Today’s Major Spoilers Question of the Day is brought to you by Fangoria Presents – a new film series selected by Fangoria for Horror Fans! Use the comment section below to share your thoughts, with the best comment winning a DVD of one of the films in the series as seen on their website! (Sorry, this contest is open to U.S. residents only!) When it comes to scary tales, there are a few recurring themes: Misshapen things that used to be human, things that man is not meant to know, and various beasties what go bump in the night, but…
Browsing: Question Of The Day
When I was a young’n, I was completely and utterly scarred by the terrifying visage of Johnny Sokko’s giant robot (known in Japan by the slightly unimpressive nomenclature Giant Robo”), a severe face the likes of which I wouldn’t encounter again until the first time my child repeated one of my jokes to my mother-in-law. It was, understandably, several years before I recovered from that trauma sufficiently to really appreciate the subtle poetry of men in rubbery suits crashing through cardboard cityscapes, but eventually (with the help of an enormous Gaiking action figure) I had my giant robot epiphany, which…
There have been a whoooolotta superheroes swanning about since Superman debuted in June of 1938, each one theoretically different from the rest, with their own fashion sense. Honestly, given the sheer number of people to put on tights to fight for truth, justice and the almighty buck over the years, it’s really surpriseing that we haven’t had more duplicated costumes, like the darn-near identical Golden Age suits for The Sandman and The Tarantula. Tarantula’s eventual redesign resulted in one of the most beautiful superhero costumes of all time, but not all heroes have been so lucky. Nearly all the Justice…
By far the most interesting thing about the first Harry Potter movie (aside from the stunt-casting of Hans Gruber and nearly every great British actor in the known universe) was the competition for The House Cup. Though the plot naturally drifted towards fighty-fighty and noseless perfidy, it was interesting to see the characters focused on the competition. Though sports and nerdery are often natural enemies in the wood, it’s still fun to see fictional characters pitted against one another… The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) can’t wait to hear how the Batman fans manipulate this one, asking: What’s the most…
There are a lot of stories about the late Elvis Presley, all of which are true, even the ones that are lies. That’s kind of the nature of pop-culture immortality, much to Richard Gere’s eternal regret. Still, one that’s reputedly accurate is that Elvis modeled his famous haircut and his later-period jumpsuits after his favorite comic-book hero, Captain Marvel, Junior. You can easily see that influence, but the King made the look his own, and spawned an entire industry of impersonators, some of whom take the look back to its roots and try to fly. Either way, it’s the kind…
A couple years ago, IDW Publishing began releasing their ‘Complete Bloom County’ hardback collections, designed to package ALL the strips chronologically, even those that never made it into the paperback collections in the 1990s. In this age of DVD box sets and band anthologies, it’s good to see comic strips getting this kind of attention, especially ones as consistently entertaining as Berke Breathed’s (you should excuse the expression) magnum opus. Of course, in a world filled with awesome books, magazines, movies and junk, one can only imagine what the future has in store for us. (Who wants to see a…
Last weekend, I asked which of the various swordsmen of the various universes might be the most skilled, leading to some heavy-duty discussion and more than a little bit of favoritism here and there. (We all know that the real answer is Sophitia.) If we really dig into that particular query, though, it quickly leads down a lot of other paths and makes one wonder about the masters of OTHER weapons: Is Han Solo a better shot than Robin Hood? Would Michelangelo’s nunchaku prowess outstrip Panthro’s? And what about those whose fighting styles don’t use any weapons at all? Clearly,…
Ever since I was a young man, I’ve had a thing for girls who (enthnocentrically speaking, anyway) talk exotically. In my pre-teen years, I developed a thing for Lisa from ‘You Can’t Do That On Television,’ and to this day I get a frisson of excitement at girls who say “aboot.” As a married man, I’m often forced to watch television that my wife loves, meaning that I have now watched ten seasons of ‘Project Runway,’ made bearable by the standard schadenfreude of reality television, and the incredibly perky presence of Heidi Klum. The way she greets the contestants with…
During this week’s Dueling Review, it occurred to me that, despite being the most iconic of Steed’s partners, Mrs. Emma Peel was NOT the first or even the second. Apart from giving an excuse to once again showcase the loveliness of Diana Rigg, this revelation got me thinking about the concept of the replacement character in general. On the one hand, even as a hardcore Deep Space Nine fan, I can’t justify the troubling existence of Ezri Dax, but I also can’t imagine Cheers without Woody’s boneheaded antics. The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) doesn’t have to listen to you…
If you’re not following Major Spoilers on the social media, you may be missing out one of the most awesome parts of the MS Experience, such as the recent conversation between Young Zach and myself that devolved into a litany of fake band names. We actually came up with some great ones, though we’re hardly the first to do it (“Have you heard my new band, ‘The First To Do It’?”) as proven by the likes of Citizen Dick, Jesse & The Rippers, and The Hong Kong Cavaliers, which, in turn, begs a query… The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always,…
It was only a few weeks ago that my child finally deigned to sit and watch the entirety of the 1971 film, ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ with me. (She had already seen the Johnny Depp atrocity version and preferred its modern technique and superior visual effects.) During the film, I found myself appreciating Mister Wonka’s saving of the Oompa Loompas, coming as I do from a land that is nothing but desolate wastes and fierce beasts and the occasionaly Port-A-Potty meth lab, and wondering what the benefits package was like. Granted, the factory probably isn’t OSHA compliant, but…
If Joss Whedon has taught us only one thing (which Rodrigo might snarkily agree is the case) it’s that the death of a beloved character, used judiciously, can be an essential building-block of a good story. Granted, you don’t want to overuse any storytelling trope (*coughMarvelandDCcough*) but a meaningful utilization of the “ultimate sacrifice” can make for very memorable stories. Many people still remember Crisis On Infinite Earths primarily for the deaths of Barry Allen and Kara Zor-El, while my youthful appreciation of ‘Battle Of The Planets’ was deepened, then utterly blown away when the rivalry between Condor Joe/Jason and…
I’ve been pretty vocal in recent months about my problems with the latest series of ‘Doctor Who’, especially the story-telling issues inherent in the character of Clara. Ironically, that difficulty is probably the LEAST of the problems facing my favorite programs this season, what with ‘Community’ recording the lowest ratings of its history, ‘Family Guy’ fluctuating back and forth from offensive to unwatchable, and the WWE mired in serious doldrums. (Shouldn’t have taken the belt of CM Punk, fellers.) With several old favorites having left already and replacements few and far between (experiments with both ‘Revolution’ and ‘Defiant’ have left…
Sometimes, you can’t wrap your brain around any more intellectual analysis or esoterica, and instead find yourself considering simpler questions. Who’s stronger? Could Cable defeat Qui-Gon Jinn? Would Godzilla overpower Jet Icarus? Is Captain Kirk a better brawler than Nick Fury? And who would win if Lana Kane battled Shego? (Answer: The reading public.) Thanks to recent viewings, I got to wondering what might happen if Ben Kenobi, Connor MacLeod and Zorro were locked in a room together with only the victor guaranteed a way out? The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) does not think that word means what you…