F-ZeroOne

Bubblegum Crisis. That is all. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irYBFDodda8

That was... uh... ...look, 80s anime is just better. Fact. And "California Crisis" is the 80s, as an anime. So... Very unique title - thanks again, Area88!

Okay, having seen the thing the whole way through its not as unintentionally humour-providing all the way through as the first fifteen minutes. Its a reasonably decent slice of 80s anime; the main trouble I was having is that it clearly wants to be taken very seriously and its almost impossible not to take it seriously...! There are some nice animation moments. If it is based on an Osamu Tezuka work, I have to wonder what the original was like, I doubt the character designs used are the same somehow...

Just to make clear, I have no end of appreciation for fans like Area88 and his group of fansubbers for unearthing obscurities like this and making them available, whatever I might feel about the individual title in question. Thanks!

10 minutes in. Oh, dear, this might just be the most unintentionally funny anime you're going to see all year.

Watched ten seconds. Why does it appear to use the music from the Star Trek movies?!

Theres a couple of very easy ways to tell if a particular work is science fiction or not. Method One: if mainstream critics like it, but use phrases like "...despite this, its not science fiction", then its science fiction. Method two: if any of the production team use phrases like "...its not science fiction, it a very grounded, human-orientated drama", then its science fiction.

Er, no. Maybe you're thinking of the Wing Commander games or "Slipstream"...? "The Last Starfighter was a relatively modestly budgeted 80s film thats become a bit of a cult classic for a couple of reasons; one is that it saw an early use of CGI effects, which included the "GunStar" fighter, the other is very quotable dialogue: "It'll be a slaughter!" "Thats the spirit!" "OUR slaughter!"

Depends how you look at it. Yes, some WWII aircraft were developed and flying within a very short time span by modern standards. Or, the early versions were. It often took quite a few further developments to get to the point where the aircraft lived up to what it was promised to do. The Mustang is probably the classic example; the models that won the air war over Germany were the later B, C and D models with the Merlin engine, for example. There was also, obviously, a lot of innovation that often took years to develop to get to that point, such as all the experience with high performance racers and engines [1] that eventually led to the Spitfire. Even Reginald J. Mitchell had to give that one a couple of tries before he got it right... [1] As has sometimes been said of the atomic bomb, the challenge wasn't so much building them; it was getting things to the point where the average weapons handler wouldn't irradiate the base accidentally...!

Well, I did warn you it could be a little bit girly...

Blu-Ray players... uh, don't know. I'd try and do some research on your model first before ordering expensive DVD sets!

Japanese DVDs are Region-2 and the US are Region-1, so unless you have a multi-region DVD player, no they won't work. Though these days, its probably harder to find a DVD player that isn't multi-region capable by some means or other! The DVDs are also exceptionally unlikely to have subtitles.

Elite. Modern computing power is never going to stand a chance against the power that game gave to your imagination. Right on, Commander! Final Fantasy VII. Its a cliché, I know its a cliché, but its the game that introduced me to an entirely new genre. And, of all the FF games I've played (which isn't all of them), the Materia system is still the one to beat. Also, AERIS...! Fallout 3: to paraphrase Buzz Aldrin, "What magnificent desolation". UFO: Enemy Unknown, aka X-Com. Sectoid just shot my point man? Burn, you little grey bulb-headed freak! Saints Row 2: Grand Theft Auto, in all its forms, is by a considerable margin much better than this will ever, ever be. I can, however make an argument, that Saints Row 2 is more fun, and therefore a better game... Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. I could stay for a while... Half-Life: doesn't everyone want a day at the office like this? Halo series: 'cos I know what the ladies like, and what the ladies like is long levels where you squash Grunts in a tank. X-Wing: unless your name was Wedge Antilles, it got to the point where it was impossible. But until that point, you were Luke Skywalker. Xenogears: arguably the best RPG of its era; it was an anime you got to play. Ace Combat series: Essentially, Area 88: The Game. Civilisation: every so often, I get the urge to play this again. And then the the Universe stops for a week or so until I stop. Skies of Arcadia: it didn't really do anything new, but it had charm coming out of its port-holes. Out Run, arcade: never did get to play this much, but one of those arcade games you could watch other people playing all day when you ran out of coins yourself.

"You must... think... in Russian... "...?

I seem to recall that scene made more sense in the novelisation, where Leias termination is put on hold because she might still be of some use or something. Also, David Prowse, the "body" of Darth Vader, is from Bristol. He goes "Oo-aar" not "Och aye the noo"... (to be fair, I also seem to recall on one of the DVDs someone describing Prowses accent as a "Yorkshire" accent...!)

From the series that was tailor-made for those like me whose shelves bend in the middle from the weight of books piled upon them...

Probably not the same series, but there was a Predator comic story about a female scientist who somehow got "in" with a bunch of Predators and studied their ways. There was what can only be described as really hardcore Predator cos-play on her part in some scenes.

Thanks! For the record, I forget the company behind it, and I believe it was originally a UFO Catcher game prize (though I bought it from a shop). The reason its not a full body shot is that the figure has a bit of a balance problem, you can't see the counterweight I had to use on the base! (guess it leans because we all know Matusmotos characters like the booze!).

One of the worst I've read recently was a fantasy/SF mix by, I think, John Ringo. It had our hero surprised whilst nekkid and fighting off assassins with an axe, after which he made jokes about the size of his "chopper".

I never got to play 4, so I think 5 is my favourite overall but 0 has my all-time favourite Ace Combat level, where theres this massive furball taking place that you just dive right into and end virtually single-handedly because you are just that awesome. The thing about the Ace Combat combat series is that if you don't get it, you probably never will. But if you do... they bear as much resemblance to real air combat as Star Wars did to actual space flight, but they also do what what Star Wars did - they just feel right.

Mmm, interesting they're going with real world environments this time. Does this mean we might see an unlockable blue Police box as a flyable craft...?

I remember reading that the Crossbone Vanguard manga is quite well regarded and shows the possible potential of F-91. Also, F-91 gave us Cecily Fairchild. That makes up for a lot.

As Aladdin Sane states, its long been rumoured that one of new series episodes will be set in World War II. I can think of a number of reasons why a Dalek would be wearing that gear, but don't want to mention them for fear of accidentally spoiling story elements if by some miracle I turn out to be right. As to the hammer - it might be a little homage to a scene in "Remembrance of the Daleks" when Ace famously takes out a Dalek with a baseball bat... Edit - oh, sorry, Aladdin, didn't notice you'd mentioned it already...! Detail spotters may also wish to look out for the TARDIS interior in the preview - the decorators have been in...

"GERONIMO!"