Raiders of the Lost Ark in stop-motion
Via TNI, here’s a stop-motion shot for shot remake of the first six minutes of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which starred Harrison Ford as 
Indiana Jones. More info at the facebook page for the project.
- Matt Price
G.I. Joe Retaliation trailer released
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars in “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” the sequel to 2009′s “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.” The film, directed by Jon M. Chu, is set for a June 29, 2012 release.
What do you think of the trailer? The star quotient has certainly been upped in the second film.
- Matt Price
Limited edition He-Man and the Masters of the Universe DVD set for Comic-Con
Mill Creek has announced a special edition of the second season of “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” will be available at Comic-Con International in San Diego.
It will be on sale at booth #4135, the FUNimation booth. This special Comic-Con release is available nearly two months before the regular edition release of the second season.
The complete 8-DVD, 65-episode second season, features exclusive artwork on collectible holographic foil packaging. It will be on sale for $25, with bonus features including interviews, audio commentaries, character profiles and scripts.
The fantasy series features the hero, He-Man, who gets his powers from the mysterious Castle Grayskull. He faces off against the evil Skeletor and protects the planet Eternia. The cartoon series originally aired from 1983-1985.
The “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” program was based on the Mattel toy line, first launched in 1982.
- Matt Price
Captain America celebrated in new comic book, museum event
He went from a scrawny 4F in the early days of World War II to America’s super soldier! The Toy and Action Figure Museum will celebrate the Marvel Comics hero Captain America from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the museum, 111 S Chickasaw in Pauls Valley.
Yuri Lowenthal, Tara Platt to star in “Shelf Life”
Production Still from Season One of Shelf Life, featuring Tara Platt as Hero Lass, Travis Willingham as Hero Man, Yuri Lowenthal as Bug Boy and Bryan Enk as Samurai Snake! photo by Matthew Matt Swanson, from the Shelf Life facebook page
Yuri Lowenthal, Tara Platt, Travis Willingham, and Bryan Enk are set to star in the new live-action web series “Shelf Life,” which stars four action figures on a young boy’s shelf.
The series was co-written by comic book writer Paul Jenkins and Lowenthal. Jenkins will direct. 
Created and produced by Lowenthal (Terminator: TSCC, Ben 10: Alien Force, Legion of Superheroes) and Platt (The Gilmore Girls, Charmed, Afterworld) the series will follow the action figures’ irreverent antics.
The first season of Shelf Life introduces us to Hero Man (Travis Willingham: Thor, Transformers, Marvel Super Hero Squad), Hero Lass (Tara Platt), Bug Boy (Yuri Lowenthal) and Samurai Snake (Bryan Enk) and is set to debut in late summer.
It was produced under Lowenthal and Platt’s Monkey Kingdom Productions shingle in conjunction with Stephanie Thorpe’s (Elf Quest: A Fan Imagining, Night of the Zombie King, After Judgment) Ultimatum Entertainment. The series was shot at Monkey Kingdom Studios in downtown Los Angeles.
“It’s a high concept idea, and it was very important to us to have high production values and high quality scripts as well,” said Platt, who lived in Oklahoma from age 7 to 11.
Lowenthal said he wanted to make a show for nerds.
“Technology has made it easier and cheaper to shoot and distribute shows via the Internet, but we didn’t want to use that as an excuse for putting out a show that wouldn’t be competitive even if you were watching it on TV.” Lowenthal said. “I’m a nerd. I wanted to make the kind of thing that my friends and I would watch. It’s got the four S’s: Sex, Social commentary, Slapstick and Superheroes. It’s like Toy Story only we say (expletive deleted) a lot more.”
- Matt Price
Adrianne Palicki: A Real American Hero? Nerdage and Staticblog discuss the GI Joe sequel
Nerdage: So, the first GI Joe movie was, to put it kindly, a bit of a mess. Casting announcements for the sequel, thus far, have been a mix of “huh” and “hmmm”…. RZA may play the Blind Master. DJ Cotrona likely to play Flint. Channing Tatum and Ray Park set to return as Duke and Snake Eyes. Elodie Yung signed as Jinx. John Chu set to direct. The Rock expected to play Roadblock. Bruce Willis keeps being rumored. And this weekend, the news that may cause Staticblog’s George Lang to see a GI Joe movie: Adrianne Palicki, Deadline reports, will play Lady Jaye.
What do you think, Lang? Are you buying tickets for a Dwayne Johnson/Bruce Willis film based on 3 3/4 inch action figures?
StaticBlog: Actually, if it were based on the 12-inch Vietnam-era guy with the awesome bristle-cut hair and beard combo, I’d be in, because Kung-Fu Grip is freaking insurmountable in plastic hand-to-hand combat.
But because this is the “Real American Hero”-era Joe, I’m basically in for the reason you surmised — Palicki, Palicki, Palicki. They can have the guy who directed the last two “Step Up” time-wasters and “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” at the helm, and yet they have Palicki, so everything’s going to be just fine.
Adrianne Palicki was, without a doubt, one of the best things about the first three seasons of “Friday Night Lights,” and as NBC viewers will certainly enjoy this Friday, her character, Tyra Collette, returns for the final two episodes of the series. She got a ton of bad press this spring when early costume photos from David E. Kelley’s “Wonder Woman” were given a trial balloon treatment by NBC and failed miserably in Internet comments sections everywhere. My personal view is that Palicki, standing nearly 6 feet tall with a distinctive beauty, was perfect for the role, but Kelley wasn’t the right guy. Joss Whedon was always the best choice. Palicki also got seriously screwed over when “Lone Star,” the best reviewed pilot of the 2010 television season, got dropped by hair-trigger cancellation champion Fox after two episodes. Considering that “Friday Night Lights” is one of the best dramas of the past 10 years but never was a ratings success, Palicki could stand a break — even from a clankety-clank monstrosity. Having her involved suddenly makes the thing interesting.
Nerdage: Tangentally, the rumor mill has it that Bruce Willis may be intended to play the original “GI Joe,” though I don’t know if Bruce is likely to rock the bristle-cut and beard… The character made, I believe, only one appearance in the Larry Hama comics and didn’t, as far as I know, appear on the TV show.
I, of course, enjoyed the original Larry Hama comics as a kid, and heard he consulted on the first film. Still, I found that movie mostly a confusing mess, though it was filled with attractive people. Will John Chu have better luck than Stephen Sommers?
StaticBlog: OK, so I understand how Sommers got from the first two “Mummy” movies to “GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” but how does Jon Chu parlay the “Step Up” movies, which are essentially “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo” with electro-pop and slightly larger budgets, much less the Bieber hagiography, into “GI Joe 2: Cobra Strikes”? He must know how to follow a budget and make money or something.
Nerdage: Chu told The Deadbolt that he’s a big fan of GI Joe from back in the day, played with the toys, had the comic and everything, so maybe he’ll make a movie the fans of the property want to see. Here’s hoping, anyway.
StaticBlog: At least there’s Palicki.
Palicki, Palicki, Palicki.
Josh Duhamel aims for military accuracy in “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”
Josh Duhamel in "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
While the “Transformers” films feature epic, explosive action involving robotic aliens from beyond our solar system, actor Josh Duhamel, who plays Lt. Colonel William Lennox, aims to keep his part as grounded as possible, given the circumstances.
“I think in a movie like this, when you’re dealing with something as far out as alien robots from outer space that turn into vehicles and cars, it’s such a far-fetched idea that you have to, especially in my case, playing the leader of this military team, to play it as real as we can,” Duhamel said in a phone interview promoting the film. “And as accurate and tactical as the military would.”
Transformers celebrated in movie, comics, museum event
The alien robots the Autobots and Decepticons will again battle on movie screens next week when “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” is released.
Fans can dive deeper into the world, based on the Hasbro action figures, with comics from IDW Publishing and an event at the Toy & Action Figure Museum this weekend.
“Transformers Weekend” at the Toy & Action Figure Museum, 111 S Chickasaw St. in Pauls Valley, will feature movie memorabilia, scavenger hunts and a chance to see classic “Transformers” toys from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
For more information about “Transformers Weekend,” call the museum at (405) 238-6300 or go to www.actionfiguremuseum.com.
In the film, the Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the moon and race against the Decepticons to reach it first, according to imdb.com. The Transformer Shockwave will appear for the first time in the movies in “Transformers 3.”
Shockwave first appeared in comics in 1985′s “Transformers” No. 5. The Transformers had been introduced into comics in a four-issue limited series from Marvel; it was expanded to an ongoing series with No. 5. Shockwave for a time usurps Megatron’s leadership of the Decepticons. Shockwave transforms into a laser cannon and is a highly logical, cunning robot. The Shockwave toy was introduced in the second year of the “Transformers” action figures, 1985. Shockwave was recently introduced in the IDW comic books set in the movie universe.
Dirk Wood, IDW’s retail marketing director, talked about “Transformers” at the recent ComicsPRO annual membership meeting in Dallas.
Two “Transformers 3” film prequels, “Foundation” and “Rising Storm,” have been released by IDW. “Rising Storm” introduces Shockwave into the movie continuity, and “Foundation” explores the past of Megatron and Optimus Prime.
“We want to take the perennial licenses that obviously do great for us, but we want to give people a fair chance of getting in and getting excited about it,” he said. He noted that “Transformers” comics sold well during each of the previous two summers that featured a “Transformers” movie.
- By Matthew Price
WORD BALLOONS
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
X-Men 4 rumors; Sterling Gates and Rob Liefeld on Hawk and Dove; Green Lantern events
“Green Lantern” celebration set at Toy & Action Figure Museum
Green Lantern toys are on display at the Toy & Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley.
Green Lantern, an intergalactic peace officer who stars in comic books from DC Comics, has probably his highest profile ever this month.
Ryan Reynolds will star as Hal Jordan, Earth’s defender in the Green Lantern Corps, in the movie “Green Lantern” opening Friday, June 17.
The Toy & Action Figure Museum, 111 S Chickasaw St. in Pauls Valley, is celebrating the release with a weekend-long event starting Saturday, June 11.
