HYPER JAPAN London 2010

HYPER JAPAN LONDON 2010 is a brand new event, presented by the EAT-JAPAN brand, showcasing the very best of contemporary Japanese culture and cuisine. Held over three days in the iconic Old Truman Brewery, London, HYPER JAPAN will feature anime, manga, sushi, sake, street fashion, snacks, technology, exclusive branded goods and more.



The event, which runs from Oct 1st-3rd, has been conceived to make modern Japan accessible to a young and trend-conscious audience in London.

Further details on stage entertainment, demonstrations, food, drink, workshops and seminars are available on the website. Day tickets are on sale now via the Hyper Japan website, for £8 per ticket. A special discount is available for groups: buy two or more tickets for just £5 per ticket. Kids under five go free. Tickets are limited so visitors are encouraged to buy in advance.

Follow Hyper Japan on Twitter.

Remembrance of the Daleks collectors set

Remembrance of the Daleks rounded off the 1980s Dalek trilogy with aplomb; introducing the iconic Special Weapons Dalek (variants are underexploited in the series' mythos).

The TARDIS arrives in London in 1963, where the Doctor and Ace discover that two rival factions of Daleks - one loyal to the Dalek Emperor and one to the Dalek Supreme - are seeking the Hand of Omega, a powerful Time Lord device that the first Doctor hid there during an earlier sojourn on Earth.

Incidentally, this is the only Sylvester McCoy-era Doctor Who story that I own on DVD! Alas, McCoy's tenure is anathema to this Whovian.

This great set includes four figures - Special Weapons Dalek, White Imperial Dalek, Renegade Dalek and Supreme Dalek.

The Emperor/Davros is conspicuous by its absence from the set.

Pre-order from Forbidden Planet International today.

Ridley Scott talks Alien origin story

Fox is about to unleash the Alien Anthology on Blu-ray disc this Autumn/Fall. Therefore it's no surprise to read Ridley Scott making waves about his proposed two-part prequel, which will be shot entirely in 3D! Hang on, isn't that James Cameron's territory? Scott's obviously out to prove himself against the director who helmed the first, and best, sequel to Alien. Aliens.

Set 30 years before the events seen in the award-winning 1979 original, the prequels will explore the origins of the alien species. The director told the Independent newspaper "The film will be really tough, really nasty," "It's the dark side of the moon. We are talking about gods and engineers. Engineers of space. And were the aliens designed as a form of biological warfare? Or biology that would go in and clean up a planet?"

Hardly revelatory is it? The notion of a H.R. Giger designed Dyson made me smile! Seriously, though. I was discussing the concept of 'alien-as-weapon' with art school friends years ago. Fuelled in no small part by reading Dark Horse Comics and religiously watching Alien and Aliens on VHS.

Ridley Scott isn't the director he might think he once was! Shades of George Lucas' hubris. At this stage I'm much more interested in seeing JJ Abrams' Super 8: an alleged prequel to the captivating Cloverfield (2008).

My question is why bother? Keep the mystery; there's no need to explain everything away. Alien will have to be retitled in the ultimate display of revisionary filmmaking. But, what to call it?