Back to the Future Part III: The Novel

I found this while perusing the shelves of the local public library. Actually, it’s been sitting in that exact spot for the last ten years or so, collecting more dust than a 70-year-old electrical car in a mineshaft.

There’s no telling what kind of horrors await in the pages of this ancient book, but that’s my biased opinion talking; anything with “based on the screenplay” written on the cover I tend to avoid like an infected needle. Perhaps in the interest of adding extra pages, the author slipped in a “Doc Gets Laid” scene or tried to fill out the Tannon family tree on a whim.

Maybe I’ll get over my fear of horrible adaptations  of mediocre movie sequels and check this out. I’m told you can take books out of these places for FREE (imagine that!) as long as you return them later. But if I remove “Back to the Future Part III” from its permanent resting place, will that open up some kind of secret passageway that leads to all the ’secret’ books the library keeps?

It’s About Bloody Time: Take-Two Interactive Files Suit Against Jack Thompson, Superlawyer

Gamepolitics.com broke the story.

It’s no secret: I love reading news about Jack Thompson. It’s so much fun watching everybody’s favorite Miami attorney/fun czar constantly sink under the weight of his own ineptitude, like a menacing villain who keeps tripping over his shoelaces.

Well, another nail has been driven into the poor guy’s proverbial coffin. If you’ve been following his anti-game campaign, you know that he’s been legally bullying Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two Interactive for about five years now. A month ago, he picked up on his antics, threatening to sue in order to block the upcoming releases of Grand Theft Auto 4 and Manhunt 2. But this time, things have taken a rather shocking turn.

That’s because Take-Two has decided to fight back. After years of being pushed around, the company is finally taking legal action of their own. They’ve filed a suit to stop Thompson from carrying out his threats. Not only does it seek to halt Jack’s ‘public nuisance’ case, it’s also asking for legal fees. Plus, Jack’s already in enough trouble with the Florida Bar as it is. A victory for the plaintiff here means he’s one step closer to getting disbarred.

To learn more about the suit and its exciting implications, check out Gamepolitics.com. They’ve got a 14 page .pdf file posted that has all the details.

As for you, Jack, try to keep this in mind next time: Bull. Horns. You figure it out.

Buffy’s in the Mail

The first issue of “Buffy: Season 8″ officially hit stores on March 14, but yours truly didn’t score a copy right away. Had I done so, I might have posted a review up here already (looking over the fact that every blogger who cares about this has published their thoughts already, and one guy even got a copy in advance). Fortunately, things that can’t be tracked locally can almost be found online. So I’ve ordered and paid, and I should be receiving the comic sometime next week.

God bless the Internet!

Captain N: The Game Master Hits DVD

Oh, to be a guy who was around in the early 90s! How would we live without DVD, the blessed format that has forever preserved our memories of crap TV shows that would have never make it past the pilot in this day and age!? Shout Factory, the same company that put The Legend of Zelda and The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! in handy disc format, has now bestowed upon us Captain N: The Game Master. Now those of us in our early 20s can pretend we’re all six year olds again.

It’s an invaluable piece of game history, and with a retail price around $ 20 (at least on Amazon) it’s a steal. The only thing that would make me happier is if they released a ‘deluxe’ edition that came with a control pad belt and a talking Gameboy keychain.

New Season of ‘Buffy’ Announced… in Comic Form

MTV article

TV Guide interview

The last episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired almost four years ago, the cartoon was axed before it ever reached television, and the last time we saw the (surviving) cast of Angel, they were two seconds away from being slaughtered by an army of monsters. But series creator Joss Whedon isn’t about to let the series die. On March 14, the first issue of a new comic book series will hit store shelves, depicting the canonical ’season 8′ of the show.

Since it’s hard to set a series at the bottom a crater, the new ‘episodes’ will take place on a global scale. The story itself is expected to be huge, easily eclipsing the smaller scope of the TV show, and characters old and new will fill the pages. And of course, an as-of-yet-unrevealed major villain will show up at one point; and he/she is going to have to be pretty powerful, because how else can you shift the balance in a world now FULL of Slayers?

Am I excited about this? Yes. Yes, I am.  I hardly ever get into comics (my geek priorities lie elsewhere)  but “Buffy: Season 8″ has hit the top of my list this year (right above the new issues of “The Boys”, if and when they finally get published). I have such high expectations for “Buffy” that I’m hoping its appeal will attract entirely new audiences, including those who were at times irritated by the TV show (SHUT UP, WILLOW.)