Michael Lauck's Blog, page 4

June 2022 Calendar Notes

Get your June 2022 Calendar of Science Fiction and Fantasy milestones (both real and imagined) here.

A quick round up of some of the events seen on this month’s calendar. First of all, June is a month that saw the passing of several noted authors, including Ray Bradbury (on the 5th, 2012) and Robert E Howard (the 11th, 1936). It also saw the birth (the 16th, 1896) and death (the 8th, 1975) of Murray Leinster. Although not as well known as Bradbury or Howard, Leinster was an incredibly prolific writer and the inventor of the front projection special effects system. He wrote articles, short stories, novels, scripts and novelizations for Men into Space, Time Tunnel and Land of the Giants. If you are not familiar with Leinster, take a half an hour and listen to the X Minus One radio adaptation of A Logic Named Joe. The original story is from ’47, the radio play is from ’50 and it sure sounds to me like Joe is a relative of Alexa and Siri.

In the media world, two Star Trek series ended in June, The Original Series and Deep Space Nine and the month also host Captain Picard Day. Both versions of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (radio and TV) ended in June, although three years apart, and Captain Video and His Video Rangers premiered on television back in June of 1949.

On June 10, 2018 NASA received one of its most famous messages, the last transmission from the Mars Opportunity Rover. Science writer Jacob Margolis cemented the otherwise routine transmission’s place in pop culture and history when he tweeted his interpretation of the final report as “My battery is low and it is getting dark…” It still makes my daughter cry.

To wrap up the month, though, I am celebrating UFO sightings (hence this month’s art work, more on that in a second). With the first Congressional hearing on unidentified aerial phenomenon in decades just a few days behind us it seems appropriate to mark the 75th anniversary of the so-called “modern UFO era,” which did not begin in July of 1947 with Roswell but in June with the Kenneth Arnold sightings and the popularization (of not the coining) of the phrase “flying saucer,” followed quickly by the reporting of the Maury Island incident, which Arnold was hired to investigate by Ray Palmer, then editor of Fate Magazine. Then July saw the Flight 105 incident and with all of this as the backdrop, then came Roswell (but that is for next month).

I am, as you may know, trying to get back into seriously into art after a couple decades of not drawing or painting (mainly due to joint issues which were finally diagnosed as celiac disease a few years ago). Because of my constant traveling, I am trying to use the iPad to draw… back when I went to art school I focused on pen and ink illustration and, honestly, I think my deep rooted issues with color were amplified by the digital format but I swore to myself I would start making and sharing art again, so here it is!

That is all for this month, thanks for reading.

Free Martial Arts Fiction Collection

FISTS OF FICTION is here!

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Exciting news! I am pleased to announce Fists of Fiction, a free collection of martial arts short stories, is now available. Scott Blasingame, Kyle Fiske, JF Lee, Blake Matthews and I have all contributed two stories to the collection… which ranges from wuxia to horror to a story I wrote based on a real life lesson I have taught students.

Fists of Fiction is 100% free (we are not even asking for an email address)… so please feel free to share the link with anyone you know who loves a good book and a good kung fu movie!

DOWNLOAD FIST OF FICTION NOW!

What? Still not convinced? Check out the book trailer here!

Official English Classic Wuxia Translations

Updated in October, 2021 this list is all of the classic Chinese wuxia novels with official English translations available in the United States. I will also note, as best as I know, if the books are still in print. It is, I realize, a very short list. It does not cover translated manhua (comic books)… and to be honest there are way more comic adaptations of wuxia literature available in English than actual translations of novels! It also does not include fan translations. I understand why people translate novels without permission and even why people read them, at the end of the day I will not promote the theft of anyone’s intellectual property. It also does not cover the translations being put out by WuxiaWorld because one can easily find them by searching for “WuxiaWorld” on Amazon.

BY AUTHOR:

Cha, Louis Leung-Yung (also known as Jin Yong):

The Book and The Sword translated by Graham Earnshaw, Oxford University Press, 2004 hardback, 2018 paperback

The Deer and the Cauldron (in three volume) translated by John Minford, Oxford University Press, 1997 hardback, 2018 paperback

Fox Volant of the Snowy Mountain translated by Olivia Mok, Chinese University Press, 1993 with editions up until at least 2010

Legend of the Condor Heroes, St Martin’s is currently being translated as separate novels. So far they have released:

A Hero Born, translated by Anna Holmwood, 2019

A Bond Undone, translated by Gigi Chang, March 2020

A Snake Lies Waiting, translated by Anna Holmwood and Gigi Chang, 2020

A Heart Divided, translated by Gigi Chang and Shelly Bryant, 2021

Gu Long

The Eleventh Son, translated by Rebecca S. Tai, Storm and Stress Publishing/Homa and Rekey Books 2005

Huanzhulouzhu

Blades from the Willows, translated by Robert Chard, Wellsweep Press, 1991 (note: I believe this was a UK release)

Science Fiction And Fantasy Fans Should Write Reviews

Writers, especially indie authors like yours truly, always ask for reviews. Why? Is it just to be annoying? Truth is, on ebook retailers, reviews = increased visibility. Even Google has indicated reviews affect search engine returns. So that is honestly a big part of why authors ask. Some of us also ask because we really want the feedback. I know I do, but I can’t pretend like that is why all authors ask. Because of that, I always feel kind of sleazy asking for them. It is like a waiter not so subtly reminding you to tip as they present the bill. However, I think there is a good reason we (all of us) should write reviews for books we read. I believe it helps the overall science fiction and fantasy community.

Hear me out; I know this sounds like me trying to justify asking for reviews but I really mean it is for the good of us all. See, I am old enough to remember the fan organized science fiction newsletters and fanzines, although I was too young to actually participate in that culture. I do, though, distinctly remember when conventions and other fan gatherings were the only time you could see obscure science fiction and fantasy shows/movies and find certain books, magazines, etc. Back when “anime” was “Japanimation,” for example, the 24 hour viewing room at the local convention was your best, maybe only, chance to see stuff like Vampire Hunter D, Fist of the North Star, Macross or Dirty Pair. If you were lucky, there was a club in your area that gathered monthly and crowded around a TV to watch untranslated VHS tapes traded with other clubs or laserdiscs purchased through friends in Tokyo. I was in one that met monthly at the Pantera’s in Webster Groves. Pizza and Captain Harlock in Japanese makes for a great Saturday afternoon!

Today, there are thousands of anime options out there… you don’t even have to buy them. They are on YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, etc… How do you decide? How do you cut through the madness? Same thing with books. Actually, it is even worse with books because you have all the independent authors and small presses available, too. Back in the day, if you were a science fiction and fantasy fan, you were a “science fiction and fantasy fan;” there were no distinctions and Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain books sat to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation titles and nobody even thought about putting them in separate sections! You read what was at the library or on the paperback rack at the bookseller of your choice because that was all there was! Hardback science fiction was pretty much just from the Science Fiction Book Club (if you had that kind of money/were old enough to enter a mail order contract). I don’t even remember if there was a dedicated fantasy book of the month club; you probably just had to hope the Science Fiction Book Club would throw you the odd bone. If you were lucky, you had maybe a dozen titles in that spinning paperback rack (because science fiction and fantasy probably shared the real estate with Louis L’Amour westerns, spy and detective thrillers and romance novels) and whatever you hadn’t already read at the library. That was it! That was all you could get unless you had spare cash for expensive mail order or could swap books with friends. If you were really lucky some selfless fan would donate a paper grocery sack of their paperback cast-offs to your library and keep you going for weeks! 

But in 2021 Amazon alone dumps about 18 bajillion-million books in your lap (bajillion-million is really a word; they had to invent just to describe Amazon’s book catalog). There are physical books, ebooks, web only stuff and audiobooks. At the same time, the science fiction and fantasy meta-community is now fragmented into at least a thousand distinct fandoms. You do not have to be a science fiction and fantasy fan anymore; you can get very, very specific about your tastes. You only like martial arts stories framed with video game conventions? It’s a thing. Prefer historical novels told from an extraterrestrial point of view? It’s a thing. Female driven tales of magic set in the modern day as a metaphor for larger social problems? It’s a thing. Robots versus dinosaurs? Stories of Elvish warriors with a well defined and unique culture? Belgian post-apocalyptic comic books set in America? They already made that into a TV show. 

How do you cut through the noise and find what you really want? How do you figure it all out? You only have so much time you can read and you have to budget it as carefully as your money… maybe even more carefully. After all, even if you are not buying, most libraries participate in e-book lending systems that still dump thousands of titles in your lap for free. How do you choose between the 400 books with spaceships, lasers and/or dragons on the cover published since you started reading this article? Reviews are your answer. Scratch that; good reviews, written by other fans, are your answer! 

I used to shy away from writing reviews for two reasons: one, I always felt like I should write a dissertation on a book and two, I kind of didn’t want to admit to how many Star Trek books I end up reading because Simon and Schuster sells a new group of Star Trek ebooks every month for 99¢*! And even as I started to adjust my attitude and realize why book reviews are good for the science fiction and fantasy reader communities, it isn’t like anyone needs a review to discover Star Trek, right?

Let’s be real, that is probably fair. It is really, really hard to imagine someone stumbling across Star Trek, Star Wars or Game of Thrones in book form without any previous knowledge of the franchise… and I imagine things for a living! If you are pressed for time or nervous about writing reviews, it seems reasonable to not worry about the big franchises so much. On the flip side, if you are a serious Star Trek or Star Wars reader, for example, you could post reviews mentioning if a story felt true to the series, where the book would fall in the chronology of the overall series, which characters from the shows/movies appeared and the like. Some readers want to know these things and that is really what I think reader reviews should address!

Some of you are nervous about posting a review because you are nervous about sharing your thoughts and writing. I get that (for me it is that I feel obligated to write a dissertation as a matter of respect to the author and the work they put in). I suggest you just write a review as if you were telling a friend about the book. That is essentially what you are doing anyway; true, you probably haven’t met a single person who will read that review but just the fact they are considering reading that book with spaceships and lasers and dragons on the cover makes them part of the big science fiction and fantasy community, so they certainly could be a friend!

When it comes to writing a review, the only rule is no spoilers! You are not trying to re-tell the story, just help potential readers figure out if it is what they want in a story. I honestly suggest answering any questions you wanted answered when you were choosing the book. I think it is fair to mention other, possibly better known, properties the story brought to mind. Not necessarily compare, but more in terms of categorization. “The title suggests this book would be something like Doctor Who, but it made me think more of Blake’s 7 with a dash of Space: 1999,” or “This story reminded me of Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar stories and Greek mythology.” Would you read either of those books? Would you not? That is what I am suggesting we try to do with reviews. 

I think it also might be a good idea to mention any content concerns. “This seemed kind of R-rated for the Star Wars universe,” “The author does not shy away from violence,” and a simple “Contains adult language” could all be tremendously helpful to other readers. This is the only time you might bend (not break) the no spoilers rule… If there is something in the story you believe could truly upset a reader (a racist character, sexual assault, the bad guy kills dogs), mention it if you must. Just try to respect the no spoilers rule to the best of your ability. 

Some people might not want to speak negatively of a book. Maybe you realize just because it was not your cup of tea this does not keep it from being the story that will change someone else’s life or maybe you just believe if you don’t have anything nice to say, be quiet. That is 100% okay. You could only review books you truly like. That is still going to help the community of readers. Or, you can stick to reviews that do not pass judgement. I am advocating reviewing books as a kind of crowd sourced categorization method for the overall and heavily segmented science fiction and fantasy community. With that in mind, I do not believe a “review” has to offer an opinion or judgement about a book, only information to help other readers decide if it is something that may be of interest to them. 

This leaves one big question: where do you post a review? That is a good question and I believe the answer is wherever you would look for information about what to read next. The logical place to start is wherever you got the book. Pretty much every book retailer, be they online or brick and mortar, has a web presence that will let readers post reviews. Some will even automatically ask you for one. That seems a perfectly logical place to post a review, but if you are reading library books there may not be an opportunity to review titles (although my library system does post reader reviews, yours might not). There are social media options, Goodreads springs to mind, but there is no reason you could not post your thoughts on books to Facebook, Twitter, whatever. There are also websites and blogs which take reader reviews. You can post on as many or as few as you want (but please post a review somewhere!)… Personally, I guess I would think about the level of privacy and anonymity I want. As a reader, I did not really think that way but as a writer I do. I will admit I am afraid some Goodreads members, for example, may permanently discount my own writing because I read comic books or assume because I posted reviews of the 1950s Tom Corbett, Space Cadet novels my books are going to be of that shiny silver rocket ship brand of science fiction. I have actually kind of abandoned Goodreads for review platforms were I am anonymous. I do not use my name on Amazon, for example, so I post reviews there. In setting up profiles in other platforms I am careful now to stay generic. Goodreads requires a name, so if that bothers you find another place to post reviews. 

I mentioned the fanzines and conventions earlier in this article. Sometimes I hear people kind of mourning those days, when the science fiction and fantasy community felt like more of a community because it was so much harder to get access to materials and merchandise. Maybe this is the complaining that all generations start as they decide the next generation has it so much easier, but I can say as someone in on the tail end of things, back in the day the science fiction and fantasy community did kind of feel more like a community. Whether you went all in and organized a club, convention or fanzine or just participated by attending or subscribing, fans had to go out of their way to participate and find the things they loved. Nobody was accidentally a science fiction and fantasy fan. Writing reviews, making that little commitment, means you are participating and contributing.

I hope I have convinced you to start reviewing books (or podcasts or movies or whatever part of science fiction and fantasy you love) because it is going to help us all find the next things we love. And also, despite our thousand fandoms today, I personally would love to see the science fiction and fantasy meta-community become a little more of a community again. 

Thanks for reading. It really does mean a great deal to me just to get some other people thinking about this… if you have enjoyed this little article, if you find yourself agreeing with me please take a couple minutes out of your day and review the next book you read. Let me thank you in advance for the person you are going to end up helping to find their next read!

* If you are unaware of Simon and Schuster’s monthly selection of 99¢ Star Trek ebooks, you can find them here, I don’t get a piece of this or anything, just sharing: https://www.simonandschuster.com/startrekbooks

QuaranTV 6: Battle Beyond The Stars

Two weeks in, still sick and still watching TV. At some point in the past week or so the broadcast science fiction network Comet ran the awesome Roger Corman produced 1980 epic science fiction adventure Battle Beyond The Stars. It is important to note by “epic science fiction adventure” I mean Star Wars meets Magnificent Seven hybrid. And by hybrid I mean rip off. And by awesome I actually mean awesome.

Roger Corman has a reputation for turning out low budget and low quality features. I imagine that is a pretty fair assessment of his career but he has turned out a few gems, too. Or maybe he is just an acquired taste. Probably the best way to describe Roger Corman is to say he is a prolific producer with quite a few cult hits, such as Little Shop Of Horrors, Dementia 13, and Deathrace 2000, to his credit. He was the executive producer of Rock’n’Roll High School and helped bring the anime film Galaxy Express 999 to America back in 1979 but also turned out things like the Deathstalker and Barbarian Queen movies. So, yeah, maybe Corman is an acquired taste.

And he is a taste I have definitely acquired over the years. I have named pets after Deathrace 2000 characters and I can’t count how many times I have sat through the Bloodfist movies! So I imagine I am pre-disposed to like Battle Beyond The Stars… it certainly does not hurt that it was a fixture on cable back when I was 9 or 10 years old, either. It is safe to be there is more than a little nostalgia factoring into my opinion, too.

Battle Beyond The Stars, for a relatively low budget Star Wars rip off (it is thought to have been made for about two million dollars), has a pretty healthy cast of recognizable actors (especially for the time). The evil warlord threatening the peaceful planet Akir is played by John Saxon and I will pretty much always give a movie with John Saxon a chance. I mean, he was Roper in Enter The Dragon! The young idealist heading out from the peaceful planet of Akir to enlist a group of mercenaries to fight the warlord is Richard Thomas, best known for his portrayal of John Boy in The Waltons. Among the mercenaries he gathers are 1980s sex goddess Sybil Danning, Robert Vaughn (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) and George Peppard (after Banacek but before The A-Team). The film is also full of people who you kind of recognize from ‘80s television like character actor Earl Boen and a pre-Newhart Julia Duffy.

Surprisingly, for a relatively low budget Star Wars rip off, Battle Beyond The Stars has fairly good special effects. The sets are cheap looking and the make up is uneven. The reptilian alien who signs on to fight the evil warlord is actually not that bad while the one-eyed, surgically scarred, mutant crew of the evil warlord’s battleship crew are nothing short of laughable. The spaceship models are a real surprise; the spaceship exterior scenes are all better than the interiors! Sure some of the ship designs (okay, most of the designs), are just plain ugly but the space battles and other model sequences are better than much of what you might see in Battlestar Galactica or Buck Rogers, both of which were being made at about the same time. it is probably worth mentioning a young James Cameron (yeah, the Titanic and Avatar, James Cameron) was responsible for many of the effects. He was apparently introduced to Corman by his assistant Gale Anne Hurd (who eventually married Cameron and later produced The Walking Dead). It is a good thing the space effects were decent; Corman re-used them in Space Raiders, Vampirella, his version of Fantastic Four and one or two other movies.

The real star, surprise and delight to Battle Beyond The Stars, though, is the soundtrack. As soon as the film starts the score just grabs you. It does not sound like a low budget film at all… because the young composer tasked with creating the epic soundtrack was James Horner, who would go on to compose the scores for Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, Titanic and Avatar, winning two Oscars for Titanic. His work alone make the film seem much more rich and full bodied than its budget would suggest. The score to Battle Beyond The Stars seems to me to be an obvious ancestor to Horner’s scores for both Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search For Spock.

The bottom line is Battle Beyond The Stars is a low budget Star Wars inspired version of Magnificent Seven (itself a version of Seven Samurai) that is hardly the worst knock off of Seven Samurai (or Magnificent Seven) which manages to exceed it humble origins at times to create one of the best of the post-Star Wars low budget attempts to cash in on the Star Wars money train. 

QuaranTV 5: Yo- Yo Girl Cop (At Last)

A couple of weeks ago I knew only a few things about Sukeban Deka: there were three movies, two were from the ‘80s and one from circa 2006, Sukeban Deka was originally a manga, it is about a teenage schoolgirl/secret government agent who uses a yo-yo as a weapon and, because they were cheap, I owned all three movies. Well, as y’all probably know since I have been sick and quarantining at home I have been watching stuff and somehow my stack of Sukeban Deka movies made it to the pile next to the living room television.

Yo-Yo Girl Cop is the 2006 reboot/continuation of the Sukeban Deka story. The first two films were directly related to a television series running in Japan at the time with each season telling the story of a new delinquent girl turned special agent assigned the name Sukeban Deka and given a weaponized yo-yo. Although Yo-Yo Girl Cop is related to those TV series and films (the stories from them are referenced as the past and the same actor plays the head of the secret organization behind the Sukeban Deka agents) I do not believe there was a television series airing when this film was released so it is a stand alone project.

Point blank: Yo-Yo Girl Cop is my least favorite of the Sukeban Deka films. It is the most ambitious of the movies, both in terms of story and action. Unfortunately, it fails to live up to its ambitions in both regards. 

The plot is ultimately as far fetched as any of the movies in the series, with unknown evil types using an influential website to encourage high school kids, particularly kids who feel bullied and rejected, to act as suicide bombers for reasons that never really are revealed (at least in the subtitled version and I doubt the dub is any clearer on that). A new troubled girl is chosen to be the Sukeban Deka to investigate the website and the mysterious three day countdown it has begun to display. Bullying, and attempted cover ups of bullying incidents, are central to the movie but they are really just plot points to move things along not themes which are explored in any meaningful way.

The action replaces the kind of inexpensive TV-level special effects and choreography of the first two movies with cheap CGI explosions, blood and bad wire work. Like the other films in the series, this movie stars a pop singer turned actress without any real fighting prowess. To make things even worse, though, given the countdown the Sukeban Deka faces she has no real chance to train so her miraculous and sudden ability to wield her deadly yo-yo at the climax of the movie just makes no damn sense at all.

Although there is more blood in the first few minutes of Yo-Yo Girl Cop features more blood than seen in the entirety of the first two movies (and probably the television seasons they were attached to as well) it is not a gory film at all. It does not seem to have an official MPAA rating but I would guess it would have hit PG-13… and even that is due to language as much as violence.

Because of the time it was released and the cover of the DVD, I was expecting Yo-Yo Girl Cop to fall into the sexploitation seen in plenty of Japanese films and manga. Although the sukeban deka in this film rocks a much shorter skirt than her predecessors, that really might reflect current Japanese school uniforms. The only real gratuitous exploitation bit with new sukeban deka outfit is the death garter belt holster rig for the deadly yo-yo, but even that is not done nearly as tastelessly as it could have been! She also seems to magically acquire an all leather battle suit for the final battle (along with sudden weapon skills) but that seems to be more “badass mode” than an attempt to make the heroine sexy.

Honestly, at the end of the day if Yo-Yo Girl Cop went exploitive at least it would have a draw for some viewers. As it stands, though, it is not much of an action movie, it is not much of a thriller, cop movie or teen drama either. There is an appearance of Tak Sakaguchi (The Prisoner from Ryuhei Kitamura’s brilliant Versus) and that is about the most exciting thing about this movie. If you are intrigued by the Sukeban Deka movies, seek out either of the others. In fact, Sukeban Deka 2 is the best of the bunch and since they are all more or less stand alone stories you should start there. If you love it, find the first movie and then finally catch Yo-Yo Girl Cop if you are one of those people who simply has to complete any series you start!

And if you are the kind of person that simply has to finish any series you start (WARNING: THIS IS BLATANT COMMERCIALISM ON MY PART) then maybe you should check out my Black Sky Rangers series of ebooks about first responders in space (Amazon only) or my Pride Of Tigers novels about caravan guards in a wuxi-inspired fantasy world. Those are a little more widely available and there is a free story set in that world available to all my email list subscribers!

(QuaranTV 4) Animaniacs: Reboot, Revival or Ruined?

If you are like me (and heaven help you if you are), one of the few bright spots on the news in 2020 was the announcement Animaniacs would be returning with new episodes on Hulu. Being a college student in the early ‘90s (and studying art to boot), those were prime cartoon years for me. And there were great shows being tossed out in the after-school hours, too! Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series and, of course, Animaniacs. In recent years it has completely baffled me how, despite the influx of kids related networks spread across cable/satellite providers and the post-HD boom of low powered digital sub channels chocked full of retro programming, there is no longer a real after school or Saturday morning power block of cartoons anymore. So when I heard Animaniacs was returning I was hit with a wave of hope, nostalgia and even a little fear they would screw it up or it would turn into a one off deal that ultimately disappoints (Teen Titans, I am looking at you).

Before I get into Animaniacs, let me mention one of the bigger retro-programming centered low power digital sub channel networks, METV, has announced they are bringing back Saturday morning cartoons starting January 2, 2021 so check your local listings. 

Let me start by mentioning I have not watched all of the new Animaniacs yet; I’m about half a dozen episodes in and kind of avoiding binge watching the whole series. You know, trying to savor it. All in all, I am really enjoying the Animaniacs revival. It is a revival, by the way, as the Warners are the same Warners and the new series is basically a continuation of the original. It is worth watching, and it will make you laugh. Remember that while I commence to bitch about it!

One of my big disappointments with the new series is so far it is basically the Warners and Pinky and the Brain show. The new opening sequence mentions there are new characters (which played well to the focus groups) but with the exception of the new, female, studio president none have surfaced and she has not been much of a presence on the show. None of the other old characters have popped up either, with the exception of Ralph the security guard. Don’t get me wrong, I like Pinky and the Brain but they could have just revived either Pinky and The Brain or Pinky and The Brain and Elmyra (‘member that?). 

The fifth episode, which features Pinky and Brain being chased by “every Yakuza and their mothers” and meeting Edward Snowden, kind of addresses the lack of supporting characters but really does not introduce anyone new to replace Slappy Squirrel, the Hip Hippoes, Slappy Squirrel, Dr. Scratchansniff or any of my other old favorites. Perhaps that will change in episode six. I hope so! Animaniacs needs more than just the Warners and a couple of gene-spliced rodents to keep the show moving.

So speaking of the Warners… there is my other big disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, they are still funny and I still laugh at the show. But the new <i>Animaniacs</i> is different and the Warners are at the heart of it because they are the core of the show and, honestly, Pinky and the Brain are pretty much exactly the same as they have been in every show featuring them. I first noticed it in the new opening song, which has understandably been updated. With most of the old cast gone it does not makes sense to mention Goodfeathers, Buttons and Mindy or Slappy Squirrel in the lyrics. With the passage of time it makes sense Wakko no longer packs away the snacks while Bill Clinton plays the sax; the show needs to be timely to keep its edge. What I noticed, though, was that it used to be “Dot is cute and Yakko yacks” but that has been changed to “Dot has wit and Yakko yacks.” The lyrics also take a swipe at modern political correctness by pointing out the new (as of yet unseen) cast is “gender balanced, pronoun neutral and ethnically diverse.” So what to make of the change in Dot’s line?

The Warners are more politically correct now… “Helloooooo, nurse!” was basically their catchphrase. Hell, I think I still have an Animaniacs paperweight somewhere (with my Animaniacs snow globe) that says “Helloooooo, nurse!” and a few other phrases when you move it. But they have yet to udder those words in the new series and Dr. Scratchansniff’s nurse is among the casualties of the cast change. There has also barely been a reference to the fact nobody seems to know what the Warners are (I believe the good doctor referred to them as “puppy-children”). Also gone seems to be the original show’s taking old fashioned cartoon formats and tropes and applying them to today’s pop culture (like a trip to the Hollywood Canteen or Brown Derby as an excuse to introduce a bunch of parody versions of contemporary movie stars). Animaniacs was a new cartoon back in 1993 but it broke away form the Scooby Doo 30 minute single story mold and went back to the Merry Melodies and Looney Toons style plots and formats even more than its cousin Tiny Toon Adventures did.

The problem I see with the new Animaniacs is they are modernizing a ‘90s cartoon so the Warners can provide commentary and satire on today’s issues, pop culture and society but missing some important character traits of their main cast. What seems to be forgotten is the fact the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister) might have been actually created in the early ‘90s but they were not supposed to be from the 1990s… they were supposed to be uncontrollable characters from 1930s black and white cartoons. Although they were good sorts deep down, they were not politically correct and they were not grown ups. I am afraid the new Animaniacs, despite the fact it has jumped from after school broadcast TV aimed at kids to streaming media aimed at adults, has actually become in some ways more restrained and self censored. A rather weak segment on gun control using multiplying bunnies instead of guns (or “buns,” which kind of illustrates how thin the writing was on that) which missed plenty of opportunities for non-political humor (the multiplying rabbits screamed for a Star Trek Tribble reference and an irreverent portrayal of William Shatner) and chose to be preachy instead kind of bolsters my fears.

So is Animaniacs worth watching? Yes, for sure if you were a fan of the original or even want a cartoon you can watch with your kids. Just be warned: they seem to be streamlining the  cast to cash in of the best remembered characters and the show has lost a little of the wit, charm and edge that made the original so damn good. If you missed Animaniacs the first time around and want to figure out what made it so special and beloved, you ain’t going to find it here. The old show had a fearlessness to it, something that in a really weird way I can only liken to almost a kid’s version of the fearlessness found in Chappelle’s Show. Unfortunately that fearlessness seems to be gone now.

QuaranTV 3: Sukeban Deka 2

Okay, you might want to grab a pencil and a sticky note to keep up with this one! This is the latest in a series of blogs title QuaranTV 3 and in this one I am talking the 1988 Japanese movie Sukeban Deka 2 which actually features the main character whose title/code name is Sukeban Deka 3 because Sukeban Deka 2 was the star of the the movie Sukeban Deka 1… got it? Now that we are all caught up, Sukeban Deka 2 is, obviously, the sequel to Sukeban Deka 1 and, despite being a theatrically released feature film, also serves as a cap to a season of the Sukeban Deka TV series.

In this film Sukeban Deka 3 (aka Yui) works with her sisters, who wield metal origami cranes and knitting needles instead of her yo-yo, to fight for justice but the program Yui works under has been taken over by a new student police force tasked with stopping underage crime. After Yui objects to the new group’s overly violent methods (you know, compared to the tame methodology of a secret undercover group that sends school girls with explosive yo-you out to fight crime) and quits, her old boss and friends are targeted by the student police group because, as I think we all saw coming, they are going to take over Tokyo. Yui teams up with a group of outcast kids living in a squat to fight back and… then it basically turns into an episode of the A-Team.

I quite liked Sukeban Deka 2, possibly more than the first. Yui Asaka, aka Yui the Sukeban Deka 3, is just as likable as Yoko Minamino was in the first and has shed the weird red leather pseudo ninja gear she rocked during her appearance in Sukeban Deka 1. This movie starts with a summary of the series and explains the three agents who have borne the Sukeban Deka mantle over the series. This is incredibly helpful, not that it was entirely necessary to follow the first movie, and explains that the main character from the first movie spent 17 years of her life locked in an iron mask. I don’t think that was even mentioned in the first movie!

Where Sukeban Deka 1 turned into a weird Enter The Dragon homage this movie, as mentioned above, really felt like an episode of the A-Team. I first thought this when I was subjected to some of the worst fight choreography I have ever seen in a feature film but the final battle, complete with homemade weapons and traps employing clothes line to defeat masses of attacking baddies just cemented the comparison. Although there is just the briefest allusion to possible romance blooming between Sukeban Deka 3 and the leader of the homeless kids, Sukeban Deka 2 retains the surprising innocence of Sukeban Deka 1. I continue to find that refreshing. I have literally seen more violence and innuendo in Japanese sentai shows. I am very interested to see if the 2006 third installment (Yo Yo Girl Cop) keeps up the PG rating or goes the route of most of the other Tokyo Shock/media Blasters DVDs I have seen and goes off the rails with either violence or sexploitation.

So let me sum up both Sukeban Deka films I have seen so far this way: these are the Japanese action films you can watch with you girlfriend/boyfriend/parole officer/parents or whoever else thinks you only watch this stuff because you are a pervert. In fact, the only reason why I would not suggest viewing them with some young Power Ranger fans in your life you are looking to get into something beyond the mighty morphin’ shows is because the movies are subtitled, not dubbed, and that is sure to turn off most younger viewers!

Okay, real quick before I sign off let me mention I have a new martial arts fantasy novel out called White Tiger, Black Leopard which is available at your favorite ebook retailer. If you are not sure if a martial arts fantasy novel is your cup of tea, I get it… visit my website SwordsandRayguns.com and sign up for my email newsletter (which is going to be mainly stuff about books, TV, comics and movies I am watching and reading) and you’ll get a free story in the genre to help you figure it out. You can also check out my science fiction novels.

Keep an eye out… probably watching Yo Yo Girl Cop soon.

QuaranTV 2: Sukeban Deka

I have a new book to launch (White Tiger, Black Leopard comes out tomorrow, Wednesday November 25 on your favorite ebook retailer…) but I also have had a fever for a week and am locked at home waiting for the results of a Covid test. So instead of worrying about book promotions and things like that (I did not even mention that White Tiger, Black Leopard is a new martial arts fantasy inspired by Chinese wuxia literature and old fashioned pulp adventures)  I am watching lots of TV and laying around. Something about flu-like symptoms and low grade fevers makes the couch incredibly tempting. And since, for once, I am not doing 15 other things while I watch TV this seems like a good time to catch up on all those Japanese movies and TV shows I have been meaning to watch when I have the time to sit still and pay attention. Time I have, sitting still is about all I have the energy for and paying attention… well, as long as it is nothing too serious. That means that four hour version of the 47 Ronin is too much but something like Sukeban Deka, which translates roughly to delinquent girl undercover agent or something along those lines, is perfect.

A couple of years ago one of the overstock book and DVD sites I frequent had dirt cheap copies of Sukeban Deka 1&2 and the later remake Yo-Yo Girl Cop. I picked up all three DVDs and placed them on my over growing stack of stuff to watch eventually. I knew the films were based on a manga, but I have never read it and honestly I am not even sure it has ever been translated and released in the US. I was just in the right mood and they were cheap… I think I also bought a box set of Delinquent Girl Boss movies on the same order.

So flash forward to the era of Covid, a fever I would normally ignore forcing me to stay home and boredom pushing me to look for something other than the tokusatsu shows I have been watching lately… Sukeban Deka seemed the perfect choice. And I have to say: it surprised the hell out of me!

What I did not realize going into the film was that it was based more on the Sukeban Deka television series than the original manga. Starring Yoko Minamino (who is the second delinquent turned undercover high school agent code named Sukeban Deka in the series) the 1987 film serves as a bridge between the second season starring Minamino and the third, starring Yui Asaka as the third agent Sukeban Deka. In fact, I did not really know any of this until after I finished watching and looked the movie up on Wikipedia. Not knowing the background did not really keep me from enjoying the movie and I did enjoy it.

High school students dealing with extreme circumstances of the real world (like being secret government agents) is a fairly common theme in manga and Sukeban Deka falls firmly into the genre. Basically, it is a typical action film with the stars wearing school uniforms. Actually, it is pretty heavily drawn from Enter The Dragon with plucky teenage girls wielding explosive/electrified yo-yos and flinging marbles instead of Bruce Lee. Right there, that exact sentence tells you if you should watch the movie or not. If you did not read that and immediately say “That sounds like the dumbest damn thing ever” and you have a soft spot for cute pop stars turned action heroes then go find a copy of Sukeban Deka! At least the first one; I have not gotten around to watching the sequel or remake yet.

One thing really did surprise me, though. The filmmakers were very respectful of the characters and actresses. With the exception of a pink jogging suit, the uniform the team chose when attacking the enemy stronghold, I think Yoko Minamino wore an ankle length skirt the entire movie (either with a fluffy pink sweater or as part of her sailor outfit school uniform). That kind of reads like a complaint, but it is not. It was nice watching a piece of Japanese action fluff that did not feature gratuitous nudity or exploitation of the young stars. I don’t know if this is because the movie was actually made for TV (although everything I have found seems to indicate it was a feature film) or just restrained, but Sukeban Deka was more chaste than I would expect from any Japanese program… something more like I would expect from late ‘80s Hong King cinema. If you have read this far and have a chance to grab a copy (or stream it from somewhere) I would say watch Sukeban Deka. It should be of interest to many Asian cinema fans.

QuaranTV: Amazon Riders

So the good news is I have a new martial arts fantasy book coming out Wednesday, November 25 (you can pre-order on your favorite ebook retailer, unless that is Barnes and Noble, here). White Tiger, Black Leopard is technically a sequel to but you can reader in any order. There are no rules.

And the bad news is I am under house lockdown awaiting the results of a Covid-19 test. I feel semi-crappy but not terrible. In the old world, you know, back in the day, I would consider this a minor annoyance and probably have gone to work. In this modern world, though… I am stuck at home. Luckily, though, the freezer is full and I have pretty much every streaming service known to man (except Disney+, which I recently cancelled, but that is a different story).

So what to watch while laying on the couch when you are cut off from the world with the 850,000 TV shows and movies on various streaming services your only source of entertainment? For me it was Amazon Riders on Amazon Prime. Why? I have been meaning to watch it. I had knocked out the first few episodes on plane flights but the problem with Japanese language stuff for me is that I need to read the subtitles (dubs blow) so that means I can’t type up or read or play with Lego sets while I watch. So this little Covid scare fever thing is the perfect time for me to watch this little slice of tokusatasu.

Amazon Riders is an installment of the Kamen Rider meta-series set in its own alternate universe. From what I understand it was produced to stream on Japanese Amazon Prime hence the working in of the term Amazon. One of the great things Amazon Riders has going for it (besides being easy to stream if you have Prime) is the alternate universe thing means you don’t have to be super familiar with other Kamen Rider series. I have seen a handful of episodes over the years and vaguely remember the American version (Masked Rider) in the post-Power Ranger boom of US tokusatsu kid programming but I am really not down with my Kamen Rider mythos.

The quick review: I am not really sure how Amazon Riders ranks among the rest of Kamen Rider but all in all I liked it. It is dark, violent and it does not always feature the tightest story telling. But it is interesting, violent and feels like grown up tokusatsu, especially compared to the Ultraman I grew up with and the various Sentai series I have been catching on Tubi.

Set more or less in the modern time, Japan is plagued by 4000 test subjects loose who eventually turn into cannibalistic armored bug people (after all, insects are kind of the Kamen Rider motif). The big, bad company behind all this has a group of mercenaries to hunt’em down with electrified knives, machine guns and a friendly (possibly mentally impaired) Amazon. When times get tough and the team is outclassed a mysterious Amazon shows up and kicks the crap out of everyone. Will the team survive? What the hell is the story with these cannibals? Who is the mysterious Amazon? Why is the big, bag company exec so over-protective of her children? That is basically what is going on with Amazon Riders and every episode brings everyone one step closer to an answer after beating the baddie of the week to death. And not a there is a fight and then the bad guys explodes kind of beating, either.

If you like your tokusatsu light, Amazon Riders is not for you. It is excessively violent with lots of CGI enhanced splatter. I am not sure how other incarnation of Kamen Rider get through their battles but in Amazon Riders you get a pretty healthy amount of severed limbs and removed organs. The good guys have giant forearm spines that cut their opponents to shreds (and have moves with names like Violent Punish) and the bad guys literally eat their victims in grand zombie movie style.

I am not sure if it is sloppy storytelling or poor translation but there is not a whole lot of subtlety in Amazon Riders. The mercenaries, who are a pretty major focus of the story, barely have backstories. How the test subjects got out into the population at large is kind of nebulous and where the trademark Kamen Rider motorcycle came from is not exactly fully defined. The second season, which is set five years after the first, actually has a little more going for it in terms of plot and story… it just takes you like 13 episodes to get there. I am not saying that all your season one questions will be answered in season two, but the important ones will be!

Bloody tokusatsu action pretty much sums up Amazon Riders. And I am getting a bit worn out. Check in again soon… I have been watching plenty of television lately so maybe I’ll check in with my thoughts on Sukeban Deka the movie or Ninja Sentai Kakuranger.