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It Starts with a Bang

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  • Title: The Big Bang Theory – The Complete First Season
  • tv.com: link

“I think that you have as much of a chance of having a sexual relationship with Penny as the Hubble telescope does of discovering at the center of every black hole is a little man with a flashlight searching for a circuit breaker.”

Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) are nerds.  The pair’s apartment is filled with all range of comic, fantasy and sci-fi merchandise.  They work as physicists and spend their spare time with fellow geeks Raj (Kunal Nayyar) and Howard (Simon Helberg) in a variety of activities guaranteed to keep the ladies in galaxies far, far away.  Their universe is changed by the arrival of a beautiful new neighbor, Penny (Kaley Cuoco), to whom Leonard instantly develops a crush.

Their universe, much to Sheldon’s dismay, is changed by Penny’s arrival, but whether anything romantic will develop between Leonard and Penny will have to wait until season two.

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DC Super Heroes: The Filmation Adventures

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  • Title: DC Super Heroes: The Filmation Adventures
  • IMDB: link

This two-disc set collects 18 cartoons made by Filmation during the late 1960’s and features some of the heroes of DC Comics.  Those familiar with the heroes, and with some affection to them already, should have a good time here as the cartoons give them the respect they deserve.  Though they could have used some better (and more varied) stories – and villains.  Not one of the classic DC baddies, from any of the characters’ rogues galleries, makes an appearance!

These short episodes were mainly used as filler between the big episodes on The Superman Aquaman Hour of Adventure.  There’s only so much you can accomplish in eight minutes, so don’t expect much character development.

Each of the heroes’ episodes have their own intros which, like the show, are narrated by Ted Knight.  More than the actual stories themselves these intros are what really stick out on the collection.

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Appleseed: Ex Machina

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  • Title: Appleseed: Ex Machina
  • IMDB: link

About three weeks ago I brought forth the anime about a stunning young woman and her cyborg partner.  Both Appleseed and the sequel Appleseed Ex Machina are done in beautiful CG animation, making the films badass characters look even more badass as they flip around in combat.  The story sort of takes off with the same idea as last time, the two main characters, Deunan Knute and Briareous the cyborg, combating against evil to keep their Utopian society.

The story isn’t so plain and straight forward, the villain is different this time and there is a twist.  The team, Deunan and Briareous are split up!  That doesn’t sound like much of a twist without the knowledge of her new partner.  Briareous is one of a kind, well that is until they made Tereus.

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Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

/ / Home Video, Theme Week
  • Title: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
  • IMDB: link

“I need it to be different now.  I know I made a promise, but I didn’t see this coming.  I didn’t count on being happy.”

The return of Bruce Wayne’s (Kevin Conroy) lost love (Dana Delany) to Gotham and the arrival of a new mysterious villain are the ingredients to what is, at least so far, the best Batman film ever made.

Taking pieces from both Frank Miller’s Barman: Year One and Mike Barr’s Batman: Year Two this animated flick gives us a new villain for Batman to fight and ghosts from the past which must be confronted.  The best scenes of the film involve the flashbacks of Bruce Wayne weighing his new feelings for Andrea (Delany) versus the vow he made to his parents.  Of all the Batman movies made Mask of the Phantasm does the best job of capturing the continually tortured soul of Bruce Wayne on screen.

Also included are flashbacks scenes of Bruce Wayne’s first night out as a vigilante, with missed success (something missing from Batman Begins) and a look back at the first moment Bruce Wayne donned his famous costume in one of the best Batman scenes ever.  Neither Tim Burton nor Christopher Nolan have given us anything as perfect in this simple shadow non-reveal reveal of Batman’s first appearance.

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Batman: The Animated Series Redux

/ / Home Video, Theme Week
  • Title: Batman: The Animated Series – Volume Four
  • tv.com: link

After a couple of years working on the animated Superman cartoon Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and their team returned to the mean streets of Gotham to present The New Batman Superman Adventures.  The hourlong block was divided into one episode of Superman and one of Batman, including a few crossover episodes. 

The new Batman episodes revamped the look of the show into a darker and sleeker look while keeping the original style.  Dick Grayson had moved on, Tim Drake would become the new Robin, Batgirl joined the team, and Batman took to the streets of Gotham to pursue the cowardly lot of villains.  For reviews of previous seasons click here for Season One, Season Two, and Season Three.

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