The Adventures of Indiana Jones

An animated Indiana Jones? Yes please! Over the past 5 years, character designer and animator Patrick Schoenmaker has crafted what would potentially be the opening sequence of The Adventures of Indiana Jones animated series. I'm really digging the art style here and would totally be on board if this were to come to fruition. With a new movie coming out featuring the now 74-year old Harrison Ford, this is probably the only way we'll get to see Indy again in his prime. As it stands, this minute or so of animation is all we're gonna get, but I've watched this about a dozen times already so I clearly haven't had my fill of Indiana Jones yet.



So Disney, get on this! Make it happen!

Connecticut ComiCONN 2015

This past weekend I went to Connecticut ComiCONN. Last year, it was a one day event at Webster Bank Arena. This year, they expanded to three days at Mohegan Sun, and it was a great decision. While the convention itself has gotten much larger, it's still not the utter crowded chaos that New York Comic Con is, and that ultimately is a good thing. It was a well organized event and Mohegan Sun is an excellent venue. I'll admit, by midday Saturday, I was getting kind of "conned-out." But I took a breather in the casino, played some slots, had a couple of drinks, and after that I was ready to head back in. I guess you can't really nerd out for three days straight. So here are some of the highlights of my Connecticut ComiCONN experience.

It's the Batmobile! The car from the 1966 series was on display along with a few cardboard cutouts of the Dynamic Duo.

2014 nerdy views in Review

2014 went by so quickly! Now that nerdy views is a year and a month old, I wanted to see what stories you guys were interested in the most this year. So here are the top ten stories you looked at and interacted with most on nerdy views in 2014.

10. Indiana Jones Reboot/Recast?!?

Way back in March, a rumor circulated that Bradley Cooper was at the top of the list to replace Harrison Ford in a reboot of the Indiana Jones franchise. And just like a toddler who doesn't get what he wants, the Internet lost its mind. I took a very neutral approach to the rumor, and at this point it was still very much a rumor. Indy's last outing, Kingdom of the Crystal was not well received but it was still a money maker. Although I'm astonished to find out it carries a 78% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. I'm arguably a bigger fan of Star Trek than the Indiana Jones franchise and I didn't mind when that reboot hit theaters, so why should a new Indy incense me any more? Ultimately the rumors were debunked, while the studio still has interest in making a new Indy movie. Meanwhile Bradley Cooper stuck with Disney (they own LucasFilm & Marvel) and starred as the voice of Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy, and Harrison Ford will be seen in next year's Star Wars: The Force Awakens. 

9. Game of Thrones: The Laws of God and Men

It's the trial of Tyrion Lannister! Accused of poisoning his nephew, King Joffrey, the episode was kind of a mish-mash until the trial began. There was Davos and Stannis trying to get money for an army, the attempted rescue of Theon Greyjoy, and Dany trying to make reparations for her dragon's burnish behavior. But when it came time for the trial, the episode finally got moving. The testimony was damning, even though it was all lies. And then a surprise witness shattered Tyrion's core. When Peter Dinklage took the stand, (he was nominated for an Emmy for this episode) he was electric. He told off the courtroom and demanded a trial by combat. And we all know how well that went for his champion...

Underdogs

With Prince Oberyn Martell facing off against the Mountain in the next episode of Game of Thrones, it marks another in a long line of underdog fights in TV and movie history. And why not? Everybody loves a good underdog fight, except maybe for Barney Stinson.



But underdog fights are great. It's good vs evil, small vs big, right vs wrong. In many cases, good prevails because that's what the audience likes. In some cases, the good guy loses but has some kind of moral victory. In the movies, the bad guy rarely wins. George R.R. Martin isn't one to follow convention so the Oberyn/Mountain fight may have a quick and painful end for us, but who knows. Actually, book readers know so no spoilers! So Barney not withstanding, let's take a look at some of the more entertaining underdog fights in pop culture history.

Indiana Jones Reboot/Recast?!?

The fine folks over at Latino Review always seem to break some big stories, or at the very least report some juicy rumors concerning some of my favorite franchises. This time, word is Disney/Lucasfilm has plans to recast the role of Indiana Jones, and at the top of the list is Bradley Cooper.

Now let's look at this logically. Harrison Ford is getting a bit long in the tooth, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was by far the worst outing for our favorite archaeologist. If Disney/Lucasfilm is indeed moving forward with another Indy movie, wouldn't recasting be a good idea so you can avoid having to watch a septuagenarian running around getting into and out of trouble?

Now I'm not saying this is a good idea. Bradley Cooper is a fine actor who's been nominated for 2 Oscars, was great in The Hangover, and I've known about him since his days on Alias. I'm just saying I'd much rather see Cooper in an Uncharted movie, which for all intensive purposes is pretty much the same as Indiana Jones. Does that even make any sense?!?

Indiana Jones is one of my all time favorite franchises, and rebooting it SHOULD be blasphemy for me, but you know what? Star Trek got recast and I was okay with it. James Bond gets recast and I'm okay with it. The world moves on, and those original movies will always exist in my memories and in my Blu-Ray boxed sets. If Bradley Cooper becomes the next Indiana Jones, it is NOT the end of the world, although some nerds out there would have you think so.

Remember, this is just a rumor. We could all be getting into a hissy fit just for nothing. But it's fun to talk about isn't it?

So what do you think? Is the recasting a good idea? Or should Harrison Ford don the fedora one more time? And do you agree with my opinion or am I just a coward not taking any sides?

30th Anniversary Of Everything Nerdy

Well maybe not everything nerdy, but 1984 was a banner year for nerdy stuff coming out. So prepare yourself to see a plethora of 30th Anniversary paraphernalia released throughout the year. Here's a look at the things I'm excited for.

Can you believe Transformers is 30 years old? The cartoon was essentially an animated advertisement to sell toys that Hasbro bought & rebranded from the Japanese company Takara. And boy did those commercials work because the original toy line surged in popularity, and is still sought after today as collectors items. The brand has continued over the years with various animated series, the latest of which featured the return of Peter Cullen & Frank Welker as the voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron, a recently relaunched comic book series, three live-action movies with diminishing returns in quality and a 4th one releasing in June, and way more toys than you can shake a stick at with the officially released Masterpiece line which features extremely detailed versions of the G1 line, and 3rd party releases which in many cases are superior to any Transformers I've ever seen. On the radar this year, look for Masterpiece releases of Wheeljack, Ultra Magnus, Bumblebee, and a special edition Year of the Horse Optimus Prime. Also, BotCon was announced for June 19th-22nd in Pasadena, CA and I'm sure there will plenty of 30th Anniversary celebrations there.