The Famous Starstore Blog

Well, there’s been some changes in store of late, and its been a while since we last spoke on a personal level, geek to geek, so lets check out what has been happening here in the real-world counterpart of Starstore.com, namely The Last Picture Show, here in the Meadowhall centre in Sheffield.

We now have a new internet Monkey colleague in the form of Jon, who out-geeks most of the rest of us by being an avid WoW player. Thankfully he isn’t quite so knowledgeable on comics and movies, so the balance is steady, for now at least. Anyway, the nerdometer is about ready to explode as it is right now, thanks to me frothing at the mouth with glee at the current series of Doctor Who (See our regular TARDISWATCH and TORCHWATCH features for proof of that), so my crown is still residing safely upon my shiny head. Anyway, welcome Jon!

The hot merchandise of late has been the Gears of War action figures, the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles figures, the Halo 3 range. The AVPR range is still proving to be popular, so as long as you guys want the Hybrids, Aliens and Predators, we’ll do our utmost to get them in.

Everyone’s getting stoked for the imminent release of the new Batman film THE DARK KNIGHT, and quite rightly so. The posters and some of the merchandise has started to arrive, and we’re proud to have it on our shelves as we all love what Christopher Nolan has been doing with Batman. Its been quite a year for superheroes so far, what with Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and Batman getting people excited about superhero cinema again. The direction the Marvel movies are taking is really quite brilliant, and things are coming together nicely for a coherent Marvel screen universe, which if course will lead nicely into the AVENGERS movie.

There’s been some shifting around of stock and shelves and the layout of the shop is mutating into something much cooler. The shop layout is something that never really stays still for long- like your home, there’s always something that would look ‘better over there’. We’re trying to get everything displayed nicely and keep the store fully accessible for visitors.

We’ve been trying to figure out which crossover event we’re more into at the moment- Secret Invasion or Dreamwar. It looks like Dreamwar is edging ahead in the Starstore popularity stakes as stuff actually happens in it. Secret Invasion is cool as hell but the pace has been a bit too slow in picking up to keep us guessing. Elsewhere on our comics racks, the new Tank Girl series has been picking up a bunch of new readers and keeping the iconic, foul-mouthed anti-heroine in the public consciousness, so that’s a good thing. On the graphic novels front, the reissue of Batman: The Killing Joke has been flying out, and there’s also the first collected volume of THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY out now for all of those My Chemical Romance fans who suddenly found themselves reading comics and discovering they’re actually rather good. My advice to those new comics fans? Get hold of WATCHMEN so you can be like the rest of us here and know all about the greatest comic series ever released, before the movie comes out next year. That way you get to say ‘I TOLD you it was brilliant’ once Zack Snyder’s adaptation hits the screens.

Anyways, I gotta get back to sorting out the new layout and mocking Greg’s scene kid hair.

• new comic day. Goodies to come in those magical brown boxes. Huzzah! #
• Jon is geekranting about Firefox 3 in my ear…heh. #
• Seen the new Davros yet? He looks awesome. #
• Delivery is here. *rubs hands* new comics and figures ahoy! #

• Rich is in the middle of a stock list. New stuff in tomorrow! #
• gonna rework the figure walls soon- always good to have a shuffle around #
• zombify your friends faces!!! http://www.diaryofthedead.co.uk/zombiefacechanger/ #

The highly anticipated feature film adaptation of the Xbox 360 hit video game GEARS OF WAR finally came a step closer to becoming a reality recently. It has now been confirmed that Len Wiseman will direct the movie, and work is expected to start soon on getting the production underway. Now to be scripted by Chris Morgan (Wanted, Fast and Furious 3 and 4), the Gears of War tale of humans in a battle against the alien menace of the Locust Horde is being touted as the definitive video game film; one that brings the game faithfully to the screen yet offers a satisfying movie experience as well. That is no mean feat, and if Wiseman pulls it off he’ll be pretty much the first person to make a truly compelling film out of a video game franchise. Despite the film only just getting underway, there is still a tentative release date of summer 2009. They’re gonna have to hurry up a bit…

• Looking forward to those Torchwood figures in August. #
• remerching the comics wall- bit of chaos, but it’ll be worth it. #
• The ‘Death’ in the new Living Dead Dolls series 15 is awesome #
• Oh, and we’re all saddened by the news of Stan Winston’s passing. A true legend. #

TARDISWATCH 2008: DOCTOR WHO FEATURE REVIEWS
EPISODE 10: MIDNIGHT
An independent, unofficial series of Doctor Who reviews and analysis from a lifelong fan of the showThe ‘moneysaver’ episodes have really been a mixed bag of delights and terrors since the series came back. They are a necessary thing- so much cash and effort goes into the finales of each series that there needs to be one or two episodes that don’t drain the resources too much. With the first series it was ‘Boom Town’. Series two had ‘Love and Monsters’ and ‘Fear Her’, and series three had ‘Blink’. Out of all of these episodes, it is by far Steven Moffatt’s ‘Blink’ that is the most successful. Utilising minimal sets and effects are available for these episodes, and as such the weight of responsibility has to be on the shoulders of the scriptwriter and the cast to pull off something compelling. With the right ingredients you have something fantastic, and the rest of the time you get episodes with some great moments that otherwise come across as filler. The time has come for this year’s cheapie entry…

Keep checking back for the latest news on new Doctor Who merchandise!

DOCTOR WHO: MIDNIGHT - EPISODE REVIEWIts that time of year again- the point where we get a lower budget/scale episode to minimize costs and maximise the impact of the series finale. This year we have Midnight, which has a great premise which is sadly let down by a repetitive script and an unsatisfying ending. Donna is barely in it, which tells me this was shot simultaneously with next week’s episode, which is very light on David Tennant. Okay, the basic plot is simple- the Doctor gets trapped on a bus craft while en route to a natural wonder. While trapped in the vehicle, one of the passengers is possessed by an alien entity that attempts to kill everyone. The Doctor must stop the rest of the passengers chucking the possessed woman- and himself- off the ship to their deaths. Right. Fair enough. The only problem is, this is a ten minute story stretched to 45 minutes, and the padding shows in the form of extremely annoying dialogue and a cast who have little to do but shout at each other until someone shouts louder. The best thing about the episode is the skill shown between the Doctor and Skye while Skye is mimicking everyone. A big let down after the last two weeks of perfection. We’ve served our penance now- onto the final three episodes and the stuff we’ve been waiting for! Midnight? More like One…1/10

THE RETURN OF ROSE TYLERBuckle up, everyone! Rose Tyler is back next week, but she’s not going to arrive to find everything as it was, as the Doctor appears to be dead… The next episode, ‘Turn Left’ is apparently based mostly around the Doctor’s female companions, which aside from being eye candy for Dads everywhere, means we get to see another side to the show and discover what the Doctor means to these people. It certainly looks interesting, and will hopefully be as good a build up to the finale as Utopia’ was last year.

• Torchwood news up later today… Tardiswatch is moving to Tuesday for this week only. #
• seriously… five episodes? huh? #

An independent, unofficial look at the latest happenings in the TORCHWOOD universe, written by a devout fan. SERIES 3 NEWS
It has come to light that the previously mentioned five-part story is to be series three in its entirety! The story is said to take the form of five episodes to be broadcasted over the course of a single week, and is to shake things up not just for the whole team, but for Captain Jack Harkness in particular.

Julie Gardner has confirmed in the latest issue of Torchwood magazine that not only is the show to return with a much shorter run, but it is also to move over to BBC1 to be aired. This is quite impressive- remember this is a spinoff show that started life oin BBC3 and has since moved to BBC2 and now BBC1. I’d call that a success. I’m curious to find out why the series will be so short though- surely this spells the end for the team? The five part story idea sounds as though it may be a great big send-off for the series. It looks as though 2009 is going to be very light on Doctor Who and Torchwood action- just four new Doctor Who episodes and five new Torchwood episodes.

Having said that, the shorter runs will enable the makers to concentrate more on the production and not have to spread the budget out for thirteen episodes, meaning those that we do see will look even better than usual. This five-part miniseries starts shooting in August, for broadcast in early 2009. I wonder if there will be any crossover with the Doctor Who specials?

ALL ABOUT THE TORCHWOOD AUDIO EPISODE
One thing that is getting fans excited is the forthcoming audio episode of Torchwood that is set to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July. Lets take a look at the facts of this new story as it stands so far:

- The episode will be 45 minutes long and be broadcast as the Radio 4 Afternoon Play for that day.

It has been written by none other than Joseph Lidster.

The episode will feature John Barrowman, Eve Miles, Gareth David-Lloyd and Freema Agyeman in their TV roles as the Torchwood team.

The story is said to be based around a Particle Accelerator, and coincides with the opening of the largest accelerator in existence in Switzerland (The Large Hadron Collider, aka the LHC if I remember rightly).

Despite it not having an official title yet, the CD of the play is available to pre-order from Amazon.

We will be keeping an eye on this exciting project as it develops and more news is announced. The audio medium is something that Torchwood is perfectly suited for- I wonder if more will go ahead if this one is a success?

The Torchwood action figures are available to pre-order now, and are due to arrive in August!

COMING SOON: More news on Torchwood series 3, our overviews of the first two seasons, and more on the new merchandise! Remember- the 21st Century is where everything changes.

• busy! #
• still busy. #
• did I mention we’re busy? #

NOW IN STOCK! This is a very timely box set, and great value too. DC Direct have been doing well with their figure/trade paperback bundles, and this is one of the titles that is going to sell no matter what, so it’s a no brainer really that The Killing Joke would be on the list of tales to get the deluxe set treatment. Batman: The Killing Joke, running to just 48 pages, is one of the most admired and sought after books on the comics market. Written by Alan Moore, it is the basis for a chunk of the new DARK KNIGHT movie, and is a real comics event in its own right. The original graphic novel is included in the Killing Joke box set, along with a suitably insane looking Joker figure in holiday gear, and a very stern looking classic Batman figure, with exposed arm injury. The book and figures are packed in the standard DC direct window display box, along with a display base for each figure. This ios one of those items you really can’t go wrong with- simple, classic and very, very cool. I just hope the Dark Knight merch is a fraction as cool as this box set.