<![CDATA[Comments from Captain Valiant]]> <![CDATA[Comments from Captain Valiant]]> <![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on Everyone's Favorite Background Extra Now Immortalized In Plastic!]]> I'm actually excited by the prospect of Cliegg Lars. But I agree with CarolynG: HK-47 is one of the greatest creations of our age.

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on Southland Tales Devolves Into Artistic Apocalypse]]> I just watched the DVD of Southland Tales, and it's . . . it's not good. In fact, it's a big, ludicrous, incomprehensible mess.

I enjoyed it a lot. What's not to like about a movie where there's a cabal of scientists that's run by Wallace Shawn and includes Curtis "Booger" Armstrong, Zelda Rubinstein, and Bai Ling? Sure, the overall movie makes no sense, but it's an awful lot of fun from minute to minute. And there's a Megazeppelin!

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on Worst Postapocalyptic Game Of Death Ever]]> This movie (Quintet, remember? It was mentioned up there above the millions of Newman/Redford corrections) is the only Robert Altman movie I hate. In fact, it's also my least favorite postapocalyptic game of death. It's no Blood of Heroes. It's not even Deathsport (terrible almost-sequel to Death Race 2000)!

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on Cloverfield Spawns a Crop of Indie Monster Flicks]]> @jane2073: They are! Also "Alien vs. Hunter". They've got a business model and they're sticking to it!

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on Cloverfield Spawns a Crop of Indie Monster Flicks]]> Don't forget last year's DVD smash hit ripoff "Monster", from "The Asylum". That's the people that brought you "Transmorphers", "I Am Omega", "Pirates of Treasure Island", and "The Da Vinci Treasure". Later this year, they've got "100 Million BC".

I bet you think I'm kidding.

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on A Brief History Of Star Wars Video Games]]> Huh. For some reason, I played the Empire Strikes Back coin-op more than either of the other two. The AT-AT level was a lot of fun, because you could destroy them two different ways; either shoot them directly in the eye (presumably killing the drivers) or by deploying the tow cable and tripping them.

Now that I think about it, it seems odd that those snowspeeders had tow cables to begin with.

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on Corporate America Predicts the Future at the 1962 Seattle World's Fair]]> I'd be happy if we just had more architecture like the Space Needle. It seems to me that "futuristic cities" always seem to have a lot more spires than we get these days.

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on The Scifi Obsession Of Dungeons and Dragons Creator Gary Gygax]]> I instantly regret my impulse to talk about Cyborg Commando.

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on The Scifi Obsession Of Dungeons and Dragons Creator Gary Gygax]]> I'm sad about Gygax's passing; I literally cannot imagine my life without D&D (and its descendants) in it. My friends, my job, everything was determined in some way by gaming.

Having said that, man was Cyborg Commando terrible. Early in the book, I swear it said something like "This system uses metric units because they're easier to convert. One hex is equal to five yards." Contradicted in two sentences!

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on Can You Make A Science Fiction Film In Two Days?]]> @BloggyMcBlogBlog:

Yes, the original Little Shop of Horrors was done in two days and a night, mostly on a dare. Roger Corman would be right at home in this challenge!

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on The "Castle Thunder" Noise that Rocked a Thousand Movies]]> I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's used a lot in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. That's science fiction, right?

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on What Do You Look For In Science Fiction?]]> "So, you want a realistic, down-to-earth show... that's completely off-the-wall and swarming with magic robots?"

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on A Guide To Fan Husbandry]]> What's involved in "pulling a JK Rowling"? Because it seems like Rowling has become fabulously successful and wealthy doing whatever it is she's doing.

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on Teleport Into The Secret History Of Tron]]> I think I still have the Tron novelization around here somewhere. As I remember, it brings absolutely nothing new to the table.

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on In Which Cthulhu Kicks Cloverfield's Ass Without Ever Showing Its Face]]> This is the *best* Lovecraft adaptation ever made.

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on Giant Robot Repairs the Arc de Triomphe]]> Giant robots have been destroying our landmarks for decades. It's about time one of them started repairing the damage.

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on The Cursor Is Your Friend In Scifi Text Adventure Games]]> "There is absolutely no way to escape the Vogons if you didn't pick up the mail."

Yes, but the babel fish puzzle is early in the game, so it's not that hard to restart and get the mail. It's clearly a situation where there's only room for one "object" on the satchel, so you just have to remember that there's an object that counts as more than one thing so the cleaning robot can't grab everything. Anyway, you should be picking up everything you see in a text adventure.

I thought it was much harsher to have to remember to feed the dog (so it wouldn't eat the microscopic space fleet). Sure, you don't HAVE to do that in your time at the pub, because you can do it when you're Ford. But if you get through both times at the pub without feeding the dog, then you REALLY can't win.

]]>
<![CDATA[Captain Valiant commented on The Cursor Is Your Friend In Scifi Text Adventure Games]]> I still play through the Infocom games every few years. It's still fun, although it's less fun when you've memorized how to get through the mazes. The "Lost Treasures of Infocom" cd-rom is stil available here and there.

I think I agree about Trinity; it's so cool and evocative and well written. But that one scene with Floyd in Planetfall is the best scene in any text adventure.

]]>