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Friday, October 23, 2015

Review Roundup October 2015

I have not posted any book or movie reviews of late, but that is because I have been doing them for my old friends over at Slice of Sci-Fi and their sister sites.  Rather than post each one as it went up I decided to wait and post the lost of them at once.

Listening 

Review Summary:

Listening is a movie that I would rate as average. There is little about it that makes it stand out amongst other movies, within and without its genre. This does not mean that Listening is a bad movie, it simply doesn’t bring much new to the table.


Containment



Review Summary:

I have never lived in a tower block/apartment building; part of the reasoning behind this is because I always saw them as perfect havens for disease vectors. This movie plays with that concept to a great degree, along with themes about not knowing your neighbors, fear of authority, isolation, and paranoia.


Nightmare Code



Review Summary:

The way these characters interact and the lack of flashy hollywood computer usage was a welcome change for me. I did my share of code writing and debugging in college and could feel their frustration. Forget the flashy screens and multiple person at a keyboard typing away like mad monkeys, this is what debugging code looks like. Mostly bored folks looking for stimulus as they scroll through line after line of text. Overall this is a great movie, and I recommend it for anyone who is interested in coding, computers and who wants to see a good A.I. movie.

June


Review Summary:


This is an interesting film, but doesn’t bring anything new to the genre, and most genre fans will spot inspiration from various other films. What I have found most interesting is the nebulous time frame the movie takes place in. The three adult leads will be recognizable to folks from my generation, appearing in numerous genre films since the mid-nineties. It was almost a 90s reunion, which kind of works as the movie appears to be set in the early to mid 90s.

Star Wars: A New Hope: The Princess, The Scoundrel, and The Farm Boy

Review Summary:

Do not consider this book a replacement for the movie, or the original novelization ghost written by Alan Dean Foster. Instead, look at it as a supplement. This book does an excellent job of getting into Leia’s head and really lets the reader/listener (since I am reviewing the audiobook version) know what she felt through this adventure. I almost would have liked the book to tell the whole story through her viewpoint, and those of the others as well.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to be a Jedi?


Review Summary:

When most people think about Empire, they consider it one of the best of the Original Trilogy Star Wars movies. It develops greatly on A New Hope and expands on the nature of The Force and the Jedi, and the universe at large. This book tosses out most of that for fairy tale stylings, and adds a trite fairy tale about Yoda right in the middle of the book.

Star Wars Beware The Power of the Dark Side


Review Summary:


Overall the book doesn’t add much to the story, and is an almost straight retelling of the movie but does add new links to the prequel trilogy and also describes a far more desperate rebel fleet then other media has portrayed. The audiobook is quite good and the choice of music good as well, though I would have preferred if they didn’t use the Ewok theme as much. Given that this book tried to portray them as warriors so much more, hearing the jaunty theme from the movie here actually did them a disservice.

Do the Young Adult Retellings of the Original “Star Wars” Trilogy Work?


This was a follow up to my earlier review of these three books where I outlined what they did right, and also their significant failings.


Deadlands: Ghostwalkers


Review Summary:


Throw every trope and genre you can into the mix, it’s here in some form or another. It can be a bit overwhelming at times, but made for a fun pre-Halloween read. My oldest wants to read it after he finishes my old HP Lovecraft books. The book also features more than it’s share of violence, and might not be for the squeamish. If a movie is ever made of this, Rob Zombie will probably be involved, let’s put that out there.



Tuesday, October 6, 2015

The Martian Movie Review




Go see this movie.  No, seriously, grab a friend, or two, or more, and go see this movie.  5 Stars.  Then come back here and read the review.

Did you go see the movie?





What do you mean no?

Need more of  a reason, here's the trailer:



Grab your keys and your wallet, or someone with keys and wallet and go see this movie, now.

Did you see the movie yet?



Well whether you have or not, spoilers ahead.  Quite simply put, this is the best movie I've seen this year.  Anyone who knows me knows that I hate it when movies deviate too far from the source materials, especially when it's a book.  I hated movies like I-Robot, Starship Troopers, I Am Legend, etc... for doing just that.  On the flip side I have praise the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies.

This movie, while taking certain liberties from the book, stuck to it fairly well.  I understand why it it deviated too, most of the time it was to move the story along at a faster pace.  While there were some scenes I would have liked to have seen, losing them didn't upset me.  Even the additions didn't get my blood boiling.  Yes, there were a couple that were there for the ego of the stars, but they were ok and I could pass them off.  Even the extended ending, compared to the book, worked well in my opinion, it offered more closure.

I could sit down here for hours and dissect every scene of the film, but I won't.  It it simply a great film.  It is smart, it is funny, it is well paced, and it is believable.  They didn't turn any of the characters into mustache twirling villains, and on some level you could relate to almost everyone in it.  

This was a story about people coming together to save a single brave hero.  And, it worked.  It worked so well.  I hope that Andy Weir gets a dump truck full of royalties for this movie.

And for those of you haven't read the book.

BUY THIS BOOK!!!

Like I said, there are some changes, but they are minimal and fit the new medium.

5 Stars, well earned by all involved.  Now go see the movie if you haven' yet.



Monday, August 3, 2015

Book review, Of Ice And Magic by Hugh B Long



Once again Hugh B. Long showcases his expertise in Nordic history and mythology with this engrossing novella.  This was quite the fun read.  The story follows a Nordic blacksmith who forges living swords, fantastic weapons imbued with the soul of a willing sacrifice.  After forging such a blade his customer, an overly ambitious clan chief murders the smith's wife.  The smith then embarks on a quest for vengence.

I don't want to to give away too much in this review as this is Novella is a short read.  The writing in this book is great and focuses primarily on the blacksmith as the main character, but opens from the perspective of the sword itself, which, as stated, is imbued with a willing soul.

Long's writing style lends it self well to a visual realm, and I could see it adapted to a short film or fantasy anthology series without much difficulty.  The story could likewise be fleshed out into a much longer novel, and I applaud Long for keeping this story short and to the point.

Shield Rating 95%.  (Well written/edited and a good length for a novella)


Of Ice and Magic
File Size: 3415 KB
Print Length: 88 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Asgard Studios (July 14, 2015)
Publication Date: July 14, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B011N13UZG
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
Not Enabled
Word Wise: Not Enabled
Lending: Enabled

Saturday, August 1, 2015

Once again Hugh B. Long showcases his expertise in Nordic history and mythology with this engrossing novella.  This was quite the fun read.  The story follows a Nordic blacksmith who forges living swords, fantastic weapons imbued with the soul of a willing sacrifice.  After forging such a blade his customer, an overly ambitious clan chief murders the smith's wife.  The smith then embarks on a quest for vengence.

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Book Review: The Forgotten Prince (Second Star Book 2), By Josh Hayes


What if Neverland was a real planet out there?  What if the story of Peter Pan as we know it was a flawed retelling of the actual events on that planet?  That is the idea that Josh Hayes took and ran with in this series of books.

I will admit that I have not yet read book 1 of the series, Breaking Through, but I will rectify that soon.

That being said I was not lost at all as I started reading this book.  Many a new author when writing a series will not write the second book assuming the reader has finished the first book.  This is always a mistake, and one that Josh Hayes has avoided.  I was in the action from the first word and didn't feel like I had to play catch up at all.  The characters were reintroduced well and we were off on an adventure in Neverland.

But this isn't the same Neverland you grew up with, and the main character, John McNeal, is well aware of that, commenting on that several times in the book.  It is nice to see a character who is genre savvy in that way.  John finds himself in the middle of a civil war between the Regency, led by the Infamous Captain Hook and his second in command Commander Peter Pantiri, and the rebellious Lost Boys led by Wendy herself.

As the book progresses it becomes more obvious that it is the middle part of the story, and as the author explains at the end of the book, he has plotted out a four book series.  The ending left me wanting more and caring about what happened next to the characters.  The book also left some questions unanswered, foreshadowing some things that will, hopefully, happen in the rest of the series.  Book 2 of a series is always a good place to do this kind of thing.

I was never a huge fan of Peter Pan growing up, the tale of a little boy who never grew up and never matured just didn't work for me.  I think having seen the Disney version first hurt my impression of the book.   Though I did love the short lived Fox series Peter Pan and the Pirates.


Peter in ripped up rags just looks so much more fleshed out then in tights, plus hook doesn't look like a joke.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a fun, genre defying book, with some fun characters and a world that gets more fleshed out with every page.  I am definitely looking forward to the next two books in the series and plan to go back and read the opening novella as well now to see what I missed.

Book Shield Rating:  91%  (some minor editting glitches crept through, but nothing that I wouldn't see coming out of a major house as well as an indie publication.)

The Forgotten Prince 
  • File Size: 2005 KB
  • Print Length: 155 pages
  • Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
  • Publication Date: August 14, 2015
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B0115790HU
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled  
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled  
  • Word Wise: Not Enabled
  • Lending: Enabled

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

More Reviews Incoming

Like the title says I will be posting some more reviews soon.  I have been forwarded ARC (Advanced Reader Copies) of two books by fellow Indie Authors that I am in the process of reading for review.

The first is The Forgotten Prince by Josh Hayes.

Release Date is 14 August, but I should have my review up in time.


The second book is Of Ice and Magic by Hugh B. Long.


Released on 16 July 2015, I will get this one done right after Josh's book.

I am also considering some more movie reviews in the future, and since I just reread it, a review of the book, The Martian, but I think I will wait until I see the movie on that one, compare and contrast.  I also came across some old notes of mine from discussions my oldest and I used to have about how I would remake/rewrite a certain movie franchise that I am considering posting, but I'm not sure yet if I should.  Time will tell.

Monday, July 6, 2015

Terminator GENiSYS Review.

Terminator GENiSYS review.




Warning, there will be spoilers.




You have been warned.



Still here?




Ok, let’s begin.

Let me just say, that despite it’s many flaws, I love the Terminator franchise.  I have ever since I saw the original Terminator, when I was far too young to be allowed to see an R-rated movie mind you, but hey it was the 80s and my grandparents slept in late.



I still consider the original Terminator to be one of the best sci-fi-action-thrillers ever put on screen.  It is a tightly written causal loop time travel story, that is made even moreso by the scenes cut from the theatrical release.  In those scenes we see Kyle Reese dealing with being a man out of time, cliché, but was well done and showed that Michael Beihn had some real acting chops.  The other key scene was at the end where an employee at the plant where the Terminator is destroyed shows the damaged arm and chip to his friend, who then tells him to hide them, shuffling his friend out of frame in time to show the cybverdine systems logo behind them.  Had the franchise ended there all would be right with the world.  Terminator did not need a sequel, nor did anyone really want one.  Some people call the movie’s ending bleak, but they forget that while Judgement Day was coming, the war was won thanks to John Connor, otherwise Reese and the Terminator would never have been sent back in time, and John would not have been conceived.

There is a funny scene in the later half of the movie where they compare the heights of all the actors.  Funny but not right for a Terminator Movie.

I’ll discuss the other movies later, but let’s jump to GENiSYS.  (Yes I am writing it that way for a reason, will get back to that later).  On the whole, it was a fun summer action movie, with plenty of cheesy one liners, explosions enough to make Michael Bay’s mouth water, and gunplay to satisfy your post July-4th need for action.  It lacked the tension and the sense of unrelenting doom that original Terminator brought to screen.  On the whole, this soft reboot of the franchise (which relies heavily on the viewer having seen the previous movies) is what I would call a missed opportunity.
The movie opens with Kyle Reese’s Monologue about how his future history, including Judgement Day and how he eventually meets John Connor (played by Jason Clarke, he does a great job BTW for the most part).  This is well done, but feels very much like a book prologue, and on the whole, I prefer how the original handled this.  It also throws out the continuity established in Terminator Salvation for how John and Kyle meet.  When John kills an early terminator, saving Kyle, it is great, the Terminator in question doesn’t look like Arnold, reinforcing that they don’t all look alike.

We then continue into the future war all the way up to the final battle, where John Connor leads an assault on a Skynet work camp, instead of the assault on the Skynet main core in Colorado.  Kyle questions this, but John assures him that there is a reason.  All looks hopeless when suddenly all the Terminators, Hunter Killers, etc… all shutdown Phantom Menace style with the destruction of Skynet over a thousand miles away.  But it’s too late, and a T-800 model 101 has been sent back to 1984.

The resistance then takes the base and Kyle is sent back in time. Ladies the following scenes are for you, naked Jai Courtney and CG naked Arnold.  However I must point something out here.  Michael Biehn was a wirey guy, that fit the role of a man fighting for his life in the post-apoc, Jai Courtney is a beefy bruiser, while he handled the role well, he had far too much muscle mass for the role.  This is where things start to change.  *** SPOILERS HERE ***  The biggest surprise, which wasn’t shown in the trailers happens here.  The Doctor, I mean Matt Smith, or an all new terminator type, played by Matt Smith, attacks John Connor just as Kyle begins to travel back in time.  Kyle then proceeds to see two different possible timelines, the one he grew up in, and one where Judgment day was postponed 20 years.  In the process, the Kyle sees two pivotal events that will help him later.

Your Four John Connor's to date:
Wheres the Beef, Chicken Sandwich, Whopper Junior, In 'N out 4x4.

Kyle and the T-800 arrive in 1984, much like the original.  Only in the case the T-800 is intercepted before getting his snazzy punker duds by an older T-800 who it proceeds to get into a brawl with before someone with a Barret M82 50Cal Sniper rifle drills a special round through the chest of the T-800.  How they got hold of a gun that was only introduced 4 years earlier is left unstated.  The CG Arnold is not terrible, and in most shots looks pretty good, not entirely convincing, but close enough.  In too many shots it still looks very claylike with some serious uncanny valley, which kind of works for the character.
The image on the left is from the trailer (it looks better in the final film) and the right from the original Terminator.  Close, but not close enough.

Meanwhile Kyle finds himself pursued by a T-1000 while he steals some clothes from a homeless man.  He is arrested by two uniformed police officers during the chase.  One is killed, while the other releases him just before Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke, rocking more the T-2 Linda Hamilton look that the T-1 poffy 80s hair) smashes into the clothing store in an armored truck and saves him.  “Come with me if you want to live!”

I know which Sarah Connor I prefer.
Two Games of Thrones Actresses play Sarah Connor, I wonder if they ever joke about that.
Kyle is left obviously confused as to why meek little Sarah Connor just saved him and has a Terminator guardian.  There is a brief fight about this and a chase by the T-1000 before they lead it back to a trap they’d been setting for it since 1973.  Seems that the older T-800 was sent back in time, by person’s unknown, to protect Sarah and raise her into being a warrior woman.  “Pops,” as she has named him, has even briefed her on whole Kyle Reese will be to her, the father of her future savior son, John Connor.  She has some very awkward talks with Pops  about why she doesn’t immediately jump Kyle’s bones, and there is definite tension between Kyle and Pops, not just because he is a Terminator, but also some father-suitor issues going on.

The trio defeats the T-1000 by raining acid on it.  I liked this bit, it was well done.  They also melt down the younger T-800 in the acid.  Pops is damaged in the fighting though with several facial scars and the flesh of his right hand melted away before Sarah can treat it with an acid neutralizing Base solution.  This hand was also damaged when fighting the younger T-800, and will come back into play later.

Sarah and Pops then reveal their plans to Kyle.  They have constructed a one-time use time machine that will send them forward to 1997, so that they can destroy Skynet before Judgement Day.  Kyle  correctly points out however that they have now altered the timeline, and that now Skynet will go online in 2017 using a Trojan Horse program called GENiSYS.  This was the first message he received from his younger self, the second is a hand gesture he shows Sarah, one that only comes about because of the 1973 intervention of Pops and the T-1000 (it had been hunting her for 10 years).  This convinces her to jump forward to 2017 instead.  Ladies more naked Jai Courtney, gentlemen, it’s PG-13 so we get some above the butt backside of Emilia Clarke only, go watch Game of Thrones if you want more.

Kyle and Sarah arrive in the middle of the San Francisco freeway, disrupting traffic, a callout to  the Sarah Connor Chronicles.  Pops was supposed to meet them there, taking “the long road” and waiting for them for 33 years preparing.   He, unfortunately, gets caught in traffic and they are arrested, and taken to a local hospital.  There two detectives are told to process them before homeland security arrives, but another detective, an older drunk detective (JK Simmons) insists that there is something more about these two, he recognizes Kyle.  He even bursts in on the interrogation and after revealing that he was the surviving beat cop from 1984, Kyle starts a ruckus and the detectives leave when told that Homeland has arrives. 

The Homeland Security agent turns out to be John Connor.  He helps the pair to escape as Pops arrives at the Hospital with a giant teddy bear, and accidentally reveals that he Kyle is his father.  The quartet meet back up in the parking garage where Pops attacks John with no explanation before John gets back up and reveals himself to be, you guessed it a Terminator (come on it was in the previews).  John is an all new type of Terminator created by Skynet at the very end that replaces every cell in the person’s body with magnetically adhering nanobots.  A fight ensues and the trio escape thanks to trapping John with an MRI machine.

I won’t spoil the rest, or reveal too much more about the plot.  Needless to say the heroes fight to stop skynet going online.  Cyberdyne has created an app/OS called GENiSYS that links all electronic devices, phones, tablets, computers, cars, even military hardware (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) and it goes online in less than 24 hours.  Once that happens, and everyone downloads it, Skynet will come online and start Judgement Day.  The heroes eventually prevail and destroy the Cyberdyne HQ, stopping GENiSYS from going online, and averting Judgement Day, happy ending.  I was told later that there is an after credits scene with a server node  comes back online and the holographic Skynet is shown to be alive (can we please stop these stupid after credit’s scenes?).

All in all it was fun and as a straight action movie (with too much comedy) would give it a Shield Rating of 77%.

The PG-13 rating really hurt this movie in a lot of ways, and no not because of the lack of nudity or cussing.  The PG-13 rating pushed the humor and forced the removal of the blood and gore that made the earlier Terminator movies feel so much more real and gave them that sense of dread.  In all the earlier movies blood dripped off the T-800s when they took damage.  The scene in T-2 when the Terminator rips the skin off its arm to reveal the blood soaked metal beneath sells the scene.  There is none of that here and it hurts the movie as a result.

Look at all that gore.
Bloody, bloody, bloody.







Umm, that looks awfully clean for having half a face torn of 2 seconds ago.

As a Terminator movie, and a time travel movie, I give it a Shield Rating of 42%.
I was hoping this would be a full on reboot of the series and it really could have been.  Keeping just the primary elements of the story this could have been done very well and could have formed a nice Causal Loop story.  The Comedy in it, while funny, was in appropriate to the tone of what a Terminator Movie is supposed to be.  T-2 started introducing the Comedy, but it was delivered in an uncomfortable way that reminded the audience of the dire nature of the situation.  The whole tone of the movie was too light hearted to be Terminator.

That Smile is pretty terrifying though.


The movie could have easily been made into a true reboot with just some minor changes:

#1.  Erase the original timeline, just throw it out, no more 1984 attack, no more 1997 Skynet.  Done, kaput, no more.  The Star Trek reboot should never be taken as the format by which to reboot all franchises.  The New Battlestar Galactica had it right, start fresh, make some slight nods to the original and move on.

#2.  Modernize the whole thing.  There is a great line in the movie about how they can find nothing the system on Sarah Connor, no fingerprints, no facial recognition through Social Media, etc…  Take that idea and run with it and incorporate that into some good social commentary.

#3.  Keep Pops, I liked him actually but send him back to 2007 to rescue young  Sarah Connor, right when Social Media was starting to come into being and before the pervasive use of smart phones.
#4.  In 2017 Sarah Connor come back into play, she is spotted on Social Media when she and Pops come out of hiding and start their bid to take down Skynet.

#5.  Multiple Terminators are sent back to stop her and ensure the creation of Skynet as well.

#6.  The resistance still wins in the future and sends back Kyle.  Once Kyle is sent back John then orders another T-800-101 out of storage before something attacks him, maybe even show another model terminator attack him.

#7.  The rest can move along much for the movie, did but remove the comedy, or make it darker, this a serious and dark story.  Have Sarah save Kyle, the uncomfortable bit with Pops, all that and make some real social commentary about too much inter-connectivity in devices.

#8.  Instead of the birth of GENiSYS causing Judgment from the start show/explain that the Skynet consciousness evolves from it, and eventually blackmails the military into installing into their weapon systems, or installing Skynet.

#9.  This is the important part, have them fail to stop Genisys, let them blow up the main site, only to see the countdown continue and the altered John Terminator reveal that there was more than one server location before it dies.

#10.  Show the survivors escape back into the wild, with shots taken from various social media, and CCTV sources.  Maybe even show Sarah as pregnant and agonizing over whether or not to tell him what will happen to him, if it even really was him and not some kind of copy.  Include messages they post to the web about not trusting GENiSYS or Skynet, warnings that allow people to escape and get out of the line of fire once Judgment Day comes.


#11.  Final bit, maybe make this an in credits (not post credits scene).  Fast forward through Judgmetn Day and the war back to the time travel device, after the attack that  “kills John.”  Show another group of resistance fighters arrive and retake the time machine, their leader ( a woman) orders the second T-800-101 readied to be reprogrammed and sent back, also show her grieving the loss of John.  This could be an older Sarah or possibly John’s future wife.

*** BONUS ROUND ***

This next bit is cribbed from a conversation I had on a discussion board about the Terminator Franchise but explains my thoughts on the individual entries.

I grew up watching a version of the Terminator my G-Pa got that had the cut scenes at the end (back in the 80s) that showed how the whole plot was a casual loop, and how skynet planned to bring about its creation even with the death of Sarah and John.  The reveal that the final battle took place at Cyberdine, and that those parts of the terminator survived forms the basis for the creation of Skynet.  Even if the terminator were successful, it likely would have self destructed at Cyberdine in order to ensure the creation of Skynet.

T2 threw the causal loop out the window with its ending, and no one in the movie ever mentions it.  Even the cut scenes didn't help matters, there is no reason to ever create the time machine to ensure John Conner's birth and even if you did, they would have to send a terminator and a brainwashed Kyle Reese back in time to do so, to ensure John grows up the right way.  Taken on its own T2 can be a good, fun illogical (lets change the past) sci-fi action movie, but it fails as a sequel to a true Causal loop storyline, and also breaks some of the rules established by T1.

T3, I view as a poor attempt to try and correct the timeline.  It shows that somehow the Cyberdine tech survived, and all they managed to do was delay Judgement Day.  It could have been done better, with a better John Connor, but it tried to correct the issues left by T2.  Even then it leaves massive plot holes, especially in regards to why Kyle tells Sarah certain dates for Judgement Day, that obviously are wrong.

T4.  This movie should have saved the franchise.  They jump forward, have an awesome cast, and show us the future war.  Unfortunately it was saddled with bad plotting and a terrible director that just bogged the whole thing down.  The root story should have worked, and some nice twists could have been worked in, but the fact that Skynet knew who Kyle Reese was ruined things.  All the new terminators, especially the giant one, just made no sense and screwed with things.  If it had just been the story of how John C rose to power as the leader of the resistance, and met Kyle it would have been great.  It maybe could have even introduced or foreshadowed the T-800 at the end, or showed early T-600 infiltration attempts, instead of making them those lumbering oversized humanoids.  A proper sequel, or two, would have shown the resistance coming full force against the T-800 infiltrators, and getting their butts handed to them before turning the tide and making the final push on Skynet HQ.  The last movie could then end with showing Kyle travel back in time to save Sarah, along with any other Terminator(s) that are sent back.

What people tend to forget with the original Terminator, is that by having Sarah/John live, we win the war.  Yes, Judgement Day is coming, and that is a dark immediate future, but John will save humanity from Skynet, and the only reason he can is because he defeats Skynet before the movie begins.  Sending the Terminator back in time was a last ditch effort by Skynet because it had to know the risks of doing so, and possibly knew it had to do so no matter what.  Kyle getting sent back is because the human defeated Skynet and so they send him to ensure that John will be born, live and be there to defeat Skynet.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Design Day: Feral Bomber


Sorry for the lack of updates.  There has been a lot going on in my personal, professional, and writing life that has kept me from making regular updates.

So for today's irregular update, I offer up a design day following the development of another iconic Spiral War design.  This time, the Feral-F Bomber.  For those here who have read Spiral War: On Dagger's Wings, and if you haven't read it, get to it, you know the importance of this craft to the plot and our protagonists personal tale.

The inspiration for the Feral Bomber came from two sources.  The first was an old Mega Force Toy, the Strike Master Orbital Attack Shuttle's Booster.  I loved the configuration, and thought it would be great for spaceborne bomber craft.  The other craft that served as inspiration was the venerable B-52 Stratofortress.  Like the B-52, the Feral is intended to have a long and storied career, serving throughout the UCSB-GF conflict.

 I originally designed many of my craft using paper and pencil, and unfortunately most of those drawings are now gone.  If I can find them, which is doubtful, I will scan and attach the image.

I then transitioned to CAD back in the mid-90s and redrew the designs in TurboCAD.  While I still have most of those files, I cannot access them anymore, the version I used back then is too outdated for any program I have to read the old 2-D drawings.

Then in the late 90s I started using AUTOCAD.  While I have again lost most of those early images I do have some of early redesigns.

Feral-F Bomber, Circa 1997

The 1999 Spiral War (then Infinity War) Christmas Card featuring the Feral Bomber of the time with festive textures.  I made these for about 5 years, wonder if I should start them up again.
The original design kept with the Strikemaster tri-hulled design, but added torpedo tubes to the front end and a giant cockpit.  It also featured three turrets for self defense; one to each side and another in on the tail.  The craft also featured three gatling mass driver cannons under the cockpit for attack.  I played a lot of Wing Commander at the time and the Broadsword bomber served to inspire the design as well.
Featuring some old friends on the nacelle, and eight tubes of torpedo spitting death.
Wing Commander was a great game.





































As I gained skills at texturing reworked the design slightly mostly by chamfering the nose up so that it was slightly more aerodynamic, just slightly.


Getting There.  The Major Salient features are there, but she just isn't the Feral, Yet.

These textures were not created by me, but served to show the direction that I wanted the design to take.  Now, the design, at this point, had some serious issues.  Those massive low slung engines and weapons nacelles would lead to major thrust imbalance and pitch up issues.  

Feral-F Bomber, Circa 2003

A radical departure in the design that eventually led to something else entirely.
Keeping the "borrowed" texture of the previous version I tried to come up with a more aerodynamic, and therefore faster, Feral-F Bomber.  The design did not go over very well with my friends, whoudl were my only fans at the time.  It was too generic, and didn't carry the weight of the old design, nor did it stand as well as an iconic symbol.

That didn't stop me from creating some variants however, including a Spaceborne Warning And Control Systems (SWACS) version.  Or a retextured version.

I always quite liked the SWAC Varaint, Just need to get around to giving the new version the treatment.



Then as a joke, I imagined a bomber that I christened the Untamed, it was a ridiculous design that carried dozens of torpedoes in two massive nacelles.
Count the Tubes, the Untamed carried 72 torpedoes in ready to launch tubes.  The Feral here, only 12.
While ludicrous in size and design, it did inspire the next redesign.

Feral-F Bomber, Circa 2010

5-Views of a deadly bomber
The Feral-F redesign would kick of my redesign launch of most of my craft in 2011.  For this rendition I wanted to go back to the roots of the design, and the triple fuselage.  In order to do that I had to correct of the thrust imbalance issue, that was easy enough to get over, I added engines to the upper, central fuselage.

On this design you'll also notice that I finally added maneuvering thrusters.  These were a long overdue addition.  Additional turrets graced the underside of the nacelles, giving a total of five, and adding much needed lower hemisphere coverage.  I also cut a bomb bay into the central hull, and as on the previous design added doors to conceal the torpedoes behind.
Each Rotoary launcher carried 6 Torpedoes, so the Feral can carry up to 18.  The central bay can also house other bombs for planetary attack missions.
Though hard to see here, the design now featured a rotary launcher for the torpedoes, much like that of moden bombers, like the B-1B and B-2 Stealth Bomber.

Landing Skids, deployed.

When it came time to texture the ship I wanted to give it an iconic look, and what is more iconic than Invasion Stripes?

What nose art?
With this redesign I also wanted to finally show some details that no other designs had.  In this case the Generator for the Electro-Magentic Toroid (EMT) Shield.  Even though it is almost always covered, it is there, an serves as a nice detail.  There are two of these, one buried in each nacelle arm between the ion screen  ports, and Gravitational Shield Emitters.

Shield Generators and hatches.  The two main crew hatches are visible here, as are the escape hatches, though not as clearly.  You can also see some discoloration ahead of the engines where the reverse thrusters have messed with the paint.

Another area  that got a fair amount of detail was the cockpit, though these pictures are not the best, sorry I need to redo some old renders.

There is a lavatory/rest space below the cockpit (not pictured)
Looking Aft, the Feral has seating for six flight crew, including the gunners.









Cockpit Interior, definitely needs new textures applied.

The engines even received a fair amount more detail, which illustrates the power of the craft.  Something this big has to have some serious power to move with any kind of respectable velocity.

In the words of Tim Allen, MORE POWER!!!