Some robots, in disguise.

In keeping with what seems to be the theme for this week, here's another robot-related post. This time, it's a new picture of what is supposed to be passing for Optimus Prime on the much-anticipated (or dreaded, depending on your point of view), Michael Bay-directed 'Transformers' live-action/CGI movie coming out this summer.

Here's my take on this: if this movie were called anything other than 'Transformers' (like, say, 'Go-Bots'. . . HA!), I would have absolutely no problem with this design. In and of itself, it looks pretty badass. But as a die-hard Generation 1 Transformers fan, that is just *not* Optimus Prime (although I'm glad to see they at least kept his head). Call me a purist, but if it's not a snub-nosed tractor trailer cab, it's just not Prime. By the way, what is with these Hot-Rod / Rodimus Prime flames?? Ugh.

And don't even get me started on Megatron (below). Bay's re-imagining of Megatron is what you'd get if you stuffed HR Giger full of amphetamines and acid and shoved him into a room full of hyperactive Tribbles with loud uptempo techno playing at 300bpm.

I feel confident I speak for Transformers fans everywhere when I say: Fuck you, Michael Bay. Fuck you very very much.

Don't fuck it up, Clooney!

From Sci Fi Wire : It seems George Clooney is going to produce an adaptation of Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age as a six-part miniseries for the Sci Fi Channel. Now, Neal Stephenson is by far one of my favourite authors (The Barroque Cycle, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, etc.), and The Diamond Age is the very first novel of his that I read, so it's got a special place in my heart. From what I've seen of Clooney's work, his productions seem well thought out, and in the spirit of what/who he's trying to portray. But then again, this is sci fi –the genre, which is hard to adapt into film competently without getting silly– Sci-Fi –the network, which has a spotty track record for this kind of thing (on one end, Battlestar Galactica kicking some serious ass, on the other, the Dune miniseries and the slew of B-grade movies they spew forth every year sucking craptacularly) and it's Stephenson, to boot; a very complicated and obtuse author, who crams meaning and symbology into every fucking page, particularly in The Diamond Age.

I'm going to withold judgement on this one until I see it.