Today in Geek History: \”Babylon 5\” Debuts

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

I didn\’t realize it, but GeekDads has a good reminder…
Today, in 1993, history was made….  Babylon 5\’s pilot debuted.  I still have it on VHS…  Hopefully we will eventually see more from the Babylon 5 universe, after all, it\’s given us 5 direct to DVD/TV Movie\’s…  And 5 seasons of the TV series…
Overall, I give the entire series 8.5 out of 10 on average.

Today in Geek History: \”Babylon 5\” Debuts
On February 22, 1993, the pilot film for the science fiction television series Babylon 5 debuted on the short lived Prime Time Entertainment Network. The series moved to the TNT Network in the US and was broadcast in it entirety Channel 4 in the UK. It ran for five seasons and a spawned a spin-off series, Crusade, which ran for thirteen episodes. A pilot for Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers aired on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002, but was never picked up as a regular series.
via Today in Geek History: \”Babylon 5\” Debuts | Geekdad from Wired.com.

Javi\’s Words — presenting – the middleman rumor control FAQ!

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Javier has the official word on the MiddleMan status.  In short, he is still stating that Season 2 depends on the DVD sales from the MiddleMan DVD collection.  Here\’s an excerpt from the MiddleBlog..
http://themiddleblog.livejournal.com/41963.html

lately there\’s been a lot of loose talk about the middleman – a lot of rumors, innuendo and the other thing…so here are the answers to your questions – in an easy to carry FAQ form!
Q. has \”the middleman\” been cancelled?
A. why must we rush to use the “c” word? it’s so ugly. i prefer to think of “the middleman” as dormant – hibernating in a high-tech vat, or a sac filled with a translucent amniotic fluid that may, perhaps, glow…a show in transition…like a massive televisual pupa…changing, evolving, gaining strength.
Q. all right, cut the crap – will there be a second season or what?
A. whatever future “the middleman” has will depend entirely on sales of the dvd boxed set (coming this july from shout! factory!). if the dvd sells well, maybe there will be an opening to bring the characters back in some form or another…history has shown that this is a possibility (as in “serenity” and “family guy” – you know, hope springs eternal).

More amusing content from this discussion on the MiddleBlog:
http://themiddleblog.livejournal.com/41963.html

WinRestart: Applescript Mini-App for Automatically Restarting Boot Camp into Windows

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

I just noticed, that a utility that I use, called \”WinRestart\” doesn\’t seem to have much publicity…  It\’s a simple utility that will reboot the Macintosh, but you can selective restart to a specific partition, just for the next reboot.
Typically with Bootcamp, you select the Windows partition, and then after you are done on the Windows side, you have to select to reboot to the Macintosh side…
With Winrestart, you just run Winrestart, the system will logout & reboot, and then your in windows / linux / etc.  No messy control panels, etc.  Once your done, just select to reboot the Windows system, and it\’ll reboot over to the Macintosh.  Once again, no messy boot camp control panels, etc.
It\’s the equivalent of rebooting, and selecting the Windows partition from the Boot Drive select screen (hold down option at boot up).
WinRestart
via rainbowlazer » Blog Archive » WinRestart: Applescript Mini-App for Automatically Restarting Boot Camp in the Windows/Linux Partition.

The Middleman: The Middleman\’s Lost Episode Coming Out At Last

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

There\’s even more information about the Middleman (TV Series) from IO9.
The Middleman\’s Lost Episode Coming Out At Last
By Charlie Jane Anders, 2:30 PM on Thu Feb 19 2009, 997 views
We\’ve been obsessing for months about the lost season finale of world-saving show The Middlem
an. And now it\’s finally coming out… as a graphic novel.
If you missed The Middleman, you should definitely check it out when the first season comes out on DVD this July, in time for San Diego Comic Con. It was a fun, snarky show about an upstanding 1950s-style hero with no name, who fights monsters, super-smart gorillas, supervillains and even his own predecessor. He\’s helped by Wendy, an art student who learns the crucial art of world-saving at his side.
But sadly, the show\’s first season was only 12 episodes, instead of the planned 13. Creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach, and ABC Family, decided to cut the final episode and invest its budget in the other 12, but Grillo-Marxuach teased us by posting one page from the lostl episode\’s script a while back.
Now we\’re going to get the lost episode as a graphic novel, according to this new press release from ABC Family:
Fans of the ABC Family cult hit series can revisit the weird world of \”The Middleman\” and his trusty side-kick Wendy Watson when the \”lost\” series finale episode appears in comic book form this summer. The series will also be released on DVD in summer 2009.
In a deal with Viper Comics, \”The Middleman – The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse\” graphic novel is to be written by creator/executive producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Hans Beimler, with illustrations done by Armando M. Zanker and layouts by Les McClaine. \”The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse\” special collector\’s comic book edition will be released in July 2009 to coincide with the annual Comic Con Convention in San Diego.
\”The Middleman\” season one DVD will include all 12 one-hour episodes that aired on ABC Family in summer 2008. The DVD will also contain extensive bonus material that will allow fans of the series to get an insider look at the mad capped world of their favorite heroes. ABC Family has partnered up with Shout Factory! to produce and distribute the DVD. The DVD will be available in July 2009.
So yay, because I\’ve been dying for half a year to see how this all turns out. But boo, if the graphic novel is instead of more actual TV episodes featuring the brilliance of Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales. (I suspect that massive, runaway DVD sales would help a lot in rescuing the Middleman.) Update: the New York Post is saying this means the show is actually, officially, canceled. For good. Bah.
via The Middleman: The Middleman\’s Lost Episode Coming Out At Last.

Silent Mobius: Your Chance To Join Silent Möbius\’ Army Of Demon-Fighting Women

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Your Chance To Join Silent Möbius\’ Army Of Demon-Fighting Women
From IO9 – By Charlie Jane Anders, 10:00 AM on Thu Feb 19 2009, 538 views
If you\’ve never read Kia Asamiya\’s acclaimed Silent Möbius manga series, now\’s your chance. UDON Entertainment is publishing the complete 12-volume saga, in restored editions, with unpublished material.
In Silent Möbius, humanity uses a cyclotron to open a trans-dimensional portal, but it backfires and winds up letting extra-dimensional demons known as the Lucifer Hawks into our universe. It\’s up to an all-female police force, the Attacked Mystification Police, to protect a future Tokyo from these monsters, who come in a variety of horrifying forms.
According to a new press release from UDON:
Silent Möbius: Complete Edition features a new UDON translation, the restoration of the traditional right-to-left reading format, as well as new scans of every page taken directly from the original artwork. Each volume also includes a full color illustration gallery, extras like characters designs, data files, and interviews, and many color story pages from the series original serialization in Comic Dragon Magazine. UDON will also be releasing 3 full volumes of never before collected stories – the two-volume Silent Möbius Tales, and a special prequel Volume 0 that reveals much of the series\’ backstory.
\”I feel very fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to publish this Complete Edition\”, says Asamiya, \”and it certainly gave me a chance to look back on everything. Whether you\’ve read the series before, or are picking it up for the first time ever, I hope you will enjoy Silent Möbius.\”
Silent Möbius: Complete Edition Vol.1 arrives August 2009, with new volumes to follow every few months. For the latest news on this and other UDON titles head to www.udonentertainment.com.
[Press release via Active Anime]
via Silent Mobius: Your Chance To Join Silent Möbius\’ Army Of Demon-Fighting Women.

Indigo Touch 1.0.0 (iPhone / iPod Touch app) Released

Benjamin SchollnickNo Comments

Perceptive Automation has released the v1.00 Indigo Touch application for Indigo.  It allows the Iphone & Ipod Touches to directly interface with the Indigo Home Automation Server.
I have been waiting for this client for a while….  More information and feedback, after I get home and test it out…
 

Indigo Touch 1.0.0 (our iPhone and iPod Touch client application) is now available for downloading from Apple\’s iTunes Store.
 
Indigo Touch requires the latest beta of the Indigo Server (4.0.0 beta 5 or higher) which an be downloaded here. More information about Indigo 4.0 is available here.
via Perceptive Automation :: View topic – Indigo Touch 1.0.0 (iPhone / iPod Touch app) Released.