New stuff

Well, I have been hard at work on the website. Hopefully the work shows. If the website looks less than stellar, that is because we are attempting to develop all of the content "in house". It is part due to cost, but also due to the notion that we want to be at least expert enough to do most of our own work. Makes us less dependent, more marketable. Overhead and all that jazz. If you need the link (it's in the upper right hand corner) here it is!

I promise not all talk will be about the website though. I am just geeked right now with the progress so I am a bit enthusiastic.

I watched "Terminator: Salvation" this past week. If you are a fan of the Terminator series, then you must see this movie. It is a great addition to the canon and the appearance of the T800 is not to be missed. I jumped off the couch. Movie magic at its best.
It is an awesome story with really great characters and if Kyle Reese was not already cool enough, this movie elevates him straight to superhero.

Other than that, this weekend saw lots of Christmas shopping. As my wife points out, I have passed on a good deal of my geek hood to my children, but popular items on the list of GGE kids are

• Redwall stuff (books, dvds, posters...Redwall mania is ON at my house)
• Star Wars Legos (note - this link has a cool online gaame and movie)
• Indiana Jones Legos
• Indiana Jones 2 - The Adventure Continues (for the Wii)
• Star Wars Turbo Tank
• Imaginarium Castle
• Star Wars Galactic Heroes
• Barbie (for the GGE Princess)
• Eyeclops Mini Projector
• Air hogs Zero G Laser Car
• Air hogs Switchblade
• My Sims Agents for the Wii
• Littlest Pet Shop
• My Little Pony
• And of course Zhu Zhu Pets (Good luck finding these) NOTE - some concern about Zhu Zhu pets and safety. click here to read about the safety alerts.

For Dad, the popular items are

• Assassin's Creed 2
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Dragon Age
• Star Trek DVD

Maybe next year, some GGE items will be available for those Christmas lists!

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force

I think I have blogged about this series before. It is written years and years after the Star Wars movies. Han Solo and Princess Leia are married and have kids. Luke Skywalker has a son. In this series, their kids are all grown up and that is what this series is about. The main characters are still around, but they are not main characters anymore. They are major characters, but not the main ones.

Betrayal (pictured left) is the first book. The whole series goes like this:

1. Betrayal
2. Bloodlines
3. Tempest
4. Exile
5. Sacrifice
6. Inferno
7. Fury
8. Revelation
9. Invincible

Invincible concludes the series. I just finishshed reading Fury (#7). They are all written by either Karen Traviss, Aaron Allston or Troy Denning. So far Karen Traviss is my personal favorite, but they are all very good.

I will say this, the series is cool. It has some universe-shattering consequences and major characters go through major changes (one major long-time character dies - and I still have 2 books to go).

The problem? It is 9 freaking books long! I know that we might be going for a trilogy of trilogies idea like Star Wars sort of did with episode I, II and III and then IV, V and VI all being little trilogies in a bigger story. I guess if that were the case, then Timothy Zahn's trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command) would close the 3 trilogies. These three books have become known as The Thrawn Trilogy and according to GGE (okay - in this case, I have not vetted this with anyone, it's just my opinio) the Thrawn Trilogy is still the best series of Star Wars books out there.

The problem with Legacy of the Force is there are not three separate trilogies, just a story that takes 9 books to tell and by now I am just ready to be finished with thing! It is enjoyable and I am glad I read it, but it feels like it is a few books too long.

Industry News

Just a few quick bites:

1. San Diego Comic Con is coming up at the end of July. That is an awesome show for all comic fans!
2. Sadly, there is currently no Superman live action movie in development. Apparently, in 2013, all Superman rights revert to the heir of Siegel and Schuster (who created Superman). I am sure they will use the rights to produce Superman related material. Kind of scary, kind of exciting
3. Green Lantern: First Flight is an animated Green Lantern movie being released in a couple of weeks. My prediction, based on the last few DC Animated Universe movies - it will be damn cool!
4. There is supposedly a Green Lantern live action film in the works. Since we at Green Gates share our first name with Green Lantern, allow me to comment - a live action GL movie could be awesome and it could totally be an opportunity for some cross genre superhero/sci-fi action. GL is a super hero, but he is also a space cop and Guardian of sector 7 (we live in sector 7 apparently)
5. Spiderman 4 is being talked about at least. I am a little ho hum about this news at this point.
6. There might be a Star Wars live action show being shot soon. Cool. Supposedly featuring more relationship and character related story lines so as to appeal to a more mature audience. Sadly enough, even the Clone Wars cartoon appeals to me. I am probably not a good example of a mature audience though.
7. The next Star Trek movie is on for like 18 months from now (rumor from the dude that played Scotty). That should be great. I am looking forward to the DVD release of the latest Trek movie for the inevitable cut scenes.
8. For gamers out there Mass Effect 2 will be released early next year. I am not a huge gamer, but Mass Effect was AWESOME and I will definitely buy Mass Effect 2
9. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is just over a week or so away from release. My suggestion: get all the Potter movies and stage a weekend Harry marathon to get up to speed for the newest film
10. GGE watched "Push" on DVD. Our review is to give it a grade of D. Not exactly failing. The background is awesome. The premise is solid, but the movie pacing itself was weak. Could have had a lot more tension, conflict and power versus power throw downs. There were some cool scenes but overall a less-than-stellar effort. I will of course buy a personal copy so as to provide support for "superhero" movies and do my part to ensure they continue to be produced.

Later!

Legacy of the Force

Most anyone interested in anything GGE has to say will also be interested in all things Star Wars. That's not to say 100%. If you are here and not a Star Wars fan, then we welcome you! We just don't understand you.

Anyway, I have been reading this book series entitled "Legacy of the Force". It takes place decades after the last movie (Return of the Jedi being the last in chronological order, not release order). It deals with the children of the Skywalkers and the Solos.

It's pretty good. I love seeing what else goes on in the Star Wars universe. It is inspiring to see how much has grown from Lucas's initial idea for the three movies (which had to start with a single hit film). It does make me wonder how much more that world can support. There is a lot in this series that casual fans might not get. Beyond that, it's 9 or 10 books long. Why not stick with the three-part story arc made popular by the films?

For those of you who wander by to see what we're reading or to participate in the discussion of all that is new and relevant in the sci-fi/fantasy/superhero fiction world, this is a good book. It is especially good if you want to see more Jedi Vs. Sith stuff.

The best part about this series though...it makes me want to create my own "Star Wars" so thirty years from now people might be blogging about my characters.

Star Trek Wars

What an auspicious week for us "speculative fiction aficionados"... I suppose that could read "sci-fi geeks" but either label is fine in the case of Green and Gates. It fits. This week saw "Star Wars Day" of course (May 4th...as in May the fourth be with you) and we all watched Star Wars films, shows, etc (at least I did).
Now, we are approaching the release of the new "Star Trek" which I am, of course, anxiously awaiting. No you won't see me on opening night in a uniform or wearing rubber ears, but I will be there somewhere watching Kirk get the girls and kick butt.
I remember the Star Trek Communicator (a trek magazine) predicting back in the 80's that at some point Trek popularity would wane and it would take a return to the younger Kirk and Spock with different actors to being it back to the forefront. At the time, of course, they were still releasing movies with the original crew and I thought...no way! Shatner is Kirk! Now, it looks like the prediction will come true and I can't wait! It's time for a new start.
Wish Roddenberry could see it. Remember Roddenberry "failed" a bunch of times before getting someone to agree to make Star Trek. So...message to creators out there? Keep plugging away!