While Geekadelphia’s Jo absolutely adores the BBC’s Doctor Who (as you’ve likely noticed from her frequent giveaways and smokin’ TARDIS dress) I’m a big fan of the BBC’s underdog series, Primeval.

The premise behind the show is pretty ridiculous, even for BBC standards, but undeniably entertaining. Glimmering portals (known as Anomalies), are opening through out England, letting prehistoric (and sometimes mythical) creatures into our time. A ragtag group of scientists, soldiers, government officials and students are assembled to lead the charge against the time altering threat, with dramatic and action packed results.

I’ve been subscriber to the show since it popped up for sale on iTunes, and was thrilled when the BBC sent me Volume 3 of Primeval on Blu-ray to scope out and giveaway.

Trailer for Season 1, so you have an idea

I’d dish out details on the plot, but for those of you new to the series… well, spoilers! So let’s just talk about the release.

Volume 3 of Primeval isn’t packaged the way you might think, giving you all of season 3. Nope, instead, you’re getting all of season 4 and 5, thirteen action packed episodes in total. The digital transfer is fantastic. As someone who’s used to watching the series in standard definition via iTunes, the HD Blu-ray quality looks just great. And the special features are nice too, giving you a great making-of entitled New Dawn: Making the New Primeval.

All in all, this is a great box set for fans of the show. High resolution, excellent making of documentary, and two full seasons in one nice package. And hey, if you’ve never seen the program, enter in the giveaway and catch up on the show. You’ll love it, promise.

So about that giveaway! I’m giving away Volume 3 of Primeval on Blu-ray to one lucky commenter. Leave a comment about your favorite prehistoric creature, I’ll choose one of you at random and send you your copy. Good luck!

Our favorite omnipotent being is coming to our beloved Brave New Worlds comic book shop in Old City. John de Lancie, an actual Philadelphia native, is best known for portraying Q, the all-knowing and all-powerful being from the Star Trek universe. He’ll be at the store signing autographs (for $25) on Saturday the 21st.

I might be there to geek out and harass him with questions such as, “Have you seen the hysterical stuff that George Takei posts on Facebook?”, “Wasn’t there a TNG episode where Riker manages to seduce a female Q or am I just making that up?”,”Wasn’t Janeway the absolute worst captain in Starfleet history?”

Head over to Brave New Worlds, and stock up on comics while you’re at it. Meanwhile, ask de Lancie about his guest appearances on Law & Order: LA or Torchwood: Miracle Day and voice work for Cartoon Network’s Young Justice. Actually, ask him how he felt about being a villain on “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.” I really want to know about that.

Q is Coming
Saturday, January 21st, 2012

Brave New Worlds
45 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
www.bravenewworldscomics.com

Hello Whovians! BBC America has released Doctor Who Season 6 Part 2 on Blu-ray and they’re giving Geekadelphia full access. Season 6 was filled with twists and turns, and viewers learned the secrets of River Song. It was truly a monumental season, and Season 7 is sure to be another good one.

This Blu-ray is a great addition to any Whovian’s collection. Season 6 is one of the most beautifully shot seasons Doctor Who has ever seen, and you definitely should own it on Blu-ray. The High Definition really enhances your Season 6 experience. Some of my favorite episodes like “The God Complex”, and “The Wedding of River Song” are really worth the Blu-ray quality.

Not only does the Season look exceptional in High Definition, but there are a few special features that you have to check out. The Monster Files delves into the world of The Anti-Bodies and The Cybermats. I especially enjoyed learning what went into the modernization of The Cybermats, and the different mechanical variations they used on set. If you’re into learning about the creatures of Doctor Who you need to have this Blu-ray!

BBC was not only nice enough to let us review this Blu-ray, but they gave us two copies to give away. That’s right! We have two copies of Doctor Who Season 6 Pt 2 on Blu-ray to give to two lucky readers. All you need to do is comment below with where you think The Doctor and River Song would go for their Honeymoon. The two best answers will get a copy of the Blu-ray!

Contest Closed! Thanks for playing.

As you all clearly know, I love me some Halo. And if my full suit of Master Chief armor doesn’t hammer home that message, I really don’t know what will. The games, the novels, the movies (Legends wasn’t bad!), the comics… I just can’t get enough. And that includes the hilarious Red. vs Blue series.

Red vs. Blue: Season 9 continues the story of Red vs Blue: Revelation, and breaks the same rules that RvB:R did… we’re introduced to a story being told without the traditional Halo engine, and instead, are treated to pre-rendered CGI.

And while the story this series tells gets a little confusing at times (there are two distinct story arcs through the twenty episode series, one of which goes back and uses the Halo engine), the Rooster Teeth crew continue to deliver a hilarious narrative that Halo fans everywhere will love.

The DVD has all the usual suspects that Red vs. Blue releases tend to include. Hilarious director’s commentary, outtakes and deleted scenes, cast interviews, and the PSAs that Rooster Teeth is celebrated for. Since you can watch the series for free online, it’s a must to include this sort of stuff for fans. And they give you a lot of it, especially with the behind the scenes videos.

The folks at New Video Group were kind enough to send over a bunch of copies to giveaway. I’ve got three copies of Season 9 up for grabs here. Just leave a comment about your favorite game in the Halo series for a chance to win. I’ll pick one of you at random next week and drop a copy in the mail.

Be sure to scope out Rooster Teeth’s website for more information on Red vs. Blue. Old episodes, hilarious comics… they do some great work, those guys.

Cinematic Titanic is coming to the Keswick Theatre New Years Eve-Eve (Get tickets here!), and in preparation for that I got to chat with the man himself behind both Cinematic Titanic and Mystery Science Theater 3000, Joel Hodgson.

The Godfather of Movie Riffing was nice enough to impart on me not only some of his philosophy on riffing,  but the origins of MST3K and what goes into putting together a show like Cinematic Titanic.

I hope you enjoy this behind the scenes conversation about probably one of the greatest shows in all of geekdom .

For the people who may not know, what is Cinematic Titanic and how did it come about?

Well to know what Cinematic Titanic is you first have to know what Mystery Science Theater 3000 is.  I actually have to explain what MST3K is a lot.  Whenever I meet people and they ask what I do, I never presume they know, because it was a cult show.

I basically say, it’s the show where they run bad movies and they super impose little silhouettes at the bottom of the screen; who say stuff during the movie. Then if they are familiar with it they usually brighten up a bit or they just matter of factly say, “no I have never seen it.”

Cinematic Titanic is the original cast of MST3K and we have our jokes all setup and we riff on a movie based on the success of MST3K. That is what I usually say at that point, so the people who haven’t heard of it at least know it’s successful.

Is there a reason you tend to choose more obscure films to riff on than some of your contemporaries?

There is a couple of reasons, the first being cost.

People like Rifftrax are doing it and they just have to put their voices in. I have seen other people do that too where you don’t know who they are, you just hear talking. I guess you could do that, but to me that is only part of movie riffing. The other part is your physical presence; what you’re doing when you’re riffing.

I think people do that, it’s my impression that they think it’s a marketing thing.  That if you have seen this movie you might want to see someone riff on it.

So we don’t really do that. I see MST3K and Cinematic Titanic working another side of the street.

To me what I think people like about MST3K and Cinematic Titanic is that we show movies they haven’t seen before. So it’s kind of like a new place, which is part of the value and mystique in it. So we are a lot like your tour guides in this place.

Take something like Manos: The Hands of Fate, when I watch that show it’s not even my favorite riff. But because the movie is so strange and unusual, it just has this bizarre attraction for people.

With that in mind how do you find some of these films?

Well there are a couple of routes. Some of the films are public domain so you can use the internet to find those. We then have a guy that does copyright searches to make sure the film is actually public domain. The problem with that though is sometimes the prints aren’t really in great shape, so half of the movies we get we license.

That is a whole other thing where we find someone who represents different movies so you can kind of look through their catalog, which is easier.  The prints are usually nicer with licensing and that is what you want when you’re projecting them. A big part of our business is performing live, so they have to look nice enough projected on the big screen.

Are there any films you would have liked to riff on but couldn’t for some reason or another?

It doesn’t really work that way.

To me its kind of like re-finishing a house and you are looking around for a house that has good bones, so you can work with it and it’s within your budget.  I really don’t do window-shopping. Because the way you have to get into a film when you movie riff is you really have to live with it and wade through it.

We are doing a movie right now that we are going to do for the Keswick and right now we are each doing a section. So I get everyone’s riffs and right now I am doing what I call line assign, which is really fun because it’s like painting with jokes.

Because you see a point that opens up, and you look at what everyone has written and then I pick the funniest thing or the thing I like the best and drop it in. If there isn’t something good I will try and alter it or come up with something new, which at often times is influenced by what everyone is saying at that moment.

It’s a lot like animation. I think I worked on it yesterday and today and I got about 5 minutes, and that is after everyone has put in their jokes.

That’s crazy, how long does the process usually take to finish a riff on a film?

When you’re going through it, writing it, it can take 3 weeks to go through it.

Well, a movie is like 80-90 minutes and I think on an average day I can get through 10 minutes when I am doing my initial joke paths.

Then after that we do line assign where everyone sends in their jokes and we go through them again.  Then we start to practice it and watch it a couple of more times with the lines. When we did MST3K we would do 8 full passes on a film. But its little different for us because we perform it over and over again live, so some films we would have watched a total of 20 times before we perform them.

Do you think because of some of your choices you have opened people up to checking out more off-beat films?

I’m not too sure how it works. I know that we have exposed people to a lot of films they have never seen before and wouldn’t have seen. When were doing MST3K in the late 80s early 90s we were showing film from the 50s, 60s and 70s, so we were showing people films they NEVER would have seen otherwise.

I think its kind of still true, because there is so much product out there.

I think that is what people like about it.

I mean just even the premise of learning who Gamera is, and just going “are you kidding me?” There is a giant turtle like Godzilla but he shoots fire out of his legs and flies.

So I think that has a certain value to it.

So, finally what does it feel like to be known as the “Godfather of Riffing”?

Well it fits, because it was like we really bumped into it. When I thought of it I was in High School, I saw this image that was in an Elton John album of theater seats and 3 people sitting in the theater looking at a movie. I remember saying to myself, that would be a really cool TV show to have people sitting there saying funny stuff  about the movie.

That is how it all started, but I didn’t have the resources or the know how to put it together. It was weird but when we started at TV 23 I didn’t know we would get to the level, that it quickly became in a couple of years. So I guess its true but I had a lot of help, especially Trace and Josh who really helped figure it out.

Neverwhere is a trippy view of “London Below,” the world that exists in parallel to our own. The story follows Richard Mayhew (Gary Bakewell), who stops to help an injured woman over the protestations of his fiancée. The woman is actually a dweller of London Below named Door (Laura Fraser), whose entire family has just been murdered and is being chased by the menacing assassins, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar.

By helping Door, Richard is lost to the people above and can only be seen by the people of London Below. Richard and Door travel together to try and find answers to both their questions – how can Richard regain his life above and why is Door being hunted? They look for the Angel of Islington, with the assistance of the Marquis de Carabas and Old Bailey.

The DVD includes loads of commentary from Neil Gaiman, from when the series was originally released as well as from more recently, a photo gallery, and character descriptions. The box, notably, features the original version of the cover art. The original picture of a fist brandishing what I can only describe as “stabby rings” had the rings changed to flames. Plus, it comes with an actual map of Neverwhere, which should come in handy if you ever find yourself stopping to help an injured girl on the streets of London.

We’ve got a copy to give away. Leave a comment below with your favorite Neil Gaiman character!

What’s better than Season 2 of The Walking Dead ? Season 2 of The Walking Dead WITH DRINK SPECIALS.

Enter the Irish Pol. You’ve got the chance to see the show on a HUGE screen with $4 Rogue Dead Guy Ales and $5 “Zombie Brain” shots in addition to their already killer selection of on-tap brews.

The best part is these specials run through The Walking Dead AND the 2 additional times that AMC plays it (so if you can’t make the 9pm viewing, head over at 10!). Every Sunday at The Irish Pol. Zombies and the Irish Pol. Two great tastes that taste great together.

Last week, Season Two of the BCC’s amazing psychological drama, Luther, hit the streets on DVD. I first tuned into this show when I discovered that Idris Elba, the man who played Stringer Bell in HBO’s The Wire, was the main character. He was amazing on that show, and is just as fantastic in Luther. Unfamiliar with the story? Well here’s a synopsis.

The dark psychological drama starring Emmy nominee Idris Elba (The Wire, American Gangster) as John Luther, the near-genius detective struggling with his own demons, returns with two distinctive, thrilling crime stories. Devastated by the brutal murder of his wife, Luther returns to policing in a different world. His old unit has gone and he’s working in the newly created Serious and Serial unit, headed by former police complaints officer Martin Schenk. Luther quickly gathers together his team, rescuing his old partner Detective Justin Ripley from uniform.

It’s not long before they’re dealing with their first case. A masked man wanders the streets of London, carrying out ritualistic murders in historic locations, working his way up to one final masterpiece… Crackling with energy and beautifully shot this series sees Luther take bigger risks and face even darker challenges.

The folks over at the BCC were kind enough to provide me with a review copy and a giveaway. Review wise, there’s not much to say. I absolutely adore this show, and having it on DVD is great. End of story.

The two disc set, which consists of four, one hour episodes (this might seem short, but this is pretty standard for a BBC drama, just look at Sherlock), is certainly a must for any fan of the series. As with every high quality BBC show, its shot beautifully (again, look at Sherlock, or even the Robin Hood revamp). And Elba is just incredible. For more info, visit the BBC’s official website.

All that being said, I’ve got TWO copies of Luther: Season Two to giveaway to a lucky reader. Just leave a comment about your favorite BBC program, whether its Luther or Doctor Who, and I’ll select two of you at random at the end of next week. Good luck!

You could be one of these guys.

Do you think you’re the nerdiest, geekiest, smartiest geek in Philadelphia? How about Pennsylvania? How about, the entire US? You do? Well, have I found the opportunity for you!

The producers of Mythbusters, Survivor, & the Amazing Race are looking for intellectually savvy guys and girls to be on Reality TV!

They’re looking for geeks ages 21-30 to participate in a competition-based reality show entitled KING OF THE NERDS. This show is honoring passionate geeks around the country. They’re looking for geeks who excel in mathematics, physics, build robots for fun, and are Sci-Fi fanatics!

All you need to do is e-mail kingofthenerdscasting@gmail.com with your name, age, photo, contact information, and a brief bio describing why YOU deserve to be King of the Nerds.

I already sent in my information and would love to see more of Philadelphia’s “geek elite” step up to the challenge! Let’s face it. Ain’t no geek like a Geekadelphia geek cause a Geekadelphia geek don’t stop.

Source: Craigslist

Family Guy is one of the geekiest things on network television right now and is gearing up for its 11th season on Fox. Its hard to believe that the show would still be running this long after its tumultuous beginnings and getting canceled during its first run on Fox.

The 11th season of Family Guy premiers on September 25th, and we have some RSVPs to give away to an advance screening at 11:59pm Thursday, September 15th at the Rave.

Wanna go? Simply comment with your favorite episode and why by Wednesday at midnight, and the top answers will be on the guest list courtesy of Fox and Geekadelphia.