MOLLY: Welcome to Geek Pop, I'm Molly Wood
TOM: And I'm Tom Merritt.
MOLLY: We're here to help you evaluate your geek entertainment options.
TOM: This week, Iron Man, the Hobbit gets a director, and a hot DVD release for fantasy
fans.
MOLLY: And we'll finish up with a road test of two online TV show games for Lost and
Battlestar Galactica. Are they worth playing?
TOM: We'll tell you. But first, let's see what's in the theaters.
Movies:
MOLLY: The big release this week is Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Anthony
Edward Stark. In the film imagining of this Stan Lee comic creation, Stark is captured by
terrorists and ordered to build a missile for them. Jon Favreau of Swingers directed the feature
and has plans for two sequels. And I think it looks COOL.
TOM: Also out this week, Redbelt, a David Mamet fight movie that also looks cool.
Supercool, even. Sort of Karate Kid for adults. Mike Terry is a Jiu-jitsu master who shuns the
fight circuit until a cabal of movie stars cons him. Tim Allen makes an appearance... as an
EVIL MOVIE STAR.
MOLLY: Finally, Peter Jackson has named Guillermo Del Toro as director of the Hobbit
movies. The Hobbit takes place before Lord of the Rings, and Jackson has broken the book
into two movies. Del Toro directed the critically acclaimed Pan's Labyrinth, and is NOT
related to Benicio.
MOLLY: Ok, let's move on to TV
TV:
TOM: With the Speed Racer movie just a week away, Nicktoons is speeding, or racing, to
premiere Speed Racer the Next Generation on Friday May 2. Also, Family Guy fans should
know the season finale airs Sunday May 4 on Fox.
MOLLY: We owe you an apology -- last week, we did not remind you that Supernatural
returned to the CW on the 24th. But not to worry. You can catch the episode Ghostfacers
on cwtv.com then watch all the new episodes Thursdays on the CW. It won't happen again.
TOM: And finally, what's out on DVDs
New on DVD:
MOLLY: The Golden Compass, the movie version of Phillip Pullman's book, is available for
purchase or rental now. On DVD and Blu-ray.
TOM: And just to feed the Indy fever a bit. The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones Volume
3 is also available on DVD. For $108.
MOLLY: And now, let the Games begin
TOM: Sure Mario Kart and GTA IV will keep you busy at home, but what about when you
have a few minutes at work? Molly and I each took an online game from one of our favorite
shows for a test ride.
MOLLY: That's right. I pimped out my Raider in SciFi.com's "Join the Fight," which is
ACTUALLY a competitive social network. Who knew? When you sign up, you decide
whether you're human or Cylon and fill out a whole Facebook. I mean, profile.
Then you get a series of "tasks" to do on behalf of your "team." And they are WORK. Like,
design an emblem or write a motto or make a propaganda poster. Then you can win points so
that you can buy stuff to further pimp your Raider or Viper, and of course, you win points on
behalf of your "team." Overall, it's ... strictly for the EXTREMELY hardcore fan. I just do
not have that kind of time.
TOM: The Lost game was OK. It's a fancy version of hidden pictures. You scroll around in a
nice flash version of the island clicking on things, trying to find all 34 hidden gems. Each
gem gives you a video clip and some give you more. One gave me a preview of the next
week's episode and another offered to enter me in a contest. Overall a time killer.
BANTER
MOLLY: Let's finish off with an email
Jeff from Cincinnati writes: "The Scarlet TV show -- after doing some research I found out it
wasn't a TV series but a series TV's made by LG:"
AND, Mike was right. LG had, in fact, perpetrated an elaborate hoax on all of us, and Tim
Alessi, LG's director of product development and advertising, confirmed the joke to the
Associated Press on Tuesday.
Har. Har. LG. Har.
TOM: Thanks for the tip-off, Mike! We'll try not to be fooled again. And that's it for this
week, everybody, thanks for watching Geek Pop. You can send us your thoughts, questions
and suggestions to geekpop@CNET.com
MOLLY: See you next week!
