This Week in Nerddom…Zombies, JFK, The Joker and a Lightsaber

I have many nerdy interests and sometimes it just isn’t possible to write about all of them. So here is some of the nerdy stuff that’s come across my desk this week…

First is the new Star Wars Episode 7 Trailer.  I didn’t find it that exciting. There really isn’t that much shown. People were analyzing lightsaber sounds and apparently you can hear recycled footage of Luke’s original lightsaber (the one that falls with his hand when Vader cuts it off in Episode V). Does that mean that lightsaber is going to play an important role in the story? Who cares? I can’t wait to see Episodes 7, 8 and 9 but I’m just not that focused on the lightsaber.

One of my favorite characters on The Walking Dead has died in the mid-season Finale. There’s a to bring the character back. So far it has 34,293 supporters. I gotta admit, it sucked when that character died. I was disappointed for sure. However, I’d be more disappointed if they did some sort of do-over. Would the last few minutes of the episode turn out to be just a dream? I don’t even want to think about it.

On the 26th of last month, I was challenged to read Batman: The Killing Joke. That seemed less shocking to my body than dumping a bucket of ice on myself so I accepted. I had to buy the book and after checking Amazon and ebay, eBay was the better choice. I haven’t read the book but I’ll do my best to read it and give my thoughts soon.

Syfy plans to launch 5 new shows to get people excited about their programming again. They realize that We the Viewers love science fiction and so there’s 5 new shows to get us pumped:

Ascension: JFK sends 600 people to colonize a new planet back in 1963 and this is their story. This is a 3-night miniseries that may turn into a regular TV series. Tricia Helfer of Battlestar Galactica will be starring on the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJqQ4OdPcAo
12 Monkeys: A reboot of the Brad Pitt/Bruce Willis movie, not a continuation. Hopefully it is more interesting than Continuum. Looks like it will star the Nerd from Nikita. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi4AtvfXlUA
Childhood’s End: A 6-hour miniseries about “peaceful” alien Overlords that created a Utopia on earth based on an Arthur C. Clarke book.
The Expanse: Based on James S.A. Corey’s books. 200 years in the future a missing young woman brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system.
Hunters: Based on the novel Alien Hunter by Whitley Strieber. A cop in Philadelphia stumbles onto a “secret government unit” assembled to hunt terrible terrorists who might be aliens.

From the above choices, Ascension looks cool.  I saw 12 Monkeys back in the 90s when it first came out and didn’t care for it.  Either this is because I didn’t appreciate as much sci-fi then as I do now or because it sucked.  Speaking of sucky movies turned TV shows, Dominion wasn’t too, too bad and I’m considering checking out Constantine the TV series.  I’ll try to stay open minded about the rest.

Are there zombies in your neighborhood? Click the link and enter your address. There was a very tall zombie invading my house.  If you are freaking out about how they have those images, it is most likely google maps integrated into their website.

That is all for now!