poor victim of the alien parasite. Wait a minute... If Beck/Gallagher had a tape of the dog could he not have followed it? 

How did he get that tape? How did anyone have the foresight to film this and manage to be at the exact moment that the dog showed up? 

In the fifteen years he had on Earth how did he not have time to clean up this mess?

Makes no sense to me. This is a plot hole big enough to bury a Cadillac.

In the next scene they automatically find the factory where the creature is spawning... How did they do this? Was there a copy of the script conveniently lying around?

There's a rave sequence that is just as pointless as the one in the Matrix Reloaded, where you think that multiple possessions would take place but the budget didn't allow for that many extras to be turned into psycho killers so only one creature emerges to change bodies and fight Maclachlan in a battle of fisticuffs.

The alien manages to get a hold of Maclachlan's phaser and destroys it, leaving and claiming that since he cannot be stopped that our hero isn't even worth killing.... so isn't he aware that Beck/Gallagher had a phaser as well? You know the one that actually KILLED him in the first place!!! If these weapons are the only things that can kill them wouldn't the space cops carry more than one?

There are some attempts at character development and explaining the aliens, but it becomes totally incongruent with many of the elements of the first movie. The random subplot thrown in tries to explain that the good and bad aliens are of the same species just different branches... which makes no sense because the first movie clearly established the good aliens as Altairians which the bad alien described as being a filthy race. In other words he just insulted himself... I guess the producers were going for a demon/angel angle with this point which could have been good if it was actually explored but the opportunity was missed.

After that there's just more pointlessness... Aside from the poor dialogue and execution, lack of: action sequences, continuity, car chases, suspense, and humour the Hidden II is actually quite entertaining... if you had to choose it over something else... like Sunday School.

There is a sequence that involves the creature taking over a homeless guy who goes on a rampage and this scene actually imitates the spirit of the Hidden I, but its a case of too little too late.

I like this radio!!!

I doubt the writers even watched the original before penning the first draft. Here's a sample of the German trailer which actually manages to make this movie look epic.

In conclusion the Hidden II well deserves its distribution in the direct to video market and serves as another studio quickie that was created as a tax write off. Take my advice if you see this movie on the shelf, keep it hidden.

Crusher Joe

Crusher Joe クラッシャージョウ Sunrise Animation created by Haruka Takachiho

Just got in a set of Kodansha Anime film comics featuring Crusher Joe from a fine gentleman in Japan. This five volume set covers the events in the first movie.

My fascination with Crusher Joe stems from the fact that my first scale anime models came from this series. Back in 1981 I was perusing an issue of Starlog magazine and I stumbled across an ad for sci fi anime models from a mail order company called Cosmic Connection. A few weeks later I received a catalogue filled with... TREASURES the likes I had never seen before. Naturally I ordered a beautiful looking spaceship called the Minerva from Crusher Joe as well as a mech called an Ostall (From the same title) and a Gundam kit.

The Minerva.

Ostall.

When they arrived I was amazed at the intricate details of the models and was longing to see them in their animated adventures that I had never watched.

Soon after my next door neighbour and I probably ordered enough models to have been considered shareholders in the company. It would be another eight years before I would get to see the Crusher Joe movie and my obsession would be cemented in this franchise forever.

The Phantom Men... er Planet

The Phantom Planet (1961). Directed by William Marshall. Starring Dean Fredericks, Colleen Gray, Francis X. Bushman, Anthony Dexter and Delores Faith.

The opening title: in
menacing fluffy cloud font.

Forget that convoluted Episode One mess, The Phantom Planet is the true king of cheese, and yet it's not without its charms.

Our story begins in the spirit of true drive-in classic form with a narrative telling the viewer that it is the far flung future of the 1980's. In this fantastic world of "tomorrow" space exploration has grown in leaps and bounds since the splitting of the atom only a few short decades ago.

Let me drive Zoltan,
I know a shortcut to Venus.

As part of man's exploration into the great unknown the spaceship Pegasus III is seen patrolling the night skies on it's way to... well it's actually just seen flying for no apparent reason other than to experience some sort of impending doom. The ship involuntarily goes off course and is pulled into the gravitational field of the titled Phantom Planet where an off screen explosion suggests it got blowed up real good.

The ultra amazing Lunar Base one...
some assembly required.

Frank Chapman; Astronaut,
a man who can barely act.

 The news soon reaches Lunar Base where Col. Lansfield and Capt. Leonard woodenly discuss the incident that make them look like they're reading bus schedules instead of acting. When communications reach Earth it is ordered that Astronaut Frank Chapman (Dan Fredericks) is the only man for the job. Lansfield objects saying that he needs Chapman for the Mars project but he is overruled and Capt. Chapman in the Pegasus IV is sent out to investigate the missing spaceship as well as the cause of destruction.

Wheeee!!!!

As our hero races towards the stars he is accompanied by his co-pilot Lt. Ray Makonnen and together they fight crime... oh no... they patrol the last whereabouts of the Pegasus III.

Going against conventional wisdom, Chapman decides not to follow the same flight path of the missing craft on the grounds that if a mysterious planet is floating around it will most likely NOT follow the same course in order to remain mysterious. Sherlock Holmes would have loved this script.

Who needs umbilicals?
Those are for pussies.

Chapman and Makonnen spend several hours on patrol the ship encounters a stray shower of meteorites and tries to dodge them only to face damage afterwards that affects the ships power systems. Reluctantly the two astronauts go EVA to repair the ship armed with only an adjustable wrench. Ah, the good old days when spaceships were easy to repair.

Trouble occurs as the crew encounter micro-meteorites on their intended space walk and one manages to pierce Chapman's suit. Fortunately Makonnen manages to rescue him but also suffers a puncture in his suit and is not able to get back to the ship. He dies floating in space reciting the Lord's prayer.

Yummy!!! Extra crispy
chicken breast.

Chapman awakes inside the cabin alone, but has no time to grieve, as on the phantom planet appears. With no power, the spaceship is caught in a tractor beam and pulled downwards to the planet/asteroid below.

Chapman dons his space suit and exits the ship. but looks like he's having troubles staying conscious. As he passes out, we see a group of six-inch tall men approach him.

Alien air!!!
What a rush!!!

The men try to figure out who this strange giant is when one of the braver ones taps his fists against the visor of his helmet causing it to accidentally open.

The escaping air from the pressure suit causes Capt. Chapman to shrink down to the size of an action figure and soon one of the alien men tries to retrieve him, now that he's more manageable. An altercation ensues and the good capt. is captured and put on trial for assault.

Trial by cocktail
waitresses?

The jury is comprised up of six young women, dressed in scanty fashion for the time providing the obligatory fan service for angsty teens, and horny old dudes (A jury of peers?).

 The jurors find him guilty and sentence him to exile on their planet. He is told he won't be harmed but he will never be able to leave and must accept the responsibilities of being a citizen of the self-contained planet "Rheton" as its denizens refer to it.

Chapman meets Sessom (Francis X. Bushman), the leader of Rheton and he claims that they value their secrecy and they must keep him here so others will not find out of their world.

Anthony Dexter as
Herron, "Ugh me
no like stranger".

Here he also meets Herron (Anthony Dexter) who plays the typical role of the sole mistrustful guy whose only looking to make trouble with the hero. The main reason Herron is so miffed is that that Sessom's daughter, Liara has taken to the man from Earth and if this happens he will be the next leader of the planet.

While being escorted to his quarters by Sessom's daughter, Chapman asks Liara about the size difference between their two races. She explains that "Our atmosphere, together with some acceleration from our gravitational control has shrunk you..." Further, she says that if he ever did return to Earth, "The oxygen in your atmosphere would immediately return you to your normal size."

Okaaaaayyy... hey it's sixties sci-fi what were you expecting, plausibility?

Here puppy,
puppy, puppy...

To complicate matters the planet Rheton is also at war with a race called the Solarites, (Played completely by standard alien suit actor Richard Kiel) a sad puppy dog like race that is after the Phantom planet's anti gravity control that enables them to maneuver about in space.

What separates The Phantom Planet from other fare of it's day is that it actually uses some half decent production values for it's time. Considering that this is a B-movie, the spaceship and suit designs are quite well done. even the effects such as the giant empty space suit against a miniature cast are quite convincing and the story can be surprisingly entertaining.  

So if George Lucas can say that moving from 2D to 3D is like the difference between watching a film in black and white and watching a film in colour, just imagine what's next. 3D black and white, OH BOY!!! Anyway to conclude The Phantom Planet, Yeah I likes it.

Put on your 3-D glasses now!!!

Yamato: Votoms 1:12 scale Chirico Cuvie & Fyana

Armoured Trooper Votoms (装甲騎兵ボトムズ, Sōkō Kihei Votoms) 1983 created by Ryōsuke Takahashi and Sunrise Animation.

Votoms Chirico Cuvie.

The Yamato 1:12th scale Chirico Cuvie and Fyana figures.

To start I have to say that both figures are finely detailed capturing the spirit of their anime counterparts and the articulation is very decent... not Microman quality though.

We'll begin with Chirico.

Chirico Cuvie is the protagonist of the Votoms universe and is a pilot of the elite forces Red Shoulder battalion, his journey begins when he is betrayed by his own forces in a special mission with suspicious undertones.

The figure itself comes with a number of options including; eight extra sets of hands to display the figure with or without gloves & a pistol and an extra head that features his helmet. The toy stands about 5.25" tall (about 13.3 cm). Chirico comes with 20 points of articulation (22 if you include the holsters on his belt) which can achieve some nice poses but suffers in the neck as it can only swivel and has no up or down motion. Although the articulation is decent I've been spoiled by Takara's Microman.

Fyana Uoodo Version: Not only is the Yamato Fyana version a good sculpt but it also comes with bonus parts for Chirico giving him even more options and posability. To start, Fyana is a biologically engineered human bred for combat referred to in the series as a PS or Perfect Soldier. Throughout the series her destiny becomes intertwined with that of Chirico's.

This particular version emulates her look early on in the series when Chirico meets her on the planet Uoodoo. There is also a "Space War" version which is essentially the same figure with the pink highlights substituted for purple and the inclusion of an oxygen tank. Fyana comes with extra sets of hands, a sidearm, two optional faces (regular and sleeping) 2 helmet options, a better head sculpt and extra helmet for Chirico, one that features his goggles raised up. I think that it was a nice idea for Yamato to release the extra Chirico parts in the Fyana figure rather than do like a re-release version 2 figure. The only thing that bothers me is the limited head motion. while Chirico's head can swivel, because of the hair on the Fyana figure she has no movement at all. Although this is not the case with her helmet on. Still the figure cannot tilt her head. ( I guess there is no need to look up in the Votoms universe). Again I've been spoiled by Microman.