The first series primarily introduced the characters and environment, and foreshadowed the main story arc. You could tell which were going to be the important episodes, as they were written by J Michael himself. Some of the episodes in season 1 were a little dubious, TKO springs to mind, but even so...

1970 was a guess as to the earliest that it could have been. Even SRD doesn't remember the issue number, but the two question marks could mean that it was in the double digits. I think that I'll pop into my local comic shop and scour the back issues, but I don't hold out much hope for them having ma...

I asked about this on the gradual interview. Part of the reply was - Actually, I had *two* letters published by Marvel Comics. I remember nothing about the reply to my letter in Avengers #98. But I won a "no-prize" for my letter in Fantastic Four #?? My FF collection goes back only as far ...

Well, extending the topic to comed ies (because I can't pick just one): Coupling - sophisticated and very funny. Captain Subtext rules. Black Books - surreal and has Bill Bailey in it. The League Of Gentlemen - very, very dark but an extraordinary range of characters performed by only 3 men. The Roy...

I'd like to go, as would Julie (the wife). Any weekend other than 10-11 and 17-18 July would suit. It's our 15th wedding anniversary and so we're off to Fiji. Obviously for us Wellington would be best, but we can go anywhere. If we have to fly, it would be nice to know fairly early so that we can bo...

Hold the front page, I just found a copy of Reave The Just in Whitcoulls. It was nestling next to Patriarch Of Hope by David Feintuch. The alphabet is such a complex thing to master...

Tom

Something I saw (or rather didn't see) in a bookshop worried me. So I did a survey of the 3 biggest (and nearest) bookshops here in Wellington - Dymocks, Whitcoulls and Unity - to see what SRD they had on the shelves. The results were as follows: Whitcoulls - Lord Foul's Bane Dymocks - nothing (but ...

Not here it doesn't. When I checked last week the release date was 15th April, now it's suddenly become the 29th. Ah well, at least that gives me time to watch the first on DVD - after it arrives from Amazon - before seeing the second.

Tom

Isn't this topic a little paradoxical? How many books will you read by an author if you don't like the first you read? Or if the first is brilliant, how many 'bad' ones do you have to read before you get discouraged and stop bothering? Perhaps we could be more specific about which books we recommend...

Alan Dean Foster. I could never finish anything of his, except for Darkstar, and I only stuck with that because I love the film. Tim Powers. With the exception of the brilliant The Anubis Gates, I've not found anything else of his that I didn't put away after the first 20 pages, never to be touched ...

I could have sworn I was logged in when I posted that...

Tom

Well, book 5 (Midnight Tides) is out now, in big paperback. I thought that I'd buy it, but I've got another 5.3 Patrick O'Brians to read, followed by Ilium, Pandora's Star, Absolution Gap, and Forty Signs Of Rain, not necessarily in that order. By the time I've finished those, it'll probably be out ...

Prompted by this topic, today I picked up series one and two on DVD for 50NZ$ each. 40 hours of classic television to watch. Let's see how far I manage to get.

Tom

It's similar, but only in the sense that there's a hero who has powers but is unaware of them. In the book, as he develops, he uses abilities that everyone has the potential for. James Blish has written some good stuff - the Cities In Flight series, Midsummer Century, The Warriors Of Day, ok, maybe ...

Is there a confirmed date for this yet? I can't seem to find anything in any of the earlier posts.

Tom

Limiting it to mini-series, or titles that lasted less than a couple of dozen issues, I'm really partial to: John Byrne's Next Men - nice take on how the powers affect those who have them Invisibles Series 2 - maybe one day I'll understand it Rising Stars - will it ever be finished Quantum and Woody...

This was just shown over two nights on Kiwi television. By crikey, it was impressive. To me, the special effects were the most realistic I've ever seen. Spaceships were actually dark , and the use of camera angles - where is it, oh look, there it is, now zoom in - was very reminiscent of Crusade, ma...

I never really understood Linden's problem with Possession. After all, isn't it nine-tenths of the Law?

Tom

I quite liked the series, though I couldn't understand how they would be in range of a planet for several days, and still manage to reach the next one the following week. If I remember correctly, the shapeshifting Maya (Catherine Schell?) turned up in season 2, replacing the balding science guy (Bar...

I'm taking a break from fantasy, and after seeing Master And Commander - The Far Side Of The World at the cinema I thought I'd give the Patrick O'Brian books a go. They're very enjoyable so far (4.5 down, 15.5 to go), to the extent that I'm chain reading. The local bookshops have run out though, and...