You know exactly what I mean. In the majority of slasher films–and I don’t mean any generic horror film, I mean slashers–there is almost always one girl who manages to survive until the very end. She somehow does this despite having no qualities that set her above the other characters.

She is not smarter, faster, stronger, or more useful to society in any way. For all intents and purposes, she should die first.

The reason she lives is because those other characters are simply fodder to be thrown in the wake of her path where the killer can best get to them first.

She is the real villain.
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Since the dawn of, well, the 90s, there have been television shows of all kinds incorporating musical episodes into their seasons.

It is not just that these rare and entertaining occurrences are hilarious and if not well sung then at least still enjoyable to watch, but they express something unique about characters’ psyches that might not have otherwise been displayed openly if not through song.

Sci fi and Fantasy television shows are no exception to this phenomenon, and today I am going to go through the many wonderful examples of musical episodes fitting my beloved geek theme. This includes live action and animated examples, so hang on, pop in your favorite show-tunes album to set the mood, and enjoy the show.
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Forgive me if my heart is not quite in this blog entry as I had already completed it to my great satisfaction last week only to have it wiped when a virus attacked my computer at work. But as one of my faithful readers said,

This just goes to show that these new-fangled transistors are unreliable. We need to learn about steam technology as quickly as possible!

And so I return.
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You can also watch the video blog of this entry at The Geek Girl Gamut YouTube page. Please have a look and let me know what you think of it. First attempt at this, but an awesome job by my video editor.

Most of us might trace the history of zombies back to George A. Romero’s original 1968 “Night of the Living Dead” film. The concept of zombies, however, goes back much further.

Zombies weren’t originally thought of as the dead brought back to life, desiring more than anything else “Brains!” but actually originated with the Afro-Caribbean spiritual beliefs of Voodoo. Voodoo zombies can be the living too, unfortunate souls controlled by a witch doctor to become mindless drones that only do their master’s biding.

But Romero is indeed the one who first created zombies as the undead cannibals we know and love today.

Of course some form of flesh or blood-hungry undead existed long before Romero came along and dubbed them zombies, like ghouls and vampires, for example. In some ways Frankenstein’s monster might even be considered a type of zombie too.

There were also many films before “Night of the Living Dead” that included zombie-like creatures, like “Last Man on Earth” in 1964, a closer adaptation to the vampire short story “I am Legend”.

Will Smith’s version was good, I even own it, it just wasn’t the same story.

But I’m not here today to discuss the history of zombies, this commentary is called “The Zombie Plan” for a reason. Any self-respecting geek has some kind of game-plan for if and when the Zombie Apocalypse descends upon us. Just admit it, you know you do too.
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I was going to have this first blog of the New Year be a review of the Sherlock Holmes film that came out Christmas Day, but after seeing two other very notable geek films in December, I have decided to also include them.

Here’s to a great way to end 2009, a praising look at The Princess and the Frog, Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes.
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To even begin my review of the new PS3, Xbox 360, and PC phenomenon, Dragon Age: Origins, I must first discuss the company responsible for the masterpiece as well as many other claims to fame: BioWare.

BIOWARE

BioWare is a Canadian electronic entertainment company that started up in 1995 and is responsible for some of the more cutting-edge and popular games of our day, like the Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights series, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and the Mass Effect series.

These guys know their role-playing video games. They are known best for allowing for substantial customization in both player character appearance and in the options given throughout the games in choosing various paths, ie Light Side vs Dark Side.

Dragon Age: Origins is a culmination of years of successful gaming, and at this point I can only imagine that BioWare will continue to do better and better.

BioWare is currently a part of Electronic Arts (EA) but has retained its autonomy. It is safe to say that EA appreciates and understands the cash-cow they have in BioWare, and they are even restructuring their gaming development into a new RPG/MMO team headed by one of the BioWare founders, Ray Muzyka.
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I am torn on this one. With the other versus blogs I had a clear favorite even when most of the time I greatly respected the opposing side, but with this particular debate it is harder to choose. I would say Marvel simply because Spider-Man, Deadpool, and the X-men are some of my favorite characters of all time, but then DC has Batman, and it really is hard to compete against Batman.

There is a lot more to cover with these franchises than with any of the others I have compared thus far, so bear with me. Onto a brief history of each of these incredible comic publishers.
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I hate Twilight. I think Stephanie Meyer’s poorly written and inane series is the worst thing to ever happen to fictional vampire culture. Possibly the entire fiction world.

Vampires that sparkle in the sun? Seriously?

And don’t even get me started on the abusive relationship between Mr. Hot Vampire Guy and his totally unremarkable leading lady.

But this isn’t a forum for me to bitch about Twilight. At least not today. Today I am comparing as impartially as possible the franchises of Twilight and Anne Rice’s older series, The Vampire Chronicles that began with its most notable title, Interview with the Vampire.

My bias is even worse here since I have reed the entire original series by Anne Rice and I absolutely adore it, at least up until the point when the author lost her mind, but again, I will do my best to remain impartial throughout.

Onto the history.
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I once got into a heated debate over how only an idiot would think Harry Potter wins in a comparison with Lord of the Rings because the writing is so superior. Me? I was on Harry’s side.

To some readers J. R. R. Tolkien drones on and on about the details of a leaf when we just want to get to the story, while J. K. Rowling has readership with children barely in their double digits as well as with their grandparents with equal success.

So what is the definition of ’superior writing’ exactly?

As with my previous blog entry, Star Trek vs Star Wars, I do not want my opinion to further cloud this comparison, as I see great strengths in both franchises. Let us begin then, as before, with a quick history.
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I am a Trekkie. I admit that readily, prepared to take whatever teasing and low-blow remarks naysayers might think to throw at me.

My husband, John, is more of a Star Wars fan, however, which would usually mean we were set for a death match. Somehow we still manage to love each other.

The rivalry between Star Trek and Star Wars has been around for as long as both fandoms have existed. Both are science fiction themed, set in outer space on starships and alien planets in some distant future, but their universes could not be more different, and they each have a very unique following of fans.

Allow me to give you a quick history.
 
 
 
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