Digested Digest #8 (7-25-98) --------CONTENTS------- 1.) OMEGA's Ramblings 2.) Web Site Showcase 3.) Entertainment News 4.) The X-Files: Season Six Revealed 5.) Sci-Fi Channel's Anime Week '98 6.) Bandai Entertainment, Inc. Comes To North America! 7.) Review - Legends of The DC Universe 80-Page Giant #1 8.) Wizard's Top Ten 7-22-98 9.) Legion of Super-Heroes Chat 7-21-98 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1.) OMEGA'S RAMBLINGS Geeze, Issue 8 already. My how the time flies. For those people interested in knowing how I do this Digest, I will tell a little story. I am on about 30 mailing list ranging from Anime to comics books to sci-fi series. And how do I sift through all that? Luckily I subscribe to the digest versions of the MLs, and all the other MLs are weekly/monthly messages. I get about 50 e-mails a day and I either read them all at that time or wait till later. Now, when I read them I look for the most important information, or something that is funny and I cut and paste it in a new message and place it in the DD folder. And whenever I get enough time I sift through my cuts and combine them into the bulk of Digested Digest. Now the only thing left for me to worry about is the Ramblings, web site showcase, and the 'thank you' message at the end. I'll tell you the thing that gives me the fits is the web site showcase. Believe me I got to EVERY page in a web site trying to get a grasp of the subject. So please give the sites I showcase a try. The people who made them put a lot of work into them. I want to thank the 70 people who get my digest each week for staying with it. It really means a lot to me. Adam “OMEGA” Arnold Ablarnold@msn.com ; ICQ #7737442 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ABLARNOLD Next Week in Ramblings: The long awaited explanation for the Nostrodamus story from DD#1. For back issues of DD please visit… http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ablarnold/digest.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2.) WEB SITE SHOWCASE Jayne's Favorite Anime http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/soohooberg/ - Pages dedicated to Marmalade Boy, Nurse Angel Ririka, Tamagotchi, and TONS of Sailor Moon. - There are pictures of items she has acquired scattered all through her pages. And believe me there are some things I have never seen before. - The lay-out is by topic and has some of the best Backgrounds and pictures you can find. (She even made a lot of them herself). - The BEST fan-fictions you will ever read. - Jayne wrote the Sailor Moon 'Life' Trilogy in such a way that it creates a world of Sailor Moon that you wish would have been made. It is a 'What if Season Two never happened?' And if you think it is your everyday Sailor Moon beat the bad guy story then you have a thing or two coming. These 3 stories make you care and the illustrations are wonderful. - There are also many other stories (like Virtual Pet that she Beta-Tested) to read and tons more to see and learn. This site is a MUST Visit. Emulation Excitement http://www.emux.com/ What is an emulator? An emulator is a software program that allows your computer to function as a totally different one. In the case of most emulators on this website, they make your computer function as an arcade machine or a home video game console. - This is Totally Legal as long as you own the game you are emulating (it's all in the FAQ). - ALL the systems are here with TONS of games. - The Emulators won't affect your computer. - Great straight forward lay-out that is innovative. Try a game today. Got a web site you want Showcased? Then send the url to ablarnold@msn.com and I'll showcase it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3.) Entertainment News The 6th Season of The X-Files is coming November 1, 1998 to Fox (For more info see Section #4.) Thank God for connections in the video business. We were faxed a list of sell-thru items for the fall - and FTF is there. It will be (tentatively) out on video Nov. 24, and will be priced to buy!!!! Thought I would let everyone know as soon as I found out (other titles this fall are Godzilla, Lost In Space, Hope Floats - a complete mystery to me since it did awful at the box office - and Dr. Doolittle (Dec. 11, I believe). ~Source: lorimacd lorimacd@netcom.ca Claire Danes, Gillian Anderson, and Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting) have signed on to voice characters in MIRAMAX's U.S. release of the Japanese animated film PRINCESS MONONOKOE, voicing San, Moro, and Eboshi, respectively. This dubbed version will open next summer. MONONOKE has made over $150 million in Japan alone. ~Source: Zentertainment #231 The SCI-FI Channel will begin airing STAR TREK: The Original Series exclusively on Tuesday, September 1st, in its original order, and with other bonuses which will make it a necessity to tune in daily. All 80 episodes have been digitally-remastered with restored original footage which was edited out when it entered syndication in the 1970s. The episodes will air in a 90-minute format, William Shatner will host its first run, followed by Leonard Nimoy for its second, and the episodes will include exclusive interviews with the cast, crew, and guest stars. STAR TREK will air weekdays from 7:30pm-9pm ET. http://www.scifi.com ~ Source: Zentertainment #231 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4.) Sixth Season Revealed: Jumping on the Mytharc The sixth season of The X-Files is likely to be the most important of all the seasons of the show so far. After the moderate success of The X-Files Movie over the past five weeks in the US, the coming season is likely to be seen by a whole new audience whose first experience with The X-Files. Sketchy details of the coming season, due to start filming on July 29, have surfaced on the Internet. The new episodes will screen from the 1st of November (delayed due to FOX's coverage of the World Series). Rumours also suggest that we'll see a full 22 episodes, rather than the reduced quota of 20 in season five to allow time for the filming of the movie and CD-ROM game. According to web site Dark Horizons, Frank Spotnitz has hinted that we'll see 6 episodes relating to the alien mythology, with one of the mid-season two-parters set in the infamous Area 51 (the 'top secret' military base at the centre of many real-life UFO tales). The first episode to be screened will be titled 'The Beginning' and will follow on from (rather unsurpringly) 'The End,' the season five cliff-hanger. X-Files veteran Kim Manners will direct the episode. Mimi Rogers' character Diana Fowly, who appeared in the season five finale 'The End' will continue the role. Rogers said in the Official X-Files magazine that she "likes the fact that (Fowly's) basically trying to come between them (Mulder and Scully) intentioally, ..I'm doing it on purpose...I think it will be a very interesting storyline." While there are spoilers on the web regarding possibly future arcs the story could take, we're not publishing them: all we're going to say is that Chris Carter would like to re-introduce some of the characters from the movie; that Agent Spender will be back, as he wasn't written out of the show in any meaningful way last season; and that some old faces may return. ~Source: The X-Files Wire - http://www.ii.net/~jcw/xfiles/wire/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5.) Sci-Fi Channel's Anime Week '98 Tue, July 28 ~~~ Fri, July 31 9:01 PM or 1:01 AM (Eastern) FATAL FURY GALAXY EXPRESS 999 ADIEU: GALAXY EXPRESS 999 URUSEI YATSURA: BEAUTIFUL DREAMER It looks like Galaxy Express is there highlight (Guess VIZ is trying to hype up the boxed set they have had on schedule for over a year), just like Pioneer did last year with ARMITAGE III: POLY- MATRIX. But why? I love Galaxy Express and all but BOTH movies? Adieu GE999 is just plan bad. They would of done much better with GE999 and Captain Harlock: Arcadia of Youth. And why such old movies? Are they going to edit them like they did last year? We are talking the 120+ minute Special Editions, here. Just watching Sci-Fi's cut of Green Legend Ran with all those commercials was bad enough. Well at least we know why VIZ took the Galaxy Express movies off the market a year ago. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6.) Bandai Entertainment, Inc. Comes To North America! The following press release can be found at http://www.AnimeVillage.com Bandai Entertainment, Inc. ("BEI") announces the creation of AnimeVillage.com, a virtual community on the World Wide Web for the exclusive distribution of anime (Japanese animation) directly to fans and consumers in North America. Fans and visitors can now log on, learn more about the village, register and be immediately entered into a sweepstakes for valuable prizes. The full launch of the community is scheduled for September 1, 1998. AnimeVillage.com will bring to North America some of the most intensely sought-after and famous titles in anime. Celebrating twenty years of continuing storyline and art, the entire historic saga of Gundam (Sunrise, Inc.) will finally be translated and brought to eagerly waiting fans. To be released at launch (all sub-titled in English) will be the first three Gundam movies as well as the series Gundam 0080 and Gundam 0083. Also of significant importance are the long-awaited translations and releases of the complete episodes of Escaflowne, The Clamp School and Saber Marionette J, all featuring stunning art and stories. The titles are amongst the most requested anime titles on the internet and in the marketplace. These and other titles to be announced in the future will be available only through AnimeVillage.com; there is no scheduled traditional retail distribution planned. AnimeVillage.com officials believe that by going straight to the consumers and fans, they can offer benefits and features not economically feasible or otherwise possible. "AnimeVillage.com is intended and will be more than just another commercial, advertising site," says Marlon Schulman, BEI vice president - Home Video. "AnimeVillage.com is a community designed for and by fans; it will be a place which will constantly evolve and grow - through the contributions and attention paid to it by fans and visitors. Like any other village, it will be a place to share, to chat, to learn, to play; in general, to interact. Fans and causal visitors will be able to get information directly from source(s) in Japan previously unavailable in any form or language in North America. And, because of its pedigree, AnimeVillage.com will have the distinction of being the only place that one can go to browse and buy exclusive titles and merchandise such as the historic and continuing saga of Gundam." AnimeVillage.com will feature live chats and appearances by anime directors, writers and artists. The community will house and host bulletin boards and facilitate the trading of anime merchandise and original art by and between fans. Auctions of long sought-after memorabilia such as original cells, scripts and storyboards from exclusive anime titles will be featured. "AnimeVillage.com offers possibilities you couldn't find anywhere else," continues Mr. Schulman. " Fans will be encouraged to contribute to the community themselves. Featured will be specially selected fan sites and art. We hope to soon offer the Fan Art Gallery - a place where artists can register, display (and sell!) their original art." Direct relationships with colleges, universities and anime clubs throughout North America, will enable AnimeVillage.com to offer special discounts and features directly to the fans of this highly stylized art. Contests, sweepstakes and games - created by fans for fans will be featured as will magazines brought and translated by AnimeVillage.com from Japan with all the latest anime news being presented. Features and columns from other magazines (not only anime-related) will also be published. The economic benefits of pure, direct sales will flow to the quality of purchases from AnimeVillage.com. More episodes will be included on the tapes (at no extra charge) than from any other company and, after release, there will be continuing availability of all episodes due to "virtually unlimited shelfspace". Specially selected art will be displayed on all special "collector clamshells" and sleeves. "All of us at AnimeVillage.com, as well as Bandai Entertainment, Inc., Sunrise, Inc., Bandai Visual Co., Ltd., Bandai Digital Engine (a division of Bandai Co., Ltd.) and others, recognize the significant importance of the release of these titles as well as those to be released in the coming months. We have created AnimeVillage.com as the significantly different, superior virtual company not only for the distribution of the titles but towards the recognition and acceptance of the art form as well." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7.) Legends of The DC Universe 80-Page Giant #1 S P O I L E R S Let me begin on a good note: This week has to be one of the best in terms of stories I have seen in a while. The Black Flash story is at its' end. The Legion has the Dark Circle leader reviled. Teen Titans meets Waverider and the end of the series. The Man of Steel has the Linear Men Vs Dominus. We have a Sandman crossover with JLA as the world famous star villain returns. Supergirl is at issue #25. And the New Gods have a secret file with the reason Orion and Barrda joined the JLA. And the most promising 80-Page Giant. Now I bought the 80-Page Giant just for the Chronos and more importantly the Rip Hunter story. Ok here is my impression of the book…. Note: I only read the Chronos Framing Sequence and the Rip Hunter story. Right away we are thrown into the Chronos framing story. It seems Walker Gabriel fell for another super-villains seem, this time Vandal Savage. Walker is in the Labyrinth of the Minatar on Crete with a bunch of Amazons chasing him. And this 'spirit' want's to show Walker the light by taking him to five events that would influence his thought process. 1.) The Spectre - A Titanic story…. Well It looks decent. 2.) The Doom Patrol - I can't comment on it. (didn't read it) 3.) Adam Strange - I would much rather see an ending to what happened to Adam at the end of JLA #21 than a flashback. 4.) Hawkman - No comment (didn't read it) 5.) The Teen Titans - the original team in another great story, with great artwork. 6.) Rip Hunter and The Linear Men - (See below) Now, some of the framing sequences were just stuck there. But others give vital info about Walker that has yet to be told. And the fact that Savage has something to tell is nice touch (remember Rip Hunter tried to stop Savages plans in Time Masters). The ending with the 'ghost' really being Hunter was a nice way to end the tale and actually give it a purpose. Now if the writers of Chronos would actually do something with this. Rip Hunter And The Linear Men Please tell me this a joke that will be retaconed out….. Rip Hunter is in his Time Sphere and is blindly traveling through time (note Chronos's reference to Quantum Leap). Ryder of the Linear Men instructs Liri Lee and Hunter to go and stop Rip from messing with time (which happens in every time he goes to). Well a long time later Rip Hunter visits the End Of Time and is about to put a hole in entropy and Hunter and Liri brings Rip to Vanishing Point where his Time Sphere explodes. Rip Hunter is upgraded to Hunter and becomes a part of the linear men and view the Booster Gold crisis of Time And Time Again. THE GOOD: 1.) If Chronos actually did visit all the Time Periods shown then he now has a very nice forte of places to visit. 2.) Nice way to end the story by linking the ending with the beginning of the Time And Time Again Saga. THE BAD: 1.) This has to be the most out of character story I have ever seen Rip Hunter in. First he LOOKS to young (the art work doesn't help), his personality is WAY to Naive and stupid acting. Rip never acted like this in the Pre-Crisis RHTM, Booster Gold, Time Masters, or even his cameo in Chronos #4. 2.) Where is the story of how Rip Hunter got from B.C. back to the present. (the one that the proposal in the letter Column of Chronos #1 mentions)? 3.) How did Rip overcome the Time Travel limitations? 4.) Why is Rip so stupid acting? 5.) The transformation of Rip Hunter into Hunter happens WAY to fast. 6.) Dan Jurgans Wrote This???? He introduced Rip Hunter into Post-Crisis Continuity and created Booster Gold and The Linear Men. How could he write this??? In conclusion I think the creators should of did better job. This is the OLD DC Universe we are talking about here. This is the Silver age and it should be treated with just a little bit better respect. Overall if this is the first time you are introduced to these characters then you will enjoy the book and 80 pages with six stories total is a very nice deal for $4.95 (the standard price for anything like this). That's my two yen. ~ Review by Adam "OMEGA" Arnold. All comments are my own. If you would like to learn more about Rip Hunter, the Time Masters, Chronos, and The Linear Men then please visit my Time Masters Web Page at… http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Labyrinth/6198/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 8.) WIZARD's Top Ten 7-22-98 Top 10 Signs that You Need Better Superpowers 10. Small children best you in feats of strength (Verge9@aol.com) 9. You just plain can't score. (RandomNerd@aol.com) 8. With your super speed, you can barely outrun a parked car (Kazar5@aol.com) 7. Your one and only superpower is the ability to make yourself blink at will (DarkWarri@aol.com) 6. Your arch-enemies are ‘The Slightly Annoying Six' (MATodd@aol.com) 5. Your action figures are always in the 3/$10 bin (E6Process@aol.com) 4. Newspaper reports of battles between you and a villain lists you as an “innocent bystander.” (OStephens@aol.com) 3. Supervillans LOVE coming to your town (ULNeverWin@aol.com) 2. When average people start saving you from the villians (Btsigboy@aol.com) 1. You realize that every other person in the world has the same ‘breathe oxygen' power as you. (StarshipII@aol.com) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 9.) Legion Chat's 7-21-98 Tom McCraw (LSH/L* co-plotter/colorist) and Jeff Moy (L* penciller) were the guests on America Online's Legion of Super-Heroes Chat for Tuesday, July 21, 1998. Legion of Super-Heroes Chat takes place every Tuesday in the DC Comics Online area of AOL at 6:00 PM EST. Legionnaires Chat is held every Thursday in the same area at 10:00 PM EST. (Keyword: CHAT DC.) Regular guests include Tom McCraw, Jeff Moy, Jason Armstrong, Ron Boyd and Mike McAvennie. Thanks to T. Troy McNemar who originated the Legion Chat Reports; so much of the format of these writeups was derived from his hard work. DISCLAIMER: I can't guarantee the reliability of this report. Essentially, the Legion chats involve about twenty-five fans shouting repeated questions to the creators. The creators are sometimes unable to answer questions thoroughly or clarify their responses. As a result, misinterpretations may occur on my part. SPOILERS: Information that spoils current or upcoming issues is found toward the end of this report. There's no spoiler space to separate such info from the more general comments. SUBSCRIPTIONS: To subscribe to these chat reports, send an e-mail to “majordomo@mlists.com” with the message “subscribe lsh-chats”. To unsubscribe, send the message “unsubscribe lsh- chats” to the same address. PLUGS: To subscribe to Lev Kalman's humorous LSH pics, send an e-mail to “majordomo@mlists.com” with the message “subscribe lev-pics”. You'll get a new cartoon e-mailed to you about once every two weeks. To browse this fan's STARMAN website, visit http://users.aol.com/nachro2/starhome.htm Finally, for all your LSH online needs, check out the Legion of Super-Resources at http://www.idyllmtn.com/rac/dc/lsh/lsh_res.htm =========================: Jeff had a great time at this year's Chicago Con. He drew 18 sketches, including a couple Batgirls. We won't see Quislet or Tellus any time soon. While Violet's “Leviathan” name was supposed to be temporary, the name stuck because the new editor Mike McAvennie wanted to keep the connection to the first Leviathan. Shorter storylines and single issues are planned for now, with no longer arcs. The books won't split up their continuity. Tom describes himself as the “bridge” between the two books, with which he'll continue to be very involved. There are some “cool M'Onel pages” in LSH #110-111. While he will get to draw her soon, Jeff said that Thunder will appear in the LSH book more than in L*. She won't get a new costume yet; just the L-buckle belt. Star Boy and Umbra meet 20th Century Starman, Jack Knight, in STARMAN #50. The story takes place in the 30th Century. We'll soon find out what Mysa and Dragonmage have been up to. Tom says “they haven't been sitting dormant, that's for sure.” He called their upcoming story “intense.” Mysa probably won't get the antennaed albino look she had preboot. - -- Alex Tam goldie@intergate.bc.ca; Nachro2 on AOL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks for allowing me the chance to bring you Digested Digest. I get so much e-mail from all the mailing list I am on It's very hard to sort through it all and find the right info that will be informative to a certain person. So please help me and tell me what you are interested in. And if you get anything that you would like other people to know about or just a web page that you would like showcased, then please send it in to me. Adam "OMEGA" Arnold Ablarnold@msn.com