I have a real treat for you today All Good Fans, I'm home from my local Value Village where I found a copy of The Hobbit on DVD just sitting in a bin! It must be some rough cut which accidentally made its way out of the studio. That's even better than when someone found a rough draft of the Star Wars script in my local library. Its cover doesn't even have the actors, just some of what I assume to be concept art. I'm so excited that I had to start writing this before even watching it. So keep reading and be amongst first to know everything you have wanted to about Peter Jackson's the Hobbit.

...

This is not Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. Upon watching for ninety seconds I can tell you this is definitely not Peter Jackon's The Hobbit. How embarrassing. I guess I'll just have to review it anyway. Instead keep reading to be amongst the who knows how many to know everything you never knew you wanted to know about Rankin Bass' The Hobbit.

The Hobbit, for those of you who don't know, is the 1937 story about Bilbo Baggins; a reserved fixture of his Hobbit community who one day receives a visit from a wizard and twelve Dwarfs that wish to hire him as their expert treasure hunter (e.g. burglar) on a grand adventure across the land to take back what's their from a powerful dragon. Of course, Mr. Baggins has no need for dragon treasure, knows nothing of burgling nor has ever been on an adventure but he reluctantly joins them anyway and begins his unexpected journey through Middle-Earth. On his journey, Bilbo learns just how great the world is through its fantastic creatures & settings, changing himself from a quiet homebody to an adventurer of legend.

This version of The Hobbit was released as an animated television special in 1977 from the same production company that would later make The Last Unicorn and Thundercats as well as animated by oh, Topcraft! Topcraft was an animation team who's members later formed a new company you may have heard of called Studio Ghibli. I've got to admit, the animation in this is pretty sharp, especially for 1970s television and I generally really like the art direction/character designs they used even if they took some, shall we say, creative liberties in those designs. For example, Gollum looks like a frog with ears and Smaug has a cat for a face. Now it's been a long time since I've read the novel but to be fair, I don't recall it ever specifically saying he DOESN'T have a cat for a face.

But likewise, the plot and dialogue stay surprisingly faithful to the source material with the exception of few omitted sections (such as the part with Beorn) and some plot points streamlined due to time constraints. It really makes me wonder how Peter Jackson intends to stretch this story out into three movies when this one did it in, let me check my DVD, 77 minutes! Even the music uses the actual lyrics from the poems and songs in the novel, which is a nice touch and now that we've brought it up - the music. Oh the music.

The music is, honestly, it's pretty cheesy. So much so that South Park even made references to how goofy it is with their infamous Lemmywinks episode. Try the links to compare and you'll quickly hear what I mean. Otherwise the sound is generally quite good. The cast includes Hans Conried as Thorin Oakenshield, um Otto Preminger as Thranduil and uh John Huston as Gandalf? What?! Alright, it's an excellent if not random collection making the cast and they do a great job portraying the characters, maybe even better than their live-action counterparts. So overall, I like this. I really like this.

I'd recommend it and if you would like to see this version to compare it with the Peter Jackson version, officially coming to theaters on December 14, 2012, then it is available on DVD along with various digital streaming services. Surprisingly, despite the upcoming live-action adaptation however. I unfortunately could find no plans to release this on Bluray, which is a shame because if nothing else this is a fun little adventure that should not be forgotten even if future versions turn out to be even better.

Tags: The Hobbit, Rankin Bass, Digging-Thru-Crates, entertainmentoverdose

The first thing I thought when I saw this on iTunes is: “What’s the director of ‘Rain Man” and ‘Disclosure’ doing messing around with a found footage flick?” Then I realized it probably wouldn’t be too bad expressly because of Barry Levinson’s involvement, and I was right. The Bay is an ecological disaster thriller focusing on a strange biological organism that has infested the eponymous body of water in the title. As a result, all manner of grotesqueries ensue - I guarantee you’ll squirm. One really smart thing Levinson did here was rely on a critter for the bad guy that actually exists in real life - the super creepy looking, ancient isopoda. These things feed on just about anything that drops to ocean floor, but they also occasionally crawl to the surface making for a nice fright fest. (It reminded me a little of Ridley Scott using "Nottingham lace,” which is the lining of a cow's stomach, for the interior of the original egg in Alien.) However, in reality, isopods they don’t own up to their menacing appearance. Since most people have probably never heard for them, it which allows them to make for an effective baddie and they also look super realistic because, obviously, they are.

The movie has a brisk pace and starts off with an infected person having a meltdown at a town fair. All of this is reported to us by the super cute and curvy Kether Donohue, who plays a reporter telling the story from some unknown location after it all went down. She’s one of the survivors. Of course we learn that greed is at the heart of all this, as a corporation tied in with local politicians has been dumping tons of chicken dung right next to the bay for longer than anyone can remember. The chickens were farm raised on steroids and their manure, consumed by the isopods, causes organisms to become faster growing, aggressive, human flesh eaters.

The movie got a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes, which for once is about right. It’s not a top tier horror movie, but it’s definitely not bad either. Check it out.

Tags: The Bay, Kether Donohue, Indochine

I had heard a lot of whispers of anticipation concerning Dance in the Vampire Bund, from FUNimation, before it had come out on Blu-ray and DVD. Most of the talk was because it was a lolicon video and that it was being released from such a mainstream anime company. I decided to see what all the hubbub was about and watch it. Here is what I thought.

First of all, Dance in the Vampire Bund is a short anime series about Mina Tepes, the queen of vampires. The story is about the circumstances that arise when she establishes a safe haven for night gaunt. Mina must deal with assassination attempts, human scrutiny, romance and vampire politics while providing sanctuary for her fellow creatures of the night.

The animation was well done...for the most part. The only real issue I had with quality was at a time when the animation really should have shown through; Mina's transformation scenes. I am not going to give away what is so special about it, but I will say the quality looked a little rushed and could have had a little better detail.

So at this point, you must be thinking: "Okay, 'sounds interesting, but why are people talking about this series, and what makes this so controversial?" Mina Tepes, while being hundreds of years old and having a healthy lust for romance, appears as an 11 year old girl. This causes some pretty strange twists to elements of the story that would not normally be issues and twists others that would be considered complicated on their own.

The fact that Mina looks like an 11 year old sticks out at first, and makes for some amusing situations at later points. However, I found her physical age taking a backseat to the story and plot about a quarter or third into the series, except for when was meant to ad edge. A Google Image search will show you tons of art from the anime and manga, and the VERY suggestive things Mina likes to wear. Thankfully, the series is not nearly as spicy and I was able to enjoy it without feeling too awkward or strange.

Like many series, there were some mini-stories. At least one of them might be considered "filler," but they melded well with the series and did not detract from focus of the storyline, whatsoever.

The series resolves in a way that there is a sense of completion, but not of finality, leaving sequels quite possible for the future. As a short series, I would give Dance in the Vampire Bund an 8 out of 10. It is a must have for any lolicon, and like many FUNimation anime, it is available on Netflix, so this should make many of you happy.

--Jason O. N. Roberts aka HERETICPRIME of Otaku no Baka

Tags: HERETICPRIME