Another example where the monster/ghost is real. Just like Zombie Island (and it's distant sequel), Alien Invaders (the aliens were benevolent scouts sent by their planet to study our world), Boo's Brothers, Loch Ness, and Goblin King.
the best movies never made
- Thread starter Scarecrow
- Start date
This is extremely ASB, but I was inspired by Zombie Island
I didn't even know Zombie Island had a distant sequel until last year.This is extremely ASB, but I was inspired by Zombie Island
Sekhmet_D
Kicked
I love this sooo much. Fits perfectly in light of Paulie's supernatural experiences on the actual Sopranos series.
That's exactly what I was thinking! With the angels, though I was particularly inspired by when he goes to the psychic who seemed to know things about Paulie that couldn't be explained about how he'd know. Plus he saw Mary.
There Were Giants (1999) - Leon Gast's sequel to When We Were Kings, now concentrating on the Thrilla in Manila.
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Driftless
Donor
Keep plugging them in! You can post as often as practical. If they're one-liner ideas, I think the mods prefer you combine those shorties into one or two posts(I think there's some storage considerations on the macro level) However, if you've got several fleshed-out thoughts, put them in as separate posts. "The more the merrier"
There is a rule that limits photo posting - three per day, I believe? That's a storage resource issue, from what I understand
Thank, I have a few ideas I might spread them out sporadically through the week or so, to give other people a chance and not bury previous work. Three images per day; I never post images though.
Re: Storage; couldn't posts or threads not updated or visited after, say, two years be permanently deleted by the mods saving storage?
Driftless
Donor
The storage issue is a question for one of the mods. This site has been active for long enough and has enough activity, where there is an archive process at work, though I don't know the process operates.
Biggles Adventures in time.
In the year 2677 Earth is at peace and there hasn't been a war in nearly 200 years. Life is good for humanity and they are expanding beyond the Solar System with expeditions to the nearest stars. There is however a problem, ships are disappearing and there is talk of "The Others". Then the colony on Pluto is raided, The military, such as it is responds but is shown to be utterly outclassed, too wedded to procedures and doing what their computers tell them. The fighting instincts of thousands of years has withered away replaced by ridged adherence to the rules. Something must be done or mankind is lost. One woman comes up with an answer. Thought insane she sends a probe back into the distant past to find a warrior, a hero, a saviour. That hero is the legendary WWI pilot turned intelligence officer Biggles.
In the year 2677 Earth is at peace and there hasn't been a war in nearly 200 years. Life is good for humanity and they are expanding beyond the Solar System with expeditions to the nearest stars. There is however a problem, ships are disappearing and there is talk of "The Others". Then the colony on Pluto is raided, The military, such as it is responds but is shown to be utterly outclassed, too wedded to procedures and doing what their computers tell them. The fighting instincts of thousands of years has withered away replaced by ridged adherence to the rules. Something must be done or mankind is lost. One woman comes up with an answer. Thought insane she sends a probe back into the distant past to find a warrior, a hero, a saviour. That hero is the legendary WWI pilot turned intelligence officer Biggles.
Queen of Judo (Королева дзюдо) - picture of a joint Japanese-Soviet production in 1998. The producer was Masao Kobayashi, and the director was Alexander Rogozhkin. The main role was played by Milla Jovovich. It is the first Soviet film about martial arts. Made over $27 million at home (a million ahead of Juliusz Machulski's Kiler and 400,000 behind Francis Weber's Le Jaguar), becoming the seventh highest-grossing film in 1998. Its success spurred the popularity of judo and karate in the USSR (long condemned by the party leadership).
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Europe has entered the 1930s in very good shape, democracy is in, hardcore Bonapartism is out, the neo-tsarist pact is safely contained (and desperately scrambling to reform and keep up economically, the poor devils), and the technological revolution of the late 1800s and early 1900s is still going strong. You can say that Napoleon's victory has led to a good world, even if in the end it involved taking power away from his descendents to give it to the people.
Cinema is widely popular both in animation and live action formats, and with colour TV starting to reach the public, science fiction is a major trend, nothing like a good colourful space adventure to appreciate your new screen, right? The "Orion" movies (and TV series) are a good example of that, a product of the Confederation of the Rhine and a global hit, they had quite an impact in popular culture across the world.
And it all started with...
Raumschiff Orion
A series of animated movies following the adventures of the titular spaceship, the actual art and graphics were done by a studio from Formosa which was experimenting with a new innovative style at the time. The result was groundbreaking and very distinctive, even if somewhat expensive, but the effort and the expense paid off handsomely.
The stories and the setting are fundamentally optimistic, in the far future Earth is part of the Free Worlds League, an open and democratic interstellar nation. The League has recently defeated the Romulan Star Empire, a militaristic and aggressive state, putting an end to their conquering ambitions for the moment. With peace secured the League's Starfleet now turns to the task of exploring the space around the League's worlds, space is vast and there is a multitude of unknown opportunities and dangers lurking in the unexplored gulfs between the worlds, it's a time for expansion, prosperity, and to push back boundaries, Starfleet must be ready to face the unknown at all times.
It won't be easy, the Orion is a warship launched during the Romulan war. It boasts an impressive array of weaponry and it has received some cutting edge devices, but most of the problems faced by Starfleet can't just be solved by shooting something and the cutting edge tech is finicky and temperamental, the crew will have to tackle things mostly with wits and creativity.
Ok, the guns do come in handy in a couple of occasions, in one of them the crew even finds a way to shoot a message at the skin of a gigantic invulnerable alien "planet killer", actually a misunderstood constructor\terraformer that can be reasoned with after the crew manages to communicate with it and makes him realise that the planet that it's heading to is inhabited.
Another couple of features that will become helpful are the teleporter and the improved "distortion drive", the teleporter will be vital to insert and extract crew in a couple of occasions but each use requires a lengthy and troublesome preparation with no guarantee that it will work smoothly (it does fail and completely borks the test subject during an experiment but thankfully the main cast has the god of scripts on their side), and the drive allows the Orion to reach an astounding speed for a limited time, covering light-years in a blink of an eye, while producing quite an impressive light show around the aperture in the Orion's prow.
And yes, the Orion looks like a battleship in space, no it's not realistic, but that was the direction that the creators picked. They wanted the crew to struggle with the challenge of turning a weapon of war into a tool for peace and exploration, and when one day the lead writer walked by a shop selling scale models, "there it was, our weapon of war, right there, that was the look that we needed". The model was purchased right away and soon artists were poking at it to produce the first sketch of a literal space battleship.
And now the characters, a lot of people remember captain Decker, usually looking serious and grave, sitting on the bridge with his white officers hat. Almost all of his scenes are like that, and it makes some sense since he's mostly a supporting character, a grizzled space veteran that spends most of his screen time handing out missions and advice to the main characters. But even making sense it did spawn a number of jokes along the lines of "500 lightyears without using the bathroom" or "he's got a rip in his pants since Sirius and is afraid of showing it".
But most of the screen time goes to the main characters, a dynamic trio of young lieutenants from different backgrounds, the Orion has a diverse crew recruited from all around the League and it shows.
First we have Tiberius, a brave (if a little headstrong) Canadian that often leads the team tackling whatever problem is blocking the Orion at the moment.
And he can always count on the help of fellow officer and best friend Londo, the pointy eared Centauri, as Tiberius is a kind of a dynamic "action man" Londo is a philosophical and logical (like all Centauri, "logic is a kind of national sport for us" he jests one time) researcher assigned to the Orion's science department. Their partnership works out very well, Tiberius has a way to get himself into unusual situations and dangerous missions, which a lot of times involve unknown space phenomena and other rare anomalies which, as Londo says, "any Centauri scientist would give several body parts to observe first-hand".
And to complete the trio, Cassiopeia, a Caribbean tech and computer wiz. A close friend to Tiberius and Londo, she has a special talent to improvise and get temperamental equipment to work, that will come in handy both with the Orion and the alien devices that the crew runs into along the way, and if Londo jumps at the chance to observe a new spatial anomaly, she loves examining those strange pieces of alien technology first-hand.
They are supported by several minor one-off characters, including doctor Mifune, the ship's surgeon. Hailing from Formosa and having a sharp sense of humour and a taste for fencing, he was well liked by audiences and would become part of the main cast in the follow-up live action series which was...
Raumpatrouille Orion
The success of the Raumschiff movies ensured that there would be some kind of sequel (besides spin-offs such as novels, comics, and etc), and it turned out to be a live action TV series. A co-production by the Confederation of the Rhine, the Sardinian Republic, and the Canadian Commonwealth, it benefited from the enduring expansion and popularity of colour TV, as more and more countries and networks would broadcast in colour, the special effects and colourful visuals of the Orion's adventures were always popular.
The success of the Raumschiff movies ensured that there would be some kind of sequel (besides spin-offs such as novels, comics, and etc), and it turned out to be a live action TV series. A co-production by the Confederation of the Rhine, the Sardinian Republic, and the Canadian Commonwealth, it benefited from the enduring expansion and popularity of colour TV, as more and more countries and networks would broadcast in colour, the special effects and colourful visuals of the Orion's adventures were always popular.
The story takes place a few years after as a new Orion carries out further exploration missions under newly promoted captain Tiberius, Londo joins him as first officer and Cassiopeia as a mission specialist, all as adventurous and curious as ever. Also, doctor Mifune joins the main cast as the ship's chief medical officer, determined to keep them healthy and fit, even if it means making them pick up a sword and sweat a little, "Fight me? Oh no captain, you're going to fight that extra padding around your waist.".
Together they will crew a new Orion, a brand new exploration vessel with a sleek, smooth, futuristic design instead of the warship turned explorer of the Raumschiff movies. Several pieces of technology and gadgets are carried over from the movies but in refined, more mature versions, for example, the teleporter is now activated in a minute instead of requiring a lengthy and suspenseful startup process, even if it has occasional accidents which provide the starting point for some episodes featuring crewmembers displaced in space and time, more or less evil duplicates, and etc.
Also, the distortion drive now involves a couple of nacelles above the ship's body and no longer tries to shake the ship apart while producing a riotous light show, but it does feature a nice visual effect which makes the ship zoom smoothly across space.
And the new Orion can and will fight too, despite looking less "warlike" than the old one, actually it can be argued that the original movies didn't feature any outright battles, just a misunderstanding and a few creative uses of the ship's guns, the series and the new Orion go further with a few fights against Romulans and "Denebian pirates", but only a few as the series stays firmly focused on exploration and discovery, not military adventures. This reflects the developments in global politics at the time, as the democracies of Europe had a few proxy conflicts with the neo-tsarist pact.
The series proved to be a long lived success, with several guest stars coming and going as the creators introduced new characters from time to time, in order to avoid being too repetitive. For example, the middle seasons saw the arrival of Apollo, a former racing champion brought in to pilot the "arrow", a single seat scout ship modified to carry an extensive sensor suite which would be used to scan and investigate several ominous space anomalies, menacing aliens, and god-like creatures, "Apollo scans something scary and puts the pedal to the metal" would become something of a trope for the series and the starting point for several episodes along with "Another teleporter incident" or "Powerful aliens pretend to be gods" or "Got to shut down that rogue computer".
About that last one, a lot of people joke that Tiberius would talk computers to that, well, actually he only talks a computer into shutdown in a couple of episodes and the idea first comes from Cassiopeia anyway, which analyses the computer's actions and (correctly) points out that it's seriously unstable and on the verge of collapse, just needing a nudge in the right direction.
And since we're talking about jokes and myths, no, Tiberius isn't a huge womaniser and doesn't have a "green girl on every starbase", if you take the time to count them, he has less kisses on screen than the series has seasons, ok, a past relationship is sometimes hinted at and forms the starting point for a memorable episode, and there's another one where he gets emotionally and romantically involved with an inhabitant of a planet in danger (yes, that's the "Tiberius has amnesia and lives among the Polinesians" episode, I knew you would remember that), but overall he's a professional and stays focused on his duties.
Even as a con-man gets him in trouble with those furry "wibbles", funny episode that one...
Or when a seemingly omnipotent being decides to play at being Napoleon I, ok, hardcore Bonapartism was something of a dead horse by that point and it wasn't one of the best episodes but mocking authoritarians with delusions of grandeur can't be wrong.
And that's it, the series was quite a success, and it would lead to several movies afterwards with the now aging cast finally sailomg into the sunset after dealing with the collapse and reform of the Romulan empire and helping both sides to achieve lasting peace.
Cinema is widely popular both in animation and live action formats, and with colour TV starting to reach the public, science fiction is a major trend, nothing like a good colourful space adventure to appreciate your new screen, right? The "Orion" movies (and TV series) are a good example of that, a product of the Confederation of the Rhine and a global hit, they had quite an impact in popular culture across the world.
And it all started with...
Raumschiff Orion
A series of animated movies following the adventures of the titular spaceship, the actual art and graphics were done by a studio from Formosa which was experimenting with a new innovative style at the time. The result was groundbreaking and very distinctive, even if somewhat expensive, but the effort and the expense paid off handsomely.
The stories and the setting are fundamentally optimistic, in the far future Earth is part of the Free Worlds League, an open and democratic interstellar nation. The League has recently defeated the Romulan Star Empire, a militaristic and aggressive state, putting an end to their conquering ambitions for the moment. With peace secured the League's Starfleet now turns to the task of exploring the space around the League's worlds, space is vast and there is a multitude of unknown opportunities and dangers lurking in the unexplored gulfs between the worlds, it's a time for expansion, prosperity, and to push back boundaries, Starfleet must be ready to face the unknown at all times.
It won't be easy, the Orion is a warship launched during the Romulan war. It boasts an impressive array of weaponry and it has received some cutting edge devices, but most of the problems faced by Starfleet can't just be solved by shooting something and the cutting edge tech is finicky and temperamental, the crew will have to tackle things mostly with wits and creativity.
Ok, the guns do come in handy in a couple of occasions, in one of them the crew even finds a way to shoot a message at the skin of a gigantic invulnerable alien "planet killer", actually a misunderstood constructor\terraformer that can be reasoned with after the crew manages to communicate with it and makes him realise that the planet that it's heading to is inhabited.
Another couple of features that will become helpful are the teleporter and the improved "distortion drive", the teleporter will be vital to insert and extract crew in a couple of occasions but each use requires a lengthy and troublesome preparation with no guarantee that it will work smoothly (it does fail and completely borks the test subject during an experiment but thankfully the main cast has the god of scripts on their side), and the drive allows the Orion to reach an astounding speed for a limited time, covering light-years in a blink of an eye, while producing quite an impressive light show around the aperture in the Orion's prow.
And yes, the Orion looks like a battleship in space, no it's not realistic, but that was the direction that the creators picked. They wanted the crew to struggle with the challenge of turning a weapon of war into a tool for peace and exploration, and when one day the lead writer walked by a shop selling scale models, "there it was, our weapon of war, right there, that was the look that we needed". The model was purchased right away and soon artists were poking at it to produce the first sketch of a literal space battleship.
And now the characters, a lot of people remember captain Decker, usually looking serious and grave, sitting on the bridge with his white officers hat. Almost all of his scenes are like that, and it makes some sense since he's mostly a supporting character, a grizzled space veteran that spends most of his screen time handing out missions and advice to the main characters. But even making sense it did spawn a number of jokes along the lines of "500 lightyears without using the bathroom" or "he's got a rip in his pants since Sirius and is afraid of showing it".
But most of the screen time goes to the main characters, a dynamic trio of young lieutenants from different backgrounds, the Orion has a diverse crew recruited from all around the League and it shows.
First we have Tiberius, a brave (if a little headstrong) Canadian that often leads the team tackling whatever problem is blocking the Orion at the moment.
And he can always count on the help of fellow officer and best friend Londo, the pointy eared Centauri, as Tiberius is a kind of a dynamic "action man" Londo is a philosophical and logical (like all Centauri, "logic is a kind of national sport for us" he jests one time) researcher assigned to the Orion's science department. Their partnership works out very well, Tiberius has a way to get himself into unusual situations and dangerous missions, which a lot of times involve unknown space phenomena and other rare anomalies which, as Londo says, "any Centauri scientist would give several body parts to observe first-hand".
And to complete the trio, Cassiopeia, a Caribbean tech and computer wiz. A close friend to Tiberius and Londo, she has a special talent to improvise and get temperamental equipment to work, that will come in handy both with the Orion and the alien devices that the crew runs into along the way, and if Londo jumps at the chance to observe a new spatial anomaly, she loves examining those strange pieces of alien technology first-hand.
They are supported by several minor one-off characters, including doctor Mifune, the ship's surgeon. Hailing from Formosa and having a sharp sense of humour and a taste for fencing, he was well liked by audiences and would become part of the main cast in the follow-up live action series which was...
Raumpatrouille Orion
The success of the Raumschiff movies ensured that there would be some kind of sequel (besides spin-offs such as novels, comics, and etc), and it turned out to be a live action TV series. A co-production by the Confederation of the Rhine, the Sardinian Republic, and the Canadian Commonwealth, it benefited from the enduring expansion and popularity of colour TV, as more and more countries and networks would broadcast in colour, the special effects and colourful visuals of the Orion's adventures were always popular.
The success of the Raumschiff movies ensured that there would be some kind of sequel (besides spin-offs such as novels, comics, and etc), and it turned out to be a live action TV series. A co-production by the Confederation of the Rhine, the Sardinian Republic, and the Canadian Commonwealth, it benefited from the enduring expansion and popularity of colour TV, as more and more countries and networks would broadcast in colour, the special effects and colourful visuals of the Orion's adventures were always popular.
The story takes place a few years after as a new Orion carries out further exploration missions under newly promoted captain Tiberius, Londo joins him as first officer and Cassiopeia as a mission specialist, all as adventurous and curious as ever. Also, doctor Mifune joins the main cast as the ship's chief medical officer, determined to keep them healthy and fit, even if it means making them pick up a sword and sweat a little, "Fight me? Oh no captain, you're going to fight that extra padding around your waist.".
Together they will crew a new Orion, a brand new exploration vessel with a sleek, smooth, futuristic design instead of the warship turned explorer of the Raumschiff movies. Several pieces of technology and gadgets are carried over from the movies but in refined, more mature versions, for example, the teleporter is now activated in a minute instead of requiring a lengthy and suspenseful startup process, even if it has occasional accidents which provide the starting point for some episodes featuring crewmembers displaced in space and time, more or less evil duplicates, and etc.
Also, the distortion drive now involves a couple of nacelles above the ship's body and no longer tries to shake the ship apart while producing a riotous light show, but it does feature a nice visual effect which makes the ship zoom smoothly across space.
And the new Orion can and will fight too, despite looking less "warlike" than the old one, actually it can be argued that the original movies didn't feature any outright battles, just a misunderstanding and a few creative uses of the ship's guns, the series and the new Orion go further with a few fights against Romulans and "Denebian pirates", but only a few as the series stays firmly focused on exploration and discovery, not military adventures. This reflects the developments in global politics at the time, as the democracies of Europe had a few proxy conflicts with the neo-tsarist pact.
The series proved to be a long lived success, with several guest stars coming and going as the creators introduced new characters from time to time, in order to avoid being too repetitive. For example, the middle seasons saw the arrival of Apollo, a former racing champion brought in to pilot the "arrow", a single seat scout ship modified to carry an extensive sensor suite which would be used to scan and investigate several ominous space anomalies, menacing aliens, and god-like creatures, "Apollo scans something scary and puts the pedal to the metal" would become something of a trope for the series and the starting point for several episodes along with "Another teleporter incident" or "Powerful aliens pretend to be gods" or "Got to shut down that rogue computer".
About that last one, a lot of people joke that Tiberius would talk computers to that, well, actually he only talks a computer into shutdown in a couple of episodes and the idea first comes from Cassiopeia anyway, which analyses the computer's actions and (correctly) points out that it's seriously unstable and on the verge of collapse, just needing a nudge in the right direction.
And since we're talking about jokes and myths, no, Tiberius isn't a huge womaniser and doesn't have a "green girl on every starbase", if you take the time to count them, he has less kisses on screen than the series has seasons, ok, a past relationship is sometimes hinted at and forms the starting point for a memorable episode, and there's another one where he gets emotionally and romantically involved with an inhabitant of a planet in danger (yes, that's the "Tiberius has amnesia and lives among the Polinesians" episode, I knew you would remember that), but overall he's a professional and stays focused on his duties.
Even as a con-man gets him in trouble with those furry "wibbles", funny episode that one...
Or when a seemingly omnipotent being decides to play at being Napoleon I, ok, hardcore Bonapartism was something of a dead horse by that point and it wasn't one of the best episodes but mocking authoritarians with delusions of grandeur can't be wrong.
And that's it, the series was quite a success, and it would lead to several movies afterwards with the now aging cast finally sailomg into the sunset after dealing with the collapse and reform of the Romulan empire and helping both sides to achieve lasting peace.
Neue Raumpatrouille Orion
The success of the "Orion" franchise made a sequel inevitable even if it did take some time to show up. And with the countries of the former neo-tsarist now open for democratic reforms and moving away from authoritarianism the new series updated the settlng to go along with the times. With pan-european sentiment rising this is a co-production with the Sardinian Republic and the Sicilian Collective, minor partners but partners anyway.
So, the series, the Romulan Empire has collapsed (to be exact the actual collapse was covered in the two last movies of the original Raumpatrouille cast), reformed itself, opened up, and is now an ally of the League. All very fine, but there are still dark corners of space to explore, even more of them if anything, as the League expands and begins surveying other quadrants of the galaxy. Throw in a militaristic regional power on the rise and starfleet has plenty to occupy itself with.
Tackling these tasks we have a cast that goes back to the formula of the first Raumschiff movies with a trio of dynamic officers on the rise helped by an assortment of supporting characters.
Lieutenant Flavius fills roughly the same role as Tiberius, often leading the team dealing with the problem of the week, competent and straightforward, he's the "vanilla" Starfleet officer of the lot, a grounded character to work along his more unusual colleagues. He isn't talked about as much as his more quirky team mates but that's a bit unfair, as he brings some much needed stability and clear-headed decisions to the team. And he isn't just a stiff dummy in a uniform, many of the funny and memorable moments that people attribute to his partners happen because he plays along with them and the actor managed to have some good chemistry and a great working relationship with the rest of the cast.
Meet G'Kar, a Romulan officer attached to the Orion as part of an interchange program, actually he belongs to a species that has long been assimilated by the Romulan empire. The Orion franchise had a diverse cast to begin with and the writers wanted to take things a step further with an explicitly alien character (not just a human-looking alien like Londo in the first Raumpatrouille), several concepts where considered, some using animatronics and featuring multiple arms, but costs forced them to take a more modest route. Hailing from a high temperature environment with a toxic atmosphere, he wears a special suit at all times outside his quarters. He is a talented scientist, a renowned expert in xenobiology and has a sharp sense of humour which he often displays, he's also responsible for the dramatic look of his suit, sinister helmet, cape, and all. As he puts it, "I have to wear a life support system but no-one said that I have to look boring". Overall a witty, irreverent partner to the straight by-the-book Flavius.
Actually Flavius has two unconventional partners, the second one being Lal, an aging tech genius and cybernetics expert. Well, not quite aging anymore as she has managed to transfer her consciousness into an android body, sadly the procedure was fraught with danger and involved the use of some unique and poorly understood alien technology, so she remains the only case for the foreseeable future. Not quite as witty as G'Kar but still with a sharp and cutting mind, as logical as the coldest Centauri, she's laconic and concise with her opinions which she delivers with near perfect dramatic or comedic timing as the situation demands, sometimes "saying a speech with a raised eyebrow" as some fans put it. That was loosed up to some degree later on, and the character became more talkative and emotional, as these moments required excellent timing and awareness from the actress and the rest of the cast and were quite hard to pull off consistently.
Supporting the main trio we have several secondary characters, including a tea loving British captain, usually seen giving a briefing with the episode's problem or unlocking a crisis with a critical decision. We also have the ship's doctor who would be blind if not for the use of a "visor" which enables him to see in a much wider spectrum than human eyes, being able to see into a patient in many ways is quite handy as he puts it, and also being able to turn off his "eyes" for a mid-meeting nap without anyone noticing but he was probably joking about that.
A later addition to the cast, "Otto" is an amazing alien capable of changing his shape, discovered in a lonely desert planet away from everything by a Starfleet survey team, he belongs to a previously unknown species and so far no other members have been encountered or heard from. A lonely wanderer with no clear memories of home or how he ended up where he was found, he decides to work with Starfleet in the hope of finding a clue for his origins during his journeys. He's observant and open minded, a natural investigator, and he will join the team as a mission specialist and expert in alien biology and behaviour.
And these characters will have a lot to do, as the new series swifts more toward multi-episode arcs alongside the average alien of the week episodes.
The first major arc involves the emergence of a new regional power in the galaxy, the Narnl, having suffered under the Romulan yoke until recently, they're bitter and aggressive. It will take a lot of effort to contain their aggression and then to reconcile them with the rest of the galaxy. Especially because the Romulans aren't the only oppressor that they faced during their long ordeal, this arc will reveal some skeletons in the Centauri closet, and it's resolution will see an aged Londo return in his final moments to heal old wounds and bury the last remains of the ancient violent Centauri imperialism for good.
The next big story arc starts with rumours of a powerful all conquering hive-mind approaching the League's borders...
And so it turns out that the League is threatened not by one but two hive-minds, one is the Cyber-Legion, a collective of cyborgs always looking for sentient beings to absorb and assimilate, imposing order and uniformity across all it's members, "Do not resist, we will add your strength to our own, we will guide you to your proper position for the greater good of the galaxy".
The second one turns out to be the Tyrannofex swarms, clouds of beings interlinked in a hive mind that uses its members biological forms in place of technology. They seem to be a force of nature, unstoppable and ready to consume the whole galaxy with their hunger.
At first glance things might look hopeless for starfleet, or you might think that the franchise would shift into a dark and warlike turn...
Not quite, if anything the "hive minds" story arcs reinforce the need for wits and improvisation over brute force even if they feature a bit more of combat than the older series, by setting up enemies that are simply too powerful to fight head-on they force the characters to come up with out of the box solutions to save the day. And that is what they will do, these foes are daunting but not invincible.
The Cyber-Legion has technology beyond human comprehension and almost limitless resources, the fruits of the assimilation of countless worlds and beings, but they simply aren't interested in occupying the whole galaxy, or even the whole League. So, while their attacks are a terrible threat for the League and it's neighbours, for the Legion they are just a somewhat interesting sideshow, small raids with a limited amount of forces. This means that the Legion is not willing to escalate or insist too much if they are defeated or diverted.
And the bio-swarms? It turns out that they aren't a single hive mind instead each swarm is a hive mind of it's own with different characteristics and personalities. And while some of them are set on eating their way trough the galaxy without thinking of the consequences for whoever happens to be in their path, others are open to communication and can even be reasoned with. It won't be easy and to talk and negotiate with these swarms of space leviathans will require some creative solutions and taking some chances, but they will be persuaded to take resources from deep space comets and uninhabited worlds instead of chewing on fellow sentient species. In the end they will even work along with starfleet, helping to contain the Legion and uncooperative bio-swarms in exchange for starfleet's assistance with locating fresh resources, bugs for comets as G'Kar puts it.
And as these arcs come to a conclusion there are plans to wind down the Raumpatrouille series itself and give the franchise a break before the next spinoff, the Legion has been a little overused as an antagonist, the main cast would like to try other projects, and plans are being drawn for something new. Ideas have been floated around for the adventures of an independent deep space exploration ship (or maybe a fleet?) stranded on the other side of the galaxy far from familiar territory, or maybe the life on a space station tasked with protecting and developing a new member world for the League.
Anyway, the franchise will still be going strong for the foreseeable future whatever the choice is.
The success of the "Orion" franchise made a sequel inevitable even if it did take some time to show up. And with the countries of the former neo-tsarist now open for democratic reforms and moving away from authoritarianism the new series updated the settlng to go along with the times. With pan-european sentiment rising this is a co-production with the Sardinian Republic and the Sicilian Collective, minor partners but partners anyway.
So, the series, the Romulan Empire has collapsed (to be exact the actual collapse was covered in the two last movies of the original Raumpatrouille cast), reformed itself, opened up, and is now an ally of the League. All very fine, but there are still dark corners of space to explore, even more of them if anything, as the League expands and begins surveying other quadrants of the galaxy. Throw in a militaristic regional power on the rise and starfleet has plenty to occupy itself with.
Tackling these tasks we have a cast that goes back to the formula of the first Raumschiff movies with a trio of dynamic officers on the rise helped by an assortment of supporting characters.
Lieutenant Flavius fills roughly the same role as Tiberius, often leading the team dealing with the problem of the week, competent and straightforward, he's the "vanilla" Starfleet officer of the lot, a grounded character to work along his more unusual colleagues. He isn't talked about as much as his more quirky team mates but that's a bit unfair, as he brings some much needed stability and clear-headed decisions to the team. And he isn't just a stiff dummy in a uniform, many of the funny and memorable moments that people attribute to his partners happen because he plays along with them and the actor managed to have some good chemistry and a great working relationship with the rest of the cast.
Meet G'Kar, a Romulan officer attached to the Orion as part of an interchange program, actually he belongs to a species that has long been assimilated by the Romulan empire. The Orion franchise had a diverse cast to begin with and the writers wanted to take things a step further with an explicitly alien character (not just a human-looking alien like Londo in the first Raumpatrouille), several concepts where considered, some using animatronics and featuring multiple arms, but costs forced them to take a more modest route. Hailing from a high temperature environment with a toxic atmosphere, he wears a special suit at all times outside his quarters. He is a talented scientist, a renowned expert in xenobiology and has a sharp sense of humour which he often displays, he's also responsible for the dramatic look of his suit, sinister helmet, cape, and all. As he puts it, "I have to wear a life support system but no-one said that I have to look boring". Overall a witty, irreverent partner to the straight by-the-book Flavius.
Actually Flavius has two unconventional partners, the second one being Lal, an aging tech genius and cybernetics expert. Well, not quite aging anymore as she has managed to transfer her consciousness into an android body, sadly the procedure was fraught with danger and involved the use of some unique and poorly understood alien technology, so she remains the only case for the foreseeable future. Not quite as witty as G'Kar but still with a sharp and cutting mind, as logical as the coldest Centauri, she's laconic and concise with her opinions which she delivers with near perfect dramatic or comedic timing as the situation demands, sometimes "saying a speech with a raised eyebrow" as some fans put it. That was loosed up to some degree later on, and the character became more talkative and emotional, as these moments required excellent timing and awareness from the actress and the rest of the cast and were quite hard to pull off consistently.
Supporting the main trio we have several secondary characters, including a tea loving British captain, usually seen giving a briefing with the episode's problem or unlocking a crisis with a critical decision. We also have the ship's doctor who would be blind if not for the use of a "visor" which enables him to see in a much wider spectrum than human eyes, being able to see into a patient in many ways is quite handy as he puts it, and also being able to turn off his "eyes" for a mid-meeting nap without anyone noticing but he was probably joking about that.
A later addition to the cast, "Otto" is an amazing alien capable of changing his shape, discovered in a lonely desert planet away from everything by a Starfleet survey team, he belongs to a previously unknown species and so far no other members have been encountered or heard from. A lonely wanderer with no clear memories of home or how he ended up where he was found, he decides to work with Starfleet in the hope of finding a clue for his origins during his journeys. He's observant and open minded, a natural investigator, and he will join the team as a mission specialist and expert in alien biology and behaviour.
And these characters will have a lot to do, as the new series swifts more toward multi-episode arcs alongside the average alien of the week episodes.
The first major arc involves the emergence of a new regional power in the galaxy, the Narnl, having suffered under the Romulan yoke until recently, they're bitter and aggressive. It will take a lot of effort to contain their aggression and then to reconcile them with the rest of the galaxy. Especially because the Romulans aren't the only oppressor that they faced during their long ordeal, this arc will reveal some skeletons in the Centauri closet, and it's resolution will see an aged Londo return in his final moments to heal old wounds and bury the last remains of the ancient violent Centauri imperialism for good.
The next big story arc starts with rumours of a powerful all conquering hive-mind approaching the League's borders...
And so it turns out that the League is threatened not by one but two hive-minds, one is the Cyber-Legion, a collective of cyborgs always looking for sentient beings to absorb and assimilate, imposing order and uniformity across all it's members, "Do not resist, we will add your strength to our own, we will guide you to your proper position for the greater good of the galaxy".
The second one turns out to be the Tyrannofex swarms, clouds of beings interlinked in a hive mind that uses its members biological forms in place of technology. They seem to be a force of nature, unstoppable and ready to consume the whole galaxy with their hunger.
At first glance things might look hopeless for starfleet, or you might think that the franchise would shift into a dark and warlike turn...
Not quite, if anything the "hive minds" story arcs reinforce the need for wits and improvisation over brute force even if they feature a bit more of combat than the older series, by setting up enemies that are simply too powerful to fight head-on they force the characters to come up with out of the box solutions to save the day. And that is what they will do, these foes are daunting but not invincible.
The Cyber-Legion has technology beyond human comprehension and almost limitless resources, the fruits of the assimilation of countless worlds and beings, but they simply aren't interested in occupying the whole galaxy, or even the whole League. So, while their attacks are a terrible threat for the League and it's neighbours, for the Legion they are just a somewhat interesting sideshow, small raids with a limited amount of forces. This means that the Legion is not willing to escalate or insist too much if they are defeated or diverted.
And the bio-swarms? It turns out that they aren't a single hive mind instead each swarm is a hive mind of it's own with different characteristics and personalities. And while some of them are set on eating their way trough the galaxy without thinking of the consequences for whoever happens to be in their path, others are open to communication and can even be reasoned with. It won't be easy and to talk and negotiate with these swarms of space leviathans will require some creative solutions and taking some chances, but they will be persuaded to take resources from deep space comets and uninhabited worlds instead of chewing on fellow sentient species. In the end they will even work along with starfleet, helping to contain the Legion and uncooperative bio-swarms in exchange for starfleet's assistance with locating fresh resources, bugs for comets as G'Kar puts it.
And as these arcs come to a conclusion there are plans to wind down the Raumpatrouille series itself and give the franchise a break before the next spinoff, the Legion has been a little overused as an antagonist, the main cast would like to try other projects, and plans are being drawn for something new. Ideas have been floated around for the adventures of an independent deep space exploration ship (or maybe a fleet?) stranded on the other side of the galaxy far from familiar territory, or maybe the life on a space station tasked with protecting and developing a new member world for the League.
Anyway, the franchise will still be going strong for the foreseeable future whatever the choice is.
The Last Fighter (2000)
Leon Gast's third Ali documentary to finish the trilogy, now concentrating on the Leon Spinks fights.
Mickey, Donald, and Goofy - The Corsican Brothers (2005)
An adaptation of Dumas' The Corsican Brothers, starring Mickey Mouse as the brothers.
Mickey, Donald, and Goofy - The Count of Monte Cristo (2006)
Disney's final installment of the "Dumas trilogy". Stars Mickey as Edmond/Monte Cristo, Minnie as Mercedes, Pete as Fernand, Goofy as Betruccio, Donald as Jacopo, Daisy as Luigi Vampa and Scrooge as Abbe Faria. Considered the best of the trilogy due to
Also has a cameo from Richard Chamberlain as the narrator, who also played the Count in 1975.
Leon Gast's third Ali documentary to finish the trilogy, now concentrating on the Leon Spinks fights.
Mickey, Donald, and Goofy - The Corsican Brothers (2005)
An adaptation of Dumas' The Corsican Brothers, starring Mickey Mouse as the brothers.
Mickey, Donald, and Goofy - The Count of Monte Cristo (2006)
Disney's final installment of the "Dumas trilogy". Stars Mickey as Edmond/Monte Cristo, Minnie as Mercedes, Pete as Fernand, Goofy as Betruccio, Donald as Jacopo, Daisy as Luigi Vampa and Scrooge as Abbe Faria. Considered the best of the trilogy due to
Staying close to the novel, I.E., Mickey does not end up with Minnie at the end.
Also has a cameo from Richard Chamberlain as the narrator, who also played the Count in 1975.
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From a No Hays Code TL idea:
Batman (1948)
Directed by Michael Curtiz, this superhero film noir accurately reflects the Golden Age Batman on the big screen. Bob Kane wrote the screenplay, and Humphrey Bogart plays a memorable supporting role as Commissioner Gordon. The Black and White Cinematography by Gregg Toland is widely praised, winning Toland his second and last Oscar.
Batman (1948)
Directed by Michael Curtiz, this superhero film noir accurately reflects the Golden Age Batman on the big screen. Bob Kane wrote the screenplay, and Humphrey Bogart plays a memorable supporting role as Commissioner Gordon. The Black and White Cinematography by Gregg Toland is widely praised, winning Toland his second and last Oscar.
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Dragon Ball (1997)
The live action adaptation of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball, starring Jackie Chan as Son Goku and Stephen Chow as Krillin (who also directed). Also notable for duet covers of "Head Cha La" and "We Were Angels" by Jackie and Chow.
The live action adaptation of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball, starring Jackie Chan as Son Goku and Stephen Chow as Krillin (who also directed). Also notable for duet covers of "Head Cha La" and "We Were Angels" by Jackie and Chow.
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Blackadder's Island
It's 1963 and Major Edmund Blackadder MC is the Governor of a small British colony near Cuba during the missile crisis. Aided by his Chief of Police Baldrick he must prepare for the worst while also coping with a delegation from London led by the MP for Old Sarum the Right Honourable Arthur Melchett.
It's 1963 and Major Edmund Blackadder MC is the Governor of a small British colony near Cuba during the missile crisis. Aided by his Chief of Police Baldrick he must prepare for the worst while also coping with a delegation from London led by the MP for Old Sarum the Right Honourable Arthur Melchett.
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