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Show . », fr Life V I D E O Monday • September 8, 2008 Smallville: Will itflyor will it die? G A M E R E V I E W Capcom to release new old Mega Man game The fate of this Super show is unclear criticized episodes usually Life writer included a character under the influence of some Seven years ago, a fledg- supernatural substance.. ling of a television show Their "freak of the week" crash-landed onto our tele- formula routinely showed vision sets. This TV new- a new Kryptonite infused comer set out to tell how wacko stalking Clark's love one of the world's greatest heroes came to be, intriguing Superman fans everywhere. • Luis R. Merino Commence mass nostalgia in3...2...1... The early years • Jonathon Poole Life writer Ask any gamer worth his salt to name 15 games he's excited for in the next three months and without a doubt Capcom's hotly anticipated Mega Man 9 will be somewhere on that list. Having been featured in over 100 different games spanning every conceivable genre, the titular Mega Man is one of the most widely recognized and versatile mascots of gaming -- second, perhaps, only to Mario. However, unlike Mario, Mega Man never seemed quite able to make the jump to 3-D when the time came, and as 3-dimensionaI game design became the norm, fairly or not, 2-D gaming was left in the dust. The Mega Man that many of us grew up on was banished to the realm of portable gaming and occasional console remakes, forced to eke out an existence akin to that of a former A-list celebrity becoming enslaved to the whims of whoever is in charge of making Lifetime Original movies. Horrific, but true. So it came as a bit of a surprise when several months ago Capcom announced a brand new Mega Man game that would be released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii. However, this game was going to be new only in the chronological sense of the word. Developed as a successor to the original NES Mega Man series, Mega Man 9 looks, sounds and plays like a game from 1989. As an added bonus, Capcom has even included the option to enable slowdown and screen flicker, a staple of classic gaming. And although Capcom is being coy with a release date, stating nothing other than "TBA September," gamers know that it's always good to be prepared with an extra $10-$ 15. The real question, however, has nothing to do \yith the game's release and everything to do with the decision to go retro. Is Capcom making a huge mistake? Will nostalgia be enough to win the day? And, most importantly, is "old" the new "new" in the same way that "freaking out about global warming" is the new "adopting a baby from China"? Only time, and our wallets, will tell. As the young show began to mature in the first seasons, so did its protagonist, Clark Kent. He developed new abilities that he would someday need to master in order to fulfill his ambiguous destiny. The new arrival promised a fresh look at Clark Kent's (Tom Welling) adolescence through compelling stories while weaving in elements from the Superman mythos. Smallville delivered on their lofty promise, at least at the beginning. Losing its powers It was about season four when the show started to show signs of growing pains. Producers Al Gough and Miles Millar wrote the show into circles, rehashing old episode concepts and plot devices. Their Amozon.com interest, Lana Lang (Kristin Kreuk) and routinely bored its audience.Season five and most of season six gave us the worst episodes in Smallville history. There were rare strong moments and a faintly interesting storyline, but the show was not working. Toward the end of season six, producers started making alluring new stories using the show's existing history. Lana discovered Clark's secret, and the discovery that Chloe (Allison Mack), Clark's best friend, had been infected by Kryptonite caused quite the buzz. You might not know Cheap Time • Joe Mayes Ufe writer Rosenbaum alsojdecided not to return for an eighth Regaining Strength season. New producers In the seventh season, Todd Slavkin and Darren producers took a look at Swimmer decided to not Clark's roots in episodes recast the role, and instead where Clark had reunions implemented a storyline in with his biological mother which Luthor went missand uncle. Depth was given ing. Also missing from the to the character of Lex Lu- cast is Kreuk. Though she thor as he descended into is no longer a series regular, darkness. Rosenbaum and producers promise that we the producers did an excel- will see Lana a few times lent job of chiseling this this season. Justin Hartley (who plays fan-favorite character into a villain. The Green Arrow, Oliver Unsure of the show's Queen), previously an irfuture for season eight, regular appearance on the Gough and Millar impleshow, brings a bit of hope mented a series-ending to this new season. story I i ne. They gave i mWith all the changes goportance to seemingly lost story arcs from all of its six ing on, fans are unsure of previous seasons. Had they the fate of their show. Can reached their series finale the new producers take the with the intended climax, show that was once so full fans would have been hap- of promise and make it soar py to let Smallville bow out iike a bird or a plane? Or will they be the Kryptonite in dignity. that ends up killing Smallville's eight-year run? A Season of Change MORE INFORMATION Instead of ending the series, the CW wanted yet another season. This did not sit well with Gough and Millar. Believing that their time at Smallville had come to an end, they decided to move on and let the series take another direction with new producers. B5 Smallville: The Complete Seventh Season will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on Tuesday, September 9. The new season of Smallville premieres on Thursday, September 18 at 7pm on the CW. I haven't bought many records this year. I'm broke. I live off financial aid, workstudy jobs and a part time job at Nicolitalia Pizzeria. From time to time, a record will get released that I'll go hungry for, that I'll spend my not-so-hard-earned cash for. Cheap Time, from Nashville Tenn., did just that earlier this year. I picked up their Handy Man 7" in December at their show in Memphis, and it generated a jones for more. I actually bought two copies (one fora friend ... I'm not that kind of collector) when it was finally released and when the transaction went through, my rent check bounced. I'm not worried, though, because the gnawing in my belly and the ringing paranoia of eviction were outmatched by this modern update of forgotten punk bands the kids at Hot Topic never knew existed. They're the sonic equivalent to a diabetic sugar OD, They claw at my inner ear in just the right spots, mitigating the itch for a wicked balance of screech and relief from the standard punk-pop drivel. Lately these guys have been getting some pretty good press, and I hope it doesn't go to their heads. If you want something not too harsh but not so'sugary, then check it out. It's absolutely worth your 10 bucks. Bringing Marcus back | Who watches the watchmen? New stand-up show to be filmed locally Can the most ambitious comic book movie of all time live up to the hype? '& Luke Hickman Life writer On Tuesday, Sept. 9, local comedian and Last Comic Standing finalist Marcus will be taping a new live stand-up DVD titled Second To None. Where else would this special occasion take place Dove Jbo/ UVU Review other than his own stomp- Utahan Marcus from Last ing ground here in Utah? Comic Standing, The Second To None None, should be released in show will be a two-hour ex- October. His previous DVD, travaganza including lots of Taking Aim, is available for laughs. Marcus says, "You purchase at his MySpace can expect about an hour page, www.myspace.com/ of new material. The older marcuscomedy material has changed and If you're a fan of Marprogressed a lot since the cus or great stand-up, or if taping of the last DVD." you would simply like to To make this as big an experience the energy of a event as possible, Marcus is live taping, then don't pass bringing in live music along on this opportunity. The with special host Wolf from tickets are cheap, and who NBC's American Gladia- knows when he'll be around tors. The DVD, Second To again? MORE INFO What: Live taping of Marcus' new DVD Second To None When: Tuesday, Sept. 9 7:00 p.m. - Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Where: Peery's Egyptian Theater at 2415 Washington Blvd. in Ogden Cost: $25 from any Smith's Tix location or online at www.smithstix.com Moore, a legend in the comic book industry whose works include The Killing By now, you have prob- Joke and From Hell, with ably heard of Watchmen. art by Dave Gibbons, the You might even know that Watchmen is considered by there is a movie adaptation many to be the book that coming out next year, and changed superhero comics. if you're lucky, you saw the Now we have to wonder if trailer for it in front of The the Watchmen movie can do Dark Knight. the same thing. What you might not In a way Watchmen is a know is that most critics total deconstruction of the consider Watchmen one of, superhero genre; it took if not the, most important everything we knew and superhero graphic nov- flipped it. It stripped away els ever written. Its influ- the shiny perfect people that ence can easily be seen in populated comic books of a vast number of comics, the past and gave us a grim, TV shows and films. Every- realistic world with no clearthing from The Incredibles ly defined villains. It played to Lost has claimed Watch- with your expectations and men as inspiration. delivered a superhero exSo the question is, can a perience more layered and Watchmen movie ever hope complex than most novels. to meet the impossible exIs it possible for this pectations thrust upon it as adaptation to change the a result of its origin? Let's way people look at superhope so. heroes all over again? CerFirst published as a tainly, enough superhero 12-issue miniseries in 1986, • films have come out in the Watchmen quickly became past couple of years to jusa critical and commercial tify a Watchmen movie, and success. Written by Alan the public understands the. S Benjamin Bailey Life writer Amoion.<om rules of superheroes just well enough for Watchmen to tear them down. The good news is, so far, everything seems to be g o : ing right. Due to the recent hype, the Watchmen graphic novel is already selling out nearly everywhere -not bad for a comic more than 20 years old. If nothing else, the trailer pushed all the right buttons. As a fan, it's hard not to get excited watching Rorschach, Dr. Manhattan and Nite Owl up on the big screen. But, for now, all we can do now is sit back, cross our fingers and hope that Watchmen will indeed be worth watching. classifieds QuickDown.com/WebBroker] Services $200 SIGN-ON BONUS; j$8.00-$15.00 per hour Business-; Nannies Unlimited io-Business contact center close; Great Jobs. Nation Wide-Out of to both BYU and UVU. No selling,] State, 1 yr commitment. Caring fam- register mortgage professionals in, ilies, excellent salaries, www.nan- our down-payment assistance sernies-unlimited com 801 -756-4119 vice. 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