Site of the Week -- July 12, 1999
ould the Enterprise take out a Star Destroyer? Space
Battles may not have the answer, but it should provide debaters with a
few new rounds of ammunition.
The site is home to a half-dozen high-quality battle fests featuring
starships from the ruling triumvirate of modern popular science fiction,
Star Wars, Star Trek, and Babylon 5.
In its "The Founders" series, Rebel cruisers, the White Star Fleet and
Federation starships engage a fleet of Star Destroyers, Jem Ha'Dar and
Cardassian ships in an attempt to drive the Dominion from the Alpha
Quadrant. These are not plastic-and-glue kitchen model movies--the site's
shorts rival modern special effects and easily outshine the late-1980s tech
of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The battles are the site's main attraction, but they are augmented by genre
jokes and a message board. The site's movies are dominated by Star
Trek and Babylon 5, but an upcoming Battlestar Galactica
short movie should mix things up.
-- Kenneth Newquist
Site of the Week -- July 6, 1999
he Enterprise-E soars past the gossamer strands of a nebula.
Babylon 5 orbits high above the desolate plains of a planetoid.
B-Wings flee the destruction of a Star Destroyer. These are just a few of the alien vistas waiting to be downloaded
from Desktop Starships, a site dedicated to science fiction
wallpaper, fonts and themes.
Desktop Starships includes message boards, a small news section and a "start"
section for those who want to begin their Web surfing with a heavy
dose of SF. But where the site shines is its desktop
goodies. The site's galleries are dominated by beautifully rendered starships from popular series, and there is also a healthy smattering of original SF&F artwork.
The Top 10 Downloads section tracks popular files, while
navigating the galleries is accomplished by using a simple--but not
easily noticed--pull-down menu. A keyword search would be a good
addition to the site, but as is Desktop Starships packs more than enough firepower to
blast visitors' computers into other galaxies.
-- Kenneth Newquist
Site of the Week -- June 28, 1999
omics readers might have felt a certain frisson while watching The Matrix,
as shell casings flew across the screen like snow in Buffalo, N.Y. That's
because the film's conceptual designs were created by Geof Darrow, the
renowned artist whose work includes the hyperviolent graphic novel Hard
Boiled. Now Darrow has drawn a comic called Zion Archives, scripted by the Wachowski
brothers, that has been posted on The Matrix's Web site. It's just one of
a series of standalone stories set in the world of The Matrix whose purpose
is to give new insights into the complex story and setting of the film. The
contributors read like a current Who's Who of comics, including Paul
Chadwick, Neil Gaiman, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Harlan Ellison. A word of
warning: like the film, these comics are not for children.
-- Brooks Peck
